Our New Years BBQ

We had the John & Sophie and their family over for a New Year's Eve BBQ. They brought over a friend of John's and his two children, Imogene and Thomas. Then John went and picked up his dad, John Henry and his partner, Helen at the airport. So, we had a deck-full by 7pm.

Grilled lime-ginger shrimp, beef, chicken and lamb kebabs, vegetable pizza and tons of nibbles. Kids had sausages and picnicked on the deck.

It was definitely plenty to eat. And was quite warm, so we all felt full before we had eaten too much! Except for Sophie who kept on nibbling on my chocolate chip cookies, which I got up early and baked just for her, before it got too warm out!

Not too much drinking involved since we knew we were meeting the Fords at 8 to drive to Cremorne Point for the Family Fireworks at 9pm. We caravanned with 4 cars due to the number of us going... and surprisingly we got parking all on the same road! Couldn't believe it. Hoofed what seemed like forever, but was 25 minutes down the road to watch glimpses of fireworks through houses and trees. Never made it all the way to Cremorne Point due to how long it was taking to walk with all the kids and through all the people. Oh well, we did see the fireworks over the Sydney Harbour Bridge -- LIVE AND IN PERSON!!!

Check that one off the list.

Andrew was exhausted by the time they were done 10 minutes later, so I ended up piggy backing him 85% of the way back, up hill most of the way, in hot humid weather. All because he loves ME so much. No, can't have daddy at a time like that... just Mommy! UGH!
Made it home by 10.15 and got the kids to bed all through the house. Looked like a frat house. Fraser trying to sleep with his fingers in his ears on the couch by us. Andrew passed out on the lower bunk in his room. Emmalee and Imogene sleeping in her bedroom. Jacqueline sleeping on our bed. WHOA!!! Then the adults sat down to play a friendly game of Texas Hold-em. I did well early on, but Soph went out first, followed by me after a quick take down by Jim through some bad bluffing on both of our parts (good thing it was his money in the pot!). In the end, he came in 1st and John's friend, Jay came in 2nd.
Finished just in time to watch the midnight fireworks on TV. Threw on the IQ so the kids could watch them in the morning. They were much better than the family show. At the end, they make the fireworks look like a waterfall from the bridge. Very cool!
After the fireworks, Jim broke out his new, 'used' Christmas gift from me -- the Balderdash game he had been pining for for a while. We spent the next 2 hours having a roaring good time with it. Almost to the point of tears when reading the definitions at some point. And with it being NYE, the alcohol had stopped for the 9pm show, so we were all totally sober when doing it, so it was very funny!
The Bartons rolled out around 2.20 leaving Fraser asleep on the couch -- promising to pick him up by noon. They just wanted to sleep in longer than us in the morning.

Oh my goodness

This morning while Jim was trying to play Clue jr. with Andrew and Emmalee, he was telling them about moving 'clockwise' vs. 'counter-clockwise' around the board. Andrew pipes in saying, "No, there's no such thing as that -- it's 'clockwise' and 'cockwise'."

Golfing on Boxing Day

Instead of the traditional watching of the Sydney to Hobart sailing race --OR-- the cricket game on television, we opted for more family oriented sports. We started out with a bit of tennis this morning. Then we moved onto the Wii bowling for the family where Emmalee reigned supreme. Then Jim and the kids played a bit of tether-ball tennis in the backyard, enjoying another Christmas gift.
This afternoon, the kids got to break in another gift from Grandma and Grandpa Rhomberg. Their very own sets of junior golf clubs. Jim and the kids walked down to the golf course by the school and hit some putts and some drives and checked out the new clubs. Sounds like they are working quite well. Watch out Tiger, here come the Rhombergs!

Wii are getting our butts kicked by Emmalee

The grandparents gave all of us the gift of Wii. You know -- the game console that keeps on giving. We got a 110-240v adapter so it will work here AND four remotes so we can all play together.
I got it all hooked up just before lunch and we had our first bowling competition not long after.
I would like to say it was friendly, but little Miss Emmalee sure knew what she was doing. Makes us wonder if she had been practising somewhere else???
Watch and wonder with us...

Boxing Day Lunch

I treat my hubby good. See the gourmet lunch he got today. Sweet chili calamari salad with a sesame soy drizzle. Tonic and lime beverage to accompany. Now that's a Boxing Day lunch!!!

Christmas Eve Mass at St. Philip Neri, Northbridge

The family got to arrange flowers early for the service, so we went through the church yard to find flowers to arrange and make the altar look better -- and to help hold down the white cloth over the altar when the wind blew.
It was a beautiful night for mass. We got to have it outside this year. Mid 70's and sunny when the carols started at 6.30pm. By 7, the sun had dipped enough that I could take by sun glasses off. The service was so nice. There was the annual telling of the story of the birth of Jesus complete with a live baby Jesus (who only lasted about 7 minutes into the homily before he was replaced with a baby doll -- but who noticed, wink wink???), a donkey carrying Mary into the center, lambs, goats, a sheep dog and shepherds and angels. And what stable wouldn't be complete without goat and lamb poo on the ground? As they hit the front, they let it drop. How funny... the kids were trying to dodge it... So I found the handlers as the kids were leaving to make sure it was cleaned up before communion. No need to track that mess around!

We sat with Rachel and Manvinder, Sachin, Rahul and Anousha -- so we were with another KJ family for this part of the holiday. Its nice to have an 'extended' family here.
After mass, we visited for 5 minutes then everyone headed home for the opening of a couple of presents and then off to bed so Santa could come visit.

Preparing for Christmas

We are a good American family. Here we are, December 23rd, sitting in front of the television. Eating cheeseburgers, french fries, corn on the cob. Jim is drinking a beer in a cozey. The rest of us are drinking our skim milk. AND -- we are watching a Charlie Brown Christmas. You just have to get into the spirit of the season...

Charlie Brown finds himself depressed at Christmas time, searching for the true meaning of the holiday amidst the glitz and commercialism of the modern age. He finds his answer in the passage below:

"And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them! And they were sore afraid ... And the angel said unto them, "Fear not! For, behold, I bring you tidings o great joy, which shall be to all my people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ, the Lord."

"And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, and good will toward men."

"That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown." - Linus Van Pelt

A little birdie said I needed coffee

At least that is what Emma said she was told after our dinner at the Barton's last night.
I took the kids over for a BBQ at Sophie & John's around 5 on Friday. Jim met us there around 7 when he finally finished up with work. Needless to say, we were ahead of him by at least a bottle or so of wine.
We had nibbles until he came. Then Sophie fed the kids King Henry style (big chicken legs on a picnic blanket with buns). John BBQ'd beef fillets and lamb rumps a bit later.
After not having too much to eat earlier during the day and just having such a busy busy month/week/year, I think I paid no attention to the wine being poured into my glass. When I got up to help clear the table or do something later on in the evening, I realized that I wasn't so steady on my feet.
Luckily Jim offered to be the designated driver and by midnight, the kids had settled down enough to pass out on the floors. We scooped them up, put them into Jim's car and Jim drove home. Got them into bed and then managed to get myself into bed.
And surprisingly, the pain in the morning wasn't all that bad. More a white wine migraine than anything. So, that coffee that a little bird thought I might have needed wasn't all that needed after all!

It is Over

Today is the end of something amazing. It was the first year of school for both kids. I can't believe how fast it went by. Seems like they both just started.
We met at 2.30 to present Miss Rees with her platter for her going away gift. There were alot of tears. Definitely a tear jerking moment.
Then there was the year 6 farewell assembly. Although I really don't know any year 6 children, it was touching. They sang "Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson and "Time of Your Life" by Green Day. Both caused an awful lot of tears. At the end of the assembly all the children make a tunnel and then the graduates go thru it to get high fives. Its pretty neat. Then the leaving teachers do the same to exit. Very moving. I guess its a tradition all across Australia. I really like it.
After school Andrew arranged his last play date of his kindy career. We brought Daisy home. They had a blast, but she had a hard time decided who to play with -- Andrew or Emmalee!

One last day...sniffle...sniffle...

Tomorrow, the 21st of December is the last day of school.

We celebrated, or rather bemoaned the last day of the coffee shop, Schmooze, today. They are closing until January 14th for the Summer Holidays. UGH!! What are we going to do for coffee or a break from the kids??? I am already panicking...
The kids have been waking up really early, like 5.30 or 6am early. I am seeing a trend starting and its not pretty. Mommy needs her attitude sleep. I was up until after midnight last night working the 25 packages for Jim's employees, so 5 hours of sleep was not enough for a nice attitude from mommy.
If they continue to wake up early for the next five weeks, its going to be a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG summer holiday. Not as long as last summer holiday because now we have friends and fall back plans, but I don't think they are quite good enough friends to call them up at 6.15 in the morning to pawn the kids off on them!!! But by 8 am, it might work! At least for coffee and a walk...

Emmalee has been promoted...

...to year 2!!!

Andrew has been promoted...

... to year 1!!!

this says it all

Where are the elves when I really need them

I am a one woman work-shop.
Jim has 25 people working for him and last Christmas, being new, he didn't really do too much for Christmas gifts. Just bottles of wine, which got rather expensive. And now that my cooking reputation has somehow (wonder how that happened???) gotten around his office, I have been recruited by my ever adoring hubby to create magical presents for his people. All twenty-five of them. And all of a sudden its tomorrow... UGH!!! At least I am feeling well enough that I can breathe through my nose and its not 90 degrees outside, so its not sweltering in the house.
The request has been made by the big man himself for home-made white peppermint bark (ala Trader Joes -- he swears its even better than TJ's!!!!!) and a cookie of some sort. I bought gold posey boxes at a florist supply store a couple of weeks ago with Nicole. Breaking up the peppermint bark was fun, but awfully messy. Thank goodness the summertime ants hate the smell of peppermint -- I don't have to worry about them hanging around the peppermint shards that flew all over! So now I just have to finish bagging and building everything.
With the weather as it is, I decided on white chocolate cherry biscotti for the cookie. It will stay longer I think and I don't worry about it going stale on me or getting broken or chewey or ucky and ruining my stellar reputation.
Jim headed off to bed around 10.30 as the biscotti came out of the oven after their second baking. They had to cool and be bagged. I expected it to be a later night. I could hear the snores coming down the hallway. Like a lumberjack. ZZZZZZZZZCKckzckckzkckkzckzk
Finished the last box a little after midnight.

Kris Kringle Aussie Style

The photo says it all

(and who says accountants at Abbott don't have fun?????)

Snow Down Under

After seeing the photos of Grandma & Grandpa Rhomberg's house all decorated for Christmas under who knows how many inches of snow, Emmalee decided she wanted to show her classmates what snow was really like.

She took in the photo Grandma sent and I brought in two test tubes of 'snow'. We added two cups of water and voila -- instant snow. You should have seen the kids. They made snowballs. They played with it. They even believed that when we turned on the fans and air conditioner, that it was truly snowing from the ceiling! What imaginations! Then there were the boys who took blue markers to see if they could color the snow. Thank goodness they only did blue...

Adding another memory

We received this from Ryan and Elisabeth yesterday. Another Christmas ornament to add to our yearly collection to remember each year as we decorate our tree! It will definitely remind us of the great visit we had with them during the wedding trip to Hawaii this November.

...the best Christmas ever

We got another package from mom and dad. As I opened it up and handed the kids the presents to put under the tree, Andrew ran down the hall yelling, "this is the best Christmas ever!"

Another first

Aboriginal Gingerbread Cookies...

Rain Rain Go Away

and don't come back another day

Saturday was the first day in I don't know how many days that it hasn't rained. It is raining now as I type. And the weather thing just refreshed and looks like rain again tomorrow. Then Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And highs in the 70's. I know -- nothing like the snow Chicago and the East Coast and OK is getting, but still -- not the scorchers Sydney is used to getting.

On the bright side, the catchment is up to:
At 3pm Thursday 13 December 2007, the available storage in Sydney's water supply reservoirs was 60.0 percent. This is a +0.5 percent change on the previous week.
When we got here we were looking at somewhere in the 30% range. So it has increased dramatically in the past year.

I am starting to think that all of this moisture is causing some of my health issues. Black mold... UGH! I am having the same respiratory issues I was having back in IL when the basement had mold issues. But worse. So, now I am looking in to how to get rid of it without making things worse for myself. Since the rain and moisture doesn't seem to be going away here, I need to do something here to get rid of it. I just can't shake it. Found interesting things about hydrogen peroxide and essential oils. So I just need to read some more and figure things out. I just really really need to get rid of the stuff.
Fingers crossed... wish me luck...

DJ's Windows

Abbott Christmas Party

Tonight was Jim's Abbott Christmas Party.This year it was held at the Sheraton at the Park in Sydney. It is right opposite Hyde Park in downtown Sydney. Right kitty corner to David Jones (their version of Marshall Fields) with the fancy Christmas windows. This year's window theme at DJ's is the Nutcracker Suite. It was beautiful!
We got there just in time for dinner, which was tuna and scallops or mushroom ravioli for starters, turkey with sage stuffing or fillet for dinner and a trio of dessert for finishers. It was very nice. The entertainment was a magician who was really good. Kinda a mind reader or illusionist. Almost like David Blaine. We talked to him afterwards and he said he sold a trick to David Blaine recently. Not bad. Very interesting.
Once the band started playing, it got quite loud -- just like last year, so Jim and I took a walk outside. It was humid, but nice. We looked at all the windows at DJ's and then walked through Hyde Park. There is a huge fountain in the middle, kind of like at Buckingham Fountain. The fig trees lined the walkway at the park, so it was like walking through Central Park a bit, too. Very nice. I had never been there before.
Went back to the party to show a little more face, since Jim is part of the leadership team, and therefore a big man on campus. Everyone thought we had left. HA! But, too loud to talk, so we didn't stay too long and wanted to get out before everyone got in lines for the cabs.

I am getting really tired of this

Spent the day in bed getting ready for Jim's Christmas Party. Yeah, that's right. Had to rest up for it. Been sick since we got back from Hawaii basically, so I am wiped out. Thought I was on the up swing, then this coughing jag is killing me. Started to get a head ache and that was it.
Had Jim take the kids to cricket. I stayed home and finished wrapping the end of the Christmas presents. I think that was it. The tree is pretty much full. NO MORE PRESENTS. We have enough. Ok, we had enough before that, but definitely enough now.
Jim took our kids and Fraser and Jacqueline to Balmoral Beach while Sophie and John went to IKEA to build their new kitchen. Then the kids got a 2 hour break from each other before we dropped ours back off at the Bartons for a sleep-over so we didn't have to get a sitter for the party night!

brings you back

every have a moment where you taste something and it just takes you back???

I just took this cough medicine I bought here in Sydney. Its over the counter, but has codeine phosphate in it. Comes out almost fluorescent green. Anyway, down the hatch it goes and leaves just a tingle in the throat and a hint of lemon/lime. Brought me back to when I was younger and this really nummy cough medicine I used to take that worked magic called tussion-x.

TGIF

We have come to the end of another really really really long week. I don't even know how many down, but one more left to go and then the kids are done with their first year of school here. Can I believe I just said that??? They are going to have completed a whole year of school here in Australia. WHOA!
Anyway, this week has been mayhem. I have still been attempting (poorly) to get over being sick. I think I just started breathing through my nose yesterday. I am coughing like a smoker, especially when I lay down or try to sleep. The only thing getting me through the night is codeine cough syrup. So, now I am turning into a druggie. Or so it seems. And the coughing is waking the kids up. They still have the remnants of their coughs. So no one is sleeping well. And Jim is working late, long hours. UGH! Not fun in the Rhomberg house.
Let's hope next week is a down-hill slope for us to slide down where everything gets easier because this week it sure was all up hill and I was sweating it all!

Finishing the platter among other things

I thought I was all done, but then I remembered...
I had to finish up the platter for Emmalee's teacher. So I had to go over to Colour Me Mine in Crows Nest and spend all morning and afternoon touching up the work the kids had done in the ceramic place. You know -- making sure there were no blank spots of paint where they had painted. Going over their written names in paint. Matching their faces to names and writing those in paint (and screwed one of them up!!! Had to fix that without too much of a mess -- oops!!!) And then rim off the bowl nicely!
Nothing like being the artistic person in the class. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I didn't step up and help out. Miss Rees is such a great teacher and a patient teacher with Emmalee that I couldn't think of not doing that for her. But still, there are 21 other parents besides Shelley and myself. Why aren't they helping out. I am sure there are others who might be able to do the same sort of thing -- not just me! Maybe I am just a sucker. Who knows.
Then again, I have the satisfaction of knowing how it was done. And having Emmalee know I did it, and knowing it makes her feel good. So, maybe that is why I do it in the long run. Because I know it is the right thing to do. And that is what I am trying to teach her as a parent. It doesn't matter what the other parents are doing. It matters what I am teaching her and showing my children what I am doing and giving to other people.

Christmas Cookie Exchange

The 1st Annual Australian-American Christmas Cookie Exchange took place today! It was a roaring success. Everyone managed to bring their cookies/dessert along and sample each others.
We had lots of chocolate chip cookies, but a few other different ones, too. Everyone had a great time and the cookies looked great.
The 13 ladies that attended all went home with a platter full of cookies and treats. We also made a platter for the kindy teacher, the year 1 teacher, the year 2 teacher, the office staff and the crossing guard. So, there were plenty of cookies to spare! Hard to say what the favorite was...

Cookie Exchange

Decking the Halls

We decked the halls... or at least our artificial tree with balls of memories. And trinkets and ornaments and decorations galore. Andrew worked up his health after a day of convalescing on the couch watching cartoons and napping for three hours.
We made it a family movie night, complete with pizza, the Grinch Movie and capping it off with Josh Groban's Noel and Sarah McLachlan's Wintersongs playing while we decorated our tree.
As we put up each ornament, we talked about its meaning. Where it came from. Who gave it to us. Where we might have found it. Who it represents. That is what I truly enjoy about the decorating of the tree and Christmas. These ornaments remind me of all the Christmases past -- the people we have shared them with -- the places we have been -- the things we have done.
Like the nutcracker we got in Houston when we saw the Nutcracker with Joel and Ingrid Grade. Or the Korean ornaments we got when I visited Jim on one of his last audits in Seoul. Or the hand-blown ball that survived the tree crashing down from Boo, that came from the Czech Republic when Jim worked there on an Audit. Our wedding ornament. Ornaments commemorating the birth of the kids. Friends' weddings. Places we've been. And I will be placing one of Sydney up there this year. The Chicago one went on last year to remind us on home.

Wet and Wild Weather

Today has been a strange one here. Started off hot and muggy. I had some running to do (errands, not exercise!) Took a bus to the city and managed to find the places I needed to without getting too lost. Only had to turn myself around once. Found my way back to the bus depot in time for the 1.05 bus and was home by 1.25pm.
Thank goodness because by 2pm -- this is what was hitting our deck...

Rain with 1 cm sized hail pellets. The sound of it hitting the hard plastic-like roof of our deck was like acorns hitting our sky-lights in Grayslake. Quite loud.

I was really glad that I had made the earlier bus or I would have been walking home from the bus stop in this mess!