Yes , I've been slack!

I've had two people at me to update this blog... which I've been trying to do for a month now! But things keep getting in the way (like Facebook, although I've stopped playing Farmtown, Farmville, Fishville and CafeWorld).

A lot has been happening over the Christmas holidays.

First we had Uncle Bah (aka Mark David) come to stay with us for a week. Caitlin enjoyed playing grownups and going for coffee with him at Darriwill Farm Cafe (just ask her about the bit of lemon slice she had with her cream!) Whilst he was here, Tim and Alice came over to shear our sheep, giving him an appreciation of just how much muscle is involved with stripping some cantankerous ladies! In payback, Tim left one of the ladies with a fringe (tee hee).



Mark took the girls to Toyworld to choose their Christmas gifts. They were given a budget of $50 each. Mim took one look around and went "I want that, and that, and that, and that......". It was like letting a kid loose in a candy store! She ended up choosing a Hair Salon Barbie ($60) so Caitlin got cash to that amount as well. (Good to see you are sticking to the limit you set them, Mark, LOL)

And Mim had her final Kindy day, complete with lunch, concert and showing of the Kindy video. Merryn, the loveliest Kindy teacher ever, made each child a display folder of activities and paintings that they had done during the year, and also a DVD of a slideshow of photos set to music for each child. She showed the DVD of all the Kindy kids after the lunch, and there were a few damp eyes in the audience.



A few days after Mark had left, Margaret arrived, on the same day as my work Xmas party. I took the girls to it and let Michael do the taxi service. Sue had organised a lovely catered lunch, music & drinks up at the racecourse with a jumping castle for the kids. Santa arrived after lunch and gave each child a large (and I mean LARGE) bag of lollies. Followed by a piñata for the kids. It was a great event, even though I was still unsure who most of the people there were! I also had to fish the lolly bag out from underneath Jemima's pillow when she went to bed that night,.. and the next night,... and the next night!!!



making apricot balls

Then came Christmas. We tried to keep present numbers down this year, following the example of Meegan (who later admitted that she had failed in that attempt!! I don't blame you when you have young kids, it's too difficult not to splurge.) Caitlin got mostly clothing (that she had chosen) plus money (which she is saving to buy herself a Nintendo DSI). Mim got her Barbie and various other paraphernalia.

I got what I have hankered for for a long time.... a Kitchen Aid!! And because it is fire engine red, it'll go faster!



Lunch was lovely, roast chook, roast pork (and crackling) and salads... and the best part was ALL of the food was gone after Boxing Day. No ham left in the fridge on New Years Day!



New Year's Eve was spent in the traditional way - dinner at the pub. Caitlin and Margaret went home early, but Mim, Michael and I enjoyed the 'live' music (played by three pensioners) until just after midnight. Mim had fun dancing with all the regulars and was even given her own pair of devil horns by the postmaster's table. The only downside she has was when one of the other kids yelled at her, because Mim had been encouraging her to come and dance. The other child was told in no uncertain terms to Go Away and stop being a little beeaatch.

January brought in more cool weather and some trips away for Michael, Margaret and the girls, but I'll blog that separately. Work became really busy, with January being the month in which farmers want fertiliser spread over their paddocks, and fertiliser prices increasing in lat January, so hence the delay in posting. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)

Meeting the extended family

Whilst Margaret was visiting over Christmas, Michael took the family (minus me, I had to work) to visit Margaret's family and "the old farm".

They drove up to Murrayville, in the Mallee, stopping for a picnic lunch at Wyperfield National Park. Mim had difficulty in eating her sandwich.... every time she waved away one fly, two more would take its place. Finally she had help, Caitlin fanning her while she ate her sandwich.

They visited 'Gracedale', the farm that Margaret grew up on. The farmhouse was burnt down a while ago, but at least the toilet is still standing! And a couple of sheds. It was hot and dry, forty plus degrees.

They stayed at the Murrayville Pub and Margaret caught up with some of the family... the Colonel, Blue, Megsy and various others with names that were not on their birth certificates. Margaret hadn't seen some of these people for fifty years. It only took one ring around to create an instant dinner for twenty at the pub.

The name fest continued the next day with a trip to see Splinter and Doreen at Ouyen.

Michael developed a bad headache on the way home, so Margaret had to drive, which of course made Michael feel worse! But they arrived safely home, glad to get into the air conditioning.

A few weeks later, they did another trip away, this time going over to see Margaret's brother George at Waaia, near Shepparton.



The girls had a great time learning to ride a quad bike. Mim became a little hoon. Uncle George controlled the throttle and Mim steered.... luckily George cut the throttle before she hit the verandah!!



Michael and the girls stayed at a hotel in Shepparton and Margaret overnighted with her brother. They arrived home late the next day, very tired.

Olivia Kate

and then there were three.....


the little red-headed princess

Born Sunday 6 December 2009, on what would have been her great grandfather's 89th birthday. She was 6lb 15oz and 52cm long.

Michelle finished work on the Friday before, and had planned to do lots of resting, catching up with friends and various other tasks (like installing the carseat) before baby was due on the 15th. That never happened!

chilling out

"bring me my food now!!!!!"

Back, at last!

My father has told me to get back blogging as the old posts were 'getting boring'. So I'm back.

There have been two significant events occur in my life in the last 6 weeks.

1. I got a new job!!!!!

2. I became an aunty (again)!!!!

I was not happy with working at the hospital. Whilst the hours were suitable for looking after Jemima, I didn't like the bullying behaviours of one of my colleagues. And she was not going to change. Staff had put up with her behaviours for the past decade, so the likelihood of anything changing was minimal. So I started applying for other jobs.

Late in November, I had an interview with a local company for a 'Assistant Records Clerk'. And I got it! It is a full time position at Vickery Bros, a company that supplies and spreads fertiliser. Despite being a 'local' company, they service a large portion of southwest Victoria and into South Australia. It is a great place to work, really friendly and laid back. I'm really enjoying myself.

On 6 December, Michelle gave birth to a beautiful little red head, whom they have named Olivia Kate. Little Livvy already knows the importance of being dramatic (the genes inherited from her grandmother, Dame Mary) and stubborn (Michelle swears that she did not pass on this gene). She insists that meal times are whenever she wants, and naps whenever she chooses. Just like a baby:)

One of the drawbacks of getting this full time job is that I can't visit Livvy over Christmas, like I had planned. I'm still trying to work out when I can get up to Sydney to spoil her rotten.

Winery Tour

Yesterday was the Winery Tour, a fundraising event for the Kindy. Numbers were small, only about 26, a victim of the Dunkeld Races, Casterton Show and the hot weather but it was a great bunch of people.

Caitlin and Mim stayed home alone, with strict instructions for Mim not to annoy her sister.

We left the Kindy all stocked up with a couple of eskies containing water, UDLs and some beer. Morning tea was at Penola - coffee and cake, and some of the girls went wandering around hte main street and found the lolly shop.

At 11, we boarded the bus again, ably driven by our hero, Bazza (husband of the Kindy mum organising the whole thing). Next stop was Rymill's winery, where we were greeted by Andrew Rymill and invited inside to taste the wines. There were some lovely drops there, so I bought the Traminer (a sweet dessert wine that wasn't sickly sweet) and the MC2, a red blend. Andrew and the lady helping were very friendly and it was a positive experience. We got a big discount on the wines purchased, even though the prices were reasonable anyway!

After Rymill's, we went to the Poplars for another testing and lunch. They also had cheese testing, so Michael and I partook of that ...mmmm, goat's cheese! The wine tasting wasn't as nice as Rymill's, with the man (owner?) insisting that the wines be tasted in a certain order, and how dare you skip a wine (even if you didn't like a particular variety). They were pushy and wine-snobby, which didn't help for their sales. Lunch was delicious though, a choice of an open steak sandwich, battered fish or caesar salad. Michael and I sat with Annie (the lady we'd bought this house off) and her friend Jane. We had lots of laughs over lunch, then it was back on the bus.

Next stop was Katnook. It was a smaller tasting area, so it was a bit crowded and we were pushed through the tasting quite quickly. It felt like you had to scull the wines to keep up! Still, the lady was pleasant enough. We didn't stay long, and I didn't like the wines enough to buy any of them.

We had a bit of time left before we were due at the last winery, so we headed back to Penola (after an hilarious three point turn on the highway after going in the wrong direction - I don't think we hit any of the grapevines!) so some more of the ladies could hit the lolly shop - purely to buy lollies for their mothers/classes /kids etc. The boys (all five of them) hit the pub for a beer and I wandered down the street, had a look in the lolly shop (lovely) without purchasing, and then wandered through the secondhand store. Lots of lovely things in there as well.

Then back on the bus and out to Patrick T for afternoon tea and yet another tasting. Everyone was merry by this stage and having lots of laughs. Patrick T had set up an afternoon tea for us, cheeses, dry biscuits, dips, chocolate cake, strawberries and honey biscuits - as well as tea and coffee. It was a lovely area, very friendly staff (Jane was trying to pick up the bloke) and somewhere I'd be happy to go back to. The wines were okay and Michael bought one, but I ended up buying some dukkah and lime-infused olive oil. They had basil-infused, blood orange-infused (very nice) and chilli-infused oils as well.

We finally got everyone back on the bus and Bazza headed for home. One last stop at Casterton, for a much needed toilet stop and to sample the wines from the Kindy range. We drew the raffle, first prize of a magnum (the large wine bottle, not the ice-cream) was won by.... the drunkest lady on the trip! Then back on the bus we went...... and this time Janelle got her wish and got to listen to ABBA on the way home. It was very naughty (and slightly illegal) but it amusing to watch some of the ladies dancing in the aisle, against the backdrop of the rolling hills between Casterton and Coleraine.

Bazza pulled the bus over at our driveway and Mim and Caitlin jumped aboard so we could all eat at the pub. The other pub, not our usual pub. Food was good, smaller serves than Julie gives but was still very nice. The kids played outside on the skates, trampoline and other toys until well after dark, then came inside and had a game of pool. It was very funny seeing four five year olds standing around the pool table, barely able to see over it, all holding their pool cues! Michael and I had a discussion with Tracey and Grant about the lack of service from Hamilton City Motors - they had a Pug disaster story to tell as well.

I drove us home at 10.30, having consumed plenty of water throughout the day I figured I was just fine. It really was a great day - and we raised about $600 for the Kindy!

Swimming at the Creek

We discovered the local waterhole a week ago. It's a section of the creek that is deep enough to dive in, with overhanging trees that kids have attached rope swings to.



I took the girls down there one day, and they had a ball. The dogs enjoyed it as well. Sarah is happy to swim, but Jess just wants to get in the water and be held by someone, or sit over their shoulder.



Local kids have set up a couple of couches for sitting in, and an ex freezer is buried in the ground for keeping drinks in.



Michael and I took the girls and dogs down again a day later, and spent a few hours there.

I thought it would be a wonderful place over summer to go to when the pool isn't open.... until I read a recent article in the local paper warning people about snakes near lakes and creeks, as a dog had recently died in the space of a few minutes after being bitten.

Hmmmm, might have to rethink it.

My Little Ballerina

Mim had her first ballet concert last weekend. She had three performances, Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon.





It was the Nutcracker Suite and she played a child with a teddy (all the beginners did). I think she showed more natural grace than most of her class..... but that may just be mother's bias!

I dropped her in town on Friday and Saturday nights, all made up and waited around til first interval to collect her.

We all went and watched the whole performance on Sunday. I dropped her round the back, got her in the costume and then joined Michael and Caitlin. We went inside and sat down, third row back. In front of us were some ex students of Michael. The lights dimmed, the narrator told the story of the Nutcracker, the music started..... and the girl in front of us threw up! Luckily it was a water barf as it wasn't cleaned up until the first interval.

The concert went off well, Mim was perfect (of course). I didn't like the 'pirate crumping' but most of the dancing was good.

She wants to do another concert very soon.