Category: week in review

A bit of a quiet week with Dad away for work for a few days at a conference. On Saturday, we were all out for a family brunch for Grandragon’s birthday. the kids had a good time reading and drawing with the travel spirograph.

Huff also wanted to do some glitter painting, which we managed with a minimum of mess.

Puff did some string art which was quite impressive, we have cousin visits and play, and there was a fair bit of travelling in the car. Huff’s reading continues to improve, as does her persistence at sounding things out and making sense of words. Puff had a good time attempting a science test that was “mostly puzzles”.

Oh, and on Saturday night, Dad was home with the kids making home-made pizzas and watching ET with them. It was a bit scary for Huff in places (and some of the language was stronger than Dad remembered it) but overall it was a lot of fun. 

This weekend Puff had his second camp, in tents, overnight, with Dad. Who also had, pretty much, his second camp in tents overnight. There was lots to do. There was a nearby river, where Puff and his friends could skim stones and try and hit rocks against other rocks. It was safer than it sounds.

There was a real campfire, and the chance to do various camp things.

We also had a hike up Pigeon House mountain. It was tough (Puff was picturing some actual rock-climbing, which he’s not yet tried) but both Dad and Puff made it to the top (Puff was actually there first!)

Here we are at the top!

While we were away, Mum and Huff spent some more time with Grandragon, and then on Sunday had their own outing. Huff’s highlights were catching THREE trains (there was trackwork). Also, going on a boat (a ferry) and getting to take a picture of the sunset (redacted).

They went to the Manly aquarium, where we found out what penguin height she has attained (king penguin).

There was lots to look at, and she was able to rattle off a list of different creatures she’d seen, and even dance around behind glass a little bit.

And her reading confidence is much improved. Exciting times for both kids: lots of new things!

Another usual school week unfolds. We’ve had Grandragon with us for some visiting time, and so Huff has enjoyed having more access to a few fashion add-ons. Here’s Huff with a beady necklace.

The googly eyes were particularly popular.

In fact, Puff liked the eyes as well.

Saturday morning was Huff’s long-awaited debut at breaducation: she has been waiting a long while to be old enough to participate, and had a great time.

While we were waiting for the classes to start, we had a quick photo session. Often you get to see parenting through the camera lens, but as you look at this, you can see why there can be some push-back, and encouragement to parents to put the cameras away. The kids and the parents are interacting with the screen when all this photographing is going on, not so much interacting with each other. Everyone is enjoying it, but it’s definitely a different experience to actually playing with kids.

Huff was in fine form, drinking the whole babycino in short order, and then full of energy at the approach of the class.

Puff made an Angry-Bird-shaped bread (out of frame in the photo), and Huff made a cat wearing a dress (upside down in the photo – prominent whiskers).

Sunday morning Puff was keen for a walk with Dad. We went to a cafe and they had a TV on: it was the live voting for the 2016 Eurovision. Puff had never heard of Eurovision, but saw “Australia” and some kind of voting on-screen, and was immediately compelled by the whole thing.

Tuesday Dad was on the school run, so was helping Huff with homework while Puff had a violin class. Her writing is coming along really well, and she’s getting more confident with numbers and maths.

Lots of activity this week with Dad hitting another milestone birthday. We went out to a cafe near home, with the kids crowding in on either side of Dad for a hasty breakfast.

On Saturday there was a cafe crawl. The kids lasted for one cafe (this was by design) then went home with Mum for prep for a bigger celebration.

The kids were in charge of putting lollies on a big table. We had invited a number of friends that Dad hadn’t seen for many years, and their kids. It was a bit sad not to be able to invite even more people, but sadly there was only so much room. Out of all of Dad’s friends, some still had kids about the same age as Huff and Puff, so they had some friends to run around with.

Most challenging perhaps was the jump-between-inflatable-islands challenge, which was easier for smaller people than bigger people.

Huff managed to find a place almost entirely to herself. Her favourite things were the slides – she took Dad around to all of them.

The next day was Mother’s Day. Mum achieved a little bit of the sleep-in she was hoping for, and then we hit the road to visit both grandmothers. Here are 3 generations of girls in one photo.

And here is one branch of the family tree in one photo.

And Puff had a big day today, between violin practice, his first standardised test, and becoming a member of SWAG. He was very happy with how the day panned out.

Huff – who went to bed a bit earlier – offered to pray on Puff’s behalf, mostly wanting to be thankful for the test, but remembering the swag event (that she had just witnessed) with only minor prompting.

A birthday is an excellent opportunity to be grateful, and there’s much to be grateful for.

We haven’t taken a lot of photos this week. The kids are coming to terms with the extra warmth that comes with a winter uniform, trying to figure out ways to mix them up with short sleeves and fewer layers.

Dad is celebrating a milestone birthday this month, so we have a few different events planned. We had a family brunch on Saturday, and then Huff and Dad walked home (about 4kms) along a path Dad has walked many times before, but Huff has only driven past.

It was a journey with fresh eyes. Huff couldn’t wait to run different stretches of road (“Dad, let’s run all the way to that 70 sign!”) and was keen to imagine seeing different things, to balance her way along the edge of a pathway rather than walk the centre of it, and bring new insights to otherwise innocuous items along the way. What Dad would normally see as a submerged rock became a crocodile in her imagination.

The next day was an afternoon tea for another part of the family. The kids had their own table, and received their own favourite present of the moment – the plush Angry Birds you can see in this photo. They immediately became the favourite toys, were added to the “nighttime friends” roster, and made it into two consecutive evening’s prayers: once for “thanks we were given Angry Birds toys” and the next night for “thanks we could watch Angry Birds Toons with our Angry Birds toys”, except the cartoon that was too scary.

After eating, the kids and their grandfather went to the park to fly a kite. They both had the chance to  fly a different kite and were impressed at the experience (thanks to Uncle J for helping with the easier kite).

Today was the cross country at school – Huff came tenth out of, I think, 46 kindergarteners: a fine effort! Puff made it into the middle of the pack for his group – good progress.

That’s it for Huff’s first school holidays. Ever with her eye on the prize, her favourite part of the holiday was going to the beach, because she knows how to draw the beach, and is expecting a homework assignment to draw her holiday.

Here she is on a visit to see her cousins.

There was more park and scooter time this week – here are three cousins sitting outside watching the playground.

We had dinner together at eat street – Huff was keen to try some kind of chocolate-on-a-stick for dessert.

While Grandragon at home making school uniforms, Dad took the kids into the city on Saturday. The kids wanted to take photos, so here’s a picture by Puff.

And here’s one from Huff. She wanted to try the colour filters.

We went to the MCA cafe, where Puff filled in a feedback form somewhat hilariously – ask me for a copy of it if you like.. 

The kids did some artworks on paper, and then there was a scan-and-data-projector thing to put them up on these urns.

The highpoint of the day was going on the giant moving walkway.

Later in the day we had dinner at a family member’s house. The kids were doing well, but were getting a bit tired by the end of the night. Here they are pretending to rest.

Monday morning we were up in time for the dawn service, followed by breakfast with a friend.

And today, the kids went for another scooter / wheelie ride.

We also had a friend’s 5th birthday party to go to, and Puff had a chance to borrow some books from friends. With a trip to the library, Puff borrowed  5 books, and Huff 13!

School holidays – more late nights than usual, and not much in the way of sleep-ins. The kids are a little more prone to naps than usual, but generally keep pushing through.

Huff continues in her slow journey to be able to eat a mini bowl of ramen by herself.

Puff is in full-speed reading mode, working through the 400+ pages of the mysterious benedict society in a day or two.

Dad tried to give Mum a sleep-in on Saturday, and took the kids for a walk to get breakfast pizza from the most-recently-opened nearby pizza place (there are probably 6 now within walking distance of our place). Huff had about 3 slices of the cheese pizza she was sharing with Dad.

Puff wanted to try and eat a whole cheese pizza himself. He did. This is a rather muted face of victory. Chatting with the kids over breakfast, Dad tried to find the highlights of the holidays so far. Puff said “this – getting pizza”. Dad was quite chuffed.

That afternoon we had a birthday party for a friend – Huff was given a bunch of balloons as a post-party gift, which was perhaps the best thing to happen to her that day.

On Sunday, Dad and the kids walked to church. Last time, Huff had complained a lot near the end of the walk. This time, on arriving at the driveway to church, she put her hands in the air and said “I didn’t complain once!” with great pride.

To try and encourage the kids to be more active, we found a couple of inexpensive scooters. Huff is a big fan of hers.

 

Huff has learned to count to 100, and so to celebrate (and because it’s the holidays), Mum celebrated by taking both kids out to bingo. Both of them enjoyed it.

Huff was keen to try out some of the last of the Easter chocolate.

We went out for dinner with friends, and the kids enjoyed their colouring and puzzles.

The totem tennis is back outside (now that Dad has tidied the yard a little).

It turns out, Huff has some kind of knack for bingo. Here she is with her spoils.

Huff was keen to show off this particular piece of costume jewellery she was carrying. The next photo in this series is 40% ring, with her face just above. She’s starting to be aware of what the photos of her are looking like, and pull “deliberately cute” faces: she seems to have picked this up from her other school friends, as (apart from learning how to smile on cue for school photos) we haven’t been trying to encourage this.

Puff is starting to get too big for play equipment. On this trip to the park, he wanted to play on the grown-up exercise equipment instead.

Sunday morning was pancake morning, and the kids both wanted to help. It’s a balancing act between letting them cook, and wanting to avoid the risk of burns.

We also took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda 3, at the Dendy. It was a bit scary for Huff, but she was okay.

Huff, unhappy at dinner she wasn’t being adequately listened to, stood up on her chair, and said “I’m raising my voice!”. She then climbed under the table and said “now I’m lowering my voice”. Legend.

This week we had the Easter hat parade; Puff is now too big for his class to be making hats, but Huff had a great time with it.

Puff was pretty happy to have won one of the Easter raffle prizes.

Oh, and Huff and Puff’s new cousin was born this week! Dad took Huff and Puff down on the bus and train to visit her. It was a very bumpy bus ride.

Puff managed to keep reading his book even as it was a bumpy ride.

Here we were waiting for the train (we ate nearly a whole bag of hot cross buns together on the way down).

We managed to fit in some family milkshake time. 

Dad had some time just with Huff on Sunday. We spent some time playing in a park, and on the way back to the train station, we saw this display of rabbit statues and Easter eggs. Not quite the Easter message we were expecting, but a fun discovery.

Monday was a public holiday; Dad took the kids out in search of Easter figs for Mum, but we somehow ended up here in a cafe in Parramatta on the way through.

We’re expecting a quieter week this week!