Early January

Well, you heard that we had a late New Years Eve, it was fun and we didn’t get a lot of sleep. We were all up and about (at Paula’s) around 9.00. Her X-husband picked up the boys at around 10.00. The rest of us finished out breakfast and chilled out for a little bit. We got home from Paula’s around 11.00; by the time we packed up sleeping bags, deflated mattresses etc. We had a quiet afternoon and then ended up at the Rivera’s for some dinner. One of the Andrew’s (Australian guys) got sick and ended up in the emergency room, we think reaction from one of the beers. It was a nice quiet evening and great way to start off the year.

Wed 2^nd, Jan was the last day of holidays for the boys, (not that Bruce and I were excited) and Conner wanted to do something fun before they went back to school. I went off to work and the boys spent the day at home, doing the usual. So they picked me up from work, and off we went to the Movies to see “The chipmunks” movie. We had a great time, eating popcorn and laughing through the whole thing. It was a cool way to finish the holidays.

The boys got back to school and into the swing of things pretty quickly, no homework for the first couple of days, so it was a little easier of a transition. Thurs bought a small milestone, the tree whose branches have been falling down was finally removed (even if it was after all the leaves had fallen), and we were hoping we wouldn’t have to do that this year. Bloody tree!!!! Anyway, we have no more tree out the front, so in the summer, no shade on the drive way, we’ll see how much difference that makes.

The storm hit over night, and boy was it a BIG one, it continued into the Friday. OMG, it was huge, I have never seen it like that, it was raining so hard all day and I’m not kidding. Paula told us to go home early cause she was worried about us (Darcy) driving home. So we were out of there early afternoon, although I did go home and work, so it really made no difference to me. The rain eased and we had a semi quiet Friday night; Bruce wanted to get out of the house and of all places wanted to go to Costco for dinner and a little shopping. So off we went, the boys ate and I looked around. We bought a few things (food) that we needed and a stop off at Best Buy for a look around and we were home around 9.00.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE TWINS (RAELS & TRUDY)

Our Saturday was the usual, the boys played basketball, Jamieson is doing not to badly although his shooting is not going so great, he seems the have lost control. I cleaned the house and we moved Conner’s desk out of his room and into the office and the extra desk out of the office and into Conner’s room, which also gave me a chance to do a clean through the room, my usual after Christmas thing. Conner played a great game, he is getting really great, he’s working hard and practicing a lot and it’s definitely paying off, he makes his father proud.

Our Sunday was a usual one, chilling out around the house, the boys doing some chores and in the afternoon I went out to take some stuff back from Christmas, the rushes have gone, so it’s not too bad. I bought some DVD’s for myself. Mum called later in the day and we spent a quiet night at home watching Beauty shop on DVD.

My week started out with a long Monday. I am trying to figure out a schedule that gives me a day off and Bruce is planning on being on the road Tuesday’s and Wednesday. I have parent helping on Wednesday’s so the decision was kind of easy. It just means I have to work a longer day. Anyway, the boys are back and school and as adults always do in the new year, trying to organize the rest of the year. Bruce was working his schedule and I was organizing strategic planning for work. I was online with Elise while I posted the last blog, otherwise it was a quiet night.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NICK BELL!!!! (January 7^th)

Tuesday was our strategic planning at work and Tom from works Birthday so we couldn’t go out for lunch, which was a bummer. The planning took up most of the day but we got some great results and are all really happy with our goals for the next 3-12 months, in the afternoon to check out a couple of prospective new offices spaces that I had found. Paula wants to relocate into new premises in the next 6 months so that has been added to my task list. I’ve done it before for 17 people so this should be a little easier, I hope. Bruce was in and out of the house for the day. Conner had his first basketball game for the Stone Lake Hawks (school team). He played well considering how HUGE they were. There was this one kid, the biggest on the court; he was 11 years old and as big as me. Needless to say they didn’t fair so well, Conner got about 12 mins and did ok, he made one basket but missed a couple, he did well considering the pressure, the team was really good. It was the usual evening for us, the boys went off to basketball practice and I did some stuff at home.

Our Friday started off surprisingly, Bruce came into the bathroom while I was getting ready for work to inform me that he had just measured the boys and my youngest son had growth 1cm in around 2 weeks and I have to feed him. Jamieson walked into the room with a huge smile on his face. We all had a usual day, I got home from work and the boys were playing while I made some Vanilla Slice (Kristie bought me back some custard powder fro London) and they love vanilla slice, of which you cannot get here. We arrived at the around 6.00pm, Carlos had gotten back from Germany earlier in the day. We had a yummy dinner and sat down to what is becoming a little tradition playing cards. Paula and Steve arrived around 9.00, they had been out for dinner. We finished the game and started in on a new one. Before we knew it; it was 12.30 and poor Carlos’ eyes were falling out of his head. We worked out he had been up for nearly 2 days at that point. I drove Paula’s car home, they had had a few wines, and Bruce picked me up and we arrived home with the kids in the back seat sleeping at around 1.00am.

We had a quiet-ish weekend. The boys played their basketball after a sleep in from our late night on Friday night. Bruce had a brain wave about Jamieson watching him during the game, cause it definitely wasn’t his best. He’s growing too fast and hasn’t adjusted to his body yet, which is why everything is completely out of whack with his game, which makes sense. Julian came over for a play in the afternoon and then we all went to watch Conner play and win later in the day. I quiet night at home for us, which we all needed.

Sunday was John Charles’ birthday party over at a stadium on the other side of town. It was nice to see them cause we haven’t seen the Charles’ for Christmas; we are all catching up for dinner next weekend at Paula’s. The boys had fun; it was a basketball party so Conner and Jamieson were in their element. The girls sat down and watched bubba Cooper (Belinda took lots of shots of Cooper, of course) just generally catching up. It took a little while, but I finally got a kiss, so I had a great day. We were home in time to watch the last ¼ of the Patriots v Jaguars NFL finals game, so Bruce was happy. Otherwise a nice quiet night chatted to Rhys on messenger and watched TV with my husband.

So, that is 2008 up until now, it’s Tuesday night and to read what has been happening in the last couple of days you’ll have to wait for another 2 weeks. Which is my aim with the blog this year. (Let’s see how we go) I hope everyone is doing well and staying out of the heat as much as possible.

Just a quick FYI – our wonderful friends the Rivera’s (who work for United, and helped getting us home on our trips last year when we needed it) are going to be in the Geelong neck of the woods next month. Hopefully they will be staying with mum and dad one night on their travels to see the coast and if you could try and meet them, they would love it and so would we. I will get more details to everyone when I have them.

Otherwise, everyone have a great one and I’ll be back in a couple of weeks.

Seattle trip...

We were up and Bruce was out of the house to pick up the car by 9.00am. We packed the car and were on the road by 10.30 (which is only 30 mins later than what we thought). The weather was as expected, raining!! We drove and drove, the boys did surprisingly well, we had to make a couple of pit stops; Jamieson, who else. We drive through the Siskiyou Mountains, and made a quick stop so the kids could play in the snow. We definitely picked the right spot, we continued up the mountains, and it was breathtaking, I got some great footage, which will be on the trip movie that Bruce is making.

We got out and the boys ran around the making snowballs and of course throwing them at everyone. We got in the car and through the gorgeous scenery crossed the state line into Oregon. We drove and drove and saw some gorgeous sites of Oregon. It’s very much farming areas, lots of open spaces and mountains. The darkness hit around 4.30, which made it feel like a longer drive then it actually was.

We stopped for the night at a place called Eugene/Springfield. We booked into a hotel and went to the store and grabbed some food for dinner. We went back to the hotel and ate our dinner, then not long after, I was in bed asleep. So what happened after that, I have no idea. I think everyone else was not far behind. We woke the kids up and went down to breakfast, which wasn’t too bad, toast, cereal, bagels, and of course, Danish’s and muffins (no donuts). We finished up and were on the road again not long past 8.30am.

We made pretty good time, cruising through, the boys just wanted to get there, so we ready didn’t stop at all, I had some stuff for sandwiches in the car, so we just kept going. Up through Washington and we made really good time until we got to Tacoma, 45 mins of sitting still, there was an accident cause of the weather, so we arrived at Rich’s in Lynwood an hour later than he expected. It was an easy transition for me, I felt like I knew them already as they did too I suppose, so we just rolled straight into it. Bruce was so happy to see them, he was like a little kid and couldn’t stop smiling. We chilled out for the afternoon, just chatting and staying out of the cold, Amhad (son) arrived for dinner and Brionna (daughter) got home a little later than she should have. We had some dinner and unloaded the car and just had a nice easy first night, sports was on the TV so we weren’t far from that.

Up the next morning, Rich was already up, (5.30 is his usual wake up time), we had some breakfast and just chilled out for the morning. Brie is a sleeper so we didn’t see her until nearly lunch, and the boys had a TV in their room so you know that’s where they were until we dragged them out. Christmas Eve overall was a quiet one, went to the supermarket to grab some stuff, helped Deb put out some nibbles for dinner. They were having some people over for drinks.

Funny Christmas Eve story…..

As I said Deb’s friends were due to arrive around 6.30. Now they were a little nervous, cause the last time they did Christmas Eve drinks, they didn’t leave until around midnight. We started eating the nibbles at 7.00 cause we were hungry, the phone rang and it was them, they would be there soon.

Soon… nothing, 8.30 the knock at the door came and what can only be described as wackiness ensued. Her friend’s mother turned up with some others, daughter and ALL her kids, and then another car (or 2) load of people turned up. It was like a scene from a comedy movie, people just kept coming through the door. Deb and Rich couldn’t even introduce us to them cause they were meeting them for the first time as well. There were room mates and boyfriends and sisters and kids, we counted around 12 people.

Everyone came in and they started getting out all the alcohol that they bought. Rich’s face was priceless, he could not believe what was happening, Bruce and I were just falling about laughing. Brie was just sitting there smirking; it was very funny. Around 10.30, Deb quietly asked her friend if she could take everyone back to her place, the kids have to get to bed and we still have to do stockings, (they do a their stockings the night before). So they were out of there and when the door closed, we all looked at each other and cracked up for about 20 mins, going through what had happened over the evening. It was definitely a story that we all will be telling for a long time. We put the boys in bed at around 11.00, after they scored a stocking that Deb and Rich put together for them.

We had Jamieson coming downstairs for about an hour, so that made things hard. Bruce and I got to bed just before 1.00am, which wasn’t too bad considering. The instructions to the boys were they were not allowed to come out of their room (Brie and Ahmad were sleeping downstairs’) until at least 7.00am, with Uggs and dressing gowns on.

CHRISTMAS DAY

I woke up around 6.45 and went to the bathroom just in time to spring Jamieson coming upstairs from checking on the tree. I went into the room and grabbed the robe etc, came out and opened their door, there they were sitting on the bed, with uggs and robes and big smiles waiting!!! VERY FUNNY! We went downstairs and by that time all the others were up, so the boys started on their stockings while we made ourselves a cuppa for the present opening.

The boys did quite well, and Brionna and Ahmad did just as well, all the kids were very happy and the day was off to a great start. We all chilled out and the kids all hung out with their toys and we all had showers and got dressed for the day. We didn’t sit down for a lunch, it’s pretty much like Thanksgiving, the big meal is later in the day. Around 3.30 we left in the snow to go north to Deb’s brother John’s house. Surprisingly they had had no snow at all. We had a beautiful dinner with Deb’s family they are really nice people and I forget that people just like hearing us talk, so as you can imagine there were a lot of questions. We got home around 10.00 and chilled out for a little bit, had a cuppa and then all of us off to bed.

Boxing Day or the day after Christmas as it’s known here, the boys asked if we could just stay at the house and they could play with their toys, so that’s what we did. It was a very quiet day, I made Lasagna for dinner and Deb finished off the ribs that we did have time to eat the day before. Conner waited patiently for 2 days for them. The boys went out for a quick post Christmas sales look in the morning and the girls went out in the afternoon.

Not really in the mood, I hit the Macy’s Christmas shop and got a Merry Christmas, which is kind of what I was looking for, so I was happy and ready to go after that. That was pretty much it for the rest of the day, it was a really quiet one, Ahmad was over for dinner then went back to home later after we headed of to bed. The boys were playing on the scooters, their Heeley’s and both of them on PSP games. They were in heaven.

Then next day we woke as usual and got ready for our day out in Seattle. We arrived at the Pike Place market and walked around, it’s a pretty cool place. Lots of history, the great thing is that Rich’s grandfather owned it until the 70’s when he sold it. So that was a nice tie in. We watched the fish throwing and the boys had some fun, but you can only watch fish being thrown so long in the freezing cold, so we headed out to find somewhere for lunch. We stopped at a nice little restaurant and had a beautiful sandwich for lunch. We were back in the car and out of the rain around 2.30 and did a drive past the Space Needle, there was no point going up there cause of the weather so that was a bit of a bummer, Maybe next time. We made our way back down the highway to pick up Brie from dancing, had a hot chocolate from the coffee shop next door while we were waiting and it started snowing again. The boys had a nice play and Brie finished her class, we met some of her friends and the studio owners.

We got home and Brie changed then we jumped back into the car and were off to do a little shopping, Big bargain place, I had some fun sifting through, so did Deb the boys not so much. We drove back to Lynnwood and Brie’s friend got us into this really cool restaurant for dinner. Meals were OMG!!! They were huge… we had a really nice dinner the night before we left and talked about the Krafts coming down south to see us.

Hopefully they will be down in July when Brie is off school and dance is taking a break. We had a fantastic dinner and got home around 8.30, and we sat down and put Cars on the DVD, Rich had never seen it. We all headed off to bed around 11.00, very tired!!

Our last morning in Seattle, was rainy as per usual, we were scheduled to drop into to see Brie dance, but the studio wasn’t going to be open until around 1.00, so we had to give it a miss. Bummer!!! We packed up the car and were on the road after a sad goodbye at around 10.30. It was a fun time; even the kids had a ball. They made some new friends, Rich and Deb wanted to keep Jamieson, I said yeah for a week. Especially Rich, he and Jamieson just had this connection, it was actually really nice to see. They would just sit down and chat.

And we were off……

The boys settled in and put a movie on the DVD player and I had the video and camera on the lap ready to go (for the trip video). We drove and really didn’t stop a lot. The boys did really well, we had some snacks on the way and they slept for a bit. We crossed the border into Oregon and kept on going around Portland and south. We stopped at an outlet mall that we had seen on the way up to have a look. The boys got their lunch, but as with kids, it’s not really a good thing to go shopping, especially when they get bored, and let you know. We went to Adidas and Nike and a couple of other places, and then couldn’t take it anymore and it was later than we thought, so we hit the road again.

We ended up stopping at a place called Grants Pass in a nice hotel, Bruce and Conner went out and got some dinner. Bruce kind of went the wrong way and got pulled over by a policeman, so there’s another trip story. He was really nice they said, laughing and knew they had no idea where they were going, looking for KFC for Conner. We had some dinner and just chilled out, the TV was off and we were asleep not long after 9.30pm.

I woke up and then Bruce not long after, the boys we had to wake up so we could go down for breakfast before it finished. It was a really nice spread. Bruce made waffles, there was juice, cereal, toast, pastries, muffins and hot chocolate YUM!!! We packed the car and were on the road again at around 9.00am. We filled up the car with gas and were off, we went through the mountains again and over the state line into California. It was a little hairy and we did see a car that had rolled off the side of the road, no one was injured, but it did look a little scary. Bruce drove carefully and slowly and the road had been ploughed, thank goodness for traction tyres. We got over the mountains and I got some gorgeous pics etc, we stopped at a little gas station and got out and the kids ran around, we had snowball fights and snowmen were made, it was a lot of fun. Back into the car again and we stayed in the car until we hit home. The rest of the trip the boys watched a movie, had a sleep and Bruce and I sat in the front and watched the world go by. We got home ahead of schedule at around 4.00pm, Bruce wanted to watch NFL New England Patriots go 16-0, undefeated for the season. So we unpacked the car, the kids grabbed out all their new stuff and I started on the laundry.

We were all really tired, but what a great time we all had. Next Christmas, who knows where we will end up. We sat down and looked at our beautiful tree, which we hadn’t seen for a week. It was good to be home but it was a great trip.

Our Sunday was spent fairly low key, Bruce took down my gorgeous tree, (I love that tree if you hadn’t figured that out yet) I kept going with the washing. It was a rainy day again, so staying in for the day wasn’t a hard thing to do. I had some present unpacking to do, the boys chilled out in their pj’s and it was a really quiet day and night all round.

Our New Years Eve was a busy one, well for me anyway. I spent the day at the store getting food to prep for the night at Paula’s. The boys chilled out and hung out for the day. I baked and cooked in the afternoon, then we got ready and headed over to Paula’s for a New Years Eve gathering. Andrea had pulled out because Robert was ill and Darcy had gotten a better offer to go out with friends that were over from Washington for Christmas. So it was us and Paula & Co and the Rivera’s were due much later. They were not arriving back from Germany until around 10.30.

We had some dinner and had a couple of drinks, then we played some cards and the adults took on the kids at Deal or No Deal, the parents winners!!! There was some dancing going on and it did get loud, which on New Years Eve is a fun thing. At 9.00 we celebrated East coast New Year on the TV and jumped around. Not long after Jeremy went off to sleep and we started putting the kids to bed, much to their disgust. Not long after 10.30 the Kristie and Carlos and all the kids and the Aussie boys turned up, and the party really began. The kids of course got up and they all started playing.

It hit 12.00, we all jumped up and down and danced around, Carlos got the firecrackers out left over from 4^th July, then we all came back in the kids settled down and watched some TV and chilled out. Around 1.00am we put Conner and Jamieson to bed and the Rivera kids went to sleep on the couches etc. It was 3.00am when Kristie dragged Carlos and the others out of the house. You can imagine; we all hit the sack pretty hard, we were all exhausted!!!

And that is how we spend the last of 2007. I hope you all had a good year and that next year is a great one like ours is going to be.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Some Pics from Seattle Trip

ON THE WAY

WE FOUND SNOW!!!

BORED - HOW FAR??

WE'RE HERE

BRUCE AND RICH

CHRISTMAS DAY

IT'S SNOWING - WHITE CHRISTMAS

THE HULTGRENS

THE KRAFTS

PIKES PLACE FISH MARKET

JAMIESON & RICH AT DINNER

ON THE WAY HOME

MORE SNOW

Early December Pre Trip...

Our December, like everyone else’s, was a busy one. The boys were off school, but Bruce was working at home so I went to work. The first of the month landed on the weekend so as we all know, it’s time to put up the tree.

Tree drama… Bruce had been waiting for December since earlier in the year when he came home from a garage sale one day with a 7.5ft Christmas tree, $15, he was so proud. We pulled everything down and grabbed out the tree, branches everywhere, I hear. Honey, there is no top part of the stem….you can imagine the comments, there were kids around so it was G rated, but, NOT HAPPY JAN!!

So we decided that we should just grab the old tree and put it up and cut our losses. So we put it up and turned the lights on, the middle section of lights didn’t work. (Crap) So, next plan, you can imagine the mood right about then. We were going to try and put the top section of the old tree onto the top section of the new tree. So we dragged the other tree box back and pulled the stem bits to see if they fit, then I hear. Honey, the top of the tree is all in one bit, there is no stem. OMG!!!! We fell about laughing, it was there all along, ready to go…you know there was some DER going on. It made us laugh and gave us a story to tell for the next week. Then we had to try and find a place for it, we just kept looking at each other, it was 7.5 ft high and 6ft wide, it felt like it took up half the room, that made us giggle, and Bruce’s chest was out, $15.00 baby!!! We finally settled for in the front corner, and had to bend down some of the branches and move the TV cabinet over so it would fit. Arh, our tree drama, so about 2 hours later the tree was up and ready for the 600 lights that we had bought. Yes, 600, there first box of 300 hundred wasn’t enough. (There is nothing done by half’s here, everything in this country is just BIG!!!)

We went off to Jamieson’s game (they won, of course), then went home had some lunch and over to Paula’s to help her and Steve move into her new house that she just bought. Yeay for her!! The boys put all the big stuff onto the truck and the girls loaded to cars. Then over the new house to unload before it got dark and we had to leave to go to Conner’s game. Conner’s team won a big one against what you could say is a not so nice coach who passes his not so nice habits onto his kids. So that was big for Conner, Colton and Hunter, who were on our team last season. Lovely family, will start spending more time with them hopefully in the future.

Went home, had a quick dinner, the boys put their PJ’s on and back to Paula’s for moving continued. Let’s just say, we got home at around midnight. It was a long day and we were buggered to put it mildly. We got most of the stuff over to the new house and that was the goal, so considering there was only the 4 of us, we did a bloody great job, especially the boys.

We did nothing the next morning then around lunchtime we sat back and let the boys put all the decorations on the tree and I grabbed out the house stuff, as well as some new stuff that I had found. My prize piece is now a white ceramic Santa for the fireplace, just gorgeous and a timber word ‘wish’ to sit up there with it. I was hoping to get a ‘believe’ (Kristin has one) but this was fine. I got to put out my reindeer candle table centerpiece that I got after Christmas last year, and some other stuff too. So add another hour or so and we were done, I rearranged the tree after the kids went to bed.

We were invited to the Rivera’s for dinner, their friends from Sydney son (Andrew) was over with a friend (Andrew) on a stop over for their overseas trip. We got to the Rivera’s at about 4.30pm and were the first one’s there. Carlos’ daughter Allyssa (17) was over from Nebraska for the weekend, so it was nice to see her again. The Andrew(s), arrived with Jeff (United attendant that stays with them as well) he met Bruce on his first flight down this year and bought him home from the airport for me. Kristie arrived home from London a little later and we had bbq for dinner and just chilled out chatting about their plans, etc, they are really nice guys, going on an adventure. Luckily the boys were off track, because it was a late night, as always when we go over there.

As always early December, Bruce and I celebrate another wedding anniversary, this year would be nine (9). It was a really non-eventful day to speak of, we had been out the week before with Paula and Steve so there was no urgency in having to do anything. There’s a sign of being together for a long time huh. Although we have decided that the 10^th will be a big one, I will get my trip to New York.. it’s not Jan’s (Bruce’s school friend) trip to Paris, but it’ll do for me.

Bruce went out on the road later in the week, so I came home in the afternoon’s and spent time with the boys, catch up homework and just chilling out. The usual getting ready for Christmas and our Seattle trip stuff. Getting Jamieson to get some homework done was a job in itself, but we got there eventually. You can imagine!!!!

Thursday night I went over to the Rivera’s for a cuppa with Kristie. The Andrew’s were there, so it was nice to see them again. The kids decorated the tree, I helped them with the high bits, then a cuppa with Kristie amongst the chaos of the kids going off the bed and home again around 10.30pm.

The next night (Friday) the Lewis’s came over for dinner. Julian is Jamieson’s friend from basketball, they have played together the whole time we’ve been here and Bruce and Greg coach the team. We have connected with them a little more in the last 6 months or so, they are a great family and Ruth and I get on really well. So I worked and got home after work and started cooking. Ruth works, so by the time she gets home and changes etc, they arrived around 6.30. We had a really nice night, the kids all played running around etc, as boys do and we sat around chatting, a great night with some really good people.

Saturday morning Bruce and I were out of the house and at Darcy’s (co worker) place with some others to help her move out. It was a really easy move considering what we had down last weekend. She had nephews there and Andrea and Robert as well as her mum and auntie, so between us all we got all her stuff in the Pod (container storage) and were out of there by 11.00am. Of course the weekend was overtaken by basketball, Jamieson’s games are around lunchtime then we are back for Conner’s at around 5.30, so the day is split which is a pain but I can get some stuff done around the house and Christmas shopping too. The bummer about Conner’s games is that you really can’t have plans with anyone else because we don’t get out of there until around 7.00, the night is done for seeing people after that. Jamieson’s team won and Conner’s team had a loss, but boy did they play really well. The reffing is becoming increasingly frustrating for the adults at the moment. Conner’s games are full rules, but some of the refs (there is no reffing courses that you have to do here) have a clear comprehension of the rules. Put it this way, Bruce even gets to the point where he is saying something to them…..

They are a great little team who play their hearts out and have a chance to beat everyone, which they nearly did this game, but just fell short against a team we think will win all their games this season.

The next week was a little quieter, I was trying to wrap a few things up at work before the end of the year, (as was going to be off so I had until the week before Christmas to get it all done.) Our office sponsored a family for Christmas so there was presents and grocery shopping, delivery to the church for them, as well as my own stuff. The boys had their usual basketball training and Conner and Bruce also have school training twice a week on top of that, so that takes up a lot of the afternoons over the week. Winter is definitely here, we got our first frosts, and the bird bath is freezing over again.

Nothing overly out of the ordinary happening just trying to keep warm, get the kids to get their homework done, Bruce getting on the road when he can and having meetings. Between the two of us, the boys can be home for an hour or so then I come home from work. They are good and know the rules, they call me if they need anything and I check in on them too. I think Conner enjoys the responsibility.

Bruce started seeing the Chiropractor about his shoulder, so we now know it’s frozen shoulder, his treatment seems to be working and hoping he will be nearly 100% over the next couple of months. Which will be a relief for him, he’s not sleeping like he should as he can’t sleep on it.

Kristie came and picked us up one afternoon after her kids had finished school and we went over to a local ceramics place and made Christmas decorations. The kids had a ball as I did. There was a clan of us so we got the back room. We had 7 kids and 3 adults, the kids picked out 2 decorations each and had a fantastic time, then the owner came in and gave us another decoration for half price so they all got three each. Kristy and I ended up just doing one ball each, but everyone just had a really nice time together, the kids hanging out and the mum’s chatting and catching up. 3 hours later the kids were ready to go home, maybe because they had finished their things. Conner especially wanted to come back the next day, he just loved it. The creative side of him is definitely coming out at the moment, which as you can imagine Bruce just loves. Bruce came and picked us up and took us home around 7.00pm. It was definitely a memorable day.

The Friday we had our Christmas breakup lunch at a really nice place in Sacramento. We had a great lunch and all got a nice present from Paula as always. Money that has to be spent on us, then we headed off to the Mall, it was a really nice afternoon. We drove back home, got changed into something more comfortable and went out again to get a big chunk of her Christmas shopping done. Bruce took the boys out for some guy time for dinner at the Outback steakhouse, which I don’t like, so they could go. Paula and I stopped at Logan’s and some soup before heading out, and had a good chat, it hasn’t been just the two of us for a chat in a while so it was nice. We talked some Christmas, personal and some business, so we covered all the bases. We got home around 10.30, then off to bed for yet another big basketball Saturday.

Sunday was a quiet morning then Julian got dropped off for a play for the afternoon and I went out to finish off my Christmas shopping (I hoped). The boys went off to the park and Bruce worked and naturally watched football. We were off to the Lewis’ for an early dinner at 4.00pm. Ruth and Greg had pretty much done a Thanksgiving dinner, so we all sat down to Turkey and all the usuals; soooo yummy!!!! The boys played really well together and the adults sat around and chatted, it was a perfect relaxing evening, I’m sure the turkey had something to do with that. We jumped in the car and off home around 10.30, good thing the boys are still off track.

The next couple of weeks were wind up weeks, trying to get loose ends all tied up and see everyone we wanted to see before we head off for our Christmas trip. On Monday Paula and I went over to the house to finish moving her, finally. It was just a lot of junky bits but it needed to be done. On Tuesday night we went over to Paula’s for dinner and Christmas presents. It was a quick dinner and we were home by 8.30, Justin and Jeremy had school in the morning.

The next night I went over to the Rivera’s for a cuppa with Kristie, which was nice, Kristie bought me back some custard powder from London. So now I can make (show her) vanilla slice. The kids were in bed and she was finishing some Christmas cookies. She is definitely the crafty friend that everyone has. We sat down in the quiet and had a cup of Tetley tea (they bring it back from Australia) and we looked at the clock and it was nearly midnight, time to get going.

Kristie and Carlos were having a cross over issue so we were on standby to help with the kids on Friday night if Caroline (Kristie’s mum) needed us. Friday, I worked half a day and Justin and Jeremy came over for the afternoon to play. Paula and Steve went to San Fran for a function with his mother. So Andrea came and picked up the boys and took them for dinner and then stayed with them at Paula’s so they could sleeping their own beds. Caroline didn’t need us in the end either, so it turned into a quiet night for us. Outside the house anyway, I spent the night packing and tidying, basically getting ready for our big SEATTLE CHRISTMAS TRIP!! Do we sound excited!!!!

It’s time for me to go and I’ll be back with the next installment after our trip….

December pre Christmas Pics...

The boys & our beautiful TREE, yeay!

LOOK AT OUT TREE, ISN'T IT GORGEOUS

Other coach's son, Conner, Colten & Hunter

Ceramics Ornament Making (lots of Fun!!)

Cleaning up some of the leaves....and having some fun