Sophies 5th Birthday

Sophie has turned 5 and Alicia and I attended her party. The family still lives in Qatar and sounds like they are having a ball but they managed to get back to Australia for Christmas and it was good to catch up. Alicia and Sophie went straight back to where they left off. It was really lovely to see.

Christmas Holidays

Alicia with Buster at Swan Reach

Ewan and Alicia at the Fossil Centre - Narracoorte Caves

Alicia and me in the Bat Cave

Ewan and Alicia with the giant wombat

Brad, Alicia and Ewan at the Breakwater

The Breakwater

Brad and me at Warrnambool

The Family at the Grotto

Alicia, Ewan and Brad in the Cape Otway Lighthouse

A koala on the way to the Lighthouse

Brad, Ewan and Alicia in the Maits Rainforrest

Everyone at Umpherston Sinkhole

Umpherston Sinkhole - Can you spot the kids?

Where do we go for the Christmas Holidays? "Anywhere", says Brad. "Do you have a plan", I said. "No", was his response. "All I know, is that we will be using the caravan and we will be spending a couple of nights at Natasha and Todds shack". "Oh, okay" I say.

So we headed to Swan Reach for 2 nights, Naracoorte, Mt Eccles, Warrnambool, The Great Ocean Road, Mt Gambier and Robe. We were gone 9 nights and 10 days which also includes the day we broke down in Kingston. At least we were on our way home by then. We were rescued by Dee and Jim. We saw lots of things, did lots of things and the kids probably preferred to jump on the jumping pillow and hang out at the playground. It was an adventurous holiday to say the least. I have put some photos on here but most of them are on facebook or will be.

Christmas 2009

Christmas was good this year, no one was sick. Our family didn't go anywhere on Christmas Day, we had everyone over instead. It was a great time, the house was full, the presents were everywhere and the food was flowing. What better way to spend Christmas. The kids got everything and then some. Even I did okay with an answering machine and external hard drive, which is specifically for my photos. It was a good day but we were knacked the next day.

We finally have a photo with Santa without the kids crying. It did help a little that Alicia didn't have to sit right next to Santa. She was also warned, that if she did get scared and cry that she wouldn't be able to see him next year. A little bit of incentive, does go a long way.

Mamma Mia

This is Natasha and Alicia let loose with ABBA music. Be afraid, be very afraid. They were singing and dancing like there was no tomorrow. Even got creative with some duo work (if you can call it that) Anyway, they were having fun and Alicia was feeling the rhythm.

Matthew is BIG

Its not often I get to have a photo with Matthew, so I wasn't going to let the opportunity pass me by. No doubt in a couple of years he won't want to have one. Here I am when they visited for Xmas, I am on tippy toes! Yes, he is only 16!

Pepper

I haven't posted in ages about Pepper so I thought I would flick a couple of photos in. She turned 10 last year in September. She is still a very cool dog, even though she hogs the bed. She gets cold at night and wants to cuddle. She still likes going in the car, regardless of where you are going and is even tolerant of Billy, which is Leannes dog. Jessie, Leannes cat, is still a favourite and it doesn't matter where you are, she wants to be with you.

My Birthday Present

Ewan's eye

Alicia's eye

For my birthday, 1 of the presents I received was a movie camera. I LOVE it. I just have to learn how to get the movie from the hard drive to a DVD but I will work that out eventually. I was also mucking around with the still camera section of the camera and the zoom and the photos of Alicia's and Ewans eye was the result. I thought it looked cool and it was amazing to see the different shape of their eyes aswell as the different colour. Ewan definitely has my eyes where I think Alicia has Brads.

Ewan and the Texicles

I don't even know how this conversation came up but it was funny at the time. Ewans version of testicles is texicles. He said it so matter-of-fact and was completely unaware of his mistake. Luckily we were there to correct him. I am sure he didn't hear us, because we were laughing so hard.

Pneumonia

That would be me with pneumonia, can you believe it. I only had 1 week of exams and 1 week of practical left and I would have finished Uni for the year. I didn't quite make it without getting sick, specifically pneumonia. I mean, who gets pneumonia in summer, seriously. Obviously the work load for the year had finally taken its toll and this is what the body wanted to produce. I have to say it wasn't pleasant and I do not wish to get sick like that again. It started off with a virus, moved to laryngitus and progressed to penumonia. I did do my 2 exams and prac week even though I felt really bad. I'm glad I did because they were at least finished and I could rest without having to worry. I ended up with 2 Distinctions, 1 P1 and a Nongraded pass (with pract you don't get graded, only pass or fail) So ultimately I passed and it was all worth it.
Whilst I was sick mum cleaned and Deirdre cooked. What would we do without our mums? They are an inspiration to everyone.

Alicia's Xmas Parade

This was Alicias first EEC get together for Xmas and it was organised a little differently than we usually attended. But they did a little parade, which I didn't think she would participate in, which is why the photo looks a little dodgy. She almost ran across the platform, and her head was almost buried into her chest but she did do it. It may have been better if they were paraded in a circle then she wouldn't have felt so self conscience. The person in black is Ms Kirsty, one of her Kindy teachers. No she doesn't normally dress like that, it was a fancy dress parade. Father Xmas even arrived but by then she wasn't entirely happy to be seeing him either. Not a great night in general but we did turn up.

Ewans 1st music concert

I can't describe how excited and proud I was this night. Ewan had only been learning the guitar for 16 weeks, which meant 16, half hour lessons and he produced a complete piece. The Spanish music was written by his teacher Ms Olga and he played it beautifully except for a slight stumble at the end. He said he was a little nervous but to perform in front of all those people and by himself, I thought was extraordinary. Yes, I even had tears.

Can Grandmas swim?

If you are in doubt Grandma's do swim. Its not too often mum gets into the pool completely with swimming togs but here she is frolicking with the kids. They get really excited when she goes in the pool and then start hanging off her and jumping around her. It can get pretty full on and they generally don't have mercy. The boat seems to be the calming effect. If you are in there, then there isn't that much tom foolery. Normally she is seen clothed, dangling Keira into the pool which is starting to get more difficult because Keira wants in fully.

Kids on Cruises

Kids on cruises isn't always the best thing but these guys were really good this night. Maybe the DS had a lot to do with it. Thank goodness for electrical devices. This is Ewans really good friend Jackson. His parents are also into cruising, including mum Janine. She has a old Ford ute thing, which she loves and is currently doing up.

Super heroes eat sprinkle bread

I know they look like an unlikely couple of super heroes but they are. Even super heroes need to eat and apparently sprinkles are they best source of energy, so I am told.

Movember 2009

Hello, I am back albeit for only a couple of months. Lots has happened let me tell you.

Brad participated in Movember last year. Alicia quite liked the moustache. Basically the only person in this family that did. He looked like Chopper and not in a good way.He certainly looked like her could have stepped into Underbelly without a problem. Lets hope he doesn't do it again. He even coerced some of his fellow work mates into participating. I think it was in the Newsletter for NDA aswell, which goes all over the world. At least they still think that Australians can be yobboes.