Ruby at 3 years 2 months

Most used words:
"No!"
"I don't want to mummy"
"It's not bedtime!"

and some lovely one's too:
"It's okay sweetheart"(to billy).

Is generous--will give to other's before herself,
Nurturing and Kind,
Crys alot at the moment--usually when she doesn't get what she wants OR som ething is not going how it should(in her mind)OR when she's getting her brother into trouble eg"Mum,jasper's fighting me!".
whinges!
Fav colour:Pink and/or purple.
Loves:tiger(a soft toy which she sleeps with),
Pulling silly faces!,
Butterflys,
dressing as a princess,
her thick red winter coat(looks abit ridiculous in our mild WA winter),
hats,
shoes,
loves to lie in bed with mummy under the quilt and whisper in my ear,and kiss my cheek and cuddle close...we can do this for oh,....hours!.
TV...playschool,dora the explorer,maisy mouse,
movie..monsters.
Fav animals:tigers,Lions,horses and our cat!.
Thriving threes class.
A domestic goddess in the kitchen!Loves to bake,cook,do dishes..move over Nigella!.
Playing with her brothers.

It's a big list!.

I am sooo grateful to have my daughter.My bobbles.

William at 11 months old(well,near enough..)

Jasper at 11 months old.

Haircut

I just had to add that yesterday,jasper decided he needed a haircut and so took a chunk out of his fringe with the scissors!(when will i ever learn?Don'T turn back on child for even an instant...especially when that child has a pair of scissors in hand).AND,in a moment that melted my heart,my boy tryed knitting with me last night(pity mummy doesn't know what's she's doing either!)AND,this morning he asked if we could knit again tonight!But,just quietly,i think it's just to sneak some alone time with mum.I love this boy so much!.

Jasper at 4 years 2 months...

Loves kindergarten
Learning to write his name!He can write J for jasper.
Practising scissor-cutting,
Is an expert on dinosaurs,names,what they ate etc(they are learning all about dinosaurs at kindy this term),
Has 3 friends at kindy.
Has his own very definate oppinions now.
Has absoulutely NO patience!(drives me insane but then,i'm the same!)
Loves rough 'stuff'-kicking things,body slamming-y'know,the usual 'boy stuff'.
Loves the camera and showing off in general!.
playstation,xbox,games fan.(but he only gets to play it at his aunty and uncles place),
TV...fav's are dora the explorer,diego,mr men show,playschool.
Movies..Barnyard.
Books..Harry and the dinosaurs,anything he brings home from kindy.
music..anything he can dance to!
Has a cheeky sense of humour,
Loves to make his little brother laugh.

Phew!

Billy at 10-months....

And he's drinking from a sipper cup now too.(but somehow i managed to upload the wrong photo,note double up!).He is on the move all over the place,has even figured out how to climb out the back door now.He Loves riding in the kiddie car outside!He also loves playing with the musical learning house and chasing the cat!He adores jasper...and jasper pulls funny faces' to get billy to giggle,so sweet!.

We have had a terrible past few days with him though.He's had a virus and has been a major grump!,the teething doesn't help matters!(he still has just 2 teeth).He woke up at 3 this morning..ugg.But,he does seem to be back to his little sunshine self today though.I Luuuuvvvv my sunny boy!!.

Locked in!

We went and had a picnic at bibra lakes yesterday.(not much of a lake really,more mud than anything...but still a pitchuresque(?)spot)Lovely weather(still 24 degrees).The childen fed the ducks(don't think they appreciated the crisps jas threw them though!).We explored abit.Then we went across the road to sneak a look at the steiner school...the gate was open so,we went into the school grounds.Oh,it is so gorgeous,tucked into a forest,little tree houses built into the playgrounds,it doesn't even look like a school!Oh,I so want our kids to go there!(they are enrolled so,we wait...)Anyway,for our nosyiness we managed to get locked in!!!We laughed nervously at one another and thought shit!how do we get outta' this one!??Well....we found the ONLY semi-climable-looking fence(still had bloody barb wire ontop though),and we found a wheelbarrow(THANKYOU you earthy-nature loving school YOU!)and first Dave jumped over(bad back and all)then we passed our 3 children through the gap in the fence("OW"squeaked jasper as we MADE his head fit...I know,i know we are such good parents,right?)Then I climbed the fence too(shut up shanley!!)And NO,i didn't get a photo of that!But I did get a photo of dave going over!!.Well,what kind of wife would I be if I didn't capture THAT!!?LOL.

He's up!

Check out our little star!He got to his feet for the first time tonight.And he was so proud of himself too(look at that grin!).

What we have been up to...

Well,jasper has settled back into kindy superbly(the first term was abit rocky)AND ruby has started a class called THRIVING THREE'S up at the ymca one afternoon a week which she loves!(all going well,we will put her in for two days next term)She is SOOOO ready for kindy and hates when i have to drag her away when we drop jassie off...anyway,she calls TT's her"kindy".Next year baby girl,slow down!!

They are bringing home some gorgeous artwork.For mother's day jas did me lots of art n craft...my fridge is covered!!.At home too we have been making 'stuff'...ruby did a nice bit of art which we made into a hat(see photos),we threaded necklaces one day and another day we drew on the path outside with chalk and the the kids practised skipping and jumping.

They went and played with Logan and sophie the other day,who my kids adore!
We went to Liam's 11th birthday party aswell which was alot of fun,hanging out with all their cousins aswell as '"adopted"cousins(so many!!)but my kids love it as it is always noisy and one big happy family.

My three are learning so many new things every single day.Jasper is learning to write his name and his speech has come so far(insuring some very funny conversations!).Ruby is just being a crack-up...she got a raisen stuck right up her nose a couple weeks ago,with alot of blowing it shot out and i've never laughed so hard!.Billy say's ma-ma now(awww),and he is crawling everywhere and putting everything in his mouth and starting to pull himself up on furniture!!His fav toy's are a pink ball and a toy aeroplane.Cute.I'm making the most of every minute in his young life as he is my last baby.Boohoo!.
One good thing though...the last child to be in nappies!Yeeha!.

Billy at 9-months...and crawling!

Yep.After a month or so of shuffling on his butt,flopping towards a wanted object,or rolling to that toy,and even going backwards for awhile...it seems now young william has learnt to crawl.The cat is none to amused that baby can now reach for his tail with even more speed that usual.

ALSO:in other billy news.He still has just one tooth and he looks very cute when he smiles!;
he rolls over on his tummy in bed and gets stuck like that.Hmmm...
He loves his food!
Still looks like his dad.No change there then.
He say's "da-da"

I can't think of anything else ,though there is alot more i'm sure.Sorry.

Sock weather again...

Well,the colder weather has finally reached us here in paradise.Soon,it will be rainy(winter)season again(yuk!)but,for now we are still having 'agreeable' autumn days.Perth does not experience the beautiful,chilly,seasonal-changes(those red and gold leafs!)like we get in NZ(esp in the SouthIsland where we are from)BUT-and I do have a point to all this-we DO have sensational beaches which in autumn/winter are virtually deserted and are are a wonderful place to just "BE"...as you can see in the photos in my last post.I do like the colder weather,Dave thinks i'm nut's but that's because HELLO,he grew up Africa!Anyway,Let's look at all the perk's of cold weather shall we?:

You get to stay in your pyjamas 2-days straight(No,not me...see 8-month-old son);
Stripy socks!!Yey for warm socks!;
more inside time...time to snuggle up,time to watch your children play with the wooden dollshouse (which cost an arm and a leg i must tell you),time to watch your baby son attempt to crawl(Nearlly);
you get to watch the rain(and hear the rain on the roof...ah,lovely);
Oh,and SOUP!,the best thing about colder weather...good soup.yep.
and oh,the list goes on but i'm sure i've bored you enough.

It's Anzac long weekend coming up.A respectful holiday to remember the aus/NZ soldiers who fought in the world wars and,to remember our past and how fortunate we have it today.And even better,there is no commercialism-no money changing hand's...it's just good old fashioned unity.

Have a good weekend.

Sea-fever

I must go down to the sea's again,to the lonely sea and sky,
And all i ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face,and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the sea's again,for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all i ask is a windy day with the white cloud's flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume,and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the sea's again,to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all i ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
-By John Masefield(1878-1967)

Ruby turns 3 years old

Ruby-two-shoes had a good day.She has been requesting we have a picnic for alittle while now.So,I packed a small birthday-girl lunch(fairy bread included ofcourse aswell as ruby's fav:marshmallows!)and we all went and sat in the backyard,on the cozy red blanket that ruby has had since babyhood,and we ate and told stories and sung songs(humpty dumpty,jack and jill,miss polly had a doll...and other ruby favorites).And ruby was happy and that's all i wished for.

Later,daddy came home bearing a couple of yummy things from the bakery(in pink icing ofcourse!)for his only girl.And we all watched as she blew out 3 candles.

How?how did this happen!Where has that time gone?.I will miss her 2-year-old self(tantrums and all)but,a three-year-old girl is a whole new adventure.I will strap myself in,i enjoy rollercoasters.

Weekend ramblings...

We are having a fairly typical doyle weekend of reading,drawing,dvds(i don't know how much more maisy mouse i can take to be honest)and play too ofcourse.

We all did abit of drawing this morning(I adore jasper's impression of the bushfire!,it's the one with the little houses and grass and orange marker pen(which is the fire)cool aye?

Later,we had a little walk and collected a couple bits for our nature table..peppermint plant,a shiny stone that jas picked up...and well,the heart-shaped jasper stone was actually found at a market in southafrica.This week we will vist the beach and collect more bits.fun!

We finally had some decent rain yesterday(i go abit potty if i don't see,smell and touch rain!,dave is the complete opposite!).Ruby was very happy as she got to use her beloved umbrella and wear her new pink gumboots!(a bargain from the op-shop).She loves them!They also sparkle you know which is very importent to a little girl who turns 3 on monday(gulp.)

Finally,I am in the process of clearing out some of will's outgrown clothes(double gulp).I mean,just look at his bassinette now!!(used to hold all the crap in the laundry)sad,but true.Ah well,no time to ponder...as I speak,william is on the floor getting excited by his own shadow on the wall!.

The beauty in a day...

watching the sunrise from our backyard(strong cup of coffee in hand!)
colourful new warm woolie hats(thanks poppa!)
a walk on a beautiful autumn day...to the park
light capturing two cherubic figures on a birdbath...too sweet to not take a photo of.(and they remind me of my two big kids)
Ruby's quiet accomplishment of(finally)getting up onto the big-kids bars,at the playground...well done honey.
And finally...after alot of gazing out at the world from his stroller(blankie in hand)...the little one sleeping soundly.And what is more beautiful than that hey??all you mum's out there know what i'm saying..)