Having a go and Ethan

A few weeks ago Nicole decided to have a go at wakeboarding. She found it very hard but with some more practice she will get the hang of it! Getting the "instructions" from Daniel...And almost there!...
On Boxing Day we went over to Busselton and had afternoon tea with extended family. Janelle and Sarah got to have cuddles with Ethan...He is so cute!

Christmas Day 2011

We stayed home for Christmas this year. We were joined by Mum and Dad J and Daniel (and little Sonic) for a nice relaxing day of eating, giving and receiving. Nicole and Daniel had breakfast with his family first. Capturing the day... Traditional before presents photos...Present opening mess...
Nicole and all her friends...Christmas lunchtime...And a few more shhots from the day - Janelle with her Harrods teapot Nicole bought in London...Super Sonic with his new toy...Nanna... Pop and Bella...And a lovely photo of Sarah...

Happenings November & December

Quite a few things have been going on with the lead up to Christmas and end of school and exams. This date marked to end of WACE exams for Sarah. Its also the only date for the next 1000 years where all the digits are the same. Even though the date fell on a Friday there were many weddings and parties to celebrate. We were invited to our Doctors birthday party and had a great night celebrating. I always sew a date on a near completed quilt and so this one got 11-11-11... Peter and I went to Perth with Wayne and Sue and spent the day at the 4WD and camping show. Lots to see and drool over and we came home with some dried fruit and a vacuum sealer (no new 4WD or caravan!)...Janelle celebrated her end of exams with a "steamboat" dinner (an Asian dish) with some friends...They then headed down to Prevelly Caravan Park for a few days mini break. All was well until a controlled burn got out of control and caused huge bushfires in and around Margaret River. Janelle and friends became trapped on the beach for 8 hours. When they were eventually allowed to leave they had to spend the night in the evacuation centre. A scary experience but ended well for them but quite a few homes and business's were destroyed... Sarah did a day trip down to Busselton for Leavers, came home for a day at work and then went back down and stayed a night with a group of others in someone's house. They had a good night dancing away at the "zone"... Janelle drove herself down to Denmark to stay with Kyle and celebrate his Mum's birthday...Janelle made her first "Chocolate Fondants" for dessert - she was most disappointed as hers was'nt gooey in the middle and most of ours were- they were very yummy...It was then time to put up the Christmas tree...
With an extra decorator this year...Janelle went to the eye specialist to see about her Pterygium and he put in some drops to dilate her pupils, she couldn't see too well and her eyes were quite freaky...I went for a drive with Janelle down to Busselton to spend the afternoon with Mum and Dad J. We had a bit of an old photo and family session...We went to Peth for Chelsea's 18th birthday luncheon - beautiful cake...Peter and I went back to Perth the next day for the Elton John concert which was a great night (photo courtesy of Danika who was much closer than us!)...Janelle and I were out Christmas shopping in Big W when we met Ray Martin. He signed a book for us and as we had him all to ourselves we got to have a chat, he is a very nice man...Janelle was lucky enough to pick up some casual work for a few days at the Terry White Pharmacy. As she is only a fill in she wears this name badge... Kyle came to stay on his way home to Denmark. He made Janelle a "white" Christmas gift this year... The girls got together with Kelsie and Teagan for their annual Christmas Eve christmas light looking tour -they have a good laugh...

Graduation Night

Last night marked the official end to 20 years of schooling for our family with Sarah's Graduation ceremony.

It was a nice ceremony with some interesting speakers. Surprisingly there weren't many tears, they all came when we had the final assembly a few weeks ago.The bell was rung to dismiss the class of 2011. So its no more assemblies, sports days, swimming carnivals, canteen duty, late notes (Sarah), absentee notes, concerts, school lunches, reports, parent/teacher interviews, newsletters, homework, exams, school booklists and anything else that goes with school for us. Sad? No - we all had a great time and now its time to move on!

It was then time to party again (till 3am on a Wednesday night)...

Some nostalgia - there was only 1 year - 2000 - when they were all at school together Nicole was yr 7, Janelle yr 5 and Sarah yr 1. This photo was taken in 1999 when Sarah was in pre-primary...

As I didn't blog when Nicole and Janelle graduated this is how they looked on their graduation nights... Nicole finishing year 7 in 2000...And high school in 2005...Janelle finishing year 7 in 2002...And high school in 2007 (Dux of BSHS)...Sarah finishing primary school in 2006...Its along time since I went to school - here I am in my Wilson Park uniform...
Goodbye school!