The Ozmerican Life

A little intro....My Mom and Dad were on their yearly visit to see my brother in New Mexico

A: Mom?

Me: Yes honey?

A: Are Grandma and Grandpa going to be home from Apple Turkey soon?

Me: "Apple Turkey?"

A: "Yeah you know...where Bob lives?"

Me: "Apple Turkey?"

A: "Well I don't think that's quite how you say it...I can't remember."

Me: "You mean Albuquerque?"

A: "Yeah, that's what I mean!!"

On Ava's behalf...Bob is sort of a Turkey...with wings to fly and all :)

So I've been waiting nearly 4 years to see our Aussie family and it's finally come. They arrived on Tuesday night late and it feels as if we've just picked back up where we left off. It's like they've always been here.

The kids are loving it!! The language barrier isn't slowing them down in the least...yes they still speak English, but I argue Australian English is indeed a completely different language!!

So far we've only had one minor dir tbike incident, and one bathroom incident...

"Mummy.....I don't know how to flush the toilet!!!"

Our family of 11 has made it out of the house a few times despite the jetlag....them wanting to be sleeping at about 5pm and up bright eyed at 3am. Oh the memories of what's that like...glad it's them and not me :)

I know the time will go by way too quickly!!

I'd attach some pics but I haven't personally taken any and darn if I can find the ones Nathan took!! Maybe next time...but if anyone knows Nathan they can count on minute by minute updates and photos of everything we do on Facebook :)

A normal day for me...Off to work by 6:30am which leaves Nathan holding down the fort for the day babysitting the kids.

I think it's a total crackup when dad's say they're "babysitting" their own kids...Really? Nathan doesn't really say that for the record...just thought I'd throw that in there, because I've heard it more than once...

I always send Nathan the "daily directions" email. I've become religious about it. Even though I'm at work, I like to think "I'm" at home...aka Nathan pretending to be me. So the list comes with all the things that "I" would like to do during the day so that when I come home it's as if "I" was home busy all day!

On it are things like: Make the kids eat the bananas...they're almost off. DON'T down that tub of cream...it's for dinner! Make the kids clean their rooms. Sweep the kitchen floor. Do the laundry. DON'T do the laundry!! Fix all the things the kids have broken in the past week. Have the house spotless, with the smell of fresh flowers filling the house and candlelight flickering, all the kids in bed with a romantic dinner for two on the table next to a game of Sorry set up for after dinner entertainment...all by 4pm when I come home.

A girl can hope can't she? Actually almost every list is conquered by the time I get home...I should try it sometime!!

But this morning I got a daily update email from Nathan that made me chuckle...

"great start... all of them awake at 7:30, I think Keira had a marker as its all over her and I have some on my face hahaha then she threw your picture frame from beside the bed off the balcony... that was all before 8am"

Looks like it will be an intersting day for the babysitter :)

My kids LOVE yoghurt...WUV it!! if you're Keira. It usually takes a spoon to eat yoghurt....but not if you're Keira. We have it nearly every day.

Anyway the following after Jentzen finished.

J: Mom can I put my 'poon back in the drawer?

Me: No, it goes in the sink.

J: But I licked all the yoghurt off it!

Me: It's dirty Jentzen, put in in the sink.

J: It's clean! I licked it clean!! See???

Me: Jentzen you ate with it...IT'S DIRTY...GROSS!!!

Never mind that if you're ever come over for dinner

I came out of the office the other day to find this...My best bud was best enough to bring me leftover cupcakes from her dad's 80th Birthday Party. Deb and I are convinced we were raised by the same mother. Our mothers are freakishly similar in lots of ways. Except for one...my mother never made us iron bed sheets. My mother despises ironing. Poor Deb. And I just figured it out...our dad's had us at the same age. I will be as old as she is when I'm celebrating my dad's 80th Birthday.

They had green frosting...my dad loves green as well. If that was the reasoning for the green frosting...
Yes I know my baby has a mullet. It's been kindly pointed out to me before. She's only one. I'm okay with it...for now....and she has a farmer's tan...Horray for Swimshirts!!

Since she had already eaten 4 1/2 of them...right before lunch...I decided to take the few scraps that were left, peeled them out of her hands, and gave them to her brothers who had come in to see why they heard a big, "KEIRA!!!!!"


And then her dear brother picked some up off the floor and handed it back to her.

How quickly she recovers...all was well again.

PS. The snake was dead.

PPS. If you're confused read the previous post.

Nathan seems to have a knack for finding creepy crawly things.

Years back, while in house building process...

"Hey Mom, you should see the mouse Daddy smashed in the wall! There's blood everywhere!"

And yet another time, "Mom, Daddy tomped a mouse dead in the garage!" (Jentzen still doesn't think the "s" at the beginning of words is necessary.)

This particular weekend at the cabin it was this...
We let kids handle live snakes. We'd figure we'd let them practice here with the harmless ones in case we're ever stranded in the Outback and all the deadly ones come to get us and Nathan and I are both screaming frantically and the kids need to save us. We're thinkers aren't we!
Quaid was going a fine job. He had the skill conquered...so we thought we'd let Keira have a go because she will, afterall, be right next to my side until the end...isn't that the youngest child's job? I asked her if she will never leave me and she said yes.
Pretty talented hey? She is after all half Outbackian.
She became rather unimpressed with it pretty quickly. Where's the challenge she said.
What a little show off.