Festive. Family. Fun. Frenzied. Food. Fabulous.

After a fabulous week at Nanny and Poppy's, we're home. Exhausted. Happy to be home in our space. It's been a *BIG* week. Lots of running and romping and twirling and just going crazy.




Happy highlights of our Christmas week:

* Watching R+M with my family. They really love being with Nanny and Poppy.

* Rain on Christmas Day. I'm sure there were a LOT of people who begged Santa for rain. Thanks Santa, good job.

* Watching R+M's happy little faces on Christmas morning. Ruby was overwhelmed (probably by the sheer volume of presents, good grief) but mastered the present opening gig pretty quickly. Max took his "Santa's Helper" job very seriously - giving everyone gifts, helping them open pressies (read ripping paper like a crazy man) and running back for more. He was very focused on the job. Very Max.
















* A lovely Christmas lunch which was calmer and quieter than the usually chaotic Christmas lunch in Moree. Seriously good. Thanks Mum. And thanks for all your cooking.

* A quick trip to Bellingen for Mark and I. Seriously love Bellingen. We stayed in a little B+B we've stayed at many times before. It was a treat to stay there because it's pretty much off limits for us now as they don't take kids. We definitely need to find a family friendly place to stay in Bellingen.

* Seeing my great nieces. Holy cow. GREAT nieces. There are 3 of them: Ella, Taya and Zoe. They were all in Moree this week. Hooray. Gorgeous girls. All very different. All very precious.



* I was happy I had a new 1GB memory card for my camera this week. I thought it would be more than enough for my happy snaps - it was, but only just.

About the only thing that sent me crazy this week was Max screaming hysterically for nearly 4 hours (maybe more) just after Mark and I got back from Bellingen. Man that drove me insane. He is such a mama's boy. Doesn't cope well with me going away (or being out of his sight for more than 2 seconds). :(

This is the best family pic we got on Christmas Day. I guess it's not soooo bad. Just makes me realise how desperately I need to lose weight. *sigh*



Christmas was good fun. But the kids are completely crazy. Waaaaay too hyped up. Still. I think we're all about to have a post Christmas collapse. Maybe tomorrow.

We hope your Christmas was happy and joyful.

peace and love
xxxx

A day just for us

The lead up to Christmas this year has been insanely chaotic, mostly because of work stuff. No fun. We've never felt more out of control before Christmas than we have this year. Still got way too many presents to buy - and less than a week to Christmas. It WILL be different next year.

Last year we agreed we would start some family traditions so the kids had something predictable to look forward to at Christmas. Other than getting a truckload of presents from Santa that is. We've decided to go into town each Christmas to see the Christmas window displays in Myer, ride the Santa train and admire the enormous Christmas tree in the city. We went in on the weekend and it was lovely. Wombat Divine is the Myer Christmas story this year and it is absolutely delightful. Much more child friendly than Polar Express (which was last year's).

We even saw Santa again - frazzled Santa this time. When we saw Santa in Bundaberg last weekend he was much calmer and more down to earth. Maybe the Myer Santa is frazzled and a wee bit cranky because he is in the city or maybe because it's a week closer to Christmas. Who knows.

Last week in Bundaberg Ruby asked Santa for a pony. Just a teeny tiny little one. And a pink dolly. Santa was smart. He talked about how much time and effort it takes to look after a pony. Love you Santa. Ruby said a puppy would do, instead. *sigh* Max wants a Percy train. Santa said that was easy. He even knew that Percy is green. Well done Santa.

Christmas tree by daylight:

and by night:

Yes. I have some work to do learning how to keep my hands still while taking photos of lights, at night, without a flash. But it's such a pretty tree. Love it. And I especially love the bright white reindeers at the bottom of it. Sensational.

We're counting down the days till Christmas. Can't wait.

with peace, love and joy (and a wee bit of madness)

xxxx

Apparently....

but we didn't see it. :(

Max didn't last the distance. It probably wasn't reasonable to expect a 2 year old - who likes to be in bed by 8.00pm at the latest - to stay awake all hours to wait for wild sea animals to crawl up onto the beach according to their own schedule. The first turtle arrived at Mon Repos at 9.10 and the first group of visitors went down to watch her lay her eggs. We were in the 4th group. Unless there was a rush of turtles (not likely) we were not going to see any eggs being laid at Mon Repos. We went back to "our holiday house at buggera near funderbird" (a ruby'ism) at 9.15pm. The kids thought they had seen turtles, so that was good. We had rare family time during our weekend at Bargara, that was good too.

We went to the beach, went to the movies, went out for lunch and just generally pottered around. When we were coming home I asked Ruby what she enjoyed most about the weekend away she said "swimming with dolphins". Okaaaay. We're not quite sure when that happened, but it was obviously memorable. For her. ;)

it was a lovely way to spend a birthday weekend

peace and love to you

xxxx

Pre Christmas panic

Yep, the panic has set in. It usually arrives about this time of year when I realise it's only a couple of weeks until Christmas, I've still got gazillions of presents to buy (and post) and hardly any time to get to the shops. I'm feeling a wee bit out of control. Situation normal for us I guess.

We're going to Bargara this weekend, to visit Mon Repos to watch turtles lay their eggs. Such an amazing thing to see. I hope the turtles show up - there's never a guarantee! And I hope the kids love it. And I hope we're not eaten alive by sandflies.

This time last year my baby became a boy and I turned 40. Both milestone events. I was looking back through photos from this time last year and discovered one of Max and I on my birthday. I love it so much I've scrapped it twice. This was the day Maxie rode the Santa Express on his own. Ruby was with with him but jumped out at the last minute. Max was only 14 months old. He couldn't walk, couldn't talk and was prone to flinging himself around. I thought he'd throw himself out of the train for sure, but he stayed on and was very still and very serious. He was there with all the big boys and he was pleased with himself. I think he loved it. He takes things so seriously it's sometimes hard to know if he's enjoying himself. Anyway, here's one of the layouts I've done with the photo. :)


I'll post some turtle pics next week.

EDITED TO ADD:
I've just realised how teeny tiny that photo is in the layout. Here it is without the layout :)

peace and love to you

xxxx

Christmas waves a magic wand over the world.....

............. and behold, everything is more beautiful. I still don't have a photo of our Christmas tree in all it's glorious tinselled splendour, but here are some pics of Santa's helpers on the job.

Smiling:

Kissing:
Resting with mama:We've had a fabulously festive weekend. Lots of good food and good times with friends. After starting the Tony Ferguson diet just 2 days ago, I've already ditched it. It's impossible to get enough motivation to diet in December. I'll start again in January.

peace and love

xxxx

Crazy about Christmas

Christmas fever has hit our house. The tree went up last week and is bedecked with beautiful decorations, including some very beautiful hand made Ruby-esque creations. The Wiggles' "Santa's Rockin" and the Barbie "Nutcracker" DVDs are on rapid rotation. There is a lot of talk about Santa sightings and baby Jesus and when the presents will arrive. The book of choice right now is "Twelve Days of Christmas".

I love Christmas, very much, and I love how excited Ruby and Max are about the whole Christmas thing. Sometimes Ruby just shakes with excitement when she talks about Christmas: what she'll wear, what we'll eat, what it will be like to meet Santa, what presents we'll get.........

I made this sweet little book last night. I really need to get cracking on making cards now.




Enjoy the peace and joy and chaos of December
xxxx

Dance-a-thon

Johnny Cash by morning. Fleetwood Mac by night. These kids have been dancing up a storm today. Thank heavens they love our daggy old music.

Maxie took a rest between songs with his good pal Dorothy. :)

Big week ahead. More travel for work for Kath - Newcastle and Melbourne this week. Work, study, kindy, and a Queensland Orchestra kids' Christmas concert for Mark, Ruby and Max.

Have a happy week.
xxxx

Rachel Richter is a fantastic photographer

Rach Richter is asking to see layouts using photos she's taken. I've done a few, but after checking through my albums there aren't as many as I thought.

Here are some layouts using photos Rach took in November last year. We've had more pics taken recently but there's been a scrapbooking drought here, so I haven't used any of those pics yet.

The first one is about Ruby's fake laugh. She seems to have lost it now, but she used to have a beautiful fake laugh she'd put on for photos. Check out the slippers she's wearing in the photo, she wouldn't take them off.

The second is about how I really wanted another girl but wouldn't give up Max for anything now. He's the most perfect mummy loving little boy - love him to bits.

The third layout is about Ruby's sand phobia. Until just a few months ago she wouldn't walk on sand. It totally freaked her out. She was complaining *a lot* when this photo was taken - and still wearing her slippers!

For Rach - thanks for capturing the absolute Thompson-ness of our family each time. We love your style.

peace and love

xxxx

A peaceful weekend

My first weekend without study commitments (or more correctly - the first weekend without guilt about study commitments) was a happy one. We went to a 30th birthday party yesterday - happy birthday again B - and I relaxed while the kids romped and romped and romped. Good fun. But was very sad to learn about Belinda Emmett's death when we got home. Very sad indeed.

Today, Ruby got a new cossie that she chose herself. Canary yellow is not a colour I would pick, but she loves it. :) We bought it *after* swimming but she wore it all day anyway.

Maxie was up to his usual tricks, ripping flowers off my peace lily. Cheeky poppet.



Have a happy week.
peace and love to you from us
xxxx

Freezing in Hobart

I went to Hobart for a few days last week. I was disappointed not to have time to potter around, but it was cold and wet and windy, so not great weather for sightseeing anyway.

I took the camera hoping to get some nice shots of heritage buildings but didn't really see anything on my rushed trip to the shops to buy souvenirs for Ruby and Max. This is about all I saw:

out my hotel window (Hobart doesn't look too flash from the 4th floor of the Mercure Hotel)

a gorgeous statue in front of a church (which happened to be across the road from the ugliest scrapbooking shop I've ever seen)

I think I was staying in the wrong part of town. This was the loveliest building I saw:

The best part of my trip (apart from the work which was really productive) was meeting up with 2 online friends. It was super fabulous meeting Maria and Jacquie after knowing them for nearly 4 years. They are both even more amazing in real life than they are online.

Off to Canberra this week.

peace and love
xxxx

Introducing Maxine

I'd always hoped that Ruby would have a sister, but this wasn't quite what I'd planned.

Yesterday, there was a lot of fuss about Ruby's new spotty dress. Today, Max - the big sister lovin' boy that he is, wanted to get in on the action when he saw Ruby was wearing a dress again. He didn't like being called Maxine. He still prefers Maxie Taxi. :)

He looks beautiful don't you think?

There was a lot excitement early this week following the arrival of the KMart toy sale catalogue. Ruby is a catalogue junkie and has spent many happy hours poring over the catalogue trying to decide what she wants for Christmas. Mostly she's keen to have a pink portable CD player. And a truck load of Dora stuff, some fairy costume dress ups and a bike. And of course she's still asking for a puppy. *sigh*

Only getting ONE catalogue caused some grief. A quick trip to KMart to fill the trolley with toys and to get another catalogue resolved that quickly. Now they both have a catalogue and are talking about how they want to "use magic to get into the catalogue to play with the toys". The magic involves throwing stickers, flapping muslin sheets and jumping on the catalogue from a great height. We haven't had any success actually getting into the catalogue yet, but no one has given up.

We've been swimming this morning. Max is doing brilliantly in his lessons. After only a few weeks, he's going under, floating, paddling and kicking like a demon. Sadly, Ruby is still really freaked out by the big pool. She had a fun time in the wading pool today though, thank heavens.

Happy Sunday.
peace and love to you
xxxx

My favourite - right now

We had a photo session with Rachel Richter a couple of weeks ago, her photos are sensational. Right now, this photo is my favourite - I love it. It shows Ruby and Max as I mostly see them, as a little team. They are such good friends. Sure they scrap and fight as kids do, but mostly they have a lot of fun together and look out for each other. Mum - this is for you.

peace and love to you

xxxx

Water restrictions make summer fun really hard work

Ruby was desperate for a swim today, but in the "spider pool not the big pool". The spider pool is a little blow up pool. It was a hard work lugging buckets of water from the big pool to put a few inches of water in the spider pool, but we did it. Ruby had a great time splashing and jumping, but Maxie wasn't so keen. He's not a big fan of getting wet under any circumstances, but he toughed it out - reluctantly - because Ruby was having a good time.

A nice warm day here today. I love summer.

oops - excuse the clothes on the line in the background.

peace and love to you

xxxx

Bouncing from one day to the next

It's been a crazy week here. Lots of work, lots of study and lots of out and about activity. Not enough sleep - for any of us - and not a single day at home all week. *sigh*

Mark has been studying frantically these last few weeks and is getting close to the end of semester - hooray! It will be nice to reclaim Saturday as our family day.

Two trips interstate this week have left me exhausted. A day trip to Canberra on Thursday and a day trip to Sydney yesterday. The trip to Sydney was for Access, I'm going to be involved in IVF clinic accreditations and yesterday was my first training day. It was great to meet up with others who are involved - there was a lot of commitment, positive energy and enthusiasm for the work. This is going to be my only volunteer work until I finish my studies. Remind me of that if it looks like I'm going to throw myself into something else!

I've got one big assignment left and it's due this week. I'm finding it hard to get excited about it. I guess I'll be writing it at the last minute.

Highlight for Max this week - he's talking a lot more and has declared that he wants to be called 'Maxie Taxi'. His most frequently used word is 'mama' and I'm pretty happy about that.

Highlight for Ruby this week - she was very excited about the Krispy Kreme donuts I brought home from Sydney yesterday. Chocolate icing AND sprinkles. Doesn't get much better than that when you're a donut-a-holic.

Jan gave me a bunch of photos today. Lots of great shots, here are some of my faves. thanks Jan. xx

peace and love to you
xxxx

Our baby is 2

We love our big, beautiful, brave and strong Maxie, but I'm sad our baby days are almost behind us.

It's that crazy in between time for Max. He's trying so hard to be a big boy and do big boy things, but he still can't go without his dummy and he still loves to be rocked and patted. He's a beautiful soul. A kicking, punching, jumping, thrashing and happy little soul.

We love you Maxie.

These pics are from his birthday last weekend.