Christmas Day on the Central Coast.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May 2011 bring you all health and happiness.

Love from Vanessa XXXX

Wednesday at the beach.

I promised the children a day out on Wednesday as I knew we would be more or less stopping at home on Thursday and Friday.

Here we are at the new park at Umina.

Ann-Kate was there with her sunnies !

Managed to get the tent up ....

Greg would rather be sailing than be at work !

Finishing off the picnic at the park.

My garden - this weekend.

Found these little mushrooms in my vegetable patch on Saturday morning. They were so cute. Could almost see the fairy sitting on top - or is that underneath ?

My ginger - well one part I am growing, bought from the supermarket. It is growing well. My other piece of ginger is growing well too.

Lots of tomatoes - just need them to turn red.

My butternut squash are doing well, have some melon in there too I think - also waiting for the cucumber to pop up - if the dog has not eaten the seeds!

My first teeny tiny carrot - ate it in two bites !! It was sweet though.

First Hail and then a Rainbow.

Not a great photo - but the hail stones were pretty big. The sky went really dark and I thought it was raining but it didn't sound right somehow - so we went to look out the window and saw hail. Luke was very excited - you would have thought it was snowing!

Then later on in the day - a rainbow came out.

Tenby, Wales - finally finished.

I have finally finished Tenby, Wales! Just need to iron it - but was so excited to have finished I took a photo straight after the final stitch.

On Tuesday I pulled out a WIP - this has been in progress since we lived in the UK. All I had to do was sew on the sequins and beads. It is for Anna-Kate for Christmas. I don't know if she saw me working on it in the UK or not ...

Sunday Morning on the Beach.

As the temperature was said to soar to 32 C, we decided to go to the beach. As we try to go to new beaches each time - we went to the other end of Umina - Ocean Beach.

It was beautiful. We did not stop long - just long enough for Anna to go in the water 3 times ! And until we were hungry enough for lunch.

Here is Luke relaxing on the beach.

Anna-Kate and Greg in the sea, Luke paddling in front of them...

Once home we ate lunch then went out into the garden to mow and weed !

Carol Evening ...

My son never stood still - this is what most of my photos looked like from last night - here he is hanging out with 2 of his best friends.

Walking to the school. In his Christmas gear - all ready to sing his heart.

Anna-Kate was with us too ! But she spent a lot of time with her friends !

Getting ready for the big sing !

Singing is a serious business.

It was a lovely evening - although we had to have it in the new school hall due to dear of thunder storms, but they held off until about 9pm. But fun was had by all - well done Point Clare Public School !

A little visitor ...

Came home from the morning school run to find I had a little visitor waiting for me on the balcony. He / she was so little - was not scared of the cat but didn't like the dog !

Dehydrator ...

My new toys - a dehydrator and an apple peeler / corer !

Presents for our 12th wedding anniversary ... I can not believe we have been together for 14 years now.

Tenby, Wales ....

Work in progress - this has taken up most of Nov / Dec to do. I have worked a little more on the sea . I was inspired by some coasters we bought in Tenby when we went on holiday there a few years ago.

Here is my photo of Tenby - love this little town.

Am thinking about doing a series of houses / towns - what do you think ?

Busy Bees

While I was weeding at their feet - the bees were buzzing above me - I enjoyed watching them hard at work.

Weeding !

Before - I had let the weeds go a little wild !

The corner under my Mandarin tree.

More weeds...

After - I spent all morning and some of the afternoon in the garden clearing under the trees.

All neat and tidy now - but have loads of green rubbish to throw away !

Kallie and Tikkie...

Kallie and Tikkie having a chat in the garden ! Tikkie went to hide in the protected garden !

Spent the morning on the beach ...

on Sunday it was lovely.

Enjoying the Sunshine.

We spent the morning on the beach and this afternoon in our garden. I am enjoying the warm weather we are having.

I have been working on my needle work - I made this for my Mum for Christmas. She has already opened it as I posted it early and asked Mum to flatten it.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend !

My Two...

Measuring themselves .... very funny. Anna-Kate is still taller - but only just !

Waterfall ...

Today is Monday, back to school after the holidays and Greg is off to work. Back to normal now. Grocery shopping first thing then some housework I think ... have a great week everyone !

Flower hunting ...

We went for a walk on Friday, and we saw the most beautiful flowers .... more pictures to come.

We went to Umina Beach on the 4th of october.

Can you tell I love the beach?

My Birthday.

One of my birthday presents - a hammock chair. This will be used a LOT ! It is hanging under our balcony so is mostly in the shade. It gets some morning sun. As you can see it can hold me and a little one.

My birthday surprise - a group project. Made by Luke and Greg - painted by Luke, Greg and Anna-Kate. They loved having a secret from me !

Anna-Kate made my birthday cake. A coffee cake it was yummy. I had a lovely birthday.

Baking ...

I am supervising only ! They even clean up!

Thursday's Walk ...

Kallie and I went for a long walk yesterday. It was a lovely day, here are 2 birds enjoying the sun.

Praying Mantis ...

I went to empty the compost this evening and could not get into the compost bin - thanks to my visitor - first one I have seen here !

Morning at the beach ...

Anna-Kate off to have a swim - well a paddle and a quick dip !

We had great fun - and I was so worried about the drive there - it was so easy !

The children just loved getting out of the house and playing - although they did not venture too far from me !

Anna-Kate trying to body board - but the water was too cold so she came out after this !

I was worried I killed my lavender - I had to cut it right back - but it is still growing - phew love lavender.