Another short working week this week with ANZAC day on Tuesday which was great. Tom was finally on the mend so we could have a great family day out. It was pouring with rain so we opted for a swim in the morning at the pool around the corner and the boys were in their element. They love swimming so much that we have trouble getting them out when they start turning blue! After our swim the boys friend Ben came to play with his mummy and grandma, they had a brilliant time in the ball pit and played happily for hours before they exhausted themselves nicely ready for a nap after lunch. With the rain still coming down in the afternoon we had a trip to Te Papa which was great, the boys now think they are big enough to not go in their pram so ran around like crazy looking and touching everything in sight.

The rest of the week was pretty normal but Friday arrived with Jack coming down with Tom's virus (I thought it was too good to be true that he'd miss it) so this weekend has been pretty quiet with a few outings. Adrian has been busy working on the NZ Music Month gigs in town which he's enjoyed but has been pretty exhausting with a few early mornings and late nights. (pic right)

We have had a lot of talk about toilets in the SoD house lately after buying the boys a potty each and they have been learning to sit on them. When I dropped the boys to creche this week I mentioned that if they asked could the boys be taken to the toilet- no problem. When we picked the boys up on Thursday, Janet, who is one of the senior teachers told us laughingly that the boys had talked to her about mummy and daddy going to the toilet (and far too much other detailed information) and asked to go so she took them, what she didn't expect was that they then demanded that she sit on the other toilet while they sat on theirs, she tried to explain that she didn't really need to go but they weren't having any of it. So Janet sat obediently on the tiny children's toilet until allowed to get off!

Well that's it for this week, we're exhausted so it's an early night for us X

Another quick week with the holidays this week. We had a lovely extra few days off this week and managed to get lots done with me painting the kitchen cupboards and Adrian painting the walls it is a much lighter and brighter room than before and we love it. Still a bit to do in there but it's amazing what a lick of paint can do.

We also had "Uncle Cis" and "Aunty Seeeuw" staying this week while they were waiting to move into their house on Saturday and the boys loved it. They were very excited when they woke up each morning and they were still here - Uncle Chris had to read the boys "Wiggles" book so many times I'm sure he knows it by heart now.

The boys had a great week until Friday afternoon when Thomas got ill with a virus, he had a roaring temperature and didn't seem to get much better on Saturday until it all culminated on Sunday morning at 2:00am with temperatures of over 40 deg and vomiting so it was a quick trip for Mummy and Tom to the hospital (the boys never seem to need to go to the hospital during the week but always seem to manage to be at their most ill when every drunk idiot is at the hospital on a Saturday night!). The hospital were great and after cooling Tom down with iceblocks and some tests and a bit of t.l.c. we were allowed home. Tom walked out like nothing was wrong in his little dressing gown holding my hand and waving to all the nurses saying "bye bye" and they all melted at his cuteness.

Sunday we visited Chris and Sue at their new house which is brilliant, it is a lovely place and once all is unpacked and things finished off it's going to be really cosy. Will post some pics in the next week or so when we remember to bring the camera along.

Well that's it for this week, tomorrow is a holiday for us being ANZAC day so will let you know next week about our adventures.

PS - bit of a cute moment with the bedtime story tonight which featured a "Jack in the box", Jack was facinated by this thing with his name, but not wanting Tom to miss out decided it should be called a "Tom in the box" instead.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

Don't you just love long weekends..... it's been a great holiday for us. On good Friday we had a great day in the hot sunshine starting with a picnic in the park in the morning. After asking the boys what they would like to do, they said "park", we asked if they would you like a picnic - so "picnic in da parrrrk" was the final decision. Tom told us on our way to the park that "Ben's comin" (Ben is the boy’s friend from crèche), and you'll never guess who we bumped into at the park but Ben and his mummy who joined our picnic so they must have worked it out in secret and not told us!

After the boys nap we all went to Macara Beach in the lovely hot sunshine which was brilliant, the boys love the water and the rock pools were full of tiny fish, snails, molluscs and sea anemones so we had magic time for a few hours until the sun went down, all soaking wet we had to try to dry the boys off as best we could in the sunset before getting home and falling into bed.

Saturday we managed a few jobs around the house and Adrian took the boys on his Saturday walk and coffee in town. Apparently he needed to go to the toilet quite badly and with a twin pram we tend to use the disabled toilets so he found one that was handy but the cleaner was still working on it so Adrian asked if he could change one of the boys in the toilet, "sure" he said and left him to it. After Adrian had “been” he came out as the cleaner was coming back in and the cleaner looked at Adrian and said – “pphhhooor, they can really make a smell at this age!” – my poor boys being blamed for Adrian’s smells! Saturday evening we had a lovely dinner with Jeremy and Anna where too much wine was drunk but a great evening!

Easter Sunday - we visited friends Marc and Larissa who have a new house on the beach at Te Horo which was brilliant, the rain disappeared and the sun came out in time for us to play on the beach and get soaking wet before having some hot cross buns and a cuppa. Jack has absolutely no fear when it comes to the sea and I have to hold him back from running way out of his depth so I was pretty soaked myself when we came out. We were not far from home on the motorway when a driver was signalling to us that we had a flat tyre so we pulled over so Adrian could change the tyre but ….ooops there was a wheel lock on the spare tyre and we didn’t have a key…. so we had to call the AAA to get them to cut it off. Meanwhile Uncle Chris drove out to help us get home but he was just in time for the AAA to have finished and we all heading home a little exhausted and embarrassed!

Hope you all had a great Easter,

Pic left is all the lovely apples from our new apple tree – we’ve already had fab apple crumble!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY - TEN YEARS CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes it's 10 years this week since Adrian and I tied the knot and it feels like only yesterday. We celebrated on Saturday night by having a night out on the town and leaving the boys for the whole night for the first time ever. The wonderful and capable Sheena from the boys creche came to look after the boys and they were looking forward to "Sheena comin" all day. She stayed the night and they all had a wonderful time until we came home today at 12:00pm. We booked into the Duxton Hotel where we had a bottle of champagne and exchanged pressies before heading out on the town, we had a lovely dinner and way too much to drink, but not having to get up at 6:00am meant that we could stay out and enjoy ourselves properly for the first time in two years! This morning we had a lovely lie in and a full breakfast in bed before heading home to the boys, I was missing them badly by then but we loved our night away so much it was magic.

The rest of the week was a mad rush of work, cooking dinners for visitors, and a major highlight on Wednesday evening was finally getting the webcam sorted out so we could all talk to the crew at London Road. The boys were really excited about talking to "ganma" and it was brilliant for them to see Paul and Elise and Great-grandad too, the boys have spent the rest of the week asking to "talk to ganma?", we will definitely be doing this regularly it was brilliant. (pic on left is Jack playing "tea-time" in the kitchen and right is Tom with the lovely Leanne who came for a visit and a wine or two on Friday night)

The rest of the weekend was great, Saturday morning was spent doing bits around the house and shopping but the big highlight for the boys was helping daddy wash the car which they loved, especially "washing the big weeaallls".

Thanks to you all for your well wishes this week, have a great week, only a few days till Easter and all that chocholate X

Another momentous week this week with a quick rush to the local doctor after Tom managed to get his first (I'm sure not his last ) black eye. After driving his push car madly around the garden he had a big crash into the picnic table right onto his eye. The boys loved going to the "docta" and want to keep going back because he gave them a jellybean each for being so good - they spent the rest of the day saying "black eye, doctor, jellybean", we won't have trouble getting them through the door of the medical centre ever again.

We had a busy week with Adrian away in Palmerston North lighting the opening of the Royal NZ Ballet's, "The Wedding", a contemporary ballet, so he spent a night all by himself, in a double bed, in a room with a spa bath and got to sleep in all morning, he tells me he spent all his dinner break in the spa pool watching tellie, (I was only a bit jealous...). I spent the week making home made pasta sauce and the best tomato relish ever as we were kindly given a huge box of tomatoes so we had to make the most of them. Adrian's had relish on everything he possibly can since!

The boys were very excited when daddy returned home from Palmerston North with a great present - a new sand-pit, they have spent days in it since and love the "play dirt", I'm not sure where that came from!

It's been great this week being able to load the boys into the pram and wander down to the shops or library, it's been one of the wonderful things about moving here. We've also got the open fire swept and we tested it last night and it was lovely and cosy, so it'll be brilliant when the real cold weather kicks in.

We had a busy weekend with visitors and the boys friend "Tyler" came to play today. The boys loved having a "big boy" to play with and I was really impressed that they managed to work out a way to get all three of them on the swing! Adrian got lots of jobs done around the garden and finished sorting out his garage and I was lucky enough to have a brunch at "Fidels" all by myself and read the paper while Ade took the boys to the park, a real treat.

Have a great week :)