Are we on holidays yet?

This week has been managed to be simultaneously slow and hectic. Slow because everyone is in the holiday mood and mode but the real holidays aren't quite here yet. There is this feeling of prolonged anticipation around us. And amidst all that, I seem to have had a constant stream of things to do to get ready for our trip back to Ipoh, Malaysia tomorrow.  Multiple trips to the shops, packing and unpacking, planning what food to bring and of course how to keep the two boys entertained for nearly 12 hours.

I think I've got everything. We leave at 5.30am tomorrow and that means that there won't be any time for last minute re-packing. I used to think that as long as I had my passport, tickets and a credit card with me, all the rest won't matter. Obviously, thats not the case anymore.

My next post will probably be sometime in the new year. And, I'll have to work much harder to make my blogging more frequent otherwise there won't be a blog (or readers!) to talk about by the end of 2012.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everybody!

He Rides!

It has been awhile since Aaron has hit any major milestones. When he was still a teeny baby, I did start off tracking baby milestones in a notebook but that practice was abandoned soon after he rolled over for the first time. And after he started doing the basic things like walking, talking and going to the bathroom by himself, I not only didn't write them down, I probably also stopped thinking in terms of 'milestones' for him. I'm a little ashamed to say that much of my record of his life is right here on this blog. 


Anyway, its time for another 'milestone' to be recorded here. Aaron is finally riding a bike! This has taken longer than I expected. I started teaching him in September 2009. Thats over two years ago! Perhaps its another one of those things that they'll do when they're ready. Previously, he insisted on leaving the trainer wheels on all the time. He finally outgrew that first bike I got him and when we got him a flashy new Lightning McQueen bike, I said it didn't come with any trainer wheels. 


I think this accomplishment deserves more than just a photo. Here's a video instead...

Richard and I got our exercise by taking turns jogging next to him around that oval. Maybe next time we'll be able to sit back and relax. Oh wait.... there's still Adrian. 


Here is a final photo. Is it just me or do you also see a proud look of satisfaction on his face?

I wonder if this blog will still be around when he starts driving...

Definitely Feeling Like Christmas

Saturday to Tuesday was a blur to me. I met up with four different sets of people and attended two Christmas parties. I dragged Aaron and Adrian from an hour south of Brisbane to an hour north of Brisbane and they were very patient with it all. We're all definitely in the Christmas mood now. I almost want to put up a Christmas tree. 'Almost' being the key word there. It might seem a bit lazy of me but I just don't think its worth it since we won't actually be here for Christmas and no presents are going to be put under it. 

To make up for the lack of a Christmas tree, we have all day long Christmas carols instead. Don't groan. Its a good thing! I love them and this year, I've even learnt a couple of new ones. Aaron and Adrian will be well prepared to impress the grandparents with their singing - if they can control the dinosaur roars that they like to throw in every once in awhile. 

Aaron has had me secretly laughing each time we go to a shopping mall because he gets very excited about all the decoration. He walks around looking and admiring it all while loudly exclaiming "Wow!" and "Look at that Mama. Isn't it beautiful?". I love the innocence and awe that he has. I've grown cynical and the decorations sometimes look very tacky to me (plus, its the same ones that they put up each year)  but to him they appear magical.  

Strangely, he does not get excited at the prospect of sitting on Santa's knee. He said to me "That can't be the real Santa. The real one is in the North Pole." At least I know that he thinks Santa is real but there are fake ones about to trick little kids in shopping malls. Real or fake, he still went up to have a chat with one of them.


And here is Adrian, trying out to be a reindeer. He just goes along with whatever Aaron is finding exciting. I don't think Christmas has any special meaning to him yet. 

So from reindeer, lets move on to penguins. I had never heard this Christmas song until about a week ago and its become my latest favourite. Its called "Penguin, James Penguin" - very cute! I couldn't find an original clip of  Brad Paisley singing it but if you search on YouTube, there are a couple of other cute versions like this.

...

But I've got another story
That I bet you haven't heard
Did you know that Santa
Has a secret agent bird

He's Penguin, James Penguin
That dapper little guy
Like a well dressed duck in a three piece tux
He's Santa's secret spy

From an undisclosed location
He's watching me and you
He's got satellite uplinks in his cufflinks
Yeah he sees everything you do

Not so very long ago
Santa didn't need much help
But with more and more kids every year
He soon got overwhelmed
He told the elves one Christmas
We can't do this anymore
Then a knight in shining polyester
Waddled through his door

And it was Penguin, James Penguin
He was there to save the day
He had wireless
And GPS outfitted on the sleigh

And Santa said Penguin
Won't you be my ears and eyes
How'd you like to help me run
My SCFBI

All I Want For Christmas

Honestly, right now, all I want for Christmas is to have my Christmas shopping done! I started looking around for gifts nearly two weeks ago. I had my list but I probably only checked it once because since then, I've bought at least seven gifts but only two names on my original list have been crossed off! We'll be heading back to Malaysia for a big extended family Christmas. Everyone will be there and I don't want anybody to miss out on a gift. It is absolutely true that the joy at Christmas comes from giving a gift - I love that part of it. Its the acquisition of the gift that is giving me a headache right now. 


On top of Christmas, we've got Adrian's birthday two days later and then Richard's birthday eight days after that! Those dates only occurred to me as I started this post. MORE GIFTS REQUIRED!


So, as I go off to do some virtual window shopping in preparation from some actual leg work this afternoon, let me leave you with some Christmas jokes for kids. Aaron is at the stage of telling some very bad kids jokes so maybe I can add these to his repertoire. And maybe some of you can go impress a little kid with a joke they can appreciate.




1. Which of Santas reindeer has bad manners? - Rude-alph


2. What do you get if you eat Christmas decorations? - Tinselitus


3. What is the best Christmas present in the world? - A broken drum - you cant beat it


4. What did the cow say on Christmas morning? - Moo-ry Christmas


5. What do monkeys sing at Christmas? Jungle bells, jungle bells! 


Yes, I know these jokes are a little sad, but trust me, the kids will love them!

The Latest In My Sewing Adventures

I mentioned in the last post that I have been quite distracted recently. Well, here are two of the reasons why...

The flat front shorts for Aaron were completed a little while ago but I never got around to putting a photo here. I thought the print of the material would immediately draw Aaron to the shorts but he's complaining that they are too light. Whats that supposed to mean? Its summer! I told him to wear thicker underwear then he wouldn't notice the shorts as much. 


I copied the pattern of the little overalls from one of Adrian's existing outfits and just made it bigger. Adrian likes his outfit and wants to put it on each time he happens to see it. He even says "Mama made it!".


I'm proud of both of these sewing accomplishments. Both have been finished very neatly on the inside and everything is precise. 


I have several other unfinished projects just waiting to be completed before Christmas. Big ideas, big plans but poor time management so far has seen only two of them get done. There is a Spinosaurus still waiting to be 'embroidered', a pirate ship that is still in the conceptual stage and then there are the clothes that I want to make for myself. Some of the things I had planned were with Christmas type material so they HAVE to get done in the next couple of weeks. Wish me luck!

Driven To Distraction

Yes, I have been very distracted over the past couple of weeks and haven't settled down long enough to blog. But then something happened last night and I got a super dose of distraction that has bumped me right back into the blogging zone.

You see this...

...this is not a cute face. Geckos are not cute. They, and frogs/toads, are what make me scream and jump sky high. Anyway, this was the closest image I could find of the view I had of a gecko last night. Also, it wasn't green but the creepier looking colorless variety. See here...

Oh AND, it didn't have a tail.

So, last night, after clogging, I went to my car, sat down and started the engine. As I started to drive, I see something flip flopping around my windscreen. Thought it was some dead leaves. But no....the thing kept flipping over and eventually, it got a good grip of the area right at my eye level - where I need to look out at the road. EEK! No, I didn't say that but I made some other noises that I just can't spell here. Sounded like a cross between a scream, a squirmy sound and a gasp.

This gecko held on there with its sticky feet and stared at me. I could see its black eyes and its stumpy fallen off tail area. Every so often, it would get flipped over but it always managed to right itself and get back to looking me in the eyes. Its eyes were huge and it looked like it was trying to communicate with me - "Please stop the car!" How was I supposed to concentrate on driving?

I didn't stop the car. I tried to speed up whenever I could but it stayed for almost the whole way home. Then it got flipped to the roof area and I thought I saw it fall down again to that area at the bottom of the windscreen with the holes that lead to the engine.

I couldn't be sure of where it was. If it was on the roof, how would I get out of the car? It might fall on me when I opened the door. If it went into those holes, it might work its way into the A/C ducting and then crawl in to the interior of the car some day. What can I do? I have spent today exiting the car quickly and looking around carefully before getting in.

Personal Petting Zoo

On the weekend, we went to visit one of our clogging friends, John. He moved here from Yorkshire, England in the 1960s but still has a very strong accent. He is an extremely funny man once you figure out what he's saying. My father doesn't have an overly strong Malaysian accent when he is in Australia but sometimes, John can't understand him. They often end up asking each other to speak English! 

Each week, John brings fresh, free range, organic eggs to clogging class to sell and we always get some. He told us that he's got chickens, ducks, geese and 'a few other animals'. And, he has often invited us to take Aaron and Adrian there to look at the animals. 


When we got there, we were amazed at the variety of pets he had. When I asked him how he started this huge collection of animals, he explained that he grew up on a farm and its just part of him. Some of these animals were purchased by him but others were given to him by other people that just couldn't look after them anymore. 


The first 'wow' moment came when we drove through the gates and saw that he had several alpaca lazing around in the shade. Supposedly, they are the least affectionate of all his animals and actually spit at people. One of them did try doing that but thankfully, it only managed a sort of dry spitting noise. Phew! I thought they looked a little strange because their necks appeared to be the same length as their legs.This baby one was the cutest.

As he brought out the food to feed the animals, several little ponies trotted up. They were Aaron's favourite. 

As if the ponies weren't enough of a surprise, eighteen deer suddenly come out from behind a shed. They were very nervous to see us and stayed away most of the time but they were beautiful, my favorite. This isn't a great photo of the deer but it shows you part of John's property. I like all the space and all the old farm equipment that he has used to 'decorate' the place with. 

Apart from these, he also had peacocks, goats and turkeys. All the animals were well cared for and, as he puts it 'half human'. He had a sort of 'best buddies' relationship with them all, including one particular chicken that would obey his commands. The goat couldn't get enough of his petting and just stayed by him the whole time we were there. 


It was wonderful to be as delighted as my children were to see all these animals. Its not that I haven't seen them before but I did not expect to see them here.