puff and huff

A day late this week as we were away for a couple of nights with Uncle J and Aunty C and Grandragon. Rest, walking, swimming, meals, rest. It was a good break. Or “vay-kay” as Huff was calling it. Because she likes to use the short version of things.

Dad continues working on a jigsaw puzzle he received for Christmas: Puff and Huff have each tried to help with it, with varying levels of success.

The kids worked together to help pack away the Christmas tree. We’ve come a long way from needing to chase toddler-Huff away from the ornaments!

After some time spent tidying the house, we ended up at a Thai restaurant for a very late lunch, where – as a treat – the kids had drinking coconuts. This was about the level of enthusiasm we saw for the coconuts; we probably won’t get them again, as they like the drink, but not the rest of the coconut.

We also managed to watch the excellent Paddington 2 with Grandma.

Oh, and at Puff’s nervous insistence that school would be back in a few short weeks, we went to Officeworks to buy back-to-school items, and they had free face-painting! Huff couldn’t resist, and so was a butterfly for the rest of the day.

More holiday adventures await.

Back from Summer Camp now, which was a packed week with no time for blogging. So here’s Christmas and Summer Camp in the one post.

Here we are at a cousin’s house, with the kids opening up their presents. It’s good to see them old enough now to be able to be thankful without being prompted too much.

On Christmas Day we had a quick pause for photos before church. On the wall you can see the advent calendar we finally used this year.

Uncle M sent some presents to us from his current overseas location. Puff was wearing his hat (and new hydration vest thing).

Huff really liked her scarf, which is still big enough to be a skirt for her at the moment.

One of Huff’s favourite presents at the moment is Elf Lego. Dad was helping out a little with the build, but she was mostly able to get it all built by herself!

We were finally at Summer Camp where Dad was working on all sorts of things, and Mum was working on looking after our kids, and a bunch of other kids. Most of the time Dad saw the kids was at meals. Here’s Huff (her new tooth is already coming back to fill in the gap).

Puff also had a great time during the week.

Here’s a rare picture of Dad at camp.

We had some other friends from church at camp; here they are encouraging the kids to pose.

There was a masquerade ball at camp, so the kids had masks. Here’s Huff’s.

Puff’s was a light-up mask so he didn’t have his at dinner, but he was having a good time getting into the swing of the “survivor” theme with his bandana.

There was a lot to do for the kids, and so there wasn’t a lot of screen time for them (though he continues to keep in touch with at least one of his school friends via email).

Oh, and the highlight of camp for the kids? Getting to ride on the scissor lift during pack-up.

There’s no telling what kids will enjoy the most.

We had a quiet day at home today. It was a pleasant change of pace.

School is finished for the year. There were lots of sad farewells for Puff as he gets ready to go to OC next year. As we get to the end of the year, there are lots of different celebrations – going to Bicentennial Park on a 40 degree day for Puff, playing in a fun house for huff.

And then the swimming school had a movie night: the kids could sit in inflatable toys and watch a movie projected on the wall.

They had a great time, even if it was one of many late nights at the moment.

Sunday we went to see Grandma and Doc, and then play one of the board games that Dad used to play when he was little.

Next week, Christmas!

A rare photo with no kids in it, but Huff wanted this picture taken of the audience she built up to watch the battle between the toy sheep, on the esky lid in the centre. In the battle that played, out the black sheep lost (it was close), but then the sheriff badge prize was awarded to one of the fans of the black sheep, as it was easier to pin it to them. An insight into her sense of fairness, perhaps.

Saturday, while Dad was catching up on some volunteer work, Mum, Huff and Puff learned about how to make chainmail. Huff was strong enough to work the pliers, as you can see.

Puff also enjoyed the patterns.

We visited a friend, and Huff had a great time playing in the sandpit.

On our way home, we had dinner in Glebe, and there was a chance for some quick photos.

Here’s a rare photo of the two of them together, simultaneously smiling.

Last week of school this week!

Keeping up the high standard of performance, the kids were in a play at school. Huff was a golden-egg-laying-chicken.

And Puff was a giant.

Mum had to head up to Coffs Harbour and back, so Dad was in charge of the kids overnight. The night started promisingly for the kids, eating pizza and watching the Gruffalo on TV.

Then we set up the Christmas tree. The kids enjoyed having more-or-less free reign.

We waited until Mum had return to put the star on the tree.

Saturday morning we had breakfast out, then we looked at some birds. Puff desperately wants a pet bird – a cockatiel, and has for months.

After a lot of driving – during which we listened to the first season of the podcast story for kids, the unexplained disappearance of Mars Patel, which they enjoyed a lot – we returned with a new bird and a new-to-us cage.

The next day we went to a family bbq after church , and they had a pool so Mum and the kids had a swim.

Both kids had a chance to go under the water: here’s Mum and Puff’s turn.

And then on Monday night we managed to fit in an evening of bingo!

Only 8 more days of school left for the year!

This week has been all about school spectacular, except for one thing. At 1am Wednesday morning, Mum and Dad were woken by a very excited little girl, showing off her first lost tooth!

A few hours later, Dad was up to take Puff to school spec rehearsal at 6:15am.

We had a great time watching the performances, the concert was huge. 2700 kids in the choir, 5500 kids overall. It was a very tiring week for everyone, but really worthwhile.

Here’s Puff enjoying a cheese pizza for combined lunch/dinner while his sister looks on. She’s keen to be involved when she is a little older.

Gap-tooth-smile photo next week.

Another quiet week for photos; we’re in the normal routine of school, heading for school spec this weekend.

Dad and Puff went for a Saturday morning walk, spotting different birds. Puff here is looking on a branch at a kookaburra: the first one we’ve seen on our walks.

We stopped after a few kilometres for a drink break, but Puff was pretty tired so we cancelled on the other bushwalking for the day, and rested a bit instead.

On Sunday, after church and a church picnic, we stopped at a gelato place no our way home.

Huff was a big fan of their furniture – she took this photo herself.

See you next week!

Dad had to practice doing some low-light photos for work, and so took a few photos of the kids – you can see they live rich, emotionally-full lives at the moment. Huff in particular is being more cheeky when a camera is pointed at her.

Puff was having a lot of fun trying to dodge the camera, but there was the occasional picture where he was too slow to escape the frame.

Mum and Dad celebrated their wedding anniversary this week, and then Dad spent some one-on-one time with each of the kids. Puff and Dad went for a morning walk, including a milkshake for Puff.

Huff wanted to do something else: after church, she said she wanted to “catch a train and go to a cafe”. Dad was more than happy to make that happen. 

It was one of those weekends where we spent a lot of time at home and Dad cleaned out the gutters, so the kids had a bit of a TV-watching and screen festival on Saturday. Sunday we had breakfast out, church, and then lunch with Grandma (for her birthday) and Doc and Aunty S and N.

Then Monday it was back to school, except for Huff who had a doctor’s visit for a checkup, and celebrated her good health with a fish-shaped pancake.

 

Then on Tuesday morning it was an early start to head to swimming. Here are the kids. Puff, big enough to sit now without a car seat, and Huff, not too much further to go until she too has outgrown a seat.

Tuesday night the kids went out climbing. Huff wasn’t convinced at all.

There was a bit of competitive climbing between Puff and his friend.

Huff was getting into it after a while.

And that’s about it for the week.

It was the culmination of a lot of conversations, but we finally managed to get Puff to the library this week. He was looking forward to doing some maths.

This weekend was less maths-focused and more about sculpture – we took the kids along with our other family friends to go and see the sculptures by the sea. Here’s Puff in a staged shot (he had left his hat behind so we made him wear Mum’s hat).

Huff was keen to use her reading skills to make sense of the sculptures this year. She was excited to realise (this year) that the sculptures would be different from previous years.

We managed to find one sculpture that provided a good opportunity for a photo of both kids.

Sunday morning Dad and Puff walked to church, so Mum went out for breakfast with Huff.

In the afternoon we went to IKEA to get Mum’s new chair. Huff really liked the room sets, and was playing some kind of spaghetti related game with the wool.

Huff was also in fine form helping Dad put the chair together, and even managed to put the feet on the footstool unassisted.

Also, happy birthday to uncle M if he’s reading this on the right day.