SBS

It's like SBS conspires to make sure we don't get enough sleep. Andrew and Joss have watched a fair bit of the Giro (cycling tour in Italy) but I have mainly just caught up with the highlights. On Wednesday night, however, I realised just how like Le Tour it is, only with new, beautiful, Italian scenery.

In the end, I took the middle road. I didn't get up at 5am after staying up late for the cycling, I recorded the first semi-final of Eurovision and we watched it last night. Not the hardcore option that took advantage of our one chance to vote for real, but not the soft option of waiting until Friday night.

The first semi was awesome, by the way. Already, passions are running hot in our household as we disagreed with who went through (our fault as we did not vote ourselves!).

So far, no one has sported crimped hair. It turns out that while she enjoys the plaits, Bethany isn't a fan of the crimped look either. I don't think I'll spend another hour doing that.

The reader

By Tony Curran

My lovely friend, Sonya, is married to Tony Curran, an artist. Tony has an exhibition on at the art gallery and members of the public have been able to book a session with him, where he 'paints' their portrait on his iPad. I decided to book a session for my birthday lunchtime.

When I look through the Flickr collection of all the portraits, there are so many people I recognise from around town; people from my work, church, in my book club, who work at council. Even when their faces aren't finished, I can still tell, at first glance, who they are. Don't you think it's extraordinary what he can capture in one hour?

I booked another session so it can be finished, though I love this one as it is. I love my shoes and basket, my shirt and that he was pretty flattering in terms of size! In case you are interested, the book I was reading (and I did, indeed, read during the sitting, though I managed to chat a little bit - it's hard to pose as reading and not actually do it) was The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl, which I was reading for work, and the book on the top of the pile is Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose, which I am not enjoying as much as Crossing to Safety, but that is a hard book to beat.

I think this is a pretty special thing to have; well worth the sore back and restless leg that comes from sitting like this for an hour! I can wear exactly the same outfit when I go for the second sitting, but the books will be different and my hair will have grown.....

Term Two

In term two, I stopped blogging, but here I am again. This morning, I really love where Joss and Toby go to school. Joss is off on an excursion this morning and it took me, quite literally, eight minutes to get in the car, drive her to school, make sure her phone was packed, give her a big hug and kiss (did you lipstick me? Hello, I don't wear lipstick before 6am! Actually, I do if I am going to the airport to catch a plane, but certainly not for a school drop off) and drive home. So now it still isn't 6 o'clock yet and I am dressed, lunches are done and the dishwasher is unpacked. Time to read! After I catch up on the blog.....

These are the photos I have had ready to go for weeks.

After we got back from Mum and Dad's we had a week of leaving for work before the kids awoke. I do love a quiet morning that involves no school lunches, hair brushing or dashing for the bus.

Soccer is in full swing, and I have decided that gumboots are the way to go. I deliberately walked through puddles on the soccer field in these babies. Bethany is living her new team and is actually winning games, which makes a nice change. She even won the award last week, she played so well.

These are the pear trees in front of our house. They are the same sort of tree. I have no idea why one is flaming and the other resisting Autumn, which has well and truly come. We have had rain, the heating has been on and sandals have been put away. I love it!

Post conference fun

We left Leura after lunch on Monday and headed down the mountains, surprised by the lack of traffic. We spent the night at Nan and Grandad's in Wahroonga, before splitting up for a day of Sydney fun. Andrew, Toby, cousin Jordy and Bethany went to the Easter Show, Joss went shopping in the city with cousin Alannah and I had a day to myself.

I started with a nostalgic wander around Wahroonga, where I grew up. The photo above is of a street where my best friend from primary school lived. There is a very steep hill down which we used to ride our bikes, and one day I fell off and scraped my face very badly and knocked a couple of teeth back. Fun memories.

I had coffee with my friend Shane who had her first baby at the same time I did and we used to go to Easter Convention together. We had a lovely coffee in Wahroonga village, so different to when I grew up there. It is like every second shop is a cafe, I am not exaggerating. I wonder how there can be so many coffee drinkers! It might have something to do with the fact that the house I grew up in has been replaced with four large townhouses, and the house next door with many fancy units. High density living, how glad I am to live in the country.

After our Sydney days we came up to the Hunter to see Mum and Dad. The weather has been lovely, we have relaxed and enjoyed the company and the vineyard. 

Yesterday, we drove down to the coast to spend time with Tim and the family. We went to Avoca for fish and chips, and had birthday cake for a nearly six year old niece!

Toby has had a nasty cold, yesterday's adventures (probably not helped by four hours in the car) did not agree with Bethany, but it has all been worth it.

Tomorrow, eight hours in the car and we will be home to our wooly dog and the washing. Bring on tomorrow night!

Joyous day

The sun shone as we celebrated Jesus' rising from the dead! We had a wonderful morning session at convention, I mouthed the words to most of the songs as I can't cry and sing at the same time (I regularly cry through church songs, but particularly at Easter).

We had our traditional Easter egg hunt after lunch and were warm and dry all day. We go to bed tired but very thankful and looking forward to one more morning of teaching and fellowship.

Easter Convention

I took this photo during the morning tea break, and we sit around the middle of the auditorium. You have to imagine around 3,000 adults singing about their wonderful God and listening to great speakers teaching God's word. It really is an extraordinary experience and quite my favourite time of year!

Briony loves doing hair so Joss and Bethany have been looking particularly beautiful.

We have been spoiled in past years with cool but sunny weather. We have had a lot of rain this time! We have friends who are camping (!) and are very thankful for being warm and dry, as well as enjoying wonderful company, at Teen and Guy's.

This morning we have woken to gentle sunlight. It may not last , but we are hoping to manage an Easter egg hunt after lunch. Christ is risen, what joy!

Growth

We're on holidays! Andrew went to work this morning, the kids pottered , or at least played mine craft for two of them, and I cleaned and packed - I do like coming home to a clean house. Joss pulled all the hair out of her brush and we marvelled at how it looks just like a nest, and has a fair top layer, a blue stripe and then the dark. She is now hoping to become a blonde, a long and expensive process, but she has no regrets.

Now, we are on the road, heading for the mountains and Easter Convention, my very favourite time of year!