Category: week in review

Just a quiet week for photos this week. Huff has had some fabric pens to draw on a t-shirt and a library bag. Mum and Dad even had the chance to help with some of the drawing.

We went out for a quick fence-walk after church. Dad joined in. Huff had a couple of near falls, but she kept going.

 Saturday night was pasta and pizza night, with uncle M coming over to read some stories as well. There was plenty for everyone!

Puff is continuing to teach himself the piano, and had some help to that end from Grandma. Huff continues to be delighted when she sees Dad at the end of a given day, and still rolls her eyes at Dad’s joking stories.

The kids had an extra adventure this week, but we’ll talk about that another time.

This week was overshadowed by Puff’s first swag camp. Puff and Dad went down to a campsite near Shellharbour and camped overnight, in a tent, no less.

Dad didn’t sleep very well, but we made it through.

Meanwhile, Huff and Jazz explored the world together, including a pretend trip as Octonauts.

There was lots of time with extended family, but it still seemed like Jazz won out as the favourite.

Other highlights included Puff spending 2 hours swimming in the ocean, Huff meeting a dog that she was great friends with and coining a Minions-themed catchphrase for one of her great uncles, Huff learning how to play (and beat Dad at) noughts and crosses, and some adventures in making paper dolls of different kinds.

The kids finally had a chance to play at Flip Out (we were waiting for a time when it was quiet, and the zone swimming carnival was the right moment). They loved it. Here’s Puff deciding what to do next.

Another mostly ordinary week. Huff is getting used to the weekly school routine (although she tends to think that there are too many days of school in the week). She’s happy to interact with the other kids and tells stories about her interactions with them.

On the weekend we had our church camp. There was a separate activities program for the kids, so they enjoyed that, and the grown-ups were better able to listen to the talks. The kids (especially Puff) were much more autonomous, keen to sit with their friends, and stay up later than usual (Huff managed an epic sleep on Saturday night, only just making it to breakfast in time).

One of the favourite places at the camp was the activities room. Huff was very keen to try and play foosball, but wasn’t quite tall enough to enjoy the game – you can see the concentration on her face.

Meanwhile Puff is continuing to improve his violin-playing skills, and is off for another swimming race in the next week! It’s a proud season to be a Dad.

A few extra photos this week; mostly of the weekend. School is back in full force, and we now have homework books for both Huff and Puff. Huff is taking a leaf from her big brother, trying to get her homework finished earlier in the week to leave time for more spontaneous activities.

Friday night after school Mum took the kids on the train for an adventure.

The kids had a chance to catch up with some friends who were in town very briefly!

Saturday we had breakfast with an uncle to help him celebrate his birthday. Huff passed the time by playing with her travel spirograph.

Saturday night we watched some Shaun the Sheep while eating home-made pizza: a quiet evening to help our tired kids.

Sunday on the way to church Dad snapped a quick picture of Puff, who is looking closer and closer to outgrowing his car seat for good!

Huff was keen to play with some home-made play doh, adapting her normal drawing style into 3-D.

A quiet week as far as photos – but we had a fair amount of family time in amidst the chaos of school and other commitments.

Friday night we went to Wollongong to see Uncle J, Aunty C and E. Puff did an impressive job eating, and managed to keep a balance between looking out the window and playing some screens.

Saturday we went to Bunnings in search of cubby-house paint, which was a challenge in having both Puff and Huff agree (we settled on bright red, and light blue – now need to find time to paint it) and Saturday night we caught up with a family friend.

Sunday morning was Valentine’s Day – Dad celebrated by taking the kids out for breakfast so Mum could sleep in.

Huff was a bit run down (she’s even missed her first day of school sick already), but she looks set to bounce again soon.

See you next week!

Huff’s fifth birthday this week – last week we celebrated with some fruit picking, this week was more about spending time with family.

While Huff was with Mum and Grandragon making a build-a-bear, Dad and Puff went to play putt-putt and a driving range.

Jazz has jumped straight to pride of place as a night-time toy, but we don’t have a photo of her and Huff where both are adequately flattered, so we’ll introduce her next week.

For lunch on Huff’s birthday, we went out for noodles. Huff wanted to try chopsticks.

Puff, not to be outdone, used chopsticks too.

We took the time for a quick family photo.

One present for Huff was a set of confetti-filled balloons – a couple of them made it into this head-piece.

Puff had his first swimming carnival this week, placing in the freestyle race, and finishing the backstroke. Mum had the chance to watch the races; so much progress through regular swimming lessons.

For once we arrived somewhere early, and Huff was sleeping, so Puff had a chance to do some pretend driving. He was enjoying it.

With school starting, we’re seeing Huff develop her self-confidence, which can be a positive and a negative. The first week of school is famously exhausting for kindy kids, and she hasn’t had much of a chance to rest, but it feels like there have been more disagreements, and we’re seeing some regression. And then, there are moments where she’s really kind and selfless, and we see her old approach to life shining through. She’ll be okay.

Lots of school uniforms this week. We had Puff’s first day of primary school (he’s in a 3/4 class and enjoying it so far). Huff wore a dress to celebrate.

Afterwards, Dad took Huff for a play on the playground: she’s becoming more ninja-like in her climbing ability (climbing across chain bridges that would once have left her a blubbering mess). It remains true that she will patiently sit on the swing until you tire of pushing her, not the other way around.

We stopped for lunch on Friday at a cafe, and Huff was very excited, as you can see in this photo with Mum.

On Saturday, we went to Bilpin to do some fruit picking. There were some that Huff could reach.

A few more that Puff could reach.

But mostly they teamed up, and had a great time exploring the place.

There were even chances to run wild for a while.

Huff was so worn out from the fruit picking that she was asleep when we stopped for lunch. Realising this was the last chance for pre-school cuddles with a sleeping Huff, Dad volunteered to carry her in from the car.

The next day, Huff was keen to make a peach pie with Mum. She did a great job, and then didn’t want to eat it as it “tasted funny” (i.e. exactly like a peach pie, but not something she’d tried before).

Here they are on Huff’s first day of school.

They were pretty weary of being photographed, but they still found the “Dad – look behind you – a spiderweb” funny enough.

Huff, overall, has enjoyed school so far.

See you next week, where we’ll be looking back over Huff’s birthday!

With the car needing an obscure part, we had lots of trips to the mechanics this week, and only short drives allowed, which made for a fairly quiet last-full-week of the school holidays. There was lots of family time, but Dad managed to get a bit of one-on-two time with the kids in there somewhere.

We played a couple of rounds of putt-putt golf (which is much more fun when you relax your strict rules for how the 4 year old needs to have proper technique).

The kids had enough time to notice the creatures that adorned the park. While we did stop in the first game to let a few other groups play through, the occasional drizzle kept the overall numbers down, and we were able to pose for a few photos. I think they’re saying “elephant”?

A friend posted a photo similar to this one on Facebook, so Dad took the kids to see it – and then Puff wasn’t interested in being in the photo at all. At least Huff is keen on giant comic-book-themed sculptures.

Sunday after church we went out for family lunch. Puff was probably feeling a bit game-starved, as you can tell from this photo.

We managed to snap him out of it though. If you look carefully, you can see the gap from his 7th missing tooth – it came out while he was doing some colouring in at church!

Monday we had a choir rehearsal to take Puff to, so we headed into the city with enough time to help him realise his final goal for the holidays – to play video games at an arcade in the city! Huff had fun with some of the bopping and the fishing games too.

After choir practice, Dad went to the mechanic to fix up our now-healed car, and took Huff out for some Dad-Huff time. We rode on two shuttle buses, and had some chocolate treats.

Tuesday (today) was Australia Day, so we caught the train into the city so Puff could sing in his school choir event.

This is them – the area was cordoned off because there was a 21-gun salute in the same space: when the kids finished singing they put in earplugs!

Puff did really well, and was excited to be able to drink cold water straight from the esky afterwards.

It was time for a rare photo-op with Dad (Grandragon photobombing in the background).

Afterwards we went out for a ferry ride (Puff read his book on the ferry) and lunch, and the kids took turns taking group photos of everyone. Here’s Huff’s one!

Hard to believe it, but by the next update we’ll have two school children!

It’s the count-down to the start of big school for Huff. We’ve seen school uniform fittings, an increased sense of attachment to both parents, and some minor acting out, but for the most part she’s still the same little girl.

One new skill: doing Mum’s hair.

A second new skill: advanced rope-bridge climbing (she was telling me she’d dreamt of a bridge like this one).

Both kids were glad for an outing with Dad where we took a scooter (Huff) and wheely shoes (Puff) for a walk around a big garden.

Oh, and Huff has helped Dad a couple of times this week with some scrambled egg cooking.

Also in this week’s events: a public transport adventure from home to the Illawarra and back by public transport. No mean feat on a hot day.

See you when we’re a week closer to the start of school!