39/52 - a gappy smile and a splash

Lily

Oh, that adorable gap!! 

Yes, she finally lost one of her front teeth (the other one is not far behind). Oh, my heart. Even though she has already lost the bottom two, losing the top tooth just got me. I mean, who cares about the bottom teeth, right?! But those front teeth - just losing one has left the cutest little (big!) gap, it's changed her whole face, and it's transformed her voice into a ridiculously cute lisp. She will be a whole new grown up lady when those front teeth come in. But for right now - she is just one very proud little gappy-toothed girl.

Eli 

My happy helper. 

Every day when we go to pick up his sister from Kindy, he is just sooooo excited to see her again. He has lately taken it upon himself to be the 'door man'. Five minutes before the bell even rings, he pulls open the super-heavy door through which the Kindy classes exit, and patiently holds it open till the bell rings and the class comes streaming out. 'Oh, thank you for helping' says Lily's teacher every day, in response to Eli's cheery smile. 

As soon as Lily emerges, he throws his arms around her in glee, reunited with his best buddy at last. What a little darling.

(iPhone pic)

Miles

Our whole tribe went to the pool this week, to watch Lily and Eli do their final swim class for the term, then we had a family splash around in the pool. It was so lovely to all play in the water together (Daddy too - he usually takes Lily and Eli to class). 

Miles was pretty fascinated with the whole pool environment and I was pretty impressed with those adorable little chicken legs toddling around... it's been many months since it's been warm enough to have those little pins on view!

He was in awe of the big pool and it was just gorgeous to swim with him and see him enjoying floating around. His giggles were as cute as his mass of wet ringlets. A lot more pool sessions to come - bring it on!!

Mark

Hard at work at the kitchen sink, once more!

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

More highlights from the week that was...

The 'tooth fairy' was extra generous due to the grandparents being in town ;)

Goldilocks

Stolen property

And there she goes...

Inspired by this lovely post on block play by my lovely friend at Happiness is Here, I laid out this little 'invitation' for the kids with blocks, glass beads, felt, sticks and a mirror...

The next morning this little city appeared :)

One of the many blessings of having my in-laws living with us at the moment is that the school day hairstyles have suddenly gotten a lot more elaborate thanks to the efforts of Nan! Braids and bows and all the things I don't have time, talent or patience for! Needless to say, Lily is loving it and it is just precious to see these daily rituals form between grandparent and
grandchild.

cousins x nine, all in a line

Just a few more photos to wrap up our beach week... and then I'm done, promise!! ;)

The kids loved walking Miles up and down this little path next to our cabin. Miles loved it too! And in their PJs no less ;)

There were several lizards (I am sure there is a more precise name?!) spotted creeping around the rocks in front of our cabins. The kids were determined to catch/pat one and spent a good half hour one morning, doing their best to track one down. I just love seeing the kids lost in their little world like this. Ah, childhood.

'Hmmmm, any lizards lured into my bucket of tasty leaves yet. No??? I can't believe this isn't working!!'

Waiting patiently with a paper towel, to capture the lizard. It was a long wait. Mmmm, any guesses if this venture was successful? Heehee, they were not too discouraged, most of the fun was in trying!

Grubby, sleepy face

At the end of a long day, we attempted to get a shot of the cousins together. They weren't all thrilled with our great idea, but they sat for the photo, and with nine kids ages six and under, let's call that a WIN!!!! And aren't they adorable?! What a clan!
Sam (2), Miles (1), Eli (4), Lily (6), Frankie (5m), Alaia (2), Alex (2), Joseph (2), Violet (6m). 

Guess which two were most particularly unimpressed with our photo shoot? For some unknown reason, my little ray of sunshine Miles was NOT pleased, and Alex had his bottom lip to clearly state his displeasure. Awww ;)

Although sadly not a part of each other's daily lives, these nine are so blessed to have each other. So many fun adventures ahead!

Much happier now, running free, leaping off the sand dune! If only you could hear the happy shrieks and giggles :)

The triplets plan their attack!

Joseph was so impressed with Eli's flying leap...

Getting some air!

Like peas in a pod

L&E discovered that rolling down the hill together was hysterically funny. Rinse and repeat one hundred times! They also tried rolling down while laying head to head and holding hands as they spun. Funny kiddos :)

Our last night - we had to have the compulsory fish and chips on the beach of course! This is what fish and chips for twenty people looks like!!! Eli takes an anticipatory peek :)

Ahhh, it was a wonderful week. Already feels like forever ago. Happy little beach days, great memories with family.... good times :)

38/52 - oh, buttons... it's your lucky day!

Lily

Blowing bubbles, giggling wildly, scruffy hair and dressed in some kooky concoction of her own creation...

That's my girl! She is just magic.

Eli

E was mid-way through his morning chore of unstacking the dishwasher (he does the bottom rack and Lily does the top and cutlery). He announced to me as I was passing by 'I'm going to do Lily's dishwasher too - as a kindness'.

He then called to his sister, 'Lily!! I'm doing your bit of the dishwasher!'

'Ohhhh, thank you, Eli!!' she called back from her bedroom where she was getting ready for school.

He then replied in a booming, gameshow-host type of voice...

'That's ok! 'Cos it's yourrrr LUCKYYY DAAAAY!!!'

Oh, sweet boy. You had me chuckling and smiling over that for the rest of the day. You have such a kind and helpful little heart xx

Miles

With each of our kids, we've aimed to keep them TV-free till as close to the recommended age of two years old as possible. And honestly, before about that age have never really felt the 'need' for TV for them anyway. For all three, their first TV introduction has ended up being around the age of 21-22 months (when my sleepy-heads finally drop their morning naps and some of those looong morning need to be filled!). 

With us all being sick this past week, and many days spent at home, one morning it suddenly (ha!) seemed like the right time to let Miles enjoy that rite of passage for Aussie kids... Playschool. As you can see... he was pretty enchanted with this TV thing ;) It was so cute how he sat up there, smiling at me, I could tell he felt like such a 'big boy'! Got himself nice and comfy. For five minutes anyway... then I heard the noise of him dropping my earrings into a glass of water!!! (Silly me, leaving them on the nearby side table the night before!). 

The next morning after breakfast, however, he toddled straight into the loungeroom, sat on the couch just like so, with remote in hand, no less! Cheeky or what?! He won't be watching Playschool every day, but that precious 20 minutes might save both our sanity on some long home days from here on in ;) (I have no illusions about who the benefit of TV is actually for, haha)

Mark

Post-breakfast bench-wiping. Love a man who cleans the kitchen :)

(Sometimes it feels like we spend 75% of our day wiping these benchtops??!! Ha.)

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

More highlights from the week that was....

Every morning he asks 'Car? Car??' - he just loved to go out in the car, or anywhere outside. This particular morning he took matters in his own hands, taking my keys from my bag and attempting to unlock the door to make his own way out! I guess he figured he would drive himself?! ;)

Celebrating my wonderful step-dad's 60th with all our family for a big cafe lunch. The kids were pleased to enjoy the birthday cake at their own cute cafe table - with Cousin Alaia there to join the fun too :)

Gotta finish off with a Babycino of course!

Hearing shrieks and giggles in the backyard, I creep out to discover these two, dressed
up, rocking the swings together and having a grand old time. Ahhh, childhood :)

The best gift I ever gave them was each other :)

I found a tin of vintage buttons in the cupboard, actually passed on to us from Mark's dear grandmother who has now passed away, and thought the kids might enjoy sorting through them. I placed them on the play table and watched Miles respond. One quiet evening, he had a ball picking through them, intently moving them from basket to tin and making little collections. He did a wonderful job not putting any in his mouth or throwing them on the ground. 

(Well, this time anyway. A few days later he dropped the whole tin on the ground and it was quite the mess!!)

Oh, those curls. Snip, snip is getting closer but not juuuuust yet!

Before school: She decides to create a giant bird collage. As you do! (I rotated the photo, sorry the angle is funny!)

My scruffy, beautiful girl