simple Christmas in the island

 It's Christmas ! This time we spent time in the island, with its humidity and rain. Weather very like the same as Jakarta, which I like. I didn't really have time to have home sick this christmas,  since I was just super busy! I swear my time was always full on, every day, every minute, no break until I went to sleep. Now that I finally have time to write a little, I can't even break down what I did, what made me so busy, because they are just too many !

Anyway, our christmas started early. We put up the tree and decoration on the 1st of  December. Barney Christmas dvd was on, Christmas songs too. Evan was so excited and help me decorating. He also started to understand Santa. He had been taught to be a good boy so Santa would give him big present, which is a big bike. We didn't realised that Santa in this island can be many! Evan had 4x Santa this year! First one was at my office's christmas party, 2nd one was at the city christmas twilight market, 3rd was at his Childcare, and the 4th was on christmas eve. I think he was over Santa after he saw Santa for the 3rd times. Must be confusing for him to see so many Santa and got presents from each Santa he met, and when we kept saying that Santa will come on christmas eve when he is sleeping. He didn't know the concept of dates yet, he didn't know when is the actual christmas day is. All he knows that he has met Santa, got presents, and will get more presents. As the result, he didn't fall asleep until 12.30am on christmas eve, just to see Santa coming and wanted to have a look at the presents. It follows to exhausted me and hubby who has to wrap the presents and install the big bike after Evan is really asleep. We ended up sleep at 2.30am, and woke up like a zombie on christmas morning.

little helper

Santa at my office's staff christmas party

Santa at twilight christmas market

santa at the childcare

I took a lot of christmas photos (of course), made up few christmas cards and sent them to family and close friends, and made special christmas decoration for Evan.

Snowman decoration I made for Evan

Our busy period started since the 16th, as the day of Evan's childcare last day for this year. I and hubby had to work until 23rd, and so hubby took time off on my working days. It turned out good as he could spent quality time with the little boy. That week we have to prepare to stock up our pantry and fridge, buy presents, and prepare for xmas dinner with friends on the 23rd. Yes, we invited people to dinner early this Christmas as they are all already have plan on christmas day or they are away to their home town. Our dinner with friends turned out good. It was just a simple dinner with small crowd. Was a good fun.

christmas dinner with friends

We went to Church on christmas eve, 6pm mass. There were only about 18 people there, so simple and quiet mass, compared to mass in Jakarta. No extravagant decoration. Only simple nativity set at the altar, which is nice. Evan behaved, he even like to sing Gloria in exelcis deo, :)

So, the little boy started the day by opening the santa sack under his bed in the morning. Then I made french toast and sausages sizzles for breakfast. Then we opened presents under the tree. I really feel that the little boy had too many presents. So many that he forgot what he really really want at the first place, which was a big bike. He was startled with joy when he saw the bike. But then he tried it on, he felt the bike was too big and too wobbly, and so he didn't really like it anymore, especially he had successfully distracted by other toys and goodies. (*sigh*) We then had a very nice special roast chicken for lunch, then relaxing time the whole afternoon.

christmas lunch - roast chicken

In the mean time, the weather outside was gloomy, cloudy, humid, and wet.

and that's how I and my little family spent my Christmas this year :)

Merry Christmas to you xoxoxo

where's aeroplane

We were about to go out this morning and he was sitting in front of the door with his finger on his forehead. He moved his head up and down, right and left and keep saying "where are you?"..... I asked what are you doing? and he said, "i'm looking for aeroplane, mummy."

and he kept searching when we walked outside the house and in the car.

:)

tiny joys that made my day

My heart melted this morning when I dropped Evan to Childcare and send him in the playroom, he said, "have a good day!" he smiled and wave bye bye ! Ahhh... he can be a very sweet little boy sometimes ... : D

The other night we went out to a dinner with friends. After I finished my meal I just realised that I have a sticker stick on my wrist! It was there all along since we left home, and of course the little boy have to do with it. One of the guy said, "I knew it was there, I thought it some kind of new trend." haha...
And the other day I found 3 stickers at the back of hubby's shirt, and he was wearing it all day!  

Anyhoo, here's a little update of him in the last couple of months :

* His current favorite TV channel is Nickelodeon Junior, goodbye ABCKids channel !
* His recent favorite show is DORA THE EXPLORER !! Goodbye Pororo ...

* His kitchen hands skills developed. I actually enjoyed his company and little help in the kitchen now, as his hands become stronger and controllable.

* Start the morning by making glass of Milo, put the milk in the microwave, press the start button, spoon the milo into the glass, then stir it until all mixed well.

* Spread margarine and jam or nutella on toast or plain bread , folded the bread, and cut into half.

* He can take the biscuit jar from the pantry and open it without me knowing !

* He is still enjoying peeling onion and garlic, and helped me stir in the wok or pan

* His social skills improved. He has a best buddy called Maddy, whose her mom is hubby's office colleague. So cute to see them playing together. Especially when they are holding hands :D

* He is good in sharing food and toys in the house with other kids now.

* He can eat by him self only if he want too. Most of the time he asked me to help to feed him, just because I am around.

* I keep having thank you message and report from teacher in the childcare about how good he was in helping them to clean up and set up lunch or afternoon tea!!

* He also still enjoying coloring with water paint. However every time he does it, he only use one color to color the whole page !

* He likes to cut papers.

* He would come to my room in the morning to say "Good morning, mommy and daddy" - very loud - and very early !

* He loves to talk to people on the laptop (skype) - means to my family in Jakarta and Liam :)

* He also loves to talk on the phone. He is now can make a better conversation on the phone. Saying hello, how are you, and answer the question, and ask questions. Usually he talk with his dad or grandad :)

* He can make a cross sign when praying... well sort of... :) He can't really say "in the name of...." yet, but he definitely knows where the hands should go first and next in the right direction. He does the cross in the Church too, he knows to always make a cross sign after dipping his hand in the holy water bowl. -:)

* I always say  a pray before bed with him. Sometimes he wanted to say the pray himself ! :)

* At the Mass, he is also getting better in behaving himself. Sometimes he kneeled and pretended to seriously praying. He enjoyed putting coins in to the offering tray, he amused himself by reading a book we brought from home, or playing with the mass newsletter, and whispered when he talk.

* He still have to have a nap or quite time in the afternoon, otherwise will go mad by 5pm.

That's all I can think about him at the moment. :) He is a good and clever little boy, no doubt :)

up up to the sky

Went to the park today with Evan, and had fun on the community's Health exhibition/promotion there. Evan had a ride in a little ambulance car, play ball and got stickers, had lots of goodies, and sit down on the grass watching people singing and dancing. He got the balloon from there too.

The idea of this shot was a tribute for the late Steve Jobs, who passed away yesterday. The 'apple' world was mourning. RIP, Mr Jobs.

looking up...

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and you'll be surprise what you find. Another one I spotted when walking home from work today.

Dinner tonight

Pasta bake with mince beef and carrot. Made by me. :)

4.30pm

I walk quite a lot lately because our car was broken. Thank God we are living in the small island, and all places are easily to reach - they are all walking distance. I don't mind walking. I just hate the strong wind that mess my hair and head, and the scorching sun that burn my skin. But by walking, I become healthier. I can also can spotted things that I can't see when I am driving. I can stop walking whenever I wanted, I can point and shoot with whatever style, whenever I like.

So all about balance.

Here is one of the shot when I walked home from work.

the wooden track

The famous wooden Thomas track we finally got for Evan. Couldn't believe how difficult to get this, and how pricey they are. But all paid offby the expression and reaction of Evan when he saw it. That's all he ever wanted in the last 2 months, and he was thrilled in excitement. Aah.... we are all happy when the boy is happy. :)

Annoying Day

Another month has gone. On the first day of October, I went to the one and only salon in the island and had my hair coloured and cut. Quite satisfied with the colour - at least all of the greys gone, but totally not happy with the cut. Irritated and annoyed all day - and probably in the next 2 months (*grrrrrr*).....

Not really good to start the month (*sigh*).

outdoor play time

Date with Evan today. Had fun in the beach collecting shells, playtime in the playground in the park, and lunch and play with friends at the cafe. Great fun day for both of us :)

home made play dough

play time with the little one, we were having fun making play dough and play with it after that.

freshness in the beach

I skipped work today. Walked Evan to daycare and had a beautiful morning photo hunting, and lots of house work at home. Tired!

spotted!

Stay home with Evan all day today. Lots of shots of the landscape and birds from the verandah, this is one of them.

fly low

Captured this in the morning before went to work :)

hanging on

another busy day. Church, supermaket, and pool, washing and ironing (*geeezzz....*)

almost perfect

beautiful productive saturday today !

fine day

another busy day with the house chores, another good day with the little boy, all good.

being a good boy

Had fun with the little boy today. Thursday is the time when we stayed home and I do the house chores. Evan had a bit of help, otherwise he would play by himself. Very pleased with him today! :)

Mer island

Andrew took this picture from Mer Island where he went for work today. No picture from me. Super busy at work, then super busy at home after work. exhausted!

visit daddy's office

Busy day today. Went to doctor for Evan's cough, which appeared he was super active and cheeky - definitely not sick enough for the doctor to give him any medication. Then we walked to the library - which in the same building as my office, and borrowed some dvds and books for the first time in this island. They have quite good selection, btw.

Then we walked to hubby's office for a surprise, and so he could drive us home :)

lunch

here is my lunch in the office today - left over from last night.

Little Santa

He likes to play 'pretend' lately. It's been a week since a pretend to be Santa now. Here he is, saying "Ho Ho Ho.... mummy, present for you!!"

Of course he always want to have his Mickey hat on when he is playing 'pretend'. And I had to open the "presents" each time. I can find all sorts of things as 'my presents' in the those plastic bag. From a box with a card in it, gloves, singlet, handphone toys, trucks, hat, etc :D

Christmas come early here in TI,... :D

Quality time

my precious boys spending quality time together :)

cultural day

It's a public holiday today. But the town was shaken by a talent show that held in the main public park, just 23 minutes walk from my house. People gathered there, food stalls provided beautiful cooked food, but unfortunately the wind was massively too strong. Anyway I and the boys went down there had a little picnic and talk to people. Then I sent the boys home for a nap and I walked back to the park and had a lot of fun taking pictures of people.

little people

Tried to make the little boy busy crafting today. He draw a smiley faces and put the clothes on the little people :)

the office

That's the front view of my office. It's basically the administration office that run the whole city/community of this island and 2 other island nearby. It's a centre of information and management of the community. So the office is open for public for it has information counter, library, and computers/internet.

It's not a fancy looking office. Nothing fancy in this island anyway. But it's enough to give me a good balance in daily life, at least for now. :)

baking and frying

full time in the kitchen since morning. From baking the muffins, frying lots and lots of rice crackers, and cook for dinner. Exhausting!!!

shoes or mangoes ?

Look what I found when having a stroll at lunch time from the office :)

the shipment

we order online for the first time and took a 10 days to get into our door. That's the ship that had our shipment, I guess. Just a peek from our verandah. Hope we could get our order in front of our door tomorrow!

I spent the whole morning in the hospital today for my flu, nasty cough, and asthma treatment.
Pretty impressing. Hope to feel well soon.

another lazy saturday

Evan had runny nose, but he was still full of bean. I was a little down with cough and cold :(

socialise

The idea was for me to chit chat with other mums, and for Evan to play with other kids. The fact was, I have to stay by Evan's side all the time and play with him - to avoid unforeseen damage with the other kids and I'm lucky if there's any mum's around me so I can talk to them (*sigh)

Evan just didn't want to play with other kids! He just poured water to this poor curly kid's hair on the picture. But not long after I took this picture Evan cried, as the boy took revenge by threw a bucket of water to Evan's shirt. (*sigh)

visitor this morning!

it's just sat there, in front of our front door. Close and clear. It's a King Fisher. Very much alike kookaburra, but this one has blue wings. :)

I didn't feel well so we just had a relaxing day at home. I didn't even do much on the house chores. So weak....

walking home

The car was in the garage today, so I walked home today from work. One thing I love about walking is that I can take pictures anytime I want. :)

popcorn

time to do house chores and entertain the little boy at home.

Shadow

It's monday, it's a working day. Super busy, this is the only picture I took in the morning :)

Happy Father's Day

The man of the day insisted to not having anything special today, so we just went to morning mass, supermaket, and had lazy afternoon. He got special handmade frame from the little boy and me, though :)

under the big sky

Easy saturday today, went to the beach for photo hunting in the afternoon, the weather not too friendly. Super windy and cloudy, but captured a few good picture :)

morning light

just before going to the park

yellow September !

Hello September ! It's now close to the end of the year. Gosh! Anyway, it was a busy day today. I tried to make the little boy busy. So we had a quality time crafting. Then we went to the shop to buy birthday present, which ended up buying toy for the little boy too (*sigh). And we had another short visit to the church, and found this yellow thing on the church's garden. :)