Jessica and Meagan turn 12!!

Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Jess and Meagan, Happy birthday to you!!!
On Thursday, March 13th, Jess and Meagan turned 12! They are definitely growing into young ladies!! Their day started very early as their school had their bike to school day, and so they had to meet at the primary school at 6:30am!! Early start, and no time for prezzies!! They put balloons on their bikes to celebrate, and so began their day with a 29km bike ride to school. On the whole, it was a good morning of biking, getting the kids out their and getting physical!!
After school Oma, Auntie Christina and Auntie Michelle (and Owen and Madyson) came over to help celebrate. We had a nice strawberry cheesecake although the kids didn't want to eat too much because they were looking forward to dinner at Sizzler's, an all-you-can-eat restaurant. We had bought a secondhand piano and Dave organised it to be delivered on Thursday afternoon. Wow, were the kids ever excited!! (I'll have to post a picture!) It sounds beautiful (well, to my untrained ear it does) and we haven't even gotten it tuned yet!!
Anyway, once the piano was finally delivered, we went to Sizzler's with the 3 grandparents. Of course everyone stuffed themselves and the kids all had about 5 desserts!! And we finally had time to give the twins their presents. Yup, they got spoiled again, with books, DVD's, clothes, towels, earrings, hair things....
Then Friday night they had Natalie and Lois sleepover. In the evening they watched a bit of Little House on the Prairie, and in the morning we played a number of party games before we brought them home. It was a very enjoyable "party"!




Jessica

Meagan

School Sleepover

Brett and Brooke all packed and raring to go!!


Brett squeezing in the last few bits!!

Friday night, the 14th of March, we had the annual primary school sleepover (called a sleepover but for all intents and purposes, not much sleeping is actually done!!); yup, all the kids from grades 1 to 6 slept over at the school, and were all ready at 8:30am for us rejuvenated parents to pick them up again. Brett was just so excited about his first sleepover. He was trying to pack his bag all week. I had to read the list of things to take 10 times, so he wouldn't forget anything, and then he added a bagful of stuffed animals to come along too, because his "friends" couldn't miss out on all the fun!! Brooke took it all in ladylike style, much the mature sibling off to her 5th sleepover. She's old hat now, but still eagerly looked forward to it! After school the kids played some games, had a sausage sizzle for dinner, went for a swim at the beach and later settled down to watch a DVD (one for the older kids, and one for the younger ones). The little ones went to bed at 10 and the older ones, well, Brooke says she went to sleep around midnight....
And those of us left at home...well, Meagan and Jessica both had a friend sleepover for their birthdays, so no peace and quiet for us this year!!

Fire near the School

Yesterday we had a bushfire close enough to the school to close the roads from both directions to get to our school. Of course at 3:00 when we had to pick the kids up, we had to find a way in. With water helicopters circling and dropping water on the fire from overhead, firemen and police cluttering the road, we had to be co-operative, although all I wanted to do was get my kids out of there. Anyway, the police took us in a convoy down the road to the school, where our children were waiting for us in their classrooms to try and stay away from the smoke. And then by another police escort we all snaked our way back out. It was quite the experience!! Travis was rather scared of the noisy helicopters just overhead, but the others had their eyes peeled everywhere; the firefighters in our parking lot making sure the school kids were okay, and we obeyed orders,(not that we would ever cause problems of course!!), the helicopters dumping their loads of water, (and our little car getting spatters of spray on it, just enough to make the ash stick even more!!) and of course the thick smoke. The highschoolers coming on the bus saw the helicopters coming in just over head to refill with water from a local park lake!....The road was still partially blocked this morning but this afternoon we could drive through and see all the damage. My car and the kids school bags still smell like smoke! Nothing but a bit of drama to keep my life exciting!!

Labour Day Monday

We spent a thoroughly relaxing day on Monday out on the Swan River with our 4 kayaks. Wade stayed home with Oma because he wasn't feeling well. Hopefully next time he'll come with us, although I do think his sore throat was a bit of an excuse to spend some 1 on 1 time with Oma. There was a small island in the middle of the river, and Brett even managed to kayak around without our help. He loves to live on the edge; has to tip the kayak precariously to get a good chuckle, has to try standing up on the kayak..... yup, he'll be keeping us on our toes for sure!! Travis joined in the fun and came kayaking with me. He normally doesn't go anywhere near the water, it's just all toooo scary for him but yesterday he also went around the island with me and then asked to go for more paddles!! The 3 girls spent most of the day trying to stand up on an upturned kayak....needless to say, it was nearly sinking by the end of the day; it was very waterlogged!! We had snaggers on the barbie for lunch, (translation: hotdogs on the barbeque!!) so everything was really nicely relaxing. Always makes me wonder why we don't do things like that more often....