Lord help me

And I do mean God. Really. This is a full body-to-the-floor tantrum. Laura has gotten some idea that this is the most appropriate way to react to something as simple as "Laura don't touch". If this was a video, the audio [by Laura] would go something like "No. No. NO. NO!!' - and so on and so forth. My parents are reading this with smug little smiles right now, but I also hope they're praying...

Boys

For some reason there is something particularly unique when 4 generations are all the same gender.

Big Opa, Opa, Dad, Daniel.

Bruny Island

A couple weeks of summer in Tasmania on Bruny Island, escaping the Northern Hemisphere winter, is always welcome, no matter what it takes to get there (3 flights, 30 hours travel).

Do you remember when you made tents with these chairs? If so, you're not the kid anymore. That was my epiphany anyway... :)

Making a list, checking it twice...

One day he'll wonder why he was at the beach in his undies, and why we were compelled to take photos of it. Cause I'm the parent and I can.

"I want to be just like my Auntie Yayun [Sharon]"

Kid friends

Child friend-ships are so simple some-times. We are friends with their parents, so they are friends with each other. I know it doesn't always work out that easily, but with these kids, they are just friends and it works. This was our first of 2 days in Melbourne in early Dec - thanks Harry's and Mugg's for organising a great time.

Intimidating...

It's so intimidating - what does one post when one hasn't blogged anything for a month? It's kind of like calling an old friend - the longer you wait, the harder it is to call...

So here's two good shots from our time away - just to start the blogging. We don't normally do both families at Christmas time, so it was a busy holiday, but quite special to get to spend it with both.

Sypkes Clan

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8 Simmons Cousins (#9 is on the way from my older sis!)

Oh yeah, those days away...

So to those of you who are interested in what I did with those days away a few weeks ago, here's a bit of an email I wrote to a friend - basically a few long run-on sentences about the gift of having 5 unstructured days to myself.
The house was lovely, although it didn't matter that it was at the beach - it rained for 3 out of 4 days I was there, and I LOVED being indoors listening to it. One night the power even went out from 8pm till 2 or 3am, which made for a great excuse to read under the covers with a flashlight!! What else... I organized a lot of photos, read a parenting book, watched movies, drank coffee, prayed a lot, ate very little, but a high proportion of chocolate. (I was hardly hungry given that I was doing so little, and it was a huge luxury not to have mealtimes rule the day). I did a lot of Christmas shopping and took my time getting from place to place.

It was really just a lovely mishmash of things that didn't require me to think of anyone else for few days. Kind of 'nothingness' and kind of purposeful towards getting refreshed for life and motherhood. I guess it's the bonus side of having a student for a husband, who can give me the time away without taking off work.

Thank you Andrew, you're a wonderful dad and a truly supportive husband. I love you.

Birth from the other side

In the early hours of Tuesday morning I got to witness childbirth without going through it myself!

My sister Jill gave birth to her 3rd boy.

It was beautiful. Welcome baby Isaac. We love you boy!

What to do...?

I leave on Saturday for a driving trip to Oregon by myself - ALL by myself. And I am busy-in-my-head trying to decide how to spend my time. It's like this panic (not really, of course) of wanting to spend it exactly the right way and not waste it. Like thinking it's so good (and so rare!) that it might just slip away if I'm not careful (4 days goes by fast in normal life, right?). So what would you do?

Bring on Thanksgiving!

I do love the American
Thanksgiving tradition
- so much so that I did
my best to reproduce
it a few times Down
Under, right down to
the very same dishes
that my family makes.

Today, while Laura
and I got out the
winter gear for fun,
Daniel was busy
making pumpkin pie
at preschool.

Each kid brought
their own pie home -
how impressive!

They each made a
pie crust on Tuesday,
then filled and
baked them today.
He was pretty proud.

I think cooking at
preschool must be
much more fun than
cooking with me...

Daniel

...the bike and the scooter are having a rest.

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...my calendar gets some decoration!

1st picture: I've written so much about Laura lately. Maybe she's learning so much, so quickly, that it's just fun to share. And besides, Daniel is just busy riding around outside this week, giving his scooter and bike a real workout. I think preschool has made him more independent and happier with his own company

(and more bossy to other kids too, but we are working on that!).

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2nd picture: When he's not outside he wants to read, draw, do activity books... He found my calendar the other morning before I came downstairs. At a glance it looks like scribbles, but no... look carefully - he connected the numbers like many other 'dot-to-dot' activities in books (he added decorations on other months too). And although the look in his eye told me he knew he shouldn't have done it, I did leave it on the ground, so I couldn't be too annoyed with him. . :)