Good bye 2009

wow i cant believe another decade has just finished.

This time 10 yrs ago i was in England in the freezing cold about to celebrate NYE on the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.

Christmas day was loads of fun... the kids got brand new bikes each.  They also got loads of cool presents like a Barbie Aeroplane (i didnt even know that existed!!!), embroided pillow cases in brand new latex pillows.  Clothes, toys, shoes.

The MOTH scored well with a remote control helicopter...

And his LX SS Torana t-shirt.

I of course got my brand new Toshiba Satellite Laptop .I love it!!!!!!!!!  4 GB memory and 500GB harddrive.  WOW.  My last computer was 80GB harddrive.  It still did the job and was a wonderful computer for years.  It's now the games computer!

Lets no forget the gorgeous new pool and slide that the MOTH spent hours perfecting, putting together and buying all the gear needed.  It was a labour of love and we love it!  Pity it hasnt really stopped raining since xmas day for us to truely appreciate it!!!  It hasnt quite finished yet, as we need some perspex on the outter rim of the pool to stop the water hitting everyone sitting in the courtyard. LOL.

With our summer comes the nasties.... lots of red-back spiders - YUK!  The stay mostly outdoors thankfully, but the MOTH sprayed all the spiders the other day and the next morning i went around sweeping up carcasses...

My gorgeous pink girl..

Kids, by the time you read my blogs i bet these are no longer in existance... corks in wine bottles.  How sad.  Sure the twist tops are easier, 

but nowhere near as classy as uncorking a bottle and hearing the 'pop'.

So it's NYE tonight.  We are heading down to the usual spot.. Wangi Foreshore.  We have been going there for about 8 years now.  I always THINK of doing something different but it never happens lol.  I will try and take some photos to put on here.  I hope the rain holds off for the fireworks at 9pm.

Birthdays, babies and fun

Well, the MOTH (man of the house) recently turned 37 so we went out for dinner to help him celebrate.  I always like to make sure we do something for him, considering its so close to xmas so they can kinda get blurred together!

How many princesses can there be in one bed i ask you?

J loves the computer.  I really have to monitor the time she spends on it.  The computer isnt on the internet (yet) so its mainly games on there.

Here is Emelia my friend Sam's new baby girl.  She was quite a surprise, Sam swore she was having a boy (her first baby was a boy, Max is 19 months old).

R is so cheeky... always closing his eyes (on purpose mind) when i go to take photos!!!!!

We love our baths!

 

We went to Carols by Candlelight on Sunday night held at our local park.  It was fun but we didnt stay too long, the natives (i.e kids) were getting restless but it was great to see our little park filled with hundreds and hundreds of people and to see friends.

The MOTH is currently outside busy putting together our gorgeous little pool and mega slide.  We will be using it for the first time this afaternoon, so will post photos tomorrow.  It's a hot one today too so we cant wait!

PS - a big hello to my mate Moira who is popping in here for a visit!!!

Having fun with JibJab

I could spend hours on this site.  What a hoot!

So much going on!

wow... havent done a post in a couple of weeks.  Things are always so hectic around Christmas, but i have been taking heaps of photos.  Now i just have to put them into collages so i can put them on here...

Some photos of J and notice the new school uniform!

She officially starts school on the 3rd February 2010.  How exciting.

Also a cheeky one of her and her brother.

Here are some photos taken at J's last day of Pre-School.

What a fabulous school it was too, the teachers were so kind and caring.  

She absolutely loved it and has already asked if she can go to big school AND pre-school.

Waiting for pre-school to open.

So, we are trying to grow a blueberry tree.   He is only a baby but hopefully by the time my kids are old enough to read my blog and (hopefully) like it.. the tree will be huge and given us many years of lovely fruit!

We don't go to Maccas (McDonalds) very often.  Maybe twice a year for a treat.  So the other day it was hot, we were all hungry and we knew we passed a Maccas on the way home (well, thats not that hard really, they pop up anywhere all the time!!!).  

Here are some photos of us enjoying an ice cream cone each.

On the weekend i went to Adelaide, South Australia for the weekend.  It was my first trip away from the kids and i was sooooo excited to see my friends but dreading leaving the kids.  I was devastated for the first hour after i left as J screamed and tried to run towards the train.

I was in tears and so was she.  R seemed OK but got sooky when he heard my voice on the phone.

We also skyped on the computer so was good to see them too.

Planes, Train and Automobiles was a lot of my weekend!

And can you believe it.. no photos of Louise on my camera!  We did get a professional shot taken of the both of us, so as soon as i get a copy of that its on here!

Look at the size of that mirror!  Taken at the Sebel Playford.

 

Last twilight sail of the year (for me as i was in SA for the final). 

It starts up again mid January, so more silly photos to come no doubt...

And last but not least... a quick photo of a recent leg of lamb i cooked.

Sorry to any vego's reading this.

I dont eat as much meat as i used to but gee we love a good lamb roast with homegrown rosemary and garlic.

More sailing and feasts to eat!

On Friday night it was my usual sailing fun time.  It didnt rain this time, but we did get to eat Mick the Masterchefs delicious beef spare ribs... yum thanks Mick!

On Sunday night we had some friends around.. and we all cooked up a vegetarian feast.  Jase, who is the only real vegetarian thought he had gone to heaven!

 

What you dont see here is the sausage rolls we had for entree and the apple enchiladas for dessert!  What a great night with great friends - Jase, Suzy, Sam, Josh, Max, Ned and us!

My friend Sam is due to have her baby in a couple of weeks.  It's very exciting.

We dont plan on having any more kids, so its nice to have babies around.

I get very clucky around newborns.

both looking a little hot and bothered.

Speaking of weather, its been so weird lately.  Really really hot days (see above) and then the first day of summer (December 1st) was something like 21C!!!  Dont get me wrong though, i love this cooler weather and the kids sleep better too (YAY!).

Jakayla had her Pre-school xmas concert last night, i took the video camera with me.  I will try and get some good still shots to put on here.

Strange weather

We have been having some awfully strange weather here lately.
During the week it was lovely and then the weekend came and we had a major electrical thunderstorm on Friday night.  Yes, and i went sailing in it!

I can't describe how much fun i had... i spent most of the time on the bow of the yacht so i had to hold on tightly so i wasnt thrown overboard... rain pelting down on me...thunder and lightning all around.  Just awesome.  Sooo far out of my comfort zone it wasnt funny... and i guess thats why i liked it so much!  Here are some photos i took...

As you can see at the beginning of the race it was quite calm but with grey skies.

Then we were hit by the storm and get drenched.. but still had a fabulous time! 

Alarna lost her sailing shoes!

Then today it was a stinker!  Quite low humidity but very hot and gusty westerly winds made it very uncomfortable to be outside.  Got the washing dried on the line in not time flat though :-)  Must be weird from people overseas to see this sorta weather this time of year.  I went to the UK for Christmas one year and it snowed on christmas day for me.  WOW.  Im so used to hot days and swimming.

I swear im not cut out for this heat, born and raised here yet i sometimes think i was born in the wrong country... i have very fair skin, freckle and burn easily and find the heat extremely uncomfortable and draining.  I would like to live in Alaska or Scotland i think... where the weather is cooler... i love rainy days lol.

Busy Tuesday

Yesterday was a fun filled day for me.
I dropped the kids of at Homeday Care... you remember Renae kids????
Then i jumped on a train heading for North Sydney to meet one of my favourite authors; Diana Gabaldon.
Here is a link to her webpage: http://www.dianagabaldon.com/
I have read all her books, its a story that has now spanned 8 books and i cant wait for the rest of them. 

Thanks to my friend Renee for coming with me.  She only just started reading the books this year so has a few books to go before she finishes!  They are very big books!

Finally got home around 5pm and hubby had already picked the kids up so they were happily playing outside.  I of course rushed in the door just dying to see them, and R ran up to me for kisses but promptly ran back to the sandpit.  J finally came over, begrudgingly from Sophies house to give her Mum a cuddle!!!!

Then it was off to the final vegetarian cooking class.  Unfortunately i didnt take any photos of the meals, but i will be cooking some of them tomorrow night so i will post these Friday.  Lets just say the  Quesadillas with Guacamole was fabulous... and for dessert the apple enchiladas with pear cream was divine.  If anyone wants recipes please let me know!

Cooking, Disco's and Milestones.

Yes a lot to cover for the week that's been.

On Tuesday i went to the Vegetarian Cooking class again.  They cooked Spinach Gozlemes (my favourite), couscous and apricot pudding, Almond Horchata and various dips.

Looks delicious huh!  Next Tuesday its Mexican.

So i decided to make my own Gozleme's...

This one has baby spinach leaves, fetta, roasted capsicum and tasty cheese.

I also used wholemeal flour, extra virgin olive oil and topped with lemon juice.

On Friday night it was J's preschool's disco.  It's great fun and she gets to see all her friends and it also raises much needed funds for the non-profit school.  R loves it too of course.

I cooked a pizza last night....

Left over lamb, fetta, my baby tomatoes and snow peas from the garden, avocado, pine nuts, rosemary and oregano from my garden topped with a light sprinkle of tasty cheese.  Served with fresh baby spinach leaves.  YUM.

And the milestone goes to R.. who did his first wee on the potty!  Well done son.

 

 Hope you're not reading this when you're older and cringing LOL.

Yesterday...

We had a fun day yesterday....
I took some photos of the kids beds after they woke as they look so cuddly!

R's cot.  He still fits so we will leave him be for the time being!

J's bed.  Can it be pinker... or more princessey?

R has just woken up and they both have their Pooh bears to cuddle.

A very dear friend of mine was diagnosed with Leukemia earlier this year.  I have know my friend, L, for 18yrs now and she has been one of my best friends and such a great person to be around.  When she was diagnosed with Leukemia it was such a shock to all but we knew she would fight it... and she did!  Yesterday while visiting me she got the phone call saying she is in remission.  A few tears were shed... and few hugs were had. 

 

A glimpse of the white tube in the chest... its comes out on the 1st December! YAY!

During the week i donated some blood to the Red Cross and its something i will now do every 12 weeks.  I found out that Leukemia patients need blood transplants after nearly round of chemotherapy.  So thats a lot of blood!  It's just so easy to give..... and thanks to other donors, my beautiful friend is alive and healthy today.

Ladies Day Sailing

On Sunday, our sailing club held their annual Ladies Day Sail...
The men can sail too of course but they must look after us and bring
a plate of food to the party afterwards.
This years theme was the Melbourne Cup i.e horses and hats.

What a fabulous Horses head Alarna, well done!

And amazingly he stayed there the whole race...

The hats were great too.

That hat didnt want to stay put!

Crazy boys.

Me and Alarna with her horses whip lol

 Popping my head out of the cabin

Back at the club.  J with the horses head and tail.

Still cant believe they both stayed in perfect condition

throughout the race.

Food glorious food!

I love cooking and i love eating!!!
I also love my vegie and herb garden here's some more food recently picked from the garden...

(btw: those cherry tomatoes were self-sewn, dont know where they came from but just popped up amongst the strawberries one day LOL.  So last weekend i cleaned them up and watered them and they are pumping out the tomatoes like there is no tomorrow!!)

The snowpeas went on to make my favourite stir-fry: 

Which is bascially chicken, snow peas, chicken stock, onions, garlic and cashews. 

So easy yet so delicious!

Happy customer number one... nearly finished the ice cream and sprinkles.

Oh yes definately satisfied customer number two!