Cayley: I want a Barbie Doll for my birthday. And a walking stick.

Me: Why do you want a walking stick?

Cayley: So that I can be old.

Looking at Nan and Pop’s slides on a little viewer.

No New Year’s resolutions for me.

But I am going to attempt a photo a day for 2012.

That doesn’t necessarily mean a post a day, though you can live in hope (or dread!)

From the morning of Cayley’s birthday

Mummy: Cayley is getting a kitten for her birthday!!!!!

Jos: Oh, oh… Oh! I want a crocodile!

And later in the day when Cayley was going to put Timba in his lap: No, no. I scared. I want a crocodile.

Yesterday was Cayley’s birthday. Her fifth.

Cayley is getting to be such a big girl, and she is still crazy for all creatures great and small. Brett and I decided that her fifth birthday was a wonderful opportunity to give her her very own pet.

The birthday tradition in our home is to wait as long as is possible and then all pile into bed with daddy and the presents, and have a gift opening fest.

Wanting Cayley to be able to choose her own kitten meant I had to come up with something for her to unwrap.

While Brett and I were away together for a couple of days in Lesmurdie we picked up a couple of second-hand books about kittens.

In the back of the kitten story I put a little note that told her what her gift was.  I found a lovely $2.00 cat necklace too. She opened the presents from Uncle Peter and the siblings first and then our package of books and jewellery. But she didn’t want to read the story – she was looking for more presents.

I just read the story anyway. And then found the note at the end of the book. Brett read that to her so that I could get a photo of the moment.

She could not believe it.

“A real kitten?”

“For me?”

“To keep?”

I had mentioned to her that it was Uncle Gerry’s birthday that day too. She was so unable to believe that she would be getting her very one kitten that she thought we must be either getting a kitten for Uncle Gerry, or getting a kitten for her like his battery operated cat.

Once she figured it out though, there was much excitement, and we couldn’t get out of the house quick enough. Three hours when you are five (just) and very, very excited is a long, long time.

But eventually the time arrived and we’d we we’re off.

Over the last year or so I have taken the children to the Animal Protection Society so that Cayley can share her overflowing affection for our poor old cat Ookie with some cats less fortunate than her, and that is where we went.

Cayley wanted to bring every kitten home, but eventually a choice was made.

He was named Spot.

And ten minutes later he was Patch.

But thirdly and finally (it seems) he is Timba.

He is so loved.

And so is Cayley.

Cayley we are so thankful that God has made you part of our family.

You are so gentle hearted and loving. You hate to see anyone feeling upset, and do everything that you can to change that.

This year you have completed kindy, and have really done so well. You are a gorgeous school girl, wonderful student, and good friend.

You moved out of your shared room with Elisha and got you very own pink bedroom.

You have a very strong will, and you know what you want. At times it is a challenge as your mummy, but i am so excited to see what God has planned for you.

May you grow in Him more than in anything else in this coming year my precious girl, there is no one else like Him.

Jos ( with a mouth full of food ): Mmph, shbut, swwrt.

Mummy: Jos when you talk with your mouth full you sound like this: Mmph, shbut, swwrt.

Cayley: Jos is talking German.

Daddy: Cayley, do you know what language we speak in Australia?

Cayley: Ni… Ning… Ningle!!

To her credit though she persisted and came out with English in the end.

Today is Cayley’s birthday. More on that later.

Tuesday night I took Elisha shopping to get his sister a present.

We’d done a round of the shop and picked up a few things, and wanted to head back to one area to swap something.

I knew where we were going, and Elisha exuded such confidence that he knew where he was going. He even announced, “I’m going this way,” and was headed in the right direction, but one row of clothes away from me.

And then he wasn’t there any more.

I wandered around for what felt like half an hour, staying mostly close to where I’d lost him, with a couple of dashes to where we were headed and to the toys section. Called his name more than once.

No Elisha.

Feeling panicky, I started making my way to the front to get the – “If you’ve seen this child can you bring him to his mother, she’s waiting by the front door” announcement made.

When I saw him. With a store staff member.

I called. He heard. He ran to me.

We hugged. We talked. I could tell he was shaken, but he wasn’t crying. He is growing up so!

And I was super proud of him. He was in trouble, and he did the right thing, and he wasn’t too scared to speak to a stranger to get help.

Mummy was shaken too. And she also wasn’t crying. But I think we were both pretty close.

Rain
Yes! In Perth! In December.

And just because this sort of thing interests me, and it might interest you… some rain stats for Perth.

This morning the ladies; Bible study group that I belong to had morning tea out for our end of year ‘break up’.

It was moved from an outdoor park to good old McDonald’s… because of the rain.

On my way home, I noticed that St John of God Murdoch have cancelled their Carols by Candlelight last night … because of the rain.

I wonder if it will be raining for Christmas.

I also popped over to school for Elisha’s class party. My main reason for going was to deliver the food I’d prepared, but I ended up hanging around for a little while.

I’ve got some photos from today, but it’s late, and I want to go to bed… and I’m not sure how other parents would feel about their children being on this here blog. So here’s one of Cayley and that’s it.

Jos went to bed with a pyjama jumper on last night.

Who’d have thunk he’d be doing that in the middle of December.

And we had 12.4mm of rain in Jandakot.

She had time out.  He shared it with her because he wanted to. (21/07/2011)

Last week, after a couple of days of fairly frequent thunder and lightning…

Jos (at bedtime): I’m scared, I don’t want Lightning McQueen to come into my bedroom.