Christmas Boxing Day with Edmistons

We drove back from Dubbo on Christmas day so we could catch up with the travelling parts of the Edmiston family before they went home. Nicole was over from Perth for 1-2 weeks so we saw her a few times before we went to Dubbo. The Adlingtons came down from Newcastle for christmas. Paul, Jodie and Nina were home resting after all the excitement of christmas day.
The plan was for a Boxing Day picnic lunch but heavy rain meant the those plans could not go ahead..... but of course we are all grateful for the Rain! Yah for the rain! The best christmas present!

Here are Otis, Reuben and Elise enjoying lunch and dessert.

Here are Elise, Gisele, Hugo and Reuben playing with Gisele's train.
The kids all had fun playing with their presents and running around Nana and Grandad's house.

Here is Elise with the beautiful quilt that Nana made for her.

Here are the kids and Sean and Natalie.

Got plenty of photos of all the kidlets this year but was slack in getting any photos of adults both in Sydders and in Dubbo. It's all about the kids at christmas!!!

Hard to believe christmas is over for another year......
We wish the Adlingtons well as they move to Skennar's Head (nr Ballina) in Jan. Very exciting change for their family.
Everyone is looking forward to Mark and Dani's wedding in March and making plans for the trip to W.A. Not long now....
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!! Hope 2010 is a fabulous year with exciting new adventures!!!

Dubbo at Christmas Time

We travelled to Dubbo on the 21st Dec to see everyone for the festive season. The trip to Dubbo was a long one...road works everywhere for the start of the school holidays??
We stayed with Megs & Nige and Sean and I even got to go to the movies to see Avatar - Thanks Megs for babysitting.
Popped over to see Michelle and Tim one night - they live close to Megsy- all so handy!!
Lovely to see the Thompsons and Sparrows at Maeve's 7th B'day party on the evening of the 23rd. Happy Birthday Maeve!! A few pics below of the kids at the park below.

Yes Dubbo was stinking hot! There was no surprise about that.
The kids are cooling off in the splash pool below and we had a trip to the water play area at Elston Park.

On Christmas Eve we spent the evening
at Mick & Ang's place having dinner and opening presents.

Nate & Archie with the teddy bear. Archie has gorgeous curly hair now and Nate is starting to grown some ginger hair. Little cuties!!

Elise tries on new tinkerbell outfit. Archie and his pressie.

Gisele loves her upsy daisy - as big as her.

I missed mum more than ever this christmas!! Last year we were all travelling to Ballina and I think I was so worried about Megsy and the safe arrival of Nate. We were also looking forward to the arrival of Archie not long after that, so we had a lot happening on the horizon.
This year there was a big gaping hole where mum should be. She would have been so excited about all the new family members to celebrate with. We know how much she loved babies and would have showered them with cuddles and kisses. Of course she would melt and delight in all the unique personalities amd developments of all our little ones. She would have fussed over all of us.
It is a wonderful time in our lives- having our young families! We just wish mum was here to share in it.....

Christmas morning we had a big breaky at Mick and Ang's place which filled us up for the day. Then we set off on our drive back to Sydney. The rain started which was exciting for everyone out west. The roads were unbelievably quiet and the girls slept from Mudgee to the Blue Mountains. We made it home in a record 5 hours.

Home by late afternoon - no food in the fridge and not much open in the way of restaurants so we had pizza hut for christmas dinner!

Weekend in Portland

We went to Portland for a weekend in early Dec. We met Meggy, Nige and Nate half way. We stayed at a gorgeous farm that had a mosaic studio attached to it so there were decorative mosaics all through the house and across the garden.
The verandah was a lovely spot to sit and see the surrounds (apart from the flies). There was a windmill, cubby house, sandpit, tyre swing, chickens and alpacas.

Check out this amazing cubbyhouse!!!!

Here are Nige & Elise feeding the alpacas and Gisele is waving to the chickens.

Nate is growing up fast...looking so tall already!!

The farm was out of town so there was no phone reception which meant we could all rest (apart from Sean scurrying off down the road with his laptop on Friday night every few hours). Everyone had naps and enjoyed the relaxing country air and no noise!!
Would definitely be happy to go back to this place again.....

Family Photos

Make a Smilebox slideshow

November Celebrations

Beautiful Elise turned 3 on the 26 Nov. Turning into such a little girl now - leaving toddlerhood behind and becoming a preschooler soon....

To celebrate her birthday and our 4th wedding anniversary we spent the day together at Taronga Zoo. The seal show was a highlight. Elise loved the giraffes the best and we were all delighted to see the baby elephant Luk Chai (pic below)

After our day at the zoo we went to Nana & Grandad Edmiston's place for dinner and birthday cake (had to have snow white on the cake this year!)

For her birthday present we had put together a big box of 2nd hand dress ups, I had scoured for at the markets - stuff for pirates, firefighter, spiderman etc but she loved the ballerina tutu the best (bit awkward to wear in the car!!)

Here is Princess Ballerina Elise with her cake and tutu.

The Dora scooter was her gift from Nana and Grandad and she loooves it!!

Over the weekend we continued celebrating by going to Patonga Beach for the weekend with our friends Michelle and Tim.

The beach was at our doorstop and we didn't want to leave!!!!
It was a hot weekend, so sitting on the deck in the breeze was just beautiful. The pub was a short stroll away for dinner.

We have been busy with the stuff of life!! Elise is now potty trained. YAY! That was a messy and challenging task for us all.....very glad that one is over but won't be long before it is Gisele's turn.
Gisele has finally given up on the knee walking and is walking around on her feet easily now and is very pleased with herself. Gisele and Elise are interacting (playing, fighting and scheming) together a lot more now.

Here is Gisele too cool for school and berry cute!!

G adores Nova and gives her lots of pats.

Here the girls are together on the ferry ride home from Melbourne cup at Sean's office.

I will post some video of Gisele doing her fast knee walking here - soon it will be a distant memory!