Lachie's Present...

"That's my plane, Lily."ONE of Lachie's presents from us was a flight to Wellington, just with Mum. Dad followed down in the car with Lily and Eden (hot but very good trip apparently, much slower than ours though!).

Lachie's first trip on an airplane was exciting, everything impressed him - especially the water in the cups with a lid! We arrived in a nice, hot Wellington (was it like that when we lived there?), caught the bus to town then the train to Lower Hutt. We couldn't walk past an escalator without going up and down - it's what "country" kids do in the big city!
We found a park (Lachie's first trip ever was to this park!) and he later told Daddy that was the best part of his trip (really?!). We went for a walk to look up the hill to Lachie's first house (did it have a blue roof or a yellow roof, Mum?)
We went out for dinner (great company, thanks!) and headed to our motel rather late, just to have Lachie slip on his bed and slit open the top of his nose. It swelled heaps, I didn't think it was too bad, but I didn't want to risk it, so I took him to the hospital where he was born (!) and convinced two lovely nurses to fix him up quickly rather than make us wait two hours! He hasn't been bothered by it since, and will have a good scar - like boys are supposed to! Big "X marks the spot" with the plasters now though!
(No doubt there'll be photos of that!)...

"Thanks, Mum " - "You're so lovely" - "I love you" - etc...
ALL day long!
(Makes it all worthwhile, I had an awful head cold!) We're all still catching up on sleep!

Party Day...Finally!

Lachie's party day arrived and he was sooooo excited.
All the kids had fun at Jungle Junction - but why are there mostly girls? Apparently it's just like one of Lachie's Godfather's parties! (And Shaun was a special guest)

Lachie sung "Happy Birthday" louder than anyone else...(How's Ella's hearing?)

Then he blew out the candles in a not terribly hygenic way!

Lily's now singing "Happy Birthday to you Lachieeeeeeeeeee" (a change from ...Lilyyyyyyyyy...) and will probably keep going til Poppa's birthday next week, or Ella's on the weekend!

Eden coped well with all the attention!

And what did they do when we got home? Ate more cake of course!

Lachie did get a bit upset when he was told he'd have to wait until he was 5 for his next party! Just as well Mum does half birthday cakes as well!

Lachie's Cake....s

One of the main reasons we have kids, right?

Lachie's party is at Jungle Junction, so we were finally able to decide on a cake - by we I mean Lachie! He was keen on a digger (what was last year's?!) or a tractor, or anything else in my books or on the internet...

Going with the jungle theme I made little (still probably bigger than kids need in one sitting!) animals (2 of each).

Don't you just love the wording...

un-four-gettable Lachie!

And little cakes for the kids to take home (or maybe for the adults - yummiest banana cake ever, try muscavado sugar instead of white!)

A few close-ups...

Can't wait!

Lachie's Big 4th BirthDay-out

We spent Lachie's birthday in Palmerston so he could try out some (only a few of many!) of his presents.

Tried out at the Lido in his new togs - Eden's first swim too...

Then, after lunch, a trek around the Esplanade (both girls in backpacks - I got the lighter one!)
Lachie rode his bike with his new helmet...and didn't take it off for anything! Who made who dizziest?
Now we're just waiting for his party on Saturday...

waiting...

waiting...

Lily's 2nd Birthday

Lily turned 2 on Thursday, 1st February 2007.
We had a party with her friends, lots of 2 or nearly 2 year olds! She had an exhausting day and it still singing "Happy Birthday to you Lily"! Like any other day she spent a lot of time on the trampoline.Still with her party dress on before we went out for dinner that night...

With big brother (counting down til his 4th birthday!) and little sister (who slept through most of the party!) up a tree

Honey's Surgery

Honey (the dog) ran out onto the road one afternoon just before Mike got home - this is unusual for her. A car hit her and dislocated her back leg. She spent 6 nights at the vets and had surgery after 5 days to remove the ball joint from her hip. She was happy to come home! Vet's instructions included no running (impossible for Honey!) and to stay in her run apart from 10 minutes twice a day. I was a bit soft and she's allowed inside in her basket (well padded these days!).

Honey: before Christmas, hot and hairy!
Honey: before the accident, very energetic!
NOW...well pampered through!

Day out

This is how we shop, works well if kids are happy, not too tired, not too hungry, not too bored...think I've got it sorted out though!

Trip to the park (compulsory after a good days shopping!)...

Lily loves to fly...

Lachie's such a good big brother...

Eden didn't mind her first slide...

Lachie camping out

While we've been renovating in Lachie's room he's had a few nights camping out - he absolutely loves it!

About the renovations (there's a whole blog there! - no Sarah, no time!)...Lachie's door has been filled in, plastered, wallpapered and painted - like it never even existed! His new door is right by ours taking the space where his wardrobe was. His wardrobe has moved into the middle of the wall where it was.

The first night he and Daddy slept in the tent outside. All went well, but they were up very early - about when Honey wakes up...

Second night Lachie slept in his little pop-up tent in the lounge with the comfort of his fold-out couch - a better sleep-in...

By the third night Lachie was able to go to sleep in our bed while we finished painting, then we slipped him into his bed - he didn't even get too surprised in the morning!

Not to be outdone, Lily appears to be having some very good sleeps too...

Are they really that much alike???

Racing boxes

Which is faster, the bus or the fire truck? Eden wasn't sure what was going on!

Lachie liked driving the bus (he drew all his friends down the side in the 'windows')...

While Lily liked putting out fires - even wearing her togs in case she gets wet! Bit hard with a baby on your lap though!

Lily's new dolly

OK, so we encouraged it a little bit, but Lily quite likes her "real dolly" ...too heavy to carry, needs feeding and changing and protests occasionally, but has heaps of cool outfits, smiles at anything and gets much more attention when we're out!

Just don't stop and talk, Lily!

Even Daddy wants a turn! - looks a bit funny though...stick with the renovations!

NO training wheels!

Just 6 weeks until lachie's 4th birthday I decided he didn't need training wheels anymore. We tried about a month ago but stopping and starting were very hard. Today I said he had to teach himself...and he did! Got quite a few yoghurt raisins for all the hard work though!

Standing up and pedaling is a piece of cake!
Tried using the trampoline to stop himself...only once!
Manoeuvring the footpath ramp took a bit of concentration...

Now, he is sooooo confident! Does "whirlies" (what we call wheelies!)

whenever he can!

New Year's Eve

Decided to flag the usual Hawkes Bay happenings and try the Manawatu for New Year's...well, it was different... Novotel Palmy, great place to stay! The place is so child accommodating, nothing was too much hastle. Not that we stay in Palmy a lot, but I'd definitely go back there!
Watched Frankie Stevens as the MC in the Square...
Actually some pretty cool local entertainers...
But when the rain hit we stayed as long as we could before deciding we could see the fireworks from the hotel anyway, so we walked, girls traveled in dry comfort and Lachie scootered on his new (my old) pink scooter.