A quick note if you want to make the ANZAC cookies on the last post-the spread out on the cookie sheets like crazy! 2in apart is not unreasonable.
Annika got to lay a paper floral wreath last week at the ANZAC ceremony and Ian marched with the Camp Hill students. Alex stayed home and enjoyed the quiet house and Lyle came with us. It was an experience for sure. Bagpipes, speeches, songs, etc. Estimated that nearly 800 people were there, so a large gathering. What is impressive is that there were many, many of these going on all over Australia. Downtown had a dawn ceremony that thousands attended! It was a busy morning, followed by a slow afternoon, then ready for 1 last day of work/school for the week.
We got the kids school pictures this week. I'll get them scanned in and passed around digitally. Will also be bringing them with us this summer! Annika looks a bit goofy, Ian has a nice smile, Alex hates hers as her hair went wonky on her. She has a great smile and her teeth have straightened up so nicely! Hard to believe she is our kid-braces will be a short shift for her, thank goodness! Annika's teeth look exactly like Alex at the same age, so hope there as well.
I'm working all week again this week-2 days for my regular job and 3 days filling in for the teaching partner in the next room. Love these classes and glad to be working, but also like the part time schedule so I can get the grocery shopping midweek run done and have a shot at getting my hair cut! I think next week I will just do my 2 days of paid work, then I can volunteer for the P&C Mothers' Day stall and help kids pick out gifts for their moms. It is a great fundraiser and the coordinator for this is totally top notch! So creative with so little and everything always turns out so nice.
My Washington teacher certificate is due this summer-glad I had my transcript printed from the school district before we moved! Plenty of clock hours to recertify-and only a 1 page form! What a nice change from the novels I have had to write and assemble for other states. Have to get that out in the next couple of weeks to meet their postmark deadlines. . .
Big congratulations to my cousin and wife on their new baby girl. The pictures are so fun to see-bring back memories of ours when they were that little-oh, wait! Mine were all HUGE babies! Evy is pounds lighter than my smallest-lucky for her mamma! Such a pretty little girl. Her daddy is already wrapped up, and pleased to be so is my bet! Their smiles say it all.
Of I go-time to get some sleep. Kids are crashed in with me this week taking turns sleeping with mamma and on the floor (don't know how they do it-padding under the carpet is paper thin!) and waking me up talking and giggling in their sleep. So funny!
Love you all!
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
Mundane stuff
Not a whole lot of exciting this week. Lyle's back on the road, but will be home Wednesday. Thursday is a public holiday, so a short week for his travel.
I have to laugh as sometimes people think that since we are living in Australia it must be some kind of vacation. Really? We are working, kids are going to school, and bills still have to be paid. Traffic is a huge pain from 7:45 am until 9:30 and again from 4 until 5:30. Yes, we are in Australia, working like the rest to get through the day, week, month. The weather is quite nice, but other than that, it is pretty much what we have done every other place we have lived.
Annika will be marching in the parade on ANZAC Day with her Girl Guides troop. They will lay flower wreaths at the war memorial at school. Ian can march with the Camp Hill school group as well as Alex with the Cavendish Road group, but my bet is they will stay home with Lyle. I may just roust them all to go though. It is a big deal this year for the school community. One of our families lost their husband and father in Afganistan last year. The school community was so supportive of the girls and their mother, and continues to do so as well. It will be a tough day for them, but also one that shows them the community will not forget.
Below is a recipe for ANZAC biscuits, or cookies. This does not use any eggs. This is a traditional recipe and you can buy these at store bakeries. They remind me of a crispy oatmeal cookie. Adding chocolate chips is not recommended-and keep in mind who that is coming from! Yes, something that chocolate will NOT enhance.
ANZAC Biscuits
1 cup of each: plain flour, sugar, rolled oats, and coconut
4 oz butter
1 T plus 1 t dark corn syrup (cane syrup or treacle)
1/4 cup plus 1 T boiling water
1 t baking soda
Preheat oven to 350 and grease baking sheets. Can use baking or parchment paper
Combine dry ingredients-but not baking soda.
Melt butter and syrup.
Combine water and baking soda.
Mix wet and dry ingredients together.
Drop teaspoons of dough onto sheets 2 inches apart
Bake 12-15 minutes. Watch carefully-don't let them overbrown.
Cool on sheets a few minutes, then transfer to racks.
Makes about 35 biscuits
Best enjoyed with tea, coffee, or hot chocolate to dip as they are a very crispy cookie.
The weather here is getting cooler at night and the humidity is down! Nice sleeping weather. It even feels crisper in the mornings-at least as much as it is going to get, it feels like Fall. Temps have been in the high 50's to low 60's overnight and low 80's during the day. There are still a few storms working their way up and down the coast-I guess April is a traditionally stormy month, but the last decade with the drought they have not been seen much. We had a doosie of one last week that came up out of nowhere-the sky got dark super fast, clouds looked absolutely black, it opened with a huge thunderclap and the heavens opened up. Hail the size of large peas and sheets of rain. I could not see 20 yards into the playground! Of course it happened 5 minutes before school dismissal-we had to hold the kids for nearly 10 minutes until it slacked off to "normal heavy rain"!! Alex caught a ride to me with a friend instead of waiting after school for me to get her. Good girl for thinking and texting me her plans as the cell phones freaked out and even trying to call each other, neither could be heard the storm was so LOUD. Looks like we may have another tomorrow, but predictions are it will hit north of us instead.
I started my Monday-Tuesday job today. LOVE it! 4th graders I get to share with one of my favorite teachers and I get to do all the science! They love it as they get a "real" science teacher, which totally makes me laugh. Tack on an endorsement and it makes me real I guess.
I also talked to the kids about doing guest blogs. Alex seems interested in it, Annika as long as I just type what she dictates. Ian, not so much. All you'd hear about would be his quite complicated war games with his army men, hot wheels, and dinosaurs anyway! I'm interested to hear what the girls have to say though! How about you?
Have a super week everyone! Miss you all. Counting the days until we come to visit.
I have to laugh as sometimes people think that since we are living in Australia it must be some kind of vacation. Really? We are working, kids are going to school, and bills still have to be paid. Traffic is a huge pain from 7:45 am until 9:30 and again from 4 until 5:30. Yes, we are in Australia, working like the rest to get through the day, week, month. The weather is quite nice, but other than that, it is pretty much what we have done every other place we have lived.
Annika will be marching in the parade on ANZAC Day with her Girl Guides troop. They will lay flower wreaths at the war memorial at school. Ian can march with the Camp Hill school group as well as Alex with the Cavendish Road group, but my bet is they will stay home with Lyle. I may just roust them all to go though. It is a big deal this year for the school community. One of our families lost their husband and father in Afganistan last year. The school community was so supportive of the girls and their mother, and continues to do so as well. It will be a tough day for them, but also one that shows them the community will not forget.
Below is a recipe for ANZAC biscuits, or cookies. This does not use any eggs. This is a traditional recipe and you can buy these at store bakeries. They remind me of a crispy oatmeal cookie. Adding chocolate chips is not recommended-and keep in mind who that is coming from! Yes, something that chocolate will NOT enhance.
ANZAC Biscuits
1 cup of each: plain flour, sugar, rolled oats, and coconut
4 oz butter
1 T plus 1 t dark corn syrup (cane syrup or treacle)
1/4 cup plus 1 T boiling water
1 t baking soda
Preheat oven to 350 and grease baking sheets. Can use baking or parchment paper
Combine dry ingredients-but not baking soda.
Melt butter and syrup.
Combine water and baking soda.
Mix wet and dry ingredients together.
Drop teaspoons of dough onto sheets 2 inches apart
Bake 12-15 minutes. Watch carefully-don't let them overbrown.
Cool on sheets a few minutes, then transfer to racks.
Makes about 35 biscuits
Best enjoyed with tea, coffee, or hot chocolate to dip as they are a very crispy cookie.
The weather here is getting cooler at night and the humidity is down! Nice sleeping weather. It even feels crisper in the mornings-at least as much as it is going to get, it feels like Fall. Temps have been in the high 50's to low 60's overnight and low 80's during the day. There are still a few storms working their way up and down the coast-I guess April is a traditionally stormy month, but the last decade with the drought they have not been seen much. We had a doosie of one last week that came up out of nowhere-the sky got dark super fast, clouds looked absolutely black, it opened with a huge thunderclap and the heavens opened up. Hail the size of large peas and sheets of rain. I could not see 20 yards into the playground! Of course it happened 5 minutes before school dismissal-we had to hold the kids for nearly 10 minutes until it slacked off to "normal heavy rain"!! Alex caught a ride to me with a friend instead of waiting after school for me to get her. Good girl for thinking and texting me her plans as the cell phones freaked out and even trying to call each other, neither could be heard the storm was so LOUD. Looks like we may have another tomorrow, but predictions are it will hit north of us instead.
I started my Monday-Tuesday job today. LOVE it! 4th graders I get to share with one of my favorite teachers and I get to do all the science! They love it as they get a "real" science teacher, which totally makes me laugh. Tack on an endorsement and it makes me real I guess.
I also talked to the kids about doing guest blogs. Alex seems interested in it, Annika as long as I just type what she dictates. Ian, not so much. All you'd hear about would be his quite complicated war games with his army men, hot wheels, and dinosaurs anyway! I'm interested to hear what the girls have to say though! How about you?
Have a super week everyone! Miss you all. Counting the days until we come to visit.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Musings. . .
Back to school this morning! Hooray! The only part forgotten was Ian's water bottle, so not a major catastrophe. Lunches, PE clothes and home folders with library books all got out, so not a bad start to the term!
Noticed that an Australian won the Masters Golf this morning. Goodness! Would have thought they landed on the moon or something! Found out it is the only tourny that Greg Norman didn't win, so this is a big deal. Course, I don't do golf. Tried it a few times. Have a wicked slice that I corrected by turning my body so it looks like I am going to hit 45 degrees off where the ball really goes. Scared a few real golfers. Decided it is not going to be my retirement game. HA!
I'm getting excited to start working again next week. I am finishing up a short term contract that has me working for the Mandarin language teacher. It really is just supervision of the kids, so not too stressful. I'll be teaching some basic Spanish to the upper classes this week as they are finished with the materials left by the teacher. Yay!
I had a bit of a breakthrough with Ian over the school holidays and his struggle with reading. He has always had a hard time getting his thoughts into words, both with how he says and what he says. The speech production is clearing up and he is so much easier to understand! He has a hard time remembering sight words, but I discovered that when I put them into a game on my phone that he knows lots more than he can read! He knows the words on sight, as long as he HEARS the word! It was a light bulb moment for me-and keep in mind that even though I am a teacher, reading is not my area of expertise. At least I do know who to talk to and what to do to continue his journey. The big fight of getting him to go to school without a fuss and saying how much he hates it seems to be over for now. He adores his teacher (we do too!) and while she pushes him, he also feels that he is valued and will work so hard just to hear her compliment him. He also has some great friends that he looks forward to seeing every day. I'm just glad he has come out of his shell!
Annika seems to have recovered mostly from her lung infection. She is still using an inhaler to help with the cough, but sounds so much better and isn't doing that little cough all. the. time. like she was before the trip to the doctor. She and I also had our eyes checked last week-no more glasses for her! That is, of course, subject to change as her genetic predisposition for bad eyes is overwhelming, but for now, one less thing to remember to bring to school! I ended up with pink-eye after the exam. Think it was from the contact case I had to use while they did the eye exam. It is nice to note that the medication for this is available OVER THE COUNTER in Australia! No doctor visit needed. Ha!
Lyle is actually home this week. His first one in several weeks. He pulled out his calendar last week and has had only 10 days in the office in Brisbane so far this year. You do the math. That is a LOT of time away from home, even though he was home on the weekends. It seems strange to be having to do the grocery shopping and plan for all of us! Have to put a bit more effort into it!
The littles are doing some after school sports this term. Annika is going to give Rhythmic Gymnastics a try. I have to giggle as when I think of the "typical" for this sport, I think of a Russian or other slavic girl with the name of Svetlana or Oksana. Annika should fit right in! Ian is continuing with tae kwon do and so excited for class days. I was able to find classes that overlap somewhat, so I only have to hang out for an hour and a half instead of 2 or more hours on class night.
Better wrap this up and get going on dinner. Butterflied lamb shoulder with roasted potatoes and butternut squash. Pasta and cheese sauce and baked beans. Yum! I love winter food. The weather is certainly not winter like yet. It was 84 today and beautiful sun! I felt bad for the kids who had to switch into their winter style uniforms this term-long pants on the boys and sweaters or blazers for both. The schools we go to don't have a totally different uniform for this season, you just layer on a sweater/jacket for Alex and the littles can wear long navy pants and a jacket. Much more low key!
Love you all! Have a great week. Miss you and counting down the days until we can come home.
Noticed that an Australian won the Masters Golf this morning. Goodness! Would have thought they landed on the moon or something! Found out it is the only tourny that Greg Norman didn't win, so this is a big deal. Course, I don't do golf. Tried it a few times. Have a wicked slice that I corrected by turning my body so it looks like I am going to hit 45 degrees off where the ball really goes. Scared a few real golfers. Decided it is not going to be my retirement game. HA!
I'm getting excited to start working again next week. I am finishing up a short term contract that has me working for the Mandarin language teacher. It really is just supervision of the kids, so not too stressful. I'll be teaching some basic Spanish to the upper classes this week as they are finished with the materials left by the teacher. Yay!
I had a bit of a breakthrough with Ian over the school holidays and his struggle with reading. He has always had a hard time getting his thoughts into words, both with how he says and what he says. The speech production is clearing up and he is so much easier to understand! He has a hard time remembering sight words, but I discovered that when I put them into a game on my phone that he knows lots more than he can read! He knows the words on sight, as long as he HEARS the word! It was a light bulb moment for me-and keep in mind that even though I am a teacher, reading is not my area of expertise. At least I do know who to talk to and what to do to continue his journey. The big fight of getting him to go to school without a fuss and saying how much he hates it seems to be over for now. He adores his teacher (we do too!) and while she pushes him, he also feels that he is valued and will work so hard just to hear her compliment him. He also has some great friends that he looks forward to seeing every day. I'm just glad he has come out of his shell!
Annika seems to have recovered mostly from her lung infection. She is still using an inhaler to help with the cough, but sounds so much better and isn't doing that little cough all. the. time. like she was before the trip to the doctor. She and I also had our eyes checked last week-no more glasses for her! That is, of course, subject to change as her genetic predisposition for bad eyes is overwhelming, but for now, one less thing to remember to bring to school! I ended up with pink-eye after the exam. Think it was from the contact case I had to use while they did the eye exam. It is nice to note that the medication for this is available OVER THE COUNTER in Australia! No doctor visit needed. Ha!
Lyle is actually home this week. His first one in several weeks. He pulled out his calendar last week and has had only 10 days in the office in Brisbane so far this year. You do the math. That is a LOT of time away from home, even though he was home on the weekends. It seems strange to be having to do the grocery shopping and plan for all of us! Have to put a bit more effort into it!
The littles are doing some after school sports this term. Annika is going to give Rhythmic Gymnastics a try. I have to giggle as when I think of the "typical" for this sport, I think of a Russian or other slavic girl with the name of Svetlana or Oksana. Annika should fit right in! Ian is continuing with tae kwon do and so excited for class days. I was able to find classes that overlap somewhat, so I only have to hang out for an hour and a half instead of 2 or more hours on class night.
Better wrap this up and get going on dinner. Butterflied lamb shoulder with roasted potatoes and butternut squash. Pasta and cheese sauce and baked beans. Yum! I love winter food. The weather is certainly not winter like yet. It was 84 today and beautiful sun! I felt bad for the kids who had to switch into their winter style uniforms this term-long pants on the boys and sweaters or blazers for both. The schools we go to don't have a totally different uniform for this season, you just layer on a sweater/jacket for Alex and the littles can wear long navy pants and a jacket. Much more low key!
Love you all! Have a great week. Miss you and counting down the days until we can come home.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Recovery!
Have to let the kids rest up to recover from their fun at the Gold Coast last weekend. They have been lazing around, course so have I! Annika and I got our eye checkups done. She no longer needs to wear glasses! She's happy about that. I'll be getting a refill on my contacts and I think I picked up an eye infection there as well. Good thing we have eyedrops for pink eye. They come in handy!
Decided we need to sort through the boxes in the garage after our 6 legged friends were discovered. Did just 2 yesterday-bathroom towels and my "winter" clothes. Found silverfish in the clothes. Sigh. Launder and it is all getting hung up inside. On the helpful side, I'll have my long sleeved stuff for winter here, and won't have to swipe Alex's denim jacket! We'll tackle a few each weekend until resorted, packed, donated, etc.
Took Annika into the regular doctor as well. She's had a persistent cough. It is a very mild lung infection-not bronchitis, pneumonia, or asthma, which is good. Inhaler and antibiotics are clearing her up nicely!
Alex has been spending time with her friends who are at different schools this week. She also got to do her first visit with the girls to the local mall. One of the other moms was in the building-the girls tried on dresses, ate ice cream, and giggled. Lots.
We have several playdates this week! Tomorrow for Ian's class, Tuesday Annika has a friend coming over, and Friday we are meeting several of the mom's I hang out with on the P&C for a long day at a great park about 1/2 hour from here. Very worth the drive-I'll have to take pics so you can see why! Huge slides and walls to climb, net climbs, flying fox (ziplines) to ride on, and lovely broad sidewalks to ride bikes and scooters. Betting I'll get to host an evening for Alex's friends as well-nice group of girls!
Lyle's working out of town only 3 days this week! Minor miracle! We are also going to Bunnings (like Home Depot) for light bulbs and lawn care stuff. Thinking we will need to get an electric weed eater (call them whipper snippers here!!) and a rake. The grass here is either really thick, or grows these super thin stalks the mover won't cut.
Have to run and pick up Alex! Love you all! Happy Birthday to you Dad!
Decided we need to sort through the boxes in the garage after our 6 legged friends were discovered. Did just 2 yesterday-bathroom towels and my "winter" clothes. Found silverfish in the clothes. Sigh. Launder and it is all getting hung up inside. On the helpful side, I'll have my long sleeved stuff for winter here, and won't have to swipe Alex's denim jacket! We'll tackle a few each weekend until resorted, packed, donated, etc.
Took Annika into the regular doctor as well. She's had a persistent cough. It is a very mild lung infection-not bronchitis, pneumonia, or asthma, which is good. Inhaler and antibiotics are clearing her up nicely!
Alex has been spending time with her friends who are at different schools this week. She also got to do her first visit with the girls to the local mall. One of the other moms was in the building-the girls tried on dresses, ate ice cream, and giggled. Lots.
We have several playdates this week! Tomorrow for Ian's class, Tuesday Annika has a friend coming over, and Friday we are meeting several of the mom's I hang out with on the P&C for a long day at a great park about 1/2 hour from here. Very worth the drive-I'll have to take pics so you can see why! Huge slides and walls to climb, net climbs, flying fox (ziplines) to ride on, and lovely broad sidewalks to ride bikes and scooters. Betting I'll get to host an evening for Alex's friends as well-nice group of girls!
Lyle's working out of town only 3 days this week! Minor miracle! We are also going to Bunnings (like Home Depot) for light bulbs and lawn care stuff. Thinking we will need to get an electric weed eater (call them whipper snippers here!!) and a rake. The grass here is either really thick, or grows these super thin stalks the mover won't cut.
Have to run and pick up Alex! Love you all! Happy Birthday to you Dad!
Monday, April 1, 2013
School Holidays!
Ahh, school break time! I have to admit, I like the approach to school here. Much more humane I think. We get 2 weeks off about every 10 weeks or so. Nice to recharge the batteries and hit it again for another term!
Swim club wrapped up this last week, along with school. The girls did amazing! Annika ended the season with 137 points, which put her in the top half for improvement for the club. Yay Annika! 1st season was a great one and she has her points trophy to commemorate it too. Alex also had an outstanding year. She got 1st place points in the girls 10+ for Butterfly and runner up for Breaststroke. Neither are her favorite strokes, so nice to see the effort rewarded. She placed 14th overall in the club for points-just shy of 200.
Swim club wrapped up this last week, along with school. The girls did amazing! Annika ended the season with 137 points, which put her in the top half for improvement for the club. Yay Annika! 1st season was a great one and she has her points trophy to commemorate it too. Alex also had an outstanding year. She got 1st place points in the girls 10+ for Butterfly and runner up for Breaststroke. Neither are her favorite strokes, so nice to see the effort rewarded. She placed 14th overall in the club for points-just shy of 200.
Ian has been coming along-swimmingly! And yes, the pun was intended! He can "dive" off the blocks and swim to the side ladder to get out. Superb improvement! He is already saying he will be going for swim club next year. I have to get him into swim lessons for the next 2 terms so he can actually swim the length of the pool! I tried 3x to get a video clip of his swimming on here-no luck. It's posted on FB if you want to view it!
Lyle put in only 4 days down in Newcastle last week, and hit 40 hours before he even had lunch on Thursday. Thank goodness it was a holiday on Friday! With the loss of a runway after dark, Brisbane is home to insane delays at peak times-he was scheduled to get on the ground at 5:30, but didn't land until after 7 due to mechanical issues and then circling for an hour. Looking forward to the full shut down between midnight and 5 am coming up for runway work. Flights will be diverted to Sydney or Melbourne if they can't land before the place shuts down.
With all this travel Lyle has built up far too many points with his hotel loyalty program. We blew just about all of them over Easter Weekend! We got reservations for 3 nights at Intercontinental Sanctuary Cove and had a wonderful, relaxing time. They have a saltwater lagoon and a pool. We spent the whole first day lazing by both and unwinding. We were smart and got the kids food wristbands for the day-breakfast, drinks, lunch, ice cream-all included for the day. Great deal and the poolside service was very nice! We spent the next day at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary just south of Surfer's Paradise. Wonderful place! The price of admission also gets you a trip through their adventure ropes course-harnessed and clipped to gum trees, wires, ladders, etc. 40 feet in the air! The girls and Lyle went in the morning while Ian and I took in the magic show and a nice playground, then we went to spectate the climbers. He was too short to go, Annika just barely made it. There were several places she was really struggling, but she made it through. She even yelled at Lyle to get him to turn off the encouraging talk! Alex just monkeyed all over the place and completed the black (hardest) level as well. I took my turn after lunch-tons of fun! Total time was about an hour to hour and a half. We also saw them feed giant eels and Australian pelicans. The eels were between 2 ft and 7 ft long-no kidding! The pelicans stand just about waist high to me. Their pouch holds 14 liters of liquid! These are the ones on Finding Nemo-they are huge!
Pelicans with eels in the water. Menu was fish for the birds and chicken necks fed by tongs to the eels. They have very sharp teeth. Yuck!
Attercop, Attercop! Just a model thank goodness!
Mom on the ropes!
Dad and Annika
Finished! I was sweaty and soaked through, but it beats a rollercoaster any day in my book!
Pelican-great shot by Alex
Looking forward to movies at the theater, temps that have almost dropped to tolerable, and the humidity should be backing off by the end of April. Playdays already being arranged with friends and mucking out the toys in the rooms. Miss Sarah has several outfits to look forward too from her big cousins and we found a new Aussie stuffed lovey, a Tasmania Devil for her too. Ian has one-named Mark. Go figure that one out.
Happy 40 to my cousin Curt! It isn't so bad this side of 40. Really!
Love you all!
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