Easter!

There is only one morning in the year that the kids are allowed to have chocolate at breakfast, and this is it!

Joanna was extra excited because her 2nd loose front tooth came out eating her rabbit, so now she is really gappy, and has a proper lisp!

Xander ate his whole rabbit today! (I love Miri rubbing her eyes in the background of this photo!)


After we washed off most of the chocolate we went to church and heard a great talk by Derek about the importance and uniqueness of Jesus' death and resurrection, then we had a picnic this afternoon with some friends. The kids had a wonderful time (and loved the easter egg hunt!). Xander really enjoyed climbing, which he doesn't usually, and Joanna decided she likes long distance running and kept doing laps around the oval (she doesn't get that trait from me!). Miri spent her time falling off things, pulling things out of the bin and getting soaked trying to drink from the tap. A fun day!

Octofriends

My kids are completely obsessed with the show The Octonauts (even Miriam has started calling out "no-nauts" when the show starts!). My friend Jacqui has a little boy who is possibly even more obsessed than Xander (which takes some doing) and she asked me to make him some Octonaut toys so she could swap them for his dummy. I had a great time making them - it's been ages since I made any proper woolly projects and working on something cute is always great! They're finally done - let's hope they do the trick and little E transitions to the world of no dummies without any hassles!

Cousins

My brother, sister in law and little Sam have just been in town and we've had a great time catching up with them. Needless to say, the kids had a ball together!

(obligatory bath shot!)

Fortunately we only have to wait about 6 weeks to see Sam and Aunty KoKo again... not sure we'd cope if it was much longer!

Stuff about the kids

For a long time I've been meaning to keep track of what the different kids are up to, but haven't got around to it. I've got a minute now so I thought I might as well jot a few things down. If you're not a member of my family you'll probably find this incredibly tedious, so you have my permission to skip my ramblings :)



#1 child:


Growing up so, so fast. She is really enjoying school, and has alot of fun with the kids there. I think the schoolwork is a tolerable but unnecessary interruption to lunchtimes as far as she's concerned! She has an amusingly wide vocabulary ("Mummy, why is that lady looking so grand?") and now pronounces nearly everything correctly (much to my disappointment), except that she often replaces "f" with "th" - maybe just to be perverse because so many kids do it the other way? She is a real stickler for rules and doesn't hold back from making sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to be. She is about to lose her first front tooth and makes J and me wobble it several times a day (shudder).



#2 child:



He is such a fun person to be with (most of the time!). He loves stories and always comes to listen when I'm reading even the most tedious books with the kids at school. He adores building and making things, and spends ages tying things together and sticking them with sticky tape. He will spend a very long time playing with blocks, but usually to make pictures with them, not buildings. Eating is still an issue with him, but less of an issue than it was this time last year, and we are still working very hard on basic behaviour issues with him - let's hope we get there in the end!
Child #3



She's such a little cutie, but starting to show her feisty side! She has a few words now (Daddy, Xander, JoJo (not really Mummy though!) ball, book, bubbles etc) and is changing so fast. She loves to ride her little scooting trike at high speeds around the house and is generally a real thrill seeker - if it's fast and crazy and a bit scary, she loves it. She loves baby dolls and adores her special "Baddy", which we had to get her as she was getting a bit too attached to JoJo's special doll. Sleep is still an issue and she gets sick approx every 5 mins but on the whole she is an absolute delight.