Category: week in review

Big week. Mum took the kids to swimming while Dad fretted about his upcoming uni residential and tried to sneak in some exercise. The kids keep improving in their swimming confidence, though Puff was disappointed in his results at the school swimming carnival.

Huff had the chance to spend some time with Mum while Dad was away and Puff keeps having early morning classes.

After four days of residential (Mum and the kids dropped him off), Dad was reunited with the kids. He was very happy to be back with everyone again.

Huff was glad to see Dad too.

Dad picked up Huff from school, and we went to a bushwalking spot that (despite a lot of litter) overlooks a busy road. Huff – trying to make Dad happier – tried out her “evil villain” pose.

It’s been good to have the reminder of just how much of a blessing the kids are, and what a great job Kel does looking after them.

Huff has turned ten! It was early in the morning for her present opening, and we tried to decorate the dining room a little, and celebrate with lots of colour and enthusiasm.

We went out for breakfast before church.

We had afternoon tea at Doc’s house with lots of family members, and two cakes – one made of cake, and the other made of watermelon and assorted fruit.

Huff also had a chance to celebrate with friends at school, but was still very glad to be home again after a day of school.

Huff has really enriched our lives, and delights in bringing joy to everyone she can, but especially to Dad.

Dad took enough time one morning to help finish a jigsaw puzzle at the end of the holidays. Puff did most of the heavy lifting, and Huff made sure she was around to put in the final piece.

We had breakfast out to celebrate Huff’s last day of holidays. Puff was happy entertaining himself with his 3×3 cube.

Dad and Huff had fun (Huff took some photos of her babycino).

Puff cooked dinner!

And then like that Huff was off to school, in good spirits, looking forward to seeing her friends, and happy that the first school week was only a day long.

Puff’s first day back was Monday, but mercifully didn’t start with before-school-maths.

One other change to life was getting a new fridge for the first time in over 20 years. The new fridge is better in every way, but we’ve lost another connection to the past, and in particular to Kel’s Mum, who bought the fridge when Kel first moved to Sydney a long time ago.

Heading back into routines again for another year, and only one more week until Dad has a uni residential. There’s a lot on this year, but we’re still making time for family.

A bit of an expensive week this week as the back-to-school preparations are underway. New school shoes for both kids, and a pair of sneakers as well for Puff, who continues to grow out of shoes.

It was good to spend a little time with them in the midst of a busy week running a conference, though even after a short return to work, Dad is finding it hard to focus attention on family life.

At least with the challenges of gathering people indoors (we’re unmasked as we were waiting for food to arrive), it’s possible to book an appointment time at the shoe places, which minimises the time spent in a shopping centre.

Back to church with both kids on Sunday; I was impressed to see Puff sharing his Bible with his sister, so they could both follow along with the readings.

A quiet Australia Day at home, staying as cool as possible (the weather reached 40º!) and by next week’s update, both kids will be back at school!

Another week of holidays, with Dad back to working from home, and even working off-site some of the time! The kids were super keen to see Dad after not seeing him at all from Sunday evening to Tuesday morning.

For the end of Dad’s holiday, we did some painting in the house – Huff even had part of the wall for which she was responsible, which involved some ladder work. After some initial caution, she was very comfortable working atop the ladder, and did a great job with her part of the wall.

As we prepare for back-to-school, we made a mask-wearing trip to IKEA which was a quite different experience to usual. Friday night seemed the least crowded time to go.

Sunday was church, and Dad and Puff went along in person with masks on.

And then went for a walk afterward.

Oh, and there was another trip to the dentist for the kids.

This week also marks the start of Dad’s final year of uni, which eats into a certain amount of time. Looking forward to the end of this season of study, and some more time to spend with family and friends.

Another week of holidays gone! We had a fair bit of time at home, but managed a few trips out.

We spent some time playing a park, and then caught up with some friends.

With Mum catching up with someone, Dad took the kids out for a late brunch, and then to Auburn botanical gardens to have a look around. This is the kids looking at the chickens that were in one of these trees. Yes, chickens in trees. Unusual, but for some reason, Huff was very excited about it – enough to head home, ask to print out a photo of the chickens and put the photo in the heart-shaped locket she was wearing.

We had dinner on New Years Eve at a friends house, and despite our best intentions of a somewhat early night, enjoyed the conversation so much that we saw in the new year with them. Highlights for the kids included party poppers and sparklers, plus noise-makers.

Visiting friends again, this time at Bundanoon, we had a short bushwalking trek down into a valley and back out again. Huff went exploring around the rocks with one of our friends, and narrowly missed a swim in some cold, shallow water. The friend wasn’t quite so dry.

We also visited some family members on Mum’s side of the family.

Huff and Puff were excited to feed some sheep, and also to be driven around in a few hilly paddocks (Huff asked to be able to do this).

And then we wrapped up the week by playing some pop-up board games.

Making the most of the holidays, and still – while staying within the covid guidelines – able to see quite a few people. 

This week we had Christmas, and a regular week of school holidays.

Huff was excited about getting her octopus plush toys and some new t-shirts.

Puff was also a fan of his new t-shirts.

Huff was a fan of this photo of the tree that the kids have now both set up and packed away by themselves.

Dad took Puff into the city, to visit a friend’s new cafe. He was a fan of the latte art, even if it was a hot chocolate, not a latte.

Sunday, after Dad took the kids to church, we also went to the movies to watch, socially distanced, the sequel to the Croods film.

Puff wasn’t totally sure about it (nor about going to the movies in the first place, preferring to read or play video games) he enjoyed it.

With covid restrictions becoming more strict, it was a quick trip to Cronulla on Sunday to pick up something for the Christmas season, but Huff was keen to see the water, so we wore masks there while there were people around.

Huff was excited to be out with Dad.

Earlier in the week we had dinner with friends, and Huff, when there were no bananas for a banana split, had the lychee dessert instead.

To celebrate the end of the school year, she had the ends of her hair coloured. It seems like the hair place coloured more than we were originally expecting, but she loves it.

It was Puff’s last day of year 7 this week as well.

Puff made this Christmas card as a bit of school holiday craft.

He’s getting to be almost as tall as Dad now.

Oh, and this is Huff’s Christmas card.

Not much more work for Dad for the year, and then he’ll be on holidays as well: looking forward to some socially distanced festive updates next week. 

We are nearly at the end of the school year; it’s that stage when the kids’ creative work floods home again and we see what they have been working on all this time.

Puff has been telling Dad about a mask he was working on that was a mashup of a pokemon and a real animal, which they had nicknamed “beakachu” (a mashup of Beak and Pikachu).

One day when Dad had a low step count for the day,  Dad and Puff went for a night time walk. There wasn’t a huge amount of light for this photo, but this was a good way of capturing the moment.

 Huff was keen to make some desserts for her great uncle’s birthday party. She brought an excellent level of focus and care to it.

Oh, and Dad and Puff went out for post-church ramen, and Puff filled in some of the time with some timed solves of his cube.

Mum and Dad are looking forward to finalising the Christmas shopping and to having a break from work before the next run of work and uni starts up.