Dressed for Preschool

The boys asked for their face to be painted before preschool the other morning.  To complete Hamish ensemble he also had a large green dinosaur tail.

How Do You Find The Time?

I started writing this blog for a few reasons, firstly I had all these ideas running around in my head that I wanted to express, but for what point? It seemed a complete waste to write them and have them sit on my PC never to be read, plus I wanted to talk to people about what I had been thinking.

Secondly, I find writing cathartic, especially since being more home bound.  Its good to have something that I put my mind to, something to think about that is outside of my daily grind. 

Lastly I wanted to have a place to share with family and friends the photos and stories of our daily life, and at the same time, have something that I could look back at, having all those quirky little stories and pictures all in one place.

There have been quiet a few times when people have commented on where I get the time.  I guess we all need to find the time to do things that are just for us.  I would love to do yoga, meditate or read my book but these are all things that are hard to do when you have children.  The way that I find time to blog is due to my wonderful Blackberry.  It means that while the kids play at the park or in between colouring/riding bikes and building castles I can pop out my Blackberry and write.  Some post do require me to sit in front of the PC but they are few and far between.

I don't blog as much as I want to.  In my perfect world I would find time (and an idea) to write everyday.  At most these days its 3 times a week often its less, and it would be a lot less without my Blackberry.

Every man and his dog has a blog these days, they are the 21st century diaries, letters, photo albums, phones calls, and more, all at once.  I guess if you think of it that way then blogging saves me time, money, keeps me in touch with others and is my version of a brain trainer. 

You may ask how do I find the time, I ask you how do you not? *grin*

Faun Hate?

Ok is it just me or is there something wrong with the new Dominos ad's.  Firstly why does the faun want pizza with extra faun? Since when are faun's cannibals? It certainly puts Mr Tutmus from the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe in a whole new light.  And secondly why is the pizza guy so angry at the faun? I need some back story, is he faun prejudiced? Has the faun been pestering the pizza guy for ages? What's with the faun hate man, he looks like a fairly nice faun, if only he could curb his cannibalism.

Christmas Baubles

Well its definitely the festive season and we have finally put our tree up. We are doing the advent calendar each night and we have had our street Christmas party.

The tree this year was challenging firstly the kids broke a few bits but it was also a challenge for me to relinquish the decorating a bit and let them have free reign. (then i slyly moved a few pieces later)

Last year Jack asked for a sleigh bell off Santa's sleigh so i wrote to 6 or so sleigh bell manufactures in the US and finally found someone who was willing to ship some out at a good price. Its silver and has a lovely ring to it, the piece of leather is beautiful and soft, we have one for each of the boys.

The boys and i made some Christmas decoration this year. They are clay with glass beads pressed into them. Hamish decided to pull all of the beads off a few but this one survived.

A few years after Andrew and i got together mum gave me all of my really special Christmas decorations, you know the ones that had been on every Christmas tree since i was born. The first Christmas that we had the dogs they ate my angel. I was extremely upset and searched high and low for the perfect replacement. I didn't ever find the *perfect* replacement but this is our current angel and i like her a lot.

When i was 9 i spent Christmas in Denmark with Inge's family. Her mum Mims gave me these Nyssa's (Norwegian elves) to take home and they have always had a special place in my Christmas ritual.

Normally the old guy across the road is Santa at out street Christmas party but he is unwell this year and asked for a year off. Without consultation i told them that Andrew would be Santa, and a few days before the party i mentioned it to him. He was pretty cranky and i worried he was going to be a crabby Santa. Much to my delight he put on a great show, but has mentioned that he will lobotomise me if i say he will be Santa again next year

Finally this is our new Advent calendar. I brought it from oxfam and filled the little pockets with stickers and balloons, party poppers and the occasional candy cane. I fell in love with it last year and regretted not buying it so i feel pretty pleased with myself now that it is part of our Christmas tradition .... actually can it be a tradition the first year you do it?

I saw a cool idea on Owlets blog. They write activities to do each day, she got the idea from another blog and below if the list of activities they used last year. I think its a great idea and hope that i remember next year to fill the little pockets a bit more creatively.

1. Paint everyone’s toenails

2. Have hot chocolate with all the fixings (we might do milkshakes if it’s too hot)

3. Star gazing

4. Give everyone crazy hairstyles

5. Backyard cricket

6. Go out for sushi

7. Have an indoor picnic

8. Write letters to Father Christmas

9. Use puppets to tell bedtime story

10. Have breakfast for dinner (I am thinking pancakes)

11. Make decorations for the tree

12. Have a camp out around the Christmas tree

13. Pack a picnic dinner and have it at a park (or Botanical Gardens)

14. Fancy dress for dinner time

15. Wrap a toy and take it to a charity Christmas tree

16. Make handmade gift tags for relatives

17. Fish and Chips for dinner down at the beach

18. Fold origami for the Christmas tree

19. Dance like crazy to music

20. Watch a Christmas movie with popcorn

21. Go out for gelati

22. Take Grandparents out to see the Christmas lights

23. Have a bubble bath

24. Special Christmas Eve treat TBA

Oops !!

(Another in lieu of a proper update)
I saw this cartoon the other day and it made me wonder .... if I ever show my kids the stuff I have written on my blog this year, what will they think? I mean they can't be to cross, I didn't post the photo I have of them breastfeeding each other, I do have some limits *grin*

Parking Wars

Andrew text me this photo this afternoon while he was in the city.  Apparently this is a sign on the parking spot he picked, I don't know about you but I can't see if he was parking legally or not.  At least if he got a ticket, no court in its right mind would side with sign.

Lifes Lessons

This morning we are at the Sydney Park playground. Its a new space that has been setup as a great exploration space. They have sand pits with water, a huge climbing frame, touch feel and smell gardens and some of the biggest fastest slides I have seen since I was a kid. Today's life lesson was if you go backwards down the slide that has fast written on it while sitting on your brothers back, you may well hurt yourself. Probably won't stop him doing it again though.

If you Can't See me You Can't get Cross

I'm sure that's what is going through his head.....

The 12 Movies of Christmas

There are a million movies about Christmas, some of which I like to watch every year around now. So here is my list of the top 12 movies of Christmas, in no particular order


If you haven't seen Trapped in Paradise, go get it out. Its my favourite Christmas movie. Basically its about 3 brothers who go to rob a bank in the sweetest town on earth and have a life changing experience. I know, sounds like 1 of a million movies but this one has John Lovitz and Dana Carvey to crack you up.

This is my second pick actually and again i say if you haven't seen it go and get it. If you don't like Dennis Leary, you may well not like this film but he is cast perfectly as the burglar and Kevin Spacey and Julie Davis are awesome as the bickering couple.

Anyone who knows me well knows I'm a big sook and that's why I like Serendipity (it was a last pick though) two star crossed lovers meet, Kate Beckinsale writes her name on a $5 note and tells John Cusack if they are meant to be together he will find the $5 note again one day. Yadda Yadda Yadda soppy love movie ..... love it

Ahh the ole romantic rears her ugly head again, this is a wonderful cast and nice intertwined story line. Basically it follows 7 or so different story lines about different sorts of love. Its cute and happy and a tear jerker.

This is your true kids Christmas movie. Tim Allen accidentally kills Santa, puts on his suit and voila he has to be Santa. While he gets used to the idea and his kid gets all excited about the fact that daddy is Santa they teach everyone that the true spirit of Christmas is about believing in Santa.

There was a lot of hype about this movie and to be honest I don't know what it was all about. The reason it is on the list though is that because its dark and a bit scary my boys like it. Its about a boy who doesn't believe in Santa, he gets on the train with lots of other children who are coming of age and finds that Santa is real, again as long as you believe in him. Last year Jack watched it a lot and asked for a sleigh bell from Santa for Christmas. It was an interesting process to get one sent out from the USA because any true sleigh bells were not allowed to be shipped over in case they were contaminated with horse flu.

Tim Burton at his best in this stop motion movie about Jack Skellington, who opens a portal between Halloween town and Christmas town and then decides that he wants to take over Santa Claus's job.

OK so its mostly not about Christmas but its set at Christmas time and that's good enough for me. Basic plot is, boy buys strange pet (but doesn't listen to instructions on how to look after him) pet runs a muck, has babies that try and take over the world ..... whats not to like :)

So its another 'not really a Christmas movie' but it is a blockbuster about an ex cop who goes to his ex wife Christmas party but the party gets taken hostage by a madman and carnage explosions and wise cracks ensues. Standard 80s action flick

I cant stand Will Ferral and almost didn't watch this movie, but I'm glad I did. It has some funny lines and unless your very Bah Humbug who doesn't enjoy a cheesy Christmas movie. The idea behind the movie is that the Christmas elves adopt a human child and when he finds out he is adopted he goes to NY to find his father. As with all cheesy Christmas movies along the way he teaches everyone that the spirit of Christmas relies on everyone believing in Santa

Anyone from my generation and older will remember these classic films. Personally i always loved Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer but there was also Frosty the Snowman and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. It just doesn't feel as much like Christmas these days without these made for TV mini movies but they don't seem to show them so much anymore.

Truth is i was getting desperate and it was between this and a Muppet Christmas. I'm not a huge fan of this movie but what the heck its cool to have an evil Santa in the mix. I'm NOT recommending this movie ..... the list just made more sense with 12 movies of Christmas

The Paratha Dosa Incident

OK, so maybe I was chatting to my friend and not paying attention.  And maybe the fact that I had a swaying two year old on my back was rather distracting but I am certainly NOT the one with the problem.

If you want to accost me in front of the queue of people after I have already ordered and payed to tell me that their is a queue, well you are going to get my angry side (partially because of the swaying two year old) when I said that I was sorry your response 'that's convenient' certainly seemed like you wanted to 'have a problem' I certainly didn't want to have a problem, I just wanted lunch.

So in hindsight I should have seen the queue.  And yes I would have been annoyed if some upstart jumped in front of me but as I saw her about to order I would have said "excuse me were you aware that there is a queue".  Instead you waited until I had my food in my hand and then told me off like a naughty school girl in front of everyone.

And in response to your comment that you 'don't have a problem' I say you do, firstly you weren't upfront enough to mention the queue when I first ordered and then when I meekly apologised (meek didn't last long after you got in my face though) and said that I was unaware, your rude comment about it 'being convenient' certainly seemed at the time like you had a big problem.

I on the other hand think I handled myself rather well once again as with the park lady incident.  I didn't say what my gut told me which was 'fuck off man, what the hell are you doing at this laid back organic market when you are quite obviously an asshole'

Oh and by the way my Paratha Dosa banquet was awesome *insert rasberry sound*
*rant finished*