Hi girls, sorry I have been MIA for ages, or so it feels like and I come back and not much has happened!!! I thought I would be trawling through posts but its been very quiet.

My best friend from Brisbane arrived on 29th October to stay with us for 8 days. She left on Thursday which was very sad. We had a fabulous time, apart from the average weather. Poor girl was freezing most nights. The kids all got along well. There was a few dust ups, mainly over the swing outside. It was very funny to watch how they deal with it. It started with Marley being the pushy one, then Bella started to work out how to fight back which was good for Marley to experience as she is always the one doing the pushing. We went to the zoo last Sunday and had a great time, its such a lovely place and the kids loved seeing the animals. They also have a beautiful old carousel which I think has just been put in (next to the great kids playground). We had a halloween party and all the kids got dressed up. Pics will be on facebook soon as I have some time. We also did a cup day luncheon. We asked the kids to pick a horse from the big coloured sweep page and Bella's horse won netting her $152 from a $5 bet. Not bad for a 2 year old!!! Her mum very kindly took us all out for dinner on the Wednesday night to celebrate their last night here.

Marley is starting to chat up a storm (just like her mum!!!) and words a very clear now. Her latest is "mine" or "Marley's" to everything. Chelsea had her dance concert last night which was brilliant, she did her tap and jazz routine so well and we were very proud of her. They had over 300 people in the theatre and she didn't even appear nervous.

My oven died on Halloween so no pastry treats for me at the moment. Feel like I am having withdrawals from my mixer. Hopefully our electrician can fix it next week.

Rory - how was NZ? Bet you all had a fabulous time.

Ali - congrats on Liam walking. He really is growing up fast. How did the report writing go? 7 weeks till christmas, scary!!!

Maya - I would love to see that picture, how cool!!! I can just see you doing it too. Fantastic! How did you go with the deferred exam?

Nic - glad to hear everything went well with Nixon's surgery. Congrats to Jules on the birth of Tristan (I think she was before my time?)

Amanda - hope things are going well with Julian.

Hope everyone else is doing well and now things have settled down a bit here, I will be back on as regular as clockwork!!!