And a kookaburra up a gum tree...

Before I get on to blogging Christmas proper, I thought I'd give you a taste of some of the pre-Christmas festivities. First we had Will's kinder show with Christmas classics such as 'On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me.... yup, you guessed it - a kookaburra up a gum tree' - I don't feel the need to repeat it all here, but if I share the last verse with you, I'm sure you can work it out:

On the twelth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, twelve devils fighting, eleven emus kicking, ten wombats sleeping, nine crocs a weeping, eight flies a feasting, seven possums playing, six sharks a swimming, five kangaroos, four cuddling koalas, three little penguins, two pink galahs, and a kookaburra up a gum tree.


We were also treated to 'Six White Boomers' which I now know to be a Rolf Harris musical marvel... I must confess to having had a slight tear in my eye as Will has really loved his time at St Lukes' and I've found it to be very welcoming, but since I will be back there in January with Ella, it's not totally the end of an era.



Hot on the heels of Will's Kinder break-up, we had a get-together for our Thursday Playgroup, but went about 10km out of Geelong to one of the playgroup mum's places - had a lovely lunch, and Will and Ella ran about in more space than they have seen in months! This is a picture of the yummy mummies and most of the children, minus a few escapees...



We also had a Thursday Playgroup party where Dazzling Dan the Magic Man was performing - let's just say his tricks are hilarious if you are three, and leave it at that - but I don't have any pictures of this, or of my ABA end-of-year dinner, or our night out with an English colleague of Nick's who has now returned to the UK... December was a busy month (and an expensive one!), but no amount of cracker-pulling, Santa hat wearing or present buying could convince me it was really Christmas...

Few pix here too of a walk by the Barwon River with Thomas and Matthew in baking heat - with lightsabers obviously... but we didn't see any snakes - and a trip to the seaside at Barwon Heads...

















Pix too of the kids playing in the back yard being 'Strayan' with vests on, and proving that a cardboard box is the best toy in the world.


















Just one quickie - Ella was trying to remember recently what daddy did, so after I prompted her with 'ortho.... pae... dic...' her little face lit up with the answer... 'PIGEON!!' Yup honey, that's right, he's an Orthopaedic Pigeon.

And yes - Nick has been flying the baby. He hasn't dropped her yet....