Anniversary prezzies

As our very first anniversary approached, I was at a loss for what to give Markus. He is ridiculously tough to buy for because he is not a stuff guy, he doesn't want much, and his needs are pretty well covered. Birthdays and Christmas drive me mad scrambling for ideas, and forget suggestions when other people ask me for help! So an anniversary gift was looking really tough. I turned to tradition. In the US, tradition dictates a specific gift for each year of marriage. I don't know anyone who follows this list anymore, but it gave me a great starting point and we've stuck to the list ever since. This year was "wood". Despite teasing on both sides, saying we'd wrap up sticks from the backyard, we both came through in style!

Markus gave me two beautiful, local art (my favorite!) gifts. One is a collection of miniature treasures (the frame is wood), and the other is an aboriginal carving on a nut from the boab tree.


I gave Markus a wood kaleidoscope, and I wish I'd made a video of him opening it. First, he unwrapped the base. He looked at it very carefully, set it gently on the table, and gave me a very polite "Thanks, honey, it's really nice wood" comment. That's not the gift, it's the base, I assured him. Oh, the look of relief! Then, he opened the main gift, carefully unwrapping to reveal a tube of wood with a glass bead on top and a small metal plate with a central hole on the bottom. There was an unmistakeable "WTF?" look on his face, which he was valiantly trying to suppress. You could see the wheels turning: "Did she give me a pepper grinder? What the hell?" Then, he lifted it to his eye and became a boy again: "WOOOOOW! WHOOOOA!!! Looooooook!" and so on for many minutes, as I lost him to the simple joy of a kaleidoscope. Thanks to the miracle of technology, I can share it with you too:


Last but not least...wouldn't you know that the cubby house fits right in to this grand scheme? Delivered and assembled on our anniversary, it is only natural that it also be a gift of wood.


Note: the music on the kaleidoscope video is "El Corazon" by Arno Elias from the Buddha Bar Nature CD

Parenting lesson #5782 (or #1): EMBRACE REALITY

At 3:30pm on the afternoon of our fifth anniversary, I was sitting on the kitchen floor, sobbing post-tantrum (mine). The day had gotten off to a very rough start. Ellie has been an unusually tough cookie to manage for almost two weeks, and she had eaten through my patience reserves before 8am. Baby Stephanie, normally so easy to please, wouldn't nap. She was too tired to eat but too hungry to sleep, so she just fussed and wanted 110% of my attention. Each time I tried to do anything I wanted to get done, one or both of them would throw a fit or cry. All I'd hoped to do was clean up the house and myself, bake a yummy dessert, and look nice when Markus came home from work for our date at home after the girls went to bed. I didn't think that was too much to expect, but clearly I needed to let go. I picked myself up off the floor, called our favorite restaurant to book for the next night, found a babysitter, and then invited the neighbors over for some craft and play time. EMBRACE REALITY. Life is seldom perfect, and even more rare are the moments that go smoothly when I really want them to. I can rail against it (i.e., cry on the kitchen floor) or I can shrug it off and accept the blessings I have along with the challenges. And you know what? Markus and I had a really nice night. No, the house wasn't clean. My eyes were puffy from my crying (I'm thinking there must be some PMS mixed in there), I was wearing pajama pants, and I hadn't brushed my hair...but it didn't matter. I made a super-quick-to-prepare and delicious dinner, we opened a bottle of wine from our trip to Cullen Vineyards, and we gave each other anniversary presents as well as shared time. It wasn't at all how I'd planned it, but it was every bit as enjoyable. Embrace reality. Here's to many more wonderful (busy, challenging, unpredictable...) years to come!

Mouse in the house

Oma affectionately dubbed her "Ellie Maus" when she was a baby, and she continues to live up to the name:

Novel idea

I have spent almost an hour catching up on seriously back-logged work on the computer (looking ahead to hours and hours more to get it done!), and I am not a popsicle. Why? This morning, baby Stephanie and I visited an electronics store and purchased a small space heater for this room. Why the heck didn't I do this before now?

A purchase to celebrate!

The deal has been finalized and a move-in date arranged. Next Wednesday, on our fifth anniversary, we will be able to move in to our first new home! It's pre-fab and very basic, but it's ours! Okay, actually, it's the girls'. We bought them a cubby house, which will be delivered next week. But we're still excited! We're going to paint it, make curtains for it, buy little furniture for it...it is still all the joy and excitement of a first home and we'll take it! Happy Anniversary to...them.

No water

On the way home, I drove through a huge puddle at the bottom of our street. It seemed to be growing by leaps and bounds as water gushed from some unseen source into the road. Well, it seems that would be the water that's supposed to be in our taps. No water at home. Nothing like the lack of something to make you appreciate it! I feel so thirsty, just knowing it's not there. I also feel incredibly wasteful, thinking of all the water I used to rinse dishes and handwash laundry this morning without saving any. It's been raining all week, but no water outside either (unless we raid the swimming pool, which is about to overflow anyway). Water. Appreciate it. Respect it.
Hopefully, ours will be back soon.

Winter Down Under

Winter has come to Australia, sort of. I say sort of because the sunny days are still glorious! The sun heats the air to a beautiful 70 degrees or so, usually with no wind or a warm breeze. Once the sun sets, temperatures plummet to around 40-50 degrees, though some nights have been even less. The real "wintry" days are the rainy ones (no sun, no warmth!) with the nasty winds coming up from the south. Think about what is south of Australia: Antarctica, and there's nothing warm about that! On those days, dropping Ellie off at school is no picnic. That gorgeous spot across from the beach means exposure to gale force winds first thing in the morning (last Friday brought gusts up to 125 kmph). Yikes! But the worst of it: it's cold inside the house. Australians forgot about seasons when they built houses. Our house is old and beautiful, with wood floors and high ceilings. No sun gets directly in the windows, which keeps it livable in summer...but ooooo the winter! No sun means no warmth, so the average temperature in the house hovers around 60 degrees. That temperature is lovely for sleeping, but not so great for waking hours. We have gas heaters in the kitchen and living room that work wonders (lovely warmth in 5 minutes or less), and the girls have space heaters in their bedrooms. We also installed a safety heater in the bathroom; it doesn't do much, but it does take the bite out. In the other rooms, you'd better grab a sweater and some thick socks. Back here in the "study", the temperature ranges from 57-64 degrees (depending on clouds or sun outside). One of the reasons blog posting has been sporadic lately is that it's just too darn cold! My hands are turning into little popsicles as I type this entry. Oh, woe to me.

I grew up with central heating. We never were one of those families that kept it so warm inside that you could wear short sleeves (too wasteful!), but I never remember being cold in the house either. This has been an adjustment. Long johns have become pajamas. I own my first requisite pair of Uggs, native to Australia and now I know why! (Thank you, Leonie, for tipping me off to their necessity!)

The trickiest part has been dressing our most incredibly determined CEO, who insists not only on dressing herself but dressing herself for summer. You couldn't pay her to wear a sweater or her pink Uggs (thought the pink would work, but NO). For the past several weeks now, she has had an outfit of choice that consists of a long sleeved t-shirt, thin cotton pants (leggings), a thin cotton summer dress, and one of my t-shirts...in that order (you can see the ensemble in the posting about mealtime). I knit her a cute little vest-like top, which I've managed to wedge into the daily assembly between the t-shirt and the cotton dress. Witness the peril of the first morning I enforced the wool layer:


You can see the other two layers clutched tightly in her hands. Forget trying to make her wear anything else, and heaven forbid one of the outer pieces is declared too dirty to wear. I have learned stealthy overnight laundering techniques.

Food and Friends

When we went to the Caversham Wildlife Park a few weekends ago, Markus took a lot of short video clips, but I just got around to watching them this weekend. This one of baby Stephanie cracked me up:


She had a fistful of kangaroo food that she'd taken from my hands, but she clearly didn't know what it was. The kangaroo did. Their interaction is pretty funny! It also reminded me of this favorite video of Ellie (shared before but new to you newcomers), a bit younger than Stephanie is now (taken back when we were in Qatar) and on the theme of (almost) sharing food with friends:

Mealtime

We make it a point to eat dinner together as a family. Everyone starts out sitting in his or her own chair, but that doesn't tend to last. Baby Stephanie must motor. She can only sit for so long before she has to get up and wander around. Often, she migrates to Papa's lap. Ellie is quick to follow. They often eat the bulk of their meals there. So, no matter how we start out, our mealtimes often end up looking like this...

Attending a Christening and 1st birthday

Today, we attended the Christening and 1st birthday party of our little friend Connor. The Christening service was apart from a full mass, but there were many families being baptized at the same time. The service lasted about half an hour, which was about 25 minutes too long for our intrepid explorer.



Ellie, much to our great pride and amazement, sat calmly, quietly and paid rapt attention to everything that was happening, even after Papa and baby Stephanie had to go play outside.

Afterwards, the family celebrated Connor's first birthday with a great party at the Subiaco Playgroup. Such a smart choice of location for kids, as there were tons of toys and lots of great playspace outside. Ellie loved the playhouse (called "cubby house" here) and the dolls in prams, but she really loved the birthday cake. She had been waiting patiently for a slice literally all day long, since Mama made Connor's birthday cake. Ellie watched me create the icing, smooth and pipe the different colors onto the cake, asking every once in a while if she could have a bit...and waiting so nicely when the answer was she had to wait for the party later (she did get to eat bits I trimmed off and squeezed icing on for a treat). Oh, was she happy when cake time finally came!



How convenient that the icing matched her dress! Maybe I should plan it that way for parties in the future...

Sneaky

This afternoon, Ellie requested we bake cookies together. She chose peanut butter cookies, and after the first batch was in the oven, we remembered to add chocolate chips to the rest of the dough. As soon as the first batch was cool enough, baby Stephanie happily wandered around the backyard munching on a cookie, but Ellie was determined to wait for one with chocolate chips. Or so she said.
When the girls wandered outside, I went into the laundry room to transfer a load of clothes to the dryer. I looked out the window just as Ellie coaxed the cookie out of baby Stephanie's little fist and took a huge bite. "Ellie! I saw that!" PITUEY! She spat that bite out before starting to chew and began looking around wildly to see where I was while trying to stuff the stolen bite and the remaining cookie back into a bewildered Stephanie's hands.
I wish I had caught that on camera!

Caversham Wildlife Park

On Sunday, we drove out to Whiteman Park to visit the kangaroos at the Caversham Wildlife Park in the Swan Valley. We'd been there once before, and the weather has been so glorious lately that we were happy to do anything outside. At the Caversham Wildlife Park, there are lots of opportunities to see and meet Australian wildlife (including adorable wombats), but the kangaroo pen is the best. You are free to walk around with the kangas, feed and pet them. The kangaroos in the park are very docile, friendly and so so soft! Baby Stephanie loves animals and has no fear, so she had a great time making new friends. On the other hand, Ellie seems to get more and more reserved around animals as she grows older.


Anything bigger than she could comfortably cuddle in her lap is too big in her book, so she didn't seem to enjoy it so much this time. She surprised us by not wanting to pet or feed them, whereas Stephanie pet them, fed them, and ate a bit of their food herself (yuck). Most of the pictures are available for your perusal in the flickr sidebar, but this picture tickles me to bits:



At one point, Stephanie sat down to have a chat with a lounging wallaby, and a large group of Asian tourists rushed over to take her picture. A few of them wanted to pose with her, which caused great distress in our wee one and consternation in the tourists themselves. Not all wildlife enjoys paparazzi.

Feminists, avert your eyes

I might as well come straight out with the worst of it: I just spent nearly an hour scrubbing the kitchen floor on my hands and knees. Not pregnant and not barefoot (it's colder inside the house than outside), but it's still a capital offense, I know. And guess what else? Yesterday I spent two hours raking the yard, gathering leaves and sticks into four huge green waste bags in time for city collection. Sunday night, I finished a knitted top for Ellie. This morning (before the kitchen scrubbing), I signed up for a sewing class. Will the insanity never end?

Okay, calm down, ladies. There's a simple explanation for all of this: I DO IT BECAUSE I LIKE IT. The raking was tremendously satisfying in the beautiful autumn weather. I wish I'd taken before and after photos to prove the accomplishment. You have already heard much about my newfound joy of knitting. The sewing has been a long time interest, one that now feels more important since clothes are ridiculously expensive here and frankly (no offense to any Aussie readers) I don't like the styles or the materials. Ellie is horribly low on cool weather clothes, and I can't bring myself to buy her pants that cost $60 (or more!) or those that are cheaper but won't last for Stephanie too. And scrubbing the kitchen floor...well, I just wanted to feel like it was really clean, and now I do. At least it will be until Stephanie wakes up from her nap and smears her snack around, but that's a story for another post entitled "Cleaning with children in the house is like shoveling snow during a blizzard."

Several months ago, I received a letter from a friend who expressed her extreme distaste for how domestic I've become. I have a Masters degree, I've traveled extensively...and yet I spent my days in a way she cannot comprehend. Essentially, she accused me of chucking my brain along with my placenta. I'm still struggling with an appropriate response. I myself cringe when I read conservative mommy blogs by women who include phrases like "serve my husband and family" (shudder shudder cringe), though when I reflect on my days, that is really what I do. The difference is in the intent. I don't stay home because it is expected of me or because there is nothing else I could do; the truth is quite the opposite. Markus and I have made deliberate choices to put our young family first. He works hard so I can stay home with them and do work that makes our downtime much more like downtime. I have a wonderful partner who respects, appreciates and supports me fully. He does not come home expecting a spotless house and a smiling, freshly made-up wife. Sometimes he comes home to a total mad house and a wife who cannot wait for him to pack the children off to the playground or anywhere for just 2 minutes of peace I tell you I need to have some peace before I go crazy...you get the idea. But I do try. Being a homemaker (not the most PC term but to the point) is my chosen profession at the moment, and (as with anything I give this much time) I want to be great at it. It involves many thankless tasks (such as scrubbing the floor) and tons of opportunity for personal growth. I don't regret a minute of it, even when I'm losing my nut. Will I do this forever? No, which is even more reason to work at it extra hard while I can. Making a home and raising a family is not about giving up (or worse, devaluing) oneself. It's about using all your talents to make it fulfilling and meaningful. I can cook delicious meals from scratch because I enjoy it and I really enjoy eating good food. I like creating with my hands, and I enjoy seeing the fruits of my labors. I'm pretty crap at spotless housekeeping, but our home is by no means unclean. My days are full of many tasks, many trials, and lots of hugs and love. It's a great life, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

All that being said, I must stress that I don't believe this is a choice that is appropriate for everyone. I'm not here to judge or say staying home is the best way to parent and I certainly don't believe it's a requirement for every woman. It's really not the best choice for everyone, but it is the right choice for our family. It's a gift, and I appreciate it as such.

Side note: By the way, for another take on the homemaking topic, this post makes a good read.

Laundry sprite

Baby Stephanie likes to help with the laundry. The front loader is a perfect height for her, and it is a sure-fire way to keep her entertained. These days, I always have to check the machine before I wash a load, because you can never be sure what she might have put in there. This weekend, I tried to capture a video of her taking care of the laundry. Alas, the clip is a bit lame since she didn't want to be filmed. You can still get an idea, and you can check out the hysterical socks she is wearing. Enjoy!

This morning

Ellie's school is across a busy road from the beach, which means 5 days a week we start the day in sight of the Indian Ocean. Its beauty never ceases to amaze me. I hope there will never come a point when I take that view for granted. This week, the weather has been patchy transitional autumn weather, meaning rainshowers on and off throughout the day (side note: the temperatures are still quite lovely (low 50s in the morning, 70s in the afternoon), and the wind has died off considerably). With so much sun in the presence of patchy rain, you get RAINBOWS! This is the view that greeted us this morning when we parked the car before school:


The rainbow seemed to enter the ocean somewhere ahead of Rottnest Island. The cargo ships you see are on their way to the port at nearby Fremantle. Ellie hoped to see a ship pass through the rainbow, convinced something amazing would happen when it did. Unfortunately, the rain over the sea stopped and the rainbow faded away before we could test her theory. At least we were treated to a magical view, even for just a few minutes.

Update on the switch to cloth nappies

It's been two and a half months since we made the switch to cloth nappies, so I thought I'd update those of you who are interested on how that is going. All in all, I'm very pleased! I still cannot comment as to how green the switch is (jury is still out on landfill v laundry), but I do appreciate how much less I am throwing away and how less stinky our trash has become. It seemed to me that we were always filling our trash to the brim when using disposables, and now that's definitely not the case. I find it pretty easy to toss a load of that day's diapers in the washing machine after the girls go to bed. They are ready to air-dry by the time we go to bed, and most of the time they are dry by the next morning (now that it's gotten so cool in the house, they do better to dry in the sunshine). Once a week, I run a hot wash with baking soda and no clothing to clean out the washing machine and avoid any poo residue that might be lurking. The particular brand of nappies we bought hasn't given us much trouble. You know I couldn't resist one of every color, and that has made it easy to remember which ones have started to leak (3 out of 14). I'm pretty disappointed about that development, given it has only been less than 3 months of use. I am going to contact the company and see what they say (I'll let you know).

Also on the green front, I am embarrassed to admit I haven't pursued composting any further. I keep meaning to, and I keep forgetting. Rather poor form on my part! I will remedy that this weekend. I have a feeling I will do bokashi instead of worms, because I am afraid it will be too cold for the worms soon and I don't want to do worm composting in the house. Baby Stephanie loves playing in the dirt almost as much as she loves playing in water, and I can just picture her toddling down the hall with fistfuls of composting worms. No thank you.

Another project on the pile

I have too many interests. On my creative to-do list alone, there are at least 10 started-yet-unfinished projects, and knitting has added a whole new dimension to my madness. The possibility of creating something beautiful and wearable with my own two hands...well, it has led to a yarn buying spree of ridiculous proportions. Although Australia is the world's biggest producer of wool, it actually processes very little of it, meaning most yarns are imported and quantities are small and irregular. If I find a yarn I love or a project I want to try, no one can tell me if the yarn will be available in a few months' time or if that color will still be around. Once a supply runs out, they don't reorder, and that has given me justification for my ever-growing stash. Of course, back in reality, I am a NEW knitter, which means I'm very slow. I know I have the skill, so I am all enthusiasm about every project I see, but they take me ages to finish. I have four projects on needles right now, the latest of which I just began yesterday. Check it out:


The two yarn colors are so different that I didn't know how it might work, but I am amazed at the color array this far. This is going to be one colorful piece! Assuming I ever get it done...so far, I average 4 rows every 30 minutes, which isn't looking very promising in the completion department. At least I'm enjoying myself!

Ellie was sitting with me, coloring, as I cast on. When I came to a stopping place, she asked me to spread it out so she could see. She gave it a thorough examination and pronounced, "I like the colors! Maybe you should make one for you too!"

Philanthropy

This morning, I hosted a Biggest Morning Tea to raise money for the Cancer Council of Australia. I invited about 20 people (most of them were moms from Ellie's class), about half of whom were able to make it. Ever the DIY hostess, I let everyone serve themselves tea (obviously), spiced coffee cake, white batter bread with butter and jam, fruit salad (kindly prepared by my gorgeous redhead girlfriend), and the other goodies that trickled in with attendees. One of the mums from Ellie's school runs an online eco-clothing site, so she set up shop in our living room to add to the enticement. My bedroom became an impromptu dressing room, and I think she did a pretty mean trade this morning! Nearly everyone left with fabulous new goodies, and everyone seemed to have a great time...all for a wonderful cause! Cancer is a nasty beast, and it seems to be affecting just about everyone I know, either within their families or among friends. As you know, my dad died of colon cancer at 54. My dear girlfriend's husband was diagnosed with leukemia at age 28 and had a stem cell transplant just short of his 30th birthday; today he is doing well and building on a new life with his family. Research is well worth supporting! We raised $145 this morning, and I'll be proud to send that in.

Long weekend away (and a long post about it)

Warning: I am making no attempt to keep the post to a reasonable length, so skim as you will and remember there are more pictures in the flickr sidebar if you're interested.

I know, I know. It looks like I apologized for not posting last week...and then I didn't post again. What the hey?! My excuse is this: we weren't here! When Markus returned from KL, we realized how badly we wanted some time away from Perth as a family. We hadn't gone anywhere since we arrived over 8 months ago, and if you've been following this blog for a while, you will know how unusual that amount of time in one spot really is for us! Frankly, we've been so happy not to get on a plane or pack a bag because everything we needed for the kids is right here at our doorsteps...but it was time for a change of scene. Perth is the most isolated capital city on the planet, and it was starting to feel that way. Markus took a day and a half off work to make our own long weekend, and we headed down south on Thursday afternoon for a weekend in Margaret River.

Margaret River is the famous wine region of Western Australia. Nearby Swan Valley (where the Cuddly Animal Farm is) also produces lots of wine, but Margaret River wines are held to be world class. The drive takes about 4 hours of non-highway driving. We hadn't been before now because it's the place EVERYONE from here seems to go when there is a holiday, and it's always packed at those times. We wanted our first visit to be off-season, and we managed it big style: our trip coincided with the first winter storm. Cold cold gale-force winds, driving rain in on-off showers...joy! Can we pick 'em or what? Oh well. To be honest, we didn't really mind. Our goal was to get away and see/do something new, and we did that. The weather was the same here as it was there, so at least we weren't trapped in the house. Despite the nasty weather, we did manage one big fun thing each day, and we all enjoyed ourselves the whole weekend! Hooray!

So...what did we do?
First off, we booked a self-catering villa at Clearwater Retreat in Dunsborough for the weekend. Being off-season, we got a great deal! It was clean, in great condition, and the place was perfect for our needs (if a little big). Three bedrooms, two baths (one of which had a big bathtub for our thrilled girls; we have no tub at home), kitchen, laundry room, huge living area with TV/DVD and lots of space to run around inside (which was very useful considering the weather). It is in walking distance to the beach, and we did take a stroll on day 3 when the rain eased. We arrived at dinnertime Thursday night, so we just made a trip to the grocery store and cooked dinner ourselves, watched a movie, and headed to bed.

Thursday's nasty cold gale-force winds and rain continued on Friday, so we decided to keep out of the weather by touring a cave (lots of them in the area). Ngili Cave was the closest to us, and it was a great choice! The tour is partially self-guided, which means a guide is inside to answer questions but there is no tour per se. The route was mildly challenging and some of the passages were a bit too narrow for my liking (I'm claustrophobic), but being the only people there made it great! We could go at our own pace and enjoy. The climate in the cave was a welcome retreat: 20 degrees Celsius (around 70 F) and humid, obviously no wind or rain. At first, Ellie was very nervous and wanted to be carried, but she soon eased into the fun of exploration and did the rest on her own (baby Stephanie was strapped snugly to my back). Ellie really enjoyed looking at the crystals the guide had on display, and she keeps talking about how much fun she had in the cave, telling everyone that the cave had "lots of pointy things" (stalactites, stalagmites).


By Saturday, the storm had eased a great deal, and though it was cold and windy, it wasn't nearly so rough outside. We made a visit to the Yallingup Shearing Shed, a working sheep farm with a demonstration of the sheep dogs as well as the shearing. The girls seemed stunned into silence by such busy, active dogs...and so many sheep! Of course, there was a Border Collie to bring the sheep in from the pasture, but then his work was done and the Australian Kelpie took over. The farmer simplified it for us: a black & white dog brings sheep to you, a brown on brown dog runs on sheep. That he did! He got those sheep where he wanted them to go by running on them. That was a new sight for us!


Ellie wasn't so sure about the shearing process. We constantly narrated the process, reminding her it was just a haircut for the sheep. It was pretty funny to watch the sheep be dragged limply out of the pen and passively accept his shearing. He didn't seem to mind one bit. The farmer sheared him in one piece and spread the wool out for us to see. All his sheep are merinos, and the wool was beautifully soft. He let the kids touch it and they each took home a little piece. Ellie's absolute favorite part was a surprise ending: the farmer opened a little gate and let in several lambs, and he handed out bottles for us to feed them. It was really sweet!


We stopped for lunch at Swings&Roundabouts Winery since they'd billed themselves as family-friendly and offered wood-fired pizzas at lunchtime. I did a wine tasting there with a rather testy pourer, and we didn't get a very friendly feeling. After the pizzas were gone, we skedaddled. Saturday afternoon, we took a drive down the length of the cape instead of returning to the villa for naptime. It made the evening a bit hairy, but the drive was nice. We went far enough south that the vegetation changed to more forest than field, which was beautiful to see. The Cape Leeuwin lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in Australia, so we checked that site off the tourist list, though we weren't allowed up with kids under 4. We explored the beach area around it instead until the wind drove us back to the shelter of the car.


Sunday dawned bright and clear (of course, since it was our last day, and a half-day at that!). We drove to the playground at Yallingup Beach so the girls could run around outside.


Before heading home, we stopped in at Cullen Winery, the only stop that was key on my list. We had missed it the other days due to weather or timing, so we decided to make it our last Margaret River experience of this trip. What a great choice! Cullen Winery is completely organic and biodynamic, so their food is amazing and the wines are outstanding. I did a tasting there, and there wasn't a single wine I didn't like. I am no connoisseur, but those wines are beautiful. I don't know how easily you can find them outside of WA (their bottlings are small due to the high production standards), but I highly recommend you bring home a bottle if you find one! We bought three different wines and took home an order form for more. The vineyard itself is lovely. The setting couldn't have been nicer for our lunch, and the staff were incredibly friendly to us and the girls. Cullen has a homestead available for holiday rentals, so we hope to snag that on some future visit. It was definitely a high point on our trip and sold us on Margaret River for good!


All in all, we had a fantastic weekend, much-appreciated time away despite the crappy weather. We are so happy we visited during off-season and we already have plans to go back sometime this winter. Just not during another storm. Brrrrrr!

Castledare Miniature Railways

We apologize for the absence, Meghan! Thanks for the kick in the pants! I'm finding it increasingly challenging to have computer time these days. For the record, I'm posting this close to midnight, well past my bedtime. I got a second wind by staying up just late enough (two hours ago) that now I can't sleep. The good news is there is a new post at last! Without further ado...


This past Saturday, we attended a birthday party for Ellie's classmates. Because Montessori classes are mixed-age, two siblings are in the class, and they have birthdays close together. Their parents decided to go all out and reserve a day at Castledare Miniature Railways, and they generously invited whole families to attend. There were well over a hundred people, which made introverted Markus and me a bit queasy until we found out the hidden story: they're Greek. Enough said! Greeks are so famous for their generous hospitality that no wonder the party was huge! And don't you know the hosts made everyone feel so welcome and important, taking time to talk to each person, making sure everyone had everything he/she needed! I am in awe of wonderful hosting skills. I'm more of a buffet-style DIY hostess myself. It leaves a bit to be desired. But I digress.


The party!
Ellie had SUCH a good time! We all did. The trains are really cool. My dad would have loved them! They are big and strong enough to tow around a few dozen people (adults included), but everything about them is mini. The land they are on is reserved for a park, and it felt like we were back in the South. Marsh all around! A huge white pelican flew over. It was lovely! More photos of the day will be in the flickr account if you want to see. We rode the train twice. The party was really all about the junk food. The tables were so low that they were the perfect height for baby Stephanie to scavenge all that was abandoned by other kids in a sugar-induced frenzy.


She was so happy waddling along, stuffing small round Cheetos into her mouth. Ellie's style was (as usual) more orderly. She picked one spot and stayed there, consuming Jello after Jello until we cut her off, afraid she'd make herself ill. I think she ate five. She also had a cookie, a cupcake and a lollipop. Model parents, yes, we know! It was a birthday party, okay?! Our favorite (cringe) moment was when she got up and we could clearly see a very distended sugar belly. Oh my, it's a prize winner! (for the record, we cut her off for the rest of the day once we saw that)


Markus later told me that while he was waiting in the hot drink line, he had a "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" flashback as an older woman made her way down the line, pointing her finger and asking everyone in a strong accent, "Are you Greek?" We've been giggling about it ever since.

Stephanie walking

There are few things I find cuter than a new walker. I love love love watching baby Stephanie walk...that wide-legged stance to accommodate the diaper, the waddle, the enthusiasm, the joy of it all! Now, you can watch a bit of it too, even if you aren't nearly as tickled as I am (though I can't imagine how that could be so). I captured this little video of her in our backyard on day 3 of the great walking experiment. I admit that it seems to capture more of her interaction with Ellie than it does her walking, but that's pretty darn cute too. I hope it makes you smile!

Dining in the restaurant

While Markus was away, I moved the kids' table into the kitchen for dinnertime. The girls were hungry while I was trying to wash dishes and clean, and they tend to roam around like mad things while eating unless there is a parent in immediate vicinity...thus, the table move seemed the ideal option. They could not have been happier! We're so lucky to have a kitchen with ample space, so I think the table will stay. Ellie calls it "the restaurant", as in, "Mama, I want to eat breakfast in the restaurant." As if I didn't already feel like a short order cook.


Still, I have to admit that their enjoyment of the new location is so adorable and the nickname so appropriate, that I even eat there too sometimes.
Welcome to The Restaurant!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all you mothers out there, we wish you a very happy Mother's Day! We hope you are being spoiled and treated and appreciated! We know your every day is all about everyone else, so today is all about YOU...unless you live in this house. In this house, Markus has been away this week for work in Kuala Lumpur and just returned yesterday evening. In this house, Mother's Day is all about PAPA! Before you give me courtesy pity, know that I am happy as a clam. I just spent a week gaining a deeper appreciation for the extreme sport that is Single Parenting, and today is my day off. Since the girls want Markus and only Markus, I've taken two naps, ate a big piece of chocolate cake for breakfast because no one was watching, munched a huge bowl of salty popcorn for a late afternoon snack because they were out at the playground...and was treated to a simple cafe lunch in between snacks where I was the only person who ate because poor Markus returned from KL with a stomach bug (thankfully, it's just a digestion thing. If he'd gotten off that plane with a fever, he would have been quarantined as a swine flu risk!). Anyhoo, it's all good Down Under. Happy Mother's Day to you!

Ellie has always preferred books to toys. In recent months, she has been more and more inclined to read along, and in the past few weeks, she has opted more and more often to "read" on her own. She had been doing that for quite a while to her friends (Lolo and other stuffed animals) in her room while avoiding naps or suffering time-outs, but the new development is her wanting to read to us. Her memory is astounding, and it's lovely to hear her read with inflection and enthusiasm! The last time she read to us from "Are You My Mother?", she asked me to "picture me". With pleasure, this week's video post:

Little Miss Sunshine

Shining through the dark clouds until the dark clouds are no more, here comes Little Miss Sunshine.


After months of teasing attempts and test wobbles, baby Stephanie started walking today.

Stealthy dark clouds

Since about midday, there has been a slowly tightening, clenching grip around my heart. It's squeezing the air out of my lungs and tensing my entire body. I couldn't name it until about 20 minutes ago when I was gazing out the window while washing laundry and suddenly pictured my dad sitting outside our back door in the sun, smoking a pipe and enjoying this gorgeous weather. Tomorrow is the 3rd anniversary of his death. Cancer is a horrible, awful beast, but grief...that sneaky bugger is almost worse.

Pest control

As the weather has turned cooler outdoors, we've noticed an increasing bug population indoors. The most frequent invaders are little grey bugs I know as "roly-polys". I noticed one making its way across the kitchen floor this afternoon as I headed towards the bathroom with a poopy diaper and made a mental note to put him back outside when I was done before Ellie (our resident bug trauma victim) could see him. Too late. I had just started washing my hands when I heard a shrill and urgent cry:
"MAMA! THERE'S A BUUUGGGGGG!!!!! CAN YOU COME TAKE CARE OF IT NOW PLEASE!!!!"
I assured her I'd be there in a minute.
Again, too late. As I reached for the handtowel, she emitted an equally shrill, equally urgent cry:
"MAMA!!!!! BABY STEPHANIE IS EATING THE BUG!!!!!"
That, my friends, is pest control.

At least she's not allergic...

Yesterday afternoon was rather eventful around here. To reward excellent behavior during some boring errands, I decided the three girls in this family deserved some playtime at the river. I parked the car, removed their shoes and socks, rolled up pants hems, and off we went! Ellie ran on ahead, headed straight for a flock of hapless birds that needed scattering. Baby Stephanie and I motored along at baby Stephanie pace...until about 1 minute 45 seconds into our outing, when Ellie began to SCREAM. IN PAIN. I snatched up Stephanie and ran to the spot where Ellie had fallen to the ground, clutching her foot and wailing in agony. If you have any idea of how much Ellie HATES for someone to touch her foot, you have some clue as to the challenge before me. I had no idea what had happened, and of course, it was a massive struggle to wrestle her foot into a position where I could take a look. During the battle, I scanned the area for clues, but there was nothing to see. She was in the sand. There was no blood. It wasn't glass. There was no piece of trash or buried old metal or anything. When I finally got a glimpse of her foot, I could see what appeared to be a splinter near the ball of her big toe. I have no idea how she could have gotten a splinter on the beach, but my task was to soothe Ellie as best I could and get it out despite Ellie's screams of pain and extreme protest against my touching her foot, all while managing to keep baby Stephanie from scooting on her little behind right into the water where she wanted to play. Luckily, there was a larger bit on the end of the splinter that prevented it from going further in. I managed to flick it out with my fingernail before Ellie writhed away from me, but it happened so quickly that it popped off into the sand and disappeared before I could take a look to see what it was. Ellie was still wailing and would not be soothed. The whole situation just seemed wrong somehow. At the swift glance I'd gotten, it did seem to be a splinter, but a splinter should not produce this much mayhem...or swelling. The area around where the splinter had been was starting to swell. I needed to take her home to clean it off better and calm her down. Under extreme duress, I managed to get them both back to the car and strapped into their seats. Ellie was still crying, complaining of pain (which shouldn't be the case since I was sure the splinter was out).

Using her carseat as my aid to restrain her from further foot-touching mutiny, I took another look before I let her out and I was unhappy to note that now the pad of her foot and her big toe were swollen and red. I called our family doctor, who was of course unavailable. The receptionist advised me to take Ellie to the children's hospital emergency room. I could see it now: "Yes, my daughter had a splinter. No, it's not in there anymore. Yes, we can wait for 5 hours to be seen..." I WAS NOT AMUSED. However, the problem remained and I definitely wanted someone else to see it. I had no choice. Off to the emergency room we went. The children's hospital is in an awful location, at the intersection of a busy one-way road and an even busier main thoroughfare. It took me nearly 30 minutes just to find somewhere to park, at which point my frustration boiled over and I started crying too. Fortunately, it was a slow day for trauma, and we saw a doctor very quickly (how old did I feel to notice she was younger than me?).

I have to say Ellie was AMAZING. She didn't fight the doctor for a minute. She let her look at her foot, touch, poke, prod...shine a light on it to be sure there was nothing left of the splinter. Stephanie had a blast too. She loved the spiral cord that attached the light to the wall. The emergency room visit was a non-event, especially when the doctor decided it was no issue since she couldn't see anything, the swelling should go away on its own and we should just go home.

Last night, Ellie slept fitfully at best. She woke up A LOT. She might have been too hot (it was warmer last night than it has been), but I suspected that darn foot. Wouldn't you know this morning it was every bit as swollen as yesterday afternoon when I rucked up at the emergency room? She had no fever, it wasn't discolored (just red), and she could put weight on it (though she didn't want to), so I let her go to school. There, I ran into a grandma who noticed her limping and thus was treated to the whole story. Without batting an eyelash, she calmly said, "She stepped on a bee."
YES! THANK YOU!!!!!
That is exactly what it was. In retrospect, it all makes so much sense! Even at the time she was wailing in the sand, Ellie kept screaming, "It was a jellyfish!" when I told her it was a splinter. I knew the pain was wrong for a splinter, but I also knew a jellyfish hadn't been the cause. Of course, the pain felt the same to her. It was a powerful sting! She stepped on a bee. I'm off to write a letter to Princess Margaret Hospital now, thanking them for their kindness and quick service, but suggesting they might take a lesson in diagnosis from a grandma.

grandma
Pronunciation: \ˈgran(d)-ˌmä, -ˌmȯ; ˈgra-ˌmä, -ˌmȯ\
Function: noun
Date: 1867
Definition: mama with experience
(all but definition found on Merriam-Webster's online dictionary)

Grumpy day, beautiful night

Last Saturday was a grumpy day around here. The weather was not nice (cold, grey, drizzly), and the girls were taking turns whining and complaining and grumping. Baby Stephanie was exhausted but wouldn't give in to a nap. Every time we put her down, she'd be wailing within minutes. By mid-afternoon, Markus gave up and took Ellie to the beach, hoping the extra peace in the house would allow Stephanie to rest. Less than an hour after that, my neck was two inches shorter (stress of baby wailing!) and we followed.


The grey day had given way to a lovely evening. The water was oh-so-inviting, and Markus suggested a swim might do me a world of good. You know about my ocean fears, but I was so wrecked at that point that I was willing to put them aside. Oh...he was so right! The release of floating free in the gorgeous ocean did me more good than anything. Of course, it was an extra bonus that I wasn't eaten. I might have stayed in there for ages if I hadn't heard baby Stephanie resume her wailing. It was time to go!


The sun was low in the sky as we left the parking lot, and I was sorry to miss the sunset. Little did I expect the sky to be even prettier as we drove away from the shore. The sun had lit up what remained of the storm clouds, and the array of colors was brilliant! Bad day gone! Beautiful night remained!



Oh, and baby Stephanie did finally stop wailing. She caved, ate like a horse, and passed out cold for the whole night. Go figure.

New friends

Here we are at another weekend, and I still haven't written about last weekend. I must go back, because it must be shared! After several weeks of debating and then waiting, our new kayak arrived last weekend. Markus always waffles for ages over items that indulge his interests (though never for a second when he indulges me or the girls), but he has been wistful over the Hobie Adventure Island for quite a while now. Hobie makes unique kayaks in that they don't require use of a paddle. The drive system is pedaled by foot and operates two fins beneath the kayak. The rudder is hand-controlled by a small steering pin, and you wouldn't believe how quickly that thing can scoot! Of course, this isn't just about the drive system. The real draw of this kayak on Markus's outdoor-loving soul is the sail and outrigger system. This kayak has it all! Okay, okay, I know I sound like a salesperson, but this kayak is seriously cool. When you come visit, I promise we'll let you have a go.


Anyway, we picked it up on Saturday, and by Sunday morning, we were both eager to give it a go. Markus went on ahead to the river to set it up, and the girls and I soon followed with a picnic lunch. The day was gorgeous (as ever), and the conditions could not have been more pleasant. I just wanted to try the kayak part, so Markus disassembled all the rest and pushed me off the shore so I could drop the drive system fins. As soon as I started to turn out into the river, there was a large splash off to my immediate right. DOLPHINS! Ever since I first learned to kayak on open water, I have wanted to paddle with dolphins...and here they were! Two of them had been swimming along without surfacing until I pushed out. They must have been curious, so they popped up to see what I was doing. They were off like a flash, but I was so excited that I wasn't about to let them get away. I chased them, and instantly appreciated how quickly that drive system allows the kayak to move. I caught up with them and doing so renewed their interest. They swam with me for several minutes, slowing each time they got ahead so I could catch up again, dancing and turning beneath the water (so clear I could see them well), watching me with their lovely eyes, surfacing on either side of me again and again...I was in seventh heaven! I was laughing and talking to them and pedaling for all I was worth to make it last as long as possible. Soon, we were out near other (large) boats, and my new friends swam away. I was elated. I pedaled back to shore in a euphoric stupor. No, I didn't have the camera. There are no photos to share. But those dolphins gave me such a joyful gift!
I never would have kept up with them in a regular kayak. I may be the biggest fan this Hobie kayak ever had.

Weather forecast

The weather has been incredibly mild of late. We had two quite cold windy nights a couple of weeks ago, but then it mellowed out again. The back door stays open all day long. We don't need heaters at night. Even the duvets have seemed a bit heavy the past couple of nights. Temperatures don't seem to dip much below 20C. We're told this is unusual for April, but we're enjoying it while it lasts!

This morning, the weather changed quite quickly. Dark clouds rolled in, a strong cool wind kicked up, and cold rain began to fall. We were on our way out, and I insisted Ellie bring a jacket (an unusual request to this point). Once she stepped outside, she understood. Despite the fact that this is Dutch summer weather (it's still around 16C), her pronouncement was:

"Yes, Ellie does need a jacket! I think it will snow!"

Truism de-bunked

Whomever said "It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" obviously didn't find this on the side of the road:


I took an unusual detour on the way to the zoo Monday morning, trying to avoid a messy intersection, and I ended up passing through a neighborhood that was awaiting its quarterly bulk junk pick-up. Although it is in my genes (inherited from my Dad who ran a bonafide foster home for random trash), I have not ever salvaged a roadside piece o' junk...but then again, I had never seen something like this. I wanted it! I circled, came back, pulled over, and kept two zoo-crazed children waiting while I called Markus and plotted how to get this desk back to our house. The varnish was a peeling mess, but the wood was good, the hinges worked, and the metal wasn't rusted. All it needed was serious sanding, re-varnishing, and love. It wanted to come home with me!
I went back again on the way home from the zoo two hours later, and someone had taken it. It was mine, I tell you!
I spent the rest of the day sulking, pining over my lost piece o' junk.
I really wanted that desk.

Back to the Cuddly Animal Farm

On Tuesday, we drove once more to the Cuddly Animal Farm in Swan Valley. I can't remember a week since our first visit that Ellie has not asked to return. While large (or even semi-large) animals make her incredibly nervous, Ellie adores all tiny creatures. Baby Stephanie love love loves animals, and now that she's more mobile, she got as much enjoyment out of the farm visit as did her big sister. Markus just set the camera in movie mode and took a dozen clips of the girls during our visit, and I pared them down and strung them together for sharing for this week's video post.

Joyful discovery

We don't watch TV, so I've never actually seen an episode of American Idol or any other country's version of it. When a girlfriend who knows of my TV aversion forwarded this link to me, insisting I watch, I knew there had to be a good reason. Now, I have to share it with you! The link is to a performance on "Britain's Got Talent" by a 47-year-old unemployed and (this is important) unattractive woman named Susan Boyle from Scotland. When she strolled out and announced her dream of being a professional singer, everyone (and I mean everyone!) scoffed, not least of which the infamous Simon the Nasty. The turn in the audience is as amazing and beautiful as her performance. We all know we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but how quick are we to do just that? The clip is just over 7 minutes long and worth every bit of your time. I have no idea of the follow-up to this show, but wherever you are, Susan Boyle, congratulations and best wishes with your stunning talent!

Easter weekend

In the US, holidays are long-term in the shops (buy decorations weeks if not months in advance!) and short-term in the days off. As far as the business world is concerned, Easter falls on a Sunday, so no holiday required. In Europe, I grew accustomed to Good Friday also being a day off, which makes sense in terms of religious significance. "Easter Monday" off is also quite common, mostly as a holiday to give people time to travel home from wherever they've gone (traditionally to spend Easter with family elsewhere). Here in Australia, we are being introduced to the idea of Easter Tuesday as well. While a few places are open, most are closed. Markus's office is closed. It's a five-day weekend for almost everyone! New to us, but who are we to scoff at extra family time? We're having a blast!

Ellie's last day of school term 1 was Thursday. She will go back again on Wednesday the 29th, so we've got two weeks more to play with and enjoy. Markus took the remainder of this week off, so for 3 vacation days, he gets 10 days with us! We're vacationing at home, and it's great! Due to the school holidays, most people head down South to Margaret River (gorgeous beaches, world-class wineries) or to Rottnest Island (so popular over Easter that there's a lottery for cabins held back in November!), but that means both places will be overrun. We've opted to stick around and do a few daytrips from home. In terms of kid-friendliness, we couldn't vacation anywhere better than here anyway. The beach, the river, the playgrounds, the backyard...all while maintaining our normal eat/sleep routines. It's pretty darn good. The weather is cooperating beautifully. There has been a fluke hot spell that has kept the evenings warmer than usual, but it's not hot enough to require the A/C. Yesterday, we had a rare overcast, then rainy day, but even that was enjoyable. Markus and Ellie did some work around the house, and we all went for a post-storm walk on the beach. There was such a range of blues and purples in the sky and blues and greens in the ocean...a camera couldn't capture them. It was breath-takingly beautiful. If we had painted it, we would have been accused over over-exaggerating the colors, it was so stunning. All at our doorstep. We are feeling very spoiled.

Happy Easter! Frohe Ostern!

Easter morning dawned clear and bright, so before breakfast had even been cleared from the table, Papa headed out with the girls on the Mother Ship. They hadn't been gone long before they called home and gave directions to a new spot along the river. It's public waterfront accessible from parks at either end of a long stretch of private homes. Beautiful!


It had the added bonus that morning of being in the wind shade as well. I trekked on down with some Easter eggs, hoping we might do our first-ever Easter egg hunt there, but the girls were too absorbed with sand play to be bothered. I did manage to pop on their bunny ponchos and snap a few photos.

With all the moving and to-ing and fro-ing we've done in the past few years, we haven't really celebrated holidays the way I grew up doing and always intended to continue. Ellie has never had an Easter basket; she doesn't know about the Easter bunny. Many parents don't tell their kids about the Easter bunny from the moral high ground that it's wrong to lie to their children. We aren't quite so philosophical (ethical?). We haven't done it because she is terrified of Santa Claus, so we figured why risk another holiday of trauma for a creature that isn't real? Being in school, however, does introduce her to the idea of chocolate eggs and chocolate egg hunts, so we decided to "do" Easter this year.

The Catholic church up the street has a big sign posted this week that reads "THE EASTER BUNNY DIDN'T RISE FROM THE DEAD." Though that's a bit melodramatic for my taste, they do have a point. Easter is a religious holiday. If you consider the meaning in Christian tradition, Good Friday and Easter are far more significant than Christmas, though celebrating Easter is more about springtime (tulips, flowers, baby chicks and bunnies) and candy than anything else. Since we don't go to church, we didn't have an obvious in for explaining the holiday to Ellie, but we tried anyway. If she's going to associate the holiday with a character she cannot meet or quite understand, I'd much rather tell her about Jesus than the Easter Bunny. Judge me as you will.

Thinking through all of that made me reflect on my own most prominent Easter memories. First and foremost is hunting for Easter eggs with the church group in Sunset, Utah, where we lived when I was very small (ages 3-6). Of all the churches I attended as a child, that one is most clear in my memory. If you plunked me down within a mile of it to this day, I could take you there and show you around. I still dream about it sometimes. Don't ask me why. The next biggest Easter memory that is forever burned in my brain is the first Easter Markus and I were together in New Orleans. At the risk of making this a ridiculously long posting, I'm going to share it with you.

While we were in New Orleans, we often drove over to Ocean Springs on the weekends. Markus loved getting out of the city and unwinding on the bayou, so I usually attended my favorite church from high school while we were there. That weekend, we drove over on Saturday night. About halfway there, I realized I'd forgotten my church shoes. I had packed a white suit, so unless we wanted to turn back, I needed to find white, heeled shoes on the night before Easter in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Our only shopping option was Wal-Mart. I was not hopeful. Markus, on the other hand, was surprisingly supportive and enthusiastic. He would help me. We would look together. Divide and conquer! Scour the shoe racks until we found something wearable and white. And if there were no white shoes, we could buy another color and spray paint them.
Yes, folks, my second most prominent Easter memory is the night Markus first embraced his inner redneck.

Happy Easter to you all!
Frohe Ostern to our friends and relatives in Deutschland!
And Happy Birthday to Uncle Bob!

500th post!

When I started this blog in the fall of 2005, I used it to share photos and our doings with friends and family, much as I would have done with a mass email. Mass emails aren't much fun to receive and often get lost in the shuffle, so I thought the blog would be a good place where people could check in whenever and however often they wanted to (or not). Ellie was brand new, and we had lots of baby cuteness to share. We were living in Houston as "displaced Americans" from Hurricane Katrina, not knowing that storm would be the first of many major events to follow rapid-fire in the months and years to come. Since then, we have lost both of our fathers, moved internationally three times, and had another baby. It's been a whirlwind! Through it all, I've tried to maintain this blog. Email communications have been dropped off and on over time, phone calls prove challenging with 12+hour time differences, letter writing is so rare...often, our blog has served as the only communication coming from us as we muddled through the mayhem.

Recently, SouleMama wrote a post about why she blogs, and it has had me thinking ever since. Why do I blog now? What is the purpose of my entries? I was surprised to realize that I wasn't really sure of the answer to that anymore. Talking it out with Markus helped me realize how the blog has evolved and changed over time. To maintain regular posting, it has become less of what would be a mass mail and more of my thoughts and experiences through a filter, snapshots of our lives that do not attempt to encompass the whole but still a little glimpse for those who are too far away to share. Particularly during the times when all other communications dropped off, this blog has been a little forum for sharing that I have enjoyed as much as an outlet as anything else. Curiosity led me to add the sitemeters, and I have been fascinated to see how internationally our blog is read. This led me to write more generally, hoping for more dialogue and commentary...which in turn led to great frustration on my end when there was none, even when requested. I would love to know who is reading this blog and why. Do you come back often? Do you like the stories, or are you more interested in seeing photos and videos? Would you like daily photos, even (or preferably) without stories? More about living overseas? Nothing different? What brings you here?

As I write this, my 500th post, I also want to know what brings me here. There are a few people we know and love who check in here daily and regularly give me feedback. Part of me knows the reason I am here is just for you! The fact that you check in makes me want to be sure there's something new here for you. Because of your enthusiasm and support, I know I will keep blogging. I'm just not sure of the content and format right now. If you have suggestions or feedback, you know I'm all ears.

In the meantime, as a reward for slogging through this stream-of-consciousness (or a happy scroll down for those who skipped right past it), here are some pics to make you smile:

Weekly Video Post

Okay, so the weekly video post hasn't been very weekly of late. Sorry. Often the cuteness happens with no camera in sight, and camera in sight often ends the cuteness. Sigh. Not so yesterday afternoon, when I was able to capture baby Stephanie's new favorite game. Scooting away from Mama is more fun than you can imagine, and it cracked up both girls to no end!


Unfortunately, baby Stephanie had a bit of a wipe-out at the end of the clip there. I think it hurt her feelings more than anything else. Scooting at top speed does have its occupational hazards.

How Ellie views the world

One of Ellie's most favorite activities is taking pictures with the digital camera. We turn off the flash, snugly fit the strap around her wrist, and she's off! Extreme close-ups are her forte, and often the camera finds itself so close to (i.e., touching) its subject that the image is black. She also likes to keep things flowing, so most of her images are blurry as she moves on to the next subject while the camera records the image. There are also many, many photos of her feet, which she snaps as she walks between items of interest. She takes an average of 100+ photos each time she gets hold of the camera.

The first time Ellie took photos was during our city trip to Berlin, and we were amazed at how the images revealed her perspective and interests. What caught her eye? What did she find interesting? Since then, she's used the camera countless times. Most of the time, I delete the images because they are, as I wrote above, blurry or too close and dark or too difficult to discern; however, I finally realized that even these blurry, funny, close-up shots still reveal quite a bit about Ellie's view of the world, what she'd like to record, and what she found interesting in that moment. With that in mind, I have set up a flickr account just for her. I can't keep 100s of Ellie photos on the hard drive, but I will dump them into flickr for your (and her!) perusal. I'll even be adding a flickr badge of her images to the sidebar, so check that out any time you are so inclined. When you have the opportunity to look into Ellie's view, you might be surprised at what you see. Thankfully, I have editor's privilege. I just loaded up the latest batch and was faced with an extreme close-up of my bum, fresh from the shower. Excellent.
And no, that won't be on flickr.

Online addiction

They say don't knock it 'til you try it, so I gave facebook a whirl.
I don't like it.
I do, however, like Ravelry.
I have a bit of a Ravelry addiction. I can't even consider getting on there unless I've set aside a chunk of time for it, because once I'm in, I'm lost. If you knit or crochet, don't say I didn't warn you.

Changing seasons

The weekend before last, our clocks "fell back" with Daylight Savings, and the weather decided to do the same. Now, it is officially heaven here. The days are still sunny and warm and wonderful, and the nights and mornings are blessedly cool and crisp. I begin to understand why the locals are so fiercely protective of their bubble. While they get a bit overzealous (it is, after all, quite far away from EVERYWHERE), this is a beautiful place! I'm starting to be convinced that there could be no more ideal climate for outdoor living. We have the beach, we have the river, we have a big backyard...what else is needed? The isolation keeps the population relatively low, which means the beach and river aren't usually too crowded. Our favorite spots remain our favorite spots; no one else has claimed them yet. And now they are better than ever, because the sun isn't barbeque-ing us in our skins. Okay, it does if you are in it directly, but it's lower in the afternoons now. This weekend was the first time I went for a decent paddle in the kayak, because I was able to do most of it in the shade...and it's still warm enough outside that Ellie can hose the kayak off in the buff when we come home. How I would love to post a picture of that (it's too cute and funny!), but there are freaky people out there who do not need access to such an image (alas, the perils of sharing with family and friends and the whole world at the same time!).

It's funny how the change in weather has revealed my internal programming. I stepped outside on Saturday morning to head to my knitting group, and it was so cool and lovely that I found myself thinking of designing our Christmas cards. IN APRIL. Yes, I am a Northern Hemisphere person in a Southern Hemisphere life. It's very odd to think that it is the start of cooler weather in what I know as the springtime, but so it is. At least I can hope this will motivate me to knit up a storm and have homemade gifts for loved ones completed by Christmastime. Usually that motivation kicks in at the start of autumn in October or so, and I run out of time. I've got several more months to play with this time, so we'll see how it goes.
I am having so much fun with my knitting group, by the way. I am the youngest person there by about 20 years, and most of the women have been knitting since before I was born (many have been knitting since before my mom was born). My knitting is very slow, but I do enjoy it a great deal! It is so fun to create something beautiful with my hands, even when it comes together more slowly than I would like.

He's Got The Funk!

On Monday night, my throat felt a bit sore and scratchy, and I was all prepped to seek out pity points when Markus came home. I didn't feel great, and I was ready to hand over the parenting baton the second he came home from work...except he came home in a far worse state than I was in. For the next two days, Markus stayed home from work SICK. The poor man. When he gets sick enough to stay home, you know it's bad. When he's sick enough to fall back asleep mid-morning with the curtains open and the sun brightly shining, you might want to check his breathing. This is a man who does not nap, who cannot nap, who cannot be paid good money to settle down his busy behind even when he's ill. But those two days at home seem to have helped a lot, and he's back at work, trying to recoup in a sea of meetings and spreadsheets. I seem to have skimmed over the top of the funk, but I've come out exhausted on the other side (of course, that could also be due to the extra loud weekend and the week since of early wake-ups as we readjust to "fall back" on the clocks). Thank goodness it's Friday!