The pressies!!

We managed to draw out the pressie opening all day.  This was Jonah's new marble run which of course he hasn't touched since building but Olivia and Maxi have enjoyed playing with it instead.

Olivia had a life sized 'Tangled' doll which they both insist on bringing everywhere, she has been very kind though and has been sharing it with her sister.  Madeleine had a Tangled Tower but I don't seem to have any photos of it for some reason.

Jonah plugged into his new DS game, Donkey Kong vs Mario, as you can imagine we didn't hear a peep from him all afternoon.

My beautiful pink flower fairy!!!

And a beautiful purple fairy!!!

Christmas Day

Morning madness as they rip open presents from Nanny and Grandad, who you can see in the background on the laptop.

We then dragged them out for our traditional Christmas day walk, as you can imagine they look forward to it every year.  Of course we had to stop halfway for one of our cakes!!!  The girls cheered up though when we came across a dead rabbit, cue lots of questions like 'are you sure it's dead' 'why are his eyes open' 'can he still see us or does he see black'.   I think the dead rabbit was almost as exciting as Santa coming :)

Our Christmas dinner which turned out ok I think, we managed to make pigs in blankets by splitting breakfast sausages in two.  Maxi loved them and it was the only thing he ate all day, oh apart from a ton of chocolate.

The kids enjoying a glass of sparkling apple cider which shouldn't be mistaken for English cider as it's non alcoholic.

Maxi sharing his dinner with us!!

Olivia's new friend, a life sized Tangled

The boys

Christmas Eve

I couldn't bring myself to pay $6 for 6 mince pies so we opted for Christmas fairy cakes instead.  Unfortunately not quite the same so I know what I will be asking Nanny and Grandad to pack in their suitcases for next Christmas!!

The kids decided that Santa needed a fairy cake and a bag of chocolate money!!

Not sure you'll be able to see the letters to Santa but thought you might enjoy attempting to read them.

Jonah's 

Olivia's

Maxi's

Madeleine's

Christmas wonderland....

Last night we went to the Portland International Raceway for the Winter Wonderland.  You drive through in your car, very slowly and they have lots of Christmas light display, you even get a Christmas CD to listen on your way through.

It was really good and the kids absolutely loved it.

Twelve days of Christmas

Baby Jesus

Three Kings

Madeleine's slightly staged smile

Maxi was so happy

Roller disco

We took the kids rollerskating yesterday afternoon, well Ben did the rollerskating whilst I kept Maxi amused.  Not sure I could cope with trying to keep both myself and Maxi upright :)

Jonah picked it up quite quickly, Ben asked where Jonah was and I jokingly said 'oh I expect we'll see him whizzing past on the big rink' and low and behold there he was!!!

Olivia was a little unsure

Madeleine loved it and was certainly getting the hang of it

Concentrating on not falling over!!!

Olivia happy to stay holding onto the bars.

Christmas dinners

So far we've had two.....

Sunday we invited Ben's work colleagues over for roast beef with all the trimmings.  Unfortunately we could not find plain flour and the Yorkshires ended up being solid as a rock, I think we may have to ship Yorkshire pudding mix in.

Our table, complete with pitiful Christmas crackers.

Sadly Wendy and Piet couldn't join us as Wendy was taken ill on Saturday and spent a couple of nights in hospital.  Thankfully she was out by the Monday and we had another dinner that evening and gave out all of our presents.  

Paper snowflakes.....

Our latest obsession is 3D paper snowflakes.

We've become addicted to making them and now when someone comes to visit they leave with their very own homemade snowflake.  You should have a go at making them, very very simple and effective.

Olivia's

Madeleine's rainbow one

My first attempt, didn't realise quite how big it would turn out!!!!!

Pictures by Jonah....

Another nice walk with the kids, this time at Powell Butt Park which reminded us a lot of Greenham Common.  Mind you the the kids are getting a bit sick of us taking them to the 'park' and there being no climbing frame :)  Jonah was chief photographer this time and he didn't do a bad job!!!!  

Ben was in charge of shoes today!!!!

Typical Brits eating their lunch in the cold

Last day of school

Hurray thank goodness for that, I think we're all well and truly sick of getting up at 6am each morning to get ready for a 7.30am start.  We've got a few things planned for next week, Jonah is going on a great holiday camp called 'Ninjas save Santa' I think he's really going to enjoy it, apparently they have to save Santa from the Evil Dr Dice.  I've made lots of playdates for the girls and they are really excited to be spending time with their new friends but still missing home :(

We're going to check out Peacock Lane this week which is a street where all the houses are decorated with LOTS of lights.

I'm hoping tonight we can check out the Christmas Ship Parade but the yellow submarine caught on fire last night so hopefully it will still be on.

Our fun Christmas photos.....

We gave up trying to get a serious photo of us all so we thought we'd go for something different this year.........