Cool

School starts again next week. For Maya, sleeping in until 2PM will be a thing of the past. She will have to totally retrain her body to wake up in time to get to school. She hasn't practiced yet because she thinks it will be a cinch but I know there will be at least a week of cranky, stinky attitude coming from her until things settle down. She'll tell me that she's NOT TIRED! She'll say that it's the fault of the school for GIVING HER SO MUCH DAMNED WORK TO DO! She'll say that she can't possibly do the dishes for me because she has SO MUCH HOMEWORK to do. Then the whines will turn into requests for me to drive her all over town so she attend all of her social engagements.

We've been trying to enjoy the last few days together before hell warms up again. We've been to what Henry refers to as the "cool" either because he refuses o say Pool or because it is actually quite cool. He loves it and it's been good because he starts swimming lessons again next week. The only problem is that we've all caught colds because we've been swimming in publicly gathered germs.

Maya gets her braces off in two weeks time and the only thing that would make her happier is if we got a call from Golden Casket telling us we'd won a gazillion bucks. Hopefully she'll be diligent in wearing a retainer so as not to undo the three and a half years of sacrifice she's made to ensure her teeth are straight.

Only good things

Henry asked me in the car today if I knew how to say good things. I told him I did and rattled off all the good things I knew how to say. Such as "I love you", "You're so precious", "You're the smartest, most handsome boy I know".

I asked him if he knew how to say good things. His response; "Yeah, but I only say naughty things because I'm good". What that was supposed to mean I have no idea.

Whenever I am feeling cross with him I tell him how I'm feeling. Now whenever he hears that tone in my voice he immediately stops what he's doing and looks at me with a huge grin on his face and says "Are you happy now?". As though that is the way to make everything right.

just a couple more

because I love them!

making the ordinary seem extraordinary

I'm going to bore you all stupid with photos we've taken since becoming the owners of a new Digital SLR. I love that I can make the junk lying around this house seem so cool. I can single out one thing among the myriad of stuff and present it to you as something interesting. Such as the dishes we rarely get around to putting away before we need to use them next.

Dead Snake

On the way home from the park we noticed this dead snake on the road. He looked at first as if he had been painted on there because of the way in which he'd been squashed and smashed into it.

Late afternoon in the park

Play Photos

Here are some more images taken with our new toy. We're still amatuers but we're doing ok I think. The doll house photograph was taken by Maya who seems to have a knack for photography.

Note the scratches on Henry's face. He got those the day we bought the camera. We took some time to look through some beautiful floor rugs hanging in a nearby shop. He was running in and out of them and came out with that. We don't know if it's carpet burn or not. He didn't complain about it.

Changes

I would post some more photos taken with our brand new camera but they're on the upstairs computer and since I have to book in ahead to use that one you'll have to wait. I'm typing this from Maya's eMac. A supercool little computer and the one she spends all night chatting to her friends on. I only know how to use it to its most basic features - like surfing the net for useless pieces of information such as who created Fireman Sam.

We rented a Fireman Sam DVD from the local video rental place. It's only a three night hire because apparently it's a new release, even though it was made in like 1915. It's the early episodes of Fireman Sam in which all the voices of all the characters came from the one man. The puppets don't have moving mouths so it's sometimes hard to distinguish who says what. If you're a Fireman Sam officianado like we've come to be you'll know that having these early episodes is almost as thrilling as watching water boil. I say that with only a hint of sarcasm because it is actually very interesting.

Interestingly enough Fireman Sam was created to help promote the Welsh Fire service. It started as a public service announcement. Fireman Sam is of course the town hero. If he can't fix it no one can. Norman, the redheaded village ratbag, comes from a single parent family. His mum runs the local store. Her name is Dylis and she's always on the hunt for a husband. In the newer episodes she is always flirting with Trevor the dark skinned bus driver. He always seems oblivious to her overtures. BUT...in the older episodes it's Trevor who's always attempting to have Dylis respond to his flirtations. He even calls her "my darling" and "sugarbag". At some point they must have decided that it was politically incorrect for a dark skinned bus driver to be making heavy moves on a white single mother struggling to keep her general store afloat. They've cut out all the endearments, except those made by Dylis to Trevor. Perhaps they thought girls and boys the world over needed to recognise that women were the ones with all the power. That they could be career women, have children and still attract a man.

Henry has noticed the subtle differences. He's noticed that Fireman Sam has the same voice as his nephew James. That Norman is dressed in different clothing. That Jupiter (the firetruck) has a different shape and that Bella, the Italian cafe owner, can't sing. He's not so fussed on the older episodes. The theme song and accomanying introduction is different and Henry refuses to sing along to it. He is a boy who does not like change, who would like for things to stay the same always. In an ever changing world he's never going to be happy. I'm going to have to send him to therapy in order to help him cope.

New things

We took advantage of the post Christmas long interest free period being offered by the large retailers and bought ourselves something that we've wanted for a long time. It's taken up a lot of our time in the last few days and it's going to take a long time for us to learn how to use it to its full potential. It's a Nikon D40x and so far we love it.

Of course the only thing to do with such a camera is take photos...of ourselves...in the mirror.

Wet Holiday

This is what you do when you're on holiday and it rains the entire time. You first get wet under the eaves while still in your pyjamas and then strip off and run through the puddles.

We spent a few days with my sister in Maryborough. We were hoping to get to the beach but unfortunately it rained the entire time we were there. It was beautiful, soaking, welcome rain but it left us with little to do in the great outdoors. We did take a few walks in the rain and ride bikes through the puddles until we were covered in mud but other than that we sat around and read books and solved puzzles - lots of them.

Christmas is over for another year and I've taken the tree down already. Now the dreary drudgery of life returns. Back to work for me and daycare for Henry. Maya still has a few weeks left to sleep until midday and then get up and spend the entire day on the internet chatting to her friends. It is of course much more pleasant to chat to them online than it is to see them in person outside of the house.

Fire Hose

Testing out the fire hose that Santa brought. This came with the fireman costume that has not yet been used. The hose however has been put to good use squirting his sister.