Reprimanded!

I have been informed by Becka that I am behind in my Blog Duties!

So this will be a long one!

Disney on Ice
So the weekend before last we took Josie to see Disney on Ice with Granny and Jacqui. It was absolutely fantastic (even if a few of the performers fell! ;-). Josie sat and watched and got a bit restless once, but mostly she was great. Mean daddy wouldnt let me get her any toys but I managed to get a balloon ;-)

Saturday Lunch
On Saturday we had Vika/Becka and Anna/Jayden over for lunch. Vika was teaching me how to make a few dishes, so I was buggered (she was more buggered cause she did most of the work! ;-) but the kids had a great time. Josie and Jayden ran around squealing for much of it, but it was good. Daddy was out helping Uncle Mat move stuff and wasnt home till very late.

Sunday Playdate
On Sunday Tony, Josie and I went off to the Park to meet Josie's best friend Rachel, her brother Ben and her parents, Michelle and Sam. We had a fabulous day together, spent several hours in the park and then went back to Michelle and Sam's place where we had lunch and got to know eachother. They are lovely people with absolutely gorgeous kids. And Josie and Rachel play so well together. It was gorgeous watching them. I will update this blog with photos when I get home tonight. Ok there were just too many to choose from!!







So we hung out there and chatted about everything till about 5pm and then we went to Uncle Mat's for dinner. Played Shrek on the Xbox for a while and then went home. Josie was absolutely buggered by that time.

Mari on School Duty
So now to this morning. I was rostered on fruit cutting duty this morning. The kids all have morning tea and they have a mother come in each morning to cut up the fruit and pour the water for it. So I got there about 15 mins late and someone had already started cutting the fruit! Even the director wasn't sure why. So I got to pour water and watch Josie and Rachel play for a while. That was great to be able to just step back and watch them interact. They both have very strong personalities so they seem to alternate being boss. They played with some jigsaws for a while, and then Josie took Rachel's hand and literally dragged her over to another section, where they played for a little while, before Rachel decided she wanted to go somewhere else, so she announced she was going, but Josie didn't wanna go there so off Rachel went, and Josie sat and sulked a bit, and then went and joined Rachel.

After a while they changed again adn went to play with the Playdoh.

As I was leaving, I kissed Josie goodbye and said bye to Rachel. I stopped to sign her in and Josie comes running over.

Josie: Mummy! Mummy! I have to tell you something!
Mari: Yes sweetie?
Josie: I'm.. going to have FUN today!
Mari: *laugh* Of course you are honey!

So then I went a bit further and Josie comes running up to me again..

Josie: Mummy! Mummy! I have to tell you something!
Mari: Yes sweetie?
Josie: I LOVE you!
Mari: Awww.. I love you too honey!

So then I gave her a huge hug and left. It was so cute!

And thats it. We are starting 4 days a week this week. She will have Wednesdays off.

Oh, and Josie seems to be developing a cough and her staf was a bit redder this morning. Sooo Drs appt tonight, more antibiotics ;-(

Argh!

Another Great Morning!

Well we had another great morning this morning.

I think it had something to do with a talking baby tho..

Advise to all mothers: NEVER let your child watch morning kids TV with ads!

After every ad it was: Well I don't have that! I NEED that! I WANT this!

ARGH!

So I told Josie that if she was a good girl, I would think about getting her the talking baby doll she saw. I dont even remember what brand it was but I think it was a Chou Chou.

Anyways, the rest of the morning, and on the drive in to school I was very frankly told that: I'm a good girl, see Mummy?? And she kept insisting that we go get her talking baby right now!

So that was pleasant. Not.

Got to school early for a change, right on 830am! Lots of activity, lots of parents there. Should try and get there early more often.

So we sit down and start playing with a jigsaw. After a while I decided I had stayed enough and I should make my escape.

Mari: Ok Jose, I have to go to work now, bye bye!
Josie: Bye bye Mummy.

Thats it!?!?

So I give her a kiss, tell her daddy will pick her up from Granny's tonight and off I go. I briefly stop to get stuff out of her pidgen hole, which was a lovely painting that she did on Tuesday. I go out to the front room to sign her in and go when she comes out to see me.

Josie: Mummy, mummy, I have to tell you something!
Mari: Whats up bubby?
Josie: I'm.. a good girl..
Mari (rolling eyes surreptisiously): Yes honey, I know you are a good girl. And if you continue being a good girl, mummy will think about getting you a talking baby.
Josie (eyeing her drawing): Whats that you've got there?
Mari: Its a painting you did, I'm going to take it home and put it on the wall.
Josie: No! I need to hold it!
Mari: Ok, shall we put it back in your pidgeon hole?
Josie: Yes, ok. I'm going to do some more painting now.
Mari: Ok sweetie, I have to go now. I love you!
Josie: Bye mummy!

A quick hug and kiss and I'm off.

A very good 2nd day at school!

And we are now officially starting 4 days a week as of next week. With Wednesdays off.

Woohoo!!

School Starts!

I took Josie in to school this morning.

She chatted with her big pony all the way, and sang, and pointed at the roads that she was adamant I had to take.. Go that way! No, go THAT way!

It was a shame the first day of Term 3 was raining, but it has since cleared up luckily.

We came in, Josie saw her friend 'Wachel' and off they went together. I had to chase after them to steal a kiss!

I was expecting a bit more diffculty first day of term. A few tears, whinging.. but no, nothing. She was quite happy to starts school again. We will be looking at adding another day (she is only going 3 days a week at the moment) in the next couple of months. Not sure whether to do it before or after the US Trip though..

Only about 6 weeks to go!! WOOHOO!!!

To Skype or not to Skype..

Fun and Games this morning..

george says: when marina come to work
vika says: i dont know
vika says: she is very busy
vika says: was at work yesterday and same today
vika says: she said last night that she has a lot to do and very busy
vika says: she did not talk to me all day yesterday
vika says: so maybe she is there
vika says: just busy
george says: but not contact msn
george says: do you have
vika says: no
vika says: maybe meeting
george says: may be
george says: i try to contact mum with USA and some think wrong I cant
george says: i need marina or you halp me
vika says: whats USA
george says: this is big democratic country on west
vika says: what r u talking about
vika says: u r trying to contact mum with USA
vika says: how does that make sense
george says: i try contact mum with our friends by MSN
vika says: u r at work
vika says: mum is at home
vika says: how r u trying to do that together
george says: mum on phone
vika says: mum on the phone with whom
george says: with me
vika says: and?
vika says: do u have addresses for your friends in US
george says: and she is doing what i say
vika says: are your friends on msn?
george says: yes i just talk to them
vika says: and are they added as contacts at home?
george says: thye try and cant
vika says: who?
vika says: your friends?
vika says: they cant what?
vika says: u said that you just talked to them
vika says: i assume on msn?
vika says: so they are signed up for msn
vika says: do you have them added as contacts at home???
george says: yes
george says: i give them my email adress at home and they try
vika says: so if they are there, them mum just needs to double click on one
vika says: open it and talk
george says: on which one???
george says: it is not contact with them yet
vika says: u said they are added at home
vika says: when u open list of contacts
vika says: are they there?
george says: no they now at home and try contact with mum but....
vika says: listen to me
george says: i will call
vika says: do u have their contact details on your msn at home

after the telephone conversation - the end result was…. He is trying to get mum from home to talk to US friends… they are on Skype and she is on MSN… no wonder its not working

BWAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!

Becka's Batmitzvah Photos

Well I have finally uploaded the photos from the Batmitzvah to flickr.. see the link on the right or click here.

I have so much to do right now. Batmitzvah DVD, photo printing, puting our old home movies on DVD.. but with the Open Inspections every few days the computers have been put away (except my iMac) so I can't actually print..

Blah..

Dinner at Mat's with Becka

Ant, Mari, Rebecca and Josie came over to the flat to see the new couch and have some dinner on Wednesday night. Josie was misbehaving a little bit here and there but generally she was being a good girl.

Three funny happenings for this night:

Mari: Josie ... come take your medicine please.
Josie: (throwing up her hands) Oh for gawd's sake.


Josie: (sitting in cardboard box) Chooooo chooooo!
I proceed to push her around the flat. She thinks this is a great idea and starts giving directions. Until I die of exhaustion.


We're eating dinner, while Josie is playing Harry Potter on the XBOX, a game which I would have thought would be a bit too tricky for her as it involves quite a few tasks where you have to perform multiple actions in a row within a few seconds.

Mari looks over and sees that Josie has in fact progressed far more quickly than she herself had managed. Stunning the gnomes, picking them up and flinging them over the fence were a bit too tough for her so she ordered me to sit next to her and show her how. Her first few attempts to toss the gnomes over the fence didn't come off so well but within a few minutes she was tossing them further than I've ever managed.

The kid is scary. : )

I Made A Funny!!!!! *Geek Alert!!*

I made a funny this morning! Cracked me up so bad!!

Mat: Did Ant show you the photos he took copies of?
Mari: no, where are they??
Mat: on his thumb drive
Mari: that means accessing his memory..
Mari: random access memory..
Mari: he accesses it randomly

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!

STILL cracks me up!!

For those Non-Geeky types out there.. Random Access Memory is RAM..

Ok.. so back to work.. lol..

Preschool Holiday Picnic

On Friday Josie's preschool had organised a school holiday picnic for her class and Josie, Granny and Becka went off to the Pinic to let Josie socialise with the kids.

The following is Becka's very excellent essay on the events which unfolded. I gave her this assignment on Friday night and by Saurday lunchtime it was completed. Well done Becka!

We arrived at queens park a little after 2:30 pm, Josie was pumped and ready to play! Other than a couple of little boys we were the first ones there.

Josie insisted on washing her hands in the bubbler before she began to play, confirming that she needed clean hands to play on the equipment. Then we went walking around- of course dragging me around everywhere with her by the hand- exploring what was there.

After making a full circle around the LARGE play equipment, Josie finally decided that we would go up the wooden boards holding on to the metal chain, then go down the slide which is like a tunnel, but not before looking down the tunnel and screaming 'anyone in there I'm coming down!' LOL!!

Soon more children began to come and eventually Josie's best friend Rachel arrived and wow Josie got excited! She spotted Rachel from the other side of the playground and ran over screaming WACHEL!! LOOK BECKA IT'S MY FWEND WACHEL (Rachel)!!

After much excitement they both settled down and with Josie's directions a decision was made of going on the swings and that I must push both of them very fast!! Then after 20 long minutes -by then Becka had very sore arms- they decided they had had enough! I then undid both of them and Rachel's mum gave us some bubbles. I insisted that they must sit down so as not to spill the liquid which makes the bubbles!

Then Rachel decided that she wanted to run after the bubbles so in the end I ended up blowing and Josie and Rachel ran after the bubbles screaming in delight!

Then after about 15 minutes we went on the equipment for a while until Josie decided she wanted a ice-cream. So running up to me laughing Josie says: Becka, can I have an Ice-skweme?? After a long glare from me she quickly added: oops, i forgot
pweeeeeeeeze! LOL!

So I took Josie across the road and bought her a Calippo and myself a golden gaytime. We then came back and sat down on the bench and started to eat our ice-creams, when Josie realized something and goes:
Josie: hey Becka, memba on holiday we eat my ice- bwock on boat
Becka: Yes Josie I remember, is it yummy?
Josie: yes I wike it, an memba we eat your ice-skweme in the wata on holiday
Becka: yes Josie, good girl
Josie: yeh I wiked dat it was funny
Josie: - LAUGHING-

All in all it was a fabulous day and Josie very thoroughly enjoyed herself!

Thanks Becka for a great story! Definitely an A+!

Pushing The Boundaries

As Josie IS her father's just desserts, insofar as she is the reincarnation of his own rebellious childhood, she spends a fair bit of her time working out what she can get away with. Testing the limits as they're applied by the various adults around her.

This weekend just past, Wendy and I had spent saturday morning buying a fridge, a futon, some Jamie Oliver endorsed (wheeee) cookware, and eating yum cha. We also dropped by Mum's place so I could help Ant move some junk that was to go out on the upcoming council cleanup.

After taking care of business, Wendy and I were sitting in the swing seat in Mum's back yard when Josie came seeking entertainment. Two incidents of note, one while Ant was around and the other after he'd gone to help with Mum's internet connectivity problems.

Incident The First
Josie comes to see what fun is to be had in the back yard, and as is her wont immediately begins to divest herself of her coat (and generally any other clothing she's wearing). It was a sunny day but it was starting to get into late afternoon and starting to cool.

Ant: Leave your coat on Jose.
Josie: (giving Ant the 'cute' look as a delaying tactic while she tries to think of a plausible story) But ... THAT (pointing to the sun shade over the swing seat) will keep me .. WARM!
Ant: (looks at the shade cover for a moment as if he's considering her argument - which he isn't) No, leave your coat on.
Josie: But it'll keep me ... HOT! (again pointing to the sun shade)
Ant: I understand what you are saying, I'm saying no leave your coat ON Jose!
Josie: (with a look that was 60% resignation and 40% defiance, unzips her coat but leaves it on) I'll leave it like .. that.
Ant: Ok

(I'm sure she counted this little exchange as a draw though later I saw her wandering around without her coat on ... I don't know at what stage she managed to doff it)

Incident The Second
Wendy and I were sitting on the swing seat .. and Josie comes and sits with us .. for about five seconds. Then she decides that she urgently needs her pink pram that is in the shed, buried under a ton of 'stuff'. So I go and dig it out for her. She runs off to find a 'baby' to put in it.
"Grandpa! I need a dolly!" emanated from inside the house.

She comes back with baby installed in pram. And again sits on the swing seat but feels that the pram must also go on the seat. Things are a little squished. She then decides that she also needs the pink baby capsule (looks like what you'd have in a car for a very young baby). So I dig that out for her too. The padded insert is wet because the shed has been leaking when it rains. So while I'm hanging that on the clothes line, she goes and sits back on the swing seat with pram and baby capsule beside her and informs me that there's no room for me, that I'm too big and I'll just have to go sit somewhere else.

It's good to be the Queen.

Snippits From The Family

Overheard on the grapevine..

Picking Josie up from kindy. She is getting into her seat and trying to buckle herself. She is huffing and puffing and not being able to do it. Then very softly under her breath..
Josie: This Stupid Thing!
It was very hard not to burst out laughing.

Driving in the car, Rebecca was sitting next to Josie in the back. Josie leans onto Rebecca's arm and as she sits back, a hair is left on Rebecca's arm, so Rebecca picks it up and drops
it on the floor. And you should have heard the indignation in Josie's voice: That was MY hair!!

Rebecca: Josie what did you do at kindy today?
Josie: painting
Rebecca: What did you paint?
Josie: a BIG circle
Josie: like mummy
Rebecca and Vika bursting out laughing.
Josie: whats so funny
Josie: thats not funny
Josie: I am not your friend any more
Josie: I am going home now!

Rebecca: Josie can i please have a kiss?
Josie: puts her hands around Rebecca's head
Josie: Becka you got floppy ears behind your hair
Rebecca: thats not very nice
Rebecca: I think you got floppy ears behind your hair too
Josie: Yeh, daddy likes it.

And then an email from Becka..

I went at recess to see Josie. She was very happy, her friend pointed me out to her and said look Josie who’s here!

She then saw me and ran and gave me a hug. Then I asked her who her friend was and by then a group of kids had gathered around me. So I put her down she took me by the hand and we walked around with her telling me everybody’s name. It was so cute!

On a different note.. we got an offer on our unit today. Ridiculously low, but it felt good ;-)

Grandparents Day at The Preschool

Last Tuesday was Grandparents Day for the Rainbow group at Preschool.

Unfortunately Josie was off sick all last week because of a UTI and Staf infection so she wasn't at any of the rehearsals for the event, but performed admirably anyway as I've been told!

Baba and Granny went to see her perform and Josie loved having them there and was very excited. The other kids were all excited too, when I dropped her off I was informed by at least 3 kids that it was Grandparents Day and that their Grandparents were "coming today!", and in the case of one small boy, "my friend Leanne!".

So the kids all sat around in a circle and sang songs and danced. Josie thoroughly enjoyed herself as can be seen in the photos..


























I was very proud to see that she joined in with everything even though she did not know the steps or the words to the songs.

In one of the photos you can see the centre director joining in on the singing which is lovely.

In the last photo you can see her two favourite teachers. I am happy to report that she is doing so well now when we drop her off! No more crying or whinging. She just happily goes off with them to play.

I am just so thrilled that she is going to this school now. It is so worth the money! And even the religiousness of it doesnt bother me as much anymore. Not that it is religious. Its more about traditions than anything overtly religious.

Anyways, it was a pleasure seeing these photos, seeing her so happy, having so much fun and joining in!

Rebecca's BatMitzvah Celebrations!

Well.. all I can say is thank god its all over! For the sake of my sister's sanity at least ;-)

Little Rebecca has become a woman. Well almost ;-)

Celebrations started on Wednesday night where we all went to the Shul for the rehearsal and to take pictures. Because it was Shabbas (Shabbat) on Saturday morning during the service, we were not allowed to take photos then, so all the formal photos of the ceremony were taken on Wednesday night. I will upload some to Flickr once I have finished editing them.

On Friday I left work early to meet Becka and Vika at the hairdressers to get our hair done. We both had red foils done and I had an all over dark brown as well. We had different reds picked out but mine was much brighter, although it came out much brighter than I expected ;-) After the hair was done I was planning on meeting Becka for Friday night service but my car battery died in the carpark of the shopping centre and so I sat and waited for the NRMA to come and help me ;-)

On Saturday morning we got to the Shul early thank goodness. It was a beautiful service, but it was 2 hours long, and really, a 2 hour service is not the place for a 3.5 year old. Josie and Jayden did their very best to behave, but really, it was a 2 hour service! After about an hour I took Josie outside and found the Kindy playground where my Aunt Larissa was with Josie's cousin Matt (who is almost 2). They had a nice time playing together, and then thankfully the service was all finished and we came back inside for the after service meal. We chatted and ate and the kids played.

After the service I went over to my mums to show her how to use her new phone while Tony took Josie to granny's place to chill out. We ended up coming home quite late.

Sunday was lovely too, we went to Trudy's for David's birthday lunch where Josie had a great time bouncing up and down on Philip's stomach ;-)

Then I went to meet Vika at the hall to help set up for the Disco.

Disco went very well, all the kids had a great time eating and dancing and Josie was, as usual, centre stage dancing with everyone. The girl is a born performer ;-)

We left around 8pm cause Josie was just knackered, but we were there long enough to hear some fabulous speeches from Becka's friends and from Becka.

We decided to leave Josie with Granny Sunday night because she wasn't going to school Monday anyways.. she fell asleep in the car on the way but woke up when we put her in the bed at Granny's. The next day Tony called to see how she was going, Josie took the phone and they had the following conversation:

Josie: Hey
Daddy: Hey Bubby
Josie: You left me!
Daddy: Yes
Josie: Why?!
Daddy: because you were gonna be there today anyway. Why d'you wanna come home and then have to drive back again?

Tony: to which she replied with something generally unintelligable but containing mummy and daddy and I think she meant because she likes to come in bed with us in the morning before she goes where ever she is going.

It was a fantastic weekend, but again, thank god its over. Well for the next 10 years or so anyway.. I'll start organising Josie's Bat Mitzvah in a few weeks ;-) or maybe months..

Duh Mummy!

This morning's drive into preschool Josie had her Dora doll in her arms..

Josie: Mummy, I need soap!
Mari: Sorry honey, I don't have any soap.
Josie: Well Mummy, Pw'ten!
Mari: Oh, yes, sorry! [reaching back with some pw'ten soap] Here you are!
Josie: [Starts washing Dora's hair vigorously]
Mari: Be careful not to get soap in her eyes !
Josie: [Puts her hand over Dora's eyes] Close your eyes Dora!
Josie: [Scrub Scrub]
Mari: [Reaching back] Here is the hand shower, Jose, wash all the soap off now..
Josie: [Wash, Wash] Mummy, I need a towel!
Mari: [Reaching back] Here it is..
Josie: [Takes pw'ten towel, Rub, Rub] Thank you!
Mari: Dry it really well Josie, its very cold outside and we dont want her to get sick!
Josie: Its ok Dora, don't get sick!

It was very cute..

If Only..

Ahhh if only Photoshop had the power to cure a staf infection !

A Typical Hill Family Conversation

Can he be any more helpful !?

Mari @ Work says: tony you need to read this article.. and then we need to get the CDs and DVDs they mention and I need to move my photos to them..
Mari @ Work says: [Link to article about how home burned CD's and DVDs have a short life expectancy]
Tony says: man you are a scaremongers dream
Tony says: we have CDs that are around 10 years old that work fine
Mari @ Work says: i dont want to lose my photos!
Mari @ Work says: i dont care about anything else, but the photos i want on the best quality whatever is out there
Tony says: I read an article the other week that warned of scaremongering on this issue and said the problem was nowhere near as dire as this load of shite wants you to believe
Mari @ Work says: how do u know that article is true and this one isnt ??
Mari @ Work says: i dont want to risk it!
Tony says: because this one is trying to get you to buy something and the other one isnt
Tony says: what a coincidence
Tony says: "The sky is falling - btw I have a really nifter sky holderupperer for only $3.50"
Mari @ Work says: i dont care about the sky
Mari @ Work says: i care about my photos
Tony says: like I said
Tony says: scaremongers dream
Tony says: Wouldn't it be better to just duplicate the 50c disc every year?
Mari @ Work says: how likely is that to happen?
Tony says: um easily
Tony says: you set a thing in your calendar
Tony says: and then you just pop the dvd in the burner and go
Tony says: simple
Mari @ Work says: i only have one drive in my mac.. how do you copy disks ?
Tony says: you put your source disc in
Tony says: you take your source disc out
Tony says: you put your dest disc in
Tony says: and you shake it all about
Tony says: you do the burny burny and you turn around
Tony says: that's what it's all about
Tony says: ooooooooooooooh the burny burny
Tony says: oooooooooooooOoooh the burny Burny!
Mari @ Work says: funny boy
Tony says: having said all that.... couldn't hurt to get a couple of those gold DVDS.....

hmph..

Josies patience with Daddy near's its end

Josie said something rude to Mari as we were about to drive out on Saturday morning and the following conversation snippet was heard:

Daddy: Josephine! I don't want to hear you talk like that to anyone much less mummy!
Josie: *SIGH* Well Mister Daddy, I already said it this morning and this morning.

Needless to say we failed to maintain our poker faces and Josie enjoyed another victory through hilarity.

Parent / Teacher Interview !

Tony and I went to our very first Parent/Teacher interview this morning!

I was a bit nervous!

We were told that Josie was doing very well, that she was settling in very well and was joining in on the activities and games. She loves to play indoors or outdoors and was exceptionally good at drawing and painting. In fact they said her drawing and painting skills were 'remarkable' for her age.

They said she was very independant and happy and bright, she could play happily by herself, or together with other kids.

We were shown her 'Portfolio Book' that has several pages now of drawings and paintings she has done. They were so SO good!!

She also did so well today when we were leaving.. no tears again, and just went and played at the table.

SUCH a good girl! We are so blessed ;-)

Josie's Big Bed

Last night Wendy and I dropped in to Mum's place to attach a railing she'd bought to the bunk beds which are now in Josie's bedroom, and which she'll be sleeping on when at Mum's from now on.

We came in the front door to hear sounds coming from the bathroom which indicated that Miss Josie had just had a bath. We stuck our heads around the doorway and waited for her to notice us, whereupon she got an enormous grin on her face and proclaimed "It's MAT! And WENDY!!" She then let us know that "I splashed Grandpa!" and the completely soaked Grandpa in question was mute testimony to this.

She was very excited about having a big bed and left her dinner several times to go and look at it, and kept wanting to go to bed when usually she just wants to stay up forever. We'll have to wait till tonight to hear how she liked it.

Bob The Builder's Got Nothing On Josie

On Monday, Wendy and I set to work putting our newly-bought furniture together in our new flat. I was installing the new deadlock on the front door when I realised I needed a hacksaw. So I went to Bunnings to get one while Wendy set to work on the dining table.

By the time I got back she had the table and two chairs pretty much done. We ate our first meal - take-away bbq chicken and chips admittedly but I'll get cooking when everything's done - as the moon rose full over the ocean, in a sky pink with the fading sunset. It was quite a sight.

Ant, Mari and Josie were over at Vika's and I called them to see if they'd drop by on their way home. Mostly I wanted a few photos of the place as we put things together so that we could have a series of them from empty flat to fully furnished flat, and we didn't have our camera with us.

So drop by they did, and helped assemble furniture. Mari and Wendy got to work on the remaining dining chairs and coffee table, and then we all got stuck into the desk system for the study. Josie was helping anybody who looked like they were doing something interesting at the time. She was doing up bolts with an allen key like Tim the Tool Man - of course doing them up is only half the fun, you then have to undo them again .. and again ... and again.

She then carried the desk legs out of the room so we had space to put the frame together. The legs of the desk are as big as she is and she looked quite comical carrying them out. She took her jobs very seriously though - especially taking out large empty cardboard boxes that didn't quite fit through the door the way she was carrying them, catapulting her back into the room in a fit of giggles. She seemed to think this was the best fun she'd had in .. oh at least the last hour.

Josie then decided that the room was getting entirely too disorderly and some collecting together of the screws was necessary. So Ant and I are under the desk screwing the frame to the desktops .. and I'm reaching around for another screw .. nothing there. I stick my head up to look around .. no screws. Then I look over the other side of the room and Josie and Mari are sitting there with enormous grins on their faces while Josie surveys her 'dragon's hoard' of screws which she proceeds to fiercely guard.

Mari had to toss us screws - amidst many a "HEY!" from Josie the Dragon - or we'd never have gotten the thing put together. Josie also felt that an upside-down desk makes an excellent hopscotch arena, though I don't know how our neighbours downstairs felt about it.

By the end of the evening a very tired Josie was well on her way to earning her engineering degree.

More Josie'isms..

From Vika..

Josie was singing a Shabbat song then continuing into another song..
Josie: mamamamama……and mamamama….. and daddy is a boy…… and mamama….
Josie: And hey hey hey [hands flying into the air with each hey]
After about 2-3 min of this non stop...
Josie: Phew…. I had enough… [BIG sigh]

Driving on the way home, Josie wanted Vika to do something..
Vika: Josie, I cant do that now, I am driving
Josie: Granny driving too
Vika: Are you going to be driving soon too?
Josie: I need to grow first, my hands need to grow, not my nose

LOL..

New Photos Uploaded !

Just wanted to let you know that I have uploaded new photos to Flikr finally. There are almost 80 new photos so check them out!

The link is over on the right.

A Good Long Weekend

On Friday Josie slept over at Vika's place so that Tony and I could finish clearing up the unit ready for the photographers on Tuesday. She had a great time and was really looking forward to it all week. It was the second time she has slept there, the first time being a bit of a disaster with her falling asleep in the living room at 10pm. This time though she went off to sleep with no problem and woke up at 8am, after a short wake up at about 2am when Becka sat with her for a few minutes till she fell asleep again.

On Saturday Tony spent all day cleaning and decluttering, and I went and did the shopping and came home to help. We were nearly there by the end of the day and only had a few things left to do. In the evening we went and got some dinner and took it over to Vikas where we all had dinner and then we grabbed Josie and all went home.

Sunday was great fun! We went and saw Cars with Josie and Becka at Eastgardens. This was the second movie Josie has been to, the first one being Ice Age 2. She loved it and had a great time. On the way though we had this conversation:

Josie: Mama! Daddy! You need to cuddle!
[Tony and I cuddle a bit, its a touch difficult when one is in the passenger's seat and one is trying to drive the car!]
Josie: Ok, thats enuff!
[We retract limbs and affection, except Tony accidentally leaves his hand on my knee.]
Josie: Daddy!! I said ENUFF!
[Tony quickly retracts his hand..]

Hehehe...

On Monday we went and saw another movie with the kids, and also my cousin Anna, her hubby Teddy and Josie's cousin Jayden. This one was Over The Hedge. The kids had a great time again and afterwards we all went to Vika's for lunch and to hang out. Jayden and Josie had a great time playing together and we stayed there till about 6pm when we went over to Uncle Mat and Auntie Wendy's new flat. They had bought a whole bunch of furniture so we stayed for a while and helped them put stuff together.

Josie had a long long weekend! It was jam packed with fun and family.
This morning I spent several hours putting the finishng touches on the unit in preparation for the photographer. I am absolutely nackered!

And its freezing!!

And From The Archives..

This was from January 10th, 2006.

MY FATHER is KILLING ME!!!!!!!!!!

I am trying to get him to check out a certain website..

george says: marina ----I try and dont understend what is final I have to see???????
Mari says: on the first page, there is a picture of a man in the bottom right corner of the box..
Mari says: click this and it will take you to the next page..
Mari says: follow the instructions
Mari says: keep clicking the man
george says: I click and read all
george says: then??
Mari says: on the last page it will guess the number
Mari says: what was the last thing you did ?
george says: it is not --it is just empty box
george says: I did step by step
Mari says: oh right, you type in there the number you get
Mari says: you should have a 3 digit number left over
Mari says: if you have followed the steps correctly
george says: send me again web
george says: i lost it
Mari says: http://digicc.com/fido/
george says: it is not writing on this window
george says: I cant writing
george says: yuo try
Mari says: are you still on the first page??
george says: no I am on last
Mari says: so you can see the white box?
george says: yes but I cant write inside of box
Mari says: click in the white box and start typing numbers
Mari says: you wont see a curser, only the numbers
Mari says: and then click on the boy
george says: I click and nothing happends --I cant write
george says: you try
Mari says: i just did and it works for me
Mari says: are you typing numbers or letters?
george says: it is not working on my
george says: it is not typing inside of the bos
Mari says: are you trying to type NUMBERS or LETTERS?
george says: I try but it is not typing inside of the box
Mari says: OH
Mari says: MY
Mari says: GOD
Mari says: ARE YOU TRYING TO TYPE NUMBERS OR LETTERS
george says: sorry
Mari says: NUMBERS?
Mari says: OR
Mari says: LETTERS?
george says: nothing typing
NB. At this point I am twitching like a madwoman!
Mari says: letters will not work! Dont try to type LETTERS
george says: ok now come in I will try
Mari says: type only NUMBERS
george says: ok

You know reading through that again, 6 months later, my eye is twitching again..

Getting Better And Better !

So starting from this morning, we are driving in and see a big blue truck. Josie loves trucks!

Josie: Mummy! A big blue pwuck !
Mari: Yes honey, I see! Its very big isn’t it!
Josie: Yeh, you need to go there [pointing at the left lane]. You need to follow the pwuck!
Mari: No honey, I can’t, I need to stay in this lane. But I will pull up next to the truck?
I drive beside the truck, until we slow down and hit traffic. The truck’s lane starts moving forward, as does the truck.
Josie: Noooo! Mummy! Why are you going backwards!?!

She thought because the truck was moving forwards and we were stationary, that we were going backwards! How funny is that!

So then we get to school. I was relieved to find that Josie finally has her own locker (Which is actually just a couple of alcoves in a small bookcase type thing. The top alcove is small and square, and the bottom one is tall so as to fit her bag/umbrella etc). So far she has been using a box, cause they didn’t have a locker for her, but now she has her very own locker at school!

We put her bag in the bottom alcove and went and sat down with some toys. After a minute or so she noticed that the ladies in the kitchen were cutting up fruit and Challach (bread) so she went up to them and they gave her some of the challach which she loved. She had another piece and then Silke (her favourite teacher) came over and I went to leave. She hugged me, was a bit sad, but then went off with Silke.

As I was leaving, I stopped to sign her in and then read the ‘day book’ which is a book they keep of printed out photos and diary entries of what the kids did each day. As I was reading Josie came out and saw me there. She asked me what I was doing and I said I was reading. There were 3 little girls out in that area and one of them came over and said pointedly “I’m 5!” and I reacted suitable impressed. Then one of the other girls came over to Miss Five and said “I can pick you up!” and proceeded to try. Miss Five says “No you can’t! I’m Five!”, so the little girl goes over to Josie, wraps her arms around her waist and picks her up saying “Well I can pick you up!”. Josie was nonplussed and took it all in her stride as the little girl turned away, proclaiming to the others “See! I picked up Josie!”. It was so cute!

So then I told Josie that I was going and that she should go in and play. She gave me a quick grin and ran off inside.

It was the best drop off yet!

Fun and Games on MSN

Daddy took Josie to school this morning, and the results were great!

No crying, again, no whimpering, no bottom lip, just kept on playing! Its getting better and better! Hopefully soon we will be able to leave her there full time! Or at least go to 4 days a week ;-)

Some conversations from yesterday at Baba's house:

Josie to Baba: You want me to be big like you and mama - give me chocolate!

Josie to Baba: I am big enough to NOT sleep!

And then once I arrived and she was playing up, not wanting to eat dinner, I put her in the naughty spot. From the naughty spot:

Josie: See I'm coughing so you not put food in my mouth! *cough cough*

On a different note, my MUM is finally ONLINE on MSN ! And OMG her english is SO much better than my dads!!!

Mari: hi mum
Mum: hi
Mari: do u have a present for becka's birthday ?
Mum: not yet iask her what she wants and wait for respond
Mari: i had an idea
Mum: hit me

*hit me* ?!?

And then after adding my sister to the conversation..

Mum: i have to go it was nice to talk to you by
Mari: heyyyy
Mari: dont go :(
vika has been added to the conversation.
Mari: hi vika!
Mari: convince mum to stay and talk to us!
vika: no
vika: both of u go away
Mari: her english is SO much better than dads!
vika: i know
vika: go away
Mari: :(
Mum: :D by thank you for your kindness i am touched
Mari: wow! and even using smilies!
Mari: I am just SO impressed!
vika: me 2
Mum: sory it was for marina
Mari: LOL
Mari: vika she is not smiling at you
Mum: love you both by
vika: will u both leave me alon
vika: bi
Mari: heheheh
Mari: ok bye bye
Mum: alone not alon
Mari: LOL!!! Now she is correcting your english.. oh I love it!
Mum: by
Mari: ok.. bye bye!

LOL!!!

So then..

Mari: dad
George: da
Mari: Mum's english is SO much better than yours
George: thanks
Mari: SO SO SO much better
Mari: your english sucks, we all know this
Mari: its in my blog
Mari: but mums!
Mari: I was so impressed!
George: what is blog
Mari: my online diary
George: ok

and..

George: i show mum yesterday how to operate msn and now i am in truobles
Mari: why ?
George: my spelling???
Mari: ohhhh
Mari: yes well, thats what happens
Mari: you should let her do all your typing

LOL

Honestly.. fun and games this morning..

Less Than 3 Months To Go !

Well, 2 months, 4 weeks and 1 day to be precise!

I am so excited! Our US holiday is almost upon us!

We are flying out at 830pm on a Tuesday in September, 9.5 hours from Sydney to Honolulu (overnight thank god!) and arriving at about 930am on the same day! We are staying at the Outrigger Waikiki Shore in a 2 Bedroom Ocean Front room and have a Chevrolet HHR booked.

Josie is gonna have a fabulous time, but its gonna be so hard getting in at 930am, after being on the plane for so long, and then we can't check in till 3pm !!

Thank god we have Josie's Granny along with us for distraction and entertainment ;-)

So we are spending a week in Hawaii, checking out the sights, relaxing in the pool.. Heavan! Then the week after we take a 5 hour 11am flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles (Granny is flying home), to be met by Harri at LAX who will whisk us home to relax for the evening.

I can't wait to see Harri, even though she was just here, I am SO looking forward to seeing her new home, her new bathroom, her new husband! LOL. Well new husband, old boyfriend, well not old per se.. well you know what I mean! LOL. Hi Sven !! ;-)

I am also looking forward to seeing our old (again, not old per se, but you know what I mean!!) Uni roommate Allison who we haven't seen in ages!! Allison and Tony and I (as well as Jessica and.. uhm.. gosh what was his name.. he was german.. or something.. don't think it was Sven, but it was a very nordic kind of name.. in any case, we dont keep in touch with those two), anyways, we all lived on campus at the University of Wollongong and Allison and Tony and I just clicked and became fast friends. This was in the mid 90's and we have kept in touch since then, so almost 10 years now! We are so looking forward to seeing her, and introducing her to a very much older Josie!

Another person we are looking forward to seeing is Natalie, a friend of Allison's, who came out to Australia a while ago and who we spent some time with.

So anyways, we fly in, and then the next day is my birthday (29 forever, remember??) and we are hitting Disneyland! This should be so much fun and I am looking forward to seeing Josie's reaction!

The next day is free so far I think and I am hoping to score tickets to a taping of The Ellen Show!

The day after that is Universal Studios I think ?? And then Legoland?? Not sure about the rest of the week, but I am sure Harri has it all organised!

I am going to take a tonne of photos and mpgs! I am glad Tony is taking his laptop cause I am going to need a few 2Gig SD cards otherwise!

We fly out mid September at 1pm on a 14 hour flight (eek!!) and arrive in Sydney at about 830pm!

Its going to be the most fantastic few weeks ever! I am goign to have to restrain myself on the souvineers!! Magnets for me, mum and Vika.. stuff for the kids.. stuff for a few adults.. ack!!

Have I mentioned how excited I am ?!?!

More Josie'isms and Back To Routine..

I'm so pleased!

Josie has been complaining that she doesn't go to Vika's after school anymore. So my wonderful sister has arranged to leave work an hour early on Mondays in order to pick up Josie from school by 330pm.

Josie is thrilled to be going to Vika's after school again!

Also, yesterday we had a great drop off in the morning! Such a marked improvement from last week!

Absolutely no tears, no whimpering, she just sat down at the table and started playing with stuff. I asked for a kiss, she gave me her cheek, I kissed it and left.. (I had to briefly come back to get something from her back, but it didnt make too much of a difference!).

She had a lovely day and when Vika came to pick her up she exclaimed: You're picking me up! You're picking me up!

And now from the Desk of Vika..

Josie: Becka wake up, Becka, Becka!!
Josie: OH NO!! who needs help??
Josie: Becka needs help!!

Josie: daddy is a boy, he does his peepees standing up

Josie: oh no i sneezed, i need your pen

Josie playing with her sunglasses in the car.
Vika: Josie, be careful you can break them.
Josie: Not MY problem!!

Becka and Josie singing a song. Mid song:
Becka: give me five
Josie: I am NOT finished singing yet!
... and goes back to singing

And then from the desk of Baba:

Josie's toy broke, so she sat there for a while trying to fix it.. finally she grew frustrated and broke into song:
Josie: Bob the Builder! Help me fix it!

And then she started taking her jumper off.
Baba: No Josie! Keep that on or you will go to the Naughty Spot!
Josie: Why you scare me with the Naughty Spot??

And thats all folks.. ;-)

Man! I Feel Like a Woman!

Its a question of gender..

Josie: Daddy's a boy and Uncle Mat's a boy and mummy's a girl and I'm a girl!
Mari: Thats right honey, thats exactly right!
Josie: So all these boys are not girls, they're boys!

Glad we sorted that out..

UTIs and Thrush ;-(

Josie has a mild case of thrush and a UTI at the moment.

Poor thing has been afraid to go to the toilet for the last couple of days because it hurts to pee.

Thank god the antibiotics are starting to kick in cause she has started using the toilet again.

She is at Baba's today playing with Becka. They went to the park this morning and played there for a while and when they came home I asked Baba to put Josie in the bath for a while to clean the area, but Josie didn't want to so I told Becka to let her know that the bath would help with the itching and pain. Luckily she convinced her, but with this proviso:

"fine, but im not washing my hair its nice the doctor fixed it for me and now it looks nice".

lol

Little Imperious

The pants have definitely shifted from Mari to Josie in this family.

While listenning to the Australian stage production of The Sound Of Music on the drive to Baba's this morning:
TSoM: "...when you sing you begin with Do Ray Me..."
Josie: Well? Sing.
Daddy: Yes ma'am, Do Ray Meee...

Chuckling as I looked in the rearview mirror, she reminded me very much of Queenie from BlackAdderII. Sitting there in her car seat/throne.

What To Do With Daddy...

While walking the dog in the park this morning:

Josie: *SIGH* I don't know what I'm going to do with my daddy.
Granny: What? Why?
Josie: He's so sad *sigh*

Perhaps she picked up on my distress at having lost all my files from my hard drive over the weekend... I thought I took it pretty well personally.

Another One From Uncle Mat

During the Mother's Day lunch at Kam Fook, I left the table to take Josie to see the seafood tanks (later I thought this a bad move as it left mum free to embarrass me in my absence but I am told she restrained herself) as she was getting a little restless and had taken to sitting underneath the table and tickling peoples' legs. *grin* Some things Josie said on Mother's Day before I forget them:

Mat: Look Josie! Fishies!
Josie: Yeah! BIG fishies!
Mat: And lobsters!
Josie: Yeah! I like lobsters! Don't like crabs (eyeing the tank above the lobsters filled with crabs).
Mat: And here are more fish ..
Josie: SNAKES!
Mat: Sort of .. these are eels. They're like snakes but they live underwater.
Josie: Snakes.
Mat: Eels.
Josie: Snakes!
Random child also looking at the tank (quietly): Eels.
Mat: Fine have it your own way.
Mat (lifting her up over the one tank that was open at the top): Want me to put you in with the fishies?
Josie: Nooooo!
Mat: Why not?
Josie: The fish will bite me!
Mat: Oh .. ok then.

Then she wanted to wander into the upstairs area but people were coming down the stairs constantly and I didn't want her to get stepped on. I suggested we go see what mummy and daddy were up to. She thinks about this for a moment and then nods her head and waves her hand imperiously with a "Take me to mummy and daddy" .. you can almost hear her saying "lackey" at the end...

Josie's Snakes and Ladders

Josie showed Uncle Mat how to play Josie's Snakes and Ladders yesterday.

Mat says: interesting rules
Mat says: Rule 1: If the dice rolls off the board, it's no good and must be rolled again.
Mat says: Rule 2: Whatever the dice shows after being rolled is irrelevant.
Mat says: Rule 3: Josie shalt place the pieces on the board at random. (Though usually with her winning from the start)
Mat says: Rule 4: Nobody but Josie shalt move the pieces once they're on the board. And they shalt be moved randomly according to Her wishes.
Mat says: Rule 5: The pieces shalt not be stuck on the ends of fingers and waggled humorously. They are meant to be on the game board and She will get quite cross if they're removed.
Mat says: Rule 6: There is to be no poking or tickling of The Josie during the game. This is serious business after all.
Mat says: Rule 7: The Josie shalt play the game without shoes and socks on on a cold night. When told to put them back on and asked if she wanted to sit in the naughty spot, she replies that "My mummy said YES!"
Mat says: I am unsure as to whether that was an answer to the former or the latter.

heheheh..

Mornings Are Getting Better !

This morning was the first time since the first two days that Josie started at her new school that there was no crying !

Her lip thrust out, but she held strong and there was no crying! I was very impressed!

There was meant to be a Fireman Visit to the preschool today but it was called off on account of the rain this morning. What a shame, she was really looking forward to sitting in the fire truck and wearing the firemans hat!

Yesterday was a nice step back to routine for Josie when Granny picked up both Becka and Josie from school and then Vika picked them up from Granny's and took them both home and Josie got to spend time at Vika's place again. She had been saying over the last week or so that she was missing going to Vika's after school. So it was nice for her to get back to that.

Tony and I are getting more and more prepared for our first Open House on June 17th. We have quite a bit of decluttering and cleaning to go, but we are getting there. I am eager to just get on with it. Auction is on July 8th.

It will be nice when we don't have to drive for ages to get home.

Thats about it from me.. Josie is sleeping at Granny's tonight so Tony and I are going to see Da Vinci Code and Xmen. Haven't been to see a movie in far too long. Can't wait.

Josie : Too Cool For Orange (Green barely holds onto street cred)

So I'm driving Josie around on Saturday so that we're both out of the house while the cleaner is working on the joint. And we're heading to the East to pick up Uncle Mat and go grab some home networking stuff for Granny when Josie and I had this conversation:

Josie: *mumble mumble* like Orange?
Daddy: Hmm? You like orange?
Josie: *Cagey noise which could be taken as yes followed by* Do _you_ like orange?
Daddy: Yeah, I like orange. [cos, y'know; I wanna encourage the kid]
Josie: I don't like orange. [Damn kids]
Josie: I like Blue an' Red an' Lellow an PURPLE!!!!
Daddy: What about Green?
Josie: *shrugs* 'ts alright.

Eurovision Night !

We had a fantastic time at Ines' on Sunday night for our annual Eurovision Night !

We had just the original members of the group, Brig, Ines, Dave, Tony and Myself, except we were missing Harri, but we had her comments printed out so she was there in spirit!

This years Eurovision was so much better than last year! Most of the acts were great and we got into them straight away, unlike most years where it really takes a few goes through the CD in the car to get into them.

A few points though:

Finland: How the HELL did Finland win?? Tony was just beside himself! Heavy metal/rock band, winning Eurovision, its unheard of! The song is catchy, but having listened to it twice today on the CD (which I got this morning!), its starting to give me a headache!

Israel: How the HELL did they only get 4 points? Are people MAD? The song was fabulous! The singer wonderful! (An African American singing in Hebrew for Israel?? What the ?)

Germany: An Aussie chick singing lead from Newcastle! Woohoo! And really, listening to it again today, I absolutely LOVE the song. I dont usually go for Country music, but this one is SO catchy! Love it!

Denmark: Love it! Very very boppy/catchy!

France: Ho hum.. ANOTHER ballad.. what a surprise..

UK: On the night, it didn't really grab me completely.. I liked it, but now I LOVE it!

Lithuania: I cannot believe they sang a song about winning Eurovision! AND its good! Hugely fun and catchy song!

Latvia: UGH! YUCK! Acappello should only be performed by people who can SING ACAPPELLO!

Moldova: Another good one that grows on you!

Macadonia (Why oh why can they not just call it Macadonia?! FYR Macadenia is just too long!!): Another good one!

Romania: Can anyone say Numa Numa Dance?! How much did that sound like Numa Numa?? Having said that, it was damn good!

Russia: Came second.. eh.. catchy.. eh..

Sweden: What happened?! Did this year's entry NOT consult the National Academy of How To Perform ABBA-like hits?! Very disappointing!

Turkey: As Harri says - There are NO natural blondes in Turkey! LOL

Ukraine: I think Ukraine paid far too much attention to last year's winners!

Ok, those are the ones I wanted to mention.. and I really didn't like the new voting procedure.. I understand why they only announce the highest 3 scores, I mean 37 countries voting would have taken till next week, but it just makes the whole thing too fast! You can't see the progression of the winner. Personally I liked it better when they only had the countries in the final voting.

Aaaanyways.. my prediction for next year? A lot of rock/heavy metal numbers ;-( This is the beginning of the end of Eurovision I'm afraid!

Lets get back to embarassing ABBA-like acts!

Daddy Strikes Again !

On Sunday we took Josie to the playground at Fox Studios (which they're trying to rebrand as "The Entertainment Quarter") where I added to my (mercifully short) list of "Daddy's less inspired parenting moments".

I was spinning Josie around on a piece of equipment that is a triangular (except the straight edges are rounded) platform about 2 foot wide with a shaped pole (some are simple S cirves some are more complicated) running up the middle. The kid sits on the platform and the adult (or the kid themself if they are old enough) spins the pole and the kid spins 'round. Well, I started experimenting with how fast she would go before she would not like it. I know, I know. Curiosity and the cat and all that. To be fair I wasn't just experimenting with my kid. She had previously started showing a predilection for spinning rides (the spinning cups ride and suspended-chair style merry-go-round (sp?). This started in the last 2 months and before that she had always disliked spinning rides when I had taken her (very seldom) on them. Also she has started to like going really high/fast on the swings which I think is a similar sensation to spinning in people (like myself) who dont like that kind of acceleration feeling in the stomach.

So anyway, she has become a bit of an acceleration junkie in the last couple months so I was seeing if she had a limit. Well as you have probably guessed by now I found her limit. Unfortunately even though I was increasing the speed by small increments she went from "Weeeeeeeeeee" to shaking like she was having an epileptic fit or an embelism with a terrified rictus on her face, instead of "Weeeeee" to "slower daddy!" like I was expecting. I swear I thought I had given her an aneurism she was shaking so bad. I totally thought I broke her for a second.

Some of you have heard my (apparently humorous) description of how the child's mother falls when tripped (no not by me, just by her own lack of ability to remain upright in the face of cunningly flat surfaces). And how as horrifying as it is to see someone you love go down like a sack of spuds, when they go down with hands shot straight up into the air above their heads like a tall-timber, well at the time it's happening it is still horrifying but once you know they are ok... funny as hell. Well this thing with Jose was nothing like that. This was just horrifying. Full stop. But the kid recovered alot more quickly than her old man did (as usual) and was back to normal after some reminding about the more enjoyable pony ride she had had just prior to the horror inflicted upon her by her schmuck of a father. I continued to flagellate myself for some time.

Dream Bike

The same night that Mari mentioned Josie's unnerving sleep-clapping incident (which I was not present for) I woke up as Josie was moving about a bit and making some noises as she slept between us.
Having been informed of the disturbing clapping habit I settled in and waited for something amusing to happen. And I was not disappointed.

Josie, like her mother, is always hot and takes every opportunity to strip off all her clothes and parade around naked. In terms of sleeping this translates to constantly throwing the covers off (both herself and us when she is in with us) and sleeping on top of them. Usually she will kick her legs out in an effort to get the sheets off. This night however, she had earlier been riding her new bike (thanks Martin) around outside with mummy and the kicking seemed to lead her into a riding dream as she went from laying on her back, kicking at the covers and rubbing her eyes (which she does habitually when she is having trouble sleeping) to holding her hands just in front of her chest and running her feet in increasingly rapid circles above her just like she was speeding down the drive on her bike. This went on for about 10 seconds and got to such a pace that I thought for sure she was going to knee herself in the face before she slumped back, apparently exhausted by her dream bike ride, with a look of quiet contentment on her angelic little face.

It was the funniest thing I have seen baring the tallest-tree-in-the-forest impression her mother does immediately before falling on her face.

Slowly, Slowly

Just a quickie today..

We are stopped at lights on the way to kindy this morning..

Josie: Go!
Mari: No sweetie, the light is red. Can you see the light is red?
Josie: Yes..
Mari: And what does red mean?
Josie: Stop..
Mari: that's exactly right! And what does green mean?
Josie: Go!
Mari: Right again! And what does orange mean?
Josie: slowly, slowly..

that's so cute ;-)

My Daughter The Artistic Genius !

This morning at Kindy, before I left for work, Josie said she was going to draw me a picture of me.

She did it all herself, and I just wrote her name and the date at the bottom.

I was floored.

Its amazing! Well I think so ;-)

Goodbye My Love..

I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog..

Miss Josephine decided that mummy needs a new camera on the weekend and prompty dropped my beloved Kodak.. so I quickly listed it:

Kodak Listing on Ebay

And I am now in the market for a new camera.. I want at least 6mp, plus at least a 2.2" screen, over 3x Optical Zoom and most importantly, I want the video resolution to be 640x480.

Oh and my pet peeve is the pause you get with some Sonys between when you press the button and when the camera actually goes off..

So if anyone has any suggestions/recommendations I would love to hear them !