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Warning this message contains Sun, Sea, School, Some Sadness and Birth-days!
G’day folks, we hope you are all well and beginning to warm up a bit. As per usual, the beginning of the year and February in particular has been a very busy month for the Chissell’s’! Olivia started school and has settled into her prep class really well. She has made some lovely friends and comes home tired and happy each day. Below are some photographs of her first day of school.
"How do you feel about going to school today Olivia"?Many congratulations to Steve and Keisha on the safe arrival of a beautiful bouncing (Valentine's Day) baby girl. Birthday greetings also to our beautiful nieces Alanna and Vanessa who are growing up far too quickly. Conor also celebrated his 8th birthday and had a fabulous party with his Aussie friends on the 21st February. Below are some pictures of some of the fun.
The Ice Cream birthday Cake and Pizza were a big hit with the gang!
There was dancing, trampolining, table tennis, climb framing and Cricket - thanks to Uncle Huw and Aunt Sally!
Some of our Aussie friends.
Some mad woman dancing and running around entertaining the small people in the garden. Above Ryan looks a bit bewildered about the whole event.
Conor and Olivia however took everything in their stride. Even the cricket continued into late in the evening!
On behalf of Conor may we say many thanks for the lovely gifts and cards; he is a very lucky and much loved boy. Thank you also for the lovely anniversary cards. Phil and I celebrated 11 years together and the small people went to bed early so that we could have a romantic candlelit dinner together.
The weather here has been fabulous and so we have been endeavouring to make the most of it at the weekends. Below are some photographs of a park in Loganholme where we met up with friends Steve, Hazel & little man Cooper. Phil was Master Chef on the Barbie and Steve kept the amber nectar flowing as per Aussie law!
Ryan, Cooper & Olivia checking out the slide, followed by clambouring onto these hysterically cool ride-on things that went down a treat, along with the food. Happy times - sigh!
On Australia Day we headed in land for a change and visited an award winning art gallery. The children had a ball as there was a special hands-on exhibition for young children including a disco area with flashing lights and funky dancing with ‘ dressed up dogs’ rapping on large screens. They also had Arts and Crafts and doodling on touch screen computers. Below Olivia is modelling her latest design of funky retro specs!
We also recently visited ‘Nobby’s Beach’ on the gold coast which was a little too rough for my taste. I was paddling at the water’s edge with Ryan and a sudden wave washed up and knocked us to the ground. Honestly were not even ankle deep yet the surf tipped Ryan under and I lost my footing trying to save him. We were both spun under the waves three times before the wave receded enough for me to gain a footing. Amazingly Ryan seemed untroubled after a quick snuggle but I ended up with a huge rainbow bruise on my derriere and two scraped knees (I could not sit or lie down on that side for a week). Thank goodness Conor and Olivia were fine on their body boards, but Phil had a nasty stack on his board and came out of the surf with blood pouring down the left side of his face! Needless to say we will not be going there again lol.
The boys waiting for the picnic to be set out before heading onto the beach.
On ‘Founders Day’ Conor made his investiture from ‘Joeys’ to ‘Cubs’ and will be attending his first Scout Camping experience at the end of March. This is all well and good but now I have to remove some of the badges from his old uniform and re-sew them onto his new one & attach the additional badges he has achieved recently - oh the joy of it all lol.....
Olivia attended the various birthday parties of her new class friends and I joined a group called ‘MOPS’ which is a group for mothers with pre-schoolers. Basically the children go into a supervised day care room. And mummies go into the neighbouring room for two hours of chit chat and creativity. I was placed on the ‘Fun Girls’ table and given a name badge and a goody bag which included a lip balm, stress ball, mini calendar and candy etc. The set up was so professional, a bit like attending a course in a hotel conference room BUT everything geared towards having fun. There was a motivational guest speaker, a chairperson and a craft demonstration. Then a free for all of creativity, interspersed with Coffee, Cookies, Cream Cakes and loads of laughter. I felt so energised and relaxed. By the end I had made a hand decorated journal and gained a bunch of new Aussie girl friends that live locally. Ryan was fast asleep when I collected him. It was the first time he had ever been away from me and he coped really well.
Okay here comes a sad bit!
We are deeply sorry to hear about the recent bereavements over the festive period and beginning for the year. I know 2009 is going to be a tough year for some of you and for those you love dearly. Indeed our dear friend Sylvia has just received some difficult news and is back in hospital at the moment. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all – always.
xxxxxxxxxx
So what else has been happening with you all? Did you munch lots of Pancakes? Drops us a line and tell us all your news together with more of those wonderful photographs. Apologies to any disappointed nature lovers, please be assured that additional pictures of various exotic arachnoids currently visiting our garden will be included next time - seeing as you are about to nod off lol!
Take care of yourselves you bunch of no good Bogan Hoons!
Love always Amanda & Phil xxx
