Emily Elizabeth Martin has arrived !!!


A new daughter for Scott and Sara.
A new sister for Sarina.
A new granddaughter for Linda and Dick, Denise and Roy.
A new great-granddaughter for Mrs Nolden.
A new niece for Mark and Janet, Stuart and Scott.
A new cousin for Georgie and Madelyn.

I could go on but we are all glad she is here. Emily arrived on Christmas Eve at 1.40am.

We are certainly getting a lot of use out of Mackay's New Bluewater Lagoon.

The kids love it. The lagoon is very useful for putting all those expensive swimming lessons into practice. Mark and I also enjoy it. All we need now is a juicy cocktail and we'll be all set. Bring on summer.

Hot off the press...Madelyn's kindy photos arrived today.

Isn't she just a doll !!!

Janet receives her "10 years of service to Main Roads" recognition award from the Minister for Main Roads and Local Government, the Honourable Warren Pitt MP.

Phew...time flies when you're having fun !!!

The girls get friendly with the locals at Cape Hillsborough.

Some family photos...don't we scrub up well !!!

And our final birthday for a couple of months was Mum's. Denise turned the big six-o. It was a quiet dinner at the Dobbs' house with Ban-na Thai and a cake.

Scotty did up a tribute to Mum and it is posted on my facebook. See if this link works to view it...

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=30119354313

Happy Birthday Mumma !!!

And yet another birthday !!!

We celebrated the 18th birthday of my cousin Lyle with a beach party at Uncle John's and Aunty Narelle's place. It was really good and some of the costumes were hilarious. Unfortunately I don't have any great photos of the party so if anyone wants to email some of their photos, I will gladly post them on this blog.

Here are some photos of the pinata...everyone had a bash and it was proving very difficult. Especially when Cherie kept moving it...and we were blindfolded!!! Cherie didn't find it as funny when she had a go.

Happy Birthday Lyle.

P.S. Aunty Narelle, seeing you did such a good job of Lyle's party, can we book you in to organise some others ???

Georgie also celebrated a birthday in May. She turned 5 years old and celebrated with some brightly coloured cupcakes at school.

Part of the birthday traditions at Aligator Creek State School are the presentation of a birthday certificate and a wonderful of rendition of Happy Birthday sund by the who school parade and accompanied by the school band. The band could probably do with a bit more practise but the kids have the "Hip Hip Hoorays" mastered.

Georgie was pretty wrapped with her Island Princess Barbie which has a peacock tail and can sing!!! Madelyn was pretty fond of it too.

Happy Birthday sweetheart !!!

Madelyn Dobbs is now Three Years Old

One of Maddie's birthday presents was a new book from Grandma called "I am NOT sleepy and I WILL NOT got to BED" which is very appropriate for our darling Madelyn.

Georgie gives Madelyn a hand to open her presents.

I am armed and dangerous...where is that guinea pig !!!

No wonder I am so gorgeous with two such attractive parents !!

Happy Birthday Maddie !

Guinea Pig Girls

Madelyn and Georgie now have their very own pets...guinea pigs. Mark and Janet have never had guinea pigs before so this is a new experience for all of us.

Unfortunately we lost one of them on the second night (it died) and we are pretty sure it was sick when we got it from the pet store. Janet had the joyful task of picking up a dead guinea pig (cold and stiff) and putting it in an empty cardboard box. Poppy took it back to the pet shop the next morning and they begrudgingly replaced it for us.

The new guinea pig fitted in very well and seemed to be growing quite large, particularly around the stomach. It wasn't long before we began to suspect that she was pregnant and sure enough, two baby guinea pigs arrived on 5 July. The babies were very cute and Janet grew quite attached to them.

Unfortunately keeping four guinea pigs in one cage was a little cruel so we sadly gave one away to one of Georgie's schoolfriends. We kept the other baby for ourselves.

One night, when the girls were playing with the three guinea pigs Georgie called out to Janet "Mum, Madelyn has done something to the guinea pig !!" Janet raced downstairs to be told that Maddie had thrown the baby guinea pig up in the air and it had landed "splat" on the hard floor. Sadly, the baby guinea pig did not survive. Janet was devastated and had to call for help. Poppy and Grandma came to the rescue and took the dead baby guinea pig away. The girls were talking about the baby guinea pig going to heaven but I don't think they really understood.

Janet is still coming to terms with the loss of her baby guinea pig and has built a little memorial for her in the garden. There is a lesson in this for all of us though:

GUINEA PIGS DO NOT FLY !!!

RIP

The last few months have been very busy for my little social butterflies with lots of birthday parties to attend.

Kasey

Kirra

Cooper

Inalee

Jade

Adela

A day out for Janet and Maddie.

In May, we were blessed with lots of visitors.

* Scott, Sara and Sarina from Madison, Wisconsin, USA

* Jade and Lesley from Byron Bay, NSW, Australia

* Roslyn and Peter from Sawtell, NSW, Australia

It was busy, exhausting but absolutely unforgettable.

Jade, Roslyn and Lesley declare Georgie to be an honorary Bayliss Girl.

A stroll along the beach.

Sarina and Madelyn enjoying the ride. Sarina is wondering if her Mummy is going to need a tandem pram soon !!!

Peter and Maddie just chillin' out.