Christmas Day

Christmas Day is usually the same for us: Liam and Beth wake up to find stockings in their rooms left by Santa; then it's pancakes for breakfast; followed by present-opening by the Christmas Tree. After this, it's over to Andrew's parents for most of the day, then over to my side of the family for the evening.

O Christmas Tree...

Beth and her new musical jewellery box. That little ballerina inside has
hardly stopped spinning about to the wind-up music since!

Ahhh. Ready to open presents at Granny and Grandad's place later in the morning.

Beth and Granny opening presents together.

Two Top Gear fans delighted with their Top Gear gear - Tshirts, magazines, DVDs.

Christmas Day continued...

First job after present opening is always to have a play with what you got... so Beth donned her fairy skirt, bracelet, wand, and hairclip, and then proceeded to do the vacuuming with her new toy Dyson. Pity it is only a toy, as she (and Liam too) are quite keen on using it. I have tried to convince them that whilst one uses Beth's Dyson, the other one can use my real one at the same time, but they seem to be able to smell 'ploy' somehow!?
For dessert, Liam and Beth had the job of making these interesting fruit balls...

...lots of fun...

Christmas at Bribie...

We usually get together with my brother Aaron, my Mum, and friend Elaine each year on the weekend before Christmas to celebrate together. This year was at Mum's place at Bribie.

L to R: Mum, Elaine (Aunty E), Liam, Andrew, Beth, Aaron.

A game of 'Guess Who'

Aaron also has a digital SLR camera. He and Andrew spent
a while out the back taking pictures after lunch.

Summer holidays...

The summer school holidays began at the beginning of December...
Here's a little of what we have been up to...


...devouring mangoes...

...making gingerbread cookies (first time ever!
Liam and Beth loved putting on the mini MMs after I drew the icing on)...

...sucking on home made juicy ice blocks...

...cooling off in the wading pool/ sprinkler on hot afternoons
(using water from the water tank, of course!)...

A Mum has to be proud...

Liam was awarded his first certificate at school last week. As you can see, he was extremely chuffed - he got to go up on stage in front of everybody at chapel to receive his award. As for me... definitely proud as punch!!!

playing with the DSLR again... beach shots...

I don't really know much about how to use my DSLR camera yet, but I enjoy playing with it anyway on the auto settings. I find I like taking pictures of the little things... I guess when you look closely at things, it's amazing what you see.

Cooooooooolangatta gold!

...ready to go...

...splashing and swimming...

...playing on the rocks...

...stalked by Uncle Aaron...

We spent last week down at Coolangatta with my brother Aaron. Sunday - our first day - was the most fabulous beach day ever - perfect blue skies, warm water (as in not icy), and the most perfect natural Southbank style lagoon you could ever see. Perfect for small kids, and as you can see, Liam and Beth LOVED it. (So did Aaron and I... unfortunately Andrew missed it back at the unit feeling quite unwell that day.) Aahhh... if only it hadn't then rained for the next three days!

the things she does...

Ahhh... don't you just love her??!!!

Whilst packing for our holiday a week ago, we stumbled across one of those eye masks you (used to) get on overseas flights - the kind you put on to help you sleep. Once I told Beth, and showed her, what it was for, she hardly wanted to take it off! We caught her having a quick suck of the thumb with Sheety and the eye mask on the morning we left for our holiday. (She also wore it in the car for most of the 2 hour journey to the coast).

Beth also likes to explore Liam's room sometimes. Her recent discovery was the above hammer-shape set, and she has set about making all sorts of pictures with it. The one in the photo was her first house. (And the one underneath is probably the Coffee Club!)

playgroup water fun in the backyard

We have had a 5000L water tank in our back yard for a couple of years, and have hardly used the water in it. So for a playgroup 'outing' a couple of weeks back, we had the whole tribe over to our place to make use of it for a water fun morning. Chaos would be too soft a word to describe the shananigans of the morning, but it was definitely a fantastic time. Don't children just love water?!!! There was so much joy, squeals of delight, and of course water everywhere. A highlight for me was watching the kids encounter a sprinkler for the first time, discovering the delights of cooling down and having fun with a device many of them had never seen before.

playing with the camera... camping

I had the chance to play with my camera during our recent camping trip. These are a few of my favourites.

october camping trip

We ventured off together on our second camping trip in a tent a few weekends back up to Kenilworth Homestead with a dozen or so other families from church. Here we are on the first morning, getting breakfast organised under our brand new dining canopy that we shared with the Meeches.

The nearby river/ creek was full of icy cold water. It's amazing how children don't feel the cold!

Liam and Beth had a great time playing with the other children, making friends and visiting other tents. They especially loved playing with Brooke (front) and Ashleigh.

Always looking gorgeous, even when she's camping!

A tale of the city ctd...

Post lunch, we wandered through the markets,
then had a quick paddle on the steps of the pool.

I'm sure Liam and Beth wished they had their togs... but it was a bit on the cold side.

Wandering through the markets, we found a hat stall with a couple of great hats on sale for $5 each. So Liam and Beth scored a new hat each, which Beth has hardly stopped wearing.