Christmas in June

Zane decided he wanted to have Christmas in June celebrations to mark the occasion of his birthday this year - yes we know it is meant to be Christmas in July but we can't change his birthday can we! And yes we are a bit weird!!!


Anyhow, there was quite a bit of preparation involved, the kids put the Christmas tree up and decorations were put up around the house. We had 13 people for dinner on the Saturday night (all family) and it was fantastic!!! Zane made a 3kg butterflied shoulder of pork with crackling and a turkey and leek pie, sooo yummy. I made a steamed Christmas pudding and the obligatory rum balls.

We also had a Secret Santa where everyone had to bring a previously received (and unwanted) present for re-gifting. Presents were anonomously contributed and instructions were given for crappy  contributions to the present pool. After all pressies were opened, a bidding war commenced so that everyone ended up with the "right" present.

We had a trip down memory lane with everyone choosing a song on Youtube that symbolised their youth. Kerrie and Jacki got all misty eyed over Leif Garrett while Penny and I bonded over Bon Jovi and Icehouse. If you could pick one favourite song from your youth, what would it be???

Ella needed her beauty sleep so she got off to bed early, but the boys got to stay up late and (gasp) drank lemonade and (shock horror) ate chocolate ice creams!! They thought it was the best party ever.

Zane set up a mulled cider station on the back deck.

Penny expertly handled the age-old juggle of baby in one hand, drink in the other

Jacki and Brent were surprised to find the mulled cider was actually pretty good!

Dinner time!

It was almost too much excitement for James.

The girls proudly displaying their Christmas gifts

... and the boys doing the same.

More Christmas goodies over here.  Check out the look of absolute delight on all their faces!!!

Brent quite liked his floppy Akubra hat, the bidding was hotly contested for that one with Chae ending up the lucky winner

I scored the gift of the night with these gorgeous napkin rings from Bali.

The boys were stoked with their chocolate ice creams

The night was such a success that there was talk about making it an annual tradition.  OK great - whose house next year?!!

June update

After reading and thoroughly enjoying Mum's "Day in the Life" blog, I have decided to do one along similar lines, except of course it will be about life here in BrisVegas!

It has been busy busy as usual and we always seem to wonder why the weeks are racing by so quickly and we never seem to be able to get everything done that we want to.  We have managed to organise our next holiday though, a trip to the snow!!!  Watch this space for pics - we're leaving on the 1st July and will be away for 8 days.

We got our little DJ station out for Ella (previously loved by the boys) so she could rock out some tunes and have a bit of a jam while I get work done in the study.  As you can see she absolutely loves being upright.

On Friday nights, we usually have home made pizza.  This includes kneading the dough and rolling it out and making the sauce too.  The boys absolutely love the whole process and Friday nights are looked forward to with great excitement in our house.  Liam usually wins the "best pizza" competition.  If you're wondering what that wet patch is on Zane's shoulder, it was a little bit of loving from Ella.

We spend a lot of time downstairs - the boys play (this usually consists of racing, kicking the soccer ball, hide and seek, search and rescue games, etc) and I am usually hanging out / bringing in washing.  Queen Ella presides over her minions in her swing, watching and enjoying the flurry of activity around her.

Since the floods in January, the banana crops were decimated and they are currently $12 per kg in the supermarket!  Our lovely friends Kate and Stu gave us a big bunch of bananas from their parents house in Caboolture, we were in banana heaven!  Zane strung them up on the clothesline to ripen (took about 2 weeks).  I was worried about birds stealing them, but I forgot about the James factor ...the picnic table was dragged underneath the banana bunch and little fingers started pillaging! I spent a week finding banana skins tossed here there and everwhere - anyone would think I never feed the poor kid!

We have updated our little vegie patch, it now has cherry tomatoes, red capsicum, spring onions, chillies, lettuce, and a selection of herbs.  Ella likes to have a play on her blankie while I tend to the garden.  As you can see there's a lot of fat rolls between her hands and her feet so it can be quite tricky to get a grip on them!  A lot of grunting and exertion is required but she thinks the effort is worth it!  She is now rolling and scooching across the floorboards, the bum goes up in the air but no crawling yet.  She is not yet sitting unaided but is very clever at waving bye bye and giving sloppy kisses.

We had a fair bit of rain a few weeks ago but that didn't deter us from going for our daily afternoon walk.  The boys like to make sure Ella is snuggled up in her little cocoon and is nice and dry.

Liam having his "Titanic" moment

Here we are back at home and you will see that the DJ station is also very useful outside.  Ella is choosing a record to play before giving the disco ball a spin.  James is getting ready to show us some of his smooth moves.

Don't you think James looks all grown up all of a sudden?  He's not my baby anymore!!

Luckily I have one more baby who will still allow me to lavish with cuddles and kisses!!

Liam has joined up for "Kindy Kickers" at the local Brisbane City Football Club.  He has been waiting for a long time to strap on the boots and as you can see he is clearly delighted with it all.

The coach's name is Jake and Liam thinks he is the coolest guy who ever lived.

 

On the weekend we went over to the Masons house to celebrate Sophie's 11th birthday.

 

The birthday girl and the baby girl having a cuddle...

 ... and more cuddles with Aunty Kerrie.

Ella tarted herself around this weekend - on Sunday we went down to the Gold Coast for Chae's b'day and here is Ella making herself very comfortable on Aunty Penny's lap.

Jacki's sister Sally, husband Pete and their two boys Hudson and Mitch who are exactly the same age as our two boys, also came.  As you can imagine, organised chaos reigned!!

I just finished reading Oli and Rosie's blog - am really feeling for them and everyone in Christchurch at the moment. 

Ange xx