The Calm Before the Storm

This is my view right now! I'm sitting in the apartment we've rented for the night, waiting for my friend to arrive from Auckland so we can get the last few things done before we go and pick up the bride-to-be for her Hens Night!!!

Oh, and Happy Summer!

xxx

Improvements

I know I've been quiet on here lately...I've been crazy busy getting this hens night organised!! Only a couple more days, then we'll be gearing up for the wedding - SO EXCITING!!!

In other news, Kason and Cohen are having an amazing time with Nana & Grumps, and their speech is improving massively. At the end of last week, Cohen sentences would go along the lines of, "fgydsdtbh hgddbhuh jjyghhd hhgyhvd dog lick." Now, just a few days later, his sentences are more like, "fonzi dog lick hand, yuck!" It's absolutely how much change there is in just a few days. Kason's speech has hugely improved, too, he has a huge vocabulary, bigger than Cohen's, I think, but he is still figuring out how to make sentences. The other thing Kase has been working out over the last couple of days is the use of 'yours' and 'mine'. It's so hard to explain it to a two-year-old, but he's grasping it :-)

xxx

More Busy Days!

We've been busy!

Saturday we went ten pin bowling with my parents. The boys loved it, although Kason started to melt down about round 8...he thought every turn should have been his turn! I even managed to win despite getting gutter-balls for several rounds - Dad was unimpressed, he was winning by quite a bit until I got two spares and a strike in a row :-P

Sunday the weather was playing ball a bit more, so we took Kason and Cohen to a donkey stud which was having a fundraiser and open day. Cohen absolutely loved it, and even rode a donkey! He just loved every bit of it, especially the little ride-on toy tractors they had. Kason, on the other hand, was RIDICULOUSLY clingy all afternoon. I could barely put him down, and if I did, I had to be holding his hand. At one time, I was standing right behind him and he cracked it because he couldn't see me for 5.7 seconds! He refused to ride the donkey, and didn't want to pat any of the other animals there :-(

Monday we went to Mainly Music before a playdate with one of my best friends from school and two of her three kids. After that the boys and I went on a mission to find a jumper for each of them. We succeeded, but not without drama...all because I lost a receipt to get out of the carpark for free!

Tuesday we went to Matamata with my Dad. He had something on in Te Poi, so we dropped him off before going into Matamata to catch up with another old school of mine (intermediate school this time). When we'd finished there, we went back to Te Poi to pick Dad up. He was doing some work with his cousins son on their farm. Cohen and Kason ABSOLUTELY LOVE diggers, and they have a digger on their farm, so the boys were so excited to get to drive it with their uncle :-)

Today we went to the local Twins Group. We had a good time, and it was so nice to be able to talk to the other twin mums about 'twin stuff' rather than spending two hours listening to people talking about other people I don't know! Anyways, after that, we came home, hung out, went for a walk, had lunch and went and picked my Mum from work early. This afternoon Mum and I took the boys to the Hamilton Gardens. It was such a lovely afternoon, and really warm. Kase & Cohen decided to have a swim in the shallow pool in the 'American Modernist' garden. In their clothes! Luckily for all involved, I just happened to have two towels and two full changes of clothes in the car. When we got home, they wanted Grumps to take them for a swim in the 'big' pool. It wasn't quite warm enough for that, but he dipped them both in, up to their shoulders, several times!

Now I need to find some things to occupy us for the next two days!

xxx

Crap Weather

The weather here has been crap! Today was even cold enough to warrant having the heater on! We had been hoping to take the boys out to a donkey stud which is having a big fundraiser this weekend, but there was no way that was going to happen with the weather. Instead, we went ten pin bowling :-) The boys have been once before, for their 2nd birthday. They had a great time today, although Kason started to meltdown a little bit about round 8. Cohen managed to score lots of points for Nana, Grumps and Kasonk but for some reason, every time his turn came around, he would get a gutterball! I think he ended up with about 43 points, with the next person getting 70! I'm fairly stoked that I won, despite going several rounds in a row without scoring at all!

Yesterday, Kason, Cohen and I spent several hours with a friend of mine from school. She and her husband spent a year in Adelaide during the boys' first year. They were over again for a visit earlier this year, but I wasn't 100% sure that they would remember Catherine (Caleb wasn't home), but they absolutely did! When we pulled up at their house, the boys had big grins in their faces and they were super excited :-) They were also singing a song about Catherine the whole way there - so cute! Of course they wouldn't sing it for Catherine when we got there, though!

xxx

Look Mummy, BALLOONS!

I took the boys to a 'Little Rockers' song time thing this morning (singing songs and playing little drums and bells etc.), and at one point, the woman leading it pulled out a box of pois. All the otger kids knew what to do with them and my boys come out with, "look Mummy, balloons!!" Pick the kids who haven't grown up in New Zealand...!

We went for a quick drive to pick my Mum up from work, and on the way we saw a couple walking their pet down the road. It was a sheep. On a leash. In the suburbs. Only in NZ!
Also in NZ, chocolate fish! So, so good! I hate to think how many I'll eat before we go back.

The boys have been so  awesomely amazing since we arrived, they have just taken everything in their strides :-) The one thing they have struggled with is bedtime. Here they are in single beds, in a strange room. The night before last, they apparently decided my parents need to redecorate...they tore the net curtains down, and ripped off a pretty decent chunk of wallpaper!
Every night so far, they have needed me in there with them to go to sleep, preferably cuddling both of them. Poor little guys :-(

xxx

We Made It!

Kason, Cohen and I made it safely to New Zealand yesterday! It was a long day, but both of the boys did incredibly well and I was so proud of them :-)

The flight was delayed, although only for around 30 minutes, so they had a play on the playground before saying bye to Daddy and going through Customs. At Adelaide airport, there is virtually nothing once you've gone through Customs (other than a small duty-free shop, and there was no way I was going to spend any time in there with two 2.5 year ols boys who refused to sit in their stroller!), so we sat by the big window and watched the planes landing and taking-off. The boys thought it was fantastic :-)

The flight itself was great - Cohen and Kason loved the fact that they had their own little screens and remotes...actually, I think it was the remotes they loved the most. Add in the fact that they could watch or listen to The Wiggles, and they were just in heaven! There was only a tiny big of turbulence during the flight, during the boys laughed :-)

Coming off and getting through Customs and MAF was a breeze, and the grins on the boys' faces when they saw Nana & Grumpy were just priceless! They just kept looking up/over at them as if they couldn't quite believe they were really there - they are much more used to seeing them in Skype.

The drive to Hamilton was uneventful. Both of the boys were tired and a bit grumpy and Kason fell asleep about 20 minutes from home. We woke him up when we arrived, had some dinner, settled in a bit, then they had a bath, brushed their teeth and went to bed. They crashed almost as soon as their little heads hit the pillow :-)

They woke up about 8am, and played with Nana and Grumpy until I woke up a couple of hours later. Then they played in the sandpit, went for a walk in their new Grumpy-built trolley, rode on their new skateboards, had some lunch, then we went out  to the block where Grumpy took them for a ride on the 4-wheel motorbike. They LOVED it, and there were plenty of tears, mainly from Kason when it was time to put the  bike away.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed, and Kason and I even had a nap on the couch! It was lovely, although it won't be happening again anytime soon...it was NOT easy to get him to sleep tonight!

Anyways, I better go, have to be up kinda early in the morning (well, early Adelaide time).

xxx

Procrastination

I am AWESOME at procrastinating. As in, we are leaving in just a couple of days and I have done pretty much nothing to get ready other than book our tickets (months ago) and find our passports. Tomorrow will be pretty much a write-off cause we are crazy busy pretty much all day, then I have a long-standing weekly skype date with my bestie after the boys go to bed! Speaking of... check out where they have fallen asleep for the past two nights (and I must say that I am LOVING the camera WITH FLASH my new phone has!)

Xxx

Awesome Days

We've had an awesome last couple of days. Yesterday we had to go into the city to pick up my bridesmaid dress for the wedding we are heading back to New Zealand for. We didn't come straight back home as we usually do, but instead we parked at Simon's work, caught the tram to Rundle Mall and had lunch at a beautiful cafe. The food was delicious and the boys behaved beautifully, which was awesome! It's so nice that they're getting to an age where we can actually take them out for lunch :-)

After getting the tram back to the car and driving home, we got changed and headed down to the beach. It was awesome, and I absolutely LOVE how much both Kason and Cohen (but especially Cohen!) love the beach! They run straight down to the water (holding our hands, obviously), and Cohen just wants to actually swim through the small waves, and he cries when it's time to head home again.

This morning we met some friends at the local play cafe, and had a great few hours there. We picked a few copies of the newspaper up on the way home - we were in it! I definitely was NOT expecting to see my photo on the front page, but I had had a heads up that we were likely to be on the cover of the section, which we were. Check out the link here!

xxx

Long Night!

After yesterday's busy day, I didn't think it would be unreasonable to expect Kason and Cohen to have a good night's sleep. They are generally really good, and mostly sleep right through although occasionally one will wake briefly. Last night was a whole other story! Cohen woke up about 10pm, and just would not go back to sleep! Kason decided to join in the party, too, I don't even know what time! We tried so many things to get them back to sleep, and finally managed to succeed about 2:30am. Then, I couldn't get to sleep. Fun times.

It was kinda good, actually, that the boys were in childcare today. It meant that I got a chance to have a sleep this afternoon before I picked them up! AND, Cohen had a nap at 'school', too!!!! Unheard of, I tell ya! Kason didn't, but he did get more sleep than Cohey did last night, but he was just sitting in a stroller when I got there to pick them up. Apparently he'd been in there for about 30 mins and was quite happy just having some quiet time (again, unheard of!). When we got to the car, he told me that he had been sad because he missed me :-( He was in an awesome mood after we got home, though, and so was Cohen. They were both so, so happy! They are usually cranky after 'school', so it was a nice change - that little rest they both had works wonders. Now if only they would sleep at home during the day!

xxx

Busy Day

Cohen, Kason and I are off to NZ pretty soon. Simon couldn't take much time off work, so he's staying here. There are a few family activities that we are trying to fit in before we leave, one of which is taking the boys back to the Aquatic Centre. We went there a few weeks ago for the first time in quite a while and to say that both boys absolutely LOVED it is a big understatement!!

Today the weather was beautiful, and super warm (32C). We had playgroup this morning (the boys played with all the water activities, as per usual!), and afterwards we came home and put water in the paddling pool for them. Simon and I didn't get to enjoy it, though, so we decided to take them to the pools today instead of on Sunday like we had planned. Unfortunately, the kids splash park and water slide weren't going, but that still didn't stop us all having an awesome time!! Now we're going to have to go back again before we go, and this time make sure that the splash park is going :-)

I was fairly convinced that Kason and Cohen would fall asleep in the car on the way home. They had a big day, with lots of playing at playgroup, then playing outside when we got home, then swimming at the pools. But...no such luck!! They were all go until the minute their gorgeous little heads hit their pillows at bedtime tonight.
Despite all my efforts (and trust me, I have done EVERYTHING possible to try to get them to nap - they still need one, they get so overtired and crazy from about 4:30pm), they just don't nap anymore. It's apparently much more exciting to run amuck in their room. 'Quiet Time' doesn't happen either.

Anyways, we'll get there. I think we all just need to get used to the no nap thing.

In other news, this is quite possibly my new favourite photo:

Kason & Cohen

I can't take credit for the photo, it was taken by the Playgroup photographer a few weeks ago :-) I'm thinking we might have to get it enlarged and framed maybe.

xxx

Catching Up

It has been beautiful weather here lately, and we are making the most of it!! I'm really, really hoping that the weather is nice when we are in New Zealand soon, but I'm not really holding my breath! Anyways, we have been spending most of everyday outside. Kason and Cohen are really loving their sandpit at the moment, and some days, they spend the entire day playing in there!

Yesterday the weather was stunning, again, so while Simon was at work in the morning, the boys and I played in the sandpit and drew with our chalk - on the chalkboard, the concrete path, the bricks, the fence - then some friends of mine from my old work in NZ came over for lunch. They are in Adelaide for a few days, so it was awesome to catch up with them...and all the gossip! Cohen and Kason loved having them here, they love to show off to a new audience :-)

Anyways, Simon got home not long after lunch, and we all headed down to the beach for a while. It wasn't overly hot, so I didn't think the boys would be keen on going in the water - but holy crap was I wrong!!! They were wearing their boardies and rashies, but just their normal nappies. Thankfully I packed spares, just in case. They spent the whole hour or so splashing around with Simon, and they were NOT impressed when we had to go home, and Cohen kept turning around to run back into the water.

I love that they love the beach so much! It's a shame that we won't be able to go so much this summer, what with being in NZ for a while, but there will still be plenty of summer after we get back. We're lucky that Simon doesn't work mornings, because it means that we can spend the mornings at the beach, and because we're so close, it's worth the trip, even if we only spend 20 minutes there!

Hanging out for more beach days!

xxx

P.S. I didn't get my camera out, but my friend did - I'll have to get pictures from her

Pony Rides

We took Cohen and Kason to a market this morning. We often go, and as the boys really don't like their stroller - they much prefer to walk! - we usually do let them walk. Usually, they run around, try to touch everything, and just be nosy, typical two-year-olds. Today, however, they were AWESOME! They walked nicely beside us, didn't even attempt to run off and just behaved so nicely. Even though it probably had something to do with the balloons that they were given to hold on to, I was still super impressed!

By the entrance, they had pony rides, so on our way out, we let Kason and Cohen have a pony ride :-)

Kason

Kason

Kason

Cohen

Cohen

Cohen

Cohen

They both absolutely loved it, and even though you can't tell by these photos, they had big grins on their faces most of the time. Kason especially was talking about his 'horse' ride all afternoon, and his helmet that he wore! He even wanted to skype Grumpy and tell him all about his 'horse' ride :-) I was so impressed with them both, I thought Cohen might have freaked out, but he was a little natural!

xxx

You Know That Time

...when your two-year old broke the TV? Yeah...it's awesome. Or not, as the case may be!

After dinner tonight, Kason told me he felt sick, and he wanted cuddles on the couch. Of course I obliged. Cohen was perfectly happy to run around and play by himself, so all good. Until Cohen realised that Kason felt sick and I was giving him cuddles and therefore wasn't going to get up from the couch unless it was absolutely necessary. He KNOWS that he isn't allowed to push the dining room chairs around the house, but as I was busy with Kason, he figured he'd get away with it. I do have to admit, though, that he did put the chair away when I asked him to, but before I did that, he managed to pluck the spare car keys off the bench (don't ask me why they were there - I have no idea!).
His next step after putting the chair away? Playing with his car ramp and using the keys to press buttons. All good, no problem. But his step after that? Putting the key in the SD card slot on the TV. I think he shorted the circuit or something, because the TV doesn't work now! The little stand-by light flashes, but nothing on the screen. Of course Simon is at work and his phone battery is dead - he is NOT going to be impressed when he finds out! Well, maybe he will be secretly happy if it means he "has" to get a new TV.

I guess I should be happy it didn't happen last week when we had to fork out $2600 to fix our car. But still, we just had to fork out $2600 to fix the car!!!!!!!!!!! Oh well, we'll just have to call a TV repairman in the morning and see what a repair might cost.

I know I've been ridiculously slack with my blog lately. Things have been piling up on me a bit, and I've been feeling really overwhelmed with it all, and I really didn't have the energy to write posts. Hopefully it's going to change now?! We'll see. The boys and I are going away in a few weeks, and I never usually post while we're away, but maybe I'll give it more of a try this time :-)

xxx

And There's More

And..Friday made doctors visit #2 and hospital emergency room visit #2.
Our GP was still concerned, and agreed with me that the problem with Cohen's leg was/is unlikely to be an allergic reaction to something, so referred us up to the Paediatric emergency department. We spent about six hours there, only to be sent home with no more answers...nor did they do any tests. Cohen's leg did flare up fairly badly while we were at the hospital, which was good in a way. Of course, after they gave him some pain relief, he felt much better, and that's when they decided to send us home. I was not impressed.

I went out to a friend's place on Saturday afternoon, and Cohen's leg was fine all day Saturday, but just before I left my friend's place to come home, I got a text from Simon saying Cohen was crying. I called - it was his leg again. By the time I got home, Cohen was pretty much back to normal, but Simon had videoed it. The redness which usually would only be on the lower half of his left leg was now all over both his arms and legs. The poor little boy was miserable and I felt so awful that I wasn't home to cuddle him. Daddy was though, so that's just as good :-)

Sunday morning we had him at the After Hours GP clinic. He told us there was nothing he could do and told us to go back to our usual GP during the week to get a full blood screen done. We got an appointment this morning. The doctor didn't even look at Cohen. He just told us that blood work wouldn't do anything.

The thing is, Cohen's leg isn't coming up red and super painful now. His last 'episode' was the one on Saturday night. But...all day Sunday, Monday and then today, he has been limping. All day. But we think it's improving, there were quite a few times today when we had to look very hard to see if he was even limping at all. We are going to keep a very close eye on him, and if the limp is still there on Thursday/Friday, or if it gets worse, or he has another 'episode' before then, we will be straight up to the Paediatric ER demanding they do tests. It's just not normal for a two-year old to limp.

It is so frustrating that the doctors and ERs keep palming us off to each other, and noone is giving us any answers, or doing anything to get any answers.

Cohen seems fine within himself, if a little more cuddly than usual...but he also has a bit of a cold at the moment (as does Kase). He isn't jumping as much as he usually does, but he's still climbing, and getting into mischief. I just want, and need, some answers. It's not fair on him :-(

xxx

Emergency Room Visit #1

Today has been such an incredibly long and stressful day. It was never going to be a good day, just because of what today is, but it could have been better than how it ended up being.

This morning was pretty good, we had Toddler Time at the library, and both boys actually got involved and had a great time! They usually do love it, but they often spend half the time running around the children's area, playing with the trains, and trying to Skype Nana on the computer. From there, Simon caught the bus to work, and the boys and I ran a few errands before heading home for lunch.

It was after lunch that everything kind of fell apart. And it kind of goes back to Monday afternoon. Cohen and Kason spent a fair amount of time playing outside in the afternoon, and when we came back inside for dinner, I noticed that half of Cohen's left leg was a bit red. I didn't think much of it, he seemed fine.
Tuesday morning, it was a different story. Just after I brushed his teeth, he was walking down the hallway back to the lounge when he suddenly just starting crying and limping. His leg was red and hot and he just wanted Daddy to pick him up, and he would grizzle and cry if he was set down and he just didn't want to put any weight on his leg.
It was strange, and really worried me so I called HealthDirect to see what they suggested we do. They said to take him to the doctor within four hours. We called all the GP clinics nearby, and couldn't get in anywhere, so we went up to the SuperClinic to see if we could get a 'walk-in' appointment. By the time we got to the carpark, his leg was fine, and he was fine. We decided not to worry about the doctors, and just to keep a close eye on him.
Tuesday night, right before the boys' bath, his leg got sore again - same thing. I gave him some nurofen and ducked over to my neighbour's place with both boys to see what she thought. We decided to get him to the doctors, and managed to get them to wait until we got there before they closed. Of course, by the time we got there, his leg was fine again. The doctor was still rather concerned though, and gave me a referral letter and instructions to take Cohen straight to the hospital if it happened again. He also gave us a referral for an x-ray which we had done yesterday (Wednesday).

This morning, Cohen was fine, but after lunch I was changing Kason's nappy and Cohen started screaming in pain again. His leg had come up red and hot again and he did not want to put any weight on it. I quickly packed a bag for Kason and rushed him over to our neighbour's house and drove Cohen to the hospital emergency room. Needless to say, by the time we'd waited for over an hour (I have to say, I was pretty impressed at the short waiting time!), he was back to normal! The small chance of it being a bone infection was pretty much ruled out by his clear x-ray, so the hospital doctors decided that it is most likely 'contact urticaria', an allergy. I'm not convinced at all. I don't think that an allergy would cause him so much pain.

Ten minutes after being home, it started again, so we (Simon came home from work after I called to tell him I was in the emergency room with Cohey) took him over to the doctors across the road...but it was much too busy and they could not get us in. It went down fairly quickly this time, but then came up again with a vengence just before his bath. For the rest of the evening, he was crying and just wanted cuddles with me, and to lie on the couch. This is the same child who won't even sit still for five minutes to watch his favourite Wiggles DVD, and who doesn't even cry when he gets his vaccinations.

It's really worrying me. We are planning on being at the doctors clinic first thing tomorrow morning to get a referral for the Children's hospital (we called them late this afternoon, and were told they wouldn't see us without a GP's referral).

Anyways, he finally fell asleep about 8pm tonight. Here's hoping he gets a good night sleep tonight.

xxx

End of an Era

Right now, as I type, I am listening to Kason and Cohen creating mayhem in their bedroom...they have, overnight it seems, discovered how to climb out of their cots. To be honest, I'm surprised it has taken them this long - they scale most everything else, and were climbing things before they could even walk.

I hate to think of the mess I'll be tidying up in there when I go in to get them...I'm still hoping they'll fall asleep, but I think that the novelty of being able to be out of bed when they are supposed to be sleeping will be too much - even if they did both have a restless night last night (reason for restless night may have to be another post).

Ok, so one boy just started crying, so I went in to make sure all is ok...Kason had both his legs in one leg of his overalls and he was stuck. He had also somehow managed to take his nappy off, while not undoing his overalls at all...I have absolutely no idea how he managed that! Their drawers are almost empty, shoes and toys are covering the floor.

Now, please someone tell me how I can get them to STAY in their cots?! Needless to say, their cots will be being transformed into cot beds tomorrow morning when Simon is home!

xxx

Weekend!

Wow, this weekend has been crazy busy! But definitely in a good way!

One of my best friends came to Adelaide on Wednesday last week for work, and she was able to hang out with us all weekend - I picked her up from the city on Friday afternoon and dropped her back to her hotel on Sunday night. We had SO much fun, I absolutely love hanging out with her, and I'm already hanging out for when we get to do it again. She lives in Melbourne, so hopefully it won't be too long away!

Anyways, she met us at Simon's work on Friday arvo, so we {Kason, Cohen & I} dropped him off and picked Leshy up. Got the boys' dinner on the way home, then bath and bed for them and me and Lesh got take-away pizza for our dinner.

Saturday we drove down to Victor Harbor and went to the Wildlife park where we have annual passes, then into Victor for lunch before heading back home. Saturday night I had a fundraising dinner for the Neonatal Unit {they are fundraising for a new $69,000 ventilator). It was such a great night, fantastic food and company! "They" had done such an awesome job with all the decorations, and everything was just amazing! It wasn't a super late night, I think I got home just before midnight (but then stayed up with Simon watching a movie until 2am!).
Sidebar: Just before I got home, I had to stop to let a koala cross the road!!! It was so random! Driving up to it, I thought it was a smallish dog with a limp, but as I got closer, I realised that it was actually a koala! I really wasn't expecting that - it was within 2 minutes of our home, and definitely not in the country! It was pretty cool, though :-)

Sunday was the traditional pancakes, then after a pretty lazy morning, we took the boys to the adventure playground for a few hours, and just as we were about to leave, some friends turned up so we stayed for a bit longer. After dropping Simon and the boys at home, Lesh and I went out for coffee and lunch, and just a catch up. It was so lovely!

The whole weekend went so super quickly though, but we had fun :-)

xxx

Lil Sax Boy

Day 206, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Rocking out!

xxx

Day 205

Day 205, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

My little man reading a book with one of my besties <3

xxx

Joey!

Day 204, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

If you look really closely, you'll see a little joey poking it's head out of it's Mama's pouch - SO precious.

xxx

Superman!

Day 202, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

We bought Kason and Cohen a superhero cape from a market...Superman on one side, Batman on the other. They LOVE them, they love to run around the house saying, "whoosh"!

xxx

Style 101

Day 201, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Yeah, so guess who chose his own clothes...!

xxx

Day 199

Day 199, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Gorgeous Cohen

xxx

Boys in the Kitchen!

Day 198, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

xxx

Smile!

Day 196, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Cheese!

xxx

Reading

Day 195, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Cohen & Kason reading before bed <3

xxx

Letter

Day 194, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

'A' is Cohen and Kason's favourite letter. Every letter they see, they think it's an 'A' - just as every number they see is apparently a '2'!

xxx

Favourite Colour

Day 193, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

I don't really have a favourite colour, as such, but I super love the bright colours in my new table runner.

xxx

Cheeky Boy

Day 192, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Just a lil bit ;-)

xxx

Run, Cohen, Run!

Day 191, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Daddy's going to tickle you!!


xxx

Day 190

Day 190, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

xxx

Chair

Day 189, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Kason and Cohen decided this was a good "chair" today!

xxx

Nose!

Day 188, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

xxx

Fun!!

Day 187, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Kason LOVES doing somersaults on the couch!

xxx

My Sweet Boy

Day 186, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Lil Cohey Boy

xxx

Dancing Fun!

We had such an awesome day yesterday! We had pancakes for breakfast (our Sunday morning family tradition), then played outside until lunch time :-) After lunch, we went DANCING!!! Oh yeah! There was salsa on at a restaurant/bar not too far from here, and it was such a fantastic venue - the dancing was on a mezzanine floor above the main restaurant/bar, just perfect. We took Cohen and Kason along (they've been to something similar a few times before), and they had heaps of fun...especially when the percussionist let them both bang the drums! EVERYONE just kept watching them, and coming over to say 'hi' to them! The cutest moment of the day: Kason and Cohen facing each other, holding both hands, and Kason tried to stand on Cohen's feet to dance (I often dance with them standing on my feet)!! SUPER cute!

We have a pretty busy week this week...totally not what I was expecting when the school holidays started last week, but hey! I'd much rather a busy week than a quiet one :-)

xxx

These Crazy Days

Today has been CRAZY busy, but super fun!

We started off with a coffee date at a friends place...we've been attempting this for approximately three months, but for one reason or another, it's been postponed every other time! Jen & Tim have two beautiful boys, who are six and eight (I think...!), and Kason and Cohen had such a super fun morning playing with the bigger boys - and the bigger boys had lots of fun too :-)

After we got home from there, some friends who are over from New Zealand came over for the afternoon. They lived here for a year and left almost 12 months ago, which was the last time they saw Cohen and Kason. We had an awesome afternoon catching up (I went to school with Cqtherine), and we have plans to meet up again on Wednesday before they head back to Melbourne and then back to New Zealand.
They left at about 4:30pm, and dropped Simon at work on their way. It was also about that time that the boys kicked into CRAZY-gear!! I guess because they didn't even have an attempt at a nap (just not worth it with other people in the house), and they had lots of different people to show off to all day! Anyways, whatever the reason, they did. not. stop. until I put them to bed at 7pm...they were sound asleep pretty quickly! I feel much like heading to bed fairly soon myself...I was up until about 2am this morning getting the housework done, and some baking done for today (we didn't know we were catching up with our NZ friends today until last night), so I'm pretty much shattered!

Thankfully, this weekend is Simon's weekend off, and we don't have much planned at all, apart from some salsa dancing on Sunday afternoon, which I'm heaps looking forward to! Hopefully the boys will let us have a dance or two this time!

Have a good one :-)
xxx

Our Day

Today's photo prompt was 'best bit of your day'. I don't really have a 'best bit' today, and I certainly didn't get a photo of it, so I decided to write a post about it :-)

After being 'stuck' inside at home all day yesterday, I made sure we got out to the shops this morning with Simon to pick up a couple of things. We got there, only to discover that there was a cute school holiday activity on for little ones. They had decked out an empty shop all in white - white walls, white furniture etc, and the kids could ask for a sheet of ocean-themed stickers from the information desk which they could then stick anywhere in the room! The boys absolutely loved it, and we'll definitely be back to add more stickers before the end of the holidays :-)

Anyways, after we got home (and dropped Simon at the bus stop), Cohen and Kason rode their bikes on the driveway for a bit before lunch. This, and letting them walk at the shops, was part of my plan to actually get them to nap this afternoon...it worked a treat!!! They were both asleep within 45 minutes - this is almost unheard of lately!

After their nap, they both just wanted cuddles and stories snuggled on the couch (with the blanket for Cohen, too, of course)...SO lovely! And they were even cuddling each other, too :-) Dinner was even a success, too.

The time after their bath, and before they go to bed is always really fun, and tonight Kason was practicing his forward rolls - he is scarily awesome at them - and Cohen was trying to figure them out! He's almost got it sorted.

It was just a pretty standard day at home, I guess, but we don't really have many of those - just me and the boys at home for most of the day. It was lovely, though, and I'm now really looking forward to the rest of the holidays :-)

xxx

Busy

P185, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Today has actually been a relatively quiet day, we've been home all day...I don't even know the last time that happened!!

But, these two boys still keep me super busy on 'quiet' days like today :-)

xxx

Self-Portrait

P184, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

This is me, looking a bit worse for wear after a busy day, at about 11pm!

xxx

Crafty Weekend!

I can’t believe it's July already!!! It's been fairly quiet around here lately, but I have been doing a bit of crafty stuff.

I am finally super close to finishing the boys' playroom...

I love the little bench seat/storage unit we 'made' for the boys. It's just a skinny bookshelf turned on the side. We got a piece of foam custom fit, and then I made a cover (using drill cotton) for it which can zip off for when it gets dirty. This is what was frustrating me on Friday night. My sewing skills aren't all that flash, and I had it all figured out in my head how this cover was going to work out...but of course it didn't go to plan! It turned out well in the end, and I'm happy with it :-)
The wall stickers are all pretty random, just ones we've picked up here or there, or been given. We put them up in little 'stories'. We figure that we can use them with the boys to create big scenarios and stories. I can't wait to hear what the boys come up with!

I also whipped up the strip rag quilt sitting in the corner of the bench seat. It was so super quick to make, it only took about 2.5 hours from choosing the fabrics (I just used mismatched fabric I had in my stash) to finishing the snipping of the seams. Cohen, especially, absolutely loves it, and I think it's super cute. It was also a good way to keep from having a particular 'theme' for the room.

This morning, the patch for Kason's Wiggles duvet cover arrived from my Mum in New Zealand, so while the boys were down for their 'nap' (that's a whoooole other post!), I ironed and sewed that on, so now his Wiggles bedding is all finished. It's a different patch to Cohen's, which is good.

And above our new dining table, we now have this:

We still have a couple more photos to add at the bottom just to 'even it out' a little bit, but I love it - I think it looks awesome! We put them up last night (I've had them sitting in the frames for about 10 days, but I had to pull the stands off the back so they would hang on the wall), and when Kason and Cohen got up this morning, they noticed them straight away and kept pointing at them and saying, "Wow!! Wow!!" all day! I think they like them too :-)

And that's the end of my crafty stuff for the weekend! But, just to finish off, here's the photo list for July:

I'll probably end up doing what I did in June, and just use it as a 'guide', and if I can't think of something that will work for that day, I'll just post another random photo I take that day - that worked well in June, I didn't have so much pressure on myself to get a particular photo, but I like having the ideas to get something different to what I usually would :-)

xxx

Kick

Day 183, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Kason LOVES to kick balls...which is what he is doing here, you just can't see the ball!

xxx

Soft

P182, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

xxx

Why yes, his foot *is* in a teapot

Day 181, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

xxx

Day 180

Day 180, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

xxx

Woohoo!!!

Day 179, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Finally a break in the rain! Means we can get outside to play for a bit!!

xxx

Something Cute

Day 178, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Watching my two beautiful boys playing together so nicely :-)

xxx

Set

Day 177, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Got my water and my book - I'm set!

xxx

Movement

Day 176, a photo by Road2Chaos2 on Flickr.

Cohen & Daddy jumping

xxx