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)