gorgeous girls

One morning I found the girls like this:

Annie(4) reading books to Lucy(2.5) in the backyard on a blanket.

Seeing this just made me want to melt and then I stopped to ponder for a moment to realise I have seen this kind of thing before.....

Annie (2yrs) reading to Lucy(4months)

Annie loves reading and Lucy loves being read to.

my gorgeous girls

Annie & Amelie

These two girls just absolutely love each other so when Amelie came over for a play Annie wanted to introduce Amelie to her new favourite thing - Beados. Annie loves doing her Beados and when she is done Annie likes to blu-tak them to her bedroom door so everyone can see her handy work when they walk by.

Amelie & Annie concentrating
Amelie

Annie

The girls have so much fun together and never want to leave whichever house they happen to be playing at.

sports day '09

Sports Day carnival for 2009 was BJ's first ever carnival. His excitement and pure joy was so lovely to watch. The boys could hardly believe THE day had finally arrived after the carnival had been cancelled twice before due to wet weather and the maintenance men leaving the sprinklers on all night the night before!

The cheering squad: Annie, Grandma and Grandad

Due to the fact that BJ is in Prep, he only needed to wear his usually uniform. However, Matt needed to wear his house shirt which is blue for BOOTH. (Booth being named after the great William and Catherine Booth, the founders of the Salvation Army)


The day started off with the usual March Past:

(Matthew in the blue crowd somewhere)

After the march past the Prep start their activities first so they can head back to class as it is a very long day for them.

Matthew watching BJ in the ball games

The first activity for the Preps is the ball game, Over and Under. BJ's team had so much fun doing this game, eventhough they did lose concentration at one point and lost the ball at another but nonetheless they had fun.

BJ lining up in his ball game team

The next activity for BJ was his running race. This was the moment BJ had been waiting for. He had trained for weeks beforehand in class, and had talked non stop about it the night before.

BJ's race

Eventhough BJ did not come first, he just couldn't believe that he had FINALLY ran his race and that he got a sticker for trying!

After the Prep's had finished it was then time to start the rest of the carnival. Which means it was Matt's turn. Matt loves a good race and this was no exception. He put everything into it and came 5th.

Matt's race

After his race it was time for the toddlers race. Annie and Lucy both ran in the race and got a sticker for their efforts (which Lucy was most proud of as she showed it off to all the hospital staff when we went up there for a dressings change after that race).

Annie and Lucy after their race.

So after the toddlers race, Mum had to take Lucy up for a dressings change, so Annie, Grandma and Grandad stayed on to cheer Matty in his ball game, Captain Ball, in which his team came 1st and in his fun run (a lap and a half around the oval) in which all the kids participate in and he came 5th overall for Year 2.

At the end of the day the winning team was announced and it was BOOTH!! the boys were so excited that their team won.

We are so proud of you boys!!

Happy 60th Noonie

What a better way to celebrate a very special birthday than by having a very special dinner. For Noonie's birthday we decided to have Noonie's favourite, a beef roast dinner finished off by her favourite dessert apple crumble . We all dressed up a little bit more than usual, decorated the house with home made banners and some balloons and got out the nice china plates. We all wanted Noonie to feel special and loved as this was a very special birthday. The kids each made Noonie a very special card and then had to explain to her the whole process of how they made it and why they chose the colours they did and what picture they drew. Annie and Lucy also helped Mummy make the birthday cake - a love heart shaped cake (Annie's choice) and all the kids helped Noonie blow out all the candles. We had such a great night of fun and laughter.

BUT that was not all... Noonie did not realise that I had organised a surprise morning high tea with some of her wonderful friends. Noonie thought it was only Mummy and the girls taking her out for high tea so when we walked into the tea room she got a HUGE surprise and screamed so loud that she gave the woman beside her a big fright. It was such a lovely morning, something we will have to do again.

Happy Birthday Noonie! we love you so much

xxxooo

10 July

This is a special date that I remember every year, my mum's birthday. However this date now has a new memory, the day Lucy got her hands stuck in a moving treadmill. When I first saw Lucy she was in the car screaming saying her hands were sore as Daddy dropped off Annie and BJ and raced up to the doctor. My heart just ached for her as I could not take the pain away. Once at the doctor she gave Lucy some special cream to put on and for Mum and Dad to put on every night and that was it. But two days later (Sunday arvo), Mummy just happened to be speaking to a nurse friend who recommend we take Lucy straight up to the hospital on Monday morning for the Burns doctors to look at it as it sounds more serious than what the doctor was saying. So on Monday morning Mummy took Lucy to the Emergency department at the hospital who immediately gave her some serious pain relief and took us up to the burns unit - 2 hours later! There the specialist assessed Lucy and informed Mummy that it did not look good. So they put special dressings on and splints on both hands to keep them straight so the scars could grow straight up and down without causing her fingers to become permanently bent as the burnt skin was over her knuckle joints. The specialist informed me that if the hand and fingers don't heal enough by Friday then he will have to do some skin grafting. This was not good news so alot of people from all over started praying for Lucy. When we went back on Friday the doctor was amazed at how fast Lucy's hands were healing and that her right hand was making a full recovery and that it did not need any more splints or dressings and that it will continue to heal itself. However the left hand was still not healed BUT instead of scheduling a skin graft he said he will give it 7 more days and if it is not healed enough by then then he will indeed graft the hand. Well this was good news to Mum and Dad but more prayer was needed.

Lucy at home before her appointment to see the specialist at the hospital

Lucy getting her dressings put on her left hand only

having the splint put on

at McDonalds for lunch after being such a brave girl

After seven more days we went to see the specialist again and he was amazed again at how well the hand was healing but it was not enough to stop the need for grafting. So he informed us that on the following Monday Lucy will need at least four spots grafted but it could be up to at least seven spots. Mum and Dad did not stop praying because anything could happen over a weekend. And it did! After the surgery we were told that Lucy only needed three spots done, two were serious (on her two fingers) and one spot on her palm which they only did because they had left over skin. So even though Lucy did have skin grafting God still answered our prayers as Lucy only had the minimal amount done.

Mummy and Lucy having a lay down on the bed

Daddy and Lucy watching 'The Wiggles' to pass time

Lucy sleeping on Mummy's lap post surgery

It was a very gruelling experience for Lucy and one that Mummy is glad is over - or at least the surgery part of it. Lucy is now on a slow road to recovery

Q-Bear

Benjamin brought a friend home from school for a sleepover, Q-BEAR . Each person in the class take turns in bringing home the bear and then document in a book what they did with the Bear. So here is

The afternoon in the life of Q-BEAR.....

Q-Bear sitting in the backyard watching BJ eat afternoon tea

BJ and Q-Bear climbing the trestles

jumping on the trampoline

Both bear and boy fast asleep after a VERY big afternoon on fun

family holidays

We all love camping, so at every opportunity we pack up our stuff and off we go. This holiday we headed off to one of our favourite locations, Double Island. We had a bit of a set back at the start of the trip, our car wouldn't start, but after some prayer the car miraculously started. We all had a great time and came away with some great stories.

Some of the highlights:

* as soon as we arrived the boys found a tree to climb.

Matt, Nick and BJ

* all the kids (including Nick) sitting out the front of the camper waiting for the sun to set.

Lucy, Annie, BJ, Matty and Nick

* the beautiful girls

Lucy and Annie

* early one morning we all headed down to the beach to fly the kites while the sun was rising.

Nick flying the kite while Matty watches on

* one of our favourite places at Double Island, Red Canyon. We all climbed to the top and were in awe of the beautiful view

* going to the sand blow at Rainbow Beach was also a highlight. These sand dunes were huge so when you went down the dune on your boogies board you really picked up some speed.

BJ falling off the boogie board while speeding down the dune

Daddy flying off the boogie board

making sandcastles at the sand blow

* campfires at night

Nick preparing the firewood for our last campfire

Nick and BJ around the campfire

There were so many highlights to the holiday - playing soccer on the beach, watching the girls run around in their swimmers while everyone else had their jumpers and track pants on, Nick starting his first fire, UNO games, sliding down the sand dunes right outside of tent on the boogie boards..... We all had so much fun and have come away from a great holiday with some fantastic memories.