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.

Never too young to dance to your own reflection!

Fun-Running

We've done this fun run before, and Andrew often does the 11 Km run, but this year all of us ran the family 2.7 fun run, which was, well, fun. At the end. After the side-aches and out-of-breath complaining about not being able to make it to the end. After Nick took off to do the last kilometer by himself ahead of us. And after Laura sprinted to the end at the very last stretch, which I think surprised even her! Andrew took off ahead of us straight away with Daniel and pushed the pram with a little 1.5 year old who loves a bit of speed. Good times.

Before

During 

After

With lots of friends who ran too

Daniel ran better than his time last year, and I was proud that 

Laura and Nick ran virtually the whole way and felt the pride in completing it. 

I believe Andrew was first as well!! First over the line with a pram anyway. Ha!

Time is tick tick ticking away

Yes, the forever mantra of parenthood, how time flies, how quick they grow, the days are long the years are short, etc etc... but it's the truth and school photos prove it. This year I think it's Laura that looks the most different from last year's school pics.

Still sporting the long 'do.

He loves it even though he spends most of his time 

swiping it off his face... but oh, that smile, that's my boy.

Little girl no more. Wow.

He didn't want his grey tooth showing... but I don't think anything could have beat his first school photo from last year anyway.

Footy, growing kids, more laundry, Easter, and a passion for French!!!

Daniel's been playing footy with passion. Loving it, some tough lessons and examples of sportsmanship on that field though, both in winning or losing.

This beautiful city and a cute curly little girl

 This is what it really looks like when I get help folding laundry!

Cousins sharing the ride.

Sensory play. :)

Whazup.

Easter egg craft with chocolate eggs inside. The craft itself was a total schmozel (read: disaster) with bad glue, sticky string and fingers, and frustrated kids, but surprisingly a few actually turned out! 

 She smiles, but has no real interest in the chocolate egg yet. 

Not a bad thing.

Easter @ Bruny Island

The one where we are all smiling is actually really good, 

but who can resist posting ridiculous pictures of their family online?!! 

It's a tie between Daniel and Eugenie for best face.

The boy who is currently not standing still for photos, 

but running around with any ball available. 

Oh, and last but certainly not least, is our passion for French, in particular, Luke's passion for this wonderful girl from France, Eugenie, who has been in our lives for a couple years. Together they have given us a reason to travel to France sometime next year for a wedding!! Laura has been madly learning French from Eugenie all week since they announced their engagement. So cute.

Laundry help

Daniel was helping with Laundry. There was a lot of it, so it deserves a capital letter.

Daniel: "Folding all those socks was so hard!"
Mum: "It wasn't hard, c'mon. It took awhile but it's totally something you can do."
Daniel: "But that's what my wife will do for me one day."
--at which point my 'Dad' eyes come out, and by 'Dad' eyes, I mean MY Dad, not Andrew, and Daniel backs down slightly, because apparently when I do those eyes, he can see the 'cracks' in my eyes and it freaks him out.
Daniel: "...well hopefully..."
Mum: "ummm, yeah, well that's why you need to know how to do it... so you can be helpful like Dad." (that's the best I could come up with in the moment!)

So I think he'll be helping me with Laundry more often.

Dipping in

Making bread has always been in my too-hard basket. But over Christmas I watched my sister make bread and rolls, etc... and I didn't see her clear her calendar, or clear the house of everyone, or take deep breaths or anything. She just did it and it didn't seem all that dramatic. (yum and very appreciated, but not 'don't-bug-me-I'm-making-bread' kind of dramatic). Now cooking and baking is just like breathing for her, which I admire, so in the spirit of being deliberate about how I spend my time (a current theme for me), I have made a bit of bread. Only a bit. 2 of my mom's all-time best recipes actually. I did stumble on a bread making blog with that tempting title "10 helpful tips for breadmaking". Well... I won't do that again. I can't for the life of me figure out how there is time for such rigorous routine to breadmaking that includes recording the temperature and every other detail about each breadmaking experience. What?! I have a mixer and dough hooks, I have bread pans, yeast and flour. That's where I'm starting. 

So the dough has risen, the kids have loved it, and that's a great start in my book. :)

Crescent rolls

(a hit for school lunches, and great as garlic rolls 

and as cheese and vegemite scrolls too!)

Wheaties bread!! 

(a bit too dense, but still Mom's Wheaties bread! 

I didn't want to share it with anyone...)

So here's to trying new things and - even if it is just bread - dipping in to that too-hard basket and adding to the repertoire of 'can-do' stuff. Hmmm, what's next...

Walking!

I've said for weeks and weeks that miss C will definitely walk in February. 

So on March 1st, she took her first steps.

Didn't actually capture the very first ones, as I had no thought that she actually would! 

But all the cheering on after the first few steps kept her going for about 

a dozen more before realising that crawling is still faster!
So fun that there were so many people here to share it with!

Another February...

January seems to go by too fast. So I like to think of February as the beginning of the year. That way the year isn't racing by so fast right? Right. :)

Anyway because school here starts in Feb, it's perfectly sensible to me!

Looking back on a Dec/Jan blur of travel and family fun and sad goodbyes. It's not all sad, I got to see some family I haven't seen in years. But shame grandpa isn't in this photo, dang it.

My one living Grandma, managing to amuse me 

with a smile, despite her dislike for the camera.

 Sweet but oh-so-feisty!!!

Traditional airport snap

Last time Nick fell asleep first on the long flight, 

this time Daniel succumbed, haha!

Animal-loving girl

Slippery summer fun

We celebrated 15 years since we've looked like this, 

...while Aunty Sharon (with Oma and Papa) looked after the kids. 

Did they get sick and vomit while we were away? 

Yep, one did. Shame about that. 

I did offer what I could by throwing up too. :(

Laura finally getting to have her horse riding lessons! 

Love the I'm-taking-this-so-very-seriously pose.

Lately it's this I see. 

With brief moments of this.

I don't feeling like going back to rotate this photo, but as we went through 

old school papers from last year, I found this in Nick's weekly journal. Ha!!!

A fun trip to Melb to hang with friends while our husbands had a boys weekend... Kath and I braved the zoo with 9 kids (must get those photos from you Kath), and then I hung out with Lisa while kids played and we went on long walks (well, one long walk) and tried to minimise iPad time. Sheesh, kids these days!! hehe ;)

Some must-have childhood shots... 

and proof that she is a toddler, not a baby anymore.

And so we begin school again, now with 3 kids at school every day, 

and one little girl home with me every day. 

What a different sort of year I will have!