Blake and Adrianne's wedding

The view from our apartment...

...panning round...

...and some more. Andy loves scenery shots.

Adrianne's family.

Pre wedding checks. Daisy has her lippy, Zach has his biccie.

Family on the deck, pre arrival of the bride.

The wedding party, looking stunning.

Daisy loved getting dressed up for flower girl duties.

The guests.

Catching up with Anna.

Daisy hangs out with Grandad Peter.

Andy levitates a small plane above his head.

Looking in from the deck.

Zach waits expectantly for another speech.

We had a quick visit to NZ last month for Blake and Adrianne's wedding. It was held at The Boathouse in Nelson on a beautiful afternoon and was a lot of fun. Adrianne looked gorgeous and it all went really well. Daisy loved being a flower girl and Zach loved the speeches. The siblings did great speeches. The trip was far too short but we still had a good time. We didn't take nearly enough photos but here are a few that we did take.

Bx

Daisy's party!

There was eating.

And bouncing.

And more bouncing.

Daisy was very proud of her cake.

It was a bit tricky to cut.

But Daisy enjoyed it.

So did Zach.

Dajon and Andy pretend they are three.

Post party chilling with Sanna and Sophie.

Daisy had a lovely 3rd birthday party at home last Thursday. About 30 children came and they all had a great time on the bouncy castle. There were lots of pink and white helium balloons which were also a hit. There was pizza and pasta and sausages and tomatoes followed by orange jelly boats and fruit and the cake was a three tiered chocolate cake covered in a mountain of marshmallows. Yum! Daisy really enjoyed herself and was very spoilt with loads of great presents. The kids were all remarkably good considering how many there were and they even all sat down together to eat.

Bx

Happy Birthday Daisy!

There was excitement...

new clothes...

books...

puzzles...

and a bike!

The gorgeous birthday girl.

Sharing the fun.

1,2,3 blow!

It's with great excitement that Daisy is three today, yay! She's been very keen to be three as it means she'll get to go to school this year. What a big girl.

The past year with Daisy has been a rollercoaster. She's funny, charming, sweet, loving and a lot of fun. She keeps us laughing, keeps us busy and keeps us on our toes. She's also demanding, stubborn, exasperating and can throw a wicked tantrum.

She loves drawing, is getting really good at drawing people and is just starting to write numbers. She can count to twenty, hold a proper conversation and doesn't stop talking all day. She still loves books and is really enjoying The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe series which we read every night. She also loves seeing her friends, music, dancing, pasta, carrots, chocolate, watching tv (especially Barney), raiding my make up and getting dressed up. She doesn't like noisy boys, scary pictures, having her hair washed or peas. She loves babies and is a wonderful big sister (most of the time).

Our highlight of the year with her has been her rapidly developing speech allowing us to know how she feels, what she thinks and her take on the world around her. Our lowlight has definitely been potty training.

Daisy is having a big party with all her friends on Thursday so we kept it pretty low key today. She had a party for her at playgroup and we had a cupcake and candle at home tonight.

Bx

Zach or Zack!

OK - time for an admission.

I made a mistake. It doesn't happen very often [yeah right - Bec], but I was wrong on this one. When Zach was born I thought the best way to shorten Zachary was Zack, and Bec was either too knackered or too drugged to care. A while later, Bec expressed the view that actually she preferred Zach. I thought about it some more, and somewhat surprisingly, I sort of agreed with her.

Anyway we've been flapping around and not doing anything about it, but on the little chap's 1st birthday we've decided to break with the past and use the preferred option of Zach going forward.

In true Japanese fashion, I might even rewrite history and go back and change all the blog posts to the new preferred option. Small game compared to hiding a few war crimes, so I'm not too worried about any perceived reduction in editorial integrity.

Cheers

Andy

Happy Birthday Zachy!

Hmmm, whose birthday is it? Zachy's!

In profile.

Then a cheesy smile.

Up he goes.

Mince!

Cake!

Stuffing it in.

What's this?

A crane on a truck, how Dubai.

It's been a busy day.

Our little boy is one today, hip hip hoorah! So, it's official, he's no longer a baby but has entered the realms of toddlerhood, yikes. He still feels like our baby though.

He's been an absolute joy in his first year with us, he's such a happy, laid back, contented little chap. Aside from a few sleep issues and sore little gums every now and then he's been no trouble at all and we feel very lucky to have him.

He started crawling at about 10 1/2 months, is now pulling to stand and just starting to cruise on furniture. He loves his sandpit, waving to people, having a bath, dancing, playing peekaboo, reading books and being surrounded by toys. His favourite food is lasagne although anything with mince is a hit and he also likes eating sand. He chatters non stop and can say dada and daddy, daisy, mama, baby, hiya, yeah and bye. He doesn't like peas, wearing socks or having his face wiped.

We're very much looking forward to another year of fun and discovery with both the kids.

Bx

Creek Park picnic.

I'm driving! No, I am!

Swinging by.

Zack holds on tight.

Going for a spin.

Zack finds Gav to be a good chocolate cake plate.

Daisy and Leo don't need plates, just napkins.

We recently had a picnic at Creek Park with Kath, Gav and Leo. Creek Park has loads of playgrounds so it keeps the kids happy.

Andy and I had a good night out on Tuesday for my birthday. We started off the night at Bahri Bar at Mina A Salam and after the strongest margarita I've ever had (even in the Bar Ziko days) we went to Zheng He's restaurant which was really good.

Bx

New Year

All's quiet.

Zack cracks up.

Daisy post playgroup party.

Grub!

Sand castles.

Daisy 'helps' with the Christmas truffles.

Proving that we are indeed old and sad, Andy and I didn't even bother to stay up for the New Year this year. It's the first time I've missed it apart from one year when I was about 20 and over estimated my ability to drink copious amounts of vodka.

We didn't miss much anyway as the evening before, Sheikh Mohammed announced that any New Year celebrations had to be cancelled “as a sign of solidarity with the brotherly Palestinian people and because of the death and destruction perpetrated on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli war machine”. No fireworks for Dubai then.

So, in lieu of photos of NYE high jinks, here's a few photos of the kids from December.

Bx