Happy Birthday Jenn

Today (in the U.S. anyway) is my older sister's birthday. I used to bag her out about whatever age she was turning, but I think that stopped about 10 years ago when I realized that since she was less than 2 years older than me, it was slightly short-sighted to think that her age was much different than mine! Happy birthday to my sister who has become a great friend over the years, and is a fabulous mother of FOUR beautiful children :). Thank you for pursuing me over the years. It is the reason we have the friendship we have. - just an old favourite picture...

Little glimpses

I 'love' the little glimpses kids give us into what they might be like in the future. Now, this will not have quite the impact without you being able to hear it verbally, but just try to imagine... A casual conversation between D and L about what their full names are. D says, "Yeah, your name is Laura Sypkes." L says, "Yeah, Laura Anne Sypkes. And I'm in charge!" Oh my, where did that come from? As my cousin Shelby says it: 'Good times'.

Activities and other news

I love doing 'activities' with the kids. Daniel thrives on structured time, and about 6 months ago it was a routine thing that we did. But it's been awhile. So today, really for the first time since being in Australia, I planted my bum on the ground with a variety of things we might need (so I wouldn't have to get up of course!), and we had a great couple hours... Admittedly, I have not really enjoyed the time I have had with them lately - it's mostly just been about surviving. But today was great. Here's a couple little videos - Daniel made up a song, and then Laura was talking to me about doing wees and poos on the potty. So obviously this is riveting stuff...

In other news, we're learning about Tassie devils (real and animated),

loving "chocolate" sandwiches (gotta love Nutella),

waiting to move into our rental house (which will be a lovely 3 weeks before I'm due!),

and I've also hit the 7 month mark, so I've obliged with a photo (you're welcome Laurie!).

Overheard

Laura: "That was very not nice, I'm going to tell mommy." Daniel: "Sorry Laura...... now you don't have to go tell!" L: "Thank you for saying sorry to me." D: "Now are you not going to go tell?" (apparently not) --- Laura, last night in the car: "I think I'm very funny."

"Goodbye 3, hello 4!"

This has been Daniel's little phrase to reassure himself that he is indeed 4. I guess with a 3.75 BD party at preschool, a BD party in Oregon before we left, and then one in Australia on the actual day, he has reason to not be quite sure of the fact that he actually has turned 4! I'm missing the photos of the BD in Oregon (put my photos on my dad's computer and stupidly deleted my camera disk before putting the photos on my own computer), and then of course the pictures on the actual birthday were blurry, go figure. Ah well, the boy's 4 and life goes on!! :)

A hard goodbye

2 years of being in the same country as my family was something I guess I didn't ever think would happen, and now it's finished. A hard 2 years to be here for many reasons, but so so hard to see it end. We said goodbye a week ago. Miss them already...

What have we been doing?

The answer: too much for one post, and too much for my overloaded brain to think about posting anyway. So... we've been travelling, packing up, saying goodbyes, arranging stuff back in Australia, cancelling car insurance here... you get the idea. I just don't have the space to post. But the past few weeks have also been a lot of fun...

---

Whistler ski lift

At the top of Whistler Mountain 4th of July with cousins and fireworks!!

Wildlife park with my sister and her family - complete with moose, wolves and a herd of 30+ elk!

Oregon beach with beautiful weather right before we head to Winter down under!

I think maybe it was actually warmer under the sand - at least out of the wind...

Little sister's gotta join in, but "don't cover my jacket!"

Sticky notes revisited

Remember the sticky grabber? Well, now it's more like the sticky-note-nametag-maker. See the joy on his face? He loved them Auntie Jill!! We all wore sticky name tags for days - Oma even wore one all the way home to Australia (or so she said...:)

Wedding Kids

I don't have much to add to all these pictures, but I just loved my kids the day they were in their babysitter's wedding (which was the day before we left). I know it's the bride that is supposed to be the center of attention (and truly, she was), but as these kids' mother I was just very very proud and took too many photos before we even left the house!

Saying goodbye...

A solid week of goodbyes at Stanford. Emotional. Tiring. Without question, worth it. Lots of "why haven't we done this more?" I don't have pictures of everyone and everything, but we've said it all already, and we are thankful for the friendships - in the courtyard, on playdates, out to dinner or coffee, at water parks, movies... wherever! But goodbyes are always yuck (just couldn't think of a more fitting word), no matter what good things are yet to come. Daniel keeps asking when we are going back to our old house. Hmmm...