Christmas in the USA

(Nana's Christmas Tree)

We made it! We have been in the good ol' US of A for a week. Time is flying by. We've been busy, but finding time to relax - a must with kids.

The flight - miserable. Ben screamed his head off for about three hours until he finally passed out and slept the rest of the flight. I guess it could have been a lot worse. Annmarie was an Angel. Jamie and I didn't sleep. at. all. It was a long day. Fortunately, the next day we were all in bed sleeping the equivalent of 14 hours. It was awesome. We all adjusted pretty quickly.

We've been visiting family and friends and eating out at all our old favorites. It's been a bit strange being back, but it also feels like we never left.

I forgot my camera cord so I'm unable to upload any pictures to the computer. Bummer.

It's a pretty mellow holiday. No Christmas card. Didn't do an advent. It's been nice and simple with my little family and I like it.

Hope everyone who reads this has a Holly Jolly Christmas!

Preschool Christmas Concert

Annmarie's preschool had a darling little Christmas Concert. It was too cute. Annmarie just sort of stood there for the first two songs and then really started getting into it - singing and dancing. She is right there in the front row in a red and white dress.
And then later that day Annmarie and Ben have a quick cuddle.

Interview with my 4 - year old

I sat down with Annmarie to ask her a few questions in honor of turning four. Here is our interview.

Me: How old are you going to be?

AM: 4

Me: What are you looking forward to most about being four?

AM: Playing more with my friends at preschool.

Me: Because you get to go three days a week?

AM: Yes

Me: What is your favorite color?

AM: Blue

Me: What is your favorite food?

AM: Enchiladas.

Me: Are you just saying that because that is what we are having for dinner tonight

AM: No.

Me: What other foods do you like?

AM: hmmmm - pasta and avocados.

Me: What is your favorite fruit?

AM: Orange.

Me: What is your favorite vegetable?

AM: Carrot.

Me: What is your favorite dessert?

AM: I love cupcakes.

Me: What is your favorite toy?

AM: My babies and the baby sling.

Me: What is your favorite thing to do with me - mom

AM: Cuddle.

Me: Awwwww, thanks honey, mine too.

Me: What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?

AM: Give him kisses when he comes home from work.

Me: That's sweet too, but are you just saying that because we are waiting for Dad to come home?

AM: No.

Me: What else do you like to do with Dad?

AM: Play baseball.

Me: What is your favorite thing to do outside?

AM: Go swimming in the warm pool.

Me: What is your favorite things to do at school?

AM: Play in the garden, puzzles and sing songs.

Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?

AM: A Doctor, Mom, singer and jumper.

Note on jumper - she watched a lot of track and field with Jamie and liked watching the jumping bits. And she just loves to jump.

Me: What is your favorite TV show?

AM: Dora, Diego and Bubble Guppies.

Me: What is your favorite movie?

AM: Toy Story.

Me: What are your favorite songs?

AM: Watermelon, Gum Tree Family, the Christmas song we sing at preschool.

Me: Where would you like to go on vacation?

AM: Bali.

Me: Why?

AM: Because some of my kindy friends have go there.

Me: Honey, I am going to ask you some real serious questions now, just answer them the best you can.

AM: Ok.

Me: Who should be President of the United States?

AM: Maybe you?

Me: How should we feed the hungry?

AM: We should make food for them and they should say please and thank you.

Me: Do you think Breastfeeding is important for babies?

AM: Yes

Me: Why?

AM: So they can grow.

Me: Are you concerned with nuclear weapons?

AM: I think that is a naughty word.

Me: What can we do to make people happy?

AM: We can kiss them. Be nice and make something for them.

The End.

I think she pretty much has it figured it out. Love that girl of mine.

(Picture taken on her birthday - reminded me of this one. Ha.)

Bonnie Visits Partt III - Thanksgiving

For a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, we went ahead and celebrated it twice. Guess we have a lot to be thankful for. On Thursday, we went over to our friends home and celebrated with a smoked turkey and all the trimmings. However, I took zero pictures. But trust me, it was a fantastic spread. We also did up another colorful feast on Friday.

Here is how it went down.

We sent Annmarie to preschool. Jamie and Bonnie went for a run. Ben and I grabbed a coffee and picked up some last minute items for dinner.

We dressed Ben up in his cute Turkey shirt from Bonnie and took some pictures of our little guy.
Isn't he cute?

Here is what is not so cute. About two hours later - this:
Sorry, but it needed to be recorded.

Bonnie and I worked in the kitchen most of the day.

We had some visitors.
Yes, Annmarie is already in her jammies. We typically try to clean her up after preschool to rid her of all the preschool cooties.
We Skyped.
And Jamie carved our pumpkin. We never got around to it at Halloween because we didn't really celebrate it and Annmarie was nasty sick. I wanted to at least get the seeds out.
Bonnie and Annmarie crafted. Bonnie got all Project Runway with a native vest and head piece for Annmarie.
And I think Annmarie's pioneer/Juniper Creek style night gown completes the outfit.

On to the food.

Roasted brussel sprouts with walnuts and pomegranate seeds with a lemon vinaigrette.
Roasted pumpkin.
Mashed potatoes.
A wonderful vegan rice casserole.
Crab. A little disappointed in the crab, it's not the same dungeness crab that we love from S.F.
Here it is plated.
And dessert - vegan pumpkin cupcakes with a cinnamon icing glaze. Yum.
Superb!

That pretty much rounds out the Bonnie Visits posts. It was so awesome having her here. Heaps of fun. I'm realizing now that there was a lot I didn't get on film. No beach photos. Some great breakfasts Bonnie cooked for us. And other things I'm probably forgetting. It was blast having an old friend here; she'll just have to come again!

Annmarie Turns Four

Dear Annmarie,

You are one sleep away from turning FOUR! My word. I don't know what to say. It's almost impossible these days to get my thoughts down. I wish I could properly put into words how you have changed our lives and how much fun this parenting journey has been. Know that we love you so so so much and think you are one incredible kid. In honor of your fourth birthday, here are four things (and then some) I want to remember about you:

-You have a huge heart. Huge. You truly care for others. You are sensitive and compassionate. You understand the difference between right and wrong, good and bad. As you get older and understand new things it saddens me that you are starting to lose some of your innocence. It's just little things right now, like giving gifts to children that are less fortunate. Or if a kid at the park yells - I am going to shoot you and we have to explain that to you. But you're so sweet and say - that's not very nice, he shouldn't say things like that to children. I hope your heart never changes.

-You never stop talking or singing. You are like the singing bush. And our conversations are even more entertaining in your Aussie accent. I wish I was better at writing down all the great things that come out of your moth. You basically give us a recount of every thought that is going through your head and a typical dinner conversation goes a little something like this:

AM: Excuse me Mom, Mom, Mummy
Me: Yes
AM: Today at preschool I played with so and so. Did Ben poop today? What are we doing after my sleep? Mom, Ben is making a funny face at me. I'm finished with dinner.
Me: Please finish.
AM: Can we go to the park? I want to go to Bali. Dad, Dad, Daddy - what did you do today? I'm finished with dinner.
Me: Please eat.
AM: Dad, I want to show you something.
Me: Eat first.
AM: When are we going on the big plane? I'm going to be four soon. Can I watch TV?
Me: Eat.
And then at some point you typically break out in song
AM: I grew in my sleep. Can I have a cookie?

-You thrive at playing outside. It's where I think you are the happiest. Your body craves the fresh air. Just a grassy field will do and you will just run. You love the park and you keep getting more adventurous with what you do. The other day you where standing on the swing to swing, this is huge for you. You love to test your balancing skills, jump and climb. You also love the beach and swimming (mostly in the warm pool). You really seemed to like ballet this year. You are also getting more confident with introducing yourself to children you don't know. I also love that you love getting coffee with me. I know getting you a babyccino helps with the matter. But sitting with you and having a little chat with you over coffee is one my favorite things. We receive so many comments form people telling me what a mature little girl you are. Love it!

-You're a great big sister. It was a little rough in the beginning and we had some major adjustments issues, but we set out some family rules and things have been working themselves out. Seriously though, the way you look at Ben melts my heart. You are a tremendous help, always willing to help me when I ask for it. Ben is so lucky to have you as a sister. And I hope that you two stay close and will always be there for one another.

Thanks for being such an awesome kid. This parenting thing can be tricky and I know I don't always get it right, but you easily forgive my short comings and I thank you for that. Being four is going to be awesome, I know you will rock it.

We love you.
Mean it.

Mom
P.S. A couple of days ago I interviewed you, the transcript of that will be posted shortly.

iPhone Stuff

1. Getting ready for a little walk. The weather has been crazy around here. Hot one day. Cool the next. The official date of Summer was December 1st.
2. Sushi lunch
3. After trying to get Ben down for a nap one day, with no such luck, I gave up and told him he would have to watch me clean the kitchen if he didn't want to sleep. Well, I guess watching me clean the kitchen wasn't all the exciting. He passed out in his swing - a first.
4. Annmarie and I went to the movies to see Arthur Christmas.
5. Smiling face babyccino
6. Morning tea at playgroup sporting her awesome Cal shirt.

Bonnie Visits Part II - Breaking Dawn and a couple of other things

After Jamie came back from Singapore, it was our turn. I left my babies up in the tree and went out for the evening. Well, I left them with their father and I was only gone for six hours. It was awesome. I figured the worst thing that could happen is Ben would miss his last feed (because he is not a huge fan of the bottle) before he goes down for the night. If you held the guy you would know that he would be ok if he missed one feed. But Jamie got him to take a bottle and he went down just fine.

Meanwhile, Bonnie and I went and got our Twilight on.
We went out for dinner first to an Indian restaurant. Bonnie started with wine and I had a mango lassi. We then had a glass of champagne to toast the big day - you know - Edward and Bella's wedding.
We had a fabulous dinner and the service was nice too ;).

The appetizer.
Dal.
Rice.
And a potato and cauliflower dish.
We splurged on some fancy movie tickets. Of course, I loved the movie. Sorry, no pictures from the movie. There was also a girl there wearing the same exact dress as me, the dress has a very distinctive print - so embarrassing.

------

I took Bonnie to one of my favorite restaurants - The Boat House. We had a great lunch, but for some reason the place was being taken over by flies - it was so gross. The food was still good, and pretty.

My cap.
Lunch.
------

Baking cupcakes.
-----

Next up - Thanksgiving

Santa at the QVB

On Sunday we headed into Sydney to the Queen Victoria Building to visit Santa. There was a huge Christmas tree - the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. And the building itself is quite stunning.

When we arrived and found Santa, there where like three people in line. I thought score, but no, they hand you a pager and tell you it will be a two and a half hour wait. Miss the page because you leave the building and add another thirty minutes to to the process. So yes, three hours to see Santa.

We killed time by having coffee, roaming the building, and eating lunch (outside the building - where we missed the page).

Here are some of the pictures.

The tree.
Annmarie was so excited to see Santa. She insisted on wearing her Santa hat.
But when it came time to actually see Santa, she froze.

This was her expression. Here with the toy solider.
And then with Santa. She didn't smile, cry, nothing. Just stone cold froze. Santa sure is happy though.
Ben - well, he's all - dude, where's the barbecue?

Bonnie Visits Part I - Koala Park and Sydney

We had the awesome privilege of having a live-in Nanny for a couple of weeks - Bonnie. I kid, but seriously, she was a huge help, she cooked, cleaned, and babysat. She was especially helpful when Jamie left us for four nights to go to Singapore. We paid her by allowing her to drink as much of our beer and wine as she wanted.

We also did some of fun stuff - went to the Koala Park, took the ferry Sydney, went to the beach, sat and had coffee, had dance parties with Annmarie, watched countless YouTube videos (Annmarie's favorites included - Charlie bit my finger and the Jimmy Kimmel Halloween Candy One), went to parks, saw Breaking Dawn, baked and more.

I took a good amount of pictures, so I will do this in a couple of posts

First, here are the pictures from our visit to the Koala Park.

We checked out the lambs first. Here is a naked one.
We then visited the roo's. We sent Annmarie in first.
I think it may have been awhile since they had been feed, because some of them were pretty aggressive.
Then it was on to the koalas. Do you know that muma koalas leave their bubs up in a tree in about a years time?
On a Friday while Annmarie was at preschool, we took the Ferry over to Sydney.

Ben wasn't so sure about it.
We walked around the Opera house and had drink at the Opera bar - it's right there below in the picture.
Checked out a some of the botanical gardens.
We then had an unimpressive lunch and hopped back on the ferry.It ended up being a beautiful day and really warmed up.

Next up - Angela gets out of the house for SIX hours!!