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!