Olivia lost her tooth!

So Olivia lost her very first tooth! She is so excited because she was one of the last kids to loose a tooth in her year 1 class. The week before it came out she and I painted a tiny jewelry box to put the tooth in when it came out. She diligently wiggled it for a week straight and lucky for her the tooth fairy didn't miss a beat and gave her a $2.00 coin (smaller than the one dollar coins and easier to carry for a fairy).

Here is Olivia right before it came out (about a day). Mary (4) keeps asking me when her teeth will come out and I am sad to say it may be another two years!

After she lost her tooth she started a Ghostbusters Club at school. You can only be a member if you are a girl and have lost a tooth (which excludes boys and kindy kids). Meeting are in the bushes at lunch and to keep the club going you have to have sleepovers (with other members of the group) and play dates. During the sleep overs/ play dates you have to tell one ghost story in the dark. Although Olivia is the smallest she is the Ghostbuster club president and tells everyone what is up. Honestly, 6 year olds are the best!!

Fall weather!

So every Sunday evening we take the kids out for a walk around our apartment complex. This Sunday the fall weather has kicked in which merited the coats. We usually walk along the water and watch the boats and sunset, pet the dogs and watch the fishermen. Thomas is a pro now and knows just where to go, which only makes me super nervous since he likes to run ahead and we are always surrounded by water!

I LOVE this picture of Thomas. I couldn't get him to look at me for a picture so I asked him if I had a spider on my head and he finally looked a me--CLICK!

Yes, that is a crab...Thomas kept signing crab but when the fisherman would pick it up he would start screaming "YUCK"

Running to see the fisherman and the fish in the buckets! This is where Stan takes the ferry to work.

Olivia holding a fish!

Thomas looking at the fish...or should I say throwing rocks at the fish!

Pointing to a helicopter!

watching the sunset

The girls riding their scooter and jumping rope along the water, everything is so beautiful right now

Stan and Thomas with the mangroves in the background and the little paddle boats that the locals use to get to their big boats (docks aren't that popular out here--most people just anchor in the middle of the marina and then row back to shore and lock up to a mangrove)!

Royal Easter Show

The Royal Easter show is hosted over the Easter break in Sydney's Olympic park. This was my first year attending (last year I stayed with Thomas and this year we left him with a babysitter). Olivia was quite fragile and would get tired easily...however she was so excited to be out of the house and riding the rides! Basically it is a giant fair (multiply by 10 any fair you have ever been too and you have it). I didn't even walk to the adult part of the fair grounds it was so big, and we were here all day long. In addition to rides you have the rows and rows of petting zoo animals and farming competitions. Then you have random display acts going on like cooking and fishing demo's and then stalls of goods to buy like crocks or swimsuits or fair bags etc... it is really fun and I was excited to be part of the festivities!

Some of the rides!
I don't think Olivia liked this dropping ride as much as Mary!

Olivia's favorite ride, she was so tiny I thought she was going to fall out! Olivia was just tall enough to go (Mary didn't make the cut)

I was pretty wet after this ride. I wanted to ride in the back but the guide made me take the front...I should have had Stan do this one!

Olivia wanted to be a witch
Mary's flower face paint...

Corn on the cob!

and feeding the animals

and last but not least the car ride home and Mary with her fair bag driving home in the car!

Manly Beach and the Bennions

So it is Easter Holiday in Australia right now. The kids get two weeks off of school and my husband even got a long weekend (4 days, Good Friday and Easter Monday.) It has been so fun to just relax post operation. Olivia has been doing great and is back to normal. This week we went to visit out expat friends the Bennions. they live in Manly...right on the beach. Manly is one of Sydney's most famous and beautiful beaches. Parking is difficult so having a friend nearby is a awesome because you can just grab your boogie board and walk on over to the beach. It was great fun and Olivia did fantastic in the water.

William (4), Burk (3), Olivia (6), Mary (4), Thomas (1), Soren (1)

Thomas and I enjoying one of the last hot days left as fall is creeping in!

Miss Mary!

The girls playing in the water

and William saving Mary...they have decided they are going to get married!

Easter 2010

Easter morning

Australia's national religion is Christianity so Easter is very big out here. We kicked the Holidays off with a school assembly (Easter hat parade, singing and morning tea with the parents) at Olivia's school. Olivia had just been discharged from the hospital a day before from her kidney infection so I brought her to school just for the assembly so she could see her friends. The school was so excited to see her after she had been absent for nearly a month. It really is a wonderful school. Olivia has over 100 get well cards from this little Kindy- year 2 infant school. The principal sent her gifts while she was in the hospital and also called weekly. Several of the parents also helped me out with my kids so I was excited to see some of the parents as well. Here are some clips of the assembly...

Thursday was the last day of school and then Good Friday through Easter Monday are public holidays (4 day weekend), So Stan has been home!! We have been able to catch up from all the chaos and get a lot of R&R. We were also able to see "How to train a dragon" on the opening day and spent some time on the beach! Easter weekend is a lot like American Thanksgiving, everyone spends it with family if they can so there is quite a bit of travelling.

Thomas

Thomas likes yogurt and he is getting better with the spoon...if only he wouldn't throw things when he is done!!!