'Apple Bottom jeans in her Mom jeans... boots with the fur, WITH THE FUR...'

My Poo Poo. It isn't home yet.

Gabe's latest quote. Sorry if toilet talk makes you quease. You can just stop reading if it does.

So Ben asked the Boy if he needed to 'go to toilet' {as they say here} and Gabe said:

No. My Poo Poo isn't home yet.

He's since said this several times when asked if he needs to go, and it of course still cracks me up. He's even moved on from that and begun asking me:

Mom, is my poo poo home yet?

And I'll say, Uh, yeah, I think so. I think it's home now.

And he'll say,

Nope. It's not. My poo poo isn't home yet.

This goes for pee pee too. And then of course I, like many of you I surmise, am sucked into these antics and find myself taking them on as part of my own vernacular. Yes, he's now got me asking if It is home rather than my more regular styles of toilet-time question posing. And though some times It is home, more often it is not.

So then we wait for it to stop clubbing or going to the bank or washing it's car {or whatever it is doing not being home} and get home so we can get the business done.

And then here are a few choice shots of his little grooming experiment 5 days before our family pics were to be taken. He basically cut the front section to the scalp. Awesome. From the pics, I can guess that he is a fan of his skills, he seems pretty proud of himself. I was not a fan however. Here he is in the chair, blissfully unaware that I am about to plug in his arch nemesis, the clippers.

the dragonfly whisperer

It appears Laine has the gift. I'm so proud! A family trait, though present on both sides of her family, still incredbly rare, a virtue not to be taken lightly.

I'm talking about a gift difficult to understand. A keen awareness, a gift of discernement... Said oddity deals with the ablility of to relating to animals and insects, to communicate with them on a higher, more profound level.

Her maternal Aunt Kathy posses such a gift. For Kate it is cats. So yeah, they wink at her. Not a joke. Just ask her, she'll tell you. Cats wink. At her. Some dogs too I think.

And her paternal Grandfather, he once made eye contact with a bee. The bee stared him down the lane of the apple orchard. And he and this bee, they made eye contact. True story. He told me this himself, face to face.

And now Laine. Just this afternoon she told me,

"A dragonfly came down to say hello to me. It told me it loves me."

A special day. Very, very special day. She has the gift. The gene is not recessive.

Family Pics 2009

Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens

Nothing else new. Holidays are real low-key when you don't have family around! Just hanging out by the pool and throwing another shrimp on the barby!

Still looking for a house to move into next month... My sis Kate gets here in a week and we're all very excited about that and have thoroughly enjoyed our other visitors {my parents, Noah & Allison} We've gotten to see a lot of fun things and spend some great time!



Bridging topics, today Laine got lost in the shopping center. I was right there, but she didn't see me and started to panic. She went right up to a lady and was talking to her, all the while I'm calling her name and she's not hearing me.

Afterwards she saw me, grabbed me and clung on for dear life and laughed heartily, relieved of her worst fears.

I was curious what she told the lady, so I asked and she said:

'I'm looking for my mom. She's wearing a blue top and has a big mole on her face'

Are you serious? You're lost and that's the description you give?? Didn't do much for my esteem or my confidence that she'd be able to locate me if I was truly lost.

I don't know though, decide for yourselves. Evidence of said molehmolehmoleh:


As for Gabey, we've been potty training and it was not going well, we're talking months off and on. Then I bought these 'Wee Targets' and we're in business. I HIGHLY recommend them for boys of all ages.

They are black and heat sensitive, so when something warm hits them, it reveals a picture. Genius. Gabe is practically dying to go in the potty and he has even taken on my advice of drinking lot's of water to help the process. Very funny. It is actually a real crack-up.

Baby boy is 3

My sister sent me this pic and it makes my heart squint a little bit to see my little bebe, he's growing up so fast. He just had a birthday and turned 3.

Many of you know I won't be able to have any more children, so I guess these pic are all I have to remember how sweet and beautiful my kids were as babies. Gabe used to take his blankie and fuzz it on his nose for comfort with his binkie when we was going to sleep. It was the cutest thing ever. Just wanted to put this pic up here because it reminds me so much of him at this stage and everything he was about and I never want to forget it.

7.5 years, 10th move

We're moving... again. Yes, you heard that right. And yes, you're memory does serve you correctly, we only moved to this house in February.

But when opportunity knocks...

Ben just had his last day at 4Life yesterday and we will be heading down to our new home in Melbourne, Australia to house hunt in a few days this upcoming week.

Life has been filled with excitement, hesitation, nervousness, jubilation, and stress -good and bad. But we are excited at this new opportunity for him to be working at his new job as General Manager of Australasia for Melaleuca, and I'm so proud of Ben!

We will most likely wait out the school year, which ends in December, but we'll know more after this week. Sorry we have been out of touch with most of you on it, in fact, there may be some members of the family who are reading this for the first time not knowing! It has been hard to spread the word and this was all really, really unexpected.

I am feeling good about it, but it was really strange to consider at first. I've loved my life in Sydney, and was excited at the thought of where life was taking us. This wasn't in my plans at all, but once we decided to go for it, we decided to really go for it and wrap our arms around Melbourne and our new life there.

Things have been busy, I've quit my other blog but will still post on it occasionally just for myself and family -as was intended in the first place. We're just focusing on our family and the tasks ahead and getting ourselves organized and ready.

The good news for many of you is that there is now more time than ever for that visit you've been promising us you'd make...

She Dresses Herself Now

Just found several half finished posts, most written in June or July... decided to get it in gear and post them, content may be a little bit old, just a warning

So Laine is obsessed with Michael Jackson dying. I think the kids at school are talking non-stop about it. Today she confused one of our favorite foods with what sounds like it could be a condition you'd die from today when she said, 'Mom, did you hear Michael Jackson died? He had a 'heartichoke''

In other news, Ben just got home from New Zealand today, and per usual he brought {cheap} gifts for the kids. Laine's gift was a pair of pants, that, as described by Ben, the woman Shopkeeper of the store {hard-up for a sale} talked him in to buying. Of course selling him heavily on how much she would like them. At the start of their conversation about buying a gift for his kids, he related that his daughter was 5, but somehow he has arrived home with pants are size THIRTEEN, and he didn't notice that might be weird at any point...

Further, they're not pants, to put this nicely, I think they are Bermuda shorts or capris for a horizontally challenged {read: obese} child. They seem like the right length for a 5 year old, yet her waist could fit into the thighs portion of the pants. And I guess he didn't notice the low crotch or elastic waistband. They made for a good laugh, and I still pull them out when in need of a good laugh, -oh, and they're good for a laugh. I smell this year's White Elephant gift! I've said too much...

Ok, that was all old news, in more recent things seen and heard:

Yesterday our neighbor Josh came over and told us how much he loves Laine and basically that he is going to put her in his pocket and take her home to America when he moves home next month. He said he was outside and heard a sweet little voice coming from no where, only to realize it was Laine who was sitting on our mailbox {it is made from stones, this would make more sense if you could see it}. He asked what she was doing and she said, non-chalantly,

"Oh, I'm just talking to the moon."

Josh said, "Is it talking back?"

Laine, "No, I'm trying to get it to, I'm trying to talk to it, but it's hiding behind that cloud"

-She's also been talking to the road. I'll hear her in the car saying, "Road, Oh Ro-oad! I'm trying to talk to you"

I guess she's been pretty hard up for friends these days, such a pity. The poor wretch!

Also, today when we were driving into the city, she got a little confused as to where we live I think. She shouted,

"There it is, the Eiffel Bridge!"

And I started laughing and she realized her mistake, or so I thought, and said,

"Oh, nevermind, the Eiffel Bridge is in French"

And I laughed again and she said,

"Oh, I mean, it's in China"

Hmmm... gotta work on that geography as well as local and International landmarks.

Gabey is a real talking boy these days. If you haven't seen him in recent months he is a whole new guy, complete with new sexy summer buzzcut, pictures to come.

In Gabey news, I've been running into my share of unexplained, though surely Gabey related, messes in the house recently. However, I couldn't explain the empty conditioner and soap bottles, chased down with little piles of conditioner or soap around the bathroom, resembling what I lovingly call, "Cream Wrinse Terds". Usually in the tub, they remained a mystery until tonite when Gabey grabbed Laine's conditioner and said,

"Oh, great, there's the spider cream, I needed the spider cream"

And I was like, what, what the heck are you talking about? I was not very happy about the sound of this.

And he said, "But the spiders are berry hungry"

And then I realized all of those little piles were to feed the spiders and ants in the bathroom. Duh, what else would they be. He's been squeezing it out and then going back several times a day to check if there are any insects eating it. Naturally. Those little brains! I guess I can at least relish the thought that those messes I've been cleaning up had the best of intentions, right? I'm so glad he's concerned about the wellbeing of our insects. I just hope he doesn't leave anything out for cockroaches!

Cute Kid

This kid is cute, and he knows how to work a crowd. We're going on a trip at the end of the month and needed to take some pictures for Gabe's visa so this is about how his photo shoot went. Never want to forget this time, what a great stage. Though I've been saying that for the last 3 years with him...

Encore

Here's another -Laine reciting "The Kindergarten Concert"

Poetry In Motion -Laine recites Sick by Shel Silverstein

The house was rented ages ago, sorry for not updating sooner! The new family has moved in and we are excited to have them and hope they enjoy the neighborhood, area, and the new friends they will make -friends we miss so much!

Anyway, here's a little video of Laine reciting a poem. We get such a kick out of her drama and theatrics! She's wearing her Sport uniform for school -it's like it's Christmas everyday at Ironbark Ridge Prime-ry School...

The blog once again becomes my advertising platform: House for Rent

It's that time again, oh the joys of international living.

The beautiful house is once again for rent, so if you let it go the first time, a year and a half ago, don't let it slip away again!

This lovely family home is located in Herriman and features

5 Bedrooms {4+ Home Office with French Doors}

3 bathrooms

3 car garage

3200 square feet

Bonus Tiled Storage Room with attached cold storage

Fully Finished Basement

Fully landscaped, full sprinklers

Walk-in closet and jetted tub with chandelier in Master Suite

Stainless Steel Appliances, Granite Counter tops

Vaulted Ceilings, Designer 3 tone paint

Basketball and Tennis courts across the street

$1750 per month

We do have a local phone number you can reach us on if interested. Thanks!

Here they are

I'm still getting a lot of people confused about how they can find the videos for Shelf Reliance, so I'm posting this one here and obviously others can link to it. Otherwise you can do a search for Shelf Reliance on youtube, or they are on the product pages {hard to find because not every product has one yet} or you can go to SR's youtube page, www.youtube.com/shelfreliance.

This one is an informational video, and I'll be doing one of these for every product we have to explain more about it. I LOVE doing these because I'm getting the chance to answer all of the questions that I myself had as a customer before becoming an employee.

So here they are so there shall be no more confusion!

Thanks for all of your support with my new job and my new role. I still have so much to learn and sometimes I get frustrated that I don't have it all figured out right now. I'm mostly speaking of being more engaging on camera. At the time you film it feels like you're being a major cheese wiener. Then you watch and realize you could still need to give MORE! But I am learning so much from this job it is unreal. And I'm so grateful to be able to be making a living doing something I enjoy so much!

Home Trip

Uhm, hi, I just barely found the photos from our trip home in April / May, along with some other oldies and goodies. Here's a sampling of what happened this spring/fall?:

The kids after the forever long plane ride, driving up to Gaengy and Pop Pops {about a 3 hour long drive after 14 hours on a plane}. They wouldn't be so tuckered if they would SLEEP ON THE PLANE! This time was an improvement over last time's 45 minutes of sleep for Gabey. He upgraded to 2 out of 14 hours. Kill me now.


Incredibly fuzzy photo of basically nothing on account of the blurrieness. We met Nick and Nicole's family at Uncle John's Pizza Factory or whatever. The kids riding the rides and enjoying being with their cousins.


Some choice photos that Laine obviously took. The string of them was priceless. Who doesn't want a shot of Gram's bedroom carpet, an extreme close-up of Kristine's eyeball, Gabey running away naked, or an out of focus shot of Dad on his cell phone while folding his clothes -half the shot being taken up by a finger?


Moving on to the Disneyworld portion of our trip... Gabey and Laine rocking up to one of the parks. We went to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach Waterpark, and Typhoon Lagoon Waterpark. The humidity had already broken through the 4 layers of hairspray I plastered Laine's hair with. Girl likes to look good! Oh well, happens to the best of us sista.


Laine was so cute with the characters. I didn't realize what a big deal to kids of this age! At that age I was still really more into biting or otherwise destroying the toys stage, so I was really in the dark on the love affair kids have with the characters. However, early on in this trip Laine schooled me, and under her wise tutualiage I came to realize how important it is to them.


She got a card on one of the rides for participating and for the rest of the day she recanted how she was going to give it to Mickey when she saw him. She was so excited, it was really sweet. When she finally did see him she had forgotten it and was so sad! Kids sometimes pick the funniest things to place such importance, but it really is so vitally important them, and it is sad to see the disappointment!


We waited in several of the lines for a variety of different characters. I would have preferred to be riding rides, but sometimes, as mothers we learn it isn't all about us -repeat after me: this trip is about the kids, not Nat. I will wait in forever long lines to see grown-ups in hot furry fake costumes in 95 degree heat and 100% humidity and like it, LIKE IT I say!

Awe, so sweet. It was so worth it. The hours of waiting, the heat, beading up, the whining, the bunions that were formed while standing in line. Yup... seeing this picture it was ALLLLL worth it.

Gabey, aka Mother Boy, was not so into the characters. We have a few precious shots that are akin to most of the shots we have of him with Santa. Not happening. This was the nicest we have, and only cause Momma was in the middle, a proverbial barrier between him and evil Tigger.

PS that was awfully rude of Tigger to ruin the picture by doing bunny ears to me. Maybe he really is evil Tigger...

One of the many nights Dad was in meetings and Mom was left entertaining the kids. I took them down to Downtown Disney for dinner like at 8:30 on a Friday night. It was P.A.C.K.E.D. We didn't get a seat for dinner until after 10:00 at night. Crazy. We still went to the Ghiradelli Soda fountain after -Zowie, a must try. I highly recommend. Once again, if I talked dirty about food, this post would be inappropriate right about now. I'll refrain. But it was goooood.


Daddy finally joining the party. We headed out with our friends the Ogden's to the Prehistoric restaurant that had some clever, dinosaurish name. It was themed to the M.A.X and was actually quite incredible, as you can see. Gabey showing what he thought of the realistic sounds and robotics


Gabey getting impatient for food, we had waited an hour and a half for the table

The kid is too cute and silly, it is always impossible to just pick one shot of him

Better view of the restaurant, and since there are so few shots of Dad with us, here's a double take on this one too

The kids taking what just may be their last chance for a ride on dogs made of legos

Ben parked the car and took with him the hotel key. It was late and there was not a moment to spare in getting the kids to bed, so it was time to skin the rabbit so jammie time could happen asap once Ben returned with the key. What are naked kids to do but run up and down the halls of the hotel?