Techo cruising

Tonight I feel like a real geek. I'm sitting in front of two computers, typing and clicking all over the place. One is my usual pc, the other is Paul's new laptop which Raff dropped around yesterday and I'm still fiddling with (it's so cool, I want it myself!). Raff hooked the two computers together so I am transferring all the important things over (that would be, 15gb of music, plenty of photos, and some games) and setting up all the bits and pieces.

We had a nice day today - it was the Flotilla for Kids at Port Adelaide raising money for Camp Quality which was kind of fun. We sat under a marquee and watched a bunch of boats sail past (well, technically I just saw a lot of masts). The kids found a free jumping castle they spent the day in and of course we ate donuts.

Everyone was pretty tired because last night was Lee's 21st and farewell. Paul stayed at home with the kids as well as Ella and Charlotte and we all went to the Kent Town (oops, sorry, the Tap Inn) for a great dinner and then on to First at the Richmond. We gave up after that but the younger and older (Julie and Karen B, looking at you!) went on to the Stag. The theme was Dress to Impress which meant we got to go shopping beforehand. Mum (of course) bought my dress (oh, I hope dad doesn't read this, she'll get in trouble) and I even invested in some little heels! It was pretty fun to be all dressed up and out on the town for a change. My kids were flabbergasted when I came out dressed ready to go. I'm sure mum will put up some pictures of us all looking spiffy (she certainly took enough).
It was nice to see Lee, and Paul who was back for a flying visit, as well as all the usuals (and Lee's new squeeze, Tobias who seems very nice). Paul's friend Ryan was quite impressed with Emily, who was, well, certainly dressed to impress. He was quite disturbed that she was only 15.
We did all think it was a bit rude of Adam and Eva not to turn up though.

The kids had fun sleeping over here, with Paul to oversee them. Needless to say, they didn't exactly get much sleep. But it was fun.

Thanks for a fun night, Lee and Julie, and best of luck Lee (whatever you're Ghana do!).

Hernia good jokes lately?

How about the one about the woman who thought she'd fix her mildly uncomfortable hernia by having a very uncomfortable operation? Hilarious, that one.
Actually, it's not all so bad. I got a night of 'luxury' in hospital, a day of laying around home being waited on hand and foot (yes really) and then mum and dad had Sophie for a second night so I got an unbroken night's sleep (although I was still awake at 5am).
The recovery from this operation is pretty easy though, compared to the recovery from my caesarean. I feel better today than I did when I came home from hospital five days after that operation, and the extra bonus is that I don't have a newborn to deal with at the same time!
Sophie has been very cute about it all. I showed her the wound, which looks pretty impressive as they've only covered it with that clear film so you can see everything. She keeps calling it 'ssoorrss' which I'm not sure is meant to be 'sore' or perhaps 'sauce' from the blood. :) Any rate, she keeps well away from my tummy area and I had to reassure her several times that she could still breastfeed. Too cute.

Photos: Me looking suitably impressed at an extremely tall Lego tower the kids built.

Ryan, Bethany and Beth's friend Caitlin impersonating a human spider over Hannah.

Sophie loved the geese at Nanny's.














The other cousins. We visited with Paul's sister's kids this week. They were down from Darwin for a week visiting their dad's family and Jeannie had them for one day and night. They are lovely girls, bubbly, happy and polite. The kids all get along very well, although Bethany felt a bit lost, not quite old enough to keep up with Ryan, Ayla (11) and Holly (9). Ayla is an extremely talented artist, she was drawing freehand an ocean scene from the front of the pencil packet and it was just amazing.



With both parents such avid readers, is it surprising that this is a common scene in our house?

Calendar anyone?

This year, for unique and thoughtful gifts from our children, various teachers and carers hit upon the novel idea of laminating a photo of a child and attaching a bunch of dates (not that sort!). Hey presto, a calendar! Only problem is, they're pretty useless. And for this year, we have three of them (plus some cute scribbles from the baby).

Sophie sharing Bethany's hot dog on a visit to the Elizabeth Aquadome last week.

Some sunburned girls after a day out to the beach with Papa today. Note Bethany's red butt as her bathers are too small so she has an almost permanent wedgie. But why was her bottom in the sun so much??? At least they had a fun day.

Another year almost over

As amazing as it seems, 2006 draws almost to a close. It's certainly been an interesting year here... lots of things have changed, but plenty is still the same.

Our highlights: that wonderful holiday in Victor Harbor in January, Bethany starting school and having such a great year, Ryan's great year at school, the quick trip to Black Point,


Photo: Someone put Hannah- Barbie's arms on the wrong way


getting to spend so much time at Ikea (after seeing family off at the airport so often), having Huck join our family for a while, Sophie turning one, Hannah finally being able to hear again, and today, Sophie weeing in the potty for the first time (see how I snuck that brag in there? She's only 18 months!).
Our lowlights: well, who wants to live in the past? :) In a few ways, 2007 will be better, I'm sure.
Things I'm looking forward to: Our 'snow holiday' (details to be determined), a new laptop (hopefully), some new furniture and bits and pieces, Bethany having a year with Mrs Haines, watching Ryan mature another year, Hannah starting kindy, watching Sophie grow into herself (and therefore starting to emerge from baby-world myself), welcoming a new nibling into the world (thanks Beth M for creating the word! - I hope I get to use it and can't still get away with 'nieces').

As always, I am grateful for the continuing good health and great natures of those I hold dear. I am truly so lucky to be surrounded by such lovely and caring people (and that means you!). Roll on 2007!

Photo: Bethany displays her make-up skills courtesy of a present from Aunty Marilyn.

Hark the herald angels

We went to the Gawler Christmas Carols last night. It was lots of fun. So much nicer with kids this age to go to a small country event rather than the big one in the city. There was room for the kids to play and run around, during 'Away in a Manger' and 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' all the kids were called up to the stage and almost all had a turn at the microphone (none of the Feuerherdt/Stomaci clan got a turn though. Perhaps they had been warned in advance...), at the end, Father Christmas turned up and sat every child on his knee (including Ryan!) and gave them all a present. It was just nice. The weather was beautiful too. We walked/rode/scootered there and it was good fun heading home at 1030pm. Mum and dad headed most of the way home with us, so it was the whole posse making our way home in the dark. Sophie had stayed home with Paul (awake for most of the time, oops), and the other three kids did great (and weren't even overly grumpy today).

Photo: Bethany, Hannah and Ella looking angelic


Photo: Ryan on Santa's knee

Angels

Most mornings I end up with one or some or all of the children in my bed before we finally get up for the day. This morning it was Bethany and Hannah. We were just lying and talking and stuff, when Bethany asks Hannah 'Hannah, do you know how much I love you?'. Hannah thought for a second and answered 'So much?'. 'Yes, that's right!' exclaimed Bethany, 'how did you know that?'. 'Because that's how much I love you', was Hannah's delightful reply.

Photo: Sophie getting her first ever face-painting at the Gawler Christmas Street Party a few weeks ago.

Another step forward

Today in the mail we got a package from the preschool, letting us know Hannah will be in pre-entry in Term 1 next year. When I got the package and realised what it was, I actually got quite sad. To the point of actually having tears well up. That is not me. But for some reason I just can't believe Hannah is old enough for kindy. She still seems like such a little sweetie, although I have noticed her conversations and observations improving in maturity over the last little while (her behaviour too!). And I'm going to miss her. It will be very weird not having her around to help me in so many little ways as well as just her constant chatter. I think too, the thought of just having one child at home is quite strange. Always by the time one of the others has gone to kindy, I've been pregnant or actually had a new baby, so I've always still had two at home. How strange. I'll certainly enjoy the time with Sophie though. Although not the trek back and forwards to kindy again. And if Nicole and Raff end up moving elsewhere in Gawler then it probably won't even be worth sharing the pick-up duties.

Today too was Bethany's end of year concert. They were very clever in the junior primary this year as they kept it very simple. All the classes (6 or 7?) learnt the same six songs. Each class dressed up slightly differently (Bethany's class had giant cardboard bells around their neck - apparently so they matched Jingle Bells, Ryan just informed me. Other classes had reindeer ears for Rudolph etc). All the classes were up on the stage and all of them sang the songs together. There were lots of parents there! Ryan's class and the rest of middle primary came to watch too so that was cool. I will try to put a bit of the video on youtube although it's all a bit blurry.
Ryan is in the major production in a couple of weeks time - the sequel to the production two years ago (they had a break last year). It's called 'The Queen's Revenge' and as usual it should be of excellent quality. Tim Purvis the drama teacher is very good - even having his own production company who put on performances shown in the Fringe (using school kids of course).

Hannah's operation

Yesterday Hannah had her procedures: bilateral myringotomy and tube insertion, adenoidectomy, bilateral antral washout and cautery to inferior turbinates. This basically means she had tubes in, adenoids out, sinuses flushed and mucus membranes inside nose cauterized. Yum.
She was a trouper as always. We had to be at the hospital at 8am, but we were late, by the time we off-loaded the other kids at Nicoles. After the usual hospital check-in routine, we were hurried to our room as the nurse had just put 'Over the Hedge' on the tv system. We had a double room but there was no-one in the other bed. Hannah lay back in luxury on the bed and watched tv.

Photo: Hannah watching tv before surgery. (taken on my phone)

I had to sit on the chair as she wouldn't share the bed! I thought Over the Hedge was funny but I think a fair bit of it went over Hannah's head. After the movie finished we skipped through the channels for a while, but the poor thing was hungry (fasting since midnight of course), so it was hard to keep her interested in anything for long. We wandered the corridors for a while (Central Districts being a small hospital, we were never far away from our room), until finally the nurse came to find us. Hannah was very pleased to get driven into surgery in the Big Red Car (which I remember from Ryan's surgery years ago - he wouldn't get into it, I had to carry him). She sat happily on my lap in the operating theatre, breathed deeply in the mask and was out like a light. It threw me for a little while as her eyes stayed open even when she was laying down, although they eventually closed. I was talking to her long after they said she was out of it! Then I got to go back to the room and wait. I didn't pay attention to the times, but I think she went in about 1030, and came out about 1130. I got to read Dean Koontz in peace for an hour... I was a bit concerned though that she'd wake up in Recovery totally freaked out (since parents aren't allowed in there) but I reminded her a few times that I wouldn't be there and she seemed okay with that. I did keep an ear out every time I heard a crying child as I thought that's how she'd be when they brought her in. At about 1130, the nurses came in and said they were just going to move her bed to another room, one where there was a nurse all the time, rather than our room where the nurse has a bunch of rooms to look after. (Can you interpret that? It's a nice way of saying intensive care, or in this hospital's terminology, the High Dependency Unit). They explained that because she was so little and they had to do obs every 15 minutes, and the doctor had said her tonsils were so large, they wanted her there to keep an eye on her. Whatever. They emphasised it was just the nurses idea, not the doctors. Later at shift change, I overheard the one nurse telling the other about Hannah's apnoea in Recovery, so I'm guessing she stopped breathing a time or two, or at least snored in her usual way. Don't really know why they didn't tell me that in the first place, I'm sure I don't look like the nervous type. Anyway, the HDU at this little hospital only had room for three beds. There were only two in there - us and an older guy who'd had some sort of leg surgery but had had chest pains that morning so they put him in there for closer observation.

Photo: Hannah after surgery. No, she's not putting that face on, she was like that for about 20 minutes before she realised she actually felt okay.

Hannah was dozing when they brought her in, but woke up straight away. She was a bit sad and listless at first, as you can see from the photo, but I soon had her sitting up to have a drink of water, and then she felt much better. She had a drip in her arm, giving her 'special juice' to make her feel better, and a pulse-oximeter clipped to her toe. She perked up very quickly and said she felt very good. She said she could hear better, and breathe better. I'm not so sure about the breathing as she was still pretty snuffly sounding. Later she started to get clear/bloody mucus dripping for a little while but that cleared up. She's still snuffly though. I'd say she can hear better, she's talking heaps quieter! She laughed at her voice, said it sounded funny. We hung out for several hours in the HDU. At one stage Hannah had to go to the toilet, so they undid her drip and we headed to the toilet. I also made a couple of calls, since you weren't allowed to use your phone in the HDU (of course, using it just outside the door probably has much the same effect). Hannah was delighted to be free, and ran around the whole hospital dancing and skipping. Nothing wrong with her. Then we went back in, and she was clipped up again like an invalid. We brought five childrens books, fortunately most of them were long, so I only had to read each one three times. We had long promised Hannah jelly and icecream at the hospital and I had ordered that for her dinner. When it came, she didn't like the taste of the icecream (that cheap metallic taste) nor the jelly, but fortunately wasn't too concerned at not actually eating them.
We'd planned on spending the night as we weren't sure exactly what was happening, but most people we spoke to there said we would get out, but later at night, 7 or 8pm. The doctor came around after he finished surgery about 4pm, and said we could go home after dinner. So, about 6, we were out of there. We went back to Nicole's, where the other children had demolished a pile of tacos and were just about to destroy the fruit salad. Hannah and I joined in, enjoying the icecream there a lot more than the hospital's. All home and to bed no dramas at all. (although Hannah woke a couple of times to pee out all the saline they'd pumped into her). About 530 Hannah woke up crying and retching. She vomited up a little bit of liquid but then settled back down again to sleep, waking again at 7 retching. After that, she was quite happy, ate breakfast okay and was happy as anything all day. Just now in bed she's been coughing badly, so I've given her some water and she's settled down again. The only complaint she'd had while in hospital was that her throat was sore, which was no doubt due to the tube the anathe/aneath/ the guy who put her to sleep put down her throat. I'm guessing tonight's coughing is due to that irritation. The vomiting this morning I suppose was probably a reaction to the anaesthetic. Hopefully by tomorrow it's all gone. We see the doctor again in two weeks or so. Oh, she's not allowed to blow her nose. Good thing she doesn't know how to!


Photo: Paul's store, at day 3 of closure. Today is the final day closed (of 7) before the grand opening tomorrow as Coles - any surprises he's not home from work yet at 10pm? It all must be Just So.

All roads lead to...

Caught up with Grandpa and David today. Yes they had a visit a few weeks ago from 'the man' telling them that some of the property will have road over the top of it in a few years time. It seems like the road will run somewhere right along the back of the property, so they will lose from 35m to maybe 120m along the back, depending on the exact final alignment. Grandpa thinks it works out to be about 3 or 4 acres. He's not particularly bothered about it, just wants to make sure that he gets compensated for the loss of the land, plus the value of the lease of that area, plus for the fact that he will no longer be able to subdivide (since he's only allowed to subdivide in 10 acre lots, and he has 20 now, so when a bit is taken out, he won't be able to split it up). The people who live almost directly behind him on the end of Bain Road will be losing their house, so I guess he is just glad that's not happening. David said there are a total of 49 houses that will be lost, which is not really so bad given the scale of the project. I do shudder a bit to think of how much good farming land will be lost, just for the evil car. It's not like they can just pick up and farm further north...
Both Grandpa and David are well - David had to head to work, but we stayed and chatted to Grandpa for a while, Hannah very pleased there were white chocolate frogs to be had, Sophie excited by licking the cream out of several biscuits. Grandpa had surgery a couple of weeks ago on his wrists, sounds like it was carpal tunnel problems, not necessarily arthritis related. He started having problems moving his hands about a month ago, went to see the doctor and then got into hospital pretty quickly after that. He's very happy with the way his hands are now.

As I blog I keep hearing a low rumbling sound - I thought it was something in the computer, but I've finally worked out it's Rufus snoring just outside the window! He seems quite happy here - is very kindly using only one corner of the garden as his toilet, and otherwise being his usual placid self. The cat has wised up to how slow and deaf he is, and is even brave enough to drink out of his waterbowl on occasion!

Sleeping with the enemy

Over the last ten weeks I have not turned down any catering job. I've done breakfasts, lunches and dinners, short notice meals, all sorts. Nicole has helped out, mostly with kid-watching, sometimes with food, but mostly it's just worked out okay for me alone. This week, with the end of solo-catering just about in sight, I've had to turn down *two* jobs. How ironic. One was this Monday night at 6pm. Just when I'm getting home from work. This one was Gawler Council who rang at about 11am that day (should know better!) and I suggested that they try Viva just down the road who apparently did come through quite well (but not too well, or too cheap, I hope!). Then another call from the council this week (who have a new mayor for those who have not been keeping up with the news... Brian Sambell). They were after a nice big lunch on Sunday, 50 people. Unfortunately Hannah has her surgery on Saturday and I think she will be staying overnight (mixed messages from dr and hospital), so I will be too. And since I can't predict how she'll be feeling on Sunday, gotta say no. If it were 10, or even 20 people, I might take the gamble that I could work around her misery, but not with 50. So once again they have to find an alternate caterer. Again, I hope not too good, cheap or friendly! I'm very glad we've built up a good rapport with the main orderers at the council.

This week with big fanfare, the proposed route for the Northern Expressway was released. It seems a bit redundant to me, but the press has generally been good. It's a big road that heads from somewhere around Gawler down to Port Wakefield Road, north of the Waterloo Corner Road intersection. Supposed to take a load off Main North, and all those little back roads people take (like Curtis, Stebonheath). I guess it will probably chop another 10-15 off my trip to Port Adelaide (if I'm still there by the time the thing's actually built, they're saying 2011 completion). Anyway, it seems to me from the maps I've seen that it cuts right through the back of Grandpa's property. On the map I linked to, it's between points 3 and 4. I couldn't find a more detailed map on-line, but they had one at the shopping centre. The new road goes right between Frisby Road and Andrews Road. I'm not too sure about how far back his property goes, so I don't really know if he's affected. I tried to call around there today to chat to him but he wasn't home. If he is affected, I gather he would have already recieved the information on the compulsory acquisition. Changes the whole vibe of the place having a freeway in your backyard...

Hey now, you're a rock star

Those of you who didn't recognise that line as the first line of the chorus to 'All Star' by Smashmouth obviously haven't been living in close proximity to Ryan for the last few months. I made the grand mistake of printing the lyrics off the internet, and putting the song on my phone. Ryan spends all his time singing this one song loudly and tonelessly over and over.
Tonight we had the school disco and Ryan was very hopeful that they would play his song. He even brought his own cd of it just in case they didn't have it. But getting him up to request it was extremely difficult. He didn't want to go up on the stage to talk to the dj, because 'everyone would be looking at him'. Even pointing out that it was behind the speakers with all the lights in front didn't help. He ended up going up with his friend Lachlan, and Lauren Jakeway. The dj had the song and promised to play it 'next'. He didn't of course. Then he got to the very last song and

Photo: Sophie disco bunny

announced it was a request and started to play... not that song. Ryan was extremely extremely disappointed, but after literally 5 seconds of deep moping, he snapped out of it and started dancing along. I was incredibly impressed with him doing that. Then the lights came up and as everyone filed out, the dj played 'All Star'. So we had to stay behind while Ryan sang along very happily to his song. I should see if I can put the video on youtube.

In general the school disco was lots of fun. R-3 disco was 4-5.30, which was a very good time - not too late in the day, and just long enough (and only the littler kids which was nice too). Vicki had an appointment in the city so we had Sinead and Lauren after school and took them to the disco with us, then they came home afterwards and had dinner with us too.
The adult-child ratio was almost 1:1 at the disco, I'd say, with most of the parents staying, and plenty of teachers too. The dj was great, really aiming it at the age group. We did the Hokey-Pokey, Locomotion, Time Warp and Macarena (obviously things have moved on from my day as there was no Madison or Bus Stop, sigh). Hannah got right into it, dancing with Lauren for most of the time. Sophie was way into it too, dancing hard for most of the evening. Bethany and Sinead had dressed her in a little ballerina outfit while they were getting themselves ready, so she looked very cute too. Not surprisingly, Bethany wore Sinead's clothes, and Sinead wore Bethany's. All the kids got a turn dancing up on the stage which was fun as well. Oh, and the canteen had set up a table in there and was selling lollies, a major attraction.

Star trekking

Today we did the grand circuit of Greater Adelaide. I had to go to Lonsdale to the Pram Doctor to get the wheel fixed on my pram (bye, $55...). Man, it's a long way there! The kids were really good. While we were waiting for it to get fixed, we visited Colonnades shopping centre which has had a big revamp. Funnily enough, it looks pretty much just like Elizabeth. All the same shops - I didn't spot a single shop which wasn't a franchise. A very pretty food court, whoops I mean 'Diner Life', and everything zoned (fashion, fresh food, electrical). After we picked up the pram, we headed over to Cheltenham to exchange my Bessemer pans. Then to Officeworks for some bits and pieces. Then back to get the kids from school. A big day, and petrol was right down at 106.5 when I left (but didn't get it) and back up to 118.9 when I got home (and still didn't get it, although I really need it - can I go a whole weekend without travelling far?).

Tonight I got a call from Nana. She said that Rosalie's banana leaf christmas card had also been confiscated by the thin blue line, but hers had made it through. So perhaps we can add everyone's name to that one...

It's all relative

Talking to Bethany in bed tonight, she asked me how we got snot. I talked a bit about mucous membranes and such and then mentioned how there is hard snot and runny snot. 'The hard snot is yummy,' she said. 'But don't you think it's a bit gross to eat it?' I asked. 'No, eating someone else's snot is gross'. Well, I guess she's right.
And of course, I guess I can't really talk, as I was squirting breastmilk into all the girls' mouths tonight as well (sorry for that mental picture!). They all thought it was hilarious, especially Sophie.

How embarassment

Today I recieved a letter in the mail from the Government, with a big blue sticker on the back which said 'Important Quarantine Documents. Open immediately.' Inside was a nice little letter from Quarantine telling me that there was some really bad stuff in a parcel that had been sent to me (from Mexico, hint hint) and it needed to be gamma-irradiated to be safe. This would cost $42.50 and may destroy the item in the process. Or I could do nothing and they would destroy it in 30 days. It appears the offending item is a card and envelope made of banana stalk (which, unfortunately, will now be destroyed in 30 days, sorry mum!). The rest of the parcel had arrived a few days ago (with an 'Opened for inspection by Customs' sticker on it). I guess with bananas still at $12/kilo they thought I might try and eat the card instead...

Village fair

Today was Remembrance Day and the Village Fair. We arrived at the fair just in time to hear the service for Remembrance Day. Ryan was very excited to see some real soldiers. The Village Fair was as it always is, although, I thought there were less stalls than usual. Talking to some stallholders they thought the same thing. I noticed particularly that the Breastfeeding Association wasn't there. No-one was serving pancakes! Ran into Justin Frick and his (pregnant) wife, so that was a pleasure. The kids took some of their pocket money and delighted on spending it all on lollies and lucky dips. It was a good chance to discuss with them how all the money we spent there went towards community organisations, so it didn't really matter if your lucky dip sucked or I didn't win any raffles.

Later in the day, I noticed a tiny baby bird outside. We get quite a few this time of year (just like last year), they are starlings I think. I guess they either fall out of the nest or are just really bad at learning to fly. This baby bird was near the dog's bowl, and I also noticed an adult bird nearby with a piece of dog food in its mouth. Normally I try to put the baby birds under the trees as I figure they might be a bit safer from the cat. Today I was quite pleased as I realised the cat wouldn't come anywhere near it due to the dog (she will grudgingly skulk from the back door to the laundry to eat, but not through the cat door, only if you actually open the door for her). So I called the girls outside to see the bird. We all huddled around it to examine it. Rufus came to see what we were doing. Then ate the bird. Oops. The girls didn't need to see that. Actually, he just put it in his mouth, so I yelled at him and grabbed him and got him to spit it out. Sophie and Bethany started crying, though it was me yelling more than the dog eating the bird that started them. Hannah just delightedly described everything that was happening. 'Rufus is eating it! He won't be hungry now!'. I grabbed hold of Rufus to keep him away from the bird while I calmed the girls down. The bird died while we were watching it and talking about nature and nests full of other baby birds. I don't think Rufus actually killed it though, it didn't look quite right anyway (some strange thing going on with its neck) so maybe the parents ditched it. Of course we buried it with full ceremony. Later I found another dead baby bird on the lawn - the other's 'grave' didn't appear to be dug up, so I assume there were two. I didn't mention that one to the kids...

Last one standing

Nicole, Raff and clan headed off to Kangaroo Island yesterday, leaving us as the only Yacoumis off-shoot in Adelaide. That's okay. We just live vicariously through the blogs. And we've got the dog, turtle, cat and fish as hostages if you all don't come back!
It was very exciting to get a 5 minute, $20 phone call from Cuba today, even if it was only to discuss purchasing T3 shares (just like all those ads...). We also got a mysterious parcel from Mexico that the children are just itching to get into.

Testing times

Ryan got the results of the Literacy and Numeracy test this week. The school as a whole did really well, the principal was saying at council meeting. In Year 5 in Literacy, 70% of students were in Bands 5 and 6 (the top two bands). That's pretty amazing, since the average is Band 3. There were no students below Band 3.
As Ryan is in Year 3, the scale only goes up to Band 5. Any guesses for where Ryan scored? :)
Overall Numeracy: Band 5. Number, 5. Measurement and Data, 5. Space, 5. Overall Literacy: Band 4 (I know!). Reading, 5. Spelling, 5. Writing, 2. It seems that in the writing section they had to write a narrative in a structured way with correct grammar and punctuation. Since he writes extremely well, it's surprising he did so badly. He says that he had trouble thinking of something interesting to write about, which I can totally picture. I can just see him trying so hard to be different and interesting, that he got writer's block. Oh well. He still scored above the minimum required standard, but it would have been nice to have straight fives. He's not too concerned about it, and I don't think there will be any consequences or follow-up.

Photo: Ryan and
Hannah share a hug.

Pageant party!

Today we had a few people over to watch the pageant. A week or so ago I had one of those 'oh' moments where I realised mum and dad wouldn't be here for the pageant. Neither Nicole or I were up for taking all the kids, and though Ryan voted for one of us taking the older kids and the other staying home with the babies, we weren't that excited in that option either. It was funny to think that last year, mum, dad, Adam, Eva and even Paul Y were all there with us...
We had Nicole, Ella and Charlotte (of course) plus a bonus guest of Rufus, Jacki, Jarra and Arusha, and Vicki and Sinead over. (there's hopefully a photo on Nicole's camera that she'll put up - I couldn't find mine). So it was lots of fun for the kids, and us grown-ups had fun chatting too. Ryan of course didn't have any friends, so that was unfair - his friend Lachlan was away, and Lauren had other plans so he didn't even have her to play with. The kids (even the babies) started off well captivated by the tv, but very quickly the lure of first the food (too much as always) and then the toys drew away most of the children. Ella and Ryan lasted through till the end. I think the fascination for Ryan was much more about keeping track on the pageant poster about which float was next, rather than the actual floats themselves. They tried to get the other kids enthused but they barely even spared a few seconds to glance at Father Christmas.
Later, after Jacki and her kids left, Vicki headed off to do some things, leaving Sinead, and Nicole headed home to put Charlotte to bed and do some things too (another inspection tomorrow), so we had Ella and Sinead for the rest of the afternoon. It worked out great - Ella and Hannah made one family, Bethany and Sinead the other, and they kept visiting each other's houses for cups of tea. Scarcely a niggle to be had. Then when Nicole arrived to take Ella home, Ella was extremely insistent that they leave - wouldn't even let me and Nicole chat!

Rufus settled in well, although the cat is not that sure. All the children have spent much time brushing out his fur, it seems like that is the latest zen craze here. We did have one little hiccup, when Vicki came to get Sinead, she came around via the fodder store/railway station, and arrived asking if we were missing the dog, since there was a big black one wandering around down there. We hadn't even noticed, but one of the children must have left the gate open at some stage. Paul headed off with the leash, and sure enough, arrived back with one very exhausted old Rufus. Hopefully that is the only escape he makes!

Double doctors

Today we visited two doctors. First in the morning, we visited Dr Anthony just to check up on Sophie who'd had a croupy night. I still had some of the medication left from her very scary croup in March, so I gave her that at midnight and then did the steam, but she took ages to quiet down. She was fine by the morning but I took her in anyway (hey, we haven't seen Anthony for months, it was about time). He just said to give her another dose of the meds tonight and otherwise she seemed fine. Also told me off about not having got her vaccinated just yet.
The funny thing was going into the surgery, and finding Nicole there waiting to see him. She was the appt before us.
The second appointment was finally Hannah's ENT specialist. He was very nice. Hannah had been certain he would be a girl, despite me telling her otherwise. Even when Anthony said earlier in the day that she would like Dr Krishnan as he's a very nice man, she remained convinced he was tricking and the dr would really be a girl. While we were waiting to see him, he came out about four times to call other patients, but when it was our turn, she was still hoping he would turn into a girl. When he came out and called her and was still male, she threw herself on the floor screaming. He was very good though, told her all about how good he looks in a skirt. :) He was very patient at distracting her and buttering her up. Apparently the referral letter said 'please take good care of Hannah as she is my best patient'. She liked that.
She let him look in her ears and nose, and remembered in great dismay later that he had forgotten to look in her mouth like I'd said he would. As we expected, he is going to put grommets in and take adenoids out. He is also going to cauterize her nasal passage which sounds really fun. He said she will still get some mucus production, but not so much like she gets now, and that will help prevent the fluid build-up in her ears.
I asked about her tonsils, but he said that most likely once he gets rid of the chronic infections (oh yeah he also mentioned clearing out her sinuses), her tonsils will reduce in size, but he'll keep an eye on that over the next few months, and if they still give her problems he'll take them out too.
So she is going to have the surgery at Central Districts on Saturday 25 November.
The neatest thing about that, is that we now are basically looking at the home run into when mum and dad get back - we just about have plans for every weekend between now and then, and it doesn't seem so far away. Pageant this weekend, village fair next weekend, garage sale probably the weekend after, Hannah's surgery, Christmas street fair thingumy (doing some catering for that), then they're back! Woo-hoo! Not that we miss them or anything...

Boo!

Halloween today here. After last year where all the families in the street got organised and went trick or treating together, my kids wanted to do it again. None of them understood that because it hadn't been organised (due to the prime organiser being away on holidays) and the neighbours forewarned, there would most likely be no lollies to be had. I tried to impress on them the fun aspect of wandering around in fancy dress, never mind the lollies. We (well I) thought it might be nice to do a reverse trick or treat, where we gave lollies out to people. The kids dressed up as a rabbit (Hannah), a unicorn (Bethany) and a zombie (guess who). The zombie outfit was created at the last minute, with a too-small shirt and holey kneed jeans destroyed in the making. Paul played face-painter, painting a beautiful bunny face as well as a ghoulish zombie face and guts hanging out. We wandered around giving out lollies to the neighbours, only scoring lollies back from the three houses closest to us. Despite discussing/arguing about the whole 'why are we bothering if we're not getting lollies?' attitude, we had fun, and I hope the message penetrated a tiny bit. Later we had a trick-or-treater come to our door so that was exciting too. Never mind he was lamely dressed in just a fake plastic Crows guernsey, and I suspect was out more for the lollies than the experience.