286 + 182 Weeks

Christmas came and went and we survived!  The weather has been perfect, particularly for Christmas Day.  On the lead up to Christmas, we went to the beach (Carmie wanted to look for blue ringed octopus in the rock pools), we went to our neighbourhood Christmas party, and we did plenty of spring cleaning to make room for the new presents that Santa was going to bring.  We made chocolate truffles, and met Lolo and Dida, Uncle Sting, Aunty Georgia and the cousins for a Christmas Eve drink at the golf club.  

And then Santa came.  We are lucky, we have the kids trained so well to not get up until 7am, that they still did that on Christmas morning.  We could hear Carmie playing with the goodies from her Christmas stocking at 6:30, but that is all.  When they did see all of the presents under the tree, they were so excited.  Jeff thinks I went completely overs, but so many of the presents were education-based, I would have bought them this year anyway :)  After presents we had breakfast, a little play, and then we went over to the farm to have Christmas lunch with the family.  Carmie got her favourite present, a snuggles puppy, and Arley got his favourite present, Thomas the Tank's Sky High Bridge Jump (see video below!).  We had a really nice lunch, and plenty of time to play with toys.  A lovely mellow day.

Boxing Day was spent over at the farm again.  On Wednesday we went down to Bawley Point, as my cousins and their eight kids (between them) were staying down there.  Carmie and Arley had so much fun, and it was truly a mad house with ten little kids running around.  The kids also went to the beach for a swim, and played tag with water pistols.  I hadn't seen my cousins in ages, so it was a great day.

We have so many new toys and games to play with, and tons of new books to read, so we are planning on spending some time at home for a bit.  I just can't brave all of the crowds now, our little town is full to the brim, and I want our quiet beaches back!

Here is a video that everyone missed a couple of weeks ago, as I had it set to private accidentally.  It's pretty cute.  Carmie just would not smile on Santa's knee!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O21d8oRxnkE

Christmas Day videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHYQQKY12mo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF3ySPGLKz4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LqgozQuZ6A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YI77pPJcZ0

At Narrawallee rock pools:

Shoes and socks still on!

 At the neighbourhood Christmas party

 Making chocolate truffles

 Christmas morning

 Thanks Oma and Opa!  Success!

 Arley gets airborne when he realises he just opened the Sky High Bridge Jump.

At the beach with their cousins  :) 

285 +281 Weeks

We have had a good week.  Carmie has read about 1000 books and Arley has only had about 10 tantrums, instead of his normal 10 a day.  When Carmie has a moment to herself, she is either reading, or sitting on her "thinking chair".  Arley is great, as long as he is by my side.  He can't let me out of his sight, not even for a bathroom trip for either of us.  If I have to take the trash out, he puts on his shoes and comes with me.  It is a little taxing, but it does bring peace.  He had several horrendous nights of sleep in a row (not sleeping through now for at least two months).  Then I lost the plot on him one night after he called out to me three times to fix his blanket (it was, again, too close to his chin!!!), so I flicked his light on at 2am, and packed up all of the toys in his room and took them to the spare room!  He told me the next day that he would never ever call out at night to me again, and we have had two full nights of peace with no wake-ups!  We have been putting him to bed early, as I think he was overtired and this was causing his sleep disturbances.  So, he is better-slept, more well-rested and happier, which equals less tantrums and happier parents!  He still squabbles with Carmie, snatches her toys and won't get out of her bedroom when she wants privacy, but we are working on it.

This week they attended a birthday party and had a play date at their friends' Delphi and Jasper's house.  They have a rock wall at the side of their house that the kids scaled, and my heart was in my throat the whole time.  Everything was fine until Arley stuck his hand on an ant nest and I had to climb up and rescue him.  

The kids also went to the farm to decorate their Lolo and Dida's Christmas tree, and we also went to the library for cookie decorating for Santa.  The kids have joined the library's summer reading club and are very excited about it.  We also went to the pool at least three times, as it's the kids' favourite place to be.  And now the kids are gearing up for Christmas - they have been counting down the days until Santa comes.  They are very excited, and we are just hoping to get through the mayhem  :)

 Decorating their grandparents' tree

 Making a birthday card

 Arley cheating in the egg and spoon race

 The rock wall at Delphi's

Art time with Mum

 OK, one cookie for Santa, one for Arley

284 + 180 Weeks

This week we took the kids berry picking at the Clyde River Berry Farm.  Strawberries for Carmie, blueberries for Arley.  It was a lovely day, we picked SO many berries, and we all had fresh berry ice-cream.  We are going to be eating berries all summer, I froze kilos of them.  We also had two really hot days this week - too hot to go out, so we took the kids to the pool for a swim.  Carmie learnt to dive, and Arley tried his best to copy her.  They have been playing fairly well together, and for the most part, Arley is still being a good boy.  He is naughty at night time still, but nothing we can't handle.  We have an elf on the shelf, and Arley is a little concerned that he will go back and tell Santa that he is naughty, but not so concerned to actually stop being naughty.  Speaking of Santa, we took the kids to get their Santa photo taken this morning.  It was hilarious.  Firstly, they dressed themselves in old track pants for the occasion 😞, and then Carmie was really nervous.  They got on Santa's lap, and from the get-go, Arley didn't stop smiling his funny camera smile.  Carmie, on the other hand, couldn't relax and crack a smile.  It was almost a full ten minutes before we could get her to look even remotely happy.  It was so funny, (poor Carmie) and I am sure the people milling around laughing didn't help to ease Carmie's nerves!  Next year we will have to practice smiling for Santa first.

After seeing Santa, we took the kids to a Christmas story time at the library, and they also got to make Christmas ornaments.  Then we took our newly borrowed books to the cafe and read there.  It was a peaceful morning and the end to a good week :)

Here are two videos of the kids 'diving', and a video of the kids with Santa (after so many attempts at getting Carmie to smile, I had to get it on film!).  Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoKjWc2YLvM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVWeBK82orw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O21d8oRxnkE

At the berry farm

 Painting bowls and pet rocks