Latest addition

At 1.30am on Thursday morning, Katherine Robins gave birth to little Niamh May (Irish spelling - pronounced Neve) weighing in at 8 pounds 2 ounces. Mum is now home and both are doing well. Congratulations to Allen and Katherine!!

Christmas Crafts

On Friday night we held our final Enrichment meeting for the year. We decided to do Christmas crafts and had 4 things to which the sisters could pick 1 or 2.

card making with Catherine Batten
candy cane reindeer with Simone Triffitt
Christmas cone lolly trees with Jackie Webster
fabric Christmas trees with Phyllis Moores

Everybody brought a Christmas plate to share and we also had a display of some of the different Enrichment activities we had been doing throughout the year. Sisters brought quilts they had been working on and some gingerbread houses that had not been attacked by mischievous little fingers.



It was a wonderful evening full of chatter and good spirits.

Jenny McBain and June Bounds

Catherine Batten and Sister Doig

Lee-anne, Tash and Maranda

Thankyou to our babysitters Leah and Kayla Bradbury - hop you enjoyed the choccy!!

Decorating gingerbread houses

Last night for our Enrichment cooking activity we decorated gingerbread houses and sleighs under the tutelege of Barbara Young. Barbara has a tradition of making and decorating gingerbread houses for her family every year and we were privileged to have her share this tradition with us.

We met at the chapel at 7pm arms ladden with lollies and icing sugar and our creative hats on. The icing sugar was like an adhesive and it worked really well sticking the sides of the house together and then the roof and the door.

Barbara's house

Lilley-Mae making a sleigh with Mum Liz looking on

We then moved on to decorating our houses with lollies and lollies and more lollies. We even put lollies inside our houses before we put the roof on. There were so many different ideas and they all turned out fantastic. It did not matter if you were really precise or kind of just threw your lollies on, they all looked amazing.

Everybody was concentrating really hard and everynow and again there would be oohs and aahs ahhs as people admired each other's creations.




It was a really fun night but it can get very messy with all the icing sugar everywhere. Check out the mess on this table...........Sister Doig - surely that is not all your mess!!!

After a good 2 hours of work here are some of our creations. There are going to be some lovely table decorations this Christmas.






GINGERBREAD -

7 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp each of ground ginger, ground cloves, cinammon
1/3 cup of oil
1 1/2 cups treacle
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup cold water

Mix oil, treacle and sugar in mixing bowl. Gradually add water until well mixed. Combine this with mixed dry ingredients. Oil tray and rolling pin and roll out in tray. Cut into gingerbread house using template. (see below. Bake at 150 degrees for 25-30 mins. (cooking time depends on thickness of gingerbread)

ROYAL ICING

3-4 egg whites (room temp)
500g pure icing sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff then add icing sugar and beat until right consistency.

Egg Yolk Sponge - a recipe to use the egg yolks not used in the royal icing.

4 egg yolks
pinch salt
3tblsps water

Beat 1 min.
Add small cup sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add i large cup SR flour and 3 tblsps milk. Fold in do not beat.

Bake 25 mins.

GINGERBREAD HOUSE AND SLEIGH TEMPLATES -

Gingerbread Houses

On Saturday morning a few Sisters got together to make gingerbread houses and sleighs for our cooking group later in the month. Barbara makes them every year for her family and it is a tradition that our sisters were eager to learn about.

We met at Sarah's house to make the gingerbread and then the fun part - Wed Nov 28 at the chapel - we will be putting them together with icing and decorating them with lots of lollies.

The Collectors

Last Wednesday morning we held a 'Collectors' morning tea at Catherine's house. Her collections have featured on the ABC show, The Collectors. She has some amazing things and even more so are the amazing stories behind some of the pieces she has collected.

Catherine started collecting different things about 20 yrs ago and now has a range of collections ranging from tin plates and paintings, black Japanese pottery, lids and buttons.

Catherine is very creative and talented. She has a degree in Fine Arts and has done her Masters.She also loves to dabble in card-making and pottery.

This tin plates is dated 1905Japanese pottery

tin plates

Collection of lids

Catherine's own ceramic pottery creations

This painting was done in 1750

Our enthralled audience

tapestry from Thailand

A beautiful beaded collar. Each tiny bead was hand-stitched on

card making bits and pieces

Ward Halloween Night

Although technically this was not a RS activity, it was so good that we have had a few requests to put it on the blog. Alot of these photos are thanks to Toni Coward who got awesome shots in before it got too dark.

Last night our ward held our "trunk or treat" Halloween Party ward activity. It is becoming more popular and safer now for everyone to meet together, say in a carpark, and decorate the boot of their car. All the children then go around each boot collect their treats and participate in some gooey, slimy or scary activity that is going on from each boot.

It is much safer than letting the kids go off to knock on people's doors, particularly those they don't know or if everyone lives too far away from each other to walk.

Our activity was held at the Websters home in Weegeena. It was a great missionary opportunity as heaps of non-member families came and had a fantastic time.

The evening started with the trunk or treat with all the cars set up in a big circle and all the kids got heaps of lollies - enough to keep them hyper for days. (sorry parents) We also held a doughnut eating competition with doughnuts tied with string hanging from one big long piece of string and you had to try and eat the doughnut as quick as you could with your hands behind your back.

Some of our SCARY car boots............

Melanie Corona

Jordan Christie and Jackie Webster

For tea we had a sausage sizzle and heaps of different desserts - pumpkin pie of course, spicy pumpkin roll and finger food that members brought along.

some wormy dessert made by Toni Coward

Next on the agenda was a hayride for the kids. Kim Triffitt had brought in his tractor with a big flat tray trailer on the back piled up with bales of hay. All the kids jumped on, still clutching their lollies and off we went. Levi was dressed up as Dracula with a big long cape and he got on his motorbike and kept everyone entertained through the paddocks by doing wheelies and jumps. It was a sight to see, particularly with nighttime approaching.

When the hayride finished, the haunted house was opened up. The Webster family along with the help of the Young Men had decked out their huge shed all with boxes covered in black. They made tunnels and paths that we had to crawl through and follow. It was pitch black except for some weird lights and the young men were dressed up with masks and they would jump out at us. It was really effective. Groups of four would go in at a time and Brother Webster would make sure the young men were told if young ones were coming through as opposed to older ones who could tough out the scary stuff.

The night was a huge success and even the rain could not dampen anyone's spirits. There were some amazing costumes and Bishop got to judge the cutest and scariest ones. It was such a good night that we hope it becomes a tradition every year as Halloween once more comes around.

SCARY COSTUMES...................

Jaron and Toni as The Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood

Levi and Louise Triffitt

Jessica Bradbury and friends

Emily Triffitt

Sam Ziesel

Simone Triffitt (Frankenstein's bride)

Sister Doig and Simone Triffitt

Louise Triffitt (with Will), Mel Corona, Simone Triffitt, Toni Coward

Lil and Jaron Coward

Cool kids all dressed up...............

Charna Corona

Oscar Coward as Thomas the Tank Engine

Kealin Corona

Jackson Corona and Oscar Coward

Little bear- William Triffitt

Kealin Corona and Hallie Triffitt- twin spidermen