Juliets school visit

Friday 21st November
Today was an exciting day. Juliet had here first school visit. It almost didn't happen, as there was a planned teacher strike for today. The notes went out yesterday saying there was no school. At about 9pm Ruth called me to tell me that she heard on the news it was cancelled and schools would be open. The boys weren't to impressed but Juliet was happy about it.

There are about 10 children starting school with Juliet. The school has spilt them up for school visits. Juliet has only one other child with her which is a girl she isn't really friends with. Juliet goes to Ruthie's class for the visit though so at least she has someone. Although it was no help today as Ruthie had an appointment so wasn't at school. The other kindy girl wasn't there either, probably because of the strike that was going to occur. The class only ended up with about 6 children in it and that included Juliet.

The teacher, Mrs Woods, asked the only girl there to help Juliet. So Juliet made a new friend. She was there for recess so Rory and his friends went and spent time with her. What a nice brother helping his sister settle in. She doesn't really need to much help around the school though as I was pregnant with her when Rory started school. So she has spent a majority at the school doing drop off and pick ups.

Crossing the road to school.

Looking around the class and deciding what to do.


Making a new friend and settling in.

Anabelle's baby blessing

Sunday 16th December.
I had spent the last couple of weeks looking after sick children. Between gastro and colds Damien had also been on the west coast trip. At 2am it was my turn. I woke up feeling dizzy and unwell. Within half an hour I started spilling out (as Charles puts it). It was a struggle to sleep the rest of the night. I was a bit worried as Anabelle was having her baby blessing that day. Nanna and Grandad were over from Tweed Heads so I didn't want it cancelled but I didn't want to miss it.

The wonderful missionaries came around and assisted Damien in giving me a blessing. I spent the next couple of hours resting while Damien had meetings. The children were pretty good in the morning at helping me. They behaved while getting ready for church.

I was able to go to Sacrament meeting and watch Anabelle's blessing. I even felt 100%during it which was said in the blessing. After Sacrament meeting I felt lousy again and went home to rest again. (The blessing had told me I needed to rest before the gathering after church.) I hadn't been sick since about 10am but still felt very flat. I had very little energy. Mum (Kathy) was a great help. She had aloud us to have the gathering at her house and then also made sure food was out. She stepped in and took over in a very positive and helpful way. I don't know what would have happened if she hadn't.

Here are some photos of Anabelle in the family blessing/christening gown.





As you can see Anabelle had conjunctivitis as well.

Busy day

Saturday 15th November was a busy day for us. Damien had decided to go to the first Temple session for the day. He tells me that it was a full session. There were only a few seat left and he was the last person in making him the last one out. As a result he got home later than normal.

Next on our list of things to do was getting some stuff for the next day, Anabelle's baby blessing. We had to drop the stuff off at Nanna's house. We then headed straight to Salisbury Christmas Parade. We had told the kids we would take them as we missed the one in the city. Here are some photos of our time there.

Our family waiting for it to start.

If you look carefully you can see some Star Wars character. This includes some clone troops, some Jedi and Padme.



What would a Christmas parade be without a Scottish Band

and a few Santas. (We didn't get a photo of the real one)



It was a bit long for some of us so I took Charles and Juliet to get their face painted nearby. Isiah came just a we got to the front of the line. By the time their faces were done it was time for Santa.


Charles the lion is the king of the jungle so you better run away and hide...

Juliet as a pretty pink fairy.

Spiderman, spiderman no-one can like a spider can...



We had to leave straight away and head straight to a Pilkington family gathering at Jenny's home in Semaphore. It was great to catch up with Charni, Jenny, Karen, Nanna, Grandad and anyone else I missed. The children had fun playing with each other while the adult mingled and chatted. It was a exhausting day for some members of the family as you can see.

My little lion cub sleeping soundly.

My fairy must have sprinkled fairy dust on herself.

Even spiderman needs to sleep.

Some how Anabelle managed to stay awake the whole way home.

It takes more than that to get Rory to sleep.

Sports Day

The boys had Sports day last Friday. So of course I had to go and watch. I dropped the boys at school and had to rush back home for the camera. When I got back Juliet and I noticed a calf running across the oval. It was so weird. It ended up running down the road and of course I didn't think of taking a photo until it was to late. The classes were getting into the team colours while this was happening.

Auntie Ruth was kind enough to bring coloured hairspray for the boys. Unfortunately little Ruth isn't in the same team as the boys. Auntie Tamera, Auntie Sarah and Nanna also came to watch some events. They wore both yellow and blue to support both the boy's and Ruth's teams. The boy's team is called the Comets and Ruth's team is called the Suns.








They always start the day with the health hustle. This year they did the Nut Bush City Limits. Here is a photo of Rory doing it.








They then do the team cry. They are scored on this and have to try and out do the other teams. The Suns won this (Ruth's team) and the Comets came second (the boy's team). You can see here how much effort Isiah put into it. Isiah has the white strips on the bottom of his shorts.

Damien was lucky enough to get some time off to watch some of the events. We spent the day going between the boys events and I occasionally saw Ruth's events (her class was two events in front of Isiah's class). I think I spent as much time looking for them as I did watching them. It was fun none the less.
There are some more photos of the day.

Isiah doing the tunnel ball.


Rory playing some sort of hockey game. He is the one in the middle of the photo.


My favourite the parachute.


Charles was unimpressed with being at school all day.


Sarah enjoying time with Anabelle.


They get the pre-school children to race first, so this is Juliet in this race. Juliet has the purple jumper and blue pants.


Rory was one of the representatives for his team in the relay race. He came 6th place. Rory is the one on the right.


This photo is just so Tamera doesn't feel left out.


The junior primary events end at lunch time but the primary children go all day. It was nice to be able to just sit and watch by then. At the end of the day the Suns won with Comets coming second. The boys weren't impressed but at least Ruth's team won.

Summer Soccer

Well the soccer season finished at the beginning of September. We had decided to have our Saturdays back to do things around the home. The next thing I know Isiah's coach was putting a futsal team together. He asked Damien if Isiah could play and of course Damien said yes. So our Saturday mornings are busy again. For those of you who don't know what futsal is, it is an indoor version of soccer. His first game he was the goalie. He impressed me, he stopped well over a dozen goals. From memory the other team only got 5 goals which I think is pretty good as he doesn't play goalie often. One of the other mums said we should probably keep him in there.

Rory was invited to play indoor soccer (different rules to futsal)with some school friends. So of course we ended up saying yes. He plays Monday nights in Modbury. His first game was last week. It was very exciting as Rory scored his first goal. He has been playing soccer for 4 years and has never scored a goal as he is more a defender than an attacker.

On top of futsal and indoor soccer Rory, Isiah and Juliet play/practise 5-a-side soccer on Wednesday evenings. I think we are more busy now with soccer than we were during soccer season. I can only imagine what it will be like when Charles gets bigger.

back yard

October 7th-11th

After our long weekend away Damien had a week off work. Well, paid work anyway. We spent the week working on our backyard. And anything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong.

I had spent the week before investigating the irrigation system we wanted to use. It is a dripper system under the grass. I found some at a really good price on the Internet. It was suppose to arrive on the Tuesday. They were out of stock so it was going to be another week. Damien ended up speaking to them. We ended up getting a more expensive roll of irrigation at the same price that they had in stock expressed to us.

The bobcat was suppose to come on the Wednesday. We found a message on the answering machine from the guy when we got back from camp. When Damien spoke to him we found out that he was now unavailable on the Wednesday as he had got a contract with the government and needed to start on Wednesday. His only available time was right then. We raced around the backyard getting it ready for the bobcat with Jake's help. They also broke my clothesline in the process of trying to remove it. Sarah and Mum P were a great help as well, they took Isiah, Juliet and Charles so that they weren't in the way of the bobcat.

On the Wednesday we thought that we would get rid of some of our hard rubbish with a voucher the council gives out.we thought we would be able to walk in and get one. They only process the paper work for that on Fridays and send it once done. We ended up getting a clothesline that hangs of the wall. The only place for it was under the veranda. At least the clothes can get dry when it is raining.

Thursday we planted a tree after finally deciding on one. We got a maple tree. It should one day make a good climbing tree. Of course our kids probably wont be climbing trees anymore.

Friday we order some dirt and our grass. We finally got the irrigation in the afternoon. We were pretty intense trying to get as much irrigation down as possible.

Saturday morning Damien and Rory finish the irrigation. The grass turned up before the dirt and it was quite a warm day. When the dirt finally arrived it was straight into putting it over the irrigation. And then finally the grass. And to top things of Damien ordered to much grass. Damien was so exhausted that we asked the missionaries if they could come and help finish it of. I would also like to thank Sarah who came over to watch the younger ones but ended up being a great help outside as well.

Here is a photobook of the project.

Make a Smilebox photobook

pt broughton camp

well we had a goodish holiday on the octobel long weekend as we went to pt broughton to sleep in a tent

we arrived on the saturday as i didn't have enough time to pack on friday as dad wouldn't let me go home early so we went on the saturday and took the morning to travel and set up camp by tea time the kids had looked over the town by bus hehe and then we had dinner the kids enjoyed sitting arrount the heat beads (we dont have fires anymore) then we stasyed up too late liek normal and went to bead

the next day was sunday we went to pt pirie for church it was quite good but the siniging needs improvment whilst there we watched a documentry on president hinkleys life i think it was the one they played between the funeral and cemetry it was good to see as i hadn't seen it before

it was also good to see uncle malcom at church

in the afternoon we let the kids explore the beach and not get wet we had a yummy dinner and then damien p;layed missioary impossible with the youth that wanted to play a good game very enjoyable and a bonding experience

on monday we didn't pack up we had palnned to stay the extra day so bro serle and i took his and isiah crabbing on the jetty it was very windy

but we had a good time and cought 3 undersized crabs not bad for 1 hrs waiting

on tuesday we packed up atr our leasure and left to come home and then the holiday or should i say hard labour began which i will talk aboutr in my next update

damien

school holidays and stuff from the boys

On Wednesd@y the first October two thous@nd @nd eight we went to @untry Yolly's house!!!!!!! At Aunty Yolly's Emily was painting nails. She paints Juliets, Mums, Charles, Rory's and uncle Paul. Rory had his done just so uncle paul would get his done.

We then went to the Harry Bowey reserve for a picnic with grandpa, grandma, uncle Paul, Sarah, Emily, Nicholas, Aunty Karina, Akasha, Dylan and Joshua. Uncle Paul tried not to let people see his hands. Sarah was a great sister to her brother Nicholas (he has autism) she sent a lot of time looking after him. Aunty Karina and her kids left earlier than the rest of us. We had a cake for Emily's birthday. I can't believe she is 12 already. After the cake Uncle Paul took the kids to feed the ducks while Grandma and mum packed up. And surprise, surprise Rory fell in the water.

We took Sarah, Emily and Nicholas home. We can do this in our bus. It was great. Nicholas was fine as he goes in a bus similar to ours for school swimming. When we got there we found Aunty Karina and her kids there.
Isiah found a scary mask and was scaring all the little children with it. Joshua was really freaked out. 2 1/2 hours later we finally went home.

Michael's visit to our house

Michael was recently in Adelaide visiting. He was kind enough to bring his mum and dad (aka Uncle Bryan and Aunty Amy) with him. They took the family to dinner at Charlies. Charles wasn't to shoor



We got to look at books about dinosaurs and play cars with Michael. We made him laugh. It was fun spending time with him. It was also great seeing Uncle Bryan and Aunty Amy.

the best pilkington kids

Today was Rory's birthday. I can't believe he is 10 already. Damien took Juliet to Kindy and Charles to Child Care so that it would be easier for me to take the boys to school. Rory was hoping that he didn't have to do homework on his birthday. I think he still did some.

Damien and I had to go to the chapel for youth activities. So Rory was left with Sarah on his birthday. (Lucky he likes his Aunties.) The Mia Maids and Laurels activity was decorating ginger bread houses. Our YW pres and 1st counsellor couldn't make it so I was asked to fill in.

Damien ran around the chapel making a nuisance if himself spending 5 Min's in each activity on and off all night. He liked interrupting the beehives activity, they were taking photos and he kept jumping in .

On the way to mutual we ran out of fuel (just as well we keep a spare jerrycan full in the shed). Damien wanted to see how far the tank of fuel would go in the new bus. It was frustrating though to run out when we were already late.

love you all
Natasha and Damien

isn't anabelle so cute she was busy rahing her dad at the time of this picture
juliet loves her dad especialy after the scout cave at the show

juliet and charles chose the ferris wheel for there ride arn't they soooo cute
rory love that hat so much that the teachers have banned him from wearing it to school they say its tatty appearence is bad for the school image go rory
i think isiah was woundering what dad was doing with the camera but he is such a good boy

my kids are the best and these are the latest pictures thqt i have of them i hope you enjoy watching them grow up

HERE GOES NOTHING

I CANT BE OUT DONE SO I MUST BE THE BEST i started this blog so as to make it easier to show Nanna my pictures of all 5 children

hope you enjoy