More of Christmas 2011

 Cheeky monkey on their new garden swing from Nanny Jude.

 Ummm, someone has got into the chocolate balls! Good job there was no rum in them!

Another tiring day at Christmas time.

Father Christmas came to our house!!

Christmas is upon us again and this year we are super excited! It is Amelia's first Christmas and we are also holding Christmas at our house to celebrate how awesome it looks after the fire! We had a pig on a spit and so much good food in abundance. Both sides of the family came and it was a fantastic day, especially since the weather was hot enough for pool play!

 Leaving milk and cookies out for Father Christmas.

 Opening their stockings on our bed.

 Then the pressies in the sacks!

 The personalised present sacks i made the girls.

 Cuddles with Mummy at Nana and Popa's on Boxing day.

Oh it was a Very long day!

The lead up to Christmas 2011

As usual, Christmas time is a busy, fun and exciting time for us! We spend a lot of our time catching up with family and friends and various Christmas parties and going to Christmas concerts. This year will be especially exciting, since we will have Christmas, Cath's birthday, New Years and now Amelia's birthday - all within a couple of weeks!

Our Christmas Elves!

GIVE me the camera! Amelia 11mths.

At mums annual Christmas Party. Laura, Amelia and cousin Ruby.

Proudly displaying the tree we just decorated!

Burning up the dance floor with Nanny at her party! Laura 4.5 years.

Toofy Pegs!!

Amelia sprouted a few new teeth before Christmas. Im convinced it is the Baltic Amber necklace and bracelets that she wears that makes teething bearable for her!

The pitter patter of more furry feet ...

Cath decided in her infinate wisdom, during a clucky, I clearly dont have enough to do in my life phase - to be a foster carer for two, yes two litters of orphaned kittens that needed hand rearing! They came from Nine Lives Cat Rescue who were at full capacity and desperately needed carers to bottle feed the usual Christmas influx of orphaned kittens. We ended up with 10! All were raised and rehomed, but not without giving us lots if laughs and delight before they left. Kittens are such gorgeous, funny playful little creatures! ..... But of course two of them stayed - introducing Bad Harry and Dixie Chic! That would be four cats in the house now, Darcy, Jasper, and these two! A house is not a home without a cat ... or 4!
We couldn't have asked for two more tolerant, easy going, loving cats to join our family. The girls love them and vice versa. Bad Harry has a particular close bond to Amelia. It must be a "gingers unite" thing!

 This is Bad Harry. He got very sick at around 2 weeks old and i put him in a box with a heat pad, gave him some fluids and antibiotics, expecting to find him dead in the morning. But he woke up with a new zest for life and slowly recovered. Here he is at 7 weeks old, looking very scrawny and manky! He is now a very handsome, big ginger boy. 

Photos after the fire and after repair.

 The asbestos fence around the half acre shattered and burnt, leaving asbestos fibres everywhere!

 The poor neighbours house that burnt down.

 After the fence and house removal (below).

 The verandah all around the house burnt and melted! Including the gutters, We also had burnt airconditioner pads in the roof. Fortunately my very clever husband turned on the airconditioner water pump before we evacuated and i am convinced this is what saved our house from burning down.

 Our busy bee helpers, Dad, Scott, Daniel and Kevin worked like trojans!

 Our sparkly new verandah!

Photos after the fire and after repair.

 The shed that had everything in it, from David's tools, my travel photos, bikes, all our camping equipment and lots more.

 The dozer demolishing the neighbors burnt house and our shed.

 Afterwards! Our nice little Zen Garden!

More before and after fire photos!

 The driveway after the fire.

 And after repair.

Before and after the fire.

It took us 9 months to repair and rebuild after the devastating Kelmscott fire that razed 74 homes on the 6th of February last year. We had so much help from generous family and friends when we held 2 busy bees over two whole weekends. Stephanie, Jeff, Andrew Brooks, Cath's dad Brent and Linda, Scott, Daniel and Kevin, Phil, Andrew, Clare and the boys, Errol and Leonie, Andrew Buchanan all worked so hard to help us repair everything. Cath's mum Judith and Josie helped immensely by looking after Amelia and Laura while we joined the fun!
This was the results!

  The Fairy Garden after the fire

and after repair (below)

 The patio after the fire

 And after repair (above and below)

 The burnt BBQ after the fire, being pulled apart by our good friend Andrew Buchanan, who did a sensational job!

 It was then made into a bench eating area!

 The pergola and patio after the fire!

 And after repair! (above and below)