Christmas Morning

Here a few pictures of the family having fun on Christmas Morning.'

Lauren has been wishing for her 'American Girl Doll' for months and you can tell from her face how happy she is.

Andrew is a Lego whiz and is looking forward to putting this one together and adding to his collection.

The cats had fun with the bags and paper.

we all had a great day.

Love and Blessings to all my friends and good wishes for Happy New Year.

sleepover

Lauren and Andrew had friends over for Sleepover a few nights ago.

Here are Andrew,his best friend Nick, (they are in the same class) and

if Nick is not over here, Andrew is over at his house, which is just across the road.

Anna is Vicki's daughter and Lauren had her stay the night too.

During the evening they put on a show for us,the funniest part was Nick playing his guitar with his toes, and accompanying himself on sounds coming from his armpit!

Andrew and Nick later gave us some songs they had learnt at school.

Songs and Hugs

Last day at school for Lauren and Andrew.Andrew is in the centre with the blue jeans.

Lauren and her friends at lunch having a hug and saying goodbye for a few weeks.

Tomorrow we are going to Newport Beach to watch the lighted boat parade.All the boats in the harbour and more,will be festooned with Christmas lights ,supposed to be spectacular.

Cannot promise any pictures on this one as it will be in the dark!

We are expecting more snow on Monday so I will take the children up the local mountain to have some fun.

Then it will be getting ready for the man in the red suit to arrive.

Andrew has Santa's glass and cookie plate ready for him.

Roast beef , yorkshire pudding , cauliflower au gratin and glazed carrots,with the usual roast potato's.

Andrew's School Assembly

Andrew was singing ' Rocking around the Christmas Tree' at his school this morning along with

the rest of his class. He really got into the grove with the 'rocking'part!

Lauren has her class party today so I will try to get photographs to add to this blog.

I have been busy with class parties and school activities this past two weeks, so I am glad school is out today until January 12th.

I have been busy with quite a few parties this year. Belinda says I am a social butterfly!

Tonight we are having our annual car trip around the area to see all the Christmas Illuminations. We get bundled up in the car, put on a Christmas CD, call into Starbucks for a hot chocolate and cookie, then drive around looking at all the homes that are decorated for Christmas.There are some beautiful Victorian homes over in Redlands. Now I am getting the hang of this blog thing I willt ry to get more of Nina's News to you.

The Local Mountains

Grand Ma Belinda and the children outside 'Grama's Shop"
Outside the Apple Shed,they make jams,relish,butter,cider, and many more products, all from the apples they grow here.
There are large bags of apples for purchase to make pies, and the smell of all these apples is wonderful.

Here are some photographs of Lauren, Andrew, Belinda and Grand Ma Jackie when we spent a lovely morning in the nearby mountains. Grand Ma Jackie looks forward to a trip "up the hill" each time she visits from Kansas. I think we are all glad to get back to our routines, after such a wonderful but busy Thanksgiving. Now we busy decorating the house inside and out ready for the jolly man in the red suit. Tonight I am attending one of my book club meetings.Ilook forward to meeting my friends and talking about the books we have read.

What a Turkey

After a long and tipsy morning, the winners display their trophies.
They tried hard, Maybe next year.

After all Mom showed you,you still are turkeys!

Where's his appendix?

Thanksgiving

This morning started off with the usual Mimosa's(champagne and orange juice).Thank goodness we did most of the preparation last night!
The ladies cooked in the kitchen and the men outside on the BBQ with their turkey!
We have a competition to see which turkey came out the best.I have photographs to follow, but I am new to this blog stuff,so I have to ask Lauren for guidance on how to produce them.
Yesterday I took Jackie to The Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands.Jackie was very impressed with all the artifacts,books and pictures that it housed.Outside of the east coast this building holds more memorablia of Lincoln and the war between the states than any other. This was my fourth visit and I always find something that I missed on my previous visits.
One of my friends was there in her official capacity as a guide, so we got some good inside information on the building etc.
Well we are about ready to eat.We did a few American Favourtite dishes,(yams,Mashed potato's and green bean casserole,but also made some of our Aussie favourites too.
Roast pumpkin, parsnips and roast potato's.Lauren and Andrew did a good job of laying the tables,Lauren even made place cards.

My First Blog

Hi! I'm Nina this is my first blog. This is me in ''England'' at a telephone box. I enjoy reading and history. I have two daughters ''Julie and Belinda''.Julie has two children ''Rachel and Ian''. Belinda also has two children '' Lauren and Andrew''. Keep visting and leave comments!