Holidays!! day three

After a gorgeous first two days we woke up to a very windy, overcast morning. Due to the weather and it being low tide, we decided to 4wd to Rainbow Beach for morning tea and to look at a sandblow which had been recommended to us by Big Josh.

Mummy and Lucy at the sandblow

Matthew at the top of the sanddune and BJ on his way up.

Daddy flying the kite.

When we returned back to camp Daddy decided it was perfect kite weather. So he went to get BJ's kite out but could not remember where he put it away so he got out Matt's stunt kite to try instead. We have on a previous occasion tried this kite before but with no luck BUT today Daddy worked out how to use it. It is a kite with two lines therefore, you use both hands to guide the kite and do stunts with it. Matthew loved this kite and got really good at performing stunts and doing 'loop-de-loops' with it. Mummy and Daddy had to fight Matthew to get a go!

The Beach Gang!

Due to the wind the kids thought it was a great idea to wear their sunglasses to keep the sand out of their eyes while they run and jump in the sand and off the sand dunes.

Lucy playing 'Connect 4'

During quiet time this night Lucy kept herself occupied by playing a game of 'Connect 4' solo style!

Holidays!! day two

After a great night sleep Matthew woke up to a wonderful surprise. The 'Tooth Fairy' had paid him a visit while camping!! Matthew was so excited to receive a special note and some money from her. Mum and Matthew had been talking the day before about how he would like to take his tooth to school for show and tell and apparently the 'Tooth Fairy' knew this so left a note explaning why she left the tooth behind.

Matthew with his note and money

After breakfast we all headed down to the beach to have some fun! The boys did some surfing on their boogie boards and the girls jumped waves. After this we all decided to build sandcastles and dig for water.

Mum and Dad's sand castle

Matthew's hole where he dug for water

BJ's sandcastle

Annie's favourite place!

If we couldn't find Annie we always knew where to look first. The portaloo was her favourite place to be.

rest time in the camper trailer

After being exhausted from a morning of surfing, swimming and sand castle making we all headed off for a rest. Even Mummy and Daddy had a sleep too!!

Holidays!! day one

After waking up at 4am to do the last minute packing of the esky and the clothes onto the roof of the car we were ready to wake the kids up at 5am to get on the road!! We needed to be at the barge by 7am so we could get the full benefits of low tide.

Stewart taking the camper trailer of the car.

Annie giving us a little performance to help motivate us to finish setting up.

While eating lunch Matt lost his tooth!

Matthew had two top wobbly teeth for a while and every night before he went to bed he asked me to give it a good tug to see if it would come out. Well today was that day!! While eating his sandwich his tooth fell out and Matthew was so happy that it finally happened. He is now working on the next tooth!

Stewart to the rescue.

While flying the kite Stewart noticed a car bogged in the sand so he grabbed the snatch strap, hopped in the car and went to the rescue. Matthew went along for the ride and thought it was the coolest thing ever!

flying the kite....

...get the kite out of the tree!!

The kids loved flying the kite in the afternoon. BUT this time they got too close to the BIG tree near the camper!

relaxing before dinner.

At the end of every day the kids have their bath, put on nice fresh clothes and settle down to some quiet time so Mum and Dad can prepare dinner. Lucy however, loves to have a nibble on some more food. Lucy just loves to eat!!

rollers

Matthew and Annie wearing Noonie's hair rollers!!

Junior School Concert

Frog

Matthew performed in his first Junior School Concert at the end of term three. The Year One's reenacted the story of 'The Selfish Crocodile'. It is a story about animals in a forest who are frightened of a selfish crocodile. No matter how much the animals try, the crocodile just won't let anyone drink from the river. Then, one day, the crocodile has a toothache — but nobody dares to help him, until a little mouse appears and bravely finds a way to solve this snappy dilemma. After the reenactment the children then sang and danced to 'Who's the King of the Jungle'. Matthew was a frog for the performance!! He was so excited about performing for the parents so on the night Daddy and Mummy was there he spotted us on stage and kept looking at us and smiling for the video camera!! The school children performed the item three times, two nights for the parents, and once for the Grandparents on Grandparents Day. By the end of the week Matthew was very tired.

Benjamin and Annie at one of Matthew's performances

It was a very long night for BJ and Annie that they kept asking "when are we going home?" BJ started asking this after the first item!! But they did love seeing Matthew on stage.

He remembered...

.... that tulips are my favourite flowers and that I had them for my wedding bouquet. These are the beautiful flowers I received for our 9th wedding anniversary. What a wonderful nine years we have had. Buying a home, renovating the home, celebrating the birth of four beautiful children, camping, camper trailers, two big '0' birthdays ..... and I wouldn't change a thing. I have loved every minute of it and I look forward to the next 9 years and beyond. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

southbank

Lucy all ready for the bike ride

The Smith bike gang!

Lucy having her turn!

One of our favourite things to do as a family is bike riding at Southbank. Seeing as Benjamin has graduated from his 'L' plates to his 'P' plates on his two wheel bike, we thought he was now ready to ride at Southbank with the crowds. So we headed off for the afternoon. As Dad was putting the bikes on the bike rack at home, Lucy found her helmet and put it on and was NOT taking it off!! She absolutely loves riding on the back of Dad's bike. After the ride we stopped off for a play at the playgorund before heading off for some hot chips for dinner. Dad made the comment to BJ that he was doing such a great job on his bike and BJ's comment was "yeah Dad, I have only hit two people so far!!" Well done BJ! So as we were leaving Lucy insisted on having her turn riding a bike. She does not like missing out on anything!

waterslide madness

The boys getting ready!

BJ's PLOP!

Matthew's turn

Matthew's SPLASH!

Lucy' s little pool!

Annie doing what she loves most

So what do kids do when Dad is working on the camper trailer and Mum is doing the washing?? Make your own Backyard Waterslide!! The boys had a ball doing this. They set up the blowup pool at the bottom of the slide, so Dad's grass wouldn't get turned into mud, and wet the slide with the water from the water tank and off they went. Lucy wanted to get in on the action too but Mummy wasn't too sure so she set up the old baby bath instead. Annie was quite reluctant to get in the water so she just jumped on the trampoline and stayed dry. Benjamin did have a new experience though - nipple rash!! Mummy had never heard of this before but Dad had and come to BJ's rescue with some cream.

History in the making

After a great first soccer season it has now come to an end. Matthew throughly enjoyed his first year of competition soccer which was full of great moments. Some being Matthew's first goal, the teams first win and of course receiving the leadership award from his coach and manger. At the end of the season all Northside Christian Football Club teams got together for a presentation night to thanks the players, coaches, referees and all the volunteers who were involved in running the club. Each player was presented with a participation trophy. This was Matthew's first trophy ever and the excitment of receiving this was written all of his face with a grin from ear to ear. After each team was presented with their trophy they proceeded to hand out special trophys for the 'Best and Fairest player' and the 'Most Improved player' from each team. To our special surprise Matthew was presented with the 'Most Improved player' for the Chargers!! Well I thought the excitment of receiving the participation trophy was priceless, watching Matthew receive this special trophy took my words away. He walked up on stage with his head held high and a smile so big I thought he was going to burst. This award was such an honour and a priviledge to receive, especially as Matthew did not play the last couple of weeks due to his broken collarbone. Matthew could hardly wait to get home to show it to Dad! When we did arrive home Matthew put on his straight face (as best as he could) and showed Dad the participation trophy (which we all knew he would receive) and of course Dad made a big fuss but then Matthew could not wait any longer and burst with excitment as he showed Dad his 'most improved player' award. Well you could have knocked Dad over as he was so pleasantly surprised by this award. Matthew was still in a state of shock and kept saying over and over "I can't believe it, I can't believe it" as he stared at his trophy. Let me just say that it took Matthew a VERY long time to get to sleep that night! CONGRATULATIONS MATTHEW WE ARE SO VERY PROUD OF YOU!!

Father's Day

Getting ready to wake Daddy up!

waking Daddy up!

receiving instructions on how to read the treasure map

Daddy finding some treasure on the fort

sitting down to breakfast

Father's Day this year was a little different to the ones we have had in the past. This year we did not have to rush off to church as we were going to the afternoon service. So the day started off with Daddy having a sleep-in and the kids getting ready to wake Daddy up! The kids absolutely loved running in and jumping on Dad to wake him up and to show all of their homemade presents and cards. Matthew gave Dad a tie card (which he made in class) , a frisbee and chocolates (which he bought at the school father's day stall). Benjamin gave Dad some paintings and a special card (which he made a kindy) and Annie and Lucy gave a tie card and some Rocky road (all made at playgroup). This was a great time of sitting on the bed and watching Dad open all of his presents and listening to all the details and stories from each individual child on how it was made, why it was made and what the picture is about. Next we headed downstairs to start cooking Dad's requested 'mixed grill BBQ' breakfast which consisted of bacon, lamb chops, sausages and eggs. Daddy thought he was in heaven! While the breakfast was cooking, Matthew gave Dad the treasure map he drew with instructions on how to find the rest of his presents. So off Dad and the kids went on a treasure hunt around the garden to find some more gifts. I don't know who was more excited, Daddy or Annie and BJ! Once the treasure hunt was over it was time for breakfast. We all sat down to celebrate the fact that we have the 'World's Best Dad"!
After breakfast, and a quick nap for Lucy, we headed over to Mama and Grandad's for lunch with the Smith family. There the girls gave Grandad his tie and Rocky road they had made for him at playgroup. We then proceeded onto church before heading home for a little dinner and bed after such a huge day. To finish it all off Matthew decided to give Dad a rub instead of getting one from Dad. Usually part of the bedtime routine Daddy gives the kids a rub each night before they go to sleep but this night Matthew decided to give Dad a rub because it was FATHER'S DAY.

Photos for Grandad

The Awesome Foursome!

The gorgeous girls!

Best Buddies!

These are the photos for Grandad's Father's Day Card. We love you Grandad!!

Our Soccer Star

Matthew with his award and medal

At the end of the soccer season Matthew received his first ever soccer medal and award from his soccer coach and manager. After a great first season Matthew received the Chargers Team Leadership Award which was presented to him by Mrs Hawkins, the team manager. Matthew was given this award because out of all the boys in his team his coach thinks that Matthew has the potential to be a captain of a big soccer team one day. Matthew enjoyed orgainsing the boys in their positions each game and leading the way. He was so thrilled to receive his award and medal and showed it to as many people as he could!

Olympics bound!

Matthew and Benjamin performing a team routine.

Benjamin performing a solo.

Matthew and Benjamin really enjoyed watching the Beijing Olympics. They would watch any event they could but their favourite event was the Mens Gymnastics. One night while Daddy and Mummy were cooking dinner we heard some giggling and 'banging' going on in the lounge room so we snuck our heads around the corner to find the boys doing somersaults and their version of the men's floor routine. Matthew was doing this with a factured collarbone! We also caught them having their own medal ceremony with Noonie!! Matthew had just received his medal for playing soccer and Daddy had found one of his old swimming medals for Benjamin so all the kids had a medal ceremony. Matthew received the gold medal (eventhough his soccer one was silver), Benjamin received the silver medal (eventhough his was actually gold), Annie's job was to hand out the medals and give the boys a handshake and a kiss and Noonie's job was to sing the Australian National anthem eventhough she didn't know the words!! Benjamin also found a purple headband and thought it looked cool and made him look more like a gymnast!! Both boys say they want to go the Olympics one day and come back with a gold medal. Funny thing is - I can actually see this happening!

clever girl

One of Annie's best attempts of writing her name

Annie writing her name

What a clever girl Annie is! She can now write her own name and is very proud of herself. Annie decided that she was going to learn how to write her name so she could be like her big brothers. So after already knowing how to sing her name song, (A N N I E spells Annie, A N N I Eeeeee, A N N I E spells Annie, that is how you spell Annie) it was now time for her to learn how to write it. So off she went with pen and paper in hand singing her name song to make sure she had all the letters in the right order. I only had to show Annie once how to write her name and she was off and determined to get it right. So after several attempts she got it right!!!