194 +90 Weeks

It's been a really good week, no major dramas, no illnesses, sweet kids, happy parents.  Arley is going through his most needy phase yet, and follows me everywhere.  If I walk out of the room for 10 seconds, he loses the plot and runs after me.  It is nice to be loved, but it can get quite oppressive!  He is not eating like he used to either - he barely touches his dinner these days, and he is really slimming down a lot.  Jeffrey and I took him for a walk on the beach while Carmie was at school on Wednesday, and at first he fussed about the sand, but by the end he was squatting in a stream of water, throwing sand around.  The weather was perfect, and it was a real pity that we didn't have the camera with us.  Carmie is still loving school so much that today at dinner she asked us if she could go five days a week.  All in good time!  She has been an angel lately.  She is very into playing "teacher and student" and she walks around the house with her backpack on, full of toys, and pretends that she is going to school, demanding for me to give her work to do.  Easily done!  I am really enjoying this age that she is at.  Knock on wood!

193 + 89 Weeks

This week was a little different than most, as Jeff and I made an overnight trip up to Sydney for a good friend's wedding.  It was so great to get away, even for one night.  Leaving was a bit of a mess, our car was LOADED full of stuff, as we dropped the kids off at the farm on the way up.  We looked like we had packed for an army.  However, an hour into our trip north, I realised that we had forgotten to pack our outfits for the wedding.  As we didn't think it was fitting to show up in only our shoes, which we had remembered to pack, we had to turn around, and return home.  We almost missed the wedding, which was on a boat on Sydney Harbour, with a reception following at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the bridge and Luna Park.  Despite the stress, it was still great to have a night away, and yes, we were tempted to abandon the kids in the excellent care of my parents and stay for the week.

Meanwhile, the kids had a blast at the farm.  Carmie had a party with her cousins, to make up for the fact that she was missing out on the party that her mum and dad went to.  And I am sure that they were spoiled rotten, ate too much junk food and watched too much iPad!

Arley is really starting to talk now.  He will repeat almost any word I ask him to, but only says the last syllable.  A train is an "ain", a book is an "ook", Playdoh is "aydo".  He has also taken a liking to our huge back yard finally, and loves to go out there.  He discovered a fig tree that I didn't even know we had, and loves picking up the figs and throwing them over the fence.  He also takes great pleasure in picking up berries and giving them to me, over and over and over again.  He also likes running up to me and throwing them at my head.  He thinks it's hilarious.

And what can I say about Carmie?  She is a pleasure to be around at the moment.  She is still loving school, and asks to go there on non-school days.  She loves to sit and colour in, and she enjoys using very big words, telling me that she is "frustrated" and "disappointed", and the other day we were in the car at a red light (one of the only two lights around here), and the light turned green, and she said to me, "Mummy, the light is green.  It is our pleasure to go."  I love her new teachers!

 Some backyard fun

 Our fig tree

 Picking berries

 At the wedding

 Partying with her cousins

 Our neighbours

192 + 88 Weeks

We have had a lovely week, beginning with this weekend.  We had an extended family weekend,  with two of my cousins and their families, and my aunt and uncle, coming into town.  Carmie and Arley got to spend time with their cousins who they really only get to see once a year, and Carmie was SO excited.  On Saturday we took the kids to Milton for lunch (something we never do, because it has always been more trouble than it is worth!).  We actually had a really nice lunch that involved no screaming by Arley and no naughtiness by Carmie, followed by a walk through Milton.  Carmen was of course dressed like a ballerina.  That afternoon we went to her cousin's birthday party, and then we had a big family day at the farm on Sunday.  A really nice weekend.

On Monday the kids had their first back to back swimming lessons, which I was dreading, but it turned out to be a really pleasant way to spend the morning.  Arley has his lesson first.  He is such a lump, all the other parents are bouncing their kids in and out of the water, and there's me, groaning and straining with effort.  His swim teacher is falling in love with him, she almost swoons when he looks at her, but he won't let her touch her at all.  He is very unlike his fish sister, who has her lessons after his now.  After our lessons and showers we had our picnic lunch at the gym cafe, and it was smooth sailing.

Arley got an extreme hair cut this week.  We thought we would buzz it like last time, but Jeffrey had the wrong fitting on his clippers, and it ended up being super short, like shaved.  Once you start, you can't stop though.  My mother was horrified, but I think it really suits him.  He looks like a little monk when he is happy, and a little thug when he is grumpy :)  Poor little guy had a horrible day yesterday - he had a nappy rash right where a guy doesn't want a rash.  He was walking like he was riding a horse, and then when it was no better after creams and nap time, I had to take him to the doctor.  He screamed hysterically whenever I touched him there, which made it really hard putting on his ointment.  After a good night's sleep, some special cream and some bare butt time today, he is doing much better.  It was fairly traumatic for us both though!

Little Carmie is desperate to grow some fairy wings of her own.  Tonight I caught her checking her back in the mirror to see if they were growing.  I told her that wings on people weren't real, but apparently it is magic, and she is begging me to get a real magic wand so I can put some pink wings on her back.  When I told her that I would miss her too much if she went off flying, she said it was OK because she only plans to fly around the back yard.  And then she told me that I could grow my own wings and fly around with her.  She wholeheartedly believed my, "We'll see.  Let's talk about it tomorrow."  I am going to have to find a way to let her down easy!

Friday night pizza.  Two little helpers in my pizza line.

It's a thug life ;)

 Cousins

 Uncle Sting gears up for the family tennis tournament.

 What is it with kids and buckets?

 ArleyButt