Beach and bath!

We took a trip to New Brighton beach today, it was very hot and we were all in need of an ice-cream! So off to the beach we went, and after a nice big '99' each, it was time for a stroll. Rio stayed in the car with Daddy, it was too bright for her and despite factor 50 suncream she already had a bit of sunburn on her cheeks from the back of the car!! So Mummy (sunlover) and Rune (i-need-to-run-around), went for a walk on the beach. Rune had a great time picking up shells, looking at paw-prints and seagull-prints in the sand, and splashing in the sea! Here are a few pics of the wee man enjoying himself...

And of course, a day full of fun and excitement more often than not needs to end with a bath! Why does fun mean messy children?!?!...

Ahhh...that's the life!! xxxxx

Mummy and her babies

A few photos (after being requested by Grandma H!) of me and my little pickles!

:) xxxxxxxxxxxx

Little poppet!

Here is a little video of Rio nagging away and learning new noises with her tongue - she is a vocal little poppet, and loves a good chat! :) xxxxxxxx

A little update..

Just a little update on the Woodies!

Rio is changing every day, she is getting so big! She has learnt to stick her tongue out, it's so funny when Rune gets her to copy him, they giggle away to each other, it's so precious! They have such a strong bond, they just love each other to bits. Talk about making your heart melt!

Runes new favourite phrases are "I'm so happy to see you", "Oh my God!", and "Some kai will make it better" ('kai' is Maori for 'food') ...his language is just amazing now, he will hold a proper conversation, there's not alot he doesn't understand. And he LOVES doing roly-polys! We were in the bank the other day and the lady we were sat next to couldn't believe he is only 2 and a half, she thought he was 4! He was singing the alphabet, chatting away, asking her for a kiss!!! He is such a show-off!

Monday night we had to go on a bit of a rescue mission! One of Rogies Escape vans broke down about 10 minutes up the road from us, just past Waikuku. Luckily, Rogie had a clean van at home - this was at 8.30pm that he got the phone call, and it was oddly a really cold evening. So we wrapped the kids up warm (they were both in their PJs about to go to bed!), Rogie took his van and I followed in the car. Both Rune and Rio had fallen asleep by the time we reached the broken down van! So we helped the Escape-ers shift all their stuff into the new van, saw them on their way, and tried in vein to start up the dead van. So, it was pitch black by the time we left - we cruised on through to McD's in Kaiapoi for a milkshake, and got back home at 10.30! Both the kiddies went straight down to sleep in their beds. How lucky are we to have such easy, cruisy children?! That was our excitement for the week anyway!

I (Mummy!) am applying for a few jobs now, Rune and Rio are both getting bored at home, Rune in particular. They would both benefit so much more from being in a pre-school/nursery - but in the same breath we want to find a place that will really look after them and nurture them, and understand their individual needs. We'll have to do alot of searching to find the right place! Similarly, I'm very ready to sink my teeth into something challenging and fast-paced - I feel like my brain is wasting away! I have all the time I want to wait for the right position to come along, though. So we shall see what happens! I do have an interview lined up for Tuesday with a company called Overland. Shoes - of course ;)

And to finish off...some goregous photos of our beautiful babies - they are so photogenic! Not that we are biased or anything - but they really are the most wonderful children EVER!

Aren't they just absolutely scrumptious?! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Do you know the muffin man?

Rune - aspiring chef! This afternoon, Rio was sound asleep and it was cold and drizzly outside. So Rune (with only a tiny bit of help from Mummy) made some yummy chocolate muffins! He had so much fun, and was so proud of his handywork! Check out his "chef hat" - how authentic does he look?! Shame we haven't got a little apron for him (though he didn't need one, he was remarkably clean afterwards - who'd of thought that was even possible?!)

Here are some pictures of Rune making his cakes!

Counting out the chocolate buttons

Pouring in the sugar (love his camp hand, ducky!)

This is so much FUN!

Stirring the mixture and grinning away (and oh my gosh he looks like Grandma Heather in this pic!)

Magic! The cakes are mega YUM!

What a shame we can't share them with you... *sigh* ....oh well, guess we'll just have to eat them all ourselves. What a hardship!! ;) xxxxx

Best picture EVER!

Hehehehehe, how precious is that?!?! xxxx

Little thrill-seeker!

WELL! Today, we went to the mall with Nanny, because Nanny had promised Runey he could go on the big indoor-bungy/bouncer they had up for the school holidays! Rune had GREAT fun!! It's like an adult-sized jolly jumper! Here are a few pictures of Rune bouncing and having fun:

Sooooo cool! Ru got to bounce REALLY high, it was great to watch him - his face was a picture! Thank you, Nanny Ali! :D

4 months!

Little Miss Rio is 4 months old. 4 MONTHS already! Where on earth has the time gone?!?!?! Our little baby is growing too fast! She is a cheeky little poppet, and very vocal - typical girl, she loves the sound of her own voice!! Hehe! Here are a few snaps of our princess :)

What a beautiful little girl - aren't we lucky?! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Little darlings

Rune and Rio are such good children, sometimes we just cannot believe how lucky we are - they really are no trouble at all (most of the time, anyway!)... Rune just dotes on his baby sister, he'll spend ages talking to her, saying "Hello baby Rio, hello sweeie pie, love you darling... Awww Rio's looking at Runey! Hello bubba, hello baby girl!" and chat chat chat's away to her. It is just SO precious! Rio adores Rune, she watches his every move, she giggles away at him, if she's crying she will ALWAYS settle for Rune - sometimes Mummy and Daddy just aren't good enough, she needs her beloved big brother to make it all better! What absolute little darlings - we are so very lucky :)

Rune and Rio enjoying a cuddle together

Rune scoffing some chocolate muffins!

Hehe being polite and cheeky at the same time!

They are the BEST babies in the whooooole world - and we are so very, very, VERY proud of them :) xxxxxx

Busy busy busy!

We've been very busy this past week, so sorry for not updating sooner!

The weather has been absolutely scorching, we reached over 40 degrees on Thursday! On Friday Nanny and Koro had air conditioning installed in their house... (jealous much?!) here is a picture of Rio enjoying some tummy time in the nice cool air...



Saturday we had a lovely evening with our friends from the Canterbury Kids forums - Sian and Andrew put on a beautiful BBQ (I must say I was most impressed!) and all the kiddies had a fantastic time running round and playing together. Rio had lots of cuddles with everybody, and Rune was into everything - especially Calebs new sandpit (WOW that was impressive!) and the cat Minx who was soooo good, Rune kept giving her kisses and chasing her round, and she tolerated every second of it. What a good girl! Here are a few pics from the day:

"I've had too much fizzy!"


Caleb and Rune - super excited about Minx!

Poor Minx hardly got a moments peace!

Rio enjoying cuddles with Sian

...and cuddles with Andrew!

Rune having cuddles with Becky.

Rune has been toilet training since Christmas, and has mastered it very quickly - he is completely dry day and night now. What a good boy!! We are so proud of him :)

Monday we saw the Plunket nurse... Rio is a whopping 13lb 14oz! She is tracking along the 55th percentile just nicely - and it is fantastic to see that breastfeeding is giving her absolutely everything she needs. At this age, Rune was fully formula fed after becoming a failure to thrive on my breastmilk (he dropped off the bottom of the Plunket weight charts), and was even having baby rice by now! He was such a hungry baby. Rio is so content and happy with breastmilk - couldnt be more different if they tried!

Rio had her 3 month jabs on Monday too. Poor little poppet! But she was good as gold afterwards, spent the rest of the day cooing and smiling and being generally lovely. Nobody would have known she'd just had a huge needle plunged in each thigh! She has two nasty little bruises now :(

We've also put our names down for a Beagle puppy who is soon to be whelped. We're very excited to welcome this new addition to our family in a couple of months time - we have big plans to show her and make it a family tradition to compete and show our Beagle :) Maybe further down the line we will be able to even breed Beagles! But for now we are excited about the arrival of our little 'Lady' :D

And even MORE news... Grandma Heather has booked her flights to NZ for a visit in October!! We're all very excited about having a 'holiday' with her, seeing some sights, and spending quality time together. It will be soooooo nice for Rune and Rio to spend some time with Grandma - and vice versa! Rio will have just turned 1, and Rune will be almost 3 and a half, so what fantastic ages they will be to enjoy the visit! :D

PHEW! I told you we had been busy ;) What a tiresome week...

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You know its a Kiwi Summer When...

...The Ice-Cream Man rocks on up at the end of your driveway, you run outside with just your undies on (we're talking about Rune, not Mummy, I might add!!!), you thumbs-up the bro down the road swigging back a Tui as he mows the lawns in just his stubbies and his mo, you grab a choice big soft serve with a flake for $2.50, then hang out in the 35 degree heat and get ice cream all round your gobchops and all over Mums sofa, whilst your baby sister chills out in just her nappy and drools like the pitty over the fence as she watched you chow down....

...then you hang out in your togs with the whanau and wonder what to do next that doesnt involve too much effort. Backyard cricket, the water slide despite the hose-ban, and a let Dad slave over the BBQ. Ahhh.... sweet as!

Ru's Cruise

Monday mornings can be a bugger for traffic jams. Especially in our lounge...

This morning Runes cruise was holding up our lounge highway, it was bumper to bumper from sofa to sofa!

Ru was having GREAT fun lining up all his cars, and he was quite proud of his handywork!:

Personally, I love the fact that the cruise was being lead by a giraffe ;) xxx