Sunday, January 28, 2007

A post from Ruby about her favourite poem

"Mummy, tell Nana my favourite poem. Tell her on the computer with that beautiful photo."

Here it is. Happenstance, it is also my favourite poem and I love the picture too (it's by Donna L. Derstine).


The Owl and the Pussycat
by Edward Lear



The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are, You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?
'They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose, His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.
'So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon, The moon,They danced by the light of the moon.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Fairy fever AND a new bed

Birthday party fever has hit our house. It's only 6 short weeks until Ruby's birthday, so she's in full party planning mode. *sigh* Every night we look at the AWW Birthday Cake Book - just to absolutely confirm we'll be making the Barbie doll cake.

Anyway, today Ruby and I went to another 4 year old neighbour's birthday party. This time for our friend Helena. Helena had a "girls only" fairy party and it was divine. Helena's mum (Debbie) really knocked herself out with all the decorations and games and party gifts. I cannot believe how generous Debbie was with party gifts. Every little girl got a lunchbox filled with goodies AND a fairy balloon AND a party bag AND a gift (Ruby got a skipping rope) AND a fairy doll. It's going to be hard to beat. Which of course Ruby expects me to do because her birthday is next.


I can't do it.

Firstly, we can't have girls only. Max would be heartbroken.
Secondly, I'm not sure that I want to get into the "my party is bigger, better, faster and more fabulous than yours" thing. Actually, I'm certain I don't want to . So we're not going to.

BUT we did have a great time at Helena's party today. It was so calm and sophisticated and delicate and just lovely with a small group of 4 year old girls. Until the pinata came out anyway. Some of the girls (including Ruby) went crazy bashing into the beautiful fairy pinata with a big stick. Scary stuff.

Max and daddy went off this morning to pick up Maxie's new mattress for his big boy bed. Of course, he's been sleeping in Ruby's bed for about 8 months now, while Ruby's been sent back to the cot. But today he got his own bed, his own mattress and his own new bed sheets. Happy days for a small and independent little boy.


peace and love

xxxx

Sunday, January 21, 2007

OK. I gave up trying to add pics to the last post. Here are some happy little faces. I love Maxie's attempt at a smile.


Today so far:

Ruby has announced she WILL poo in the toilet today. She wants to get ready for 'big girl's school'. Which means being able to wipe your own bottom. There'll be singing and dancing and partying in the street when that happens.

Max is talking like a champion. After grunting for months on end, it's a real joy listening to him chatting away.

It's 15 years today since Daryl (my step dad) died. I can't believe it's been so long.

Report from the hospital - more pain. Maybe the stones are on the move. I'm not sure if that's good news or not. Poor Mark.

peace and love
xxxx

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Gotta love a bit of melodrama

From Wikipedia (a site I love) :
"In melodrama there is constructed a world of heightened emotion and a hero who rights the disturbance to the balance of good and evil in a moral universe. Melodramas can be distinguished from tragedy by the fact that they have a happy ending."

We're looking forward to our happy ending....
  • After a 5am flight to Melbourne on Tuesday, I called Mark to see how the usually chaotic morning kindy run went. Mark says "I'm at the hospital". Not words you want to hear when you're 2000kms away. I fly back to Brisbane. Mark has kidney stones . After a killer day passing stones, he comes home.
  • Mark seems OK so I flew to Canberra on Wednesday. Stayed overnight with Sam and her boys. It was super lovely to catch up with them. I miss Sam now they don't live in Brisbane anymore.
  • Thursday lunchtime I called Mark at work to see how he's going only to be told he's been rushed to hospital. *sigh* He's back at Emergency with kidney stones again, the pain much worse this time because stones are stuck. Bugger. After lying on a trolley in a corridor in Emergency for 36 long and excruciatingly painful hours, Mark is transferred to a ward. He's still there. If the stones don't pass naturally by Monday morning, he's going in for surgery which sounds hideously painful.

I'm becoming obsessive about photographing every little incident in our lives and today (in rebellion) I am tempted not to add any photos to this post. But I know how godawful boring posts are without pics so I will include some - from last weekend. I've been very tempted to take some hospital pics but have resisted so far. Maybe I will tomorrow. ;)

In the spirit of a good melodrama ;) I'll choose happy photos.

Well, I must have jinxed myself. Despite 6 attempts, I cannot add a photo. I'll be back tomorrow.

peace and love

xxxx

Saturday, January 06, 2007

We love birthday parties

Barbie Mermaid Elina (aka Ruby) and Prince Max splashed across the street this afternoon to Princess Madeline's Barbie party.

Madeline is 4 today. She's 9 weeks older than Ruby. They have a really lovely friendship and it's been a joy to watch them growing up together and staying strongly connected despite having very, very different little personalities. Mads is sociable, physical and extroverted. Ruby is quiet, sensitive and a bit of a diva. But when you're 4 (or almost 4) the differences don't seem to matter so much. As long as you can run and twirl and squeal, all is good. Happy days.

Party highlights:

* Max was chuffed to win Pin the Tail on the donkey. Probably because he was the only kid who wouldn't wear the blindfold. :O

* Eating about a dozen cupcakes and a thousand marshmallows each. Yum.

* Games. "What's the time Mr Wolf?" was a big hit. Who'd have thought it. Ruby loved counting and running and squealing during that game, but not at the same time as the other kids.

* Face painting. Always a hit with Ruby.

* Getting party bags. Both R+M sat on the lounge and diligently worked their way through the entire bag within 30 minutes of being home.

Here's (l-r) Kyah, Madeline, R, M and Helena (another girl from the neighbourhood) playing musical statues. Good fun.


Ruby is already talking about her party. Not that we've agreed to have a party yet. But of course it will be a Barbie party, so she says. And she's already decided she wants the Barbie in "Swan Lake" DVD. We've got 9 long weeks before the big day. The birthday cake books have already been pulled out and options are being discussed at kindy. I hope we can stay sane through the endless party planning.

Happy birthday Mads.

peace and love
xxxx

Thursday, January 04, 2007

A time for reflecting....and celebrating

"New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights." ~Hamilton Wright Mabie

I just about always set myself into a spin in the last few days of a year - reflecting on the year that's coming to an end. Was it productive? Was it fun? Was it happy? Was it what I'd hoped? Did I achieve anything in my career? Did I make a valuable community contribution? Did I learn anything new? Was I good to my family? Was I a good friend? Did I do anything remarkable or anything that I'm proud of? What could I have done better? What didn't I do that I'd really thought I would? and on and on and on.

The New Year brings me perspective. Maybe it's just the quiet time away from work, away from study and past the chaos of Christmas. The perspective this New Year has brought is that 2006 was a scary crazy year for our little family and not one I'm keen to repeat anytime soon.

So 2007 is a fresh start. Thank heavens for that. I love that a new year brings fresh hope and promise and another chance to try and make things right.

2007 is going to be a calmer, more fun year for us. We are going to spend more time together as a family doing things we love, not just doing jobs.

It seems absurd how hard it is to live a simple life. But that's what we want this year. Simple lives. Simple pleasures. Wish us luck.

peace and love and new year blessings to you
xxxx