Winter Time is Here

If you are lucky enough to live in the southern hemisphere, then you will know that winter has finally got here.

Well at least the rain and wind has got here to the North Island of New Zealand, if you are in the South Island then you have got the rain, the wind and unfortunately the snow as well.

So what do you do with 2 small boys when the weather is so awful outside..........?

You give them a cardboard box to play with.......

Or get daddy to pretend to be a horse!

Dummy Connoisseur

We have in our mids a person with such a fine nose for dummies! He knows the colour, shape and smell of each one and even knows all the pictures on them.

After his bath each night he gets a clean one and he even tells you which one he would like today. Maybe the lion one, the giraffe one or even go all out and have the teddy bear one.

Who knows, but his most wonderful moment is when he manages to get 2 at the same time, then he is in dummy heaven!!

2nd Birthday

Alex has just had his 2nd birthday. What a big boy he is now. We had a lovely day with presents in the morning, a trip to see the butterflies at lunchtime and a small party in the afternoon for cake and drinks.

Alex was lucky enough to have a Barney cake, mummy was very lucky to find a cake that had Alex's favourite character on it.
Alex was very lucky to get a new car for his birthday. Every little boy dreams of a new car.
We had a family outing for Alex's birthday to Butterfly Creek wonderful place full of butterflies and fish, a petting zoo for the children and a small train to ride on. As you can see Ben loved the guinea pigs, but he also liked the little baby rabbits as well.

Ben

Our oldest son is nearly 4 and has come a long way in the last 6 - 8 months. At 3 he wasn't really saying much, but now he has such a huge vocabulary that he can talk to you about anything.

He has also grasped the concept of dressing himself in the last few weeks, and even though it can be a little slow, all items of clothing now get put on with ease.

He is remembering things now as well, understands when we say maybe later, because later he will remind you. Likes us to tell him when things are going to happen because he is slowly grasping the time concept, which is a good thing but can also back fire on us.

The Zoo

Our family still really enjoys a good day out at the zoo.

These birds are so colourful

Ben and Alex just love this place, they know where they want to go and what they want to see.

They both love the giraffes, and have had the pleasure of feeding them.

Mummy, as taken by Ben. (the picture above, not the rhino below!!)

Alex

Our youngest has just started coming out with so much to say. His favorite thing at the moment is to tell us "Me do it" He wants to help with anything and everything, and he wants to do it on his own.

Guess with him turning 2 in a couple of weeks, it is to be expected. Although he is still the baby, although he had a hair cut yesterday and he really looks like a little boy now, no more baby!

Oh and did I mention that he likes chocolate ice cream?

Mother's Day

Today in New Zealand is Mother's Day.

My lovely family gave me lots of hugs and kisses and 2 CD's, and the biggest box of chocolates!

Here are the cool men in my life.

Boys

The boys are continuing to grow right before my eyes!
Ben has just blossomed into a little boy and Alex who is nearly 2 has started coming out with words that even Ben won't say.

They both want to help with things, they want to do things and Ben is always looking after his brother, even if it is a little hug and cuddle after he has hit him.

With the odd moment, they are actually a delight to have a round.
Ben is for ever singing nursery rhymes. Baa Baa Black Sheep, Row Row Your Boat and unfortunately all the theme songs to the programmes he watches regularly. Maybe he has been watching them too much if he knows the words to the songs!

Regardless of what is happening out there in the big world, I still appreciate them and count myself very lucky for the 2 wonderous little boys that I have helped create.

So my heart goes out to all those families at Virginia Tech this last week. Especially the family of the young man who caused all this trouble. They may have known that he was in pain and having trouble, but to suddenly see him portrayed over the television in such a dreadful way must have been a terrible shock. They may have been trying hard to help him and know that has all failed.
I just hope they, like all the other families affected can rebuild their lives over the next couple of years to some level that works for them.

They are all in my thoughts and prayers.

Stand Still

How to bring Auckland to a complete stand still for 15 hours!
Bring in the largest cruise ship in the world and you are gaurenteed to succeed, because Auckland did on Saturday.
And yes we were one of the masses who flocked down to the water front at sometime during the day to catch a wee glimpse of the beauty that was holding everyone mesmorized.
The Queen Mary 2, is not a boat, it is a life all unto itself
It was so worth it as well, what a sight. Must admit it definitely started the dreams happening. Like what if....if only...and 1 day!!

Thrill Seeking

Ben has decided that the Luge in Rotorua is a fabulous place to go and have fun.

He loved going up in the gondolas and watching the giant swing and the people going down the luge.

So finally we relented and decided to take them up. We planned the trip up very well. We found out how early in the morning they started running and realised that with our charming early wake up calls we get daily we could beat the crowds! So at 0830 the next day we were up the top getting ready to throw ourselves down the fast moving luge.

With a 5 trip ticket we were able to take the two boys down twice and then Steve took Ben down once on his own.

So definitely the right time of the day to go up there. I think we were the first people down of the day, although by the time we had finished all our rides the coach parties had all arrived.

The boys loved it. So my biggest tip of all is - go early in the morning to have the best fun with limited people about. Means that the kids can enjoy it without being over powered by bigger faster people around, and when you are only 3 you don't like too many crowds.

Horse Racing

We had a day at the races. Rotorua Races that is. What a lovely day we had too. Took a picnic lunch and had a few little flutters, came away even, so no loses! The boys thought this was great. the horses walked right past us to get their saddles etc and then back past us to go onto the track. As we were stood by the winning post we saw them as they all finished, then they walked back past us to do the parade in the winners circle where the jockeys dismounted and the horses were lead away. So the boys got to see so much of what was happening. Ben thought it was all fabulous and had a wonderful day.

Rotorua Lake

We spent a wonderful afternoon down at the lake at the end of the road.
Alex was all into the water, he just wanted to get in and splash.
Ben was not so keen, although he did get in at one stage for 20 seconds, and complained for most of the time he was in there! He preferred to stay on the jetty and watch the world float by.

Christmas Day

Ben got this lovely red bike for Christmas. We weren't planning a bike, but that's how life goes, all the best plans get changed at the last minute!

He still loved it, and had great fun riding it down to the lake.

Alex had fun on Christmas day as well. Got himself a little trike to ride and a lovely pull a long train that sounds like a train when you press the funnel.
Best of all, it was a glorious day and we were able to take a lovely walk down to the lake before going to join the rest of the family up the hill.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we went up to my Uncle's House in Rotorua. The other children were playing limbo, but this was the best Ben could do. He went over rather than under. He has no shirt on because the other bigger boys decided it was too hot for shirts so he followed suit.

 

Glenbrook Vintage Train

Steve has always mentioned that there is a vintage steam train somewhere south of Auckland.
As both the boys love trains we decided to venture there one fine Sunday morning.
After quite an eventful trip there, hence to add I now know to take at least 2 changes of clothes for both boys whenever we go anywhere! We arrived to find a lovely sunny day with not too many people around.
We had some lunch and then ventured onto the lovely restored steam train for a 45 minute return trip across some of South Auckland's green fields.

The boys had a wonderful time on the train, although the ticket did allow us to go again but Ben decided that he didn't want to go on the train again, but did want to go on the little 'Rigger' that you could help with up and down the track in front of the station

Our Little Helpers

Ben and Alex have both decided that they are big enough to have little jobs around the house.

Ben gets the rubbish bin from the road every week and puts it back where it lives.

 
And Alex goes and checks the mailbox everyday, when he remembers!

I Know My Name

Ben has finally grasped his own name.
Up until now, you could ask him if his name was Ben and he said yes. Today he finally answered when you asked him directly what his name was.

When asked 'What is your name?' he replied 'Bem"
Good enough for us :)

Plant Digging

When deciding to move anything in the garden, you must always have the right tools to hand. Alex decided that he was just what we needed when moving the Camilia. He got in the hole to help us!

There Has to Be An Easy way!

To celebrate mummy's birthday, oh and also the elephants at the zoo, we went to the zoo for the day for the party and cake. Yum Yum.

We had lots of fun all day. The sun was shinning and there was lots to see and do.We found this wonderful rope walkway.

Alex had to make it harder than it really was!

This has to be easy than it looks, there must be another way to do this?

Ok, so now things are moving, knew there had to be an easier way.

Ok, so were you ever going to actually tell me I could walk on the rope?!

What's Been Happening Lately

I took the boys to the zoo last week. As you can

see the tiger was being very friendly behind his thick piece of glass. There he was dozing in the shade, and there was my two sat watching him.

On one occassion he actually had a big yawn and turned over. You should have heard all the kids around gasp at the size of his mouth and teeth. It was a great sight.

Ben and Alex sharing a quiet few moments

together reading some books.

Alex decided this weekend that he had to help us pull up the plants and turn the soil over.

Wish someone would tell him that our laundry bill is raising the roof because he insists on 3 changes of clothes a day!

But hey at least he was being helpful.