puff and huff

A quiet week with everyone back at school and occupied with homework and speech writing and other things.

Twitter has learned a new trick, sitting on Puff’s head.

We had the chance to catch up with an old friend, and grab a rare family photo.

Sadly, Grandragon’s run of not being in hospital came to an end over the weekend, so Dad and the kids found ourselves back at a Mexican takeaway store in Wollongong. Puff wasn’t entirely sure about his nachos.

Huff was happier with her quesadillas.

We are getting to a stage where the kids are developing their personalities more – it’s great to hear them playing together on those rare mornings where we don’t have anything else to rush off for.

Quiet week for photos this week. Back to school, Dad was still out a bit, but we managed some family time, and a trip to Christmas in July that our church was participating in.

Huff had her face painted in a low-key way (thanks S).

The kids demonstrated they’re on the cusp of being too big for climbing equipment (sunrise, sunset).

Huff volunteered to walk to the shops with Dad for a quick grocery run. She held onto the list herself, found all the items on the list with minimal help, and even helped carry the groceries back. A great helper.

Watching a number of cooking shows on TV has motivated her to be more involved in cooking and baking – we saw her slicing vegetables with a knife, and helping bake cakes, and cook pancakes. Impressive effort.

Sunday saw Dad walk to church with Puff; we had a good time walking and talking together, and we are getting faster (no backpack for Puff probably helped quite a bit).

And just like that the holidays are over.

Earlier in the week there was a visit to try out grandragon’s new scooter.

Dad had a bit of down-time in the second week of the holidays, so we managed a trip to the mountains on the last Friday of the holidays. Here’s Huff waiting around for her brother.

And here she is with a hot chocolate (we’re trying to push back against a trend where we are ordering hot chocolates and then she’s not finishing them,  hopefully a phase).

We managed to take the kids for a “pony ride” (not really a pony, but a horse too old for horse riding any more).

Huff enjoyed the horse riding more, and was keen to have another go on a longer ride – perhaps later in life.

The kids managed two trips to the library in the one week. Here they are after church, patiently waiting for their parents to finish talking to other grown-ups.

Sunday afternoon it was time for Huff to go on a walk with Dad. We managed a long-ish walk in the end, looking at this point for some ducks to feed.

We kept going until we found a large field where we could feed some other birds, and then had to hustle to race the setting sun, before it was too dark to make it back!

Overall, an excellent adventure, and a good counterpoint to Dad’s earlier walk with Puff.

First week of the school holidays down. Dad had a lot of different work activities to go to, so there were a few questions of “when will we see you next”, which was a bit of a challenge to overcome.

Puff continues to bond with Twitter; the latest achievement is having the latter perch on the former’s shoulder without trying to fly away.

Huff, inspired by shows like “nailed it” has been eagerly baking cakes for different people, and doing an excellent job.

We visited Aunty S and Uncle N and their new puppy, and took them a cake (Huff wasn’t such a fan of eating the orange and chocolate cake, but did an excellent job making it).

After catching up with Uncle M, we managed a bit of time together as a family (and even a trip to a bookstore without buying anything: Puff found many books he was happy with, but Huff was having trouble finding something she wanted). We had hot drinks instead.

After the bookshop trek, we made a journey to the local library (just Dad and the kids) – Huff was keen to walk along this very high retaining wall, and made it most of the way along before getting a bit nervous and turning back. Had she pressed on, she could have walked down the steps on the far side – lesson learned for next time.

This week, the holidays continue. Hopefully a greater variety of photos next time!

Holiday week this week. Puff continues to bond with Twitter, who this week went on a walking adventure in the house, sitting on Puff’s book about cockatiels.

It was Huff’s teacher’s birthday on the last day of term, so Huff was very keen to take in a cake. Mum helped with the decorations.

We had a family movie trip: just Mum, Dad, Huff and Puff to see the new Incredibles movie; it was a really enjoyable time.

Lots of trips back and forth to visit family members this week, so not so many photos. Kids are loving school holidays, and becoming expert at describing the Ninja Warrior adventures.

The kids were making a big stack of cups on a weekend morning, such that Huff wanted to get a photo of Puff’s efforts. Here is the result.

Saturday afternoon was Puff’s most recent recorder concert. Here he was at arrival to the rehearsal; they sounded really good at performance time!

Sunday, Mum and Huff headed to visit Grandragon while Dad and Puff went to some training that church was running, but before – we went for lunch. Puff was made to feel really welcome, with lots of compliments for his good manners.

Huff was mostly behind the scenes (and behind the camera) as far as this week’s adventures, but as the architect of pancakes for breakfast on Sunday there was some cause for celebration.

There was also school dancing this week, but there’s nothing much we can put online for that.

See you next week!

Fairly uneventful week as far as photos go. After the previous week’s adventures at the Opera House, we had a rare Saturday with nothing scheduled, so the kids made it a pyjama day. Puff had a lot of screen time.

 He still managed to find time to play with his bird (Twitter) who will now climb up on his hand, and even managed a couple of small indoor flights out of the cage, before being returned to the cage again happily.

Sunday was a flurry of activity, with Huff’s Sunday School presentation, and then racing down to the southern highlands for a family gathering on Mum’s side of the family.

Puff continued his origami work, impressing some of the gathered aunts and uncles.

And Huff decided that climbing up a giant steep hill would be fun.

Puff came along for the walk (as did the cousins and uncle J), saying at the top of the hill “I wish I’d brought my water bottle, hashtag mountain regrets”.

And then there were some unsuccessful attempts at skimming stones. Need more practice!

It’s our final week for the year of Puff’s opera house performances. Dad picked him up from the Opera House on Saturday and we went for an epic early dinner of dumplings, a trip to the MCA to spend 20 minutes looking at artworks (including hearing the 18-hour clock chiming) and crepes for dessert.

Puff has been levelling up in the difficulty of origami projects that he’s been attempting, completing this concave tetrahedron in a single (school) day.

Here he is hiding his face in preparation for the Opera House performance.

Meanwhile, Huff was posing in front of the light cubes left over from the end of the Vivid festival.

Dad and Huff went to Spice Alley. Not sure if this is meant to be a ride-on toy, but Huff thought so (we came back to this three times).

Walking with Huff, she picked up leaves on the ground, making the big leaf “hug” the smaller leaves. On reflection, she said that the smaller leaves must have been found in an orphanage, as they don’t look the same.

One last picture of Puff, looking confident before the concert. It was good for us as proud parents to get to see and hear him perform after all the drop-offs.

It’s an ordinary week of school, leading into winter camp! Huff came to junior camp with Mum and Dad, and enjoyed the kids program. Here she is doing some fancy colouring in.

Dad was pretty busy over the weekend, but managed to read one Bible story to her on Sunday night.

Meanwhile Puff was at 5-6 camp as a camper. Mum dropped him at the campsite and he was off! It was a fun, tiring weekend, and he had a great time.

On the way home we visited Grandragon, and Huff had the chance to try out this cool chair!

Next week we’re back to the Opera House.

Poor Puff, though he had a good weekend at camp the previous weekend, has been a bit run-down this week. He reluctantly had dinner out with the family on Friday night, not eating much, and even skipping dessert, but after some extra steps taken for him to rest, he seems to have bounced again now. In the spirit of not everything looking polished and cheerful on the blog, here’s a sample of what bad parents we are.

Huff on the other hand, had a great time, cooking dinner right at the table.

She is still a bit gappy, but the top teeth are starting to make their arduous journey down from the gums.

Saturday was Doc’s birthday, and we celebrated with afternoon tea. Huff received a new cardigan that Grandma made for her, and wore it for a rare lunch with Mum-and-Dad while a still-weary Puff had what turned out to be a four-hour-long recorder rehearsal.

He was tired enough afterward that he didn’t even ask to stop for gelato this time. It’s a relief that as of tonight he seems to be on the mend. Just in time for another busy weekend!