End of year wrap up!

Yippee!! School holidays are here! We are all very happy to rest after a very busy few weeks leading up to the end of Term 4.

Luke continues to make us so proud of his achievements and willingness to have a go at everything. His school report was absolutely amazing with great results across all areas. He received the Outstanding Achievement in Mathematics award at the presentation day too!

Luke and his friends auditioned for the school talent quest, doing their version of shuffling to Party Rock Anthem, and made it in! They put so much effort into their performance - apparently getting together almost every lunchtime for two weeks to rehearse. They did us proud on the day, with a very entertaining shuffling routine!

Sarah had her last day at preschool last week - it was a very emotional day, as we said goodbye to the teachers who made both Luke and Sarah's time there wonderful each and every preschool day. They had such kind words to say about Sarah's preschool journey - she has become a confident, friendly, beautiful girl and a lovely friend to everyone there.

We've had the preschool Christmas fun night, Carols at Luke's school (where he did a beautiful performance with Year 1 singing and signing to Silent Night), the street Christmas party, Carols in the Gardens, and drives to look at Christmas lights. With only a few more sleeps now until Christmas morning, we are certainly excited in our house for Santa's visit!

Earrings!

How pretty does she look with her new 'real' earrings?

She has been wanting to get her ears pierced all year, and she finally had her wish come true - with pink earrings of course! She was such a brave girl.

Happy 5th Birthday Sarah!

My baby has turned five!!

How those years have flown by!

Happy birthday to the most beautiful, funny, amazing little girl that I know!

I love you!!

QLD!

We were lucky enough to spend a much needed break away in beautiful QLD last week. The weather was absolutely perfect for our holiday! We had four nights on the Gold Coast staying with some friends, visiting Sea World, Movie World and a couple of beaches. Luke and Sarah loved both theme parks - especially all the rides! I was happy to take the position behind the camera and let Brett take the kids on the rides.

Then we drove up to Maroochydore for three nights. The place we stayed at was great, with the kids enjoying the pool, tennis court and close locality to the beach. We had a day at Australia Zoo, which was terrific - even getting to see Terri, Bindi and Bob Irwin doing the crocodile show!

Fathers Day

Sunday ended up being a beautiful day, so we headed down to the Gardens for a picnic and a bike ride in celebration of Fathers Day. We could have spent the whole day there - it was so relaxing and such a pretty spot.

Luke hasn't had much of a chance to practice his bike riding since he came off his training wheels, so took the opportunity to really see how fast he could go! He was very clever, and even braved a hill to come flying down! Slightly nerve wracking for me watching, but he managed pretty well!

Sarah joined in the bike riding fun, however made a little friend within minutes of arriving at the park so enjoyed playing games with her too.

Happy Fathers Day!!

Amelia's Birthday!!

Wow - it's been a LONG time since I've been able to post on this blog! Life has been too busy lately.

Yesterday was a special day for our beautiful niece Amelia. She celebrated her 6th birthday at Lollipops, which was lots of fun for the kids!

Here's a few photos from the day!

Baking day!

Brett took the kids yesterday out for a bike ride - Luke is learning to ride his bike without training wheels. We had planned on going back today for another turn, but unfortunately the weather is windy and awful!

Instead we have had to stick with indoor activities today, and I've taken the opportunity to catch up on some baking. The kids helped make some yummy chocolate chip cookies and some even yummier orange biscuits. The only problem with baking is that the biscuits disappear too quickly!

Also in the kitchen, I made some curry chicken to freeze (trying hard to get organised for my four weeks of prac teaching coming up!) and some fried rice to go with our dinner tonight and tomorrow.

School photos are in and they turned out great!

Sarah's preschool photo is sweet and Luke looks so grown up in his school uniform. It's hard to believe that a year from now we'll have a 'family' school photo of them together!

Big Year 1 Boy!

Last year of Preschool!!

7!

A happy birthday to my beautiful boy Luke - 7 years old today! We have had a wonderful long weekend together, a three day celebration of his birthday. 

On Sunday, he had his party at a local indoor sports centre with cousins and friends - what a great idea! This weekend is always freezing each year, so it was nice for the kids to be able to run around and not be bothered by the weather outside. Afterwards, we headed home to have some afternoon tea with the family - including the very yummy Kit Kat cake - and open presents. He received some wonderful gifts including lots of books and Lego.

Then today we spent a quiet day at home playing with lots of new things and had a visit from some good friends of ours - which helped to make an 'awesome' birthday for Luke!

Seven years has passed by too quickly and he is growing up so fast. He continues to amaze us with his cleverness, enthusiasm, sportiness, gentleness and oh-so-beautiful personality.

Mini Beasts!

Year 1 are studying mini beasts this term and seem to really be enjoying it. Luke's classroom is full of colourful beetles, spiders and worm craft! Luke comes home in the afternoons with new facts about the habitats, life cycle and terminology associated with different insects.

Each student has been given a take home project, which is to research their favourite mini beast and do a poster or display. Luke has always liked ants, so that is what we have been reading about and designing his project on over the last couple of weeks. He has put so much effort into it - lots of colour, drawings and facts. He spent so much time on it making sure all his research was included.

This morning Luke put the final touches on his project - complete with ants making up the letters of his name! (I traced the letters for him, and he spent ages drawing all the little ants over them!) He was so proud of himself!

Happy Mothers Day!

It is usually me taking the photos, so it was nice to
finally have one of the kids and I!

Luke and Sarah have been excited all week leading up to this morning. They had both made things at school for Mothers Day, and this morning they could finally give them to me. Sarah gave me strict instructions not to make a cup of tea and to sit straight down on the lounge.

Sarah's present came first, which was a beautiful teapot shaped card with a teabag attached (this HAD to be used for my first cup of tea of the day!), as well as a package that contained three yummy looking cookies that she'd made at preschool.

Luke's present came next, which was a lovely handmade card and a pen with some decorations on it to make it look like a critter! To see the excitement on their faces as I opened their gifts was beautiful.

My Mothers Day gifts!

We headed over to mum and dad's for lunch. The cousins had a great time running around and playing together, and we all got very spoilt with a yummy lunch and dessert!

Sarah

Sarah...what can I say? She is funny, she is stubborn, she is beautiful, she is a character! She is the absolute, hands down winner of face-pulling! But yesterday, she decided she wanted to pull some pretty faces and have me take photos of her out the front. So out came the camera and the photo shoot began. She posed on top of the letter box, smelling the flowers, jumping in the air - you name it!

I am really noticing at the moment how grown up she is becoming. She has such an amazing imagination and questions absolutely everything. I can't believe that she will be in Kindergarten next year! I will miss her at home.

Of course, if you know Sarah, you will know that a photo shoot of hers cannot be complete without a crazy one.

The Coast

Brett was working all week, so I thought I'd take Luke and Sarah down to the van for a few days. We had the most beautiful weather down there, and the ocean was perfect for swimming. The water was warm, calm and so clear. We spent lots of time down on the beach, the kids even getting the chance to learn to surf and snorkle!

Our great friends were also there with their two children, so the kids had a great time playing together. Mum and dad arrived on Thursday, so we had two nights with them too. One of the highlights for the trip was a walk around the rocks with Poppy - it was a long walk for them, but they loved learning about rock safety, how the cliffs were formed and asking Poppy a million questions about everything!

It was a shame we had to leave, but it is nice to be home in time for Easter!


Luke did so well on the board - even getting up on his knees!

Dare devil Sarah got in on the action!


Water fun!

It's not a trip to the beach without making sandcastles!


Beautiful cuddles with Poppy

Polly Pockets!

Today was one of those cold, yucky days when all you wanted to do was stay at home in your pajamas! Sarah's soccer wasn't until 12pm and Luke had a bye, so we had the morning to laze around and play. Sarah's absolute favourite things to do at the moment are play with her doll's house or Polly Pockets. Today she decided we'd play Polly Pockets, and we thought it would be a good idea to spread all their clothes and accessories out and see what we could dress them up in today! Wow, I didn't realise how much she has!

She is so cute to listen to when she is playing with them. These Polly Pockets love going for swims, drives in their car...and more than anything, party!

Here they all are - dressed and accessorised ready for a drive to visit the family in the doll's house!