Mummy's Christmas Recount

Everybody else has done their Christmas recount so I thought I had better hurry up and do mine!

 Christmas began with a very large delivery from Santa's sleigh! I'm pretty sure he would have needed to go back to the North Pole to restock after unloading this lot!

 Then at the prearranged time of 5.15 am three little men rose. Or maybe they re-rose as Daddy had put Matthew back to be at 1am, to discover that Santa had been. They hot footed it over to Cleon and Michelle's to collect Uncle Brenty and Aunty Kata.

 Then they had to wait and wait and wait until all of the adults got out of bed and got a coffee and then finally sat down ready to watch to proceedings.

 When the starting gun went of there was flying wrapping paper everywhere!

 Bolt wasn't forgotten and he loved his new bird and he promptly tore off an eye and a leg and is currently in surgery trying to remove the birdies squeaker heart!

But what Bolty really wanted for Christmas was the boys new Sherrin from Brenty and Kata! Look at the look on his face while he is looking at that ball!

 Daddy was thrilled to share Christmas with his little brother!

 Ben was thrilled that Mummy and Daddy gave him a tablet so now when he goes for Sunday morning donuts and baby chinos he has his own tablet to play. 

 This photo shows just how thankful and full of love he was for his Mummy! Trust me he put a lot of love in that squeezing hug!

 Ryan was super, super thrilled with his Chromebook. If you look closely it is written all over his face!

 Matthew was thinking his new go pro was going to help him make awesome lego movies!

 Kata and Brenton were just thinking if it was time to go back to bed yet! ;-)

 Nana was having fun but the coffee hadn't hit Poppy yet!

 Up there with Ben's favourite present was his Max D t-shirt that Santa got him from the monster truck show. He was super impressed that Santa was able to source it from the show and so far has been sticking to the conditions Santa placed upon his ownership of the shirt. Santa included a return address so if Ben doesn't comply with the conditions Mummy has to send it back!

 As you can see they were all very, very, impressed with their Christmas haul.

 But by far the favourite present for all three boys has been their flat caps. The first night I had to tell all three to take them off for bed and since that moment they only take them off for bed!

 Oh! Look the coffee has hit! Poppy is awake!

 Daddy love,love, loved the Mark Webber Red Bull F1 remote control car that Mummy got him. He took it out of the box for a very quick spin and then promptly installed it in the bookcase above his desk in his mancave study!

Lunch was a very lavish affair with table decorations, personalised name cards, candles and best of all buckets and buckets of food. Ben ate his body weight in prawns including 'prawn gravy' otherwise known as the brains!

After lunch the 4X4 remote control car and jump that Nana Bev and Grumpy brought the boys got a spin and plenty of air!

 Then this is what the afternoon looked like....

 Or this for those who had worked their guts out in the kitchen for two days!

I hope your Christmas was as Merry as ours!

The Elfelfa the Elf Helper saga continues!

He really has been running amok! 

First, he drew all over a family photo. He gave Ryan a tail, Matthew horns, Ben glasses, me a halo and Nathan hair!

 But the boys were horrified with his behaviour. When I suggested that perhaps we should send him back to Santa Ryan and Ben agreed! The little army men were also very unhappy with his behaviour!

 Thank goodness the next morning Elfelfa the Elf Helper made they boys breakfast to make up for all the trouble!

 He even wrote a little sorry note.

 The next morning we woke up to a lego snow angel!

 Followed by a reminder that Elfelfa the Elf Helper was in constant contact with Santa. He also brought back from the North Pole their mid December report card from Santa the same day that they received their school report cards. Their teachers were more impressed with their progress than Santa was!

 And last night Elfelfa the Elf Helper made a flying fox out of some ribbon and a candy cane. Apparently he had so much fun all night!

It has been amazing to see the magic of Christmas come alive this year. I really thought it was going to over, after all Matthew is 10 but Elfelfa has re invigorated Christmas magic big time in this house!

Ummmm Ahhhhh!!! ELFELFA!!!!!!

Last night he got into the bubble gum ball jar! And he ate one! And blew bubbles! Naughty Elfelfa!

What Elfelfa the Elf Helper did next...

Last night he helped Ben with his hearing homework! Which resulted in Ben being super motivated to beat Elfelfa's best score! Yay!

Elfelfa the Elf Helper

This Christmas we thought we would try something different from the usual rotten potato threats! Because we know how well that worked! 

So this year we have enlisted an Elf on the shelf to help. Our elf arrived in the mail yesterday after days and days of anticipation. Saying the boys were busting to meet him was an understatement!

Once we had him unpacked we needed to give him a name and the boys decided on Elfelfa the Elf Helper. We were standing near our Alfalfa grower at the time! I explained the rules to the boys and we registered our new elf online. We printed our adoption certificate and perused the Frequently Asked Questions page on the website. The boys were pleased to know if they accidentally touch him they can cleanse him with cinnamon to refresh the magic and Mum and Dad were pleased that if the elf is in the same position as the night before it just means he is happy there! Phew!

 Then in the morning they woke up and found Elfelfa the Elf Helper riding the boys favourite monster truck jump! They went off! And the magic of Christmas has been re-invigorated for another year! The boys then raced around cleaning their rooms and doing their jobs to ensure they get a favourable report tonight. They got a little freaked out when Ben swore he saw his head move and then they all witnessed either his head move or his eyes move!

Then Ben sat down quietly to do this:-

 This is a picture of Elfelfa the Elf Helper.

And this is a picture of Santa! The bottoms line says The Rickard's believe in you. Awwwwww!

Fishing

Grumpy and Uncle Noddy have been planning this fishing trip since our last trip in Brisbane in April! So when it finally arrived the boys were super, super excited. Just quietly so where Noddy and Grumpy. Nathan was just praying he wouldn't get sea sick....in the Punicestone passage!

 In the beginning they started out with life vests (at Nanna Bev's request) and if you look really closely you can see Matt and Ben holding onto the table for dear life!

 But they soon relaxed!

 I had worded the boys up that fishing requires patience. It appears Matthew has patience in abundance! Meanwhile Ben was running around in circles, almost wetting himself exclaiming "Fishing takes patience! Fishing takes patience!" And Ryan was anxiously worrying about not catching a fish!

 Uncle Noddy caught the first fish...... Not sure how canned Atlantic Salmon made it to Bribie!

 But Benny caught the first real fish!

 Cousin Eli got one too!

 Ryan practise with barnacles first....

 Before snagging a fish!

 Matthew's patience lasted the longest time with him being the last to catch one. Now just between you and me each child caught 3 fish each and the total of fish brought home was 6. 3 X 4 = 6 is only a reality when Jenni has done the math! Turns out Uncle Noddy was re-hooking the fish and chucking them back in when the boys weren't looking!

 It certainly looks like he didn't enjoy himself at all does it?

 Grumpy certainly didn't enjoy quality time with his grandsons either! Is he giving my eldest son rabbit ears???

 Nathan had the biggest catch of the day.......it was a big stick!

 By far and away the hardest job was filleting the fish. Winter whiting has not minimum size and the boys were very insistent on eating their catch. So poor Grumpy had a go at making fish fingers! Thankfully he had been on a real fishing trip recently and had caught enough fish to feed us all!

 They LOVED them! Ryan was absolutely convinced the fresher the fish the more brain food it contained and insisted on being quizzed on multiplication at dinner. Funnily enough he thinks 4 X 3 =12!

Looks good doesn't it!