Australia Day 2009 – We started the day with breakfast at Manly Dam with the usual suspects. After some typical Aussie activites – BBQ, swimming in the Dam, fun in the inflatable boat, it was time for cake! Ian and Sue provided the very yummy caramel mudcake! Happy Birthday Australia!
So I have a few days to catch up on…
25th January 2009
Today’s photo is on honour of the Australian Open which is on right now. We are watching a lot of tennis in our house and today Pete suggested a family game. Even though the temperature had dropped it was still warm and humid, Sam really didn’t want to play but Alex, Pete and I had a good hit. So on the tennis they keep showing tennis balls strategically placed for a good shot before a match or during a break, so I thought I would recreate the shot to show our support!
24th January 2009
Today’s photo is of Sam, Alex, Colm, Christian and Matthew all very tired after much swimming and a 41C day in Sydney. This photo was taken after 9.30pm, we had dinner with Michele and Jennifer and David and all the kids. There was much swimming, playing of DS’s and Wii games by all the kids.
23rd January
Three Days with the King aftermath. Today’s photo was taken late on Thursday after Sam had returned from camp. He had a wonderful time but was very tired and emotional when he came home. I suggested a movie and within about half an hour he was asleep. He hasn’t done that in years! He slept for over an hour and then woke up full of camp stories!
22nd January 2009
Today’s photo is a bit of a cheat as it was taken last night but my friend Sue took the photo of Alex sleeping over at their place last night. It was too cute a photo not to include! My photo for today was also of Alex but it was at Nanna’s shop whilst he was trying on costumes to help Nanna out.
21st January 2009
Today I met with my friend Dana for lunch for her birthday. We went to Dee Why Beach and wandered around looking for the perfect place to eat. We settled on the Sandbar restaurant and ordered the most scrumptious Chicken, Mango and Haloumi Salad. I can’t wait to go back and have another – we both ordered it and loved it. The weather was stunning too!
Today’s photo is Alex with his tennis racquet as he was setting off to tennis camp. This is just a daily thing but he really enjoyed yesterday and is booked in for every day this week. I hope he is not too hot!!
Yesterday’s photo is of Sam sitting on his suitcase and pillow. We were about to head out the door to take him to his first camp, with All Saints church. This is a HUGE thing for both of us and I am so PROUD of him for going. All reports are good so far. He is gone for 3 nights – the longest time he has been away from us.
Today’s photo is of our Bingo set. A few weeks ago Pete volunteered to take the Summer Sunday School at church, now we are fairly new to the church but Pete wanted to do it, so I let him. He organised it all himself and ran it with the help of Nicola. For over an hour he played Bingo and Sock Hockey with 28 children!!!!!
Yesterday’s photo is of Alex and Christian playing the PS2. We ran into Jennifer, Christian and Stephanie at Big W and Alex was desperate for Christian to come for a play. So he came home with us and they spent the whole time on the Playstation!! But hey they enjoyed themselves!
Today’s photo is of my scrapping space, I have been trying to sort out our stuff a bit over the holidays and I finally tidied my desk and made a page last night. I plan to keep sorting today as there is much that needs to go!
Yesterday’s photo is of my fabulous Impanema thongs that I bought way back in October to take to Queensland. I have worn them almost daily since and I LOVE them! Unfortunately I lost one of my jewels on NYE at Manly but I still LOVE them!
14th January
Today Sam and I played our new family version of Trivial Pursuit. We got it for Christmas and it is great because it has questions for children and questions for adults, so you really can play it together. Unfortunately Sam whipped me in our first game, the photo shows his pie completely filled, it also shows the funky clear die the game comes with, thankfully the photo (taken by me) doesn’t show my pie with only two slices in it!!
13th January 2009
Today’s photo is of our Learning Ladder Leaders Meeting held at Next Generation Fitness at North Ryde. We have all our Learning Ladder training there and last night Ellie (and the company) shouted us a pizza dinner to kick off the year. I have been with the Learning Ladder since February 2008.
Today’s photo is of Alex at the beach having a fantastic time (can you tell?) boogie boarding in shallow waves. The water was pretty cold but he didn’t seem to notice at all! Gotta love mobile phones with built in cameras!!
I wish I could say I did more than eat this cake! It was a cake baked by my good friend Nicola (she’s famous for her carrot cake) for another friend Sue, whose birthday it was. We all gathered at our local park (with 12 children in tow) and celebrated her birthday with THE cake. A simple thing to do but it was so much fun, none of the kids fought, only one minor knee scrape for Alex and a spilt cup of coffee – so all in all a great outing!
I think the graffiti on the table adds to the urban feel of the photo!!! LOL!
Today’s photo is of Lin and John, Pete and I already to go to Sean’s 40th Birthday party. As you can see we are all in costume. The theme was what you wanted to be when you grew up. It was actually quite interesting to see the different costumes that people were wearing. A couple of police officers (including Pete) nurses, air hostesses, Wallabies and All Blacks as well as a race car driver, concert pianist, C.E.O, builder and me the surgeon! Lin was a Vet and John a surfer (read beach bum!) A good night had by all, although I am not sure Sean remembers much of it!!
Project 365 is a scrapbook for a year. The idea is from Becky Higgins and all you have to do is take a photo every day for a year. It allows you to capture your life a day at a time and I have decided to participate. So far I have taken a picture a day and have been journalling in a word document the thoughts I have associated with the picture. So I thought while I wait for the kit that was designed to go with this project or until I create a solution of my own, I would place my photos in this sadly unused blog!
So here are my first 9 days of photos and I plan to blog as often as possible to keep this program going.
Project 365
1st January 2009 Boys, Pete and Riley playing the Playstation
Being the 1st of January everyone was pretty tired. The boys had stayed up to midnight for the first time so the result was we were all happy to sit around and veg! Riley had come over for a play and everyone was winding down as it was close to 4pm.
2nd January 2009 Sue, Ian, Pete and Jane Card Night
A few months ago we went to the Ian and Sue’s home and played 500, it was so much fun we decided to do it again. We started early (4.30pm) with food prep, nibbles and lots of chatting. We then ate and sorted out the boys, Sam, Alex, Josh and Zac with movies and got down to business – it was such a fun night we even played Up and Down the River (after checking the rules on the internet!!). Another late night for the boys with Josh taking this photo at 11pm! After several very funny attempts at a self timed photo!
3rd January 2009 Alex, Sam, Chloe and Lachlan at Manly Dam feeding ducks
Sean and Nikki came over for lunch and after we had eaten Pete suggested a walk, so the kids and Pete and Sean walked down to the Dam and Nikki and I drove down so they didn’t have to walk up the hill again. We took some stale bread down for them to feed the ducks and they all enjoyed that, Chloe and Lachlan even paddled in the water. It was lovely to see them again and Nikki told us that she is having a baby – so that was very exciting!
4th January 2009 15 Day Detox Pack and Juicer
A week before Christmas I went out to dinner with Ellie and Eva and was complaining once again about the state of my body – too much weight, not enough fitness – the usual complaints. Eva suggested that I do the 15 day detox she had done a few months ago to get myself back on track and eating better. So despite my excuses (like it is a week before Christmas) she convinced me to give it a go. Well today is the end of the 15 days and I feel great! I am not sure if I have lost any weight at all but I think at least a couple of kilos. I also didn’t manage to stick to it religiously but hey it was Christmas!! But I did pretty well. I even did a bit of exercise – more in the first few days than the last but I feel it has put me on the right track. So I plan to continue the eating and exercise plan as much as possible and keep up with all the fruit and vegies. I am pretty proud of myself!
5th January 2009 Alex asleep on our bed
Alex is and has always been a great sleeper. He loves his 12 hours if he can get it. So after quite a few late nights this week I snapped this photo of him at 10.30am!! He came into our bed around 8.30 and just didn’t want to wake up so he stayed there. He has always loved a sleep in!
6th January 2009 Three boys sun baking!
This photo is Sam, Alex and Colm all laying on their towels at North Steyne Beach at Manly. We only allowed them to do this for about 10 minutes as they would burn if left out in the sun for too long. Much of our holiday break so far has been spent in or near the water. Bliss!
7th January 2009 Swimming at Riley’s house
Five minutes after this photo was taken it all went pear shaped. Sam had bought 2 foam swords while out early with Pete this morning. He and Alex had already come to blows over them before we left home to go swimming. While in the pool he and Alex argued over the blow up boat in the water and so Sam whacked Alex with the sword on his back – I then intervened and asked Sam to leave the pool for 3 minutes. He didn’t think this was reasonable and refused to get out and then argued with me and was so very rude. I then told him we were leaving – this was not well received and we had a stand off for 3-4 minutes until I physically removed him and marched him out to the car. Not such a great morning but that is what sometimes happens with a child called Sam! I explained to him on the way home in a very loud voice that his behaviour was UNACCEPTABLE. He didn’t even say sorry or beg me to stay he was indignant – as usual. Hopefully the day will get better for both of us!
8th January 2009 Preparation for Cheesy Chicken Tenders
A few months ago my sister told me about a great website called taste.com.au that has recipes from many of the major cooking magazines with 1000’s of recipes. As I was organising a menu plan the other day I searched for recipes based on what I already had in the freezer and came up with some fab recipes. This one included. So I made them for lunch today as friends were coming over and I would have 5 hungry children to feed. They were very well received! Yum!
9th January 2009 Laptop
Today I have decided that while waiting for a better alternative, to blog my Project 365 so that I can keep a track of pictures and journaling together easily and quickly. You never know I may just get a kit one of these days!
