Not sure where the inspiration for this look came from or what made him pull his socks up like that in 38°C? We have never lived in the ghetto or hung with Latin Kings. But somehow he pulls off the look.

After a lovely Christmas holiday in New Zealand, a visit from a kiwi cousin, and heaps of play dates we were all ready for school to start.

Before I tell you about Lana’s first day back, I’ll take this opportinity to explain that things here run a bit differently at the beginning of the school year. Last year Lana was in Class 1J. No there are not 10 classes for year 1. This is actually what I thought when I first saw her class was going to be 1J last year.  I figures there were class 1A-1J. Nope. Here classes are labelled by the teacher’s last name: IJ for Ms. Jasper, 1B for Mr. Barnes. It is a bit of a pain when the teachers get married and change their names but keep their old class name.

This of course has little to do with this year, but I thought I’d clarify that difference.

Well, now you know she was in 1J last year. And at the end of the year she was asked who she would like to have in her class this year. She picked three of her mates friends. Knowing the kids she had in class I was confident that she’d be happy if any of them ended up with her this year. They were really a super group of kids. And this 1J is where she would start the day on her first day of school 2010.

You see, here you do not know which class you are to report to until the first day of school when the principal gathers all the returning students from one year and reads a list out informing them which class they are to report to. Exciting? nerve-racking? A bit! And what do they do with the kids who are new to the school? They start the next day. I know. It’s different.

The days leading up to her first day were very exciting. All the unknowns had not really hit her as I think Lana really had faith that her friends would end up with her. She woke up on the morning up with a HUGE smile on her face. We had a celebratory breakfast and got on our way. I kept rechecking that we hadn’t forgotten something: morning tea (snack), check, lunch, check, hat, check. She asked if she could bring a small teddy bear in her bag with her. This is something I don’t normally allow, but I said it was fine so long as it stayed in the bag.

Half way to school she asked if I had packed her bear. Nope. All of a sudden it hit. I did the wrong thing and told her it was her responsibility to pack her things for school. She responded with, ” You know I get nervous on first days.” She was right.I was wrong. I could see the look on her face.  The one where as a mother you know everything is going to be alright, but you also know it will be really difficult to convince your child of it. I could have run back home to grab the bear, but then we would have been late. That is NOT something Lana likes. So I had to manage with what we had.

We stopped in our tracks and I reminded her of The Kissing Hand story. I took her hand in mine and kissed her right hand. Telling her that if she felt nervous she had only to put the hand to her cheek and there would be a kiss from me there. I also reminded her that last year her dad had kissed the other hand and that I was sure there were some kisses left in it. She sweetly responded, “There are. I saved some up.” We talked the rest of the way about all the scenarios: having the friends she requested to be in her class, having other friends in her class or being assigned a class with no old friends (I emphasized the unlikelihood of that). We talked about new opportunities to make friends. It was very tangible for her because when we arrived in Australia she had a very difficult time adjusting to this new place. That is not so distant in her memory. And now she has lovely close friends. I knew she understood the possibility of a ‘happy ending’ even when things started out differently than you wished.

When we arrived she went straight to her old line-up spot, with her old mates. I left her as, “Happy as Larry”.

Having faith in her (& God), I passed the day feeling like everything would be alright. And at pick up I was happy to see that my little girl was beaming. I am happy to report that she has three of her good friends in her class and that even though many are in other classes we are all (mums included) going to remain close. A bunch of us took the opportunity to go for an ice cream up the road and seal the deal that we’d all stay friends!

Well today was one of those days were things were so good, but they were also…well I can’t say so bad, but just so Australian.

The day started off just fine. It was day two of Year 2 for Lana which is SO much better than day 1 (will tell you more about that later….) So here we are at day two, we walk Lana to school, then come home to decide what to do: zoo, beach, science experiment or iron clothes (no joke).

Just as Nuno and I are about to get back home we get invited to the beach for a play.  Ummh we have to think about it. Then minutes later another friend calls to see what we’re up to as they are driving by the house. Super, it’s a sign from God that I should not be ironing. So my friend and her son are over as I am getting myself ready for the beach. The boys are having a great play until I hear crazy screaming. Oh S*%^. I run upstairs (as Nuno tears down the stairs) to find that no one is hurt, but that they have spotted a spider.In the States, you say, “Get over it.” Here you make sure it’s not a killer. Well, Otto (who is an Aussie kid & has not run away from the spider) assures me it’s no big deal, just a small spider.  As we locate it, I notice it has red on it’s back. OY VEY!!!! Did you hear that kids? A RED BACK! POI to the OI to the SO  NOUS!!!! It’s a, “It won’t kill you because the have an antevenom SPIDER!!!! I yell down to Lou to bring up a jar that is in the dishwasher and I manage to catch a REDBACK SPIDER!!!!

Okay, so here’s the funny part. Do I run and call the exterminator? Book tickets back home? Call my husband?

Nope, I finish packing for the beach, and send S a text from the car on our way their. Because people. This is Australia. You swim in the water with sharks. Live in houses with deadly spiders and get attacked by birds on your way to pick up you kids. But ain’t it gorgeous?

and this is how my boy spent his day with his mates…

Life is Good!

*We did spray Nuno’s room and tomorrow the entire house (and outside area) will be sprayed.

There were two reasons that I scheduled S~’s party on a Friday. The first one is that it seemed silly to have people come from out of town and then have them hide out until the surprise on the Saturday. I figured that if we had the party on the Friday, then we could extend the party into the rest of the weekend (which we did). The other reason was that the Saturday was HALLOWEEN!!! enough said…

So, the day after the party (see below) I had invited everyone who was here from out of town to a sausage sizzle at the beach.  My very generous friends who live RIGHT THERE allowed us to use their grill which was so convenient. It was a a blustery day, but the sun was out so everyone took advantage of a great day on the beach.

Days like this are truly a gift for S~. From time with family & friends, playing rugby on the beach to jumping off the wharf, it’s the sort of time he lives for. From my perspective it was a great day with family friends. It was so lovely to see the marriage of old and new friends. I should have been tired, but I was on such a happiness high.

As I mentioned above, it was Halloween, so at about 3pm I headed back to the house with the kids. My nephews got right into the swing of things,

 

as did Anne and Gran.

 

Well, trick-or-treating on our street was a treat. However, it was madness from the candy distribution perspective. Since we are one of a very few streets in town that celebrate Halloween we were not prepared to receive the 400+ visitors we received. Fortunately Australians are okay with loose candy. You can give a kid a gummy snake here and they are happy. At one point I had to raid my baking cupboard I was doling out two M&Ms to each kid!!! Incredibly some teenager said, “Yum, thank you,” and he meant it!

I am happy that my street is so hard core about Halloween & I’d like to think from a Halloween karma perspective that I am forgiven for running out of candy TWICE. But man o man am I already looking forward to next Halloween. I promise I will make up for this year.

Although the candy was done the party went on…. for more pictures  of Saturday click here.

It was 12 years ago when my then kiwi boyfriend and I celebrated his first birthday together. It was also the first time I threw him a party. It was a small affair. It was Halloween and a few friends gathered at my parent’s house, in costume of course. Although he was friends with everyone there, I remember the look on his face that let me know something was missing. I knew then that no birthday would be complete without having his mates around. Looking back, this is probably why I had not thrown him a party since.

A few months back my husband and I discussed his 40th birthday. Although his first wish was to be allowed to bury his head in the sand and pretend he was turning 27, he did agree to a celebration here in Sydney. However, when I brought it up, he said he also wanted to do something in New Zealand over the holidays. I knew then that this was my opportunity to give him the one thing he has wanted for 12 years,which was to celebrate his birthday with his mates.

After that conversation, I emailed a few of his friends to see if they would be willing to fly out to Sydney for a surprise birthday bash. Before the end of the day, I had three confirmed. I immediately mentioned to his mum what I was planning and she too said they’d love to come. Very quickly, I booked a venue. Invites when out and the response was incredible. I was overjoyed at how fortunate my husband is to have such great friends. I was thinking love, but the sentiment was not so much that as this:

you are such a good wife to have organized this… for him…….to be honest we are coming to see you and the kids…and a free party that S~ will ultimately have to pay for!!! bloody can’t wait!

And my favorite:

I agree – everyone’s only coming to see T~ and to drink a round that is S~’s shout! You are too much woman for that man, he has no idea how lucky he is…

Regardless of their reasons, they were coming!

Over the course of three months there were heaps of lies. To tell you the truth, it was EXHAUSTING. I realize how much I rely on my husband to confide things with. It was extremely difficult not to be able to share things with him for such a long period of time. At one point he thought his mother was mad at me because she no longer asked to speak to me on the phone…little did he know that we talked more than ever, just not when he was around. There was also the anniversary gift that he wanted to give his parents which involved their going to Melbourne Cup on the same weekend as his birthday party! It was also nightmare erasing the records of calls to his friends and to companies just in the case he’d hop on my Skype account.

In order to get him to the party, I had forged a letter from the principal on school letterhead that invited parents to a P&C (PTO) meeting at the RSL. Only in Australia could I get away with a parent association meeting taking place in a venue that serves beer and has gambling. There was also the matter that I usually attend school events alone. For this, I had to enlist the help of his friend Richard who is the Treasurer of the P&C. He sent us an email asking if we would be able to attend as he’d love to get our help with some school events next year…and that the two of them could go for a beer afterwards.

A week before the party I thought I had spoiled the surprise. Up until the night of, I really believed that he was suspicious. We went out for dinner before hand and I was a nervous wreck. As we walked into the room where the “meeting” was to be held S~ pulled me back saying that this was the wrong room. He couldn’t see much because it was dark, but he could see that there was a party going on that that people were standing around drinking. I insisted that this was it. It was only when he recognized a guy who looked like his friend Paul, who he then realized WAS his friend Paul that he understood what was going on.

It was a great night. People were very complementary of my efforts, but this was something I could NOT have done without their help and their ability to lie so well. I am confident that a certain birthday boy had a great time too as the next day I received more hugs and kisses from him than on any other day, ever. That made it ALL worth it!

For more pictures from the night (Thanks Jenny, Mandy & Cath) click here.

My sister Maria once asked a friend of Kyle’s where his favorite place to be was. The little boy responded, “On his father’s shoulders.” Nuno has never said as much, but I think it’s true for him too.

I love my daddy because he shares with me. He even lets me use his computer. My dad is also very funny and playful. He wrestles with me and my brother Evan.

 

My father also does a very good job taking care of me. He hugs me every night after he reads to me or I read to him. He also cheers me up when I am sad.

 

I love you daddy…HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

 

 

 As a stay-at-home mom I try to fill Nuno’s days with fun and (sometimes) enriching activities. One such thing that meets that criteria is visiting the zoo. Since we live so close, we became members soon after our arrival. For the cost of two visits, we can go as often as we like, which we do.

Early into the school year, (February here) we started to head over after dropping Lana off at school on Fridays. The first time I went with my friend Lou she suggested we head straight for the cafe. Very clever idea. We had sat and had a coffee while the boys ate lollipops, then after being fully caffeinated we went exploring. Unfortunately, they did some major renovations at the zoo, and replaced the cafe with a coffee bar leaving us to walk with our coffees…terribly unfortunate for us, I know.

By term two we were joined by the new American in the class and her young son. We don’t necessarily go every Friday, but more often than not we are there by 9:15am. Over time the zoo has become a bit of a playground for the boys. They have their route. They just run ahead of us checking out all the usual exhibits: koalas, frogs, reptiles, giraffes, etc. If you know the zoo, you know our path just by reading those animals listed.

Well Buddy is turning 3. For his birthday, I thought it would be a nice idea to arrange for a photograph of the boys with an animal. I knew that the best laid plans might not result in a good shot. Then you add that we scheduled this during nap time, on a hot day, after having spent the morning in the city at a play with all three boys. As we stood in line, I don’t think any of the moms had much faith in how this would turn out.

Well, as soon as the boys were let into the feeding area, they were in their element. I smile just thinking how cute it was to see them feeding these majestic animals that tower over them. There was no fear, just excitement and joy. I’d like to think that Nuno will never forget this experience, I know I won’t.

When we came over I knew that my kids would be exposed to different sports. Soccer of course is universal, but cricket, netball & the various rugbies (it looks funny in plural) are something that my kids had never played or ever seen played for that matter. As a non-sports fan, I wasn’t worried about having to learn them myself until Nuno got to school. I am not being sexist, I just happen to have a daughter who did not enjoy soccer because, “The kids didn’t take turns kicking the ball.” I agree, how rude!

Well, my husband is very keen for our daughter to engage in an activity other than dance. After watching our neighbor’s netball game and a friend’s  field hockey game she was still not sold. Fortunately, here they have an athletics program. In a nutshell it’s a track and field training program for kids. We decided to sign both kids up. They have a Tiny Tots program for Nuno.  The kids will train at the oval at the beach. There will also be competitions for the olderkids. A friend told me about it and it’s just another one of those cool things about Australia. Lana is not thrilled, but she is going to give it a fair go. Nuno however, is SO excited.

When I went to pick up the uniforms, yes, there are uniforms, I almost forgot to get one for Nuno. It is so hard for my brain to wrap itself around the thought that my baby is old enough to participate in an organized sport. Well, he is psyched. When he put on his uniform for the first time he immediately started zipping around the house because in his words, “It makes me run faster!”

Here he is showing his muscles:

And how could I not do a Maria-inspired pretend run shot?

This is what I found when I turned around from making this kid his oatmeal…

Here is his final creation: