A full brain

So, we leave in two days for a two week trip to Perth and Margaret River.  I am super excited for this trip as there are many awesome things that we will be seeing and doing. 

Of course, two days before, I am not thinking about the normal things that need to be thought about.  I am planning the packing and coordinating of the trip. 

So, Thursday was a library fundriser at school.  Children have a chance to bring in money to buy chocolates and the school library makes money.  The boys have to take their own money, but I forgot to remind them.  As a result, no money for chocolates.

Today, I forgot to remind Tom that he needs his library bag.  Every Friday, his class goes to the library right after morning assembly.  No bag= no books.  So, I had to drop the big boys off at 9:05, Sam off at 9:20, rush back home, grab Tom's bag, and rush back to school...all before the assembly ends at 9:45.  I made it, barely. 

Then, later in the day, I am erasing the whiteboard at home and think "don't need the reminder about swimming anymore as today is the last day of Joe's swimming."  Of course, it then dawns on me that Joe didn't take his swimming stuff!  Eeek!  I had to rush around the house grabbing his bag, his shorts, his rashie, and a towel.  Then I had to find the $2.20.  It was 1:35 and swimming starts at 2!  I had then drive back to school, check in at the office, and then go all the way to his class and drop off his bag.  Just in time as they were getting ready to line up to go to swimming!  Geez, that was close.

I can't wait to share all the exciting stuff that we do in Western Australia.  I'm sure that I will be taking lots of pictures!

Happenings

Joe lost his first top tooth on Tuesday morning, while brushing his teeth before school.  It's the first top tooth lost in the tooth wars between Joe and Tom.  It is also Joe's third tooth lost, which now tied him with Tom.

Of course, Joe then lost his second top tooth on Friday morning, brushing his teeth before school.  He was very excited to be back in the lead.  He looks very different with his teeth missing.

Sam wanted me to take a picture of his teeth as well, since he is the only kid without a tooth picture.  So I did.

Tom also wanted his picture taken, but refused to smile or look happy for it.  Here's the best one.

Tom has managed to chew and break the buttons on three of his school shirts this week.  Now I have to find buttons to sew back onto his shirts.  As you can see in this picture, this shirt is missing it's top button.  By the end of the day, he'd chewed the other one off as well. 

I've been trying to expand some of my photography skills lately.  I wish my pictures could match what I see with my eyes, but they're never quite right.  I think with more knowledge, they could.  I took some night sky pictures and loved how this one turned out.  Our night sky has a lot less light pollution than Maryland and it's breath-taking on clear nights.
Here's my favorite.

I took this picture while standing in the yard by the side of our house and looking back up the hill behind our house.  Behind our house is a reserve so no houses or lights.  It was about eight o'clock when I took this picture and was full dark outside.  I think it turned out rather well.

And last, but not really least, we have adopted a new puppy.  Her name is Lacey.

She is 10 weeks old and is a yellow Labrador.  We did not adopt her just to be part of our family.  For several years, I have thought about training a dog for search and rescue, or to be a sniffer dog of some sort.  So that's the plan.  I am pretty nervous about actually doing this and it all starts in about 6 weeks.  She needs to be 16 weeks old before we can join the various training groups that we need to join in order to learn what we need to learn.  This was not a decision that we entered into lightly as we have two dogs we love back in the States.  There will have to be some adjustments made and some training on Domino and Jake's parts, but we hope it all works. 

The boys love her and can't wait to introduce her to Jake and Domino.  They've told Lacey all about the other dogs. 
For now, having a puppy is keeping me busy.  Lacey is doing fairly well on her house training, though the extremely rainy day yesterday set us back a bit. 

Bag of bits

full moon rising

Not much has been going on in our household lately. So I thought I would just give a bunch of random bits and pieces.

On the last day of our summer, 28th of February, we had quite a crazy lightning storm going on.  It was north of us and lasted for a few hours.  We could see it well from our house.  The biggest reason it was unique to me was the almost constant light from it.  The flashes so numerous and close together that it looked constant.

 This picture was taken at 10 pm.  It is typically full dark and there's never very much light across the water.  I posted more pictures of it on Facebook.  It was truly incredible to see. 

  March 1st was Jay's birthday as well as the first day of Autumn.  Our weather is a bit strange at the moment, but is fairly normal for this area.  It will be hot and sunny one day followed by colder and rainy the next. 

Last Saturday, we found a 4 foot goanna outside our house.  It was huge and really neat to see one up close.  It was scared of us and headed up at tree as soon as it saw us. 

I reorganized the kids' bookshelf.  It won't stay looking like this for long, though.  I had to do it in order to find Joe's missing library book.  There it was, right on the bookshelf...just like I said it was.  Joe couldn't believe that it was on there.  At least, I found it.
While cleaning the shelf, I pulled a few books out and read them to Sam.  We seem to end up reading the same books over and over again.  Of course, typically we let the kids pick the books, and they pick the same certain books again and again. 

One of the books that I chose to read is a favorite of mine.  My brother got this book for Joe for his birthday one year.  It's called "The Lost Thing" by Shaun Tan. 

Yes, I know the picture is turned wrong.  Will try to fix it later...

Jay went kayaking with Dave this week and I served them dinner afterwards.  I made homemade salsa and it was declared as some of the best ever.  This recipe is all my own.

3 medium to large, fresh ripe tomatoes, diced
1/2 of 1 green pepper (green capsicum), diced
1/2 of a large red onion, diced
 2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup finely diced fresh cilantro leaves (coriander leaves for the Aussies)
1 jalapeno, finely diced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/8 cup tequila 
1/8 lime juice or lime juice cordial

Stir well and chill for at least an hour.  The tequila is optional as it is almost as good without it.

Like I said, not much going on here.  I get to go away scrapbooking for the weekend next weekend, and I am looking forward to it. 
Jay is currently looking for a motorcycle to buy.
Joe is swimming at school for sport every Friday.
Tom is busy scrapbooking right now.
Sam is managing to hurt himself in a variety of new ways.  He cut his top lip with scissors by accident yesterday and added a huge scratch to his face today.

Oh, and due to all the rain, flooding and cyclones that Australia's north has had, bananas are about $4.55 a pound!  No, we are not eating bananas right now.  Cripes, they're pricy.  Our bananas are usually more expensive here than in the states, but not by much.  We usually pay about $2 a kilo or $.90 a pound. 

Year 1 meeting and more

So, since I had written about how Joe's class meeting went, I thought I should write about Tom's as well.  Tom's teacher is Mrs. O.  She has been teaching for 13 years and was part of the original set of teachers to be hired for Tomaree when the school opened in 1998.  She taught at Nelson Bay Primary for 1 year before coming here.  She's been working only half time for the last 7 years while her two daughters were at home.  Her youngest started kindy this year, so she is back full time. 

Mrs. O is a very lovely nice lady and is very organized.  No sitting up at the front desk for me this time either. 

Honestly, there isn't much to tell.  She seems like another great teacher and I'm happy to have her teaching Tom.  I asked her after the meeting how Tom was doing.  Here's her answer in a nutshell:

Tom's a really great kid to have in class.  No behavior problems, though he gets a little emotional if someone upsets him.  He's in the middle reading group and he tried hard.  He needs some work on his handwriting, but almost all lefties do.  She was also pleasantly surprised by his broad knowledge base.  Tom can answer questions that are a bit left of center and can talk quite a bit about various things. 

So that was Wednesday night.  Thursday afternoon, Jay gave me a call and said that all the Baltimore people who are in town would like to go out to dinner.  Could I find a babysitter?  I got ahold of Aleeya and asked her, with a promise of paying her.  So she watched my kids for two hours and fed them dinner.  (She was alone with 6 kids for the first hour while making dinner.  Her hubby showed up about 6:30, in time to eat dinner and then some after dinner play.) 

It was a really tasty dinner.  Jay and I split chargrilled octopus for our appetizer and then I had chicken stuffed with avocado and sweet potato for my main.  It was yummy! 

Poor Tom woke up vomitting this morning so we'll be staying home today.  I was planning to be home and cleaning anyway, but I feel sorry for the poor kid. 

One of those kids

So most nights this week, there are class meetings at school.  Each class is scheduled for a different night and it gives the parents a chance to go to school and meet the teachers and other parents in the class, etc, etc.  I had Joe's class tonight and I have Tom's class tomorrow night. 
First, since Joe is in Year 3 (YEAR 3!!!), we all met in one room to start.  We got to hear all about what Stage 2 kids do (Stage 2 is the Year 3 and 4 kids).  We also got to hear about the overnight camping trip that will be taking place in August (2 nights of "camping" at an educational fitness camp and NO parents allowed!).  After about 25 minutes of listening, we split off to our own classes. 
Joe's teacher is Mr. E.  He is an older man who's been teaching for 37 years.  He used to teach at another local school but was let go during firing cuts at the end of 2009.  That school cut the oldest and the youngest, and he was one of the oldest.  He took a year off, while trying to find work locally and was offered a job for this year.  Mr. E is a very "old school" teacher and I think that Joe will benefit from being in his class. 
We followed Mr. E down to his classroom and he asked us to sit at our children's desks.  All the parents asked where their kid was.  When it was my turn, I was highly embarrassed to find that the lone little table up next to the teacher's desk was Joe's.  So there I sat, up at the very front and far away from all the other parents.  I was mortified!  How could I have a kid that had to sit by the teacher?!?  I was the kid in school who always followed the rules, always did my work quickly and quietly and was very well behaved!  So, for 30 minutes, I sat there, in a tiny chair with everyone knowing that my kid was THE problem kid.  I stayed until everyone left and then asked Mr. E how Joe was doing in class.  Here is his answer in a nutshell:
Joe is probably the top reader in the class and is, by far, the best at math.  However, Joe won't do any work that involves writing, he argues constantly with other students and Mr. E, and day dreams often. 
He is doing better at doing his work now that he has been separated from the other students, but is still no completing his work in a timely manner.  Now, Mr. E has just got done saying that he's not the kind of teacher to flog his students, that he just wants them to try.  And here is my kid, stuck away from everyone because of his problems. 
Mr. E went on to say that Joe is very bright and I don't have to worry about his school work, but he has problems socially.  Not a surprise, as we've been through most of this before.  This was just the first time that a teacher has put him at the front by himself.  There has always been someone "worse" that has had that seat. 
We had the school counselor working with us towards the end of last year and she is "on the job" this year too.  She's called me twice and talked about things to help Joe and his friend making.  He's making friends, according to Mr. E, but he's then too much of a friend (if that makes any sense).  Two days a week, he has the chance to participate in Happy Playgrounds.  This group is just a group of kids, typically those who get picked on, to do an scheduled activity during recess.  It gives them a purpose rather than wondering the grounds, trying to fit in.  Joe has done this a couple of times, but the counselor says he's hesitant to join in. 
I told Joe to invited a male friend, from his class, over to play Wii this week.  He has set up a playdate with one, but every time I see his mom, she hasn't said anything (and I keep forgetting!).    Hopefully, this child is actually coming and Joe doesn't become disappointed.   Joe really wanted to invite a female friend from last year, but I said that he needed to work on making friends from this year's class.   I told him that he could invite one of the girls next time.  Tom will get to invite a friend next week, with the same rules as Joe.  Sam will have the chance as well. 

Rest of my life and gender roles

So, I've come to a point in my life where I need to decide what I am going to be doing.  14 years ago, or so, I kinda had a plan.  I was in my senior year of high school and had an idea about where I wanted to go. 

Then, I didn't like that first plan any more, so I made a new one.  Nope, didn't like that one either. How about plan C?  I stuck with plan C for a long while, until I engaged.  Jay and I talked about having kids and how we'd have kids earlier rather than later.  So now we have a new plan.  Plan D. 

Fast forward to now. 

I am a point in my life where I need a new plan again.  At this point, it is pretty much plan M or so. 
I waited and waited for over 8 years to have my very own, regularly scheduled days off.  I dreamed about all the fun things I could and the naps I could take.  Now that the days are a reality, I'm bored!

In the States, I was a very busy gal, with lots going on.  Part of moving to Australia was that I'd do less and be less stressed.  Well, I have succeeded  in that plan.  Now I need to find something to do.  I have been thinking about what to do for months and months now.  I haven't really made any progress.  Not from a lack of ideas though.  I have been given plenty of ideas.  None of them have struck my fancy though.  I feel like I need to find something that I will really enjoy and want to do.  There's no point in getting a job at the grocery store just to fill time, as I wouldn't really enjoy it. 

I've looked into taking some classes, but the local community college doesn't offer much.  Barista training, emailing for seniors, Brazilian Samba, termite proofing your home, fishing secrets, and food safety supervisor training are just some of the course offerings.  The local college does offer a few courses that are a possible interest, but I will have to wait until next term as then one has already started.  There is a digital photography course I might take, as well as a cake decorating class.  I will pass on the How to Sell on Ebay and the Skyping for Seniors though. 

Jay asked the boys one night at dinner what they thought I should do with my free time.  Here are some of their answers:
Tom:  Scrapbook.
Joe: Come to school with me.
Sam: Shop!
Joe:  You could play my DSi or the Wii. 
Tom: Babysit.
Sam: Go to the store.

These answers give me some pause.  I have a bad feeling that my boys are getting the feeling that moms are only supposed to do certain jobs.  These answers come a week or so after the boys made up a new game.  The game is called Star Fighters.  In the game, I am their Star Sister, who stays at home and does all the chores.  I asked them why I had to stay at home.  Their answer was "that's what girls do."  Of course, it doesn't help that my kids only know stay-at-home moms or teachers.  No wonder that's what they think women do. 

Always in my mind, I bucked the gender roles.  I never had any interest in doing the traditional "woman" things.  I've gotten slotted right into that though.  Sometimes, life just works out that way.

Random Ramblings

As I sit down to write this, I am listening to a large thunderstorm forming and moving our way.  The sky is fairly split with half of it a beautiful blue and the other half, just as dark and foreboding as could be. 
I thought I'd write about just some totally random things going on.

Valentine's Day- ask an Australian if they celebrate it and the answer is no.  It is very much considered an American holiday.  No parties or little cards at school and very little in the shops besides Easter products.  However, come Valentine's Day, everyone I knew got a little or big something from their someone special.  So, they do celebrate it, but don't want to admit it. 

My someone special got me flowers, and I made him pie. 

I also made moon-shaped ravioli.  Pretty simple, though time consuming.  Jay and the boys ate it up and asked for seconds.  Joe and Tom both proclaimed it was the best meal EVER.

Since we returned from our holidays in the States, we've had a new friend. 

This magpie likes to sit on the deck and beg for food.  We eat outside a lot so he thinks we are feeding him.  He sits and sings to me as well. 

As you can see from the picture, it's raining here.  We've been needing rain and we've pretty much had some rain every day this week.  Some days it starts off raining and then clears to sunny and hot.  Other days, like today, it starts off sunny and hot and should be ending in rain.   

The boys all seem to be settled into school and doing fairly well.  Joe and Tom have been signed up for soccer which starts at the end of April. 

I am finding that three full days off a week is a bit on the boring side.  Yes, yes, I know.  How dare I say that I am bored!?!  I don't really understand why I am bored.  I've done something with friends at least one day each week, but I really need to figure out what I am doing with my life. 

The kids have just come in to ask if they should be worried about tornadoes with the large storm coming.  For the most part, no, but there is always a risk.  Did you know that the entire country of Australia has about 16 tornadoes a year?  The U.S. averages about 1,000 tornadoes a year. 

I don't really have much more to say right now. 

(I had to pause halfway through writing this in order to bring my washing in from the line.  The storm has arrived.)