Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Hair, glorious hair

My hair is unbelievably long these days. I didn't realise just how long it was until last night when Dan commented on it. It actually reaches my bottom. The top of my "bum crack" to be specific (and uncouth... anyone got a better description?). No wonder it's so heavy.

So I finally got around to making an appointment with my hairdresser today. Due to my limited spare time and his vast popularity, the next appointment which we can both make is, wait for it, four entire weeks away! Yowsers! I wonder how long it will be by then.

Stay tuned. I'm going to go for something drastic. Probably. Maybe...

Monday, March 24, 2008

Turning 7

In point form:
  • Easter long weekend.
  • Dante's 7th birthday party.
  • Superhero theme (leaning just a little towards Ben 10).
  • A dozen or so kids.
  • Stress-factor high (due to it being held at home and not at a play-gym like I'd wished for but didn't go with because they are so expensive!)
  • Included an end time (3-5pm) so that we wouldn't have the kids around for too long!
  • Chose a late afternoon time slot so we wouldn't need to have too much food.
  • Dan was in charge of party games - they ended up playing "Musical Aliens" and "What's the time, Vilgax?"
  • Weather held up amazingly even though rain was forecast.
  • Excellent "Omnitrix" cake made by my mother (from Ben 10).

Outcome: not too stressful and quite enjoyable, really. But NOT another until he's ten!


The following day (Easter Sunday) we had a family party. Just lunch and cake and cousins. It was quite pleasant.


And Elora had her first taste of chocolate cake. Boy did she enjoy it. She grabbed not one, but two spoons and hoed into the plate that had been placed in front of me (for me!). She ate the entire piece all the while with a look of pure glee on her face.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

She walks

We went to dinner at Dante's school friend Ewan's place tonight. We had the two kids over for a night at the beginning of February as it was their father's 50th. I was a tad nervous about it but Ewan's older sister is absolutely wonderful with the younger kids and she was more of a help than a hindrance! I didn't post about the experience at the time - either I was too exhausted or too traumatised. Heheh.

Anyway, they invited us over for dinner as a thank you, and to actually have some relaxed time to sit down and chat rather than rushed conversations in between pick ups and drop offs. Dante was crazy silly, as per usual, and the other two kids were very comfortable and relaxed (and not shy!).

And to top off the enjoyable evening, Elora started walking. Not unknowingly, either. She knew exactly what she was doing and was so mighty proud of herself for it! And was able to repeat it over and over.

The cat's in real trouble now.

Here's a 6 second video of her in action. Hope it works.

P.S. I made that dress for her all on my own!

Friday, March 07, 2008

Road trip

Our last short trip to Canberra was such a success that I couldn't wait to go there again... Well, perhaps I wasn't that excited but when my cousin had a baby recently my mother and I decided to head on down to the nation's capital again to see her (and to see my Auntie who was only here for a week or so (from Thursday Island).

I only had one day off work, so we drove down after school/child care on Wednesday afternoon (didn't leave it too late like last time) and I took Dante out of school for a day (but back to work/school/child care on Friday). A whirlwind trip!

We made a quick visit to the National Museum of Australia on Thursday morning. Somewhere that we hadn't visited before and that was free!

The most striking part of the museum, for me, was the building itself. I remember when it was first built – a weird and crazy monstrosity. However when I saw it up close I was fascinated and delighted by its surrounds. We had a great time wondering around outside. We probably spent more time outside than inside looking at the exhibits (which weren't really that exciting, to be honest). The great thing about going on a school morning was that the place was deserted. There were a couple of school groups but we hardly saw them.

A quick photo mosaic:


After a couple of hours there we went back to my cousin's place in Canberra's outer suburbs to meet new baby Zach. My boys made themselves right at home and my cousin was doing wonderfully well, especially with the help of her mother and grandmother. It was a shame to leave, but I didn't want to get caught in the Sydney peak hour traffic, plus I reckon Cecelia needed some rest (even though she looked fantastic for having given birth only days previously).

A tiring, but enjoyable trip!

Monday, March 03, 2008

Two big birthdays

We went to two important birthdays this weekend. Saturday night Dan and I went to the 50th birthday of the father of one of Dante's classmates, whom we've known since the kids were 11 months old! We took the boys along with us (and left Elora with my folks) and had a pleasant evening chatting about "grown up" stuff and trying to stop the boys jumping on the bed!

Sunday morning we all bundled into the car (my parents included) to go to my Uncle Paul's 70th birthday celebration at my cousin's house. He is my father's youngest brother (no. 4) and has five kids, too. Our two families used to spend a lot of time travelling the countryside together – can you imagine it? Two Chinese guys driving Combi vans full of kids in convoy? Unfortunately I wasn't around in those days. Only 9 kids between them, then. (I do remember that we had a red Combi and they had a yellow one. A bit like tomato sauce and mustard!)

Now that we've grown up we don't see each other very often at all. Half of my cousins (more than half: three fifths) have moved to Newcastle which makes things more difficult. So we all made the effort to go this party which was in Sydney. Just the immediate family, pretty much. My folks, my Aunties and Uncles, my cousins in-laws, my cousins and their families, and us lot, of course. There are 18 in the next generation, half of whom are under 5! It was a busy day.

This was my favourite moment. Atticus sat himself down before lunch and started demolishing the cut-up cucumbers in the serving tray, much to the astonishment of all around. Uncle Paul came over and started making faces at him and Atti was tickled pink! So sweet.