My first letter from Kai

Kids have ways to make your heart melt.  

13 and 11 year olds will give you a hug as you say good night, and then refuse to let go.   Even though they don't say "I love you" as much any more, it's those moments that you know that they still do love you.   And you hug back just as tightly - and tell them!

Then there are 5 year olds.  I love this age.   Minds are exploding.   Reading and writing is a new discovery and they want to try it out.   So my heart melted just a little bit more when I got my first letter from Kai today.

Practicing Letter

Kai has started Kindergarten this year.   He is really enjoying himself but he has started the year unable to read his all letters let alone write many.

Last night at Curriculum night, his teacher suggested that they practice their letters in chocolate pudding.   They were to use the correct pencil grip, but not hold a pencil, and draw in the chocolate.

We tried it today, and it was a hit.  

Especially because I let him lick his fingers between each letter, then eat it all at the end.

Cars, Matches and Science

Isaac's science teacher has been very good at communicating to parents about what she is doing with her students in class.   I knew that Isaac had built cars during science today.

During dinner, I asked him about the project.   He obviously loved it because he launched into great detail about his car.   They had been given some materials and, as a team, they had to design and build a car that could make it across the classroom without the students touching it.   The materials included lifesavers, paper, tape, paperclips and straws.    All the kids quickly worked out that blowing the cars was the way to go.   

This led to discussions around the table about design and other methods that could of been used - including Ben's grand idea of using fire.

Being the nerdy house that we are, everyone adjourned to the kitchen where Ben launched into an impromptu science lesson about how fire can generate thermal flows that can propel a car.   And, Ben being Ben, there had to be an experiment.

With the comment of "if this goes wrong you cannot complain about the costs of a new table" I let him be.   With a little alfoil, some paperclips, twist ties and matches, the kids science knowledge was expanded - much to their delight.   

And the kitchen table has no scorch marks.

A Great Day in Kindergarten

Kai has just finished his first full week of Kindergarten.   He started last week, but only attended for two days as they have a staggered start program where half the class comes for two days and the other half on the other two days.   (The Monday was a public holiday).

This afternoon he ran to greet me and said "I had a great day Mum!  Kindergarten is great!"   He then proceeded to tell me why his day was so wonderful.

1.  He made two friends today!
2.  He got a "Bow-Wow" for working hard
3.  He used the potty at school for the first time!

I had to stop myself from laughing out loud.   He then proceeded to tell me all about the toilet at school, and the pass they hang on the door to let others know that the toilet is occupied.   It was obviously a big moment in his mind.

Kai is definitely my chattiest child.  He has told me a lot more about Kindergarten than Isaac and Elizabeth ever did.   Perhaps we are seeing another positive outcome of our family "favorite things" discussions around the dinner table.   Or perhaps he's just more of a talker :)

Future Family

Somehow, Kai and I got into a conversation about our future families.   He was all excited because he had worked out that one day Isaac and he would be Dads and Elizabeth would be a Mom.    This prompted me to say that when he was a Daddy I would be a grandma.

This little bit of information went down quite well.   He liked the idea of having kids and me being a grandma.

What didn't go so well was when he asked "Will I live in our house?".

I foolishly replied "Oh no!   You will have your own house."

There was a lengthy pause.

Sob.  Sob.  Sob.

"Mummy, I want to live with you when I'm all grown up".  

Zoo Trip

Fridays are special days for me.   Friday is the only day where Kai and I are at home alone with no other commitments.   I like to try and do something special on Fridays but it hit me the other day that we only have 6 more Fridays left.

In 6 more weeks it will be Summer holidays and the big kids will be home from school.   And then Kai goes off to school.   There will be no more Fridays, and I feel sad about that.

Don't get me wrong.   I love having all my children at home, and I love doing stuff during the holidays with them.   But the end of these 6 weeks will be the end of an era.   For the past 12 years I have had a young child in my house, who wanted to visit the zoo, or the aquarium or the park.   And we could because we had time during the day.    Now those big trips will be reserved for holidays and weekends.   It will be fun.   But it will be different.

Last Friday we went to the Zoo.   It was great.   We walked and ran.   Kai climbed and chatted.   I got to take lots of photos of Kai and of the animals.   It was a wonderful day.   But it was probably our last Friday trip to the zoo.    Will I renew our membership next year?   I don't know.   Will I go to the zoo by myself to enjoy the animals and practice photography?   Maybe.   Will we go as a family enough times during the year to make membership worthwhile?   Maybe.  So much change is coming.   Life is about change.   I think next year will be different for me.   I'm kind of excited about what the new school year will hold.  

But, I really think I'm going to miss our Fridays.

5 Years and Skylanders

Yes - another year has passed and another birthday has been celebrated.   Kai is now 5 years old.   It's hard to believe that he's going to start reading in the next year.   And going to school.   And just getting so much bigger.  

We celebrated his birthday on Tuesday afternoon with the family.   As per our usual custom, it was just a family party but we had lots of fun.   This year Kai chose to have a Skylanders theme.   This was hit and miss - as he kept on changing his mind.   However, on the weekend prior we made him choose, bought some Skylander party stuff and said that the theme was locked in.

As you can see, Kai was extremely pleased with his birthday theme!

You may have noticed that in these photos Kai is wearing a large magicians hat.   In the game of Skylanders, the player gets to choose hats for their character.   So we decided that all party guests were going to get a hat to wear.   Kai went to the Party shop with me, and we found a large collection of silly hats.   Kai picked each one and allocated the hats to each of us.   I think he made great choices!

And we can't miss out on the cake.   

This was the first time I have ever used fondant when making a cake.  It was a learning experience, but lots of fun.   I think it turned out pretty good for a first attempt.   I think fondant will appear in future cakes I make for the kids.

Stage Makeup

Elizabeth is in her school musical, Annie Jnr, on Saturday.   They are doing two performances, one at 2.00pm and one at 7.00pm.    This week, it is Tech Week.   This means that she goes to practices wearing her stage makeup and costume.   They are on the stage with full lighting and props, rather than just practicing in the school library.

On Saturday, we bought her stage makeup and had a trial run.   Isn't she looking beautiful and glamorous.    She only has a minor role, but she's been having fun.   She is the assistant to the president, plus a Servant and New York resident.  

The funniest part was that when she came downstairs, Kai took one look at her and said.   "You look beautiful Lizzy.  I like your, your, your, dress.   No I like your hair".    I ended up saying "Lizzy is wearing makeup.   Do you like her makeup?"  

My New Blog

You might have noticed that I've not been posting much here.   I've been super busy lately running my new cooking blog http://www.cookiesorbiscuits.com/

I started the new blog because I wanted to write a cookbook of all my favorite family recipes.   The idea bloomed, and I spoke to lady who runs a self-publishing company.   She suggested that I needed a website to help with marketing.   It's kind of gone a little further than what I think she imagined!

I've been busy cooking, photographing and posting blog posts.   What I didn't realize was all the background work that I had to do too.   Every day, I hit social media sites to promote the blog.  So far it's going well and my cooking blog is getting about 200-400 hits a day.   Hopefully, when I do write that dreamed of book, some of those people will buy my book!    That's the plan anyway.

It's kind of turned into a part-time job - just without pay at the moment.  Maybe one day I might bring in a little income though!   I can dream, right?

So that's what I've been doing!

I've been asked by some family members about how they can help me so I've put this little list together...

Following my blog on different media sites actually helps me the most.   The more people who "follow" me, the more professional it looks.

Doing any of the following things, or telling other people about them, can help me.

1.  You can follow me on Bloglovin.    I love this website - I just search on the names of blogs I like to read and I get an email each day with all their new posts.   I even can follow Ben's personal one.   If you want to follow mine go to:     You can also search for Life and Family of an Expat Mummy, and follow this blog!

2.  You can see my photos on Instagram.   I try to take a photo of food I'm working on - so you get to see a preview of upcoming recipes.

3.  You can follow me on Twitter - my ID is ausrona.

4.  You can see my gallery, and like my photos on Foodgawker.     The higher the number of hearts, the more likely people are to go an look at my recipe.   This is the website that drives most of my traffic to my website.   If you want a new recipe to try, Foodgawker is the place to go.   I love this website - it's where I go for inspiration on how to take photos too!

5.   You can follow me on Facebook   Getting my numbers up here will eventually help drive my numbers up!

6.   You can follow me on Pinterest.   This website can be addictive if you like looking at photographs or if you have a project you are working on and need some inspiration!    Beware :)

I also post my photos and blog posts on StumbleUpon and Tastespotting.   These two are fairly new for me, so I'm kind of just working them out.

The other thing you can do to help my new little adventure is to post comments on my blog.  If you've made the dish tell everyone if you like it!   A simple "I've made this and it's delicious!" can really help!

Super Powers

Tonight at dinner time Elizabeth asked everyone "If you had 3 super powers what would they be?".  

After a little discussion, Kai pipes up and said "I would have the super power to freeze time, so that when Dad is running late to take me to preschool, I would freeze time so that I would get to preschool in time to play in the gym".

Ben's been busted!

Say "Thankyou"

We got a new refrigerator on Thursday.   It's a big, four door fridge with the freezer down the bottom and an ice machine.

I had a fairly good idea on what I wanted, but we all went shopping as a family to buy the fridge.   Kai and Lizzy loved looking inside all of the fridges, and testing everything out.

When the fridge arrived on Thursday, Kai was super excited.   He kept on saying "It's the fridge that I picked Mummy!"    Once it was set up he turned to me and said "Mummy, you need to say Thank You to me for picking the fridge".     He even asked Ben to say thank you when he came home from work.

I'm not sure how he came to the conclusion that he was the one responsible for choosing the refrigerator, but he firmly believes that he was.  

Kai Would Like to Read to You

Kai loves to read this book to me every night.   He doesn't know how to read yet - but has memorized most of the book.

Mathematical Bent

Isaac and Elizabeth seem to have inherited a knack for Math from Ben.   Ben once said to me that he just sees Math, and I think Elizabeth is showing that same tendency.  

Both kids are in a Math Club - their choice.   The other week, Elizabeth's teacher told me that Elizabeth's strength is logic - that she is the one who can look at a problem and know what to do.

I saw this for myself tonight.   She was doing some math club homework and came to me and said that she didn't know how to divide numbers which had multiple decimal places (eg 8.26  / 2 =).   I briefly showed her how to carry the remainder.  About 10 minutes later she came back to me and said "Mum!   I used what you showed me to work out how to divide using numbers with decimal places. (eg 2 / 9.7 = )     I love how she was just able to transfer one concept to another.

She just seems to "see" math too.

Happy Australia Day

Australia Day is pretty quiet here.   Not surprising, really, considering we do live in America.

For years, we have held a Heritage Night at school.   As I have been the only Australian,  I have always been in charge of the Australian booth.

However, over the last year or two, there have been more Australian families moving into our school zone.   This year, I was actually able to hand over the booth to another family.   It was so nice to be able to explore other countries instead of manning my booth.

The best part of all of this was that tonight we went to an Australia Day party.   The family that took over the booth was holding a party and they invited us along.   The kids made Music Sticks with bottle caps.   We had lots of Australian food - including sausage rolls, meat pies, lamb roast and pavlova.   And there was even some Australian music, until people groaned too much.

It wasn't quite the fireworks celebration type of night that we might have had at home, but it was nice to have a night with some other Australians and share stories of Australia with non-Australians.

First Tooth...Lost

Kai has lost his first tooth.   Both in the sense that it has fallen out and we don't know where it is!

I was cleaning his teeth last night, when I suddenly noticed his tooth was gone.   I hadn't even realized it was wobbly so we hadn't even spoken about the fact that his teeth would fall out.

I asked him if he knew when it came out and he told me it happened at preschool.  I'll have to check with them next week to see if they knew about it.

So here we are at 4 1/2 with a missing front tooth.    It's so much earlier than the other two.