Pulling faces

In the kitchen

Christmas saw the arrival of measuring cups, measuring spoons, and a sifter - all in aid for Bronte's future publication "Baking with Bronte".

A half-month update

Zach is progressing so rapidly at the moment, that I need to update halfway through the month. In the last couple of weeks, he has started to dance to music, stands for ~2 seconds unassisted, said dog ("og") and ball ("all"), feeds himself (attempts) from a spoon, points, is showing signs of jealously when his sister gets attention, yells when things are taken off him / we say no, and is very very inquisitive.

River play

We headed up the coast for a few days to enjoy the mild weather. We spent most of the time at the river, but on the last day we headed to the beach, where, for the first time, Bronte actually really enjoyed jumping in the waves (no photos of this however). Zach loved both the river and the beach, and especially loved (eating) the sand. The weather was so mild that our river / beach trips were prematurely short due to the kids getting too cold!

Boxing day swim

Boxing day we got up early and headed to Southbank for an early morning swim. Snagged the free park out front, swam before there were lots of people, had ham and eggs breakfast on the BBQ, then headed home in time for the test and a play with the many christmas toys. A great morning.

Family shots

The family all together + beautiful weather = family shot time.

Christmas afternoon cricket

Lunch and the afternoon was spent at the Healy house. For more photos of a lovely and relaxing afternoon, see Catriona's blog at the wide eye link on the right ->

Dress poses

Bronte received this beautiful dress from her Great Aunty Ross. Bronte set up the poses herself...

Christmas morning!

The first (and best) present was Nanna staying the night - lovely! Santa also listened to the repeated request and got Bronte a pink camera. It takes terrible pictures, but it is easy to turn on and off, and zoom, and Bronte loves using it - so it is perfect. Bronte and Zach got some lovely books from Sweden, which timed perfectly with Zach really getting into books. Zach also got an AWESEOME red firetruck. The rest of the house was slightly (a lot) jealous.

In preparation

For the after-hours visitors

Sharing

Zach is so lucky to have a sister like Bronte who is willing to share her ice-cream. This was happening while mum was doing the dishes. While nutritionally unsound, it was too cute not to capture on camera.

Rudolph part 2

As previously mentioned, we shamelessly stole this idea of Kristina, and used it for teacher's presents, and gifts for family. They all seemed to adopt their own quirky personality.

Christmas eve visits

As it was a Healy Christmas year, there were special efforts made to visit the kids on Christmas Eve. As expected, Bronte and Zach were utterly spoilt, but the best part was seeing their cousins, aunties, and uncles.

Car troubles

The car is the best toy ever. It has lasted through three cousins, onto Bronte, and now onto Zach. Everyone loves the car. Which is sometimes the problem with visiting kids (neither Bronte nor Zach are good at sharing the car). But when it is just the two of them, Bronte is a fantastic pusher of a very happy Zach.

The construction of Rudolph

Kristina came over and showed us how to make these awesome gingerbread reindeer. We have shamelessly stolen her idea to use as Christmas presents. Bronte is particularly good at sticking on the eyes.

Stopping dehydration

It is hard to both keep up the water intake and the charm offensive when you are sick, but Zach is managing somehow.

The two of us

vomit, snot and no sleep

that is what happened in our house last night. Nice.

10 months!

Massive leaps this month - kneeling, standing (for a second), little cute sounds coming out, waving and saying bye bye. He loves peek-a-boo, and he is demonstrating more and more that he understand what we are saying. He is getting very adventurous in the play gym, going down the big slide in-between charming the ladies. He starting to work the iPad, showing us the three-finger swipe move.

The literal

mum: "i am thinking it is time for your bath".
bronte: "mum, you're not thinking, you're saying!"

3 years 7 months

This month has seen the number 2 breakthrough we have all been waiting for. It is a wonderful thing. Other than that, Bronte is going through a scared at night phase. Which has resulted in 3 night lights, and some very late nights where she stays up reading her books in bed. She is starting to read - spelling out the letters, and joining them together, and on the way to school we do a lot of "I spy" with her friend Zoe.

Water play

The fun of spaghetti

Finn's party

This was the first party for Finn's family, and they nailed it. The theme was trains, with gorgeous invites, party at the train park, little train sandwiches, train carriage lunch box for all the kids, and yep, a train cake. And then, to top it all off, the steam train went past (even though they only normally go on Sundays). Amazing!