New Years Eve

Here are just a few pics on New Years Eve down at the beach. My Mum had this great idea (NOT!) to spend it at the beach. So Blair, me and the kids and my sister and her kids and my Mum stupidly went to the beach for a BBQ and swim. It was blowing a gale, but the kids had a great time, the adults not so much.

However the photos in the setting sun have a lovely warmth about them.
I thought this was a great shot. Pity you cannot see more of Abby's face.
Now that I can see her face she is pulling a gummy smile
The waves were rough. I was terrified Ben would drown. That is him about to go under.

The kids spent the whole time trying to pluck up the courage to swim out to the platform.


Unfortuneately for them, but lucky for me, they never made it. Phew!









Dunked for the 100th time.

Hey, where did everybody go?

Christmas 2010

Man, it is March already and I haven;t even put up any Christmas photos and I was originally planning on puttin up Bali Photos. Anyway, here they are. First lot at at my Mums and the second lot are at Blair's Mums. Christmas was buzy but great. Josh was in his element as we had been counting down to Christmas since day 42. It drove me bonkers. The kids were totally spoilled and so were the adults. Wish you were here Lorne and Sabrina, Love you guys.

I didn't get a chance to take a photo of the pinjata, it was smashed in only a few goes. With in seconds the lollies were gone. Every man for himself!

This is my beautiful sister Lisa and her boyfriend Mark


































Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the present opening















Liz thought Lilly getting undies was hillarious

Lilly looks like she is claiming no responsibilty for whats inside this present.

Next present please!

Ouma's House

Josh is thinking - Are these for me?















Just what Abby has always wanted - a fly swatter

Abby is behind there somewhere.

Birthday Boys

This year Josh turned 11 on the 8th of October and Ben turned 7 on the 25th of October. Gosh the years have flown by.

This year was Josh's year to have a party, and it had to be at his favourite place-Scitech. He had a great time with several of his friends from school and some cousins. Unfortuneately I didn't take very many photos. I am not such a wizz with the camera like Tia Sabrina :)

Below is a photo of Josh lighting his own birthday cake. One of the highlights of the day. He is quite the pyro-maniac, just look at the concentration on his face.

Ben did not get to have a party this year. Next year he will be eight so we will be sure to make a huge fuss of him, being his baptism year. For now he just had some time with the family enjoying some birthday cake. Although the enjoying part was cut short when he tried to light his own candles like Josh and ended up burning his fingers.

Here Ben is holding a 'peas and corn' ice pack on his fingers. Ouma is safely holding the cake to avoid any more accidents with flames.

Ben tries to put on a brave face and something resembling a smile for his birthday photo. Poor kid.

School Carnival 2010

This was the first year in a long time that the School Carnival has been full of smiles. The last 2 years Josh has come dead last. So last in fact that the kids have finished the race and he is still only half way. Poor little soul is trying his very best but his legs just won't go as fast as he wills them. Races have previously ended in tears with comments like "I'm broken" and "I'm a loser". Well this year was a whole different story. Josh was allowed a head start. The gun went off twice, once for him then the rest of the boys. He has such a great class. Some of the boys said they wanted to let him win any way. Even though he was given a 50m head start in a 100m race he tied for second with his good mate Ken. Ken let him have all the glory though and he got to stand triumphant on the stand.

What really touched my heart was not only the good sportsmanship of the other boys racing him but the wonderful support from all the parents watching. This race was well past the middle of the day and parents were really just chatting between themselves by this stage and making sure they payed attention when their child was racing. But when Josh started running, at first all was silent. I was at the end of the lane yelling out and jumping up and down. But as he ran down that race track, all on his own, people began to notice. Probably at first because it was so unusual, but then, as they realised it was Josh, everyone started to cheer. The excitement and commeraderee was palpable, and this year I wanted to cry for joy and not sadness. Josh not only won the race but has won the hearts of so many people during his time at Wilson Primary. After he stepped down from the stand, beaming from ear to ear, parents yelled out welldone and gave him high fives and hugs as he made his way back to his seat. It was a momentous occasion.








Miss Elisabeth also did a great job in her 100m race. She won by a good 3m or so. Of course being so tall means one of her steps is equal to about three steps to another. She was so thrilled with herself as the shot below shows.








Liz also came 4th in the 400m race. That was a tough one and took its toll on her. I recorded this race at the end. Her face says it all.












I am afraid Ben is not much of an athlete at the moment. However his good natured spirit and sportsman ship enabled him to have a great day. For a boy that is fiercely competitive on computer games he is rather layed back when it comes to physical sports. He came last in his 80m race, but arrived at the finish line all smiles and telling me "it was fun, but can we go home now?"





Later in the day he was in a team sport and his team came first. In the picture below he is sitting proudly with his first ribbon with his best friend Gerald.





All in all it was an exhausting but great day. My babies made me so proud.