Run for my money

Wow... as a parent you always hear about the "terrible 2's", so when Mac was around that age I kinda braced myself for it - & I think I remember feeling like it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated it to be.....but by golly does 4 year old Mac sure smoke 2 year old Mac in the terrible stakes!!!

He wanted a turn in the jolly jumper - first & last turn as a four year old. He bounced so hard I thought he was gonna break the door frame!

Always a weird combo when he dresses himself. Jammie top, Optimus pants & Spencer's 6-12 month old hoodie :)

The printer hadn't been working for a couple of months & I had spent awhile trying to fix it & finally given up & then Mac comes out of the office one day having printed this. What the heck??!!

Mac, 4 years 3 months

I love him to pieces, but I'm really hoping that he will mellow out with time cause those painted on ears are driving me batty!!

I must say though that when he does slow down (at very rare intervals throughout the day) he is very loving & affectionate at the moment giving Spence & I lots of big kisses & cuddles :)

You're a handful my big boy, but you sure make us laugh xxx 

The house is gonna be VERY quiet when you go to Oz in a couple of weeks!!!

Aunty B & Uncle Pete are back!!!

Aunty B & Uncle Pete moved back to NZ on the 16th of this month & two weeks on we still can't get enough of them!!! 

It's so cool to have them just a couple of minutes up the road again & we're making the most of being able to see them anytime we want! We're so grateful that they packed up their home to come & stay with us for the next year. It makes us feel sooooooooo special & we hope they know that we love them HEAPS!!! xxx

Pete also purchased a matching item to go with his hat but we couldn't include it in the photos here as this is a family blog lol

Aunty B picking up Faithy from kindy last week - all dressed up in her cultural gears for her Olympics opening ceremony. Cutest little Maori girl you ever did see!!

Be of Good Cheer

Be of Good Cheer - The future is as bright as your faith :) 
(Click on the link above for the article)

Yesterday I logged onto my facebook and was having a quick look at my home page when a post from our Aeroview Ward RS President caught my eye. It was  a precious reminder to me that Heavenly Father loves each & every one of us & is totally aware of our very individual needs. 

It was EXACTLY the pick me up I needed right then & there & when I started reading it made me cry because even though I know it was written by President Monson, yesterday he was only the mouthpiece for what Heavenly Father wanted me to hear :)

I was uplifted by the faith of those in the first two stories, but the third & final story really made me break down. You have to have a read of it to be inspired & strengthened by that stalwart mother's faith & endurance.

 If her story wasn't being told by the Prophet you almost wouldn't believe that all she went through could actually be true, but wow when I compared what I think of as hardships to all that she suffered without complaining, I realised that I should be dancing on the rooftops because I have it so easy....o.k maybe not, but it really put things in perspective & was a great reminder to me of how we all need to be :) 

Niwa turns 4!!

On Monday we went to Niwa's 4th birthday party. All the kids had such a fun time playing party games & eating the delicious party food. His talented Mummy Bex had also made the coolest Ben 10 Rainbow Cake!

Thanks for inviting us Niwa :) We love you heaps & are so glad we got to celebrate your special day with you!!!

10 months

Wow so Spence was 10 months old on Sunday! We are getting scarily close to that one year mark :) Not long to go now!

Always stops to do this pose mid crawl - just to have a look around before he's off again :)

He's been alot happier this month thank goodness (after last month's shocker of a month!) It's soooo much nicer to look over & see him intrigued with opening & closing a cupboard door or pulling himself up on the couch & then plopping himself down, only to pull himself straight back up & do it all over again haha.

I love how you can totally see their little minds ticking away at this age as they work hard to discover their world & how it all works :)

I am also totally in love with the fact that even though he's growing & developing so quickly, he still has that total innocence about him & is still so pure. We can really communicate & have a lot of fun with him now & he gives back loads of giggles & the biggest cheesiest grins that screw his whole face up. All of the cuteness but none of the attitude or back chat that another member of family who shall remain nameless comes up with lol....in some ways I really wish he could stay like this forever.

Always sits in the pushchair with his feet up like this

So what else has he been up to this month....

- He still LOVES his dummy

- Still gets wrapped to sleep

- Hates to sit still in the highchair - or anywhere

- Changing his nappy & getting him dressed is like World War III (so always takes double the time it would've if he could just stay still!!)

- Loves pulling himself up on EVERYTHING

- Grunts alot to communicate & show what he wants

- Has the cheesiest screw up his whole face smile

- Eats a truckload - & would eat all day if I let him. 

Yay! Aunty B's back xxx

His typical daily menu at the moment goes something like this....

Breakfast - Weetbix with kiwifruit

Morning tea - banana & crackers

Lunch - sandwich (usually peanut butter) & cheese

Afternoon tea - fruit (loving mandarins at the moment) & usually something like a cheesymite rusk

Dinner - Veggies like pumpkin, kumara, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, avocado with rice/pasta & maybe chicken/tuna/meat/sausages

Oh & he also has a total weakness for fries - but who doesn't right?!

In love

On Thursday last week we went to visit our newest little nephew, Seth (8 days old).

He is so tiny & precious, just absolutely perfect!!! 

I had just downloaded Instagram (super behind the times on that one I know) so we decided to take advantage of him still being in the "sleepy dog" newborn phase (is it only our family that uses that term?) cause as we all know, it won't last forever!! 

When he's older he might find it amusing that we could move him around all over the place like this without him waking up :) 

p.s He'll probably enter the sleepy dog phase again when he's a teenage boy, but he won't be quite as easy to move around & a whole lot less darn cute!

Party at Maccas

Yesterday Dad, Mac, Spence & I went to Timmy's 1st birthday party at Maccas & since the Hekes were just across the road watching the church team play rugby, they stopped in for a visit after the game. Here are some pics from our afternoon. 

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my family???!!!! 

Spending time with them is the best xxx

Serial poser....the gangsta pose is probably her fave. Too cool for school - that must be why she's apparently been calling me Renee instead of Aunty Nae lately?

You can't see the bruise on her nose very well in this pic, but she'd just been to the A&E a couple of hours earlier to get an xray done to see if it was broken after she'd tripped over & wacked it on a step at church

Mac so excited to finally get a tattoo. He's been asking for one for ages!!!

Ella coming over to say hi to Pency. Notice Spence's hands up ready to protect himself if she tries to come any closer lol

Our beautiful little baby Seth :) 10 days old x

Spider cuzzies - I'm thinking different people must have done their faces?

With the birthday boys, Mr Cobbett & Timmy

Mac, the Good Samaritan & Mr Whippy Icecream

Mac was desperate to ride his bike again yesterday so I said that I'd take him down to Normanton when Spence woke up from his nap. He wasn't happy about going anywhere but Onepoto though, so when Spence got up we headed off to meet Tui & her crew :)

Harry, Mac & Rose were having a great time riding around on their bikes & Tui & I walking & talking when that all too familiar Mr Whippy tune started to play....I went to get some food for Spence from the car & when I came back to the entrance of the park I found Mac's bike just lying in the dirt, Mac nowhere to be seen. 

It didn't take long for me to figure out where he'd disappeared to, so I quickly rushed over to the queue gathering beside the Mr Whippy van just in time to see my son right at the front of it, being given a delicious looking chocolate dipped icecream with a flake????!!!!

I had no idea how he'd wrangled this one, but realised that someone must have bought it for him, so I quickly rushed back to the car to get some money to pay back this good samaritan. 

Heading back to the Mr Whippy van there was a pretty young asian lady walking towards me pushing her baby in a pushchair, eating icecream. I had seen her standing behind Mac in the queue & so I stopped & asked if it was her that'd bought my little monkey an icecream?

She said yes & that it was nothing (apparently he'd just rocked up to ask Mr Whippy for one, not realising that he doesn't just give them away without a cost), so because she'd been behind him she must've just paid for it for him :) :) :) (Those smiley faces there are because that was such a totally sweet thing for her to do - not because my son managed to score himself a free icecream!!)

Anyways I apologised & thanked her profusely & tried to give her back the money, but she refused to take it saying it was nothing.

To her it may have been nothing, but to me it was something. I was really touched that a total stranger would do that for my little rascal. How lovely was that, that she was willing to pay for his icecream, rather than see his little heart crushed by Mr Whippy having to say no to his request because he had no money to pay for it :) It's so nice to know that there are still kindhearted people in the world today :)

That sweet lady may have refused any kind of payback, but I'm going to make sure that I keep an eye out for any kind of opportunity where I can pay it forward, to try & do something as cool for someone else as what she did for us.

P.S I have since had a talk with Mac about how he can't line up in the Mr Whippy queue without my permission first so hopefully we won't have any repeat episodes!

Mac's legs covered in bruises from his first two days of riding a bike!! Doesn't actually look so bad in this photo, but in real life they're a mess. I couldn't believe how bad they were when I was drying him after his shower last night