I’m pinching the computer away from Kelli for a second to sneak in a quick update for the past week (she’s been working on the

traditional family calendars and thus she gets to hog the computer – I think we’ll have to become a 2-computer family before too long :)

Things have been pretty hopping the past week or so. Savannah had her Christmas concert at school. It was quite entertaining. They had all the school kids from years ‘reception (aka, kindergarten)’ up through year 7. There were probably 500 kids and they combined to sing about 15 songs. The setting was quite unique. Instead of doing it inside with a stage and what not, all the parents ‘rucked up’ with their lawn chairs ready for a sausage (hot dog) sizzle which was the school fundraiser for the night ($2 was a bargain for a sausage on a slice of bread :) Everyone picked a spot on the school playground and they made a stage at one end and everyone just pulled out their ‘sunnies’ and settled in for the show. It was blazin’ hot as well and the flies were out in full force. Luckily we had some cold water which kept the kids entertained for a bit. They sang some traditional Christmas songs like Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer (except for the part where it goes, “ … and Santa came to say “ to which everyone in the audience, kids and adults alike, responded “G’day!” instead of ‘ho ho ho’. I didn’t quite catch what they said, but Kelli snagged it. The other songs were all Aussie, similar to the ones that the Hutchinsons posted on their blog last week. Savannah’s class sang, “Christmas Where the Gum Trees Grow.” Here are the lines to it:

Christmas where the gum trees grow

There this no frost and there is no snow

Christmas in Australia’s hot

Cold nd frosty is what its not

When the bloom of Jacaranda tree is here

Christmas time is near

From England came our Christmas fare

They even said what Santa should wear,

But here down under the summer’s cool

Santa should dip in a swimming pool

Santa rides on a sleigh on snow

But down here where the gum trees grow

Santa should wear some water skis

And glide around Australia with ease

To ride ‘round the bush where it’s often dry

To cart all the presents piled so high

Red nosed reindeer would never do

Santa should jump on a kangaroo

The whole thing lasted 2 hours, quite long for an elementary program … but then again, we are here in Australia and everything is just a little more laid back and easy going :) So we just learn to relax and go with the flow.

We posted Savannah’s exciting milestone with riding her bike. She practiced for so long with the training wheels just trying to keep them from touching the ground. She was pretty excited when she was finally brave enough to let it work. Savannah’s class also had an excursion this week to the central markets. Kelli volunteered to chaperone, even though she had to take the boys with her. It was a 5 hour trip and a 95 degree day, but it was fun. We went to China town and saw the food and souvenir shops, and then to the markets, which are stalls of fruits and veggies, nuts, flowers, whatever—a typical market place from anywhere in the world. Each of the kids (we only were in charge of Savannah and Keely), had a purse with $6 and a shopping bag to fill with fruits and veggies for their family. Kelli was amazed at how cheap the prices were and how wonderful the quality of the produce—we should have gone there when bananas were $16 a kilo!!

Jessy also mentioned in his previous entry about lice causing Savannah to crash. Well, yes, we have had another run of the bugs!! They are disgusting and pointless, but hopefully we have them in check. It’s hard because when the weather warms up like this, they just thrive and multiply like crazy. I found one on Saturday, so I treated her a first time. Then, on Tuesday (in case we weren’t busy enough getting ready for the school program and getting to tennis), her teacher told me she had been scratching her head a lot, so I should probably check since a few other kids had reported problems with it. Sure enough, there were more. I’m confused, though, because there are very few nits and even fewer bugs, so I guess we’re catching them quickly, but she keeps getting them. Lucky for us school gets out for the summer next week!! Hopefully we’re done smelling like lice shampoo for a while!

Collin just can’t wait to go to kindy again this week. On Sunday night he was so excited that there were just 2 sleeps left until he could go again. He went with no problem to nursery this week (because the nursery bully wasn’t there this time – he did say that his nursery leader is a good blocker, though :) His hair is growing back fairly quickly so his artistry is slowly fading away. He also talks on his cell phone to his ‘girls’ … whoever they might be. And … he keeps asking how long it is until Cooper comes to visit … to which we have to remind him that Christmas is coming first.

Hunter – well he has really been a bowl full of laughs this past week. Not even sure where to start. Ok, the other morning we kneeled down to say our family prayer. Hunter comes over like a good boy ready to say the prayer and then just stood up and walked over to Savannah, put his hand on her head and said, “duck …” then walked over to Collin and put his hand on his head … “duck” and then pointed to his own head and said “goose!” and started to run away … Another funny thing was his menu one day – he downed all the butter remaining in the butter dish, and then had some of Kelli’s deodorant. His 2 favorite songs which he likes to sing are “Child of God” and then the Darth Vader march theme. Quite the contrast when he switches from one to the other. And last but not least, he takes his little yellow or red chair from the kids’ dinner set and uses it to do a myriad of quirky things like unlock the door to go outside, pull candy from the counter, grabs the diaper rash ointment and wipes (and would proceed to eat it if we didn’t catch him in the act.) The tell tale sign is if he’s quiet for longer than 30 seconds … then you know he’s doing something that he shouldn’t. He still won’t go to nursery, but we are making incremental steps each week :)

So that’s been our fun, crazy week the past bit. Enjoying the Christmas season down under … It’s warmer than ever, but it’s definitely a time to remember!