December Update

Someone stop this year from speeding by. December came knocking before l even knew November had gone.



My Aunt and Uncle (Zia and Zio) arrived on the 8th of the month. We did some Christmas shopping, went to Dealey Plaza.

Visited the Fort Worth Stockyards.

Did a day trip down to Fossil Rim and Dinosaur Valley in Glen Rose.

Went looking at the Christmas Decorations and lights.

Got our first Freeze.

Celebrated Darren's birthday at Boi Na Braza.

Celebrated Christmas Eve with all our friends, this has become a tradition of ours. This year marked our 4th anniversary. Christmas day was spent opening gifts, having a delicious Christmas lunch complete with Turkey, Ham and bonbons and playing card games.New Years Eve was celebrated with our dear friends the Oakley's and the Fentons at our house, playing Pool, Bingo and Poker.

And here's to a great 2009(although it will seem a little quiet after all the visitors we've had this year)! May it be full of Happiness, Peace, Love and lots of cool memories.

November News

The month of November continued to be a busy and eventful month. First off we said goodbye to Ken and Barb (my in laws) not exactly a happy day for all of us. We love living here in the US but we do miss our family a lot. Especially the kids, they really miss their grandparents.

On a good note we still had my folks staying with us, and on the 3rd my dear friend Graeme came for a quick visit on his way through to NYC and London.

Of course the most exciting thing about November was the Election, and this was the one time l wish l could vote. Needless to say all us Aussie's were very excited when Obama won, and couldn't help but celebrate. Darren unfortunately had to see the results in LAX on his way to the Philippines. Liam got to be a secret service guy for his school run election, and got his photo and name in the local paper.

Calls were made to family and friends overseas and a celebratory drink was had. We were seeing history in the making and happy to be here for it.

Once Graeme said his goodbyes, my parents and l got to work.

My parents are very talented and can build, sew or fix just about anything. So we got to work on our upstairs media room. I had wanted wains coating, and wains coating l got along with new window dressings and some paint colour.

For the rest of the month, we worked on the upstairs, made Christmas cards and celebrated Thanksgiving with our friends. A first again for my parents. We don't really celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia, since it was settled as a penal colony, not much to be Thankful for back then l guess.

Went shopping at 4am for the Post Thanksgiving day sales, another first for my mum. Did a quick trip up to Shreveport's casino. Visited Tyler and saw the famous Tyler Roses.

Decorated for Christmas and prepared for the arrival of my Aunt and Uncle (hence forward known as Zii) who were coming in December from Italy to spend a month with us.

Wow l'm tired all over again.

October News

OK, so to say that October was a busy month is an understatement.

First off, Darren and I went on our weekend trip to Boston. Our good friends Anna and Steve surprised me and met us up in Boston. I loved Boston, and hope to return again soon. 3 days is not enough to see all there is on offer. Of course we went to see Harvard, and up to Salem along with doing the Freedom Trail. However my absolute favourite was visiting the quaint fishing villages of Gloucester and Rockport. Not to mention the amazing glimpses of Autumn colour that was starting to emerge.

We celebrated Maddy's 13th birthday, yep l am now the mother to a teenager! A pretty amazing teenager. Love her to bits.

Liam and his friends participated in Beckopoly at school, it's a entrepreneurial night, where the kids come up with a business idea, and a plan to make it happen. They then open business for that day and raise money for charity. Our booth won "Best Store Front" , and those smoothies were really delish!

We also helped celebrate my father in law, Ken's 70th birthday.

Of course we did the traditional visit to the pumpkin patch for photos and to show my mother in law what it's all about, since we don't really have all this in Australia.

Then on the 30th my parents flew in from Australia, and after 24 hours of travel, along with missing a connection in LA, and waiting around the airport for 2 hours for their bags. We took them out to dinner and then carved pumpkins ready for Halloween the next day.

This was both my mum's and mother in laws first time carving pumpkins, and they really enjoyed themselves, not to mention that they did a really amazing job with their pumpkins.

And last but definitely not least Halloween was a big event at our place. Both sets of parents have never celebrated Halloween, so this was a great big party for us. My mum and MIL along with Coco, got into the spirit of it all and dressed up for the night. We then all went trick o treating, followed by food at our house, smores, and then a game of Texas hold em.

One amazingly busy month, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

September News

Busy month! Not much time to blog. Quick recap of what we've been up to.

Went to Washington D.C. to meet up with Darren's folks before they came down to Texas to visit us.

Had a great time visiting D.C. walked and walked, took photos, visited museums, and monuments, did l mention we walked and walked?

Turned the big 40 on the 30th. Celebrated with friends.And got a weekend trip to Boston as a surprise gift.

Something Crafty

I just wanted to share what l did for Liam's 10th birthday, rather than make him a card as l usually do, l decided this year to make him a mini album. It showcased his birthdays for the last 10 years.

I chose some co-ordinating paper to cover the pages and added some painting. The design is pretty much the same for each page and l have hidden journaling, detailing each birthday, the simple where, who, what etc along with little things l remember.

It was a very simple fun project that l enjoyed doing. Liam was also very happy with the final result. Here are some detailed photos.

Enjoy.

Ages 3 and 4

Liam's 5th and 6th year, l added the text directly onto the photo with photoshop.

Pages showcasing Liam's 7th and 8th year

Close up of the book, with ribbon peeping out at top.

Back of the book

I used chipboard letters to add dimension.

Journaled tags behind each photo

Some dimension inside, added with pop dots, and chipboard

hidden journaling

Is it really the First day of School already?

Yes, after months of having them around, 24/7 , Coco and l were left alone in a quiet house. I will say this summer flew for me, and l was not as enthusiastic to send them back to school as l have been in previous years. Somehow summer just flew too fast.

So begins the start of new routines, school, homework, piano lessons, baseball, school dances, etc etc.

This is the last year of Elementary school for Liam. He started 5th grade today and we are very happy that he has the same 5th grade teacher Maddy had, the wonderful Mrs. O.

I was happy to see that our many talks this summer about responsibilities and how important these following middle and high school years are going to be paid off.This morning he woke up when the alarm went off and got himself dressed and had breakfast without me having to remind him.

He also did his homework and reading after school without any prompting from me. He and his friend Shane were super excited because they are now the older kids on the bus and thus get to sit at the back of the bus, cracked me up.

Maddy is entering 7th grade, and despite the first day nerves she did wonderful, and is very excited about her classes. The kid is super easy when it comes to school and is very self motivated and organized.

Of course l took my annual "first day of school" photo, and no l did not ask them to wear matching outfits, they totally picked their own clothes out the night before. Now as for Coco, l couldn't help but sense that she knew what was going on, and did make it a little difficult for the kids to leave this morning, l know she misses them.

We both miss them.

August the 24th is another "Best Day Ever" because

It's Liam's 10th Birhday!!

How does a decade just pass in a blink of an eye? Today is your 10th birthday and l know you're pretty excited about the double digits. Of course you're in a hurry to grow up, but we would rather you tried to slow down a little. If it was up to me, l'd just like to stop time all together. I mean if the last decade just flew, imagine how fast the next decade will go!

So Liam, here's to 10 wonderful years and so many more to come. We wish you nothing but happiness and may you always find joy in your life. Happy birthday we love you so very much and are proud to have you as our son.

Love

Mum and Dad

x0x0x0x0

August the 14th is "The Best Day Ever" because it's....

Matthew's 7th birthday!

Happy birthday Matthew, wishing you the best day ever! Here is a list of what you must do on your birthday:





1. Jump up and down shouting " it's my birthday!"


2. Tell everyone that it's your birthday.


3. Eat some yummy Cadbury Chocolate! (mmm!)


4. Open some cool birthday gifts.


5. Eat some more yummy Cadbury Chocolate!


6. Have some birthday cake.


7. And eat some yummy Cadbury Chocolate again!!


8. Have a day off from school !

9. Listen to the song on the sidebar.

Enjoy!!



We love you and wish we could be there with you (to help you eat some yummy Cadbury Chocolate!) and help celebrate this special day.



Love,



Daniela, Darren, Maddy and Liam

Wow, it's really been a looong time!

I just can't believe how much time has passed. We are about two weeks away from School starting up again, and l think my last post was around the time when summer vacation started. So what have we been up to? Well a lot has come and gone in the last two months. Only fair to mention this is a looong post!!

Firstly I need to mention that my wonderful dad celebrated his 65th birthday on July the 22nd, and they will be coming for a visit around the end of October. We are so excited to see them again.

this was taken back in 2006 when they last visited

Also while I'm mentioning birthdays, my brother in law Jorge celebrated his birthday on the 28th of July. We got to talk to him on his special day. It really makes it hard around this time of the year, as most of our family is celebrating birthdays and we would love so much to be there with them. This goes on the Cons list about living so far from family.




So now to recap on what we have been up to. The start of the summer kept us busy with Liam's baseball. Tournament after tournament, we had lots of fun, but l will admit everyone was happy to finish up early July and get to enjoy the rest of the summer.

Darren and I also took a little trip to Napa Valley with our good friends the Oakleys and the Fentons. We had planned this trip last year in honour of all of us turning 40 (not till the end of September for me). We had a great time and l will follow up on this with some photos on another post, l promise.

July also saw Darren's sister Shelley come to visit, which was really great to have her with us, even if it wasn't long enough.

The rest of the summer has been spent, swimming, hanging out with friends, staying up late and sleeping in. My favourite part of summer is that there pretty much isn't anything good on TV so l totally switch off and get to play in my craft room. I was able to make lots of cool cards for upcoming birthdays and do a little scrapbook project for Liam's birthday. My nephew Matthew is about to celebrate his 7th birthday on the 14th of this month so l made his a cool banner for his room. It's decorated in a cowboy theme, hence the design of the banner.

I also had a go at making a clear card and really enjoyed that, l'm planning on making many more of these.

This was a card l made for our friends son who turned 11 on the 6th of August. I struggle with designing boy cards, but l really like how this turned out. I used little bolts on the corners. the best thing was that Shane really liked the card.

At the moment we are busy in the midst of packing for our up coming vacation to the Gulf shores of Alabama. 1 week at the beach with our friends, we are all so looking forward to it.

And lastly we are all engrossed in the Olympics and have been cheering our Aussies on. Coco has gotten into the spirit as well.

OK that's it for now, sorry it was a long post, l promise not to wait so long between posts next time.