Measuring up the block

We went to the block a few weeks back to measure up exactly where our house and nanny's house was going to go. Laura was very helpful with the tape measure. Pink Akubra marks the spot!! As always, we visited the fairy garden and said hello to the fairies. Click on the photos to make them bigger.

The Kitchen.

The colours for the kitchen, laundry and two bathrooms have been selected. David left this side of the designing to me, so now i have owned up to that - i hope it really looks good! I must have changed my mind a million times, but i knew we both wanted light, earth colours. So i think we did well. It only took a 9 hour day to make the final decision - that whole day spent in a tile shop with mum! Being the natural interior designer she is - it was easy for mum!

The above are our kitchen colours. A turquoise glass splashback to add some colour and sparkle, "New Basmati" Essa Stone benchtop and "Mulga" formica cupboards.

Countdown till freedom.

Only 1 more week of uni for Cath. Only 6 weeks left to hand in a 3000 word essay with 30 references! Only 7 more weeks to do 2 presentations. Only 12 more weeks till the final Midwifery exam. Only 15 more weeks till i get to register as a qualitifed Midwife ...... but who's counting??!!

We have water tanks!!

This will be our new water tank. How very excited we are! Although Catherine was a little disturbed at the size of it and wondered where the house was going to fit?! Our tank is 250'000 litres, that is 10 meters wide and 3 metres high!! I almost had a coronary! But David assures me he has done all the figures and calculations, talked to the people in the know - and this is what we need ..... time for David to have shorter showers i think!!

The tanks will be colourbond, in "wilderness green" colour, as above. Mums tank will be a bit smaller at 120'000 litres. Well at least i can have that sprawling lawn i want now!

Building documents are signed!!

On the 5th of March 2010, we signed our life away and contracted a bad case of writers cramp while we signed pages apon pages of building documents! No going back now, our dream is about to begin ....

Laura the artist extraordinaire!

Laura was doing some drawing a few weeks ago, when we came in the room to see what she was up to, we found this masterpiece on the floor!!

We asked her who it was and it was "mummy, daddy and Laura".

For 2 years and 8 months - we were very impressed at the detail and clarity of the drawing!

The new Kirke family residence in Parkerville Highlands.

This took us many months to design and finalise. It is based on a Plunkett project home and a design we did from scratch with a draftsman. We love it and it suits our needs perfectly, look at the size of that pantry!!

Its a bitter sweet symphony, thats life.

Busy, Busy, Busy! Thats life for the Hills Kirkes at the moment.

Lets start with David - he is currently 1 year into his PhD on an Aquaculture/Marine Science topic. He is studying invertebrates off the coast of Rottnest to see how the eco system is changing and evolving. It has required many trips out on the ocean, which has done wonders to cure his sea sickness!

David is still working 2 days a week and every second weekend at Railway Avenue Vet Hospital, in between going to Curtin Uni for his study. On the days when he is not vetting or fishing, he is home with Laura while mummy works. At the moment he is busy reading about and planning ways to design a bushfire proof garden and landscape for when we move to Parkerville!

Catherine finished her nursing degree at Curtin and worked in the Neonatal Critical Care Unit at PMH. Then in her infinate wisdom? decided to go back to study and do a post graduate degree in Midwifery. I am 2/3rds of the way through and have 12 weeks of uni left! Yay! I have been working 3-4 days a week at King Edward Memorial Hospital as a student midwife and 1 day a week at uni. Too busy and too much time away from home and my family. But that will change in July when i finish. We are hoping to add to our family this year, so i will stay working at King Eddies part time until i go on maternity leave, hopefully around November some time ... well thats the plan, watch this space!

Laura is 2.5 years of age and a bundle of energy, laughs, dramas and constant chatter! She has the usual "toddler" days but for the most part, she is happy, very chatty and extremely bright and perceptive (not that im biased!). Laura goes to daycare 3 days a week which she loves. The rest of her time is spent at home with mummy and daddy, painting, playing with her animal figurines or swimming, having babycinos with friends and playing at the playground!

Our new 5 acre block in Parkerville.

On the 15th of September 2009, settlement went through for Lot 8 Wedgetail Circle, Parkerville. David, Catherine and Laura are now the official proud owners of a beautiful 5 acre lightly wooded FLAT block of land! For those that have been to our current home in the hills - you will know why the emphasis on living on a "flat" block was so important!

The block sits adjacent to the John Forrest National Park and Mundaring is our closest town, only an 8 minute drive. We are building a nice big home - 4 x 2 plus study and activity room. 270sqm of living area, 370sqm total.

We will keep up with regular updates as the building process unfolds! Pad should go down in March ...

The start of our blogging!

Well we thought it might be a nice idea for distant family and friends to catch up with the busy Kirke family and what is going on in their lives. So welcome to our blog! David, Catherine and Laura are currently living in the Kelmscott hills. We are in the process of building our much anticipated home in Parkerville - also in the Perth hills. We are looking forward to our dream of space, peace and sustainable living on our lightly wooded, 5 acre block. The plan is to be moved in by Christmas 2010 ...