Rain  Rain  Rain

 

 

We've had some rain lately and the river has come up.

The picture below was taken when we first moved here.

 

 

 

 

This second picture was taken 2 days ago.

The big flood of 1998 reached 20.4m, so

we are nowhere near that mark. It is sitting at 9m

in this photo. It has been a relatively dry wet season,

for the third year in a row.

All the same, the girls and I have been watching the

rising with great interest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 DOWN, 1 MORE TO GO!

 

Birthdays, that is.

It was Emilee's birthday yesterday

and because she loves lollies so much,

her cake was easy.

Mix some ice cream up with nerds

 and chocolate chips

and M & M's. Pile it up with lollies

 and popping candy

and presto! We're done!!

 

 

Who needs candles when you have lollipops?

Yep, there's 14 of them.

 

Ok, yes, this cake didn't take as long as the others,

but hey, the ice cream was melting

(even at 10:30 at night,

which was when we were arranging

 it as Dave has just gotten home).

And yes, it popped in your mouth

 and crunched enjoyably.

 

Actually, did you know when you sprinkle

popping candy onto ice cream it actually

pops up and shoots you in the face?

Well, it does. Makes awesome sounds too.

 

 

 

 

 

And, keeping with the theme.........

 

 

 



How to Weigh your Joey Accurately

 

 

Use the scales on your Thermomix, of course!!

 What could be better?

 

 

And here's a photo for cuteness!

 

 

And this is for all the people out there

that have this same problem

(myself included :)

 



 

 

LOOK OUT AUSTRALIA!

 

THE HOLMES GIRLS

 

 ARE ON THE ROAD!

 

 

Lauren now has her P Plates (as of the 9th January)

and Abbi now has her Learners (as of an hour ago)

 

So, if you see a 60 series Land Cruiser coming towards

you, just take a second look for the NT license plate

and head for the side cut!!

 

Oh, and in Lauren's case, it's a white Ford Falcon Sedan.

 

 

And in honour of Abbi's birthday today.......

 

 

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

 

 

 

 

 



NEW ADDITION IN

THE HOLMES FAMILY

Well, we received a new addition to our family on Sunday.

Photos courtesy of Maddy

 

As you probably already know from previous posts,

Emilee's main interests are, climbing trees,

 collecting and throwing knives and animals.

 

Well, seeing we didn't have any animals and didn't

have any climbable trees and Emilee already

has enough knives, we got a kangaroo instead.

 

I know I know, they're a pest. But you must admit, she is cute?

 

I have become a wildlife carer (as you have to be over 18),

 so that Emilee can look after some animals :)

I am responsible, but she does the work.

 

Nice arrangement. Although I couldn't sleep

last night worrying about the silly thing.

 

Seems weird buying baby wipes again:)

 

So, meet little Star. Bottle fed every 4 hours,

but she sleeps through the night, so that's nice.

 

We have been busy sewing little liners for her 'pouch' and modifying bags to suit.

 

She got to go to church last night and was very well behaved.

 

In other news, we've been having a lot of intermittent rain this past week,

so I've had to hang the washing under the house as you can't ever

tell when it's going to downpour. Rain rain go away!

Our cruiser has begun to smell like it did in Malanda. Stinky!

(It leaks in case you're wondering)

 

Abbi's birthday is tomorrow and she's hoping to be able

to get her Learner's. Guess I'll be kicked out of the driver's seat again.

Lauren has her P plates now so has reclaimed her car.

 

 

 

And this will be the case very soon!

Here's the video I was trying to upload the other day.

Enjoy! (note how to put a ute in a tautliner)

 

 

A MONTH OF BIRTHDAYS!

Well, January is a big birthday month in our family.

Dave kicks it off with his birthday on the 1st. 

This year, I wanted to make him a special cake and I had a lot of fun doing it.

 

Warning: I am planning on uploading a lot of photos in this post.

 

Ta-Daah!!

 

And no, it's not real dirt.

Crushed oreo's.

And yes, Dave got to keep the machinery.

They now sit proudly on top on our bedhead:)

 

And here's some close ups

 

 

 

 

And of course a surprise in the middle!

Maltesers!! (to look like rocks of course)

 

 

Needless to say, we all had fun 'playing' with our food!

 

The second birthday was mine, but more about that later.

 

Next was Chloe's. So here is a picture of her cake.

Not so elaborate as Dave's but a whole lot harder.

 

 

Purple being her choice of colour at the moment.

 

 

And the inside needed some excitement.

So, now you know why we never diet in January

And it's not over yet.

 

Well, our school break is almost over so it's back to work soon.

The girls and I have pulled out the sewing machines,

sorted through our material boxes, and got busy on some projects.

 I have made 3 aprons and 2 sets of curtains and countless piles of mending.

 

Attempt no. 1

 

 

Attempt no. 2

 

 

And my all time favourite,

 which I've yet to get the courage to wear,

 as I don't want to dirty it.....

 

Attempt no. 3

 

 

The first 2 were made from recycled clothing given to me,

 but for the last one I splurged at a spotlight special and added

 some of my own scraps as well. Now I have an order for Maddy,

who bought some material for me to make her one as well.

 

The girls (minus Emilee to whom sewing is too boring)

 have been busy sewing doll clothes,

blankets, quilting (Abbi) and Lauren has made the most amazing

 placemats you've ever seen! It's like fabric origami.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have our 2 sewing machines and 1 overlocker set up

now permanently in Abbi and Emilee's room and it's a matter

of first in, best serve! As soon as you hop

 up off the chair, someone squeezes onto it behind you!

 

It's been great to get some sewing in after

not doing any for a very long time.

I also made a skirt that is my favourite

now and I hope to make more of the same.

Abbi has put her order in for one of those!

 

We have also just received some dvd's on all sorts

of homemaking stuff that I'm interested in getting

started learning. Last night we watched the

one on soap making, so I'm all fired up about trying it.

 

Well, for those of you who are fed up with my

 boring 'craft talk', I'll get onto something else.

 

On my birthday last Friday, I was able to go with Dave

in the truck for 2 days on a 1754km trip out to a mine

 and other places on a normal transport run. He doesn't

usually do this run but there was no one to do it.

I decided that instead of sitting at home

moping without him on my birthday,

I'd go along, as he'd be away 36 hours.

 

So, we left the girls with plenty of food and instructions

 and off we drove into the sunset (actually it was about lunch time)

 This was a first ever leaving them home alone overnight.

 

Dave was driving the brand new Western Star towing 2 trailers

 full of freight. We were soon out of reception and headed east for the coast.

 

 

We got to see some more of God's beautiful creation

and enjoyed each other's company.

 

 

The road goes on forever....

 

 

 

Another beautiful Territory sunset

 



 

Yes, we saw a water buffalo but it hightailed it as soon

as he saw us bearing down upon him, so I could only

 photograph his behind as he ran away.

 

 

A long way to go....

 

 

I've uploaded a short video clip here of a little of our travels.

Actually, I'm having trouble uploading, so I'll have to figure it

out and post it later. Sorry.

By the way, if anyone knows about posting videos,

help me. I have great high quality videos, but have to

resize them for posting, then they lose quality.

What am I doing wrong? Do I have to resize them?

 

We returned home at midnight on Saturday,

very tired and weary and managed to sleep

in very late the next morning.

(Just a well we have our Sunday service in the evening here)

 

Well, I could give you a lot more detail but I can see

you're all yawning and restless,

so I'll leave it for another time.

Or, just drop me an email and I'll catch you up.

My computer recently crashed and I lost all my contacts,

 so maybe that's a good incentive to drop a line and say hi.

 

So long for now. I won't leave you with a funny quote

as I know you've read enough for today!