Mary Turned 8!

My baby Mary has just turned 8 years old!  I think she is gorgeous in every way. Her two front teeth are missing, her hair is nearly down to her waist and she has started to mellow down when it comes to loosing her temper (Aaahhhhhh).

This year for her birthday she wanted a baby bunny party. All her friends adore our fuzzy dwarf lop eared bunny Chloe, so Mary could think of nothing better than MORE bunnies. I found a little place that brings baby pets to parties, wraps the animals in little tea towels and the kids get to pet them and snuggle them. There were bunnies, guinea pigs, chicks and ducklings. Here are some pictures. It was lovely.

 Mary & her BFF Natalie

 Elara (our neighbor and friend from church)

 Maddy (Olivia's friend) got a baby chick to fall asleep in her hand

 Paige and Kaitlyn

 The host of the animal farm was very good with the kids

 Mary and Roary

Millie and Mary.

 Mary has the easiest group of friends. They are so polite and low key. After an hour with the baby animals we broke open a butterfly pinata, had some pizza followed by cake and ice cream!

 Happy birthday Mary

 Blowing out the candles!

 

 And opening presents. In Australia you do not open gifts until after the guest leave (this goes for baby showers too, bridal showers everything!)

 Mary chose to have one friend sleep over (millie) so she got to see what Mary got.

 On Mary's actual birthday we surprised her with breakfast in bed....

 Then we took her to the mall to get her ears pierced. We make the girls wait until 8 years old to get their ears pierced, Mary had been wanting them done for a couple years now, but I wanted to wait until she could take care of them. 

Such a big girl now! 

Happy birthday Mary!

just life-

For some reason since we have been back in Melbourne, the weather has been cold/ rainy and we have all been sick. It hasn't been bad, it has just been constant. One kid will be sick for a couple days, I will get one day in at work and then the next kid is sick. This rotates through each kid one at a time (two cycles each) and then we get hit with something new. All in all this lasted for a solid 6 weeks.

 Here is Olivia scared to death from these goosebump books- she read about 1 a day when she was home sick. 

I have been trying to finish up training materials at Telstra over the last few weeks. Telstra is Australia's largest telecommunications company. Basically Telstra has been gathering data with a new tool called Medallia. Most employees (34,000) don't know how to use Medallia. So I have been meeting with Medallia once a week for training. After understanding how to use Medallia my job was to explain it to everyone else. With some help from Stan I had to write up some scripts for the training sessions. After the scripts were approved I got to work with the HR department and talk into a microphone while recording my computer screen. I got to explain all the charts and show how data changes based on filters etc... I was basically showing the audience what each button meant and how to use it. After the recordings were complete we had to edit and preview them with a sample population. Once we got feedback we would re-record and make the suggested changes.

Overall, I got very positive feedback from the pilot group, with the exception of one older Australian lady who kept complaining about my accent. :-(  The lady was overruled and they continued to use my voice for the remainder of the training sessions.

After the recording sessions were over, I got to write up some quick reference guides for each training module. That way if people had a question they could look up a chart or a definition without having to watch the movies again. I started this project before leaving for the USA and only recently finished it. Once it was released, my training sessions were the most viewed training session in the history of Telstra. I am quite proud :-)

My next project has to do with Market research for an HR consulting company. (I am so happy I did my masters degree and wrote a thesis). Conducting and interpreting data has been the most important and useful skill set of my career thus far. I do everything. Create and test the instrumentation, conduct pilot studies, gather data, analyse the statistics and write up the results for clients. I only have to do one paper right now as my Jaw surgery is scheduled to commence in 2 weeks and I will be unable to do much for about a month.

Once I recover I will be right in the thick of the 'end of school year' parties, concerts etc.... on top of Christmas festivities. I am looking forward to summer time with the kids. Stan recently declined an offer to work in Washington DC. It was weird turning down our first opportunity to move back to the USA after nearly 7 years abroad. I love America, but I love Australia too-

I have selected a private school I want all the kids to attend. I am moving the kids to this new school called Haileybury in February and hope this is our last move for a very long time. If I thought we would be moving to a new house or a new city I would just leave the kids where they are to lessen the effects of re-establishing their peer groups later. This school decision was a big one so I am starting to feel like I am putting down some roots for the first time in our marriage. Usually it is just 1-2 years somewhere.. then we move. Now after 18 months in Melbourne I am starting to wonder if this is where we will settle. I am pretty determined I could be happy anywhere. Just tell me where it is and I will make it work. I think not knowing is what puts me in limbo all the time. Do I stay at this school if I don't like it? Do I put down a deposit next year for more dance lessons, will we be here etc... blablabla.

Most the time, I just think 'how could the grass be greener anywhere else'

Somewhere over the rainbow- Olivia Swinton

So, Olivia is auditioning to audition for this little kid singing show in Oz (8-12 year olds). The application is due today and for the application you need a video of you singing on Utube. So we threw a dress on over her PJ's, (you can see them at the bottom of her dress :-) filmed this clip around 11:00 pm last night and submitted her application. After the comp we will take the video down because we don't want Olivia to have an internet history starting at 9 years old, but since we are looking to get some "hits" feel free to watch and pass around the video. -

Its OK, (not a great recording of sound), but it was done on a cell phone :)  Enjoy-http://youtu.be/fya0B5qU2z8

Happy Anniversary + A weekend in Fiji!

About three weeks after we got back from our trip overseas, Stan and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary. Stan surprised me with breakfast in bed, had roses delivered to me mid-day, and when I came home from running the kids around to their lessons, Stan had set up dinner in the formal dinning room for 2; asked Olivia to get the kids to bed (love having a 9 year old) and surprised me with a Tiffany earring set on my dinner plate (which if you read my NYC blog post you would know why I was speechless!)

Stan is AMAZING. 

I had spent the week writing Stan letters (Open when you want to know how much I love you, Open when you wonder why you should give me a second chance, Open when you want to know what a great father you are, Open when you want to know what a great husband you are, Open on our 50th wedding anniversary etc...There were a lot of letters and I put them all in a box with a gift card to go Formula 1 race car driving down at Albert Park (where they host the Grand Prix every year). I am pretty sure I will beat Stan on the course :-)

After dinner I came upstairs to a massive bubble bath with candles everywhere (we NEVER use the Jacuzzi tub in our bathroom) Stan told me there were some chocolates on my pillow and to bring them over.  I went over to my bed, and found some chocolates AND another Tiffany jewelry box next to them. I opened them up and found a silver bracelet (which I never could have picked out myself, but am in love with).  I was shocked again!  Thank you Stan!

A couple days later, Stan had to fly to Fiji for a company retreat (Tuesday- Friday), the retreat usually lands on our anniversary week. Since the Bain retreats are usually these random and exotic locations...and the company stuff ends Friday... I have been flying out to the retreat destination for a weekend away with Stan these past couple years. So on Friday I boarded a plane to Fiji and came back with Stan on Monday!

We did some of the best scuba diving of our lives, had massages, ate great authentic Fijian food (just lots of local fruits and veg, bbqed in coconut milk and local herbs) took walks on the beach and watched the sunset in a hammock.

We slept in, watched "what to expect when your expecting"- I highly recommend it, so funny.

 The next day we did some things around the town. 

We tried some weird drink called Kava (it was disgusting and I think it has some kind of euphoric effect and we probably shouldn't have drunk it). It is made out of a root and the locals drink it to relieve anxiety. Next we bought some local trinkets 

 

Next we traveled up to the mountain of the sleeping giant (which is a big mountain with a flower garden at the bottom).

and then we went to some local hot springs and did a mud spa :-)

 After the mud was dry we rinsed off in the thermal mud

 Next we rinsed off in the hot spring

The kids had sleep overs at their friends houses, which saved me a babysitter and it was great to have some 1 on 1 time after a long holiday as the whole family. 

Fiji is beautiful, the people are the happiest people I have ever met and so kind.

Malaysia- Kuala Lumpar

After getting back from Pangkor Island we had a few days in the city before flying home to Australia. We decided to do some sight seeing and hired a driver to take us around.

As soon as we got into the taxi, my kids noticed the "no kissing" sticker and promptly started kissing each other on the cheeks. Our driver was Muslim and it was during Ramadan (40 day fast) so she was a little hungry, but tolerated the kids behavior well.

The first thing we visited were the Batu Caves. This was an Indian temple (Hindi religion) carved in a cave filled with Monkeys. We were so excited to see the Monkeys...but these monkeys were quite aggressive and would hiss at our kids and chase them. Because they had massive fangs we did not want to mess with these cute little animals.

Right before Olivia gets hissed at....

After climbing the stairs we got to walk around inside the cave. 

After the temple we went to some waterfalls for a swim.

On the way we came across this very poisonous insect! I have no idea what it was, but our guide freaked out when she saw it near Thomas' foot and promptly smashed it with a rock. She informed us we would have needed to get some anti-venom from the hospital if Thomas had been infected.

Just some pictures of the signs....

Here we are at the falls!

On our way back from the falls Mary's second tooth got loose enough to pull out. Stan pulled it out in the back of the taxi cab.

Success!

Mary missing her two front teeth!