He Did It!

Our little cyclist has decided it's time to ride his bike like a big boy now, instead of with training wheels! Actually, we decided for him but he's taken to it really well! One Sunday afternoon we thought we'd take him for a ride (without training wheels) just to see how he goes......we gave him so help getting his bike started and then ran along beside him, offering some help balancing a few times to stop him from falling. After about 30 minutes of this, he could do it.....all by himself!

It's been about a month now, since that first session of riding without training wheels and he's brilliant! He learnt on the week end how to start his bike without our help and now there's no stopping him.....he zooms along so much faster now.

Here he is on Sunday July 25 2010

Trip to Manly

In June we went to Sydney for Jimmy's Annual Soft Tissue Therapy Conference that he organises. This year was in Manly and of course, the boys and I had to come along - I have such fond memories of trips to Manly (Fairlight to be exact) to visit my Grandma and cousins in school holidays. It was so fun to go back there and walk along the Corso and remember how much I loved it as a kid....we used to stop at the ice cream shop on the corner and then walk down the Corso to the beach - here we'd sit on the wall and lick our ice creams with our biggest worry in the world being the long walk back to Grandma's house :)

While we were in Manly I took the boys to Oceanworld and the boys got to see the sharks in the tunnel and then on Sunday we caught the Ferry over to Circular Quay with Grandma and had a ride on a horse and carriage.....

My Boys

Jimmy and I (and the boys) spent the Anzac Week end down the coast with Aaron and Paula (and their 3 girls) in a big 4 bedroom home just across the road from the beach.

We had such a great time - the kids all got along really nicely and had a ball playing in the sand and riding their bikes on the super quiet road we were on. Jimmy and I spent the Saturday morning in at Bateman's Bay just casually wandering around, window shopping and feeding the seagulls on the wharf.

I took this photo of Jimmy and the Boys and I just love it.....we were all feeling so happy and relaxed and looking at that photo brings back those nice, relaxed feelings!

April 2010

Jett is 4

Wow, last month our big boy turned 4! Jimmy and I still look at eachother and can't believe we are parents to a 4 year old.....a 4 year old with attitude, who loves Transformers and Lego and riding his bike....a 4 year old who's starting preschool next year - UNBELIEVEABLE!

The night before Jett's birthday, I took him to see the Moscow Circus which was spectacular. Jett was a little bit scared to start with - the lights were turned off and there was really loud music but he soon warmed up to it all (as long as he was sitting on my lap). It was all so well done with acrobats, contortionists, horses, clowns etc - I've always loved a circus and this met all my expectations. Jett fell asleep just after the intermission and missed the motorbikes but he was snuggled up on my lap which was just lovely.

We had a big birthday party for Jett with about 8 of his friends and their siblings coming over to our house. We played party games and ate stacks of food - it was super relaxing because half the time the kids all just played together outside on the swingset and our millions of bikes, scooters, trikes etc.

Fi made the most spectacular Transformers cake which was a huge hit with the kids. I've posted an assortment of photos of Jett - opening presents, being super happy, enjoying having 'Happy Birthday' sung to him and riding his brand new scooter. I also had to include one of Ollie - he had a ball eating all the party food, including about 10 pieces of fairy bread :)

Water Baby

Our little Ollie is such a water baby.....Mum tells me I was the same as a baby, choosing to swim under water more than I swam on top of the water! He definitely takes after me in that way because he's just so happy in water.

Jimmy takes Jett to swimming lessons every Wednesday and while Jett's swimming, he takes Ollie in for a splash and a paddle. We get comments from strangers on how amazing Ollie is in the water and how people can't believe how confident he is in the water (his confidence scares me a bit). Jett's swimming teacher has encouraged us to get Ollie into lessons sooner rather than later - partly for safety and partly to encourage his love of the water even more.

We took the boys swimming on the Easter long week end and Ollie was happy to just crouch down in the water with the water coming right up to his neck - he'd smile at me the happiest little grin, with his head just above the water.

Here's a photo of the little man in the bath...having a ball - he slides up and down the bath on his tummy trying to blow bubbles.

April 2010

Loads of Entertainment

Oh the boys have been making us laugh lately.....they've been playing together really nicely for the last few weeks (this is a bit of a rarity) and I've snapped some great photos of them together!

The photo of them both in the blue buckets was taken in March - Jett was desperate for Ollie to have a bucket to sit in with him so he up-ended some of his toys and made a huge mess! They laughed so much together playing in these buckets and it made me feel so happy to see them loving eachother :)

The second photo was taken at Easter - it was a gorgeous sunny day and we were all outside doing some gardening together. The boys were sitting under the tree eating their morning tea, giggling over their own little jokes.

It's times like this that really make me enjoy my two little boys - I hope they grow up to be great little friends and look out for eachother!

April 2010

Canberra Show

I've always loved the Canberra Show and last week end we had the pleasure of taking the boys! We'd driven past the showground a few days before it started and we could see all the rides being set up - this just helped to fuel Jett's excitement (not that he needed any extra fueling!).

We had a great time there - we saw heaps of animals (rabbits, ducks, guinea pigs, rabbits, goats etc) and as it is an annual tradition, I had a photo taken of the boys holding some baby ducks.

We went into the Art and Craft pavillion but pretty much walked straight back out - that stuff doesn't interest us a whole lot. Jett went on the dodgem cars with Jimmy - Ollie watched and thought it was the greatest thing. I took them both down the giant slide but Ollie wasn't so sure about that one - I got a bit of air on the last bump and we landed at the bottom with a bit of a thud!

I'm not a big fan of showbags but we had to buy one for Jett (they're so expensive and we thought that seeing as Ollie wouldn't know he was missing out, we didn't buy him one) - he picked out the Diego bag which came with a bunch of plastic junk (back pack, lunch bag, rescue ranger vest, hat etc) that he's already forgotten about but he was so excited at the time. After looking through his showbag he looked at Jimmy and I a bit upset and said "But there's no lollies in here!" so of course, we then had to buy a bag with lollies in it. Ollie didn't miss out altogether though - he had a huge softserve ice cream which went just about everywhere. Between having to lick the melting ice cream off both the boys cones, I probably ended up having more ice cream than the two of them :)

Here's a gorgeous pick of the two boys on 27 February 2010

Animal Lovers!

It's official - my boys are animal lovers (when they're not pulling the cats tail or chasing her away). We went down the coast for the week end - Jimmy had a conference to attend so I decided to take the boys for a fun week end away - Lesley/Grandma also came. We had such a fun time - we stayed at the Coachhouse at Batemans Bay and our cabin was right near these mangrove/mud flat things. On Saturday morning we spent a few hours playing in the sand and splashing in the little rivers that went out to sea - the boys were covered in black, muddy sand when they were finished but gee that had fun (it was great to get them messy when we weren't going back to our own house!). On the Sunday morning we took the boys to Birdland Animal park and, although it was super expensive, the boys had a ball checking out all the animals and feeding the kangaroos. Jett's never been scared of ANY animals but I wasn't too sure how Ollie would be....he surprised me a bit by being more than willing to feed a kangaroo from his hand! Jett found a talking parrot named Charlie and he absolutely adored it - he was glued to the cage saying "Hello Charlie, what's doin'" and the bird would repeat it all....I love birds and this one seemed to have real personality. We also went on this dodgy, old train which was the highlight for Jett - it was just a short ride but it took us around the perimeter of the park and through the kangaroo enclosure.

Here's a few pics of the boys feeding the kangaroos and Jett talking to Charlie (and yes, I've managed to squeeze Ollie into my favourite overalls, probably for the last time!)

7 February 2010

Cousin Lijey starting school....

Jett and Ollie's big cousin, Elijah, started Primary School/Kindergarten/Prep yesterday up in Queensland - this photo was too cute not to share! Elijah turned 5 in November - he's about 18 months older than Jett and Jett just adores him. I can't believe this'll be Jett in 2 years - how exciting :)

I spoke to Anney just before she took him off to school and I had tears in my eyes - Anney has been a full time, stay at home Mum for over 10 years and now she's packed her littlest off to school - what an achievement - Congratulations Anney!

28 January 2010

Mr Independant

Yesterday was Australia Day and to celebrate, I took the boys into Commonwealth Park (while Jimmy worked). It was super hot in there but it was really well set up for kids.....there was a free brekky with a sausage sizzle and yummy fruit and the Gecko Gang were also there providing free fun stuff for the kids.

Jett got right into the free stuff (that's my boy!) - he went on this giant inflatable worm type thing....the kids ran through it and then came out the end via a big slide - I thought Jett might be a bit worried about going inside it with all the other kids running and screaming but I'm slowly realising that Jett is now one of the big kids that DOES the running and screaming - it's great to see our little man becoming such a confident, big kid.

He also went on one of those giant slides - I had Ollie in the pram so I couldn't really go on it with him. I told Jett if he wanted to go down the slide, he'd need to do it by himself......I couldn't believe it but that was absolutely no problem for him. We bought his tickets, I told him he'd need to collect a hessian sack to sit on and then give the man his ticket. I was waiting for his nerves to kick in but no, the brave little thing walked all the way up the stairs, he carefully laid his hessian sack down on the slide, climbed on and then he was off - down the slide all by himself! I was so proud of him - he went down 3 times and not once did he hesitate - the brave little thing!

Here's a few pics from a proud Mum

26 January 2010

Fun around the house

Below are a few recent photos of the boys and I having some fun at home.....we get out and about quite a bit but when we are at home, we do have a lot of fun!

Jett just looooves helping me cook, especially when I do baking (slice, biscuits, cakes etc) - as soon as he hears me start getting the bowl and measuring cups out, he's straight into the kitchen, then he drags his little chair across the floor to the bench to help me. He tips ingredients into bowls, mixes and stirs and does plenty of taste-testing. On Saturday, Jett's little friend Lucca was coming over so I had not 1 little helpers but 2 little boys by my side, helping me make some biscuits - look at those gorgeous little monkeys!!

There's also a photo of the boys enjoying ice creams together - the joys of summer! Ice cream's a special treat in our house and when they get it, they reeeally enjoy it - Jett gets extremely excited.

The 3rd photo is one of my favourites of the boys sitting at their little table together - Ollie's just getting into drawing with crayons and I can't tell you how my heart just leapt when they both sat there together and drew - it made me feel such contentment to see them sitting, working side by side.

January 2010

New Years Trip to Ulladulla

After Christmas we joined Fi, Scotty and Abbey and The Peeks (Karen, James, Alex and Luke) in Ulladulla for a luxury week for New Years. We booked this massive house for the 3 families and it was just gorgeous - it was right on the ocean and had views as far as the eye could see.

Jett and Alex played beautifully 95% of the time which gave us a great holiday and Jett and Ollie both developed a great love for the beach (sand and sea included). Every day we went to the beach for a few hours and it was just so much fun - the boys dug little swimming pools in the sand and had a ball jumping in and out of the water....and dodging waves. At night, Jett and Alex would run off and play together while dinner was being prepared and we'd just hear the occasional giggle or scream (sometimes through happiness and other times through frustration with the other) - it was great - built in entertainment :)

We had the best time and it's definitely made us want to do more quick trips to the coast with the boys - what a healthy way for little boys to live - sunshine, beach and fresh air :)

Here are some pics of our little men having fun.....

Christmas.....came and went!

It's January already and I still haven't posted any photos from Christmas! That really proves how quickly time is travelling with our 2 busy little boys. Our family had such a brilliant, happy Christmas - I was sad that my sister Anney wasn't in Canberra (my first Christmas without her) but it really was an exciting time. Jimmy and I are both Christmas people - we love it - and we get super excited from 1 December.

For Christmas Jett got his coveted ambulance and Santa also brought him a toy fire station (which is part of the same set as the ambulance) and he was so happy! Ollie got a super cute boat-shaped sand pit and his first set of match-box cars.....they both got tonnes of others toys that I'm too embarassed to list (they were both spoilt)!

I took both the boys to church on Christmas Day - Jimmy intended to ride while we were at church but it was too wet. Then in the afternoon we went to Mum and Dad's for our family Christmas dinner - it was loud and happy and full of excited little kids which is just how Christmas should be :)

Here's a couple of photos of the boys on Christmas Day - I didn't take very many photos on Christmas Day......I was too busy video-taping all the action.

15 January 2010