So this is Christmas

I hope this collection of photos captures some of the fun we had yesterday at our family (early) Christmas celebration. We started at midday with the little ones waiting patiently while the adults unpacked their contributions to lunch and their bags of presents - and had their first glass of Marjella poured.

But then it was time to open presents.............

In the pic above Ollie is wearing his present from Ella-a handprinted T-shirt with an Ella original design. In the pic below Ella is wearing Ros and Pete's present from the Coff's Coast. She LOVES this dress and describes it ecstatically as her "dress that looks like money".

Star Wars Lego continues to be a popular choice of present.

It is lovely to have so many adults around to help with the unwrapping , including a full suite of grannies and grandpas (and even a great-grandma).

Ollie loved his new chess set. Better watch out Pa Pa!

Things were on the verge of being out of control at times, but we managed to keep just this side of total mayhem.

Ella enjoyed unwrapping a whole new wardrobe under the tree this year. These board shorts are heading straight to Coogee after Christmas, for lots of swimming in the ocean with her Daddy!

But then, we were ready for lunch. Rob and Rod averted a mini disaster by getting the chicken cooked before the first of Sunday's big storms hit around 2.00pm.

We struggle to get group shots of the kids.......this one worked for Ella but not for the others. We'll keep trying!

Our lunch was a great success. The kids were happy and delightful company, the food was wonderful and we'd kept it all so simple and low key this year that everyone felt very relaxed. The gathering storm outside just made us feel even more cosy and cocooned inside together.

And we even managed to get a great group shot of the these gorgeous kids (thank you Claire)!

Rob had got the new tree house and swing set all set up ready for our celebration today. Unfortunately the stormy weather meant it was never properly launched. When the really big storm hit around 7.00pm last night I thought there was a chance it might float away in the rapidly rising flood that was our back yard by then. No chance of that however with the number of screws and bolts in this safe construction!

Merry christmas to all our loved ones who weren't able to join us this year!

Bom Funk

It was time for the end of year Bom-Funk Dance Studio Showcase XIV concert last Saturday night. The performance of Claire's preschool class was of special interest to us as was Ollie's Boyz Funk group. Jeremy had the job of keeping the preschoolers calm and focussed before they were due on stage. The pic below sums up his success at that particular job.

But once on stage the preschoolers transformed themselves.......

Their dance told the story of a jewellery heist - complete with gangster thieves, laser security beams (that's the red wool), dramatic tension and lots of opportunities for stylish dance solos and group sequences. These 4-5 year olds had a full 5 minutes of dance moves to memorise!

6 months ago at their last performance it seemed like Claire had achieved miracles just getting them up on stage with the occasional set of dance moves from isolated individuals done in the correct sequence. Now look at what she has achieved with them!

Totally cool and confident performers!

While Ollie's Boyz Funk group is as hip and happening as ever (and spot Ollie's cameo appearance in the jewellery heist scene, above)!

Thomas

We've been lucky to know Thomas for (exactly) 18 years now. He was born in December, 1993 just as we were preparing (training in Sydney) for our big 6 week Canada/US trip with Ice Hockey Josh. So we didn't get to meet blue eyed baby Thomas, and start our relationship, until our return to Canberra in early February 1994.

He's always had an air of quiet, calm, self assurance which no doubt has contributed to his consistent success at school, especially in mathematics, science and languages (thank you for all the translating you did in France for us Thomas). His musicality blows us away (and thank you for all those impromptu performances) and what he doesn't know about Soccer isn't worth knowing.

Jurgen celebrated Thomas's birth all those years ago with a 21 bottle purchase of the 1993 Bailey's Shiraz (from Rutherglen).


Thomas was legally able to enjoy a glass with us this year. We thought it tasted better than ever!

Thomas has two sisters so is better equipped than most 18 year old males to stay calm in testing situations. It is no wonder they adore him.

Happy birthday Thomas and may your future continue to provide opportunities for you to use your wonderful talents and education.

A jolly weekend

Maxie's birthday and other end of year celebrations combined to make this an unusually jolly weekend.

We started on Friday with an 18th birthday shopping expedition and lunch afterwards with young Thomas L. Saturday we celebrated Maxie's big birthday family style at the green and shady Lowe Street Park in Queanbeyan, then a big night out afterwards with work friends. Sunday it was playtime with Ella in the morning and catching a movie in the evening (The Ides of March - brilliant!) with friends and a late dinner at Mecca Bah afterwards, once again in celebration of Maxie's big birthday.

Last night it was out again; this time catching up with Hugh and Joanna and all their travel tales before the end of the year. We've had fun but it has been a marathon of enjoyment!

My 97 year old Mum will treasure this pic of gorgeous Ollie enjoying a cuddle with Great-Grandma.

The bikes and scooters were out in force. Ella's bike is a fully restored vintage model that her Daddy spent many hours (and dollars) modifying to meet her specifications (must be painted red and purple and have pink streamers!).

Some relaxed family time together....

....... and our old favourite birthday carrot cake. Ella was waxing lyrical about the joys of icing ---she wishes "it would rain icing" ---- while O and A just got on with demolishing their portions.

We organised Secret Santa and sorted out the menu for next weekend's family Christmas lunch, very inefficiently thanks to my having drunk two glasses of sparkling shiraz.

Our end of year fancy dinner that night was at Waters Edge Restaurant, with my work friends in the RED group (and partners). It was a beautiful wintry cool Canberra evening on Saturday and we enjoyed our big night out at this fine restaurant in its special lakeside setting.

We were up early Sunday morning ready for some time with Ella while her Mummy and Daddy got Christmas shopping organised. I thought she would enjoy a visit to the Kingston Bus Depot Markets but they proved to have limited appeal so we spent some quality time nearby, checking out one of her favourite sliding places - the Telopea Park skate slide.

Rob captured us having a d & m at this point. From memory I think we were discussing the relative merits of macarons and meringues.

Breakfast with Obama

No we didn't have breakfast with Obama, but we did have a leisurely Sunday morning breakfast at Obama's hotel - the one where he stayed during his 22 hour stopover in Canberra recently. The hotel looked to have recovered from the onslaught of Obama and his entourage and was coping well with the crowds of Canberrans lining up for the breakfast buffet.

We took a walk afterwards to help our over indulgence settle. It was a relaxed way to celebrate a relatively quiet weekend before the next few weeks of social mayhem leading up to Christmas.

Ella is fascinated with all the flowers out at the moment after our mild, dampish Spring. We reckon this is the biggest dandelion seed we've ever seen in Canberra. Ella can never resist spreading the dandelion seed joy.

We ended up at the Katie Bender memorial opposite the old Canberra Hospital site across the lake; a happy group of climbing rocks for Ella and all the other little kids, but filled with sadness for those of us who remember the tragic events of 2003 so well. It is another reminder of how lucky our family has been over the years.

cupcakes, Kylie, k.d. and Picasso

Ella was extremely motivated to make a batch of cupcakes with me this week. I was fairly unprepared, head full of a heavy cold, sleep deprived and the dishwasher full and running with all my best equipment, but I did my best - with lots of help and encouragement from my offsider.

Getting the mix into the patty pan was the most fraught time - and we had to do it all so quickly!!

But we did it, and Ella's verdict was - perfect (even before it was cooked). We took our time icing this batch afterwards (pale pink with silver cachous). A perfect way to spend the morning.

We headed off to Sydney that afternoon. While Rob drove I was able to catch up on some sleep, in between blowing my nose.

After admiring Juan the Spanish sparky do his usual careful job of installing some more lights at 8/85 we took the opportunity on Friday to see the other Spaniard... the Picasso exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW, drawn from the collection of the Musee National Picasso in Paris.

We were lucky enough to visit the beautiful Musee National Picasso in Paris back in 2005 (wasn't Rob's hair long then?) but it was still good to see this carefully curated collection of work in the NSW gallery spaces. Visitor entry is timed so there was plenty of space to view the work - and not the hordes of school children like there were in Paris. I think the beautiful bronzes were my favourites in this exhibition (we'd loved them in Paris too!).

Saturday morning we visited the Eveleigh Farmer's Market in Darlington and had our breakfast prepared by Kylie Kwong - steamed savoury pancakes with organic egg and veg and organic pork dumplings with ginger tamari. This breakfast was worth the trip to the markets...such a thrill..... as it is so difficult to find a seat for a full meal at Kylie's Billy Kwong restaurant in Surrey Hills.

And seeing k.d. Lang and Sass Bang Boom on Saturday night was just wonderful too. She was in fine form.....very relaxed, gently whimsical and funny...and that amazing voice and musicality.

We loved the audience too......lots of female couples, very stylishly dressed. The word is that more men are starting to come to her concerts in Australia this time around. My guess is that a lot of men here (especially older men) are only just coming to terms with the gender bending aspects of k.d. Lang's persona. Go k.d., go Kylie, I say (and go cupcakes for that matter too)!!

Catch up

Although the past month has been full of birthday celebrations and travel tales we've still enjoyed some great times at home with Ella.

One wet and rainy Thursday morning at the end of September we all discovered how much we still loved the Easybeats She's so Fine (thank you Grandpa). Ella loved Little Stevie's wild introduction and used all her dance moves through the endless repetitions of the song's limited lyric line.

And then more wild times at Floriade in mid October as Ella experienced her first ferris wheel ride high above the beds of tulips (she loved it!).

And then a lovely afternoon with the P families - more birthday love for me as well as the company of two gorgeous boys - and some birthday cake.

J&J&E were meant to be with us too but we found out they were waiting at Canberra Hospital for Ella's split ear to be attended to (caused by a fall against an architrave in the hallway). After an 8 hour wait she had two beautiful neat stitches installed in her ear- which in no way made up for the horror of waiting 8 hours to be treated.

But less than two weeks later she was fully recovered and back in her beloved Erindale Pool - for swimming lessons.

We were astounded to see the progress she had made since last swimming season. She launches herself through the water with great confidence, floats on her back, can "swim" for 3-4 metres using all the right overarm strokes (but not breathing yet).

She really likes and trusts her teacher - diving to the bottom of the pool on command........

......... to retrieve objects.......

...and does very tricky dolphin dives.......

......pure happiness.

Ella is loving the warmer weather and all the growth in the garden..especially when it means she can collect bouquets of flowers in her favourite colours: red and pink and orange roses and purple daisies and petunias.

Us girls visited one of the open gardens in Farrer last weekend - a fund raiser for the acquired brain injury foundation.

We'll have to do this again when the opportunity arises. Ella LOVED the garden - all its meandering secrets and spaces, the silky bantams.........

and Edward the aged black cat.

We stayed for ages, enjoying the late Spring sunshine and the delicious tea and scones served with homemade grape jelly (we sat under the grapevine from which the jelly had been made) with oodles of whipped cream.