Nic & Andy Arrive!!!

Nic & Andy have arrived with the boys and it is so great to see them. We can't believe how much Dylan has changed and we all fell totally in love with Isaac who we have never met. The first few days were just spent hanging out, playing & playgrounds................

Dylan's a car man too so he was pretty impressed with the obscenely large collection of cars Ned has!!!!

On Fridays.......

we go fly a kite,

build sand castles,

drink beer,

walk the dog,

and relax on the beach & let the week go.........

(photo by Ned)

Jarrah's 14th Birthday

Opening the pressies......

She got cashed up bigtime so we went on a big shopping spree & then out to lunch.

Yeah we go a little crazy with shopping fever.....


Out to dinner that night with Jo & Wayne and Nanny & Pop....

Ned enjoying his dinner........

Mum & Jarrah having a cuddle...

Jarrah & me & the pavlova she chose as her cake. She reckons the most exciting part of the day was choosing her own cake.

Stronach Mob!!!

Jabbed

Poor Ned had to have his 4 year old needles (I was a year late) & I made Jarrah come with me for moral support. Ned was awesome - he just rolled his sleeves up and watched her do it and then turned around for the other arm. It was like nothing even happened.

Jar was in her school uniform and the lady said 'I do all the high schools, is your daughter up to date?'. Ahhh No!!! Jar was so cross & giving me dagger eyes so in the end they both went home with bandaids on their arms!!

September Birthdays

Happy Birthday to all............
11th Ned
17th Kelli
18th Wayne
26th Jarrah
29th Max

The Actual Day

Well today is the actual day and when we went in this morning he jumped up and said "well do I look 5"!!!! He took a cake to childcare to share with his friends - I bought it this time - I had a fair dose of mother guilt that he had to go to childcare for his birthday!!!!

Nanny & Pop came up to share the unwrapping of the presents and then downstairs for nibblies and a special special surprise!

Ned had to follow a string down the stairs, round the side of the house, through the gate, under the house.........

Until he got to this................

The grand unveiling.

A very happy birthday boy.

Sandra, John, Jack & Georgie - couldn't have picked a better gift - he loves it and Jarrah is patiently helping him build it as I type this.

It's Party Time

Ned had his first ever 'real' birthday party and it was a blast. We went with a pirate theme and held it up on the beach at Shoal Pt - real pirate country!!! Ned is so lucky that he has some really beautiful little friends and I am lucky that they have equally beautiful mothers for my friends!!!As you can imagine, I took serious amounts of photos so here are a few throughout the day.............................

Jar & I getting into the theme!

Beautiful happy little face.

Pass the parcel.

Jacqui & Gayna

The 'Ghostly Galleon' - man what an effort that was!!!!

Gee a big blue cake with lots of choc bits draws a crowd!

The end of the party - we buried everyones 'treasure' loot bags to take home.

The loot!!!!

Fathers Day

Poor Al had a serious dose of the flu on Fathers Day so all our plans went out the window and we had a quiet one at home. Ned made him a beautiful picture with handprints and a little saying and also a letter holder at school. Love the little things they bring home at that time of year. No Jar in the photos cause she was in her bed sick with the flu too!!!!!

Bucasia Fair

We went to the Bucasia school fair and they had this go kart track setup. Ned was finally old enough to ride on his own and he didn't want to get off!!

Pop's Patch

Dad's vege patch just keeps getting better every year - he spends heaps of time getting the soil right with lot's of organic matter and I think that's the secret. He just loves pottering around seeing how things are growing. Him with his veges and Mum with her chooks we have a couple of old hippies on our hands!!!!

Jo's horrified by the recycled bedhead climbing frame but I sort of like it and you can imagine Dad's bad "garden bed" jokes!!!!

Master Builders Ball

We were invited to the Master Builders Ball and had to get all spruced up!!! It was a great night with our table picking up two awards for best house over $350,000 and best commercial building for the community centre. A group effort but I reckon the judges were won over by the paint job!!!!

Sausage Sizzle

We have just had our bi annual snag sizzle for the Toy Library and I took Dad along as a helper. BIG MISTAKE !!!! The gals that were helping out thought he was hilarious and being that they have never had the pleasure of hearing his jokes he gave them his whole repertoire!! They are even making plans to catch up if he's in the area!!! The kid in the background of the photo below was even cracking up!!!

August Birthdays

I'm a bit late but happy birthday to the following August babies.....

4th Ali & Jacqui's 6th wedding anniversary
6th Ash Hicks
14th Jo Hicks
22nd Val Hicks
27th Jane Turner

A nice quiet Sunday - sort off.

We had a picnic & fishing morning with Mum & Dad and Jo & Wayne at Shoal Point on Sunday. We had a few issues with Jedda running in the water scaring all the fish, getting caught in everyones lines, losing her collar, Dad going in to retrieve her collar, losing his wallet, going back to retrieve wallet - you get the picture. In between that & dodging Jo's casting there wasn't much fish action but plenty of laughs!!

Jar with a tiny flathead.

The most relaxing part of the day.