Stan is back from the USA!

So last month Stan was in the USA for 3 weeks! We missed him but he called everyday so all was forgiven.  Stan was up in Massachusetts to help train some new recruits at Bain. On his way over from Australia he had a layover in Dallas, Texas (where his sister lives) - Here he is with Staci and her beautiful girls! Thanks so much cousin Colette for all the pet shops and cute little birthday bucket for Olivia, she loved them!

a few days later he was also able to stop over in DC to see his parents and other siblings for a few days; he had a great time! 

Here he is with his mom at the monuments!

Thanks Grandma Sue & aunt Cori for even MORE pet shops and treats...my girls were very very spoiled and were SO EXCITED!

When Stan came back we were so excited to see what goods he had brought from AMERICA (the land of everything is half price to Oz). The anticipation had been building up as his luggage had been lost :-)

 

 First, a Hershey's candy bar, we all ate a piece :-)

 Second, the girls received jewelry from Jill! Olivia got diamond earrings and Mary got some sapphires. THANK YOU JILL!  Long story short, when Olivia was three years old we lived with Jill for 1 year. Olivia used to go upstairs and talk with Jill in her bathroom and play with all her jewelry. Jill said she would give it to her when she died and so far she continues to give it to Olivia piece by piece (yes it is real).  Jill is one of the most amazing people I have ever met and cannot think of without my heart filling with gratitude and my eyes getting moist.

 Stan also picked up the game "Candy Land"- which has been an imaginary place that we use for bedtime stories. Our kids couldn't believe there was actually a game after it!

 And last of all Stan brought over a bag of all his childhood toys which he was able to pass down to Thomas. 

May the force be with you Thomas!

Best present of all was having daddy home again!

Halloween!

This year was our FIRST Halloween trick-or-treating in 5 years! It was my first time as a parent trick-or-treating with my kids and Olivia is 9 years old*(tangent at the bottom). I was so excited and it was kind of emotional because I didn't think I would ever get to do it. I thought, that vision of future parenting would be missed and it would be something I would have to explain to my kids while watching ET (or other American films).

 This year I didn't expect to do anything. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. There was no church "trunk-or-treat" the schools weren't doing anything, and although I had Halloween decorations in my storage... I didn't put them up. To top it off, I didn't try to explain the Halloween concept to anyone. I was tired of putting so much energy into Halloween every year, with getting results nothing close to my desired outcome. So, this year I was not going to mention it to my kids and just miss it :-)... Then the day before I got some phone calls.

First, Thomas's Aussie friend invited us to come trick-or-treating with them as their neighborhood does it, and we were American so they thought we would be interested. Second, Olivia's friend from school called and said they knew a nearby neighborhood that also trick-or-treats, and would we like to come along? THIRD- a friend from church mentioned her street does it... WHAT? Three neighborhoods? WOW! I said sure, locked up my house and once the kids got home from school we had 30 minutes to find a costume.

  Thomas used his PJ's (Skeleton)

Mary used her dance costume as a dog and we gave her some scary teeth. 

Olivia recycled her tap-dance costume (I bought pom poms) and she threw on some runners and we had a cheerleader 

Here are the kids at their FIRST HOUSE! 

*Note: this is Mary & Thomas' first time trick-or-treating (Olivia's last time was when she was 3 years old in 2006...we moved to England in 07 just 3 weeks before Halloween. After Oxford we had 3 years in Sydney with little to no Halloween, and last year was in New Zeland with no Halloween).

Knocking....So CUTE!

We went to three neighborhoods (we started at 5:00 and finished around 8:30). The kids got "a ton of candy" OK- maybe 30 pieces total...which made me smile. The neighborhoods that "do Halloween" all have different agreements. One neighborhood had rules that participating houses would put an orange balloon on their mailbox. Another street had an agreement about porch lights being turned on. It was great to see everyone try to work together to celebrate a holiday that is not their cultural norm.

 Here Mary is with her "ice block"...I am not going to say a thing about the Easter candy, money or Popsicle that were handed out at some of the doors :-) Because I am so happy we got to trick-or-treat!

Thomas' school really tries to celebrate all the holidays of various ethnicities. The teacher called me about wanting to carve a pumpkin on Halloween with the class. I was delighted because that is the most proactive activity I had ever heard of since living abroad and I really appreciated her efforts.  I talked her through it and introduced her to the idea of roasting the pumpkin seeds...She had never heard of it. Unfortunately Thomas was unwell on Halloween so he missed school, when I asked the other mums how it went they said they couldn't find a pumpkin so they carved a watermelon instead! 

Happy Halloween Australia!

Pictures of Olivia!

Here are some pictures from Olivia's 9 year old photo shoot! It is my last year with her before she hits the double digits! She is growing up so beautifully! Happy birthday Olivia

This year Olivia is in year 3 (third grade).

Olivia does about 10 hours a week of dance (ballet, tap, jazz, classical etc...) She loves it but can get very tired by Friday.

Olivia is my very happy child, she is a hard worker and is very determined.

Olivia loves to try new things and is a very good sport 

The other day in the car Olivia and Mary were playing "truth or dare," the conversation went as follows:

Mary: Olivia truth or dare

Olivia: truth

Mary: have you ever kissed a boy?

Olivia: snorting and gagging sound simultaneously... Mary, that is not how you play the game...you have to ask me questions like "what is my favourite flavor of donut!" 

Olivia's favourite toy(s) are littlest pet shops (LPS). She has been playing with them for nearly 2 years straight now, and recently asked Santa for the $50.00 rare collector pet shops! She said she will know if Santa is real or not  if he delivers her request (as each rare pet shop is located in different parts of the world (China, America etc...) if he really goes around the world, he will have no problem picking them up!

In addition to dance Olivia also participates in voice lessons, swimming and Kumon (an intense Asian tutoring program designed to accelerate kids above their grade level in school).

Olivia is still the smallest kid in her grade and has the bone age of a 6 year old.

Aside from her delayed bone age Olivia is otherwise healthy and growing again!

After Olivia's kidney operation, Stan and I have both noticed how resilient and easy going Olivia is, she really does roll with the punches and does not get down very easily.

Olivia's BFF is Maddy...another little girl who loves pet shops maybe more than Olivia--the will spend hours, filming pet shop video's with their iPhones. Despite desperate please, we have not gotten Olivia a Utube account so she can upload her LPS films.

I am so proud of Olivia and never thought I would get a daughter as beautiful and determined as her!

Olivia turns nine!

This year Olivia Sue turned 9 years old! She had the usual birthday pancakes on the "you are special plate"  and lately, for some reason, any song Olivia hears is an invitation to dance...so here is Olivia dancing to "happy birthday" before she blows out the candles! :-)

This year for Olivia's birthday we had a fantastic opportunity to pull off a surprise party. Here in Australia, the school year goes from the end of January until mid December. The year is broken into four quarters and after each quarter the children get two week off for a school holiday.

Olivia's birthday was during the school holiday which meant I was able to text all the parents about the party and not have any of the kids leak the secret before the special day. We invited everyone from Olivia's  class and hired a DJ to run a "disco party"

Because Stan was overseas in America, I had a friend invite Olivia over for a play and then I was able to decorate the house and get the food set up. 

Stan and I were first introduced to "disco's" while the girls were in Kindergarten (or prep as they call it out here). The school would host a Christmas disco and all the kids would dress up and have a huge dance party. When I say dress up I am talking about glitter, glow sticks and dresses....something I wouldn't have seen until the 8th grade in America!

Anyway, in order to get Olivia in a dress we told her she was going out to dinner with Maddy's family. I purposely forgot to pack her shoes and then they had to swing by to pick them up. That way Olivia wouldn't be suspicious when maddy was putting on a dress :-)

Here is a video clip of me answering the door and Olivia asking me "how on earth I could forget to pack her shoes!" I think she was surprised!

I love her rock star pose when she gets picked up by her classmate! Hilarious!! 

The DJ was great, she did the usual, limbo, macarena, karaoke, train etc.... The party was two hours and after sticker tattoo's and breaking for birthday cake the party was over. 

Olivia was drooling over her gifts while at the same time was so grateful and happy. She even shared with Mary & Thomas!

The day before was her actual birthday. Olivia was SO EXCITED and it was just a regular day (with the exception of pancakes in the morning). At bed time she was sad and I told her we would make invitations for her birthday party and have the party once school was back in session.  She was completely set up for a surprise...which was fantastic! Who doesn't love a good surprise? 

Happy Birthday OLIVIA!

Pictures of Mary

Here are some pictures of Mary Adelle, now that she is 7 years old. I am loving these pictures because I am afraid this year she will loose her two front teeth and this will be the last time I get her beautiful smile with her baby teeth!

Mary is in year 1 (first grade) at school.

If I had to describe Mary with one word it would be loyal. She keeps to one friend and holds onto them dearly!

In the morning if we are running late, Mary will forfeit eating breakfast, doing her homework, getting dressed and brushing her teeth all for ensuring that her hair is combed and accessorized before going out the door. Messy hair IS the end of the world and will bring a flood gate of tears if we leave without doing it. 

Mary still loves her dad the best!

Mary is extremely affectionate

Mary's best friend is named Natalie

Mary is super smart, she can out spell Olivia and can do her math homework regularly without any help. She possibly takes for granted how easy school is for her.

Mary's least favorite job is to make her bed. She often sleeps on top of her bedding just so she won't have to make it in the morning.

Mary has recently started basketball lessons. She is tall for her age and we think with time she could be very good! Every sunday afternoon Dad and Mary shoot hoops!

In addition to basketball, Mary also participates in swimming lessons, and is starting little nippers (surf/lifesaving) this summer!

Mary told me her secret talent is surfing, so we will see how she goes at little nippers

Mary is all girl and loves barbies, littlest pet shops, friends, perfume, nail polish and skirts. Mary will avoid pants...with the exception of her basket ball uniform

Mary constantly leaves me love notes on my pillow. The other day I came across a thank you note (in October  to the Easter bunny for never forgetting her. Additional letters were for the tooth fairy, Santa's elves and their extra hard work and so on!

Mary is trying to grow her hair out like Rapunzel 

My favorite feature of Mary are her eyes!

Although more cautious than Olivia, Mary is fiercely competitive and will try anything Olivia can do!

Love you Mary- Happy Birthday!