264 + 160 Weeks

We have had a lovely week, with no illnesses and no major tantrums!  On Saturday we went to the farm for lunch with the grandparents.  On Sunday we went to Mollymook beach to watch the Surf Life Saving Championships.  The kids were really excited watching the boat races.  We followed that up with lunch at the Golf Club with Lolo and Dida.  We also played in the back yard, did some baking, lots of indoor games, crafts and puzzles, and computer time, which is Arley's new favourite thing to do.  The kids have been a dream lately.  They still bicker, but nothing to drive us too crazy.  Arley is very clingy to me in the mornings and fights with me every day about going to school.  He tells me every single day that he is not going to school, that he is going to the farm.  And then he makes it really hard for me to leave him at school, by latching on to me and crying.  They tell me that he is happy all day though.  He is in the Montessori room now that he has turned three, and they tell me that he is doing brilliantly.  Carmie started working on fractions this week, and has read seven new books in the past two days.  This boggles my mind, but she just keeps taking it all in.  Every morning she chooses a new thing that she wants to 'investigate' and has us looking up anything and everything, from how dinosaurs were made to how a fridge works.  So,  all in all, great kids and a great week :)

263 + 159 Weeks

We have had a lovely week this week, with fantastically warm winter weather.  Carmie's two little friends Alice and Vanessa came over for a play date on Saturday morning.  The three of them are so cute together, they are three peas in a pod, and they let Arley play with them too, which is nice.  Sunday was a lovely sunny day so we took advantage and went to Cupitt's Winery for their live music and pizza lunch.  The kids got their energy out by jumping off the stone walls and running up and down the hill about 200 times.  And Jeff and I enjoyed a beer in the afternoon sun.  On Monday the kids' swimming lessons started up again, and that takes up the whole morning. Our weekends always pass so quickly, and I only get about a third of the things done that I have planned to do with the kids.

Arley is SO much easier to handle these days.  He still has his moments, and he has a tendency to seek Carmie out and hit her when he is frustrated.  He doesn't hit her hard, more to get a rise out of her, but it still mustn't be very nice to be his target.  He also isn't very good at sharing yet, so we are working on it.  But he is talking very fluently, and he is loving his puzzles.  Carmie is a ball of energy, and incessantly curious.  She asks questions about anything and everything, and we have to look up the answer if we don't know.  I have also caught her reading books to Arley, which totally melts my heart.  Speaking of reading, here is a rather long video of her reading a book (she wanted to read a book for her Pop, so this is it Pop!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2G9EZfSEvM

And here is a cute video of Arley laughing because his dad is trying to steal his hot chips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv6FsdkfHio

Play date

Backyard fun

At Cupitt's

Reading to Arley

162 + 158 Weeks

This week the kids went back to school, relatively healthy, and I missed them!  I've gotten used to them being around.  We had really rainy and cold weather this past weekend, so we took the kids to Funland, which they always love.  We took them on the bumper cars for the first time, and they had a blast.  And Arley is very brave going on the Jump Star ride with the big kids - the operator looked at me like I was crazy and asked me how tough Arley is.  He didn't bat an eye, just couldn't stop smiling.

During the rainy weekend the kids had lots of inside play, puzzles and painting, and computer time - Arley learned how to use a mouse.  He is hooked, and loves his computer time.  When the rain cleared on Monday, I took the kids to our friend's house to pick tangelos and lemons, and then we went down to the south end of Narrawallee Beach to play in the rock pools.  Half of the beach has been washed away from the violent storm last month, but the rock pools are awesome.  I think we will be spending a lot more time down there.

My close friend Ciri sent the kids some beautiful aprons that she made for their birthday, and they immediately wanted to do some baking, so we made muffins and turned them into pretend ice creams by stuffing them into cones and frosting them.  And Carmie wore her apron all day, and insisted on helping me with dinner too.  She has started doing chores around the house and has been making her bed every day.  I can't believe how big they have grown.  For the most part Arley is much easier to handle too, and loves to spend time playing with his dad now (finally!), which totally takes the pressure off me.  They can be so fun to be around, I get sad when it's time for them to go off to school.  I never thought I'd ever be saying that!

261 + 157 Weeks

What a week!  Carmie turned 5 and Arley turned 3 on Saturday!  They were so excited.  They woke up and got into our bed and watched their iPads while we made them pancakes and omelet (their faves), and then they were allowed to watch their iPads again until their Lolo & Dida came over.  We loaded up all of their presents on the dining room table and called them out to unwrap, and you should have seen their little faces!  It almost made me cry!  They loved all of their presents (thanks Lolo & Dida, Oma & Opa, Pop, Aunty Georgia, Uncle Sting)!  After their presents it was a mad scramble to get ready for their birthday party.  There were 7 girls and 4 boys, too much candy and junk food, and lots of fun.  Thankfully it turned out to be a lovely sunny winter day, and all of the kids played out in the back yard.  The week before I had made a piñata from a cereal box, with the help of Carmie and her friend.  We hung the piñata on the clothesline and let them whack at it.  They loved it, and there was so much candy inside that some was left on the ground :)  Our birthday cakes were a success (thanks Mum!) and the kids had a great time.  Carmie was so sad when it was ending, so I told her to go ask her friend Hannah if she wanted a sleep over, which of course she did.  Hannah and Carmie got up to mischief all afternoon, and finally crashed close to 9pm.  Hannah left the next morning, and Arley was begging to have his birthday all over again.  Thank goodness it only happens once a year!

We also had a couple of outings this week while the weather was lovely.  We took the kids up to Porters Gap Lookout.  It was their first time up there, and they were impressed with the view.  We did a little trekking around, and have decided that we are going to try to start doing short hikes with the kids on the weekends, now that Arley is a little older.  Carmie literally walks for about 3 minutes before she complains that her legs are tired, so we have to get her conditioned!

We took the kids to the park at Dolphin Point to ride their red cars too.  And we had lots of at home activities with their new birthday presents.  Arley has suddenly taken to colouring in (happy Mamma!!).  And he loves to do puzzles now too, which is good because he is suddenly keeping himself a little occupied.  We also had Lolo's birthday on Tuesday, so they came over for some cake in the afternoon.

Poor little Arley has been through the ringer though.  His cough seemed to be getting better, and then suddenly he took a turn for the worse.  He got sent home from school on Tuesday with conjunctivitis, so I took him to the doctor (again!) because it just didn't seem right.  The doctor told me his cough was most likely asthma, and confirmed the conjunctivitis.  So Arley has been on ventolin and antibiotic eye drops since Tuesday.  Both the kids had Wednesday off because he was contagious.  They went to school on Thursday, but then last night Arley was up and crying at all hours of the night (like four hours!) and Carmie was complaining of a sore throat, and has started coughing too.  So I kept them home from school today too.  And then Arley woke up from his nap with an earache.  So, back to the doctor we went. I finally got him some antibiotics, so hopefully this will do the trick!  In the meantime, I am still sick and don't think I will ever get better!