A Decade of Parenting

I'm sure Daniel doesn't care as much about our first decade of parenting as he does about turning double digits. Fair enough really, he didn't put in the hard yards, fly by the seat of his pants, wonder all the time if he was 'doing it right'. :) Well maybe he did. Certainly the first decade is hardest on the eldest child than it is for subsequent offspring. I'll admit that to every first child out there. 

Welcome to your 2nd decade Daniel. 

I hope he keeps being as smiling, thoughtful 

and compassionate as he has been in his 1st 10 years.

I can't wait to see what the next decade will be like 

for this boy-becoming-a-young-man.

It was a birthday that kind of went on for a week. 

Big balloons and streamers in bed...

Presents. Star Wars set. New Bible...

After school hot chocolates with friends...

Family dinner - nachos! 

Then the finale on the weekend - taking 4 friends 

to Bruny for fishing and a sleepover.

Gorgeous mid-winter weather, we got lucky!

A world map and globe, footy and footy cards, and lego. Daniel's in heaven.

Cheese and dips, very high brow for 10 year old boys!

Twister!

Fishin with Dad! (except 3 hours and no fish!!)

The boys in the boat, and off into the sunset!

No one even requested screen time the whole trip, 

which I was particularly impressed with. 

But Daniel brought along a documentary about tigers - 

and they all watched intently for nearly 2 hours. 

Take that Disney!!

Cream-filled cupcakes for birthday cake. Easy.

We ended the sleepover by taking all the boys to their footy game. 

And in a nice end to the weekend, Daniel scored 2 goals in the game!

So that's the end of the 10th birthday saga. 

Except for a trip to a real AFL game that Oma and Papa

are taking him to in a couple weeks. 

I think it's fair to say he's enjoyed turning 10. 

Big Family Fun

These two people

took us to this place...

with a direct view of this...

so that we could do stuff like this... 

and basically hang out like this

Why? All because they've retired. Can you tell? 

(I'm so busted for these photos)

SO anyway, this retirement party was just a wonderful five days of lots of fun. 

Kids who mostly found their own entertainment, 

with each other, and with us. 

No needy babies (well one, but very much taken care of 

by older cousins, yay for 13-year old babysitters!)

Of course still feeding everyone nonstop...

and I found time to play around with my new camera (yay!) just because I could

Of course we must get everyone perched on a rock to smile for a photo. Nice.

Or sit them on some steps and tell them to "sit still! look here! smile!" :) hehe.

We even celebrated 2 birthdays and U.S. Father's day. 

Good times for sure.

Chris turned 13...

...and Laura turned 8. Sideways photo, but too cute to not include.

Feeling thankful for a family that wants to spend time together, 

and of course, always and forever thankful for the ability to cross that ocean. 

But that's another post all together.

Thank you Mom and Dad.