August Happenings

August was a busy busy month. Lots of fun was had. Here is a glimpse of a few extra things that happened.

I took Eliza and Alexander to the Reptile Park for an adventure. We had fun seeing different animals and walking around together.

Hi Lizard

Patting a kangaroo

Being eaten by a crocodile

Swinging upside down

Alexander has had a few days where he has been wired at naptime so has decided to play in his cot. One day I went in and asked him what he did for naptime and if he napped. I couldn't help but giggle at his response.

He is also into getting different boardgames out and playing them. I loved his reaction when playing the fishing game. The joy of simple things.

Daniel was given a gorgeous chef outfit from Lachlan whcih he had to put to work as soon as he got home. Too cute!

Chef Daniel busy in the kitchen

When you get a photo of one kid...

You must get one of all

Crazy kiddies!

 Daniel received another bronze award at school which we were very proud of him for.

Eliza had her soccer-a-thon to raise money for Preschool. She had a great time!

Eliza also had a crazy clothes day at Preschool to raise money for the drought, buy a bale. She definately looked crazy in her 'caterpillar' outfit.

Crazy kid in crazy clothes

Alexander has started to sleep with the bunny that Nana and Poppy gave him when he was born. It's such a soft, cute bunny. I'm glad that he likes it. And he is such a cutie when he's asleep too.

On afternoon naps when he says he isn't tired I have offered him to have some books in his cot. I figure this helps him in a transition to being in his bed but understanding that it's time to stay in his room for a rest or at bedtime. He loves it! I always giggle when 10mins after I've put him down, I start to hear books being dropped onto the floor.

When we went to the Howie's house this month, Alexander decided that it was his turn to climb up the treehouse. Amazingly he did it! Mostly on his own. Spot him up the top! Thank goodness Uncle Howie was there to help him down because I don't think I would have been able to do it.

The kids have loved helping James do some work on the back wall in the backyard. Wheelbarrows of blue metal up and down the driveway. Good work guys! Thanks to Anne and Angus for the kids wheelbarrows to they can join in the work. Can't wait to see the finished product!

They have also had fun on the trampoline doing 'performances' for each other.

Alexander has really gotten into playing the piano. He loves it and I love that he shows an interest in it. Really need to get it tuned though.

The garbage truck is still a big hit! Alexander and I are unfortunately out most of the time the garbage truck comes, but when we are home he just loves watching it, telling me about it and waving to the garbage truck driver.

I also loved watching Alexander noticing his shadow the other day. He had to keep walking past to check it was still there and then going away. Becoming familiar with his surroundings by exploring it.

Having said that Alexander is really enjoying playing the piano again, it has sparked an interest in the other 2 as well. They like setting up the keyboard so all 3 can play and they often get the microphones out too so they can play and sing to different songs.

Eliza has been working hard at having her light off at night as she sleeps. She has done amazingly well and we now turn her light off after she goes to sleep and it stays off all night (instead of being on for the whole night). To help her overcome this fear we have been doing a program called 'Cool Little Kids'. It suggests that you do a step ladder to achieve an overall goal and that you give rewards for achieving each step. One reward was to do some cooking with Mummy or Daddy. One day we decided to make jelly. The kids loved having some jelly after dinner!

Alexander just loves riding the little bikes. At Anne's house he and Flynn had a blast riding their bikes around the house. I love their smiles on their faces.

Since Dan the builder was here, we have been asking Alexander to do thumbs up. He is almost getting there.

I think I will regret writing this part about a song called 'Baby Shark', it is one of the most annoying, catchy kids songs out there, but the kids absolutely LOVE it! Alexander randomly starts singing it at different times and does the actions. Eliza and Daniel will ask to listen to it and dance along to it too. Here is Alexander singing it one of the times. It is an Alexander modified version.

This month we sadly said 'see you later' to my cousin Nat, Steve and their kids. We headed out to Uncle Milton and Auntie Barb's place to have an afternoon tea with him and say bye. So lovely to be able to catch up with them a few times over the last few months. They are such an amazing family, so supportive, encouraging, Godly. Just an amazing family. I will be praying for them as they head back over to their 2nd home and hope to start building their houses again. But it was a lovely afternoon to catch up with them again and some of the other cousins and family.

The next day we headed to Lisa and Nick's baby shower. It was at a lovely little pub in Glebe. The kids were great and really enjoyed eating the food on offer.

We can't wait to meet Lisa and Nick's little one. As we left the pub a guy called out to us if we wanted some strawberries. We said yeah. The next thing we knew he was giving us 3 trays of strawberries saying 'I need to go now. I need to catch a plane.' They then jumped into their van and drove off. What to do with 24 punnets of strawberries?

I froze half of them, we gave some to Mum and Dad and Judy and David Henderson, I gave one to Daniel's teacher and did some baking (thanks to google). Strawberry and banana bread, strawberry muffins, strawberry milk, strawberry smoothies, fresh strawberries. So many strawberries but so yummy!

Preschool again had the glass easle that can be used to paint someone sitting on the other side. Eliza, one morning drop off at preschool, wanted to paint me. I loved watching Daniel doing this 2 years ago and loved watching her paint me just the same. The final picture didn't end up having her name on it so it didn't come home but that's ok. I'm glad I took a couple of pictures of it. She also did a picture of Daddy which is now up on his wall, just like Daniel's one is.

Since the building Chilli has become a lot more snuggly and friendly to both me and the kids. She often goes into Daniel, Eliza or Alexander's room at bedtime for a few smooches at bedtime. Daniel just loves it! I'm glad that she is seeming to become a bit more settled and nicer.

Dinners at Mum and Dad's place have been a bit broken at the moment with different people being sick but when we are all well, family dinners are still lots of fun and many laughs.

Eliza loves doing building or patterns with Auntie Jenny each week

Eliza and Alexander still enjoy helping Poppy out in the garden on Fridays. This week, Poppy thought that setting up a ladder so they can put clippings in the bin would be a good idea. The kids LOVED it! They had the freedom to put it in by themselves. Good thinking Poppy. 

 I just had to laugh as Eliza worked out how to get in the video Poppy was doing of Alexander raking. After trying to run and jump in the way, the then went and got the ladder, put it infront of Poppy and climbed up it so she'd get in the way. Smart cookie!

 

 Alexander is into getting dressed into Eliza's dress ups at the moment. He has mastered the spin when wearing the fairy dress and loves dressing in the Emma skirt.