The Moments In Time

Mishity Mash

2012-02-08T16:37:00.000+11:00

Last Thursday some of us went to the Handwritten Exhibition. It was fascinating, especially the ancient Latin books. So much detail, and so neat. It looked as if it had been printed. It was also interesting when we left Latin behind us and reached some Englishmen, because then we could actually read what they had written. If you have a chance to visit the National Library before the 19th of March, you should. I'm hoping to go again before it closes and spend more time in the music section, looking at the handwritten music and listening to it.

Last Saturday Caitlin, Emily, Tegan, and I drove to Cootamundra for the "A Passion for Jesus Conference." It was last minute decision to go and even after we had decided we were like "oooo, ahhh, is it a good idea?" But it was a good idea and we were glad we went. Encouraging talks+encouraging people = an encouraging time.

I finished reading "Adam Bede" on Sunday and it was rather a twisting, turning book. Beginning was good, middle was really gripping, and ending was good, but not as good as I was expecting. For most of the time I read it I had trouble putting it down, but then the last few chapters didn't make me feel warm and fuzzy or even leave me with an overly satisfied feeling. It's hard to explain, but I don't know if it's because the ending wasn't great or whether it was because it didn't end how I would have dreamed it. For worth and moral it was good, and I enjoyed it more than Silas Marner (the only other George Eliot book I've read), but I was a little disappointed in the ending. I feel like my review has given it worse than I feel so I'll give it 4 out of 5 starts, only because I would have changed the ending if I knew how to write a better one.

Caitlin uploaded a new skirt onto her Madeit store and I thought it was adorable and worthy to be bought. So if there's a special little girl in your life between the age of 12-18 months, why not buy her a new skirt as a gift?

Oh and I realised the other day that I never thanked all you lovely people who commented on my blogiversary post. I wanted to thank you all, especially the ones who came out of hiding. I really enjoyed reading your comments and getting to know some of my incognito readers a bit. :)

And because I love putting pictures on my blog, here's a few extra Campbell pictures, which didn't make it up on the previous post. The first photo I liked, but didn't think the quality was worthy of posting. But Tegan and Caitlin said how much they like it, so I thought I'd post it anyway.

And here's one smitten aunty, who couldn't get enough of the baby. Before Campbell was born Annaliese said that she wanted Cassandra's baby to be a girl because the only boy babies she liked were David, Kurtis, and Luke and Andrew. Funnily enough they are the only boy babies we know. But I don't think she thought twice about whether he should be a boy or girl when she met him. She fell straight away in love and couldn't get enough of him.

Campbell David

2012-02-07T17:08:00.000+11:00

I pride myself on being a promise keeper and I have 100% fulfilled this promise. I hope these pictures give you a glimpse into how cute this little guy is.

Since Emma and Georgia were at our place, Sean and Cassandra had to drop past and pick them up and also show off their beautiful new son and heir. Georgia had short spurts of captivation. She'd say "baby", hold him for 20 seconds and then say "Mum" and try to pass him back, and then start the whole round again in a few minutes.

Two small big sisters.

Fascinated by such tiny hands, though in actual fact he has big hands compared to his tiny body. He'll be a great pianist this one.

Anne Geddes pose.

He slept like a good little baby despite being passed from person to person.

Grandad and Gran

Smaller than his bear.

I can't get over how sweet he is. I had to drop something off to Sean and Cassandra's today, had another peak at him and was smitten all over again.

He has lovely gingery coloured hair, something different from both the girls, whose hair was darker at birth.

Now I know that the last two photos are pretty similar but I couldn't pick.

And being the wonderful and talented Aunty I am, I woke him so he could show you his beautiful little eyes.

Oh, and as for pet names, he's not to be called Cam and we can't call him Belle. But Annaliese may have solved the issue for us, because at first she thought his name was Candy and after being corrected couldn't get past the name Candle. I suppose Campbell and Candle have similar sounds, so I can understand her dilemma.

We Feel So Blessed...

2012-02-06T18:04:00.002+11:00

...because added to all our many blessings, this afternoon at 1:30 Campbell David Buttsworth arrived into this world and into our hearts. Weighing in at 6lbs 9 oz and 47 cms long, he's a tiny ball of cuteness, Buttsworthness, and love. We all feel so stoked to have a grandson and nephew.

I hope you can feel the excitement seeping through my computer to yours, and as you can tell from the photo below there are lots of hands waiting to hold him. All we can say is...

"Thank you, God."

And we hope you can all meet him sometimes soon. Don't worry, I'll be posting lots more pictures tomorrow.

Interesting Links

2012-02-01T17:48:00.000+11:00

Here's a few interesting things I've read recently or semi-recently.

Caitlin's been an Ann Voskamp fan about a year (ever since she read "One Thousand Gifts" ) and in the last month I've started reading her blog. I especially enjoyed this article, and I hope to read the book soon.

Why you really need to think about losing (Becuase this is how you win)

I ocassionally pop over to LAF and read some of their articles. I thought these two were interesting.

The Death of Pretty

Would you like lies with that?

I thought this was pretty cool, though Lachlan was skeptical.

Grains of sand

And you've probably seen this before but we thought it was funny and worthy of mention. Disclaimer: I have never, ever in my life done schoolwork in my pyjamas, so I don't know what they're talking about. You may need a slightly quirky sense of humour or be a homeschooler to find this funny. Thanks, Alice for posting. :)

Australia Day 2012

2012-01-31T16:16:00.000+11:00

It's never quite Australia Day without a picnic. Due to a few busy days leading up to Australia Day we were thinking that we'd just have a quiet day at home. But thanks to the Wyllies we donned our Aussie attitude and joined them and others for a picnic (even though we didn't eat lamb).

It threatened rain all day, and as we had just set up our chairs and transferred all of the picnicware the heavens opened. We defied it for a little while, but soon George and I (and other sensible ones) took shelter in the car, while we waited for decisions to be made whether to go home or find shelter on the other side of the lake.

Thankfully, we decided to stay and the rain cleared up, and there was time to play in the sand...

and on the playground equipment.

Fun on the swings...

and fun on the frogs.

Like mother, like daughter.

The ladies sat genteelly

and some of the others had fun at the cricket ground. It isn't Australia Day without some cricket.

One poor lonely spectator.

The younger kids played in the sand and swam in their clothes.

Sebastian also tried out some fishing, or that's what he thought he was doing. He didn't seem to catch much.

Sitting on the buoys together.

And now I have to get right back to my book "Adam Bede." I've just reached a crisis, and I'm dying to know how it turns out. I'm looking forward to finishing it and writing a review. My idea of the book has changed so much in 334 pages and I still have about another 250 to go, so I'm looking forward to finding out what else is hidden among these leaves.

Casting Crowns in Concert 2012

2012-01-28T22:05:00.001+11:00

Victoria Azarenka just won the Australian Open and I need something to lift my spirits. What better than to look back and post my Casting Crowns photos. We arrived to a wet Sydney and while the others went to find some dinner Tegan, Emily, and I stood in the line. Thankfully we brought umbrellas, so we juggled umbrellas and books and camera bags and tried not to get too wet.

Thankfully, not too long after a lovely American dude came and showed us somewhere to stand undercover. And then not too long after that we were shown into the conference centre.

Waiting for the concert to begin. The different faces of our group except for Cassandra, whose photo was not presentable, due to closed eyes.

Do you like Emily's choice of literature? Actually, Tegan brought it to lean on while writing, obviously before the concert started.

Our pre-show entertainment, Randy Stonehill. He was, lets say, interesting in a quirky sort of way. At least we weren't bored.

Then it's dark and we wait. And all of a sudden lights start up and the music goes and "Courageous" is reaching every corner of the building. I can feel my heart vibrating.

It was a phenomenal night. I had goosebumps singing "Who Am I?", felt teary while they sang and played the music video for "Another Birthday," and all in all it was a great experience.

One thing I really loved about the whole experience was the attempt to ensure that Jesus was the centre not Casting Crowns. Earlier that day, the band members had walked through the seating praying for the people who attended, that it just wouldn't be a fun Christian family night out, but something a little or a whole lot more. There were several prayer times and mini sermon sessions.

I was particularly impressed with the reminder that we find our identity in Christ and draw from Him as our source. If we find our identity in our talents, in the way see ourselves, in the way we perceive the way others perceive us, we're going to become dry. We need to come to the Well.

They sang a lot of songs from 'Come to the Well." The only ones I could have asked for would be "Wedding Day" and "Face Down." But singing the songs as worship, I found again all those hidden gems in "Jesus Friend of Sinners" and "City on a Hill."So convicting to remember that we shouldn't just hang around with the people we feel comfortable with, but remember that the dancers give the poets life, the poets give the soldiers strength, the young ones add fire, and the old ones add wisdom.

First concert experience 100% awesome. And hopefully every time I wear my "Come to the Well' shirt, I'll remember to actually wear the life too.

Points of Interest-A Smorgasboard of Different Thoughts

2012-01-20T15:32:00.002+11:00

Charles Dickens Bicentennial

February 7th will be 200 years since Charles Dickens was born and with it comes all sorts of Dicken's paraphernalia. This year two new Dicken's BBC miniseries come out. A new "Great Expectations" and also "The Mystery of Edwin Drood." They're redesigning the old Dicken's box set and releasing a new one with the Dicken's BBC miniseries that have been produced since 2000. The biggest thing that I am excited about is the "Dicken's Women" show that is coming to Australia. While the title sounds dodgy, it's actually clean. Miriam Margolyes (who play Mrs. Bumble in the old Oliver Twist) brings to life 23 of Dicken's characters (mainly women), some of which include: Mrs. Micawber, Miss Havisham, Little Nell, and Miss Flight. She's in Canberra from the 23rd-25th of February at the Playhouse.

While I mention these miniseries on my blog, I have no idea what the content of the actual production is like. Please do not watch these DVDs just off my recommendation. I have not seen them and do not know what sort of content they may have.

Attention Casting Crowns Fans

Casting Crowns are coming to Sydney on the 25th and Brisbane on the 26th. Tickets are still available, if you're keen. Some of us might see you in Sydney, along with the 5,000 other people attending.

Greg v Sam

Who's your favourite yellow Wiggle? I personally think that Sam has a better singing voice. The Wiggles entertainment has improved greatly (in my opinion) since Sam has joined them, and while I know that he was only an employee, and that the Wiggles group is Greg's baby, I still do like Sam better. And I just wonder what will happen when Sam leaves and Greg comes back? What do you think? Or do you even care?

Ferdie Buttsworth

And while this isn't making news online, it's something we're pretty excited about. It's only another 3 1/2 weeks until Ferdie is due, which means that we could have a new niece or nephew in a couple of weeks. We're pretty excited. Olivia is firmly certain it's a boy, and won't let anyone refer to it but with the pronoun he, so we'll see. I've been thinking along the girly line, but I was certain Georgia was a boy, and was (obviously) wrong. Hopefully it won't be too long until our wondering will be cleared.

What do you think/ Pink or blue? Boy or girl?

Set Your Mind at Rest...I'm Alive

2012-01-19T12:13:00.004+11:00

Well, I thought that I would set your mind at ease. I think that you've probably woken up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat often enough, and it's telling on your health. Well, yes, to come to the point, I survived having my wisdom teeth removed. Just, maybe?

Do you want to hear the story? Well you're going to, whether you want to or not.

William and I slept over at Sean and Cassandra's on Wednesday night since they were home late from the tennis. Cassandra gave me her left over Apricot Delights for breakfast as a last hurrah. I mean they have "apricot" in the title, they've got to be a healthy breakfast. Healthy breakfast? BAR. HUMBUG.

I spent the morning settling my nerves, hungry, and crying over Angie Smith's book "I Will Carry You." I mean at least I wasn't going to die, or was I?

Finally, the time of my fate comes and we arrive at the surgicentre, bucket, towels, and tissues in hand. We're shown into the consultation room and while we wait to see 5 different people, so I can tell each one my name and date of birth and what I was willingly going to let them do to me, we watch "Ready, Steady, Cook.' You'd think they'd think to put a different style of show on, rather than showing the hungry, the thing they most desire-food.

The anaesthetist comes in wearing his bright red square glasses and shakes my hand, until it hurts and I think that it's going to fall off. Meanwhile, I feel like a dork in my beautiful smock, booties, and shower cap. And finally, I'm shown into the lovely operating room, complete with lovely operating gadgets. And I lie on the bed, and they put oxygen in my nose, and I wonder if they'll clean it before they put it up the next person's nose, and I get to wear groovy sunglasses, and the anaesthetist talks while he's inserting the drip (painful), and my eyesight goes fuzzy, and I tell myself, "don't fall asleep, don't fall asleep, don't fall asleep," and THEN...

I wake up. I feel like they've given me Mick Jagger's lips and that my tongue is 3cm thick, but other than that strangely refreshed, realising that the most painful part of the whole operation was having the drip inserted.

I was expecting to come home, with my mouth so numb that I couldn't close it and with blood pouring out, but as it turned out I was able to shut my mouth, and thankfully not look too dopey, and I didn't really have any bleeding afterwards.

And I tell you, having a large family is totally awesome, especially when you're an invalid. I arrived home, lay on the couch, watched tennis, always had someone around to replenish my chocolate milk addiction, and Mum who kept track of my painkiller instalments. For the first 12 hours my mouth was so sore I could only fit a straw in it, so I drank 1 1/2 litres of milk in about 10 hours. Thankfully the next day I could fit a teaspoon in my mouth so ice cream and chocolate custard were on the menu.

It took a lot longer than I expected to be able to start on more substantial food. It really wasn't until Monday that I was able to start eating lumpy food, and by then tinned spaghetti and soup weren't really all that tasty anymore. It also took me a lot longer to recover than I expected. Still on Tuesday, I was easily fatigued, but a theatre nurse friend told me that a general anaesthetic usually knocks you about for around a week, so then I felt the right to be invalided again. Today was my first day without taking painkillers and it feels nice to finally be off the stuff.

And now I can't believe this time last week I was hungry and nervous. I'm glad it's behind me, but now I've actually experienced a general anaesthetic, I don't think I'll feel as nervous about it if there is a next time. I might do it again sometime, or maybe not. I mean there's the cost, the humility of looking like a chipmunk with two acorns in my left and one in my right cheek, the pain, and the loss of points in Andrea's learning ladder parties. Also, I don't have anymore wisdom teeth. Hmmm, there's a problem. Oh, and no I wasn't even tempted to sign legal documents, drive, or accept a marriage proposal in the 24 hours following my operations. Shame. And so far, I don't think I have any eye, heart, liver, or kidney damage following the operations. That's a good thing too.

Oh, and the photo are of my special new friends. Max (the meerkat) is my souvenir from Taronga Zoo, Leopold (the rabbit) arrived in a lovely spotty parcel from friends as a get well present, and Raine (tag name "Raining Cats and Dogs") came from Mum. If you didn't know I love soft toys.

Oh, and just in case you've never had your wisdom teeth removed, I thought that I had better clarify, that regarding signing of legal documents, driving, etc, they were things in the paperwork, that I was told not to do 24 hours following surgery.

Our day at Apia International {Guest post by Emily}

2012-01-15T20:19:00.000+11:00

On Tuesday, Mum, Caitlin, Victoria, and I headed up to Sydney to spend a day at the Apia International! Victoria and I had never been before so Caitlin kindly bestowed us with tickets. It was so much fun and I'm going to start saving up for next year now. :)

Our first match of the day was Caroline Wozniacki vs. Dominka Cibulkova. Personally I thought that it was the best match we saw (especially since I was going for Wozniacki, and she won!)

Cibulkova serving

Preparing to serve

Woznizcki was down two breaks in the third set but still managed to come back and win. It was SO exciting!

Game, set, match, Wozniacki!

After Wozniacki's match, we went and bought lunch.

Okay, next match of the day was Petra Kivitova vs. Alexandra Dulgheru. Though it wasn't as exciting as Wozniacki's, it was still really good and Kivitova is one of my favourite players. :)

Match point, Kivitova

Talking with commentator Sam Smith after the match

Our next match of the day was Marion Bartoli vs. Jelena Dokic (AUS). This was probably the most un-interesting match as Dokic got thrashed 6-0, 6-3. We still supported her though because, after all, she is an Aussie. :)

Dokic's coach (left) and friend (right).

Okay, the final match of the day was Leyton Hewitt (AUS) vs. Victor Troicki. This was a real thriller! The only disapointment was that Hewitt lost, but he fought really well and it was a really tight match. It had me on the edge of my seat almost the whole time! :)

C'mon Hewitt!

And so ends our day at Apia International!

Movie, Friends, Tennis, and Teeth

2012-01-09T17:21:00.000+11:00

It's sad. The full holiday period is over, and this morning Dad went back to work and some schoolwork was started. A good remedy for such sickness I have heard is looking back at the fun times, so I'll take you through some of our fun holiday happenings last week.

It was pretty full week with birthdays and friends and movies and fun times. Here's what kept us busy:

Monday- we spent with the Ventura's. As usual they fed us very well, and thankfully we were able to burn it off with talking, playing "around the world table tennis", soccer for those who like the sport, and games of Fresh and active Paper Sissors Rock. I wasn't expecting to be sore, but the muscles started feeling it by Tuesday evening. Sorry, no pictures from that day.

Tuesday-we went to see Tintin. It was going to be Caitlin, Tegan, Lachlan, Angus, Dad, and I but on Tuesday morning our electric safety switch broke, so Dad had to stay behind. We counted the boy/girl ratio before the movie started, hoping girls would be equal. We didn't equalise, but it was close with something like 38/24. The movie was enjoyable and gripping and entertaining, but it didn't leave me feeling inspired and wanting to walk straight back in and see it again.

Wednesday- Tegan and Annaliese celebrated their birthday with Kidcity in the morning, watching Ricky Ponting hit his Test century during lunch (it made Tegan's day), and family dinner and activities in the evening. Georgia's growing up and was keen to tackle the big kids slide at Kidcity by herself. A constant refrain all morning from her was "I do it."

Thursday- Caitlin had her last driving lesson and then Tegan, Caitlin, and I had a girls' evening with Fiona watching Jane Eyre.

Friday- Caitlin went and finally had her P licence in her hand, then in the evening we had a belated birthday party for Angus. It was originally planned for December, but had to be postponed due to our December tummy bug.

Saturday- we spend with the lovely T. family. So nice to laugh, and chat, and spend time together.

Sunday- we had a celebratory lunch with the Buttsworths, drowning our sorrows that tomorrow work would be begin.

But we don't have to drown in our sorrows totally. We still have things to look forward to this week. Tomorrow, I take hold of the reins while Mum, Caitlin, Emily, and Victoria visit the Sydney Apia International tennis tournament. Caitlin is the treat-giver, Victoria and Emily are the benefices, and Mum's the driver. I'm sure there'll be a post about it. And on Wednesday, Sean and Cassandra are going to the same event, a late 5 year anniversary present to each other. We're looking after the girls, and since they leave early and arrive home late we'll sleep over Tuesday and Wednesday night. Olivia and William are looking forward to their first sleepovers.

And finally here's the big news of the week. Thursday's the day when my wisdom teeth come out and I live on custard and ice cream for a week. I can't say I am looking forward to the procedure, and I don't like the idea of being knocked out and having someone prodding around in my mouth. Because my 4 wisdom teeth are in the gum, they'll have to cut and I'll have to have stitches, therefore I am not looking forward to coming home with my mouth all numb and bloody, either. I was reading through all the information this morning and thought I'd share this piece with you.

Anaesthesia-Risks and Complications

"There is no safer place in the world to be anaesthetised than in Australia...

Infrequent complications include: bruising, pain or injury at the site of injections, temporary breathing difficulty, temporary nerve damage, muscle pain, asthmatic reactions, headaches, the possibility of some sensations during the operation...damage to teeth and dental prostheses, lip and tongue injuries, and temporary difficult in speaking.

Nausea and vomiting are quite common after certain types of surgery and rare after other types. Even with the use of modern medications a small percentage of patients may experience nausea and vomiting that is difficult to control.

There are also some very rare, but serious complications including: heart attack, stroke, seizure, severe allergic or sensitivity reactions, brain damage, kidney or liver failure, lung damage, paraplegia or quadriplegia, permanent nerve or blood vessel damage, eye injury, damage to the larynx and vocal chords...Remember that these more serious complications, including death, are quite remote but do exist.

Encouraging, hey?

So, if you don't hear from me after Thursday, well, at least you'll know. Hopefully, I will see you on the other side.

Congratulations, Caitlin!

2012-01-08T19:14:00.001+11:00

I just wanted to give a formal congratulations to Caitlin, who on the 6 January, 2012, succeeded in procuring her provisional licence. I'll now have to fight someone over driving the Mazda, though I do think that I'll be the keener one. However, since we are both grown up and mature, we don't have arguments. Have fun driving, Caitlin.

The Roberts' Family in 2011

2012-01-07T11:57:00.000+11:00

Happy 4th Blogiversary

2012-01-05T19:10:00.000+11:00

True to form I forgot about my blogiversary, which was Tuesday, until Wednesday. I didn't want to detract from Tegan and Annaliese's birthday, so I thought I'd wait until today. At least it's better than last year, when I forgot about it until 7 days later. Hopefully the blog won't take it personally.

As tradition goes, you know I am supposed to ask everyone who reads my blog to leave a comment. Well, last year only 6 people commented, and I know for a fact that more than 6 people read my blog. So, lets try and break the record. Please leave me a comment, and just to spice it up, tell me what your favourite colour is. And if you've never commented before, it's the time to break the silence and say hi. If you don't like using your name, give me an alias (preferably not anonymous).

I'll break the ice by telling you my favourite colour(s). My favourite colour is orange, but my favourite colour to wear is red.

Now it's your turn. Go ahead and say hello.

Happy Birthday, Annaliese!

2012-01-04T16:30:00.000+11:00

Happy 4th Birthday to our sweet, little, blonde princess. We're so thankful for her beautiful smile. Annaliese has been so excited about her birthday, and yesterday, kept asking if she could go to bed, and when it would be dinner time. Well, she's loving being in the spotlight with Tegan, and has been enjoying her day spent at Kidcity and playing with her Stawberry Shortcake toys and twin dolls named Strawberry and Shortcake. We're so thankful for you, little girl.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Tegan!

2012-01-04T16:29:00.000+11:00

Happy 19th Birthday to our resident professional cardmaker and invitation designer :). Tegan produces dozens and dozens of beautiful cards a year for our family and friends, and we're so thankful for her generous, gentle, and servantlike spirit.

Happy Birthday!

DPP Day 31-Looking Back...

2011-12-31T23:30:00.000+11:00

on 2011.

The Best Book I Read:
It's hard to remember all the books I read last year. "Dombey and Son" was really captivating and enjoyable. As a Christian nonfiction, right now I am reading "Choosing Forgiveness" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss but as I haven't finished it yet, I don't know whether I can claim it.

The Worst Book I Read:
I think "Billy Graham in Quotes" takes the cake

The Best Movie I Saw:

I saw lots of films in the cinemas this year. I think Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbeder both did fantastic jobs in Jane Eyre, BUT I think that "The Help" wins. Despite the bad language, I think that it was warm and funny; but still very sobering. Totally brilliant. Worthy of mention "The Cup," "War Horse," "Courageous," "Soul Surfer," and "The Conspirator.

The Worst Movie I Saw:

"Hoodwinked Too." Coming after a clever and funny prequel, "Hoodwinked Too" was lame, not funny, and like "being beaten over the head with soft toys for 90 minutes."

My Favourite Holiday:

I loved almost every minute of Church Camp, but that really wasn't a holiday, and since we only went away for a holiday once, well, I suppose that going to Sydney wins.

My Favourite Photo:
So thankful for my family, and being able to be all together, safe and healthy.

My Favourite Moment:
So exciting when Cassandra told us that little Ferdie was on the way. Hopefully there's only at most another 6 1/2 weeks left until we meet the little person. Boy or girl? Hmmm.

And a little way behind would have to be Samantha Stosur taking out the US Open grand slam. A wonderful moment.

My Best Food Experience:
Tasting Crust Pizza was pretty good. But I think I enjoyed Max Brenner's for the first time more.

My Favourite New Thing:
Well, Ferdie is pretty exciting, but as he/she hasn't arrived yet, opening Florence was a pretty big moment.

My Blog Post With The Most Comments:
Max Brenner Delights took the prize with a total of 10 comments. You know what gets ladies talking.

Favourite Blog Post By Another Blog Author:
I always enjoy Danielle's posts. So well-written, so honest, so heartwarming. I particularly liked the Facebook post (encouraging to know your not the only non-facebook nut) and also the Little Women post.

Favourite Song or Album:
Casting Crown's "Come to the Well" cd, was I think their best yet. Favourite songs would be "City on a Hill," "Jesus Friend of Sinners," and "Wedding Day."

Achievements You Have in Mind for 2012:
Start teaching piano at a Canberran Primary School,
Become an Aunty again,
Maybe update my camera equipment,
and hopefully study some photography.
And of course, I'd like to become a better friend, daughter, sister, Christian; but that's a lifelong goal. Not something I am going to achieve in 2012.

I created this "Looking Back" post for my own benefit. Please participate, and edit it for your benefit. Please just leave me a comment when you post it, so I can pop over and read your looking back.

DDP Day 30-Miss George

2011-12-30T08:27:00.000+11:00

Here's a smorgasboard of photos, taken on Christmas Day of the cutest little 22 month old. She's wearing her lovely new outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Buttsworth.

Having fun with the water table.

DDP Day 28-Holiday Viewing

2011-12-28T20:11:00.000+11:00

Nana gave Tegan, Caitlin, and myself a movie giftcard for Christmas. We're very excited about it because, especially around this time, there's a number of interesting movies at the cinemas but we don't always have the funds to go and view them. We've worked out how many movies we can see, only going on Tuesdays for the cheap day, and only using it for the actual movie ticket.

Yesterday we went for our first movie choice "The War Horse." Even though the cinema was crazy and we had to sit in the third row from the front, Caitlin and Tegan enjoyed it, and I being a horse lover really enjoyed it. Any horse lovers out there, this is a must see. Such beautiful cinematography. Such beautiful animals.

The movie covers a lot of nice characters, and we kept coming across familiar faces, and trying to remember what film they were from. Period film lovers, can you guess where these three men are from? Obviously they can only be films I've seen.

The War Horse leaves you with a happy, yet sad feeling. Obviously, since the movie involves war, there's a bit of death, but it wasn't all sad. Also, because the movie covered so many characters in its 2 hours and 26 minutes, even though people were nice, you didn't have time to become very attached to them, that is except Joey the horse and Albie his owner.

And if you're thinking from reading my post, that it sounds like a sloppy animal-lover's movie. I wouldn't agree. It'll appeal more to animal lovers, but Tegan believes that pets are only here for our aggravation and annoyance and she still enjoyed it.

Have you seen any movies over the holidays? I'll continue with my movie updates, when we've decided what to see next. "We Bought a Zoo?" "The Adventures of Tin Tin?" "The Iron Lady?" "Hugo?" "The Muppets?" Seen any of these? What did you think?

DDP Day 27-Our Christmas

2011-12-27T10:50:00.003+11:00

Our family tradition is to begin the full-on Christmas celebrations on Christmas Eve. Dad's organises activities, we open presents, light our last advent candle, and finish off with eating frozen finger food for dinner. Well, the food isn't frozen when we eat it. It just comes packaged that way, and we first heat it. :)

Sebastian rather liked the presents, and he was so cute using his manners, and saying "fank oo."

When Mum was putting all the presents under the tree, Sebastian's present was bumped and Captain Feathersword starting talking. He perked his ears up. "Captain Sword," he said. Mum asked "Where" hoping that he wouldn't pick up where the noise had originated from. "In the present," was his reply. We put that gift behind the tree, hoping that he wouldn't hear it again, and be tempted to start opening early. But he's pretty good in that area, and we didn't have to worry.

Everyone enjoying their gifts.

Some gifts made more than the owner excited.

And George was so cute, sitting on the floor with her present between her legs.

And she didn't let her new doll from Gran and Grandad go, until she opened her new twin dolls from mum and dad. A bit of a mix up, but from my experience, you can never have too many dolls.

Yes, and the lunes were there too.

Christmas Day began for us with the mad rush of trying to dress everyone for church.

But we managed it, and came home ready for Christmas lunch.

The table decorations, and the beautiful floral piece gratis Poetry in Flowers.

And our beautiful Christmas Tree candle from Dusk. That didn't come gratis though.

The carving, a father's priority.

To some the wait for Christmas lunch seemed long.

The Christmas Lunch Tables (though Emma and Liesy's photo didn't make the cut on camera, and I forgot to take another one.)

Erin obviously isn't too sure about either the photo or the lunch. :)

I didn't know corn was so hard to swallow.

Apparently, it's very hard to look perfectly normal, when being photographed.

photo courtesy of Emily.

Later on in the afternoon, the little guys played Wii Karaoke Nursery Rhymes, and Miss Porge had a go. Rather she sucked on the microphone, and her singing sounded more like moaning, but we thought it sounded beautiful (in a really special way).

And to finish off the post with two happy little girls. Liv looks happier, I don't think Emma quite takes to being that up close and personal.

DPP Day 24-One More Sleep 'Til Christmas

2011-12-24T20:44:00.000+11:00

DPP Day 23-Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T20:37:00.004+11:00

DPP Day 21-Holiday Pictures

2011-12-22T16:35:00.002+11:00

I took 684 photos while we were away, and therefore was having a little trouble deciding which photos to put up on my blog to show you all. I decided that a slide show would be the best means of showing off my work, but I still wanted to do my usual end of year slide show. So what I have done is put some of my favourite pictures up for you to see. I have just put some basic background music on, and haven't fiddled with any of the photos. I hope that this will be able to show you my pictures (which I had trouble narrowing down), but also not detract too much from the Roberts 2011 Slide Show, which I hope to put together at some point in the future. I made it as short as possible. Apologies if you find it too long. :)

DPP Day 20- Big Car, Sweet Ride

2011-12-20T17:10:00.000+11:00

Dad's new work vehicle. It's a pretty sweet ride.

DPP Day 19-WPCB Christmas Carols

2011-12-19T19:15:00.000+11:00

WPCB's 3rd annual Christmas Carols.

It was rather a full day with kids' games, dinner, dessert, and then carols.

Mr. Cute Face

The BBQ kings and dinner assembly line

Kurtis prefers plastic cups over sausages.

Mr. Suave

Jamming around

Tegan, Rachel, and Jess ran a kids program, and everyone loved Colin's "On that Very First Christmas."

Reading a Christmas story

Two people I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.

(Photo courtesy of Angus)

The "stage" was beautifully lit up with Christmas lights, and decorated with tinsel.

The congregation enjoying carols by candlelight.

The wonder of candlelight.

DPP Day 18- New Christmas Music

2011-12-18T19:20:00.000+11:00

My new Christmas cd.

In my humble opinion the "Muppets Christmas Carol" is the best adaptation of Dicken's novel. And this Christmas we get to enjoy it's wonderful music of Christmas cheer. Who doesn't love the muppets? I can't pick my favourite song, but I am glad that this cd has Belle's song on it. So that even though we can't enjoy it on the DVD we can at least enjoy it on cd. Do you have a favourite song from the movie?

Holiday update and photos coming soon!

DPP Day 10-The Conspirator

2011-12-10T23:00:00.000+11:00

A brilliant, intriguing, captivating movie. Though not the one to watch, if you feel like you need a jolly, light heartening evening. I want to see it again, though maybe not too soon.

DPP Day 9-Sebastian's Dress Sense

2011-12-09T19:46:00.000+11:00

A blue pyjama shirt, red pyjama pants, and pink gumboots. Hmmm. But he looks happy.

DPP Day 8-My Gingerbread House

2011-12-08T21:23:00.001+11:00

Anyone want some gingerbread? Because we have more than enough to spare.

December Photo Project- No. 7 A Day Late

2011-12-08T18:00:00.000+11:00

Yesterday I spent decorating my gingerbread house, and by the time I finished I was feeling a little unwell (the tummy bug has gone around most of the family, though thankfully all I received was a slight dose of the flu). Therefore, yesterday's DPP post didn't eventuate, and today Photobucket won't upload my pictures, so I have resorted to posting a picture which I didn't take.

My favourite Christmas book. I think that it is one of Dicken's greatest, and he has many great ones. But I just love the way he describes the effect Christmas Day has on people's spirits, I love the way he describes the Cratchit family, poor yet happy and grateful; I love Scrooges funny, Scroogish sayings; I love the way he looks back on Scrooge's childhood. Two years ago Mum read it aloud to us, last year we didn't because we had just started another book, and this year Mum bought our own copy of the beautifully illustrated book, so we can enjoy it as our own.

December Photo Project-Day Six

2011-12-06T19:50:00.000+11:00

Hooray for new bauble tea light holders. I love shopping at Dusk.

DPP Day 5-Setting up the Christmas Tree

2011-12-05T20:46:00.001+11:00

Yesterday we set our Christmas Tree up.

Helping Dad by carrying the branches.

Genevieve relaxing under the table.

Traditional star pictures.

Relaxing while waiting for Dad to finish the set up and the decorating to begin.

Sebastian wasn't feeling well, and wasn't too sure about the whole tree business. I had to take candid photos of him yesterday because whenever he realised that I was trying to take a photo of him, he'd cover his eyes and say "I no like."

The decorating has begun.

We did manage to convince Sebastian to hang his ball on the tree.

Big smiles.

Adding the finishing touches.

The younger children did most of the decorating.

All finished and looking lovely.

And Sebastian still looking serious...

but after some thought...

he decides that it isn't all bad.

December Photo Project- Happy Birthday, Angus!

2011-12-04T21:03:00.000+11:00

It's Angus' birthday today and even though this photo isn't the best quality, it's the best, most recent photo I have of him. He doesn't overly like having his photo taken. Today has been a more quiet day, opening gifts and a few low key games this afternoon. On Friday, we'll be having a bigger celebration dinner. But nevertheless, we really appreciate our handyman at home, who has a very special talent with kids. He was Emma's favourite aunt/uncle, and was dubbed "Uncle" by her.

Angus I hope you had a very special day and enjoy your time on Friday.

Happy Birthday!

December Photo Project-Day Three

2011-12-03T17:42:00.000+11:00

Today is a double photo day.

Firstly, Olivia's count-down calendar for our holiday. Next week, we're going to Sydney for a week, to spend our time splashing at the beach, swimming in the pool, shopping in Queen Victoria's Basement, and generally hanging out together. I am looking forward to lots of walks on the beach, lots of time spent reading, and don't worry there'll be lots of photos.

And here is poor miss Liese, who woke up this morning with a tummy bug. She slept for 3 hours this afternoon, and then had to be woken up. She has kept down her lunch, so hopefully, that'll be the end of it. And if not, then that it will move quickly through us. I can't say the idea of driving to Sydney with a tummy bug, suits my idea of holiday bliss.

December Photo Project-Advent Candle Prophesy

2011-12-02T23:44:00.001+11:00

We were a little behind on beginning our advent candles this year. We only started last night, beginning with the candle of prophesy.

The LORD God said to the serpent

“Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat All the days of your life;
And I will put enmity Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

Genesis 3:14-15

Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and strength,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
And He will delight in the fear of the LORD,
And He will not judge by what His eyes see,
Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;

But with righteousness He will judge the poor,

And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth;
And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.
Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins,

And faithfulness the belt about His waist.

Isaiah 11:1

December Photo Project-Day One

2011-12-01T16:15:00.000+11:00

Louie Giglio is one of my favourite speakers (if not my fully favourite speaker), and even though this DVD came out last year, I only saw it today. And of course because it's a Louie Giglio's talk, it's good.

And after we saw "The 12 ~~Days~~ Words of Christmas," we decided that since it is the 1st of December, it's fully time to start to listening to my favourite Christmas cd. "O Holy Night" is oh so good. In fact it's all good, but that's one of my favourites.

We Saw Princess Mary (oh and Fred)

2011-11-29T20:33:00.001+11:00

Emily missed seeing the Queen. So when we heard that Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark were coming to Canberra, we decided to enter our names into the drawer to see if we won tickets. And we did! This is our story.

We arrived at Black Mountain Peninsula at 12:30 (1 1/2 hours early) for the bus ride into the arboretum. There were about 3 other cars there, but we had brought our books to while away the time.

As we started boarding the bus, the rain started to trickle down. A rather wet, gloomy, and cold day for the Prince and Princess to visit Canberra.

The land wasn't looking too brown.

The rain came down heavier and faster and it didn't stop the whole duration of our stay. But we were happy in the beginning.

We stood in the rain for 35 minutes, and then were informed that the royals wouldn't be there for another 45 minutes. In our desperate state we started playing "I Spy" which lasted 2 minutes, and then we resorted to guessing Princess Mary's vehicles for arrival.

Then I started taking random pictures.

The tree Princess Mary
and Prince Fred "planted"

The head honcho of the National Arboretum.
He had a very long speech about trees
and how wonderful the arboretum is.

This is Kathleen Dyett. She's an ABC radio reporter. I know her name from listening to our local radio station, so she was lucky enough to be photographed by me. :) Like I said. I was a bit desperate.

Finally after we had stood in the rain for 1 hour and 50 minutes the motorcade arrived. But they first had to meet the ACT Chief Minister on top of the "Brown Land" hill.

Our beautiful bunch of roses, which we actually didn't pay for. Sssh. Mum went to our local florist where Caitlin does her work experience to buy some flowers for us to take, and our special friend made the bouquet for free.

Finally the Prince and Princess arrive, and the media are prepared.

My uncle lent me his 70-300 lens, and I was prepared to use that one, but had to quickly change to my 18-55 when I realised they were greeting people first. It's kind of funny, but even though Prince Frederik is the actual royal one, no one cares about him. He mostly stood there just holding Mary's umbrella, and everyone screamed "Hi Mary," "We love you, Mary," "Bye, Mary." People were giving her things for her kids, and I felt like saying "Darling, her kids are royalty they'll have everything they could possibly want." She was very nice about it, and thanked them, but I do just wonder if she was thinking "Another thing to go in the recyclable gift cupboard." :)

But she was lovely. She shook our hands, said pleased to meet you, and smiled.

Ahh, she's holding our flowers.

Her multiple flower holders.

"Planting" the tree. All they did was scrape some dirt on and then pour on some water, even though it was still raining steadily.

The royal wave.

All in all we waited for Princess Mary about 3 1/4 hours, 1 hour and 50 minutes of that standing in the rain, and feeling like poor little Lucky in "101 Dalmations" saying, "My nose is froze, and my ears are froze, and my toes are froze, and my tail is froze (maybe not). And all in all we saw her for about 15 minutes at max, but when Mum asked me if it was worth it, I said "yes." I mean I am not going to do it again in a week, even if I could. It's probably something I'd do once in a lifetime, and I've had my turn and it might not come again. Besides I broke my record for the longest I have ever waited in line (not strictly speaking of course).

Oh, and for my moment of glory. I was captured in a picture on the Canberra Times photogallery. Go here to see it. I am in the top right hand corner that is my nose is.

Emma's 4th Birthday Party

2011-11-28T10:07:00.001+11:00

The year strolls around so fast. It doesn't feel like it was that long ago that I posted about Emma's 3rd Birthday Party, but here we are again, celebrating our precious oldest niece and granddaughter. We had Emma's party on the 19th, a week and a day before she actually turned 4.

Emma chose a trampoline cake. Cassandra was pretty happy about this, since it wasn't too involved.

There wasn't really anything healthy eaten that day. But, hey, what are parties for?

Parks are always great for kids birthdays. Less mess, lots of fun.

Perhaps George wasn't having too much fun.

Hmmm, what shall I eat?

Hanging out together.

Cake time! It was too windy for the candle to stay lit for a long time...

But that didn't dampen Emma's spirit.

Such a beautiful smile, Georgia.

And it's only appropriate to finish with a picture of the happy Birthday Girl.

Happy 4th Birthday, Emma

2011-11-27T17:03:00.000+11:00

Happy Birthday to my favourite 4 year old niece. What would life be like without your happy, easy-going, funny combined Roberts/Buttsworth personality. We all love you lots.

Happy Birthday!

Annaliese: On Being a Mummy

2011-11-23T11:46:00.000+11:00

Annaliese to Tegan, "I can't wait 'til I am a mummy, because then when someone asks me 'Can we watch a movie?' I can say 'I'll think about it', and then I'll say 'Yes.'

Mum informed her that being a mummy has a lot more to it, than telling (or not telling) people that they can watch movies. We know what's high on Annaliese's priority list.

Happy Birthday, William!

2011-11-15T14:45:00.000+11:00

William turns 10 today. Wow! I can hardly believe he is 10. I can clearly remember my 10th birthday, and I was 10 when he was born (and I thought I was so big :). So many memories during and since that time! The world is a much smileyier place for his big grin. We're so thankful for it brightening our lives.

There Were Two in the Bed

2011-11-14T15:42:00.000+11:00

and the little one said

"GET ME OUT!!!"

But then she resigned herself to her fate...

and gazed longingly out, wondering when her rescuer would come.

She waited, and waited, and waited, and waited...

and finally her oppressor turned lamblike

put a big grin on,

and then decided to throw Hamish overboard.

And they all lived happily ever after.

THE END.

The Spring Racing Carnival

2011-11-11T14:58:00.000+11:00

As some of you may know our family has an annual Roberts' feast and celebration on Melbourne Cup day, and in recent years we have donned homemade hats and gadded around looking like fools (or some of us anyway).

This year only the younger ones found pleasure in hats. We spent Monday afternoon decorating and creating hats with feathers, bells, pom poms, and streamers. And for only a small effort they enjoyed it a big amount.

Sebastian was in a photo mood, where he wanted to be in almost everyones photo, so there are a lot of him in this post. Plus he's so cute, it's hard to decide which ones to pick.

All the mad hatters and their hats!

Lots of happy faces.

Sebastian had such a cute, happy smile on for these photos. He's the girl with the curl, and when he's good, he's, O so good and cute. And when he's bad, well, we'll leave that one alone.

You can't leave the dogs out of the photos. And I didn't even initiate this one. Sebastian did.

How you love a dog.

Sebastian found the mad hatters hat...

and then wondered whether it was such a good idea.

Twenty-First Celebrations

2011-11-08T10:11:00.000+11:00

I am still trying to update my backlogged posts, and on the 28th of October we celebrated a lovely friend's 21st Birthday. We felt very privileged to be able to join in the celebrations.

We first had drinks and lunch at Cafe Injoy, the best place in Canberra for iced chocolates, or so I think from my vast experience in that area.

There were lots of cameras and photographers.
(photo generously donated by Abbie)

Friends....

and sisters...
(photo generously donated by Abbie)

and smiles.
(photo generously donated by Abbie)

After lunch a wander round the lake was proposed and acted upon.

Abbie and Morgan took their sweet time arranging the cameras for self-timing, and in the meantime we were entertainment for a couple having lunch, which in turn entertained us.
(next two photos generously donated by Abbie)

Pleasantly strolling around the lake.

3 of the 7 sisters

We found some stairs and decided to sit.
(last four photos generously donated by Abbie)

This was supposed to be a solemn pose but I am not sure how many managed to keep a straight face.

More strolling around, and back to the car after a pleasant afternoon.

Hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did, Grace. Thanks for turning 21. :)

The Tale of a Snake and a Picnic

2011-11-02T16:12:00.001+11:00

This post of photos is about a week overdue, and there's plenty more posts coming (hopefully) in the next few days, so keep your eyes open. We have one computer in a house of 12 users, so sometimes it is a little hard for both of us to be free at the same time.

22nd of October we got together with lots of homeschooling friends to picnic and enjoy the fine weather. That day we also had some excitement in the form of a snake wandering through our backyard. Thankfully, it wasn't poisonous (or didn't look like it was), but it took the glory of being the most unexpected guest to visit us. I mean we live in suburbia for crying out loud! Even though most of our family are snake haters, we did end up feeling sorry for it. It first entered our premises looking for water (Lachlan found it drinking out of our dripping tap) and it was terrified when Dad was trying corner it, so the dreadful deed could be done. Afterwards we found out that it's illegal to knock snakes on the head (literally). Whoops

Anyway, back to the picnic.

Annaliese enjoying her afternoon tea on a big chair.

I am trying to take some candid photos, but she can't help noticing me and pulls a little smirk while drinking. Talented girl.

The kids seemed to enjoy the chips.

Ah, yes, as I was saying...

well, yes, you get the idea.

A picnic isn't quite complete without a few babies...

and toddlers...

and cute little girls.

Some father-son time. There was plenty of time for this, since Sebastian wasn't in his happiest of moods.

I think this is the first decent photo with just me and Georgia. She's wearing such a cute expression.

(Photo courtesy of Caitlin)

Eating a biscuit...

and then doing a dance.

Walks by the lake.

Mad as a march hare is this one.

And thanks to Sophie who took this photo of me and Sebastian. He doesn't look too impressed with the arrangements.

I thought I took a relative amount of photos, but when I arrived home realised that a lot of the pictures contained my family. I mean, I know that my fam is truly beautiful and awesome and all that, but I know you just don't want to see pictures of them. We'll do better next time.

Stay tuned for the photo journal of spring happenings, including the race carnival.

If You Are in Canberra This Saturday

2011-10-27T16:36:00.001+11:00

Make sure you stop by the Duntroon Markets

Caitlin and Tegan have a stall there selling lots of their beautiful creations. We have had lots of new products in the making this week, including two new hobby horses, one of which I am trying to convince Caitlin to call Humperdink. She's still not convinced. However, he will be there regardless of his name, along with his new sister spotty, dotty horse

and some lovely new..

ladybug notelets.

owl notelets

pretty pink dinosaurs

and kids clothes

The details are:

Time and Date-Saturday 29 October 4:00-6:30 P.M.

Destination- Gym Kana Road, Duntroon

Someone

2011-10-26T17:23:00.000+11:00

I have been enjoying Casting Crowns newest cd "Come To The Well" this week. Usually, I am not Casting Crowns biggest fan (Emily has the pleasure of that title), but I am loving this one. Maybe it's because the words and music are, in my opinion, of a higher standard than per usual, or maybe it's because it's a new cd, and who doesn't like new music?

As it generally works out, I heard the first 4 songs over and over again, but only yesterday did I manage to listen to the other 8. My pick of the last 8 songs would have to be "Wedding Day." Here's why it's my pick: I've seen several girls become so consumed with being married or having "someone", that it becomes their main focus in life and they feel like they can't be happy without a husband, or just simply "someone". This song just really rung clear to me, that there is "Someone" who dries our tears, holds our hands, and even though we are ugly and wounded and despicable still thinks we're beautiful. It's so easy to get caught up with what flowers, and what style of dress, and what colour bridesmaids dresses we're going to have when this elusive male turns up. But even though I don't know whether I'll get to experience the whole wedding day and marriage thing on earth, I do know that right now I get to experience the best love from the best Someone, and one day I'll get to experience a heavenly wedding and everything else will pale in comparison.

Why, hello there

2011-10-18T19:31:00.000+11:00

Well, my little spot on the web has been a bit quiet of late. Leading up to my exam I was pretty music focused and following my exam I decided to take a holiday. Dad also had time off, I was sick with the flu for 2 weeks, and I decided in my break to spend a lot of time reading. I whizzed through lots of books: "Oranges and Sunshine"- provoking read. Somtimes I felt as if I was reading ones of Dickens book. The sad thing with this one is that it was all true and actually happenend to people, while Dicken's was fiction. "Agnes Grey"- Not at all able to compete with Jane Eyre, but I still enjoyed it. It improved greatly 2/3 of the way through when Mr. Weston showed up. :) "Billy Graham in Quotes"- well you know from my previous post what I thought of that one. :) and now I am onto "Dombey and Son"- which is pretty easy to read and very Dickens-ish. So far we've experienced no boring chapters and no mystery, so I am waiting to see if they turn up.

Do you like our doggies spring hair cuts? You probably can't tell the difference, and I did intend to take a photo of them before but, O well.

Yesterday was bath and trim day for them and it took me a good hour and a half to finish them all off. We had hair all out the back and hair all over me so that whenever I bent my head forward to continue my cutting, my nose and face received a fresh supply of hair. Genevieve is used to such treatment ( her hair is much thicker and grows much faster than Annabelle's), but Annabelle is not and spent the entire time either whining under her breath, whining over her breath, or yelping. She also spent the next hour after her bath tearing through the house and backyard, trying to rid herself of the wet feeling. She's a dense animal. But she does look rather charming and young with her new bobbed hair cut.

I can't remember whether I posted about this or not but Angus had his first music exam just a week after mine. He was examined by our favourite examiner (not), but he still managed to pull off a good score. He deserved ever point because he worked very hard, and was very consistent in his practice (much more consistent than I have ever been). He received an A (86%). I have also heard from my teacher about my results. I received a B (76%). I haven't seen my report yet, so will be interested to see what I lost the most marks for. I am guessing my Mozart as I think that is where I let myself down the most.

Staying on the topic of music, as of the last 2 weeks I have started teaching piano outside our family, well, sort of. I have been teaching one of my cousins. So far Lily has been remembering her work, which is encouraging, and I enjoy the teaching role. I am also continuing to teach Emily, Victoria, and William. Victoria has the most interest, and even though she struggles more with ability, she's always keen to have a lesson and works very hard at her practice. It's fun being able to impart something you love onto someone else, and I enjoy watching my students grow at their different stages and paces (though sometimes their lessons aren't as regular as could be wished). This term my former teacher is going to do some advertising for me, so hopefully next year I can impart the music love to some more people.

We also celebrated Caitlin's Birthday last weekend with some special people.

And of course we had to have our annual Felicity/Caitlin photo.

We have our church's annual AGM tonight. I've never been to one before so I am curiously interested. Some think they're rather boring and a couple of people I know find them very interesting. Do you have an opinion on AGMs? I'll have to quickly finish up the post so I can help wash up before we leave.

So long.

Adieu

BookSneeze Book Review -Billy Graham in Quotes

2011-10-17T15:54:00.000+11:00

Hmm, so far my luck in BookSneeze has not been that great. Three out of the four books that I have chosen have been reference books, and since one of the conditions is that I read the book cover to cover, well, I can't really complain when it isn't that inspiring a read. "Billy Graham Quotes" may be a brilliant cover to cover read if you're Billy Graham's biggest fan. And since I am not, and consequently this is the first book of his I have read, it really is no wonder it did not fill me with exhilaration. Some of the quotes I did find a little pointless, and I did feel like they stretched out the categories a little. Sometimes, I felt like it was a different quote saying the same thing in a different category. However, not to give it a denigrating write up, I did mark, ooo maybe seven quotes, so I did find something redeeming in the 387 pages.

I feel a little guilty only giving not-overly-positive reviews for my books, however I do think that I have made some bad book choices. Next time I am keen to order an Andy Stanley book, so hopefully that will bring an improvement.

Happy Birthday Caitlin!

2011-10-13T09:59:00.000+11:00

Well, it's time for another Roberts' Birthday and this time the special person is...

CAITLIN

The special number is 22. Caitlin has many talents. She can sew, mend, read books like they're going out of fashion, make icing either too runny or too stiff to actually ice a cake, create beautiful floral arrangements, wash up dishes in water hot enough to take the skin off your hands, and we're very grateful for her. :)

Happy Birthday!

A Man of Many Talents

2011-10-05T13:13:00.000+11:00

First he's an equestrian.

And a very cute one at that.

Then he's a milliner.

And finally a princess.

A dazed princess

a slightly odd princess

a drumming princess

a "I don't want my picture taken" princess

and a dancing princess.

In a way Sebastian reminds me of a scene in the new Jane Eyre, where Mrs. Fairfax, Jane, and Adele are breakfasting. First you hear Mr. Rochester playing Beethoven on his pianoforte, the next yelling at his servants, after that calling for his dog, and then finally you hear him go out shooting. All of this takes place within 2 minutes. I wouldn't mind hearing Sebastian playing Beethoven through the house, but I think he could leave the yelling at his "servants" and the shooting alone. Maybe a few other things too. :)

Floriade Flowers

2011-09-30T10:07:00.001+10:00

Last Thursday I went with Caitlin to Floriade. She went to take down her Watermelon dress, and in the half hour it took her, I wandered around and took just over 100 images. These are my top 5 picks.

There was so much colour and I was so thankful for the lighting. We went about 4 o'clock, and there was a good amount of shade and nice lighting.

Ahhh, such beautiful colours.

We're hoping to go to Floriade as a family at some point. This week will be a bit of a doosy for the Floriade staff due to the weather. Dad is currently in Perth for Synod (a big WPC church elder meeting), so we hope that next week the rain will have rained itself out and there will be some lovely sunshine.

Passion for Fashion 2011

2011-09-25T15:42:00.002+10:00

Here's a day full of pictures from Caitlin's Passion for Fashion competition. Enjoy

This isn't the best picture of Caitlin, but here's the first stage of dressing the mannequin. It's covered in lots of hot pink horse bandage. Very attractive.

The skirt was made of lots of lovely watermelon coloured gerberas.

Tegan and I gravitated between the marquee with crazy florists and wandering around the grounds.

The skirt is on. I must admit that at this point I was a bit concerned about the look of the dress. It does look a little standard.

Then Tegan and I found our way to Stage 88 and sat on the grass, read a book or wrote in a diary depending on who you were, ate some morning tea, and took photos of one another.

This wasn't at all staged. I read books like this all the time. :)

More flowers. I didn't take too many flower photos and wasn't that happy with the ones I took, but I went back to Floriade with Caitlin on Thursday to take down her dress and took over 100 flower photos. I'll have to post some soon.

I left at this stage to go home and pick Mum up, and then come back. But I was feeling more hopeful about the design at this stage and thought it looked rather nice.

When we came back Caitlin was all finished, so we went and had lunch at APK, then returned to relax on the lawn of Stage 88 while the judges took their time judging.

Caitlin was over the day by now and positively refused to smile for me. In fact, this was the face I got.

Finally, the judges had decided who deserved the prizes, and were allowed back into the marquee.

The next 2 dresses received encouragement awards.

The next 2 dresses tied for second.

Yes, hmmm, some interesting styles were displayed.

This is the dress that won, in fact by a margin of 30 points. Very well deserved. While I don't think I would be pleading to wear it, some great technique was shown.

And this dress won the Roberts' and Friends appreciation award. We thought it was the best.

Miss Emma was pretty stoked to be allowed the honour of having her photo taken with the designer and her mannequin.

THE EXAM

2011-09-22T13:08:00.001+10:00

I've been thinking a lot this last week about this world being God's not mine, this life being God's not mine, and this day being God's not mine. The rubber was sort of hitting the road yesterday morning. I hadn't felt at all nervous with regard to my music exam. This was kind of worrying me because normally I am a little nervous. However, yesterday the nerves started kicking in. I have found especially with 7th grade that somedays I play and everything sounds lovely, some days I play and everything goes pear-shaped. My aural work has especially given me trouble this time. Some lessons I have failed all aspects of the aural section and this was my biggest concern. I don't mind making some mistakes but I hate making so many mistakes that it's embarrassing and I look like I don't know what I am doing (which is partly true).

So yesterday, I was praying that my exam would go well, but also that if it didn't, I remembered that the most important thing is God's glory; and if He had planned for my day a doozy of an exam, well, it was His prerogative to choose what came into "His" day.

So I arrive at my teacher's house (I have my exams at my teacher's house), and I was feeling a little nervous. Thankfully I didn't have to wait too long for the examiner to be ready, because I reckon that the worst part is the waiting part before the exam actually starts. My teacher is a brilliant teacher. Reason number 1. that she's very experienced, yet is kind in her bills. She's worth a lot more than she charges (though music lessons full stop are expensive). Reason number 2. I get to sit my exams at her house which is nice. I already know the piano and don't have to spend the first 5 minutes of the exam trying to get used to the instrument. So if your looking for a music teacher for advanced students I'd highly recommend my teacher. If you're looking for a music teacher for a beginner pianist I'd highly recommend myself. :)

You begin an exam with technical works: scales, arpeggios, and the like. For some reason my fingers did what they were supposed to and ran across the keys without much of a slip. My examiner said she couldn't complain about my scales (she's a nice lady), and my pieces went off without much mishap. I was slightly disappointed with my Mozart, but my Valtse Brilliante, Girl with the Flaxen Hair, and Study all went off pretty well. General knowledge is a little difficult to remember every single detail about the pieces', but the examiner picked out my favourite one, Mozart's Sonate.

The moment I was dreading came at last and I had to leave the music stool and stand for the torture of aural work. I don't know what happened to me that day. Maybe God cleaned my ears and my brain in preparation. But the degrees of the scales which I had to identify, which I usually guess all wrong, I worked them out and guessed them all right. I could have hugged the examiner when she told me they were right (they generally aren't supposed give you feedback while you're in the examination. but as I said, this examiner is nice). I managed to guess the identifying of augmented, diminished, major, and minor chords right, or so my teacher thought from what she could hear in the other room.

I might not know my results for about a month because they post the results to my teacher and she's going to be overseas for 3 or 4 weeks next Wednesday. But the examiner when I left, said she'd see me for my grade 8, so I suppose I passed.

It was a delicious feeling coming home and knowing I didn't have to practice my music. I have to practice music for church this week, but after Sunday I'm not going to touch the piano for at least two weeks. I am having a little break from piano now. I decided not to prepare for an exam next year, for at beginning of this term I felt overwhelmingly stressed with my music. I didn't at all enjoy the middle part of my music preparation, so I decided to have a year off and hopefully I'll come back in a little while rearing to go.

Sorry for such a long post. I didn't intend for it to be this long, but sometimes once I start it's hard to stop "talking." Apologies if you are about to faint from boredom.

Note: none of the images on this post were taken by me

Good Family Times

2011-09-20T09:42:00.001+10:00

These photo are a few weeks old now. On Mum's birthday we were in rather a photographing mood, so I thought I'd share some of the photos. They probably won't be of much interest to most of you, my readers, but sometimes I use my blog as a memory device, and look back through some of my old posts and photos. So this post is as much for me as it is for you.

We were feeling pretty jolly.

Though not everyone shared the same emotion.

Best, best friends (according to Emma you can have best friends, and then a best, best friend).

OK I must admit that this one was a little posed. They were giving each other a kiss. I missed it, so I told them to do it again.

This one was supposed to be about how good the dessert was, only, you can't see the dessert.

Crazy faces.

And more crazy faces.

Caitlin's "dress of flowers" pictures will be coming. I am assuming she wants to post about it, I don't want to steal her thunder, so hopefully I will be posting about it soon.

A Dress Out of Flowers?

2011-09-16T17:08:00.001+10:00

Tomorrow Caitlin will be participating in the Passion for Fashion competition at Floriade making a dress out of flowers. She'll be creating the dress from 9:00 A.M. until 1:30 P.M., with the winner announced at 4:00 P.M. So if you're around tomorrow why don't you pop in for a visit. The dresses will also be shown until Thursday, so if you can't make it tomorrow, you can go and see it later on in the week. I'll be there tomorrow with a "Vote For Caitlin" sign, so you won't be able to miss us. :)

Note: I won't really be there with a sign (Caitlin would kick me out of the Marquee if I did) but I'll be there cheering her on.

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing

2011-09-12T09:59:00.001+10:00

Our house erupted with screams as we watched Sam Stosur hit a slamming forehand cross-court to take out the US Open Women's title this morning. We're still pumped. For the first time in something like 37 years we have a US Open Women's Champion. And for all of you who said she didn't have it in her. Well, she does.

Stosur managed to keep her cool and demolish an angry Serena Williams 6-2 6-3. We were thanked in Stosur's post-match speech. She thanked her family and friends back home and everyone else who supported her. We're glad she didn't forget us, especially as Tegan and Lachlan can now say they've had their photo with the US Open 2011 champion.

Cassandra said that if Sam made it through she'd buy us dinner because she didn't want to have to eat her hat. Well, Sam made it through. We're now waiting on our dinner. :)

Oh Happiness...

2011-09-11T18:00:00.002+10:00

There is grace enough for us and the whole human race. David Crowder Band

Here's what we have a right to: hell. Anything else is a bonus. So accept health and partial health, prosperity and making do, work and social benefit, and holidays and days at home, as good, gracious, undeserved gifts from God. Enjoy them. Don't moan about what you haven't got. Enjoy all that God has given. You don't deserve it. You deserve hell. Life on earth is a bonus. Life in the new earth will be heaven! Tim Chester

A week ago last Thursday was the first day of spring. It was also the beginning of the 7 days Dad took off work, so I was pretty excited. I had this post in mind to write then, but have only just now been able to sit down and put the words to the post now. The above quotes came to my head when I was contemplating this post. I thought they were very applicable. I deserve hell ( a very scary and horrible thought), yet not only do I receive grace but also a thousand and one blessings besides.

So as I said Dad had all of last week off and we went into half-holiday mode. Dad spent a lot of time in the garden moving around old plants and plating new ones. Therefore the younger children spent almost all day outside helping Dad and running around playing. Also, Mum took that time to use her birthday money to take Caitlin, Tegan, and myself to the movies to see "Jane Eyre" and then "The Help." Jane Eyre was cast brilliantly, I just wish they had taken a bit longer to go through the book. They did a good job with only the 2 hours they had, though. Mia Wasikowska played the best Jane Eyre I've seen, AND she's from Canberra. "The Help" was probably a more thought productive movie. One negative being that there was a fair amount of bad language. Other than that, we laughed and cried our way through it. Note: we laugh at a lot of movies, but it has to be really moving to make us cry.

The count has started for my music exam. The date is set for the 21st, which is only 1 1/2 weeks aways. In a way I can't wait for it to happen, on the other hand I am a bit daunted that I only have a short time to get it all together. I feel like I do when I am running or working through the chest track in a BodyPump class. I just have to keep telling myself "You're almost done. Keep going. Don't stop, you're almost there." After this term I am having a break from piano lessons, just because I have felt a bit overwhelmed with grade 7 and want a break, and next term I am hoping to start teaching and eventually do my grade 8. So if you know of anyone who wants music lessons, well, um, I am available. :)

I won the book "Oranges and Sunshine" in a giveaway Jo hosted. Last week I was finally able to start reading it. It's an easy to read book. Easy, as in easy to read comprehension wise, sometimes the content has to be mulled over. So even though I have had more time than usual to read this weekend, I am reading it in small chunks over several slots of the day. I'm am finding it fascinating, saddening, repulsive, gripping, and thought provoking all at the same time. Though once or twice I decided not too think too much about what I read, for I knew that if I dwelt on it, I'd have difficulty finishing the book. It has made me realise how much we are blessed, with having pleasant childhood, an identity, and growing up in a safe, secure home. I haven't quite finished the book yet, so wouldn't want to recommend it too highly. I'll let you know when I have finished the whole book.

Last Thursday I made dinner, and since we had lots of egg whites lying around in the fridge I decided I'd make chocolate pavlova for dessert. I hadn't tried this recipe before, but Caitlin and Mum had several times. It worked one of those times for them. However, I thought that perhaps I might have the touch. My first pavlova ended up looking like one gigantic chocolate pancake. I made a second, adjusting the recipe, but it still fell as soon as I put the cornflour and cocoa in. This time I baked it in a springform tin, so it didn't turn pancakish, but still didn't work. Here's my gigantic chocolate pavlova pancake.

What's made you happy this last week? How do you feel particularly blessed?

Happy Birthday Mum!

2011-09-02T16:01:00.001+10:00

Today we're having a joint celebrating for Mum's Birthday (which is today) and Father's Day. Birthday celebrations are great for enjoying family time, great food, and also for remembering how blessed we are to have one another. We're all very grateful for Mum and Dad; for the way they have endeavoured to raise us kids so we live lives that glorify God, for the many ways they are generous with their time, money, and gifts. And especially for Mum, for her great cooking, for the many nights and hours of sleep that she has given up for us, and for how she demonstrates to us how to give up one's life that you may find it again.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Being Real

2011-08-31T16:32:00.001+10:00

It's easy to be fake, ingenuine, or not real with people outside your family, It's especially easy in blog world.

Our week was begun with encouragement to be real with one another. Encouragement to tell people when we're struggling with a particular sin, to be open about what God has been teaching us, and also to earnestly pray for one another. This week emails have been going back and forth between out Bible Study group, people mentioning things they'd like prayer about and verses from the Bible that they've found particularly encouraging. It has been really encouraging realising that we get to study the Bible and go to church with a group of people who are real about their faith.

It's much easier to not be real in the area of blog world than it is in the real world. You communicate with people, some of whom you have never met; and even though you may have only seen pictures of them, in someway it can feel like you have met them. It's very easy to put up an appearance of love, and faith, and calm, and happiness, when really there is none. Our visiting speaker at church (Noel Weeks), spoke about the woman who gives her smiles freely when she's out, and then goes home and yells at her kids. I feel like that's me, in a way. I don't have any kids, but I do have siblings. I am a people person, but I also can become very stressed and cross when circumstances test me. It's very easy to be friendly and pleasant with people I don't see often, and then speak rudely to my little sister, simply because I am trying to practice my music and they are asking me how to spell "cat." It's easy to post about how my little sisters make me laugh, but much harder to be patient and speak kindly to them all the time.

Two things I do promise you are always true on my blog. Mum's food always tastes way better than my pictures portray, and my little siblings are way cuter than I could ever describe or show via this blog.

Happy Birthday LJ!

2011-08-28T06:39:00.003+10:00

It's Lachlan's birthday today, and since a couple of times recently I have had delayed birthday posts, I decided to get up earlier than normal so I could write his birthday post. It's lovely, dark, and quiet; only Mum and I are up. :)

This picture really shows one of Lachlan's gifts. He's awesome with kids. That is if you don't mind your child laughing a lot and getting a bit crazy. Olivia and Annaliese are his little sidekicks, and think he's very cool.

Three things come to mind when I think of Lachlan. 1. His talent with entertaining kids. If we hear Annaliese or Emma scream in pleasure, we know Lachlan must be in the same vicinity too. 2. His talent in making up strange names for people and calling them by it. For instance I am Boof, or if I get lucky The Boofhead. I don't mind, shows his affection I suppose. Annaliese is Gummidge, Angus is Gusman (he used to be Eunice), and Tegan is Tog. He has many more, I just can't remember them all now. He likes being called LJ and is trying to teach the kids to call him that. Annaliese has got the hang of it, but Bashy and another little friend Elijah say something more like Ajay.

No. 3. of things that come to mind about Lachlan is his strange liking for Postman Pat. When he was a toddler Mum would have to hide the Postman Pat video or LJ would want to watch it 24/7. Still he thinks Postman Pat is "awesome", to use his own word. When Annaliese and Sebastian watch it of a morning, we usually have to remind Lachlan, "really you should stop watching Postman Pat, or you'll be behind in your studies." Tegan made him a Postman Pat birthday card. He thought it was great. :)

Happy 17th Birthday LJ!

Tim and Fiona's Engagement Party

2011-08-23T19:25:00.001+10:00

A lovely couple, beautiful weather, gorgeous kids, a mobile coffee van (awesome!), flowers, food, and lots of pictures. That's kind of a faithful description of last Sunday afternoon. Oh, yeah, plus some fun and friends. So I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

Yes, our favourite twins were there too. Words cannot describe how cute these guys are. Plus they're so well behaved. They didn't make a peep all afternoon.

Yes, there were lots of kids, and they'll feature a bit in this post. They are way easier to photograph than adults.

Oooh, there's another baby. By the way, these four kids are cousins. As you can see, the cuteness runs in the family. We just need a picture of Elijah to make the cousins complete.

One of my favourite types of pictures, "the selfie."
Fiona and me. Yes, I do realise that this is a post about Tim and Fiona's engagement party and we haven't even seen a photo of Tim, let alone one of them together yet. But I do promise one is coming. I just like posting my photos in chronological order.

Like I said at the beginning, there was a mobile coffee van (it also did hot chocolate, tea, chai lattes). Ordering your drink from a van makes everything more fun. :)

AND FINALLY, the lovely couple.

I was having trouble with my camera and lighting, I still don't know what was going on, but this is still such a lovely photo.

Love and smiles were doing the rounds.

And just so you know here's the famous twins' parents.

These guys think the hot drinks are pretty good too, except for poor Gini who didn't have a hot drink and had to make do with a cold drink cup.

Sam and Zachy throwing balls, though I do think on Zachy's part, there's wasn't much throwing going on, more like holding. What's the point in throwing a ball to someone as soon as you catch it? :)

And here's Sam the Man. He's so cute I had to post three pictures of him.

Using his overalls as pockets.

Hiding in mummy's dress because the girl with the camera wouldn't leave him alone.

Ooops, how did the twins get here again?

And it is only appropriate to finish with another love and smiles picture.

A Special Kind of Love

2011-08-18T15:45:00.006+10:00

"Emma is my best friend," Annaliese declared a couple of weeks ago. This wasn't a surprising statement, since if you've seen Annaliese and Emma together, you'd agree that Annaliese's favourite person to play with is Emma. Only, when we asked her who her other friends were she said, "Georgia." And who else? "Cassandra." She likes to keep things in the family.

I suppose her love for Emma isn't really all that strange.

They started life 5 weeks apart (and they still are the little fat elephant and the skinny long-legged grasshopper).

They had lots of photo shoots together as babies.

They have seen each other twice a week for all of their lives.

And had lots of time to hold hands...

and laugh...

and read bedtime stories...

and go to concerts...

and have matching Jemima dolls

and dresses

and share lots of crazy hair and faces.

I suppose it's no wonder that since Emma has been away for almost 2 weeks visiting her dad's family and enjoying a family holiday, that Annaliese has poured over our church directory looking for Emma's picture and declared that she didn't want to go to church because Emma wasn't going to be there (we still made her go anyway.)

And thankfully, Annaliese only has to wait about another 24 hours to see Emma, because she's coming to see us on her way home tomorrow.

Near the Lips, Far From the Mind

2011-08-16T16:12:00.001+10:00

I read this verse in my devotions this morning.

"Righteous are You, O LORD, that I would plead my case with You;

Indeed I would discuss matters of justice with You:

Why has the way of the wicked prospered?

Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease?

You have planted them, they have also taken root;

They grow, they have even produced fruit.
You are near to their lips
But far from their mind." Jeremiah 12:2

And it reminded me of Jerry Bridges chapter on ungodliness in his book "Respectable Sins."

"Ungodliness may be defined as living ones everyday life with little or no thought of God, or of God's will, or of God's glory, or of one's dependence on God."

How easy it is to go through the day, run our lives, eat, drink, drive, shop, and socialise without any thought, or even sometimes words, regarding God. Challenging.

The Ning Nang Nong

2011-08-08T15:51:00.002+10:00

You know the Ning Nang Nong, where the Cows go bong, the monkeys say 'Boo', the tea pots jibber jabber joo, and the mice clang. It's also a noisy place to belong. Well, that kind of reminds me of our place. Except for now, when all I can hear is Bonaparte twittering and Annabelle snoring. Ssssh. That's because it's quiet time and Bashman is asleep. Give it 20 minutes, though, and it'll all be Ning Nang Nongish again. By the by, I always thought that the "Ning Nang Nong" was a Playschool song, but I discovered today that Spike Milligan wrote it, and well, he's nothing to do with Playschool. I thought they only wrote such nonsense for babies and toddlers. You learn something new every day.

Last week Caitlin, Tegan, and I spent time helping friends clean and pack their house ready for an interstate move. We weeded; and washed windows, and blinds, and walls, and were fed well. It was lovely to be able to spend some time with them before the move.

About one and a half weeks ago, lying in bed, trying to go off to sleep, I had a panic attack regarding my music exam. I figured that it was only about 9 weeks away, and that I had a lot of work to do. However, since I couldn't do anything about it right then, I fell asleep and was relatively content until my music lesson. There I suffered from severe pedalitis, which resulted in a emotional lesson for both my teacher and me. Another result was that now my music requires one and a half hours of practice a day, which results in my brain being Chopined, and Mozarted, and Debussyed, and Duvernoyed, and scaled, and arpeggioed out by the end.

This year Caitlin, Tegan, Lachlan, and Angus are participating in the 40 hour famine. I am not participating (you can have too much of a good thing). Instead I have upgraded myself to the mentoring role. I'll be there to encourage them, when they are finding it hard. I have experienced it after all. If you'd like to donate some money to further the cause you can sponsor Caitlin here, Tegan here, Lachlan there, and Angus here.

Clubs have kind of been the theme for the last couple of months. Beginning of June Mum helped a young mum from church start up a book club. We started reading "Lies Women Believe" together. It's aided for some interesting discussion. But it has been lovely to catch up and discuss this book with some lovely ladies from church and beyond. In a few weeks we're starting "Choosing to See" Marybeth Chapman's autobiography. A friend also started running a cooking club with Caitlin, Tegan, and myself. The main aim of the cooking to build up relationships with non-Christian and Christian friends and also to have some fun cooking yummy things. Right up my alley. Socialisation and food. Bring it on!

Reading wise, right now I have three books on the go. Dynevor Terrace, I had to read this one after hearing Caitlin and Tegan talk about how great Louis was. Plus it is written by Charlotte Yonge. Big bonus. Before You Meet Prince Charming, yes, I am reading this one again. And "Billy Graham Quotes," I am not fussed on this one. It was free from Booksneeze, and was rather a silly choice. I am looking forward to reading, "Soul Surfer" though I have already half started this one, "Agnes Grey", and "Oranges and Sunshine."

And we're missing Sean, Cassandra, Emma, and Georgia right now, as they are up north visiting Sean's family.

How's your Ning Nang Nong going right now?

Happy Belated Birthday, Emily

2011-08-06T14:54:00.002+10:00

Well, here I am again doing something very bad and giving my sister a birthday post a day late. Not that I care about her any less than the rest of my family, just I was prevented by circumstances beyond my control. :) Well, yes, I could have written it yesterday morning if I hadn't taken Emily birthday shopping, but I think that could have been my way of showing love to her instead. (Though I do love shopping, even if I am only the adviser and chauffeur. :)

Emily's birthday didn't go according to normal birthday plans and had some unexpected hiccups so thank you to everyone who acknowledged her birthday. We tried to cheer her up about this fact by sharing horror birthday stories that some of us have also had so she knew she was not alone. Anyone what to share any of their horror birthday stories?

Now Emily is 14 she really isn't one of the "younger" girls so much anymore. She is now taller than Mum, Tegan (though that isn't much of a surprise :), and me, and is slowly creeping up to Caitlin. I'm not sure how much she has to go to reach that goal.

Emily, one of the easy laughers and the only external and internal blonde girl of the family, most always laughs at my sense of humour so I appreciate that. But to be honest, that's not such a striking thing, since I am actually quite funny. But I do appreciate that about her. We laugh together. A lot.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

A Double Birthday

2011-07-27T16:33:00.001+10:00

Here's just a couple of quick pictures from Sebastian and Liv's birthday celebrations a couple of weeks ago. Apologies if you are rather tired of all the photo posts recently, but who could resist this charming looking young lad.

Reading his birthday cards.

He opened his present containing this book "Jeff Jumps and Sings" and then wouldn't open any other presents because he just wanted to keep reading and reading it.

Bash and Liese enjoying his "Little People" car and farm sets.

Enjoying some viewing time with his new rooster. Sebastian's birthday involved him doing some of his favourite things. Chocolate and cooking were also part of his day.

On Saturday evening we had a double birthday dinner for Olivia's birthday on Monday and Sebastian's birthday.

Sebastian's birthday had a slight Toy Story theme. :)

The table settings...

and the cake...

AND the outfit were all Toy Story

Everyone's looking at me and smiling...

and there's a candle...

AND I get to blow it out!

Annaliese enjoying her party blower. Thankfully, they didn't make any noise. Otherwise, I think we would have gone crazy.

Enjoying all his little Toy Story figurines.

And just to show you that the night wasn't all about Sebastian, here's Olivia eating her Ellie Echidna ice cream cake.

Third Post in the Backlogged Series

2011-07-21T14:47:00.002+10:00

Part 3-Depicting the Friendships that were Rekindled and Strengthened, when the Mc's Visited Canberra.

Miss Mags...

and Miss Liese...

formed a solid friendship...

even though Miss Liese's hair was a little crazy...

and Miss Mags wasn't.

Miss Liese was such good friends with Miss Mags that she even deposited Miss Mags name on Miss Anna.

Master Jack struck up a great friendship with Elmo.

Elmo's eyes sparkled every time Jack came near him.

But Jack's eyes didn't sparkle when a mean, horrid, ugly girl tried to take his picture and stop him en route to his mummy.

Backlogged Posts #2 Poppy's Birthday

2011-07-20T15:26:00.001+10:00

On the 3rd it was Poppy's Birthday and since he isn't in Canberra often for his birthday, we had a bit of a special Sunday BBQ lunch for him.

Treating Ma to a round of "Guess Who."

The Birthday Boy with two of his attractive grandchildren.

Miss Emma, looking rather serious as she has a tendency to do sometimes. And I'll have to mention that the credit for this great photo doesn't go to me, but to Emily.

Double Decker Mudcake. YUM!

Sebastian won't smile, not even for Ja, or Ra, or Ja Ja Binks, one of his favourite people.

Ahh, there we go.

Annaliese thought the cake was yum.

As does Emma, who's trying to say "cheese" with a mouthful of cake.

I'm like, "Don't say cheese. Just smile with your teeth." This child needs to learn to smile naturally on demand.

The two grandparents. Relaxing the perfect way on a Sunday afternoon.

The 2 Are Now 5

2011-07-19T12:03:00.002+10:00

Two tiny, pink, beautiful feet,

two chubby, little hands

and a personality and face that will remind us of these four wonderful people

is coming our way, Lord Willing, sometime around 15 February, 2012.

We are very, very, very, very, very, VERY, excited, thrilled, happy, and stoked. Praise God!

Happy Birthday, Olivia!

2011-07-18T16:15:00.004+10:00

Today Olivia is 8!

Even though we officially celebrated Liv's birthday on Saturday I still hope she has a fantastic day. I am very thankful for my bookworm, cat-lover sister. Olivia has wanted a cat for a long time. On her birthday wishlist she wrote down " a cat, I don't care if I don't receive anything else." However, the cat didn't arrive. I told her I waited till I was 15 to have my dog, and she can't believe that's another 7 years away. She can only hope that one or either of the dogs die in the next couple of years. That's the only way she's going to get a cat. :) However, I can't say I share her passion for the dogs' death.

BUT.....

Happy Birthday, Olivia! Hope you have a lovely cat-free rest of the day. :)

Sebastian is 2!

2011-07-15T13:32:00.004+10:00

Ahhh, what would life be like without Sebastian? Quieter, more peaceful, less tears, more sleep, fewer tantrums. But Dad and Mum wouldn't have their perfect baker's dozen family, we would have had less laughs, our lives would be quieter and more peaceful, yes, but boy, wouldn't we miss his beaming smile, crazy dance moves, and wild games.

We reckon Sebastian is going to be Australia's Masterchef in 2029. He loves to drag his step whenever anyone is in the kitchen and "mix, mix", and "eat, eat", and find the "eggs, eggs." Maybe this is the sunrise of a bright and brilliant career as a chef. Watch out, Masterchef contestants!

Sebastian is such a caring little boy. If he ever sees anyone crying, he puts his arm around them and says "right, right?" Five minutes later he may be in trouble for hitting that same person because they dared to kiss him or touch one of his toys, but hey, maybe the caring makes up for the violence.

We made a rhyme up about him:

Bashy Washy pudding and pie,

Hit the girls and made them cry.

When the boys came out to play,

Bashy Washy whacked them away.

As you may have noticed Sebastian has plenty of pets names, such as "Bashboy," "Bashy," "Bashty," "Bashamanis," and "Bashman."

You also may have noticed that he has a obsession with hats.

He's also a man of extremes. One minute he can be kicking his legs, screaming, and attacking the closest person to him. The next, laughing, dancing, and hugging people left right and centre. One day, when he learns to control his emotions he'll be the nicest person on the planet. Just pray for and bear with us until that day.

Happy Birthday, dearest little boy.