IT HAS BEGUN!

Ariana was recently invited to her 1st, 1 year birthday party! One of the neighbours little girl turned 1 (As you are aware, it's not really appropriate to show a photo on the web)

A fairy party, so it was off to the shops to purchase a set of wings.
(These wings were special, coz they are soft - that is wire free - and also came with a nice crown and skirt).

As you can see she is one very cute fairy!



The party was great fun, lots of balloons, party hats, and cake.

Ariana enjoyed herself ...
- she tried to break (by bashing heavily on the ground) one of the new gifts;
- she grabbed the other baby at the party from behind and pulled her to the ground, pounced on her and then tried to bite her; and
- she also grabbed the birthday girl by the hair on each side of her head, shook her from side to side, then dropped her to the ground, pounced on her and scratched her face!

Some people would blame the parents ... We blame the cousins!

DAN'S NEW TOY

If you have been following our blogger you would have read a past blog (DAN'S NEW WORKPLACE, 18 September 2005) about Dan's workplace moving to Milton, which lead to a rather long (up to 1.5 hours) trip to/from work. A number of possible solutions were considered ... we now have the answer!

For those that don't know motorbikes, you are looking at a Suzuki VL250 Intruder. Which is basically a 250cc (pretty much the smallest bike engine) cruiser (that is Harley wannabe) style bike.

There's a little bit of a story of how we came to own a bike ... so if you have the time please feel free to read on.

After coming to the conclusion that the travel to work was way too long we started looking at possible alternatives. We ruled a car out due to the cost and limited parking near work, and decided that maybe the cheapest and easiest solutions was a scooter.

We started looking around and investigating the scooter scene, the top of the list was a 50cc scooter as this did not require a bike license and would get me to and from work (just). Dan was encouraged to look into Q-ride for the safety aspects that they would teach. After completing the Q-ride course and obtaining an open bike license, we considered maybe a slightly larger scooter would be the go. Dan finally decided that he wanted at least a 250cc that could keep up with the traffic on the highway, for when he would need to travel to the other side of the city for soccer.

As there were not really any inspiring 250cc scooters we entered the world of bikes, and decided that the cruiser styles were the way to go. There are basically only about 4 types of 250cc cruisers on the market, 2 of these were way too expensive, the other 2 we were considering. Then Roz found the jackpot ... an '05 model bike with only 270km on the clock for significantly cheaper than a new bike!!

We finally managed to drive up to the Sunshine coast to check it out, organise the finance, and then drive up the coast again to bring to home. So now Dan is getting to and from work within about 20mins ... which allows for more sleep in the morning and time with his family at night. YEAH!

HOLIDAYS!!

(posted by Roz)

It has been a long while since we have done a post. So here is a quick tour of December with us!!

• Adam, Clair, Josiah and Lukis arrive from Perth for an 8wk holiday
  Adam did well at his first year at Perth Bible College; Clair has made lots of friends and settled in nicely; Josiah (3 1/2) is now getting older - he's a little boy who loves Colin, singing, plane trips, and is generally a whole bunch of giggle-fun; Lukis (15mnths) is a little monkey - he can escape out of any cot, falls over and hits his head lots, smiles and giggles, makes lots of funny happy noises, is a bit of a grub and is crazy to boot!!
• Roz makes lots of Christmas Cards (50!)
• Annual Christmas breakups for Daniel's work; Roz's school mates; church things
• Roz's Mum's birthday - so a coast trip
• Ariana's First Christmas!!
• Niven Sibling Bash based at our house
  We saw Narnia, ate out at nice places, went to the Carlton United Brewery Tour, the boys played lots of cricket and we generally just enjoyed each others company

Lukis at Grandma and Poppy's (standing still for once!)

Ariana opening Christmas presents

Josiah while camping at Fingal Heads (NSW)