He did it! He did it! And She did it!

Zachary IS Junior T.R.O.Y. (Trials Rider of the Year)

He came home with the big trophy and was very very pleased with himself. He came first in 4 of the 5 trials over the season and they take the best 4 scores. He loves this trophy!




And Stan came Third in the Classic Twinshock grade. He was excited too and I am so proud of both of them!

And finally, Bronte came second in a competition that was open to students from 3 schools. They had to do some artwork or write in 50 words or less about why they love Sandringham Beach (the area where her school is).

She wrote a fabulous poem - came equal Second and won $30.00! I must get her to write it down for me - it is lovely.

Funny thing is...there was meant to be 1st, 2nd and 3rd. In fact, it turned out to be 2 equal 3rds, 2 equal 2nds and one 1st. ALL from our school! We were very proud.

Zachary came home today from a 3 day school camp. I picked him up at 2.30pm, took him for a milkshake and he fell asleep at the table! Went and picked up Bronte from school, came home and he had a shower and lay down on the couch at 4.30pm. He has been sleeping every since! Poor bug! LOL

So, so busy....

I put the wrong date on these groups of photos - should have been the 14th of August!

We went out for Joan's birthday to a Chinese restaurant. Joan is Bronte's Godmother and a good friend of ours. A few years ago, Joan was diagnosed with a benign brain tumour and she has been through so much. She is pretty darn healthy now though and we are very thankful that she is here with us!

So, here is Kirsty, Joan's 20 year old daughter, Bronte and Joan sitting at the table.



Here is Bronte, with the sculpture that Kirsty did at the restaurant. How cool is this? Bronte loved it - so did I!




And Bronte here - doing what she does best....showing off!




At Samuel's school, they have this major event called the "The Night of the Notables".

This is a project where the student chooses someone 'notable' and they research them and then present their person to an audience of fellow students, family and friends.

Samuel chose Professor Graeme Clarke who invented the Cochlear Implant. He had to dress up as him (pretty easy this one - a suit jacket, shirt and tie with a white coat over the top - ours was a Football Goal Umpires Coat!!).

Each student stood in front of everyone and talked about their chosen person in the 'first person' for example, Samuel said 'Hello, my name is Professor Graeme Clarke..." etc etc. He did a great job on the presentation. Then they each go to their 'stand' where they have information about their famous selves and they have food that they think their person might like to eat. He had lamingtons as Prof. Clarke is Australian. It was so impressive what each of the 25 did - amazing really - a great showcase of their abilities and really showed how much they have grown as students in the last 6 months.



First Communion for Bronte!

What a build up and what a day!

Here she is just before we left for the church. But the day started way before...first I took her and her bestie, Anna, to the hairdressers to get their hair done. They loved that idea and both looked gorgeous and felt a little grown up.

Bronte was nervous at making her First Communion. She had to read a Prayer of the Faithful at the Church (and of course she did that very well!).




Here she is with her 'boys'!! Don't they all look handsome? Zachary wanted to wear a tie (surprise surprise!) and chose one of Stan's old ones.

These photos are before we left for the Church.

Don't forget to click on them to make them larger - lots more to see if you do!



And here she is with Father Frank AFTER she had made her First Communion. First photo is a cack - Father Frank said 'BIG smile Bronte' and she did the old Luna Park trick! He thought it was very funny!

After church, we came home to a lovely evening of celebration with family and friends, good food, good wine and good company.

I meant to mention also, we gave Bronte a gorgeous Nao Lladro Communion Girl figurine to remember the day and her God mother Joan, gave her a gorgeous 18ct gold cross. She was a lucky girl!



This photo is of Zachary of course! The day after First Communion, we went out as a family to the Motorbike track and he showed us what he has been up to. This is a sequence of shots that I am happy to say that I didn't see in real life! I would have been scared! Great riding by him though!

HAPPY 13th Birthday my Gorgeous Samuel!!

Well, it has happened! Samuel is now a TEENAGER! Now where did all of those years go I wonder??

Here he is - pretending he was asleep - just so we can all come in and sing Happy Birthday and hand over his gifts...

A typical picture of Samuel - smiling - happy - joyful!

Bronte and Zachary putting on a Show for us after a yummy dinner of Tortellini Carbonara, Garlic Bread, Salad and Pavlova with Chocolate Cream with Mint Aero Bar!

Samuel in the background holding on to one of his gifts from us - an iPod dock thing with speakers, radio and alarm clock - he loooooves it!

Bronte just about to give Samuel a big birthday smooch!

Here it is...the Birthday Pavlova with Chocolate Cream and Choc Mint Aero Bar. A requested item by the Birthday Boy!

Darling Samuel - you have given us lots of joy over the past thirteen years. May you keep your joyful spirit for the rest of your life (and may you learn to tidy your room too!!)

Lots of love Mum and Dad

xxXXxxXXxxXXx

Thirteen in any language is the same = Teenager!

While he is not officially a teenager yet, our Samuel had his 13th Birthday Party today.

The quandary a few weeks ago was 'Should I invite my friends from my new school or just my friends from my old school?' I said 'Ask them all!' (generous soul that I am!)

So, today, 11 of his bestest friends met up with us at the local La Porchetta restaurant for a Pizza lunch. He had from his Birth Group - his oldest friend Jackson, from his Primary School, Issie, Beth, Hayley, Claire, Luca (a boy) and Lachie. From his High School came Jacob, Luke, Sam and Praveen. Then of course was Bronte and Zachary. Oh and me! - Left Stan at home because A) he does NOT like Pizza and B) he needed to fix my car!

Lolly Bags in hand, birthday treasures and left over Birthday cake stowed in the back of the car, we headed to the Movies to see The Simpsons. I was so dreading this part as I am so not a Simpsons fan.

I am happy to report that I quite enjoyed the movie and the kids loved it and were fabulously behaved!

Next Thursday is the REAL birthday - so I can technically say that I am NOT the mother of a teen .... yet!

So, a few snaps of the event and the last one is just one I took tonight of Bronte (yes! my nine year old daughter adores her sleepsuit!!), Jasper the Cat and Stan - all snoozing on the couch! Aaawwwww!

Moon Stuff...

Yesterday, I woke up with a shocker of a cold - a real head cold and a few aches and pains. Felt so ill, I called work and said I couldn't come in and I lay on the couch shivering most of the day!

I picked up the two youngest from school at 3.30pm, nicked home and gave them afternoon tea and then back out again to Bronte Bronte's basketball training. At 6pm, we came home, quickly had a rushed dinner of leftovers, took Samuel to his Dance class and then Bronte and I went on to her Primary School where we had a meeting about Holy Communion. It was a tad boring but we got through it well enough! Me, feeling ill but still did it because I have to really - Stan got home from work and felt a bit sick too so he took himself off to bed!

On the way home from the Communion meeting, I spied something wonderful in the sky. A gorgeous super-large moon. I said to Bronte, what's that? And she thought it was a hot air balloon - it was so so large and glowing yellow. We headed for it - didn't go straight home and it just got more and more beautiful. Decided to go home and see if we could see it from there - Zachary got on the Carport roof (as only he would) and was super impressed. I decided to put them all in the car again and drove toward it again...with each passing minute it got higher and higher. We drove to a pedestrian overpass and got out and walked up. It was a lovely sight still and the kids were in awe. Took a few crappy snaps - but this one will give you an idea of the divine colour.

We arrived back home and they were all so happy to have seen it. Almost made me forget I was feeling crappy actually!