more excitement in our little cul de sac

Mark noticed small flames on our neighbour's roof this morning as he backed out of the drive way. So he called 000. The CFA were here within minutes and put the small fire out with an extinguisher. One of their solar panels had caught fire. We had four trucks here at one stage, not that they could all fit in our court! Two were in the court and two were in the street.They were very lucky the panels all didn't catch fire!

 

you know you live in Australia when...

...you have an interesting visitor...

Mr Wallaby came to visit us on Tuesday morning. As Mark was leaving for work, he heard some commotion, thinking it must have been a pretty big cat, he was surprised to see a Wallaby! We think it must have come from the creek (about 1km away) and been chased by a dog and ended up in our little neck of the woods suburbia.  I called Wildlife Victoria and they sent out someone to dart it and take it away. The wallaby spent time between our front yard and our neighbour's, before jumping over our fence into our neighbour's back yard where it stayed until it was 'rescued'.

Tinker (our neighbour's cat) is NOT impressed
with the visitor who is hiding in her garden!

 

Peeking over the fence to see the Wallaby

Sniper Girl - had to shoot a dart at it so they could catch it

One very sleepy wallaby who will be taken away
and released somewhere more appropriate
for a wallaby to live

I heart, therefore I pin...

Uh oh - if you haven't discovered Pinterest - don't! 

Be warned. 

It's more addicting than facebook!

Ah love it!

Pinterest is a virtual giant Pin board of things that interest you. So much better than saving pictures of stuff you like - this way you'll know where you found the pic, can find the original (in most cases) and it doesn't take up any room on your hard drive - just takes away your time!

Here are some posters that I've spied on Pinterest that I heart.

May in a nutshell...

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've posted. 

School holidays have been and gone.

Making marshmellows

Mark, Cam and I were diagnosed with whooping cough! We've all been immunized which makes it strange that we did get it. Mark was the only one whose blood test result indicated that he had it, but since Cam and I had the same symptoms as Mark, our Doctor said that it's very likely that we've all got it. Often whooping cough blood tests do come back negative. There seems to be a lot that they don't know about whooping cough, and unfortunately you don't know you have it when you are contagious. It usually begins like a cold, runny nose and sore throat and it's not till you've been coughing for a couple of weeks that you go to the doctor and are tested, which is too late b/c you've already spread it around without realizing it.

Mark and Cam went on school camp. They went to the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement and traveled by train to get there. It was Cameron's first school camp and he had a great time.

I've enjoyed having a few scrap days with Renee where we've scrapped the day away at our computers, exchanging ideas, techniques and inspiring each other.

One of my scrap layouts was 'layout of the week' at Shabby Princess!

Nathan finally began his violin lessons. His teacher is lovely and we're very excited for Nathan.

We celebrated Mother's day with Mark's family by going out for dinner on the Saturday night, and then lunch with my family.  My boys gave me a Pandora bracelet.

We've enjoyed spending time with friends and have had many laughs and lots of fun!

Mark and I have been watching sermons preached by Carter Conlon from Times Square Church New York and have found these really inspiring and challenging.

Our school had a very successful Open Day - and we hope and pray that the families who visited will send their children to our school - not just so we can increase our numbers, but so that more families can be blessed by the way that their children will grow spiritually at our school.

Here are the layouts I've created this month.

Classic Nathan

The boys take it in turns emptying the top and bottom racks of the dishwasher.  This morning Nath started to unload the dishwasher, when he realized he had half emptied the bottom rack instead of the top, he put the clean dishes BACK into the dishwasher and then did the top rack!!!!
 

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.

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!

Sovereign Hill

For our last day of school holidays, Mark and I decided that we'd take the boys to Sovereign Hill in Ballarat for the day. 

I couldn't wait to have our family photo taken in the old photographic rooms. 

The boys were soooooo cute!

Rev (LOL) and Mrs Inglis with Cameron and Nathan

After having our photo taken we went to the bowling alley and had some fun knocking down some pins.

After doing the mine tour, we panned for gold.

Then browsed through the shops.

Nath in the lolly shop!

Pouring a 3kg gold bar worth AU $135,000!

After we left Sovereign Hill we went and looked at some car dealerships. We are replacing our Pajero with a newer car. 

Mark driving a Kia Sorento

Our new car. We will pick it up next week sometime. Can't wait!