Saturday, March 28, 2009

Stirling Turns 1!

Happy birthday for Friday! Hope you're having fun in Christchurch! Big "CHEESE" at dinner time...
And Lachie with my first attempt at homemade sausages - he was impressed anyway! Who knew sausages were full of sulphites? (Well I did, but didn't think it was a bad thing for a sometimes food)

Friday, March 27, 2009

Eden's Fun

Although we do tend to stay at kindy for about an hour when dropping Lily off these days, and then going back in the afternoons for mat-time, Eden still likes playing by herself in the front yard...

Being a ballerina on the "jumpoline" Picking tiny applesAnd practising being a monkey for Stirling's first birthday party tomorrow

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Swimming Lessons

Lachie's a great swimmer - that's doing freestyle with the beginnings of breathing to the side...

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Park Photos

We cleaned out the freezer and found heaps of bread bits that we'd been saving for ducks, and had forgotten to feed them...so the mission of the day was...to find some hungry ducks! (And take some posy photos!)
And with a "spare" camera, the kids have been learning how to use it...
Here are a couple of Lachie's shots
And Eden's second lesson...

And we nearly came home with a puppy!
But thanks to Philip we are getting our puppy dose at the moment - we've been doing a bit of impromptu babysitting - and Honey's not actually as keen as I thought she would be.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Eden the Builder...

The kids feel quite at home on a building site...funny that!
And so does Mike! Pointing out the view from the second story...

Saturday, March 14, 2009

I'm Alive Again!

It's been over 5 weeks from having our stuff stolen until it all arrived, but it's been the best (slightly belated) birthday ever - and that's got nothing to do with Mike not buying any presents...(but Lachie's card made up for it!)
All the insurance stuff arrived yesterday, so I've had two camera's to play with and learn. With all of the CD's being "full replacement" and many that aren't available anymore plus some we deemed "not as important" as they were before we had kids, we were able to do some swaps and get more useful stuff - like a tv for our bedroom (flasher than the lounge which is a bit weird), freeview box and a universal remote (which is something I can't believe we didn't do before) plus a pile of rechargeable batteries and blank dvd's, plus the cd's we couldn't live without. The kids also got 'Barbie presents Thumberlina' so are pretty content as I write this.

I can get away with a midday movie today becasue Lily's not very well (see photo below) and we've done so much work this morning (I've taken on finishing the deck steps while Mike's at work). We still have to replace the DVD players next shopping trip. And if anyone happens to see "Little Einstein's Firebird Recue" DVD, please let me know where - JB Hi-Fi (at St Luke's deserve a plug for customer service) couldn't get it, but I hope it's still around...oh, and I hope there are no "steelers" reading this - the kids new name for bad people that take stuff that's not theirs).

So as I get excited about my return to the world of manual cameras (with auto functions too so Mike can still use it!) and 10x optical zoom, here's a few pics of how the kids changed in the past few unphotographed weeks...Eden at school after the triathalon (that turned into a duathalon on the day) yesterday... Lachie showing me how he zoomed round the bike course (ready for the Bike Jam in a few weeks)
And Lily (who was at kindy, probably picking up her yucky tummy bug and messy throat yesterday)

Monday, March 02, 2009

Pictureless Update...

Thought I'd let you know that we're fine, though still busy! Although as it is now March, things shouldn't be quite as crazy as February was! Well, Lachie's still got a few parties left!
The deck's going really well and is getting lots of use already, finished the ramp, seating, planter boxes (and planted them), sandpit's made, just the lid/ramp to go, almost finished the steps, just a few more hours work and we'll be on to the next project (which might be painting the ceilings or re-designing Lachie's room - or both at the same time!). I installed a door handle on the front door last week (all by myself!), just the right height for the kids to keep the door shut when there are so many flies (and now wasps) around. I also played mechanic that day, replacing the part that makes the petrol flap shut...and none of my facebook friends hastled the fact that I was married to a mechanic that can pass as a builder!

Haven't heard from the insurance company yet, but should this week, they did promise a fast response! Really looking forward to buying a new camera, I would have bought one straight away, except their advice was not to just yet until they've been through the paperwork - imagine if we'd lost something important like a carseat - do they then tell you to go without for a few weeks??? So I haven't taken one photo for weeks - well, not exactly true, I took a phone shot of the topper for Luke's Christening cake, but totally forgot to take one of Aunty Diane's cake (so if anyone has any...please!). Plus, the number of times I've said to the kids, "I wish I had a camera right now"!...

Speaking of cakes, for Children's Day yesterday we decided to make a cake for dessert while Mike did firewood. We'd just read "Rainbow Fish", and with Playcentre having a special morning tea tomorrow for Children's Day the kids and I made cupcakes for that too, and then lots of little rainbow fish, each with a shiny scale and Eden and I have just iced these and put the fish on top. Our "outing" was to the Hastings Farmers' Market, right on breakfast time - if you haven't been, I highly recommend it.

This week is a "normal" week as Mike's on days - his shifts have been really messy lately, so we're going to call this "normal"! So he gets to do some of the running around for swimming lessons and dancing etc., and this week is also school interviews. Looking forward to that. Swimming sports are on Friday and Lachie's really looking forward to the school triathlon and the Bike Jam coming up next month. Lily's very keen to "dance on the stage" again already, but has to wait til the end of the year, and Eden's been getting all her Magpie gear out asking if we can go to the "rubby" - we'll hopefully make it to some Hurricane's matches in the meantime!

Oh, and sad news too - Ralph died (and stunk up the place for a morning before I figured out what the smell was!) but we had just seen a whole lot of different coloured axolotls in Hastings when we bought the trees, so he can be replaced sometime soon. He lasted about 9 years and 5 houses, I don't know if that's how they're meant to last?

That's it, I could go on for ages and ages (you know!) but seeing as I have no photos to "say a thousand words" each, I feel I've had to use words - that will stop once the camera's replaced...
Actually, I can finish with a picture, here's one Lachie drew at school last week - the teacher's loved it and two made a copy for themselves. He even got a certificate on Friday for it (that made two certificates at that assembly!).
Oh, and if I really miss blogging that much, I could put on some of Dad's Christmas photos finally...we'll see!