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

Hail Storm

An interesting start to 2009!! We rarely get thunderstorms in New Zealand (not like the good old storms we got every other week in the UK!)... so this was a real treat! It has long been overdue considering all the hot weather we have been having. Rune thought it was great fun to watch! First we saw the storm clouds coming in, was a very eerie sight, and was coupled with absolute silence as all the birds took cover and everybody anticipated what was to follow...





Then we got some thunder, some sheet lightening, and then some FORK lightening (another rarity in NZ). Then came the hail. And OH MY GOSH did it hail!! How we have all our windows still intact I do not know - the hail was the size of marbles!! It was incredible to watch, Rune was absolutely amazed by it!

What a treat! The garden really needed it. An interesting start to the New Year... lets hope there are many more welcome surprises in store this year! :D xxxx

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

We hope 2009 brings you lots of happiness, smiles and laughter, alot like this:

Big love and a very HAPPY NEW YEAR from the Woodies :) xxxx