CHRISTMAS in Toowoomba

Justice chatted the whole drive up to Toowoomba, he and Will watched the mile markers to chart how close we were getting...

He was so happy to get there (it was a surprisingly quick drive this year) and after lunch we went out to the tree and opened MORE presents! AND more Bakugan! Yeah!

Okay, and then MORE presents....And after eating a rainbow of jelly (jell-o) Justice played Miner Max as he has the past few years... He likes to make Grandma help him with the tricky levels... Justice and GrandmaThe McPhail Men - its not a great picture, but you can see how alike Will, his dad and Uncle Wayne all are... Justice may be the next generation McPhail man, but he stands out from the crowd! My side is exerting some dominate genes I tell you...

Justice and Uncle Wayne

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

CHRISTMAS at home

As usual, we woke up late-ish Christmas morning (there is no dawn rise inherent in this family) and settled down to breakfast (Froot Loops - a HUGE break from routine) and stockings.Merlin really is like the cheeky toddler we never had in Justice.

In our house, it was the cat who could not wait for Christmas! We found him literally climbing the walls trying to get to his stocking.After the ultra-naughty breakfast, we sat down to watch Justice open his presents...He lucked out with some much requested Bakugan (thanks Uncle Wayne), a coin album (thanks Sharona), a new and loudly redone Uno game (thanks Grandpa America), underwear (which were requested - believe it or not), requested books (Bakugan again) and a surprise Hot Wheels race track.

Christmas Eve in Windaroo....

Christmas Eve and Will had to get to bed early... Because I have been slow to recover I haven't been driving much, which means Justice and I missed one of our Christmas traditions - Usually we crank up the air conditioning, blast the Christmas carols and drive around looking at Christmas lights.

To make up for missing out, this year we went to the Kaiser Road Christmas Eve. The neighbourhood is SERIOUSLY in the spirit, and on Christmas Eve the road is closed off to traffic, Santa drives down the street in a firetruck handing out lollies and everyone walks down the middle of the road admiring the lights and enjoying the Christmas spirit. I love all the people barbecuing in their garages and on the lawns - it really celebrates the summertime Christmas! We saw some great houses and even ran into some old friends... FUN!!! We may have to seriously consider making it an annual destination....

The Life and Times of Our Christmas Tree

Justice and I decorated our Christmas tree December 2nd.

After careful consideration we decided to skip the lights

so Merlin could not Nation Lampoon himself...

We put it up on the 1st (like usual) but then I was too tired to decorate it...

However, it was UP on the 1st, so we were not behind schedule...Merlin loves resting under the tree during the day.

But at night he becomes convinced that the tree is actually a giant climbing post we constructed for him to play on. So we go to bed with the tree looking something like this...

And wake up to this.... So Justice has an extra job this month - redecorating each morning!

MYER CENTRE

Each year that we have lived in Beenleigh Justice and I have taken time in December to drive to Garden City and jump on a bus into Brisbane where we visit Santaland at the Myer Centre. Last year we knew the head elf, which meant a serious dicsount on picture prices, so we invited Sharona and family along (since it was Keala's first Christmas!). This year we all made the trip in together again. We didn't brave the Santa line (Keala is at the age to dislike a bearded stranger and Justice has never been a fan) but the kids rode the train together and then we all went to the packed food court for lunch. Its a quiet little tradition, but fun. There has been a lot of work on the bus line, so the regular bus now stops at King George Square instead of the Myer Centre, but the quick walk meant we also saw the City Christmas Tree. VERY FESTIVE at the Queen Street Mall this year!

Bella's Disco Birthday Party

Justice got a chance to see some of his classmates during the summer break because his "favourite girlfriend", Bella, had a disco birthday party. Dancing, the limbo, glow-in-the-dark bracelets and good friends - does it get any better? Justice had a blast - and we got the chance to see some great Christmas lights on the way home!

Last Day of School

Today was Justice's final day of Year One. In January he will officially be a second grader. Can you believe it?

At the end of year assembly, after the school donations to charity and the announcement of school captains, Justice received the Head of College Award for his class. We are SO PROUD! The assembly was followed by a breakup party and gift exchange game. (Justice scored some M&M's.) I just find myself wondering, where did that year go?

School Carols Night

Its the end of the school year, so even though its November, its time for the school carol's night. Justice's class performed The ABC's of Christmas and learned sign language for their carol. He received his completion certificate for Year One. Time sure flew by this year! Will had to sleep so he could work another sixteen hour shift, but I hobbled along to see Justice's Christmas concert and the fireworks show afterwards. Christmas celebrations with all the 4th of July heat and fanfare - I am slowly adjusting to life down under!

Larissa's Party

Justice has been friends with Larissa since pre-prep last year, and they have gone on to attend Rivermount together. More importantly, I have been friends with Larissa's mum Fiona since then (hey, she laughs at herself, loves the smurfs and doesn't mind my sense of humour - what's not to love?). Last night we even went and saw New Moon... in the Star Cinema, which seemed like a great idea because you have to be over 18, so we expected no teenlets... We didn't figure on the fact that they serve booze, and drunken twi-moms are just as hilarious and annoying as teenlets when Taylor takes off his shirt.... I was laughing SO HARD at some points I nearly pulled something!

Anyway, this year Larissa was lucky enough to have a birthday bash. I still am not driving (the joys of slow recovery!) so Sharona and Keala took us out to the house (and got to stay and play). There was poolside fun, egg and spoon races (she cheated and boiled the eggs!) and a scavenger hunt complete with water balloons. If they can just figure out which beast wee'd all over the cubby house (and strike them from next year's guest list) all will be well. Fiona made the coolest cake! Happy Birthday Larissa (next week)! And a huge THANK YOU to Sharona and Keala!

I'm no Twi-Mom

Okay, I totally read the Twilight saga and sort of loved it. Well, I really liked it. Its great to see a fellow church member blowing the world away. Its nice to see even the young kids I had working for me reading big fat books. And I enjoy any reasonably good series, it keeps me busy.

And the movie, while slightly painful, was very true to the book, I just felt very old. On the plus side, it featured heaps of places I love from trekking around behind Deanna in her stomping grounds and working on The Queen of the West and The Columbia Queen (both sailing for different companies when I worked on them).

Anyway, I even admit I have tickets for the not yet released New Moon.

But at the end of the day, I am no Twi-Mom. And it seems madly frustrating that people act like Meyers created the paranormal romance genre and others are only poor substitutes following in her footsteps.... PLEASE, people.

I have been reading Kelley Armstrong's series since long before, and if anyone asks me for a recommendation, and they seem the sort (not everyone finds this stuff entertaining) I would never be real comfortable recommending Twilight to someone because the heroine is at times whiney, beyond self-depracating and often tedious.

But Bitten? Well, that starts you on the road of a great entertaining series!

And Steff, sorry for the mystery. I meant to make some obscure housewarming email that would make it make more sense... I just got waylaid by my life...