Holidays Are Here ...

for the kids anyway. The end of the school year went well. Nick had a good report and Penny a good teacher interview. They have great teachers for next year.
Penny's dancing concert was lovely. The costumes were so pretty and she was so excited to get a trophy. It was a huge day (2 concerts) and we didn't get home until 11pm! My parents came up from Adelaide for her concert which she was very pleased about.

We visited Santa on Friday and the children made their requests known.

Craig has not been home very much lately but the countdown until Christmas holidays is on. We attended my work Christmas party on Saturday night. It was held at a Greek restaurant at South Bank which was very yummy and good fun.

I am still working through the holidays (except between Christmas and New Year) and so the kids are attending vacation care at their school. They are enjoying it so far with a Starwars and sculpture day. Tomorrow they are catching the train to the movies and having lunch at McDonald's.
Have a good week.
Rach xx

Busy end of year

Life is a little manic at present as I am sure it is for most. Penny spent all of Saturday morning at dancing practice and then we went to the dress rehearsal on Sunday afternoon (5hrs) for her concert which is on this weekend coming. I am one of the dressers so stayed to help dress the girls in their various costumes and apply and reapply make up. We came home feeling rather tired but pleased last night.

Craig flew home for 30hrs over the weekend so that we could attend his Christmas party. It was a lawn bowls party. We enjoyed a BBQ dinner followed by bowls on an undercover carpeted surface (due to rain). The children also came and enjoyed playing with the other kids.

I've pretty well completed and wrapped the Christmas presents. A job I unfortunately loathe every year as I have no idea what to get anyone. Certainly feels good to get it out of the way. Mind you it is a great feeling to give something that is appreciated. Just have to do my Christmas cards and letter now.

Penny and Nick had a rides day at school on Friday in lieu of the cancelled rides at their community day. They had a great time although Penny's little upper arms got so burnt and are still recovering. They had another lovely swim in the neighbour's pool on the weekend.

I've done a little more scrapbooking. Here's some of the latest.

Have a good week.

Rach xx

Doughnut Cakes

Today, Penny and I cooked doughnut cakes which are absolutely calorie free (in my mind). They are delicious and so easy. We enjoyed a delicious lunch out at a local cafe today so no doughnut cakes until we got home.

Nick and Penny have made friends with the kids over the back fence and they have a pool so N & P were over there for 2hrs this afternoon swimming and playing. They did same last weekend. The boys seem to come and go between our houses but Nick tells me there place is way cooler with swings, trampoline and pool!

On the Friday before last we went to the Sherwood Community Festival where they close off the street and have stalls and three stages. The kids had their faces painted for free and Penny loved the baby farm animal enclosure - also free. We watched the Sherwood Arrows skipping team and Nick enjoyed the Tae-Kwon-Do. Penny's favourite was the Irish Dancing, another skill she wishes to acquire.

On the Saturday night, Craig and I attended a friend's 40th at a local Indian restaurant and had a delicious meal and a great night out. The kids also had a great night in with a lovely new babysitter.
I've been trying to get on top of the Christmas shopping before school breaks up.
I have also been doing a bit of scrapbooking lately and have many LO's to show. Here are a couple:

 I just love Washi tape (Japanese masking tape) at the moment as featured in the LO above - pink and white spot. I buy it on-line from a lady in WA - Sawyer's Place is her business name. I now have about 17 rolls with a few more on the way. She regularly has Facebook or blog specials - $3 for a 15m roll.

Have a good week.
Rach xx

Half Way

through term 4. Kids are tired with so much on in this term. Penny is almost too busy for school with her social commitments! She attended a birthday party and Halloween party last week and has another birthday party next week. Her dancing is also getting busy with 4.5hrs of dancing on a Saturday for the next month on top of 1.5hrs on Thursday in preparation for her concert in early December. She has 4 costumes, so I am assuming she will dance in 4 items and is really looking forward to it as we are.

Nick is busy with school work, tennis and Cantori (Sherwood's junior primary choir). Last Saturday we went over to Iona College where Nick sang in Cantori against other schools and they took out GOLD! The La Bella Voci (Sherwood's senior primary choir) took out platinum on Sunday and were invited to sing in the Mall today. Nick attended his friend, Thomas' party. They went out to Kingston Park go cart track and Nick was able to drive a go-cart BY HIMSELF. They also went on some rides and then topped it off with lunch at McDonalds. He declared it an AWESOME party.

Craig's mother, Pam has been staying with us for the weekend which has been lovely. I have just completed 8 wedding cards and 8 sky embellishments for the Bundaberg Simply Crafty swaps and Pam is taking them back to Bundaberg for me tomorrow. Then I get back other people's wedding cards and embellishments. I used to scrap with this group of lovely ladies once a month on a Sunday.

Here are some more LO's I have done over the last month.

Have a good week.
Rach :)

Happy 6th Birthday Penny

Our darling daughter turned six on Monday. She had a wonderful 4 days of birthday festivities which included three cakes. We had a birthday party for her on Friday after school with eight friends. We decorated crowns, played pass the parcel and pin the tail on the pony amongst other games. I made the pony cake that Penny had found on the internet which looked easy but took me quite a bit of time to knead the colour through the fondant icing.

Penny got a new bike that she and Craig put together on Saturday. Unfortunately her first ride at River Rocks park was spoiled by an aggressive magpie that frightened the life out of her with a dive bomb. Everyone in the park knew about it!

On Sunday, we decided to open Penny's other presents as Monday was a school day and Craig had to leave early for a flight. Early morning present opening was followed by a breakfast out at a popular cafe near home. Next was a late morning swim at the local pool and in the afternoon, Richard (my brother), Trudie Alex and Lachie came over to celebrate with another cake. To school on Monday, Penny took 30 cupcakes to share with her friends and teachers. Rachael's patisserie is now closed for the rest of the month! She had such a lovely time but was asleep by 6.45pm on Monday evening.

Happy Birthday to my sister, Robyn for Saturday. It was lovely to catch up over the phone for a chat.

Poor Nick is battling a cold at present but is hoping to be better for the weekend as he is singing with his school choir in a competition at Iona College.

Hope you are having a happy week.

Rach xx

Fun Weekend

Our weekend kicked off with a birthday afternoon tea at our house for my niece Alex on Friday. Cake and cordial for the kids and champers and sushi for the Trudie and I. It was also a celebration of my finishing 2wks straight of work. I am glad I achieved it but am quite happy to be back to 3 days this week.
Saturday morning started with a ripper storm which woke us up at 5am (2nd Saturday in a row) with loud clashing thunder and heavy rain. The children were mortified as it was their school's community day in celebration of the new hall opening. By 10am it was bright sunshine but due to the volume of rain most of the rides were unable to operate due to the slushy oval. The rides are returning in the last week of school for a fun day. We watched Nick in the junior choir 'Cantori' and he sang beautifully but was so serious. Penny also sang with the Preps and Nick sang again with the grade 3's. We really enjoyed watching the Sherwood Arrows which is the school skipping team and are the longest serving demonstration team in Australia. Penny assures us that she is joining the team. She'll need plenty of practice! We came home with some delicious fudge and rocky road, oh and some rum balls which I disgustingly devoured in one sitting because they were so delicious!
Today, Nick was busy with writing a couple of letters and school work this morning. He wrote a talk for which we also made a chainsaw! I find he is much more interested if we get really crafty and messy involving paint. He also had the motivation of a play date at his friend's place if all of the work was finished. Nick had a fun time at his friend's place swimming, building Lego and playing DS.
Penny and I were busy cutting out crowns to decorate for her party and planning a pony for 'Pin the Tail on the Pony'. She has picked out a My Little Pony cake which looks quite easy and only involves using the figurines and a round cake rather than creating a pony out of cake!
One day I'll dust my camera off again and take photos to show all that we have done. In the mean time here are some more LO's that I have done. Oh and by the way, my LO that was photographed by Scrapbooking Memories in May has now been commissioned for Vol 14No 4 - perhaps Jan or Feb edition next year.

Nick and Penny have Vacation Care tomorrow as it's a pupil free day but usually really enjoy it and I'm not allowed to arrive before 3.30pm as they have yummy afternoon teas supplied :)

Have a great week.
Rach xx

Term 4

is in full swing. Nick is busy preparing talks every week and Penny's latest school activity is skipping (they're all mad keen on it at Sherwood) and being a social butterfly attending many birthday parties. I had a lovely 5 days to myself in which I worked 3 of them. It was good to get the house back in order before I flew to Bundaberg to join the family. It was lovely to catch up with friends although whirlwind seeing as I was only there for 3 days. The kids had a great time attending 4 birthday parties and swimming in the pool at Grandma's complex.
I am busy at the moment working full time (school hrs) and planning a little miss' birthday party.
HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY TO MY NIECE ALEX for Friday. Have a fantastic day - you deserve it!
Not much else to report. Here are some more LO's.

Have a great weekend.
Rach xx