HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Tonight I'm enjoying a quiet champagne with my family and probably won't see midnight as my children will be up at 5.30am. The weather is very hot and humid at present and we are madly praying for rain as the grass is very crunchy under foot.

I also wanted to post some more photos of our family Christmas.

The top two photos are of my niece, Alex and nephew, Lachlan holding green frogs which enjoyed the water around the pool at the apartments. The next photo is of Penny and Auntie Trudie (my SIL) and the bottom of great mates and cousins, Lachlan and Nicholas. I hope to post more photos soon.

WISHING YOU ALL A FANTASTIC, SUCCESSFUL AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR!

I'm still trying to work out my New Year's resolutions. Maybe it will take me the whole year to decide!

Have a great night.

Rach xx

A Great Beachy Christmas!

We had a great Christmas at the local beach. My parents and sister ventured up from Adelaide and my brother and his family came up from Brisbane. We stayed in some lovely new apartments situated about 100 metres from the beach. The kids had a great time in the pool but also equally enjoyed their time in the surf. Nick gained great confidence on his boogie board and was even riding the waves kneeling on his board. We enjoyed a delicious Christmas lunch made special by the gorgeous name tags that the cousins, Alexandra and Lachlan had made as well as the Christmas crackers that the children and I made. We also enjoyed fish and chips at the beach one night with possums keeping a close eye on us and a scrummy goodbye BBQ dinner on Saturday night. We didn't want to come home after 5 days but it was great to get organised and for the kids to get all of their presents out properly at home.

On our arrival home, Penny was greeted with her new playhouse which was a little too big to take to the beach. She is loving playing games and trying to fit all of her dolls and their accessories in it. Nick spent much of yesterday building all of his new Lego City Coast Guard. He received two big sets for Christmas and built them all by himself.

Today we farewelled my sister, Auntie Robbie. The kids have loved playing with her and Penny started crying as soon as her plane took off - "I want to play with Auntie Robbie!". We are hoping to visit Adelaide in May and she hopes to come back during 2009. Also today, our poor Labrador, Zoe had a toe on her back foot amputated due to a fast growing tumour. She's home tonight and appears to be in good spirits with a waggly tail although a little sleepy.

Fun Play

We had a great morning playing at the new playground in our area. It also caters for disabled children with a wheelchair swing being one of the main attractions. It is a wonderful playground with great equipment for all ages including a bike/traffic roadway and a maze.

The rest of the day has been spent getting ready for that very important day which is 2 sleeps away. I don't think I'll get back here before Christmas Day so to all I wish you and your families a wonderful Christmas and best wishes for 2009.

Rach xx

Oh What A Night...

We had a great night at my work Christmas party - theme Hollywood style. As mentioned earlier, I went as Audrey Hepburn - can you see the likeness? Some people had the nerve to ask me if I was the Queen, until I brought out my cigarette holder and then they didn't know what to think! Craig went as The Joker (Jack Nicholson) with green hair (didn't show up well in the photo) and a beautifully painted face. We had a great night, with great food, plenty of champagne (although not over indulgent), great company and fantastic dancing. We were a little slow the next morning due to our late night but plenty needed to be done as my family arrived later that day to stay with us for Christmas.

In other news we had a lovely night at the park for Penny's daycare Christmas party. The kids were very well behaved and we all really enjoyed ourselves. Santa visited and the kids each received a good book. We also had fun singing Christmas carols.

We visited Santa on Tuesday and Penny was not quite game to sit on Santa's lap, so I had to be part of the photo too. It turned out well. It was nice to be in a photo for a change - 3 in this post in fact!

The Christmas Tree ...

is up and the Christmas carols are playing. We put the tree up on the 1st December but unfortunately I haven't had much time to blog lately. I don't really have time at present, but I love keeping people up to date and receiving comments. We've been busy with end of school fun, our poor old Labrador, Zoe who had to have a visit to the vet to shave and treat a very festy hot spot and I've also rediscovered sewing. I'm making an evening dress for my Christmas party. The theme is Hollywood and I'm going as Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) from "Breakfast At Tiffany's". I will post some photos after the event. I thought I'd better watch the movie as it is some time since I have seen it. It is such a lovely movie. Speaking of movies, I went to see "Australia" last week. It is spectacular, very funny and just beautiful. The scenery is stunning. I have seen a lot of the media releases on the movie but it has many more surprises than has been displayed in these. It's not just a 'chick flick', the guys would love it too. Well worth seeing on the big screen. Well best be off as we have visitors coming for dinner and I have to hem that dress.

'Til next time

Rach