Toby turns 5!

Spent the day at the Penfold's new bach (location a secret, it's such a beautiful beach!) after a stopoff in Palmy for a swim at the Lido. We couldn't decide what colour decorations for Toby's second cake...so rainbow it was!

He looks ready to take to the water!
James isn't camera shy!

Yes Ant, that's how little kids see you! (Photo courtesy of Lily)Then a stop at the coolest park I've been to in a long time. Lily swinging with a group of teenage boys, giggling the whole timeMouse wheels!

Mike must be able to build something like that for our front yard!?!

Very cool day, can't wait to go back!

And HAPPY SCHOOL DAYS, TOBY!!!!

Mmmm, feet!

Can't decide...Left...Right...

BOTH!!!

So funny!

Funny!

A night when everything was just hilarious!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Although Mike's already got his present (Pearl Jam tickets!) I couldn't resist buying him the thing he's been going on about all year - yes Fruit, HE'S really wanted one (the guy who thought I'd bough Mike something I wanted, ahem!)

The girls and I made "Pinkie Pink Cupcakes" from the book that Claire and Phillip bought Eden for her birthday

Lily just can't wait to go to school! So she did the card...

And there's not very many times you can get away with eating cupcakes BEFORE dinner!

And since it's the birthday that keeps going, we're all looking forward to going to Auckland in a couple of weeks! (however, trying to convince Lachie that I didn't buy HIM a Pearl Jam ticket has been tricky!)

Splishing and splashing

But first, one I forgot in the last post, Lily and her dancing medal...Our little water baby! Eden SO wants to reach the bottom so she can start swimming lessons!
Boys doing backstroke

And there's no individual one of Lily, I was taping her swimming (one arm works really well at freestyle!) but will take too long to upload, sorry - you'll have to see her swimming for yourself! Although she's not a dolphin anymore, now she's a mermaid!
My turn to swim next time!!!

November means it's nearly Christmas!

The start of November saw us heading on a day trip to Wellington to surprise Rachel for her birthday. Lily actually took charge of the camera (what's new!) so lots of photos of her shoes, etc, but she also set up a lot of photos too...this one actually has Rachel in it! Still waiting on Aunty Margie/Biddy's shots of all the kids! (Moving house is a good excuse though!)

A beautiful day...albeit a bit cold!

Bath time one night...

Followed by BUBBLES!

Lily had her first dancing exam last Saturday. A very excited girl before...

All the girls just before going in, with Julie their teacher (opps, one's actually a boy)

And Lily about to receive her medal first

And showing Cooper afterwards (and she shows everyone else...still)

Lachie seriously does not miss a thing, or forget anything either (except peoples names!). At the end of last year I found a set of stick-on fake "party moustaches" - he remembered them and even knew where to find them as soon as Movember started! This however, is the closest anyone's getting to a mo in this house this year!Ode to Uncle Nathan!

Lily wasn't actually that keen and needed some convincing!

Should really have a caption competition for this one!

Poor baby! Except he thought it was really funny!

And November means it's nearly Christmas! (Couldn't resist trying it on him already!)

First School Visit

Lily's been pestering me to start school visits for ages, so I told her she could sort it out with Mrs Pedersen! Spending morning tea with Lachie...then I left and Lily had an awesome time...so now she's pestering me for even more school visits! She'll have to settle for one a week though.

5 months!

We're not really expecting any crawling round here anytime soon. Cooper's just hit 5 months and still doesn't like being on his tummy much (plus I don't like all the washing that eventuates!) He's also still no good at feeding, not bad at sleeping and absolutely perfect at smiling and laughing! Although his best skill would have to be tongue poking (closely followed by spewing out his nose!)

Today he had strawberry puree with baby rice - was almost feeding himself he liked it that much! He's not usually a fan of bland baby mush, but avocados from Tirau went down alright too.

Lily's had an amazing week. We didn't realise quite how sick she was because it's been so long since she's had any energy and no sore tummy or headache. The medicine seem to be working but more test results next week. Here's her "biggest smile" - funny how her eyes go like her Daddy's!
And letting Daddy have a sleep-in this morning...of course he never actually made it to bed after getting home so it was Hi-5 in our bed while he had a few more zzz's on the couch!

Listening to the Magpies vs Canterbury game online, with loving updates via text, e-mail and facebook! Still hoping for a trip to Wellington next weekend!