Smilie Girl

Smilie boy and the tooth fairy

2009-11-13T09:28:00.006+10:00

The boy must have a rort going with the tooth fairy.

First, Rowan loosing all those teeth last December while we were travelling. The exchange rate wasn't in Australia's favour at the time, so he did quite well out of receiving his money in Euro and Swiss Franc.

And after that visit to the dentist that they so enjoyed (no sarcasm, they really had fun), there was the suspicion raised that Rowan might be missing teeth. Those teeth that came out back in December haven't been followed through with their adult counterparts.

But, noooo!

He had an OPG done. He's not missing teeth. They are just taking their time. He has extra teeth. On the top right beside his new front adult teeth. I know it looks like he has a gazillion teeth. He has an extra baby tooth and it is matched by an extra adult tooth.

And here's where he will win with the tooth fairy. Both those baby teeth have to go and one of the adult teeth too in time.

Just greedy if you ask me!

Drum roll please!

2009-11-11T15:47:00.004+10:00

Announcing the winner of the Buyster Lighting competition...

Thanks to our lovely barrel boy...

The winner is ...

Congratulations Saminda. If you can email me brettsandra@gmail.com with your email addy then the $90 gift voucher will be all yours!

Thanks to the people at Buyster for their generosity. Thank you everyone for entering.

What will get Nathan out of his sick bed?

2009-11-10T20:22:00.002+10:00

I am a little embarrassed to admit this, but this is what I dragged my sick child out of the house for last week.

Even more embarrassed because a radiographer mum should know better than to give her children means to injure themselves. When rollerblades first came out, I was working at a children's hospital. I spent many an afternoon/evening in theatre taking xrays while the doctors fixed elbows. The other culprits would be trampolines. (hmm, have one of them) And monkey bars. (at last something we don't have, oh they have that at school)

Here he is all kitted out in protective gear.

Nathan had saved up his pocket money and really, really, really wanted rollerblades.

These were almost half price but only for the weekend that Nathan was sick.

Brett thought allowing him to buy something special with his pocket money might encourage him to keep on helping around the house and learn about saving.

I guess time will tell.

Rowan at the last minute also decided to part with some of his hard earned dollars and got himself a pair.

And today I went on an excursion clear across town to get some for myself. For the princely sum of $5!!! They are second hand but they are a bargain. I won them on ebay which would have to be the first time ever I've bought something from a private buyer on there.

We all took our blades for a spin in our back yard this afternoon. Not bad. The boys have really been appreciative of having me play with them. Obviously I don't do it enough.

So watch out park on the weekend! We will take them for a test run and hopefully have no broken limbs to report.

Very nice to make the acquaintance of some new readers!

Last chance for the lighting giveaway!

There off and reading

2009-11-09T19:32:00.005+10:00

Nathan is nearing the end of his prep year. It's been a pretty good year for him, he's certainly been happy to go and is always willing to learn from his wonderful teacher. (but not necessarily to listen to his mummy's advice)

Rowan was in the last year of preschool in Queensland, which was not full time or compulsory and it was for slightly younger children.

As a result, by the time Rowan was 6 (Nathan's age now) he was in his third term of year one and had been reading for most of the year. Getting Rowan to that point of wanting to read before year one was a little difficult. He couldn't recognise all the different sounds, let alone make them. Of course now he is a happy and confident reader.

So much so that it's often hard to get his attention if he has his nose in a book.

Or in this case that would be because he was asleep with his arm in the book.
Rowan's favourite author is Roald Dahl at the moment, but I would have preferred he read The Witches when he was a bit older. It's been a bit scary for him. His friend Miss T has been reading it at the same time as him and has been encouraging him that it's not that scary.

The format of prep at our school is very much play based (yet much more structured than preschool). He is in a prep/year 1 class and the year ones often read to the prep children. The prep children have been "reading" little books they make to their year one buddies. They have been learning sounds with actions to help them and been practicing shapes for handwriting next year. Some of the preps can read already and have been working alongside the year ones in their reading groups.
At home I've been taking a very low key approach with Nathan. Encouraging him, but not being as pushy as I was with Rowan. The school process must be working for Nathan because he had some success really reading a simple library book to me on Friday night.
So much so that we went to the library on Saturday and Nathan decided he was going to read a Zac Power Test Pilot book. Nothing I could say would persuade him otherwise.

Not exactly your starter book but he has been plugging his way through it.
I am very proud of him. But kiddo, don't ask me "what's that word" while I'm driving. And baby boy, there is no hurry to be reading chapter books already!

Well done to Lion who is beginning his journey to reading as well. And all those other little people who's mummies read this.

Don't forget (though I think most of my regular smiling faces haven't) to leave a comment at this post and be in the draw for some wonderful lights. I'll get one of the boys to draw it on Wednesday.

A bright idea! A lighting give away!

2009-11-04T12:57:00.005+10:00

That's right a give away! Read on.

As the weather is warming up and the Christmas decorations are well and truly in the stores, my mind is thinking back to this time last year.
We were busy busy busy thinking about snow!
Last year, as many of you know, we had a very special holiday. We travelled to Europe and enjoyed all the Christmas and Advent celebrations there.
Understandably, last November was busy with preparations and plans for our adventure.
And it was such a special time away.
This November we will be helping prepare to put up Christmas lights at church. Lots and lots of little light bulbs to paint, test and hang.
It will be worth it.
Here are some of the light displays we enjoyed in Vienna.

So pretty.

Now, the give away makes me feel like it's going to be Christmas for one lucky reader!
And it will give you a chance to address any lighting issues you may have around the house.
Not Christmas lights, true. But the very useful kind that you can benefit from all year long.

Who's up for a chance to win something? And a pretty cool something at that. I am very excited to be able to give my Aussie friends a chance to win some lighting fixtures for their home.

Thanks to the very generous people at buysterlighting.com.au, to enter, all you have to do is -

1) Visit buysterlighting and see for yourself their HUGE range of ceiling lights, outdoor lighting, fans and lamps, and find out how easy it is to navigate around the site.

2) leave a comment on this post.

I will announce a random winner on 11th November 2009. The winner may select something wonderful from the store up to the value of $90.

For extra entries you can -
1) Write a blog post about this giveaway linking back here. Leave an extra comment here with a link to your post.
2) Become a follower of this blog. Leave an extra comment telling me you've become a follower, or are an existing follower.

{The winner must be prepared to email me their contact details which I will forward to buysterlighting, who will then arrange for you to claim your lights. Australian entries only.}

And for a chance to win something lovely for your floors as well, if you haven't already entered, go and see Mum-me and her half dozen and her give away there.

Good luck!

A very happy unbirthday to me!

2009-11-03T11:43:00.004+10:00

I got a parcel today! (and it isn't even my birthday!)

Liz, from Be Encouraged, very kindly selected me as the lucky recepient of her birthday eve prize draw.

It arrived today. It's a special birthday pillowcase. It's beautiful, isn't it?

And even better, she had made it herself with her own talented little hands.

And even better for me (and you), was that she has posted a tutorial

on how to make them for ourselves. My MIL had made the pillowcases that are on our bed at present, but this pretty thing would look a bit lonely. I might just have to give it a go and make it some friends.

Thank you very much Liz! It's beautifully made and very gratefully received.

So, a very happy unbirthday to me and to you!

Mr Wonka's birthday party

2009-11-01T16:15:00.003+10:00

A child's dream come true! A birthday party themed around Willa Wonka and his chocolate factory.

(Nathan and Rowan do have friends with very talented parents)

Nathan's friend, Mr Wonka, turned 6 last week. The kids were super excited about going!

There was fishing in some goop, and a different version of the chocolate game that involved reeling in some prizes if you had time, they made their own lolly necklaces and giant freckles. Um, and lots of other fun and chocolatey games. There was a chocolate fountain (YUM!) and Oompalumpa gingerbread men and fizzy drink too! Lots of fun and happy children.

Happy birthday Mr (L) Wonka! Enjoy being 6!

Poor Nathan's been a bit sick today... too much good things yesterday, perhaps... Rowan got to do the prayer on his own this morning. He did a good job.

I have learnt today that taking the kids to the shops when they are sick is plain silly. Nathan was feeling a bit better and he was wanting something that wouldn't have been on special next weekend. So, out we troop. Let's just say it ended messily. Luckily, I was not entirely doopey and had brought enough things to clean up after ourselves. Patience, Sandra, patience.

Children matter!

2009-10-31T11:15:00.002+10:00

On a totally different note, the boys have been asked to do one of the prayers in church tomorrow. While I was thinking and researching what they could pray, I was disappointed in what I found on the internet. There are lots of wonderful resources out there, but just felt that there was little available for the kids to do and be a part of.
Maybe I was going about things the wrong way.
And after I found the following link from the International Prayer Council, I was wondering if lots of people are going about things the wrong way. The line in the video that caught my attention was that "no longer do we have to entertain this generation, they (the kids) are the ones praying and crying out for training". And the other line to grab me, was that there is no Junior version of God or the Holy Spirit.
The best way to learn is to do. I'm certainly thinking through how this affects my boys and my teaching style at Sunday school.
My thoughts are still a bit jumbled, but I still wanted to share this now.
Watch it and I'm sure you'll be challenged too.

Scones

2009-10-28T16:32:00.004+10:00

I've been giggling reading Mummy McT's recipe post.

All my wit has gone, so just the facts ma'am, nothing but the facts.

Scones for the challenged (ie me)

500 g SR flour

1 egg

1 1/2 cup milk

1 tablespoon icing sugar

2 rounded teaspoons baking powder (this is the point of difference)

60 g melted butter.

1. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl. (I don't sift, we survived)

2. Add beaten egg, milk and butter.

3. Quickly combine all ingredients into a dough. I use the food processor for this to try and give me every chance I have for success. Dough will be fairly sticky. Try not to add to much extra flour when working the dough. Read this note after you have added too much flour.

4. Stand dough on a floured board for 20 minutes.

5. Gently roll out to 2 cm thickness.

6. Cut out circles.

7. Stand scones closely together on a lightly floured baking tray for a further 15 minutes.

8. Now you can bake at 210 deg C for 10 minutes.

The extra baking powder and resting time helps them to rise and be light and fluffy.

In other Domestic Goddess news, I figured out that fabric softener and front loaders really don't mix. I also got out my manual and my screwdriver and rinsed out a few nooks and crannies and to finish it off found some descaling stuff to clean it all up. Servicing isn't something I'm good at doing proactively normally. Hope the machine appreciates my time.

Double yum!

2009-10-27T11:31:00.004+10:00

I haven't been doing too much baking lately, what with being busy and not wanting to give myself too much temptation.

But the boys have been hungry. Rowan came home the other day announcing to all and sundry that something smelt good and that he thought it was scones. And then he couldn't find them. And that would be because his nose had led him astray (I think it was the soy sauce from my sushi - yes, that's what fresh baked scones smell like don't they?).

So, I thought I'd whip up a batch of scones like a good little house wife. I'm not good at scones. Terrible in fact, but I found a recipe that sure helped to improve them. The natives were satisfied.

Yesterday, I thought I'd get in first and made a banana cake and some muffins.

They were sooooo good that they got eaten up by the hungry horde by the close of day.

Luckily, I had 3 more ripe bananas so I made some more for this afternoon.

But then no more baking for a bit!

Would you like the recipe?

I found it at BestRecipes.com.au

It says it serves 16 plus. Yes, if you are not greedy like my mob.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 small ripe bananas

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

50 ml milk

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

Method

1. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla.

2. Add eggs separately, beating well.

3. Mass bananas and add to mixture

4. Dissolve bicarb in milk and add flour and milk alternately.

5. Bake in 2 greased loaf tins for 35 mins at 180 deg C or 1 large tin or make up as muffins, whatever you like.

I did ice the loaf with lemon icing. The muffins tasted just fine without it.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

And we got some wonderful rain last night! Lots of thunder and lightning too.

Retro Mecanno

2009-10-23T09:21:00.005+10:00

It's not just Rowan who is a clever clogs, but Nathan likes to do a bit of building as well.

Rowan and I had gone to get his xray and Nathan left to his own devices found this in the cupboard.

It's not something you would find in the shops at the moment, but a dear gift from a special family. It was their little boy's Mecanno set. He got sick many years ago and passed away. This was before I knew them. His sisters are all adults now, to give you a time frame. They are a lovely, lovely family.
When Rowan was very little, the Dad came over one night and brought us the Mecanno set for our boy to have.
We have been waiting for the right time to use it, and Nathan thought there was no time like the present.

He built a frog and a giraffee. And unlike newer Mecanno, the only instruction that he had was that one photo in the booklet.

He did get frustrated. But I think he did himself and that other little boy proud.

Spider boy

2009-10-22T13:00:00.004+10:00

While I was finishing assignments last weekend, Brett took the boys to Spotlight. Brett wanted to make some curtains for under his trainset. You have to love a man who is willing to take on anything.

Nathan had his face painted there. Not really Rowan's thing. They did a great job, but I know I wouldn't want a real red back that close to my boy!

He enjoyed "scaring" me and chasing me around the house.

The assignments are done! My boss told me that their was funding for more people to do that course next year. She decided not to share, because it was enough torture for us 4 that did it this year.

Can we go to the dentist?

2009-10-20T12:18:00.002+10:00

Yes, that's what the boys have been asking for some time.
Dentists just make it too much fun for little people. They wanted the little sample bag of a new toothbrush and toothpaste didn't they?
So, off we troop yesterday to the dentist.
Dr Paul was very friendly and explained everything very well.
They both sat very still and opened wide.
He blew them both a glove balloon animal which kept them entertained.
Nathan had some scale on his brand new adult teeth which got scraped away.
Rowan is off for an xray so we can see if some of those teeth are missing.
They enjoyed receiving their little bag of toothy paraphenalia. Nathan has taken the little mirror to school today for show and tell.
But all in all a very pleasant outing. And because I had found this cheaper dentist that is closer to home, not an expensive one either.

update

2009-10-17T12:20:00.003+10:00

In reply to Tuesday's post, yes we did get really heavy rain. For about 7 minutes. Which was two minutes longer than the shower at school pick up time. But I was able to collect enough water to fill the fish pond and the pool looks at a respectable level again. I don't think it was enough to help the plants and the lawn. But, it will do. And I am grateful for any that comes our way... Hope some comes your way soon too. Playing in the rain is fun, if you put your mind to it.

I've been working hard on my assignments. So, things have been a bit quiet.
There was some particularly gross lunchtime conversation yesterday which I thought about sharing with you, but sorry, you miss out. It put me off my lunch, I can tell you.
I'm spending the afternoon/evening with my MIL at church making cards. I'm looking forward to that!
Have a good weekend!

Rain conspiracy

2009-10-13T16:13:00.003+10:00

First up, it's been dry here for quite some time. Since that crazy amount of rain back in May, most likely. We have nooooo lawn. The guinea pig made sure of that. She squeaks very plaintively (?) and I have thought of sending her out to pasture.
And I know there are a lot of places in Australia that are dry. It's just that kind of year.
So, why does the few rain drops we get have to fall at 3 pm?
Especially, when I decided to walk to school and didn't bring an umbrella. Yes, I knew there was rain forecast, but that hardly ever comes true and it didn't look like it was going to.
And it's not like it's the first time. Earlier this year, we all took an umbrella to school regardless of if it was blue sky at 10 to 3. Because at 3 pm it would bucket down.
Or on the first day of school at 8.30 am. That also happened and I was wetter than if you'd thrown me in the pool twice.
But to today.
The boys were not best pleased. (understatement)
The teacher on gate duty was not pleased and alerted me to the conspiracy theory.
After I got over getting wet, it was quite pleasant to walk in the rain. And I was very disappointed when it stopped and we weren't even home.
And I can hear thunder now. Hope it brings more rain!

The explanation

2009-10-11T12:52:00.002+10:00

Nathan's explanation of the sculpture from yesterday.
"Because one of them was baddies with no head and if the baddie touches them they turn into a baddie with no head. The baddie touched the submarine so everyone was in it and they all became a baddie too but we don't know, then it became the next day in real life. And we forgot how to play it and they all became goodies again."
Rowan's version:
"Well, the baddie took over again and then they had to pile up on top of each others, sooooo, but I think some people I think didn't get it. Virgil and Dad (from the Thunderbirds) they didn't get dead. And Virgil decided that he found a way that he could get a way back to their normal selves and so they touched everyone and got them back to their normal selves. Except for the baddie."
Nathan:
But today the baddie is a goodie, because he got his head back.
Rowan:
But we are just pretending. He doesn't really have a head.
Nathan:
Yeah, we lost it.

I'm sorry I asked.
Feel free to pick your own version of events if you like.

A strange start to a Saturday

2009-10-10T09:29:00.003+10:00

It all started normal enough.

And then I left the room for a while and on my return there were no children but this strange creation in the middle of the room.

Cannibalism?

Cloning gone wrong?

Mutations?

I don't know, I haven't heard their explanation as yet.

The box that keeps on giving

2009-10-09T09:14:00.004+10:00

This box is no ordinary box.

It has been an egg/house for a yellow space alien baby, a rocket, a puppy dog, a space baby puppy dog, a boat, a chicken and of course a bed.

This is in it's chicken stage of life (there are flaps over the arm holes for the wings).

It's looking a bit worse for wear now and may be near the end of it's useful life, but Nathan sure has enjoyed it.

The boy sure loves boxes.

Assignments are getting done ever so slowly. Nearly there!

Box boy

2009-10-06T09:10:00.003+10:00

It's been said before, but Nathan LOVES boxes.

A new box comes in the house and he eyes it off and snaffles it before you can turn around and say "Hang on, I need that."

And then he happily and wantonly destroys, sorry, creates things with them.

He loves them so much he wants to sleep with them.

And this is what I found the other night when I went to check on him.

He had turned the rather large box into a robot before going to bed. Complete with feet and arms holes. Anything to keep him from terrorising Rowan in his final stages of constructing the Octopus Wheel. I think he modified in further to allow space for his neck and chest. Not sure how comfy it was. But he was happy.

My strange and sweet little box boy.

Octopus Wheel

2009-10-04T19:38:00.004+10:00

Rowan was fortunate enough to have received a number of different styles of building toys this birthday. We gave him a motorised Meccano set, which has been challenging, but has kept him entertained for most of the week making Robots and helicopters and the like.

My parents had given him a very special Kinex Octopus Wheel set which is also motorised. I had told him to not start on building it until he had put the Lego and the Meccano away, so all the bits wouldn't get confused.

So this afternoon, he got stuck into it. Oh, some of the parts are teeny teeny tiny. I used the egg carton to help sort them out and make it a bit easier. And there were an awful lot of parts. 340 of them. And all bar 4 of them were used.

He is rightfully very proud of himself. It took a lot of time. About 4-5 hours in fact. It was very difficult at times to make sense of the instructions. But he did do the majority of it himself. He needed a bit of help getting started, so he could figure how they clip together. And sometimes things wouldn't go together, and a bit of help was again needed. Yeah for Brett!

Nathan wanted to help but generally didn't . More of a nuisance. Combine that with Rowan's frustration levels at times and it was a fun afternoon.

But they are friends again now.

Rowan keeps wandering around saying how proud he is of himself.

An afternoon (and evening) well spent.

How to make your own transfer shirt.

2009-10-02T18:48:00.002+10:00

Remember, simple is good.
I had some left over transfer paper I had gotten for another project. Courtesy of Big W.

(We made Christmas shirts from their own scanned drawings a couple of years ago. They were very proud of their shirts. I had wanted to do it because they had outgrown the cute baby Christmas shirts and the only ones I could find at the shops that would fit said things like "gimme, gimme" or something about Santa. I was after something different)

This time I made a simple design with photoshop elements.
Print, cut out, peel the backing off, place and iron.
Voila!
Is done. Is good.

There's still a bit left. I might have to think of another way to be creative.

The birthday continues!

2009-10-01T21:52:00.002+10:00

Just like the post by the same name last year, we met my sister and Mum at the water front for a picnic and play in the park the other day. We even managed to sit at the same table to open the presents! But this time Brett could join us too, but my Nana wasn't able to.

We hadn't caught up with my family for quite some time due to sickness (them, not us), so not only did Rowan receive some birthday presents but so did Nathan. Very spoilt and happy fellows.

Do you like the oh so matching shirts that I made them?

Somehow Auntie H stole the camera away from me, so I have no photos of her to share, just dodgey ones of me. Which I won't share.

But a great park to play in. We took their bikes too, so they had a ride. Yummy fish and chips for lunch. All in all, a very fun day!

Eight is great!

2009-09-29T19:16:00.003+10:00

Happy Birthday Rowan for yesterday!

Yes, the Australian flag is upside down. (The land down under?) It was Nathan's gift to Rowan.

Rowan has had a great couple of days and been spoilt rotten.

I am grateful for the good friends he has and the person that he is.

We went and saw G-Force yesterday in 3D. Pretty cool for an 8 year old. I mean to say, Guinea pigs who are secret agents? And the novelty of 3D? All of Rowan's dreams come true!

And when you get home, what do you have for a cake?

A guinea pig cake! Scruffy approved. It did feel weird cutting it up.

But it was a very simple cake. Just a slab with the ends rounded off. Simple is good.

And his verdict on the day? "This is the best birthday ever!"

Rowan's birth story

2009-09-27T12:55:00.007+10:00

My big boy turns 8 tomorrow. Can you believe it? I know I can't. It's just flown by.
He was a much hoped for little boy. The first grandchild and I think the first great-grandchild for both sides of the family.
And like all good things, sometimes you have to wait. On my due date I had a check up with the obstetrician. I foolishly complained of calf pain (as in cramps) and he thought we should rule out DVT (blood clot) so I spent the day having ultrasounds at private places. I wasn't allowed to go to work and get them done there, which would have been cheaper and quicker and simpler. Oh well. All was fine and I went home again.
Then we spent the next 10 or so days waiting some more. The last stages of pregnancy are long aren't they? But apart from some discomfort, it was a very straight forward pregnancy and I could still wear most of my normal looser clothes. The ones that I can't wear now. Very distressing to be bigger now when not pregnant than when I was.
I was scheduled to be induced, which I was unsure of, but time was wasting. After a very long day of waiting and monitoring, we weren't getting anywhere, so back home again after 10 pm.
Because it was so late, we didn't ring anyone to update them. And as we had to head back early again the next day, we didn't ring them either. Poor things, they were left in suspense. Texting was a bit beyond us then.
My water's did break at home before we went back. I felt sure this was a good sign and things would all happen from then. And I was contracting regularly. Finally.
But on examination, we had a long way to go.
About 2pm, the doctor decided we needed a hurry up and that this baby was getting born today.
We then moved up to a drip. It did hurry things up. Poor Brett was quite worn out by this stage. I wasn't paying attention to time. I was living in the moment but he wasn't enjoying how long it was taking and that there didn't seem to be an end in sight.
The doctor was moving offices that day and no-one knew the right number to reach him on when finally I was ready to push. But Dr B appeared right on time and was such a cheery soul.
There was a lot more pushing than there would be Nathan and a lot more midwife support. They were very helpful. Pain relief was very helpful too.
It was the sweetest thing though seeing him crown and being placed on my chest. We were all ever so pleased. All those wonderful hormones.
So Rowan was born at 7 pm weighing 3500 g and 55cm long, healthy and hale.

Well, there is a lot to tidy up after a delivery and homes for the doctor to go home to and phone calls to make. I ended up being abandoned all on my own perched up high on the bed. Rowan wrapped up all snug waaaaay over on the other side of the room in his little cot started to cry. The nurse wasn't all that keen to walk in and find me walking about to fetch my baby. I couldn't just leave him cry.
So, began the steep learning curve. I hadn't previously had much to do with babies and now I had one. I wasn't all that sure what to do with it. Feeding was much trickier than I had anticipated and very painful. After lots of tears and many weeks we worked it out, sort of. We muddled along some how through the lack of sleep and many new challenges.

Rowan you sure have brought so much joy to our lives. You are a wonderful wonderful gift to us.
Happy happy birthday to you!

Dust storm

2009-09-24T19:19:00.006+10:00

(views? of Southbank from the Expressway)

Well, the talk around town (and the nation) yesterday was about the most spectacular of dust storms. Now, I'm sure people out west are used to the dust, but it sure was a whole heap of dirt.

It was very windy. Really decreased visibility. The sun went a very odd blue colour. The other cars windscreens also reflected the blue light, which was kind of distracting. And it sure left a lot of dust about the place.

The Gabba is somewhere above the lights on the right.

We were driving across Brisbane about 2.30 pm. It was at it's worst at lunch time. I'm glad we took a bit longer over lunch before we headed home. Because at it's worst the sky was very orange.

I got the kids to take these photos while I was driving along the freeway. That's looking out from the Expressway to the William Jolly Bridge.

The pictures on the news of Sydney looked even more spacey and weird. The red light must have been very eerie.

And what took us across town in the middle of a dust storm?

Colin Buchannan!!! Colin Buchannan is a fantastic Christian children's performer. He has songs like Super Saviour! and 10, 9, 8... God is Great! He sure can keep a whole mess of kids transfixed. He was lots of fun, as always. And silly. The audience adored him.

And my kids have finally caught up with their peers and not only did they not take their eyeballs off him one for second, they also sang along and did the actions!!!

Normal concert going experience in their younger years was that they would sit stock still, not moving a muscle and looking a bit terrified. Yeah, I don't think they really enjoyed Hi5 like the little divas did. Afterwards they'd tell you all about it in heaps of detail and how much they enjoyed it. But at the time I was not convinced.

But no need to be convinced this time. They had a ball. And it sure is something to hear a packed house of youngsters screaming out Jesus rocks the world!