5 days....

The kids are getting more excited by the day and still I'm drowning in things that I need to do to get ready for Christmas. I think knowing that the day after Boxing Day is the start of the Flying Ant national championships for sailing is really squashing my motivation... I just know how exhausted we will all be and I'm not ready for that! I wish there was a way to bottle relaxation!

I am nearly up to date with my crazy end of year so with this post I'll share a few more photos and the last of the news...

Wednesday the 16th was Haydn's 14th birthday. I still can't believe that this boy is 14 and about to head into year 10 next year... surely I can't be that old!! As Haydn had already finished school for the year I allowed him to organize a trip to the movies with a couple of friends for the afternoon and then we had the family here for drinks after dinner. Haydn, Aaron and Michael went to see 'Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs' as Michael, who was here on holidays from Sydney had already seen most of the movies on offer. I think they enjoyed it though and they were impressed that they had the entire cinema to themselves. Tom picked them up for me, dropped Aaron home and safely delivered Haydn's cake home for the night shift.

Haydn had been asking for months to have a donut cake so when his birthday finally came around I was more than happy to pay for it and save myself a tonne of work. The cake looked awesome but was way too big as only half the family was able to make it that night. Marnie had sick kids so they remained at home in quarantine and Dana was driving home from Kalgoorlie that night with her girls... we had 39 donuts for only 10 people - oops! I did give Marnie a tray of them the next day and the rest are in the freezer so they did not go to waste.




Haydn got spoiled as usual for his birthday. We bought him a new bike which he desperately needed. A lovely big black mountain bike which I'm sure will get plenty of use when we move and he lives closer to his friends. Of course he got the accessories with the bike too, a new helmet and a combination lock to keep it from being stolen. Now because he was given the bike early I still felt like he didn't have presents for his birthday morning so we went shopping on Tuesday and in a brief moment of insanity I caved and bought him the Wii band hero game and some new t-shirts from Jay Jays. He was definitely happy with his birthday haul this year!

Haydn's birthday was also Emily and Taylah's last day of school for the year so I went to watch the last assembly. It is tradition for the graduating students to sing their graduation song at the last assembly and I can tell you there were a few tears happening... students, parents and teachers. The song they sang was Miley Cyrus' The Climb and couldn't have been more appropriate...





After school the girls had appointments to have their hair cut. I said they could do whatever they wanted with their hair now that dancing is over for the year so Emily went for a particularly drastic effect... she had it all cut off! I love it and I think Emily does too, she is certainly getting lots of positive comments from her friends. What do you think?



Well that is about all of the craziness that we have had in the past few weeks but of course I still haven't mentioned the progress on our house... it is happening at last but way too slowly for my liking. The slab went down for the house nearly 3 weeks ago and we have pretty much all of the materials that are needed to build now so we have everything crossed that tomorrow will see the arrival of bricklayers. I am worried that if they don't get a start early this week we will be waiting until after the new year for the start of the bricking... that's just too long to wait!!



Now I can clearly hear the housework calling me so I'll finish up here. Enjoy the last few days before Christmas and don't get too stressed...

Kim ♥

6 sleeps!!

I have so much to do today and absolutely no inclination to do any of it. I think not having any Christmas events at home this year has made me even less focussed than usual and I have a massive case of the 'can't be bothereds'. So here I am on the last Saturday before Christmas, on the sofa with my laptop and coffee, still in my pyjamas and blogging rather than doing the hundreds of things on my to do list....

So following on from yesterday's post...

The day after the graduation dinner was the dress rehearsal for the annual dance concert. I was to be helping backstage in the dressing rooms however Janine was asked to take photos of the rehearsal and volunteered me to help her... that was great fun as we got to watch all of the dances and I ended up with some pretty good shots. Normally I can't get photos of the concert so I was really pleased to be given this opportunity. The rehearsal went off well as did the two performances on Saturday. The only disappointment was that poor little Niamh (my niece) was supposed to be dancing in her first ever concert but their whole family (except Niamh) was down with the awful gastro bug that is running rampant here at the moment. Niamh was devastated to have missed the concert and I am sure she would have done an awesome job. Here are a few photos of my girls...











The next few days were filled with editing all of those photos from the graduation, burning disks and getting them distributed to all of the year 6 children on the last day of term. The end of the school year meant a busy week for the girls while Haydn spent some quality time :) at home with his Mum. Taylah went on an excursion with the year 4 classes, roller skating and a picnic at the park in Fremantle while Emily went to a high school welcome day. The last day of term was all fun and games for the girls and finished with the end of year assembly and a performance of their graduation song by the year 6's. I have some photos from the last day and as that was also Haydn's birthday I think I may come back again later and write a separate post. In the meantime I still have a never ending to do list that really should be given some attention. I would love to have all my Christmas wrapping done by the end of today so I'll need you all to wish me luck on that one!

I'll be back soon...
Kim ♥

Seven Sleeps!!

That's right, just one week until Christmas! Are you ready for it? I know I'm not but I'm not terribly bothered either, I will have all the necessary things done by Thursday night and what doesn't get done will not cause the end of the world...

Right now I am enjoying a couple of quiet days at home. After the mayhem that has been our last few weeks the downtime was very much needed by me as well as the kids. As it turns out Taylah has been unwell with a gastro bug since yesterday morning so quarantine is also a major part of my plan. She is getting better and is finally eating again so hopefully tomorrow she will be back to her normal, happy, chatty self.

Boy I have had to fit in so much since my last post it is hard to know where to start. I won't get everything in one post or I will be here typing until Christmas but I'll make a start today...

Little Isla celebrated her first birthday (3rd December) on Sunday 6th December and as usual Marnie and Dan did a great job of preparation, cake making and entertaining for the big day. I took tonnes of photos as usual but here are a few of my favourites...







Monday 7th December saw the start of Emily's graduation from primary school. We had the graduation mass and presentation night in the church and I was super proud of my girl. Emily was given the Christian Leadership award for her class and for that I was so happy. Emily is a high achiever in everything she does, not the best at everything but she always does her best. She is thoughtful and caring, has lots of very good friends and she is a beautiful soul. To be acknowledged for this part of her nature is really a big thing in my opinion ♥




Thursday night was Emily's graduation dinner/disco at school. Janine and I (in a moment of total insanity several months back) volunteered to help out and to take photos of the night for the children. It turned out to be a massive task taking the photos, editing the shots, burning the disks (all 96 of them) and distributing them before the end of the school year but the response from the kids has been awesome and makes it all worthwhile! I've seen lots of our photos on facebook and some very positive comments from the children.






That same night unfortunately turned out to be the high school's awards night so I was unable to attend that event. Haydn, Tom and Taylah headed to Mandurah as we had received a letter to say that Haydn was receiving an award that night. Haydn had no idea what the award was to be but he came home with the 'Ubi Caritas' which we believe to be (believe it or not) a 'Christian Leadership' award for his house. I must be doing something right!! I was so proud of Haydn being recognised for being one of the 'nice' kids but quite upset that I had to miss sharing that night with him... maybe next year!

Well as usual my post has gone on for way too long so I think I'll finish up here. I still have more to share including the dance concert, Emily's last day of school, Haydn's 14th birthday and more but that will have to be another post... I need to hang out washing, go and get some photos printed and tidy up again but first I'm in need of a coffee.

Take care,
Kim ♥

At last....

I'm so sorry that I've been so slow getting this post done! I actually did draw the winner of the competition on Monday night of last week but since then life has been crazier than ever and I haven't had a 5 minute break to write up the post!

Enough excuses... the lucky winner of the $80 voucher from Buyster Lighting is:


Congratulations Odette! If you email me I'll pass on your e-mail address and you will receive your voucher. Enjoy!

As I said it was a crazy crazy couple of weeks in this house and I'll be back later with some updates.

Kim ♥

Last Chance to enter...

If you haven't already done so you now have approximately 24 hours to enter the competition to win an $80 voucher from Buyster Lighting.

All you have to do is check out the cool website and come back here to tell me what is your favourite thing in the store. The winner will be drawn tomorrow night.

I'll be back soon with a little update and some photos but right now it is time to get some children ready for bed.

Kim ♥

Happy December!

Have you left me a comment for your chance to win an $80 voucher for some really cool lighting products yet? Scroll down to the previous post, follow the instructions and sit tight until next Monday when the winner will be drawn... too easy!

Well can you believe that it is December already? I mean where did the past year go? I know that I've had my head buried for a lot of this year and frankly it is one that I'll be glad to see the back of but I can't believe how quickly it has passed.



December is already in full swing and last night saw our Christmas Tree come out of its cupboard ready for another silly season. I must say that the kids are getting better at decorating the tree and for the first time in at least 12 years I didn't have the urge to rearrange the tree once the kids had gone off to bed. I haven't taken any photos of the tree yet as we are still awaiting lights.... my dear husband in his infinite wisdom put the lights on the tree, arranged them perfectly and then allowed the kids to have free reign on the decorations. It was only after the kids had finished and he plugged the lights in that he remembered it is always a good idea to test the lights first... I bought a new set of lights today so tomorrow night when Tom gets home he will have job to do :)

I think I have 'almost' finished my Christmas shopping - yay! I still have two presents to buy for Tom's side of the family but am waiting on wish lists from them... Otherwise I finished off the last one today except for a subscription that I must remember to renew this week. I want to have every last thing done by the day the kids finish school and then I can start the holidays without stress... how good does that sound?

The next week and a bit will be CRAZY to say the least. The girls are doing swimming lessons at school every day this week and next, we have just 4 more days of dancing lessons, a graduation mass, an awards night for the high school, graduation dinner and disco (that Janine and I are taking photos for), the dance concert dress rehearsal, the concert's two performances and Haydn finishing year 9. The girls then have another 3 days of school but I'll worry about that when we get there! As well as all that happening in my household we have a 1st birthday party on Sunday for this little cutie....



and a 6th birthday for this spunky one...



Now just so that I remember this for future reference I need to mention here how proud we all were of Emily and Alicia this past weekend. The kids sailed in the state team selections at East Fremantle Yacht Club and our 'Viper' girls finished in 7th place overall. The top 6 crews made the team and our girls missed a spot by a mere 2 points (and that was on a countback!) We are so proud of how far these girls have come in such a short time and can't wait now to see how they go in the Nationals at the end of the month.

Well this post is getting long now so I think I'll finish up here and have a hot chocolate while I wait up for my boy to get home. Haydn is out tonight at a course to sit for his skipper's ticket this weekend and his friend's Dad offered to bring him home for me - thanks Kev!!

Till next time take care

Kim ♥

A giveaway!

I've been given a fantastic opportunity to have a giveaway on my blog just for my Australian readers - woohoo!



The very generous people at Buyster Lighting are offering an $80.00 voucher to spend in their online store and you could be in the running to win this. All you need to do is leave a message on this post telling me which lamp or light fitting is your favourite on the lighting website. You can get a second chance at winning this awesome prize by mentioning this giveaway on your blog and leaving a second comment with your link... easy!

Entries will be open for a week so the winner will be drawn randomly next Monday (7th December 2009). Unfortunately this competition can not be extended to those readers outside Australia as Buyster Lighting only ships within Australia.

Good Luck!

Kim ♥