Three minor miracles

First miracle: I remembered!! It's sports uniform day! Here it is, with censored logos:

Two Other Minor Miracles:

• Yesterday I went to Lost Property at the old school because Liam left his lunchbox behind on the last day of last year ... and it was there!! So I got it back, complete with lid and (thawed) ice pack, and no 6-week-old food in it. Phew!
  

• Also yesterday... petrol for 89c a litre!! It has been up to 140c/litre but yesterday was 99 and I had a voucher for 10c/litre discount. (140 is about $US4.20/gallon; 89 is about $US2.67/gallon).
  

Mr Goofy Face and his brother, Mr Goofy Face

A few firsts...

• Liam's first day of year two.
• Liam's first day at a new school.
• EJ's first day of Before School Care (so I could get Liam to the other school on time).

OK, you all have to remind me:

• Liam has to wear his sport uniform on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
• Liam and EJ both have library on Tuesday.
• Liam has Show and Tell on... I don't know what day yet, but when I find out, I will need reminding!
• And next term when EJ starts, he will have a Show and Tell day too.

Liam also has Chinese on Tuesdays but I don't need to be prepared for that. He is good at language(s) and I think he will catch up quite quickly with those who have already been learning Chinese. He also has a special interest in Chinese as he has a good friend who is Chinese and now expects to be able to have fluent Chinese conversations!

Liam was nervous about changing schools and missing his friends at the old school, but we collected lots of phone numbers at the end of last year and will try to keep in touch. He will also visit the old school this term when we drop off and pick up EJ.

We have a neighbour who also attends the new school. Last week we found out she is in Liam's class, and it was a relief for him to have a familiar face. Today we arrived to find they are sitting next to each other! I thought I'd better staple their mouths closed.

Liam's first day was busy and his teacher is lovely. There were no tears, although I thought there might be when Liam reminded me that he cried on his first ever day of school two years ago. He is impressed that there are two Liams and an Ethan in his class, as well as kids with the same names as his friends at the other school.

We also had a sneek peak in what will be EJ's class and his teacher seems lovely too.


(You may or may not notice the pic of Liam is edited. I removed the school logos from the uniform. Well, in the photo - they are actually still on the uniform!).

More Ants ... I'm getting a theme here...

Liam wanted to build some mazes ("base camps") outside and bait them with sugar (which unfortunately he had to lick off his fingers). He was being an environmental scientist and wanted to find out which base camp the ants would find first, and which would be cleared of its sugar first.

The ants didn't co-operate for a while so he added (after the photo was taken) a ramp to one base camp because it might have been a bit high for the ants to find, a shelter separate from the base camps, and water onto the sugar piles. THEN the ants were interested!

Slugs

The Slugs I Love
Today we went to see Flushed Away, which was very entertaining. I must say my favourite characters were the slugs. Although they seem to only have cameo roles they are integral to the soundtrack and sound effects of the movie.

There was actually not much toilet humour in it, but Liam's favourite part was "when Roddy kept getting wedgies" - he was actually having his privates injured.

Unlike Happy Feet, this movie was not boring, tedious, or terrifying. During both movies, Liam leapt out of his seat and screamed, the difference being that in Happy Feet he was terrified of an attacking seal, and in Flushed Away he was yelling "Woohoooooooooo!" because it was exciting and adventurous.

I also spotted a mistake right at the start, right after the little girl filled the cage with too much food.


The Possible Slugs I Possibly Don't Love So Much
I had a message from Jetstar saying "Please call, your flight home from Darwin has changed". I'd had a similar message from Virgin Blue saying my flight to Darwin had changed, and all that had happened was it was leaving 20 minutes earlier, so I wasn't too worried. Here is my conversation with the Jetstar man. I don't know his name so I shall call him Richard, or DICK for short. Bearing in mind, I had booked a 6.50pm flight.

Me: Hello, I'm just returning your call. Apparently my flight has changed.
Dick: Ok, let me have a look...... ah, yes, that flight is now leaving at 3am.
Me: YOU ARE JOKING!! I will have two kids with me and we are not leaving at 3am. You'll have to refund the payment.
Dick: OK, $597.
Me: No, $603.
Dick: There was a $6 credit card fee.
Me: That's right, and you'll be refunding it. You cancelled the flight, not me.
Dick: OK. $603. That'll take 7-8 weeks to come through.
Me: Excuse me? It will not. I didn't have 8 weeks to pay for the flight and it doesn't work in reverse. I need the money refunded now so I can book other flights, or Jetstar will have extra accommodation to pay for.
Dick: OK I will fast track the payment, you will have it within a week.
Me: Thank you. May I ask why the flight was cancelled?
Dick: Ummmmmmmmmmmmm.. I don't know really... safety reasons...
Me: It certainly will be safer with no passengers.
Dick: Hangs up!.

Then I called the call centre supervisor and suggested that call centre employees should perhaps not hang up on customers. The customer is always right. Especially if the customer is me.

Then I rebooked my flight with Virgin Blue. It cost a bit more but suits me better for two reasons - one; Virgin Blue will credit 5% of the cost of airfares to my Virgin Mobile phone account; and two; Jetstar have enabled me to keep the promise I made myself not to ever fly with them. Oh, and the flight leaves at a slightly more decent hour.

The Chefs
I thought I might be too tired to cook and started suggesting cartoon characters who might be able to make tea. But the boys said all those people are imaginary. So I thought maybe the boys could make tea. Liam thought he couldn't and EJ thought he could. "OK EJ, what will we have?"

"Ummmmmm.... carrots! And............. peas! And............. meat! And.................... potato! And .............. one more fing......... apple!". I was impressed that he picked healthy things.

So I peeled the veggies (and fruit) and the boys cut them into pieces using a crinkle cutter and put them either in the saucepan or on the plates, while I cooked the meat. They decided this was a restaurant and they were waiters, and as such had to use manners!! AND they ate most of their tea!

Ant City - Liam's Adventure

(Sorry about the quality of pictures for this blog - everything was so small!)


Just before bedtime Liam and I went out to look at a miniature city made by ants who are very excited by the rain.


They have also made a straight path between two pavers, that gradually goes under the tunnel they've built to shelter it. It's fascinating (especially if you're 7) but too small to get a good photo of:



We also looked at this hole in the lawn. Liam thought he saw some food being carried in but he didn't know who was carrying it. It's bigger than an ant hole; about 4cms wide:



Then Liam's imagination got excited and came out into a drawing of an ant colony. Some of the details are: the ant truck (top) hauling away the dirt; some storage rooms (left and bottom right) - the second one contains berries, chocolate and a hamburger; and a cave-in (just above that storage room).

Bargain of the day

Get one while they're ...um... cheap?

Christmas Update, Liam's Mail, and Food

Today Liam received some special mail - a certificate from the Childhood Cancer Association for raising money at his birthday party. (Don't look too closely - you might notice it's dated 12th November 2007 ??!). It came with a calendar, a book mark and a letter from the general manager, part of which read:

Dear Liam,

Thank you for your wonderful donation of $34.

I understand that you had the same birthday as Sean W. who died of cancer. Asking for donations instead of presents is a very thoughtful way of remembering Sean and helping other children with cancer.

Thank you very much Liam for being so kind and helping children with cancer.

It also described some things they do with the money. It was a lovely encouragement for a child who remembers to think of others, even on his birthday.



We needed a quick and easy tea tonight so I cooked burgers and the boys assembled their own. They had fun and ate all their tea!!


You might remember I couldn't find my camera at our family Christmas party. Paul has compiled all of the photos taken by mum and Erin, so thanks to them for these pics (except the photo of the cake; I made the cake and the photo; and the photo of mum I think is one of Erin's but I added the frame):

Two more pics from today

I've already blogged today (nice to know I'm regular). But I had to share these two pics.

EJ wrote some sentences all by himself:


(Apparently saxophones are only bad because he didn't have enough o's to write good).

And he did a better job than whoever writes sentences for catalogues:



Do they mean "unexpected"? Or is that futon really uncomfortable?!


Scroll down, next entry is today too.

Since last time....

We went to see "Happy Feet". It's not as entertaining as the Pixar movies which include jokes and references which go over the kids' heads but keep the captive parents entertained. In fact, it was mostly boring with a few moments of entertainment in between, but the boys liked it anyway. Liam screamed and leapt in the air in a scary bit but no animated penguins died during the making of this movie.

We were also lucky enough to get a threesome of seats with movable arm rests and lots of space in-front-of and next-to; perfect for Liams who need to move continuously and EJs who need permanent beds. "Flushed Away" is next on the list.

(¯`*.*´¯)

Liam - carefully and concentrating hard - dug up a velociraptor in the Gobi desert and reassembled it:

This "awwsoommme" set was from Grandpa B for Christmas and included the goggles, hammer and "cheezle".

(¯`*.*´¯)

We went into town to drop off the money Liam raised at his birthday party for Childhood Cancer. Every year we have a birthday candle for "Little Sean" who was born a few hours after Liam. (We call him "Little Sean" so as not to be confused with "Uncle Sean"). This year Liam decided all by himself to collect donations too. The only other time we have done that was Liam's 4th birthday, the first birthday Little Sean missed, and Liam remembered and wanted to do it again.

The ladies in Childhood Cancer know Little Sean's family. The lady on the desk said she'd send Liam a letter letting him know the total he raised, and gave both Liam and EJ a little teddy bear. We had a little chat and she made it very clear to Liam she was impressed with his effort, and explained to him some of the things they do with the money. When another lady came in from the office, the first lady said "This is Liam; he's raised a LOT of money at his birthday party!", and the second lady gave both boys a lollipop. Liam thought some of the money could be used to invent a lolly containing cancer medicine.

(¯`*.*´¯)

The boys did a craft class and decorated some boxes. They painted them, stuck gems on (that's the best bit!), and added some glitter glue. Liam's friend Oliver and a couple of other kids from school were there too. A nice way to get out of the house, have some school holiday fun, and socialise, and not too expensive either! A Lego knight and a Transformer wanted to be in this picture, just as a sausage roll and sauce tried to sneak into the fossil picture.

(¯`*.*´¯)

A picture says a thousand words....

... like nervous, psych, prepare, focus,

decisive, bravado, awe, amazing, leap, flip, plunge, watch me, watch out, SPLASH!

... and ...

concentrate, get ready, clear, careful, control,
grace, aerodynamics, speed, perfection, flight, pride, entry, SPLASH!

Did I ever mention ..... SPLASH?

Liam's Birthday Again and The Canberries

Liam's actual birthday was on the weekend (his party was about two weeks ago). Here he is in his new Batman costume, with a White Witch of Narnia wand which lights up and makes tinkly icicle sounds, and a Hot Wheels laser gun. I'm not sure if that's for shooting the bad guys or seeing how fast they are approaching.



Here is a group shot of the Canberries and Liam and EJ. We took several shots but none are very glamorous - never work with animals or children! The Canberries are on their way home tomorrow.

No, there isn't any exciting New Year's Eve stuff to tell! But Happy New Year anyhoo, and drive safely again Canberries!