Good time at the Ceilidh

Last Saturday evening we attended one of the highlights of the Scottish calender - the annual Ceilidh (pronounced Kaylee). The girls performed a couple of dancing numbers each and Ellie made her local debut with the pipe band. We then were entertained by various artists and enjoyed the folk dancing. Grace can be seen here doing the 'Chicken Dance' with her friends, Ellie coming to 'get me' for taking photos of her doing the Chicken Dance, and a nice shot of the family taken by a friend. The evening is always finished with a rendition of 'Auld Langs Syne' around midnight then home to bed.

Vale Katie

A sad event occurred last weekend with the passing of Miss Katie the rat. She is pictured here in an earlier and happier time with some food in her paws. Sadly with the transition of Ellie to school and the appearance and distraction of a certain pooch the little ratty friends have been and little neglected and pneumonia took her away in her sleep. A solemn service was attended by family and friends and Katie is now at peace under the peace tree in the front yard. At least she was given a year of life rather than a quick death at an earlier age as snake food as most of her siblings were destined for.

Happy Birthday Grace

This first photo shows Grace at her favourite place - the dentist, so that is why we had our appointment for a checkup on her big day. As well as being the center of attention for her half hour slot she got to press the button for my oral xray and hold the little sucker tube for my examination. It is lovely that she hasn't had any bad experiences at the dentist and we have made our booking for next year's fun session at the dentist!
Ellie had an appointment the same afternoon but she declined the offer to have a birthday session.

We did have a family get together and party with our friends, the Sylvesters, and Grace's friend from down the street Kaitlynn, at Kids Zone the previous Sunday. They wore themselves out for two hours sliding down slides and climbing over frames, taking a break for some liquid refreshment and cake. Ellie had made a water slide cake as we were planning to go to Green Valley Farm near Inverell until inclement weather forced a change of plan.

Community service orTreasure hunter?

This year Ellie joined Jacob in participating in the Duke of Edinburgh Award. A part of the commitment is to do some community service and Ellie chose to do some volunteer time at the Salvation Army op shop. She spends two hours sorting and pricing clothes each Saturday morning and inevitably when I go to pick her up she has a selection of treasures she has found for various family members. "Why would someone throw this out?" or "Mum this would suit you so well" I hear.

A much enjoyed puppy

Ellie asked me to put in a page about Minty, our somewhat spoiled little pooch. Someone once said that if there was such a thing as reincarnation, they would like to come back as an Australian dog. This little pup would be up there with the best cared for. We have had Minty for nearly a year now (she was a Christmas present) and she regularly gets dressed up in doll's clothes and generally played with. Now we just need to encourage girls to get up a little earlier and take the puppy for a walk!

Happy Birthday Terry

On November 5 we celebrated Terry's birthday. I cooked his favourite meal - a curry and then Ellie made a most spectacular dessert called chocolate boxes. It featured a square of chocolate sponge with four chocolate biscuits stuck around the side with strawberry jam. A swirl of whipped cream sat on top then to really finish the piece Ellie had melted chocolate in a ziplock bag, snipped the corner off and did swirls and writing on the plates, filling in the loops with strawberry topping and piped out a lattice onto Gladbake to sit in the top. We did our best to eat it all but there were a couple of children lying on the floor with full tummies after the meal. Ellie is certainly enjoying food tech at school!

Now for the little one .... Ooops the big girl!

This term I started a new teacher's aid position at Drummond School. When I have done work in the past Grace has always gone to a fellow home schooler's place and done her bookwork there. This time I am working in a second class and we have enrolled Grace and she attends for the hours that I am there. It was a bit amusing when she came home on the first day wondering why they hadn't asked her what electives she wanted to choose, like Ellie's school had for her. She had it all worked out in her mind that she would be doing Food Tech, Art and Drama like her big sister. Aaahh, she only has five years or so to wait. Maybe we can continue doing our food tech at home as we always have.

Ellie hits the streets and drums up a lot of noise

When the family moved back into town, Ellie took the opportunity to join the local pipe band. She has nine years learning Highland Dancing and had lots of fun going to competitions and performing locally. That growing love of things Scottish has now morphed into a year of drumming lessons and a couple of weekends ago she had her first trip away with the band and first public performance playing the tenor drum at the Grafton Jacaranda Festival street parade. Apart from sore shoulders and a very sweaty shirt (oops I forgot that girls don't sweat!!) she had a great experience. The next event has been a highlight of the Paris family year for some time and that is the local St Andrews Day Ceilidh (pronounced Kaylee).

Jakey, the working boy .... sometimes

Earlier this year Jacob started at MacDonald's. He isn't a burger flipper as they don't actually flip burgers at Macca's any more - just push a button and a hot plate comes down to cook the tops. Interestingly working at Macca's hasn't inspired Jacob to actually eat the produce . As a family, Macca's hasn't been a business we have given much support to, in fact Samuel said that last year he ate his second MacDonald's burger in his life!
Our little dog, Minty, loves it when Jacob comes home though and licks his shoes and takes great interest in his trousers.

Sammy, the big boy

I had better start with Samuel. He has been having a ball with 'his boys' - the kids from the drop in center. This weekend he is taking them camping at Wattle Flat, about an hour away.

He tends to have about ten weeks away each year going to conferences and participating in camps. He is pictured here with evidence of the new love in his life .... his Viago motorbike. It is a 250 cc, can't remember what make it is but it is maroon.

Hi family and friends

Welcome to Fay's first attempt at at blog. Recently I have spent quite some time typing up letters complete with photos to send to a couple of people and that has triggered a desire to give something that anyone can access a go.

The other reason is that I have had some breakthroughs recently with regard to technology and am feeling game to give blogging a try.

My purpose is to just post interesting photos of my family and their activities that you, the ever interested friend or family member can access, comment on and generally keep up with what is happening in our life.

Please be patient with my early attempts and feedback is welcome.

Fay