Shopping.
A few of the stores I have been to that are similar to Best Buy/Home Depot have an interesting process for buying things. I ran to the electronics store over lunch yesterday, found what I was looking for, had a guy take me to a computer to negotiate the price and create an invoice, then we walked to the other side of the store to another computer so that I could pay. Not sure if it was designed as a control technique (which fails if the same guy that creates the invoice also collects the cash), or a way to track commissions, or if it is because all prices are negotiable and they need a way to ensure the cashier knows the agreed upon price. I keep forgetting that the price on the sticker isn’t necessarily what I have to pay, have probably been the sucker that pays way too much for things. No wonder everything is double the cost…they have to leave bargaining room in the list price. It has only taken me 2 months to figure that out….

Believe.
Ty is SO excited for Santa to come! He is fascinated by him. He has been asking 50 times a day when Santa is coming. The other night on our buggy ride he swore he saw Santa and Rudolph. Yesterday morning when Jay was home with the kids, Ty asked Jay 50 times when Santa was coming. Jay told him that Santa would be here in 2 sleeps. About an hour later Ty stripped down to his undies and said he was tired so he was going to sleep. Up the stairs he went. 10 minutes later he came downstairs and told Jay he was going to go to sleep. Up the stairs he went again. Ten minutes later he came downstairs and said, “Did Santa come?!?!” *love*

Sickmas Eve.
We haven’t actively looked for a church since we moved to Australia, but Ty has asked a couple times if we could go to church. What better time than Christmas Eve? It has been hard to get in the Christmas spirit with no snow and not many decorated homes. I figured a little Christmas church music would do the trick. So we all put on our “church clothes” and got ready to go. Today is Tuesday, and Ty hasn’t puked since Friday, but he was laying on the couch, and had that look in his eyes. He said he felt ok and he really wanted to go to church. I should have listened to my instincts, but how can I say no? We park the car, I unbuckle Ty, and he lays down in the grass. Um, not a good sign. And then he puked. Ah man! :(. So he finishes, poor kid can’t even stand up, and he says “I feel fine, can we go to church?” He then stood there and cried because we said we had to go home. :(. Hopefully that is the last of the puking…
Lily is also kind of a mess. Cough, runny nose. We could use a prayer or two for them to be healthy for our trip to New Zealand. A week driving around a mountainous island will be less awesome with 2 sick kids.

First.
One of the best things about being in Australia is that we get to do things first. We are pretty lucky to be one of the first stops on Santa’s route. Ty is really hoping Santa remembers to bring him a bike!