Ready to leap into 2009

2008 has been tricky. Challenging, confronting, annoying, frantic and just plain tricky. Of course, there were some fabulous days, but mostly it's been a very long, emotional and exhausting slog.

I'm now (finally) realistic enough to know that 2009 may bring more of the same, but I'm hopeful it will also bring more understanding, compassion, patience, thoughtfulness, contentment, peace and love.

I'm thankful this year ends today. I believe you get a fresh start at new year's. We're ready to leap into it.

Be happy and safe tonight.
xxxx

Happy everything - from us to you

I've always enjoyed the days between Christmas and New Year. A time for calm reflection, playing with new toys, reading new books and just quiet pottering around the house. In theory anyway ;)

Our quiet pottering was interspersed with quiet cursing yesterday while we put up the new trampoline.

So as the season for wearing funny hats comes to an end, happy everything from us to you.

peace and love, k, m, r, m xxxx

Peace and love

After many years of wishing and sending peace and love, here they are. These sweet little poppets arrived from Canberra, made by my very dear and talented friend Cindy. Thanks Cin, I love them. xx

peace and love, k x

I made a pavlova!

It was on last year's list :)

We came home today. I like coming home. Ruby does too. The boys seem to be wishing they were still somewhere else.

wishing you peace and calm.

Time to play

I'm looking forward to playing lots of games with Ruby and Max through the school holidays. We're big players - well Ruby, Max and I are - Mark, not so much.

I was very *very* very pleased that Ruby has figured out how to play Scrabble. I LOVE Scrabble. And she's competitive. She played really well. I don't like to lose and it looks like she might be tough to beat as she gets older.

This was our first ever family Scrabble game. :)

Can't wait to play the other games after Christmas!

xxxx

p.s. Max was pleased that he got to spell out "poo" :O

Thankful for traditions - new and old

I love Christmas trees. LOVE LOVE LOVE them.

Each year we make or buy new decorations, it's one of the things we do each Christmas. Ruby and Max have made MANY decorations for the tree this year. Our dear old tree is groaning under the strain of bazillions of lovingly made 'gifts for the tree'.

How do you decorate your tree - with sentimental stuff or designer flair?

peace and love to you xxxx

The big list

I don't think I've been a super achiever against the list this last year. I think I put too many life goals on the list. Realistically I should have known that I wouldn't have the $$ or the time to do ALL of the things on the list. So the next list will be more achievable. Maybe. Or maybe it won't be. I am always an optimist. Always setting challenges that I can't possibly achieve. So be it. But I LOVE trying.

So what did I do?

1. see a platypus in the wild - well no.
2. run for 6kms without stopping and without collapsing - well no. But I did make 3kms.
3. lose 6 kgs - well no. But I lost 2 - 3kgs.
4. re-read "The Art of Happiness" YES. Done
5. learn about Catholic religious practices so I understand what Ruby's doing at school. YES. Done
6. help with reading in Ruby's class for a morning every 6 weeks or so - Ah, no.
7. write a card or a letter each week - well not each week, but I did write at least 1 a month.
8. sew my own skirts. Yes. Well I made 1.
9. take Ruby and Max to Canberra. I took myself to Canberra (but only for work). Did not take the kids anywhere out of Queensland this year. :(
10. read 5 new authors. YES! Sure did.
11. order Moo cards. No. I didn't because I changed my mind.
12. make a pavlova. No. But I ate a lot of meringues. Surely that counts.
13. have a holiday in Sydney. *sigh* No.
14. hire a kayak every now and then. Only once. Not often enough really.
15. buy a Max ring. Yes. Maybe. I got a cheap ring (gorgeous black rose) and Max has said it will be a Max ring until we can afford diamonds.
16. do a photo session every month. Yes. I have taken a lot of pics this year.
17. learn how to use the different functions on my camera properly YES! I did a fantastic photography course and am booked in for another one in a couple of months time.
18. use the treadmill at least 4x every week. ah, no. I did it for a couple of months, but it didn't last.
19. ride my bike! Yes. But only once. :)
20. organise play dates for Ruby and Max. Yes, they had a few.
21. print all of Ruby and Max's baby photos. YES.
22. buy a new suit. I'll get another one in winter. YES.
23. have a pedicure. YES.
24. reconnect with Rod and Donna. Sadly no.
25. take a Pilates class. No.
26. learn how to use CUBA (work thing). YES!
27. take Ruby and Max bushwalking. YES
28. read the newspaper. More than just on the weekends that is. YES. Not every day but regularly.
29. subscribe to Crikey. YES (and no). My dear friend Sam sent me her subscription very regularly. Thanks Sam. xx
30. blog at least once a week. I'm going to say YES. It was close.
31. practice compassion everyday. I've really focused on this. So YES.
32. write to Souerng often. No, not often enough.
33. stretch every day. No.
34. download fave songs/albums from the internet. Um, no. How did this get on my list?
35. make time to escape every month or so. YES, I believe I have.
36. write my "I believe" manifesto. YES.
37. back up my digital photos. YES. I've started, just recently.
38. surprise Mark. Maybe.
39. replant the front garden. Nope.
40. stick with natural medicines to improve my health. Yes, mostly.
41. spend a day with Mark every month or so. Only a few days this year.
42. buy some gorgeous new perfume. YES! Of course.

So in the last 12 months I've done 23 out of 43 things on the list. I think that's OK. My next list might be a wee bit less ambitious but I'm happy with 23 things.

peace and love, k xxxx

A happy day. Lots to be thankful for around here.

It was my birthday yesterday. I forget how old I am now. Sadly the kids remember the number very clearly. It's a number somewhere between 0 and 100. :)

Things that I loved about my birthday:

• It was a happy happy day. It started with a phone call from Mum before any of us were awake. And then Max (in our bed) rolling over sleepily and saying "do you know it's your birthday today?" before he even woke up properly. And then a big hug. Ruby was close behind with sleepy but intense and sincere birthday wishes.
• Cake and chocolates were prepared before breakfast but it was decided (not by me) to save them until dinner time because someone thought 7am was too early to be peeling and scoffing white Lindor balls. *sigh*
• I received lots of beautiful wishes yesterday from family and friends - thanks so much for thinking of me. xx
• We tripped up to the Eumundi markets for a family day out (thanks to Mark for taking the day off work x) - it was hot and humid and we were all sweaty and stinky by lunchtime. Lurvely.
• I had a fabulouso coffee and a stroll around Berkelouw bookshop (which I LOVE). Only bought one book for me (a stephanie Dowrick one cause I'm in *that* frame of mind). 4 for Ruby and 1 for Max.
• We ate deliciously healthy market foods - organic vegie meals and frozen mango juice ice blocks. Yum.
• I had a big long and high swing. I love to swing, so invigorating, wish I did it more often!
• We came home, sat on the front verandah, drank beer and ordered Indian takeaway for tea - yum yum yum butter chicken and naan. I don't think it gets any better than that.

It was a perfect day. Here's some pics:

I was very spoiled this year. Tickets to Billy Joel (it was a seriously brilliant concert), a new tripod (hooray!), a book, a Billy Joel DVD, some cutlery that Max chose for me to take to work and more. I also got Wes' single CD! I love Wes, but I think we only played the CD about 37 times yesterday, not nearly enough really. ;)

peace and love xxxx

The theme is thanks

I stumbled across nablopomo this morning. I like it. Every month there's a theme. This month's them is 'thanks'. I love having a theme, a word, something to focus on.

I'm feeling very thankful today. I've got a good home, I'm well loved and we're pretty safe and secure in as many ways as we can be.

I'm thankful for an afternoon of pottering and dithering yesterday with Jan and Ruth.

I'm thankful for the friendship and kindness of the lovely Bernadette who makes the best coffee in Wynnum and who happily dispenses medical/relationship/parenting advice with her coffee.

I'm thankful for a week off work to get organised before Christmas.

I'm thankful for the support of good people in my local community. A quick visit to the local shops yesterday turned into more than 2 hours of chatting with people here and there.

I'm thankful as always for Ruby and Max and their generous love. Ruby came home yesterday with her little craft creations, including many, many love notes for me and her daddy. She writes about her love. Max talks about it. He gushes with love and describes his feelings beautifully.

And today, I'm also thankful to Rachel for pics like this one from a recent session:

what are you thankful for?

sending you peace and love xxxx

Not a preppie anymore

Ruby finished Prep last Friday. She's excited about being a Year 1 kid next year. And I'm super excited that Mrs McConnon will be her teacher again next year.

Ruby's had a big, positive and fabulous first year of school. Thank heavens! Her end of year report card is lovely:

Teacher comments:
Ruby's commitment to work and her exceptional behaviour have contributed to a very successful year. Interactions with peers are always peaceful as she has the ability to negotiate and compromise in a calm and quiet manner. Independence with learning is demonstrated when she orgaises her materials and work space efficiently and effectively without assistance. Ruby has made exceptional progress this semester with her reading and writing. Her ability to spell phonetically is very accurate and she is able to confidently read back her own writing. During handwriting tasks, Ruby is still using 2 fingers with her thumb to support the pencil. Ruby has established a very sound bank of sight words and is reading books confidently. In the area of Early Mathematical Understandings, Ruby has grasped the concepts covered this semester. Ruby has also made sound progress in the area of Active Learning Processes. This was especially evident during discussions and activities on our Bay Unit. Ruby has been a fantastic role model for her peers and it is wonderful to see the amount of effort Ruby puts into her work. Well done Ruby.

Student comments:
At school I enjoy drawing, the sandpit, collage, writing, seeing our buddies and going to Drama. My friends are Emily, Macey and Meika. This semester I have learnt how to write the right way and how to look after our Bay by not putting rubbish in drains. I have learnt about fairies and how to look after our Nazareth House buddies. My buddy has helped me with Healthy Harold activities. I need to work on writing. I am good at reading and drawing.

I love how they ask the kids for their assessment of their own progress. Beautiful. It's been a good year.

Day One

Day 1 of summer. I love summer. For the first day of this beautiful season, a quote:

"Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air". Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I really would loved to have met RWE, many of his words inspire me.

And day 1 of the advent season. I've joined up for Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class. I'll get many, many prompts between now and 6 January to get me thinking (and writing and photographing) about what I love the most about Christmas. I'm excited!

Our tree is up, we're tinselled out.

Can't have a post without a photo, so here's a pic from 1 December 2004:

and from 1 December 2005:

and from 1 December 2007:

I'll try and post often during December. No guarantees of course, but I'll try.

wishing you peace and calm

k xxxx