Category: week in review

Another Mother’s Day has been and gone. The kids were able to celebrate with their Mum and Grandragon at breakfast time (and lunchtime), and then with Grandma in the afternoon.

Huff continues to be full of joy, even if her smile isn’t quite the same as it used to be.

We went out on Saturday for some last-minute Mother’s Day shopping, and paused briefly for gelato. The kids had the chance to try a “unicorn jar”, a trap for unsuspecting parents. We should have bought one and made them share it; it managed a second life as dessert at another time.

Puff is pretty consistent already in beating Dad at chess. He’s dramatically improved his strategy, and even won his first inter-school match this week! Here he is looking a bit weary after Dad cooked dinner one night.

A busy week, but quiet for photos. Dad’s birthday was celebrated with Huff making Dad breakfast in bed, and then both kids came in to keep Dad company while he ate.

On Saturday, Puff, Huff and Mum went on a coffee run while Dad was at training day. Puff found some Groots.

Then they all spent the day doing various homework and learning things.

Sunday was more adventure-filled. After church, Huff and Mum caught the train home (Huff was surprised how short a trip it was… one station… but was still excited to be on a train).

Meanwhile Dad took Puff to his recorder rehearsal, and then we stopped for gelato on the way home. This is forced perspective… he didn’t actually sample my ice cream.

See you next week!

Sorry for the delay – school went back on Tuesday and Dad was doing some of the school run, and then a swag pick-up, so we briefly lost track of the usual flow of days! With Mum’s help, Dad was out the door early enough for a cafe stop before swimming started.

 Puff was at least not in his pyjamas.

Here Huff and Puff are showing off their crafting skills during a school holiday trip to Daiso.

We had a lot of walking to do in the early mornings. After a long walk on Anzac Day after Dad took the kids to the local dawn service, Dad gave Huff his old fitbit, which has reignited Huff’s desire to go on walks. Here’s Huff on a morning walk with Dad.

And on the way back, with a hot chocolate.

Sunday, the enthusiasm for walking continued, with both kids keen to walk to church.

It’s a busy season for Dad, but there’s still time to be found with the kids. It was a privilege to be with Huff as she adjusted back to life at school again.

Oh, and we had a great time visiting C this week, playing video games and catching up, but managed not to take any photos.

The big event for this week was Aunty S’ wedding. It’s school holidays, so the kids have been involved in a lot of different adventures; many of them involving travelling up and down from Sydney to Wollongong, but then a wedding rehearsal on Thursday night.

Saturday Dad took Puff out for a pre-wedding haircut as he was to be a ring-bearer.

Huff had her hair in rag curls.

Her hair was still pretty fancy the next day!

The food was pretty great, but we were eager to keep the wedding clothes safe from staining, so we had to improvise.

Huff was very keen to dance with Dad.

While we do have some photos of the bride and groom, it will have to wait until the official photos come out to share here.

It’s the school holidays, so the pace of life is again a little different. Especially different this time around – Puff had two nights away from the family at recorder camp. He brought a violin too, so he had a choice of instruments for some pieces.

He had a great time, and was keen to show off some of the pieces he’d learned when he was back home again.

Huff is getting more interested in reading as a way of passing the time, and is an increasingly expressive reader when reading out loud.

She’s also continuing to lose teeth at a rate of knots. Here she was earlier in the week (she was given 4 marshmallows in her hot chocolate and immediately placed 2 of them in Dad’s coffee to share).

 

And here she is later in the week – her front teeth are gone, ready to be replaced with grown-up teeth.

From a Dad’s perspective, the first one was a sad loss, but now, Dad (and Huff) are just keen to move on to the next stage. Sunrise, sunset.

It was a quiet week for photos; a couple of exceptions: Huff lost another tooth! And then thought she had lost the tooth. But it was in her lunchbox. So the tooth fairy was still able to cash in the original article, rather than have to do anything more complicated.

And both kids spent the weekend doing “weekend school” – Puff was doing Lego Robotics – here is his jousting robot – and Huff did a range of art appreciation and creation. They had a great time. Huff was a bit anxious heading into it, but settled in really quickly and had a great time.

This was the first time we had both of them in all-day programmes together, but they thrived really well, and it was good for Mum and Dad to have some time to reconnect.

Easter weekend was a long-overdue four days of family time. Here are a few highlights

Going out for gelato with the kids to their favourite gelato place.

We went to Wollongong to visit Grandragon. Here are the kids at the start of the drive.

We also went to the local Eater egg-stravaganza, and afterward out for yoghurt. Perhaps the kids were a bit too tired: this is one of those close-to-reality photos where they’re looking around wiht some intensity.

Visiting Grandragon involved a certain amount of watching screens.

Puff has been increasing the strength of his chess game. Here’s his first victory over Dad (there was a certain amount of help, but it was a legitimate win).

We also managed to get some more soil; and plant some vegetables and flowers in the garden. Huff was a big fan of the garden.

And on Easter Sunday with uncle J, Dad and the kids walked down (and then up) the honeymoon steps in the national park. Puff had no trouble making it, and Huff dug deep and managed to complete the whole walk. It was a very impressive effort.

And now we’re back to the school routine again.

Dad was away for most of the weekend so it fell to Mum to take the kids to a friend’s birthday party. There was laser tag – here’s Huff.

And here’s Puff.

And then there was go-karting. Here’s Huff.

And here’s Puff.

One milestone that we were hoping not to have to encounter was Huff’s question of “does my hair look cute like this?” Yes, it does, but that’s not the way we want her to see the world.

And we had another very early start for the Tuesday, arriving in time for the kids to watch some TV before swimming lessons started.

After missing a few night routines, Dad was grateful to be back into putting the kids to bed again.

Another one of those weeks where Tuesday rolls around and not many photos have been taken. Dad was again a bit busy, though he still managed to go out with Puff and get haircuts together. Saturday

Saturday evening we had dinner with friends – Huff watched (and didn’t want to help) our hostess feeding kookaburras on the balcony, as the previous owner of the house had done.

Sunday after church we went out for lunch and gelato. Puff was cheery enough to smile for a photo.

The kids enjoyed a feast of noodles, but dessert was the real treat.

Oh, and Huff sewed a toy all by herself. Here she is, with singular focus on threading a needle.

People who understood such things said her stitching was very neat and tidy.

Dad has been spending more time studying (and working) this past week than usual, and so time with kids has been particularly scarce, but still present to some extent. Here are the short highlights.

Picking up Huff from school (racing back on the bus with moments to spare), and then going for hot chocolate. The barista drew a bear on the top of the drink, which was pretty cute.

Buying a new tent for Puff’s regular camping trip with his boy’s group, and testing it out with the kids (big enough and certainly dark enough with its white, heat-repelling outside and dark inside.

Puff continues to love spending time with his bird where he can, though the bird doesn’t always reciprocate.

Then on camp, Puff set up the tent by himself and was helpful throughout the weekend. Here he is washing up on the last meal of camp.

Meanwhile, Mum and Huff enjoyed some chocolatey treats without the boys.

Puff had a great time playing outdoors with his friends at the camp, but there were a few times when he wanted to read in the tent. Here’s what that would generally look like.

Home safe and sound from camp. See you next week!