Candy Floss & Bouncy Castles

The kids have just had two days in a row of sugar... Luckily for us, they've also just had two days of bouncy castles to jump off the high that comes with all that sugar!!

Last night we went to Mell's school fair at Sherwood & this afternoon was the Carnival down at Dad's chapel. This afternoon down at Takapuna Ward was by far the cooler of the two though because how often do you get to something like that with no lines & for free!! The youth of the ward did such a good job of organizing & running it all. It was great fun :)


Here are some of the pics from Sherwood...(They're off my iPhone - not such why they've downloaded in such bad quality, sorry)

And from the Carnival....

Was Jo wanting us to believe this was all he'd eaten?? I'm not sure??....No-one would ever believe that in a million years sorry Jojo :)

It's almost always gotta end in tears :) (Not quite sure why Ella's the one crying from the pic before though? Maybe Mell missed a shot in between haha)

Mom Challenge Week 1

So there was a 52 week Mom Challenge floating around Pinterest a couple of weeks ago that caught my eye. I had previously pinned a 30 day one that has 30 things to do for each day of the month that you repeat over & over each month - but it seemed really fake with things like (on the 3rd day of each month) "hug your child 3 times today" ???? or on the 17th of each month "laugh with your child today." I don't know about you all but I don't think I'd be too happy to know that my Mum was hugging me 3x on the 3rd day of each month just to put a tick next to completing day 3 of a 30 day challenge lol.....so anyways, then I saw the 52 week Mom Challenge which is made up of 52 mini challenges to help strengthen your relationship with your kids & this seems a lot more sincere, so I've decided I'm gonna give this one a go :)

Rather than specifying that today is the day of the month to tell your child you love them, it just has a different focus each week for you to think about & concentrate on & which you can hopefully learn to incorporate into your normal Mommy routine as you move throughout the year & complete each challenge. 

You can click here if you want to read more about it. The challenge is actually up to Week 7 for anyone who started it on time, but I only did my first week last week so this is just week 2 for me.

So how did Week 1 go then?? Well Week 1 was to Eat Dinner with your kids. No Phones. No TV. Talk. Laugh. Eat.....we used to do this when it was just Mac, but now that there's Spence as well Mac is pretty used to eating his dinner sitting on the bar stools up at the bench while watching Nick Jnr.....

SOoooo was he impressed on Monday night last week when I dished up our dinner & turned the TV off to bless the food & then kept it off?? Not at all!! He whinged & carried on pleading with me to turn Dora back on so he could finish the episode he was half way through watching lol. 

I said "sorry Son. We're just gonna keep the TV off tonight while we sit here & eat together. It'll be cool though cause it means we can talk about all the things that happened today! You can tell me about what you did at kindy???" Unfortunately all I got in response to that invitation was a very grumpy "No!" lol....

So from there I tried asking heaps of different questions about what he'd done at kindy & who he'd played with etc, to try & get him to engage & to spark something to get him going, but would he oblige?? Not in the slightest!! All I got were one word answers (Talk about an awkward haha - hopefully he improves on his dinner conversation skills by the time he's old enough to date otherwise I think he'll be single for a very long time!!)

I have to say I found the whole situation a little ironic coming from the No1 chatterbox himself! Usually I have the opposite problem where I'm having to ask him to give my ears a rest cause this kid llooooooovvvvvveeeeesss to talk & is usually blabbing away from sun up to sun down....so what, you sit down & give him a chance to chew your ear off & he decides he doesn't want to now??? Man that kid is contrary! 

Thankfully, I'm able to report that dinner conversation did become a little more natural as the week went on, but I still think he prefers to talk at times that are more inconvenient, rather than when you're actually sitting down like this, giving him your full attention!! 

Oh well! All in all it was a fun little exercise that I guess we're just gonna have to work on some more :)

Our last dinner date of the week :)

Azza's visit

This weekend just gone, our favourite big brother Azza was over from the Goldie for a quick visit. The few days went by way too fast as usual, but it was great to catch up with him for what little time we did have :) ....(A little bit of something is better than nothing right??!!!)

Here are some of the pics from our family get together over at Mell & Jo's on Friday night...fish 'n' chips for dinner & then an impromptu dance party for the kids. They had so much fun dancing to "I like to move it, move it" from Madagascar & Kung Fu Fighting, just to name a few. We'll definitely have to do that again cause they had a blast!

Come back again soon Uncle Aaron - & bring Cass & the big boys with you next time too. We love you xxx

    

       

     

6 months

We've made it to the 6 month mark already!!! In some ways it seems like that time has just flown by, but in other ways, it's hard to believe that it's only been 6 months as it feels like Spence has just been around forever :)
He is still such a happy little guy. I can never get enough of that gorgeous gummy smile!!

He doesn't have any teeth yet, but you can see the white right under his gums where his bottom two teeth are going to come through so I'm thinking maybe soon?
He loves his food (which is easy to tell from his super cute chunky thighs)
He rolls onto his tummy as soon as you put him on the floor.... & then gets really frustrated if he can't reach whatever he's got his eye on!! (this rolling is getting really annoying for nappy changes!!)
If he's awake his limbs are almost always moving. This little guy has no concept of just being still - (he's SO desperate to move but I think it's still a little while away) 

He still doesn't like to sleep anywhere but his bed & will generally hold on no matter how long he's been up, until his head hits his pillow (he still gets wrapped to sleep)
He really likes toys now & puts EVERYTHING in his mouth
He still spews & drools (& creates a mountain load of washing each day!)
As soon as you sit him up from drinking, you can guarantee he'll do a burp - & it's not just any burp either, they're massive! Pretty impressive for such a little guy. They always make Mac & I laugh & Mac always says "EEeewww - say pardon me Spencer!!"
He's on his 2nd round of antibiotics for trying to clear up his snuffle :( One of his nicknames has become Snuffleupagus because his nose has been blocked for so long now -think we're finally getting there though!
He loves the jolly jumper & exersaucer but is not quite able to sit up on his own in the activity ring thingee yet so we keep him propped up with the tri pillow

We love this little guy to pieces!!! xxxx

This one's for you B & Pete - he's another worrier like Ella. His life is pretty stressful, so I don't blame him :P (This reminds me of that possum eyes pic you have of Ella, Mell lol)



Letting go

So I've been reading this cool blog for the past month now called "71 toes" & the awesomely talented mommy that writes this blog has a cool idea that she's done for maybe the past 4 or 5 years now. I think she said she actually got the idea off her sister or a friend, but anyways regardless of whoever's idea it originally was, I instantly loved it & so I've decided to do it too....


O.K, so the idea is to come up with a word at the start of each year that is gonna be like your personal motto or theme for the year - something you really need to reflect on or kind of put into practice more in your life. 


The lady, Shawni, from "71 toes" has had really cool choices for her words for the past few years & so I was tempted to just choose one of hers (click here to see the posts on her word choices) as any one of them would've been a good word to focus on for a year.... 


However I decided against it as I thought that was a bit of a cop out and so decided it'd be best to ponder on my own life & where things are at right now & then to decide on a theme that'd best fit me :) 


And so after much pondering & contemplation I've come up with "LET GO" as my word for 2012. I realize it's actually two words, but it's only one action (so it still counts!) Let me try & explain to you a little bit of how my word picked me...


I had to pack & unpack our whole house twice last year (within 5 months of each other) & what it made me realize is that I hate moving!!!....but aside from that what it also gave me was the opportunity to "LET GO" of any "excess baggage" that we didn't really need (not only once, but twice!). 


While packing for the first move I thought I'd been pretty ruthless in chucking out stuff that we hadn't used in forever...but then with the 2nd move I came across stuff that I hadn't even unpacked from our first move & which had just been shoved into the cupboard... so what was the point in carting it back just to live out it's life in another cupboard again??? No point was the answer! It was just excess baggage weighing me down & taking up space.


Relating that to life....With so much going on in my life this year that is completely out of my control, it's something I find I'm needing to constantly remind myself of. LETTING GO doesn't come easy to me in many aspects of my life as if you know me well you'll also know that I like to have control over most things around me lol, but over the past few weeks as I've been pondering on this phrase & trying to put it into practice I've found it's made the world around me alot happier place!


Instead of wasting my time worrying today about things that may or may not happen tomorrow, I've been consciously trying to "LET GO" of my anxiety - what's the point of wasting precious energy focusing on something that may or may not come to pass right?...


Instead of stressing because Mac's come home from kindy & turned the house upside down again within 5 minutes of walking in the door when I've just spent all morning cleaning, I've been trying to "LET GO" of my frustration ....he's only a kid right & it's probably an unrealistic expectation of mine to think that he'll come home, sit nicely in one spot & just read a book or watch a cartoon & keep his hands to himself for the rest of the afternoon :) (although I admit there are many a time when I just wish he would!)....


Instead of being upset because I feel that alot of the things that I'm experiencing this year are unfair or unjust, I've been able to "LET GO" of those emotions knowing that feeling that way isn't going to change anything right now or be of any benefit to help me just get on with it... 


Instead of throwing my hands up in despair because I've just showered & changed Spence & got him all nice & squeaky clean & then he goes & fills his nappy & spews all over his fresh pair of jammies, I just need to "LET it GO" - he didn't wait till I'd finished all that & then do it on purpose....right??!!! (although sometimes the timing just seems like a little bit too much of a coincidence & I wonder if he did lol)


I could go on listing a whole lot more of the scenarios that cemented my decision that the best thing for me to learn to do this year is just to "LET GO" of the unimportant stuff or things that are out of my control, but I won't because the list is too long. 


I think it's what a lot of us could benefit from doing a bit more of in life though. While I was thinking about it I decided that a lot of the time too many of us hold onto things that are out of our control & allow our happiness to become dependent on the action or inaction (is that even a word? ...lack of action) of others... when ultimately the only person we can hold responsible for our happiness (or lack of it) is ourselves.


There are all sorts of obstacles that come across our paths in life & Satan has high hopes that many of them will trip us up, but as I was contemplating the different things I'm facing this year I realized that although circumstances may have changed a little from last year, the things that are the MOST important in my life, are still the same....& so all I need to do is to hold on tight to the things that matter most (things like my family, friends & the gospel) & to just "LET GO" of all the rest.   


o.k well this is getting to be a rather lengthy post so I'll finish it here, except to say that as I mentioned earlier, trying to live my word for the last couple of weeks & put it into practice has really made a difference. It's a really liberating feeling to take control of the things that are actually within your ability to control & then to "LET GO" of all the rest.


There's still a lot more I could do with "LETTING GO" of I'm sure, but for now I feel like I'm off to a good start!!

Optimac Prime

This afternoon was Mac's kindy trikeathon which was postponed last week because of the bad weather. Needless to say, he was super excited when today finally rolled around because we'd gotten his bike all "transformed" & ready last week & then he never got to ride it :(

There wasn't really any question about what theme we were going to decorate his bike as transformers is "it" for him right now. The only real choice was whether it'd be an Optimus or a Bumblebee bike, but Optimus seems to win out 99% of the time for him so I wasn't surprised when he said it had to be Optimus - we just twisted it up a little as I thought "Optimac" sounded alot better for this occasion :)

I made sure I explained the purpose of the trikeathon to him before we left home & told him that he had to ride around as many times as possible to raise money for kindy - I wasn't really sure how much he'd get into it, but he had a ball!! It was so cool to see him having so much fun riding round with all his kindy friends. I'm pretty sure he felt pretty special having such a big support crew there cheering him on as well :) Thanks for coming Grandie, Bubu, Aunty Mell, Aunty Nat, Shylah, Pod, Ella, Jordy & Kyky!!!

What Mac got sidetracked making when he was meant to be helping decorate the bike

The bike

Waiting for the race to start 

Some of the support crew :)

Optimac & Spiderman really hit it off & spent most of the arvo riding round together :)

The support crew getting tired because Mac just kept going & going!

Mac sharing some of his iceblock with Spence :) 

Ella giving it a go - she's a pro on the scooter too. Watching those chubby little legs scooter along is one of the cutest things I've ever seen!!

What a fun afternoon!! Needless to say, I didn't have ANY problems getting Mac to sleep tonight. He just fell asleep on the couch & I lifted him into bed. Too easy!!! If only there was a trikeathon every afternoon :D