First attempt at face painting

My girlfriend Kathleen has come home to Oz for a month (praying longer) and as always, wowed my children with gifts suited perfectly to their ages and personalities. Rani was given a set of face paints and here are the results of my first attempt in the art. The children were happy, I was somewhat amused!

Here comes Spidey!!

Peter's 29th Birthday

Peter turned 29 on the 27th of July. Being parents our birthdays tend to revolve somewhat around our children. As tradition dictates, the birthday soul has their choice of evening meal. Peter, to the children's delight, chose Hungry Jacks. He received lots of parent points for that one!

After dinner we have chocolate cake, we managed to stick on 29 candles, and Peter (with some effort) managed to blow them out in one go. We also managed to smoke out the kitchen for a good 10 minutes which hung in the air a metre deep from the ceiling. More parent points for Peter. We went scurrying to shut all doors leading to smoke alarms.The children gave him our presents and Abraham had a special something designed on the Meagsketcher for the occasion.

As for the party, that's yet to come!

Girl's Night Out

Saturday evening of May the 26th, Rani went to her first ballet concert. We went to see the Australian Classical Youth Ballet's performance of The Wizard Of Oz at the Festival Theatre. We went with Rani's cousin Rebekah and Aunty Olivia. The girls had a magical time and as you can see, Rani was a tad excited about getting going. Rani wore her special red shoes because "they're just like Dorothy's". They thoroughly enjoyed titivating themselves leading up to the outing and getting to choose where to go for dinner afterwards, Hungry Jacks. Gives greater meaning to "all dressed up with nowhere to go"! They were very well behaved throughout, it only lasted an hour and was well worth it. Rani was very disappointed at the end when she didn't get to meet Dorothy, who is apparently now her best friend?! Bestowing the "best friend" title is Rani's way of giving her full approval, .

It was our first "Girl's Night Out" and we are planning a second for December to see the Youth Ballet's performance Scrooge.

The Wedding

Sunday the 14th of January 2007 was the most amazing day. Peter and I were married at the Old Government House in the Belair National Park. Everything was perfect. It was a day of blessing after blessing. The weather was a beautiful 30 degrees with a gentle cool breeze. Helping me get ready and keeping me company that day where my bridesmaids, my two most cherished and constant friends, my best friends from our days at Mercedes College. I was surrounded by faeries; my own daughter and nieces, flower girl and her little sister and a number of other children who dressed up with glitter, wings, wands and faerie dresses for the day. And there was Peter, the most dashing and handsome groom who stood waiting for me. The moment I saw him, standing there grinning with tears, I was overcome with love for him. I had spent the morning and early afternoon trying to reign in tears of excitement at finally marrying this man I believe God chose for me. As I neared the aisle I could feel those tears trying to surge forward and when I saw him, there was no one else, the guests all faded away. I brimmed with tears, trying hard to stop them from spilling and running my mascara. I could bore you with even more details, but let me summarise with; the vows were exchanged, papers were signed and now we're officially husband and wife. Life has just begun.

Our very first Chantal n Peter blog

Hello, and welcome to our blog, specifically and solely created to keep in touch with friends who have moved to the UK. I will make an effort to actually use this space and not have it sit idly by. Our lives a fairly hectic at the moment. Peter and I are getting married on Sunday afternoon (14/01/07) that's 6 sleeps! We are also moving on the Friday before hand, very exciting and a tad insane given the timing. Perhaps the most exciting of all is that we are expecting a baby in June. I'm 17 weeks or there abouts now and keenly awaiting to feel the baby move.

We have three children so this will be our fourth. Our eldest child is Caleb who is 10, turning 11 on Valentine's day. Caleb is currently preparing to enter as a year six to a composite 6/7 class. Our second child is Abraham who is five, turning six in early March. Abraham will be in a reception class this year. Our present youngest is Rani who just celebrated her fourth birthday in the latter part of November. She is eagerly waiting to start full-time kindergarten later this month.

I am taking this year off and probably the next from my current studies in Archaeology, I am pursuing my studies at the Honours level, with my specific area of interest being Pacific Archaeology. Peter is currently completing his PhD for the History department. His thesis focuses on the extra-judicial activities of particular Judges during the Second World War. When I can't sleep I initiate conversation on the details, but unfortunately cannot expand upon the content as the discussion promptly puts me to sleep and I miss nearly every word.

C.xx