December

The month of December has gone in a flash, somewhat like the fireworks going off around my suburb and around my city as I write. Work and all that associated stress. Recovering from Dante's Schools Spectacular weekend of horror (which wasn't too bad in the end). Dan going overseas to Saudi Arabia and Jordan for two weeks. The end of the school year. Christmas and presents.

But really, for us, December this year has been all about this man. My father.


In November I went away for a weekend's respite. On the last day I found out my father had been admitted to hospital. Two days later we found out he had a large gastric ulcer that had been bleeding.

A week later we found out that it was actually a form of stomach cancer and my father was readmitted to hospital for an exploratory gastroscopy. Following that and a visit to an oncologist it was decided that he'd have surgery followed by chemo so a week later he was back in hospital for the big operation. Two thirds of his stomach was removed.

His recovery was good to begin with but slowed due to his age (he's 78) and a few complications. After two weeks we thought he'd be home but then another setback kept him in hospital for a few more days.

Finally, though, he is home. He came home on Christmas Eve afternoon after three weeks in hospital. Frail, weak but home and never happier to be here. A great Xmas present for us all!

I sent out calls for good thoughts (and prayers if that's your thing) via Facebook and twitter and all the good will was wonderful. Thank you, all, for your supportive words and hopeful wishes.

The new year will still present many challenges for us. My father still has to undertake a round or two of chemo. I've got to find myself a new job, unfortunately, probably. Elora will be starting preschool. Dante heading to the more serious end of primary school (Yr 5) with thoughts of high school looming. Atticus, well, he's doing pretty darn well. And hopefully everything is gonna turn out okay.

Here's hoping 2011 brings you much joy and prosperity. Thank you for sticking with me as I try to sort out this hectic thing called life and neglect my poor ol' blog here. Every year I say I'll try harder to write more but I think I know not to make such promises this year. I honestly don't know what lies ahead. Hopefully more good than bad! And hopefully I will take more time to share it with you and record the moments of my life for posterity like I originally intended.

We shall see.

35 years + 6 days

That's how old I am today. It was my birthday last week. On Thursday, my day off! I don't think I've ever had so many "Happy Birthday"s via Facebook and email and SMS. Thanks everyone.

But it is tinged with a little sadness, I have to say. Besides the usual "Oh gawd, I'm getting old" grumpiness that accompanies the passing years, of course. (I mean, wow! 35! I've had this blog for five and a half years! This morning on the train I saw a lady attempt to stand up for another lady who honestly didn't look that old... How long will it be before people are standing up for me? Except for those very chivalrous few.)

Today I am as old as my eldest brother ever was.

He got to 35 years + 6 days before he was killed in a car accident on his way home from work one Friday evening. "Accident" is used lightly - the driver of the semi-trailer was off his nut on methamphetamines and drove along on the wrong side of the road for a good couple of hundred metres before squashing two cars and killing their drivers instantly. In a way it was lucky that both cars only contained one person - there was ample opportunity for him to kill many more people, as I found out during the court case a couple of years later (they charged him for murder, eventually settling for manslaughter), listening to the testimonies of the 60+ witnesses.

I went through this blog and realised that even though I'd mentioned him a couple of times I'd never really talked about the tragedy which devastated our family while at the same time brought us closer together. There was only one grandchild then. Only two of us were married. I was 23.

Of course my parents still feel his loss keenly. I don't think it's something a parent would ever get over. The rest of us keep busy (there have been 9 children added to the brood since then!) but I think he is always there in the back of our minds.

I think of him when I hear/read T.S. Eliot, reminded of his patience helping me study for my final high school English exams. I thought of him the other day at work when there was talk about the "Hall effect" - some electronics/physics thing which I know he would have had no trouble explaining to me. He would be absolutely amazed at the incredible technological advances over the past twelve years. He would be horrified at my love of Apple computers and products (but possibly would have been swayed - he loved his gadgets). It's so hard to imagine what things would be like now if he was still around.

So anyway. That's the story of my eldest brother Arthur. Just thought I'd share.

March success

Well that was a busy month. I missed a couple of days but otherwise managed to write something every day. And it didn't become a chore either! I think I might have my blogging mojo back. I hope so!

Times in the Burn household are only going to become busier as the year goes on, I suspect. The boys will get more and more into their schooling and school work. We'll start getting term-long projects (argh! Curse them!) and more homework (perhaps). Elora will progress through her "troublesome threes" (as opposed to the so-called "terrible twos" which never happened)... It has already begun.

The biggest change around here will be in the second half of the year when Dan begins his PhD. He has finally started the ball rolling, happy to at last be fulfilling a lifelong ambition (to become Dr Dan) but nervous about the stress and workload, understandably. I don't know many people who embark on a four-five year higher degree with a full time job (even if it's related somewhat) and three young kids at home. We will all have to pull our socks up.

See you in April!

Wedding goodness

It was the most wonderful of days. Everyone was happy and excited and of course the bride looked incredible. We had a fantastic time. The kids were great - over excited (and then way over tired), boisterous but above all else, happy and friendly.

Some pictures, mostly taken by a family friend with a much nicer camera (a couple taken by me). Click on the photo for an enlargement. More of my photos can be seen in my flickr set.

Gorgeous boy in his suit and green tie (self-chosen).

Atticus and I. Gosh I love my boys in suits and ties.

Shy flower girl. She eventually got there, grabbing onto her grandmother's hand as she walked the bride down the aisle. So sweet! (That's me hiding behind the tree.)

Looking older than his years (in my opinion). Photo taken by me, links to Flickr.

Happy couple at the "altar" with bridesmaids and flowergirl looking on.

My beautiful little girl!

Mr and Mrs M.

Proud brother of the bride. Photo taken by me, links to Flickr.

Later in the evening... boys gettin' rowdy on the dance floor. There was much running and wrestling (here). Atti on the left, Ollie, the ring bearer and groom's nephew, on the right. They got on so very well!

The little miss had to copy. This is more like what she looked like for most of the evening (not lying down, but dishevelled and shoeless).

Two suits, one flowergirl dress

Today's the day. Dan's sister is getting married this afternoon!! Stressed much? I can't imagine how she must be feeling right now. Well, actually I guess I can, having gone through it 6½ years ago!

It's going to be a late night for us. More pics tomorrow.

The tiniest snail

My mother found this in the garden this afternoon. Must have just hatched. So new that its shell was transparent and its body/foot was white! The shell length would have been about 3mm.

Elora was fascinated, of course. Her first instinct was to run and grab a leaf for it to eat. Atti just wanted it on his hand.


Here it is on my mother's thumb. Take note, ladies and gents. That thumb may look pink but it is in fact the brightest shade of green. Plants grow like crazy at my mother's touch. You name it, she can grow it. You almost kill it, she'll revive it. My brothers and I are constantly bringing sorry looking specimens to "plant hospital". She is a wonder, my mum.

Big brother always knows

Have you got a big brother? Or two or three or four, like me? And do you have that unwavering, persistent innate feeling that your big brother(s) is/are omniscient? All knowing? Like me? (A lot of the time, anyway!!)

Yesterday I was talking about classical music with a friend and it brought to mind a memory of my second oldest brother playing his favourites whilst sitting on the floor of the lounge room reading the broadsheet (and having to constantly shoo the cat away - they always like sitting on newspaper, don't they?? Amazing how they know exactly what section you are reading, too). A particular piece came to mind but I had no idea WHO it was by or WHAT it was called.

So I sent off an email to my brothers.

"What's the name of that 'bom' piece? The one that goes dah-da-da-dah... bom."

And sure enough, big brother knew exactly what I was talking about. I knew he would!

Happy birthday, older and wiser big brother Chris!



Rachmaninoff Opus 32 no. 10 (Largo) in B minor

New kid in town

A week and a half ago we lost our dear pet, Flopsy. We'd only had him for 5 or 6 months and had just gotten to know him and love him.

We weren't sure if we could face another rabbit, but the kids were keen and we had the food and the set up already. But we were still thinking. Then a friend got in contact - her brother had found a bunny lost in the bushland near his house (but still in suburban Sydney) and he was looking for a good home for him.

How could we resist? THIS is the way to gain pets. They come to us - we don't buy them from shops. Here was an animal in need of good home, not a baby (which are much easier to sell), but fully grown.

So we went and got him.


He's still quite timid, still getting to know us. He's very different to Flopsy, who was also a found rabbit but younger, I think. Definitely ate a lot more and got to know his way around (bossing us and the cats around) quite quickly. But slowly this new guy is getting there.

And his name is Barney... (sounds like "bunny" - get it??).
Some videos are on my flickr account. More pics to follow.

A life short lived

At the beginning of August we welcomed a new family member, a gorgeous pet rabbit whom we called Flopsy.

He was such a delightful creature! Happy, sociable (especially with the cats - when he wasn't grazing my mother's plants he was chasing the poor harassed kitties!), cheeky and loved by everyone, especially my father.


Sadly, we lost him on Monday. On Sunday morning he managed to get out of the yard. Despite the "rabbit-proof fence" my father built.


We searched all afternoon for him and Dan searched for an hour and a half on Sunday night around the neighbourhood. I wish now that I'd searched more thoroughly but I was taken out virtually all day by a nasty bout of food poisoning which I do not wish to remember.


He made his way home on Monday - for all we know he could have been hiding out nearby or travelled the entire suburb. I don't know enough about bunnies to know if they do that. But my folks found him in their driveway, looking very tired and worn out. They brought him inside into his cage - he gave no resistance. And he just lay there, not wanting to eat, just flopped out and resting, but with his heart beating very hard and fast.

About four hours later my mother went to check on him and he had passed away. Unfortunately I was at work but Dante called us, very distraught and upset, and we rushed home. Thankfully the other two kids weren't quite as affected as the big boy, but Elora was full of questions.


We dug a hole in the backyard and buried him that afternoon. All the kids had a turn digging and shovelling and we gave him his favourite elephant toy and some hay and pellets, as is the Chinese custom (usually paper money though, I believe).

The cats seemed to know that something was up. They hung around when usually they'd flee from the children (home due to school holidays). Blackie even said her goodbye.


The plan now is to build a big raised garden bed in that corner of the yard (well, I've been wanting to do that for at least a year!) which we'll call "Flopsy's Garden". We'll plant his favourite foods (that we can grow): carrots, parsley, buk choy. And maybe we'll put up a little plaque or engraved stone there.

We're still considering whether or not to get another rabbit. Dante is very keen. He wants to call it "Cottontail". But we're still thinking about that. My parents are already missing him, since he used to keep them company when they were out in the garden and my father used to love feeding him weeds or veges every morning. I know that another rabbit won't replace him - he was such a character! - but boy I loved having that bunny around.

The newest family member

I've been going for jogs/walks/runs in the mornings on the weekends lately. We have some great bike paths along the river around this area and it's very pleasant early in the morning with the sun coming up and the birds flitting and squawking.

Last Sunday morning as I headed out I saw a little creature bouncing around. I stopped and it came up and jumped around my feet then wandered off to eat some grass. I continued on my way. An hour later I came back and there it was huddled under a car tire, presumably scared off by someone's dog. So I crawled in, grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and carried it home.


We've decided to call him Flopsy. And I took him to the vet on Thursday when we found out that he definitely is a "he". So now he's Flopsy-boy.


He's very friendly and tame. I think he belonged to a family before us. We did put up signs around the neighbourhood but no-one responded after five days. Apparently people dump unwanted pets in the park all the time. It's very sad. But to be quite honest, we weren't really that unhappy that nobody had claimed him!


Except for the cat. She's not too happy. We haven't told her about her bowl yet, either.

Markets and dinner

The weekend's planned trip to the Finders Keepers Markets was heartily disappointing. Not because the markets were no good, but because we didn't get to go. Even more disappointing because when I read some blog posts about it I hear that it was a terrific success.

The reason we didn't go was a good one, though. It was Dan's birthday on Friday and I decided (copying a friend's idea) to have a surprise dinner party for him. I'm always doing this to myself. Have an idea for something simple and it turns into something huge! Just a few friends turned into dinner for twenty-one (including the kids).


A few dramas in the lead up - I had to work, Dan took the day off work, I couldn't leave work early enough and then got stuck in traffic and didn't get home until 6pm!! Dan ended up putting the meat on, my mother did more meat and the potatoes and my mother-in-law and I did the rest. We didn't eat until 8pm.

The best family shot of the night! Note the delicious passionfruit + chocolate gelato cake. I couldn't find a 5 candle so 4+1 had to suffice.

But all in all, it was a fabulous night with good company, lots of food and a lovely relaxed atmosphere. Nothing formal. But my friends don't care about that sort of thing. Dan was quite happy. The kids were fairly well behaved.


After dinner they took themselves off to the lounge room and flaked out in front of a movie until I was able to get them to bed - at 10:30pm! So late! No wonder we were a wreck the next day and missed the markets! As evidenced by this picture. Atticus, fast asleep on the lounge, just before lunch.


I don't think I will be doing it again for a quite a few years, even though it was a lot of fun. The markets, though, will definitely NOT be missed again!

Happy Birthday Lorien!

My niece turned 3 last week but since we had the big Memorial Mass, her birthday party was put off until today. Not a big affair, just the family and a few extra friends (so only about 40 people!).

My sister-in-law sent an email around asking everyone to pray for sunshine. Well, that's some praying power there, as it turned out to be 33°C today, sunny and windy.

But the party went on anyway. We set up the kiddie paddling pool. There was doughnuts-on-strings eating, a jumping castle, a pink pig pinata, pass the parcel, and food aplenty.

The kids had a brilliant time. Atti and Lori started partying from when he woke up at 7:30 this morning (we went next door for breakfast where the birthday girl and her family had slept over). He ate non-stop from when the party food was first brought out at 10:30am. Rice crackers, cheese, frankfurts, and especially the watermelon. He sat himself down at the table and got stuck into it.


Elora was terrified of the pool for some reason. Kept her legs held up in a very comical fashion when we tried to put her in it. But otherwise she happily spent half the party sitting on a chair with a cup of juice and a bowl of (at various times) doughnut, bread, sausage and cucumbers.

A very satisfactory party, conveniently held next door!

Family gathering success!

Had the Memorial Mass and lunch afterwards for my eldest brother today. What a huge success! My mother did such a fabulous job of organising it all. My sister-in-laws outdid themselves helping with the food. The children were gorgeous, amazingly well behaved during the long church service, and very cute during the offertory procession walking down the aisle with my mother. Wish I'd taken a picture of Elora with her bouquet of flowers. So cute!

The turnout was terrific. So many of my brother's work colleagues and a couple of school friends. Just lovely.

And the weather today could be described as "summer-like". 28°C apparently!

We got home and I was wrecked. Elora napped in my arms so she wouldn't go to bed but Atticus and I did. Ah, even after falling asleep at 9pm last night I was still tired this afternoon.

And the worst part? Or perhaps the best part... it's only Saturday! I am so exhausted and there's still one more day of the weekend to go! Will definitely take myself to the doctor on Monday.

That's more Spring-like

Sydney put on a glorious day today, much more worthy of Spring. Made better by not going to work, due to a sick little girl. I ended up taking her to the doctor (antibiotics for an ear infection) and then we had a sit in the park for a little while before coming home. It was just lovely.

Today would have been my eldest brother's 45th birthday. My mother said it was him that brought the nice weather to us. Tomorrow we are having a Memorial Mass (full Catholic ceremony) for him as it will be the 10th anniversary of his passing on the 18th. We're expecting several dozen people - catering for 70+ for a light lunch afterwards. It's been busy here lately. Hopefully I will be recovered enough to give the first reading.

I hope you've all had as delightful a day as I have!

Father's Day

As expected it was a very low key Father's Day over this way. Dan slept in until 10am before I got Dante to wake him so I could hang out three loads of washing!

I wished my own father a good day and he proceeded to tell me that "Chinese don't celebrate Father's Day" and so on. But I think he was happy anyway, especially since we gave him my old iPod with the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon soundtrack on it. Now he'll be able to do his tai-chi in the morning to music.

Back to work tomorrow - I'm a bit worried about the state of my office. There was some demolition work going on in there yesterday. I hope they didn't trash the place! I'm planning on going in early again to get things cleaned up before the phone calls begin.

In other news, I think I have finally worked out how to ease this nasty cough that I have, now that the raging fever has subsided. Who woulda thunk it... cough lozenges. My all-knowing, wise-as-the-ages mother gave me some Vicks Vapodrops and suddenly I can breathe again. Dan's onto the Butter Menthols and they're doing the same job. A huge relief!

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.

An eternally young baby

Got an SMS from a number I didn't recognise this morning, announcing the birth of one Zachariah David. Took me a while to work out (not so quick these days) that my cousin Cecelia in Canberra had her second son! What a date for a birthday! He'll never live it down :)

Congrats Cecelia and Mick!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Year of the Rat.

Just a quiet-ish family dinner at my parents' place with all and sundry.

Aussie Day long weekend

What's that blur? You might ask.
Well, it is Billy Bragg live on stage at the Metro Theatre in Sydney. It was taken with Dan's mobile phone camera, and a lot better than the ones I took with my phone!
Yep, we had a night out. Got Dan's sister to come and baby sit (with help from my mother and Dan's mother, too). And we had a most delightful evening out seeing my most favourite singer/songwriter in the world. We even got to catch some of the support act, kept secret as a surprise who turned out to be The Nightwatchman (Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine doing his folk solo stuff). So great!

It did make me feel old, though. Billy's been around for many years, well before I even knew what folk/rock music was. I've liked him since 1991*. His audience is fairly varied but I reckon the median age would have been 35-ish. I always enjoy watching the crowds at gigs. (And I love this new law which bans smoking inside venues and pubs. Clear air! Not coming home stinking of smoke!) Billy Bragg gigs certainly do have an interesting and varied audience. But anyway, it felt absolutely wonderful to get out to a gig. Happy, happy, joy, joy.

[* I remember the first time I heard of him. I was at Circular Quay with some friends and we were chatting to a cute British busker (as teenage girls in a pack do, right?) and he was really keen for us to request Billy Bragg. We didn't. We requested REM. But then he played his song anyway.]

The following day we had "just a small family lunch" to celebrate Atti's birthday. Three years old! I didn't want to do anything big. Was actually thinking of just having a cake for afternoon tea. But then, you know how things go...

Small family lunch = huge roast dinner for 20 people. That's the way we do things over here.

Atti was absolutely delighted! When the cake was set down in front of him with three candles he grinned ecstatically, so pleased with everything. We had a paddling pool in the back yard and the kids had a grand time. Ice-creams were et and fun was had. It was a very pleasant afternoon. His best present was a kitchen set and toy food from Grandma. The kids (mine and their cousins) had to be dragged away from it at the end of the day. So perfect for him at the moment. I bought some of those wooden "cutting" food items (stuck together with velcro) and they were a great hit, too. I have to say that the cutting simulation is very satisfying. :) (Elora was asleep at the time so missed out on being in the photo.)

The cake. Blueberry butter cake (I try to avoid chocolate cakes for kids this age) from a Bill Granger recipe. Doesn't look like much, but tasted divine hot out of the oven with a good dollop of King Island Cream. Yum. I made it all by myself. It almost ended in disaster because I didn't have the oven hot enough, but it worked out in the end!

December run-down

Unbelievably, the month of December has finished already and there are a million things I wanted to write and post about! This day is usually reserved for a run-down of the year that's passed, but I thought I'd better write about the month that just flew by first. Just a warning - this is a long post!

Papa's 75th

I mentioned earlier that we had a big party here/next door for my father's 75th birthday. It went incredibly well. I was sick the two days leading up to it, which was most annoying since I wasn't much help to my parents... thankfully I put Atti in for an extra day of child care so that he wouldn't be in the way.

My folks hired a massive marquee for the backyard. 7.5m x 9m. The weather leading up to the party was disastrous. Hot, humid and stormy in the afternoons. The day the marquee was installed it bucketed down all morning and the backyard flooded in one section. My brother quickly went out and bought fake grass carpet to put over the muddy parts. It also poured the night before the party. We were very worried. However, Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny. There were a few clouds but they were the white fluffy kind, not the dark ominous ones. And then 3pm suddenly arrived. The weather held up. The guests arrived. I eventually got ready and joined the party. The food was plentiful. (It wouldn't be one of our parties if we didn't over-cater). My father was in his element. The children were boisterous, but happily stayed away from the other guests (mostly) in our backyard and driveway.

So many of my cousins were there. It was wonderful to see them and their children! I wish we could get together more often, and perhaps next year we will make more of an effort, especially since so many of us have children. Time for some picnics and such. Email makes contact so much easier (and facebook, too)! My father was so grateful to my mother and us kids for organising the party. Yay! It made it all worthwhile.

Family dinner

The following Tuesday night we went out to dinner with my Uncle Johnny, Auntie Robyn and Jacob and Tameka, their two eldest grandchildren (my mother's brother down from Thursday Island). Went to a restaurant in Chinatown and had food that was too fancy. The kids were surprisingly subdued, even as they ran amok. I think the absence of Dante and Alexandra (at his Auntie's and her grandparents' places that night) made a big difference. We only lost Atticus once - he'd run outside (into the shopping mall that the restaurant was part of) and we found him watching the dancing game at the Arcade. So cute - he was stomping along, having fun joining in.

Dante's school Musical

The following day Dante's school put on a Musical - each class put on a short performance. I managed to get to the matinee show and was so glad I did! The school has an excellent music program and teacher. The production was seamless. The Year 6 MCs were confident and well spoken. It was terrific.

"Hive" Christmas Party

Saturday (15th Dec) we had our friends over for our annual Christmas gathering. Thankfully the house and backyard were still relatively tidy from the previous weekend so it was an easy party to host. Barbecued some meat, prepared some salads, put the beer on ice. It was a nice easy-going afternoon and I was reminded of what brilliant friends we have. I don't see them very often these days, but when I do it's like I was never gone. They are always happy to see me and the kids. It's so nice. I did miss those of us who are overseas, though. They were certainly there in spirit and not forgotten!! Hi guys!

One nice thing this year - we usually do a kris kringle present thing but this year we decided to put our money together and donate it to charity instead. A really nice gesture. We had enough money that we were able to buy a bridge from Oxfam. How cool is that??

Abi's third birthday

The following day, Sunday 16th, my niece Abigail turned 3 and had a bit of a party at her grandparents' place. The weather didn't hold up so well with it raining a little, but that didn't stop the kids having a grand time. My chocolate crackles were a huge hit!

Illness

Then we hit a bit of a downhill slide. Elora had a fever that weekend, which Atticus and I duly caught later in the week. Thankfully Atti failed to have any convulsions, even with 39+° temps, and reduced medication (he is slowly coming off it - should be done by the end of this week). I was a complete wreck. Muscle aches and shivers. Panadol and Nurofen flowed freely this week. And we missed the child care Christmas party on Wednesday :( I made some lovely aprons as gifts for the teachers (will post pictures another day).

Christmas

And then suddenly school was over for the year and Christmas just around the corner. To add to my sickly month I came down with a killer migraine on Sunday evening, so lay in bed moaning and waiting for the painkillers to kick in instead of wrapping presents or cleaning up. (Housework had built up due to the week's fever induced lethargy). The in-laws came over for Christmas Eve dinner and presents (yay! My mother-in-law and sister-in-law's boyfriend took over the kitchen). The kids had a grand time. Atti really knows about presents this year! Even Elora had a marvellous time. I made her a new Christmas dress and she looked gorgeous. (Will post pics of this that day, too). Of course the kids were incredibly spoiled by their grandmother, but I was, too, so I can't complain!

Christmas Day with my side of the family next door. Predictably noisy and over-catered as usual. My sister-in-law's best friend made the most incredible ginger bread house which was eventually demolished (extremely well constructed and required a hammer to deconstruct). The kids gorged themselves on the lollies, so much that they all voluntarily ceased eating soon after. I was amazed. They barely touched the ice-cream cake.

Post-Christmas

We've been lounging around the house ever since. Dan's on holidays for another week, and then Atticus starts back at child care four days a week. I'll miss him, I think, but sometimes I just can't wait for the day to arrive. Elora will start in three weeks, and then it's back to work for me. I'm so dreading it! She's not ready to start. I don't know what to do. I'm still breastfeeding her. And then there's the whole issue of getting her to sleep! Not looking forward to it. Dante's on school holidays now for four more weeks. It will be hard to keep him occupied. Our rule of "No piano practice = No playstation" is working really well. He's practised almost every day so far!

I did manage to get out post-Boxing Day to the Spotlight (chain fabric store) sale and got some nice Japanese fabrics and some background fabric so I can start taking part in this quilt-along (six weeks late). Hopefully. Also made Elora a pair of bloomers/pants to match her Christmas dress. Pics will come soon.

Guy and Joe's picnic

Saturday we went to a picnic/bbq thingy in the park at Newtown for our friends Joe and Guy's birthdays. Atti was so excited to be going out for a "picnic park party". Again, a relaxing time was had... so nice to have the kids looked after and played with by others! We won't be going to the NYE picnic/party tonight, methinks. Dan and Dante have gone out with my bro and his family to see The Golden Compass (which I really want to see, too). I've had to stay home with the tykes... who have been napping wonderfully (but are just starting to wake up).

Anyway, this essay of a post must come to an end. I haven't even sent out my Christmas cards yet. Will do so today, though. I really hoped I'd manage to get them sent early this year. I was thinking and planning to do it. All the illness took its toll. Next month, next year, I will be more attentive and diligent. Promise!