D

The theme for the annual Pine Dance - on tonight - is the letter D.

So Louisa is a Dihatsu - front:

and back (costumes at our house tend to be representative rather than realistic):

And Jesse is a Dancing Queen:

Of course Max was Donald Duck, Roger was a Dad (very imaginative), Peet was a dag (not too big of a stretch either) and Alec declined to dress up. I stayed home recuperating and Thomas stayed home studying.

Medieval Dance

The YSA had a medieval dance - Tom left early to set up so I have no photos of him - but here are Jesse and Alec.

Max

Max crawled into bed with me a couple of nights ago - he does that a lot - and said 'I have a real question to ask you.'

'How can I help Declan?'

Then he gave me a list of Declan's troubles - he thinks kids don't like him - his grandpa almost died this year in a plane crash - his grandma did die - she used to just let them eat whatever they wanted- his dad is a tree loper and that's a busy job you know and so he is hardly ever home - his mum has a stack of paperwork to do every day so she is too busy to help.

Then with tears trickling down his cheeks he said 'I'm so glad you don't have too much to do.'

Then Max asked 'do you think I'll ever grow out of this?'

"Grow out of what?"

'Well it's just that when I start telling someone about something that is sad I start to cry.'

"Well, maybe not because that is what happens when we think about sad things."

At least I hope he doesn't grow out of it.

And tonight he went to the school dance as Donald Duck.

Roger has a special gift for not worrying about things we can't fix (and for making costumes out of bits and pieces). I have a special gift for worrying anyway. Whenever the thing I have been worrying about turns out ok Roger tries to tell me that I needn't have worried. I think it is proof that worrying is working and he should try it some time.

Of all the things I worry about the top of the list is having enough time with my little kids. I remember reading marathons with the big kids where they'd take days off school and we'd do nothing but lie in bed and read. I remember making mulberry pies from mulberries picked from trees along creek beds all over Brisbane. And whole days spent cooking or reading or going to the museum. All experiences that Louisa and Max have missed.

This time Roger might have a point - we do what we can and somehow Max believes we have time.

Mission

Alec's mission call arrived - he'll be going to Sydney North on 3 December 2009 - better blogging will follow.

Alec is happy as can be - he was hoping for Australia and thinks Sydney North is great - he hopes he gets to serve somewhere in the country areas - because he might be able to find a good hunting property!

I think it will preferable to Tom's mission - but two years is two years and when Tom went I had no idea how long that would take. Now I am wiser and know that it's a long time.

Bob

When Max was decorating his birthday cake to take to school I heard him sigh and say "Wish my name was Bob."

He had a chocolate cake to cover with smarties and meant to write MAX in smarties and wrote XAM instead ... if his name was BOB it wouldn't have mattered.

Hospital

Here's what Joan saw when she visited me in hospital after my hysterectomy - I'm very well and indecently excited to have had it done - the little kids missed me a bit.

And here's Louisa when she had to leave. (We have a whole series of photos of Louisa saying goodbye and crying.)