The Hills Family of Mt Isa: 2010–November “A month of fun!”

November was a month of much excitement! Visiting Clem Walton Park was not the only thing we did in November!!

Matilida “Tilly” Beagle

This is Matilda “Tilly” Beagle – she can’t see me – so I (apparently) can’t see her sleeping on my bed!

Pool Fun!!

Pool Fun!! They have such a great time in this ‘little’ pool! One day we will own a real one!!

Emi & her ‘ribby’!

Emi & her “ribby”! I made this for her when she was only a few months old. It is (was) made of squares of different textured material or material with some nice patterns of them. It has been her constant companion since I gave it to her!! I feel it is time for ‘ribby’ to look to retirement, she has done her duty well.

Storm Coming!

Storm coming in from the west

Tilly’s onto it!!

That’s the end of the macadamia tree! It has been attacked by termites and died some time earlier – but I was reticent to cut it down as it was providing much needed shade in the yard! The only consolation is the green you can see at the stump is new macadamia tree growth – now all we need to do is wait 15yrs!!

TaTa Lizard?

Now I really don’t know the name of this lizard – but I call him “TaTa” as he seems to wave his paw/claw foot at me as if to say TaTa or ByeBye!! He was quite tame on this day and let me get quite close!

Emi is 5!!

14 November 2010 saw the Divine Miss Em turn 5! When asked what cake she wanted this year, she replied “A monkey princess” – like it was the easiest thing in the world for me do! Now, if you don’t already know – I can’t draw a breathe at the best of times – let alone a “Monkey Princess”. So, I said, that I didn’t know how to make a monkey princess and could we maybe have a number 5 cake or an ice-cream cake from the shops!

“NO! “ came the reply, closely followed by “I will draw one for you, and you can copy it!” and so that is what happened!!

Emi’s “Monkey Princess”

So – to go with the monkey – you need a banana tree! This one is made of curly wurly’s, mint leaves and banana’s – all lollies!!

Emi helps to make the cake.

Cooper helps to make the cake!

It’s present time!!!

Some “art n craft” stuff!

A pretend puppy and pretend makeup – that even your brother can play with!!

The first Masterpiece with the “art n craft” stuff!!

The Monkey Princess Cake!!

So – two square chocolate cakes (challenge in itself with my oven!) covered in lemon cream cheese icing – my blank canvas – and the image that I am to plagiarise!!

It’s not exact – but it is close!! The crown is made of crushed banana lollies, the face is chocolate sprinkles, crushed up musk lollies made for tasty ears and colour coded “mm’s” for the dress and scarf thingy!!

As per all birthday cakes – it does not matter what it looks like – it’s how it tastes that matters!!

Here it comes!! Don’t drop it daddy!

Yay – let’s eat!!

Coop Joins Emi at Kindy!

As Cooper is to start Kindy in 2011 – he was able to have a bit of a trial period at the kindy he will be going to. This also happens to be Emi’s Kindy (well for 2010 at least!).

He went for three Monday’s until the end of school term – and LOVED it! Which is the complete opposite to “daycare” – where, for the whole of 2010 – he cried and would not let me leave each time I dropped him off!

I am hoping that his excitement and willingness to go was not solely based on Emi being there – otherwise I will no doubt have trouble again!!

Officially meeting Miss Sue and Miss Narelle

Inside puzzle play before school starts

Outside Play – YAY!! School has started!

Bushfire!

One night – we noticed the clouds had a kind of pink/orange colour – so we went for a drive to see why? Turns out that there was a MASSIVE bushfire – that had no doubt been burning for some days! It was some distance from the road – but still impressive!

The next day – when everyone was at work or school – I went back out for a drive – it was still burning and obviously at some stage had reached the road! Oh well – here’s to new wonderful growth after some rain!!

Emi’s First School Bus Trip!!

With just a few weeks left of school, the Kindy went on a bus trip around the mine, so that the kids could see where their dad’s, mum’s or even grandparents and uncles etc work! A few mum’s went along for the ride and found it most interesting – if you could hear the commentary above the noise of 22 children aged 4-5 all trying to talk louder then the next!!

Needless to say – I was not able to retain much of the information from the 2.5hr trip – but it was informative non the less

Here we go! The wheels on the bus go round and round…………….

Sun’s a bit bright – “can I have your sunglasses mummy?”

Daddy’s office!!

This pile has (apparently) about $3million worth of Cooper and other metals with in it. It is a pile that has been put together many years ago, prior to the mine refining its process. It will cost the mine approx. $5million to extract anything of any value – so they will use this pile for some other purpose!

This sign made me laugh! I don’t think it is meant to!!

This is the “crib” area for the

Various Images from the mine – when I can nail down Graham – I will ask him to fill me in on what they all are!

Look a Spaceman!! No, Not really! Just one of the fella’s who work in the lead smelter area. These guys need to ensure they always have short nails, short hair; they shower and changed their overalls twice a day and are tested every 6wks for Blood Lead Levels If they register a positive reading they are “leaded out” – i.e.: given desk duties for a while!

Emi performs in the Kindermusik Extravaganza!!

All year, Miss Murnae (pronounced Mornay), from Kindermusik, came to Emi’s Kindy to teach the kids about instruments, beats, music and dance. According to Wikipedia,

“Kindermusik s a method of early childhood education in music and movement. It combines the early learning music methods of Carl Orff, Zoltan Kodaly and Suzuki method with early childhood development research. The Kindermusik philosophy is founded on the following fundamental beliefs: every parent is the child's most important teacher, every child is musical, the home is the most important learning environment, music nurtures a child's cognitive, emotional, social, language, and physical development.”