Au pair affairs

Last week, we farewelled Alessandra, our third au pair. Although she had a rough start (the Sachi whirlwind effect is a pretty tough act to follow!) both Malcolm and I feel that she has turned out to be the stand out. I was surprisingly sad to see her go. During her time here, she really has embraced all constructive criticism and tried hard to change. The difference from when she first arrived and to when she left is quite astounding. This is a great quality for one so young.

We also welcomed Marie, our new au pair from France. She appears to be a warm and hardworking girl. However, again, didn't quite start off so well. She managed to knock down our brick letterbox with The Beast. This was an inconvenience but didn't turn out to be such a big deal as the car had to be fixed from when Malcolm dinged it against the garage anyway. Luckily for us, the dings are on the same side. What was even more challenging for us was to let her know that she had a strong and offensive body odour.

This topic is one that is often discussed and the general consensus is that yes, you should tell someone with bad BO so they can do something about it. But I bet that's only because they've never had to do it! I was forced to do it when I could start smelling BO on Jonah. It was one of the hardest and most uncomfortable thing I've ever had to do in my life. She was understandably upset but maturely informed me that she was glad I was able to be honest with her. I felt so terrible after the event. She said she'll try "some things". I wasn't brave enough to push the envelope by suggesting she use deodorant. She has a fear that deodorants cause cancer. I couldn't exactly tell her that its a load of rubbissh as the chances of one developing cancer isn't that low these days...so we shall see what happens.

It has been 2 days now since we had THAT conversation. I'm glad that the awkwardness has passed and that she doesn't seem to hate me, well, not that I'm aware of anyway. She is thankfully quite efficient and obviously competent. She managed to get Jonah to sleep without problems on her first night with him alone. And like with Alex, I'm sure we'll get to grow fond of her and that we will be sad to see her go in six to nine months time. If only, things can don't have to start so badly all the time!

Another busy week

Things never seem to stop in this household! The week started off with a bang with a Disney dinner and meeting. It will the last meeting where the Yeohs can attend in person. After a delicious Malaysian feast, we sat down with the Yeohs and Marrs to nut out some details of our upcoming adventure. It was a productive meeting with dates and rough plans finalised and the rest of the Marr family possibly joining us earlier for the trip! It was certainly pleasant to see everyone so enthused and excited about the trip.

My next Disney step was a "pre-cruise" meet on Thursday with a fellow DISer who will be cruising with us in the Mediterranean come April. An American expat, she has been here for about 2.5 years with her husband and 6 year old son. We met up at Borders for a coffee. It was a surprisingly pleasant meeting with no awkward moments. The children took a while to warm up but by the time we got to looking at the travel section, they had managed to sit themselves down together at the kids section reading books!

With the return of the Kohs, we just had to update them with the most recent Disney developments. So what better way to do this than over dinner and a boardgame? It was lovely looking at their holiday photos in Hong Kong and to hear about their experience at Hong Kong Disneyland. Sadly, however, the Yeohs left for Canberra on the same day.

Today, we finally managed to get ourselves organised to submit the applications for Jonah's and Lara's passports. Then it was off to yum cha to celebrate Alessandra's 20th Birthday followed by a special chocolate birthday treat at Max Brenners. Mmmm....

We're now home after a swim and dinner at Nana's and Grandpa's. Tomorrow we pick up Marie, our next au pair. And a new chapter begins...

Flourishing Fruitloops

The fruitloops made a great start to the year by winning the very first trivia quiz after the two week Christmas break! It was a close result with our team only winning by one point at the end. We were let down by our non-existent knowledge of the elements. The ponderous puzzle stumped our team for 6 rounds...Sigh. Malcolm and I left resolved to memorise the periodic table. He has already worked through flags of countries beginning with the letters S and T. I am endeavouring to learn more "geography" generally. How does one do that?!?!?!? I just want to be the expert at "something". Seeing as there are already ten thousand other doctors on the team, being a medical specialist is no good. Besides, we always get the medical questions wrong.

Oh, and I finally made my return to IKEA after a long absence. Boy, do I miss those meatballs. It looked like little Jonah will carry on the family infatuation with the Swedish meatballs. The little monster devoured 7 meatballs! Of course, one cannot visit IKEA without buying the wonderful IKEA products...

Welcome 2010!

As people debate over the trivial matter of whether to call the year twenty ten or two thousand and ten, I decide with emphasis that this will be the year to be ultra-organised!

The year didn't start off so well. Malcolm worked nearly all of New Year's Eve. Jonah wouldn't co-operate and refused to sleep at Oma Lulu's house. This called for a retreat back home. Lara woke at in the early hours of the morning vomiting, luckily Mal was at Oma Lulu's house at the time. Last but not least, Malcolm's dad decided to have a DVT.

All that didn't deter us. We left Lara in the capable hands of Oma, sent Malcolm's dad to Concord Hospital and set about the serious business of tidying and organising the Albany household. Our study was like a cave of wonders. So much stuff...as we filled up our general rubbish bin 5 days before the next collection day, we ooh'ed and ah'ed over various nostalgic items that we had uncovered. We even managed to clear our stairage and put away all our Christmas decorations. I couldn't believe how much we did, ok, how much Malcolm did (I mostly sat and gave directions). We went to bed completely satisfied. Now only our bedroom, the linen cupboard, the laundry, the pantry and the children's bedrooms to go.

Our hardwork was rewarded with the discovery that our Christmas tree which we had dumped unceremoniously on our lawn last night had been neatly chopped up and put in the green bin by the gardener! We were releasing big whoops of joy only to notice that we had forgotten the Christmas wreath. Not to locate the Christmas box to pack it away...where did u put in again?

Joy To The World

As we celebrate the birth of Christ our Saviour, it is with joy that we remember how great the grace and the love of God is. We are grateful for the blessing of having family and friends to share this important day with. And what a wonderful Christmas day we've had again.

It is always a special moment to see your children's faces light up when they are finally allowed to open ALL those presents under the our ever-slowly wilting tree which we didn't think would survive until Christmas day thanks to 3 days of non-watering...Oops. Blame it on Farmville...

The children didn't care. They still tore open their presents with gusto. They are very fortunate children to have so many loving and caring family and friends who gave thoughtful and wonderful gifts. The only one who really couldn't care less about the presents was Jonah, he was too busy trying to get at the banana that the reindeers didn't eat. I was really excited about my new kindle! But perhaps the more gratifying present had to be one from Jonah. The one who only points and grunts decided to give his parents an early Christmas present yesterday by walking three steps! I am still in disbelief today.

After getting the children dressed for the day, I thought I'd take the opportunity to take a nice photo of all three before any food stains took hold of their party gear. Between the non-stop fidgeting of all three (in particular Jonah) and my slow camera, I was unable to get even one good photo. I have attached the only one where you can see the faces of all three, where they are all vaguely smiling, where none of their faces are completely blurred by movement and which doesn't have some part of their head chopped off the picture.

After the Christmas service, we headed to the Swissotel for Christmas Day lunch with Malcolm's parents and grandfather. After initial confusions, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that we had been allocated the only private room in the restaurant! It had a little alcove for the children to play in and a superb view of the St. Mary's Cathedral. Unfortunately, by this stage, we had no idea in which of the gazillion bags our camera was in, so you'll have to wait until we pilfer Mal's dad photos.

It was a feast and a half. The food was superb, topped off by an exquisite and fantastic array of desserts. The creme brulee was phenomenal, as was the creme caramel and the beautiful chocolate fountain. With an endless supply of coca=cola, how could one complain!?!?! We rolled out two and half hours later for Cabarita to exchange more presents. By the end of this, we had more presents that we could poke a stick at.

We hurried off for Pymble for the final meal of the day with Brian, Asha and Michael. Wagyu beef, lamb cutlets, prawn skewers and macadamia ice-cream capped off a wonderful day of feasting. Elliot really enjoyed playing with the nerf gun Brian bought him. Brian enjoyed it even more, having bought himself three. It wasn't long before the only ones shooting each other around the house were Malcolm, Michael and Brian.

We finally reached home after a long and delightful day. Mal is still preparing for tomorrow's festivities while I ponder how I will find a home for the 4 big boxes of presents that we have...

I hope that your day has been as wonderful and joyous as ours. May your Christmas sparkle with moments of love, laughter and goodwill, and may your eyes, mind and heart be filled with the true spirit of Christmas - JESUS . Wishing you a Merry Christmas from the Albany Family.

A Christmas present from Disney

We received a lovely little present to the tune of $100 OBC per person for our upcoming Disney mediterranean cruise. Yipppee!!!! It was a really nice surprise and unexpected. We not have a total of $1700 in OBC! Thank you Disney!

We're paid in full. Yeee haw! Now I'm super-duper excited and can't stop writing with exclamation marks!

Kris Kringle Kraziness

What a wonderful day we've had. We took a drive to Cecil Park to head to Tanya and Robert's who kindly hosted this years Kris Kringle. The Albany clan had certainly expanded with 58 family members turning up this year! We've never had to buy so many bread rolls in our lives!

It was a great setting for a great party. The mobile BBQ was set up and fired up cooking up steaks and sausages on top of the chicken, pasta and seafood dishes. Shortly after lunch, the kids (and adults) had a go at Robert's pride and joy, the slip and slide. The goats on the other side of the fence sure enjoyed all the bleating and screaming of Auntie Rita!

This was followed by a dip in the warm pool before the kids opened their presents. We drove home weary but happy, stopping at our favourite place for dinner...Mc Donalds! The pictures themselves will tell the story. Enjoy.

The towable BBQ

Luke setting up

The Albany clan enjoying lunch

The kids table


The famed slip' n' slide

Malcolm having a go!


Taking a dip

Mums and Dads watching from the sides

Present time!

Jonah trying to open his present

Calym also trying to rip open his present!