Keeping up with tradition here is the video of Amelia's first steps. She is doing very well and im sure she will be off on her own in no time.

Back to School. The amigoes went back to school this week after their holidays. Xander and Marshall both went up a grade. After such a long time away they were a bit reluctant to have me leave but they ended up having a good day. Dette now works Tues, Weds and Thursday with the kids in school Weds and Thurs.

Australia Day was quiet. We all went to Al and Darryl's and had a barbie. The boys ate god knows what and ran around with their chum , Mitchell. When we got home Marshall wasn't quite himself but went to bed okay. He started waking up and coming out to see us so we let him have a cuddle on the couch to check his temp. It looked like he was settling down so Dette sent him over to me for a kiss. Just as a leant down he did the biggest vomit all over his dad and the couch. YAY. Sign of true love, i didn't flinch and Dette jumped in with the bucket later to clean it up.

Amelia has taken some tentative steps using the walker. It wont be long till she's off. Marshall's language is coming on in leaps and bounds and Xander is the question king. "What does XYZ mean?" Amelia is still giving us grief with her appetite and can go a day without having a proper meal, then she will chow down later. She seems to want to feed herself mostly, which is hard to monitor and rather messy. Well were used to that.

Amelia is crawling! She started with a few small "steps" on the weekend and then she was off. We now have to chase her around as she follows the boys everywhere. It has been stinking hot here for the past two days, with a top of 42 yesterday. The bushfires burnt the main electricity supply so most of the state was without power too. It was a great equalizer as all the air-conditioners and coolers switched off. We all sat in an inch of cold water in a pool in the garden. Sleep, as always, is an issue and it took a while for all of us to get off to sleep, but all three up at 6am. ARGGHH.

We had a lovely day today at the Queen Victoria Market. It's been ages since we have been so we packed the car up and set the sat nav. As always it was bustling with people and has a great atmosphere. We had Marshall and Xander plaques made up to put on the boys bikes and then a stroll around the stalls. Some great bargains to be had but we couldn't resist the sketch artist. He drew Dette and I on our wedding anniversary 3 years ago and this time it was the amigos turn. They sat well as models and here is the result. A great day out in lovely 22 degree sunny weather.

If you can't remember , here is the other one.

Well im sure you've all been on tenderhooks so here he is.

Meet Freddy the cockatiel. He was bred by Mark and Tim and is only a few weeks old.

Here are a couple of other photos too.