Calling Father Christmas

The kids sat down to write their Christmas lists the other day:
Ryan (typed up on computer with a Christmas tree border)
Christmas List
- drum set
- a sim card for our mobile phone [my old one he seems to have adopted]
- a battery for our mobile phone
- a helmet for cricket
- a thigh pad for cricket
- Epic Movie on DVD
- The Simpsons Movie on DVD
- All (or most) of the Simpsons seasons on DVD
- Ben Ten Season 3 on DVD
- The Simpsons Game, Sing Star and V8 Supercars on Xbox 360
- Another Xbox 360 controller

A boy of simple wants...

And Bethany's (handwritten in many colours and decorated)
Things I want for Chrismas.
Take Care of Your Pet from Girl Tech (some tamagotchi like thing I think)
Cat Alive
Big Bubbles
Tidy room
The whole set of the Pet Keper Fairys [books]
Two Beanie Kids
AND OTHERS

Hannah's (written out by Bethany, then copied by Hannah and the two pages stapled into a book)
What Hannah wants for Chrismas
High heel shoes
Kids cooking book [she already has a number of these, but wants more, just like her mum!]
Tidy room
New clothes and pjs
Bratz book
Alion like Ryan [a test-tube alien like Ryan got for his birthday]
AND OTHERS [this one is there to cover anyone else who wants buy presents apparently!]

Tonight too, the kids made me some Christmas cards. The girls want to give theirs to me on Christmas but I got a sneak peek (since they left it right here on the computer table). The words inside say 'Mum I love you for the beut you do. [I think this is meant to be beautiful things?] I love you however you are - but for this special day I am happy to say: Merry Chrismas and a Happy New Year. With a Chrismasy lot of love from Bethany and Hannah! And then a picture of Mrs Santa.

Ryan's was great:

Dear Mum,
Mummy, I love you
For all that you do
I'll kiss you and hug you
'Cause you love me too

You feed me and need me
to teach you to play
So smile 'cause I love you
on this fantastic Christmas day
------------
My mum is very sweet and always caring
She worries about me when I'm in school
She makes sure I get where I am going
On time so I don't feel like a fool
She cares whenever I pick on my little sisters
She cares when we get hurt
She cares whenever I hit a wicket in cricket
She cares about the buttons on my shirt
--------------------
But best of all, my mum loves all of us
who live with her, both when we're good or bad.
She makes me happy with a hug and kiss,
and holds my hand whenever I am sad.
So Merry Christmas Mum, like every child wishes.
--------------------
I love you and I know you love me, we both enjoy Christmas and the holidays, but thanks for comforting me at those times and I know you will this Christmas. Thanks for everything Mum and have a merry Christmas.
---------------------
Mum has four kids, works hard all day
Undoing the damage of time, wind and clay
Makes the whole world want to stop, sigh and stay.

[end]
So, wow. I was all teary by the end of that, such lovely sentiments and well written too. Then of course he adds 'I wrote some of that, the rest is Mother's Day poems off the internet'. Ha ha, still sweet though. He wrote the one that mentions cricket and the words about comforting him at Christmas (!).

Ah kids, love 'em. I'd upload some photos but I got shaped and my connection's waaaayyyy toooo slow to even consider it for another week or so.

Cycling fiends

In my attempt to get the children hooked into cycling as well, I took them on the Big City Ride last weekend. It was good fun. The ride was marshalled, well signed and off the roads for the most part, so Ryan was happy he could race ahead of us. People we know from school were also there, so Ryan rode with them a lot of the time. Bethany pedalled hard, but there was so much to see that it was hard for her to concentrate on riding a lot of the time (and 'KEEP LEFT!'). The ride was 19km (supposedly, though my bike computer said it was 16km), two hours or so, and mostly through the parklands and along the river. Very nice way to see a different side of the city. The kids loved it and are very keen to do it again next year, but with better bikes (cycling is a fun hobby, but expensive!). Beth's bike is a single-gear, and some of the hills were a bit steep (we walked up three I think, me only in sympathy with her).
The other part of the plan was for me to tow the two littlies in my newly-acquired bike trailer, but after a test drive the day before, they decided it was too uncomfortable for an extended period (and it's a bit frustrating for me too - the clamp that joins the trailer to the bike slips under too much exertion, like hills or bumps or if I decide to go fast, and then I have to get off and jiggle the clamp around). I might look into getting a different sort of connector thingummy.
The littlies ended up staying with mum and dad, and then they all came in and met us as we finished the ride.