Didn't I get a baby sister?

Um, I'm not sure if blue floral is Sebastien's colour...

Petstravaganza

This past weekend saw us spending time checking out the ACES Petstravaganza at the university. Vastly different going this year with a three year old than last year with a two year old. Alex was her own person, seeking out different stands and, of course, the face painting (she's a cat). We managed to make it around all the stands with out passport and with all the stamps, earnt a t-shirt for Alex. Some of the stands made hard work for us, explaining about mistreated animals etc, but no more difficult than explaining a vet surgery video from the Vet Med Open House!
The video is of her playing pin the ID tag on the cat.

No, not THAT kind of colon...

Let me know what you are in my comments! You Are a Colon

You are very orderly and fact driven. You aren't concerned much with theories or dreams... only what's true or untrue. You are brilliant and incredibly learned. Anything you know is well researched. You like to make lists and sort through things step by step. You aren't subject to whim or emotions. Your friends see you as a constant source of knowledge and advice. (But they are a little sick of you being right all of the time!) You excel in: Leadership positions You get along best with: The Semi-Colon

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Om

So some of the other blogs I've been reading have a few "personality tests" to take...here's the first result -

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Nope, I just don't believe it!!
Let me know what you end up as in my comments.

This weather is beautiful!

Spring is but a fleeting moment here in the Mid-West - we've gone from lovely 80 degree F (~27 degree C) days to sleet, hail and snow on Monday! Craziness! This is a photo from a walk last week.

School Week Four

OK, so this week no art came home ;)

This week was a short week with no school on Friday. Alex was sad but no tears this time. Instead of school we hung out at the library. Alex has continued to get stickers for having her after-lunch nap (something I never thought possible) which seems to occur because preschool just wipes her out.

We tried to have a couple of afternoon playdates this week to see whether that is do-able with preschool. Not so much, it seems. Alex is too tired to control her emotions etc after a day at school so we won't be doing too much of that until after school has finished for the year.

Um, oh yes, we heard that our little naturalist was trying to strip off for her nap time...so we needed to reinforce the wearing of clothes whilst out of the house...

We continue to hear renditions from the class's music afternoon - all the time - and if we dare try to sing along...

Fuel, gas, it's all going up, up, up!

Fuel in Australia is hitting $1.50/L (approx $5.50/gallon) whilst in America, it's at $3.60/gallon (approx $0.90/L).

Meanwhile, the cost of a gallon of milk or a litre of milk.

Just saying...

I feel the earth, move, under my feet...

Earthquake! Yep, you heard me. Never did I think that I'd get to experience such a thing, especially in the Mid-West of America. But on 18 April I woke thinking someone had crashed their car into the apartment building. Whilst I was thinking I needed to go see if they needed help, it registered that the apartment was still moving - so next I thought that the motor of the fridge was about to give out (duh I know). Finally it clicked that it may be an earthquake - but by this time things had stopped shaking. Did I mention that Brett, Alex and Sebastien slept right through it?!

We've also been having aftershocks all week - but to be honest, I haven't felt any of those.

I just want to get out of town without experiencing a tornado...

Don't cha love a good party?

We went to Kylie's 3rd party a week ago (our first "after pre-school" social engagement) and had a ball! Little Dora the Explorers were everywhere and Alex loved catching up with friends. Actually, so did I!
Thanks to Donita for the photos!










1 Sebastien standing up (as usual).
2 Alex in the playhouse.
3 Like his sister, Sebastien is very keen on being upside-down.
4 Alex playing with a pony.
5 The birthday girl, complete with wedding veil ;), and birthday cake.
6 Alex peeking through the window at Donita - and voila, the beginning of the fake "camera" smile.








1 Alex and Sarah play on the couch - no they aren't Alex's shoes...she still tries on any that she finds.
2 Close up of the patty/cup cakes complete with Dora.

Another one bites the dust...

I always find it sad when something I've found to be useful (whether that's a piece of clothing that fit particularly well - usually a bra, a household item or food) is no longer viable or available. So I was sad when my trusty can opener (called "Sesame" - I love it - "Open, Sesame!"...hehehe) that I purchased at the 2005 Invention Expo in Geneva Switzerland finally stopped opening cans. You see, it was an original one that separated the top from the bottom without cutting the tin - something that appealed to me as when I was in high-school I dropped a cut open can (upside down) on my foot and required quite a few stitches; I still have the scar. It just isn't the same to get one from the US - but that's what I've done, gone out and purchased one. Sigh.

Competitions galore

It seems lately that we've been blessed with the luck of the Irish...

• The family won a dvd player (Alex said "Now we can watch tv?" - ummm, sorry, no tv)

• Alex won a bicycle safety light kit - guess we need to buy her her first bike soon...

• Sebastien and Mummy won 4 tickets each to the Spring Football game at the U of I - of which we gave away 4.

I wonder whether this will continue...

School Week Three

I was all set to say that "No art came home this week." - but today is Friday and, yes, one piece of art made its way home today (see photo).

This week, after two aborted attempts, Brett volunteered at the school. I shall leave it to him to post about that experience - but I am hoping to volunteer next week.

Thursday brought Alex's first preschool music concert - which I will blog about in a separate post.

Alex has taken to saying "I love Mrs Byers (one of her teachers)" - possibly this could be due to the fact that every afternoon when we come to pick her up, she is sitting near or on Mrs Byers' lap having a story read to her.

More bits:

1. Alex started going to preschool on Daddy's bike with Mummy and Sebastien picking her up in the afternoon.
2. Alex knows that you play "chase" with boys in the playground - preferably without her coat as that makes it easier for them to catch her (this was harder to decipher as one of the children in her class is a little boy called..."Chase")
3. Every day when asked what was for lunch, she answers "I don't know" (read "I don't remember") - could this be the beginning of the whole "What did you do at school today?" "Nothin'." routine??
4. We are very sad that there is no school on the weekend.
5. No matter how I do her hair, it is completely undone at the end of each day.
6. Peer pressure has its advantages - Alex went from having no afternoon nap to (within the first 3 days) having a 1.5 hour afternoon nap each day - which we try to continue on weekends.

Sebastien loves to stand

Sebastien has just started spending some serious time playing seated at his "playstation" - and after jumping in his exersaucer, it seems he just wants to stand up. Here is a photo and some video of what he's up to now.

Birthdays come and go, and come and go and come and go...

Although Alex's birthday was last month, she hadn't spent her "$3 off" gift card she received from Toys'R'Us so it was off to shop after preschool on Friday. She got to wear a birthday crown, carry a helium balloon and choose a gift (mummy's stipulation was it had to be close to $3) so she had a great time - she chose a princess (of course) puzzle and storybook. Not bad to get something for next to nothing!

Uncle Matt comes to town!!

Yay! Uncle Matt came to town to meet his new nephew and see where we live (before we leave)!
Alex was, charmed!
Sebastien was, his usual self!
Brett was, still recovering from his "night out on the town" three days later!







Altogether Uncle Matt was here for a weekend (he's doing other travelling before heading back to the UK) so we packed in the University of Illinois' Vet Med Open House on Saturday (yes, we saw the fistulated cow).










Uncle Matt gets adventurous having failed to convince Alex to check out the cow's stomach (hey, she had the glove on!)












Then it was off to soccer on Sunday












...oh and Brett showed Matt the sights and sounds of campus bars on Saturday night...reminding himself in the process why it is he doesn't usually venture onto campus for the barlife!

Uncle Matt even cooked us a roast dinner on his last night - mmmm! Plus he scored brownie points for saving his gift giving (thanks Aunty Karen too) until the second evening he was here. Nessie is a hit! And he says he may come see us in China...

School Week Two

We received a parent newsletter to let us know what has been happening - at school this week the class has been finishing up a focus on literacy (letter of the day, words with this letter) and finished an alphabet book which will come home next week. The class had a visit from a local tv channel personality who read them a book called "Silly Sally" - the children made a craft and got to bring a book home with them. Last week the class was visited by McGruff and talked about getting lost and knowing where you live. Next week the class will talk about getting older so we should send a photo of Alex as a baby with her birth information and how she was as a baby (happy, angry etc) plus they'll start growing some plants too - busy, busy, busy!


Things I have learnt:

1. Teachers are not joking when they ask children to wear washable clothing - I am amazed by the state of Alex's clothes some days!
2. On a plus, this gives me a clue when I ask Alex what she had for lunch/snack and her answer is "I don't know"...
3. Volunteers are much loved in the classroom - and I should make the most of this whilst my child isn't "embarrassed" to have me around.
4. If I get to school earlier that 2.55pm, I should be prepared to sit in the car and read a book/knit/twiddle my thumbs as any early arrival in the classroom will be seen as devasting by Alex.
5. If I put 5 days worth of clothes in seperate plastic bags, then Alex is happy to wear what I want so long as she gets to choose one of those bags (this is a bit tricky with the current weather we're experiencing but should get easier once it is consistently warm).
6. I'm sure there are more, so I'll save them for next week!

Book Tag

OK, so Donita tagged me...the rules are: pick up the nearest book that is at least 123 pages...turn to page 123, find the 5th sentence. Type the next 3 sentences.

Here we go - "The Grown-Up's Guide to Running Away from Home" by Rosanne Knorr (hmmm)

um, it's a list of airline reservation numbers...the whole page...I'm not kidding...so here's page 124 (cheating just a little)

"You can buy consolidator tickets through a travel agent. If the agent deals with consolidators on a regular basis, they'll know who's legitimate. In any case, buy from a consolidator in your locale if you can."

Can't tell I'm doing homework for our trip to China :P

OK, so now you're it: Tina!

My sister is hilarious

What to do, what to do...?

So with Alex off at preschool that first week, what did Sebastien and I get up to (I think I hear you ask) - well we spent time babysitting a friend where Sebastien got some time to practice sitting whilst munching on his rings, went to a couple of playgroups (where the chorus of "Where's Alex?" from her friends was frequent), and even went out for lunch together - just like I used to do with Alex when she was his age.

School Week One Impressions

Day 1 and her hair has not stayed in (at least all the "bits" are in her bag) - Delilah - "she's the one with earrings in her ears (really?) and her hair is scattered" (ie she wears braids with lots of barrettes). Teachers confirmed my belief that Alex would have a hard time lying still during "quiet/nap time" seeing as she doesn't really do that at home. Burst into tears the first afternoon when she realised I'd arrived to take her home - she thought everyone stayed there. The teachers convinced her everyone goes home and comes back in the morning...even them. She reluctantly came with me and when we went back the next day (and subsequent days) she ran from the car to the school door.




Day 2 and we are informed that some of the kids are black, no brown, no black...and some are white...actually two are white (points to self) "one"..."two?". It's good that she's the only caucasian in her room as that will probably be the case in China - two classmates are of asian heritage and the other 13 are of african american heritage. Comes home with a sticker on her hand for being quiet in quiet time - aha! The teachers are onto something! Bring our first art project home - using scissors (a skill she's not been allowed to develop at home). See photo.






Day 3 and we get our first "injury report" from the school. Running and slipping on the cot that they sleep on after lunch. No blood no foul. Brings first book home from preschool. More art comes home - a chef's hat and gingerbread man cutout. See photo.









Day 4 Brought preschool book back to get repaired after it "broke" (to be fair it was a well loved book that the cover fell apart at the staple spine). No art today, however we have a second "injury report" plus a comment from the teacher that they were concerned for a while (running inside from the playground, tripped and fell on the concrete...limping for a while, although on a positive, she accepted an icepack this time!) Several notes home including our first field-trip permission slip - to a public park. I did notice that several more stones made their way home in Alex's coat pockets...must remember to double-check when I organise the laundry...


Day 5 final art project of paper plate "cookie" complete with stickers (Alex's were blueberries) came home. First question of why she can't go to playgroup as well as preschool. Second book home from preschool. No injury reports today and teachers say she's very verbal for a "just-turned" three-year old...a good thing they assured me...





A typical day - click photo to enlarge - includes washing our hands after we put our belongings in our cubby. The video we took on our way to school, on the steps of where we live.


Again, no idea why it's all spaced out like this - it looks beautiful when I preview it...

First Day of "School"!

She'd just met one of her teachers - Mrs Brady - at 8am and now we were off to school by 9am.

A pinch and a punch...

for the first day of the month, no returns!

And in honour of it being the 1st of April, check out the Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes Of All Time or this list of pranks!

Girl Scout Cookies

When I read the usual kid books I'd often come across things that only happened in a different country (usually USA or England). One of those things was girl scout cookies. These are seasonal so, being the end of the "cookie" season, Alex and I treked out to the local headquarters to make our purchase. Alex took delight in selecting the two boxes we ended up purchasing (thin mints and Samoas - or caramel delites) which coincidentally are the two most popular types. She drew many comments, but mainly for her "unique sense of style" - you realise very quickly that you need to choose your battles...