Oh well...

Isaac has always wanted to learn how to play the guitar. Seeing as though we already pay for piano lessons I told him high school would probably be a good opportunity for that. I also said something like..."don't get sucked in to playing the trumpet".

Isaac is learining the TRUMPET!

His music teacher at high school told him he "has a knack for playing the trumpet"...I bet that's what he tells all the kids who miss out on the instrument they WANT to play!! Especially when he has no one interested in the trumpet but still has to assign three trumpets!!

It is quite a skill, to say the least, to do this instrument justice!!

I was a little disappointed for him that he missed out on the guitar. Apparently if you are having private lessons with an instrument you can't do the same one at school. Seeing as though most of his friends in the class have guitar lessons I thought he would have a pretty good chance of being able to learn his much loved guitar at school. Not so. Oh well, maybe next time.

Isaac is musically talented, but I don't think he realises this fully yet. He picks up new pieces on the piano very quickly and he has a lovely singing voice...getting him to sing when he was little was really easy, he loved it, now though it's just not 'cool'. I'm sure if Matt has anything to do with it though he will have all of his kids organised into a band before they know it!!

Sunday

Last Sunday afternoon it was beautiful

It was sunny

It was warm (ish)

It was still

We took the kids and the dog for a leisurely stroll along Sandy Bay Beach

It was lovely

We walked

We talked

We played

We skipped stones

It got dark

It got cold

We went home

THE GREY NOMADS

That's what Matt calls them!

So Ma and Pa (my parents) came to visit last Sunday on their motor bikes!

This was the first time we had seen Ma on her bike - you know apart from in the driveway at her house!

Now that dad has his bike

they can do trips together.

I think it is SUPER COOL

that my parents ride motor bikes!

It looked like so much fun!!

As they took off out the drive way dad gave his bike a good loud rev and I must admit for the first time (since working in the ER and seeing the other side of motor bike riding!!!) I thought it would be fun to have one of my own. Something to look forward to in our empty nest years maybe?

family fun & fotos

We've had a busy weekend with family events. It was lovely to be able to attend Kaea's baptism on Saturday. She looked so beautiful and happy in her special dress. There were lots of family and friends there to share Kaea's special day with her. Reuben did a fabulous job giving a talk and Bella sang with Kaea and Jacoba - of course they sounded totally angelic.

It was a happy day.

After Kaea's baptism there were nibbles and photos and fun in the church hall. It was a good opportunity to snap a few photos of cute little Meg and to get of some family we see often but don't necessarily take many photos of. It's so easy to take for granted the family that lives close to us. So I've included a nice family shot of Amy and her boys and one of Paul (would have been nice to get one with Rach in it but she was busy entertaining her guests and every photo I took of her was unflattering). I wish I had a decent lense for my camera - still saving for that - Anyway I still like these photos, crappy lense and all.

On Saturday afternoon we head to the Huon to mum & dad's place to spend some time with Bridey and Mia who were visiting from Melbourn for just a few days.

It's fun being together with family.

I stole Mia for a few minutes to snap a couple of quick photos so I could practice using photoshop. She's a cutie. I didn't get to photoshop these though just did a little bit in picasa.

Last time I was in Melbourne I took a handful of photos of my beautiful sister Bridey and her hunky hubby Anthony. I was only in Melbourne for a couple of days and I wish we could have had more time to take more photos instead of just grabbing two minutes before we dished up dinner!!! Once again it was fun mucking around with these, giving free botox and all that!!

I'm starting an adult ed photography class in a couple of weeks. Hopefully I will learn how to use my camera better and gain a bit more confidence with it. We'll see. I certainly hope it's worth it. We have to have FHE on Sunday afternoons/evenings for 6 weeks while the course is on because the only one not on a Sunday, was Monday evenings! It's only 6 weeks though so I'm sure we can manage.

F-F-F-F-FREEZING

This is the scene we were presented with from our dining room window yesterday morning! Despite dreaming of our summer holiday, we couldn't resist the allure of the snow, so we rugged up and took off up The Mountain. It was amazing up there, a bright sunny, albeit freezing, day and oh so beautiful. We had heaps of fun throwing snow balls, building snowmen, making snow angels, creating the biggest snowball EVER, looking for icicles, and getting our toes frost burnt.

When we got there the road was closed at the springs so we hung out there for an hour or so. As soon as the road to the pinnacle opened we were off. It was very blustery up there ( it felt like the skin on my face was being removed with an angle grinder) but amazing to see Mt Wellington covered in snow.

There was even snow INSIDE the lookout building. The boys even found snow up in the chimney of one of the little cabbins!!

The snow and wind had made some interesting patterns on the steel barrier cables and the grass plants, the rocks looks awesome - we thought they almost looked alive.

Once we were completely frozen to the bone we headed home for

HOT CHOCOLATES...mmmmmmmmmm

Don't ya just love Tassie?

I do.

BRING ON SUMMER...

I can't wait for Summer and this one is going to be the best!

Matt has long service leave for first term next year so at the end of this year we are taking a road trip up the east cost of Australia. We will meet up with Bridey, Anthony and the kids and mum and dad on the Gold Coast for 3 weeks over Christmas. Bridey and I have been searching everywhere for affordable accommodation. It's quite a task looking for somewhere that can accommodate 14! It is SOOOO expensive at Christmas time. It's really quite ridiculous. Well, I have received quotes ranging from $15000 (yep that's fifteen thousand) to $4000 for 3 weeks accommodation.

We have been able (through some smooth talking, right place at the right time, and cool hand of Heavenly Father) to secure an awesome place at the BEST price. We are all so excited and I for one feel blessed.

You are Awesome Bridey xxx

After our extended family leave for home we will continue to travel and see some more of our beautiful country.

It's gonna be so great.

I'M SO EXCITED...

My husband is home............

I missed him so much this time. He was gone for two weeks on a school trip to Central Australia, but it felt like double that. Each time Matt goes away, which is two or three times a year, I have a greater appreciation for the parents who do it alone. I was super busy having to run the kids around on my own. I really missed being able to just grab the kid involved and leave the others with him at home or vice versa. I also missed being able to rely on Matt to turn the dinner on, or take the dinner out or whatever. I have to change our meals to things that can be prepared well ahead. As our children get older and become involved in more things I realise just how much of a team Matt and I are with drop off and pick ups etc. While I do most of the running around usually, I do rely on Matt to help me out. All four kids were pretty tired by the time school holidays hit. Simple things like taking the kids to mutual and activity night were a bit of a pain because Isaac had to be dropped at the YM presidents house instead of the chapel like usual.

I picked up the YM presidents daughter Nina and off we raced to the chapel to get Bella, Reuben and Nina there in time for activity night. Charlotte and I had to hang around the Chapel until the activity finished then it was time for the reversal of the drop off. Poor old Charlotte was so tired. We got home just after 9pm. Her regular bed time is 7 and she is usually pretty tired and ready for bed by then so by 9pm she was smashed! She did have some short naps along the way though. Needless to say three of our four kids slept in. I woke them with just enough time to get ready. Charlotte slept until 8.55am when I had to wake her so I could drop the others at school. I was very tempted to just leave them all sleeping and take them to school late but my kids have NEVER been late for school (YET) and I kinda like that!

While we were at the FREEZING COLD chapel Steve King offered his lap top and Kung Fu Panda to Charlotte and I. He is such a great guy. We shut ourselves into a room, blasted the heater, got comfy in a soft chair and watched the movie. During the movie one of the characters dies in a touching scene. I had just started to nodd off, I was at that stage where you can still hear what is going on but you are beginning to 'fall'. Anyway I opened my eyes to see what Charlotte was doing. I was met with the biggest brown eyes brimming with tears and the sweetest little voice "I almost started to cry, mum". It was so gorgeous, my beautiful little 4 year old is beginning to realise what life, love, and death is about (I have also noticed that her sense of justice has also begun to mature) I agreed that this was a sad scene and told her it was ok, or even good, to cry. As soon as I wrapped my arms around her, she held me tight and the tears flowed!!! A minute later and it was as if nothing had happened. It was so special though.