I don’t like the kids playing in the car, but as always they have their own ideas on that and generally ignore my cries of “get out of the car”. I took some shopping into the house recently, came back for the next load and I saw two boys trying to program the GPS. I had to laugh and photograph….before yelling “out of the car!”.
Nathan had been asking to make gingerbread men for several days, and then we got a belated Christmas gift from friends…..and it was a mixing bowl with a packet mix for gingerbread men (including cutter) and decorations, and two wooden mixing spoons. The very next day we HAD to try out the mix.
It was certainly easy and, unlike the gingerbread men we normally make, they rose nicely and were a lot like the gingerbread men you buy in shops. Flavour-wise, they weren’t as gingery as we are used to, but they still tasted nice.
The mix came with a small packet of 100’s and 1000’s, so we had to make some icing so that we could use them. We aren’t exactly expert decorators, but we had fun. 🙂
Thanks Kate and co, for a fun morning of baking.
Nathan wanted to take Arthur Bear when we went out today. He had Arthur ready to go and waiting at the door before anyone else was ready. 🙂
In two days it will be two months since I registered Wispy Threads as my business name. It has taken a lot of work to get the online shop working, but today it went live! No more demo store, it is the real deal. Thank-you Andrew for all the work you have put into this.
Nathan and Andrew went for a bike ride today to a nearby park. It was too far for Toby, and I needed a few things from a supermarket, so Toby and I drove to the playground. The playground is pretty new, and is fabulous. Andrew measured the distance by bike to be around 4.2 km, so that means Nathan rode about 8.5 km today!
I took a couple of photos in the playground, but I missed the heart-in-the-throat ones where Toby climbed a vertical wall where the holes and hand supports were almost too far for him to reach and he was too high for me to help him, and Nathan climbed over a rope structure also in spots where he could barely reach the next rope.
Andrew Used a Fancy iPhone app to track the ride.
And a time-lapse movie.
Today we met up with a friend from Sydney, Kristie, who is visiting Melbourne for a few days. We met at the cafe at CERES in Brunswick where the kids had a ball in the playground (with the exception of a couple of mishaps, one being that Toby was stuck upside down in one of the structures while I was chatting, and another being a boy with a stick told Nathan and others to leave an area they were playing in or he would kill them).
Nathan was fascinated with Kristie’s purple fingernails, and Kristie asked him if he would like a blue nail. He said yes, she got some nail polish out of her bag and Nathan was all serious with his fascination. Once one nail was done he held his others out for painting. He was excited about his blue nails all afternoon!
It was great to catch up with Kristie, and her friends I met were lovely too.
Getting ready to paint.
Blowing to dry the nail polish.
Our veggie garden hasn’t been a complete success this year, but it is certainly doing better than last year. So far we have harvested tomatoes and purple beans, with more beans (green and yellow) on the way. So far we haven’t eaten any of our ripe strawberries….we never beat the birds to them. The apples are looking quite poorly again too.
Nathan adores little Lego (so-called because we are used to the Duplo which is big Lego). For Christmas he was given a fire engine and fire station kit to make up. The age range suggestion is for 5-12 years old, but Nathan will spend hours fiddling with the little blocks trying to put them together as he wants to.
Nathan put together most of the engines and fire station on his own. He had a few pointers along the way, help finding some of the pieces (probably not needed), help making everything secure (pressing all the blocks down tightly because Nathan doesn’t always get them together firmly enough), some reminders not to jump ahead to the next bit when he hasn’t finished the previous step, and some help with the very fiddle bits. But in general he can look at the instructions and follow them, find the pieces and put it all together. And both kids love the finished items, though Toby (in particular) isn’t always as gentle with them as needed to keep them together.
Some photos of the finished kit (complete with operational roller doors on the garages, opening doors, living quarters, and cat stuck up a tree.
It is more than a year since we lived close (for a few weeks, anyway) to this park on Springvale Road. One day, just after we moved to Melbourne, we were driving past when Andrew said that it looked like a fancy park, and that is what we have called it ever since. There are fancier ones around, but this one is still THE fancy park and still a favourite.
We hadn’t been for a while, so we dropped in after taking Andrew to work. Anything was better than sweltering in the hot house that barely dropped into the 20s overnight and was already over 30 degrees this morning when we left. I think it might have been too hot at the park for many, though, because the normally busy playground wasn’t very busy at all. After not being for a while, it is really interesting to see what the kids are able to do now that they were previously unable to.
A few photos….
Waiting for Toby
Discussing what to do next….or Nathan instructing Toby on what they are going to do
Yep, definitely too hot. The kids have both stayed up late the last couple of nights because they just wouldn’t go to sleep….and even then it was a battle to get them to sleep! It took us all night to get them to sleep and it was the same last night too. Anyway, it’s midnight now, kids are in bed, it is still 32 degrees in the house and not much cooler outside. Blah. But time for me to sleep now.
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