Auld Lang Syne

It's amazing to look back over the last few New Years and see where we were.

2010: Scotts Head with my lover boy and a little blonde headed boy for the first time and no fireworks

2009: flying from Amsterdam to Oz with husberando and baby bump, we flew over India at 11.59 and then it was 12.30, we missed the tick-over and again no fireworks

2008: Scotts Head with husberando and FIREWORKS

2007: in Amsterdam with my shiny new husband, a bunch of friends and an even bigger bunch of fireworks (think war zone kind of big)

2006: Scotts Head, no husband but a bulging wedding folder and fireworks!

And 2011? Swimming at Eastern Beach, grilling on our little gas cooker, wandering through the crowds, driving home, dancing with sparklers on the front verandah, and watching fireworks from the water tank. Perfect.


Overheard NYE conversation whilst watching fireworks and contending with mozzies:
Little house guest: My dog died of this.
Andrew: What, your dog died from mosquitos?
Little house guest: No, my dog died from fireworks.
Andrew: Your dog died from fireworks?
Little house guest: Yeah, my dog died from fireworks.

See, said it was perfect (except for all the other beautiful people we would love to have around).

Today's Holiday Fun!

Oh School holidays, how I love you.

sock wars

Today's Holiday Fun!

Girls V Boys....Kenzi has gathered up 23 socks.

Cookie Monster

Around Australia in 80 Seconds

Yesterday Trinny and I walked around Australia.  Actually, it was more a stroll.

DEVASTATING NEWS.....

Bulk waste collection- NEWCASTLE
We are changing the way household waste is collected. In 2011 we introduced the 3-bin system and in 2012 we are improving how we collect household bulk waste.
A new system will start from March 2012 but in the lead up, there will be no kerbside bulk waste collections in January and February.
If you were due to have your biannual collection during this time, don’t worry you can still get rid of your stuff. Households can contact the waste services team for a FREE tipping voucher to dispose of their bulk waste at Summerhill Waste Management Centre.
Residents can call 4974 6066 to request the one-off voucher be mailed out to them.
If you can't take your items yourself, don't stress! From March we will have booked kerb side pick ups and will be happy to dispose of your items at that time. More details about the new system will be available in February.
BOO HOO HOO- STINKY COUNCIL: BAH HUMBUG

The Rest of the Fun

The food, mmmmmm, the food:





The beautifully set table:


The enjoying:





The dessert:


And then the games. A few were played but the hit was the Christmas cookie game. Step 1: place Christmas cookie on forehead. Step 2: use whatever means possible (other than limbs) to get the cookie in your mouth. See the following:



































And the concerned and grubby onlooker:


We had a beautiful day. It would have been lovely to have all our family there but maybe next year!

Christmas morning

Here's a few happy snaps of our morning. It started at 6.00 with the annual visit of the toilet paper Santa.


Presents were given, received, and loved.


Then the Dutch babies were consumed, one plain, one apple, with toppings of banana, yogurt, honey, cinnamon, sugar, lemon, icing sugar, homemade strawberry jam...but not all at once.

Then it was shower time, visit the old lady down the road to drop a gift and then walk to church. At church we ended up with the worlds largest ham. They asked if anyone wanted ham for Christmas lunch and our little girl shot her hand up, so we added ham to the menu!

Next post: the lunch, the dessert, the cookies on foreheads...

Come on Ring Those Bells

Christmas Eve, how did you get here so quickly? There's still things on my list to prepare for tomorrow but things aren't too hectic considering our usual household of 1 kid, 2 adults and 3 chooks has blossomed into 4 kids, 4 adults and 3 chooks, a bunch of prawns and a leg of lamb.



The menu for tomorrow is...
BREAKFAST:Dutch babies


LUNCH: nibbles
Lamb
Prawns
Fresh rolls
Fresh corn and avocado salsa
Cranberry and spinach salad
Marinated tomato salad with bocconcini


And to round things off: mini meringue nests, petite mince pies, a ginormous fruit platter and this fruit dip.



If anyone needs a place for Christmas lunch I can guarantee there'll be plenty to go around at our house!



DINNER: see lunch.



Jesus, I'm so glad you were born tomorrow!

Mr Mo

This is a powerpoint that the kids put together and Brenton was able to convert into video.

Christmas traditions I found and loved!

I know we have loads of awesome traditions but thought these were cool:

When I became a Mom I decided that I wanted to create meaningful Christmas traditions for Peyton. My husband and I sat down and brainstormed ideas and he wasn’t really a lot of help (bless his heart). So instead I turned to my experiences, girlfriends and other resources. When I was waiting for Peyton to come home my girlfriend Brandi and I had a lot of free time on our hands. We spent countless hours on the phone talking and it is funny that planning our kids Christmas traditions is what helped get us through the adoption process. I think because we couldn’t control our process we looked to what we could control in the future and that was the traditions we would create.
So I have many traditions that I created. Not 1 was good enough
One that I wanted to share with you is the tradition with our Christmas books. I collected 25 Christmas books and I wrap them each year. Every night Peyton opens 1 of the books and we read it together before bed. Then the book is placed into a basket and it can be read as often as he wants throughout the holidays. We start our Tradition on November 30th and end on December 24th (with ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas). It is a tradition that he loves and looks forward too! On December 31st after he goes to bed the books are removed and placed away for safe keeping until the next year. This is what keeps them special. They are only out for the month of December. As he grows I have replaced some of the titles and will continue to do so but for the most part the investment is a one time investment. I picked most up after Christmas at 50-90% off or at consignment stores.
In addition, we purchase 1 Christmas ornament for Peyton every year that is something that he is “into”. We date the box or bottom of the ornament if it is not dated and when is ready to move (snif, snif) into his own home we will give those to him.
Two additional traditions that we do are that we make a Frugal Gingerbread House together as a family every year. It is so much fun and something we all look foward too! We also make Reindeer Food and put it out on Christmas Eve.

Chirp-Chirp

You may have already seen these, but I think they're too awesome to not share with the world! 

Kim did an awesome job on all the photobooth pics, and our fabulous family photos.  Thanks for arranging it Trin, and thanks Kim for making us look great!

Morning Treats

Mum and Dad, we've found another great cafe to take you to in Geelong.

I have no idea of the name but it's in a converted shipping container in the corner of a carpark which equals pure awesomeness in my books.






Edit: it's called Box Office and Langlan declares that it's good.

Growing TOOOOOOO fast

This booster is the one we bought for Connor when he grew out of his car seat. He used it for a few years and then Kenzi has just grown out of it. We gave it away to a family who we are trying to shower with love and care at the moment. I was sad to see it go. It was a stark reminder of how much my babies have grown...how much they are not babies any more.
It was good to be able to share part of our family with another family as well. We are hoping that over the next few years not only material things will be shared, but we can share with them Jesus and acceptance and care and concern and love.
My kidlets are growing too fast, but it they are growing and learning and loving. All good things that are a blessing to be a part of.

Tonight's the Night

I won't be watching It's a Knockout tonight. I've been counting down the days and the day that it's finally here I'm sick. This would usually not be a problem, when you're sick you lay on the lounge and watch tv. The problem is that we don't have a tv. This is officially the first time in our history of no tv-ness that I'm questioning our sanity. Oh well, at least I can find pictures of our resident celebrity blogger and put them up.


She's the one in the funny hat.



And possibly the one with the big book.



But here's the corker, Kt Mac has somehow managed to down two of her opposing team mates and pose for a picture all whilst dressed as a rat.

Kt Mac, you rock my world.

Location:Tonight's the Night!

Hugely Grateful

I know everyone in the world knows how great Mum and Dad are, but I just wanted to do a little more shouting it from the roof tops.
To be honest I think we nearly killed them on Saturday. All the cooking, cleaning, dragging, mowing, wheelbarrowing, making, sorting, decorating and so much more that they did was super human and amazing.
They were a massive huge part of the memories that were made for 28 of Connor's friends.
The farm and its occupants will go down in the history books as totally rockin'.
Thank you so much Mumma and Grandpa for ALL that you do to make super memories.
We will give you a bit of a break before the next party! You have totally earned it!