4th July Photos

We had a very quiet 4th July. We just stayed at home and enjoyed a BBQ on the back verandah in the late evening. (Yes...these photos were taken around 8.00pm).

The kids enjoyed eating corn on the cob. It's currently in season and so very sweet and juicy.

As you can see, Isaac not only enjoyed eating it but he enjoyed making faces with it.

I had to show you this cup...Isaac kept on calling it all manner of names. It was the Independant Cup (my favourite), the Independance Cup and the 4 July Cup.

Gymnastics Camp

Something broke a long time ago on the kids websites, so photos have not been updated there in a very long time. One day that will be fixed and you'll all be able to enjoy photos again. As you will have noticed I have been doing a photo dump. I hope you have enjoyed getting some new photos!

This first post have photos from Elizabeth's gymnastic's camp. At the end of the week they did a presentation for parents and were awarded a medal at the end. This was one of her "moves" where they crab walked over the bars.

She was so proud of her medal. You would think that she had won some major prize. Lizzy wore it for the next 2 days, and showed everyone who we met.

Audio Options

Lizzy has a couple of movies which she enjoys watching. Every now and then she'll come and ask me if she can watch one of them but lately there's been a twist. Our conversation tends to go like this...

"Mummy, can I watch Cinderella?"

"OK. Go and put it on."

"Mummy, can I watch Cinderella in French?"

"OK. But you'll need to change the Audio Options."

"Thank you."

And off she goes and changes the language option to French (or Spanish if that's the mood she's in).

I'm not sure if she knows the DVD well enough and follows the story that way, or if she's actually taking in a little of the other languages.

Summer Hairstyles

It's been a time for new hairstyles in our house. Ben & I had our haircut today and Isaac & Lizzy the other day. Everyone but Isaac have had dramatic changes, as you'll see below.

Ben has had everything lopped off for the first time in about a year. Doesn't he look handsome? He's got the haircut now he just needs a job ;)

Me...we'll let's say I'm sporting a "mummy" look. It's the first time I've ever had short hair.

And I just love Lizzy's hair - no more screaming over having her long hair brushed. And to make things even better, she loves it too.

And finally, a photo of Isaac. He is the only one who hasn't had a hairstyle change. I really couldn't get a good shot of his hair because he didn't want to take off his hat. However, I caught this moment on camera and thought it was cute.

Year One Forever

Tomorrow is Isaac's last day of Kindergarten. He is very excited about summer holidays beginning and was telling me everything he wants to do over the next couple of months.

We then started talking about next year, when he suddenly annouced "I want to be in year 1 forever and ever." Ahhhh. If only time could stand still like that but, alas, he will grow up.

The Cheat Sheet

The kids computer is password protected. We chose to do this so we could monitor how much time they spent on the computer.

As the password was for time monitoring (not content monitoring - we have a whole other system for that!), I allow them to enter the password by spelling it out to them as they type it in. I knew it would only be a matter of time until they learnt how to spell it by themselves.

The other week was a typical day. Elizabeth had asked to play on the computer and I'd given permission. I wasn't looking when she was asking "Mummy, what's the next letter?". Little did I know that she was writing the password onto a brown paper bag instead of typing it into the computer.

So now she has her own cheat sheet. Luckily, she still asks me whether she can play on the computer. If I say "yes" out comes the cheat sheet, and she types in the not-so-secret password.

Junuary

I know they say that if you can't find anything to converse about, talk about the weather. Here in Seattle, that's easy. Even the comedians of the world have worked this out. Ben sent me this cartoon, which sums up our weather.

I know I moan every year, but this year is it's really sad. The media is calling this month "Junuary" because although it's almost summer, we are having winter weather. Yesterday, there was even snow in the mountains. Come on summer - I'm missing you.

Mum & Dad

I have fallen from grace. My name is no longer Mummy. I am now called Mum. Ben has also taken the tumble with me.

What has surprised me though, is that it's Lizzy who's made the change. To Isaac, we are still mummy and daddy.

One part of me smiles, and thinks "oh my she is growing up" while the other part of me is sad whilst thinking the exact same thought.

The funny part to all of this is that I'm "Mum" if she wants something, especially if she's calling from a distance. However, for quiet times, I'm still Mummy. It's like she's sitting on the edge of little girl and baby. I think I'd like to just teeter here for a little longer.

Secret Hideout

The other weekend, we cleared out all our junk from the space under the stairs and Ben turned it into a server room. It's now not uncommon to go looking for Ben, and find out that he is hiding out in his "den" fixing something.

Isaac discovered this room the other night when Ben was working in there, and he happily spent an hour playing his gameboy next to his daddy.

However, it has now become his "secret hideout". Ben came home from work, and Isaac ran downstairs to get his gameboy while calling out "Daddy, I'm going to the secret hideout."

For now I'm going to let boys be boys, and they can have their hideout. It's kind of nice also knowing that it's the boys space, but I know where to search if I need to find them.

Apportioning Blame

One of the great things about having a brother or sister, is there is always someone else that you can blame. If something goes wrong, it's never your fault. The downfall happens when one of group goes to school. There is no longer someone else to carry the blame when something goes wrong, or even if there is any possible chance of getting in trouble.

That's when Elizabeth arrives on the scene. No, not our Lizzy, but the other Elizabeth. The doll that goes everywhere with Lizzy.

"Mummy. Elizabeth wanted a pear." (as she uses the doll to lift the pear from the fruit bowl, and then begin to eat it.)
"Mummy. Elizabeth wanted to play in the water." (when explaining how water got on the floor)

Yes. It's good to apportion the blame. In theory that surely means that she gets in trouble half the time.

Poetry

Isaac has been learning to write poetry at school, as April was National Poetry Month. They learnt all about free verse, and these were Isaac's efforts at writing some...

The Fish
A fish can swim
Fast as a rocket
going to the moon.
That is fast!
Wwwwwwooooooowwwwww!

Hurricane
The eye is calm.
No winds at all.
Outside, strong winds
blow trees
until they bend.

Pokemon
Gameboy.
Double screen.
Fun to win.
I love Pokemon.

Orcas
They look like
I could swim
with them
and have fun,
fun, fun, fun
fun, fun, fun
fun, fun, fun, fun, fun.

My favourite was the Hurricane poem. I was really quite impressed with them all though.

Tip-toeing through the Tulips

Last weekend we headed up to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, and were lucky enough to see the fields in bloom. (There had been concern due to our unseasonal weather that they wouldn't bloom in time). I thought I'd share this little part of our weekend with you...

This is how Lizzy spent much of her time at the tulip farm...

The Grandma's will be proud...

Lizzy has decided that we need to have tea parties.

She will pick flowers (read...weeds with little purple flowers) from the garden, and put them in a cup. Next she tells me that it's time for a tea party, and I need to make cups of tea. Then we choose a snack. She likes to pour the milk and put the sugar in her tea.

So for the past week, she's been drinking tea almost every day. I'm sure that within the year I may even be able to tolerate a cup. Right now, I just dutifully take a mouthful and say "thankyou".

So next time we are home, Lizzy will probably be drinking tea with the best of you tea drinkers and loving every minute of it.

My Favourite Words

Elizabeth

becept - except
Awona - Werona
Lawy - rally (imagine the vowel sounds being correct but "L" instead of "r" and then "w" instead of "l"


Isaac

optapus - octapus

Their little word exchanges are quite cute, but I have to smile at Lizzy with her "becept". There is nothing like an arguement where she's saying "Becept I wanted to have my turn first."

Why?

Everybody warned me about the "why" stage which every child goes through. Why is the sky blue? Why are you doing that? Why? Why? Why? Like every parent, I chuckled over the many why questions, but was also relieved when it ended.

What I was never warned about was the next stage. It's slightly more advanced than the great question of why. It's called the "What would happen if..." question. Isaac is in this stage right now.

What would happen if the earth was broken in half?
What would happen if there were more people than houses in the world?
What would happen if ....?

We've moved from basic facts to the hypothetical - and it's driving me crazy.

Camping On Hold

We were supposed to try out our tent for the first time this weekend. But as you may see, I am here at home posting to this blog.

Whilst I am blogging, I am looking out the window watching the snow clouds move across the sky. It's been snowing on and off since yesterday. What is the meaning of this? Snow in Spring? It's totally wrong! I'm just hoping my new plants won't be too upset about it.

So our camping trip has been put on hold. While I expect to encounter rain, for that is what living in Seattle is all about, I really have no desire to set up a tent in snow.

Let's hope for a nice weekend next week.

Bloomin' Spring

Spring is here. The daffodils are blooming, and all the other bulbs are about to bloom. Within a few weeks my garden will be full of tulip blooms, and soon after the roses will appear. I love this time of year.

However, this afternoon, it felt more like saying "bloomin' spring" rather than spring blooming. Just picture one child with a potted daffodil in hand, running and screaming "No, no, it's mine" with the other in chase, in tears, screaming "no, I want it!". My peaceful spring image was quite distorted, although I could not help but laugh. Once I pulled myself together I had to go and intervene. "Isaac. The daffodil is Lizzy's. She picked it out today at the nursery for her garden. Perhaps you'd like to come and choose another flower and we can work out where to put it."

Thank goodness he was willing to cooperate, and once the tears had been dried, we were back to the work of making Spring bloom.

Camping

If you have read Ben's blog today, you will have seen that we are getting into Spring. To go along with this theme we bought a tent today. We've been married for 8 years now and I don't think we've ever been camping. However, I grew up camping and have wanted to do it for awhile. Ben has finally relented and, in fact, is quite excited about the idea now.

I remember camping with a great big heavy tent, however our new tent roles up to the size of a sleeping bag and is about 8kg. It fits 6 people, giving us room to live in when it rains, because living in the Northwest means that you have to expect it to rain while you camp.

So over the next few months we are hoping to go camping at a few state parks in Washington, and enjoy seeing some more of this beautiful land.

The Jesus Sandwich

Lizzy has started to make her own sandwiches for lunch. She takes great joy out of coming up with various combinations.

Today she made a sandwich and happily annouced that it was her "Jesus" sandwich.

"Your Jesus sandwich?"

"Yes. The carrots are Jesus and the bread is the tomb."

I was so stunned that I totally forgot to ask what the cheese was. However, I am happy to annouce that yes, Jesus did come out of the tomb - although in this instance he now resides in her stomach. For the time being anyway.

Summer Holidays

"Isaac, do you know where we're going for our summer holidays?"

"Australia?"

"No..."

At this second the bottom lip starts quivering.

"But I want to go to Australia. I miss my grandparents."

Followed by a very unhappy face and some more quivering lips.

"How about we call Jan or Joe tonight?"

"OK!" And all is right with the world again.

Like Father, Like Son

I had my hair cut on Tuesday. It used to be fairly long, probably about mid-back length. I had it all cut off back up to my shoulders again.

When I went to pick Elizabeth up from preschool, she noticed straight away. "Mummy, your hair is smaller!" Usually I give advance warning to Ben when I get my hair cut, but I decided that if my 4 year old could see a difference, surely my husband would be able to.

The next test came when I picked up Isaac from school. I was not really surprised when he did not notice, so I asked "Isaac, is my hair any different?" He looked at me for a moment and said no. Groan.

So with one child noticing and one child not noticing, the odds could go either way. Would Ben notice?

Let's just say, it was a case of "like father, like son".

Adoration

Lizzy loves her brother. If Isaac does something, she wants to try it too. Her adoration became very apparent a number of months ago when she told Isaac's speech therapist "When I am five, and a boy, I'm going to do speech therapy."

Although the boy part is a little out of her league, it looks like she may achieve her goal. She has just started physical therapy, and the therapist noticed that she has low facial muscle tone and recommended some speech therapy.

She's thrilled that she is now doing PT and will start speech therapy, just like Isaac. Obviously there is nothing like following in the footsteps of an adored brother.

Girlfriends

On Valentines Day, the receptionist at Speech Therapy asked Isaac if he had a girlfriend. After moments pause he replied "Lizzy is my girl friend." There was a collective sigh and comments of "What a sweetheart".

However, obviously alot of thought has gone into this question over the past couple of weeks. We were in the car yesterday, and we got into a conversation about last names. He thought the story about how our last name came about was very cool. That turned into a conversation about how girls have the option to use thier husbands last name when they marry. In the middle of all of this he suddenly says "I'll marry Grace if she is still my friend when we grow up because she is my girl friend." Yes...he's still a sweetheart.

I'm so glad I'm dealing with girl friends rather than girlfriends. I still need a few more years to prepare for that.

The best option...

As Lizzy cried out in pain after stepping on lego for the second time, I made the statement "Well, you know the best way to stop that happening, don't you?"

Ben pipes up and says "Yes...put on a pair of shoes!"

What ever happened to cleaning?

A Little Shopper

Isaac needed new shoes, so today we went shopping. Lizzy decided that she wanted new shoes too. I explained that Isaac only had one pair of shoes and he'd grown out of them. She, on the other hand, had 4 pair of shoes which fit her perfectly. I ended this with a question "Who needs the new shoes, Isaac who only has 1 pair that don't fit, or Lizzy who has 4 pair of shoes?"

The answer: "I need 5 pairs"

Despite the protests, we did only come home with a pair of shoes for Isaac. She was not happy with the outcome, but such is life.

All Beaten Up

What on earth happened?

No, he really wasn't beaten up. However he did fall over at school on the concrete. He had his hands in his jacket pocket and was unable to put his hands out to save himself. His chin took the worst of the fall, but he also has a nice bump and bruise underneath his hair.

Little Gordon's

We have a population crisis. Today I discovered 22 new baby fish in our 10 gallon fish tank. This is on top of the 3 adults, and 6 babies we already have. As a result of our over-population problem, we have bought a new 26 gallon tank. It's really quite a nice one, with a stand and all. I think it will become the girls tank. Boys will be banned to the smaller tank.

Whilst setting up the new tank, I mentioned to Ben that it was Dad's birthday today. He quickly dubbed the babies "Little Gordon's."

So dad I want to wish you a very Happy Birthday, and as a honour we have named 22 babies after you. Yes - even the girls, although maybe once we work out which ones are really girls they can be called Gordona's.

Just How Old Are You?

"No. I'm pretty sure that Grandma & Grandad were not children when the dinosaurs were alive."

"No. I'm positive. The dinosaurs lived a long, long time ago."

"No. Trust me. They really, really have not seen a dinosaur."

I know that you've all turned a year older in recent months (or are about to!) but it took Isaac a lot of convincing for him to accept that you all really were not children when the dinosaurs roamed the world.

Party Time

Lizzy is very excited about going to a party today. Everyday she has wanted to know if today was the party day. Therefore, as she was going to bed last night I was finally able to tell her that tomorrow would be Amber's party.

This morning, she woke up and ran into our bedroom. She already had her shirt part way off and was telling me "I have to get ready for Amber's party."

I blearily opened my eyes, and said "Darling, we need to have breakfast first, have some playtime, go to the coffee shop for milk & cookies and then come home for some lunch and playtime - then it will be time for the party. Right now, Mummy wants to go back to sleep."

I just hope the party is as exciting as the anticipation.

Happy Australia Day!

Although we're not home to celebrate, we're doing a little Australia Day on our patch of earth.

It's a lovely fine day, so Lizzy & I played a little game of cricket in the backyard.

We'll have some lamb, tim-tams & ginger beer tonight. And we can't forget to mention we'll be listening to the Hottest 100.

Ahhh...it's nice to have a little bit of home for a day.

I Want to tell you Something...

"I want to tell you something" is Lizzy's latest phrase. When she doesn't want to go to sleep you hear these words. When she's trying to delay you from leaving playtime you hear these words. It's quite often followed by "Ummm, ummm" as she madly tries to think of something to tell me.

However today we had a twist.

"Awona. Awona Awmstwong. I've got something to tell you."

She was so proud of herself as she was able to tell "something" to me...

"That's your name!"

Math & Music

I've been struggling for awhile to develop Isaac's sense of rhythm. Clapping on the beat has just been impossible for him; even keeping a steady beat has been difficult. So how do you teach rhythm to a child who seems to have no sense of rhythm?

It struck me the other week. "Isaac - can you hear the math in the music?"

His head pops up, and I can see a gleam of interest.

"Listen...the music is counting to 4, over and over again. 1,2,3,4; 1,2,3,4. It's like a pattern."

So each time we've heard something with a strong beat, we've listened for the counting in the music. And do you know what? I think he's starting to hear it!

An adventure...

What does a princess need for an adventure?

Well...first she needs to be wearing a princess dress and a backpack.

In the backpack she needs to have a coloring book, a reading book and some dental floss. (Obviously keeping your teeth clean on an adventure is critical for princesses).

Once all of that is packed - she needs a scooter and a helmet so she can take off an explore the world.

I must run now - I can hear the adventure is occurring upstairs and need to check it out.

Let's not do today again..

What a day! A Bad, Bad Day!

For those not in the know - that's a quote from a Level 1 reading book which my kids love. It was a very appropriate line for our day today.

We started off with preschool being cancelled and school starting late due to snow and ice on the roads. Not fun for driving, and I had to go out this morning, now with kids in tow.

When we came home, my carbon monoxide alarm was going off. O-oh! I send the kids back outside into the snow while I open up the house and call 911. So instead of taking Isaac to school, I'm telling firemen to please ignore all the toys over the floor as they look around my house for possible causes of CO gas. We found the cause, but so not to incriminate anyone I'll not go into details. Ben..sighs a sigh of relief ;) Oops..did I just say that!

Then this afternoon, my poor baby boy is doubling over in pain and barely able to walk. So it's off to the doctors we went. We're not sure what's going on yet, but for the first time in my life I'm really hoping he's going to start vomitting.

I'm looking forward to a better tomorrow, for today was a bad, bad day.

Stuck

We had a little bit of snow this afternoon, and of course, Lizzy wanted to be outside. After about 10 minutes I had her all rugged up and sent her off to play.

A little later I paused, thinking I heard a cry for help. It came again, and I realised it was Lizzy. I threw on my snowboots & jacket and ran outside. She was curled around an apple tree, looking like she was giving it a big hug.

"What's wrong Lizzy? Are you stuck?"

I walked over and realised that her jacket had become caught on the tree.

She looked up and said "Yes. I'm stuck. Like an apple."

My apple tree doesn't usually have apples on it at this time of year, but I thought I'd pick this apple. It's such a cute apple.

Excitement

At Christmas time, Lizzy was so excited that Santa was coming that she could not fall asleep.

Tonight has been another one of those nights. She is so excited that it took about an hour and a half for her to fall asleep. She finally fell asleep clutching her Dora the Explorer book.

You may be wondering what special event is happening tommorrow...

Let's just say that the dentist will be thrilled that he rates up there with Santa on the excitement scale.

A Mother's Work

Our family was driving in the car yesterday when the topic of women & jobs came up. I was explaining to Isaac that some mummies went to work, some worked out of their homes and others choose to stay at home to look after their children. He asked a few more questions and finally I said "Mummy chose to stay at home and look after you & Lizzy."

His response was "That's not a job. Anyone could do that!"

Maybe when I finally get a green card, getting a "real" job should be the first thing I do.

Sad Day, Happy Day

One of our fish died yesterday.

You would have thought it would have been a sad day. Usually when a fish dies, it is. However our children were more excited than sad because although our fish had died it had left six tiny babies behind. The excitement of baby fish definately outweighed the sadness of a dead fish.

If we manage to keep them alive, we're going to have 10 fish. I think some will need to go back to the pet shop.

Word Confusion

Today, Elizabeth requested an egg sandwich for lunch. She's never had one before so it was a new experience for her.

She sat down and had eaten a few mouthfuls when she announced "This is awful". I initially thought "Oh well. At least she tried it." But then she kept on eating it. So I asked her "Is it yucky or yummy?"

"It's yummy!"

We were obviously not only trying new foods but trying new words too. In the meantime, I'll just tell myself that she was full of awe about her sandwich.

A Tooth Fairy Oops

Isaac lost his second tooth on Sunday night. Like every other child around he was all eager to put his tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy. However, unlike alot of other children he completely forgot about it by Monday morning.

This was a very good thing this time because the tooth fairy got her schedule all mixed up and forgot to visit our house.

It wasn't until Lizzy remembered on Tuesday after preschool - giving the tooth fairy enough time to make a quick stop into our house and deliver the cash before Isaac came home from school. She hit a slight problem though when she couldn't find the missing tooth.

Thank goodness for Daddy's who are able to find teeth and arrange for tooth fairy pickups after hours.

A New Meal

I like to cook. So it's inevitable that every now and then I stumble across something noteworthy. Our latest find is Acorn Chicken Stir-fry. It's so yummy and very quick to make.

Basically all it is, is an Acorn Squash (a type of small pumpkin for all my Australian friends) which is split in half, cooked and then stuffed with a chicken stir-fry. While my acorn squashes are cooking in the microwave, I stir-fry some chicken and veggies along with a store bought stir-fry sauce and - voila - it's a meal.

You should try it one day - really.

A traditional Christmas

Growing up we used to see the traditional white Christmas pictures, despite it being so hot on Christmas day.

Living in California and then in Seattle - chances of having a white Christmas are still pretty slim. It rarely snows in San Francisco and only about 3-4 times a year in Seattle.

Therefore, you can imagine how thrilled I was to look out my window just after writing my last post to see that it is snowing!

Now we have to wait and see if it sticks, and see if we might have a white christmas or not.

Some Christmas Quotes

There was definately alot of excitement in our household this morning.

Just to let you in on the Christmas scene, these were some overheard comments...

Isaac

"Mummy, Daddy, quickly! Look, Quickly, Mummy, Daddy! Santa came!"

"What would happen if someone was called "From"?" Followed by lots of giggles.

"That's just what I wanted but I forgot to put it on my list!" (When opening a transformer from Santa)

When talking about the Christmas story...

Werona: "What did the angels do?"
Isaac: "They came to sigh."
Werona: "Sigh? Did they sigh when they saw the baby?"
Isaac: "Yes!"

Lizzy

Werona: "What did the angels do?
Lizzy: "They flew"

"Santa didn't bring that! We bought it!" (said when Ben opened a present from his stocking)

Ben

"Oh - it looks like Mummy put some more things in the Santa Stocking" (followed by a confused look from Isaac and a dirty look from me).

Werona

"Oh no. It wasn't me. It must have been Santa" (said whilst trying to cover Ben's blooper)

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Not even a mouse..."

Oh darn. Who came up with that perfect image? They obviously didn't have a 4 & 6 year old who are so excited that Santa is coming that they can't fall asleep nearly 3 hours after bedtime. It's not through lack of trying. They are lying so quietly in their beds, and when Ben checked on them Lizzy told him "I'm trying to sleep but I just can't wait for Santa to come".

Maybe we'll be sleeping in tomorrow morning after all.

Sandwiches

Just lately, Isaac has been wanting some variations to his usual peanut & butter sandwiches. We've tried it with the usuals such as jam and honey, but yesterday he wanted something different.

"Mummy, can I have peanut butter and vegemite?"

I told him I didn't think it would taste nice but he still wanted it. I ended up putting peanut butter on half and vegemite on the other and then cut off a slither of each. He put those slithers together and gobbled it up. The verdict? Yummy! So the rest of the sandwich was placed together and eaten.

Maybe his dual nationality is coming out in his eating habits...a sandwich which is a little Australian and a little American in flavour.

How Do You Feel?

Yesterday, while Isaac was at Speech Therapy, Lizzy I and played a game we found in a kid's magazine.

There was a question in there which asked "How do you feel when you argue with someone?".

Her response was "Happy".

I was a little confused and thought maybe she didn't understand the question. "Do you feel happy when you and Isaac have a fight?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because then Isaac is sad".

O-oh. No misunderstanding there. I think we have a little issue to work on.

Chistmas Concert

Last night was Elizabeth's Christmas Concert. She was very excited about singing at the concert, and had been singing her songs to us for the past week.

The time finally arrived for the concert, and she seemed a little overwhelmed. She stood quietly with all her class and sang her songs whilst seeming to look for Mummy & Daddy. I don't think she ever found us, despite the fact that we were in the 4th row and had shown her where we sit.


Here are some photos of her singing...

Now...don't go into shock - but Ben took a photo of Lizzy & I...

OK...now I've actually posted a photo of myself. Don't expect another for a long time :)

It's Beginning to Look alot Like Christmas

Yesterday was December 1. For me, this is the offical first day of the Christmas period. From this day forward I can listen to Christmas carols, put up the decorations and starting feeling Christmassy.

To help along with the mood, mother nature decided to dump a few inches of snow on us. It was really quite beautiful and so fitting for the first day of the Christmas lead-up. As a result, the song "It's beginning to look alot like Christmas" kept on going around my head.

Fiercely Independant

Today Lizzy went to her music lessons. At the end, all parents come back into the room for 5-10 minutes of family time. However, today I had just parked my car when the lady beside me asked if I was going to be long because she had a passenger with a disability who would have trouble getting into the car.

I quickly ran up to Lizzy's classroom and let her teacher know I needed to quickly move my car. Miss Allison responded with the comment "That's fine. Lizzy is very independent and she'll do fine with me. In fact, I'd call her fiercely independent. And that's a good thing."

I had to laugh. Yes - fiercely independent is probably an excellent way to describe our girl.

Raw Fish

As a general rule, I don't sushi. To me sushi means raw fish. The thought of eating raw fish makes me queasy. However, just recently Ben has been on a sushi kick so we have started to make our own. (It is the most cost efficient way to let him eat sushi). For me, we make vegetarian sushi. I can handle that.

What has surprised me however, is that Lizzy seems to love sushi. And just to make me gag, her favourite is raw salmon on top of rice (salmon nigiri). She & Ben devour the stuff.
I was watching them eating their sushi tonight and felt like gagging, when I look over at my husband. He is there, beaming, thrilled that he now has a sushi eating partner, albeit a 4 year old one.

Logical Thinking

Did you know that my Mum must be smarter than Jan. Well, according to Isaac-logic this must be the case.

We saw one of his preschool teachers yesterday. I asked him whether he rememeber Miss Denise, which he did. Then suddenly he says "But I like Ms Beaver more. She knows more. And I'm going to like my grade 1 teacher even better because she'll know even more than Ms Beaver."

Sorry Jan - being a grade 3 teacher must be aced by being a high school teacher :)

A Big Heart

Lizzy loves to draw pictures of people. Most of her vast quantities of art work are of either people or houses. Just lately she's started adding a heart to people. She puts it smack bang in the middle of their chest.

Unfortunately for me, Ben has only seen pictures so far of mummy with a heart. I had to carefully explain that yes - it was a big heart and not a big .... do I have to continue?

I Don't Love Australia

In the mail today, we received some lovely little presents from Jan. Each package had a little note book which had "I Love Australia" on the front. Isaac and Lizzy got busy stamping and writing in their note books, when suddenly Lizzy came over to me and said "I don't love Australia!".

"Oh? What do you love?"

"I love you, mummy. I don't love Australia".

Obviously you can't love two things at once when you are three, so I'm quite happy being the focus of her love. Australia can wait.

That Bizarre American Tradition

Yes...it's that time of year again. Halloween. Ben & I still don't get it, but we certainly do know that the kids like dressing up and eating candy.

This year we ended up with Anakin Skywalker and a Princess.

Who's that Good-Looker?

Oh my...it's my husband :)

Doesn't he look good in his new glasses? I think so anyway.

Happy Birthday

It's been many years now, but I remember the day my little sister was born.

Owen & I were staying at the van Drunen's house, and were thrilled when the phone call came in just after 10.00pm saying we had a little sister. We were thrilled, not just because we had our new baby but because that new baby was a sister. We had vowed that if she had been a boy we would not call him by Mum & Dad's chosen name, and by having a sister Mum had successfully avoided that argument. We were definately happy to have an "Anita" rather than a "Warren".

I remember going to the hospital, and seeing her all swaddled up in her little cot. We had a little card with her name on it, and the nurse wheelled her over to the big window and we got to oooh & ahhh at a close but "safe" range. (Obviously we were all covered in big nasty germs in those days).

I don't remember too much about you coming home Anita but I do remember you being a toddler and many of the "growing up" years. I remember you telling me that my hair cut made me look like a mummy - and no I was not impressed about that idea. I can even remember the green dress I was wearing that day.

Anyway - I wanted to say Happy Birthday Anita!

Have a great day.

Up and Down

It's fun getting new toys - especially when they are toys for the grown-ups. We got new garage doors with automatic door opens, so Ben & I have been a little silly opening and closing our garage doors. Ben is excited because it's another electronic gadget to add to our collection. For me, it's the joy of not having to get out of the car in the rain to open and close the garage doors.

So...just to let you get the feel....here we go....

Uppppppp.....
Downnnnn.....
Uppppppp.....
Downnnnn.....

Oh and for some strange reason, the buttons inside the garage have a temperature gauge on them and it's in Celsius. The door man started to tell me that we could change it, and I had to explain that we like it better the way it is.

How do you spell... ?

To be honest, I was expecting to hear this question from Isaac first. I therefore was quite surprised to hear it come from Lizzy. On reflection I should have known Isaac would not have asked - his style is more to seem uninterested and the suddenly do it perfectly.

So here is the word from my little girl. Can I tell you I was thrilled to see this?

Previously she had only written "E"'s for Elizabeth. Then suddenly she writes "STOP", and although you can't see it in the picture, made it into a stop sign. Have I told you that she's also started reading? She reads one of Jan's starter books to us every night. I'm so proud of her.

Wiggle, Wiggle....Gone

Yes...the tooth is gone. Isaac lost his first tooth sometime on Friday afternoon. For a moment, we actually thought it was really lost, and not just a case of a lost tooth. Isaac came over to Ben and said "Look at this!" and opened his mouth. It took Ben a moment to realise his tooth was missing but suddenly he realised and said "You've lost your tooth!" He then went on to ask where his tooth was, but Isaac did not know. Ben's next question as "Well...where were you when you lost your tooth?" To which he responded at the computer. Mind you, it had been over an hour since he'd been playing on the computer and he'd eaten dinner in that hour.

Sure enough - over at the computer was a tooth, sitting on the floor. Lost tooth, found.

Here is a picture of our gappy boy, for your viewing pleasure.

Wiggle, Wiggle

Big news in our house today...

Isaac came home from school today with a loose tooth.

Wiggle, wiggle...more news to come soon.

Radioactive Man

Take a look at this picture...

Bet you didn't know you were looking at my husband! OK, so it's obviously not Ben really, however today he was the radioactive man to me.

He had a bone scan this morning and was injected with a small amount of radioactive material, which essentially will make his bones glow if he has any damage or infection in them.

We have very mixed reactions on what we want to see from the scan. Glowing bones will help with a diagnosis, and non-glowing bones will mean that we still don't know what is causing the pain but we can eliminate some stuff.

Now for the waiting game...

Musical Inclinations

The other week Lizzy & I were in the car, listening to the classical radio station. A piece of music by GF Handel came onto the radio.

Suddenly Lizzy pipes up and says "You got married to this". Ummm. Wow. I walked down the isle to "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba". This wasn't the same peice but it was another by Handel.

Let's just say that I was pretty impressed that she recognised a similar style of music. Maybe she has more musical inclinations which I hadn't given her credit for.

Missing My Brother

When Isaac first started Kindergarten, Lizzy seemed thrilled because she had mummy all to herself nearly all day long. When Isaac came home, she pretty much ignored him and went on her merry way.

However, in the last two weeks that has changed. We meet Isaac outside the Kindergarten room, and the moment Elizabeth sees Isaac she runs to him, calling out "Isaac!" and gives him a great big bear hug. Usually I have to detach her from him.

Obviously the novelty of having mummy to herself has worn off, and now she is thrilled to see Isaac at the end of the school day.

Opening Minds

Isaac in now in his 3rd week of Kindergarten.

What I love about Kindergarten is watching Isaac's mind grow. Preschool was more about social development but kindergarten is more acedemic, which seems to suit Isaac down to the ground. For the last couple of days I've asked him about his day and the little mouth starts to work. It seems that the highlight of his day is Science. They appear to be learning about fish at the moment, as all last week I've heard about fish. Isaac came home on Friday and said "I want to tell you something Mummy. Did you know that fish have GILLS?" (said with awe in his voice).

You have to understand here, that prior to this year, it was so difficult to get anything out of him about his day. Last year my standard response was "I ate a snack and don't remember anything else". After he realised that I was always asking "So what did you eat for snack time?" his response was changed to "I ate a snack but don't know what it was and don't remember anything else".

I love Kindergarten! And so, it appears, does Isaac.

What a dummy!

What a dummy - not as in stupid - but that thing that Lizzy seemed to have permanently stuck in her mouth at night. What a dummy it was - it was loved, cherished and craved, but now it is gone.

We tried many different tactics to get rid of the thing. First of all we tried cold turkey. That was hellish for us and Lizzy. After about 2 months of screaming for 2 plus hours every night, plus multiple night wakings and a cranky girl during the day, we relented and gave it back. (I think she might be a little stubborn...don't you?) Then we tried bribing. (We'll have a goodbye dummy party if you sleep without your dummy). We tried having the dentist tell her it wasn't good for her.

Before coming to Australia, we had our best compromise, where we'd let her fall asleep with it but take it out after about an hour. But it still had to go.

When we came home from Australia, we decided it was time. We suggested that we leave the dummy out for the dummy fairy. The problem was the fairy kept on coming each night and putting it back in her mouth.

Finally, I wrote a book for Lizzy. It showed pictures of her as a baby, and then growing up. Each picture had her using her dummy. Then there was a picture of her going to preschool without a dummy, until finally there was a picture of her sleeping without her dummy (snapped during our compromise time).

At the end, I said to her "Do you want to be a big girl tonight, and go to sleep without your dummy".

"Yes" she replied. I had my doubts that it would be like the fairy but she fell asleep without a problem. We read the book for the next few nights, and each night she choose to sleep without the dummy. We've now been dummy free for over a week - so I'm confident it's gone for good.

Yippee! Hopefully we've just saved our selves thousands on orthodist bills later in life :)

Put in my place

We were all in the car last night, and Isaac was telling Ben all about his day at school. I interrupted and asked him a relevant question about school.

His response was "Mummy I want to tell you something." I was having a silent moment of thrill, because lately everything has been about Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. My daydreaming was immediately squashed as he continued with "I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to Daddy".

Oh dear - I was certainly put in my place. Ben immediately asked the same question I had just asked and Isaac responded with full details. Ben & I just looked at each other and laughed. We know who's the favoured parent at the moment, don't we?

Kindergarten

Today was the big day....Isaac's first day of Kindergarten. There were no tears - from either Isaac or Mummy. Hurray!

Here is our big kindergartener, just before leaving for school.

And you'll notice that in traditional Seattle style, it rained for the first day of school. (You've got to set the standards, right?)

And finally, Isaac lining up...

And Isaac in the playground

Climbing up and coming down

Lizzy in the Water

Here are some photos of Lizzy, enjoying the water on Orcas Island last week.

A Grandmother's Guide to Pokemon

In order to be a "cool" grandma, you might want to study for our upcoming visit.

First the basics...

Pokemon is played on the Gameboy. OK...wasn't that easy?

Now the story line...

The main character of Pokemon is Ash. He is a 10 year old boy, training to become a Pokemon Master. He has a pokemon named PIKACHU (Pea - ka - chew). He travels around the world with his friends Brock & Misty, looking for wild pokemon to catch. When they catch a pokemon, it becomes their own and it lives in a Poke ball. The children use their pokemon to battle against other trainers with pokemon. The ulitimate goal is to get badges by beating Gym leaders, who are special pokemon trainers. There is a goofy pair of bad guys who keep on messing things up, called Team Rocket.

Now you know the story, here are some pokemon names to learn....

Pikachu (he's most important to learn!!)
Jigglypuff
Bulbasaur
Venusaur (this is Isaac's big pokemon)
Meowth (a cat pokemon)
Butterfree

This is only a small selection. However, now, when you are driving along and you are asked "Grandma, can you tell me a pokemon joke", you'll be able to say "Why did Meowth cross the road?" "Because there was some ice-cream on the other side."

Swimming Update

Just another little swimming update. Isaac is now swimming across the width of the pool all by himself. Yeah to my little man.

The Card System

Elizabeth is terrible at falling asleep. There is no other way to say it. She's had the same bedtime routine for years and it does nothing to calm her down. For Isaac, the ritual of the bedtime routine does something that strikes the sleeping trigger.

Getting Lizzy to stay in her room has been a battle since she moved out of her cot at age 2. Finally, I think I have found something that works for her. I give her two cards, which are her "get out of bed free" cards. Once she has used these she is not allowed to leave her room. She usually uses them within the first 5 minutes. Card one is usually a trip to the potty (despite the fact that she went at the beginning of bedtime) and card two is usually to tell me something.

After the first two nights though, I had to fine tune my cards. She has now been given a night-time potty trip card and a morning sun card, as well as the "get out of bed free" cards. Our first night, she wet the bed but didn't leave her room and the second morning I came into her room in the morning to see if she was awake only to find her laying on her bed. She jumped up and said "Is it morning? Can I get out of bed?"

It seems counter-intuitive, but it seems to work. I think she feels in control, because she's actually allowed to get out of bed and doesn't get in trouble for it. Hahaha. There is nothing like mother manipulation.

Excitement

Every night, at the end of bedtime, we sing "Jesus Loves Me" to Elizabeth. Tonight, as I sang, she joined in with her own words "Maddy, Maddy, Madeline. Maddy Maddy Madeline." Then at the end she held her hands together in a book-shape and I asked "What does your bible say?" Her response "Jesus loves Maddy and Everyone"

I think she is very excited about playing with Madeline in a few weeks time. I wonder where I get that idea from?

American Culture

We inducted our children into the American camping culture yesterday by making smores. Our cabin has a little fire pit outside and we all had a turn at making this googy dessert.

Our first attempt was a failure but we quickly worked out that you are supposed to toast the marshmellow first and then put it together. The hot marshmellow melts the chocolate. It's far from healthy but the kids certainly enjoyed them.

1,2,3,4,5...Once I caught a fish alive

Yes...we did let one of these fellows go again but luckily it didn't bite our little finger.

There is a daily limit of one rockfish so we threw one back again - however after throwing it back we shook our heads in dismay because we realised it was one per person, not per boat.

For those of you who are fishermen - this was a Copper Rockfish.

4th July

Yesterday was 4th July. For our children, that means Independance Day. More importantly to them it meant Fireworks!

Elizabeth has never seen fireworks and Isaac, only as a baby. However, because we are on vacation we decided to stay up late (remember that the sun sets at 10.00pm) and see the fireworks display.

We were a little apprehensive to start, waiting to see how they would react. I have memories of children screaming in terror at seeing fireworks. But there was none of that in our household. Isaac's face was a picture of delighted surprise and he applauded all the ones he liked. His favourite were the multi-coloured fireworks. Lizzy was more vocal in her appreciation. Her first response was to squeal in laughter and loud crys of "Look!" and "Ohh...that's so pretty!".

Overall - it was a very enjoyable evening with two little exhausted bears by the end of the evening.

My style

We were driving home today and Isaac was asking what he could do when he got home. I suggested that he could either ride his bike or play outside.

He paused for a moment and said "Playing with trains is more my style"

Isn't it great to know that your five year old has his own personal style of play?

Riding Along on My Push Bike Honey

We have a new bike. Or is it half a bike? Our new bike is an attachment that I can put on the back of my bike, turning it into a tandem bike for the kids. It's lots of fun, and alot of work for me.

We tried it out today, riding up our drive way and up to the top of the hill. Despite Isaac weighing more than Lizzy, it's much easier to ride with Isaac as he actually pushes on the peddles. With Lizzy, it's hit or miss whether she's actually pushing.

I have certainly done my exercise for today.

Spider

Ben & I were chatting when suddenly we hear:

"Look Mummy! A spider!"

Lizzy holds out her hands and proudly displays her spider to us. "What do spiders like to eat?"

"They like to eat insects, Lizzy. But did you know, if you find a spider you shouldn't pick it up. It's better to leave it where it is. Or if you have to move it, move it back to somewhere it would like to live."

"Where do spiders live?"

"Outside." Although this one is a house spider, I'd much rather see it outside.

So Lizzy takes the spider outside, and as we close the door she puts on her best mummy voice.

"Now don't come back inside."

A Day Early

Lizzy has been begging me to bake a birthday cake for the past few weeks. We have a wonderful kids cookbook, and each day she finds the picture of the birthday cake and asks if we can make it.

Today I finally gave in, and looked for an excuse to have a birthday cake.

First of all we sang...

"Happy Half Birthday's to us....".

It's 6 months to all of our birthdays - give or take a number of days.

Then I realised we could sing Happy Birthday to Emma - just a day early.

So we all sang "Happy Birthday Dear Aunty Emma" and then enjoyed a slice of cake on your behalf Em!

Happy Birthday!

Sports Confusion

I love watching Isaac playing the Wii. Today he was playing Tennis, and I could not help chuckling. In the time it took for the ball to go from his end of the court, to the other and then back again, he managed to swing his racquet about 5 times in fast little swings.

Then to top it all off, as one of these little swings managed to connect with the ball, his right leg would suddenly kick out, as though he was kicking a ball.

He certainly managed to get some exercise in whilst playing his own version of tennis-soccer. That was the point of the Wii, right?

When I grow up...

Lizzy has a new goal in life.

When she grows up she wants to be a boy.

I suspect that we have a little bit of big brother hero worship happening.

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day. The Australian equivalent would be ANZAC Day.

As we drove past the cemetery yesterday, Isaac noticed all the American flags in the ground and asked us why they were there.

I told him "Memorial Day is a day which we remember the people who have fought for our country." Pause. "Well, actually, for your country. Because it's not my country. Memorial Day is an Amerian day."

I really should have just stopped after the first explaination. Explaining Memorial Day to a five year old is hard enough, without the added confusion of nationality.

Appearances

Isaac is such a boy these days. He's starting to like boy things, he's starting to get rough in a playful way. He also couldn't care less how he looked. Present him with clothes and shoes, and he'll put them on without a care.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, cares. Not only does she care, but she knows exactly how she wants to look. Heaven forbid if you suggest something she doesn't want to wear. However, when it comes to shoes she is very particular. She knows the shoes she wants to wear, and they must be clean.

As we were putting on her fairly new shoes yesterday morning, she starting saying "No, no no! I need new shoes."

"But Lizzy, these shoes are new."

"No - they are old. I need new shoes."

At this point I turned to Ben and said "I think we have a cronic shoe shopper on our hands."

Ben rolls his eyes and Lizzy says very seriously "Yes, I think so too."

Leatherback Sea Turtles

Our bed has somehow become an "imagination" spot in our house. It often is a boat, although sometimes it is a train or even a plane. Sometimes, when nobody can agree, it is both a boat and a train at the same time.

The other day it was a rescue boat. Elizabeth had tossed all our pillows off our bed and they were Leatherback Sea Turtles. She would then swim out and rescue the turtles and bring them safely back to the boat.

It's fun to see how a child's imgaination can grow - and it constantly amazes me how much they pickup about the world around us without us even knowing.

What is a Friend?

The other day, Isaac and I were talking about preschool. I asked him if Jackson was his friend. The answer was "No". I then asked him "What about Joshua?".

"No, but I like playing with Joshua. Can he come over and play with Daddy and I?"

After a quick shake of my head I had to announce the news: "Isaac if you like playing with someone, they are your friend."

"Ohhh." And the light comes on.

Doggie Update

Our old visitor has been claimed and will be spending the evening at home with her owner. I am very relieved, as I did not want her to have to be taken to the pound. However, I'm not sure how the reaction will be tomorrow morning from our two children. Hopefully the ground work we laid today will lessen any disappointment tomorrow.

Before and After

We are getting our house painted - it used to be pink and now it is brown.

Before....

After....

There are a few finishing touches to be done, but I'm sure you get the general idea.

Temporary Visitor

We had an unexpected visitor turn up today.

She is a very old dog, and appears to be blind. We walked around our neighbourhood and could not find an owner, and we took her to our vet to see if she was microchipped. No luck. So we've aquired a temporary visitor. I've stressed to the kids that she's only visiting and they seem content with that. Hopefully someone will claim her soon.

Walking

One thing I love about the weather warming (and drying) up is that we have more opportunities to get out to our local nature trails. Today, we headed out to the Redmond Watershed Preserve. It was about a 45 minute (child-paced) walk, filled with lots of exciting things to see. The highlight was seeing a snake slithering off the path into the wetlands. Isaac was thrilled and has told everyone about the black snake that looked like it was cut down the middle with a yellow line. As exciting as our walk was, I'm glad we didn't have the excitement of a jogger who came off one of the longer trails. He told us to be careful if using the trail he'd been on because had nearly run into a black bear.

Here are some photos of our walk.

Isaac is my trail blazer. Normally a boy who'd rather be sitting quietly, once he's on a walk he's wanting to take off ahead of everyone.

On the other hand, Lizzy, who seems to never stop moving, is constantly stopping to touch or admire something.

Going Up

Lizzy went tree climbing again. This time Daddy was home to be the rescuer.

Tree Climbing - Part II

We picked Ben up from the airport on Thursday afternoon. He had already read my blog, and started to ask Lizzy about her tree climbing experiences.

Another voice suddenly joins in...

"I'm going to climb a tree when I am seven!"

Ahhh. That's my little planner. He might not want to climb a tree at 5, but it appears that he somehow knows that it's something that a child should do and has a definate plan to achieve it.

My response...

"Jolly Good Isaac. On your seventh birthday I'll send you up the tree - rain or shine."

Spring Afternoons

Spring has finally arrived. The weather is warming up, marginally. It feels like an Australian winter right now. The flowers are blooming. The kids are playing outside. It's great.

This afternoon Isaac and I were around the side looking for bugs, when suddenly we hear Elizabeth, "Mummy, come and look at me!"

Isaac and I walk around the back, but I don't see anyone.

"Mummy, look at me!"

I look up. Half way up the Italian Prune tree is a girl in pink.

"Wow Lizzy, you have climbed high. Can you climb back down?"

"No. I need help."

She is just high enough that when I stretch out my arm I'm a few inches away from her foot.

"Lizzy. Can you see the branch below you? Can you put your foot on it?"

"No. I need help."

Oh dear. What do I do? I could climb up myself, or I could leave her there while I get the ladder.

"Wait there Lizzy. I'm going to get the ladder"

So there I am, on this lovely spring afternoon having images of rescuing kittens from trees. Luckily this little kitten of mine was quite willing to be rescued.

California

Ben is going to California today.

I think Isaac knows that he was born in California. However, I found out Lizzy's extent of knowledge on California while at the airport this morning.

"Where are you going Daddy?"

"I'm going to California for work"

"Oh. California! That's where the Cars went"

After a moment of confusion, Ben realised she was referring to the movie "Cars".

"Yes - Lightning McQueen went to California didn't he? But Daddy is going for work, he's not going to race in a car"