pj day

Thursday was pajama day at Isabella's school, this is especially fun for the girls because they wear their uniform every day. Here is Isabella wearing her pj outfit for the day . . .
note the pink packers hat!

Year 6 Excursion -

Part of the curriculum here in NSW (New South Wales -the state we live in) is a trip to Canberra which is in the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) to see the Parliament, the War Memorial, Questacon which is a science museum and the Australian Institute of Sport (where some of the Elite athletes train). Jonah's trip was this week. The Knox boys left Tuesday at 6 am and returned today (Thursday) at 4 pm. They wore the school uniform each day of the excursion - including the tie! Here is a photo of Jonah on Tuesday morning in front of the gates to Knox Grammar School.

Here is a photo of Jonah today with his souvenirs (a major highlight of the excursion of course!) right after returning home. (The tie was off as soon as he walked in the house LOL!)
Jonah brought home a mini rugby ball, a war memorial medallion, a pressed copper coin from the science museum and a rubber frisby :)
When I asked Jonah if he got much sleep he answered "not much"! Sounds like he had a great time! He is headed upstairs for a bath, with soap!

Cockatoos . . .

Aren't they gorgeous? We were enjoying a lazy Saturday morning when these big guys showed up in the trees outside our family room - so we went outside to see what they were doing. We couldn't figure out what they were eating . . . I grabbed my camera to get some shots. It turns out they were eating the oranges off the tree in our neighbors yard!

Cockatoos are fairly large (maybe 14 inches) and they are beautiful but boy do they make an awful sounding screech! It was way cool watching them snack on these oranges, and share them with one another.

Grandma Cookie is here!

As you can probably see, the kids are very happy :) Tia remembered Grandma and wants to be held by her as much as possible, but she is competing with Elijah, Jonah & Isabella. Poor Grandma :)

2 years in Australia . . . .

On May 30, 2006 we moved from St. Louis, Missouri to Sydney Australia. Our friends/extra Grandparents to the kids; Marlene and Jesse took us to the airport where we had a very tearful goodbye:
We all enjoyed the large seats and individual entertainment systems!

Elijah (then 3 years old) was perfect until the last 3 hours . . . .
We arrived in Sydney and it was raining for the first time in months! (and has been ever since!)
The kids were so tired they fell asleep on the way up the stairs to their bedrooms .
Jonah's birthday was on June 1st so we headed to Taronga Zoo - we took the train into the city and then the ferry across the Harbour. We enjoyed seeing the Opera House for the first time.

We enjoyed Fireworks at Darling Harbour:
It is hard to believe it has been 2 years already! Jonah was 9 years old when we arrived and is 12 now. We really miss our family and friends but we love living here in Sydney even with all the rain.

My baby is 12!!

Can you even believe that Jonah is 12 years old already?? I can't! I made him a card with a photo of he and I on the day he was born (he loved it, he's sweet that way :) but WOW! where did the last 12 years go?

For his party this year Jonah had 6 boys over for a sleepover and sugar high-a-thon! Thankfully it was Matt's job to sleep downstairs and supervise :) of course Tia chose to have a rough night and was in our bed so I was sleeping with my own little bouncing bed mate! I digress . . . . Jonah had a really fun time and would love to have a sleepover every year . . . . sadly mom & dad said NO! Enjoy the photos :)