First Haircut

On Tuesday I took Little Alex for a much awaited haircut. In some recent photos I noticed how much alike he was looking like Maddi, (when she was the same age) and thought it was about time he got it cut.


BEFORE

I knew one thing was sure, that he wouldn't sit still during the cut. So I sat him on my lap. He was so interested in what was going on at the salon that he would turn his head here and there, to check out what was going on. The hairdresser must be used to cutting kids hair as she did it so quickly even though he made it so challenging. He was quite the little charmer with the hairdresser and would grin and smile away at her.

AFTER

Here he is smiling at the hairdresser. I must admit I am missing his little curls at the end, but with the rate his hair grows, they'll be back in no time.

Fireworks Spectacular

On Saturday we stopped by at Chickenfeed, and parked right outside the Bright Star Fireworks shop. Alex said he wanted to go and have a look and see what they had. Ten minutes later Alex comes out with a bag in hand containing fireworks (the ones you can by without a permit).

Big Alex was so excited about his purchase and couldn't wait to let some off, so much that when Little Alex woke up on Saturday night (at about 10pm) he wanted the kids to have an introductory viewing. I thought well if Little Alex enjoys this he might just make a habit of waking during the night and expect a fireworks show every night along with Maddi! I loosened up a bit and thought it was a good idea.


The kids and I made ourselves comfortable inside and looked out the window at the spectacular. Little Alex was so excited and jumped up and down on the spot screamed in delight as they went off. Maddi was a little concerned at first, mainly with the fear that her bike was going to get burnt! But then loved them when the first one was lit, and did a running commentary. She decided which ones were little Alex's favourite and said that he liked the "spinny one." Maddi kept requesting one more, and one more turned into about three more! Luckily the kids were content with the fireworks that they went back to bed without any hassle. The fireworks later made an appearance after Family Home Evening on Monday, and surprisingly there's still some left. It was just a $25 pack which was fairly good value for all that it contained.

Agfest

On Saturday morning, we headed to Agfest. It had been a couple of years since we last went and we didn't think much would of changed, which was the case. We were keen to go to see Poppy, as it had been a while since we'd seen him, as he had just got back from his holiday. Silly me forgot to bring the camera, but we got these photos using Poppy's camera.




Poppy took the kids in this Volvo truck. While Moppy and Poppy were in Sweden, Moppy had a go at driving this particular type of truck (that Poppy and Little Alex are sitting in) with a trailer load of logs behind it. Moppy and Poppy posted a video on their blog of the big truck drive and the kids watched it over and over and loved it. Maddi was keen to sit in the truck that Moppy drove and reminded us that this was the truck that Moppy drove. Little Alex is such a boy with his love of cars, trucks and machines. He was all grins when he was in the truck and by accident he beeped the horn and scared the daylights out of the people around the site, including me!

Agfest was much the same as it had been a few years before, but with a lot less animals which was dissapointing. We were in the search of finding some pigs as Maddi wanted to see some pigs. We didn't end up finding any, but saw lots of cows and Alpacas. The craft and dairy sheds were the best sites there for me. Alex's favourites were the car and truck displays. We picked up a few items in the sheds. A cookie cutter for Maddi, straps of assorted sweet and sour lollie straps, and some chilli sauces that Alex loves. A few years back we got some chilli sauces from a store in the craft shed called the Chilli Factory and bought some more as replacement. Since Alex loves hot foods, they were a hit in our house. Some of the sauces are unbearably hot for me and are the kind that make your eyes water, so they do last a while as you don't need a lot of sauce. We didn't pick up any freebies which was a bit unusual for Agfest. However a lady with some older children gave us a Wiggles DVD that her kids got in their The Mercury showbag.

We met up with Poppy for lunch and spent some time with him before heading off. Poppy had one more package from their travels to Europe for us. Once again it was exciting to open it and we felt very spoilt. We left Agfest soon after lunch and popped into Mum and Dad's on the way through.

We stopped by at Grandma and Grandpa's to visit and give Grandma her Mother's Day present. To my surprise Grandma had a present for me as well. We spent a few hours at grandma and Grandpa's while Alex and Dad went to their meeting in Devonport. Maddi just loves doing all the 'farm things' at Grandma's. First she wanted to collect the eggs, and then she wanted to see the baby lambs. Mum and Dad have quite a few lambs out in their paddock and Maddi was keen to see them close up. Of course the mothers were protective of their little ones, and Mum had to sneak up on them to catch one. Mum caught one without too many dramas and Maddi decided to name it Jack as it was a boy. Then once Jack was put back she wanted Grandma to then catch a girl lamb which would be Jill! After all that effort of catching the one, Mum didn't like her chances of catching another one and picking out a girl amongst all those baby lambs. Unfortunately Mum's camera battery wasn't charged up, so we missed another photo opportunity. Time flies by when you're having fun and before we knew it, it was time to go and pick up Alex from his meeting. Maddi promptly reminded Grandma about her lollies and she was sent home with a bag of lollies.

La Poste

A parcel arrived from Paris yesterday, with items from Denmark, Paris, Germany and Sweden. We waited till Daddy got home before we opened it of course. Maddi patiently waited by the parcel.

I love the excitment that came from the kids. It was like Christmas again.

Little Alex loves his truck and loved putting in and out of the box it came in.

Maddi carefully guarded the sweets. We got some of Daddy's favourite. Some Pims from France, and some Anthon Bergs from Denmark which are plum chocolates in madeira.

Thankyou Moppy and Poppy, we love out package. I love my PJs and all the clothing fits just right. I could imagine I could get away with wearing the Pyjamas down to the supermarket, for a late night shop, and no one would know they're PJs. How awesome is that!

Who said cooking wasn't fun?!

Flour sifted.....Check!. I turn my back to respond to a text for half a minute and hear some laughter. Uh oh, that usually means trouble. Maddi says "Baby boy! (insert giggles here)" and this is what I find, flour on the bench, on the carpet, on the tiles and in his hair, or is that dandruff? It seems as these two think it's fun to have food fights. Maddi came out the winnner with no flour in her hair. Gosh these two spell trouble! So with the cooking comes cleaning.




She's as sweet as pie now!

Maddi with the smiley face eggs. It's the first lot of eggs we've had to buy in a very long time, as Mum and Dad supply us with their farm eggs.


Cutting the dough and singing twinkle twinkle

Spread with Moppy and Poppy's homemade raspberry jam, iced and sprinkled by Maddi who insisted "I need one to make sure they're alright." What a good quality controller I have.

Alex now puts himself in the high chair. He climbs up onto the table and then slips into his high chair when he's hungry and ready for a meal. He then calls out "Mum! Mum! Mum!" Until I give him some food and recognition. He reminds me of a little seagull sometimes.

Aunts and Uncle

On Sunday afternoon some special visitors came. Becc and Brise stayed the night on Maddi’s birthday and the next day we were joined by Auntie Gina and Auntie Ness. Auntie Gina was visiting from Sydney for the weekend for a wedding. She was the photographer for a wedding in Hobart on Saturday and came to visit us for the day with Ness. It was great to see Gina, even if it was for only a day. Auntie Gina recently got her dream camera, and tested it out on the kids, which I really don’t have a problem about at all! Auntie Gina let Maddi take photos of herself using the remote. The trouble with our two kids is they rarely look at the camera. Auntie Gina does a great job of getting Maddi to look at the camera and snaps up the moment really well. I always forget about taking photos when Gina is around mainly because she takes superior photos and think why bother when someone else has the skills and equipment. But I mangaged to take this photo of Auntie Gina with her new camera.

It was such a cold afternoon and we were all rugged up, Brise must of been kept pretty warm with the workout the kids gave him. The kids love being thrown in the air and Maddi loves Brise’s special ride that Maddi calls a ‘rocker’. By the time the kids are ready for the show, the rides will seem a bit too tame for them! The kids were still suffering from the day before with their tiredness and overindulgence and weren’t in the best of moods and went to bed as soon as everyone left.

A little while after they left, Ness called to let us know the bargain of the century. She filled the car up with fuel for just $1.50! The local petrol station’s bauser was broken and that’s the price it scanned up as. Talk about a steal!

Twilight Footy

After Maddi’s party we had to quickly pack up and get organized for the twilight game at Aurora stadium for the Hawks versus West Coast game. It was the first official game for the year at Aurora, so it was quite exciting. Becc and Brise kindly looked after Maddi and Alex for us and took them up to Kid’s Paradise for a visit.

We didn’t really have much time to spare and we were kind of wishing that we could of gone in the King Mobil again with Aaron driving as he got us there so swiftly last time. We made it through the traffic and arrived and parked the car in the usual car park right next to the stadium.
If you go to the football you’re always bound to get a good atmosphere, and at Aurora there is a lot of hype and energy for the Hawks and it’s hard to spot a supporter of the opposition. I suppose that’s the reason why the Hawks usually win at Aurora. We went to find our seats in the lower Gunns stand. I was hoping all week that our seats would be undercover as it was forecasted to rain. We got to the lower Gunns Stand and began looking for our seats. As we got to the bottom I couldn’t help but notice two guys shouting and cheering near the back. As we drew closer to our seats we were getting closer to being under the roof, and I was relieved to find that we were undercover. I hadn’t really thought about the people that we would be seated with, (or stuck with) for the rest of the year. I was about 99 per cent sure that they would be Hawks members. When we got to our seats, it turned out that we were neighbours with those guys who were shouting so boisterously near the back! They were so loud before and during the game that people would turn around to see who was shouting. They did apologise for their noise and I told them that they were starting their own cheer squad in our bay as Alex is also quite vocal during the game. Every 15 minutes or so our neighbours would get up for drinks, so it seemed as though we were up and down the whole game to allow them some room, as they were getting a bit wobbly by the end. The guy on Alex's right was a bit of a chatter and it was good that Alex had a guy to chat to about the footy, that was when our fellow passionate fan, wasn't shouting " That's what I'm talking about!" It seems as though most people had some funny characters sitting next to them- Mum with her man that would kiss her every time the Hawks would get a goal, Lisa and Aaron with the guys on their bucks night, and Kylie must have had the most peculiar characters a few rows in front of her, some people that think they’re some sort of royalty!


Before the game the Last Post was played and it was amazing how quiet the stadium was during the minute silence. There was a deep reverence and respect for a few minutes and everyone removed their hats.

Where are you Mum? At half time I went to find Mum at her seat but couldn't find her. I took a photo later to see if she is actually there.

The game was very slow going, as it was wet and slippery and also to mention it being sloppy. The Hawks held the lead for most of the game and it seemed to get more nail biting after half time with the Eagles getting in front. It was a good finishing result in the end with the Hawks in front. The rain got heavy when the game finished, and we were lucky that the weather held off so well. It took as a good while to exit the car park and get on our way. As we got to an intersection near the old museum, we noticed two guys literally walking in one of the lanes of the three lane road. Alex said to me, "is that the guys we were sitting with?" I said " no, I don’t recon", mainly because I didn't think they could walk straight. But then again it seemed to make sense that it would be them, because only they would walk on the road amongst the traffic on a cold wet night! As we got closer it turned out to be our rowdy neighbours! I bet they were singing the Hawthorn theme song at the top of their lungs the whole way home until the police picked them up.

As we drove home it was so wet that the wipers weren’t keeping up. It was a slow trip home and we were all exhausted after being out of the house for over 13 hours. The birthday girl fell asleep with a McDonalds cheeseburger in her hand. This morning she remembered about her cheeseburger and was asking me where it was. She was very upset with me when I told her I threw it out!