10 on 10

Yesterday I worked the business day away from home, then arrived back to help a little before settling into photo processing for the evening.

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10 on 10 is a collection of 10 images posted on the 10th of the month, shot the day before. No "special" shoot, just taking my camera with me as I go about my day and capturing art in everyday life.

#1 

#2

: : Submit your inspiring captions for this photo in the comments section below : : 

#3

: : Warm car bonnets are good places to rest : :

 #4

: : Washing was still on the line when I arrived home . . . successfully removed it : : 

#5

: : Dishwashing team : :

 #6

: : Finishing school work : : 

#7

: : School work got finished in time for dessert to fit the schedule : :

 #8

: : I promise this was her idea : :

 #9

: : If you can't beat 'em, join 'em : :

 #10

Guy Fawkes with Cousins

On November 5th we visited our cousins' place for dessert and fireworks:

Inside or outside?!

Since my flute exam was the following day and I had come straight from my second lesson
of the day (together they totalled two hours!!), a mini-concert was in order! ;)

And the others have a turn!

Heels run in the family . . . haha

Mum's Birthday

: : Present from Maria : :

On each of our birthdays, Mum makes us a 'birthday dinner' (in past years we have chosen what to have, this year Mum just made something she knew we liked), dessert, a cake, and gifts (everyone gets to give something). For the last few years, I arranged something for Mum's birthday. This year, though, her birthday fell on a Wednesday, meaning I was at work, so Monique decided to coordinate something (as a surprise for Mum), with help from the little ones. Dad and I received numerous emails and calls throughout the day, with various questions. I received one email asking, "Bianca, how do I hide the emails from you so Mum doesn't see them?" A call involved talking to me from a bedroom, hiding the phone and running to the kitchen to check the instructions on the roast chicken packet, then back again to the room to tell me what they were. I think the girls learnt a lot that day (lol) but they did quite well, considering. :)

After work, Dad and I made a rush trip to several shops to buy presents. Then came the task of smuggling them inside and getting them wrapped, at the same time dodging children who wanted me to help with dinner and make dessert.

(Mostly) The girls made a roast chicken, roast potatoes, veggies, and gravy; for dessert I made blueberry crumble cake. When Danielle called me earlier in the day, I told her to make a quadruple batch of chocolate cake and put it in a large dish. Unfortunately, I didn't think to specify to use the one egg chocolate sponge recipe, so she followed the one titled chocolate cake. Basically, one dozen eggs were used, instead of four individual eggs. lol.

: : New cake server! : :

: : Presents : :

We gave Mum her presents after dinner, then had dessert. The cake had been made at the last minute so wasn't out of the oven until quite late; we left it for another night.

: : Blowing out the candles : :

Monique's Birthday Party

I organised a birthday party (late) for Monique's 11th, on May 22nd; 3 to 6pm. Because it started later than most parties I organise, I left most of the preperations for the day of the party.



In the morning I got straight into the baking - mud cake, double choc chip muffins, scones, chocolate chip biscuits and such. And yes, Bryce and Maria got to help too. :)



: : Cutie : :



Mum took most of my siblings to gymnastics at 1 o'clock; Bryce and Maria stayed home with me. I know that I was busy organising and that sort of thing, but right now I don't recall exactly what that involved! 



: : Giving pressents : :





: : Chocolate game : :



: : Dinner time : :



Anyway, the girls (Rita, Amber, and TeAnawa) arrived sometime that afternoon (2 or 3:30 I think). We gave them afternoon tea first, then I had some games for them to play - truth (basically truth or dare without the dare), the chocolate game and such. We made the pressent-giving a bit of an ordeal too... :)



Yeah, sorry...I love posting pics like this don't I?



For dinner Mum/Jarrod made butter chicken, a vegetable korma or something (we used a jar of sauce and just added a bag of frozen mixed vegies), rice (obviously), and Dad picked up some naan bread from the Indian takeaway shop up the road. (well, nearly. Spice Star on the corner of Great South and Browns Road.)

We decided to have await with dessert (lol) and start the movie straight away. We watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Partway through, we paused it to have dessert: berry tarts and strawberry ice cream.



: : Dessert time : :



I had planned to have popcorn and hot chocolates during the movie. . .but we didn't really need them in the end. . .as it was I don't think any of us particularly felt like the birthday cake we brought out after the movie!! =D







: : Birthday cake : :



: : Cutting the cake : :





Jarrod's 13th Birthday

Nice one Monique...

Jarrod turned 13 on May 10th...yeah two teens in our family now...freaky!!! lol Anyway here are some pics from the night we celebrated his birthday - dinna, presents, and dessert. 

Maria

Lovely(!) pic of Laura

Opening his presents

Dessert time!

Dinner out!

My cousins' family and mine have jointly owned a business since late 2007. Dad and Uncle Paul had been saying for a while that the business should fund dinner out for both our families. That became a reality on February 25th, when we drove in convoy (yes I was behind the wheel too!!! :P) to a Japanese/Chinese restaurant in the City.

The waiters and waitresses seemed very taken with all the young children!

It took a few minutes to get us all sitting around one table, but finally it was accomplished, and we proceeded to view the menu and decide on dishes. One of my favourites was the riblets we got. =) What cracked me up was how, with one of the dishes, some of my siblings and cousins energetically complained about how awfully spicy it was. However, I tried it myself and detected that there was some spice in it, but I didn't think it was over-the-top spicy!

Left to right: Diana, Aunty Yvonne, Madyson, Uncle Paul and Abby

Any lingering hopes of a quiet meal were dissolved, and dinner was consumed.

Finally it was decided that dinner had ended, and the table could be cleared. 

Much careful examination of the menu was done before ordering desserts!



before ordering desserts! I'm afraid that with such a large order, the staff had a few difficulties remembering each individual request, but eventually all was sorted, photos were taken, and the dessert was eaten. Yum!

My mocha =) Isn't it pretty?

At some point it was decided that we should leave, first though we had to gather everyone, pay, and (of course!) take a group photo. =)

Hope that wasn't too boring to read!! :P

<3 Bee

Group photo with Aunty Yvonne



Group photo with me



Day After New Years Day ~ Part 2

Hey again everyone =)

So to get straight into it...We arrived home late in the afternoon, and a bit tired. Instead of relaxing, however, we began preparations for a New-Year-barbeque at my cousins' place.



Playing a game - I know there must be a name for this, but I forget
what it is. (Sorry!) So basically we picked the name of a book, movie, etc,
drew a dash for each letter of the title, and began drawing a picture on the chalk
board, which helped everyone guess the title. Hope that makes some sense...I'm really tired!




Here is Monique's (10yrs) picture, sorry I don't remember what the title was.




Diana (6yrs), Megan (5yrs), and Bryce (4yrs) enjoying their desserts. =)




My cousin Megan

 Okay so this isn't exactly a massive long report like I would have liked, but hey, you got to see some pics anyway =) lol

Esther's birthday Party

Hey,

My friend Esther Sonneveld had her13th birthday party on Friday 16th to Saturday 17th April.
On Friday night Mums and girls presented scrapbook pages to Esther, and stayed for dessert and a movie - Facing the Giants.
Then most of the girls stayed the night and the Mums went home (as did I).
I got up WAY to early the next morning (about 7:30 I think) and went to the Sonnevelds' who waited for a few more girls to arrive, and then had breakfast.
After breakfst were HEAPS of games - Truth or Dare, in which we rung a chinese shop and asked "Do you do take-aways?"
"Yes"
"What's 9 take away 5?"
"Uh, I dunno"
and a few others.

In teams, wrote a story about Esther ONLY by clipping words and phrases out of a newspaper.

Late morning, after the cake:

we all piled into the van, and went tenpin bowling.

Next came lunch - rolls, ham, luncheon, etc...

Then more games and activities including splitting into teams (again), and making dresses for one person in each team from rubbish bags, toilet paper, and sellotape..

After HEAPS of games and fun we all got dropped off at about 5pm.
Better get ready for Girls Rally Break-up evening...
Luv Bee