Xmas 2009

Our Christmas day......

Surprises from Santa

YD helping to construct new toys

The absolute joy in *Boy's face when he (they) finally got the most desired toy

And the family fun that is Wii.
'Can we get one too Mum?'

And finally

Last wednesday I took #1Son to the Gallery of Modern Art for their latest exhibit (before the crowds hit). As with past years they have great activities setup for youngsters linked to the displays. He had a great time and even took and interest in the art...











But best of all for me was the little parcel waiting on the door step when we arrived home! My Christmas ornament exchange finally had arrived after me giving up on it the week before.

My exchange partner was Tonya from West Virginia and she made this lovely Angel for our tree. Its so pretty. Thanks Tonya! and Thanks Lisa's Chaos for organising the fun exchange.

For her ornament I found a painted 'tin' Australia ornament -finding something Australian that wasn't tacky or a kangaroo on a surfboard was a bit of a search but I thought the 'old' look made it ok. Just in case Tonya didn't like the Aussie flavour I also found a pretty felt snowflake to go with it then wrapped it all in Aussie green & gold. It got there in about a week which was quite amazing!

my elfed boys

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

You may ask why I didn't elf myself - well, I couldn't find a fairly recent, forward facing pic of me! I'm usually behind the camera or I have paint on my face.....

today we did some christmas craft!

styrofoam balls

paint

glitter

wrapping ribbon

pins

and ta daaaaa!

oh, and when YD decided to buy a Bubble machine (yes just before xmas! not reason of reward for anyone....) bubble popping became a competitive sport in this house!

Tourists in Brisbane City

On Monday, my Dad got it into his head to take my boys plus their male cuzzie (the girls being at school) into the city to take them up the town hall clock tower. Actually, this hadn't been his 1st attempt as he'd tried 2 weeks prior only to find it closed...

Anyway, I thought 'he can't do town with 3 little boys, I'd best go too'.....so I got all dressed only to find that Mum had also planned to go. So there we were being tourists in our own town without the reason of visitors.


After the train trip in Dad was astounded to find the 'closed' signs up again after he had rung to ensure the tower would be open. It would appear security didn't turn up for work so they couldn't open until someone was found -1.5-2 hours, sorry. There is a museum you can visit tho......which took us about 3 minutes with the boys.....

Ok, fine, we'll go down and check out the Myer Xmas windows and visit santaland where 2 of the boys rode the train --->
3 did a little colouring, 1 started a letter to Santa while my Dad browsed the computer / electronics depts.


Then we finally wandered back to King George Square, newly refurbished with lovely looking light grey granite paving (which reflects the hot sun & heat) and still without enough shade. We saw the relocated sculptures taking pics with the ever popular kangaroos <--- and admired the new solar powered Xmas tree & accompanying sleigh & reindeers ---->







Finally we ventured in, peeking into the "Lord Mayors Seniors Xmas Lunch" so the kids could see the huge pipe organ all lit up. In the foyer the ceiling is beautifully ornate (probably some special name for it) and possibly also fairly recently re done as it was so clean. I also liked the mosiaced floor patterns.

We head up to the base of the tower in a lovely wood panelled lift which opened to a group of people waiting by a 'tower closed' sign in a smallish, not air conditioned room. On questioning they had been told it would open at 12 but it was not about 12.05......so we waited about another 10mins and a guy arrived to say it would be a still longer wait - most of the gathering crowd left at this but Dad pushed him a bit and we had someone up there about 5mins later.

Finally we all loaded into the old fashioned 'cage' lift to the top, stopping to see the inside of the clock faces (made with crushed opals & something else) then upwards to the top. My Dad hadn't been up there since 1964 and I don't think it had changed too much bar all the security/safety glass.



Once the Town Hall was the tallest building in the city....it is hugely towered over these days. In the pic to the left <---- you can see the tower reflected in the tall green glass building. Underneath that, is the very pretty Albert Park Uniting Church. Neither Mum or Dad had ever been inside so following our tourist mode we decided to venture in before heading home. It is really beautiful inside too -lots of dark wood, lovely organ pipes and stained glass. The old guy manning the door asked where we were from and gave the boys a xmas cartoon brochure which kept them partly entertained on the train home. So Dad was happy to have finally achieved his return visit to the clock tower.....still not sure what he thought would have changed..... and the rest of us had a nice few hours in the heart of Brisbanes city. . . . . ps-the security person who finally arrived and thus allowed the tower to open was, when we finally got up there, sitting near the fan, reading a magazine (it may have been a book) just outside the lift .......with no veiw at all of the people walking around the tower on the floor above...still haven't worked that one out!

I have a contract

And so it goes...the last child starts school and Mum returns to the workforce......

Well I hadn't exactly planned it that way but here I am with an employment contract.
I am very happy to say that it's only for 15hours a week and best of all it was offered to me by the boys lovely school headmaster and as time goes on I'll only have to be in the 'office' 1 day a week.!
And its at school during terms and mostly school hours!!

The headmaster, being the insightful guy he is, has spotted my organisational skill set from my fete work (which I'll also be doing again next year) and with a few internal changes has decided that the production of the weekly newsletter should be separated from the current persons job description. I'm perfectly happy with this and while I know it will probably become boring, I'll also be involved with other print projects & designs.

So while I had planned to have this next year off as far as a Mum could (& possibly working on being a little lighter), I am delighted at being given this opportunity. Happy days....

over for this year

Friday was #1Son's last day of school for the year -he's happy to be on holidays! I'm happy not to be doing the lunch & 'get your uniform on' routine for a while. I'm not looking forward to weeks on end of bickering between the boys as they get sick of each others company.

As an aside, I'd like to say what a wonderful teacher he had in the last half of the year. She was an absolute gem and I hope there's a chance in the future to have her again sometime.

.................................

*Boy also had an 'official' end to his kindy days on Friday night at his Graduation. At least this time I was prepared for how cute they would look in their little gowns, but his lovely teacher had me tearing up when she started crying during her speech. *Boy was ever the star with a wave as he walked in and an award for 'IT specialist'! He has a couple more weeks at the centre until he finishes so it will be interesting if he protests that he's finished now.... He hasn't actually spoken of being excited about starting Prep but I think he's looking forward to going.