Little Isabella turned 1 last weekend. Her and Madi have lots of fun together and she is turning into a real little personality plus. She still loves to run the show and insists on being as close as possible to Rob & Nid when they are around. I only get a look in when they are far away!

And our darling Mitch turned 19 on the 2nd. It's hard to imagine where the time has gone. We celebrated at the RSL club for dinner with the family. YUM!

While Madi and I were away in Canberra at a Girl Guides outing (see story below) Paul was busy pottering in the garden and making a new friend. This lovely girl wandered up the driveway and she ended up staying with us for 2 weeks while we searched unsuccessfully for her owners. She has now found a new home with people who will love her and spoil her.

The Girl Guides fun days are always busy (and tiring for us adults that try to keep up with the girls, lol) This one had a space and science flavour so the girls did lots of science experiments and played games,did crafts etc. It was held in Canberra in a lovely park and we both enjoyed ourselves immensely.
Since then we have been busy changing rooms around and throwing out lots in an effort to downsize. Pretty interesting stuff..........

Breakfast on the Bridge

Ryan, Jackie & Madi looked extra special in their rain ponchos!

It was Pam's birthday this weekend and Madi chose her this very groovy cake, complete with sparklers and fresh cream!

As a special birthday surprise we made Pam and Mike get up at 4am and travel with us into the city to have breakfast with 6000 other people on the Harbour Bridge! It was a truly wonderful experience. They lay turf the whole length of the bridge and we laid out our picnic blanket and breakfasted as the sun rose. We had a packed a lovely breakie of french bread, cream cheese and smoked salmon, yogurt and strawberries, rockmelon and kiwifruit and apple and guava juice (Madi's new fav) but we needn't have bothered as we were plied with fresh bread, pots of rasberry jam, yogurts, apples and hats to ward off the sun. What a memorable day!

After Pam, Paul and I headed off to the Observatory which kept Madi amused for over an hour and then in the predicted downpour walked to Darling Harbour to meet Ryan and Jackie for lunch. It wsn't quite the ambience we had hoped for as it bucketed down, putting paid to our planned lunch on the Harbour with Dragon Boat racing to watch, however we made the best of it and still enjoyed our outing.

Pony Camp & a visit from our biggest child

This school holidays was a difficult one as I wasn't able to take any time off from work. So we improvised with some girly time with Nanny in the first week complete with painted fingernails and massages in the massage chair as well as several "must watch" DVDs. The second week Madi spent 4 days at Pony Camp and as you can see, she had a ball! She rode the same pony all week (Cricket) and had to feed her, groom her and even pick up her poo! They learnt all about different types of horses and watched the farrier do their teeth and hooves as well as numerous riding lessons. Madi starts back at her weekly lessons this week and can't wait.

We also had a surprise visit from our big child which was so great! It was lovely having my family together and spending some down time with Ryan. He and Juby really hit it off! What a lovely relaxing weekend!

Since then it has been back to the grindstone - full time at work, mowing and weeding in the garden (which is starting to look fabulous! I'll take some photos later today), moving furniture and spring cleaning and a weekend in Sydney which I'll blog about later today also. Busy, busy........

so I'm not that great at blogging.....

Okay, so it appears that I am not that good at blogging! I'll try to make up for that with a quick summary of our last few weeks.........
The end of August saw us head off to Sydney for Hasam El Masri's last home game for Paul's beloved Bulldogs team. We met up with some friends and Madi and Tynan had heaps of fun getting their faces painted, jumping on the jumping castle and looking at the animals from the Zoo that were at the stadium. They try to make it really family oriented these days. Of course we stayed and went onto the field after the game and then back to the club for the presentations. Madi just loved meeting the players and having her photo taken with "Jackie's boyfriend", Jamal Idras. Family joke there........Jackie is actually Ryan's lovely girlfriend but we have teased her all year about liking Jamal.

We have also spent lots of time with Isabella, Rob & Nid. Isabella is such fun now that she is getting big.

Madi lost her two front teeth within a few days of one another and is patiently waiting for them to grow back. I can report that they are about to make an appearance. She also has another lot of "shark teeth" at the bottom with one tooth nearly fully grown behind and no sign of the other falling out. Unfortunately she also had her first filling at the age of 7 1/2. Only a tiny hole in a baby tooth but it needed fixing.

The highlight of our last few weeks has been a 5 day trip to Melbourne to see my beloved Nana. She is nearly 95 and expecting her first great, great grandchild. It was so great to spend time with my Nana and the rest of my beautiful family.

The other purpose to our trip was to finally see all the Ned Kelly highlights throughout Victoria. Madi has been obsessed with Ned Kelly for a long while now and knows more about his short life than most adults. This has led to improved internet searching skills as well as a leap in her reading ability! On our trip down we spent the day in Glenrowan exploring the town and where he was captured as well as the museum dedicated to Ned and a replica of the cottage he grew up in. Add to that a wild robotic version of events and Madi was in Ned Kelly heaven! The trip to Melbourne wasn't complete, however, without a visit to Old Melbourne Gaol where Ned was incarcerated and hung at the age of 25. It is a great place to visit - really spooky though. They have left intact the wing where they did the hanging as well as the beam and trapdoor. It also houses the death masks of all the prisoners hung there. This photo shows Madi holding a replica of the armour next to Ned Kelly's death mask. She was fascinated!

Late September saw Madi playing her last game of soccer for the season. We couldn't resist the funny photo! She has had heaps of fun with the boys and Jimmy was a great coach. We had a celebratory dinner at Emily & Todd's last Tuesday which was heaps of fun. The kids all get on so well.

On the Sunday of that weekend we met up with Tim, Kim and the kids in Canberra for brunch at Tilly's (YUM!!) and an afternoon at theNational Museum looking at Pahr Lap's heart, a whole bunch of old Hill's Hoists and playing with a computer program to make our home of the future. I think the kids all had fun! Remember when we used to swing around on those old metal clotheslines??? The kids these days don't have any where near as much fun as we did! A little shopping at the DFO topped the day off nicely.

Last weekend was very nasty weather so the gardening we had planned had to go on hold. Never mind - the ironing is all good! We took another trip down to Tilly's just to make sure that it was really as good as we thought the first time ................ yep all good! I tried the pancakes with berries and double cream this time.

This week has been Madi's first week of school holidays and since I have had to work Madi has been to Nanny's twice and spent the day with Susie, Amy and the kids on Wednesday. I took Thursday off and we went to the movies as well as indulged in a little retail therapy - yipeeeeeeee. Last night was a BBQ for my friends 40th and today is an engagement party this afternoon. And so it goes on....................Sorry for the almost point form catch up. I will try to do better next time!!

a busy weekend!

It has been a busy weekend here in the Bayliss household and sadly I don't have any photos to go with it.............
Madi played soccer Saturday morning and we then picked up her friend for a playdate in the afternoon. Mum and Dad meanwhile were game enough to start cleaning out the garage. We had to send Madi in to get her to open the front doors as we couldn't get in at all (I kid you not!) Definately not before time that something happened in there! Saturday evening I took the girls to see Bandslam - one of those tweens type movies that they loved - home late after dropping Madi's friend home.
Sunday morning we decided to journey to Canberra for a bike ride. After picking Amy up (another of Madi's friends) we headed off and rode the 18kms around Lake Burley Griffin. This is a HUGE effort from Madi who until a couple of months ago refused to try to ride her bike at all without the training wheels!
This afternoon we popped into Poppy's for a visit with Isabella and a cuppa. Lots of fun as usual - Isabella is growing up WAY too fast!
The usual Sunday night bath, hair wash, ironing etc and now it is off to bed....................zzzzzzzzz

It's been a couple of weeks since I last blogged but boy have we been living! Most importantly we trotted off to the snow for a week at the beginning of August - woohoo!! Sunday morning saw us pack the car to the gills with luggage and people (Paul, me, Madi, Mitch & Jas) and head off for the snow. We arrived in Berridale at lunch time and hired our gear ready for the week ahead. Then it was off to Selwyn for some tobaganning and the traditional snowman building. It was a cold afternoon, but lots of fun. We skiied Monday/Tuesday/Thursday and Madi had a lesson each day and totally loves her new skill!! She zooms down the mountain faster than I can ski!! Go Madi!! Mitch and Jas snowboarded this holiday and had lots of fun. Mitch is pretty much a straight down as fast as you can go type of guy while Jas is more ladylike and cautious in her approach - just how I like it!

We took Wednesday off to sleep in and relax - oh yeah.......... bacon and eggs for breakie, DVDs and a walk in the winter sunshine - ohh, lovely!

All too soon it was Friday and we had to pack up and travel slowly towards home via Bredbo Christmas Barn and Canberra for lunch and shopping. The Christmas Barn is a sight to behold. Sooooooooooooo full of Christmas goodies, some of them, those beautiful old fashioned ones and some downright scary, like goblins! We were home by 4pm in time to relax by the fire after unpacking.

Saturday saw us head off to soccer in the am, then to Sydney that afternoon for the Bulldogs game - we won - yah!!!! We stayed the night with Pam & Mike and Paul helped out around the yard on Sunday while Madi and I played soccer out the front. It was a lovely weeks holiday - bad luck we had to head off to work Monday morning.

Since then we have been doing our usual things - work, Girl Guides, soccer, school (for some of us) and the only thinkg new here is the newest member of our family - introducing - Jubathos, the wonder dog. He is a 13 week old chihuaha and is quite funny. Jas has been waiting since her birthday in July for him to come along - and here is is - finally! Our other dogs love him and Sophie thinks she has become a mother - poor pup can't get away from her!

Better get the dinner cooked so I can hop into my nice warm bed - bring on the heat!

so what have we been up to?

So, it's been a few days since I last posted - some of that due to Telstra deleting our account for 5 days........what the?? And some of it due to life running at its usual hectic pace.

On the kids last day here we held a Treasure Hunt, complete with clues and treasure. The boys (for some unexplained reason) decided to where all of Madi's jewellery - there is something wrong with the amount of jewels that came out of her boxes! On our way home we stopped in at Neenies Playhouse in Mittagong for an afternoon of play before delivering the kids to their Mum at tea time.
While Madi was away it was full steam ahead with work and before we knew it she was home with Pam, Mike & Nanny Westcott who were visiting to watch the soccer queen kick 4 goals! Go Madi!

Madi and Jas have returned to school this week and all is back to normal. We are all very excited about our ski trip next week and the packing has already started. That's our life in a nutshell just now - tell you more later.

and so the holidays continue...........

These holidays have been heaps of fun as usual. I have had to work 5 days that the kids are here so it has been a bit of a juggle at times but I think we have still done lots.

Saturday morning saw us head off to the National Park for a bushwalk and picnic lunch. The kids and I explored a hidden valley and found a couple of kangaroo skulls (ewww I hear you say!) that they thought were fabulous! They can't wait to go again. I then headed off to work for the afternoon and the kids went to the movies with Uncle Paul to see Transformers and have McDonalds for dinner - what more could they ask for??

Sunday Rob & Nid brought baby Isabella over for the day and the kids had fun jumping on the trampoline etc.

Monday we took off for Canberra and visited the National Museum and then went iceskating - something I haven't done for 10 years since I tore my medial ligament racing Ryan (who was in Year 6 at the time) We all had such a blast (except Ben who has decided that maybe iceskating isn't his sport!)

The kids have been having adventures in Nana's stables today while I have been at work and I am now waiting for them to return home for dinner and a bath. They are all off home tomorrow and Madi is going to Pam & Mike's for a couple of days. The house will sure be quiet!!

school holiday update

So what have we been up to this school holidays????

Last weekend Pam and Mike met us down at Robertson and we all walked the Illawarra Fly, a steel structure up in the treetops with great views. Madi's best friend Amy came with us and we spent a pleasant afternoon wandering along and sitting in the winter sunshine chatting.

Monday saw the arrival of the Tiskins children. As usual they are here for part of the school holidays keeping Madi (and me) amused. We have spent the days picnicing, playing, going to the movies, doing lots of different crafts and cooking cupcakes and donuts. It is always heaps of fun! Yesterday we had friends over (7 kids aged 5 - 9 yo) and made lovely treasure boxes in preparation for the Treasure Hunt tomorrow. (Note to self: must make up the clues!!)

Introducing............

Well, here it is..........the day I thought would never come! The day I actually gave in and created a blog! Since we have family and friends in so many far flung places and I so love to keep up with them all the decision has been made.

Our family is growing up so fast and I really wanted a way to keep track of all those changes and show off how beautiful they are. This photo is nearly a year old and I desperately need to update but it is hard to get all the kids in one place at the one time! I'll see what else I can find.

For those of you who I haven't seen in a while our family has grown with the addition of Ryan's lovely girlfriend, Jacquleine and Mitch's gorgeous girlfriend, Jas who has lived with us for the past 9 months. She has recently turned 17 (Happy Birthday Jas!) and is a lovely big sister to Madi who adores her. We are a busy household these days!

Starting the updates soon! xxxxxxxx