Happy Birthday Lisa!

Dear little-big sister,


Hope you have a wonderful day full of wonderful things!
Did you get breakfast in bed?


Happy Birthday!!!


*big hugz*
-d&b-

Happy 18th Carolynn

Dear Carolynn,

Hope you had a fabulous 18th birthday and that the year is full of everything good.

We look forward to seeing photos of your party.

Lovenhugz,

Aunty dayna & unkie bruce

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat

Please put a penny in the old man's hat...

Hi all,

We're going to be spending Christmas in a log cabin in Devon this year. I'm hoping to have internet so I can chat to everyone but we may need to play it by ear a little.

Anyway, I'm trying to get everything organised before we go and I want to make those cute little Christmas Puddings that Nana and Mum make.. I've found a few recipes on the internet but I want the fail-safe/tried-and-tested variety.. and I thought you guys might like it to.

So, Mum (or Lisa?), could you please put the Mini Christmas Pudding recipe in the comments to this post?

I'm sure I've had the recipe in the past (I must have, I made them 2 years ago and Bruce's Dad liked them - which is why I want to make them again)... but I can't find it now.

Thanks!!

-the Xmas Elves-

School's Finished...For now anyway

So I have finally finished school, until I find out about Uni or TAFE. I feel confident about my exams but hate the wait to find out about my results. I've been driving heaps, I don't realise how much time mum spends in the car because I'm doing all of her driving when I'm home which is good :) I'm upto 27 hours only another 93 hours to go. I'm helping out with the step up week at Bendigo Senior, I did so much walking aroud on friday helping students find classes and carrying the food and drinks for the BBQ lunch, I felt it on saturday.

French-Roberts update

Mum seems to be doing most of the posting so I thought I'd better update on things here. I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner, I'm not really prepared but there's so much happening before then. We've got break-ups happening every week - the Uniting Church invites playgroup to theirs, we have HIPPY (the program Trinity's been in these last 2 years), Connections, and we're having one just for playgroup this year as well. Usually once the church Christmas party has happened there's no playgroup but Julie-Anne and I have decided to go for 2 more weeks and finish the week before school breaks up. The feedback has been good, one mum said it's hard to find things to do in the holidays so she appreciates playgroup going that bit longer. The only thing is that the ladies that help out in the kitchen (cutting up fruit, setting the table, cleaning up afterwards) won't be there but the mums are all happy to help out. Tamara said she'll do it as long as we don't mind watching her boys and I've volunteered Carolynn as well LOL

Carolynn is waiting for her results now, then in January she'll find out if she gets to go to uni. In the meantime she gets to do some driving. I seem to spend quite a bit of time in the car LOL It means that Carolynn's hours are going up gradually. She won't have enough to go for her licence when she turns 18 but hopefully by the time she is 19 she'll be driving the laser around.

Now it's time to go to playgroup, we're making ants on logs (sultanas on celery and cream cheese) and fruit kebabs for snack today. Hopefully we'll have another quiet day today, it's easier when we've got under 10 children :)

Melbourne Cup Sweep

To give Bruce a proper taste of Australia and the Melbourne Cup, we've organised a Cup Sweep and you all have horses. Winner gets a UK Chomp.

The draw occurred this morning at Mum's and was undertaken and overseen by Mum, Bruce, Lisa, Carolynn, Daria and myself. 

1	Americain	Dayna
2	Jukebox Jury	Auntie Denise
3	Dunaden	Damien
4	Drunken Sailor	Mum
5	Glass Harmonium	Cheryl
6	Manighar	Daria
7	Unusual Suspect	Bruce
8	Fox Hunt	Pete
9	Lucas Cranach	Nana
10	Mourayan	Mum
11	Precedence	Jules
12	Red Cadeaux	Jared
13	Hawk Island	Oscar
14	Illo	Glenn
15	Lost in the Moment	Trinity
16	Modun	Bruce
17	At First Sight	Dayna
18	Moyenne Corniche	Carolynn
19	Saptapadi	Adam
20	Shamrocker	Lisa
21	The Verminator	Lily
22	Tullamore	Dee
23	Niwot	Lisa
24	Older Than Time	Carolynn

Good luck everybody!

Happy Halloween!

Happy fright-night everyone.

We went away this weekend, off down the coast to the Cumberland River campsite just past Lorne. Gave Andy (and Jules) a little taste of camping, although we stayed in a cabin -- which turned out to be a good thing, given the weather. Is it weird to get nostalgic when watching peoples' tents getting blown over, just as ours did those many years ago when we were last here? Watching from the comfort of a gas-fired room, of course.

Happy to say that we had a bunch of proper "occa" Aussies in the next cabin, so in one night Andy got more exposure to our authentic culture than is in a whole box-set of Kath & Kim. Unfortunately, the truly golden highlights of their conversation (which we listened to from the relative safety of our own little fire pit, giggling at the inanity) aren't exactly suitable for this bandwagon. (In one, a man was describing something he saw on a footy-trip/buck's night/Thailand trip, loudly and with great enthusiasm. Dee, who was sitting opposite me across the fire-pit, confirmed it: "Yep, he's got his pants down.")

LOL. No, literally.

Last night we celebrated Halloween with a couple of purportedly scary movies, both which were hilarious: Silent Hill (should've stayed a computer game title only) and the classic Poltergeist ("This houyahse is cleayahn!" "No it isn't." "Yah're rahght!").

Spook to ya later, fam!

Happy (belated) birthday Glennji!

Hey little brother,

Hope you've had a fabulous weekend and everyone has given you lovely presents!
We'll be bringing one with us. :-)

*hugz*
-dayna- & brucey

Happy birthday in memory, Dad

Happy birthday Dad - love you, miss you.

I didn't have my Tullamore Dew with fish and chips today (had to work instead)..

Anyone want to join me to raise a glass in remembrance when I'm visiting?

Happy birthday Damien

Happy birthday little brother, hope you had a brilliant one with your beautiful family! :-) You'll be happy to hear that, as your duly appointed representative, I blew out the candles AND ate your cake.
No need to thank me.

Welcome Lily

Dear Lily Sofia,

Happy birth day. Your Mum, Dad and big brother Oscar are very pleased to finally meet you.

You have a large family who are also eager to meet you - have you met Nannie and Nana yet? Unkie Bruce & I can't wait to visit in about two months.

See you then. *big hugz*

-aunty dayna-

Baby update

This morning we had our 36week midwife appointment. Damien got to come along as well which was really good (he has missed the last few because Os has been asleep). We were very interested to find out how baby is lying. The last two appointments she has been transverse (lying sideways with her head on my right) but she had since seemed to have moved. The midwife had a bit of trouble locating the baby's head so we had a quick ultrasound and the baby's head was down, but after a second opinion from the doctor we were told the baby is actually lying oblique (on an angle with her head towards my left hip). So she had turned a lot and maybe a little too much!! We're booked in for an extra appointment with the doctor next week where we'll see if the baby has moved again and if not talk about our options. Apart from moving around into the wrong position, everything seems to be going alright. A lot of kicks and movement, especially in the evening. I've been feeling a lot more mobile than I did with Oscar at this stage... I've been doing a bit of shopping and we've been out for dinner a few times, and I can still get up from the floor! :)

Oscar is doing well. He's still at childcare the same two days a week until next week... gives him something different to do (staying at home involves a lot of tv watching while mummy rests :-\ ) and it also gives me a break. Recently he has been doing a lot of singing. Even if he doesn't know all the words he still gets the tune right so we know what song he's singing! It's especially impressive when he sings a song we haven't taught him.

Damien is going well, also. He has been really busy getting things organised... carpet cleaning, lawn mowing, tree chopping and all the other household jobs that I can no longer do! I'm very grateful for all the work he does :) Our next job is to finish tidying our room so that we can move the bassinet in there.

That's about it from us! Hope everyone else is doing well, also :)

Happy Birthday Chez!

Happy birthday Chez! I know there wont be any drinking and/or carousing but I hope you enjoy your day (and we'll eat plenty of cakes at lunch :D)

Happy Birthday Trinity

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Trinity
Happy birthday to you!

hope you have a fantastic day!
keep your eye on the post - we sent your present yesterday.

*big hugz*

Happy Birthday Mum

Hope you had a wonderfully relaxing day, Mum. I'm sure the roses enjoyed the haircut. hope lunch tomorrow is tasty & your birthday celebrations continue for as long as possible. :) I'll bring your pressie in October. :)
*big hugz*