My Doll With Her Doll

Quote of the Day

Since when did my 3 year old learn to read?

I'm sitting at my computer reading an email from our auto club. RACQ - Royal Automobile Club of Queensland just in case you are wondering.

E walks up behind me, points to the RACQ logo and says 'Look Mum. It says RACQ!'

I could only look at him. How he knew that and when he learned to 'read' it or recognise it, I have no idea.

Amazing what they get up to whilst you aren't looking isn't it? Like how he has learned to climb OVER the allegedly child proof pool gate. Child proof yes, Ethan proof no. But that is a story for another day.

Quote of the Day

The conversation went something like this.....

G: Mum? When is your birthday?

M: Tomorrow! One more sleep until my birthday.

G: Mum? What number?

M: Do you mean how old will be I on my birthday?

G: Yes. What number you be Mum?

M: I'll be 40

And there's silence from the back seat of the car so I know she's thinking about 40

G: Mum? What number our house?

M: 21 (author note.....our house street number is 21)

G: 40?

M: I'll be 40. Our house is 21. 40 is more than 21

G: WOW!!!!!

Why is it the three letters of WOW suddenly made me feel old enough to be put in a museum?

Nearly Happy Birthday to me!!!!

The last frontier has been conquered

The last frontier has been conquered. The world, as we know it, will never be the same again. Ok, I'm being slightly melodramatic. But it is a milestone that I was hoping would take a while to come. Unlike every other milestone that is so eagerly anticipated, hard fought and longed for.

And the cause of my melancholy? Ethan has finally learned how to open the gate. And it is not just any gate. It is the gate at the top of our stairs. The gate that for 3 years and 9 months has keep him safe from the stairs. Well, other than those two incidents where he tumbled down the steps many years ago but we won't mention them will we? The gate that has meant when we wanted him upstairs and not in the garage, laundry, Luke's office, the bedroom or the rumpus room (i.e. anywhere downstairs where I couldn't see him and he could get into far too much mischief!), we could close it and know he was confined. Those days are history. Sigh.

Georgia learned to open the gate at goodness knows what age. But thankfully Ethan has taken a while. Unlike everything else Ethan has done which has been in double quick time! We have had to train Georgia that when Ethan asks her to open the gate, she says 'No, ask Mummy or Daddy.' Rather than her helpful natural response which was 'Sure. There you go' and to wave him off downstairs with a smile and then come and tell me what she'd done.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the picture above. An open gate when I was sure I'd closed it. And then I went hunting for Ethan. And found him downstairs. Hmmmm. Maybe I just forgot to close the gate? So I brought him upstairs, closed the gate and he walked up to it, opened it and proceeded downstairs again.

I didn't know whether to sob, laugh, yell or all three at this achievement. So instead I made a note to myself....when a moment presents itself, blog about it! And now I have :)

Cold - Brisbane style

If you live in Canberra or Melbourne or Monk Bretton (Yorkshire, UK) or Upstate New York, you expect winter to be cold. But if you live in Brisbane, you expect winter to be rather mild. No swimming as the water temperature is below our loved tepid 29 degrees (85F), no singlet tops (Americans, think tank tops), no thongs (Americans, think flip-flops) and maybe even wearing jeans instead of shorts.

But yesterday and today were distinctly chilly. This morning it was 8 degrees (46F) on our back deck. But it felt like there was ice in the air.

Georgia was ready to go outside and wait for our lovely babysitter to arrive. So I dressed her in 'winter' gear.....singlet, long sleeve shirt, vest AND parka. She put on a winter hat but we couldn't top it off with gloves as they are hiding somewhere and resisted all efforts to be found :(

So I present to you a winter version of Georgia. Probably the only day of the year the parka will get worn! Bring back the sun and roll on Spring!

For Kate - A perfect winter day

I have long loved blogs. And there are many, many good bloggers out there in blog land. And by 'good' I mean people, usually Mums of small children, who write (a) beautifully, (b) things that are relevant and interesting and (c) update regularly.

One such lady is Kate. She is a Mum of three. She has a special child, another little boy and an Angel. And she inspires me. To be grateful for my Blessings, to not feel guilty being the *Mommarazzi* (her term, not mine....after all, if we don't document the journey of our children, who will???) and to do it all with a smile AND a sense of humour. So Kate, this post about us going on an outing to enjoy a perfect 'winter' day here in Brisbane was inspired by you. Thank you for reminding me to document the 'ordinary' as each day really is just another ordinary miracle....

Today is one day short of the Winter Solstice. Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year. So it is winter. And it is too cold to swim.....much to the disgust of our 'little fish'. We are having to wear jeans and the wind is often cool. This morning is was 9 degrees (aka 48 degrees F) and it was SO COLD that we put on the aircon to warm things up in our dining room/living room/kitchen. But the sun came out, the wind was just a light little breeze and we decided to get out and about with a trip to our favourite weekend haunt - the foreshore at Wynnum on Moreton Bay. It is a 60km (nearly 40 mile) round trip for us but the park, the outlook over the water, the great fish and chip shop opposite the park....it is a trip well worth it. We all had a ball.

It was busy at the takeaway place we frequent each visit. The munchkins were incredibly well behaved during the 20 minute wait for lunch. Amazing what happens when you tell them that if they don't wait, there will be no play! Ethan in his t-shirt (don't you love that? in winter?) waiting for lunch. Yes, being a Thomas t-shirt, he chose it HIMSELF.

'Georgia. Go and stand behind Ethan and give him a hug.' So G grabs his neck and puts him into a headlock. He yells 'Georgia - let me go!'. She loves him. Really she does. She just needs to work out how to love him without the headlock!

Shame on the shadow that jumped across Ethan's face as I snapped this picture. But he was having a wonderful time on the swings and the outlook across the water to the Bay was beautiful. The park was VERY BUSY. But on such a gorgeous day, that's not surprising.

Like the shadow of the chick with her iPhone trying to take photos? We took Ethan's Audi with us. And he rode it and rode it and rode it....except when it was abandoned for the huge climbing 'spiderweb'. He and G spent nearly an hour going from bikes to playground and back again. It was lovely. Ethan, who is never still, made it impossible for me to take a photo on him ON the Audi. I tried. I tried....lots. But it didn't happen. How he loves that Audi.

One very tired little boy fell asleep in the car on the way home. Always the sign of a good day!

What a wonderful day. I am grateful for all our Blessings. And I'm grateful for people like Kate who share their journey that remind me that I should share ours.

Planetary alignment!

In June 2003, Georgia arrived. And she spent approaching a month in the special care nursery in hospital until her weight climbed up over 5lbs and she could drink from a bottle (albeit SLOWLY). Whilst in hospital, she made some GREAT humidicrib buddies. And over the years, there are four of us who have stayed in touch.

Today we ALL caught up for the first time in we can't remember how long. We call it PLANETARY ALIGNMENT :)

In nearly 7 years, those little bubs swaddled up in their cots, have GROWN. And although it isn't a brilliant photo (blame the photographer!), take a look at them NOW - see middle pic.

Wow, they are all lucky to have each other. And to have the familiarity that comes with not knowing a life without each other. And no matter how long it is between visits, it is always lovely to see everyone.

I had to include the last photo. Sam, the big boy, with the little brothers of his 'girlfriends'. It was almost as if he was saying 'Look here boys. THIS is how it's done!'. I loved it.

Ethan driving a truck

We dropped Georgia off at Grandma and Grandpa's just after lunch. Ethan, Luke and I headed to a local shopping centre to pick up some bits and pieces. Why do bits and pieces end up costing about $200 EVERY time I set foot in that store????

Ethan usually has to be dragged, kicking and screaming, out of the store's toy area. But not today. We told him we were going and he came. I LOVED IT! So he was rewarded with a nice long play on the truck outside the store.

Some parents put money in those type of things but this Mamma believes sitting on it is gift enough. And he had a lovely time.

Even better was when we went to go out to the car, we told him it was time to go.....and he came with us. No screaming, yelling, tantrums or sulking. Just a perfectly behaved child. I LOVE IT!

Georgia WRITES her first word.....DAD

There are certain things in the life of a child that a parent will not forget. And I can rattle off Georgia's milestones with a degree of detail and at a speed that is probably far from 'normal'. Like the first time she wore a dress (Father's Day 2003), the first word she said (DAD on Father's Day 2004), the first time she crawled (the eve of my birthday in August 2005), the first time she walked (she was aged 2 years and 50 weeks in June 2006), the first time she ran (two weeks after she walked), the first time she jumped (February 2007.....the same day Ethan first rolled).

Today is another one of those milestones. Georgia wrote her first word....DAD.

She and I were lying on the floor of her bedroom this afternoon. She wanted to do some writing. I was doing letters and she was trying to copy them. She wanted to write 'shower'. I wrote it, she tried to copy it. She drew squiggles. I told her we'd do it one letter at a time. I did an S and told her to trace over it. She did a pretty good job at it although she told me it was hard.

She asked me how to spell Mum so I wrote it down for her. And then she looked at me and I said I'll write Dad. Oh yes, I thought. Not expecting a thing. And she spelled out D-A-D. Oh good I thought being oh so proud that she got the spelling correct. And then she wrote, D-A-D. For a split second I just looked at the letters on the page and my eyes nearly fell out of my head. And then I screamed so loudly that Georgia looked terrified. And I scooped her up, told her she was brilliant, started crying my eyes out and ran for the phone to ring Luke. And I got his voicemail. So I send him the picture to his phone. And he didn't reply.

I emailed the pic to my parents ('Gandma and Gandpa'). No title, no description, just the picture. I phoned them and told them to look at the email that I'd sent them (how did the world go 'round before email?). And they read it (so I knew it wasn't just my proud Mamma eyes pretending it said DAD) and it took them about a nanosecond to recognise Georgia's handwriting and to work out I was blubbering down the phone as Georgia had ticked off yet another milestone.

Hooray for Princess Georgia. Hooray for all the therapists, aide supports, teachers and everybody else that has in the past and continue to work SO hard with our girl to ensure she keeps moving forward. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Cool Ethan

I took quite a lot of photos in January meaning to post them on my blog. Kind of like our 2009 New Zealand in review that I meant to write and remains unfinished, like the 2009 'Year that was' that I thought I'd write on 1 January and didn't get to. So many good intentions and so little actually putting fingers to keyboard and actually doing it.

So here's a pic from January. Ethan in a trolley at Bunnings Warehouse. Got to love a hardware warehouse for a fun outing....and I say that actually meaning it as they have a great children's playground where I can sit, munchkins can run around and all whilst Daddy shops in peace.

Ethan had grabbed my sunglasses and put them on. He called himself 'Cool Ethan'. I couldn't agree more. All while clutching one of his many Thomas the Tank Engines of course. Can't go ANYWHERE without an engine. And for the record, his shirt said 'Cheeky Monkey'. And I couldn't agree more with that either.

Hoppy Easter Everybunny

We had to wait until Daddy got out of bed to see if the Easter Bunny had been to visit. That was because Mummy was too busy confining two children to the lounge room to get the eggs planted so Daddy had to do it!Ethan took the left side of the driveway and Georgia took the right side. Amazingly, there were 10 eggs each + one chocolate bunny. Perfectly even :)

Ethan looked at it as if to say 'What am I supposed to do with this now?' I told him to rip off the wrapping and get stuck into it.

Ethan didn't need a second invite to tackle the bunny - ears first. That's my boy. Georgia decided an egg was more her thing. Hoppy Easter Everybunny!

Sporty George circa 2005....and today

Back in September 2005, I took the photo above. We called it 'Sporty George'. Georgia couldn't even stand up by herself back then. Somehow, in the blink of an eye, nearly 5 years has gone by. I took the photos below this morning.In September 2005, Ethan wasn't even a twinkle in his Daddy's eye. And now he's 3-1/2. And he and Georgia had a MOMENT this morning where they weren't looking like causing greviously bodily harm to each other :) Ethan was playing hairdresser and pretending to spray Georgia's 'pokeytails'.

And Little Sporty George is much bigger sporty George. She was all dressed in her sports gear for a fun run at school today. The girl who couldn't stand up back then was running in a fun run today. Oh how far she's come.

The beauty of writing.....

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And to me, these pics of writing are about as gorgeous as writing gets....even if the bottom one is upside down (It's hard to get good help! Try as I might I can't rotate it so it is being posted upside down!!!). Because they are by Georgia - working completely unassisted. Forget calligraphy or flowing script, give me letters formed by our little girl any day.

At the moment, all she wants to do is write. She scoffs down breakfast (because her Mamma MAKES her eat it!) and then it is off to write. Isn't it amazing how much her peers inspire her? Isn't she fortunate to have the opportunity to be in mainstream school to learn from those who are doing things she desperately wants to do?

When she proudly showed me her word below, I thought it looked like DAVE. Well DAEV which I thought was close enough to DAVE. I have no idea what she was trying to write. I was in 'I'm packing your lunchbox so yes Georgia, that looks marvellous Sweetheart' land as she was spelling something out and I wasn't listening. Shame on me. And then she came to show me what she'd done and my mouth all but fell open. I was so proud of her.

And more importantly, she was so proud of herself :)

What a difference a few days makes.......

Wednesday morning and Ethan is in the Emergency Department of the Wesley Hospital on an IV drip. Sitting on Daddy's lap and listing to a Thomas book helps pass the time.Friday afternoon and I can almost see a smile as Ethan finds the energy to do a little bit of bouncing to The Wiggles. It's a stay in pyjamas day after coming home from hospital on Thursday night.
Saturday night and Ethan is eating chips and tomato sauce for dinner. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see him eat something so yicky as I was tonight.

The Thinker.....

The Thinker by Auguste Rodin......
The Thinker by Georgia :)

Georgia's Day One of Year One

How much does our girl LOVE school? Look at her smile for the 'first day of school pics'. We were to find out 8 hours later when she had a fever and had vomited all over her bedroom carpet that she had a middle ear infection! She spent the next two days being cuddled by Grandpa, sleeping and being given regular doses of anti-biotics and pain relief.

Her enthusiasm for school and for learning, as well as for socialising with her friends (!), is inspiring. She's a remarkable little girl.

It's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO me!

Four (4) photos of a bed/bedding. Hmmmm. Get the drift that I love the linen that Luke bought me for Christmas?

I LOVE red, white and blue. I LOVE stars. I LOVE the land of Uncle Sam. I LOVE quilts. So can you imagine linen that could have been any more appropriate for me than this set?

Luke and I were out on our pre-Christmas shopping rampage in December (remember where we did all our Christmas shopping in just a few hours??) and I saw this set in the window of a linen shop. I just stopped in my tracks. As did Luke. And as if I were pulled by some magnetic force, I turned and walked into the shop. I just looked at it and didn't speak. Yes, I know, that in itself is miraculous :)

I could only think 'I don't need more linen BUT it is SOOOOOOOOOOO me!'. So I started to ponder the pros and cons of it - i.e. how could I justify it? And my darling husband could see the cogs in my brain turning and just walked up to the counter and said 'We'll take one of those thanks'. God Bless that man.....particularly when he's shopping for me :)

Was it really necessary to post the fourth and last photo showing the linen from yet another angle? Yes it was. It shows on the wall above our bed are frames with some of the photos of us taken on our 3 month pre-baby around the world trip in 2002. They are from exotic places like Gallipoli, Stonehenge, Florence, Istanbul, Santorini, Rhode Island and Paris. I love those photos, I loved that trip, I love those memories. So had to include the last photo showing those photos.

Next question would be WHY has it taken be until February to post this? The joy of being a Mum and having no time to do important things like blog :)

Happy Days!

The 1 January walk/ride/debacle

To see the eight photos from this little walk/ride/debacle, click on:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=133833&id=750294732&l=7fa6786c88

It seemed such a good idea at the time. It was New Year's Day, I'd just read a Facebook post from my favourite Sante Fe (USA) marathon runner and he'd been out for a run....in the snow. It was a beautiful day so I suggested we go for a walk, or ride for the smaller members of the family. All who know me that I'm totally allergic to exercise so this was behaviour way out of my ordinary.

So sun screen and hats on, bikes in the car, we drove down to our local bike path and off we set. Ethan's enthusiasm lasted about 2 minutes. He decided he wasn't going anywhere. Hmmmm. Georgia was as keen as mustard to keep riding. I wanted to walk. So Luke suggested he take Ethan back to the car and drive to the end of the bike path and meet us there. Brilliant!

BUT, we were sharing one car key as I had 'misplaced' my car key. And I had Luke's key on a lanyard around my neck. And I found the key still around my neck when Georgia and I made it to the end of the bike path 45 minutes later. We were HOT, we didn't have water (it was with the backpack I'd left with Luke) or a mobile phone and as I had the car key, no one was coming to rescue us. OH NO!!!!!

After all but dragging Georgia along the bike path to get to our designated pick up point, I now had to drag her back again. Not good. So I carried her bike, she yelled, screamed, refused to walk and needless to say, it was more than a bit stressful. Thirty (30), yes count them, THIRTY minutes into our return walk, we were staggering along about 500 metres from our destination and Luke appeared in our second car. What a marvellous sight.

Luke had dragged Ethan back to our car, realised I had the key, put Ethan's little Audi into our car in the carpark, carried Ethan home, used his house keys to get in here and get our second car and had set off to find us. He's driven out to the end of the bike path so he'd been backwards and forwards along the route a few times trying to find us. Eventually he stopped a cyclist and asked if he'd seen us (a screaming woman, a bike and a screaming child - yep, just down there mate!) so knew which street parallel to the bike path to look in.

The result? It will be a LONG time before I attempt to exercise with children in tow again.

Mum and Dad's 45th wedding anniversary

Aunty Margaret (Mum's sister) and Mum

My sister Margaret and our uncle, Frank.

Mum, Dad and Margaret.....and the dessert waffles!

Margaret and Dad - most memorable for being a GREAT photo of Dad who is not usually a fan of the camera. Must have been the pre-photo consumption of two bottles of wine and a bottle of bubbly that we all enjoyed?

Margaret and Margaret - my Aunt and my sister

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Today is my parents 45th wedding anniversary. Wow oh wow. And they still even talk to each other :)

We celebrated today over lunch at a lovely waterfront seafood restaurant. My parents, my sister, my aunt and uncle and Luke and me. No children! Very enjoyable and a lovely way to celebrate a lifetime of togetherness for the greatest parents I could have been Blessed with. Well done Mum and Dad. May you be Blessed with many more years of marriage, good health and happiness!

M x

The kitchen bench is clear!

To the uninitiated, these are pics of a kitchen. And yes, they are of our kitchen. BUT what is noteworthy about these pics is it shows what TWO hours, yes count them - TWO hours, of tidying up can do. The kitchen bench is CLEAR - aka completely devoid of clutter - a RARE happening in our home.

It is ready and waiting for the arrival of my Mum and her sister in the morning. Luke has asked my aunt over to give him a pavlova cooking lesson so Mum is also coming along to learn from the Meringue Master.

And me tomorrow? Voluntary go into a kitchen? Even though three of my favourite people will all be in there and at once? Not likely! I have a culinary disability (self-diagnosed but well deserved I think after nearly burning down the kitchen thanks to a small fire caused by a toaster and the appliance hutch plastic roller door in 2003) so I avoid the kitchen at all costs. Unless it is to unpack takeaway :)

There's only ONE Aunty Regan

Georgia is Blessed to have two incredibly amazing Godmothers (and Godfathers too for that matter!). Luckily for us, Aunty Maria is here in Brisbane. Unluckily for us but luckily for her, Aunty Regan lives in London, England......like on the other side of the planet :(


Each year or two, Aunty Regan trips across the globe and comes home for Christmas. Whilst here, she spends as much time as she can with her family as well as trying to fit in visits to friends, appointments of all kinds and descriptions and far too many things for her visit to be classed as a 'holiday'. Seems more like a marathon to me and how she does it, let alone with a smile on her face, I'll never understand.


Time with Aunty Regan is very precious. So to be able to spend an hour and half with her today was......well words just fail me and that doesn't happen often.....marvellous, wonderful, amazing, precious, special.


Waving her goodbye as she drives off is always so very hard for me. I just sob big, big tears like a little kid. I know, if I'm lucky she'll be home for Christmas 2010. And if not, then it'll be Christmas 2011 before we see her again. And that is such a painfully long time between being able to hug my precious bridesmaid and tell her how much she's loved and missed.


But we are so grateful for the time we were able to spend with her today, we are so grateful that it is 'only' 12-13 months since we hugged her last and we look forward to the next time we can hug her in person......whenever that may be.

It happens rarely - 1997, 2003 and today

There are some things that don't happen often in my life. Like buying cars.

I bought my Toyota Corolla in 1997 so it is now 13 years old, Luke and I bought our Nissan X-Trail in 2003 when Princess G arrived into our family and today we did it again - we bought a car to replace the Corolla. Pics are above. A new Ford Focus Zetec. Silver (as if that wasn't obvious in the pics!), all the safety features possible (very important on my shopping list), and Luke was happy as he wanted electric windows and to be able to connect his iPod....and tick to both of those.

What makes this purchase rather remarkable for us, other than the fact two Accountants have let $ out of their wallets and spent money, is the fact we've been contemplating this purchase for nearly 3 years. And I know that because I just found photos taken at in early 2007 of a Focus Luke brought home from a car dealer at lunch time one day. We have a rather steep driveaway so we had to see if the car would go down it....and yes it did....unlike the Mazda 3 which wouldn't.

So after nearly 3 years of deliberating and tooing and froing and worrying (on my part) and putting it on the back burner repeatedly (on Luke's part), I got up this morning and decided enough was enough and it was 'Buy A Car Day'.

By 7am I'd found the car on a car sales website, by 8am we'd heard from the dealer it was available, we were driving it by 10am, we brought it home for a test drive to go up and down the driveway and in and out of the very snug fitting garage. And then we pondered and thought and looked on some more websites and compared more cars and decided yes, this was it. So back to the dealer, did the obligatory haggling and by 2pm we were home after signing papers. We pick it up in the last week of January.

Here's to Luke and the Ford have many years of safe, incident free and comfortable commuting between here and work (into the City - a whole 6km or about 4 miles but always done in crazy, horrid peak hour traffic) for the next decade or so.

Based on the car buying interval precendent so far (six years between one and two and seven years between three and four), it should be 2018 before I have to buy a car again. One can only hope!

The Invisible Woman

A dear friend in the USA emailed me this video. It is too big for me to email on so I've found the link on YouTube.

Wow it spoke to me! If you have a few moments, take time to watch it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YU0aNAHXP0

And to all of those Invisible Women and Men out there, just keep on building.

It's a DRY day

As the parent of the child with special needs, you learn to rejoice in every teeny, tiny little bit of progress. When milestones are ticked off by Miss G, the joy we feel and the sense of achievement are absolutely enormous. I've often said about G's milestones, and I'll say it again as it is SO appropriate, but on days like today, I can't imagine winning the lottery would be more exciting.

The physical and emotional energy exhaustion, the constant investment of time and the at times all but crippling cost of raising a child with special needs isn't anything near easy. BUT, on days like today, every little bit of blood, sweat, tears (and there have and always will be lots of tears) invested is SO worth it.

And why the celebration today? Georgia has had a DRY day. Yes, Georgia and DRY in the same sentence! It's taken 6-1/2 years, reward charts and stickers galore, games, a toilet training course to see if there was something easy I had missed (and alas, no there wasn't) and so much more but today, SHE DID IT. Not ONE wet Pull-Up. She even took herself to the toilet at a friends home tonight, undressed herself, redressed herself (albeit with shorts on backwards but who cares?) and then came to tell us what she'd done. Talk about a RED LETTER DAY.

As with everything in the world of G, we know there will be setbacks, we know that this is just a first and tomorrow might be quite the opposite. But now we know SHE CAN DO IT. And having done it once, hopefully she can do it again and again and again.

Luke and I reflected tonight on our good luck. How lucky are we that G was given by God to us to be our daughter? How lucky are we to be Blessed with the absolute joy of seeing her achieve milestones? How lucky are we to know how hard fought these milestones are and to share in the ecstasy of achievement with her. We decided that although parents of 'normal' kids may have a simpler life than ours, they don't get the highs we do on days like today. And we wouldn't swap our life for anything else.

Well done Miss G. We are so extraordinarily and incredibly proud of you.

Happy New Year.....with a Christmas picture

As most of what happens in our home has no rhyme or reason or is completely back to front on what most would see a logical, I thought it therefore probably appropriate to start 2010 with a 2009 Christmas pic. How back to front is that?

Knowing that Christmas pics are a kind of torture for parents and children alike, we debated whether we put us, G, E and poor Santa through the trauma of trying to get a pic. We eventually decided that why not, we've done it before so let's do it again. Above it the result.

Georgia, wearing her JOLLY Christmas tree shirt and skirt was great. She sat, she rather reservedly talked to Santa. And then there was the other child. Master E the Three. Oh my! The only way we could get him onto Santa's knee was to grab a Thomas the Tank Engine gift set off a nearby shelf in the toy section and get him to hold it. Throughout the fuss, dear Santa sat and told us it was all in a day of work for him. God Bless Santa....I think he deserved a medal.

So Master E the Three looks good, Santa scrubbed up well and G in her JOLLY shirt doesn't look overly JOLLY. Rather downright glum I would have said. But hey, it is a pic and the moment is therefore preserved for immortality! And on that note, HAPPY NEW YEAR :)