RIP

This evening my dad slipped from this world into the next. I'm so grateful Katie and Rory were with him. He chose the perfect moment as Rory read the 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' to him and played his 'land of hope and glory' CD. I visited him earlier today and was priveleged with what was probably his last communication before they upped his morphine because of the pain. No matter how prepared you are....you're never prepared. I wish my little Angus was old enough to remember the great man who's name he bears. I'm not sure what more to think tonight I'm just so very tired so i'll leave it there.

Erin

Erin is just the cutest little thing ever. Lots of giggles, squeeles and Growls. This is her about 11 months.

Christmas

How cute is this! A wreath of chocolate biscuits iced to look like mini fruitcakes. It was a christmas present from my lovely visiting teachers Cathy and Debi.

Gluten and Dairy Free gingerbread that turned out REALLY yummy! Inspired by the Texan Irelands! Thanks


When we were all asleep, Seth was up playing Santa. He decorated the table, and the kids got to open a present each as we opened the rest with the extended family later in the day.
One of Erins Christmas presents, a doll from my Nanna. Its the first doll she's had or even seen, it was so cute watching her with it.

A Proud Moment

Last night was Seth's graduation. It was a good experience to go, lots of pomp and ceremony, but worthwhile as I missed my own graduation and Seth missed his from his first degree. He's worked really hard over the last two years and this year took on Honours as well as his normal studies. His effort was well rewarded tonight as he got his very own spotlight graduating with first class honours.



The support team: ME and below that on the left his Honours supervisor Jane and right, his lecturer Noliene.

For those interested here's the video. I only took the honours graduates and Seth is the very last at the end of the video should you want to fast forward the first bit.

Random bits

Seth has been doing the vegie patch in previous years however he was too busy this season. So I tried my hand at taking over....its been so exciting. This is my little salad patch in our front garden - lettuces and tomatoes and beans. As you can see we're inundated with lettuces...so yummy! In the big patch we have pumpkin, corn, potatoes, beetroot, silverbeet, capsicum, strawberries, more tomatoes and zuchini. And we've just harvested our purple garlic.

Oh this, I better explain...Its an angel mobile I made out of tissue paper and other bits and pieces. Behind it on the wall is an 'artsy' wedding picture that Seth just loved...showing off the car and the ring...and a bit of me I suppose. Last year Seth decided to make me some picture frames for Christmas, and in true Seth style the project got bigger and better until we had 4 of those gigantic frames in the picture. Unfortunately only one is up so far ...I secretly think Seth is hoping to give me one a year for the next 3 years so he doesn't have to think anything else up, hmmm, we'll see about that!

Last but not least, two new additions to the family. First is my Nanna who has come over from South Africa to stay with us. She's good fun, but i think she actually might prefer animals to people. Since she's arrived Coco the beagle pup has moved from dog food to people food, nanna cooks big meaty dishes every day for the dog and I often see her slipping coco bits of chocolate or chips or ice cream. Poor Coco's getting so fat, but since nanna has arrived she also gets to sleep on beds and couches much to my moms annoyance! My mom decided that in light of Nanna's love for animals we should get a whole host to keep her busy...so besides coco, she's raising a baby chicken (which is supposed to go live with the others when its bigger but nanna has already informed us she's keeping 'trixsy') and now, a baby wallaby. Its very cute and is kept in a pouch and needs to be fed every 4 hours. We got it from some friends who go hunting. It'll be a zoo round here soon!

The Sandpit

In my quest to entertain the kids, we've put together this beautiful sandpit which the kids are just loving! Just over a ton of beach sand and a load of big logs which bishop chopped up and delivered to us...even i'm enjoying playing in the sand!

Angus and Oupa

Icy Poles

This was taken a few months ago. In trying to keep up dads liquid intake he started having lots of icypoles. Angus cashed in heavily on the deal...and loved to share one with Oupa!

Dads in Eldercare at the moment as its been a struggle for mom to look after him in his deteriorating condition. He's not far from home and gets lots of visitors though. Yesterday he came home for the day, and got a chance to talk to his brother and sister in WA before mom took him back. He was in tears....and cried as we put him in the car and said good bye...it was heart wrenching. What a humbling experience for all of us...as we watch this great man who I've never seen shed a tear in all my life weeping like a little child.

We love you Oupa!

Camping

Friday night was a ward camp based on our 72 hour emergency packs. It only ended up 3 families, Bishop and Pam, the Hutchins and us. I thought it was rather intrepid taking the babes on their first camping trip so young....and we paid the price for our adventures. The kids were so taken with the new environment neither would sleep till about 11pm. And then Angus spent the night doing acrobatics on Seth and my head. Erin would only sleep while nursing which made it really uncomfortable for me...I let her though so we had some peace in the camp and didn't keep everyone else awake!

All in all though it was great fun and we'd do it again at the drop of a hat....i didn't get that many great pictures...but here's what i managed.

Family portrait 2007

November 20th was our wedding anniversary, and I decided that we should take a picture of the family every year on that day....I thought it would be really cool in years to come to see how the family evolves. We took a whole bunch....the bigger the family gets the harder it is to get everyone looking decent, happy

Been a long time

I haven't blogged for ages and i'm still not sure if i'm going to be devoted to keeping this up as i have so many demands on my time, however i thought i'd give it another go.

Firstly, a tribute to the most adorable 11 month old girl ever. Erin is so full of personality and character - and so different to Angus - that its just fascinating to watch her. She loves to babble and scream and is already such a drama queen it makes Seth and I chuckle all the time. She also just loves music, when i sing or play music her whole body begins to bop up and down and she shreeks in delight. What would life be without her!!!

Now as any mother knows you cannot offer tribute to one child while leaving the other out. He's a boy, he's two, and he has a 25 acre backyard...what more can I say... but: this one's for Angus!