Squibblog

happy hannukah

 Friday night was the first night of hannukah. Soy's family came over to celebrate, with his gorgeous sister Ali doing a star turn as super-Aunt, bringing dreidels, a hannukah cookie making kit and a hideous doll that sings a song about latkes (potato pancakes). She entertained the children with baking activities while the rest of the adults had a chance to sit and catch our collective breath before we make the headlong dash for the end of school and then Christmas.

sydney children's photography :: six months on

 Today marks six months since I started Elissa Baxter Photography. It's been a steep learning curve, not so much about the photography, but in running a small business. It's involved long days and long nights, working on weekends, tears and whoops of joy. I can see an enormous change in the types of photographs I'm taking, as well as in how I feel when I prepare for a session. Now the nervousness is finally leaking away and the sheer joy of looking through the lens is all that's left. 

Thank you to the wonderful families who have supported and trusted me with your images these past six months. And thank you to the beautiful children who have let me share a few minutes of your life and capture a bit of your sparkle.

out with a bang

 I blogged a little while ago about how sad I was feeling about Zac leaving his little school. He's been very happy there, particularly this year, when he's had a wonderful teacher and a chance to be a leader. 

The consolation is that Zac will be leaving on a high after his graduation ceremony today. He received one of the two class awards for his over-all excellent participation at school, as well as the music award for his cello playing prowess. These awards a quite a big deal and the look on Zac's face when he was named (I knew it was coming but he was surprised) showed he much the kids value these things.

Celebration tonight involved a lot of gelato which is the kid equivalent of champagne in our house.

Tomorrow I will be kept to my promise of buying him a pack of Space Police Lego as a reward for getting a good report (he is angling for the biggest pack because his report was so glowing that it almost burst into flames when I read it).

PS See the mortar board on his head? He's in Year 2. You should have seen him striding out wearing the mortar board, to the strains of the opening music from The West Wing. It was a sight to behold.

fa la la la la

Our halls are decked, our tree trimmed. 

Our tree looks pretty much the same this year as every other year because we hang the same decorations each year. I try to make a habit of buying a new decoration every time I travel, and encourage others to do that same. That way our tree gets one more lovely thing each year, and we get to reminisce about our days of wanderlust as we decoate the tree each year. Remember these tin corn cobs we bought from the markets in Oaxaca, Mexico? Remember how we bought this tacky Eiffel tower at a tourist shop in Monmatre? See these Chinese silks stars with jade beads that I bought in Hong Kong when I was pregnant with Nelly?

Here are our newest, and oldest, decorations: Santa bought by my mother-in-law on her trip to Latvia earlier this year, a beaded Kiwi from our trip to New Zealand last January (oh, how I miss that holiday) and the tiny gold gazelle, the first of my decoration collection, from when my Mum lived in Kenya in the mid-90s.

so frenchy, so chic

 Nell, ready for her Christmas concert today. She's wearing summer dress #4, made in haste yesterday afternoon when Nell decided none of her clothes were in the French national colours and therefore not nearly appropriate for her concert. Today she declared the dress 'the Frenchiest ever', which I take as approval.

oh blog friends, how I've missed you

You know when you're busy and you think you're doing everything, but it turns out there's a whole bunch of stuff you're just not doing at all anymore?

That's blog reading for me. I used to spend blissful minutes every day checking my friends blogs, and then I got out of the habit. But I was inspired by my lovely cousin Sienna who, at age 15, has just left for France on exchange for the summer, to fire up Google reader so I can keep up with her Facebook notes on RSS. And now that I'm going to Google reader more often, I remember to read other blogs. 

Like:

jano Sidetalk

kirsten Narrating Kayoz

claire Loobylu

a different claire Matching Pegs

soy JargonMaster Blog in which he writes all the stuff he doesn't tell me in conversation

mum Peacemaker Gypsy

pip Meet Me At Mikes

alison Six and a Half Stitches

Mr 7 becomes Mr 8

 Happy Birthday beautiful Zac. You're growing up to be such a wonderful kid, leaving a little of the roaring behind and acquiring a little more of the sensitivity we hope will shape your youth. 

Thank you for bringing laughter and Lego into our lives. We love you.

xx Mum and Dad

hot, hotter, hottest

 This post is just going to be photos strung together with bits of text, so be prepared to draw your own conclusions.

First, Nell wearing her newest summer dress: the easiest one yet! (Fabric is by fellow Typepad blogger Heather Bailey). Soy keeps reminding me that Nell won't need so many lovely dresses when she's in school uniform next year, so I am making this the summer of gorgeousness. 

 We were at Zac's school on Sunday (the incredibly hot Sunday, which made standing around an asphalt playground so pleasant) for the Battle of the Bands. Zac was playing as opener and although he played Beethoven, we warmed him up with a little Metallica as interpreted by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra before we left, to get him into the rock 'n roll mood.

 Witnessing this musical smorgasbord were his two grandmothers: Helen and Pam (my Mum). I'm pretty sure the String Beans have never received such rousing cheers of approval from any crowd as they did on Sunday with these two grandmothers in attendance. 

I'm also fairly certain that none of the other 12 bands playing on Sunday got the roars of approval Zac did, not even the band from North Annandale school who played later in the day, fronted by Ian Moss singing Cold Chisel songs before he went into town to play at the Idol finale.

After one year of cello, Zac has done a warm up gig for Mossy and he's fairly certain his career has peaked so he's retiring. It's violin next year. 

 Also on Sunday we celebrated this young fellow's first birthday. Fortunately his grandmother has a swimming pool which all the older children put to good use.

books, books, books

I have had a reading Renaissance this year - managing not only to read books I am interested in, but to read beautiful books to the kids as well. Here is a list of the books I have read and loved this year, along with a few on my wishlist to read over the summer:

• Breath, by Tim Winton - the same spare Winton prose and a peek into the male mind with its attachment to adrenaline;
• The Scar, by China Mieville - mind blowing. Until you've entered Mieville's universe it's difficult to understand the pull of incredibly weird organic science fiction;
• Anathem, by Neil Stephenson - how he manages to create a whole universe based on maths and string theory and then turn it into an action novel, I have no idea. And what happens in the end? I don't think I've ever understood a single Stephenson ending and yet I've loved them all.
• Emma, by Jane Austen - second reading is just as good as the first. I read Jane when I am in need of a little comfort and she always delivers;
• Peter Pan, by J M Barrie - a lot more rollicking fun and a lot less kidsy preaching than a viewing of the Disney cartoon would have you believe. And Tink never was very nice, was she?
• David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens - a whole world inside cardboard covers.
• Nation, by Terry Pratchett - this is one I'm reading now and it's fascinating, but I'm not sure where it's going

For summer:

• Parrot and Olivier in America, by Peter Carey - rare is the Carey novel I don't love, so I have great expectations for this one;
  
• Northern Lights, by Philip Pullman - a book I adore and I can't wait to read it to Zac;
• The Slap, by Christos Tsiolkas - it seems that everyone had read this book except me, so here goes.

Any recommendations?

little kid, big kid

 

It really doesn't seem like that long ago that we were sending this tiny boy, in his shiny shoes and shorts with creases in them, off to kindergarten for the first time. And yet in the next few weeks Zac will be finished with his infants school. There will be a little ceremony and a passing out, and those first three years of school will be over. 

Zac will be moving to a big school with thousands of kids and, with any luck, he'll stay there for the rest of his school life (and I'll never have to face the wrench of leaving again!). While I know that the move will do him good because he's really finished with everything they can teach him at his current school, I am feeling a little wistful about the move nonetheless. I guess it's just that I don't really want to let go of the little kid in this picture because then I'll have to admit that in 10 years time he'll be finishing school for good, and then where will I be?