The flowers that bloom in the spring...

Some photos of what we have been up to....

Planting flowers and herbs, that may survive the TLC they get given

Going to Dad's retirement dinner

Setting up a "big, big bed" for Alex - and even sleeping in it ;-)

I love seeing the boys sleeping together - so sweet curled up together, so peaceful and no fears about one about to bop the other on the head....

Birthday flowers

Eating "the house with the star inside". This was on playschool about 3 weeks ago and since then we have eaten many, many apples....

Convincing James that non-liquid food is not evil. He's somewhat keener on the concept when he gets to put the food in his mouth than when one of his parents is wielding the dreaded spoon.

Boys giggling together...

Book Giveaway Number 1: Alexander!

A few months ago Catherine hosted a giveaway for a Arnold Lobel book and a discussion on our favourite children's books. I was rather a bookworm as a child (I was frequently found hiding somewhere reading), but my first favourite book was Seven Little Rabbits by John Becker.

In this book seven little rabbits take one long trip to visit their friend toad, but one by one they find themselves sidetracked by the need for a nap. Fortunately they find a hole (built by a mole) where they can be "tucked in bed" ("sshh don't say peep, s/he's fast asleep"). This was the book I first learnt to read - probably helped by the highly repetitive, rhyming text and the fact that I insisted on having it read to me every night. My parents (and I) can still recite the whole thing!

Part of this books charm is the illustrations (by Barbara Cooney). While the text doesn't imbue much individual character to any of the rabbits (or even the mole), the illustrations and captions impart much needed character to each of the rabbits. When we were a little older (about 6 or so) my sister and I would imagine the back stories about the rabbits and why each of them was tired.

I gave this book to Alex for his third birthday and it has already been read many times. I think we have a while to go before he has it memorized though, but I did catch him reading this to James.

I have one brand-new, unread, hard copy of this book to giveaway (with bonus bookmark!).

To enter please leave a comment below and a favourite bedtime book for a preschooler (3 - 4 year old). If you mention this somewhere else (your blog, facebook, etc) I may even be convinced to give you another entry. Sorry Australian entries only!

Entries will close Midnight Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time on the Sunday, 10th October.

Apparently...

...someone turns three today.

I must have blinked, because he is now more of a "small boy" than a toddler - capable of (some) reason, remembering events and people for longer, able to walk 10km in one day.... He is much more decisive and can be very particular about what he wants to happen/wear/eat. So much so that he can get worried if something is out of place.

It has been fun watching more of his personality emerge, particularly over the last month where there has been lots of interaction with different scenarios and additional adults around.

Sometime is seems that this particular character has the ascendency (often paired with a dose of Mr Helpful). Unfortunately at times that means Mr Bossy appears...

We are having a small celebration tonight (read Alex's favourite dinner - spaghetti, and cupcakes), but are having a slightly larger one on the weekend when my parents can come.

So Happy Birthday small boy. May you grow as much in the next year as you have in the last

PS And just to round things off - here is some baby goodness from not-quite-three years ago.

HOME

We are all safely and happily home. Alex celebrated by playing with his toys and watching his favourite DVD, and James celebrated by rolling over (due to finally having time to play on the floor) and getting a tooth. I just counted the loads of washing that needed doing...

We are all tired - possibly due to the 24 hours of flying + 8 hours time difference + 6 hours in airport lounges; possibly due to the three hours of screaming James has done the last two nights at 2am in the morning (potentially linked to the celebration above); possibly due to some other confounding variable.

We are looking forward to catching up with our friends and seeing what has happened to them in the last month.

Catching up on blogging may take a while as someone around here turns three next week and they want a birthday cake (and party. Ha!). Apparently going to Europe just doesn't suffice as a birthday celebration when you're three unless it involves cake, candles and balloons. It might also take a while for my brain to compose sentences in English rather than the hydrid German-French-English-sign language that it has been using for the last month.

I plan to post pictures and thoughts once I get all the photos from my Dad - which should be after we have recovered from the latest set of celebrations round here. We hope everyone (ie all three of you...) that still reads this will be interested....

You know the travel preparations are at their zenith when

.... the two year old starts to make his own travel plans.

These have consisted of

• pointing at random cities on a map of Europe and saying "Coffee here, and Coffee here and Coffee here" (A man after his father's heart!)
• measuring (with the measuring tape and scales) the luggage and saying "Oh No - too heavy" or "Yes - its OK)
• playing "aeroplanes". Which consist of Alex the pilot ensuring everyone has on their seatbelts, and headphones before we take off. We then "fly around up there" looking out the window at "astronauts" and then "land". I think Alex might be a little disappointed that he won't get to fly the planes....

The world according to Alex

Alex loves our camera - posing for photos, watching them afterwards and taking pictures himself. He has taken to "borrowing" the camera from where ever it is (and given his ability to work the step ladder it doesn't seem to matter where that is...) and photographing EVERYTHING in his life.

So we get bizarre pictures of peoples feet, everyday objects and the things that Alex deems photographable.

• Apparently James gets photographed.

• As does dinner

• And Daddy is a looong way up!

Slightly Elevated Tea

In the quest to find entertainment on cold winter afternoons, Alex and I occcasionally have a "proper" afternoon tea. We make a pot of "proper tea" drink tea from small espresso cups and have mini-muffin sized cakes with them. (That we baked earlier in the week...)

It makes a change from the usual "milo in sippy cup with rice crackers and fruit" afternoon tea that we normally have. Alex quite enjoys the ritual of choosing which colour cup to use, pouring the tea and then drinking from a grown-up style cup.

It is a pleasant spot of calm for me in the day and probably good practice for sitting in European Cafe's. Just a pity that cleaning up after eating takes as long as the afternoon tea....

The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak

Someone lost the fight (with themselves) to not have an afternoon sleep.

The Joy of Bedtime

Joyful for all (including Mummy!)



Alex asked me to take this photo with his Teddy. BTW Teddy has apparently had a name change from Teddy to Sammy...

Alex's saying of the day

(After bestowing kisses on every member of the family)

"Please, Mummy, I need a kiss"

(Of course I obliged!)

Things to remember whe you have a 2 year-old #1

Empty pockets before putting in the wash.

The washing machine does not like pebbles.

Temora Air Show

Last weekend we travelled to Temora (about 200km away) to attend one of the flying weekends at the aviation musuem there. One "plane/rocket/helicopter" obsessed little boy was very excited!

There were aerobatic displays and fly-passes from a range of prop-driven (mostly) WWII aircraft - Spitfires, Kittyhawks etc - as well as some jet-propelled planes (like the Sabre). We enjoyed our picnic lunch with the planes. After the flying display the allow the spectators onto the runway to talk to the pilots of the aircraft.

We finished the day with (very large) milkshakes at the White Rose Cafe - an art-deco style cafe that still has all the original fittings - including the rose pressed iron ceiling, before driving home.

unPassport Photos

We have been taking passport photos recently. Apparently this is the boys' take on a "neutral expression" while " looking at the camera".

In which Katherine attempts to summarize 2009 two full months after everyone else has

(My Apologies to all (is there anyone left who reads this...) for the scant posting in the last 1/2 of the year and the rather lame attempt to catch up with this...)

2009 was a very full year which seemed to get busier as the year went on.
There were good things:

scottish ball and a memorial dinner

• Visits to the Farm - which the little boy loves as it has all he wants; animals AND mechanized equipment.




• Visits away with friends (apparently it is necessary to light a v. large bonfire everytime we have visitors come away with us)

There were some not-so-good events, including the death of John's grandmother in August, and the death of some friends in a car accident in October. The ramifications of the second are still being felt as the custody arrangements for their little boy are not yet established.

There were birthdays, some of which were more "milestones" than others. We now have a combined family age of 62. (and yes, I did have a birthday party and no, there are no photos to show).

There was some card making and crafting - including this effort for Father's day. (Alex did the stamping and provided hand for outline.)

The latter half of my year was preoccupied with "baby-growing" which meant lots of sleeping (for nine months) and nausea (for about five months). The "baby-growing" project (the external part of which begins any day now... I hope) has meant that sleeping and "(unsuccessfully) trying not to throw up" have superceded "writing about life on the internet" on the to-do list.

We spent Christmas in (rainy) Sydney housesitting for relatives. Cricket, swimming and lazy around their pool were the order of the day.

Alex watching Aunty Jenny attempting to bat with 2 year old sized equipment.

One on One swimming lesson tuition with Daddy.

Somewhere in there we nearly bought a house, but reconsidered due to the building report.

2010 is shaping up to be just as full as 2009 with the much-anticipated addition to the family, John being committed to additional work responsibilities and extra-curricula activities - the latter of which includes a probable family trip away for a month in Europe - and the usual trips away. It remains to be seen if being on maternity leave gives me sufficient moments to update you on our life! But bear with us, we are still here, peering into the windows of your life, even if we don't quite manage to draw the curtain on our own that frequently!

Alex turns 2

Our little Entropy warrier has now turned 2. While we can't imagine life without him, it does seem to be so quickly that he has changed from a helpless (contented) bub to a small "independent" child with a definite mind of his own.

We celebrated by staying at my parents and having dinner with cake. Alex then got to stay with his grandparents while we went to the movies.


This year he sort of knew what was going on with the cake - he waited till we finshed singing and then attempted to blow out his candles! He had also had fun "helping" me ice and decorate said aformentioned cake that morning.


He also had fun opening his presents. Even three days later he is "reading" his cards like books.

"We shall not all sleep..."

Little boys and Bible study don't mix.

We have been a little irregular with bible study lately (sickness, visitors, being away etc) and Alex seems to have gotten out of the habit of how to behave when he is there. Up until recently he would play/chat for a short time, before (mostly) going to sleep in his pram. Last time was not so easy

he refused to sleep in the pram - he doesn't seem to like being strapped onto his back to sleep, and lately has been taking longer to get to sleep (even at home in the cot)
He played noisily when he was up - not content with books, or sitting quietly Alex then insisted on wriggling and playing (noisily) with cars through the study.

The effect of this was that instead of properly concentrating on the bible study I spent the time attempting to corral Alex with the following monologue running through my head

"Maybe I should just put him back to bed... but then he'll scream and distract everyone and wake the other children...maybe he should be disciplined and made to sit still... but that will not be quiet (at all) and will distract everyone even more...I'll let him play so long as he is quiet.... which he isn't....maybe I should just put him back to bed"

and so on and so forth.

The point of this is that I am now not sure what to do. I would really like to keep going to Bible Study, but there does not seem to be much point if Alex is going to be distracting the entire time. I could try bringing the portacot - but that will involve dragging extra stuff through the house, and may not work anyway. Or I could perservere and get Alex back to sleeping in his stroller (or at least until he is big enough to put into a bed).

I think that I am going to have to pray on the issue and reassess what else we do that day (maybe a visit to the park in the afternoon will tire him out...), but if anyone has any other suggestions/thoughts/ideas etc then I would love to hear them.

Quick Takes unFriday

This is going to be quick, because I really don't have time to blog, but I haven't blogged for a while and I thought I had better post an update... just so that those who read this know I am still alive ;-)

Lessons from the last two weeks

1. Going away for consecutive weekends strains my ability to keep up with all the housework - hence the lack of blogging!
2. I still cry when I read Anne of Green Gables - I reread this when I was staying at my in-laws a week ago and even though I knew what was going to happen I still cried!
3. Alex needs to be supervised when he "helps clean". He decided of his own accord to clean the TV screen last week (after watching Daddy do it the week before) and managed to temporarily break the TV via over enthusiastic spraying into the electronic controls.
4. I really like card making. I made these cards from my new "Three for you" stamp set and punch.





5. "No Spend Month" would go better if we a) did not go away so often during that month and b) didn't plan holidays which need paying for that month either. (Other than that no-spend month was OK - I only went to the supermarket once, and if you deduct the holiday costs we did save money. The most important lesson was the need for delayed gratification. If you still want it/need it at the end of the month, then its probably an OK spend.)
6. It is better to sleep than to have a clean house. I suffer from the problem and inertia - I want to get up and do work before I go to bed (tidy, pick up toys etc), but am too tired to move so I just sit there. On Sunday I had a three hour afternoon sleep and I now have the energy I need to get through the rest of this week.
7. Alex is not yet ready to sleep in a bed. On Friday night we stayed at my parents and Alex slept on a mattress on the floor (having attempted to climb out of their cot on our last visit). Between when I went to bed and 2:30am he fell out of bed 4 times before we had enough and just put him to sleep between us. He then slept soundly (once he had reached preferred sleeping position of head near Mum and Dad's feet!) till 7am.

Well that is seven quick takes of our fortnight - hopefully I can get back here again soon.

What we do on our weekends away, Part V

Visit Friends and socialise

Ok that explanation is really nor sufficient - what I really mean is travel away for the express purpose of visiting friends to socialies (attend parties or events of some description). Here are some photos of the more recent trips!

Here is our little family walking down the red carpet at our brother-in-law's recent birthday party.

This party was on Sydney harbour and had the theme of the "red-carpet". They had even arranged for a photographer and a reporter with a video camera to take photos as people arrived!

And here is Alex having a lovely time playing with his cousins at a family Christmas party in Sydney


(I should point out that at this point it was after 10pm and our sleepy little boy who is normally fast asleep well before 8 was still partying despite NOT having a sleep earlier in the day.)

Beating the Heat

Unless you've taken up residence in a cold-room for some bizarre experiment, or hail from the Northern hemisphere, then you would have noticed that it has been HOT. The only people who are not bothered by this are either
a) cold-blooded (these people can be identified in winter as they insist that the heating should be set at 25oC) or
b) have air-conditioning.

Unfortunately, the majority of our family fits neither of these two categories (and the one that does fits both when he is at work!) so we have spent the time working out ways to "beat the heat".

1. One of the effects of this warm weather is that no one finds it easy to sleep so there have been a lot more lethargic games played.

2. In the evening before dinner, Alex waters the garden (but not just the garden of course)

3. Playing with ice. (I discovered this one when Alex got into the freezer and pulled the tray of ice out and tipped it all over the floor



4. Not cooking, but eating salads, sandwiches and BBQs

5. Eating ice-blocks/cream


This is actually frozen yoghut that I made earlier this summer. It comes from The low GI Family Cookbook. I also made iceblocks using pineapple that had been blended. (better than juice as it retains the fibre)

Makes 10 iceblooks

250g fresh or frozen fruit (berries, mangoes work well)
600g low fat vanilla yoghurt
2 egg whites
2 tbspn honey

1. Blend fruit and yoghurt together in food processor until smooth
2. Whisk egg-whites until stiff peaks form. Add the honey, a tablespoon at a time,, whicking well after each addition until thick and glossy
3. Fold eggwhite mixture into fruit yoghurt mix until just combined
4. Either
a) Pour the mixture into 10 1/3 cup capacity moulds. Tap the moulds to settle the mixture. Freeze for four hours or until set.
or
b) Pour the mixture into an airtight container and place in freezer for 4 hours or until frozen. Break the mixture into chunks with a metal spoon. Blend again in the food processor until smooth. Return to the airtight container and refreeze for 3 hours. Serve in scoops.