Merry Christmas to you!

Wishing everyone a lovely Christmas!


For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

Happy Birthday Jane Austen!

I was first introduced to Jane Austen over 10 years ago when a friend lent me her Pride and Prejudice videos. I fell in love with Lizzy and Mr Darcy and watched the 5 hours of the BBC 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice over and over and over again. Over the years, I have watched it countless times. Mark can pretty much quote the movie word for word even though I don't think he has seen it all the way through from start to finish.  Persuasion would be a close second followed by Sense and Sensibility. I'm pretty sure I've read all (if not most) of Jane's books and I've also got them as audio books too.

On Tuesday I introduced one of my lovely friends to my friend Jane. She has read the Anne of Green Gables books, but never seen a Jane movie or read any of her books. I was pleased to know that she watched and loved Persuasion the very night I lent the DVDs to her- and I know she'll enjoy the other Jane movies and hopefully the books, as much as I do.  We were discussing why the Anne books appeal to us and we came to the conclusion that it was because life was simpler then, the worst name someone could call you was 'carrots' and the worst thing you might do would be to break your slate over some boy's head. Today we are exposed to so much and there is not a lot of innocence left in the movies and tv shows that we watch.

www.cafepress.com/pemstore

Another favorite author of mine is Elizabeth Gaskell.  She wrote Wives and Daughters, North and South and Cranford. I have only read Wives and Daughters, and have it and the two others on DVD; I love watching them. I will be lending them to my friend once she has finished with my Jane Austen movies.

So off I go and watch 'Lost in Austen' and salute Jane Austen on her Birthday.

Happy Birthday Jane!

Holidays

I really cannot believe that we are now on our Christmas School Holidays! How fast has this year gone??? I still am in shock that we've just put up the Christmas tree! Didn't we just take it down not that long ago? Oh, that's right, we did! LOL - we took it down for Mark's 40th (in August!!!)

Yesterday was our school's last day of the year. We had our Presentation Night last night too. Nathan sang in the choir and did a really good job.

It was a sad night for Cam. He had to say goodbye to his best buddy whose family is moving near Rye. Cam is planning on catching up with him when we are down at Rye next time. Cam's friend is a lovely boy from a really nice family. He seems to be very accepting of others and very easy going. The boys are planning to keep in contact via email.

Cam was really upset last night when he went to bed. My heart broke for him and I cried too because there was nothing I could do or say to take away the pain that he was feeling.

My Birthday Present

It arrived today!!!

Can't wait to try it out!!!

I just have to get an adapter so I can plug it into the power and use it. 

Very excited!!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

That's right, today is my birthday. I'm not going to tell you how old I am - I'm getting far too close to the big 'four-oh' for my liking... Today was just another day, ordinary start to the day, the usual "I don't feel well enough for school" routine from Nath. We almost got to school and I had to pull over, Nathan was about to be sick. He's been complaining of feeling unwell most mornings lately, he stayed home last week, only to perk right up at 10am so then I had to drive back to school to take him, I wasn't going to do that again today. So anyway I had a boy home from school with a bucket - that he used several times. By lunch time he was feeling much better.  I spent the day writing school reports that I just haven't been able to get my head around these past two weeks. Dad picked Cam up from school for me so I didn't have to take Nath out in the car and risk more bucket behavior.  I was pretty tired this afternoon so ended up dozing on the couch before Mark came home. We were going to go out for dinner tonight, but I was too tired so we had take away. Mark and Cam bought me some lovely roses and we had sponge with pink icing filled with jam and cream.

After tea we ordered my birthday present. I'm getting a Silhouette Machine (we're buying it new on ebay from the US b/c they are half the price over there - I'll just have to get an adaptor so I can use it.) Can't wait to get it. Hope it doesn't take too long to arrive.

We would have ordered it earlier (like two weeks ago) but we've had a roller-coaster of a ride over the past two weeks.

To cut a very long story short we discovered I was 6 weeks pregnant. After three blood tests and three (internal) ultrasounds, we found (well some doctors did) that I had an ectopic pregnancy. The baby was attached to one of my ovaries. We hadn't planned on getting pregnant so it was a BIG surprise. Since Monday of last week, I've had three trips to the Royal Women's Hospital, three ultrasounds (internal), five blood tests and several doctors and nurses scratching their heads. After spending the whole day at the Women's last Friday, they finally found that it was ectopic and growing on my ovary. So I had a Methotrexate injection (which is actually Chemo!!!) to stop it progressing, otherwise I would have had to have surgery and had part of my ovary removed.  Tomorrow I'm back into the Women's for another blood test to check how things are going. I will probably have to go in again next week for another check up and perhaps again the following week. We've been so impressed with the staff at the Women's, especially the main doctor we've been seeing.  So I've been off work for the past (almost) two weeks and wont go back till next Tuesday. Now there's only two more weeks of school left for the year. Lots to do, I haven't even started my Christmas shopping!!!

You can read more about the last two weeks here.

A Day of Achievements

Today I re-arranged the boys bedrooms - BIG achievement!!! I had cleaned Nathan's on Friday (another BIG achievement!!!) - two bags of rubbish and one bag to the op shop. He had 'cleaned' it before hand so my 'clean' was a sort, de-clutter and final tidy up. Today I was going to tackle Cam's room but instead I asked the boys if they'd like to share their bedroom and have a 'toy room'. They were both very excited about the idea. They haven't shared for a few years so it will be interesting to see how it goes. I'm hoping that it will mean their 'bedroom' will stay tidy - I don't care too much about the toy room, but they will be expected to keep it fairly tidy.

Boys' Shared Bedroom

Mum made the boys' Star Wars cushions.
She used my brother's old Star Wars doona cover,
cut out the pictures and appliqued them onto the cushion.
I think they look fantastic!

Tonight after tea, Mark started to install our new clothes line. We had to take out our Rotary Hills Hoist because we put in our shed and they both couldn't fit in the same area so we bought a wall mounted line. It's going to be good to have an out door washing line again since it's been over two months since we put in the shed.

Busy Times Ahead

We're heading into the silly season! I already cannot believe how fast this year has gone! Next week I'll start report writing for school - something I dread less and less each year - which is good and shows me that I'm growing as a teacher (and person!).  I've got back my sewing mojo and have been busy sewing little dresses for little girls. You can see them at my etsy store here. I am really enjoying making them and thinking of ways to make each one unique. I'm also considering making some headbands and clips to go with the dresses too.

My little friend in her Pinny with her Ruby-Rose doll!

Red Pinny

Ruffle Dress

On Monday we went to the Children's Park in Woodend for a picnic with friends. The kids all had a great time! And the mum's enjoyed a chat in the sunshine and fresh air.

Nath on the flying fox

  

Cam on the flying fox

Josh and Cam on the climbing net frame thingie

The boys!

The girls

The kids

My boys

The crazies!

New Car - tomorrow

Yay - we are finally going to pick up our new car.  We'll head up to Ballarat tomorrow after school. Mark is letting me drive it first - awwwww how sweet!

 

Kinda looks a bit like the Buick Enclave that we drove while in the States in May. 

Unfortunately the Kia doesn't have heated leather seats like the Buick... 

But I AM very excited to be getting a Brand New Car! Wahoo!

Vacation USA - May 2010 - San Diego

We left NYC from JFK and flew to LAX.

On the flight from JFK to LAX
reading the safety cards.

The Grand Canyon!

LA freeways

We stayed the night in LA and then headed up to Santa Monica.

Oh Yeah!

Santa Monica

Santa Monica Beach - Mark showing Cam how it's done.

Close up of Mark showing Cam how it's done!

After looking around the pier we drove south towards San Diego.

There are eight lanes of traffic heading south. 

We stopped at San Juan Capistrano for an ice cream and a play on a Barbara Butler Playground. 

I had seen her cubby houses on the internet and fell in love. 

I had to visit one of her playgrounds while we were in the US!

San Juan Capistrano

Barbara Butler Playground
San Juan Capistrano

 San Juan Capistrano was a gorgeous little town!

We bought our Mothers' Mother's Day gifts here in this quaint little shop.

We spent a day shopping (down next to the border - Mexico that is)
at an outlet mall where we bought up on clothing.

I loved, Loved, LOVED the Buick that we drove while in San Diego.

A visit to Legoland was much anticipated and enjoyed by the boys.

I still crack up laughing when I look at this pic!

Nathan's Favorite Ride

Cam loved the Bionicle room

"Mum, this rose is for you!
You can buy it with your money.
...Or Dad's money."

We went to the Boot Barn and bought cowboy boots for ourselves.

We spent a day at the San Diego Zoo.

Lions

And Tigers

And Bears!

Oh My!

I (heart) Meerkats!

Koala eating leaves
they're only awake for about 2 hours a day

BTW, they are not a bear!

I (heart) elephants!

OH MY!

Mmmmmm Polar Bear Food!

Dumb Flamingos

I (heart) otters!

Cam loves the panda bears

We really needed the Sat Nav in the US!

We stopped for lunch at San Clemente on the way back to LAX to fly back to Melbourne.
Another lovely town - a bit like Sorrento.

We look forward to returning to the US again!