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