"He's Walking"......

.....Is something we've been hearing from Maddi a lot of late, as she refers to "baby boy". It started with a few steps around Christmas time, and I can now say that he is walking more than he is crawling. It's funny seeing two little people walking around the house now. I always see someone walking at the corner of my eye and have to check to see who it is. He's no longer a baby, although Maddi still refers to him as "Baby boy". I wonder if that name will stick when he's in High School, and way too cool for his big sister to call him that!

He is very proud that he can keep up with his big sister.They are playing and laughing together more and more each day. Although Maddi doesn't always like when she has to share with him, and that everything she makes gets ruined by him. They share a room together and I often hear them giggling away, usually because they're up to mischief. If only I could get a spy camera in there of the things they get up to.
This boy is into everything! I won't go into too many details, as I'm sure it will pop up in a whole new post.
He's not really saying much except for "Mum, Dad and Yummm!" I'm sure the next word will be food related.

Football Trip

Another game brought us to Aurora Stadium once again. This time it was the Hawks versus Melbourne for the NAB cup. The last time I went to an AFL game was the year that Alex and I got engaged.

We stopped into Deloraine and visited Nan in hospital on the way through. I think Nan was happy to see us, and it was great that she has picked up so much. She spoke a few words to us and would nod every now and again during the converstation. She even had a chuckle about a few funny things we told her about the kids. Nan held onto our hands, and although she couldn't talk we knew she was listening and could understand everything that we were saying. Maddi felt an ease around Nan, and held onto her arms and would smile at her.

We were glad we got to see Nan. The last photo we got of Nan and Alex together was when Alex was just a couple of weeks old.

We headed into Launceston and did a shop. Whenever we go to Launceston or Hobart we utilise having decent shops to shop at. I spent most of the time in Pumpkin Patch where I got some bargains on summer clothing for the kids. I picked up next year's sizes for them to put away. We also got a few extra perks as it is the Pumpkin Patch Birthday this week. We got a free gift which was a pair of $10 sunglasses for Alex and a $10 gift card. We found some bargain toys on clearance at Target. A wheel Barrow for just $3.88 and a lawn mower for $3.88! The lawn mover is really noisy when you push it, and Alex just loves all the noise it creates. Give us a few more days and we might regret buying such a noisy toy. Here's our purchases.

We stopped into a shop called Chocolate and got some ice chocolates. It seems as though the Hawks colours were every where. Or maybe I was noticing that they were as were heading to the game. Our iced chocolates even resembled the Hawks.

Maddi was singing the Wheels on the Bus quite loud in the Cafe and attracted a few smiles from the customers. If we ever go to out to a Cafe we must make sure Maddi doesn't steal the sugars. She always gets them and shoves them in my bag without me knowing. Then when we get home I find all these sugars in my bag and she says she wants to save them for breakfast!

We arrived at the Kings, and left Maddi and Alex in the care of Lisa. Lisa has such an easy time with Noah, Harri and Kobe that we thought two more wouldn't really matter! We headed off in the King mobile and was done in a swift fashion. We were intending on taking our car to the football and jumped at the opportunity to all go together. Alex always says there is so much traffic heading to the football and estimated it would take half an hour to get a park at the football. Aaron did so in less than 5 minutes.

We sat on the Gunns stand and got to see where abouts our permanent seat will be for the year. The Hawks were missing a lot of their main team members, but that wasn't going to stop the Mighty Fighting Hawks.

We spotted the Melbourne Club President Jimmy Steins during half time. I had no idea who he was until Mum started to snap photos of him and told me who he was.

For most of the game it seemed as though Melbourne was going to win. It wasn't that action packed and even made some sleepy including Jay who is laying on Aaron's lap having a rest.

The Hawks lost Chance Bateman and Michael Osbourne early due to injury and I thought it was Melbourne's win. Here's Sam Mitchell the captain.



The Hawks seem to thrive on pressure and in a matter of 5 minutes two goals were kicked and they were on the road to a comeback. We were pumped and it was almost like the grand final all over again! The stadium was pumped as most of the crowd were Hawks supporters. Alex and Aaron had booming voices and I almost thought I needed earplugs! The final goal was kicked and the Hawks were ahead by 3 points. It was such an exciting finish. Even though it was a NAB cup game it was still exciting that they did it without most of their big names, against a near full strength Melbourne team. Go the Hawks!


The final score.


We headed back to Lisa and Aaron's in less than 5 minute,s and I think Lisa realised that her family of four boys was just the right size. No plans to have six kids! Apparently Alex slept most of the time but was into everything when he was awake. That seems totally out of character for Alex! To see a post on Lisa's views on the experience click here.

Stake Swim Night

Tonight we headed to the Latrobe Pool for the Stake Swim Night. It started to spit on the way there and we were wondering how bad it would be when we got there. Fortunately it was just a few showers. We all intended on going swimming so getting a bit wet from the showers didn't matter.

Maddi and Alex both had a swim at different times. Maddi had a go on the obstacle course and we created quite a que, as they held off anyone else from going on until she had finished. She loved it and thought it was so much fun. I was worried that she was going to slip off the side of it as it was very slippery, but we had a few helpers to help us out. I was silly to forget to ask someone to take some photos so these are the very few photos of the pool night that I got.



Ness came up for a visit last night. She's back to Uni on Monday, so she took her last day of holidays to visit with us which was nice. We headed shopping and picked a few things up. It's great that we got to see her, as we probably won't see her for a while again. She is in her second year of Pharmacy and it's quite a challenging course with a lot of contact hours. Maddi was very clingy to her while she was up. She wanted "Nessie" to do everything with her and would give Ness random compliments, like at tea time last night she said "you're beautiful Nessie." While we were shopping Maddi goes, "you've got beautiful feet Nessie". Maybe Ness needs to re-evaluate her career path and become a foot model!

Elders Quorum Camp

Yesterday afternoon (Friday the 13th), we set off to Gunns Plains to the Wing's Wildlife Park. We set up camp for an overnight camping trip. It was the kids first camping trip, and was such a novelty. Maddi was very excited all morning and kept asking if we were going camping yet. We got to use our new tent for the first time (Alex got it for his birthday last year), and I had been dying to use it. We were the first family to arrive and by 6 o'clock most other people were there too.

We left home mid afternoon, all packed ready to go. The car was packed full!

Setting up camp

The site where we camped was just beautiful. Lots of beautiful farmlands surrounded the paddock and a river ran nearby which was really clean. It was shallow enough for the kids yet deep enough for the more adventurous. The site reminded me a lot of Pop's river. The Only difference was that there was a nearby Cafe, flushing toilets, showers and more car traffic as people would go and visit the wildlife park. There were also other campers that shared the paddock.

The kids playing in the wide opened paddock.

Our camp site

Maddi was excited to have her bed setup in the tent and kept referring to the tent as "my house." Our tent is a three roomed tent and Maddi referred to the middle room as ''the loungeroom." Maddi and Alex shared a room together.

At dusk we had a look at some of the wildlife park animals. The kids loved the experience and fed the animals. We looked at pigs, llamas, donkeys, horses, turkeys, camels etc.




Feeding the camels
Jared, Becky, Kelsea and Eamon came for an evening visit.

Laurie, Lucy, Lindi and Abbey went for a swim at sunset and came out freezing. Laurie and Lucy are heading for the showers to get warm. The things you do when you're young! I think ten years ago, I would of been in on that.

The kids went to bed at about 9 and the adults gathered around the campfire and talked, played spotlight and tried to stay warm. Alex and I went to bed after 11.00 and I was amazed at how well the kids were sleeping. As we crept into the tent Little Alex was disturbed and unsettled. I ended up sleeping on the matress with him as he was so cold and it was the only way he was going to sleep. I was feeling the cold too, and realised how unprepared I was at packing the bedding. It was a full moon and so hard to tell what time of the morning it was, so it seemed like a long night. By 7am the kids were awake and ready to go. Outside it was all foggy and damp. The other campers reported about loud snoring noises coming from the opposite direction from us. The culprit was caught and named and shamed!

Warming up by the camp fire. The fog lifting off

The Elders Quorum cooked a yummy breakfast of sausages, tomatoes and bacon and egg sandwhiches. The morning warmed up very quickly and we went from being all rugged up, to having to get into our shorts and t-shirts, and applying sunscreen.

The kids had a paddle in the river were all keen to have a dip in the river.

Around midday we started to pack up our gear. While we were doing this Steve, had some games organised for the kids. The camp reminded me a lot of the Ward Easter Camps back in "the old days." I have such fond memories, of all the kids hanging out together doing their thing, while the adults did their thing. The kids had so much fun together.

Steve was very popular with Maddi, as he put on a lolly hunt for the kids. They also had a sack race and played some other games.


The lolly hunt

Maddi in the sack race and enjoying her lollies.



We were all pretty tired when we headed home. Especially Little Alex. The kids slept on the way home and didn't wake when we moved them into their beds. We did some unpacking, and I had a nap as well. I was a little tired after my restless sleep with Alex. When I woke up I had a nice Valentines Day surprise waiting for me, Ferrero Rochers, a rose stem, and a lovely heartfelt letter. Alex also gave me a night off cooking which topped off a great day.