Welcome to 2009

Happy New Year everyone! It feels like forever since I last posted and I guess it almost was. We had nearly two weeks away and I have to say it was fantastic. It was very hard to come back here to reality but I have a feeling 2009 is going to be a fantastic year. To celebrate Ben and I went out and bought a new vacuum cleaner. I know you're all thinking "so what" but let me tell you that for at least this afternoon my husband has been more attentive to housework than ever before. Just look at how happy he is to have that thing in his hands. This house has been dusted like it never has before. We could eat off the floor and the walls and even under the beds if we wanted to...that's how busy he's been with it.

I'll get busy with posting more news and photos of our very eventful and extremely busy Christmas vacation back to my home town as soon as I've had a chance to get myself sorted and things back to normal.

Merry Christmas 2008

We're off tomorrow to some parts north of here to spend Christmas with my family. We're all very excited but the stress of getting there is already taking its toll. There's packing to do and no one wants to do it. Mainly because there is inevitably an argument and confusion while everyone (me) makes sure they've got what they need. We've got the tent which will be our backyard home for a few days, then comes bedding, clothing, presents etc. It's all got to fit in the car and then we've got to squash ourselves in with it. Fortunately it's only a three hour trip.

Tuesday there is a special day in store for me. We'll be backtracking just a small distance south again to meet with a friend I haven't seen in years. She's had twins during that time; babies she tried years to make. She doesn't know I'm coming and the surprise will surely get me in the festive mood.

There will be kids galore around on Christmas day and that is what makes Christmas special. The joy on their faces Christmas morning when they wake to excitedly dig through their stockings is priceless.

So to you all, Merry Christmas. We hope it's festive and merry and that santa brings you all you wish for whatever it may be.

Star Jumping

New addition to the family

We now have 5 guitars in our family. The latest addition being a bass guitar. Am I happy? Sort of. Bass guitars are generally noisy and I'm hoping my peace will not be destroyed. I'm thinking that my ears might just explode with the sounds of happiness that guitar is going to bring to my daughter and husband.

Thanks Owen!

Dear Owen
Thank you so much for that lovely drawing you sent to me. I really like it. I hope Santa brings you some lovely presents. I hope he brings me some lovely presents too.

Merry Christmas

Love
Henry
xoxox

I can't believe how well I feel this morning considering that I must have drunk the equivalent of 16 bottles of champagne yesterday while playing a few rounds of putt-putt golf. It was Ben's xmas party; the booze was free and we only had a few hours in which to play golf, drink booze and eat a lot of food so we did it all at a harried pace in the heat of the day. Luckily the champagne and beer was icy cold and we were able to quench our thirst - a lot.

Anyway the lead up to Xmas this year has been fun for Henry. He's counting down the days until Santa comes and "brings him a whole lot of presents at once". He's tired of daycare and each day asks me how many more days he needs to go before we can go on holiday. Fortunately for him he'll have two weeks off and we'll spend most of that up north, camping in my sister's vast backyard.

The toy catalogues are thoroughly read as they arrive in our mail box - a mental list is made in his head and then he asks me to transfer that mental list to note paper so Santa will know exactly what it is he wants. The list is rather long and I've had to explain to him that Santa can't possibly bring everything he asks for because he has so many other things in his sack that not everything will fit. That answer doesn't really seem to be cutting the mustard though and either Henry will wake up terribly disappointed on Christmas Day or he will be so excited he will have forgotten about all the things he asked for but didn't get.

I think he's found his calling

And we ate in celebration...

Happy Birthday Maya

Maya is celebrating a significant milestone today. Well she would be if she was even out of bed yet. I decided not to wake her too early because when you're 16 and precious you need all the sleep you can get so as not to make life hell for your parents.

So we're totally going to be eating a whole lot of food today because that's how we celebrate in this house. We're out to breakfast first and then she's going off to do something with her friends before we head out to eat some more food tonight at this joint. It's been there for a long, long time. I know this because I used to frequent it when I was about her age but back then, in the 80's, it was totally swinging with magicians and they sometimes even served alcohol to underage drinkers - or perhaps we were already underage drunk before we got there.

So a great big fat happy birthday to my first born!

Trampling all over the sales.

Two reasons to avoid the post Christmas sales...here and here.

The Gift of Nothing

Yesterday afternoon Henry and I met some of our neighbourhood friends at the park. Discussions ensued about Christmas and what Santa was bringing the children, assembling Christmas trees and of course, Christmas shopping.

I told her how much I disliked it, especially when you were trying to shop for the kids with them in tow. We got around to talking about all the fake, nicely wrapped presents the shops include in their Christmas displays and how the kids insist on trying to open them. Henry has done this of course, but as far as I'm concerned if the shops put them within reach of small children they must suffer the consequences. I knew I wasn't the only one who felt this way but was secretly giving myself a high five when my friend told me she never apologised when her son opened kinder surprises or tore kids books etc which were always displayed at eye level and therefore within reach of small children at shop checkouts. She said she had been asked to pay for such items and had argued that she had no intention of buying them in the first place and if the shop was stupid enough to place them within reach of her two year old son they could cop it as "collateral damage".

I love it when someone feels the same way as me. We also talked about disciplining our children in public for such offences mostly to appease the shop owners and their patrons when really the children were doing what comes naturally.

I didn't tell her about the 1m square cell I have at home for other offences such as throwing my christmas baubles around the house because I'm pretty sure she doesn't have one herself.

Your branches are so lovely

The Christmas Tree went up yesterday and while I'd like to say that it was a joyous occasion in which my children and I bonded over the hanging of the star, I can't because it would be a complete fabrication of the truth.

I made the mistake days ago of telling Henry that it was nearly time to bring out the tree. For days he did not let the idea go and asked me repeatedly if it was "Monday tree day" yet. I did a deal that I knew as I was making it, wouldn't stick. I told him we could get the tree out, assemble it and decorate it when Monday - 1 Dec came around. Everyone who has children knows that you should never mention anything until two minutes before it's about to happen because that two minutes of hell is bearable in comparison to the days or weeks of hell that ALWAYS follows an important announcement. So as you probably guessed, I caved in a whole four days before Dec 1.

The decorations came out from their storage space under my bed. The carton they were in had about 10 inches of dust on it, the removal of which had me sneezing for the rest of the day. Never mind, I thought, onward and upwards - this WILL be fun. Henry's eyes lit up as soon as the carton was opened. He could see sparkling things and the possibilities in his mind were endless. He dove in and started throwing them all around the house just to see them sparkle as they fell. I did what all good parents would do and explained to him they were for the tree only and if he didn't stop what he was doing he would be confined to a 1 x1 metre square cell for the rest of his life.

I searched for the lights because all good tree decorating guides say they should go first. I couldn't find them in the carton so I turned my bedroom upside down and then the kitchen cupboards and the bathroom cupboards and the cupboards downstairs but they had disappeared. Determined that the tree was going to be decorated I got in the car, with Henry, and drove to the local supermarket to pick up some lights because there was no way my tree was going to be left to sit in a darkened corner full of sparkly things that wouldn't sparkle because there was no light.

I grabbed a set that had the word "sparkling" all over the packaging. That was all I was looking for so they would do. We got back home and I started tearing into that packaging when I realised they were not tree lights but some icicle string things designed to be hung outside. I tried hard not to scream as I threw them on the ground and went in search, yet again of my old ones. I found them in a plastic bag under my bed and breathed a sigh of relief.

Once the lights were hung I let Henry and Maya go for it. Maya lost interest half way through because her Myspace friends were hailing her in the background and Henry was only interested in throwing things at the tree rather than hanging them so I ended up doing it myself. Once I had finished I looked around at the carnage in the loungeroom and decided I needed a cup of tea and a lie down.

Before falling asleep last night

H: Mum, when I grow up I'm going to be a sister.

Me: Are you going to turn into a girl?

H: No, I'm going to be a boy sister.

Pinecone Spaghetti

According to Henry this is Pinecone Spaghetti.

Self-Portait

Not only is she beautiful but she's also talented! Oh and she can sing. Last night she sang to an audience in her school music class grading performances and she did a fantastic job.

Bad Bad Mother

Tonight Maya had her final drama performance for the year and it was being marked by her teacher. I missed it because I stupidly had the time wrong and showed up half an hour late. I think it's going to take quite some time for her to forgive me and for me to forgive myself. I'm not sure what's wrong with me though because yesterday I completely forgot that Henry had to be at a birthday party at 2.30PM and was only reminded by my friend who rang to see if I had got lost on the way there.

Apparently Maya's performance was outstanding and her teacher has very kindly promised to give me a DVD copy of it. I'll promise to watch it over and over until I know the lines by heart myself and can recite them in my sleep. That's how much I love her.

Morning Conversations

H: Mum, how come you're having a shower? Why didn't you come in and read me a story?

M: Good morning Henry. Lovely to see you. Did you get out of bed on the wrong side this morning?

H: No, I didn't. I just got out of my own bed.

M: Did you have a bad dream then?

H: No.

M: Did you have any dreams?

H: Yes.

M: Who was it about?

H: It was just about people and things were in it.

M: Like who? Was Sportacus in it?

H: Yeah

M: And Stephanie?

H: No because she's a girl and I don't have girls in my dreams.

Floodzone

These photos were taken in Woolcock Park. The park's beautiful hand made ceramic sign was smashed and the two pieces of it seen in these photos were found several metres from each other.

The park is features some wonderul interactive play equipment and most of it has been damaged. All of this however did not stop the locals from enjoying it.

Maya

Is a genius. She's a child prodigy just so everyone knows.
Sometimes I just like to walk around telling random strangers on the street how good she is and when they say "who the flip is Maya?" I say "you should know, she's that awesome".

You know, in retrospect maybe I should have had her checked out by a psychologist as a baby because I think she might have a severe disorder. I've been researching it and I'm fairly sure she has it. It's called Awesomeness. Some babies are just born awesome and they can never stop being awesome. Don't laugh, it's a serious condition!

Written by Michelle
(Maya might have helped a little bit)

Dude

I'm totally having fun with this