Happy 6th to my Prince of a lad!

The flowery thing on the head is an Israeli kindergarten thing. So no need to worry :-)

A sweet little Purim bunny...

OK, daddyish here again, with a shot of wee lad Daniel, now 16 months old. This was taken a few days ago during Purim, a much-loved holiday in Israel where everyone gets dressed up and drunk (the kids don't drink though!)...

A bit girlie I know, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him. Unless he finds this blog one day...

Yep, this really is Israel

Hard to believe it I know, but I was lumping snowballs at the missus last week...here are a few shots of some serious snow action oop in the north of Israel @ Mount Hermon.

My Princess hits Four, while the Ginga Ninja hits One

On the verge of an empire

I almost did it this week. I sat there with my boss and was just going to tell him when he had to rush off. Bastard. And after he told me that he was impressed with my work (what couldn't be impressive about cutting a bloated 46 page piece of crap down to 16 pages!?), it's just got a little harder to toss this job to the dogs.

But toss it. It has to go. I just picked up another small freelance gig which will bring in another few shekels every month, so I have enough small gigs to help pay the bills without the main earner. The car will be the big loss when I do go, but fuck it, we have another fairly decent car, so shouldn't have too many probs. Just paying those gas bills will be a pain in the arse, but fuck it.

And the web empire I'm building is slowly taking off. Apart from the igoogledisrael.com site (which will have some real big updates soon) I've found some niches which I'm working on which should also bring in some shekels. Small, steady and slow, the idea is to rinse and repeat to bring in the bigger bucks.

And in the meantime I'm down the pool on the moshav, brushing up on my tan and watching my 5 year old junior anglosaxy learn to swim like a fish. Very impressive the lad is. Very impressive!

So that was 2009...

...and it was quite an eventful year for us anglosaxies. The biggest event of the year happened in the final month, a certain new addition to the ranks at anglosaxy castle. Here he is, little JuniorMarkII, otherwise known as Daniel.

He has brought a certain amount of action to the house, and, er, a few sleepless nights. But he's a great little kid, pretty relaxed and doing great.

We also moved out of Tel Aviv. Oh yes, The City That Never Sleeps is now having truly sleepless nights, as the Galilee welcomed us with open arms into the cradle of moshav living. We moved two months ago, and from what I've seen so far, I like it A LOT. The kids are having a great time too, and the missus is very happy, so all's good...

Work-wise I haven't stepped back into the pits of a corridor for quite a few months. I've been doing freelancing gigs here and there, and building up the world famous igoogledisrael.com (see the best posts of 2009 here). I also worked on something over the summer connected with Twitter, but thanks to some stupid, stupid developers, I ended up wasting way too much time on it without any real results. Never mind. Unfortunately, it looks like I might have to step back into the depths of corridordom, and with an offer on the table from a particularly big company, I might have to take it. Tis all about the money innit.

Anyway, this blog will continue, just for the 3 people who sometimes drift by. Posts won't be regular but because Google loves this site, it will get updated. For those of you who understand, then great, for those of you who don't, just ignore this paragraph.

Happy New Year to you and yours!

Ninja Girl gonna get you!

I believe I can fly!

4 The Dude

Today my boy hits the ripe old age of 4. Pic below isn't the best quality, but it's the best I have from his 4th birthday party in the kindergarten. Junior, you are the dudest dude I know, I hope you have a great great day and get all the presents you want (he actually received them all already!).
Love you loads,
Daddy anglosaxy

Catch up

OK, so it's hot and sticky round here, innit. And I have some personal shit going down which is limiting my time a little and taking away a bit of the focus that I thought I'd have. News to come on all that, but until I get the nod from the guys in black suits, I can't let you know. Could be good news, could be bad, it's kind of all in the balance as we speak.

Had one of the hardest days of my life a couple of weeks ago when juniorette had to go in for a biopsy and they knocked her out for a few minutes. Ain't ashamed to say I had a tear in my eye when I left her on the hospital bed with her eyes rolling back as the anaesthesia took hold. Feckin' hard, I can tell you. A big respect goes out to all those parents who have really sick kids. My little princess looks like she has Celiac, which basically means a gluton-free diet for the rest of her life. Final confirmation on that next week. But Celiac is definitely a lot easier than some ailments out there, so we're not too upset, it's more of a learning mission on what foods she can and can't eat. We'll get there.

I have a fair amount of free time, which I'm devoting to the Internet and some freelancing here and there. And I can't wait to have the kids finish kindergarden this summer. The beach and my kids are so going to love each other this August!

That free time involves trying desperately to keep to a daily routine on the igoogledisrael.com site and blog, which is almost holding up amid ever-growing numbers. Much higher numbers than I ever got here on anglosaxy by the way...and I'm also dreaming of launching a footie site all about English footie and footballing wives, but it's a question of time. If anyone fancies joining forces with me on it, I'd be willing to strike up some kind of partnership to get it kicked off. Let me know if you're interested.

And no, not even looking for a "proper" job. After being humiliated by geeks anonymous at an interview at one of the big boys, I don't want to force myself into that shit again. Only if I really really have to...a long way down the road...

Yalla, off to write Part 6 of my adventures...will post a link here when I'm done.

Gooners in training...

"Don't worry bruv. It's all gonna come good, promise! And so what if we don't win anything for a few years? Just 5 more years and you'll be legible for the schoolboys innit, and we've all seen you volley my Dora dolly behind the sofa countless times, so, come on bruv, keep it together... Hang on, what's that in your ear? Bamba? Daddy? Daddy, I want Bamba! Dadddddy, I want Bambaaaaa!"

It's Hannukah, so to Roladin off we go...

Donut (and yes, I know it should be doughnut) season again as Hannukah hits us once again...and the only place you can possibly buy donuts is, of course, Roladin. Last night, I took the kids for a donut splurge and bought 8 of the nasty little buggars, 50 shekels in total, but wow, what a box! I would have paid more just for the box, let alone have donuts inside...

So, here they are, in all their donut splendour - look away now if you're weak of heart or disposition...

And you see that far right one? Yummmmm. Butterscotch....the one on the left is with arak(!), that'll be tested tonight...

And on a more serious note, here's a pic of junior's homemade hanukkiah (candleabra), with a touch of Christmas (the green and red) thrown in (I made it with him in the kindergarten)...

2 to the Ella!

It's a very big Happy Birthday to my little princess. She hits the big 2 today. A big mane of hair that can come up behind you and wrap her arms around you, or scream and shout when she doesn't get her away (boy, does she know what she wants!), or purse her lips and melt me in an instant, or suddenly launch into a half-boogie in her car-seat when I stick Depeche Mode on...have a great day darlin'!

* Not the best shot because this young lady is very hard to snap. She's always on the move and just when you've got her in focus, she'll look away. Hence the half-stoned look above...

Line 'em up

Junior has a fascination for lining things up in perfect straight lines. It's usually his posse of cars or lorries, or plastic eggs, that get him all focused. But this time, with his tongue hanging out in pure concentration stylee, it's the forks on the restaurant table that keep him happy for a few minutes...

Record-aaaaaaaagggghhhh!

The missus decided to invest in a few musical instruments for the kids. You know, only small ones like a castanet and triangle. And a bleedin' recorder. Which, in the wrong hands, is one mighty fine instrument of torture. Trust me, at 7am you don't want to hear the hawking screech of someone blowing very hard into a recorder...my ears, my ears!

Kiss Me Budgie

Got a surprise fly-by visit from a neighbourhood budgie earlier today. Completely threw me as he/she fluttered in through our window and landed a few cms away. But the kids were undaunted, and, as you can tell from this pic, juniorette was in love within minutes. And just as I was contemplating just what the feck I was going to do with this wee bird, it was off once again...

Junior the Three

Junior hits 3 today. Three years of long nights, tears, laughter, screams, tantrums, puking over my shoulder, playing football, reading stories, jumping over waves, and pure joy that have often brought tears streaming down my cheeks...Three of the hardest years of my life, but definitely three of the best!

Happy Birthday mate!

One of those moments

Yesterday was one of those nice moments in life. I left Open Spacey a little early, went home to grab my towel, shorts and flipflops, picked up the kids from the kindergarten and took them to the beach. There we were, naked (that'll be the kids and not my hairy arse on display) and jumping over the waves, with juniorette scaring me shitless with her ducking and diving in some strong waves (don't forget, she's only 19 months old) and begging for "more!". And then on the ride home, listening to the Pogues with the two kids clapping along. I like this daddy malarky.

Sounds of fatherhood IV

Walking into the kids' room and hearing that sweet little snore, and then a snuffle, as I cover up any exposed parts with their blankets. Gets me every time.

PoopnScoop

We're going through toilet training at the anglosaxy castle these days. Nope, we haven't bought a puppy, but we have little junior doing his best puppy impressions all over the place. He's actually caught on pretty quick and loves flashing his nice new Y-fronts to all and sundry. The little flasher. Even juniorette is on the act as she hates to be left out of the action, and she's even managed to download some files while perched on the mini-throne...

Don't know about you, but there's just something very primitive about catching your little boy squatting on your carpet and unleashing a steaming hot pile of crap. Cavemen and dinosaur sort of primitive...