My Heritage

I am an Australian...............through and through........or so I thought, once upon a time. My parents are German and Austrian, and that has put a huge inprint on me. Every Christmas, my specialties, which I love to bake, are Austrian. Mind you I make a pretty mean fruit cake, which surpasses every fruitcake I have ever tasted, even if I say so myself - that's my Australian component of my Christmas cuisine.

Every Thursday, (when it's on) I watch "Inspector Rex". It's not the fact that it's an excellent show that I watch it, it's because it's in Austrian. Austrians speak German but it's as different as Australian English to English English! I hear the program come on and it gives me goosebumps. It takes me back to all the years that I spoke the language at home. German is my first language! I spoke only German until I went to school, and I still always had to speak it at home. It's funny, but I can come across someone in the supermarket talking to their friend/partner in German and I want to respond in German, especially if they are asking a question about something and I think I could help........bizarre, because I would never be so rude as to actually butt in. But the whole 'German' thing is so strong and so close to my heart. Even my dh pricks up his ears at the language and feels a closeness to it, which I find really sweet........

I am a proud Australian, with extrememly proud German and Austrian roots..........

Recent layouts

These were taken on Sammy's birthday. We took him down in the backyard and Opa brought the bike down the side of the stairs while Billy-Joe covered his eyes. It was a delight watching his response.


Mickey's first day of school. I also journalled about Billy-Joe and how he takes care of his younger brothers. I am so proud of these kids.....



I took this photo on Sammy's 7th birthday and the layout says '7 things i love about you'



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Photos of the houses where I lived when I was a child growing up in Geelong. This was the first time I had seen these houses in 16 years.




Some Christmas Eve snapshots.

Good night

It's late, midnight in fact - and I am heading off to bed after a marathon weekend of scrapbooking. I went last night, and was home at midnight, so, earlier than normal and then ran around this morning like a hairy, old goat doing my housework and washing while dh took the kidlets to the football. By the time he came home I was organized and almost ready to head out again. I am taking part in a survey which looks at the road system on the coast. As I am often complaining about the constant influx of interstaters and yet the total lack of infrastructure to cope with this - I felt obligated to take part when I was asked. I have to map everything thing I did yesterday, plus my kids and my dh. I had 12 stops yesterday!!! It couldn't have been on a day where I stayed home all day............no I had alot of things to do, and I had to write about every stop, the whys and wherefores........so I did part of that this morning before I left. I have spent the day with my best friends, laughing, eating, laughing and scrapbooking and having a fabulous time. I actually did some layouts too, I will upload the finished one tomorrow. I am home now............hoping for a better night's rest than I had last night.... I just wanted to wind down before I headed off to bed.

I took a photo today of Sammy with his missing teeth.........oh he looks so cute, and more mischievous than normal. I will upload that tomorrow too. In the store, Barbi had these little gauze bags for the tooth fairy to collect the teeth from........(bit more flashy than a tissue) - Sammy will find that under his pillow in the morning and believe that the tooth fairy left it for him. I am so lucky that the kids believe in these wonderful things. Billy-Joe will be 11 and his faith in the tooth fairy, Easter Bunny and Santa is still very strong..... I am bracing myself for that to change. He has already asked about it, but is not prepared to let go of that magic yet, and I am grateful for that. I think the biggest gift I can give my children, is their childhood and all the mysteries and magic that comes with it...........

Good night..........God Bless!