Last post for 2010

Hello everybody.

We hope you all survived the madness of christmas and it was as you wished it would be. As you would have heard on the news, we have had monsoonal rain here on and off for a couple of weeks now, so we start the pics with one of Kylin when he realised he could make a shower from the rain off the tarp - the pool was warm so the rain water felt very cold!

At least when it rains here, it is still warm, it doesn't interrupt our pool time, we get a waterfall on the mountain and the creek gives us that lovely running water sound. Win Win. :)
Ok some xmas cooking. These are orange cream filled dates, dipped in dark chocolate and drizzled with milk chocolate. Very fiddly to make but they were more than a little bit yum!

Merry christmas little boo. xoxo
He opened presents from us and family on xmas eve morning.
Remote control tarantula. Thank you Uncle Peter and Auntie Debbie. xoxo

Lots of board games, chosen to help his fine motor skills, and concentration.

My xmas is on xmas eve so we are able to space things out over two days which is great for Kylin not having everything all at once. I have to tell you, those hats are way too hot for up here.

Ahhh more food. This was a watermelon, lime and mint drink I made which may or may not have had just a splash of vodka in it. Very refreshing in this humidity.

Chicken wings that had marinaded for 24hrs and were very slooooow cooked.

So sticky, so yummy. 3kgs didn't last very long at all. :)

Santa brought us all a Wii.

The kids loved the dance star game and are very quick to pick up the moves.

We had a cyclone form overnight and hit at 4.30am xmas morning. Before that we took down the tarp and pulled in all our furniture just in case. Poor Kylin woke up so early from the noise and once he unwrapped the Wii was so very patient cause he couldn't start playing with it until after 7 when the storm had passed.

Boxing day was spent with Dan, Bindi and kids. We had a wonderful day, sharing our leftovers and just doing loads of nothing after the xmas hoo har. This is Brodie, Baylie and Kylin eating their dinner together....Oh and Bindi doing a "look at me I'm schpechial"

Bindi n Dan set the boys up in their loungeroom so they'd crash out and we could just keep doing nothing, but it wasn't to be. Kylin and Brodie were just far too tired and excited and were still awake very late so we bundled Kylin up and brought him home to his own bed. It was dark, I took this photo with the flash so it looks like daylight. :)

Hope you have survived the holiday season unstressed so far and as we lead up to the new year, find lots of good things about the past year to be grateful for, rather than concentrating on the bad things.

Hope you relax and enjoy the last few days and you all have a safe and happy new years eve.

xoxo

Happy birthday to our 17 January babies:

Mick, Gunny, Ishie, Linc, Vicky, Cameron, Niki, Kim, Froggy, Peter C, Trrroggy, Bernard,

Chris V, Deanna, Teddy bear, Vegie and Luke.

Our heartfelt wishes for a wonderful day and year. xoxo

Twas the days before christmas

Hello everyone, I was just going to do a post christmas catch up but we have been really really busy so here goes...since the last post......Rhys came for a sleepover and the boys had an extreme bubble bath.We also took them to the Cairns Autism Support group xmas party at Gekkos, they ran and played and were just blurry the whole night.
Kylin was home sick from school on the 28th Nov so we put the xmas tree up to cheer him up. He and the cat had a wonderful time in the tinsel.
Kylin and I at his prep break up day.

Kylin on the waterslide

and doing awesome poses during the "statues" game

feeding frenzy after all the fun

Kylin's amazing teacher Leigh, with the painting the kids made her.

I'm not driving at the moment so Kylin and I got a taxi home from school. He was soooo excited.

Cheyenne and Hayley came over for a swim and a play.

Kylin picked out a "uniform" and went to work with daddy for a few hours. He packed his own snacks and had "paperwork" in his bag.

I made a mountain of gingerbread bickies, the boys had a great time decorating them.

Ryan turned one and I made him a chicken, beef and cream cheese cake, he was a little pudding when he'd scoffed it all.

Ryan showing his markings (in normal light he looks black)

we made santa and reindeer faces with paper plates (on the wall in the background)

At the Woree pool for Jaelyns 3rd birthday party. This is Bindi and Baylie blowing bubbles.

In other news, my stepdad Ernie had an operation yesterday to have a brain tumor removed, he was recovering well, and I did speak to him via my brother's speaker phone, but soon after he had a big seizure this afternoon and has been moved back to intensive care. Hopefully he will improve over the next few days and go back to the ward.

Hope you are all enjoying the lead up to christmas, we have our menus done and Kylin is really excited about santa coming. He lost another tooth two nights ago so the tooth fairy paid us a visit again. We love the school holidays and are spending loads of time in the pool, doing lots of crafty stuff, having movie nights and camp outs in the lounge and spare rooms.

Hope all is well in your worlds. Love and hugs and loads of tinsel. xoxoxoxo

October and November.

Hello again everyone, the months are flying by now and we have as usual, been very busy. This time we'll start with Rhy's on his 7th birthday "Happy Birthday darling boy" xoxoxo

MMMMMM fairy bread!!!
Some days we have two pussy cats, they eat and play together very well.
My gorgeous friend Sheridan and her family caught up with us at the Pier one afternoon. Lovely people and Kylin fell in love with Sheri. Miss you beautiful girl. xoxo

Screening of Despicable me for Autism QLD, they leave the lights on a bit and turn the soundtrack way down. It's a closed event so the kids can make noises or walk around if they want to, it's fantastic and very sensory friendly. The kids inhaled all that popcorn.

Afterwards we went to La Porchettas for pizza.

The kids were playing with the chalk and Polar was just too tired to move, so they drew around him like a police outline.

School disco night, same outfit as last year, sshhh don't tell anyone. He looked awesome.

Towards the end of October I had another bleed, I am ok, just very numb down one side. I am a very lucky girl. That blob in the middle is the pesky one that's caused this. Damian has come back to work at the Navy base in Cairns so he is home everyday now.

Dress ups - yayyyyy!

Rhys

Cheyenne

Kylin

Blue hair and free dress day at school, to raise money for diabetes.

Washing the blue hairspray out after school.

Special kids xmas party at the showgrounds - this is sponsored by golden casket and is a wonderful day for everyone. Chey is 2 behind Kylin cleverly disguised as a butterfly.

The first of many santas.

Best buddies snuggled up. I finally got him to let me cut his hair with the clippers, he has SO much hair and it's really thick, this will be so much cooler for him.

His new passion - watching the Cairns Taipans basketball team. We have been twice now, and won both times. I wonder how much he'll like it when we loose?????

He screams, cheers, dances and has a fantastic time.

Tired little basketball fans. We brought him a shirt at last nights game he really thinks he's part of the team now.

School is nearly over for another year and he is well and truely ready for grade one, he is very excited. Damian is settling in to his new job and has caught up with some of his old mates there which is great.

Happy Birthday to our special December people:

Vanessa, Tink, Danny, Sylvia, Jaelyn, Mandy, Pete, Karyn, Trixie, Dermott, Nic, Brodie, Richard, Pat, Campa, Andrew H, Renae, Ramona, Isabelle and Grant.

that's 20 birthdays this month - my goodness!! Now you all know why I stopped writing birthday cards, it was getting very very expensive......our wishes are still just as heartfelt even though it's via here now.
We hope you have a wonderful day, we'll be thinking of you and hope you all get spoilt.

I have started writing xmas cards, although my handwriting isn't very good at the moment, if yours looks like scrawl, I apologise, the sentiment inside still means the same. xo

Hope you are all happy and well, sending you virtual hugs and we'll post again soon.

xoxoxo

July, August and September.

Hello everyone, we've had a lot going on, so there are more than the usual loads of photos. :)

Ryan has settled into being owned by a 6 year old, brilliantly. He came out and said "Guess what I am?" He's a bird house!!
Ryan is never short of a cuddle :)

Now Kylin can understand the concept of a dream catcher, I made him one and he really loves it.

The boys starting Damian's train.

Kylin's new bed. It has an even bigger cubby underneath, and a desk. He can watch the birds at the birdfeeder from under there too. It has a built in ladder on the right hand side.

Rainy day fun with the pussy cat. The cat actually got in the water.

More rainy day fun, getting mucky in the bath.

Kylin's first time at the Cairns show. He loved it so very much that we went home and had a rest then went back at night. It was one of the best days we've had together. He loved everything.

Absolutely, completely and utterly exhausted.

Playing house and washing the floor.

Rhys having a sleepover in the big bed.

Part of his school photo package this year.

Going for his first big boy sleepover without mum. He was soooo excited.

At the airport when I came back from Melbourne, he was so happy to see me, he cried.

Fell asleep listening to my iPod.

Being cheeky and giving me rabbit ears, with his purple spikey rock star hair.

My newest creation, I'm totally addicted to them. Mushies, stuffed with semi dried tomatoes and home made pesto, topped with capsicum cheese on rocket with chilli tossed fetta.

Dear little Cheyenne in a spectacular fashion creation.

Movie night where we ate lots of popcorn and slept in the loungeroom

Rhys had a sore knee so Dr Kylin arrived to take care of him.

Waiting for ice cream at Kuranda.

We were only there for 2 hours, but it was all too much. We had a great day.

For those of you who don't know, my mother was in a serious car accident early in July and struggled with horrific injuries for over 40 days. I won't go into details as most of you know the story and gave me amazing support throughout. She passed away in hospital on the 18th August.

I have had loads to do with Kylin's school, OT and psych since I've been back. He is really doing well with his social and emotional issues at school and no longer needs his OT. We start with his psych next week to address his anxiety.

I know I've forgotten heaps since my last post in June and for that I apologise. I will include what I remember in my next post.

Happy birthday to those of you who's birthdays I've missed in my absence.

August

Marie, Ashlin, Scott and Dani, Barbie, Serena, Mark, Jordan, and Morgan.

September

Dan, Damian, Kiah, Micheal, Wayne, Baylie, Denis, Dianne, Greg, Al, Nic, Tony and Amanda.

And happy 7th anniversary to Nic and Sooz.

So sorry I didn't send wishes for your special days, hope it was all you wished for. xoxo

Happy Birthday to our special people born in

October

Debbie, Bella, Rhys, Yvonne, April, Lee, Mat, Damian, Luke, John and Peter, and Oliver.

and just in case I don't get back in time - lets shout out to our

November babies

Nicolas, Ben, Caroline, Filiz, Cindy, Jess, Riley, and Lis.

Hope you all have a day worthy of your smile. xoxoxo

Take care, be good to yourselves. Love and hugs. xoxoxo