The week that was....

It was lovely to have Nanny and Poppy staying with us this week. Ruby and Max enjoyed it *very* much. Especially the daily trip to Donut King! Yikes.

It was great to celebrate Mum and Poppy Lloyd's birthdays while they were with us in Brisbane. On Saturday night, the girls (Kath, Ruby, mum) had a big night out at the ballet. We saw the Queensland Ballet Company perform AliceinWonderland. It was sensational! Energetic, colourful and whimsical. Brilliant music and beautiful ballet. Ruby was suspicious of it being real ballet because no one was wearing pink and no one was wearing a pretty ballet skirt. She's a tough judge, but she absolutely loved it. Watching her happy little face through the performance was almost as wonderful as watching the ballet. :)

We had a public holiday in Brisbane on Wednesday for Ekka - it's a real treat to have a day off work in the middle of the week. After a delicious lunch at Bulimba we went book shopping at my fave bookshop Riverbendbooks. We bought some great kids books and more bookmarks, for me of course, because I'm addicted to them. We then had a slow potter - in the rain - down to the river to watch the ferries.

Lately, Ruby has been making a big effort to accessorize her outfits and is progressing beautifully towards her goal of becoming a fashion icon. Here's a pic of her on Ekka Show Day.

In other news: Ruby is excited with her new game "Let's Go Fishin'". She's nearly mastered it, while Mark and I are struggling to catch one fish. She's going crazy quoting Nemo lines while she plays. Which is funny, but "I'm having fish toooooonight" terrorises poor Max whose frightened of the sharks.

Max is still just perfect being Max. Still frightened of dinosaurs. Still enjoying green apples that 'taste like green in the rainbow'. Still afraid of dirt on his hands. Still a mummy cling-on. Still *loving* (read - obsessing about) The Wiggles and mourning the loss of Greg. Still intense. Max is very excited about the new yellow swing we bought yesterday because he's well and truly outgrown the baby swing.

Mark has finished his massage course at College. Hooray.

Kath is suffering with a sore tooth. Suffering is an understatement. The pain is excruciating.

Have a happy week! I'm excited about a visit to the dentist tomorrow. ;)

peace and love

xxxx

Facts lacking order, purpose, cause, or predictability

I've been tagged by Penni - to list 8 random things about myself. *sigh* I always find making lists about myself soooooo hard, but here goes:

1. I loathe housework. Not just the usual "oh I don't like housework" kind of thing, but real deep down loathing. I really can't see the point of housework., except maybe for the fact I don't like living in a tip.
2. I've just finished reading "WeneedtotalkaboutKevin" It was disturbing, confronting and quite, quite brilliant. I think it will be one of the "must read" books I reluctantly recommend for a long time to come - along with "Shadow of the Wind" and "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" and "Year of Wonders" and others.
3. I'm about to start adult beginner ballet lessons. I've got the ballet slippers and I'm ready to go. I just need to get home from work at a decent hour on Friday evenings to be able to go. I'm excited.
4. I got the job I applied for recently, which also happens to be the job I'm doing. Don't ask me to explain how that works. :) I'm relieved and excited. It's a good job - crazy busy and very challenging, just the kind of job I like.
5. I always burn the bottom of cakes. My defence is the temperature gauge on the oven is odd - it's European and doesn't list temperatures, just numbers - makes no sense to me.
6. I love Christmas. Love it. Love, love, love it. I get very very excited at Christmas time. I love all the traditions. I love our Christmas tree. I love Christmas decorations. I love Santa. I love Christmas carols. I love making Christmas cards. I love preparing Christmas lunch. Christmas is special.
7. My favourite animals are platypus' and bilbies. Such gorgeous creatures. Ruby has taught me the importance of identifying my favourite animals but she's disappointed I don't have a favourite jungle animal. Although I do like King Julian on Madagascar-The Movie. ;)
8. If I didn't dye my hair, I reckon I'd be completely grey within 6 months. Terrifying but true. I sometimes wonder if I should just colour my hair grey and be done with all the regrowth drama. Maybe in 10 years time.

Actually you know, that was surprisingly easy. The rule of the tag thing is that I should in turn tag another 8 people, but I've never really liked chain letters, so I'll just say - if you would like to share 8 random things about yourself with the blogiverse, do it. I'd love to read them.

peace and love to you on this sunny Saturday afternoon.

xxxx