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..