Another Christmas Passed

The picture was made for Santa by Zed, and the note written by Alex.

It is funny how much time is spent preparing for a single day... time spent in thought, time spent decorating, time spent deciding then finding then purchasing items.... then there is the time spent wrapping at those items. Then of course there is the time spent talking about it; doing baking and decorating of the baking. Time spent writing christmas stories, poems and coloring pictures and decorations. There is the time spent on the tree and then time spent anticipating the time passing by. So much time for one day... that comes and goes just like any other day... except with the added in time spent preparing an exquisite meal and desserts to accompany that meal. Oh, and don't forget the presents! I don't know about you but we don't usually open presents every morning.
I want to be clear that I am NOT complaining at all; simply commenting on the time aspect, as I really hadn't thought a whole lot about it. Not really. This Christmas however, I felt I had too much time. We had no friends to visit with. No snow to go sledding in, or build into a snowman. No place to go ice skating. And worst of all, no family to look forward to seeing. This Christmas we truly understood how important that aspect of Christmas really is.
Yes, it was defiantly strange to be shopping wearing shorts, t-shirts and sandles. And the thought of Christmas being 'just around the corner' and the only thing falling was the beads of sweat down your face just from standing outside seemed just wrong. (Snow and Christmas was intended to be a cohesive unit!) Neither Wade nor myself seemed to have that real enthusiasm for the coming holidays as we usually do. It was just hard to find... we tried! We were one of the first houses to be out with our ladders, decorating the outside of our home with Christmas trimmings, and the inside too! We put up our tree, made heaps of decorations to accessorize with and wrote Christmas stories (complete with pictures!). We wrote poems, learned how to sign "We wish you a merry Christmas" whilst singing it... read christmas stories for weeks. We went over the true meaning of Christmas (daily) and even found an organization the builds orphanages/foster homes to make regular contributions to.  And believe it or not I MADE A PIE!!! For those who know me and the grief I've had with trying to make a pie (from scratch) you know what an accomplishment this was/is. And it even tasted good. Bonus! Nothing seemed to really work (for me at least).

As the days crept by, my sadness crept in. For the first time since moving here I felt very far from home. I missed my sister and mom in a way I couldn't have imagined. I missed going to the farm and eating Carrie's beautiful pies and other yummy desserts. I truly missed the chaos (that I swore I despised) of driving to so many different houses in a short amount of time, to make the visits with various family members around the provinces. I felt the deep sadness of knowing I was missing my little nephews first christmas. I felt pangs of regret that I wouldn't be able to hug Carrie and Jay, and share in the truly exciting and marvellous news of their first Christmas as first time expectant parents. I know this all sounds so selfish, but this Christmas my heart broke as the day passed on, and I was all too aware of everything I was missing back home, and everything home was missing of us.

I don't think the kids were missing as much as I was though; they bounded into the playroom (where the tree was set up) and Wade had a hard time keeping them at bay while they waited for me to finish getting Maileigh out of bed.
 With great enthusiasm they worked their way through the wrapped bundles that lay under the Christmas tree.... all except Maileigh. She was the only one who noticed all the little candy canes that had not been there before. She was quite content with working her way through those rather than the presents that had been piled up in front of her. She would help here and there, but more or less she kept herself well stocked with those little candy canes she was hoarding from off the tree.

After presents it was crepes, eggs and bacon for breakfast. Then we just hung out for a bit while the kids explored their new toys. After a Skype session with my sister and mom, we had a quick lunch and headed out to the dam. The kids had received nets, snorkelling sets (I too, was surprised by a pick set laid beside the boys' inside the blow-up boat the kids had received - Wade broke our promise of not gifting each other; but I of course accepted the (much desired) gift begrudgingly).
    The kids put on their new sun shirts, packed up their flippers and masks, put themselves and the dog in the van and we were off. We stayed at the dam for a few hours, then returned home too late to put on the Christmas ham. We had pork chops and veggies instead - cooked to perfection by Wade of course. Then it was off to bed. The day so eagerly awaited ended just as quickly as it had begun.
The next few days were a bit of a blur as well. The town in which we live is basically closed down for a few days, so there isn't really anything to do here at all. That was fine with us because we just headed to Capella anyway. We spent just about the whole next day at Capella pool, as a family. And we returned again the day following that.
Today we are resting - expect Wade; who has been bound and determined to fit the screening around our back patio. He has done a superb job. Maybe now we can cook without it sounding as though the flies are going to break the door down! Tonight we finally cooked our Christmas dinner and it was fabulous. It was everything a Christmas dinner should be; delicious in sight, smell and taste. We were happy, talking, laughing and afterwards, very full! It was worth the wait!!
I have to admit that it has been enjoyable to listen to Maileigh work on her vocabulary this past week. She now says (with words, not signing with her hands), very well, "Jesus" "Santa" "I want that" "I did it!" "Thank-you".
For those of you who read this... Merry Christmas. I am glad Christmas is over, and even more glad we are going to be resuming school next week. Full days mean busy days, which to me, mean happy days. It is hard to miss so much, when you are so busy teaching and learning with your kids.

Happy Birthday Jesus.

Maileigh enjoying her gift from Santa
(notice yet another candy cane in her mouth and reserves in her hand?)

Holy SNAKE!!!

Our Pictures I took Dec16. 2011- Actually I had Zed snap the one of Wade & I... what talent!

Just about every night I take our dog, JB out for an evening run. Sometimes I jog, most times I ride my bike, especially with it being 'snake season' and all. I have to say that I did think I would see more of those heart pumping, adrenaline spiking creatures, but I have not. I have seen a couple dead ones; all baby size, but nothing more interesting than that. I have heard stories from my friends and even seen the pictures of them holding 5 foot long dead ones that had found on their and (illegally) killed. One time I had seen one slipping into the bushes as we were driving to Mackay, but nothing else.  So I became a little complaicent thinking that the likelihood of me seeing one was close to none.
Well about a week or so ago I saw, what I thought, was a little dead one on the road. As I had done before I circled around on my bike, lifted my feet up (just in case) and rolled over it... opps THAT one was defiantly alive!  A moment or tow later I saw it turn back towards the bush and quickly blend into the grass and it made its way back there. It was just a baby one, most likely a baby brown - very poisonous still but just a baby. I thought "cool" and didn't think much more about it. Then the other night, I decided to take Zed along with me and we rode our bikes. I usually ride alongside the road so JB can run next to the bush and enjoy all the smells and grassy area instead of her running on the hard sidewalk and stopping to pee on peoples property (pet peeve of mine!). Before I knew it a huge (and I mean HUGE) snake let out a violent hiss and a warning lunge toward JB and she tried to get a better look as she ran past it. The snake must have been making it way back across the road from the houses side (yikes).  Immediatly I yelled for Zed (who was just ahead of me and heading straight toward the waiting snake) to go to the other side of the road. JB is not a stupid dog and she too made a large circle around the snake and followed Zed to the other side. Even now my heart is thumping crazily. Within in seconds I was with Zed and JB directly across the road from the snake... massive snake. This snake was either really dark brown or black on its back and at least six feet long.

This is a pic from online but looks VERY close to the
size we saw that night.

Its body was about the size of my forearm, as far as I could tell in the poorly lit road and being across the road as well. I wanted to stay and watch it but I immediately thought of Wade - he too desperately wanted to see a live, decent sized snake. We bolted back on our bikes, and I told Wade to take my bike and go see it. Unfortunately the snake had already returned to the bush. Bummer. I now have no desire to talk JB on walks in the bush... actually knowing the size of snakes that are living in there.
It is different to be told about them and actually seeing them! Wade and I looked up the snake online and from what I described it was either a inland taipan  or a red-belly black snake.
BOTH snakes are deadly and considered to be two

Red-belly black snake 

are considered to be the most venomous snakes in the world. As I understand it, the inland taipan is tends to be on the shy side and would rather run then fight... the red-belly black snake though... not so much. They tend to be very aggressive and will attack with little to no provocation. I am leaning more the side of the inland taipan from what I can remember about the color and 'mannerisms' of the snake. It could have easily gotten JB the first time around but chose not to....
No one will know for sure and I am kicking myself for not taking the time to get a really good look at it - from a distance of course! But I really wanted to give Wade the opportunity to see it; maybe next time.

Anyway, nothing else interesting has been happening. We've been continuing with school, but completing more christmassy type crafts and activities. The older boys have written christmas stories, with illustrations, and the younger ones have done some crafts. We attended a not so great christmas party for Wade's work, took our family picture and set up the family christmas tree.

We have a couple of house guests.... we are caring for two birds and two mice for our friends who are away until the end of the month. The kids love to watch the birds fly around the house, and truly enjoy holding the mice.

 I am not a fan of either it seems.( Funny how age changes you.) I don't like how the birds poop on everything, and I really and truly don't enjoy the smell that radiates from the mouse cage. Thankfully, we can put the mice out during the day and the birds also have their own outdoor cage they spend the day in. Those two can be VERY noisy!
Today we have a family appointment for skin checks... what a way to end the year. Checking for skin cancer! It is wonderful living in a part of the world where you tan through your sun screen and sun shirt but it comes with it's down sides too... one of those being the greatly increased chance of skin cancer. The other day I was outside for barely two hours mowing the lawn, and I'd gotten the worst sunburn I have had since moving here. It was 9am for heaven's sake!!!
Ah well, it is lunch time, which means it is time for the cook to return to the kitchen. We love and miss you all very much. This Christmas isn't feeling at all like christmas....

6 MONTHS!!! It's been half a year already!

The kids on Halloween

JB went as a dolphin.

I can not believe it has been 6 months already. Time flies by, even when if feels like it is dragging; which for me, is rare.  I know many of you have been checking to see if I have updated, and honestly I have been trying to get to this. I keep thinking, as soon as I get those pictures ready to load.... as soon as I do this or that, I'll pop on there and write a little something. Well, I am going to try to make a thing of it to write something every Sunday (your Saturday), whether or not pictures have been touched up... You've missed a lot! So here goes!
October we celebrated Alexander's 6th
and

         Jonathan's 3rd birthday anniversaries. We had a joint party, invited some other HS (homeschooling) families and threw a "body party". We played don't get slapped (bouncing water-filled medical gloves on the tramp), whack-a-molar (throwing water balloons at cardboard molars- some were good clean teeth and some were naughty dirty teeth), give me back my belly-button ( drew a life-size cartoon kid on cardboard who was missing his belly-button, and the kids colored then had to place his belly-button back on him whilst being blind-folded) and then we had a skeleton scavenger hunt. The very last activity was making boogers to take home (homemade slime). It was heaps of fun.  Alex had a happy skull cake and Jonathan had a mini Jonboy jumping on the tramp cake. We ate brain jello and had tangy-blood juice for drinks; along with hamburgers and hotdogs, chips and what-not.
As usual we asked for donations instead of gifts for the kids. The boys decided on a small animal rescue that was trying to save dogs from being euthenized. The rule here, in Queensland, is 3 days. You have three to collect your dog, at which time the dog will be euthanized. This organization tries to rescue as many dogs as they can, find foster homes for them until a proper permanent home can be found. It is basically a mom and pop organization. We brought them large bags of dog food and the money that had been given. From us, the two boys received much desired scooters. They were, and still are, thrilled. They love their scooters, and Zed is waiting, rather patiently now, for his birthday as he knows what is waiting for him - his very own scooter. For now he keeps himself entertained with his skateboard, bike and turns on Alex's scooters.
Just last night I said to myself, "one day I will take them out and NO body will get hurt." Within a millisecond of making this comment I chuckled to myself and knew this was a far fetched dream! It seems that every time I take the kids on an outing including wheels someone is hurt. Last night is was Alex who skidded out on some water whilst riding his bike. Just 6 days ago I had Zed laying on my kitchen table as I removed his stitches from across his chin... that one was a doozy! We spent a week at home waiting for him to recover from his massive crash at the skatepark.
I bet I have your interest peaked now don't I? :) Short story: we were at the skatepark; J.B (our dog), Zed, Alex and myself, and the boys were practicing their jumps on their bikes. Zed took a jump that he had already completed a dozen times that day, getting excellent air... but he landed with his wheel turned thus abruptly stopping when his wheel touched the pavement (bitumen as they call it here). His neck slammed into the handlebars then he met the pavement chin first instantly splitting it and spilling blood all over. I was only a couple feet from him and immediately got behind him and clamped it shut again. Within a few minutes he started going in to shock; shaking, arms going limp and not able to respond to questions. Due to the help of some teenagers who went to Damien's (the paramedic) home and got him to come with his ambulance we only had to wait for about 30 minutes before help came... of course I'd left my cell phone (mobile as they call it here) at home and every body else who was there either had a phone with no minutes or they too had left their mobile at home. Ugh. After he's arrived and quickly assessed Zed and his injuries, Damien called his wife, beautiful Jane,  to come pick up Alex and our dog to take them home and tell Wade what was happening.
Together, he and I, got Zed up on a gurney and we took him to the ambulance. Zed was given a special whistle that contained painkillers in vapour form which he would suck in... needless to say Zed doesn't remember most of the 50 minute ambulance ride we had to take to get to the closest town that had a hospital - Dysart. Believe it or not they are very careful (stin-jee) about stitches here... 3! Three stitches is all Zed got for a wound about an inch deep and almost a inch and a half across. They added about 7 steri-strips for the rest of it. When they let the chin open to check it it looked like Zed had a mini mouth with a giant, wide smile on his chin... like a sharks mouth opened up, such a strange sight! When they 'closed' it it looked like a frowny mouth instead. For the ext while Zed hurt... a lot. He drank milkshakes and at scrambled eggs for days. His jaw ached so bad he couldn't open nor close his mouth, and talked with only his lips moving. We went to the doctor to have the stitches checked and possibly removed about 5 days later, but due to the depth of it the doctor was reluctant. He gave me a razor blade to take home and said in a couple days cut them loose, and pull them out, but be sure to pull them knot first. I'll tell you , taking stitches out is not as easy as you'd think. With a little bit of blood and wiggling of toes to deal with the pain we finally got the little suckers out! The skin had begun to grow over the stitches making it difficult for me to cut the tough plastic line without also cutting skin. But, we did it and it's over... sort of. Zed is still having pain in his jaw and can't move it the way he used to be able to. We will be having that checked very soon.

What else have we been up too?

 We attended a small rodeo - that was fun!

A little bit back Zed and Alex participated in the rodeo type event. They demonstrated their abilities on the horses,
enjoyed chasing and trying to catch a sheep and then a greased pig.

They had fun and did well.

I can't think of anything else so how about a quick look at our schedule? We are full on with HS again. It has been just a little over four months since we restarted and now things are settled and moving along very nicely. Zed just finished reading his 11th (whooo-hooo) chapter book. If you know Zed you know how I struggled to get him to read even the simplest of books. Soon after he's learned to read he lost interest and fought it tooth and nail. Now though... it is a beautiful sight. Alex was also having trouble and not liking the thought of having to read, but he too has caught the reading bug and is reading wonderfully.

For the rest of their learning it has been difficult to keep up with them! They are always eager to learn something new and interesting. We are learning sign language - True ASL, and French on top of their regular studies. I had a pop quiz for them the other day to see who remember what for signing and I am very pleased to say that Alex and Zed now know a little over a hundred signs on top of being able to sign out the alphabet, and "read" words that I sign using finger spelling. Even Jonathan can sign simple sentences such as "I can say my name. My name is Jonathan. I have a black dog. Her name is J.B.) No joke... he can't do it by sheer memory alone, but if I do it with him he can do it quite easily. Maileigh signs words too. It is very exciting when she signs something new. A few weeks ago I put her to bed and she signed "mom" to me, without any prompting. It was like hearing her say mom for the first time all over again.
Jonathan often counts things out in french and spends a lot  of him time asking how to say this or that in french. Last week he began his first lessons on the computer using the Rosetta Stone program. He is thrilled to be doing it and asks constantly to do his 'french school' on the computer. It is so rewarding to see the results of my effort. I can ask several questions in french and every one of my kids can respond to it, fully understanding what it is that I am asking. Okay... moving on.

Jonboy on an underwater adventure

We do a lot of swimming! Back up - here it is: Monday is skatepark day, Tuesday is dam day (we go to a dam which is basically a giant lake), Wednesday is a home day but it is also computer day so the kids do all their lessons on the computer via educational programs we have loaded on the computers, Thursday is Capella day (we travel an hour to Capella where we spend the day swimming then attending horse riding lessons) and Friday is another home day. Saturday is Mackay (pronounce Mc-Ki) day and we drive 3 hours to the big city. We listen to a story on CD the whole way, arrive to have lunch at Hungary Jack's (comparison to Burger King) and continue on to the Bluewater Lagoon; a totally free and very beautiful outdoor water park. We swim and play there for hours.

Zed giving Maileigh a 'motor boat' ride

Wade will leave early to complete the grocery shopping while I stay with the kids. Usually within the next hour after Wade has left the kids are ready to get out, we dress and walk to the big park that is just out side the water park grounds. We'll take a walk on the walking trail that is parallel to a river, then return to the park where I usually end up playing a game of tiggy (tag) with the boys and the other kids at the park.

Alex and Jonathan swimming together

Wade will arrive with the pizza from Pizza hut; we eat then head home, again listening to our story on CD. This day is by far my favourite day of the week!! Without question!



Sunday is another home day, usually filled with household chores and what not.

Jonathan is his 'boat' (no longer use this at all!)

So like I said, we do a lot of swimming. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are days often spent in the water. On the days at home our kid pool is filled up and Jonathan and Maileigh spend their time 'practicing' their swimming in that. It is because of this that both Maileigh and Jonathan have become excellent in the water. Maileigh can now use a kick board or just her swimmer that helps her float totally on her own. She kicks around and floats all on her own. Jonathan straps on a pair of googles and heads under the water to swim like a little fish. This too is very rewarding as only a few short months ago Maileigh wanted to stay as close as she could to me while we were in the deep water and Jonathan remained fixed, floating in his blow up boat.  Alex and Zed often go out on their own and I see them when they are hungry or need a break to relax in the sun. I love our water days! We no longer go to the sea as it is stinger (jellyfish) season and we have yet to order stinger suits. I do want to go and see if we can see the sea turtles that nest there every year, but I think that may have to wait.

For those of you who are wondering when in the world we do our schooling... we have two ways we do those days; one is to do our work early in the morning straight after breakfast and we leave after it has been completed OR we do some before we leave then bring the remaining work with us. I work out a plan of completion with the kids and we stick to it. For those who don't complete their work then they have that much more to do the next day or during activity week which is the last week of every month. That week we don't have much of a set schedule as we catch up on anything that I feel we really should have completed and indulge in activities and experiments that the kids have been interested in.  This is a week that I find a lot of our art supplies get used up! We have set days for certain subjects like monday is science day,tuesday is socials ( we are looking at Greece and their myths right now - so fun!) wednesday is computer day; but every day is french and ASL, math and reading day. On top of that the kids rotate in chores... can you believe that Jonathan LOVES picking up the dog poop?! Ewww! The kids rotate between dog duty, mail duty, dishes, and vacuuming. If there is a lot of fighting then garden duty (weed pulling) is added on along, with the raking of the leaves if needs be. Ohhhh you should have seen the transformation that took place over my garden last weekend. My garden is weed free! Thank you boys. ;)
So there you have it! Our schedule and more or less all that we have been up to for the past few months.

Jonboy did our mailbox
 Good Work Buddy!

The grass is green and the garden is growing. The sun is shining and so are the christmas lights in the front lawns.

Jonathan and Alex fixing up the gate, while Zed works on
last big palm tree

 Oh right Christmas is just 2 weeks away! We've already decorated our palm trees out front but haven't really gone too far inside yet. I think today will be a good day to set up the tree and put out the nativity sets. The shopping is done but not yet wrapped... uh-oh I can see my list of "to be done before..." is rapidly growing in length.