Week of August 26 Highlights

When we walked to dinner Sunday night, my long lost phone was sitting out on the fence of a neighbors house a few doors up, placed for pickup, no worse for the wear (which doesn't say much for those of you that have seen my shattered screen with tape holding some large shards in place).  Very strange.  No nude photos added to the phone - or at least none worth posting.

MONDAY - We have been emailing with Lily and Caden's St. Joe teachers - Mrs. Bassett for Caden (same fantastic teacher Lily had), and Mrs. Shetterly for Lily's second grade.  They are so sweet, keeping us in the loop on happenings there and offering to share details of Lily and Caden's lives here with the class.  Lily emailed Mrs. Shetterly too, telling her about the diorama of the husky she is working on.  Mrs. Shetterly asked Lily to send a photo once complete that she could share.  Lily is thrilled.

Monday both kids rode their bikes to school.  Corey and Lily went on ahead, as she needs to be seated in her classroom about 10 minutes before Caden and Corey teaches Mondays.  Caden, Gia and I headed up at a more leisurely pace.  Caden was selected to ring the bell today.

The covered area where the kids hang their backpacks.

Caden's classroom

Lined up for sports time

Afterwards Gia and I walked up Marmion to 9 Seeds Cafe.  Gia colored and played on her Kindle while I treated myself to a read of the paper.  A man was eaten by a saltwater crocodile over the weekend!  The story went something like, 'Two men swimming across a murky lake...'.  Why would one swim across a murky lake?!?!?!?

The other big news focus is on the dangerous state of gun ownership in the U.S. in response to the young Australian man gunned down in Oklahoma.  The statistics on provided were staggering, and did not do any favors for the image of the U.S. that Australians have of needing to duck when one goes out to pick up the morning paper!  Guns were outlawed in Australia over the past decade - despite a lot of pressure by the NRA, but they claim a drastic drop in shootings.  It couldn't possibly get worse, right?!?

Monday afternoon I made banana chocolate chip muffins with all of the ripe bananas we had, resulting from the kids having to buy the "baby bananas" then complaining they were not getting full enough at snack time on baby bananas.  Warm muffins when the kids got home resulted in exclamations from both Lily and Caden that I am the best mommy in the whole world.  Not Australia or the U.S. - but the world.  Take that June Cleaver!  I am having a shirt made.

For breakfast the same day I made Mommy Pfrommy Apple Pancakes (trademarked name for my mom's pancakes) -  and Lily said, "These are almost as good as your moms!" :)

We capped off our evening with a volcano launch, which has been a long time coming, so that the used volcano could morph into an igloo for Lily's diorama.


TUESDAY
Gia stayed in her own bed all night - despite a brief little 12am re-tuck.  Sadly I stayed up until 4 after the re-tuck.  Good part was I got to see Corey off to the airport for his flight to Singapore.  Then Lily up at her usual 6am time, agreed to head out to the living room on her own to use her Kindle and eat a muffin, and more importantly let mommy sleep.  Then she came back 10 minutes later - right after I had just fallen back to sleep - saying we forgot to pray the night before and wanted to pray for daddy to have a safe trip :)  So sweet.  Great start to my groggy day.

Gia up at 6:30 and proudly announced she stayed in her bed all night.  She asked if she could get her dolly now, and then proceeded to the laundry room where "Lulu" was being kept and got her out herself.  I could here Lulu's recorded voice as Gia picked her up saying, "Hello mommy".  Lulu is Gia's mini me.

Lulu

I must admit getting everyone ready for school with a still stiff body after little sleep was a bit of a challenge.  I was further compromised by heavy rain.  We still had to get to school, so Gia tucked into the stroller, Lily sat her feet and held an umbrella over them to make a little house, and Caden sat on the handlebars and attempted to keep an umbrella over us both, which meant I walked without being able to see anything but the umbrella!

So the rain was teaming down, and I'm pushing 150 pounds of kids in the stroller up the crazy steep hill as fast as I can as we are running a bit behind, and my marathon-wrecked quads are screaming!  I couldn't believe how difficult it felt!  That is until we reached the school entrance and I realized that I had the brakes locked on the entire way!!!  Ugh!

After drop off Gia and I headed to George Street to get a coffee and wait for the rain to pass.  We were due to meet my good old friend Dan Sholdas who owned the Napoleons Cafe I worked at when I was 24 at 9 Seeds a mile up the road.  The rain did not let up, which is very unusual, so we changed our meeting venue to Cookie Dough on George Street - which enabled a little shopping beforehand.  I picked up a beautiful necklace/bracelet handmade here in Australia :)

Catching up with Dan was like stepping back in time.  We chatted easily about friends, the paleo diet (he is a big fan), and how great it is being a parent.  His little guy Alex is Caden's age.  We have a picnic planned for end of September - when Uncle Randy will be here!

WEDNESDAY - Finally feeling back to normal.  Rehydrated and eating.  Gia and I went to the Wine Shop for breakfast - and no, I didn't crack a bottle for breakfast.  Just coffee and an interesting muffin I had to try that was sweet potato and chorizo sausage.  We stayed for a couple of hours coloring, and doing a bit of iPad time so I could catch up my inbox that inevitably grows out of control.

After our daily play set visit, we set off for a walk by the river.  The sun was out in all its glory and the breeze coming off the river felt magnificent.  Gia started off walking, and then agreed to pack it in as she became more and more sleepy.  We walked for a couple of miles, Gia sleeping for much of it.

I found a shady spot at the park and read for a bit while Gia finished her nap.  So love the Kindle - being able to carry the iPad and read any book at any time - and break out the Disney Princesses when needed on the same device.  Absolute genius.

The sky is our favorite Perth blue

After picking up Lily and Caden, we headed back to George Street so they could ride their bikes and play a bit.  Next we headed up the street to George Street Bistro for after school snacks.  We ended up getting a few different desserts of theirs and packing them up to take to the next play set on our way home that has a sidewalk surrounding ideal for kids to ride their bikes around.  It is about 1/2 mile.  Lily did 7 laps, in honor of her age.  She is doing excellent on her bike.

The play area here is surrounded by boulders that have flat table-top like surfaces.  There we laid out our "dessert picnic".  Caden and I favored the Ginger Squares.  I liked the passion fruit on top of the cheesecake, passed on the cheesecake.  Gia loved the carrot cake.  Lily liked the chocolate and banana cake pop.  Great team.

We got home just as it was getting dark.  Ate some veggies, to counter the dessert picnic, did baths, and hopped in bed for reading.  Starting to get in a rhythm, but really missing Corey.

THURSDAY
I hosted a 'mom's with husbands working late or away' pizza night.  Attendees included Kat, with Olie and Charlotte, and Trena with Mimm (Lily's class), Kipp (Caden's grade), and baby Teo (really).  We set up a pizza bar for the kids to make up their own pizzas and grill them out.  They had a blast - and so did the mom's :)


FRIDAY
This Sunday is Father's Day in Australia, and as a result, the school has had a ton of activities centered around dads, including a little breakfast that Caden's class prepared and were serving to their daddy's this morning.  Caden was in tears that Corey was not available - and Corey nearly was too.  We have gotten so used to such a low travel schedule!  So Caden, Lily, and Gia and I went out to breakfast on our own and went in after it was over.  We ate like kings :)  Lily licked her plate clean with strawberry stuffed french toast and goat curd cream.  We then hopped on the 8:29 bus and were to school early.  Love it when things go off as planned!

There was a school Assembly this morning where Lily was honored for the great work she is doing!  Very sweet.  I love that they honor the kids this way each month.

Lily on stage

All of the awardees

Leaving the assembly area, which is covered, but outdoors.  Lily is holding her carpet square, as all of the kids are responsible for bringing a square to sit on in the younger grades (Caden's class shares a square) or a chair. 

 Lily was promised she could have a sleep over if she received a perfect score on her spelling test.  She did it!  20/20

After school the kids and I headed into Fremantle a bit early for a dinner with my running friends and their families at Clancy's - a great little place on a big gated park right across from our church.  Such a nice visit.  The kids climbed trees and ran around, and kids meals were just $15 (which strangely now seems reasonable to me), including a drink and an 'icy pole' - freeze pop kind of thing.

We headed home around 6:30, all kids stacked on the stroller.  The night was beautiful with fluffy white clouds, which provided us great shape-naming entertainment the whole way home.

Here are a few random photos of the cuties...

Gia, looking like Aunt Lindsay and her Cousin Marlee

Lily as 'Diaper Girl' - she is the resident comedian for Gia and Caden

Just some pretty flowers up the street.

Gia's 'Go-To' at Hubble, accompanied by her baby cino.

My little nature lovers - aside from counting snails, butterflies, stopping to smell flowers, they notice things like the dew drops on these floors.  So thankful.

The front of our house from outside the gate.

Some of the cute things the kids are saying:
Gia - "Couple of whiles", as in, "Can I do this for just a couple of whiles?"
Caden - "Diet their hair" and "Cupitor" - really into solar system.