Hands - Are they not the most wonderful things?

Hands truly are a gift!

Do we take them for granted?

I think so.

How many uses do you know for hands?

I would be interested to hear from you.

Busy Hands ensure the washing gets done, that food is on the table and homework is done.

Clapping Hands celebrate joy, happiness and accomplishment.

Holding Hands express tenderness, love, friendship, affection and play.

Clasped Hands offer time to give thanks.

Hands can heal.

Hands can create.

Hands can give hope where there was none.

The posting of these photos is a big step for me but I feel so overwhelmed by the generosity of those around me, that I felt I needed to take this step.

This is little Max 18 months ago

This is Max today.

Miracle Hands

Thank you to our friends who celebrated Max's Baptism by donating funds to the wonderful Little Baby Face Foundation. Your donations will let miracle hands do for others what was done for Max.

Tiaras and all things that sparkle

I can't believe it has only been four days! Firstly I forgot to mention that my Treehouse was another wonderful evening of play and reflection.


We shared our feelings by popping balloons. Then we created wonderful boxes with thoughts and feelings associated with the parent who has died. The girls decorated until they could decorate no more....I have never seen so much glitter... well maybe with the Goddess... Then on a final note the girls blew "good feeling bubbles" into the air! Another night where we laughed and learnt the meaning of life from 6 year olds.




On Friday it was up to school to create chocolate topiaries. A fiddle but very enjoyable and all for a good cause...our main fundraising dinner for the year.




Saturday was a tremendous change of pace. The Goddess, her sister (and birthday girl) Mariah, our dearest Mer, and I piled into the car and drove off to Tinsel to create Tiara's with the terrific Terri Ventura , Lisa Kettell and our phenomenal teacher Gabriela Delworth .

It was an afternoon of laughter, creating with the young girl inside each of us. The Queens of Tinsel stand royally at the end of the day to wave.

Then it was back into the car and into the traffic caused by the Pope! We felt that our tiara's were quite comparable to his and spending an afternoon making them whilst he was in our city seemed apt.

Stayed tuned for the launch of Lisa's fabulous book .



Sunday we celebrated the birth and life of Maxamillion. 70 guests plus regular congregation gathered to watch Max be baptised. Our dear friend sang "This little light of mine", Maxamillion's godbrothers and sisters read the readings and shared prayers and many brought a donation for The Little Baby Face Foundation, which made my heart flow with gratitude.

Fears of Maxamillion setting himself alight with the church alter candles, tipping over the baptismal bowl or climbing under Pastor Deric's robe's disappated as we moved downstairs to cut the ulmighty and delicious (Chocolate, cream with crushed up oreo) cake!


We had a lovely morning tea surrounded by the families who have become our friends over the past five years. We are blessed to have so many people from the different areas of our life and seeing a few people that I had not seen in weeks was just wonderful. Promises of luncheons and cups of tea were thrown out across the room, golf dates were set and the kids gobbled the M&M's that I had put all over the table.

When proceedings got a little loud for the young man, he enjoyed disappearing under the table to munch on some of those M&M's that seemed to find there way down there!

Few people know that they have the power to bless life. We bless the life in each other far more than we realize. Many simple, ordinary things that we do can affect those around us in profound ways. Our friends have done this for us and whilst we missed our family tremendously on this special day, we felt honored to have shared it with so many wonderful American friends.

Reality came home to roost this morning with The Engineer taking off for a couple of days...I don't even know where he has gone this time! A quiet day at the music school due to Spring break meant I got a great deal done and as I write, Maxamillion is having a therapy session with the lovely Kathy.

Have a lovely week.

Hair Today....

So today was the big day....our first hair cut.

I felt it appropriate that the seat chosen was the NY Taxi cab!

Not so sure about all of this but watching Elmo on the personal DVD monitor helps!

Ok! Let me out!

Ta Da! My reward - Chocolate Biccies!

I can't believe the difference in his face. He looks so grown up! I was waiting for words to come out of his mouth but I guess that will have to wait!

The Deed is Done

The Birthday Girl and Boy!! We crammed 60 people into the garage and as she pulled into the drive, the door flew open...She was thrilled, overwhelmed and so excited to see everyone ... including her brother and his wife all the way from Alaska!

A lovely afternoon was had by all and would you just check out this amazing cake. Our "Painted Lady" is a wonderful painter (we have a lovely painted home to prove it).

I love surprises!

Thank you J Man and T Man

For my lovely birthday pack of cards! How did you know that I love Elmo and I don't know which is my eye, ear or mouth?...actually my mother knows I do but also knows that I really don't care and would rather the adults in my world make fools of themselves while I watch!

It's Sunday and I am teaching my friend to lie...

all for a good cause of course!

This is a picture of two of my most special friends - "The Painted Lady", Me and "SuSu"


Our families have become one over the course of five years and it is all due to their daughter. On Flossy's first day of school, Miss J came up to her and said - "I would like to be your friend". That introduction has led to one of the most remarkable and special friendships our family has forged here in the US.

We have done many wonderful things together - pumpkin picking, skiing, family BBQ's, dinners, lunches, breakfasts, attended school concerts - basically anything that your family does with you - our families do together. When Maxamillion was born, they were all by our sides - blessing us with their family love and next week we celebrate this as they (and my other dearest, truest friend) become his Godmothers.

However, the truest sign of friendship came a couple of years ago during the Fall (Autumn!) when we had a weekend in Vermont and driving back to New York, they managed to stop every mile so that I could pick leaves from the trees!


A six hour journey turned into nine hours as we stopped to admire the trees, pick pumpkins and purchase the very delicious Maple syrup! I framed those leaves with this photo!

But back to the lie! The Painted Lady has her big "four O" on May 3rd but to throw her off the scent, we have planned a big surprise party for today and told her that it is for Maxamillion's 2nd Birthday! We have no backgarden so we asked if we could "use theirs"! She has helped put up the tent, she has helped set up the BBQ, she has helped put the drinks (that SuSu bought, dropped off at our place, and we brought back to their house) in ice buckets. To think that somebody who used to monitor the borders of this country has had the wool pulled so utterly and completely over her eyes is an absolutely delight and watching SuSu who has never lied in her life, do it so beautifully, has been extremely entertaining!

Oh and those two little girls who became friends five years ago? They are still the best of friends and love every moment spent together....especially when it is at the Jonas Brothers Concert!

I will report back in after the big event!

Trust the Process - My First Treehouse

Do you know that saying "Out of the mouths of babes"? I was honored to exprience this last night at my very first TreeHouse. 26 families. 26 volunteers. 88 people in all. All together in one room.

In opening circle, our co-ordinator asked for a representative of each family to stand, say their name, say the names of their family and then say who died. There was an (understandable) pause but only momentarily when a (young) Grandfather stood to represent his wife and granddaughter and they were with us because his daughter had died. Then without pause, a little boy all of 4 years stood to represent his dad and siblings - his mum had died of Breast Cancer. It was like he had let the air out of the room because one by one families stood and shared. It was the most incredible moment I have experienced in a long time.

To have the opportunity to walk beside these people for the next eight weeks will be wonderful. To trust the process and trust myself is something I know will come to me naturally.

With that said I was off with my five little girls ranging in age from 6-8. Gorgeous Gorgeous Gorgeous and thank goodness for my 14 year old Flossy because I was able to keep up with the Jonas Brothers, Naked Brothers, Hannah Montana and High School Musical conversations!! They were seriously impressed with my knowledge. We all had to share one thing that we love. I shared the fact that I loved Glitter and that I was going to learn how to make tiara's next week at Tinsel. So they collectively decided that we would have a tea party with all things girly and I would show them how to make their own tiara's......

It was a wonderful night and feeling good I walked out the door and into the family of one of my girls. She promptly turned around to her Dad and said - this is the lady I told you about. She is Australian but she knows lots of things and she likes to do art like mom did!

I think I am going to learn a lot from these girls and in turn show them how to dance again.

Success with Dress

Well Sunday came and went...so many good intentions to sit and share but instead we had a major dress breakthrough...

Graduation Dress

Flossy has about 4 functions coming up that we need a pretty dress for. Now there are very clear instructions from school as to what these dresses can be...or not be! So I told her to Trust the Process and her mother and off we went to Dress Barn (a bit like Katies)...For almost 1.5 hours she stood in the fitting room and tried on every dress in the store whether she initially liked it or not and slowly without mother saying, she worked out that some dresses that she would never have tried on, actually suited her. Note... it was very helpful having staff that work on commission!

We left the store with 4 dresses and we were still friends!

Now that is a Bargain!

Piano Recital

Maxamillion Baptism

F.U.N Dance - Father/Uncle/Near Relative Dance

Bob and Dinosaurs

What more could a boy ask for? The cousins sent the dino book and it was unwrapped with glee.

Next it was Big Nan's present...the postage costing more than the book itself!

Just check that face out! The noises, the bells, the whistles...Maxamillion could not believe his eyes or his ears!

It doesn't matter how old Nanny gets, she has always managed to get it right! Considering she has (watch someone correct me) 14 grandchildren and 20 Great Grandchildren - she does well! Of course if she is in competition with someone at the club then she will always count the spouses as grandchildren so she can "up" the numbers!

Family

Today I miss my family. Well I miss them every day but today being Dad's Birthday just makes it a little more.....

I found this photo today! A family unit! I was having a bad hair day!

and then there was this photo....Look! we are holding hands and Marcus is the spitting image of Max!! Don't you love my lovely crocheted vest? Amazing that it is now a fashion garment all over again!

and here we are again Baileys, Gib and Slan off to (probably) Nanny's Christmas Lunch!

But I would have to say whilst these photos are special to me, the photo below made me realize just how lucky we have been as a family to have each other.

Happy Birthday Dad, Papa, Grumble Bum, JCC....Your family loves you!

April 2007....yes a year is way too long!

Where is the Stop Button?

Back home from the Bahamas over one week ago and it feels like a life time ago. What a week of sun, laughter and sensory explosion (for Maxamillion).

Birthday Photo! Now I am 2....I am going to climb under the housekeeping cart, run the gauntlet to the elevator and pop down to the foyer for another run and scream (really good echos) before my parents can get the next elevator down to capture me!

It is hard to believe he is two years old. These past two years have flown and for the first time in a long time he is well!

So there is nothing like getting back to the world of washing, ironing, "there's nothing in the fridge Mum", and of course homework. I disliked it the first time and the second time is no better and for some reason much harder! What is a square root again?

Of course my art is taking a back seat which is making me cross! I have one canvas, one board book, a birthday garland and many other bits and pieces on my desk. Not to mention the 45 centerpieces that my girlfriend Kathi and I are coordinating for the school fundraising dinner!

I blame my mother for all of this!! Perhaps if she had sat back and not been P&C President, President of Ladies Auxillary etc etc I would not be running around like a headless chook! Of course if I ring home she is never there, because there is always someone or something that needs creating, developing, designing or quite frankly doing! Gran is the girl for the job!