School Photos
We finally
got school photos back! Here is MissE:
Unfortunately,
I don’t have this keepsake for MrE this year.
His day-care did not take photos on the day he was supposed to so my $45
worth of photos is of him with bed-hair and he of course dressed himself that
day. Never mind that it took me 20
minutes then eventually a bribe to get him into wearing clothes he didn’t want
to wear and to allow me to put product in his hair for these really great
photos. I am not impressed (I gave up
waiting for my apology). Instead here is
the swim lesson photo:
Kids Go Free
After the
excitement of Halloween, we had our last ‘free’ weekend until … umm, yes. That’s right.
It was also Kids Go Free at Darling Harbour. Being the budget-savvy person that I am, we
had a Kids Eat Free lunch, played at the free water play area, capped it off
with a Kids Free Lindt Sundae (adult sized!) before the rain came and yes,
discounted parking too!
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| Minions were here! |
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| They didn't share with us. |
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| Eden wasn't too sure about ferris wheel Oh hey, he's wearing what he was supposed to wear for school photos! |
Hey, Cuz!
I was
checking Facebook one morning and I see that my cousin is in Sydney for
work! The last time we saw each other
was 12 years ago at his wedding! We were
able to meet for dinner at Mr Wong’s.
Hopefully he comes back Down Under with his family next time!
The Silly Season Begins!
Thanksgiving
We
celebrated Thanksgiving at TGI Fridays.
Don’t laugh! They do a very large
plate of roast turkey, green beans, mash potatoes and roasted carrots. The only thing missing is corn bread! For dessert we have a Tasting Platter of
apple, pecan and pumpkin pie. My pumpkin
pie is better.
End of Year Parties
I had my
work Christmas party at The Australian Maritime Museum. It was a fun night despite it being 43c
(that’s 110F)!
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| The girls of the Team Spine |
I also had
my team Christmas festivities. This
year, we decided to contribute to the community before having a team
lunch. (One of my favourite tenants of
my company, the year-round focus on philanthropy) Fittingly, it was on Thanksgiving Day
too! We spent the morning with
OzHarvest.
OzHarvest is
the first perishable food rescue organisation in Australia collecting quality
excess food from commercial outlets and delivering it, direct and free of
charge, to close to 500 charities providing much needed assistance to
vulnerable men, women and children across Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Gold
Coast, Melbourne and Newcastle.
OzHarvest is
the only food rescue organisation in Australia collecting surplus food from all
types of food providers including fruit and vegetable markets, supermarkets,
hotels, wholesalers, farmers, stadiums, corporate events, catering companies,
shopping centres, delis, cafes, restaurants, film and TV shoots and boardrooms.
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| Here's what we made! |
We also
attended MrH’s Christmas party; the hottest ticket in Sydney and I look forward
to going every year. This year it was at
the Argyle Precinct which is a number of restaurants. It was also co-sponsored by Virgin Australia
so the theme was Sky High and we had passports to get stamped at each “country”
to gain access to the VIP Lounge. They
had entertainers in each section (Jazz singer for NYC, J-Pop DJ and Hello Kitty
candy bar in Tokyo, pretzel towers in Munich, a steel drum band in Rio), a
surprise appearance by Ricki Lee (Australian Idol runner-up), DJ Hot Dub Time
Machine, and were giving away Virgin flights – we didn’t win. Boo!
We enjoyed the night out despite it taking us over an hour to get home!
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| Pop star Ricki Lee |
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| The real Optus wives (It's rare we get a photo together) |
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| At the Hello Kitty candy bar in "Tokyo" |
Taekwondo
This one
gets a special mention because it was also an Awards Day and MissE was
recognised! She received the Outstanding
Student 2015 Junior Technique trophy.
What an exciting achievement for her!
Christmas in the City
I had a day
off with MrE and gave MissE the day off from school too. We took the train (this was very exciting for
MrE) into the City and spent the day checking out the Christmas decorations and
of course, saw the big man in red too. I
will hold onto those photos for a little bit longer but they are coming soon!
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| This photo won me burgers x 2 for our next visit! |
We had lunch
at my favourite burger place in Sydney (my favourite in Australia is in
Melbourne) then checked out David Jones’ Christmas Cave. Unfortunately their display windows and the
cave weren’t much to write home about. The
kids exchanged the Magic Tree.
Next it was
onto Santaland at Myer. Their toy
department was pretty awesome with life-sized Stormtroopers! The kids rode the Santa train 3 times. This may be MissE’s last year!
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| I'd buy it... |
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| And this one too. |
Finally it
was time to meet Santa! We went over to
QVB. This year, as a Mastercard holder
you could pre-book your Santa time.
Awesome-sauce as the queue for Santa here is nearly 6 hours!
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| The always amazing QVB Swarovski Crystal Tree |
After it was
time to get the train back home. We were
all exhausted but it was a fun day for us!
I loved the lack of crowds!
MissE
Well, my
little superstar at the moment! We were
invited to attend the End of Year Medal Assembly. MissE received the Term 4 class medal for her
enthusiasm at school. Well done! (It’s not chocolate – ha,ha!)
Her class
also spent a few weeks’ talking about water and how important it is to a
community. They learnt about communities
that don’t have clean running water and wanted to change that so they have
partnered with OxFam to hold a cake stall.
Their goal was to raise $98 AUD to put a tap in a school in South
Africa. Anything extra will go to
putting a tap in homes ($9) or buy a family a goat ($39). They raised $445.15! They are going to put clean water taps into 4
schools and buy a goat! What a wonderful
initiative at this time of year.
MrE Says the Darnedest Things
These days
it’s MrE that keeps up laughing. From
scaring us silly by donning his Hulk mask and staying surprisingly quiet in his
hiding spot, he also delivers these:
18 and Over
MrH and I
were in the office one morning when MrE was watching TV.
MrE: Mama?
Me: Yes?
MrE: Are you
over 18?
Me: Bless his little heart
MrH: What
did you see on TV?
MrE: I need
a parent or guardian. Are you a
guardian?
MrH: Yes.
MrE: Oh
good.
It’s Hot!
Me: You both
can have an ice block (Zooper Dooper) since it’s so hot today.
MrE: I want
the pink one. Can I have a whole one and
can you give it a blanket?
Geography
MissE: Are
we going to Fiji?
Me: Vanuatu
MrE: I used
to say that when I was a baby!
Me: What?
MrE: Wa-tu
Me: Laughing, which he did not like. Yes,
you used to say “Don’t want to” and that sounds very similar.
Just Going for a Walk
MrE is all
class. At taekwondo lessons, he casually
walked away from us. We thought he was
going for a better look at the kicking. Nope.
MrE: Walking back to us. I just had to fart.
Until next time!
