Letters

Lizzy loves to write letters. Ben & I are always finding notes on our desks or in other places around the house. I hate to admit, but there are some unmailed letters in our house too.

Two letters have been written recently - and while they are still unmailed - I thought it was important that they made it to their intended recipients.

Christmas is on the Way

And in America this means making Gingerbread houses.

We made our first ever tonight.

Back to Halloween

Finally I have a photo of my little Bob the Builder.

School Photos Part II

And today, Isaac's photos came home. Here is our sweet 3rd grader :)

School Photos

Lizzy came home with her school photos today. Isaac did not, so you'll have to wait to see his.

Hugs

The other day Isaac asked what my favorite things was. My answer was "Saying goodnight to my children, because it's a very special time I get to spend with each of my children and I always am able to give them a big hug."

Isaac thought about this for a moment. "I like hugging equally to computers".

"I definately like hugging more than computers", I answered.

"Of course you do, you're a girl".

I held back from responding that this was obviously boy logic.

Halloween

Tonight was Halloween. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, however I have some photos from the kids Halloween parade and playing in the park afterwards.

We went trick or treating with my friend and her children, much to Isaac & Lizzy's delight. What amused me most was how quickly Kai caught onto the whole trick or treating tradition. He toddled after the big kids as quickly as he could, and would squeal in delight when someone opened the door. Often this was accompanied by a little happy dance. If the person bought the bowl down to his height, he'd quickly take a candy and pop it into his bag. If they were still down low when he'd done that the hand would go out again. Luckily for us, he's not had candy before so he didn't realise what a treasure he was putting into his bag.

Here are some photos of Isaac & Lizzy from the other day at school. Isaac was Obi wan Kenobi and Lizzy was a witch (she'd just watched Kiki's Delivery Service, which influenced her choice). Kai was Bob the Builder, although photos of him are on my friends camera.

Travel Plans

Today Isaac wrote the following list of places he'd like to visit:

1. The South Pole
2. China
3. Washington D.C.
4. Glacier National Park

I'm sure that we'll visit 3 and 4 at some stage in the next few years. And we may even visit China, as Ben has always wanted to take us there (I think all of Ben's stories about his visit to China have influenced Isaac). But the South Pole doesn't strike me as a family vacation destination. I think that this goal will have to be one that he does as an adult. Hey - the kid likes science - perhaps he can do a stint there one day as part of his studies :)

Perspective

I had a few family members comment about the background in my Trip_Down_Memory_Lane post. Just to give a little perspective for the first photo, with me standing on the back verandah in the bikini ... had this photo been taken a few years later, Jan B's house would have been there instead :)

Santa

Lizzy and I were driving to the shops on Saturday, when she suddenly said "Wouldn't it be funny if we had to pay for Christmas?"

"We sort of do" I said. "We buy gifts for one another."

"No. I mean wouldn't it be funny if we had to pay for Santa's gifts?".

Ummm. Yeah. Funny.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I was looking through some old photos tonight and thought I'd take you on a trip down memory lane.

"What do you get if you wear a yellow jacket?"

"A Bee Sting."

Well technically, it would be a wasp sting, but I had to smile at how far Lizzy's jokes have progressed over the past year. Was it really only a year ago that she made up knock, knock jokes that made no sense?

Just Like Daddy

Kai is a good imitator. He obviously wants to be just like all the older people in our household, but of everyone, Daddy is his idol.

Yesterday, as Ben was getting ready for work, Kai was in the bathroom watching him. He then reached up and picked up Ben's deodorant, took off the lid, lifted up his shirt and dabbed the deodorant on his belly.

Mmmmm. Kai will be smelling fresh all day long - just like Daddy.

Can you spot anything different?

Take a close look at this photo? Yes - they are 3 gorgeous Armstrong's but there is something different..

Any guesses?


Well - I suppose it's a bit hard to tell from the photo but you are looking at 3 Australian citizens :)

Yes. Kai is now an Australian. Sometime in the next 2 months, he & I are going to go on a little vacation to San Francisco to get his Australian passport. Without it, I'm told we won't be allowed into the country.

Reading with Rover

There is a local charity here called Reading with Rover. Their mission is "to inspire children to discover the joy of reading while developing literacy skills and confidence in a safe environment using Reading with Rover Dogs." If you want to read more about it you can look at their webpage at http://readingwithrover.org/

Yesterday, our local second-hand bookshop had a Meet the Author with a children's author. We took the kids along to listen to her read her book "Don't Lick the Dog", which is about how to approach a dog. Afterwards the kids were able to read to two Reading with Rover dogs. Isaac insisted on reading to both dogs and read the book by the featured author. Lizzy was hesitant about reading to start with - but then we found a second-hand book called "Olive My Love". It's a book about a dog called Olive (you might know her from Olive the Other Reindeer) and it just so happened that one of the Reading with Rover dogs was called Olive. This tickled her fancy, so she happily read to Olive. Kai was Kai. He ran all around the bookshop and happily patted the reading dogs. Who cares about authors at this age.

All over it was a fun experience, and I was very impressed with the Reading with Rover program.

What does a bird say?

If you ask this of most people, they would tell you that a bird says "tweet, tweet" or something to that effect. However, in our household, if you ask Kai what a bird says (or if he sees a bird) he says "caw, caw".

I think this might be a good indication to you about how many crows we have around us.

House Extention

Yesterday, Isaac and I had an interesting conversation in the kitchen.

"Mum, are you going to have another baby?"

"No" Pause. "Do you think we need 4 kids instead of 3?"

"Yes."

"But Isaac, we don't have room for another baby".

"We could get a house extention."

"And where would this house extention go?"

"We could get a 3rd floor. Nathaniel & Jonathan have a 3rd floor."

Yes I suppose there is a solution for anything. However, I think we'll skip this one.

Dare Devil

I think I have a little dare devil on my hands.

For a while now, Kai's been trying to climb up on my small (but tall) round footstool. Yesterday he suceeded. He then stood on the footstool, huge grin on his face and arms out wide.

The other thing he loves to do is stand on our bed and do a free fall forward onto the matress. Usually he'll stand up with his feet under my legs and then throw himself forward, keeping his body straight. It's worth lots of giggles.

Ben & I have been debating whether our first broken bone will come from Lizzy or Kai.

Growing Up

It's a bitter sweet day when you are folding your washing and suddenly realise that you have sorted one of your sons shirts in with one of your husbands. He's getting bigger every day.

Math Helper

Lizzy came home with a worksheet which she completed during math time. It was all about greater, between and less. I looked at it, rolled my eyes and asked "Was that easy, hard or just right?"

"It was easy, Mummy. But I finished first and then I got to help other kids in the class."
"Did anyone else help?"
"Just Mrs Lenderman."

The next day she bought home another. This time I simply asked whether she helped anyone in her class. The answer was yes.

I do hope she's going to get something a little more challenging than helping others with their math.