Au revoir

On Wednesday, a few of my workmates and I went on a road trip to visit a couple of our branch libraries. We drove past Morgan's Lookout on the way down to Corowa and decided to climb it on the way home. Dan Morgan was a bushranger who climbed to the top of  some massive rocks on a hilltop to see if the police were coming. We saw only countryside.

We have church friends whose new house is around the corner and we carpool for the Friday night Kids' Club and youth group picking up and dropping off. Kids' Club had a movie night, which calls for onesie wearing, and Bethany and Hannah discovered that they were twins!

Three weeks has flown by. Andrew and I are watching the last stage of the Tour de France for 2014 and it's very sad. We have all enjoyed it very much, Bethany only really saw the highlights on at a friendlier hour, but Toby and Joss put in some long hours. Bethany will be happy not to be missing out every night; this evening the Shephards came over to eat cheese and watch the women's race and Bethany was in bed. 

I am sorry that Richie Porte didn't make the podium, but he is still young. I like Nibali, and am pleased to have two Frenchmen on the podium too. Joss is a big fan of Marcel Kittel, as well as of the Aussie team, Orica Greenedge. I put a photo of Joss on Instagram, with the hash tag 'gogerro' and Simon Gerrans' wife liked it, so Joss was very pleased! Tomorrow night I could go to bed early, or stay up late reading!

Fifteen years old

One week after Bethany's birthday and we're celebrating again. Joss turned 15 today. They chose similar birthday dinners; Bethany had lasagne and lamington cake , Joss had rigatoni al forno (same ingredients as lasagne) and chocolate ripple cake, which was a million times easier to make than the lamington 10!

They both had piercings for their birthday, the five year age difference meant a trip to a much dodgier venue, a very scary looking piercer and one little hole in her nose that was twice as expensive as two in Bethany's ears. 

Today was also the first day back at school for Joss and Tobes, so we woke the kids up early , which was a rude shock after holidays and much late night watching of Le Tour, for pressies in our bed. Joss' good friend Carina came before school and gave her lots of presents and she was made a fuss of at school. She's a lovely girl and we are very proud of her.

The holidays are over for Joss and Tobes, but Bethany has this week off as well. We had our first day at home together today and I watched Frozen for the first time. It was cold and rainy outside, so the perfect day to stay in your PJs. The weekend was PJ weather, too, but we did soccer in the rain and I left for markets in an old hall when it was minute two. A week in the house with Bethany is just what I need.

Ten years old

We're all in double digits now! Bethany has been counting down for over a month, so very keen to turn ten. Many of her friends' parents let them have their ears pierced years ago, and while she was a little nervous, she was looking forward to her big day very much.

Bethany is all emotion, she experiences life deeply , at full tilt. Watching her open presents is such a joy, she is thrilled with plain hair elastics and in raptures over more exciting presents. She was up early, too excited to sleep in and the others surfaced for presents and then went back to bed. Early mornings are hard for fans of Le Tour.

Mid morning Andrew brought Bethany into my work and we walked over to get her ears done. She was a bit shaky beforehand, but found it virtually painless. She chose little 'emerald' studs and asked if they were real emeralds, perhaps because she did receive real rose gold studs like Mama's and Mum's.

Her dinner of choice was lasagne and the lamington ten from the original Women's Weekly birthday cake book. What a mess I made while decorating this cake! Thankfully, they all loved it.

Now to organise a party......

Le Tour

It's after nine and I am sitting with my tea in a quiet house. Bethany is at a friend's , so she missed out, but the remaining four of us stayed up and watched the whole first stage of Le Tour De France. Toby fell asleep when the riders were just ten kilometers from the end, but we were all wide awake for the dramatic finish! I won't bore you or Facebook with the details, but it was so exciting, and seeing English countryside was fabulous.

I'm not sure how many stages we'll stay up for, I have to get up at six on weekdays, and I couldn't get straight to sleep after the excitement (there was a crash).

It's another rainy weekend, yesterday's four loads of washing are drying inside. I made a (low fructose) carrot cake, sourdough garlic rolls and a big, gorgeous loaf of regular sourdough. The beloved new Webber was in action again as Andrew made us a succulent roast lamb. There was no sport, so we just ate!  

I am going to do the last ever Muddi Boutique Markets next Sunday, so I also spent time on cards. A lovely, rainy, holiday.

Toby is up now, but no-one else. We might be late for church.......