Get Ready, Get Set!

And going home soon!  Travel medical insurance bought, most of our shopping orders have been done (thanks for receiving all the stuff Mom and Dad!), leave request in for me at work, and sorting all the stuff we are bringing and leaving has commenced!  Our bedroom looks like some sort of strange assortment of munchkins have whirled through it.  Snowsuits, sweatshirts, dresses, hats, games, all sorts of goodies coming home for everyone!

You will all be shocked by how much the kids have physically grown this past year.  Alex is less than an inch shorter than me!  Her hair is halfway down her back and beautiful shade of blonde, and her teeth have really lined up (hope that means less time in braces!) and her skin is amazing.  She has a funky sense of style I am sure she will show (I personally love the short flirty skirt with boots and girly butterfly t-shirt she rocks-Dad, not so much!) in her daily routine.  She looks much older than 13, acts like it most of the time too.  Shoo the boys away. . .  Annika is her usual spunky self.  She is very fashion aware, but I don't allow her to wear the "cool stuff like Alex" as it is really not age appropriate!  She wants to do her own hair most days for school and the oddly placed pony tails are giggle worthy.  Just DON'T say anything out loud.  You pay for it.  She has decided Barbies are no longer cool, but Monster High dolls are.  Don't ask.  Just look them up.  And Sigh.  I prefer Barbie.  Ian is rocking the gap toothed grin and talking like a fool all the time.  He is big into Army stuff and just earned an Army tank and accessories with meeting his last reading goal.  His next desire is a Nerf gun.  Sensing a pattern here.

Would you believe taxes still are not done?  We get to visit with the accountant Saturday morning to find out why we owe money to the government AND to the company.  They had to pay our estimate tax when they filed the extension and it does not show on our return as paid.  Ought to be interesting if nothing else.  To think, I considered accounting as a career!  I think I would be really stark raving mad if I had!  I know I am a documentation freak on some things, but there are lines even I have decided are not worth crossing.  Someday we aspire to doing our own taxes on TurboTax again. . .

And, to finish the blog with the latest YUM recipe we found!  This comes courtesy of my partner teacher and was a homework assignment last week.  I made for my house apes Saturday for breakfast and had to make AGAIN on Sunday!  Really is that good.  I'll write the original recipe (I converted AUS measure to US standard) and my mods to make it even better!

1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 T plus 1 t butter

Mix flour and sugar, making a well in the bowl.  Add milk and egg.  Use wooden spoon to mix. Heat pan on medium low until hot, grease pan with butter as needed.  Pour spoonfuls of mix onto hot pan (suggest heaping tablespoons-and they spread out!) cooking until bubbles form on the top.  Turn over and brown other side.
Serve with butter, jam, whipped cream, nutella (OMG good), peanut butter

Now my notes:  Melt butter and mix in when the egg and milk are mostly incorporated.  Add 1 1/2 t cinnamon.  Put 1 T vinegar in the measuring cup and then fill to 3/4 cup with milk (makes them airier).  If you don't have self raising flour, add 1 1/4 t baking soda and 1 1/4 t baking powder to the measuring cup, then fill to 1 cup with regular flour.  Add in the 1/2 cup plain flour with no additions.  Cook on fairly low heat as they won't cook in the middle but get burned on the outside!  I doubled the recipe for my crowd.  Just right and no leftovers.

Happy breakfast everyone!

The fairy wren is still obsessively pecking on every window of the house all day starting at dawn and going until dark.  Ian had me get an Australian bird book to read all about it and other feathered friends.  We spotted several at the seaside this weekend when we went for a bike ride and run!  He was pleased, as was I.  We didn't remember the names, but recognized from their photos and looked them up when we came home.

Back to School

And here we go again!  Term 3 commenced yesterday and I was glad the kids were able to go back to school!  I weeded the entire front yard and mowed the back.  Took nearly 3 hours, but glad it is done.  Thinking the family will get to do the side and back beds as I'm pretty over the weeding bit now.  Everyone was glad to get to go back and see their friends.  Ian had a couple friends over to play and Annika got to visit as well.  Alex and her tribe did some movie making to submit to a contest for an advance copy of a book in a series they are all nuts for.  I never cease to be amazed at what kids and technology can do!  They filmed on her ipod, transferred to my Mac, and used imovie and garage band to edit and compose the music!  Annika and Ian were actors as they needed scenes from memories of the main characters.  Kept them busy for nearly 2 days!  Should be able to view when we get there if you are interested!

I've been switched to Thursday and Friday for my 2 days this term, and thinking so far at least, this is nice!  Able to get school plans done and stop in if I need anything copied before the day, so I can hit the ground running for my 2 days.  It also means Ian gets to do 2 days a week of Tae Kwon Do on Monday and Wednesday, so he is thrilled!  It does mean I have to go in on Tuesdays after school for staff meetings and planning, but that is fine by me.  I can also do laundry if the weekend gets away from us (excepting school uniforms-those get done no matter what!) and clean up the house.  Well, as much as I clean anyway!

Madly getting things done here-have to put a hold on the mail and organize travel medical insurance.  Not that I am a paid endorser of the policies, but did you know that if you are out of country, and this includes the US, you have to pay for your medical out of pocket?  When was the last time you bought a policy when you went to Mexico, the Caribbean, or Canada?  Really cheap when you look at the cost of medical care!  Most of the policies we looked at here cover medical transport back to Australia for domestic treatment at their discretion.  They consider the injuries, ability to fly back using medical transport, and cost of the country you are in.  Most of the time if you are injured in the USA they will bring you back here as the cost of treatment is insane!  I can testify to this-Annika had a horrible double ear infection last year-it cost us over $300 for the 15 minute urgent care visit and $70 for medication.  I know, soapbox!  Have things piled in the corner of the bedroom and shelves of the closet of things to bring for everyone!  Planning on just a few changes of clothes as we will be shopping while there, so plenty of space to bring stuff back!

The girls and I enjoyed the Bolshoi Ballet last month and this last weekend the whole family went to see the Queensland Ballet performing Giselle.  We hopped the bus into town and enjoyed a glass of wine and the kids had a dessert before taking our seats.  It is a very traditional, romantic ballet and the costumes were gorgeous!  Will admit that by intermission we were pretty tired of graceful albeit athletic moves and poses.  It was a bit repetitive, but also very athletic, especially at the end.  While we all agreed it was a nice performance and we were glad we went, the family preference seems to lean towards more modern theatrical productions!  Ian and Annika did very well, despite their boredom.  For that matter, so did we!

See you soon!

Lost Tooth!

Yep! Another lost tooth, and this time everyone can see it!  He looks so adorable with the gap toothed grin, and KNOWS it too!  Ian and daddy were wrestling in the living room and Ian's head met daddy's knee to get this one out.  Took him over a week to finally wiggle it all the way out.  He borrowed Alex's tooth fairy pillow (since it is the least girly) and she left a silver dollar for him!  He was excited to trade it for a $2 aussie coin and has plans to buy his very own candy bar with it.  Baba has made him a super cool leather pillow to use from now on, with a leather pocket and fringes all around.  Maybe the next tooth will be left in it?  By the way, Grandma, I still have the pink heart pillow you made me when I was a kiddo!  Annika alternates using it with the one grandma Claudia made for her.  Alex pulled her last baby tooth last month-a molar and is now officially done with the baby teeth.  Braces next for her. . .

Lyle is HOME until we leave for our vacation!  He even came home a day early on my birthday as they had done everything they needed to!  At least nothing is scheduled, which is not the same thing, but wow!  Home for dinner at night and breakfast in the morning.  It is strange having him home, but very welcome.  I did an uh oh yesterday doing the laundry though!  He left a blank notebook (thank goodness!) and his safety handbook in his pants pocket.  I never check them as he is so good about NOT leaving things behind. . . and you can guess what happened.  yep.  A washer full of grey goo that covered everything, worse than the odd tissue for sure.  Plugged up the drain so I got to clean that out, which meant the floor got washed up too.  And a pile of towels that needed washed after all that.  The dryer did a pretty good job pulling all the paper off the clothes-had to clean the filter 3 times and it was packed with the finest white fluff!  Looked like fluffy cotton.

So much for a dry, sunny Queensland winter here this year!  It has been chilly, wet, and windy.  It poured all night last night, but the sun came out for a peek at least!  Cold is redefined when there is no heat in the house-at all.  45 degrees is nice, but NOT in the house!  Love the crock pot and roasting things in the oven.  My favorite thing has been butterflied lamb shoulder marinated in lime and garlic, with roasted potato, carrot, onion and garlic.  Green peas or beans on the side and it is a YUM meal!

We have tickets to see Giselle with the Queensland Ballet this Saturday night.  The whole family gets to go to this one.  An evening performance and we will take the bus there and back.  So nice to have good mass transit!

Love to all!  We are counting down!