25/52 - the swing of things

Lily

Lily and Lottie are now firmly best of friends. I just love seeing the capers they get up to around the house! Seeing the imaginations of a child tumble forth through a beloved little companion is a grand thing indeed... especially a little buddy as sweet and adventurous as Lottie! 

Yes, as I wrote about previously, we are pretty big fans of Lottie around here :)

Well, after the folks of Lottie read my previous blog post raving about Lottie, they must have recognised a mega-fan in Lily, and kindly posted her a little surprise all the way from the UK - five new outfits for Lottie!! Well, can you imagine how thrilled Lily was? Um.... very! :) Such a wonderful thing to do. Lily immediately scrambled to dress Lottie in her new gymnastics leotard so they could practise a gym routine on the trampoline....

As you can see, Lily thought it was pretty funny and extremely cool that Lottie could join in her flipping and tumbling (mmmm, I'm glad she is a hardy doll as she went through quite the acrobatics routine!!!!). Lily is now extra keen to get back to gymnastics classes... and take Lottie along with her (though she seriously informed me that Lottie would have to watch from behind the fence because 'You're not allowed to take toys on the mat, you know, Mum'). 

(The team behind Lottie are clearly as lovely as Lottie herself - thanks so much for bringing so much joy to my little lady!)

Eli

I was going on a bear hunt... going to catch a big one... it was a beautiful day.

I was going through the grass... the long, wavy grass.... (which there was obviously no option to avoid)...

(swishy swashy, swishy, swashy)

when all of a sudden a bear leapt out and roared at me!!!!

Obviously he was so adorable,  I wasn't scared one bit :)

Miles

Little Mr Chill has so far shown no interest in walking. 'Why go horizontal when you can go vertical?' Seems to be the motto of this crazy climber! (I think all the doting from the rest of the family isn't really helping, haha).

 But after seeing a little friend pushing one of our doll's prams, he suddenly decided that walking was a pretty cool idea after all, and now spends most of his time strutting around like this. 

So perhaps he will be walking solo before too long after all!? But no rush, little dude, we know you will get there when you are good and ready! :)

PS Note the doting sister hovering by his side!!

PPS This kid definitely seems to be a talker, not a walker. He now calls all the family by name, including Papa and likes to count to two (not that he really understands counting, just loves to say it!).  And his animal noises are too cute for words!

Mark

His nightly routine.

Around 11pm each night, he rugs up (even in the dead of winter) and takes off for a run around the suburb. Yes, with a headlamp to light the path where street lamps don't do the job well enough, and beanie and even gloves when it gets really cold.

I find it hard to comprehend too, from my cosy position on the couch, haha!! But off he goes, every night! :) Very disciplined, this man of mine.

PS Yes, my handsome hubby is also growing a beard. I am still getting used to the new look as it's growing in, and reserve the right to nix it, but so far... I'm loving it :)

Project 52: A portrait of my family, once a week, every week, in 2014.

More highlights from the week that was...

The kids did not suffer while I was away at the coast last week! According to Lily 'Today we had the best day. And
tomorrow I am loving. I hope you have a fun time like here Dad is having. Lots of love from Lily' (this is after they spent two hours throwing a ball in the backyard together!)

Love those feet with too-big school tights.

Lottie masters the balancing ball ;)

Just some cartwheel action!

Even poor Lottie gets some static hair on the trampoline!

Splits!

Lily and Lottie: Besties :)

Arranging the stones I collected at the beach. These simple, beautiful stones have triggered all kinds of creative play...
and we have more plans for them still to come :)

Sweet Eli had the great idea to sit Miles on the little seesaw with him. And he loved it!! Eli is such an adoring brother, he
happily bounced his baby bro for ages. Love it :)

Remnants of Autumn lingering on our Japanese Maple

Miles examines a 'tugging box' I made after seeing a friend link the idea on FB. An awesome and easy home-made activity for busy babies to explore. 

To make one yourself - simply collect a bunch of old ribbons from the 'ribbon box' (everyone has one of those, right?). I
tried to use a variety of colours and textures. Then simply punch holes with a pencil all over a small, sturdy box. Thread the ribbon so it sticks out two different holes and knot it sturdily on the outside (when it's no longer in use, you can take re-use the ribbons again!). Bub can enjoy exploring cause-and-effect by tugging on one ribbon, and pulling it again at another area. Rinse and repeat ;)

At the coast last week we struck gold in a local op shop. All kinds of goodies were snapped up, including these
awesome letter blocks that match up with Duplo. I got them for $2 and apparently the set is worth almost $50?! Love an
op shop treasure :) Lily is enjoying assembling words... with a devoted onlooker :)

It was a big week for school milestones. And my, oh my, didn't I feel well and truly like a School Mum by the end of it (Goodness me, is this reality?!).

I volunteered to help at Lily's sports carnival, though I wasn't sure how much use I would
be with two kids in tow. However, we all had a fantastic morning! It was so fun to see
Lily with her buddies. The junior years played a bunch of active games and non-competitive
athletics and I helped time and corral them all. The boys loved roaming free around the
wide open space, E joined in on some of the school kid games and Lily and her friends
enjoyed hauling Miles all over the field ;)

We also had Lily's first assembly where the Kindy kids 'led' the whole assembly. The two Kindy classes sat on stage in front of the whole school, sang several songs, Lily played the tapping sticks in the 'Kindy Band' and the whole class just did amazing for 45 whole minutes! I was in awe :) Super duper cute. Lily even had her own line to say on the microphone. The line 'Would the Green team please make their presentation' will forever be burned into our brains ;) She loved it and assured us she was not embarrassed, just excited. She kept her eyes trained on us the entire time, it was so precious. Yes, our proud parent heart's did swell!! Mark managed to get there for it, to Lily's utter joy. I loved seeing all these parents there, wrangling younger siblings or having just ducked out from work, but proud as punch and enjoying their big/little kids moment to shine. They all did - brilliantly!

It was a big week for school milestones. 

This little guy declared 'I love Lily's assembly' and was so in awe of his big sister on stage. What a sweetie.

After school, as I wrangled baby, pram and miscellany into the car, the kids waited on the rather overgrown verge. Before long they were roaming around in delight in the soft, wavy grass, exploring the texture and letting imagination
run wild. As I had my camera over my shoulder from assembly, I got to quickly snap some pretty adorable moments. The long grass was just so fun to explore!

Oh Eli. Never change, dude!

I have decided to choose a weekly theme Bible verse for myself to meditate on through the week. And I thought I would share it here weekly too :) The first verse from my very favourite Psalm was running through my head and heart this week, so it seems a good one to start with!

'I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;

    he heard my cry for mercy.

2 

Because he turned his ear to me,

    I will call on him as long as I live.'

Psalm 116.1