Christmas Day in Pictures (and a few words)

You know you’ve had way too much fun when you plug your SD card into your computer and realise you’ve hardly taken any photos. We did have a wonderful day though, so here are the moments we did manage to capture…

Our Christmas table… can you tell who decorated it? 

No, we didn’t eat the baubles for breakfast. And yes, my dad did make that joke.

Mayana played the part of Santa’s Lachlan’s Lil Helper. He would pick a present from under the tree, and she would deliver it to the appropriate person, then return the scrunched up wrapping paper to Lachlan’s bag. 

This was Mayana’s first present of the day. As soon as she saw the colour she knew it was “Wiggle Dor-y” (aka Dorothy the Dinosaur).

They’ve been pretty much inseparable ever since. 

Even our 11 year old Jack Russell, Jack, got in on the fun. And same as every year, his present was no sooner ripped open then it was buried in the back yard for later.
 

Mayana LOVED her present from “Grandma” Suki & “Grandpa” Ron. She kept it around her neck while she opened all of her other presents.
 

Jordan & Bethanie spent the better part of the afternoon assembling the lovely dollhouse Jordan got Mayana.
 

I made my first ever Pavlova (from scratch), and topped it with cream, crushed crunchie bar, a raspberry coulis and frozen raspberries. Yum!

Alexie made a delicious rocky-road themed ice-cream pudding cake. Yummo!

And in case you were wondering, I was very spoiled this Christmas. I got a gorgeous ring and dress from my secret santa (my mum!), and my husband totally outdid himself, and got me a hair dryer, mini hair straightner, and a Wii game I wanted. He asked Mayana what she wanted to get Mama, and she replied, “Ummm a cup of tea”. So they went and chose me a gorgeous glass teapot.

It was a lovely day, I just can’t believe that Christmas is all over for another year!

I hope yours was as wonderful as ours x

in law christmas

When you’re married, Christmas becomes somewhat of a hobbit-like event. You know, Fist Christmas, Second Christmas (as opposed to breakfasts, of course).

This year, because of our (thwarted) travel plans, and all the other inlaw plans, we did ours on the 20th of December.

It was nice to have Mayana with her cousins for the evening.

Peter and I were in charge of decorating the table. Pretty, no?

Mayana with her cousin Hannah, and their Uncle Shane. 

Mayana and Dee. It’s a shame about the finger in the nose, but what can I say? It’s the Buma genes! And such a cute photo in spite of it!

 
Mayana received this gorgeous teddy bear from her great-Nan. She was most impressed by its size.

Peter and I have been experimenting with the manual settings on our camera. We took way too many photos of the Christmas decorations. I’ll only bore you with this one though!

The kids loved playing in the backyard with sparklers! I helped Mayana with her first few, but by the end she was a pro. They were all quite sad when the sparklers all ran out!

I think this is my favourite photo of the night… despite its slight blur.

It was a lovely night, and a great start to the Christmas-time festivities!

Mayana meets Her Godparents

Mayana is a very lucky girl, and in fact has three godparents: my sister, Bethanie, and two of our very best friends, Daniel & Katherine.

Daniel & Katherine have been living in the UK for the past three years, and had only one visit home – when I was about half way through my pregnancy with Mayana. We asked them to be Mayana’s Godparents over Skype. So for the past two years, Mayana has known them only over a computer screen. We used to put the laptop on the floor so that Mayana could show them how she crawled, and sing Beyonce’s “All the Single Ladies” (well, the uh-oh-oh part anyway) to them and laugh at Daniel’s funny faces and noises. Mayana includes them in her prayers each night.

And only a week ago, we finally got to welcome Daniel & Katherine back into the country (yaaay!!!), and introduce them to the gorgeous goddaughter… in the flesh!

Mayana felt right at home with “Dandiel & Tatrin” them straight away. In fact, when we put her to bed that night, she cried out to Daniel until he came to say goodnight to her just one more time.

 

We’re so excited to have them home, and that they can start to become a bigger part of Mayana’s life now.

Welcome home!!!

Merry Christmas To You!

After all the planning, choosing, buying, wrapping, shopping, cooking… all the anticipation and here we are: Christmas Eve! Who can believe that we’re this close to the end of 2010!?

I LOVE Christmas, and I’m always so excited in the lead-up, and of course on the day.

I’ve volunteered for Life-line, wrapping Christmas gifts at a local shopping centre. I think it’s about my 4th time, and I really love doing it. I’ve also done lots of shopping, and probably bought way too many presents, but it’s all worth it watching the people I love open what I’ve chosen for them.

This evening, we attended our church’s Christmas Eve service… in fact, my family led the music.

The original plan was to drive out to my grandparent’s house after church. Unfortunately, because of all the rain our so-called “Sunshine State” has recently endured, we aren’t able to make the pilgrimage, what with all the various flooded bridges and roads between us and them. We’re all feeling a little sad about it all – it would have been the first time we’d had Christmas day with them for nearly a decade. It also would have been lovely for Nana & Pop to have both of their great-granddaughters for Christmas. But all the if-onlys make me sad, so I’m trying not to focus on that too much.

The wonderful news is that my beautiful Oma is in Queensland! You might remember the very bittersweet Christmas we had with her last year in WA. She also had another health-scare earlier this month, which, praise God, ended up being nothing to worry about. So we are feeling very blessed indeed to have her joining in with our Christmas celebrations! And despite our rather rushed Christmas lunch plans (and the fact that as I write my mum and sister are only now putting together the Christmas pudding ice-cream cake and the apricot balls), having her here will certainly make this Christmas something special.

Tomorrow, we will arrive at my parent’s early. We’re having a delicious breakfast of bircher, boiled eggs, and delicious freshly baked brioche bread from a local French cafe. We have no church service to go (since ours was tonight), so we will probably clean up and get all our nibbles and coffees ready so we have sustenance for the extravaganza that is the Buma present-opening session. We open presents one-by-one, with everyone watching, and lots of delicious goodies on the coffee table. It literally takes hours, and is part of our Christmas day that I will always LOVE. This year I think we’ve truly outdone ourselves: the pile of presents under our tree is truly impressive.

After this, we will put the finishing touches on lunch (which this year is a selection of delicious salads, a ham, and a webber-cooked snapper), and sit down for more food. This afternoon is usually time to play with our presents, snack a little more, and spend some quality time together. Depending on the weather, we might pop over to the house we’re house-sitting and enjoy the pool.

I’m going to savour every minute – I really can’t wait!

For now though, I have apricot balls and bircher to make.

Merry Christmas to all!! I hope you all enjoy your day tomorrow as much as I know I will!

Yummy Yummy Breakfast 2.0

Remember this?

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I hope you've tried it, because it is a delicious breakfast!

And I have great news for you... because making bircher museli just got easier!

I'm not sure if I've said, but my miss Mayana became intolerant to lactose about six months ago. So the problem was the yoghurt in the bircher. You can buy lactose-free yoghurt, but it's expensive and comes in tiny tubs, so we had to rethink our recipe. And the good news is that the new recipe is super-duper easy and just as yummy as ever.

So all you do is put your rolled oats in a container (I don't measure anymore, I just about 3/4 fill the container I use for bircher) - but don't use toasted, or the instant ones. Then add whatever yummies you so desire. I usually put in some pumpkin and sunflower seeds, some chopped almonds, craisins, and a handful of frozen mixed berries (because the look on Mayana's face when she discovers "bluebrees" in her "bir-bir" is priceless). Then you pour juice into the mix until the oats are *just* covered. I've been using cranberry juice in an effort to keep Mayana's dreaded UTIs away, but you can use whatever you like! Then add a squirt of lemon juice, mix it all up and pop it in the fridge!

Leave it to soak overnight, and then serve it with a spoonful of yoghurt. This works the best for us because Maisie can have her lactose free "yo-yo", and we can have ours. I also like to grate an apple and put some of that on top in the morning. YUMMM!!

So try it! I dare you!

Why I’ve Been So Absent…

I’ve been keeping myself very busy sewing. Selling. Buying more delicious fabric. Here’s a look at the things I’ve been whipping up in the last week-and-a-half. You can buy or order these through my facebook page, and there are a few goodies listed at my madeit store at the moment, too!

And a new look for my blog!!

Why stop at the glasses!
You likey?

My New Look

I love new glasses!! I’ve had my red ones for nearly five years now, and my eyes needed a pescription boost, and my face needed a new look.

I love my bit of bling! Very happy with my new look.

What do you think?

Sharing the Love

Our church has been making a real effort to be involved in the community this Christmas season. We were recently a part of the town’s Christmas street celebration. It was lots of fun.

We put together an awesome choir, and did carolling up and down the streets at different events, and took part in the street parade. It was lots of fun.

Our fabulous Choir… 

 Our biggest fan…

 Our float. We had it covered because of the soggy weather.

Alexie & I with the balloons we handed out to the kids while we walked ran (uphill) along beside the float.

It was SO much fun, and we are very much looking forward to doing it bigger and better next year!

Santal Clause is {probably not} coming to town

A few people have asked me lately whether we are ‘doing’ Santa with Mayana.

In a word, the answer is no.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-Santa, but for me it’s just not really what Christmas is about, and I don’t want my child(ren) growing up with some rotund bearded man in a red (and totally climate unfriendly) suit taking the credit for my carefully chosen gifts.

Christmas for me is about two things: Jesus, and family. And in that order. It’s important to me that we remember the real Reason for the season, first and foremost, and to not get so caught up in all the hype that the thing that is most important gets lost.  Christmas day is a day to spend with family, making memories, having fun.

Gift giving for me is a labour of love. I’m the sort of person who thinks carefully about the gifts I give, and puts a lot of consideration into knowing what the people I love will love, and choosing gifts accordingly. I almost get a great pleasure watching people’s reactions to the gifts I’ve chosen than I do opening my own! Gift opening in our house takes hours. Literally. We do one gift at a time, and watch every person open each of their gifts. I LOVE it.

As a child, we weren’t really sold on the Santa myth. Being Dutch, my dad introduced us to the story of Saint Nicholas, and as far as we were concerned, that’s where Santa Clause came from. Peter and I have both decided that that’s what we’ll do with our children, too. Plus, it will save us a fortune in therapist’s bills in years to come; our children won’t be traumatised by the fact that their parents lied to them for their whole childhoods! Ha.

The First Haircut

A certain Little Miss has been looking more than a little shaggy lately. After so many months of near-baldness, Mayana’s hair has really taken off. I wouldn’t say it’s long, or particularly thick, but it is definitely getting there. And it was driving her (and me) insane, all whispy in her eyes all the time.

It was time for a haircut.

We booked in with our favourite hairdresser, Mel at Salon Unique. Partly because I knew Mel would never forgive me if she didn’t get to do Mayana’s first haircut, but mostly because Mel is the best hairdresser ever, and I knew she would do a beautiful job… and never cut the fringe too short or turn my princess into a mushroom-head!

Mayana was very excited that she was the one who got to sit in front of the mirror this time, and wear the “big bibby”. She took the whole thing very seriously, and for the most part sat very still. Mel was very impressed.   And for her patience in cutting the hair of a moving target, Mel was rewarded by a very squishy cuddle by our neat-and-tidy-haired gorgeous girl. Mayana also cried when we left, asking for “Mel cuddles”.

Mel didn’t take a whole lot off (I got a few little whispy puffs of hair for a keepsake), but she did neaten it up considerably, and cut in a cute little side-fridge. Mayana can now see, and I can still do gorgeous hairstyles for her. We’re all happy.

Thinking Random Thoughts

* I put a job application in for a job that would be perfect. I really want to make the shortlist. Actually, I really just want the job.

* Why don't people RSVP anymore?? Seriously. It makes organising parties really painful. And when you do RSVP, it should really be to the person who is specified on the invitation. Just saying.

* My daughter is addicted to the dummy. I need a creative way to get rid of the dang thing. She evidently finds it impossible to sleep without it. Today I forgot to bring one with us, and after her crying and sobbing 'dum dum' for an hour I ended up having to go and buy one. As soon as it was in her mouth, she crashed and slept for nearly 2.5 hours. Ratbag.

* Toilet training would be nice, too. Just saying.

* For the first time in like, our whole 5 years of marriage we're going to have money this week. I mean real money. Not I'm-a-uni-bum-and-$20-left-after-the-bills-are paid-Is-awesome money. And it's even better, because apart from our final electricity bill and petrol, we have no financial commitments at the moment. I'm thinking that my hubby should take me on an awesome date- maybe even a weekend away?? Anyone care to drop a few hints for me??

* That's all I've got for you at this time of night, and considering I've typed all this on my phone, I think I've done pretty well. Stay tuned, coming soon I'll have pics of Mayana's first haircut, and some awesome new handmade goodies I've been working on.

Night all!!

Jordan

My baby brother officially finished school today. Forever! He’s the last one of us, and it’s pretty crazy, I reckon!

Presentation night was on Wednesday, and Jordan, who was also the school vice-captain, was the co-emcee. He bagged himself a few awards, too!

He also was in the band for almost all of the items, and as always, did a fantastic job.

It was a proud moment for all of us when his name was called, and he took his place as part of the graduating class of 2010.

Jordan and his (now) girlfriend, Mel.

It was a good, though (as always) long night. I came to the realisation that this was the 13th presentation night I have attended!! And I can’t get over the fact that it’s been seven years since my own graduating presentation night!

Our very proud family. And yeah, Jordan usually is the tallest. I made him shrink so that the photo would look better, ha.

Tonight was/is Jordan’s formal. We went along for the pre-dinner drinks… the fun part where you get to watch everyone arrive and ooh and aaah over everyone’s dresses and rides. Jordan went with Mel, his now girlfriend (as I’m sure we’ll be hearing a LOT over the next few days). Our family has a rule that we’re not allowed to date while we’re in highschool, so J has been counting down the days till graduation for more reasons than one! –(As did I for that matter!).

They made a great looking couple! (Mel’s mum made her gorgeous dress… isn’t it lovely?) Mayana has fallen head-over-heels in love with Mel, and couldn’t get enough snuggles! 

Our ever-growing family…

My very own mini-family…

So we’re all feeling very proud, and slightly sentimental… our baby brother has finished school! Next year there are big plans for psychology degrees, but for now, I think he’ll just be enjoying being Mel’s boyfriend, and be looking forward to his big Perth schoolies trip which he leaves for next week!

Love you J, congratulations bru!

twenty-two

Mayana is twenty-two months old today! To celebrate, I’m going to share with you twenty-two fun facts about the Mayana Berry…

1. She is super-beautiful, and takes my breath away pretty much every single day.
2. She is still a little petite mini. She’s still not quite 10kgs!
3. She can now drink out of a big-girl cup!
4. Her favourite music is the Wiggles, and even when it drives me nuts, it’s still worth it to see the gorgeous smile it puts on her face.
5. She’s a crazy climber, with absolutely no fear… just like her Papa.
6. She counts like this: “un, two, four, six, five, eight”.
7. She loves to eat “Ber-ber” (bircher) and “yo-yo” (yoghurt) for breakfast every morning.
8. Apparently brooms make far better horses than sweeping instruments.
9. She loves water, and will play in any water that she can find. For example, my sister just found her with her hands in my other sister’s fishbowl, trying to catch the fish (sorry Alexie!!).
10. She loves to paint, and ever since she painted one at daycare, she always wants to paint a ‘Croc Snap Snap!!’
11. Drawing is one of the few things that will keep her occupied for more than 5 minutes at a time. She now likes to point out different elements in her drawings, like bubbles, snakes, and Kami.
12. She’s an awesome sleeper, and sleeps for almost 12 hours every night, as well has having a 1-2 hour day sleep every day. Bless.
13. She lives to ‘help’, though sometimes the amount of actual help she delivers is questionable.
14. She adores animals. At the moment, her favourites are owls and snails.
15. She loves bling. The other day, I walked in and found her with about 12 of my necklaces hanging around her neck. It doesn’t have to be a real necklace though, even a piece of rope can be “pretty” when Mayana wears it around her neck!
16. She draws on walls. It’s very naughty, and she knows it.
17. When we ask her to smile, she pulls this really weird face where she scrunches up her eyes and nose. It’s so funny.
18. She loves to play outside, any chance she gets.
19. Tea-parties are one of Mayana’s new favourite things to do. She’s amazingly good at pouring ‘tea’ (water) into her tiny tea cups.
20. She is getting really clever at her colours, and the ones she always gets right are orange, white and blue.
21. She thinks stickers are really cool. They don’t have to be sparkly or colourful or particularly pretty. The other day, she put the barcode from her new shoes on the back of her hand and proudly showed off her sticker to anyone who would look.
22. She loves her family. Very much. She might be a tiny girl but she loves to hugely!

Happy 22 months to my gorgeous princess Mayana.

Resilience.

Kids just reek of the stuff!

Mayana has coped so well with this whole crazy moving thing. Better than me I think. Aside from a strange (and thankfully short-lived) vomiting episode, she seems to have taken it all into her stride. In the last week and a half, she has slept in 4 different houses, been in the car for over 9 hours and hardly seen her Mama and Papa. 
  

She even ‘helped’ with the cleaning… 

She has said goodbye to her bed, and her room, and her familiar spaces and faces. She had her last day at daycare (and nearly had all her carers in tears), and said goodbye to her little friends. She’s still asking to play with Livvy (her best buddy), and it makes me a little sad, cos I’d sure like to see Livvy’s mummy, too!!

Being a bronco rider at Liv’s house last week.

But all in all, my little darling has been such a trouper. She just takes it all in her stride, and keeps that gorgeous smile on her dial.

Her sleeping patterns are a little mixed up, but it’s just a matter of getting her back into routine. She’s eaten far too much crappy convenience food – but we’ll get back into our family breakfasts and mealtimes, and it will all be good.

 
She is loving being back in Noosa, with her family and all her favourites. She’s in heaven – and so is everyone else with having her here.

 
I think we’re all going to like being home.