It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Sunday, December 15, 2013

St. Monica's Christmas Nativity

On Friday, Charlie and Chaney's school put on the Christmas Nativity.  It was done totally by the three kindergarten classes.  Chaney had the very important role of Angel Gabriel.  Charlie had an equally important role of Christmas Star. It was very well done and adorable! Erich and I had front row seats so we got some good pictures.  I really wish you could've seen it! 

The Kindergarten Classes performing the Christmas Nativity



Angel Gabriel had a special seat.

Charlie really gets into the song and dance.

The Angel arrives to tell Mary she would have a baby.

The star takes his job very seriously.

Charlie, the Christmas Star, shines over the Holy Family.

Angel Gabriel is on her way to spread the word to the wise men.

 

 

 

Charlie and Chaney with their Kindergarten teacher

Charlie and Chaney did a great job!  After the nativity, we took the kids home early with us.  And soon after that, Charlie started crying in pain. He had a horrible tummy ache and was rolling around in pain.  I felt so bad for him.  And then he threw up.  Joy.

U.S. Embassy Family Christmas Party

Friday afternoon was also the U.S. Embassy Family Christmas Party.  Since Charlie was sick, I stayed home with him and Erich took Chaney to the party.  They had a great time!

The party was at the Embassy at the Ambassador's
residence (seen in the background).

There were a lot of games outside for the kids.

Daddy pulled Chaney down the hill on the sled.

Chaney and Boomer

Santa's sleigh pulled by the white boomers.

 

 

 Santa was also at the Embassy Christmas party.  Chaney was reluctant to sit on Santa's lap.  Erich managed to get Chaney to pose beside Santa and himself. The Embassy photographer was the one that took the pictures. So once we get the picture, I'll be sure to share them with you!!

 

Summertime Christmas

It certainly doesn't feel like Christmas here in Australia. I knew it would be different but I didn't expect it to be so hard to make it FEEL like Christmas. I've been going through the motions, but I'm beginning to feel like it's Christmas time.

 

I also had to make some other minor changes...

Before

After

Since I don't sew, I feel pretty darn proud of the work I did to make the long sleeved dress into a short sleeved one! And did I mention that I sewed all the tinsel garland to Chaney's dress.  I've said it before but I'll say it again.  I'm Martha freakin' Stewart. And check out my Oreo Truffle Balls I made for the Embassy cookie contest.

 

My Random Thoughts and Observations...

• If you came to Australia and I said we were going to eat "fairy floss" and a "darn" I would be trying to tell you we would be eating cotton candy and a sausage.
• Tonight we ordered pizza from Dominos.  Here is the LARGE pizza we ordered.

  

  Notice the 12 inch purple ruler.

• If I told you to bring your esky to the picnic, I would be trying to tell you to bring your cooler. 
• The bathrooms in our house have no air ducts.  They get cool in the winter and are stuffy in the summer.  Part of our house has a large closet off the laundry room beside the hallway to the garage and the guest bathroom.  There is no air duct in that whole area.  No heat.  No cool.  This seems strange to me.  It gets freezing in the winter!
• Tomorrow is the beginning of the LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL! Wow. 
• Chaney walks around the house using her play princess cell phone to call her friends.  Before school on Friday, she had to make a call to her boyfriend.  Yes, I said boyfriend.  She stood at the dining room table for about 3 minutes talking on her phone.  I have no idea what her boyfriend was saying, but she listened attentively and responded with enthusiasm.  She also told him about her day and what she had planned.  He also must have responded appropriately because she seemed thrilled with his answers.  We are in so much trouble...

  

  Being a good listener.

  
  

  

  Telling about her day.

 

 

 

 



Martha Stewart

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Tomorrow is Friday!  Woot! Woot!  The kids' school, St. Monica's, has a tradition of having the kindy (kin-dee) (kindergarten) classes acting out the Christmas Nativity. Erich and I will both go tomorrow to see it.  We can't wait!  Tomorrow is also the U.S. Embassy Family Christmas Party.  It should be fun!  We get to visit with Santa, and they will have a bounce house, a sausage sizzle (an Aussie tradition) and a cookie contest. (the contest was not optional if you were attending the party.)  I'm not a baker.  But I think my Oreo Truffle Balls will win.  Erich said if they don't win, he is going to cause a scene.  

My Oreo Truffle Balls.  They look good and taste even better.

Louie is hanging out by the gingerbread house Chaney made.



Charlie is checking out the gifts under the tree.
(Yes, he is sporting Batman undies.)

These are the gift tags I bought here in Australia.  They don't get snow.
And even if they did, it wouldn't be in the SUMMER.  Hmmmm...

Louie was playing with the tape.

My first haircut/highlight here in Australia. 
You don't even want to know how much it cost me.



Face painting from the zoo.  I love this girl!

Charlie had them paint the San Antonio Spurs icon
on his face.  You can't see it but he is wearing a Spurs jersey.
He loves basketball and football!

My Random Thoughts and Observations...

• Remember our beautiful Christmas tree that I pictured above?  It is a pre-lit Christmas tree.  A U.S. pre-lit Christmas tree.  So the plug for our tree won't fit in an Australian outlet and it needs to be converted to 240 volts.  We have the cord stretched across the floor (since the placement of and lack of outlets in this house makes no sense to me.)  and it plugged into a converter that converts the Australian 240 volts to the American 120 volts.  (Or is it 125 volts?  I can't remember. And it doesn't really matter.  And I don't care.)
• So world maps here look different than maps in the U.S.  It makes sense.  Think about a world map you would see in the U.S.   North America is in the center of the map.  Well, in Australia, the world map has Australia in the center.  The United States is in the upper right corner of the map.  Check it.
  
• I've been doing this long enough now, and I can't remember what I've told you.  Have I told you that my soap opera that I watched in the U.S. is shown here??!  I was so excited to discover this! When I tuned in (that's an old phrase!) I discovered that the soap, The Young and the Restless, is about a YEAR behind where I was watching it in the U.S.   Bummer!
• Our neighbors have a sand box and our kids have rediscovered the fun of digging in the sand!  And I have rediscovered how much I can't stand getting sand in clothes. And in shoes. And in socks. And in underwear. And in hair. And stuck to legs.  And stuck on arms. (You get the picture.)  But I love watching the kids have fun in the sand.  So I decided to get them a sand table.  A sand table is something they can stand at and play in, but they don't sit in the sand.  Sitting in the sand is when the sand gets into places you just don't want sand.   But sand tables they sell in the stores are too short for my kids and are made for toddlers.  SO, I decided to design my own sand table. The kids love it.  And we aren't getting sand everywhere!  It's a win win!

  

  I used a blue shell that is to be a pool or sand box.  I just set it on top
  of two sturdy, empty storage tubs.  My plan is to find a used
  coffee table height table to set the sand box on top of.

  
  

  

  Covered up for the night.

• The kids are just 6 school days away from summer "holiday"!!  Holy crap. And then they will be in "Year One." (1st grade).  Double crap.  When in the hell did they grow up?? It's happening too fast. TOO FAST I TELL YOU!  I miss being with my babies all day.
• Chaney made her first marriage proposal.  Well, it wasn't actually a proposal.  She just informed a boy in her class that she is going to marry him. :)  I asked Charlie who he wanted to marry.  He thought for a moment and said, "Well, I'd like to marry you, mommy. (pauses) But no one marries their mom."  (*love!)
• Like other foods, meat is different here in Australia.  The cuts are different.  Some meats taste different. (I hear its the difference between grass fed and grain fed meat.) And don't get me started again about the bacon and the hot dogs... Remember this?
  
  But I digress...  Australian stores don't have sausage the way we think of sausage.  There is no breakfast sausage.  No Jimmy Dean.  My kids would eat sausage almost every morning in the U.S.  Well I feel like Martha Stewart!  I made our own breakfast sausage!!  And the kids love it! Welcome to Australia, where you make your own sausage and hang your laundry to dry outside. Like I said, Martha freakin' Stewart. 

Deck the Halls

 Monday, December 8th, 2013

We got a new trampoline!  We bought a 12 foot trampoline, (yes, it has a net!) and we put it together and 15 minutes after it was finished, Chaney hurt her ankle jumping on it.  She had to stay off the trampoline for 5 days.  But she is back on it again and jumping around!!

Everyone helps out putting the trampoline together.

Instead of picking blue or pink, we decided to make half the trampoline padding blue
 and half pink.  I think it looks like we have a circus tent in our back yard...

Thanksgiving

So Australians don't celebrate Thanksgiving.  So, on Thanksgiving Day the kids had school and Erich had work.  I did meet Erich for lunch that day.  We celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday with another American Family.  We had the full Thanksgiving spread.

Our $60 turkey. This was a great price around here.

Chaney and our friend found a snail on our Thanksgiving celebration day.

Our Thanksgiving table. (I forgot to take a picture once it was all set.)
I went ahead and decorated in fall colors and pumpkins.
 But it's spring here.  Totally weird.

 Christmas

It totally doesn't feel like Christmas.  It's so interesting how much the seasons play a part in feeling like the holidays.  I'm way behind in my Christmas shopping and hope our gifts make it to the U.S. in time!  We decorated our tree this last week while listening to Christmas carols.

Our Elf on the Shelf Louie arrived this past week.  He made a mess with the straws.  He finds a new place to hide every night and the kids enjoy looking for him.  At night he flies back to see Santa and to report on any good or bad behavior. 

My Random Thoughts and Observations...

• We call them swimsuits.  Australians call them swimmers.
• Garage door openers have key fobs instead of the remote you attach to your car visor.  Cars don't have options to program a button in the vehicle to open the garage door.  There are no buttons on the wall by the door into the house; you have to use your key fob to open/close the door. And there are no motion sensors to see if a child is in the way if the door is coming down. And they don't have the remote keypad on the outside to operate the garage door.  
• The dishwashers have filters you have to clean every month or the drain quits working.  We learned this the hard way. I asked an Aussie about cleaning out the filter and she seemed surprised that I had never heard about that before. It's status quo around here. 
• Every single bottle of wine here has a screw top.  Every. One. Cheap.  Expensive.  Doesn't matter.  All have screw tops.  Screw tops!!!  (Except the bubbly wine.) I collect wine bottle corks and I have only collected a couple from bubbly wines since we arrived.
• They don't have iced tea down here.   And in a lot of restaurants down here, if you want water to drink they give you a big glass bottle of room temp water to fill your glasses from.            
• Have you ever seen celery this big??

  

  That's a purple 12 inch ruler beside the celery.
  I literally had to cut it to make it fit in in the fridge.

•  If you ever move to Australia, and you bring a piggy bank with you, please note that the 50 cent pieces will fit in the top slot, but won't fit out the hole to remove the money. You'll never get it back unless you literally break the bank.  Charlie discovered this with his money.
• Chaney has lost two teeth in the last two weeks! One on the bottom and one of her front top teeth.  The other top front tooth is very loose!