Dads little helpers....

So there has been a lot of gardening going on around her lately. Pruning bushes, pulling weeds and tidying things up - such a good feeling getting things sorted!! The kids love to be outside with us and Seths favourite tool is his handsaw. It is pretty blunt and well... he is mostly careful!! 

I LOVE this face!! He always says 'I'm your best helper Mum'

Concentration plus...

Dad will help!!

Anything Seth can do - I can do too...

Mum and Ivy :)

Seth tried to get Ivy to stand with him...

Ivy rugged up for a cold morning!!

Mumma Ivy

I have a dolly girl on my hands and I LOVE it!! She is totally and utterly obsessed with dolls and it is pure joy watching her in action... She is always very busy really plays.

Taking my old doll for a walk around the yard

and a bike ride....

Love this face....

We also regularly find dolls in everyones beds. She has a few dolls so there is enough to spread around - can only smile when we find them in our beds - but mostly they are in her bed.

Baby being put to bed

Doll on Seths bed... (sheets were washed that day)

shut the curtains

turn off the light

shut the door...

And then she comes to all of us and tells us to shhhhhhh - 'baby sleeping'. I certainly have done nothing to encourage her to be a dolly girl (I know me and my sisters were not very good at it) but I do enjoy having one....

Chef Seth

From the time when he was very young Seth has LOVED to help me cook. His favourite present when he was about 18 months was a mini kenwood 'just like mum' and although it is broken it is still used out in the sandpit. You can see the bowl on the picture below.

cooking with sand in the cubby

cutting up some salad

'cupcakes' in the kitchenette

Fishing

With both kids being a bit older now - and enjoying the beach we are able to go out more often and enjoy Gods beautiful creation at the beach. There is nothing I love to do more then to spend time with my family. It gives me such a wonderful feeling of peace - that all is right in my little world. Love my little family.... It is so important for me to appreciate all the blessings I have - especially when going through difficult times. I can only look at these pictures and smile and thank our loving Father in heaven for his GREAT gifts!

Firebug in Training

Well with a husband who is well... just a little obsessed with fire it is inevitable that he has a son who 'LOVES' anything relating to fire! He spotted a man shopping at the shops the other day smoking and was very intrigued by him - then said very loudly 'I want to do that one day' Yeah sure :) When it is very cold in the mornings we stand there and 'smoke' together!! A favourite hobby of his is building fires in the backyard and well yes.... I have helped by giving him mini pop sticks for matches and cutting up egg cartons for firelighters. Thanks Jodie for the great idea. So here are a couple of snaps of Seth building a fire and yes - roasting the marshmellows....

lighting the matches

'careful Ivy - it's hot!!!'

'roasting'

blowing the 'hot' marshmellows

hmmm YUM!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ivy

On Wednesday the 11th of April we were very blessed to celebrate our darling daughters 2nd Birthday. She brings so much joy to our lives and is growing up more and more everyday. We have our challenges with her but mostly we can just thank God for everything he gives to us through her. Her happy smiles, cheeky giggles, her obsession for dolls, cuddles and kisses and especially love at the moment her determination for trying to talk! 

Here she is with Seth at a couple weeks old...

On her first birthday

Unwrapping presents on her 2nd Birthday!!

Ivy's eyes lit up when she saw the kitchen Aunty Renae built for her :)

Seth helping Ivy blow out her candles - she was overwhelmed by all the attention.

She managed to eat the icing of two cupcakes and went for number 3 :)

Katelyn was on holidays so we had lots of fun organising the party

Thanks for all the cutting out Kate :)

Singing 'Happy Birthday' at night with the family who were in town

Ivy's pavalova birthday cake

Seth again helping to blow the candle

We all had a great day and Ivy got super spoilt. I forgot to take a photo of Ivy's stash but she has definitely been having lots of of fun with her new toys and will look really cute in her nice new clothes. Thanks everyone for making Ivy's day really special!!

Painting Bread

Thanks to a great idea from Viv - we decided to spend some time painting bread. We added some food colouring to milk and painted on the bread. Then at lunchtime we toasted the bread in the toaster and put marg and sugar on it and it was yum!!

Ivy thought it was pretty good without being toasted :)

Yum!!

Slipping up already...

With my resolution to stop and enjoy the small things also came a resolve to post more often (at least once and week) and I have already slipped in that. I have also slipped with my little darlings. Everyday life is busy and it takes real effort to stop and enjoy them. Last week was busy, busy, busy again with going out and doing things and then when I get home and rush to complete tasks and find myself saying - not now Seth, wait a minute, go and play Ivy!! I did manage to catch myself a number of times and thought of ways the kids could help, or stopped where I was and sat on the floor for cuddles or story reading. It is amazing how well kids go back to play after giving them focused attention. So in reality playing with kids increases productivity :)

 Seth no longer sleeps everyday now - and even when he does it isn't generally as long as Ivy sleeps so we get to spend some 1-1 time together. He loves to help me and when Ivy is awake I get two helpers which isn't much fun when they both insist on sitting on the counter.

Seth cutting mushrooms for Pizza

We had some nice big chunks on our pizza :)

Just awake Ivy wanting to help...

Seth mixing the topping for the sweet pizza....

and of course tasting :)

Ivy spreading the apples on the pizza....

her tasting was very healthy.

Combined effort of spreading the topping

 Had to have a little giggle on Monday. Ivy goes to my Mums every Monday while I take Seth to swimming. On the way there Seth must of had something on his mind, so he said 'shall we have a talk about that Mum?'

Our little Ivy is a real little Mum. She LOVES babies (as does Seth actually) and they both love to hold them - especially their two new cousins Zac and Joram. Ivy loves to walk around with her dolls, prams and handbags. A real girl :)

Mumma Ivy with Zac

Kisses for Zac

Saturday morning we were hanging out for a fishing and beach fix - it has been a while. Nanarup was very windy so we ended up fishing in the inlet. The kids (and we) had a ball. Seth brought in a few fish and was very helpful in getting more bait.

More bait Dad?

So this is how you do it kids...