Monthly Archives: February 2010

We Don’t Really Celebrate Valentine’s Day…

Kei and I decided long ago that we wouldn’t buy into the commercialism of the holiday and so I can’t remember the last time we bought each other a Valentine’s gift.

As it happened this year, though, Valentine’s was thrust upon us – and we were willing participants for the most part.

Part 1: Valentine distribution at daycare and pre-school – a new tradition for an Aussie-raised schoolgirl. It was chaotic, it was stressful, it was last-minute. It is something that I had better suck up and accept because it’s not going away anytime school, although I am looking forward to the day when the boys will be able to write their own Valentine messages for their 25 classmates.

Part 2: A night out with my husband thanks to a little extra babysitting on Friday night courtesy of daycare. Now this one I was completely on board with. We went out for dinner and had one of the best meals I have had for a long time. It’s one of those meals that stay with you for days afterward – and not in a bad way. Follow that up with a chance to finally see Avatar in 3D, and it was the perfect evening.

Part 3: Hitting me over the head with it. We stopped to grab a hot chocolate for Thomas yesterday and it seemed the universe was speaking to me, so of course I took a photo.

I suppose there’s really no escaping it. Happy Valentine’s day.

Bad, Bad Parents

Yes, we’re those parents. The ones who allow their children to ask for “swords” from the balloon guy, and then let them run around chasing each other with aforementioned swords until they wear themselves out. In fairness to us, though:

  • It is winter in Portland and we are starved for children’s entertainment.
  • The Crystal Ballroom floor is big. And bouncy. Perfect for two active little boys  – and perfect for wearing them out.
  • Only ONE child asked for the sword and the other decided on behalf of his brother. Who knows? Samuel may be a pacifist underneath all of that big brother influence.
  • Balloon swords only last a couple of hours. Less, if you manage to get a little too excited and accidentally squeeze it until it pops.

Seeing the Light: P365

Portland has a bad wrap when it comes to winter. We see a lot of rain and experience grey skies for about four months. But this winter has been relatively kind and a few small signs of spring are already poking through the drabness.

If you’re snowed in on the East Coast of America right now then you might want to look away from some of my most recent P365 pics. I’m so sorry.

The first one is relatively safe – taken at our monthly excursion to see a local (family-friendly) band. It’s at a local pizza place and this shot jumped out at me from the many I took that night. It even beat out the disco ball.

Sunshine streaming in Samuel’s room on Saturday morning. BOTH children slept past 8am. It doesn’t happen oftenbut when it does it’s a beautiful surprise.

Kei had a couple of friends over for Superbowl Sunday. I am not really a football fan (actually not at all) but I have to say that I was glad when New Orleans won. I have no idea what the score was or who was named MVP (or even what MVP means), but everone was feeling so warm and fuzzy afterward that it felt…well…not like a football game.

I warned you East Coasters – don’t hate me. The cherry blossoms are already beginning to bloom at Thomas’ school.

And this one just he’s cute. And sneaky. Samuel called out my name about thirty minutes after I put him to bed tonight. I thought he may have lost his binky (as he does too often) but he just looked and me and said “head” meaning “I hit my head”. Then he put his binky in his mouth and laughed at me like we were both in on the joke when in actuality he was the only one who found it funny. I told him to lie down and go to sleep. He kept laughing. I left the room and haven’t heard a peep from him since. So I suppose we both win.

Kith!

I was having a very difficult time thinking of a photo to use for this week’s  i heart faces entry. You see the theme is Kiss. It’s not that there any shortage of kisses in our house, it’s just that I have been waiting for a moment to capture it on film.

Samuel LOVES to give kisses. Big, wet, sloppy kisses. And he gives them freely to pretty much anyone who asks which begs the question, exactly when do you start teaching your children about personal boundaries? 🙂

I’ll take them whenever I can get them, though, which is probably why I haven’t yet been able to capture it on film. I’m too busy enjoying this fleeting moment in my baby’s life.

So for the purposes of this challenge I’ll share one of my very favourite photos – one that I have in a frame on our mantle if only to remind me that my children do truly love each other even when the screaming and yelling sometimes suggests the opposite is true.

So from Samuel to you on this upcoming Valentine’s Day, a very big “‘UG! and “Kith!”

Views of SF: Mosaic Monday

Just made it in under the wire for my Mosaic Monday post. I have been meaning to post a few photos from my quick trip to San Francisco last week. In fact my trip was so quick that I didn’t leave Market street the entire time I was downtown. I was afraid that if I veered too far from the train station that I would get lost and miss my flight home. I’m a little neurotic about flying so I have to be there at least a couple of hours in advance. It’s not that I am afraid of flying – just afraid that I will miss my flight.

Oh, and I REALLY REALLY can’t wait to see Alice in Wonderland which will explain one of the images below.

Fun with reflections, or the reason why I appear in very few family photos

Full length mirror. Check. Fairly decent lighting. Check. Coorperative children… maybe not.

Thomas was pretending to be asleep and I’m not exactly sure what Samuel was doing.

The mirror did present other photo opportunities.

Thomas spotted making faces at himself.

And Wiggly fingers (we’re deep into another Wiggles phase).

And finally of the three boys together.

Catching Up – P365

This week has been crazy. It began with my blurry trip to San Francisco and then on Tuesday I hosted a Lost season premiere party (no photos – too busy watching the show) add snack duty at pre-school and a very busy day job and I’ve been a little under water.

Good thing I take photos every day. Sometimes I’m not sure there’s any other way I would remember our lives.

Thomas likes to set the chairs up like this, using one as a chair and one as a table. Samuel has become his little shadow lately and so of course he had to be set up with his own chair/table as well and Thomas was more than happy to oblige.

I tried for about 10 minutes (and risked my camera getting wet) to get this glimpse of Samuel’s reflection. He’s wasn’t in a very cooperative mood.

This kid is funny.

Old fixtures in an old house.

Making the most of some good window light during our visit to the Crystal Ballroom on Sunday. More photos of that fun family outing to come.

Pretty much all I saw of San Francisco on Monday during my quick visit. Oakland airport is probably the least inspiring place on earth so I’m pretty proud of myself for being able to take at least one decent photo while waiting for my flight.

OK – I forgot to take one photo this week. I blame it on Lost – I was so caught up in that show (and maybe a little wine) that I forgot to take my photo for the day. So it seemed appropriate that I took a photo of my coffee cup as I got ready for work in the bathroom the next morning.

Samuel playing in the curtain before dinner. It’s amazing how a piece of material can keep him occupied and entertained.

And finally, a photo of me (shocking!). I decided I needed a new facebook picture so I took a few quick photos in the mirror. Probably not the most inspired idea after a long day at work but I have since decided that high key black and white conversions are my best friend – over-exposure can make anyone look good.

Whirlwind

I am very proud of being an Aussie – one of only 20 million people in the world. But there is a downside. So few Australians (and so few living in the United States) means that there are only a couple of Consulates/Embassies to help with passports while you are living overseas. This isn’t usually a major hassle as most passport renewals are done by mail these days and visas are all electronic. The issue arises when you are arranging a first passport – in this case for Samuel – and you apparently need to attend in person to hand over the documents.

Problem. The closest consulate to Portland is in San Francisco. 1 hour 40 minutes flying time, 1 hour each way to the city. If you do the math, that adds up to around 6 hours of travel for a 10 minute meeting. Yes. 10 minutes.

I wasin a cab at 5am on about 4 hours of sleep because I was stressed wondering about the one thing I was likely to forget. Would the photos be the right size? Do I have all the documentation? Is everything signed and dated in Australian date format (harder to do than it sounds)?

Turns out I forgot my phone. Not the worst thing I could have forgotten in the grand scheme of things, but annoying just the same.

The good news is that all papers are submitted and I should have the passport (and Thomas’ renewed passport) next week. Which means we’re all set for a trip to Australia in the not too distant future.

I’ll need a holiday after this.

This photo (taken on my last trip to SF) pretty much sums up what I will see of the city today before I board my flight home.