the midnight scrapper

happy australia day...

There was hot (and sticky) weather, and a BBQ, and flags

And these awesome vegemite & cheese scrolls that I found here about an hour before lunch. So easy, so quick, so Australian and so good.

And then a volleyball death match in the pool!

Sausages, steak, devon doovies - yes, some one brought these with them (not sure what others call them we have always called them devon doovies), damper, cold beer, white wine and a birthday cake for my cousin.

A fun, hot, lazy day.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie...oi, oi, oi!

the spooky party was a hit...

Once again Byron invited friends over for his "annual spooky party" which is held on Halloween but he does not call it Halloween, he calls it his Spooky Party, even though they all enjoyed spooky candy from America where they do celebrate Halloween. Whew...that was some run on sentence LOL

Here are some shots of the set up and decorations as they were not so keen this year for me to take lots of action shots (oh the difference 1 year makes!).

Of course it doesn't look that spooky with all that daylight (damn you daylight savings, though we love you every other minute) but when the sun goes down it gets dark, really really dark and that's when it gets spooky.

This floor decal may not have scared the kids that much, but it freaked me out every. single. time. I walked out the back door.

The bread for the sausage sizzle; see how the little burnt crust looks like mouse poo...loved telling the kids that.

Skull water; we had some bottles left over and I was packing them with lunches...got some strange looks as people considered what sort of "designer" water this was!

The orange candles had little lights in them and they gave off an erie glow as soon as it got dark - which was just the look I was going for.

Spooky lolly bags...an eyeball, fangs, a chocolate ghost and some gummie teeth.

OK, they let me have one group shot.

 

Some of my accessories on the night (I know, should wear them everyday) and just incase you were wondering where I got those old creepy wrinkled skin gloves...alas that would be my own hands. Now that is really spooky. Ha!

graduation day...

See this sweet 12 year old boy on his first day of high school...

...well today he graduated.

I can no longer say that he is "at school" and all that is left is for him to sit his HSC exams in about 3 weeks time. 

I woke up feeling very out of sorts and a little emotional but pulled myself together for the morning ahead. We took our seats in the school hall along with all the other parents, who I suspect were having very similar feelings.

We all stood and clapped the students as they filed in to take their seats and that's when I noticed that my mum was already crying (pace yourself nana, we have another 2 hours to go LOL)

The year 12 students entertained us, the principal's speech took me close to the edge of tears but I held strong until Oscar's year adviser, Mr Kelly, took to the podium to make his speech.

Mr Kelly has been a very popular year advisor and teacher and from the moment his speech began I knew I was not going to be able to hold it together. He was also filled with emotion as he recounted the highs and lows of being the year advisor to this group of kids for the past 4 years.

As is his usual way, he finished by telling a story, this time about a little bird known as a puffin and how they are born on a dangerous rock and the first part of their lives is very regimented, they are always being told what to do and follow the rules lest they perish. And then one day they are told to jump from the rock, and if all those lessons have been learned well, they will spread their wings and fly off to their new lives.

With this Mr Kelly looked at the gathered Year 12's and told them it was time to jump and fly away little puffins.

Cue standing ovation from the students and a flood of emotion from all assembled; barely a dry eye in the house.

And then the handing out of the graduation folders...

And we clapped the students out the door and off for photos, morning tea, and hugs for family & friends.

We headed off to have lunch with friends but made one last stop as we drove away from the school...

Sitting here tonight and typing this up I can't help but be impressed by the crazy blend of unique, talented, and creative students that made up this year. I know teenagers sometimes get a bad rap for being, well, teenagers, but they really do have a lot of good things going on and that's reason enough to be proud.

It was definitely a day to feel the love.

Congratulations Oscar!

wow, a half century on the board...

My dear husband Gary turns 50 today! Yes, I can barely believe it myself. It seems just yesterday that he was meeting my parents as we prepared to go out on our second date, and he was trying not to look shocked by the taffeta tutu (come on people , it was the 80's) I was wearing. 

I was trying to come to turns with his "casual" getup (boots, T shirt & navy cord jeans) for our big night out - yes, we were going to the same place LOL.

jody (21) & gaz (23) - meeting the parents before the big date.

Still, it must of been the right mix of crazy because here he is turning 50 and he's still my guy! 

He doesn't have the boots any more, and I've ditched the tutu, though I still have it in a box in the back of my wardrobe - it would probably fit on my left thigh now, but that's another story.

We have two wonderful kids, great family & friends and we still have fun. 

Dinner and presents with the family tonight and then we are getting all dressed up and heading to Sydney for a fancy dinner with friends on Saturday night.

Happy 50th birthday Gary!!!

 gaz (49 + 361 days) - watching Oscar at soccer.

happy australia day...

the flags are up

the bunting has been strung

the bbq is fired up

family and friends are about to arrive

the kids are sporting flag t shirts and temporary tatoos

the eski's are full

the camera is ready

the lamingtons are waiting

and our "great aussie songs" CD is playing...

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!

a quick 2009 catchup before we move on to 2010...

I figured it was finally time to stop doing nothing and get back into the swing of things (not that doing nothing hasn't been a wonderful thing to do!).

So to finish up December...

The boys opened their matching pj's on Christmas Eve and Oscar wants it to be known that he will no longer participate in this "fun" Christmas activity no matter how large the threat bribe. (you can spot him in back trying to crawl through the wall with his fake smile!!) These were Peter Alexander boxers, so not to shabby, but unbelievably wrong when you are 17.

Christmas morning we were up early and into the presents. Yes, Byron was very happy to recieve his macbook (Oscar was happy about his macbook pro - his was a combo birthday & Christmas present - he just kept the excitement on the inside LOL).

Having made the decision to go mac, well Santa couldn't leave me out...

Now this all seems like a very extravagant Christmas, the boys do not get cash like this spent on them at  Christmas, but Oscar is doing his HSC this year and his poor old laptop is 6 years old and dying. Byron, well he has had to share my PC so we figured we just had to bite the bullet and pony up.

Yes, I realise that I have not really made a valid argument for why I needed to upgrade, but I will confess to having mac lust for a very long time (that's true isn't it Mel?) and it seemed a much better idea to convert as a whole family. Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Ha!

Christmas lunch was the usual orgy of food and it was good, very very good...

After all that we had a very quite Boxing Day and before you know it my birthday was upon us. Mum suprised me with a lovely dinner set out on the front lawn...

   

 
Yes, I know Oscar is giving me "rabbit ears" even after he was told not to. 

And I was very excited to recieve this Pandora ring from the boys. It's from their new liquid silver range and I coveted it from the day I saw it. Please excuse my crypt keeper hands...I have been so busy trying to tone up all the other horror areas on my body that I quite forgot my hands needed to be worked on as well!!!!

New Years Eve was quite and then, in the blink of an eye it was 2010.

Happy New Year!

December Daily and Project 365 coming up...
  
  

birthday celebrations and vampires...

Oscar turned 17 this week and it was an extremely low key celebration. Oscar had decided that he didn't want a party or sleepover and he had also decided to forgo a birthday gift so I could put the moneytowards his Christmas present.

He just doesn't know what that present is LOL so there is that level of worry that he may not have made the right choice. As if!

We had a chilli con carne dinner with Nana & Da, chocolate muffins for dessert (menu chosen by Oscar) and then Byron and I had to skip out because we had another engagement...

 

 Yes, we had tickets for the midnight screening (and tickets to see Twilight as they were screening it first at 9.30pm).

There was screaming.

There was swooning.

There was rapt silence.

There was more screaming.

Not saying that was me;  just a general impression of the "vibe" in the cinema. Ha!

Got home at 3.00am, happy and tired.

Happy Birthday Oscar & Team Edward Forever.