Sammy's Dance Competition

Sammy had her first dance competition this last weekend and she did so well. We are so proud of her!!This is the third time we've paid for her to do dance lessons and she's finally made it to a concert. The last two times she's decided that dancing is too scary and has stopped it before it has been time to actually join in a concert.

Well we finally made it and she was wonderful! She has such good rhythm and so enjoyed all the beautiful costumes. She got to dress up in a tutu during her ballet dance and then a different costume for both the tap and then jazz numbers. Her troupe came second in both the ballet and tap numbers and first in the jazz performance. She was just beaming for the rest of the day.

The War Memorial

The War Memorial ended up being a lot more interesting than the kids thought it would be. They enjoyed the hands on activities which included dressing in an army shirt, riding in a helicopter, being in the trenches and riding a bicycle that powered a movie. It was just fascinating!

Lucy Elizabeth Alexander

A beautiful 7 pound 12 ounce baby girl by the name of Lucy was born to my dear big brother and his lovely wife Annabelle. We of course had to go and visit!! All of us HAD to have a pic taken with her. After we had visit we went to the war memorial. The kids weren't very excited about going, but I think they had a good time and found it interesting.

Lucy is Here!!!!

A brand new 'Alexander' has come into the world. Her name is Lucy. We've been told that she has dark brown hair and of course is beautiful!!

I'm looking forward to seeing her this weekend!!!

: )

First Week Back at Work!!

Well the first week back at work and of course it feels like we haven't been on holiday. I suppose that's always the way though...

The last weekend of the school holidays was spent preparing an hour long presentation that I had to give the teachers at my school. I was nicely surprised that the talk went so well. A few of the teachers came and personally thanked me for the talk, saying that it was really interesting and that I spoke very clearly and confidently. My principal came up and shook my hand after I gave the speech and said, 'well done!'. I was quite chuffed with myself. Dave was also very proud of me. : )

Now the reason that I've made time to get on today is because...





there is a new family member. Brenton and Annabelle welcomed their first child this afternoon about 4:00p.m. the 24th of July. Her name is Lucy. I got to hear her first cry over the telephone and it just made me want to cry. What a wonderful thing a new baby is. Such a miracle!!

Dave has already booked accomodation in Canberra for tomorrow night. So we're going up this weekend to go and see the brand new baby 'Lucy'. I'm so excited and of course so clucky and a little sad at the reminder that our baby would be due about now.

Will post some beautiful pics of the baby when we get back. : )

Josh's day with Granny and Pa

Josh got to have a day to himself with Granny and Pa. They went 'jet boating' in Sydney Harbour. Josh got to take lots of photos...

Here he is on the ferry with Pa and Granny.

The First Week of the School Holidays

Well its the end of the first week of the school holidays and of course it feels like its gone far too quickly. So I've decided to write down some of the things that I've done and hopefully this will make me feel like the holidays have gone on and on... lol I can only hope. So here goes:
* I have just about finished covering the dining room chairs. I've done 4 complete ones and half of the other two. Just need Dave to help me finish them.
* Sammy has had her best-friend Brittnie sleep over.
* Josh has finally had Michael over to play and was even invited to go out with his family to watch a dance recital.
* I've been to a jewellery party at Sandra's home. Brittnie's mother's house. I bought quite a bit of very nice jewellery!!
* I've had my mother's group over to our house. There were 6 of us altogether and of course 6 toddlers. Very noisy, but great fun!!
* I finished sewing the last three badges onto Sammy's brownie guide sash.
* I've done a bit of programming for school. I've nearly finished the spelling program, the homework sheet and I've also found a school assembly item and then completed it and typed it out.
* I've finally babysat for Lisa and Howard and let them go out and have a nice date night.
* Dave and I went to GoldClass movies and watched 'Get Smart'. A really great way to watch a movie!! My dear Dave's hand in mine, sitting on reclining chairs, being brought yummy food and then having a nice glass of wine.
* A date with Dave. We went to a beautiful Italian restaurant. The food and company were divine. : )
* Went to 'ClownTown' with Lisa, my mum, the nephews and of course Isabella. Great fun was had by all. Took lots of photos!! Then my mum and I went to 'Dominies', the teachers resource shop. It's so much fun to look around and so hard not to spend lots of money. I thought I did well by leaving having only spent $130. Well done me!! Then I took my mum out to lunch. It was lovely, and Isabella behaved quite well too!!
* Went to Ikea and bought a new cube to go in our wall unit. It makes such a difference to the mess of the shelves. It all looks tidy again.
* Today I'm going to the beautician at 3:00 for TWO HOURS!!!! It's my mother's day present that I'm finally going to use. Decadence for two hours!! I can't wait!!

Well I have done quite a bit I suppose!! Still a week of the holidas to go too. A few things I have to do, but also some relaxing and FUN!!!!

Our Canberra Weekend

Well I'm not sure how to get multiple photos, but here goes:

This is Josh with his new "Ben 10" movie he got for the drive to Canberra. He's in the hotel room watching the rest of the movie on his portable DVD player with his headsets. He's been VERY quiet!!
Sammy is also being a quiet little Angel!! We had to drag them away from their movies!!

Isabella on the other hand just wanted to get into the kitchen and find those pots and pans. We were really hoping that maybe she wanted to cook something for dinner!!

Canberra for the Weekend

For Annabelle's baby shower we all went to Canberra for a visit. We stayed in a lovely unit and had Foxtel which we don't have at home. You can see that all three are appreciating the finer things in life. lol

My First Post

Well with a little help from Dave here I am up and away with my own blog!!

I'm hoping that this will be a way for me to keep a journalled photo album for the kids to enjoy as they get bigger. I've still got to get the photo issue sorted out as of course the main family photos won't show up on my computer as of yet!! Hopefully this will be sorted out soon. In the mean time I'm going to just try and get used to editing/writing ect this blog. : )

At the moment Josh is out on the water with our lovely next door neighbours. We really couldn't have asked for nicer people!! Often they have the kids at their house on the weekend and they don't ever complain. It saves us from those whiny moments of "I'm bored!" or "I don't have anyone to play with!" or "We never get to go anywhere!". lol

We've had such a busy weekend already and its only the first few days of the school holidays. Sammy had her best friend, Brittnie sleepover on Friday night, I went out for end of term staff dinner, Saturday Josh had his friend Michael over, I went to a jewellery party and took the girls along with me. Then Sammy and I went back home and she played with Josh and his friend. Michael got picked up at 5:30 and Josh was invited out to a dance recital and McDonalds. I think it was the McDonalds that actually won him over. Sunday I got breakfast in bed!!! I love my husband!!! Then Josh got invited by our lovely neighbours out on their boat!! We're planning to go and see a movie at the drive-in tonight and I nearly forgot, Dave and I have been recovering the chairs in the dining room!! They're red vinyl. Maybe a bit tacky, but hey, we can wipe them down with water and they don't stain.

Will hopefully get the photo thing sorted out soon and then post some of my beautiful family today.

Back in Sydney October 2007

Well we had a lovely 6 months away from Sydney and enjoyed ourselves immensley while away, but we have really missed family and friends here in Sydney and are having a great time catching up with everyone. Now we’re back we of course have missed some things from our life up in Evans Head, but most of all we’ve missed hanging out with Belinda and Paul on their amazing verandah/deck surrounded by the river on one side and sugar cane on the other. When we were there we’d be relaxing on the deck with a beer or a cuppa and feeding ‘boob boob’ to the littlies with of course Paul cooking some snags on the barbie. Invariably there would be the occasional tiff between the older kids, but this was always forgotten when dessert came out.

We’re looking forward to catching up with them soon to celebrate Paul’s 40th…on the deck!!!!!

Oak St. Performance

It’s been education week this week and the school has had open classrooms. I’ve got to go and sit at the back of Josh and Sammy’s classrooms and just watch. They were very excited that I was there!! It’s been a long time since I’ve had time to go into a classroom as just a parent.
Today was a chance for classes to go and perform in the main street (Oak St) of town. The kids walk there from school, which takes them about 6 minutes, maybe 8 for ones with little legs. There was even a programme given out to parents!! Kindy performed, “The Wheels on the Holden”, Year 1 did “I Jump” and Year 3/4 did “Brumby Jack” using lagerphones. Year 2 sang “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” however Sammy missed out as her teacher was sick. She was disapointed that she didn’t get to go.
Josh did an amazing job of shaking his lagerphone of course!!

Josh is infront of the rope coloured pole.

MY FIRST TOOTH!! Arrived on the 7th May, 2007.

It’s now officially ten days since Isabella got her first tooth and we finally have managed to get a photo of it. She wasn’t happy about it but here it is:

You can just see the little tooth on the right.

Dave's new bike!

Guest post by the lovable Dave...

After a couple of rides into and out of town on a rather tired 10 speed bike supplied by my boss, I decided to take the plunge and invest in a decent bike to haul myself to work and back combined with a desire, nay a need, to get fitter.
So, with Gareth’s help last Saturday, I drove into Ballina to the bike shop recommended by m’colleagues. Naturally, given my height, there were just 2 bikes that were tall enough and I ended selecting the bright red rocket you see in the photo.
Twenty one gears (!!), a broad enough seat, a rack and basket on the back strong enough for the laptop and good lights and a snazzy new pump and I’ve been biking in to town every day since – including Sunday!
It’s a four and a half kilometre ride into town and I can now complete it in around 12 minutes and getting faster. I have a combination speedo/odometer/trip computer of sorts that came with the lights so it’ll be interesting to see what improvement greater fitness, and thigh muscles, brings.

A picture Dave found of his bike on the net.

But I tell you what, it sure beats being stuck in a car in traffic!