They wish it were summer

The kids have been pretending that it's summer time of late. I brought the tunnel out of the playroom to encourage Linc to crawl through it. No chance of that happening though- All I see is a little head that bobs up and down as he bottom shuffles through it! Maddi came up with the idea of opening a waterslide down the stairs that is open "every, each season."

                                           

They have also been having lots of camping trips in the lounge room. Before I know it, little Alex has clothing off his shelves and packs it into every single bag they own. Blankets are brought out and summer pjs are on for their campout. The sure are fast at bringing it all out, but are very slow to put it all back for some reason!

Maddi 'camping' in her summer Pjs.

Maddi was very excited today when we went for a walk, as she noticed the trees were in blossom. Come soon spring, we love you and are looking forward to planting more vegies in the garden and getting outside more.

"He needs a sport!"

About 12 months ago we were at the child health clinic for Lincoln. Little Alex was restless (as normal) and the child health nurse was distracted for a moment while observing Alex and declared " He needs a sport!" So last term Little Alex went to swimming lessons for the first time ever. He had a wonderful time and looked forward to his Tuesday swims independant of his big sister, while she was at school. He is a powerhouse in the water and would leave all the other kids behind as he has such a strong kick. He still hasn't got the technique quite right (as he kicks deep down into the water rather than close to the surface), but with some time and practice next term we'll work on that. His swimming teacher thought it was a good idea to put him up a class next term to help him along with the technique. It was so good for him physically, but also socially as he got to mix with kids his own age.

Her first school photos

Maddi has had a great first term at school. She received her first report before the holidays and we had to laugh, as it described her so well. Yesterday she was excited to bring home her first school photos. We hope she always has a love of school like she does now.

Weekend in Melbourne

On Thursday afternoon we were very excited to pick up Alex from his two week work trip. Little Alex missed his Dad terribly, and dozens of times a day would question when he was coming home, and why he had gone away. The kids were very excited that their Dad had come home but also that it meant that they were going to Moppy and Poppy's for the weekend, parent free while we visited Melbourne. Well Maddi was very excited to have some independance away from us. It was the first time that we have been away from Linc, but we weren't too worried about how he would go as he has developed good sleeping habits of late, and he isn't as clingy anymore. We checked into Alex's work, dropped a few things off, packed our bags and left for Hobart. When we got to Hobart we ate tea, settled the kids in, and caught our late flight out of Hobart. We arrived at the Melbourne airport at 11.30pm and stayed at the nearby Holiday Inn for the night.
The next morning we got up early to attended the temple. We had such a lovely experience there filled with the spirit. Afterwards we stopped into the Hawks Nest and had a look at the Hawks Museum, shopped at Chadstone, and stopped into the Lindt shop for some cake. It was late afternoon by the time we checked into our Hotel in the city The Intercontinental Rialto. We had a lovely dinner at Melba Restaurant at the Langham Hotel, and overindulged. Well I did, and struggled to walk back to the hotel afterwards from being so full. It was so nice to sit down and have a meal without the cares that we would have if we were at home with the kids- Like drink spillage, tired children, cleaning up messes and trying to get them to eat all the dinner.

On Saturday morning we had a little sleep in and went for a swim in the hotel pool and hopefully worked off some calories from our feed the night before. We had an explore around the city stopping in at Koko Black for a hot and iced chocolate and a tastings plate. In our opinion they make the best iced and hot chocolates. In the afternoon we headed to the Dandenongs to be there for Holly and Daniel's big day. This was the reason why we headed up for the weekend. We stopped at a beautiful garden that we attempted to visit with the kids in March, but after arriving close to closing time and the kids falling asleep in the car, we missed the opportunity. Being Autumn it was all the more beautiful than it was a couple of months back. Perry has been telling us about this spot for years and we finally made it. It was definitely worth the visit.





We then we travelled to the next little township of Monbulk for Daniel and Holly's wedding at a venue called Nathania Springs. It was cold and there were light showers, so the service was held indoors in a gorgeous room. It was so good to finally meet their families who were just as lovely. Daniel had his brothers as his groomsmen, and Holly's older sister and Daniel's sister were Holly's bridesmaids. Holly's eight year old niece, Veronica made a beautiful flower girl. It was great to see how their families are so close and got along so well together. The wedding service was so heartfelt with some beautiful vowels that they had written to each other. Holly was glowing and was such a relaxed bride, that made us all laugh during the ceremony. They are just so perfect for each other and were definitely ready for their special day. We were honored that we could be there for it and that they wanted the kids to be there too.

On Sunday morning we attended church in Perry's ward and had a quick lunch at Rockpool- Neil Perry's famous two hat restaurant, which was very enjoyable. The food was very tasty and I was pleasantly surprised that we left full. We had great quick service too as we had our plane to catch in the afternoon.

We had a wonderful weekend away. It was really like a second honeymoon, as we have never stayed in hotel without the kids since our honeymoon. Did I mention that we ate and ate all weekend?! We definitely lived it up a bit more than our honeymoon, as we were both poor students back then. Alex missed the kids heaps while we were away as he had been away from home for over two weeks, but I enjoyed the short break, missing them at different times. It was nice not to have nightly visitations from little people, and get some unbroken sleep, and be able to give each other undivided attention without the interruptions. The kids were happy as well and had such an enjoyable time at Moppy and Poppy's house, filled with visits to the park and picnics. We got home close to midnight after travelling back from Hobart on Sunday night.

The kids first live Hawks game

Back in April the kids went to their first Hawks game at Aurora Stadium. Last year Alex and I had memberships and Linc would come to games with us. This year we thought it would be good for the whole family to have a membership.





We were previously in the Gunns Stand, but have moved to the other side of the ground to a more family friendly area. It was such a beautiful warm day that we had the sun shining on us all afternoon and we were actually quite hot. Maddi was a little bored to begin with and wanted to draw, but then as the Hawks started to get on a good role she got more into it. Little Alex was so into using his Hawks clapper after the Hawks would kick a goal. He loves his clapper at home and gets too carried away with it- He deliberately uses it to wake people up in the morning. It was good that it was finally put to some good use.

We left happy with the result and traveled home as the sun setting. It was such a beautiful sunset that night.

The Easter holidays

Maddi is loving school so much that when Easter holidays rolled around I wondered what we were we going to do during the Easter holidays to occupy her. One thing was certain is that she needed company. Maddi isn't the type of kid that is happy to do things on her own and has a great desire to socialise. The first few days she enjoyed doing some craft and created some jewellery boxes for Chloe and Kelsea.



Another day we had a visit from Kelsea and the girls made some tiaras to be like the girl that they had been hearing all about, that was going to become princess.



We went down to our local park and had a barbeque and picnic. Sausages, watermelon, fairy biscuits, marshmallows and pink drinks was on our menu. The seagulls were very hungry and got stuck into our unattended bread.


Our park has a great new playground that is wheelchair friendly. Maddi of course did her usual thing at the park and " made some friends". She is not shy at all and ends up talking to everyone. It's always a bonus when she meets up with her Kinder pals at the park.




We also headed to the nearby beach. It was such a beautiful day that Little Alex stripped off and thought it gave him a licence to get in the water. The girls of course wanted to take a dip too.



On Thursday we sadly dropped Daddy off at the airport and said goodbye to him for two weeks. We headed to Grandma and Grandma's for the weekend and Kelsea came for an overnight sleepover with us. The kids had a great time watching Mamma Mia, dancing, eating popcorn, doing crafts, going on lots of motorbike rides, cooking pineapple upside down cake, feeding the chooks, collecting eggs and watching the wedding of the prince and new princess.

The King boys also came out for the afternoon on Saturday and the kids had a fun time with their cousins, playing mini golf, kicking the footy and playing cards with Grandma and Harri. Maddi had a great play companion in Kobe who played dolls with her and wanted to play with the Barbies.


Linc loved all the spots to discover at Grandma and Grandpa's and managed to find a way to slip through the bannister on the staircase. One day he got his first bite from a jack jumper and it was a bit of a worry to see if he was going to have a bad reaction from it. Fortunately he just was in a bit of pain and kept letting us know throughout the evening that his finger was uncomfortable.

Maddi was very keen to get back to school today and declare to everyone that she is now a five year old. She was very excited to take her musical jewellery box that she got for her birthday to Show and Tell. Now the next thing to do is plan the winter holidays!

Easter Weekend

On Good Friday we went and had brunch with my family. There was plenty to eat and with Mum and Dad's more open planned dining area, we all managed to fit on a very long table together.

There was heaps of yummy food- Smoked salmon, potato pancakes, hotcross bun French toast, juice, bacon and egg muffins and lots more that I can't recall now. The kids were most keen on the pancakes.

Easter Bunny sent us on a traditional egg hunt. All the kids brought out their own baskets some of them got creative and handmade their baskets. Easter Bunny had hidden the eggs far and wide, and made it a bit more of a challenge, so much that when Grandpa was mowing the lawns a week later he ran over several eggs.


Auntie Lisa is our family hairdresser, and gave Linc his first haircut. She did a great job, even though Linc was a little wriggly. I sat him on my lap in front of the TV to distract him.

Auntie Lisa is also the family official photographer, hence why I have stolen all of these photos off her blog! The girls have a great time playing together, and we hardly saw them. Grandma gave them some bunny ears for Easter and these dresses were a part of Grandma's dressups.


In the afternoon, we headed to Hobart to Moppy and Poppy's. The kids slept most of the way down. Alex and Maddi were busy in the garden helping Moppy and Poppy mow the lawns on Saturday. They also got to do some paintings with William at Becc and Brise's house. Of course they had to have a bath together in Moppy and Poppy's newly renovated bathroom.



On Sunday afternoon Easter bunny had visited again. It was William's first Easter, he caught on very quickly on what to do during the egg hunt.


Easter Bunny was very thoughtful of Linc and brought dairy free chocolate and treats at Grandma and Grandpa's and Moppy and Poppy's house. Unfortunately Linc raided someone's easter eggs and ended up being awake with reflux until midnight that night. The poor little fella thinks he is in trouble when we give him dairy free chocolate, as he shakes his head for "no" while eats it.

It seemed as though the rabbits were breeding.


We had a delicious roast pork with all the trimmings for tea cooked by Moppy on Sunday night. Moppy and Poppy invited some visitors over to share the meal with. We did miss Gina and Damien over the weekend.