Dad's 50th

Here's a few grids I made up from some photos at Dad's 50th
People hanging out:

Carissa being cute and Dad and the boys blowing out the candles.
Happy Birthday Dad!!!

The Gees

On Thursday Mark, Sarah, Josiah and Zoe Gee drove out to Parkes to visit. Josiah is only 6 days older than Carissa. Zoe is so cute, she is 7 months old.

We went to Rascals (the playland cafe)

We had a good time catching up and hanging out. The kids all had fun. Sam has been excited because these holidays he has been able to play with all his cousins except one :(

I can't believe the holidays are nearly over. They have gone so fast! It is so freezing here in Parkes at the moment. I can't believe we went swimming last week in Coffs! I'm not ready for school to go back. It feels so good lazing around in the morning instead of rushing around getting ready for school.

Here's a few photos I stole from the Gees' Blog (so you can see how cute Zoe is)The 4 granddaughters in the Rees Family are Larissa, Carissa, Chloe and Zoe.

The Clog Barn

Here are some pics of the 2 Rees Families @ The Clog Barn today:

After that we went to Moonee Beach for a picnic and a bushwalk/beachwalk. Then Matt, Pete and Josh went Go-Karting.

Boambee Creek

Today we all went to Boambee Creek (minus Matt who has to work). It has been beautiful weather and the water temp was 29. The creek goes to the ocean and the beach is just around the corner.

Here's pics of the 2 girls, Larissa and Carissa. They wrote their names in the sand, and the bottom left is a sculpture of a person they made. Here's the three stooges, Isaac, Sam and Reuben

Here's some more shots of all of us enjoying the day. Around the corner and to the left under the train bridge is the beach.
Here's everyone as they were getting in the water
Sam made a big hole (or something...?)
Here's Josh coming out of the water

Mutton Bird Island and Coffs Jetty

Today we went to Mutton Bird Island and Coffs Jetty.

We has fresh fish and chips for lunch (Matt met us there in his lunch break). Here's a few pics:

This collage is us having lunch, bottom left is Roo and I on the jetty and top right is Dan, Pete & Carissa, Larisa and Isaac on the jetty. Here's Carissa and Carissa and I on the jetty. Plus Pete took one of the water. it was so clear and you could see heaps of fish in there.
Then we climbed up Mutton Bird island. Here's pics with Reub in them:
Top Left: is so funny, him nearly up the top, looking worn out (you can see Larissa behing him and then me piggybacking Carissa just behind)
Top Right: Reuben studying a map and diagram. he loves these and makes up big stories explaining what it is all about.
Bottom Left: Roo up the top
Bottom Right: Reuben and I walking along the top.

Here's Pete carrying Carissa back down the island. It was beautiful up there. You can see the jetty and the beach and the mountains in the background.
Here's a lame picture I took from the top of the Big Banana on Tuesday. You can see the jetty and Mutton Bird Island (the big island on the left), which we climbed and walked across today.
It is SO warm here. It is 27 today, the kids want to go swimming at the beach, but I didn't pack swimmers as I thought we wouldn't need them in the middle of winter.

When we were up the top of the island, we saw a whale, which was cool. Then on the way back down, Josh spotted 2 dolphins and we watched them for a while.

Tomorrow

Okay so I didn't want to make the last pictures too easy. Looking forward to a good week or so with Matt, Danielle, Josh, Larissa and Isaac. Pete has been inspired and is working on a similar costume to celebrate our holiday. Should be good.

Isaac the Artist

This is a picture by my nephew Isaac.

He turned 7 at the end of March.

Obviously he super talented!!!!

Carissa and Chloe

Two cool cousins 15 months apart in age.

Here they are posing together at Pete's parents place in Sydney last week.

Thanks to Jo for taking these cool shots on John's camera

(click on picture to enlarge)

And here's another cool photo of Chloe eating an iceblock

My Neice Chloe

Colour, Game's, Pea's, Osculating, The Break-in and Graves

Hey Chipmunks and Hippo's

COlOur

Colour was fully awesome and inspirational. The speakers were annointed by God and the worship was phenomenal. There were 17,000 girls in there, packing out Sydneys Acer Arena, all loving God. There were some powerful moments and cool memories.

And I got to see Colleen, Sarah, Josiah and Zoe. They are so cute! (kids and adults).

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Pete did a mad job with the kids for 4 days and did heaps of housework. WHAT A MAN! Leave him a comment to cheer him on and continue to encourage him in the housework department...

OuR GamE NigHt

We had a cool time staying @ Deb and Katie's FunKy FLaT. On Saturday night we played Taboo in honour of Deborah's birthday. We started late and played until 1:30ish. As you can imagine, we all went a bit silly (even my mum and Coralie).

Pea's

Our famous Clairey's "Peas with Corn" became innoncently and accidently morphed into "Peas In Porn" which I yelled @ the top of my lungs (worse than my typos!). We were all in sticthes. (I was trying to says Peas in a Pod, but mixed it up with Peas with Corn).

Osculating

In Taboo, Mum gave us a clue to guess her word: "To Osculate" we went crazy when we heard it meant to kiss. I have lived my entire life not knowing this word! Seriously, can you imagine getting all romantic and saying "Let's Osculate!" or telling your pals about your osculating experience. he he he.

Overall a memorable event, as always. Why are things always much more exciting after midnight???

The BreAk-In

In other news, yesterday I locked myself out of the house, with Carissa stuck inside. The backdoor slammed while I was bringing in the washing. No spare key as we had given it to the carpet drycleaners. The neighbours were out so I ran to the Plumbing Joint, rang pete @ work (who said he had no key and to break in). Was organising the break-in with a largish plumber dude, when a kid of the secretary pulled up, home sick (a student I taught computers to last year). He came back to our house with us.

We contemplated knocking the from door in, but managed to get the bathroom window open and the 9 yr old boy climbed through (thank goodness he was there! It's only a small window and despite my love for MacGyver, I am no Macgyver). Meanwhile Carissa was happily going through my handbag and had been helping herself to biscuits from the fridge. The boy has been boasting of his adventures around the school that he broke into Mrs Rees' House.

Grave'S
NOT so good news @ my speacialist yesterday........ Am trying to stay optimistic though :)

At least Pete can't catch it through Osculating!

The Thyroid (our butterfly gland)

2 Picnics, 3 Parks, 4 Cousins and a Mini Christmas

On Saturday we met up with Jo, Mic and Chloe in Bathurst (we met halfway between Sydney and Parkes for the day). It was a really good day. We met @ the park @ the top of the Mount Panorama Racetrack and had a picnic, then a second picnic @ "The Green Park" (garden and fishpondy thing in the middle of Bathurst) and then went to McDonalds for the kids dinner and another park.

We had a mini christmas, with presents for all the kids, and birthday presents for all the birthdays in between our last hang out (9 months!!!!) Although Pete and Jo and I are all born in the best month :)

We had a really cool time, flopping around and catching up. Chloe and the kids had so much fun and spent the entire day running around, giggling and exploring. They all get on really well and miss each other heaps. Here's a few random pics of the kids:

Chloe and Carissa hugging each other:

Sam, Roo & Chloe sitting still for a few seconds:
Sitting on Reuben:
Chloe and Reuben eating their icypoles and hanging out:
Chloe giving Reuben a little taste of hers :)
A crazy running-while-holding-hands-and-then-letting-go game
Jo attempted to get them to lie down for a minute by asking them to find shapes in the branches and leaves of the tree. It worked for a few minutes!Here's a cute hat Carissa got for her christmas present (she's pulling her shy/grumpy face at Jo taking her photo)
Jo, Mic and Chloe go back home to Beautiful Brisbane on Wed after 6 months in the UK. I know they will miss us HEAPS & HEAPS & HEAPS!!!!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy!

You Know Who You Are....

So Have A Fantabulous Birthday!!!!!!

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Leave a creative message for the mystery birthday person wishing them a HAPPY BIRTHDAY they will LOVE it!

* WeLcOmE bAcK :) !!*

Welcome back to Australia

Michael, Jo & Chloe!!!

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WHOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! You're back!!!!!

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(I had to take a photo of the photo on the fridge to get your cute little Aussie faces on here).

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The HAIR of the MAN - The HAIRS speak:

Thanks to JO, MIC and CHLOE for sending this inspiration to Pete from the UK!

What we've been up to

On wednesday (last week) we had a lovely visit from The Hodgson Family (Tony, Karen, Daniel, Amy and Bessie). They came to see us all the way from Beautiful Brisbane. And while they were down, they had a holiday in Sydney and Taree and went to the Dubbo Zoo too! We had a cool time catching up, realxing with a bbq and watching them make a fool of themselves on the Eye Toy ;). Here they are below:


Then, as a suprise pop-in visit Pete's Mum and Dad, John and Colleen dropped in on Sunday, bringing with them food and fun as always. They were having a relaxing holiday touring around the Central West (they went to Dubbo Zoo as well). I think they needed the action, excitement and drama of my 3 kids so they could greater appreciate the peace they have without us. Why are my kids SO noisy!?!!

My sister Deborah has been up for a few weeks holiday. She's a crack up! She came over on Monday and helped us swap the kids rooms. Sam and Roo are now up the back of the house in Carissa's old room, and she has theirs. It looks heaps better. The photo below is Sam and Carissa playing Duplo in the boys old room before we switched it all. Both rooms are heaps bigger now, with different furniture etc.

We had a mad dessert and games night @ Nick's house on Monday night. Refer to Deborah's post (click right here) or Karin's post (click here this time) as I can't be bothered writing anything more about it, even though it is worthy of a mention.

Deborah has now returned to Sydney, (it was so cool having you here Deb!), we will miss her heaps. We hung out a fair bit, playing games, watching movies and bludging around in general.

Pete has returned to work, so it's back to me and the 3 kids at home. Anyway, Ciao!

Hanging Out With The Gee Family

Sarah and Zoe (4 weeks old)

Mark and Josiah on Christmas Day

We had a good time catching up with Pete's sister Sarah and Mark and Josiah and their new little baby Zoe Amy. She's really cute - and we never even heard her cry both times we saw her! Josiah talks heaps and is the same age as Carissa, but I think he likes playing with the boys more (seeing as he is a big boy now).

We were having fun hanging out at their place when Sam and Josiah ran through a gate and it swung back and hit Sam on the head. He got a HUGE lump, like we've never seen before (we were a bit freaked actually and debated taking him to Hospital). It brought the whole visit to an abrupt end. Sam still has a huge lump and bruise now, he was very brave though and only freaked a little bit when we showed him in the mirror.

The Big Smoke

We've all been chilling out in the Big Smoke (I call it that for all my country bumpkin buddies). Here's a summary of our holiday:

We drove down on Sunday night, me with my head in a bucket - living up to my reputation.

Saw all the rellies for christmas (refer to prior post). Then flopped and flooped around on Boxing Day hanging out with the kids and Pete's parents. Plus Pete and I went to the movies Saturday (Sorry all those people who have been disturbed by my writing Saturday - actually meant tuesday night- half price!)night and saw "A night in the Museum" with Ben Stiller. It was really cool and relaxing and innocent and funny.

Today we went to a park with Pete's brother's family. The kids all loved it. There was a maze there and the kids were running around and got a little sunburnt. Ate junk and had lunch back at their house. Our kids get on really well together. Sam and Isaac love to go hyperactive together.

This afternoon the boys and Colleen and I went to the shops. The boys love big shopping centres, are still into escalators and elevators, and always want to park on the highest level. We went to Kmart and it was TRASHED. Everything was everywhere and the boys were completely awestruck and stunned at the mess and chaos, they danced around and had a great time.

Sam bought "Guess Who" with his christmas money, and he keeps beating me!!!!

What should I buy Pete for his birthday on Monday??? He will be 27!

Images From a Very Cool christmas!

I won't bore all my faithful fans with bundles of photos from chritsmas, but here's a few cool one's you can check out. 2006 was a memorable christmas!

My three kids christmas morning!
The Gingerbread House Karina made and we feasted on.

The giant puzzle Jo sent from England for the Rees and Gees to make. Each page is A4 and covered in pixels. This was trickier than it looks, a very cool activity Jo!
Pop (John) made a disco party room out of his office for the kids. They loved it, it kept them occupied for hours into the night. Reuben has nearly lost his voice from screaming "Let's Party!" all night. The adults relaxed while the kids were going wild in there. Not quite sure what they were doing....but we heard laughter and shrieks of excitement and occasionally the walls shook a little.

(The kids are in the photo's somewhere....)