Go Dave!!

Here's our brother David at the Baftas! He worked his butt off as Animation Supervisor for The Hobbit, and now he's been nominated for a Bafta and an Oscar. Awesome job, bro! And good luck!

 Here's what David wrote to us about it:

Hey guys,

Kylie and I just had lunch with Martin Nickolas. He had his girlfriend Anja with him, who is from Poland. Was great to catch up! We had a nice lunch at the restaurant here at the Savoy. This hotel is totally amazing, Mum you would absolutely love it here.

We're going to be heading off to the Baftas in an hour or so. I'm up at our hotel room, while Kylie is down getting her hair and makeup done. They have these Style Suites here at the Savoy where you can get all your hair and make up done - I even went down and had a barber guy give me the full cut throat razor shave! And, this is the best bit, the give the nominees a free watch! Crazy hey? Kylie even got one too.

Last night we attended the pre Bafta Cocktail party, and when we got out of the car, everyone mistook Kylie for Amy Adams - a famous actress. So they had her pose for photos on the red carpet! A barrage of flash photography fired up like machine gun fire! It was so funny! I put my arm round her waist for a few of the photos but then they asked if they could just get her by herself again!

 So all that's left to do now is put on my dinner suit and head down to be picked up in the VIP car... which is a brand new Audi R8! Totally crazy time but we are looking forward to heading home tomorrow to see the girls.

Anyway, you may see us in the background somewhere, or, if in the unlikely chance we win, you'll see me up on the stage!

Talk soon, 

Dave xx

And here is a link to an article about him.

What the !!??

Check it out: my nerdy brother and Snoop Dog! Too funny.

Loving Weddings and Sandwiches

I know Valentine's Day was quite a while ago now, but it's never too late to celebrate some loving memories, is it? We didn't go too crazy, but we did make some heart sandwiches for afternoon tea. There were a lot of heart crafts I would have loved to have got stuck into....but maybe next year.

I was so happy to be able to celebrate my cousin's wedding! My gorgeous cuzzie Sarah married the dashing Michael and it was a beautiful, funny and moving day. Sarah still has a big lovestruck smile on her face.

Thanks so much, you two, and we wish you all the very best.xoxo

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Wishing you all a wonderful Easter! xx

Too Thrilling

I really enjoy the fun of Halloween. I love all the spooky, creepy things you can do! I was on the computer at Mum and Dad's, doing some browsing, when the kids came in to see what I was up to. We were just about to start our Halloween unit, so I thought I'd start it off with a bang.

"Hey kids, since we're starting Halloween, do you want to see a really cool scary dance?"

As a high school Dance teacher, I have taught Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dance many times, as part of my favourite unit, "Dance Through the Decades". The students never find it scary, I guess because it's a bit dated and they're all about fourteen years old. I figured it would be fine to show my kids. I must have something wrong with my brain.

So it started okay, then you know what comes next: Girl, there's something I need to tell you. I'm different from other guys... The full moon comes out and....

My kids got the fright of their lives. Kees was crying, "Make it stop! Turn it off! Turn it off!!" and covering his eyes, Jimmy was terrified, screaming and scrambling up my lap to try to get away. I was in a panic, so of course I couldn't get it to stop, I was just clicking the mouse all over the place and the horror went on and on for a long five seconds or so.

Well, of course we all recovered after a few days, although Jimmy kept telling everyone about the scary man with the big round yellow eyes for a couple of weeks. Whoops! But after that we got on with some more moderate spooky fun, like reading lots of fun scary books, dancing to the "Monster Mash", cutting out bat decorations and making green slime:

This certain friend of ours, aka "Cousin It" was almost scarier than Michael Jackson.

One cute little ghostie ...

Jack-o-lanterns are so cool, aren't they?

A friend organised a little neighbourhood trick-or-treat evening which was lots of fun. Thanks Lin ;0)

Hope you guys had a fun and spooky Halloween!

Our Graduate

This year, Kees has been going to a family daycare/kindy one day a week. He has a lovely teacher, Miss Tammy, who we will miss very much, as Kees has now "graduated". As a thank you gift, of course I made her some bunting!

The graduation ceremony was quite a do, considering all the kids are five and under! They had to sing. I think I mentioned at the end of last year, at Kees' other kindy graduation, all the kids were dancing except him? At this one, all the kids were singing except him. He is sooo like Matt - painfully self-conscious about public performance (but on the other hand, a great big show-off). I didn't think these things were genetic, but they must be! I actually am scared of singing in front of people, but that's not genetic. That's cause Mum used to tell me to stop singing when I was young and crushed my spirit. Thanks Mum. We were very proud of Kees just for standing up in front of everyone, and our hearts warmed as he would join in for a verse here or there, definitely not singing, but whistling. Love those cute little pursed lips :-o

We are also very proud of Kees. He has been a model student at Tammy's - or so she tells us!

I think this shot about sums up how he felt. I'm guessing, "Can I go and play now?" or "I hope nobody smelt that".

Just one of the sensible parents we associate with...Irish, of course.

Miss Tammy has done such a wonderful job looking after Kees this year. She has really worked hard to create thoughtful activities specially designed for him, one of the great things about teaching just four children. Tammy has worked tirelessly, going above and beyond what is required for the job and we love her for it. Thank you, Miss Tammy!

And can you please take Jimmy soon? Cause he's driving us a bit nuts at the moment...

End of Year Blog Slog

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was busy and happy and I have to admit I can breathe a sigh of relief now that all that fun is over.

Now, I'm going to do my darndest to get all those posts I've been meaning to do this year DONE. By the 31st. So prepare for my blog marathon. There will be stuff that I should have posted months ago and other stuff from this week. So wish me luck as I embark on my

End of Year Blog Slog!

But before we leave Christmas behind completely, I would like to share a Christmas song and dance with you, performed by our family. Click on the link below to see the hidden talent you never knew we had.

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/BfwIPfCVOiWcjbu3

(Post Script: Well, I didn't make it by the end of 2011, but I'll get started right now! xo)

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a wonderfully merry and joyful Christmas! Thinking of you all!

Love Cath.

Happy 5th Birthday, Kees!

There are lots of things that you can do
Now that you're turning five,
Like somersaults on the trampoline
And picking up insects alive!
You can ride your scooter
And really zoom along
And you've been practising really hard
To whistle a little song.

Your favourite foods are spaghetti
And cake and pancake stacks,
But one of your favourite things of all
Is eating at Hungry Jacks.

So since you really love your bike
And you can ride it so well,
We thought that we would get you
A special hamburger bell!

(Birthday Poem by Grandma)

We love you, Kees. Have a wonderful year being FIVE!

Winter Solstice

I just wanted to share a few images from our Winter Solstice party at Jane's. It was such a great night. Thank you so much, J, K, E, M-D and M, for your hospitality. The boys and I had a lovely morning creating our watercolour paper lanterns above, thinking and talking about the party, looking forward to it.

It was fun creating this lantern pathway with the girls....
Each little child will

Bring one light

Till all the world is

Warm and bright

A highlight was definitely Keith lighting the bonfire with his flaming arrow!!

Good friends, good food, mulled wine and a big fire...

What more could you want? xx

Happy Birthday, Jimmy!

Jimmy recently turned two! Happy birthday, dear, dear little man! We love you so.