january 2011

january 11

well, the house thought it might be getting a new roof for its birthday this year, but it turned out, it's getting a new water tank instead. yes... no hot water on sunday [after telling toby to stop whining about how cold his shower was!] and, upon further investigation, lots of water pouring out of the bottom of the tank. i had no idea how much i would just miss washing my hands in warm water [and it turns out that i wash my hands A LOT]. not to mention how much i would miss the cold water when that had to be turned off too. it really made me appreciate what we take for granted. perhaps it's because i've been reading bill bryson's 'at home' about the history behind all those things in your home that you never usually notice. [a fascinating read even though it's a lot more educational and less funny than his usual].

fortunately for us, we have the best contractor ever, dan henriksen [who has a lovely new website thank to yours truly!], who i called from work at 10am on monday and had the water tank installed just as i was arriving home from work the same day which made me very very very happy.

january 8

you haven't heard anything from me recently because i've been extremely busy playing all the new video games in the house [when i can fight my way through to a controller]. i've [sorry - 'we've'] almost completed epic mickey and have also spent way too many hours on kirby's epic yarn and wii party. i always feel a little guilty playing video games with the children, but there's some great games with a lot of problem solving and i figure it's not that dissimilar from playing board games.

it's been a nice start to the new year. we spent new year's eve playing games and watching nanny mcphee returns with the adams family and learnt the tradition of banging pots and pans outside at midnight which was fun. we also took the children swimming and took zoe for her first skate. zoe had got some beginner skates for christmas - they are dual blades which just strap to the bottom of the shoe. she didn't mind being pushed around in the stroller, but wasn't quite so keen on trying it herself. she did eventually get motivated [and surprisingly quick] when i put her in the middle of the ice and pointed her in the direction of the exit. her feet only went out from under her once but fortunately i was there to catch her.

our first week back at work and school has been a pretty successful one all round and we're finally over our 'sleeping-in' jetlag in time for the weekend! bring on 2011!

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