21 (brief) things

1. My parents have come to visit!

2. Yay!

3. They came last Thursday, and they brought candy corn!!

4. It's the "Indian corn" variety. But as I told them, I hope my home is always a place where any ethnicity of candied corn would feel welcome.

5. Ava's ballet concert was this past Saturday.

6. If you were reading this time last year, you'll remember my travails with making the perfect bun.

7. This year? Nailed it!

8. The concert was 4 hours long.

9. The concert was 4 hours long.

10. Did I mention that it was 4 hours long?

11. It was.

12. Do you know how many more times I want to see 15 year olds dancing in silver hot pants?

13. None more times.

14. After Ava danced towards the end of the first half, we tiptoed out and went to dinner. We had a nice, leisurely time. Then we came back to the theatre and the concert was still going.

15. Going to dinner was a very, very wise decision.

16. I think we're going to take a break from ballet for awhile.

17. Today we went to a pretty riverside town called Brooklyn. After lunch we took Nate to play at a park near the water.

18. Nate was playing pirates. While we played, a man wandered by with a dog on a leash. The man was enraged about something or other, and kept yelling obscenities, to no one in particular. Lots of creative F-word usage.

19. I was a little concerned about what Nate would think. "Don't worry about him, Natey," I said. "He's angry, but he's going away." Nate looked at him and whispered to me, "He looks like a bad pirate."

20. He kind of did.

21. You know what I love? Being with my family, and picking up right where we left off.

Treat yourself

I say, throw caution to the wind!!

Don't just sit on the monster truck! Next time, plug some coins in that baby and take her for a whirl. You deserve the thrill!

Life's short, you know? We all need a treat every now and then. That photo depicts pure, cackling glee. I'll take some of that, please--right over here!

Now here's the part where I say we could all learn so much from children. Teach them well and let them lead the way, blah blah.

Have a great day. Put the pedal to the metal, baby!

What I miss

We did our version of Halloween Lite this year. The kids had a ball--"Mom! I have 17 pieces of candy!!" Ava crowed on our walk home. Lord bless her, I used to think that if you still didn't have Halloween candy at Easter, you needed to add more houses next year. But this version of trick-or-treating works for me!

This house (pictured) was the only one we went to with carved jack-o-lanterns. As my neighbors and I stood on the driveway watching the kids, I chuckled. "That's 50 bucks worth of pumpkin right there." Maybe they'll find a way to work it into their everyday decor.

So that's that! It was nice. But I was reminded of what I always miss this time of year: candy corn.
How I love candy corn. Like regular corn, but awesomer. As a kid, and then for more years than I'd like to admit beyond, I'd eat it by the handful(s). Candy corn is pure in its mind-numbing, tooth-endangering sweetness. It's simple and unpretentious. Take all your high falutin', uppity candies and give me candy corn any day.

You can't get it here...but I have hopes!

Did you get candy corn this year? Would you tell me about it? Was it the traditional corn style or the tiny pumpkin variety? Was it wonderful?

Away

We're heading out today for the weekend. We're having a weekend away with our church in Wollongong. Church camp, everybody! Woohoo! Like band camp, but no tubas. Here's Wollongong:


It's a beach town just an hour or so south of Sydney. Lovely. But please don't make the mistake I did when we first moved here and say, "Wall-un-gong". Even though that's what it looks like. Cause people will snicker at you, like they did at me. It's "Woo-lohn-gong". These wacky Australians. Also, Cairns is pronounced "Cans". What gives?

Anyway, Jason left last night with Ava and Nate--they were gonna camp out. Grace and I don't camp. So we stayed home and we're joining them this afternoon, after I teach my scripture class at the high school. It rained in Wollongong last night, so camping out didn't happen. This did instead:

Ha! Love that.

It's always crazy trying to get out of town, and Jason keeps texting me more stuff to bring. Bike Helmets, swim goggles, extension cords. I need to get out of here before he comes up with more stuff.

But this, my friends, I will be packing for sure:

The new Lee Child book is out! And just in time. I've blogged about Jack Reacher and his wild, justice-seeking ways before. They involve: stopping at nothing, broad shoulders, striding purposefully, and percolated coffee. Oh, and pure awesomeness. Becky has a great post up today about the books. Why haven't you been reading these? Your life is surely lacking as a result. I say this as your friend. Anyway, I'll try not to neglect the kids or our friends this weekend as I devour the book.

Enjoy the rest of your week! xoxo

Halloween in Oz...or not.

When we moved here 5 1/2 years ago, Halloween was not a big deal at all. The stores didn't have decorations, and at least in our part of Sydney, no one dressed up or trick-or-treated. I remember our first Halloween here--I had a two year old and a two week old, and I was perfectly happy to not have to do it all!

Over the last few years, though, I've noticed that more people and more of our grocery stores and shops are getting into Halloween. I've heard about some neighborhoods that go all out, with every house decorated. And though it's nothing like what it is in the States, there's a lot more Halloween chatter and activities going on. It's been interesting to watch it gradually catch on here.

Yesterday, Grace and I were at Woolworth's (our local grocery store) and I saw this:
Good news is, you can get a Halloween pumpkin for your very own self. Bad news is, you gotta pay 25 bucks for it. I stood there and laughed to myself in the produce section. Because there is no way, noooooo way, that I am paying $25 for a pumpkin. Not gonna happen.

Thankfully, our kids don't know what they're missing. They don't know that their cousins in America will go out trick-or-treating and come home with 8 pounds of candy. Last year, we visited about 4 houses--all friends of ours--and came home. Ava and Nate were happy, and so was I. Easy peasy.

A few nights ago, I was at a preschool committee meeting and the subject turned to Halloween. Most of the moms there were ambivalent about it, but a few were adamant. They didn't like Halloween and didn't see the point of it. It wasn't really because of their religious views, as is often the case in the States with people who don't participate in Halloween. It was more like, why do people do this? What's the point? Plus,isn't this an American thing? You can imagine that, if you didn't grow up doing it yourself, the idea of dressing your children up and sending them out to countless houses asking for candy is a little bizarre. One lady said her husband was caught unaware by some hopeful trick-or-treaters last year and all he had to give them was dried figs. Ha! Awesome.

Because we're pastors, people sometimes ask us what we think about Halloween. Jason's birthday is on October 31st, so you can imagine how great Halloween was for him as a kid. I think he was probably 12 before he realized that all the costumes and candy weren't just for him. We both grew up dressing up and going trick-or-treating and it was lots of fun. I am reasonably certain that I didn't accidentally worship the devil in the process. But I get why people are concerned. I understand that it's disturbing for some. So when people ask my opinion about Halloween--which doesn't happen so often over here--I usually say that if it bothers them or violates their conscience in any way, don't do it.

For us, we allow our kids to trick-or-treat. But I don't like making a huge deal of Halloween. Mostly cause I don't want Christmas to just seem like that other thing we decorate the house for. Know what I mean? And also, cause I ain't paying $25 for a pumpkin.

Not *strictly* an emergency

Oh my, waking up in a house with no peanut butter.

It is unpleasantness that I would not wish on anyone. Need I say, toast with jam Does Not Cut It.

There ought to be a red phone for situations like this. "It's 7:30 in the morning and I have no peanut butter. Send in the helicopters!"

I hope that you have a great weekend, enriched with peanutty goodness. Unless you are allergic. In that case, I hear that almond butter is nice.

Edited to add: I have been sitting here thinking of all the other areas of life that should have red phones. Like, "I'm too tired to get off the couch and go to bed!", or "This tupperware container is full of 2 week old leftovers!", or "I have to act like I know what this meeting is about!" What are some of yours?

Getting ready

This morning I took Nate to kindergarten orientation. For those of you in other parts of the world, our school year begins at the end of January. So, about this time, schools hold events for the next year's kindergarten students to come check it out. The kids play while the teachers observe, and the principal talks to the parents.

Nate kept telling me he was "embarrassed to go", but I think he meant "nervous". Sometimes there's not much difference between the two, I guess. Once we entered the classroom though, he pointed at some construction toys and said, "Look! We have those at preschool! Bye, Mom."

Well, okay then. It's bittersweet, but also an extraordinary relief when your kid can separate from you without too much stress or anxiety. Makes me feel like we've done something right. Of course, earlier that morning while Nate and I were dropping Ava off at her class, he found a rock the size of his head, picked it up, and was poised to throw it. So, maybe a need for improvement there.

After the program, there were cupcakes with each child's name on them, balloons in the school colors, and rainbow popcorn. Maybe kindergarten won't be so bad after all.

This is one of those moments in parenting where you marvel: how do the years speed by when many of the days seem so long? Speaking of bittersweet.

I think I need a cupcake.