Only 6 Sleeps to Go!

This may be the last post before Christmas, so from our family to you, we hope you have a merry Christmas, enjoy the holidays, please drive safely, and above all... remember the real reason for the season... Christmas!

Fox Trouble

Unfortunately, we've had a bit of a sad week with our pet chooks. On Wednesday, I found one of our ladies dead in the coop, presumably egg-bound, and during Friday night, L awoke, hearing a raucous in the chook yard. Going to investigate, he found one of the hens by the gate (instead of inside the coop) and no sign of Leonard, our rooster. I saw the guilty culprit, a fox, on my walk Sabbath morning. We've never before had to lock up our chooks at night, because, whilst there are plenty of foxes around, we've never been bothered by them. I can only assume that where we disposed of the egg-bound hen alerted the fox to the other chooks. Anyway, it is a bit sad, and we haven't told Miss A yet, she was very fond of Leonard. Needless to say, we will be locking up our chooks from now on.

We...Love A Parade

Last Thursday night we had our local "Pageant of Lights" parade, which is always very exciting. this year was extra-special, as we were all involved. Miss A was adorable as a little angel, and rode in the school bus with me, and Master B was a hit as he sat in the fire truck with L, waving to all his beloved fans :D (Unfortunately, no pics of him, as the photographer was busy driving the truck).

Beach Fun

Another great afternoon at the beach, and a major breakthrough with both children as far as getting into the water. Upon arriving at the basin, Master B was quite happy to walk with his daddy up to his knees in the water, and then, switching to mummy, went out up to his waist. Both mummy and daddy were quite shocked, as generally he would be screaming.


Seeing how much fun her brother was having, Miss A wanted to go out into the water as well, and as you can see, she is enjoying herself with no fear...AMAZING!


However, what we do not have a picture of is when Master B got a little bit too curious about what water is all about and decided to bury his face in the water. Needless to say he got quite a fright and didn't particularly enjoy the rest of the afternoon. Happily, though, he did get back in the water again shortly before we left, so all progress was not lost.

Growing Up

L took this incidental photo yesterday. For those who haven't seen Miss A for a while, it shows how grown-up she is looking these days :( / :)

Goldilocks

The post title speaks for itself.




















Awww... What a cute li'l girl

Pool, Anyone?

To celebrate Miss A's gymnastics break-up (and all of her friends at gymnastics), the club organised a party at one of the local pools today. It was great fun, and even Daddy took time off work to come! Miss A has certainly come a long way just from participating in gymnastics this year, as far as confidence and other physical aspects, which makes us very proud. We meant to take a lot of photos of the fun at the pool, but it turns out that juggling two small children (and one that was way past nap-time and very cranky) around a pool centre filled with crowds of people doesn't leave much opportunity for taking photos.

Rules of Engagement

Congratulations, Uncle Trev and Aunty Roni ;-)

We'll be comin' 'round the mountain...

Well, another week and another Happy Day Chart completed. this week's treat was to take a trip up a "purple hill". Miss A often sees mountains in the distance (hence, they appear to be purple) and has been begging us to go up there one day. And today was the day.

So, amidst bawling and wails from me ("Noooo! you're going too fast! Ahhhh! We're all going to die!" Apparently I was the only one in the car with an aversion to driving close to a steep slope) we finally made it to the top, took a short walk, observed the scenery and came down again.

I have told L in no uncertain terms that I will never go up that mountain again.

Here is a picture of the view from the top:

Fire Danger

L and his nephew went to some more fires during the week, about an hour north of us. Below we chronicle their valiant efforts to control the fire they went to on Tuesday. As you can see, it didn't all go to plan this time...















Back-burning the fire break
















Producing a little smoke - that made it all the way to town!
















Back-burn going wrong ............
















and getting worse ................
















The fire jumped the break behind us ........

















The end result of the fire getting a bit close, there
was smoke coming out of the engine bay as well
















This time it went right.
















Refilling with water again and again and again .......
















But yet again it jumped the breaks .......

Eating Out

For lunch today we were invited over to a friend's home. We had a great lunch and a fun (beginning to the) afternoon. The kids had a great time bouncing on the trampoline.



Well, everyone except Master B?











Thanks, Dobies for a great lunch and afternoon!

Producing Produce

For the last few months L has been busy looking after some new babies... baby pumpkins and watermelons that is. They are just two of the things that are growing around the place these days, and they are lookin' mighty fine.








































...swell

Beach Babe

Off to the beach we went this afternoon. We are making progress with both children as far as getting used to the moving water at the beach, as long as we are only in the basin! While Miss A and I were off looking at rocks and snails, L was taking pics with his awesome new lens, and looking after Master B. I was impressed when Miss A and I returned to find Master B almost asleep in the sand...

...All tuckered out

Stepping Out

Master B is walking very well these days, in fact it is his preferred mode of transportation. It didn't take him very long to try running, either, his major problem with that is that his little legs don't move fast enough and he ends up falling over, it's quite cute. He is also so eager to walk everywhere that he was doing it quite well this evening even while wearing his blanket sleeper!

Making Tracks

A couple of weeks ago, I took the kids to town for a train ride, their first ever train ride, on an old cane train locomotive that gives rides at the botanical gardens. It was another of Miss A's rewards, and both children seemed to enjoy the experience immensely.





This photo is of the locomotive.








And









This photo is of Miss A in front of our carriage.

Playing With Fire

In the wee small hours of Saturday morning, L and other members of the rural fire brigade left for Geata. The dry, hot weather has sparked fires in the region, many of which are in the Mt. Perry area. During the quieter moments, L snapped a few shots, and arrived home at about 11:30 Saturday night, very tired. Keep an eye out in the local paper for some photos he sent in of the Geata fires. Here are just a few of the 59 photos he took. Apparently he got a little "shutter happy" :D .

Steps to Greatness...

Well, it's been a while coming, but Master B is finally taking some regular steps on his own, albeit only when bribery is involved. In the form of a jelly cup. It's quite comical to watch really, he takes enourmous steps with his right foot, and tiny steps with his left foot. The result? Side-stepping, very, v-e-r-y slow side-stepping. He's still a ways from what one would really call "walking" but awkward side-stepping is close enough :D .

Random Pics

We recently acquired a rooster, as some extra company for our hens. He's a little bantam, so it might be nice to have some chicks that are a mixture. By about the third morning we were used to his crowing, and now L sleeps right through it.

The 4 ladies.












The proud young rooster, now with some hens to call his own.











Recently, at a potluck luncheon, We served pumpkin soup in a hollowed out MASSIVE pumpkin. It was quite effective.


It was so big, Master B could fit inside.







He really enjoys his food, this boy - just can't get enough!

"Fun-due"

On father's day night, we went to a friend's house for fondue - yummy!















And it was awesome entertainment when the cork was popped, except nobody noticed the sparkling grape juice going everywhere! Apparently the tablecloth has survived well, and is back to the original colour.

Sand Town

As Miss A's reward for earning 6 stamps on her "happy day chart" this week, she chose to go to the beach, to "build a whole town out of sand". According to her, there are 5 sandcastles in a town, so that is what we made...until our little town was flooded...

Master B enjoyed the sand immensely, until it was nap-time and it just all became too much.


















As the song goes: "don't build your house on the sandy land, don't build it too near the shore..."
Great advice.

First Words

Well, our little man sure is growing up fast! He has been busily adding words to his vocabulary for the last month or so. Here are some words we have been able to understand so far:
Other than a very primitive "mamma" and "dadda", the first word was "Amen", after saying blessing one morning.
He now says "mamma" and "daddy" quite clearly.
He greets me with "There! There! There!" when I pick him up from his cousins' house on Tuesday afternoons.
I've heard him say "no" once, I'm sure there's more of that to come.
Possibly following in the footsteps of his big sister, who strung her first 3 word sentence together at 15 months, he put two words together last Monday "I do".
And the most recent word he has learned (over yesterday and today): "puss".
There are more, no doubt, that I haven't thought of, but that will do for now, at least.

And Another Birthday...!

Four short days later we celebrated L.'s birthday...thank goodness we have a break for a while before the next birthday! I'm afraid there is such a thing as too much birthday cake...






Yes, it was as delicious as it looks, mm-mmm.

Master B Turns "One"

A couple of weeks ago, Master B had his first birthday, it's amazing how fast the year has flown. He sprouted his first tooth a few weeks ago and it is now about 2/3 grown, and he has cut three more that are growing rapidly. It has been a rather painful experience for the poor little boy. He did have a happy birthday, though, lots of presents, including a Thomas the Tank Engine toy, a Thomas the Tank Engine ball (goes nicely with all the Thomas the Tank Engine gear we got in his showbag this year), a toy train and railway set, a shirt (with the quote "so far so good" :D ), a egg carton shape sorter toy, which Miss A would like to claim as her own, a toy stuffed kangaroo, an activity center that straps onto his cot, some touch and feel books, and the floor of our lounge room covered in balloons, which is likely to provide enjoyment for the next week ..... and probably some more that I have forgotten by this time (oops). His cake, made by yours truly, was, you guessed it, a Thomas the Tank Engine cake, which he made a total mess of eating, and his nappy the next day looked as though the food colouring in the icing had gone straight through :D. Miss A ate her piece very neatly, not even a dob of icing on her face, just like at her 1st birthday party, where we actually had to put icing on her face to make it look as though she made a mess.
Uncle T made a special trip up for the birthday boy, and we all went over to Granny Mac's house on Sunday for lunch, where he received even more presents - a ride on toy and some bath toys all of his own! Yippee!






























As
You
Can
See
The
Boy
Gets
Progressively
Messier
As
He
Devours
His
Piece
Of
Cake.


If You
Watch
His
Eyes,
You'll
Also
See Him
Getting
More
And
More
Tired...