I would like to thank my sister and brother-in-law....

....for buying a house with a swimming pool all those years ago.

 

You are both very loved for yourselves but in summer and especially on these disgustingly hot days (high 30C and low 40C), the pool is probably the most loved thing right now.

 

Fantastic foresight in buying a house only 500 metres from the school too so we can pop in for a quick dip of an afternoon.

 

Your company is a bonus :)

 

xx Susie 

 





Tree Day

One of the days during the first weekend in December is designated as Tree Day every year.

 

This is a tradition started by my sister and takes place at her house every December.  It's the day when her niece and nephews decorate her Christmas tree.

 

It's such a lovely tradition and as the kids are getting older they are beginning to remember previous years and look forward to the day.

 

First of all there's the anticipation of their first Christmas present of the year which is always a special decoration.

 

 

 

 

Opening presents at any time is always so much fun and tree day is no exception.

 

 



 

 

It's all very exciting getting that new decoration that are always the first to go on the tree.

 

 



 

 

Then it's time to go through all the other decorations and hang them wherever they fit. 

 

 



 

 

Chairs are used because the kidlettes always want the decorations placed higher than they can reach.

 

 



 

 

We may also have some budding mechanics in the family as the underside of the tree is not to be left out.

 

 



 

 

When it comes to the special decorations, the kids now have lovely memories from years past.  My sister always writes somewhere on the decoration the child's name and which year they were given it.

 

 



 

 

Sandy and her husband love to travel and she often buys the kidlettes special decorations from other countries during the years they've been away.

 

Two years ago they travelled to Canada and some parts of north-west America and so the decoration was this gorgeous gold maple leaf.

 

 



 

 

The final look will never be found in the pages of a magazine but we know just how much fun has been had decorating so that makes it so lovely and special.

 



 

 

It's not just the tree that gets decorated of course.  The kidlettes are given some other decorations and tinsel to put up around the house to make the important areas look festive.  Areas like the lounge, the dining room, the toilet.....

 

 



 

 

...the bathroom....

 

 



 

 

I'm sure my sister will be finding decorations in odd places for the next few days.

 

The most exciting of rooms that they all wanted to help decorate was Uncle Jeff's office.

 

 



 

I'm sure he's so happy with the love that has been thrown his way.

 

It was a really hot day so after the decorating and leftover birthday cake (from hubby's party the night before), it was time for a swim.  Hubby got to spend nice pool time with the kids while I stayed in my sister's air-conditioned house and watched the cricket. (I'm shocking I know!)

 

Hope you all have you own lovely little Christmas traditions.

 

xx Susan

Busy

It's certainly been a busy week around here.

 

First up I was busy with the usual time on my own with the kids with hubby away at work. 

 

Then in the early hours of Wednesday morning hubby arrived home and a few hours later decided to go away fishing and camping for the night with Master M.

 

That meant that once I picked Little Miss R up from school we were going to have some girl time.

 

As it was a hot day we decided to go for a swim.  Yes I tried out my new togs and they fit although as I certainly filled out the top.  I am rather large breasted and in those togs I'm sure a porn star would be envious!

 

 

We had a special tasty plate and movie night and still an early enough bedtime for a school night.

 

The rest of the week was busy getting things ready for my husband's 40th birthday party on Saturday night.  His birthday's not until the 5th December but he'll be away at work so we had the party on the 1st.

 

I've been making roast vege and cous cous salads....

 

 



 

 

...potato bakes, potato salads (hmm, a few carbs there),  we had green salads too and a yummy caprese salad.  I made thai chicken sausage rolls, sticky chicken wings and other yummy nibblies.

 

Then there was the cheesecake.

 

 



 

 

I can't believe I'd never made a cheesecake before, especially considering it's one of my favourite foods.  I made a classic New York baked cheesecake and it was pretty huge. 

 

It also must have been pretty nice because the whole cheesecake got eaten and I never got a piece.  Looks like I'll have to make another one just to try it I think!

 

As for the party, it ended up being lovely.  It was just family (both mine and hubby's) and a nice casual barbeque which is pretty well about all we ever do.  No big flash parties for us.

 

 



 

 

The best thing about the night was hubby's brother turning up as a surprise.  He'd flown in from Cairns the night before and was heading back again on the Sunday so it was a short trip just for the party. 

 

My man of few words was pretty chuffed that his brother did this for him.

 

My brother-in-law (my sister's husband) was also away at a scout camp in Noosa for the weekend which is about an hours drive away and he turned up as well before heading back to the camp later that night. 

 

 



 

The above photo is the only one I have of my husband for the night.  I was so busy that I didn't think about taking any photos until cake time.  Ah well.

 

So it has been a busy week, I've broken nearly every fingernail because I've washed up about a thousand times with all the cooking I've done.

 

The cleanup has begun and I'm intending to have a quiet afternoon relaxing because hubby goes back to work tomorrow and I need a couple of hours to breathe before getting back into it all again.

 

I hope you've all had a fantastic week and weekend too.

 

xx Susan

Crochet and cricket

The second cricket test is on right now (Australia vs South Africa).

 

As anyone who knows me knows just how much I LOVE my cricket then you will forgive me for not blogging much over the next few days.

 

 

There will however be a lot more of this done.......

 

 

 

Although there probably won't be as much of either watched or done as I would like as it seems Master M does need a bit more supervision.

 

During the first days play yesterday he was left on his own for a bit too long and proceeded to colour in the screen of our brand new tv in the lounge (2  weeks old) with a pair of scissors.

 

So our new tv is very scratched and I have one very sad little boy now.

 

xx Susan

 



A morning shopping

I took the plunge and bought a new pair of togs so there's no excuse not to go swimming with the kidlettes on those hot days now. 

 

 

I scouted the charity shops for a chest of drawers for the kidlettes as their other one had pretty well fallen to pieces. 

 

I was unbelievably happy with my bargain $85 dresser.  I only wanted drawers and nothing fit the bill until I found this......

 



 

 

The mirror was a bonus and now Mr M thinks it's wonderful to have a mirror in his room because he can pull lots and lots of cheeky faces.  Little Miss R just puts music on and watches herself dance.

 

By far my favourite purchase was this old sewing tin which was full of pins, screwdrivers and sewing machine feet.  I love, Love, LOVE this little tin and it is now sitting on my sewing table where  I can gaze on it lovingly when I'm at my machine.

 

 



 

 

 

It certainly is the little finds like this which can make us so happy.

 

 



 

 

It was so lovely having the morning out to myself while hubby and Master M did boy things.  I cherish those days.

 

 

Hope you are having a fantastic week.

 

xx Susan

Summer's on the way

Well it has been for a little while now as the heat and humidity have both been cranking up.

 

The one thing I love about summer is the storms.  Oh how I love them!  I get so excited with watching the clouds build up and then there's that wonderful earthy smell that gets so strong just before the storm seems to hit.

 

 

We had one band of storms come through about 8pm on Saturday evening and then the rain continued throughout the night.  I was woken by the sound of more thunder around 5am which was just lovely.

 

It continued to rain throughout Sunday morning and I was hoping it was going to set in for the day.  It wasn't to be and the sun came out for a little while before.......you guessed it.......another storm in the afternoon!



Such a lovely stormy weekend.

 

 



Rain also meant indoor activities so we made cubby houses with blankets, watched movies and did some cooking.

 

 



 

Hubby will be home later today so we're all excited about that, I just need to get the house in a bit of order as it's still very much looking like we've spent most of the weekend inside.  Such mess!  But fun mess it was.

 

Have a great week.

 

xx Susan

Afternoon fun

What do you do when it's really, really hot (about 35 celcius and very sticky and muggy) and school's finished for the day?

 

Make a big splash of course!

 

The last few days have been very hot here so on Friday afternoon my Uncle picked up Master M just before 3pm and took him to my sister's house to cool off in her pool.

 

 



I picked Little Miss R off from school and we headed straight for the pool too.  It looked lovely and inviting so it looks like I'll have to buy a pair of togs for myself this year.  I've put on so much weight that my old ones don't fit me so I either have to embark on an intensive weight loss programme to fit into my old ones or just  buy a new pair. 

 

 



 

 

At the moment I think buying a new pair is probably a little less stressful.

 

Hope you all have a great weekend.  (Hubby's gone for the full weekend here so it's just the kidlettes and myself.  Will I survive?)

 

xx Susan