Freeze Out

I was just watching one of my favourite shows, Rove. There seems to be a common theme on Australian evening television - comedian news shows - but who cares, they make me laugh. Anyway, Kelly Clarkson was on tonight. I must admit that I am not really a fan of hers. American Idol premiered when I was living in Hawaii and one night I said aloud that I didn't think she was that great - my friend JC nearly jumped across the bus to slap me! But tonight I like her, mostly because of the funny story she shared about growing up in Texas. I can relate to attending high school in a small town and making up games to alleviate the boredom - but my friends and I never played 'Freeze Out.' As explained by Kelly, the game is played in the winter, with the AC on, the windows down, and naked, the winner being whoever could hold on the longest without getting dressed. Well Rove nearly fell off his chair laughing so hard - before this the funniest part was when she said "neener neener" and Rove took it to mean the sound of an ambulance (note to self - many words/phrases/sounds do not mean the same thing in AU). He was laughing, she was covering her face, and I was cracking up and I instantly thought of a something that happened to my friend CKD recently (you can read about it by clicking the initials). My words of advice: Next time you run into bored teenagers just give them the instructions to this new game, driving by some crazy naked kids with the windows down in the winter does not require Purell!!

Quotes of the Day

"I thought you were Canadian because you are so nice." I wasn't sure if I should say thank you or burn!

"Mommy, I had a great day at Elsina's house today." Yep, we are talking in complete sentences here folks!

In Spanish class tonight my teacher asked, "what's this?" and my friend yelled "hand!" "Good job, Michelle," I managed to say before I got the giggles, "you know the English word for la mano!"

Working From Home

Don worked from home on yesterday so that he could get a bunch of slides done for his upcoming presentations. Makoa loves when Daddy is home and when we came back from playgroup he ran in to tell Don all about his day. Then when Makoa woke up from nap, it was back to Daddy's lap for some cuddles.


I think it is going to be hard to convince Don to go into work - who wouldn't want to stay home?

Little Smartie Pants

Sunday evening Makoa and I were playing our 'animal drawing game.' Makoa has one of those farmer toys that you pull the handle, it spins around, points to an animal, and makes its sound, and I have one of those, not etch-a-sketch, but the other magnetic writing toys . . . wow, I am just so clear in my descriptions tonight, sorry if I have completely lost you, but I am really trying to explain something here! Anyway, one toy makes a sound, then Makoa and I sound out the animal's name and I write the letters on the writing toy. Don walked by the first time we played the game and apologized to Makoa for having a teacher mom and for the fact that school will not stop even when you get home. I told him I was just taking advantage of a learning opportunity!

Back to my story - Well, on Sunday Makoa wanted to try drawing the letters. He'd look at me and say, "um, what next?" then follow my directions and run out and show Daddy. It warmed my heart to see my little munchkin making letters - we kept it simple with the straight lines and circles.

Monday morning I was in the kitchen packing lunch and Makoa ran in and said, "look, I make T." I was so proud I had to take a picture . . . and brag to all my readers :)

What Should We Do Today?

Makoa and I are a couple of social butterflies and have something planned just about everyday - I know you must be so shocked to hear that! Today we had a play date with Jenny and her boys, but they got sick and had to cancel. While we ate our brekkie I asked Makoa what he would like to do today and he said he wanted to go to the library. So, after I put in a load of laundry, turned on the dishwasher and put the clean doona (*duvet*) on my bed, we were off.

The new thing is that Makoa likes to push the stroller. His hands start falling asleep and I told him to put his hands down to shake the blood down. I also tried to show him how to push the stroller near the buttons that are lower down on the back of the stroller. Makoa took it a bit literally, and now we have to stop quite often to shake his hands down low and to push the buttons to help his hands from shaking. As you can imagine we don't make it anywhere very quickly!

What time does our bus come Koa?

First stop was our favourite gelataria at the Italian Forum. We tried the new strawberry and forest berry flavours.

Then a play at the fountain - the statue is an Italian poet.

It took awhile to try and balance my camera on the fountain so that I could capture the two of us - thank goodness for timers.

We finally made it to the library which has several of these (I don't even know what they are called) and Makoa LOVES them and could sit and move the beads for an hour.

He found a few movies to check out and Makoa used his very own library card - very exciting!

Hope you are enjoying your Thursday as much as we are!

Wii Fit Parody

We love our Wii and our Wii Fit, but this parody of the Nintendo commercial made me laugh so hard! Click here to watch on YouTube.

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny came last night and he decorated our coffee table, left Makoa a basket, and hid eggs in the living room!

Makoa found his "basket with lotsa presents."

After unloading his bounty (in new colourful snack containers obtained before the Easter Bunny received some plastic eggs from a friend - see Good Friday post) of crackers, fruit chews, and a car, he hugged the bunny to say thank you!

Then he hunted for the plastic eggs hidden around the living room and put them in his basket.

Once all were found he shook each one and then opened it and put it on the coffee table.


What could it mean that my child has such an order (some might say neurosis) about things? Don said today, "even though he is a boy sometimes I feel out numbered." Wouldn't you love to have two Julie Browns running your life and bossing you around?!

For lunch we went to the big park near the water to have lunch with my friend Jenny, husband Mark, and boys Matthew and Jaime, and her friend Kate plus two girls. Jenny made the cupcakes for Makoa's birthday and she didn't disappoint today with banana cake muffins with chocolate frosting. She also brought chocolate eggs for the kids to find - labeled with each child's name on them (such an organized mom!)

All the kids sat patiently for a photo - after being told that after the picture they could eat an egg!