I'm gonna get'chya!!

My little man.

I took Cyd and Ryan to a local Christmas pageant they had downtown. It was beautiful, they had dancing, singing, real animals, the works. I was surprised at how Christian it was, the mayor actually got up and gave an address saying how now is the time of year to reflect on Christian values and that we should take them with us into the new year.

Last week, picnicking at the beach.

Happy Boxing Day!!!

Merry Christmas, Boxing day, New Years and O'shogatsu!! I know, I've been seriously delinquent about posting. Apologies all round. We've had an extremely hectic month, everything has been up in the air and they are only just starting to settle. We thought we might have to move house, Sol's been working crazy hours and I've been trying to get my plans for studying sorted, not to mention all the busyness the holiday season brings with it.

Thankfully some things have fallen into place and I'll just have to learn to work around the other things I have no control over. What it really boils down to is that we can only do what we can do, regardless of what we might plan and wish for. My kids will only be small for a few years and giving them a secure start in life is my priority, everything else might take time, but I will get to them eventually.

I got an amazing Christmas pressie though, my very own set of wheels. Thanks Babes!!! Cyd got heaps of gifts from everyone as usual, it's the first time she's been really "into" Christmas and it's been a delight to see. A special thanks to Ojichan, Obachan and Kevin for the train set and dinosaurs all the way from Japan. Many thanks also to Grandma and Grandad, Derek and Karen, Linda, Jane, Brad, Carmen, Tara and everyone else for their great gifts. I feel truly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends around me, after all, that's what Christmas is all about.

Peek-a-boo!!

Cydney and friend Tara.

Ikea always makes mistakes!

After much anticipation, Sol's family has finally arrived and we're all very happy to have them. Last weekend, we went up to Ikea to pick out a new bed for Cydney. It's a very cute loft-style kid's bed, with room for a second bed underneath--Perfect for sleep overs or for play as a cubby house.

Now what is it with guys and instructions? I know it's a cliche and I didn't really think it was something that "my guy" would suffer from, but it does seem universal. We'd bought Ryan's baby bed at Ikea and Sol had put it together while I was still in hospital, but I do remember hearing some comments about how difficult it was to put together.

Take two. Sol decides to put Cyd's bed together on a week night, after dinner. He says it will take 30 minutes. About three hours later he's still rearranging the pieces because "there's something wrong with the instructions". Despite the "wrong instructions", he's having a great time. He seems to see the Ikea flatpak as a giant three dimentional puzzle, trying to figure out how it goes together without reading the instructions thoroughly is part of the challenge.

It's going on midnight, we're both exhausted and the bed still isn't up. I take a look at the instructions and I'm like, "uh, Babes, did you notice that each of the bedposts is labelled?" Lo and behold on each of the bedposts is etched a marking that tells us exactly where it belongs in the grand scheme of things. We follow the instructions to the letter and the bed is up in, you guessed it, about 30 minutes.

Cyd's Kindy class worked on this mural.....Cyd painted the sun.

For some strange reason, my little boy has a fascination with the toilet. I'm hoping it's just because there's water in it, and he does like playing with water. He's dropped so many things into the toilet and "gone fishing" too many times to count. Sometimes it's okay.....other times purely disgusting, if you get what I mean. This time he was "helping" me by scrubbing the toilet....and the walls and floor, with the toilet brush. It was too cute, and the toilet was already clean, I didn't have the heart to be mad this time.

I pulled out all Cyd's summer clothes from last year and had her try them on to see which still fit. She insisted on taking photos of each herself wearing each outfit, and then wanted to see what matched with what......it starts.

The four of us.

Ryan having a go at feeding himself....and succeeding in feeding his bib.

Amazing Grace

I came across this article today and was very impressed by it. Lately we've been hearing so much about terrorists, rioters and people who resort to violence to resolve their differences or to "make their voice be heard". I can't begin to imagine what this man and his family must be going through, but the way he handled this tragedy puts the Israelis to shame and I believe speaks much louder than any violence would. Pray for peace!

Slain Palestinian boy's organs donated--Word News CNN

The three of us during an outing to the Perth Museum.

Cyd posing on a meteriorite rock.

too tired---Ryan fell asleep on the bus on the way home.

A pensive moment.

Where's the fire????

So....do we look alike?

Cyd and girlfriends at a birthday party on Saturday.

Cyd doing a puppy dog impersonation. Party time over, time to go home. Poor me!!!

Boring mom/mum stuff.......

Okay, you've been warned. We have a housing inspection coming up so I decided to tackle some household chores that I've left for far too long, namely cleaning the ensuite bathroom to our bedroom. I leave the kids happily playing computer games and get started. I stop to check on them five minutes later and Ryan is gleefully giving the digital camera case a bath in the toilet bowl. Ryan is banished to his crib with a bunch of toys. Five minutes later Ryan has thrown all toys out of crib and is starting to whimper. I'm determined to get this job out of the way, but by the time I finish he's crying his poor little eyes out. Finally ensuite is clean and I put Ryan down for his nap, just as he falls asleep the phone rings and he's all wide awake again. I'm starting to feel a little flustered at this point so I fix myself a piece of toast with chocolate spread and a cup of tea to try and relax. I turn my back for a minute and find Ryan holding the toast with a nice even coat of chocolate all over himself. Ryan goes into the bath, gets all clean, wrapped up in a towel. Phone rings again, while on the phone Ryan wiggles out of my arms and goes to play with Cydney in the living room. Finish on the phone and go to retrieve my adorable naked little baby boy and notice something suspicious dangling from his rear end.....gross! Some days it's just one thing after another.

God's Will?

We saw the movie "Kingdom of Heaven" the other night. I enjoyed it, thought it was good and was very happy to see Orlando Bloom reclaim the masculinity he lost while making "Troy". I just have to vent on something though and that is how people can take their will and impose it on other people using God's name, as in "it's God's will". It's so sad because this is still happening today, look at Bush vs Osama, both are convinced they are doing God's will and are imposing all that comes with it on the world around them with a vengeance. It's just so annoying that all the differences people choose to get so dogmatic over (as far as religion goes) are those thought up by humans or human interpretation. How did we get so many different versions of "truth"? People are certainly entitled to their opinion, and even to their opinion of faith, but they are so not entitled to violently impose this on other people. To me, that's taking the name of the Lord in vain.

Cyd showing off her flower crown.

Boys and their toys!

Birthday Boy

Ryan with the new Hummer that daddy bought for them.

Culture Clash

I found these guys busking in downtown Perth, singing their hearts out in Japanese. Made me nostalgic for Japan and totally cracked me up.

School Holidays.

Cydney the Bumblebee and Ryan the Fireman. They usually have some kind of event in the city during School holidays, this time the theme was safety and community. Fun fun!

Tales of the Otori

I have a hard time getting into new authors. I absolutely love reading, but I'm quite picky about what I read, especially when it comes to fiction. Anyway, I just finished a trilogy called "Tales of the Otori" by Lian Hearn. I found it enjoyable, but it's main appeal to me was that it's a fantasy set in medieval Japan. I grew up in Japan, but since I can't read or write Japanese I never really had my curiousity satisfied on the folklore side of things, you know, with the Samurai and the Ninja and all that. It's kind of ironic, I end up learning about Japanese folklore from an Australian author, ha! Anyway, it was fun and I liked that the author sprinkled Japanese words and names throughout, it made me feel like I was an insider on the story since they all seemed so familiar.

Royal Perth Show

Cyd participating in the Fairy Queen show.















Cyd and Ryan enjoying the show.















With Fairy Queen Caroline.















The Ducky Fashion show.....bride and groom.















More Ducky Fashion.















Pony ride.















Cyd the astronaut.















On the mini-roller coaster.















On the rocking boat......she barely made the height requirement and she went on all by herself......brave girl.















Getting her face painted.















Showing off the result.

Escapee

Ryan trying to climb out of his stroller. He does this all the time.....and he absolutely hates being strapped in......the stinker.

Japanese in Hollywood

I recently came across an advertisement for the movie adaptation of the bestseller "Memoirs of a Geisha".

http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1808405115

It looks interesting and like it will be a good movie, but I noticed that while all the male leads will be played by Japanese actors, all the female leads will be played by Chinese????? Granted the movie will be in English and will cater to a Western audience, but I couldn't help but wonder why they couldn't find any Japanese actresses, surely that would make the movie more authentic? It's something I can't help but take notice of, it seems that they almost always use Chinese or Koreans to portray Japanese or Japanese that were obviously raised overseas. Aich, remember that Samurai with the Aussie accent?

Maybe Japanese women aren't as talented or versatile??? Or maybe they just can't find any Japanese women who speak enough English? The closest I can think of to a Japanese actress in Hollywood is Devon Sawa, but she's only half and she's more of a model than an actress. There are several Korean and Chinese actresses who have managed to break into movies, but no Japanese, at least that I've noticed.

I suppose most people wouldn't notice the difference between Japanese and other Asians, but to those who do, it can be very annoying. That was one reason why I was so impressed with the movie "The Last Samurai", they used Japanese actors and you could tell that Tom Cruise actually had some idea of what his Japanese lines meant, whereas most actors simply rattle off strings of syllables that were obviously memorised sound by sound.

Computer art by Cyd.

The many faces of we.

Off to explore the world!!

Me and my Bub.

......she loves, she loves me not......

Cyd and her kindy class performing a father's day concert for all the dads.

Cyd experimenting with photography and taking a picture of her own shadow.

Love!

Cydney and a friend, playing dress up.

A moment of peace and quiet......for me!

Ryan the Tool!

The Hairy Fairy Rhyme

There's a line up of children's programs in the morning that I usually let Cyd watch a little of as I'm doing her hair and getting her ready for kindy. This morning as a filler between shows, this rather ugly, furry teddy bear wearing a tutu comes on and recites a poem that went something like this:

I'm a hairy fairy,
I like to dance
and wave my wand about.
If you'd like
to make a wish
The wish will soon pop out.

Now what does that make you think of? Maybe I just have a dirty mind, but it totally cracked me up--I couldn't believe they showed that on kid's TV! They probably have some cheeky young guy in the back writing the script.

Cyd in front of her school.