Night glow

On saturday night we hit the Night Glow (along with about 70,000 other people).  The night time spectacle of glowing balloons, music, and fireworks caps off the annual Balloons over Waikato festival.

Second year in a row...I guess that must make it a tradition.

Preston got scared but stuck it out, then talked about it for days.

Easter treats

Happy Birthday (to a very sick little boy)

So Preston's second birthday didn't quite go to plan. He had been sick over the weekend so I took him to the doctor monday morning. High temperature, bad cough, inflammed tonsils, red ears...oh dear said the doctor, this boy has pneumonia.

Pneumonia.

 How the heck did he get pneumonia? I was pretty sure that was something you got from running around in winter with no shoes on and not wearing a singlet. But my poor little boy had it and was in a sad way. We postponed his zoo party, but decided to go ahead with our family dinner that night. We only lasted about an hour then was exhausted and had to come home to bed. I had been prepping him so much about his birthday - he knew he was in for cake, presents, a party, candles...the poor kid! He did have fun opening his presents though, and loved it when we sang happy birthday to him (so much so we had to light the candles and do it again).

 My little boy is 2 years old. He is so clever, cute, and has such a cheeky streak in him. He makes me laugh a lot, except when he is pulling my hair or smashing my face...hmmm not so much then. He does so well with his colors now, has a huge vocab, and his memory amazes me. And he knows the whole alphabet by sight! This kid really is amazing.  (it's been a whole year since his cookie monster party!)

(cake turned out looking pretty good I thought!  Lian's good idea to use crushed oreo for the road.  Got a sore hand piping on all that grass!)

pancake brekky

Preston's two little buds from next door came over for banana milk and pancakes for breakfast. Then we spied another little kid lurking at the front door from up the road so he came in too. The Watene's are moving in a couple of months and I am going to be so sad when he asks me where they are : (

seriously

He actually used a screw driver to prise the lid off the paint. Seriously!?

Valentines cupcakes

summer fun (at the neighbours)

It's been a long hot summer. The best one for years in fact! Great for us...not so great for the farmers who are pleading for rain. For weeks on end it seems that almost every afternoon after sleep time, Preston would be next door at the neighbours having a great time splashing around in the pool or under the sprinkler. Gail and i would be on a blanket or in camping chairs under the tree controlling inevitable fights, chatting away, and ignoring the fact we had to get dinner ready (wait maybe that was just me, i think she was more organised). Watermelon, iceblocks, togs, friends - a perfect recipe for happy summer afternoons.

a trip to the zoo

Sam took a few days off and we tried to have a few fun family activities. A bush walk at pirongia, picnics at the lake, and a trip to the zoo with our little animal loving son.

We had a great time, got a good view of the usually elusive tiger, and got our thrills when the parrot said "hello" back to us in either a high voice when I said it, or a low voice when sam said it. It was pretty funny.

We ended up getting an annual pass for me so I can take Preston all year long : ) It's a great morning out, and then we can have lunch up by the playground before I take him home to bed!

And how cool is it that preston can now say "ruffed lemur!!" : )

anniversary number 6

6 years...wow that's a long time. Our anniversary fell on a Sunday so was a bit of a non event, but we decided to go out to dinner on Monday instead. We continued our tradition of having a photo together...but every year I get annoyed that there is no picture from our very first anniversary. What's up with that! But anyway here's us this year, and then a little montage going back over the last few...I think I might have to make up one for the first year!

Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad

Mum and Dad were still in the country (just) on their wedding anniversary, so while they were out at dinner, us kids decided to make a surprise dessert for them. We decided to get all fancy pants with a dessert trio....ok one of the trio was actually icecream but it did have spun sugar on top which makes it fancy.

 Aunty Della's legendary banana fritter recipe, lian's legendary white chocolate creme brulee, and vanilla icecream with spun sugar. So so good.

 Of course the fact we had the deep fryer out for the banana fritters sent us into a deep frying frenzy over the next few days before they left...which was not a good thing. I mean the deep fried onion rings were out of this world, but we quickly descended into a not so good place...just ask Paul who decided to deep fry a peice of pizza.