Australia Day

Today is Australia Day - Australia's National Day.

I wanted to celebrate with my kids, so for dinner I made sausage rolls, which we served with a spinach salad. (I'll put the recipe on my food blog.)
The kids really liked them, and Emily said she'll take one in her lunch tomorrow.I had planned to also make lamingtons, but time ran out (Monday is a hectic day around here.) I should have made them last night ready for today, but Sunday is also a hectic day around here ... actually every day is a hectic day around here. Oh well, next year.

So instead, we had Tim Tams, Milky Bar & Maltesers for desert / FHE treat (the last pack of Tim Tams - yikes.)

For Family Home Evening we read "Possum Magic" (my favorite),


and "Diary of a Wombat" (Emily's favorite),



and then looked through "Face of Australia" by David Evans and said all the places we want to go to next time we visit, and calculated that Jane could probably climb Uluru (Ayers Rock) with the family in 5 years ...
We sang "Advance Australia Fair," Australia's national anthem. My kids love Milky Bars. I think they are probably originally English, but we always had them as kids in Australia and my kids think of them as Australian. The same goes for Maltesers, which I got for the big people.

Jane (my sweets addict) couldn't believe her luck.
And yes, that is Jacob after shoving all 4 of his pieces of Milky Bar in his mouth at once!
Jane said the closing prayer "By myself - NO HELPING!"
She said thank-you for Australia, which was so sweet.

Happy Australia Day!

Sixteen

Rebekah is 16. I cannot believe it - wasn't I just 16 last week?

I am so thankful to have bek in our family. Here are some of the things I love best about her -

She is super smart - definitely smarter than me.

She has the greatest, whip-fast sense of humor and can verbally spar with the best of them.

She is the best tech support ever and rescues me frequently. I cannot tell you the number of times I've had to have her re-size the pictures in my iPhoto after J&J have been banging on the keyboard - AND - even though she shows me how to do it on an almost weekly basis, she doesn't get mad that I can't remember.

She is trying to teach me how to text. (It's hopeless.)

She has the greatest music library - but even better then that - it's all also in her head! No matter what's playing I can ask her and she'll tell me the title & artist - and all the lyrics too!

She is a great student. She's independent and totally keeps track of all her school work, assignments, and staying on top of things. She HATES to miss a day of school. She definitely didn't get that from me - I pray for snow days in June!

Which brings me to another not-inherited-from-me trait I admire - she is always on time (when I'm not involved.) She hates to be late, and really freaks out when we are.

She is the worlds best babysitter. Although she swears she's never having kids (fine by me) she adores babies, and is almost never without a borrowed one in her arms at church. She is cool enough for bigger kids to like her too, and is proficient in Wii, Xbox, PSP, you name it.

She has read almost every book on the planet, and remembers them - plot, characters, minor details. Book discussions with Rebekah are great.

She has a great general knowledge about the world. I know I'm probably biased, because I am her mother - but I think she is far better informed than your average teenager. She reads every issue of TIME cover to cover, she follows politics, and international news. I'm so proud of her global interest, and that she cares about the world around her.



Rebekah has a quote on the wall in her bedroom that reads
"I don't need any doors opened for me, I plan on kicking them down."

I have no doubt she will.