Showing posts with label trains. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trains. Show all posts

Monday, September 2, 2013

August 2013

This is one big blogpost to cover August!  It was nice to be back in the pool after having a couple of winter months in NZ :-)  ;-)


The kids were really happy to be reunited with their scooters again.



Yeah ... Samuel really needed a haircut!

I have tried a few different recipes off Pinterest this month.   This vege dish was rather yummy and I'd make it again.
 Sunset up at the infinity pool.

Kids wearing their new NZ tee-shirts :-)  The ferns and NZ glow in the dark (this resulted in playing for ages under blankets in their rooms!  I asked them why on earth didn't they just pull the curtains!? Would have been a bit easier hehee)

Met up with some friends at Baskin Robins for ice cream as a wee treat one day :-)



I made icing for cupcakes which clashed badly with my cake mixer!

Maddison had a couple of school friends over as a little late celebration for her birthday.  They had some time in the pool.

And then gobbled up the cupcakes.

(Lyndon gave Samuel a hair cut!!!  He looks like he's escaped!!)

Meanwhile back in the jungle ... Samuel likes getting into this box.  He thinks I can't see him!  haha  He had been in there a while and was calling out and when I realised he was calling for me it was because he couldn't get the lid off hehee.  The box had moved under the arm of the couch so he couldn't push it up.  He wanted to get his toy snake back in the box with him!!  Funny little fella.

Aaron was bored one day, so I suggested he help sort out the plastic cupboard!  :-)

Aaron and Maddison started back at school on the 13th.  Maddison was SO excited to be in Grade 1 and wearing a white tee-shirt like Aaron :-)  He's in Grade 3.

That afternoon I noticed that Aaron had left his rabbit some "homework" to study while he was at school!  A book about rocks!  :-)

I cleaned up my bench.  (I refuse to publish the before photo ... but you couldn't see the bench!!)  This bench becomes a dumping ground for lots of things, it's very annoying.  So I cleaned it up (took me most of the day because I put EVERYTHING away properly, not just stuck it some place else!).  I am trying real hard to keep it clean.  Last thing I do at night now is clear the bench!  :-)

This was just the school papers that were part of the clutter.

Amongst it I found this gem from Maddison.  She obviously feels calm when wearing a Dr Seuss hat!  :-)

The bench when I had finished :-)

I built a train track for Samuel.  There was a lot of de-railing happening!


We checked out the new indoor playground at our condo.


Watched another sunset from the pool :-)


Samuel came with me to the post office one day and we had to stop and have a big chat to the fish :-)


Being goofy in the playground!

He found an empty snail shell in the garden and was poking a dead palm leaf into the shell!

Another recipe from Pinterest ... Beef & Broccoli in the slow cooker.  (Mine didn't look like the fancy pic but it tasted good.  I would make it again for sure.)

I suddenly noticed how many freckles Aaron has now :-)


More time up at the pool :-)


Had to take a photo of this restaurant sign!  Just for Grandma :-)


Made a cake to share with some friends and Samuel got his grubby little fingers into it!  Grrrr

Shared the cake anyway ... we just avoided the messy bit!

I had myself a birthday ... sort of a big one!  My Mum made me a birthday card!  ;-)  (Dad is on the left and Mum on the right.)

A friend gave me a lovely cake ... we had it after dinner that night with the kids.

I got totally spoilt with flowers!

Made myself a birthday cake ... another idea from Pinterest haha

Aaron had a birthday too.  He turned 8.  He was very happy with his Lego stash!  :-)

Happy to go to school :-)

Another boy in his class has a birthday the same day, so we celebrated after their school swim lesson with cupcakes, popcorn and juice :-)

He had a couple of friends over after school and he finally finally got the No. 8 racing car cake he's been asking for the last 3-4 years!!  :-)

So that's August done and dusted.  Can't believe it's September already.  Be back another day with an update on Lyndon and Aaron's trip to Cambodia.  They had a wonderful time :-)

Thanks for visiting.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Photo a Day for April

Photos I've taken over the month of April for my Project Life album.  I mainly followed the photo prompts from FMS again.  I've missed a few days and some days I'm not sharing the photo, but as usual there's plenty of photos!  :-)

Day 1 - Play.  Spring break and I took Aaron and Maddison to Block Space (you can see more details here).


Day 2 - Blue.  Blue togs, blue dolphin, blue eel, blue tiles :-)

Day 3 - Something beginning with A ... Aaron the Artist (at Kidzania).

Day 4 - This happened today ... we went with some new friends back to Block Space :-)
Day 5 - Something good ... water to play in :-)

Day 6 - Air.  Glad of the ceiling fans circulating the air.

Day 7 - Dreamy ... didn't really have the right photo for this, but Aaron and Maddison were playing and Maddison was Aaron's "dog" hahaa She's in her kennel! It's a dream of their's to have a dog (sadly that dream will have to wait as we can't have one in a condo).

Day 8 - On my plate ... dinner tonight, rice, chicken & salad.

Maddison also (finally) earned all her puzzle pieces on her reward chart :-)  Much excitement.
Day 10 - A Place.  Local garage where Lyndon's car is being serviced.

Day 11 - Detail.  Love the detail on these hanging tea lights holders.

Day 12 - In the Middle.  Frozen Yoghurt :-)  Lyndon and I had dinner out without the kids - was very relaxing!

Day 13 - View from your bed.

And it was the big boys birthday :-)


Day 14 - Water.  Filling water bottles ready for the start of the school week.

Day 15 - Alone ... I can't seem to leave these alone!!! Lyndon bought a bag of them (Delicious choc covered almonds) and I think I have eaten more than my fair share!!

The 15th was also our 18th wedding anniversary.  Ahhh ... doesn't time bring change!!  ;-)

Day 16 - My favourite colour.  Red of course!  :-)

Day 17 - Busy - Traffic here is always busy.  Billboard made me laugh though!

Day 18 - Hello.  Why hello again Thai food :-)

Day 20 - On My Mind.  Hoping that the pages of my mini album hurry up and dry so I can get it finished during class!

Day 21 - Blurry.  Rain makes things blurry ... glad for window wipers.

Day 23 - Time. I spent some time with Samuel building a Thomas track.

Day 25 - Life is ... BUSY with little kids hehee  (This particular day I'd made chocolate cupcakes.  They were cooling on the bench and after a while I realised I hadn't heard Samuel for a while ... I followed the trail of cupcakes and found him on the deck scoffing two of them!)

Day 26 - Childhood. Making good childhood memories in the pool with friends.

26th we had Mari Makan (International Food Festival) at the kids school.  Parents only :-)  It was fantastic ... there was SO much food.  The New Zealanders put together and provided roast lamb - it was delicious :-)



There were about 13-15 NZ couples I think and we all had matching tee-shirts.


Day 27 - Earth - Earth week at the kids school. Loved the art displays hanging in the hall ways.
Day 28 - My Sunday.  After dinner was spent frantically trying to take pics of Maddison for her earth week homework project! (Nothing like leaving things to the last minute!)

Day 29 - I wore this today.  One of my new RM40 skirts :-)

I also wore a bit of this as well!  The room wore a whole lot more!!  Maddison and Samuel got into a nearly new LARGE bottle of talcum powder and spread it around the boys room.  What a jolly mess.  Terrible stuff to clean up.


When Aaron had his shower I just dumped all the blocks and plastic toys in the shower and he washed them for me ... then I tipped them out on the deck to dry :-)

The day ended with a beautiful sunset though.


Day 30 - Glasses.  My current glasses in the front with the top pair dating back to 1995!  The 2 or 3 previous pairs before that must be in storage in NZ ... I must have thought they were too large to come with us hahaha

So that's this month nearly over!  6 weeks left of school for the kids before summer break!  Unbelievable really how fast this year is going!

Thanks for visiting.