It's Christmas

Well finally the countdown is over. Since early November Joshua kept asking me if it was christmas yet. It was driving me crazy. We had several calenders on the go to help him understand and the more he asked the longer it seemed to get. Now he asks me when is it his birthday. Arrgh!

Despite the pre-Christmas frustrations it was a lovely Christmas, and particularly busy. The children woke up Christmas morning to a bunch of presies. Benjamin was a little disappointed that he only got a Nintendo DS with a few assessories. 'Santa thought I only wanted a DS' I remember him saying. Unfortuneately it cost more than anyone elses present and everyone in the family has played with it more than him. Crazy! But that is what he asked for and he does have the added bonus of being able to play with all of Joshua's cool toys. He also got spoilt by Ouma and Grandma.

We had planned to go to the Ward Christmas Carols service but after setting up Polly Pocket Roller Coaster resort and trying to figure out how to put a Transformer together the morning just flew by. Then we were off to Ouma's house.

Every year the kids get a large Santa sack full of goodies. Ouma does a great job with her collecting of bits and bobs from around the world and at home throughout the year. It is like opening a treasure chest. The highlight for Ben was his Pirate Costume and for Abby her Tinkerbell costume. Lizzie loved her gold locket and Josh just seemed to like everything.

Now this is what I have been waiting for!

Here's me treasure

She looks so cute.

Where to start? Hmmmm. Just open the bag Georgia!

Yes, big boys get presents too.

Ouma and Grandfather look on as their house gets destoyed.


Thanks Aunty Di

'The Boys' just chill'n out.

Only Josh could get away with taking an entire turkey leg.

We caught up with my side of the family on boxing day. My big sister Tanya bravely offered to have Christmas at her house this year. It is a bit of a bummer it is all the way down in Mandurah, but it is a lovely home with a pool and the kids love it. Tanya's kids and my kids just get along like a house on fire. It was a lovely and relaxing day with the kids being constantly entertained and thoroughly spoilt with presents.

Mum and my big sister Tanya preparing Christmas lunch.

Pre Christmas presents

Post Christmas Presents -what a mess

Starting from the left-Stev(little bro), Mum, Lisa (little sis) and boyfriend Mark

Josh was in Transformer Heaven

Abby, Lilly and Lizzie


A summer Christmas in the pool

They think they are all that!

Chill'n out after lunch.

Although we didn't think about the Saviour as much as I would have liked, it was certainly a time spent enjoying the company of family and knowing just how important we are to one another. Merry Christmas everyone!

End of Year School Assembly

Gosh how the year has flown by. To celebrate Christmas and the end of the year the children each did an assembly item with their class. Unfortuneately I don't have many pictures. It was held in the evening and my little didgital camera did not do so well. I also used our antique digital video camera and I do not know how to download the footage I took. So sorry to disappoint. Pictures are so much more interesting.

Ben has just finished a year of pre-primary. He has come so far this year. He reads and writes and has so much sweetness about him that I could eat him. In the video he is the little boy on the left swinging his arms the most. Although you cannot tell, he got right into it and sang the words. He is quite the groover.

Lizzie's item is unfortuneately on the other digital recorder, which is a real shame as you don't get to see the Kangaroo costume that I MADE. It was a complete nightmare I might have you know and then Lizzies teacher was desperate for someone to make 10 pairs of brown shorts for the reindeers, so guess who ended up with them, of course. I am surprised at how many mums can not sew. It was just me and one other Mum to make costumes for 20 children. But the item was by far the best in terms of costume. The kids were quite good as well I quess :). Just kidding. It was a great little item of 'Six White Boomers'. Lizzie loved being the mummy kangaroo and did a great job too.

Lizzie did get to sing in the Indonesian Christmas Carol. Only just. Poor girl got very embarrased as she went on stage to join the Indonesian class but was then pulled off by the student teacher who thought she went up there by mistake. Lizzie tried to go up again during the song only to be pulled off by the same teacher again. After some movement behind the curtain Lizzie finally jumps up on stage again to catch the end of the carol. Poor thing. She sang very well. She got an 'excellent' for Indonesian this year. She rolls her eyes at me when I try to say stuff. Mum just doesn't get it!

Joshua's class did frosty the snowman. I get really anxious when it comes to Josh on stage, as his performance really depends on his mood. Often he can do his item really well but is let down by his nervous energy making him silly. But this year he did just fine and you can see him in the back row swinging side to side the most. What you cannot see is him singing all the words. I think he tried really hard and he did a good job.

.

The assembly was long and tiring. It started at 7pm but we needed to be there at 6.30pm for costumes and rehearsals. After welcomes and awards and thank yous and more awards it was 8pm before any performances started. Then there was a performance for every year from kindy to year 7 and they did not finish until 9pm. Then there was the goodbyes to the year 7's and then the teachers item. It really was too long a night for little children. However, out of all the family I think Blair complained the most followed by Abby. Sigh!

My Hubby the Handyman

We are constantly renovating our house and at the moment we are getting the fascias painted and the gutters replaced. One of the fascias was in really bad condition. Pitty I didn't take a before photo. The corner was badly weathered, split and permanently bowed. The corner was mismatched and in a real shambles.

The painter could not repair it, so it was up to the Campbell DIY team to sort it out. Blair, forever the optimist, was sure we could not do it and if we did it would be a complete stuff up. However I am up for a challenge so that means he has to be too. So yesterday, Saturday, we went up to Bunnings with all the children in 35 degree heat just to spice things up a bit. Thank goodness it is the christmas season so Bunnings had a facepainting workshop to help keep the kids amused.

We found fascia fitting and a huge piece of wood (3.6m long) to do the job. We tied the plank to the roof racks, which is the first time we have ever used them since buying the car a few years ago, and managed to get home without any major disasters. After being home for a few hours and recovering from the heat I thought it was about time to tackle the fascia by pulling it down. Blair looked rather comfy on the couch with the newspaper so I went to do the job myself.

After a few blows with the hammer I realised that being a woman can be so frustrating sometimes. The thing was not budging. Blair came out after all the noise I was making and mumbling under his breath he had a go. After getting a crow bar and large screw driver we started to see some progress and finally that thing came off. Then we discovered it had a long groove in it where the eve fits in. Crap, we are going to need a plunge router. I have never used one but I was determined for Blair to learn how. I did a ring around of all my handy friends and found one. Yay! That was the easy part, now I just have to convince Blair he can do it!

We had a quick lesson on 'you-tube' to give us the low down and we were away. Just a little measure here and secure a guide there, presto we are ready to go. It was slow and very noisey. The router bit fell out at one stage and we thought we had broken the thing. Crap! I wanted to just hammer the bit back in but Blair was all carefull and stuff. Back to 'You-tube' again on 'How to change a router bit", and we were off again. It seemed to make a lot more smoke this time. I was worried it was going to catch fire but there were only a few scorch marks. Blair cut the ends on a 45degree angle with our circular saw with ease and now it was time to put it up. I pre sunk the nails so not as much hammering was need while trying to hold a huge plank in place. That was my weak contribution.

It was not perfect but it was not bad. All in all a good days work. It cost us $20 for the wood and that is a bargain. Now what else can I get Blair to do? Hmmmmm :)