Jumping in the rain

These photos are from yesterday afternoon when it hosed down with rain. Phil was playing golf with our neighbour, they played on even though they were soaked to the skin before they finished the first two holes. And Ali, demonstrating that she is truly her father's daughter, decided it was a good time to jump on the trampoline. Lily only had one bounce and then came in for a warm towel and a cuddle (she takes after Mum).

Today was a lovely sunny day, Dad managed to sneak off for a surf for the morning and in the afternoon we had a quick tidy up and put up the tent for Chris and Renee who arrive tomorrow with baby Gabriel.

Holiday Fun!

Lily dresses herself these days.

Yesterday (Sunday) was a "home" day with Mum and Dad mowing the lawn, tidying the house, etc. Ali helped Mum bake a cake in the afternoon and later on the "chickems" as Lily used to call them, were allowed out for a dust bath. Santa has continued his gift-giving for the girls with an excursion to Albany shopping centre just North of Auckland where some new hats for Summer were found along with shoes and beautiful bedding (for $8.00 a set!!!). The shelves had been largely raided in the Boxing day madness but Karen still has the refined sense of sniffing out a bargain. The new bedding looks just lovely on the new bunks and with a bit of luck we'll catch the girls sitting still for a pic on their bunks.

Christmas morning

Good morning, merry Christmas everyone. Thankyou to all the lovely people who sent gifts and money to make it such a magical christmas.

Xmas Eve

It was Christmas eve and all through the house nothing was stirring, not even a mouse (or even a hedgehog). Buddy dug up this hedgehog baby yesterday afternoon, it was too little to be away from it's Mum and when we went to check on it at 10pm it was not moving. So we brought it in and were up til midnight feeding it with an eyedropper til it gained enough strength to eat on it's own.

Big Kids

Here are the girls having their first ever sleep in their new bunks

Silly Season

On Thursday the perfect playhouse was delivered by Santa and his reindeer for Ali and Lily's big christmas present. Lily was having a nap at the time and Ali was at the neighbour's house. They were both so surprised to see a playhouse in the garden out of the blue. We have hardly seen them since then except for occasional glimpses through the pretty net curtains. Inside is a whiteboard and a little kitchen with a tea set and little nicky nacky ornaments. Ali has already asked if she can sleep in it, but it's not warm enough yet luckily.

It's not a great picture of the kids but it gives a good idea of the playhouse...

On Friday night the annual street party was held at our next-door neighbours house. Ali had a riot playing with all her friends, feeding the pet calves, dinking a ride on Dad's new mountain bike ($50 out of the local paper!) and dancing til midnight. Her favourite part was playing the pretend pokie machine in their garage, which is a bit of a worry. Lily conked out a bit earlier than Ali and spent most of her time playing on the slide and swing set. Everyone had a nap this afternoon!

Trip to Daggyville

Today Mum and the kids went to Dargaville to visit Aunty Alison and Uncle Neil. They live on a farm with pretty gardens where Ali and Lily had a lovely time playing. Neil's pet lamb was a big hit with the girls who took turns feeding it breakfast and lunch. The lamb was very playful, enjoying chasing games with the kids and generally frolicking as lambs do.

Photos

Never leave home without the camera

Let me tell you about the photos I should be posting today

1) Oma Ali reading Ali and Lily all their delightful new books over and over
2) Ali and Lily modeling all their new clothes - thankyou Oma Ali and Opa John
3) Ali and Lily emerging from the hydroslides at the local pools with ear to ear grins
4)Phil's birthday party when Phil's mates and half the neighbourhood turned out to wish him a happy birthday.
5) Phil being a happy BBQ master with his new barbie
6)Lily riding the horse at the A+P show yesterday being led around by one of the Topp twins who was dressed as Ken at the time
7) Ali getting airborne on the giant inflatable slide at the A+P show
8) Ali putting the angel on top of the christmas tree
9) Ali and Lily putting the final touches on their christmas decorations

unfortunately I didn't take any of these pictures, since i have learnt my lesson I will tie the camera around my neck before I leave the house tomorrow and check the batteries are charged and all.

Arohanui everyone, it's the season for it!

Aunty Jane

Today we had a delightful visit from Aunty Jane and cousins Jordan and Lachlan. Lachie doesn't much like his picture taken so Jordy has him in a headlock!

The children had fun raiding the strawberry patch and snaffling all the sugar-snap peas while the grown-ups talked and caught up (it's been a year or two) Lachie enjoyed bouncing on the trampoline and the other kids watered the cows and fed the chooks:-)

With a bit of luck Nigel will be able to come next time... Arohanui Nige.

Good Morning Bunnies

Here are the sleepy bunnies drinking their breakfast milk

Toffee apples

Yesterday we went to one of the local primary school's gala fair. The girls had a marvelous time jumping in the bouncy castle, petting all the baby animals, pigging out on candyfloss and having a horse ride (Lily's first) Ali rode a big bay mare called Grace, Lily rode a miniature pony called Sweetie-pie. Ali giggled with joy for almost the whole of her turn, Lily took it all in her stride showing no fear but she was talking about it and doing re-enactments excitedly afterwards. Unfortunately we didn't get any photos at the fair but we did snap one of the girls first ever toffee apples when we got home :-)

Tidy room!

Ali spent ages tidying her shelves and was well pleased with herself when she finished.

Hello everyone, sorry we've had a bit of a break, we've had a few software issues but it's sorted now. So here are piccies of Ali and Lily sharing Ali's bike "Rocket"

mmmmmmmmmmmm mud pies

Weekend in AKL

We popped down to Auckland this weekend. We went and saw Opa and wished him a happy birthday for 3 weeks ago. We also went to visit Oma, she seems to be getting around OK with her zimmer frame and moonboot.

Next we were off to the museum where Ali especially wanted to see the dinosaur bones and Lily was entranced by the bright green geckos.

On Sunday morning we headed out early to the Avondale markets to soak up the glorious multicultural atmosphere and bag some bargains! Then we had a quick carpark picnic and went to the zoo. Lily particularly liked the monkeys and the chickens. She gave everyone a fright by shining up a climbing rope wall at the kids monkey playground, she got to the top (about 3m) and gave every impression that she was going to swing herself over and drop down the other side so that Mum had to climb up after her and grab her ankles. Lily then climbed down safely but threw a tantrum when we wouldn't let her climb up again:-)

Ali liked the elephants and the Sea Lions best. The zoo has been remodeled over the last 20 years so that many of the animals are no longer in cages but in enclosures with moats etc. The Sea Lions can be seen from above the water where they have a great big pool with a beach and rocks to bask on or from under water where we watched them swimming laps and playing with one another.

Big Thanks to Noel and Rosie for the loan of their home while they were away for the weekend!

It's still school holidays but beyond a trip to the beach (10 mins away) and to the local library it hasn't been that exciting. We have been a bit run down and the weather has been iffy on the days that we did all feel good so we've done lots inside.

Ali has been telling stories lately so we wrote a book today (she dictated the text which I wrote) and then she did the illustrations. This took up a big chunk of the afternoon while I tidied up and made sushi (or Sqoooshy as Ali calls it)

Lily is talking a great deal these days, she lies in bed talking to herself for a good half hour after Ali is already asleep going "aye-oh A-ee" (Hello Ali) and naming all the things that she has seen or talked about during the day "Daddy, fish, napper, eat eyes, aye-oh A-ee, Buddy, dog, eat me, lick me, Buddy" etc etc

I tried to take some nice photos of them yesterday, I wiped their faces and brushed their hair and everything but it still didn't work, the little buggers just won't sit still and smile for the camera.


These are the monsters that Ali collaged on Tuesday.

Here is Phil's hair that he dyed on Friday.