Happy Anniversary Mam and Dad

Last Wednesday was officially Mam and Dad's wedding anniversary but they were still in their travels but on their way home.  Unsure what to get them for their special day we decided that we would catch up today, meet for lunch which, unbeknown to them, we had decided to pay for.

We all love Indian so decided to go to Shavan's in Mount Waverley - not because we had been there before as we hadn't but it was basically one of the few Indian Restaurants open for lunch.  Shavan's is the sister restaurant to our local one in Frankston, Kasturi's.

We had a choice of the al a carte menu but decided to have the South Indian Buffet (but did end up ordering a few meals that are family favourites such as Butter Chicken and Lamb Rogan Josh.)

I know that we all enjoyed the food and it was brilliant to catch up with Mam and Dad.

Nana's birthday.....

We all celebrated Nana's 68th birthday tonight even though her actual birthday is on Monday.  We went to the Seaford Hotel for dinner, which I will have to say that the meals were very average with one meal, a lamb souvlaki even turning up without the lamb!

As usual great to catch up with Mam and Dad.  It seems so long between time spent together.  They come to watch their grandchildren play football but with our commitments it's very hard to spend time with them.

Wonderful to see Sean, Vicky and the boys again.  Sadly we don't see them enough either.

Thankfully we surprised Mam with a decadent birthday cake I cannot take credit for.  It was an "Original Sin" from the Cheesecake Shop but it brought smiles to Mam's face.

Most of the Murray clan........

4 of her precious grandchildren......

Nana's birthday

Today is Nana's birthday, Noel's mam.

This year we won't get to see her as both Mam and Dad are on their way to Tweed Heads for a relaxing holiday.  We did celebrate the other week with all the family up at their house for dinner. 

So a phone call this morning wishing her a wonderful day filled with love and laughter is this year's celebration.  Great chatting with her this morning.  She was really happy with our Happy Birthday serenade.... lol laughing as we probably hurt her ears!!

~ Happy Birthday Nana ~

Murray family dinner.....

Mam and Dad arrived home from their holidays but we hadn't caught up with them until tonight.  It was great to see them, even though you could tell they were still exhausted from their adventures and the jet lag that they were experiencing.

We had yummy dinner of Roast Pork but the highlight was just catching up with not only the two of them but with Sean and Vicky also.  It seems like forever since we have seen them also.

It was great to hear all about Mam and Dad's adventures and all the places that they went too.  Some of their destinations sounded so beautiful, some I had visited myself and brought back memories of my days of travelling... many many moons ago. Long before I became a Murray!

It was great talking with Sean and Vicky and catching up with them, something we should definitely do more often.  They used the Gold Class Tickets that we gave Vicky for her birthday last year, with Vicky's parents having the boys giving them a night out by themselves.

Mam recieved her birthday present from the family, a bowling jacket, as she will be away for her birthday next weekend.  They are heading to Tweed Heads as they do most years at this time.  Hopefully they will have a safe trip and an enjoyable time.

An early Mother's Day Celebration

With Mam and Dad going away for the whole month of May, we invited them down for a late lunch/early dinner after the kids football games to catch up and to also spoil Mam as she will be away for Mother's Day on the 13th of May.

I have to say the presents were a complete surprise to mam as she hadn't even given a thought to the upcoming Mothers Day so it was great to see her excitement.

I hope they have a wonderful trip in Europe and the Mediterranean.

The week is almost over....

Well once again this week is flying past and I don't seem to be getting anything accomplished! I am sure others have had similar days but what is with it lasting a whole week? ggrrr...

The week started off on a sad note after hearing the news that Fred, a co-worker of mine, lost his beloved wife, Wendy last week. She died on Thursday after a 6 month battle with cancer. A very sad time as both Fred and Wendy were so positive that she would beat this and continued to think towards the future and their retirement. It was only two weeks ago that Fred underwent his second hip operation and is now in recovery. Needless to say, I plus a few others from work, attended Wendy's funeral on Tuesday morning. If there is any way of describing a funeral service I would have to say that it was nice and very fitting for the lady that Wendy was.

Mam and Dad have left to go on their holiday up north, stopping in to see Clare in Sydney. It was great to recieve a few photo via text yesterday from Clare. I am glad that they have finally got away as their trip has already been delayed by the dreaded Melbourne cold!! No not the flu!!

The only disadvantage of them going away is we get the bird!! This bird, a cockatiel named Elly, is awful - she hisses, bites and is just noisy!! The kids are even over the bird!! Oh well, babysitting Elly is the least we can do considering Mam and Dad do a hell of a lot for us!!

As the week is passing quickly, we are facing another weekend... a weekend where Alex is off for a sleep over on Friday night, not sure what we will do with Oliver, Saturday sees the kids at their first rehearsal with the Boite Choir in Tyabb followed by another day of football on Sunday... before I know it it will be Monday again!!

Sunday both kids played great football and their reward was to get their hair tipped.... so this is the outcome!!

Mongolian Hot Pot and 10 pin bowling.... a busy but good weekend!

Okay so I find myself once more sitting here in disbelief that is Monday AGAIN and that another weekend is over. Overall it was a good weekend, not overly flat out but enough to say that I am feeling tired this morning.

Friday night the kids tried out the pie maker and after eating 2 pies each I believe they have deemed it a success and a very welcome appliance in our house! Noel, Mam and myself had a chinese dish, we have named "nice chicken" which has a sauce of hoisin and cayenne pepper. A unique taste and the hotter the better according to most who try it.

Saturday Mam came to work with me, I was thankful of that as it was dead and good to have someone to talk to - saying that we managed to watch 2 movies also! Next stop was the Dandenong Market where we met Noel and the kids. Nothing to adventurous there except a lot of people, some with not much deoderant on especially with it being warm...yuk! We bought some fish, prawns and beef for the Mongolian Hot Pot dinner we had planned.

Dinner was ACE! As usual we all enjoyed the Mongolian Hot Pot (or Steamboat as it's often called also). Mam was in her element as she hasn't had one quite some time. We don't have the Hot Pot that often as it does take quite some preparation and there is always enough food to feed an army. Needless to say we had it for dinner last night also (and there is still more left over!!)

I will post some photo's tonight when I get home.

Sunday morning Mam and I popped down to Lars and Pips house. It was beautiful and huge. It's the first time either of us had been there. It was good to see them again even though it was only a short visit. However I do feel guilty for not making more of an effort each year to keep in contact with them. I only make the effort when Mam is in Melbourne and seriously that isn't good enough. We emigrated on the same ship as them in 1973 so they have known me all my life. They are from Finland whereas we are from Wales but they are like family, in fact they have been better to us than our real family has over the years!

In the afternoon we went 10 pin bowling at Cranbourne. We played two games, which was fun and great to be actually doing something with the kids. Grandma enjoyed it too and really got into it. I have decided that we don't do enough "fun" things with the kids. Don't get me wrong, we do a lot of things together but I don't thing we do enough kid fun things, if you can understand that? Must get back to focussing on them while they are still young enough to have fun with their Mam and Dad!

Back at work today for another week. The kids are off to Halls Gap with Nana and Grandad, we will get them back on Friday night and Mam is off to Claire's for the week and I will pick her up on Friday.

Needless to say the house will be very quiet tonight, that's for sure!!

The start of a new week!

Well another weekend has come and gone. As per usual I have managed to avoid getting anywhere near my blog.

Noel's parents came over for lunch yesterday and it all went well. We had the usual Sunday roast and it was enjoyed by one and all. We had a great afternoon together. Noel's mam and dad have been using the internet to book a holiday for them and the kids in the first week of the school holidays next March. We also spent a great deal of the day planning food, etc for Christmas Day.

Work today was boring - it was a union RDO so therefore there was not as many trucks coming in and out of the quarry. I managed to organise a few things for Christmas and for January. We have so many things happening in the next few weeks it seems we are already booked out until March.

Spoke to my mam today. She is really looking forward to arriving next Tuesday. I avoided the topic of my sickness and completely forgot to mention my appointment with the specialist on Monday. She has lots on her mind and I have no need to worry her at the moment. Not so sure however how her plans for spending Christmas day at our house is going to effect Claire and Jamie. Oh well I suppose only time will tell.

Health wise today I have felt okay. Not wonderful but on the other hand not yucky. I have decided to concentrate on changing my diet - you know the whole lifestyle change thing and tonight I have even managed to have an alcohol free evening. Quite an achievment for me as most nights I pour myself a glass of wine when I walk in the door for work and picking up the kids! I am actually proud of myself.

Anyways will stop waffling on now.

~*JO*~