Book Giveaway Month

In the last few months there have been a few celebrations in our family (three birthdays and father's day). In a belated honour of this I am declaring October to be Book Giveaway Month at Cabbages and Kings. During this month I will be hosting, not one, not two but THREE book giveaways in honour of the three people who've had celebrations recently (James misses out ;-(). Hopefully there will be something to cater for everyone!

Life in an American TV Legal Drama

I used to think that scriptwriters took some dramatic licence when drafting American Legal Dramas (eg Boston Legal, The Good Wife, Ally McBeal, The Practice etc). Every episode there is a scene where the protaganists have to work very late so that they can file documents to a judge just as the deadline occurs. In 8 years of being married to a lawyer that has never happened (maybe because most deadlines are 4 or 5 pm). But I was wrong....

John just worked all night to meet a 7AM deadline. And unlike when he was at university and could hand in his assignment and then go home and sleep he still has to work (in court) all day, meaning he'll be at work at least 32 hours straight. The longest day I ever worked (for money!) was 16 hours (but my employer has a policy about that sort of thing...).

Or maybe we just woke up in a TV show

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....

Holidays

We are about to go on holidays for a month - the sort of holidays that require considerable organisation and forethought. My parents, John and I and the two little boys are going to Europe for a month. I think we are organised ;-)

We are flying to Munich (via a few other cities) and we stay there for about a week. We'll be visiting Schloss Neuschanstein and Salzburg (birthplace of Mozart, and scene of Sound of Music). We'll also have a few days in Munich visiting the Englisher Garten and Nymphenburg Palace. Fortuitously it is the middle of their Opera Festival and they have a free outdoor opera on the weekend we are there.

We are then going to Basel in Switzerland for about two weeks. The Australian Federal Police Pipe Band (of which John is the drum Major) is playing in their Military tattoo. (This is why we are going). We're not exactly sure what we will be doing in Basel, but as it is on the French and German border and about an hour from Lucerne and Zurich I'm sure that we will find things to entertain us!

After the tattoo we go to Stassbourg (on the French German border) for a few days and then to Paris. We'll probably spend that time at the various Musee and Jardin... before coming home.

If it gets a bit quiet here on the blog it is because I am still busy cleaning the house for the person who is house sitting for us and getting organised here. If I'm still sane after the two 24 hour flights with two small boys then I might return and post pictures of our trip.

Just spent....

...a lovely hour playing in the park with the boys. But, oh that wind is cold!

I think a hot lunch is in order. (and hopefully a rest of B1)

Gratuitious Post of Three Month Old Baby

Please don't feel the need to watch this unless you are family ;-)

James has finally "woken up" for longer than an hour at a time and has worked out he gets better attention from cooing and aahing rather than crying. Apparently peek-a-boo is fun.

No more tears, no more crying

Earlier this month was my Grandma's 91st birthday. My sister and I, and the two little boys went to visit her (it was fortuitiuosly on a Saturday and we were in Sydney).

Grandma has been in a nursing home for about 18 months since she had stroke and her dementia worsened. In the last six weeks she has been in major decline and has been unable to shake pneumonia.

She still enjoyed seeing the little boys even though she was not quite sure of how she was related to them and was very tired from the visitors she had that day. Alex sang "Happy Birthday" a few times (we had been practising in the car).

Unfortunately since we saw her she had declined rapidly and late last night went home to the Lord. My parents and aunts and uncles were able to see her yesterday.

Please pray for our extended family as they arrange the funeral.

This song, from the CD Alex listens to before bed, is a good reminder of the home that my grandmother had been anticipating eagerly for some time.

No more tears, No more crying

There's a country awaiting us

No more sadness, No more sighing

God's preparing a place for us

All our troubles will be gone

We'll see Jesus on his throne

No more tears, No more crying
There's a country awaiting us
No more sadness, No more sighing
God's preparing a place for us

Crystal river flowing by

God himself lights up the sky

No more tears, No more crying
There's a country awaiting us
No more sadness, No more sighing
God's preparing a place for us

Simone Richardson, A very very very Big God

unPassport Photos

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

How can you resist....

showering those sweet baby cheeks with kisses?

Welcome Home James Andrew

James Andrew Larkings
born 5:34pm 19th February 2010; 3220g; 49cm long

Your imminent arrival caused the rest of the household to rush about in the early hours of the morning. Despite showing such strong signs that you were keen to arrive, you refused to co-operate so some 15 hours later alternative arrangements for your arrival had to be made! But all was well.

Apparently you were hungry for you have not stopped eating since you have arrived; In fact you banquet like a Roman Emporer - multiple courses, with stops for naps, and the occasional vist to the vomitarium!

And then you sleep - for two, three and even four hours at a time. Long luxurious sleep that is undisturbed by the excited shrieks of your brother, the beeps of the hospital equipment or the general noise of the household. Your mother is happy for she sleeps too.

Occasionally you wake up and rail against the "darts and arrows of outragrous fortune" that this new world contains. Hunger = Bad; Digestive processes = bad; the process of being dressed or wrapped = bad; no longer being able to feel the edges of the world = bad.

But then, when fully satieted and safely in the comfort of your parents arms, or lap you uncurl and explore your new world. Looking with wondering eyes at all that it is now made of; bearing with equanimity the overly-generous love of your big brother as he brings you toys and food, or tries to play with your fingers, toes and nose.

And we look back at you, wondering at how you could be so perfect and tiny; wondering what sort of person you will be and what you will be like; all the while praising God for your safe arrival and asking that he will watch over you and be will you all of your days.

Welcome to the world baby James. We are so blessed to have you part of our family.

Something else under the sun

There are so many stories of car accidents in Australia which we read without thinking of how many people can be affected. This one is however more personal (to us) than most - John grew up with the man involved (in fact we saw him a fortnight ago), and our sister-in-law was one of the first people at the scene. John's parents have gone to Dubbo with the parents/grandparents of the people involved.

Please pray for the family (and ours).

Ecclesiastes 9:11-12
I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.

Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so men are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them

Fun with Friends

This weekend we had some friends from Sydney come and stay with us with their new little baby. (We hadn't met him before)

We had a lovely time doing all the things one does with friends - chatting, drinking tea, eating too much food, and playing - and also enjoying some of the activities in Canberra (despite the rather wintery weather).

We went to the Gallery of Australian Design which is new and small and interesting if you like architecture-type things (which my friend does) and also to the National Portrait Gallery. which is not so new or small and has a slightly broader appeal.

My friend and I went to a ladies afternoon tea at our church (the men looked after the sleeping toddler).

The men went to the movies and we crafted while the little ones slept.

Alex was fascinated by Max - he kept bringing him toys, bouncing him in the bouncer, and trailed whoever had Max in their arms. By the end he actually wanted to cuddle Max and is trying desperately to cuddle him while he is on my knee. Since they left he has been very attentive to his teddy bears!

Flashback Friday

The love of reading starts early.


This must have been taken some time in 1984 as well (it was in that section of my mother's photo album...) when some friend's of my parents came to visit. I think it may have been more posed than "snapped" though

Flashback Friday

Two little girls in Pink


This is my little sister (there are only the two of us) one hot riverina summer (~1984?) at the back of my parents house.

Flashback Friday

For all those out there that think that Alex looks like his Dad... Here is my Mum and I circa 1980.

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.)

Organisation Fever

I have recently been hit by a recurring bout of organisation fever. This reoccurs several times a year - perhaps triggered by searching vainly for a document for 3 hours, or being unable to close a cupboard door, or external factors like tenancy inspections.

This particular bout was triggered by the combination and the New Year and my return to work for an extra day a week. The symptoms included
a) cleaning out the pantry and typing up an inventory and map for the door
b) tidying Alex's cupboard and inventoring his books and toys.
c) putting together a household folder

Here is Alex's cupboard after being cleaned




Here is most of the teddy bear collection. [As a side note, how can one child, who has had 1 birthday and 2 Christmas's - where on all occasions his parents purchased nothing - have so much stuff?)


Now it may seem like a good thing to be organised - and there are definite advantages - but personally I have found there is a limit where one can be too organised (and this is a heavy admission for someone who is strongly J on the Myer-Briggs scale).

1. It can cause conflicts - my husband is more "lets take if flexibly" regarding routines, and being hyper-organised tends to annoy him, while I have a tendency to get irritated if my carefully constructed plans are thrown into disarray.
2. Getting and staying organised takes effort and, once the organisation fever subsides, I cannot continue the effort to maintain the high level of organisation that this fever brings on. (and I present exhibit A: >10 unfinished projects in the last seven years). Maintaining the effort of staying organised means that I don't spend time doing more important things - like playing with Alex!
3. It makes you think that you can control everything around you. This is particularly insidious, as most of our lives are beyond the scope of our control.

Unfortunately the only cure for Organisation fever that I have discovered is getting organised, so I shall go off and benignly organise something else (arrange my wardrobe by colour, or alphabetise the music collection)

Scrapbooking

Since I finished most of my UFO's I have been able to start on some of the planned projects that I have in my head.

After going through the files on the computer and sorting out our filing cabinet I realised that there were hundreds of photos that were just taking up space (virtual or otherwise) so I had started sorting them to put in Albums.

In the last three weeks I have managed to complete 5 pages - courtesy mostly of a predesigned kit.

Here are the pages I have done so far. (I haven't quite got the journalling and titles done - but that it because I am still working out how to do them).

Alex's Birthday


Skiing




Other photos of Alex (for some reason, these uploaded on then side and I can't work out how to fix it!)

Chrstmas Holidays - Fun and Farm

Despite all the work involved in the flooring adventure we did manage to get in some fun activities during our holidays.

In between laying floorboards we went swimming.

Once the work was done we could play so we went boating.


Alex watched his father very closely when he drove the boat and first opportunity he got - he was copying how to drive.


The grown ups went water skiing - although some of us a better than others! ;-)




After being at the dam we went and had a few days at the farm in Central NSW where John's family live. In between yet more work (moving cattle and around 28 tonnes of wheat) we had plenty of fun - Alex enjoyed playing with his cousins and being allowed to roam free after being cooped up in the cot for 5 days.






This sign about 15 minutes from my in-laws always makes us laugh. See if you can spot what is wrong with it? (hint: think geography and social studies!)

Christmas Holidays - Flooring

After spending Christmas at my parents with my sister (unfortunately I have no photos of that) where my parents did much of the work - cooking, cleaning and looking after small child! - we drove across NSW to Burrendong Dam, where my in-laws have just bought a cabin.

Having just bought a cabin, the family have decided to extend it so that in total it will be about 4 times it's original size. The rest of the family spent the week around Christmas building the frame and putting most of the roof on. When we arrived, it looked like this:

We (by which I mean John, his father and brother) spend the next few days finishing laying the joists, laying the floor and then decking. I was designated as cook, scullery maid, housekeeper, painter (did I mention we had to seal the floor) and chief toddler entertainer!

Alex spent large portions of time locked with me in the cabin (due to welding), or stuck in the portacot outside (once the first section was done and it was no longer a hurdles competition to leave the building!). When he was allowed out, he thought he had better lend a hand.

We finished the building work late on New Years Eve (as in around 11pm) after drilling in 2600 screws in the deck and ~400 in the floor.

The finished product on New Years Day:

There is still some minor work to go - just little things like, walls, balustrades, ramps... etc, but is more accessible than it was (and more usable) so hopefully the rest of the family can enjoy it while they do some more of the building work!