Fortieth frivolity

No, not mine, though Chris saw fit to yammer on about how our 40th's aren't "that far away" Speak for yourself matey, as I am a woman I get to be 36 for another 15 years lol. Nope this glorious natal celebration was Colin's. We headed out on a glorious sunny day, the boys stuffed themselves, played like maniacs and passed out as soon as they had been bathed. It was AWESOME! And Colin, who had cooked the most delicious ribs - Happy Birthday :P

Big boy bed

It has been exciting around Chez Seal, let me tell you. First up, we finally got Chris's truck WOF and Registered and it can now be SOLD. Cue leaps around the room squealing with delight. Alas, as my car needed to be registered also the cost of our fleet of vehicles came to approx $400 - OUCH! We then had the excitement of Kieran's big boy bed being dropped off. We are getting the loan of it for a year - by which time we can buy him a new one - and it is red, just like the toddler bed. K cavorted like a mountain goat on crack when he saw it. Note: I have never seen a mountain goat who has ingested an illegal drug of any kind... but his antics would certainly seem appropriate. K helped ferry all the parts upstairs and nearly wept with disappointment when I said we had to wait til daddy came home to put it together.... yes I could have done it, but I do try and let the boys and their daddy have special moments together. Anyway, Chris whipped out his secret ninja bed puttatogethera skills - mad skillz those - and the bed was up in a trice... and K was over the moon. He loves his big boy bed... and his 14 month old brother loves his little red toddler bed.

Sammy/Bob/Si the Builder....

Alas the days of glorious sunshine have come to an end. Wednesday was cloudy and cool, later freezing thanks to the wind and today we got the rain, oh yeah. Lucky us!! Hopefully tomorrow is fine so the boys get a train ride tomorrow - fingers crossed anyway. Wednesday was going to be my catch up with Suzie day but then I heard that the builder was coming at 8am to redo the vanity in the bathroom. He walked through the door and was met with a cheery "Hello Sammy!" I still have no idea who Sammy is. Builder then intro'd himself to K as Bob the Builder (and Si to me) and was then closely supervised by Kieran until I dragged him off to Kindy. Cameron was also very interested in the dismantling of the cupboard and had to be forcibly removed several times. The day went well though, I made pumpkin, oat and carrot bread, pizza bases and chocolate shortbread. Collected K from kindy, and boy was he in a froth of anticipation to see the builder!!! Isabelle and co came over that afternoon and cavortings ensued. Last night Cameron made up for his apallingly sleep free night on tuesday and slept well, waking 1x for water. Alas he woke at 5am and wouldn't go back to sleep. He is cutting another tooth - and hating it!! He went to sleep at 9:30am, and I had to wake him at 12:15 to go get K from kindy. We visited Nakita - K loves visting "his Kita" then headed home. C enjoyed another nap at 3:30, awaking at 4:40pm, just in time to step outside and see the ambulance on the road outside. K was wriggling with excitement (we were the only ones on the footpath), gloried in the lights and siren being put on just for him, and danced with delight when allowed to explore the back, and being placed in the drivers seat..... good times for a little boy. Tomorrow Henderson and juggling awaits!

Mmmmmm sunny!

Day 4 of sunshine - what will I do with myself!!! All my washing has been done and most of it is dry - this is absolutely thrilling for winter as I really try not to use the tumbledryer. As the weather was so gorgeous, and as K had enjoyed the trip to Ceramco playground so much yesterday, I baked some dried cherry scones, gathered some other bits and pieces and told K we were going on an adventure when I collected him. He was absolutely thrilled to bits. It brought back memories of mum taking us to all sorts of places after school - Noordhoek, Tokai forest, and all sorts of places that were off the beaten track. I remember how much I enjoyed that and thought it was time to give my boys those memories too. Once home C had a sleep while K and I made quinoa patties for dinner. This time we had silverbeet, cheese and carrot. They were very nice! I also made chocolate shortbread as the boys are very fond of it... all 3 of them. Isabelle's 2 came over and had a good time on the trampoline, and then played the kinect game. There was leaping and shrieking and much waving of paws.... I love the Kinect lol! On friday I plan to take the boys into Henderson to watch a juggling show.... I think they'll really enjoy it!

I love the sunshine, I love my squeaky boys!

3 days of beautiful sunny weather!! In the middle of WINTER! Daisies are growing under my washline. This is awesome! I have lost a library book - unread even!! and will have to pay $25 for it.... sigh. But today I managed to scrub some of the lounge floor, all of the kitchen tiles, sort my Kiwisaver, do 2 loads of washing and hang a load out, swing by Suzie's to sign cheques, hit the library and be home by 1:01 so C could have his nap. Once the wee one awoke we headed out to Ceramco Playground at 2:45...and left at 4:30. Awesome day, truly awesome.

The boys were happy and wriggly and wonderful wee creatures to be around, even if C is having restless nights due to YET ANOTHER tooth coming through... and Kieran sneaking into my side of the bed as soon as I head out to sleep next to Cameron.... I even had a suspicion that K was sneaking into the room, waking C, bolting back to his bedroom to hide (cue machiavellian laughter here) and then dashing into our bedroom once I had vanished off to deal with Cameron.... Alas, my suspicious mind was in the wrong....

I found a jesters hat lying on the grassy verge on the hill that I drive up a few days ago. Well, I had noticed it a few days ago and after 3 days decided it was fair game. I washed it, soaked it in napisan and washed it again. The batting had come out of 1 horn but apart from that it was in awesome shape. K loves it, and it now a treasured part of his dress up kit. He calls it his octopus lol.

Bust your booty

Man, the boys were lucky there are no orphanages near us after their behaviour tonight. Appalling, really appalling. Anyway, the week has been a good one. Chris has confirmed dates for his Germany trip and will NOT be able to take the boys to see the Gruffalo - woe woe. Monday was a mucky and messy Playcentre morning and I tidied up the house in the afternoon. You would not have been able to tell however!! Tuesday was Plunket, Wednesday I took K to visit Nakita after kindy and he had a blast. Thursday was another good Kindy day for K and a time to relax for me.... Friday was Teddy Bears Picnic at Playcentre. It went really well, despite me being the one co-running it :) I am slashing my Playcentre days to just fridays going forward... the house is always a tip after the weekend and so Monday is always stressful. The weather was gorgeous this weekend and so I did truckloads of washing - 7 loads!!! The boys romped on the tramp(oline) and enjoyed being out of doors. Chris gave me my xmas present early - the xbox kinect - and the dance game. It is SO MUCH FUN! Chris was rolling on the ground wheezing with laughter as I did the adventure game though. K has gotten into the swing of it too, and the pair of us flail madly at the air like rabid, crazed weasels. He could not resist picking up my camera and filming it. Needless to say those videos will never see daylight. I broke Chris... if only the Spanish inquisition had had the Kinect... they would have ruled Europe far sooner!! Poor Chris is hobbling around having damaged his knee with his white water river rafting leaps :P - and they weren't even particularly LARGE leaps! I shall ask Chris for a Zumba game for xmas and shake my booty even more!! Looking forward to this week. Tomorrow is a free day as Emma's house is a plaguepit at the moment, so we shan't go and visit her. Tuesday-Thursday K has kindy EVEN THOUGH it is school holidays - YIPPEE! Vive le kindy! Friday I may take the boys somewhere exciting, although this is weather dependent. Have found out about a juggling thing on at Henderson Mall - so guess where we will be at 11am Friday... maybe even a train ride to boot... we'll see. We were going to go to the Zoo on wednesday but this fell through. Probably all for the best as the Xbox took all the cash we had lol. And I will be training for my epic 6k walk in December hehehe.

Food, glorious food!

Tada, a new recipe for all you spinach lovers to enjoy... we get a bag of spinach every week, can't you tell :)

130g finely chopped spinach

2 spring onions or a red/Vidalia onion

75g tasty cheese - Cheddar etc

1 tsp nutmeg

1 egg, beaten lightly (treat em mean, keep em keen and all that haha)

Mix together, dust with flour or breadcrumbs and chill in fridge for 10 minutes, before frying for 3 minutes each side. Can be frozen then cooked.

Weather around these parts has been DIRE!!

The week consisted of our usual round of activities...Monday playcentre where the boys got madly filthy and had to be bathed upon returning home, in the rain. However Tuesday was an awesome, awesome day as the kindy drop off went like a dream! The Plunket coffee group trucked on nicely and Wednesday was so very wet and wild I decided not to take Cameron to Mainly Music. We did have a surprise visitor - our Plunket lady dropped by to remind me of Cameron's upcoming appointment and to drop off his free book - which was pretty cool. Kieran baked biscuits while Cameron smashed my Siamese cup.... thanks Cameronbear! We headed out to playgrounds on the weekend and started all over again on the Monday.

Sun, glorious sun!!

The week has had highs and lows... as per normal. Monday was visiting Nakita's where the boys had a blast. I fear Cameron's paint smeared overalls will never wash clean though! Tuesday was the first kindy session in a while where I was able to say goodbye to K and leave with him settled at the clay modelling table.... normally I have to run for my life when he is not looking. Wednesday I was going to take C to Mainly Music but as I dropped K off early (MM is in the same complex) I went home and we had a relaxing morning instead. Thursday was the Plunket craft morning and it was good fun. I learned how to needl;e felt flowers. I also worked on the crochet.... I SUCK at crochet but will keep trying sigh. Isabelle, Madison and Esteban came over on thursday afternoon when I was making orange cake. It was such a lovely sunny day that I stopped at the playground after picking up K from kindy and let the boys go for it. Once home K chilled and C napped (As of this week K no longer has his afternoon nap). The visit was going well until Madison fell backwards onto the cement... I fear K may have been to keen to follow her down the steps. I really felt awful!! We had 4 glorious days of sun this week.... thursday, friday, saturday and sunday - I fear it will not last. I was going to take the boys to Motat on friday because it was free in June.... but friday was July 1st - D'oh!!! K was being a hideous little ratbag and I had to call Playcentre and tell them I would not be there. I wound up popping C in the bath for half an hour and letting him pootle about after that in their bedroom with his blocks while K had a bath. I pulled K out at 10am, dressed him and put C down for a nap. When he awoke at noon I popped him in the stroller and took the boys walking! We went to the library and to the Plunket rooms for I had lost C's drink bottle on thursday :( No sign of it alas. We then walked down to the Glendale playground and K ran and climbed and C discovered the delights of slides. They had such a great time.... and I had left my camera at home - grrrr! We headed off home and got in around 2ish. It was a really good day, especially as I had hung out 2 loads of washing, done dishes, sorted laundry etc so felt on the ball. On saturday I made Chris take us to the playground in Henderson by KMart as it is awesome for crawlers and toddlers and preschoolers alike. Boys had a blast and we headed off to Toyworld as they had there no deposit xmas laybye sale on.... Chris had resolved that K needed lego.... so lego was procured :) Once home C had a nap while I rolled around on the trampoline with Kieran. It was good fun, but I did get a little sunburnt :) Sunday was pretty good too weatherwise but more importantly I finally finished making Cameron's cloth Bazoople book - yay me!! Cameron's sleep is settling down too. We have had several GREAT nights. Last night he slept from 8 to 4:30 - but awoke ravenous!! went back to sleep at 6 and slept til 9!!! We are right at the end of our breastfeeding journey - but he has had an awesome run.