Opening the Christmas Presents

After our dinner out we opened Christmas Presents- it is always interesting to see how Bill will wrap their presents. This year he froze some money in some drink bottles!

 Benji very much likes to be part of everything as well and usually finds the comfiest spot

 The birds came out to join us as well- Lyra and Beau and as you can see below Lyra really got into opening all the presents. 

Christmas Eve

It was just us 4 in Canberra for Christmas this year so we went out Christmas Eve to the Hyatt for their buffet dinner. We had a lovely night, lots of seafood for those who like seafood and lots of meat for those who liked meat! We came home and opened presents, that saved us being woken up at 5am by the kids wanting to open their presents! I think the emerged about midday, then we had an easy late lunch with some friends and had Christmas pudding- it was a lovely relaxing time.

Amy Turns 21

Last weekend Amy turned 21! We went out for a family dinner with her friend Andrea at Hog's Breath, then this weekend she had a few friends over for a party. They had Turkish takeaway and watched videos and had a nice time- all easy and no dramas, so I think she had had a pretty good birthday.

A Strange White Van

A strange white van parked in our carport- Jack was barking like crazy- turns out it was Lachlan with the work van- they asked him to go on call for a few days- first time this has happened. He gets paid an allowance to be on call, then paid extra if he gets called out. Did get called out about 9:30pm one night to a Nursing Home where the fire alarm had gone off and the Fire Brigade had to be called out. Every time he comes home the dogs go crazy, normally they know who it is when we drive up in our own cars.

Dried Mango

We have had a box of mangoes at home that have not been consumed as fast as they were ripening. I have had my mum's dehydrator out and we dried some mango. It was very easy, just took a while to dry and we now have dried mango. Now the mango is disappearing very fast!

Family Catch Up and Christmas Lights

Gary and Arlene were in Canberra for a few days so we caught up for a family dinner and went to see the Christmas lights in the city

We had dinner at Mr Shabu Shabu a Japanese restaurant where you could cook your own dinner on your  own individual stove- lots of fun and very nice. Charlie thought it was great fun.

Little Ben the two year old- my youngest nephew- who was full of beans and very cute!

Some of the cousins posing for a photo- even Lachlan agreed to the photo

  Then we wandered into the city centre and checked out the Christmas lights, there were certainly lots of them.

Bindi and Mia- Mia turns 12 in a couple of weeks and every time I see her she has grown a little more!

Arlene, Matthew, Ben and Gary- it was lovely to catch up with them.

Bill and I- glad I took my jacket it was quite cold with the wind blowing!

Family Dinner

Had a lovely time catching up with Simon, Bindi and the kids on Sunday night after arriving back from Melbourne. I just love Charlie's lego slippers! Bindi had the house looking very Christmassy and Bill spent some time helping set up Charlie's telescope.

Bill's Birthday

Bill had a birthday this week- went and met him in at work and we had a picnic in a park nearby. Amy made him a rocky road birthday cake!

Visit to Berwick

Spent the weekend in Melbourne and stayed with mum out at Berwick. She is very happy in her unit and the garden is looking great. It was a relaxing weekend, weather was cool and wet. Had a lovely time catching up with family on Saturday night and a friend during the day.