Trip to meet gorgeous Aly

Our gorgeous niece Alyssandra was born on 8th March 2015, but due to our holiday to New Zealand we couldn't go and meet her until Saturday 23rd May. We were very excited to have a trip up to see our Queensland family and to meet the newest addition. She did not disappoint! She is such a happy little girl and Maddie is a loving big sister. Well done to Jenny and Ryan!

Daniel and Maddie had a fun time playing together and helping 'look after' Aly.

 All dressed.

Nana J and Boompa are very proud grandparents.

Daniel found the game 'Barrel of Monkeys' and learnt how to hook them up. Lots of concentration.

James decided that the monkeys should be used on Eliza.

Cousin fun

I love that our kids love books. Such a blessing!

The bikes and scooters are always lots of fun!

And of course we enjoyed lots of baby girl cuddles. She is just adorable.

Even cuddles to put her to sleep!

Uncle James enjoying his cuddles.

Daniel loves his new little cousin.

And Eliza loved looking at her and wanting to point at her.

Maddie even had some lovely cuddles.

And Aunty Jen enjoyed cuddles with our 'baby' girl.

Eliza seems to love animals. At home she gravitates toward Chilli. In Hervey Bay she just kept going to give Benny cuddles and pats. We are very lucky that Benny is such a calm dog.

 Maddie and Daniel enjoyed making fairy gardens in the dirt.

Aly is beautiful and very cute. She is just so happy and smiley.

I love this photo of Aunty Jen and Aly. She is such a great Mum.

Daniel and Maddie are so cute together. They do have times of wanting their own way but they do love each other. 

Watching Eliza with Boompa is gorgeous. When she sees him, she walks/crawls over and gives him a cuddle. Just beautiful to see!

Whilst in Hervey Bay she grew in confidence with her walking, holding hands to move around more and taking a couple of steps.

On our last morning there we had breakfast together at a cafe. When Maddie arrived, she went up to Daniel and gave him a hug. It was so sweet!

 Eliza enjoyed playing with Aly and Aly seemed to enjoy Eliza.

Nana J and Boompa with their 2 youngest grandkids.

After breakfast we had a few more cuddles back at Nana J and Boompa's before heading to our plane. More sleepy cuddles.

We then headed back to the airport for our flight home. It is hard to say bye.

It was such a lovely time, even though it was so short. We miss Aly and seeing her grow, as well as the rest of the family, but we look forward to seeing everyone again when we make it back up there.
 

Oh My Word. Big Catch Up Blog!

Just going back through photos that I have intended to put up on the blog and I am horrified at how far behind I have gotten. So sorry to my Queensland family who look at the blog to see what has been happening in our little family and the growth of Daniel and Eliza. I have just been tired and unmotivated to do things most nights lately and so tv/dvds have taken priority. I am hoping to catch up now though.

After we came back from New Zealand we had Mothers' Day. I was spoilt by my gorgeous family with lots of cuddles, hand-made cards from both kids (done at library), hand-made bookmark from both kids and a ring that we bought from New Zealand. We headed to Auntie Sue's place for lunch and also to celebrate Mum's birthday. The kids had a great time blowing out the candles from the cake with Nana.

I love being a mum to these 2 cute kiddies.

Eliza enjoys trying to put on hats. She can put on caps but the other hats she is still working on but looks very cheeky when she tries.

Daniel just loves playing in Eliza's cot. It is often short plays but he enjoys it so much. He's a funny one.

Eliza has learnt how to do 'shhh'. This is mainly from singing 'Rock-a-bye bear'.

Eliza is appearing to be a climber. It is only up small things at the moment but I'm not looking forward to her growing up. Who knows what she will get into! Here she is, sitting on Daniel's car park.

Peek-a-boo is a popular game. I love the joy on both Daniel and Eliza's face.
Where's Eliza?

There she is.

 

Daniel had to join in the fun.


I love it when the kids play well together. Here they are playing their own version of connect 4 at Nana and Poppy's place. It's called 'drop the counters in'.

Oh the concentration!

Daniel and Eliza have started to give each other cuddles. They're cuties!

Thursday night dinners make fun times with the family. One night it was time on shoulders. Lucky parents.

James had to do some practice for band and was trying out different keys on his guitar and Daniel decided to join in, followed by Eliza. It was gorgeous to watch them all playing together! I do love how they enjoy music as much as James and I do!

Playing outside is lots of fun. Eliza has taken to riding the little car, while Daniel still zooms around on his bike and his car. It is nice to spend the time outside when the weather is nice.

I do love my boy and how much he loves food. We get the fruit and vegetables box from Aussie Farmers Direct and Daniel loves finding out what food we get each week. One morning I heard him opening the fridge and I wondered what he was getting. Most kids it would be chocolate or lollies... not my boy. I walked into the kitchen to find he pulled out the lettuce and was ripping off parts of it, running to the bathroom to wash it and then eating it. Funny boy!

With Daniel doing toilet training, the toilet door is sometimes left open. Most of the time I get to it before Eliza goes exploring, however, one Thursday when the Howies were over I wasn't so quick. Jenny and I wondered where Eliza was. We walked down the hallway to find her like this.

Toilet paper is a fun toy!

For my birthday, James and the kids surprised me with an adventure, a tree top adventure. We went to the Tree Top Crazy Rider (http://www.treetopcrazyrider.com.au/) and I got to go on a rollercoaster in the sky. It was lots of fun! I would have loved to experience it with James but it was still an amazing experience. Definitely one to remember.

Ready for my adventure

On the way down

We then went out for lunch at the Entrance. It was a nice time sitting on the grass, watching the kids play on the equipment. Eliza was a bit more into exploring the place which was nice to see.

Birthday kisses from my boy

Rolling down the hill

My boys

For my birthday we went to Auntie Sue's place for lunch. Eliza had grown in confidence with standing up on her own. Very clever girl!

Daniel enjoyed having a turn on Oscar's bike (with Uncle Howie's help)

Oscar had fun entertaining Daniel and Eliza while we waited for cake time and then the kids helped me blow out the candles.

 And then because Poppy would be away for his birthday, he blew out the candles too.

Grayma liked to come and visit us around once a month and it is lovely to see her with the kids. Last month when she came around for lunch, Eliza took her by the hand and walked to the backroom with her. It was very beautiful to see!

Grayma also loves reading books with Daniel.

 We went on an adventure to the Reptile Park which was a lot of fun. Daniel was interested in the spider section and the reptiles. He was cooperative in doing the token scream in the crocodile's mouth.

We were lucky enough to see the 5 day old dingo puppies which were so very cute! I look forward to seeing them grow at future visits. The mother dingo was very patient with the photographer taking photos of her babies.

Daniel liked talking to the birds. Here he was interested in the kookaburra but wasn't keen to get too close.

And then we had fun at the park. Definitely a highlight of the Reptile Park.

 For Daniel's birthday he was given some puzzles. This has spurred on a love for doing puzzles, and mostly doing them on his own. He has been pulling out other puzzles from Christmas too to complete. I do love that he is keen to do puzzles. I hope it continues as he grows up and we can do some puzzles together.

Concentrating on his puzzle

Proud of himself. I did it all by myself!

Daniel has recently worked out how to cut up the wooden sandwich toys that he got for Christmas. He decided to make his sandwich next to Daddy making our sandwiches for lunch.

Daniel just loves the Wiggles. He enjoys playing and singing along with them too. The Wiggles are often our fall back music to help him settle if he is upset after nap times. Enjoy our Wiggles Wannabe

Eliza just loves balloons! We don't have any at our place but she does love playing with them at other people's places, like the Howies.

They also have an aeroplane that flies around on the roof. Eliza and Daniel are fascinated by it. Eliza was so excited, she kept saying aeroplane.

Daniel and Eliza both enjoy sitting on Daniel's little couch. It does bring a lot of smiles.

Daniel has started to teaching himself how to bounce balls. He still finds it pretty difficult but he does seem to be happy trying to bounce balls.

Before eating our meals the kids say grace to God, thanking him for their food. When Daniel was little we told him to hold our hands for grace. As he reached 'Mr Independent' stage he decided to hold his own hands. Eliza has watched him and now copies him as she says grace.

Daniel just loves to read books. He often reads books as he goes to sleep and when he wakes up in the morning. One night I went in to check on him I had to muffle my laughter. I went and got James and then showed him Daniel. The gorgeous little guy had fallen asleep while reading his book and it ended up on his face. He was snoring away underneath it.

I just love watching Daniel and Eliza together. Daniel really likes making Eliza laugh. It is too sweet.

 
There is more to catch up on and I will do another post for that. So much has happened over the last few months!