Christmas in Arizona

Lizzy's birthday meal on the 23rd, it was manic (we had ten children on another table) but lovely!

The yearly family breakfast with santa at Daisy's school!

Gareth led worship 8 times over the Christmas weekend, so it was great to collapse at the Cockrams for a fabulous Christmas day. Steve & I had a VERY quick dip in the pool - it was freezing. Helen & Gareth stayed in the hot tub! (Steve you owe me $25!)

Phil & Becky Beresic's wedding

Becky & phil got married on the 22nd December in Arizona. It was an awesome day!

Kangas for the girls

The girls were sent Kanga outfits by Granny Curnock from Tanzania. They loved them.

Yes Lord!

Thanksgiving!

We apologise for the terrible photos! But it gives you an idea!

Thanksgiving with the Breens, the Cockrams & Jonny. It was a lovely day, the Breens did a fine job of hosting - the best Shrimp & Steak in town!

The boys relaxing!

Supper & bed for the girls, & the adults finished the evening with watching Top Gun (Jonny & Sam had never seen it before!) followed by drinks around the fire!

It was a super day, we have so much to be thankful for!

We LOVE thanksgiving!

New Christmas pajamas! (yes it's early but were in the USA!)

Fall Fesitivities!

The Halloween alternative at church. We ALL dressed up this year!

It was held at the church car park, where we all decorated our trunks & gave out candy.

We think Jenifer & Dean should get 1st prize! Impressive or what!

Gareth's website!

So finally I have my own website so people can access my music and chord charts etc online. I'd love you to take a look and let me know what you think (especially things that can be improved!).

Click on www.garethrobinson.net and have fun!

October

Jonny got a truck! Check out the Jesus sticker on the back. Unfortunately the engine exploded about 2 weeks after he got it and he's had to spend lots of money getting it fixed :o(

It's all fine now, though. Go Jonny go!

We went to a pumpkin patch with the kids to get a pumpkin each to go outside the front door. It wasn't quite the same as last year - we think we were spoiled at Young's Farm - when we got to this one Daisy asked where all the rides were... Hmm.

They did, however, love playing in the corn. Bit bizarre, kind of like very large pieces of sand. But they loved it!

Lucy was 3!!! (going on 13)

Her party was in our back yard with 25 kids, plus their parents (thank goodness). We once again introduced our American friends to the delights of 'pass the parcel'. Here are some of them on the bouncy castle...

And of course no south western party is complete without a pinata. Sugar!

Toby had an... explosion whilst eating cottage pie. A nasty combination; the only solution was to de-robe him right there and bathe him in the kitchen sink. Helen & Steve Cockram's girls, Izzy and Meggy, were there and everyone found it very funny indeed - even Toby.

A 22 hour round trip to Palm Springs (4 hour's drive away) to see our friends Dave & Ro, with their kids Ben and Joshua. They were visiting LA and we both only had one day we could meet up. Fun, and very tiring!

Josh and Toby were the tiredest of all:

Ahhh.

Daisy and Lucy LOVED the hotel we stayed in.

Some other friends, Frog and Amy, were visiting Phoenix from London for a conference, and again we only got to see them for a short time, but it was lovely to catch up with them. They have 2 year old twins, Zac and JJ, who were gorgeous. JJ loves his food...

Zac also had quite a feast!

Jonny!

About 10 days ago we had Jonny Bell move in with us - he's here from the UK for a year working as an intern in the youth department at church. He's gorgeous and the kids love him. Daisy had to draw all the members of her family in her math class; her teacher looked very flummoxed as we picked her up asking 'who's Jonny?'!!! A compliment to Jonny, after less than a week he's part of our family.

Lucy starts ballet - at last

The most anticipated event of the summer has finally arrived... Lucy started ballet this week! She's been asking about it for weeks ('go ballet now?'). She was very proud in her new leotard.

Some more goodbyes

The lovely Saxtons - Chris, Jo, Tia (our god-daughter) and Zoe - left for cooler climes as Chris studies at Luther Seminary on his journey to ordination. We'll miss them. Here's a photo of Zoe with Toby. Hopefully they'll be back sooner than we know.

Jerica, a friend who's helped Lizzy with Mommy & Me, also left as she's relocating to Chicago. We're really sad to see her go, she's super-gifted but we're excited about all God's going to do through her up in Illinois.

This is no goodbye, we just loved these photos of Toby at Parent's Day Out, the group he goes to on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. With him is the amazing Granny Bev (who we think Toby likes more than us!!). Bev and Lisa, who runs the group, knew about Toby's sleep patterns (i.e. he doesn't seem to need much) and bought him this top, which seems to sum up Toby and the last 8 months of our lives with him!

See how happy he is at group?!

Green Electricity - at last!!

2 years after we got here we can finally purchase green electricity! We're thrilled to have just signed up with APS, our electricity provider, for 100% of our electricity to come from renewable resources - solar and geothermal.

It will add only about $10 to our monthly bill, so is totally worth it.

For our AZ friends who use APS, click here to see the page and feel better about that AC unit going all day and night!!

School, Jeeps, Pigs, Food

Daisy has started school...and she loves it. This is her with all the school supplies we had to buy, it took us two hours to interpret the list- a true cultural experience!

The girls were given a jeep last week from their friend Megan who had outgrown it, they think it is amazing, and are planning their trips to the park and shops in it!

Toby is not sure of the pink!

On Friday we had an unexpected visitor, a Javelina. I was too scared to take a photo when it was in our front yard but when it ran off I took this rather terible photo to prove it!

This is a classic Toby face when we are feeding him...