For those of you on the other side of the world - yesterday it was 27degrees - in the middle of winter, no less. Ah, yes, but I can hear you say "just wait until summer, then we'll see who's laughing!"

For Alexander's mates in England, he has written a little note below with a special recipe for his "Pirate Gnocchi". Double click on the image for a larger one.

We miss you all very much !!!!!

We celebrated Alexander's 8th birthday - such a happy day for all of us.

Alexander enjoyed the day by taking some of his mates to putt putt and we had birthday cake afterwards.

For his birthday he received a new bike which he has been tearing around on (he just reminded me to write that it has gears!). We will all start doing some long bike rides soon. We were doing this in the Lee Valley Park and had a ball, but haven't done much riding since returning to Aus. Perfect weather for it now, so we'll get into it.

Patrick returned home again last Friday, and after a couple of days in bed fighting what he calls the Hong Kong flu, he is up and about again, but still a bit under the weather.

We didn't have a fattened calf to cook, so we baked instead. We do so love our baked goodies in this house. Maybe it's even a little Bree-esque at times. Whisking, muttering "How am I going to bake my way out of this one!"

Luckily it was Margie's official birthday on the weekend, so this bake-fest could be put to a constructive use. We allowed the unofficial birthday to pass a few weeks ago. I'm pretty sure that's the way the Queen does it, so if it's good enough for her ...

Little Margie enjoyed her day with her brother and sister, some friends and cousins. She trottted off in her green dress today in honour of St Patrick, with some cakes for her friends to enjoy at kindy. She's such a cute little mite.

A busy week ahead, then, aren't they all.

Corinna, Ella, Evie thanks, see below!

Bella and Margie love dressing as princesses. A pic of them taken this weekend in their gowns (but minus the tiaras).

Margie loves her new kindy as she calls it. Here is a pic of her on her first day, ready and excited to be joining the big kids in having her own little space in the world outside home.

After their second 7 week long holiday in a year, the kids finally headed back to school. Woo hoo!!!

The day before they were due to head back Xander fractured his left arm in a scooter accident, so he bravely trundled off to school with his arm in a sling. Hopefully, it will heal quickly. Thankfully he is right handed.

It was Eleanor's first day of school in Australia. She soon discovered that it was a different uniform and school, but the same old routine. She loved it.

Their return to school also coincided with our 10 year wedding anniversary. Surely that has to be a good omen.

In true Aussie style, we celebrate our first Australia Day with a trip to the beach for the weekend. This time we stayed at Noosa with some friends.

Mornings on the beach and afternoons by the pool - perfect! Then the babysitters arrived and we got out for a few hours of freedom.

On Sunday we hired a boat on the Noosa river. The kids thought it was great to be able to jump out in the middle of the river and swim on the sandbars. We pulled into a little island in the middle of the river for a barbeque lunch and some more swimming and fishing.

As we were leaving, Bella howled in the back of the car "this is the most beautiful place I have ever been to and I never want to leave". Repeat over at least 1000 times. At last she made us promise to take her back there, which wasn't a difficult promise to make!

For those of you in BrisVegas - something for kids over the holidays.

Take them to see the Kid's Warhol exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art.

Some of the kids artwork from our day there:

On a beautiful snowy day, 5 years ago, our little Bella joined our family. What a happy day it was!

This year we celebrated the occasion with a little cousins party. For the second year running she chose a fairy cake, adorned with her favourite sweeties and little fairy figures.

A couple of days before her birthday we visited the hairdresser to tame the tresses. She came out looking like a princess, complete with glitter hairspray!

The last couple of months have been a bit of a blur to put it mildly.

We have settled into our new abode and seem to be returning to a somewhat normal household (whatever that is). We even have the internet connected, so now I can get on with catching up on all my long overdue chores.

Xander has settled into his new school and is enjoying the outdoor lifestyle, which has been hampered slightly by the wet summer but it hasn't really made any difference to us.

Bella has been a star, helping me out while she waits to start school, again!

And little Margie has started at her new Kindy which she is loving. She can't wait to get away in the mornings - I should be pleased about this, right?

At the end of the school year, in early Dec, we took the kids up to Caloundra for a couple of weeks with their cousins to surf, play and enjoy the sunshine. They had a ball.

In all it has been a great move for us although it really took a couple of months to settle in and get the hang of things again. Everything here seems strangely foreign and probably will for some time yet I expect.