Happy New Year

Ahh, the sheer delight of watching the girl's faces on Christmas day.  It was all pretty relaxing and enjoyable watching them open their presents one by one.

It was wonderful to have Skype on so M&D in Cairns and also Shane & Claire from NZ could watch us open their presents and get to see the girls excitement.
 
Here's wishing you all a very safe and healthy 2014.  Happy New Year xxx

Oh My, look at all these presents!

Happy Flossy

Yay, I LOVE my Stompeez!

Bloss was happy with all her gifts, but the number one pressie was a Furby Boom from Uncle Tom & A Sam!!

Jaimie's dream present from Santa - a Cuddleuppet, yes that's right, what will they think of next?!

Lavish Christmas Day spread at Penneys

Cousins

Essex Hunt on Boxing Day at Matching Green

Christmas Activities

With only 2 more sleeps to go, the girls and I love belting out Christmas carols - especially Michael Buble!  The other night, we were by a roaring fire outside in the Rushall Common singing carols, mulled wine in hand, by torchlight with Granny, Grandpa and the rest of the village.  It's the little things like that, that really make Christmas feel joyous and special.

We went to London on Monday to see the English ballet perform the Nutcracker.  Jaimie exclaimed "they do even better leaps than me"!!!! All she's ever wanted is to dance on her toes and thinks it's not fair she has to wait till at least she's 16 till she gets points!!!  It was a dream come true for me and it also felt so special to be able to show the girls the magic.

Then on Tuesday, we went to Norwich to see the Cinderella panto.  It was absolutely hilarious with its slapstick humour and jokes for both parents and kids!  Taylor's classmate, Queenie was in it, so we all loved watching her as well.  

We then went back to London on Saturday to go iceskating at Canary Wharf (where JP and I used to work many moons ago).  We stayed over at Aunty Penney and Uncle David's house because on Sunday, a big clan of us all went to Olympia to watch the London Horse Show.  The best of the very best horses from around the world competing in show jumping and they also had (besides incredible shopping!) a really fun dog agility competition.  We all thoroughly enjoyed it. 

So today, we are having a lazy day as the girls call it.  Ahhhh, it's not too early for a glass of Baileys is it?!

Peace and Love to you all and wishing you all a very Merry Christmas xxxxxx

Peace T!

Oxford Street Lights, London

Under the humungous Christmas tree in Covent Garden

Trafalgar Square

Nutcracker Ballet

Olympia Horse Show

Iceskating at Canary Wharf

Chrissy Tree

We went to Elveden Hall, near Thetford on Saturday to pick out our perfect Christmas tree.  http://www.elveden.com   So with Chrissy tunes in the background and lights twinkling, the girls set to decorating the tree.  

The girl's advent calendar full of lovely chocolates

Mr Movember - nah it's not staying!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!  

Jaimie with her beloved Holly

Chrissy photo taken at last!  

I heart you too Jaimie!

Special job for a very special little girl!

Pinch Punch 1st Day of the Month

Here we go, no time to waste, there is a bunch of things to do before Christmas is really upon us.
The girls are counting down the days, all thanks to the Santa app on the phone. It even counts down the seconds which you really don't need to hear!  

We've been busy at school with class plays, fairs and sports.  Taylor was Charlie in the Chocolate Factory as they were exploring the works of Roald Dahl.   Tanzin went to London to visit the Natural History Museum to look at the Ancient Greeks.    She was also player of the match against a rival school in hockey and scored her first goal!

Last month, I snuck away to Blakeney on the North Norfolk for the night with some pals.

Our new fence line in the wood

JP's doing it all by himself.

One of the gates to go in by the pond.

Love the bright pink stems

The last apple on the tree (sigh, relief!!)

Beautiful Autumnal colours

Belmont under the Beech tree

Blakeney

Beautiful and so much fun, Nat, Fi & Eli

The colours are truly stunning.  The skies in Norfolk are so big, wide, open...... 

Clay Mill near Blakey

Tanzin has started a cooking club every Saturday!  They made cheesy stars!!

Back Home

We all went back 'home' to HK for a week during the girl's Oct half term holidays.

It was pretty stressful leading up to it also when we arrived, as we were there to obtain my UK Settlement Visa.  No easy task.  Red tape galore, don't get me started.  
Saying that, HK lived up to it's true nature of professionalism and speed and I received it within the week.  You could all agree that if I had to go back to Oz, then I'd still be sitting there for another few months at least waiting for it.

So with that tucked neatly away in my passport, it's a huge relief.   To top it off, it was SUCH a fantastic holiday.  It was the girl's first time back there since we left.  They had loads of sleepovers and playdates with their besties, it truly was a fabulous holiday, though it felt like we never left really, like we were there only yesterday!  

Massive thanks to you all for looking after us, especially Chateau Lipton, the service was amazing!!

With Phil and Cally hiking the dreaded Twins (over 1000 steps!)

Stunning scenery of Stanley

Cheesy Phil and JP

The hikers

With Zoe and Tia at the HKFC

Bouganvillia

BFF's, Grace & Taylor enjoying a day out at Ocean Park

Fly Jaimie!

Kisses with Tanzin & Ella