Aussie Christmas in pictures

I am not going to bore everyone with a long written post. I will let the pictures do the talking. We had a wonderful (but hot and humid) Christmas. You know it's a good Christmas when your still eating leftovers on the 29th! And nothing like some Christmas baking to get you in the mood for the holiday season! Even with the 30+ temperature and the 80% humidity, Breagha and Stace managed to make some yummy Xmas treats.

------- CHRISTMAS EVE -------

We were invited to spend Christmas Eve at Rej and Clo's. It was nice to be in the company of good friends and have some wonderful food! Thanks guys!

Maybe by the time Shamus or Breagha is Gunka's age the Leafs might win another Stanley Cup. Here's hoping! Thanks Grammy Rosie!

------- CHRISTMAS DAY -------

Santa managed to make it down the gum tree and in through the window in his singlet, shorts and thongs to make sure Shamus and Breagha had something under the tree... (because there was a real shortage of presents there in the first place... insert sarcasm here!)

It just isn't Christmas without Jimmy Stewart. ... Ooooh Maaarry!!

Thanks Cari for all the Canada swag, although I still don't know where the authentic Canadian snowballs I requested are.

It wouldn't be Christmas in Oz without some new thongs (no you dirty pervs I'm talking about flip flops.... sheeesh!)

We also hosted a little Christmas BBQ at ours on Christmas Day. It was really nice to have all the commotion in the house. I mentioned to Stace, as we were preparing the meal, that it really felt like the holidays because the house was noisy and energetic. Just what I expect from Christmas Day. Thanks everyone for coming over and celebrating with us.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Happy Holidays!

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. Have fun and be safe. Lots of love. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Santa's everywhere!

How is Santa everywhere?? How does he do it? Well, if you're the Santa that was paid to go to the ABC Daycare - you didn't show up and one of the teachers had to fill in!

Yeap, the above pic is one of the teachers, Milly.

She had to fill in for Santa when he bailed on the kids. The kids didn't seem too concerned as they all got a new book!

Breagha likes her "Olivia"!

And Shamus loves his new "Belmont and the Dragon" book.

We've been going to a lot of Christmas parties the last couple of weeks. Either with my work, Darryl's, or the daycare. Friday was Darryl's party - there was the family Christmas party in the afternoon followed by the "18 or older" party that night.

THQ does a great job of entertaining the kids. The party was in a park in Kangaroo Point and there was lots of fun for the kiddies. And Santa showed up for real this time!

Breagha was a beautiful reindeer.

(keep this picture in mind when you look at the last pic:)

Breagha fighting me with her balloon sword while Shamus had his face painted.

Of course it's Spiderman! Doesn't matter if it's Christmas...it's all about the superheros!!

Thank you for the surprise visit and toy Santa Claus! We promise to be good!!

After the party, the kiddies and I headed home - because we had 2 cats coming over for the holidays! Very exciting! We are looking after Kate and Morgan's 2 cats while they are away. And we are really enjoying them! Shamus was a bit nervous on Friday night but by Saturday morning he was great. Don't worry Kate - the kitties are doing very well!

So, only a couple of days and Christmas will be here! I hope everyone is ready.

We had a slight issue on the weekend that put us a bit behind, but we're all good now. Our wonderful fridge decided to stop working. So, we were fridge shopping. Not the best time of year to fridge shop as the stores are super busy and the delivery trucks are full! Luckily our new fridge arrives tomorrow! Can't wait!! It is quite exciting to have a new appliance. The only new appliance we've ever had was our washer/dryer in Montreal and we didn't get to enjoy them for very long!

Now, I leave you with 2 pics of Breagha. Why? Just because I had a good laugh when I saw her and I want to share that laughter!

This was Breagha on the weekend...Shamus has new swimming goggles and Breagha decided to try out his old ones...

She went out and about like this - to the grocery store with me! Pretty funny.

And then back home - where she wore her doll's dress on her head.

Breagha has the BEST imagination!!! She wears a facecloth on her head and somehow it's a costume! I love it. She makes me laugh every day.

Too Much to Post, Not Enough Time

It's not possible to post all that goes on, but I do try to keep our families in the loop as much as possible! It's been hard to talk on the phone with the 14/15 hour time difference so the blog is a good way to keep in touch!

Last weekend we put up the Christmas tree and the had a great time doing it. The kids really got into it and did quite a good job!

I can't really post any more pictures of the Christmas decorating process - the kids were in their undies the whole time! It's super hot here so they like to strip down. :)

In order to cool ourselves down, we headed off to New Market Pool where the kids had a blast. It's an awesome place for young children. Lots of pools, play areas, slides, etc. And it's really cheap. I'm thinking we may look to do Shamus' birthday party there this year.

Very happy with our water proof camera. Thank goodness for it! It was in the water the whole time as we did tons of videos. We had a super time.

Breagha was nervous to go down the bigger slides but she loved the small ones. Shamus went up and down the same slide (the biggest one) for about 2hours straight!

Shamus is moving up a level in swimming class next week so we're very proud of him. He is swimming quite well on his own and is getting confident. It's a lot of fun to watch them at swimming class. And it's even better when we're not at swimming class and he still has the confidence to try things on his own. Breagha is not quite there yet but she is keeping her face in the water for longer periods of time now!

Another busy weekend! Today is Monday and I enjoyed my time with the kids. We went to South Bank and met up with some Mommies and kiddies. The kids had lots of fun in the water and I got to catch up with friends. Back to work tomorrow! But, Christmas is getting close so we'll have some time off which will be really nice. My company is giving all employees half a day off for Christmas shopping and we were all given a gift card to help pay for the shopping. A pleasant surprise on Friday. And my boss was up from Sydney last week and he also surprised me and Stacey Cav with a bottle champagne each. Very nice of the company.

Darryl's Christmas party is this Friday so another post to come!

Hope everyone is getting ready for Christmas! We're loving all our Christmas music so I'm getting into the Christmas spirit!!! :)

I was doing so well!!!!

First off, I was doing so well! I did a couple of posts in one week! But, here I am. Again. Unable to keep up with the Blog world.

How do people do it? Find the time?

I can't find it for some reason. Oh well!!

This is the best I can do!

We've been pretty busy the past few weeks. Darryl went down to Byron Bay with 5 mates. They had a great time from what I've been told. Then I flew to Melbourne on Thurs/Nov 26 for management meetings and then our company "Tradeshow and Gala" was on Sat/Nov 28.

Just like last year, it did not disappoint. Canada needs to take some pointers from the Aussies. They go all out here! The tradeshow is basically where we meet with all our preferred suppliers - they have booths set up for us to play games/win prizes. And of course tell us why we should sell they products. Great prizes - Ipods, Wii's, plane tickets, hotel stays, etc.

Of course all I won was a tshirt but I won it playing blackjack so I was happy!

Then that night we headed off to the Gala. And it was amazing. This year it was done like an awards show (every office had to make a movie and there was a "best movie of the year award,"). It was auditorium seating while we watched all the prizes be presented. My department was nominated for Team Of The Year. We made the top 4 so I was super pleased. We didn't win but, "It was just nice to be nominated". (that's what they say when they lose at the Oscar's, right?)

The dress code is quite strict. Must be suit/black tie only.

Some of my team getting ready for the award presentation...

Me with the other Stacey supervisor...

We like to confuse everyone but luckily the accents are very different!

I love getting dressed up! But, most of all - I like getting new shoes! Sad, I know. But, I do wear them to work sometimes so I get good use out of them!

The Gala rotates between Sydney and Melbourne each year. And the company always gets a famous Aussie involved. Last year was an "Australian Idol" singer. This year was TV Host

Tom Williams. Very BIG Deal to the Aussies!!!!! They all went CRAZY!

So, you can see why everyone went crazy:

This is him in the final show of "Dancing With The Stars". Not too shabby!

Tom was the MC for the evening.

Afterwards was food and dancing. And of course we managed a picture with Tom. He was pretty cool about it.

Not the best picture of my coworker, Angie. :)

So, there are 2 Stacey supervisor's on my team. Stacey Mac and Stacey Cav...as we're known.

And we just hired a 3rd Stacey! We're planning to have a whole team of Stacey's by 2011!

Stacey Cav, Stacey Ash, and me...

As mentioned, the company went all out. Great food, great service, well decorated room for the dinner/dance. Lots of fun.

The team with our boss, Allan.

And here are the crazy Kiwi's!!! They like to have a good time!

It was really wonderful. Thanks CWT.

Back to work now! I'm enjoying the 4 day work week but it's tough to get everything done in 4 days. Good news - we slow down until February now! So, quiet time. :)

Hmmm, ok. I'm done. Thanks for reading!

Hope everyone is getting ready for the holidays. Our tree is up so more posting to come!