Yes I'm still alive..

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. My life seems to be running in fast forward these days. Here in NSW we have only one more week of school left until the summer holidays (YAY!!!), so it is now the time for end of year everything.... & this coming week is no exception - we have something on every day - & I have to get my christmas cooking started.. not to mention Dave's 30th this week as well - if I'm not around, I'm not being a snob... I promise!!!Today we missed church... we had no intention of missing, but we lost track of the time & by the time we realised, we would have been very, very late (which in a small church is very noticeable - especially since our family tends to make an entrance!!! LOL), so we decided that since this week is so full we would go & do some christmas shopping in the nearest city (1hr away).
We arrived there at lunch time, so the first port of call was food! We thought to try an all-you-can eat family restaurant that I hadn't been to before. It was lovely & the buffet was delicious. We (of course) ate much too much (had to get our money's worth). We realised that we haven't taken the kids to a restaurant for over 6 months (& that was just to the local bistro!)! Ellie kept raving about eating in the lovely "cafe"! I did try & correct her - after we had a laugh about our country kid!!!! We did get our christmas shopping done. We initially went to Big W, but it was so crowded, that I was getting head spins (I really, really cannot cope in crowds anymore!) & Dave wasn't enjoying it either. We decided we would rather get less things for our money than spend any longer in the crowds there (Note to self: do all christmas shopping early next year!!!). We did eventually do our shopping. We took 2 children each & bought for the other 2 + parent. We don't have a big Christmas budget - we try to focus on the birth of Jesus rather than presents, so it was fun trying to fit the best choices into our budget (we include the kids in this as well, so hopefully they can learn about being good stewards & budgeting!!) I think everyone will be pleased with their gifts! (I know Zai is - even though we tried hard to keep his from him, we came home & went & checked the paddocks where Dave had been trying to readjust the water flow into dams -it had rained while we were away!- (Note to self: change into boots before checking any water flow - my shoes are not looking as nice after that!!) Anyway - while we were out of the car he peeked.... (of course what did we expect - he does get half his genetics from me after all.... not that I would peek...LOL)!!!!)After we got back to the house we decided to go for a walk (this time in proper footwear) & check the other water flow areas!!! I (of course) took the camera - I've put the pictures throughout the post to make it more interesting!!We enjoyed watching the clouds going around us. Because we live up on a hill, we can see from horizon to horizon (many, many kilometres) in 3 directions, so we watched the weather bands moving around us - it truely was beautiful!!
If you're wondering what Ellie's wearing - I bought her some togs & she really wanted to wear them - they look so cute!!

Dave did a great job on the water flow courses (an afternoon spent on the tractor playing in mud - what man wouldn't enjoy that??!!!)& even though he said he didn't have a clue what he was doing, everything is working well & the dams are filling nicely!!!

We are so thankful for these recent rains as our water supplies were getting low! Now the tanks are all full & the dams are looking very nice - a great way to get through summer!!