More pics....

ok so one day last month I decided to sit outside while doing biology so I could enjoy the last remnants of summer....and I took my camera with me =)



Maria and me (Don't you LOVE my laptop? lol)

                                                 Below: Me...only slightly photoshopped!!! :P

Danielle and me


  And then my siblings wanted a turn with my camera.....



Danielle



Maria (2), Bryce (4), Diana (6)



Diana, Danielle (9), Bianca



An Evening with Dr. Ben Carson

On Monday, March 6th, I had an awesome opportunity to witness Dr. Ben Carson interviewed by Ian Grant and Petra Bagust. Dr. Carson is a neurosurgeon (brain surgeon), who has performed the only successful separation of Siamese twins joined at the brain, among other things. Ian Grant is the founder of Parents Incorporated, and Petra Bagust is co-host on the Breakfast show. The event was sponsored by Sanitarium and the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

It was a pleasant surprise to more than one of us that, despite seat numbers having been allocated, you could sit anywhere, enabling us to sit with more of our friends than had been expected. The evening opened (I mean the official part, of course we’d been talking first! lol) with a couple of songs sung by men’s group Day 7 and a prayer.

Finally, the interviewers and interviewee were introduced, accompanied by loud applause. Following the introductions, we were shown a few clips from Gifted Hands, a movie about Dr. Carson. Then the interviewing began. His opinion was asked on matters of family, parenting, creation, and a few other topics. The interview itself was divided into three sections. During the first break everyone was asked to stand and sing the melody (Day 7 would harmonize) for “How Great Thou Art/How Great is Our God.” It was an unusual mix of the two songs I hadn’t heard before; we sang part of “How Great Thou Art,” followed by the chorus for “How Great is Our God,” after which we reverted back to the first song.

Dr. Carson shared from his own life as he challenged and encouraged us to achieve our best. As a young boy, he was failing in school. His mother, an illiterate woman who provided a living by cleaning houses for wealthier people, believed her sons were capable of whatever they put their minds to. She began requiring two book reports every week from each of her sons. This (of course!) greatly increased Ben’s knowledge, which was reflected in his grades.

Throughout the evening, he shared a few study techniques, including the use of flashcards, which he found to be helpful when he was at college. In fact he repeated them so often that his brother (who was studying engineering) learnt all the bacteria without even trying! Another technique for studying for a test was to go to the place where you would take the test, and associate pieces of information with various things in the room, i.e. A list with the door handle.

Many people say ‘don’t set your expectations too high,’ but Dr. Carson says exactly the opposite –set your expectations high, because you most likely won’t rise above your expectations, and people will generally live up or down to the expectations they and others have of them.

Another point made was that your brain remembers EVERYTHING you put in it –through sight, hearing, and so on – so be careful what you put in! Dr. Carson illustrated this by mentioning a trend he noticed in the prisoners he visited every week for a while; they had lived seemingly normal lives, then one day after they’d had too much alcohol or drugs, they would ‘act out’ what they had put in their brains previously –through mediums such as movies.

Something Dr. Carson really stressed throughout the evening was for people to follow their beliefs, regardless of what is politically correct.

All in all, it was an amazing few hours I would love to repeat!

So.....can you see us? We're up the top on the left!

Fun Run 2012

Every athletics season our club holds a 'fun run' as a fund raiser. The athletes run as many laps as they can around the track in one hour. And well yeah, I kinda didn't do it this season!! But hey, I got heaps of photos instead :P Enjoy!


Grouping up around the start line




Middy, Mrs. Rakete, and Mrs. Bennet marking people.
The athletes get a mark each time the cross the start/finish line;
at the end of the night, the marks are counted to determine the
number of laps the athletes have run.




Katie (8) and Amy (7)




Bryce (4)




Joanna (4)




oops..she saw me! Danielle (5)




ok, so maybe instead of asking her to pose,
I should take a photo when she isn't looking?!?hehe
cute tho, right? lol




Joel and Essie




Mackenzie (4) and Matti run the sausage sizzle

  After we arrived home for our awesome night at athletics, our neighbour Melissa dropped these in:


 Yes, they were delicious!!!

Danielle's Birthday Party

I organised a birthday party for Danielle this year, which we held on February 23rd.



Food



Pass the Parcel - I did it a bit different this year; as can be seen,
everyone stood in a line and passed it under and over, under and over, etc.



ok this is more of a line..
I actually let them start with one parcel, then after a little
while gave them the second one. hehe before I wrapped the
parcels up  I was worried I didn't have enough 'fillers'!!!




Pressent table, er, desk




Writing a story for the story competiton.
I split everyone into two teams and got them to write
a story about Danielle. They had a 10-minute time limit.
Afterwards they had to read it aloud and Danielle judged them.




Judging the stories




Yeah, we played Twister




In each of these bowls, there is a lolly under the flour.
They each had to get it with only their mouths.
Lol a couple were blowing the flour off before picking the lolly up in their teath!



Flour everywhere...



The Chocolate game!!




One of her pressents




Friends and pressents




Cutting the cake



Danielle's Pressents

My sister Danielle turned 9 on February 19th, we gave her pressents to her the day before. Here are some photos....(sorry I'm not writing much this time either!!)

New suit for her doll



One of my personall favourites...



Always popular!!

Wow large pressent!!



How many people does it take to unwrap the pressent?!





Maria

I took a few pics of Maria in February, here are some that I think are kind of cute! ;)

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