A day out

On Sunday we caught up with Kim and Mos and went for a walk to a nearby playground. It was fabulous to have a sunny day after a few weeks of blustery and showery weather. It really does feel like spring is near! Alexa was fairly self contained swinging herself on the big swing, Bell enjoyed pushing Camryn who just loved both the swing and having big sis push her. She giggled away showing off her two new bottom teeth. She is wearing a t-shirt that reads - My parents are exhausted, which is very true as she has been suffering from Bronchialitus which leaves her very unsettled at night and wanting to sleep upright on someone's chest. Meanwhile, Mos was very patient looking on from a nearby tree. The girls loved walking back, playing hide and seek behind trees and watching Mos racing around on the grass.

Birthday boy

David's birthday was particularly fun this year as the girls could be involved in making the cake, decorating and making his presents. They were very excited by the secrecy of it all - altho some of them couldn't quite keep it all a secret as Isobel had to whisper to Dad - "you've got a cake" the day before. The girls found it very hard decorating with marshmellows and choc buttons without getting to eat them, but they did very very well.
The surprise and delight of the artwork was almost ruined by me as I had purchased a green acrylic non washable paint. This went on well to the canvas but also proved to adhere very well to the black stools the girls were sitting on. Oh well!!!
The left side was a pencil drawing of a dolphin with a sun top left corner, this was then artfully painted over by Isobel. Alexa's artwork the very bright and cheery pink flower. Then each girl had her hand painted for the middle art - A for Alexa, B for Bell and C for Camryn (who was fascinated by the paint on her hand).




The bottom photo, taken a few days later, shows our eldest two girls looking so grown up! All dressed ready for Annie to take them to a "show" - Bad Jelly the Witch. They were in their good clothes, and I had convinced them to do their hair for the outing! Please note the butterfly sewn on Bell's red dress - that is covering a hole sewn by Lesley who had to sew up a fresh cut made by Bell who was enjoying having the use of some new child friendly scissors. Anne then added the butterfly as extra strengthening as we love this dress and hope it will do by Bell & Camryn.

Lunch out

What an exciting change - lunch sans kids! We Uni friends caught up for an adults lunch and a chat, chat chat at NSP in Parnell. It was a fabulous lunch and a great chance to catch up and actually finish a sentence for once! Camryn did come along, but was a very good little girl and sat there under the table contentedly before falling asleep in buggy!

Fish eyes

Last weekend we did a day trip to Omaha. David got the rare chance to head out on a boat to do a spot of fishing with cousin (and new dad) Jon CS. They did alright with a few good fish. Back home the fillet table was set up and in the background you can see the boys filleting their catch. The girls love seeing the fish come back in - in particularly they love poking the fish in the eyes. So Jon helped this fascination by cutting out a fish eye for them to get really close to. They bought it inside for us all to see (thanks girls), and them given the discussion about eating them, they were put into the freezer for later. Luckily we can rely on the forgetfulness of little girls so we didn't have to cook up the fish eyes later (or take them home!). Here are a few shots of them each getting the eye, and Alexa is pretending to eat it.

Faces painted

A caterpillar and a flower.

Time on the farm

We recently spent a few weeks on the farm. At calving time there is always lots of things for the kids to be excited about. Daily they walk down to the milking shed, watching the cows feeding on the cow pad. They marvelled that the cows were eating kiwifruit (just like us). But wondered how they took the stickers off?? Then on, over the bridge, to the calf shed where each day they could count the new calves (how many white faces, how many all black and how many black and white). Initially, although happy to go into the pen, they were hesitant to be sucked on by the calves, but eventually learnt to stick their fingers out. Alexa has grown in confidence around the calves - perhaps because she is a bit bigger now. Isobel, probably with the security of having Alexa with her, has always been a bit more confident around the calves. However, both girls are very very wary of the cows. They love watching them but the sheer size of them is too much, particularly for Isobel who doesn't even like being close with a fence in between. Returning home for lunch, then back out past the shed and down to the mailbox to get the mail and paper which arrives mid afternoon. All up I reckon they walked 3 kms a day. This meant that it was usually very easy to get them off to bed at 7pm, but did make the evening meal a bit difficult if energy levels were too low.

Camryn - first tooth through

Camryn is changing as she grows. Sometimes I can see Alexa in her, sometimes Isobel. But always, she has her own look too. She is now sitting up, bouncing in the jumping seat and responding loudly to anyone who cares to talk to her. She loves her food (as the others did too), but prefers the sweet veges (parsnip, pumpkin, kumara, carrot) to apple and pear). She is captivated by her big sisters and will always look out for them if she can hear them.