River Run...

Yesterday, on Christmas Eve, we went to the local river for a barbecue and a quad bike adventure. We came home severely sunburned, due the ridiculous heat reflecting off both the sand and water, even though we were fully protected with sunscreen and stayed under the shade (almost) the entire time... But as usual I seem to come out the worst, but then I get burnt after just being outside for five minutes...

Anyway, the kids had a ball! And I think Mark was the biggest kid of all when he got on my brother's bike.

But despite the extreme heat and the sunburn... the kids had a great time in and at the river.

Photos of today will come later!

Merry Christmas...

Just wanting to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, filled with joy and best wishes!!!

May the season bring all you the very best and then some more with Christmas wishes coming true!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Dear Santa...

Today we've been writing letters to Santa. A little late I know, but I've assured Liam that if he put the letter under his pillow on Christmas Eve, Santa will get to see it!

We've also been sweltering...and sadly missing out on any rain that has come even remotely close to us...

...Maybe Santa can help us out with that too...

17 hours...a new record...

Okay, I've been absent after promising that I'd try and keep up to date...! But we are now on holiday, travelling to North Queensland in the car...with three kids...and my mum!

I tried to get on the computer at home before we left but I was hampered by a very hectic week of school break-up parties, more sewing for ballet, a ballet recital, my MIL birthday, a birthday party (on a separate day) for said MIL, a very slow Internet connection and then followed by a rash decision to throw all our clothes for a three week break into a suitcase less than 24 hours before we travel our record breaking distance! *sigh* I got that all out in one breath! Lol!

But we are here now...Finally!

It normally takes us over 19 hours of travelling to get to my parents' house but we were fortunate enough to have very little traffic on the road ... (except for when I drove!) and the kids were exceptionally behaved in the car! Well, Ethan wanted to keep stopping to do a "wee on the grass" but he managed to hold on!! Lol!

So the kids are now emerged into the animal feeding routines of life in rural Queensland, not missing their city slicker titles at all! The menagerie up here, much to the delight of the kids, includes ducklings, chickens and pigs, to name a few.

These animals have kept them occupied for many hours so far. That and the hose. Yes, that's right...no water restrictions up here! They had just about gone through every change of hastily-thrown-in-the-bag clothes, in one day! Aaaarrrggghhh! I'm supposed to be on holidays too! Not having to do ten loads of washing a day! Lol! All this, and I didn't bring any scrapbooking supplies with me to keep me sane during the holidays!

I'll be back soon with some more photos.

An early Christmas...

Because we are going away over Christmas, our family spent yesterday celebrating an early Christmas. Much to the delight of the six grandchildren...

They decorated the tree with much enthusiasm, then quickly rushed back to whatever computer game they were currently engaged in.

We persuaded them to take time out from Granddad's gadget corner and go for a swim before the fun stuff started and presents were opened!!

The table was laid ready for a feast ...

...which led to a good time being had by all!

2 awards, a tree and some scrapping...

It's been busy here. Really busy and about to get crazy! What with Christmas parties, birthday parties, school break-up and ballet recitals, I'm not sure which way to turn. So I'll start off with 2 awards!!!

Tahlia and Liam, in consecutive weeks both received awards on parade at school! Tahlia's was for confidence and being able to speak in public...

And Liam's was for persistence and doing great work with his letters and numbers! What a great job! And he received this certificate on his last parade day for school.

I don't normally go to parade any more but they were both performing with their classes and I had the camera ready. It was a nice surprise as both of their teachers had failed to let me know this was happening! I'm just glad I was there...even with everything being so crazy and busy!!

This week we also put up the tree. This is the first time I have stopped myself from giving the Christmas tree a little tweak after the kids have finished with it. They had a blast and even Ethan joined in until his interest shifted to throwing the "round" baubles around the room instead of placing them strategically on the tree!

And finally, I have done a little bit of scrapping. Okay, one page and a simple one at that, but at least I managed...TFL.

A little bit of fun...

A friend of mine passed this along and I found it rather amusing....

Let me know what you think! Lol!!