Category: week in review

We’re still waiting for our car to be repaired, and people have been lending us their cars while we wait: we have found different ways to say thanks, but Mum managed to turn one such display of gratitude into a pleasant diversion for the kids. Here’s Huff, getting to wear her swimming clothes in late autumn:

And Puff also managed a similar adventure.

And then suddenly it was Mother’s day; the kids were very proud of the different gifts they had put together. Here’s a delighted Huff explaining how to open the mother’s day card correctly.

Similarly Puff was helping Mum open gifts correctly. Grandragon was also visiting to help with the surprise (and to oversee the balloon inflation).

After church Dad took the kids for a walk home. We paused for a quick break at a local cafe. Huff tried to finish her hot chocolate, but was unsuccessful in her attempt.

Puff’s milkshake never had a chance.

We had a good time walking together and looking at ducks and other ever-more-familiar wildlife, and catching up on stories, but the kids were a bit traumatised by Dad’s poorly explained reference to an old monty python animation.

 We also had a family gathering of Mum’s side of the family and the cousins for Sunday lunch: it was good to see everyone but from the photos, we need to have more light in the dining room!

After many requests, Huff had her wish and was booked in for a haircut. She is increasingly taking an interest in shiny things in general, and headbands in particular.

She was very happy with the result and – as is the way with haircuts – after a few days no longer mentioned anything to do with it.

Mum and Dad went out for Dad’s birthday, and so the kids were babysat with their uncle, aunt, grandmother and cousins for a few hours: Huff and Puff were in bed on a reasonable timeline, which was a big win. Thanks everyone!

Saturday Dad cooked crepes, and the kids had a lot of fun with a somewhat belated breakfast.

We visited Grandma and Doc and then Dad and Huff caught the train home together. It was fun walking home in the early evening, looking at the night sky, and hearing Huff talk about her dreams of being an astronaut one day, in such a matter-of-fact way. 

Dad and Puff walked home from church, and stopped near the old preschool to look at some of the wildlife that was in the park. Oh, and there were slurpees.

We’ll try for more photos for next week.

Another week fraught with car trouble. Saturday we were going to head down the south coast to celebrate the return of the car, but when we filled up with petrol, it played up again, so we drove back toward Menai to get some lunch on the way home.

Puff was pretty happy with the food and drink, but then when we went to start the car, it wouldn’t start. Another tow truck, and now we’re waiting to find out the next steps. Puff was very sad at the thought we will never see the car again: we’ll see.

Meanwhile Huff was pretty excited at the prospect of making a bunch of chocolate coated strawberries. She cut the stems off them, dipped them, and put them in patty pans to go in the fridge. She still has some!

A friend stepped in and loaned us a car, so we could drive to church, but then we were rostered on to make lunch for youth group, so Dad walked the kids the long way, so we could get slurpees. It was the wrong call: Huff made it almost the whole journey, but then complained of sore feet, and having been sold on the walk being shorter.

And then we had the school cross-country today, and Huff ran super fast and well. So maybe it’s just walking that’s the problem.

Next week we should know about the car.

Big week. Final day of the school holidays. We went to the movies, and to Canberra, and we may need a new car.

We surprised the kids with a trip to the cinema to see Lego Batman. Huff wasn’t sure about the whole idea, or about being photographed: it’s not clear which.

We all cheered up enough to take a family picture.

And the kids were excited enough to pose with Lego Batman afterwards.

We managed as part of our trip to Canberra to see some chickens at Kel’s Aunt’s farm.

After that, though, south of Goulburn the car started to overheat, leading to a long stay at a rest stop while we waited for roadside assistance and ultimately a tow-truck.

But our Canberra friends rescued us, so we had a weekend in Canberra anyway. Huff tried out this cool tricycle.

The kids said the highpoint was ten-pin bowling, but they really enjoyed spending time with our friends’ kids as well.

And then it was Anzac Day, and the local dawn service. Huff was interested in leaving this picture she drew of crosses and poppies at the war memorial but then piked at the last moment. Maybe next year! 

Hopefully we will have the car back with us in time for next week’s update.

A full week of school holidays is always a fun thing, and having Easter in the mix made it even more enjoyable. There was plenty of time to work on projects like some of the Lego that Huff received for her birthday:

And time for lots of walks with Dad. It’s not clear if they enjoy the walks, or the milkshakes more.

Easter involved trips to church on Friday and Sunday, where the kids seemed to be paying attention in the midst of the analogue distractions we’d prepared for them. We managed a Monday catch-up with K&D and their kids (and new dog) at a series of different parks, and a day with J&M and their kids as well.

And Saturday night was the hard-to-photograph egg hunt and watching “Finding Dory” at an outdoor cinema. It was a good, albeit late night, with lots of talk about Christianity (given that the event was run by a local church, this wasn’t a huge surprise).

Monday morning we manage a big walk. There’s a huge height difference between them at the moment.

Huff did pretty well on the walk, but was starting to complain a bit of sore feet towards the end of the walk: she didn’t entirely bounce on first arrival at the cafe.

Puff was much more cheery, having been eagerly anticipating the “oreo bash” milkshake for a long while.

Hope you had a good Easter! See you next week.

We’re on holidays at last! A busy final week of term saw the Easter hat parade for Huff and Puff playing his first violin solo (abide with me) in the school Anzac Day service. On the weekend, we managed to attend a wedding (L&N), then a trip to a bookstore, where the kids read books for a long while, then home to show the kids the movie Labyrinth for the first time.

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Huff also managed two early morning walks with Dad (the first one, she ran most of the way) – this second one saw her exploring her shadow, and commenting on how thin her fingers appeared!

After church on Sunday we had a family catch-up, and then Puff had a trip to Bingo on Monday night where he managed to fit all the remaining Easter eggs into his folding snake toy.

Tonight was dinner out, and Huff celebrated the end of the evening by sharing a jacket with her cousin for the walk back to the car.

Dad has been doing some longer hours than usual in the office, but still managing to fit in the occasional bedtime story: he read Huff a chapter of Winnie the Pooh: looks like there’s plenty more demand for that!

Easter, and another week of school holidays now awaits.

Another week. We’re near the end of term, and so things are winding down: last swimming lesson, last drama, last music lessons are all coming up.

Huff is building in confidence with her violin playing.

With Puff and Dad out for the day on Saturday (at different things), Huff had a chance to do some painting, making some gift wrapping for a friend!

The weekend was busy for Puff, going to a maths program on Saturday and Sunday and then leaving early to go to a school drama performance in a talent quest. They did well, winning a trophy for their category (here’s Puff with the trophy).

Here’s the board game that he made at the maths program: he had a very enjoyable day.

This time next week we’ll be on school holidays. Huff was rattling off what Dad thought was an endless sequence of the days of the week, but she was actually enumerating the days between now and the end of the school holidays, in celebration of the days off that she’ll have.

Dad was away on a work overnighter this week, but we managed to have a bit of family time here and there. Here we are playing Tsuro (Mum, also playing, took the photo). When we were all distracted, Huff took a few of the cards and shuffled them, just to mess with us. We laughed a lot.

 

Early on Saturday Dad and Puff went for a walk – it was dark enough that Puff grabbed his headlamp!

Sunday morning we decided to have crepes for breakfast, and Puff wanted to head to the shops, wearing his bird costume.

There wasn’t much opportunity for Dad/daughter time over the weekend, but Dad managed some time tonight: we played sushi go and drew and wrote things together.

We also had a birthday party for baby T, and a drama performance with the school drama group on Sunday afternoon. Overall, a hectic week, but good.

Not a great week for taking photos as it turns out. Running around ever busy with things: Dad preaching, making lunch for the youth group kids at church, even harmony day at school, and the most suitable photo is from a cousin’s 30th party, with the kids working away on their respective craft projects: Puff on some origami (trying to nail the skeletal octohedron) and Huff decorating different shaped craft things to make lollypops and a spider.

Dad cooked pancakes on Sunday morning, but there are photos of the pancakes and not the kids. Figures.

The battle of wills over using screens continues: we’re trying to find a middle ground, but there’s not a clear path at the moment.

Mostly just the usual school week, but the weekend: wow! we went away on a camp with some other families, and even Mum and Huff came along!

There was lilo-ing, and bushwalking, and a camp fire: much fun was had by all, and Mum was still able to walk the next day. Thanks to everyone who loaned us things: we still don’t have much in the way of camping gear, though we are slowly accumulating bits and pieces.

Here is Puff trying to get the campfire up and running again the next morning.

Here is Huff, a little later into the fire recovery process.

Swimming lessons make for a lot of time with one sibling watching the other: we’re trying to make the most of the time by letting them work on some homework – it worked okay this week!

Huff seems to have made a full recovery from having her tonsils out: she’s hungrier, she runs around more – she even walked up to the top of a lookout and back without complaining once.