MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Just a quick note to wish all our family, friends, and all you lovely blog readers.. A very wonderful Christmas. We hope you and all your families keep safe and happy and that Santa is very generous!!! My brothers and their families arrived today and Granny arrives tomorrow night. So we will have a busy one here...

Unfortunately the boys have had a tummy bug for the last couple of days so I am so hoping that they are all better by Christmas and they don't pass it on anyone else!

So hopefully I will be back on here to update not too long after Christmas

Y MERRY CHRISTMAS Y

Sooo tired!

Well remember how I said I was glad the school hols were here...I may just have to rethink that..lol.. I love that I don't have to get up and rush around every morning.. but if these boys don't stop trying to kill each other and driving Poppy and I mad I may just run away..pmsl

Anyway so what have we been up to.. Well Poppy has done a lot of shopping.. in other words he escapes to the shopping centre nearly every day as his patience with the boys is kinda wearing thin..lol.. Mind you I wish I could join him!!

The boys have been playing with friends, trashing the house and generally being themselves..lol.. We went and saw the Christmas lights around Rocky last night. I must say I miss the gorgeous displays of Toowoomba. There are a couple of nice ones here.. and a lovely street.. but nothing compared to what we would go and see in Highfields and Toowoomba.. Oh well the boys enjoy it. And ours are getting bigger each year...lol..

We had a Street Christmas Party last Friday night.. It actually turned out to be a good night.. First time we had most of our neighbours in nearly 2 years. Hopefully it might be the start of me feeling a bit more like I belong here. temporarily..pmsl..

I have finally finished Rachel's Website. For those that don't know Rach is a friend of mine up here who is getting back into her photography after having had the kids.. and so I have spent a 'little' while setting up a website for her. Check it out and let me know what you think.. all suggestions gratefully accepted..lol..

I also think I have finally finished my Christmas cards and shopping.. just got all the wrapping and posting to do now. Have decided though that next year I will be sending most of my cards out by email..looking at the amount of resources I use I think I need to do the environment a favour..lol..

Anyway.. the kids are starting to get narky at each other so I had better go and feed them..

Chat soon..

Finally!

Well I have done it.. I have finally caught p with all the event that have been happening around here.. so thought while I was on a role I would add a bit of extra info for the rellies..

Connor.. Well Connor is very excited to be going into grade 1 next year.. and to be on holidays..lol.. Though I think he will miss school fairly quickly.. He is such a ratbag.. one minute he is polite and helpful the next he is as bad as a moody teenager..lol.. Oh and if looks could kill..lol.. He is also getting very good at delegating.. When his friends are over he take to passing off his jobs to them very quickly.. something we will have to watch..lol..

Declan.. Has only one more week at Daycare and then next year he starts Kindy 3 days a week.. I have ot admit I can't wait.. lol.. does that make me a bad mum..hmm.. He is getting rather annoying stirring the pot then whinging when things don't go his way.. Is that middle child syndrome?? lol.. I am hoping he will come into his own at Kindy next year.. Being around kids his own age.. He is rather small and the big boys have a tendency to pick on him. Which then seems to make him pick on smaller kids..

Brodie.. Also has only one week left at daycare until Jan.. There goes my sanity..lol.. He is talking really well at the moment.. and is as stubborn as a mule.. lol.. Ask him to do something and he will argue with you for over 15 min.. until he has enough and gives in ..lol.. No being his fav word. Generally if he doesn't do as he is told I put him into his room until he does.. When you ask him if he is ready he will answer no.. sooo many times.. and I have then had him say yes.. Walk out of his room, look at me and say no!. Back in he goes..lol. If it wasn't so damn frustrating it would be cute..lol..

They are all getting so tall.. except Declan lol.. I'm afraid he has really inherited my genes..lol.. Brodie is nearly as big as he is..

They love having all their friends over and Brodie has got Declan's fascination for frogs.. Whenever he sees one he has to say 'Hello Fwog". It is amazing how much his vocabulary has improved recently.

As I said before Greg has been flat out.. and I must say so have I.. We have our last week at Playgroup this week. then I get 3 weeks to recompose myself ready for next year. I have also been organising the Secret Santa on the Boxx, with 47 people.. and trying to keep up with the hundred other things I have on the go at the moment..

My friend Rachel has started her own photography business.. so I am setting up a website for her.. lol.. Now that has been fun.. I have no clue what I am doing..but I am getting there.. I must admit it has been fun figuring it all out.. I will put up a link when I get it all finished.. hopefully soon..

We will be staying home this Christmas, all my family will be coming here.. Dad has already started overflowing my house with food..

It will be fantastic. Mum is even coming up.. It will be the first time in prob 20 odd years that Mum, Dad and all three of us kids will be together for Xmas.. And the first time all the grandkids will be together.. I can't wait..

Ok.. well it is late.. and still got heaps to do.. Chat soon!

Some creations

Well I haven't had much time to scrap lately but here are a couple of things I haven't put up yet..

Jodie's Secret Santa Present. We did a little Secret Santa between a few of us girls.. and this is what I came up with for Jodie.. On one side is her family.. and the other is our weekend at Stanage Bay..

A lo I managed to get done for a cybercrop challenge. We had to do a monochromatic lo.. which is my first one.. lol.. I also got to use some of Petrina's yummy Chipboard

And this is one I did for a BOY Challenge.. again I used some of Petrina's Chippies and also used one of the owls I have made plus other felt and beading thingies I have created.. Petrina even put these two lo's up on her blog.

I think this was another BOY.. I did this on Declan's little obsessions with various days and numbers..

These are the covered notebooks I did for Connor's teachers for Christmas. I decorated the front then found a little poem and put Connor's pic with it. Laminated it and stuck it inside the front cover.. they can either leave them there or pull the off to use as a bookmark..

Anyway.. that's all I've managed to do over the last couple of months.. I did send some other felt and beaded thingies away to a couple of girls today.. but of course I forgot to take a pic..lol.. Was just so glad to finally get them posted.. Hope you scrappers out there are getting more done than I am!.

School is over!

Well school is done for this year.. and I must say I am glad.. Connor is just exhausted at the moment.. They had their final Mass on Friday morning and then we got to take them all home after it had finished.. A few of the girls brought the kids over for a play.

Joe and Zoe had Joe's Christmas party on Fri night so we babysat the kids.. As usual the kids had an absolute ball.. As it was easier the kids stayed for the night.. Zoe also came back here to sleep while Joe went home as he hadn't got much sleep the night before due to a work call out. Of course the boys wouldn't go to sleep..lol.. So they were all very tired on Sat Morning.

Poppy also came down on Friday.. he will be here now until New Years Day when he heads off to Melbourne. The boys are so happy to have him here..

This weekend we have managed to clean out the garage and the Patio.. and I am still working on the house. pmsl.. A never ending job!.

We were hoping to go to Fire in the sky last night but unfortunately the kids were all too tired and cranky.. hopefully next year!

Connor's School Christmas Party

On Wednesday Connor had his Christmas party at school.. It was great it was on a Wednesday as I could go without the other two..They had a great time playing in the water to start, Santa came and gave them all a book each and then they had lots of yummy treats to eat.. we of course had to make our Reindeer biccies.

Christmas Tree

Well we finally got the tree up.. I was sorting it all out while Greg and the boys put it up.. I would like to say we had fun.. the boys did.. but I just want to know why, when I look forward to doing this with the boys for ages.. and then they much up, fight, whine.. etc.. and it is just too stressful..

Are we the only ones like that??!!

Will put up a nice pic later of it all decorated etc..

Movember

Well as most of you will know Movember was a fundraising effort to raise money for Men's issues, depression, prostate Cancer that type of thing.. Well Greg decided to get involved and organised for a few of the guys at work to join in.. They did really well raising $1,800.00 for the cause.. He even cooked Morning tea himself to take to work for a fundraiser as I was sick. Yep.. after all these years.. I have finally taught him to bake..lol.. And he did so well that he now has been told he has to make my walnut slice more often..pmsl.. see you can train them.. eventually..pmsl.

Anyway.. I also gave during Movember.. cause I had to put up with the scraggly, itchy Mo all month..lol.. yuk!!! And he kept getting told he he looked like a porno star..lol.. Not attractive at all.. I was so glad when the 1st of Dec came along.

He is becoming a bit of a publicity tart my hubby.. He was in the paper for the fires and Movember.. Suncorp is running regular 1/2 page adds each fortnight with his mug in it.. He was interviwed on the ABC Radio and in thir website.. You just can't escape him..lol..

He has been kept very busy lately at work.. as usual.. and trying to keep up with things at home.. We did manage to get the lights up for Xmas, so I will put a pic up when I get a chance to take a good one..

Connor's Presentation Night

Last Thursday Connor's School had their Presentation Night.. The Prepies were very excited because they got to sing some carols early on in the evening.. Unfortunately the pics I took of Connor singing were not very good so I am hoping to find some better ones.. but I did take a couple outside before we started.

Connor and Michael all dressed in their Chrissie Gear.

Declan of course also had to wear a Christmas hat and wanted a pic with Talissa.. he is turning into a real camera hog...lol..

Courtney was great distracting the kids.. Declan just loves her!

Unfortunately we didn't stay long after Connor's song as Brodie and Declan were getting very bored and annoying.. Oh well maybe next year!

Playgroup Christmas Party

Well this Thursday we had our Playgroup Xmas party at the Heritage Village. So many people came.. we had 48 children.. and that didn't include the babies..lol.. I think everyone had a good time.. I know by the end of it I was a little hot and stressed..pmsl.. Oh well.. the kids had fun..

We had pony rides.. I tried to get Brodie on there but he was not going to be in it.. He was a bit miserable and didn't want to do anything really .. except grab me and whinge..lol.. Luckily Declan was keen to have a go.. We also had stage coach rides.. but I was organising things and missed the photo op..

Amanda took this of me and Brodie.. Yes I know I look silly.. but it is a Xmas party.. even if I was the only one to do it...lol.


Declan loved the Fire truck ride.. had to go on it twice..lol.. Once again.. Brodi wouldn't be in it!


This is mostly what I saw of Brodie for the first half of the morning..pmsl..

Coudn't help taking this pic of Amanda and Patrick.. He is sooo cute and getting soo big!

I finally managed to get Brodie to go with Greg, one of the grandad's that comes to playgroup.. they had a good time feeding the animals.. and looking at the cow.. but he still wouldn't milk it!..lol.. Declan did.. but once again I missed it as I was off organising things..

After the tour Santa visited to hand out gifts..

I love the look on Nicholas's face when he saw him coming.. the kids were so excited.. they were sitting down lined up ready!.. lol..

Declan had no worries going up to see him.. but I did have to take Brodie up.. Hopefully Rach got a good pic of that!

By lunchtime I was stuffed.. and so were the kids.. It was hot and muggy.. typical Rocky summer weather. Rach took some great photos too so I might be able to put some more up later.. I took heaps of pics.. as usual.. I had so many cute photos it was hard to decide what to put up.. pmsl..

Well I finally did it!!!

After much nagging from Greg and a few of our friends.. you know who you are..lol.. I finally got Brodie's hair cut.. It was a sad day for me .. I loved his little curls.. but not everyone agreed with me!.. pmsl.. I guess I did get away with it for 2 years..lol..

Here is the before shot at the hairdressers!

See even Brodie wasn't impressed..lol.. he had to sit on Daddy's knee!.


He settled down after a bit but he still wasn't too impressed..

My little spunk.. He is still gorgeous.. but now he is a little man and not my little bub any more.. sigh.. I so miss playing with his curls.. but I guess it had to be done!

Fire!!!

Well last Tuesday we had a bit of excitement round here.. but not the good kind.. Was actually feeling like I was staring to catch up on the million and one things I had to do.. smelt smoke about lunch time and had a look around.. Saw a plume of smoke in the distance. and didn't think much of it.. Went and lay down with boys in the air conditioned bedroom.. and sorta fell asleep between rousing on them to do the same...lol.. At about 2 I could hear Murphy the cat making a real ruckus in the lounge room.. which is unusual for him so went to investigate.. he was sitting there panting obviously distressed. The smell of smoke was a lot worse so I had a look out the back and the paddock behind our block was on fire!! Ran outside and heard the fire brigade out the front.. Gotta love those firies!!! Rang Greg and said 'The back paddock is on fire.. you might want to come home.' Mind you if you read the article in the Rocky Bullie I rang in a panic like a poor defenseless female..pmsl.. So the firies used our block to access down the back and with some backburning and hard work managed to get it under control.. Greg went down and helped put out a few little flare ups along the fence.. so at that point the back paddock and a small part of the neighbours back block was burnt..

I got Jodie to pick up Connor for me as I wasn't quite game to leave the house and when she got him home we had the good news that the school thought he had school sores and he had to get to the docs!.. So off Greg went to finish up at work and take him to the docs.. Brodie was very tired and cranky so I decided to give him an early bath.. Had the aircon on because the smell of smoke was unbelievable.. 15 mins or so later I went to the Garage to get the mop.. as usual he managed to throw half the water on the floor.. when I heard voices right outside the house.. Had a look through the front window to see the fire truck once again coming up our driveway.. Didn't worry too much, figured they were just accessing the back paddock again, but went out to have a look.. And the fire had flared up again and our back block was completely burnt out and the fire was at our house yard fence.. about 5 metres from the shed!!! Then I started to worry..lol..Got back on the phone to Greg and luckily once again the firies came through and got it under control. All I can say is thank God our neighbour saw it start up again!

The initial blaze

Yeah for the firies!

The flames when I first saw them were as high as the Mango tree..

Far too close..


This is only about 10 metres from the house!

We were very lucky.. no damage done but I wasn't game to leave the house for a few days.. There are some real idiots in this world.. they think it was deliberately lit!.. I'd like to get my hands on them.. and we actually had some neighbours that when Greg went down on Wed to put out a flare up were more worried about their water bill.. than they were about the fire.. I just couldn't believe it.. Luckily we had a good downpour on Wed night.. so I could relax!.

Brodie!!

I just had to put his piccie up.. On the 13th Brodie had a little too long a nap in the arvo.. and was insistant he did not want to go to bed.. so kept getting up even though we had all gone to bed early too.. He kept looking through the gap between the door and the door jam at me and after trying to get him back to bed I decided to ignore him. All went quiet and at about 10 I got up to check on him.. and this is what I found!! He was fast asleep on the floor outside our bedroom. Silly Monkey!

He is really coming into his own at the moment.. Talking so much more.. and his stubborn streak has kicked in.. Don't know where he got that from.. must be Greg!. He can be soo good and is using his manners so well.. shares well.. but his fav word is NO!.. I can ask him to do something and put him in his room when he says no.. and that will go on for over 15 mins.. until he finally gives in.. Oh for a meek and mild child..lol.. He is also starting to wear big boy jockies now too.. He does really well at daycare.. but no so good at home.. will have to ask them for their secret..lol..

Weekend at Stanadge Bay

Hi everyone.. Yes I know it has been a while .. But I am trying to catch up now.. lol.. So again I am going to do it in stages.. but grab a coffee.. gonna be along one..lol..

We went camping with Friends to Stanadge Bay on the weekend of the 8th and 9th of Nov.. Well that was an interesting weekend!!! We left early on Sat morning and convoyed out.. That was until we got our rear window on the Pajero smashed by a rock on the dirt road in!!.. We had dust all through the car.. on the pillows.. everything.. What a mess! So of course we had to thank Jodie profusely for suggesting we go camping..lol...

After we got there and took 2 hrs to set up camp.. (the worst bit) the kids all went down for a walk on the beach.. well that was the plan anyway.. but of course.. despite the fact that none of them were in togs they all ended up in the water..

Ella enjoyed herself..

Brodie thought it was great fun to run around dripping!!

And Declan, of course, was sand from head to toe!!

So we then had to wash them all and get them changed before 5pm.. Have you ever tried to keep 8 kids 6 and under clean at a campsite.. Of course Declan just had to play in the dirt..grr..

Well we finally got them fed, gotta love a bbq when you are camping.., and in bed. Despite having bought a new 3 room tent to fit us all in.. Declan and Connor decided they were sleeping in Poppy's little one with him..lol.. Oh well.. We had just settled in to relax a bit.. and of course.. it started to rain.. and the boys hadn't put a tarp over the seating area like we girls had suggested.. of course.. so a quick clean up and we all were in bed fairly early.. I was worried the sound of the rain would freak out the boys but Brodie and Connor slept right through and Poppy said Declan woke once.. grabbed his hand.. and went back to sleep..lol..

The next day was fine luckily so the kids were keen to hit the beach again. But I did manage to catch this bunch of monkeys in the tree first..lol..

They had a ball at the beach.. All adults that were game to get into the water were fair game.. They were climbed on, splashed and tackled.. Oh the joy of boys..lol..

Mick and Jack!!

Jodie was having a ball with Connor, Lachlan and Jamie..

Even Ella had a paddle..

Brodie had a ball and showed no fear of the water or the waves..

Love the two whales in the background..lol.. Not sure who had more fun.. the kids or the adults!

After they had enough of the water .. the kids had a ball in the sand.. I think Jamie was trying to dig through to China..lol..

Kyle was having great fun playing footy on the Beach with Mick.. He's got a good kick on him too..lol.. Meanwhile Joe and Poppy vanished whenever they could to go fishing..lol.. Not that they caught anything.. but they had fun..

After a cleanup and lunch.. we had a few visitors..

I couldn't resist the pics.. they are just soo gorgeous..

After a rest Zoe decided that Brodie needed his hair up..lol.. Daddy was not amused.. I thought he looked cute..lol..

Greg dd a roast in the camp ovens.. for dinner that night which was just divine.. and of course toasted marshmallows for desert..!..

At least there was no rain on Sunday night so we got to relax a bit after the kids were in bed and have a few drinkies.. Mind you Poppy reckons next time he is camping on another beach as he reckons we were too noisy..lol..

Sunday we packed up and headed off home.. this time Mick and Jodie smashed their lights connection to the trailer on the road, Zoe and Joe got a flat tyre.. and Poppy got a rock through the windscreen on his way back to Mackay... So we made sure Jodie felt really guilty for taking us camping.. pmsl..

Overall we had a wonderful time.. and Stanadge bay is just so gorgeous... Unfortunately we didn't get to see any of the turtles coming in to lay their eggs but we saw plenty of mounds where they had been.. we will def go back but next time it will be for a week.. far too much work for one weekend!!!

Hope you enjoyed your coffee..lol.. told ya it was a big one.. but I did manage to cut down the 450 photos I took to the ones you see here..lol..