Starting to feel like Summer

Finally it's starting to feel a little bit like summer in Tasmania.  I'm not holding my breath though, because I know that now I have said it, it's most likely going to cool down again.  Although we don't really have a backyard yet (we have lots of landscaping to do still) it hasn't stopped the boys getting out there and cooling off by playing in the water.

Kobe thought it would be okay to go in clothes and all.  Don't you love the muddy colour of the water after they get in and out a few times.

All the while Aaron is slogging away making them a HUGE sandpit.  

We aren't going to attempt any major landscaping until after the summer holidays, as the boys are going to want to play out there lots and they won't be keen on giving the lawn time to grow. 

I'm trying to be patient and remind myself that it will all come in time (the rendering, retaining wall and driveway also still needs to be done).  For now I just have to put up with muddy footprints through my kitchen. I'm sure early in the new year it will all be finished and we can sit back and enjoy it all.

Space for our Monkey

Our new house is finally starting to feel like a real home.  It's nice being able to do things that we really want to do like put certain things up on the walls, or just sort things out and put them in certain spots, knowing that it is our house for as long as we want and no one can tell us that we need to move.

The thing I love the most is having more space.  More space for the boys to have their own room, and more space in our bedroom so that Noah can fit in easily.  I love having him in our room, without feeling like his things are taking up all the space in our room. 

At our old house we used his 'Little Room' for a few years, but once Kobe was born the house just seemed so much smaller and we ended up putting it away as we just needed more space.  It's so nice having it out again and being able to be used, especially now it's summer holidays as it gives Noah something to do when we are home.

I love seeing his eyes light up when he is in there, looking at all his lights and hearing all the sounds.

It's worth the effort to get him in there, to know that he is being stimulated and enjoying something that he can do on his own.

Masterchef Kobe

I'm pretty sure that Kobe is pleased with his new Masterchef kitchen and chef's outfit, that he got for Christmas!

He is always busy making us lots of interesting dishes, that are always 'hot'.

Here's to hoping that one day he really will be a Masterchef and will cook for his Mum everyday, so that I don't have to anymore. 

Noah's Happy Voice

Our friend Becky was surprised when we said that Noah can yell a LOT (when he is grumpy) because her son Ben didn't make any noise because he had a trach.

I've been meaning to video Noah when he's doing lots of yelling so Becky can see what he is like (it goes on for hours and hours and hours), but so far he has been really happy and settled, so I haven't had the chance.

We did however get to video him when he was really happy the other day and doing lots of 'talking'. I wanted to have a cuddle with him, so got Aaron to bring him up to the couch for me and next thing I know he was all smiles and talking, as he was so happy to have some time with Mum.

His grumpy voice is a lot different - it's a constant yell with a strained look on his face - not the cheeky face he has on during this video. I'll have to video that another time.

Escaping the Cricket

There's only so much cricket that I can put up with, and with a test match on that Aaron can't miss a ball of, it was time to get out of the house with the boys. Today we headed to City Park for a bike ride and a play, even though the 'summer' weather wasn't very warm at all.

Jay and Harri have heaps of fun just doing laps around the park on their bikes and scooters, while Kobe, Noah and I visited the monkeys, looked at the fountain and took photos.


While I ducked around the corner for a second to take the photo of Noah above, Kobe decided that it really must be swimming weather, since it is supposed to be summer and there was some water. I came back around the corner to find this!! He was all ready to jump right in!

We finally caught up with the other two boys, and I bribed them to stay still for a couple of minutes so I could take some photos. I reminded them that Noah isn't always awake so it was a nice time to get some photos of them together.


While we waited for Harri to do his 'thirtieth lap' (he seemed to add on ten laps for every three he did!), Jay snapped some pics of us...

and we couldn't resist the old hold up and shoot pic.

Fingers crossed that the weather will start warming up very soon, so that we can really start enjoying our summer holidays, away from watching the cricket all day! :)

Our Christmas Day

We had a lovely Christmas day yesterday. Jalen appeared in our bedroom at 4am saying he 'needed to go to the toilet and Santa had been!' (he NEVER needs to go to the toilet during the night, so I think he was a little bit excited!). I told him to go back to bed and get back up at 6 am which he did. We waited for Kobe to wake at 6.15 am and then they couldn't wait any longer and had to get Harri up. Noah was actually awake at the time, so we got him up as well, but within two minutes he was back asleep!

We decided he could open his presents once he woke up properly and kept opening up present while he snoozed.

After a yummy breakfast and quiet morning at home (Aaron's Dad and Step Mum are in Melbourne with his sister) we headed out to Mum and Dad's. On the way we stopped at the cemetary to leave some flowers for Nan and Pop and Daniel (thanks Bec for the lovely roses). All morning I was thinking about Nan and Pop and how this was the first Christmas with them gone. We don't always see them on Christmas day, but it's always nice to know what they are up to, and I was really sad to think that they weren't here anymore.


We were shocked at the changes at Mum and Dad's house. They have been renovating for months and have been without a kitchen for three months, and it looks so good and different to before. The kitchen still isn't finished, but at least it was in and useable for Christmas day.

We had a yummy cold lunch of dips, crackers, nibblies, prawn cocktails, ham and salads.


Every year it gets noisier and noiser with the little kids having a great time together. Jay is a great big cousin to them and doesn't mind them chasing after him all the time. I captured this video while we were finishing off lunch. It cracks me up- especially Harri who is too cool to just run around like the rest of them, but had to take his DSi with him that he got for Christmas.



It was lovely having a new baby around again - although I'm so glad it's not be with a baby! Jack was so good all day. It won't be long and he'll be running around with the other kids.


Before Nicki and Alex headed off to Hobart we opened up presents.



Kobe got from us a Masterchef kitchen to play with (he loves his cooking toys), so he was so excited when Aunty Steph and Uncle Eden got him a Masterchef set with an apron, chef's hat and coat and cooking utensils. Steph had even embroided his name on it for him.

All of the girls got fairy costumes from Grandma and Grandpa and loved them, and wore them all day.


While a hot tea was cooking (turkey and all the trimmings) we enjoyed sitting around, catching up and riding the motorbikes.





Chloe and Kelsea went out and picked some flowers for Grandma. Chloe came in trying to wrap them up with some beads saying 'I'm making Grandma a beautiful present, which she is going to love!'. I think Grandma did love it.

Noah was so good all day. It was the best Christmas he had, had for years. He slept on and off, but was awake for most of the day and really settled and happy.

A lovely businessman had anonymously donated some money to St Giles a few weeks ago, saying that he wanted the money to go to kids for Christmas. We were lucky enough to be given a very generous gift voucher to buy some things for Noah, so he now has lots of lovely things to look at and listen to, as well as the plasma ball that we had already bought him. He loved looking at it last night while he was having his nightly nebs.

The only thing missing for Christmas was having Chrish with us, but we are looking forward to him coming down in a few weeks time.

Kobe's Christmas Joy!

For about a month Kobe has been obsessed with Barbies. I'm sure it's because he plays with them with his friend Eden and the other girls at the gym, and also sees it on Toy Story. Every time we go shopping he screams down the shop yelling 'Barbie, Barbie!!' whenever he spots the Barbie aisle.

Aaron and I decided that we would have to get him a Barbie for Christmas, and didn't think twice that it's not the usual thing you would give a boy. I say if a boy wants to play with a doll then that's great - I shouldn't stand in their way as I'm sure it's not going to last forever. The same thing if a girl wants to play with trucks or trains or stereotypical 'boy things'.

About the same time we decided to buy him a Barbie for Christmas, Lisa snuck a present under the tree for him from Eden - which was also a Barbie! We knew he was going to be so excited. Because they have gone to America we videoed him opening it this morning.

I think he LOVES his Barbie! Thank you Lisa and Eden!! He has been playing with it all day today.



A big post about Christmas day tomorrow. I'm too tired (and full of yummy food!) to do one right now.

Christmas Traditions

Every December we have things that we like to do with the boys - go and see the Christmas lights, go to Carols By Candleight in the City Park, and have a special tea on Christmas Eve and read a Christmas story before bed.

This year we didn't get to the Carols by Candlelight because it was cancelled, but last Saturday night we went out once it was dark to see some Christmas lights.





Tonight we had our usual Christmas Eve tea - platters of meats, cheeses, dips, pate and fruit (dipped in chocolate of course!). The boys get so excited about sitting on the floor to do it and all day kept asking what time we were having tea.


Jalen heard a story at school called 'The Gift of the Magi' which he loved, so he kept asking all week if he could read us the story for Christmas Eve this year.

Harri didn't want to be left out, so he chose to read a story about the First Christmas - one of Kobe's picture books.

We got the stockings down ready for Santa to fill tonight, and Kobe straight away thought he knew what to do with it!

All day the boys have been looking at the Santa Tracker application on my iPhone and watching the official NORAD Santa tracker on the net. They were so excited at 6pm when Santa finally took off.

I don't think we will get much sleep tonight - we have three very excited little boys.

Hopefully Santa will be coming to all of them!



It's been a huge year with lots of blessings. It's so nice to be celebrating Christmas in our new house.