They had a great day at school!

They had a great first day :) Sebastien got elected to School Council and Lucy got given a lollipop and a piece of chocolate (this is what she told me was the highlight of the day). Meg said that at morning tea time she went to check up on Lucy and Lucy ran past her and said "Just leave me! I"M FINE!". Sebastien however was a bit stressed as we forgot to take his sunhat so he had to stay inside at lunch...
I was really relieved to see them after school. I had to leave before the bell rang this morning but Dom stayed with them to settle them in. I called him after about 10 minutes and he was going to *leave and go to work*!! I told he had to stay until the bell in case they got nervous or shy and needed comforting and he snorted and said "no way, they are outside somewhere playing so I'm out of here." So much for A Mother's Love!!! And before some of you ask, no I did not call the office this time, I went cold turkey the whole day, and just kinda left my own school early so I could check up on them before they finished school for the day. Progress from last year!!
As you can see, Dad came over before work to wish them luck. (They love him soooo much)
xx

Sniff, my babies are back at school tomorrow

I know, I know... the kids have a new school year every year and it should not be a surprise or a trauma to me BUT IT IS! I love them and wish we could hang out at home every day... but since that is not going to happen they start back at school again tomorrow.

Lucy and Seb will now be at St Michaels (see above photo from their school website) with Megane, and they are really excited. I'll put up some pictures after Dad has come by to wish them well tomorrow morning...

School is under way...

French "word of the day" - POMPIER - firefighter School is under way hence I've got nothing for you... all the goodness has been sucked out of me and there is nothing left but badness.
Ha ha, not really. I am MADE entirely of sweetness and light :)
But I am tired.
So ho hum... So far the highlight of my week was teaching Art to the Yr 10 students (the Yr 9 Art students were a pain in the rump - waaaaay too much talking and not following instructions). I guess I have also liked lunch yesterday, and I had lots of fun singing in the car on the way to work. (NB - Dom, I had to listen to my ipod because *5 years later* I still don't have a radio or CD player in the car) I would like to mention that I finally got email access at school, yahoo! But this means that I had to troll through 7 months of emails that I knew nothing about.
I fear I sound persnickity and mean - but really I'm not. I don't have the energy for that.
Oh! How rude! I forgot to mention that Sala has been looking after the kids this week and they are LOVING it, and I don't worry about them a bit. She doesn't read this, and you probably don't know her, but Universe, if you are listening - Sala walks on water and should be recompensed.
xxx

'Straya Day (aka pure photographic torture)

Here's my boy "drivin' me T'rana" like the little bogan Queenslander that he is...

And showing his gorgeous fat cutiness with his Dad (we are ignoring the vile Aussie-abilia on his arm - it is an affront to the AB supporter in him)

Colty-woo

Now this is what I am talking about...

I am having withdrawals from my boy xxx

Bliss has a name....

Christchurch.
Where else can you decide to mow your lawn at 9pm (with an enviromower so it sounds like a vacuum cleaner and starts with the push of a button) and have it light and balmy outside? Perfect lawn-mowing conditions :)

Funny and facinating in a weird way...

Go read this quirky little article... I have tons of friends (okay so I have a few friends, but they have friends that I cyber stalk and thereby consider them close not-exactly-personal friends....) that write blogs for the world to see. I just do this one so family can see the kids grow up - it is not interesting to anyone else so S and J can stop freaking out that people will be looking at them earl-i in the morning looking gross. Anyway I liked this article.
http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/01/15/feminist_obsessed_with_mormon_blogs/index.html

Hungover....

Oh boy, can you get a hangover from yoghurt? Turns out every time I indulge in some yoghurt I get a major headache, dry eyes and the desire to do nothing but sleep.
I used to think it was chocolate that did it to me (I know! Imagine the bad karma I got talking smack about chocolate!!!!), but I'm moved onto yoghurt... Well anyway, it's a theroy.

Right now my bestie (laptop) and I are chillin' out on the couch loving the silence that is Dom-and-the-kids-have-gone-to-the-bach. I have soooooooo much to do in regards to being ready to teach on Wednesday morning (c'est la rentree DEJA!) but my yoghurt hangover is holding me back. I tried basil pesto on crackers as the antidote but it doesn't work. Bugger.

So yer, I sooooooooo badly need a haircut too.

xx

Aunty Trapper-Suz loves you Colt xxxx

It's painful how much I miss this boy.....

(isn't he adorable - I should have brought him home with me)

oops, wrong photo

THIS is the authorized family portrait :)
PS Chuck, your top is still *the best* hot weather shirt in the world, merci xxx

The only authorized family portrait...

I am telling the truth.

We had some wonderful photos taken on Friday, before Shane left for work but I am not allowed to put them on the world-wide-interwebz. I can't work out why not. We were all looking fabulous.... Dom and the kids were in their togs (fresh out of the pool), Shane was dressed for work, Sam and J were in their PJs with bed hair and no makeup on, Jack and Tom had been roused from the lair and had not yet eaten, and Dad was pre-his-morning-coffee... so what's the problem??

This picture however was authorized. They laughed their heads off when they saw it and proclaimed it was the *best family picture ever* (even though 90% of the family is absent) and said I could put it on the blog. Go figure.

I guess I should thank the paparazzi (aka Sebastien-you-little-bugger) for catching us at such a delightful moment... waiting for our metre diameter pizza to be cooked, whilst sitting outside the pizzeria.

We made it to the Brisbane Airport...

Bye bye Arnie-J-J xxx

(as you can see in the background, it was EMPTY)

The rats are fleeing the ship....

I called Jetstar earlier and was told that if we can get to the airport (any airport) they will change our flight and put us on the first Christchurch bound aircraft - no fees. We are therefore going to leave at 3am and try to get to Brisbane airport since the Logan Motorway is currently open and we can get to it. The Jetstar guy did tell me there is "no way anyone is getting to Brisbane airport, you'd do better to try to get to the Gold Coast and we have some seats available next week sometime"... but I'm rolling my dice with BIA. Wish me luck.
xxx

Pandemonium in the shops

Not again.....

Didn't we just have to go without water, electricity, shopping etc a few weeks ago because of earthquakes? Grrrr, it is happening all over again but this time for floods.

I went to the shops with Dad and Dom earlier to get some formula for Colt and we got the last box of eggs (in 3 supermarkets) and this is what the water and bread shelves looked like... Whatever the lesson is that I'm supposed to be learning I've learnt it! I've learnt it!

Brisbane is being evacuated - roll call time

Bugger.
The floods are moving south and they are evacuating the city. The gorgeous area of South Bank (where we went on Sunday with the Reeds) is totally under water.
Dom, of course (he always disappears during a natural disaster) has taken the kids to WhiteWater World (part of Dreamworld) and has not got a cellphone. The roads between him and me have been closed and everyone is being told to stay off the roads anyway. Joy.

The Reeds

In the deep dark downpour is Sebas, Eric, Dom, Luc, Marina, Meg, Jas, Jade and Danilo... beside what I call the Brisbane Eye. If it wasn't $25 a seat maybe they would have a few people riding that thing... We also roamed around South Bank and went to the museum...

It was only spitting when I took this picture of the Brisbane Temple. The Kangaroo Point Ward Chapel is just.... 5m away. JEALOUS? Yes.

To be honest I am planning a famnapping. We can't go back to NZ without the Reeds.... CAN'T! We had lots of fun with them today xxx

Colt in Sebas' Old Navy outfit (sigh)

the pictures are all backwards as usual, but this is us playing Roly Polys - Colt's favourite game... in Seb's little singlet suit. So adorable for so many reasons....

Kugelof

Jessica's amazing friend Mel ordered a kugelof for our family reunion... There is one place in Sydney that makes them and she got us one... Mel we love you and kugelof xxx

Happy 2011

We had the best day yesterday with our friends from Christchurch (that moved here a couple of years ago and we WANT THEM TO COME HOME!). We went to church together and then they showed us the lagoon on the north side of Brisbane. From there we went back to their house and had a fun afternoon chatting and eating. Thanks so much guys xxx

Jas doing what his family does so well....

Aren't they just the most beautiful family!

Best friends :)

Heading over to the lagoon all dressed up for a day at the beach... and can I just say it was SO HOT!

Lucy loves the water...

Lucy still has her hat on but the others ditched theirs to go in the water - isn't it gorgeous?! This is the beach near Mickey's house... I can't remember the name of it.

1.1.11

Colt got his first tooth today! I'd show a picture of it but I can't get his mouth open wide enough to get the camera in there.... so just trust me on this, he has a rasor sharp pearl in there.