2010: Year of the baby

It's cousins galore this year with all three of my brothers getting ready to welcome new additions! Yay! Sam and Rachel are due to have their first baby in Auckland during April, Blake and Adrianne are hot on their heels with their second baby in Singapore during May then Ol and Rosie round things up with their first baby in Christchurch during August. It's VERY exciting and we can't wait to meet them all later in the year.

Bx

Daisy's Party

The slide ws a big hit/absolute carnage.

Cute!

Time to eat.

The play area got well used.

One of Daisy's requests was lots of balloons.

Happy birthday to you...

Blow!

Can I have this piece?

Daisy is a girl who loves to party so it's no surprise that she'd been eagerly anticipating her 4th birthday bash for months. No pressure. We had it at home and I used the opportunity of being the size of a small (ish) truck to delegate party games to Andy, hurrah! He did a very good job although I don't think he'll be chucking in bean counting to become a party organiser anytime soon. We had about 25 kids attend and everyone seemed to have a great time. Phew!

Bx

Happy Birthday Daisy!

Presents! Zach's eager to lend a hand.

Daisy's present from me and Andy was a restocking of her dress up box. This is outfit # 1

Outfit #2 - Mermaid

Outfit #3

Outfit #4

Cake! We eat a lot of cake in January.

The birthday girl with Daddy...

...and Mummy.

Daisy has not been able to wait to turn four....and her big day is finally here, Happy Birthday Daisy! She was thrilled with all her presents and very sweetly told me that she 'loved all her beautiful presents, she really really did.'

She had a class trip to Nad al Sheba park today which she enjoyed and she took cupcakes to school and her class sung Happy Birthday, very exciting.

Daisy has grown up so much this year. She's caring, thoughtful and very loving. She loves learning new things, is great at writing words and gets better every day. She's also a wonderful big sister and can't wait to have another little brother to look after. She still has her odd moments of feistiness though, go Daisy!

Bx

Happy Birthday Zach!

The birthday boy!

Ripping in to the presents.

Breakfast!

The wooden cake was a big hit.

As was the plasma car, which Daisy quickly commandeered...

...until Zach enacted the 'not having to share new toys on your birthday' rule.

Zach's favourite dinner, sausages and potatoes. Mmm.

Daisy even managed to put a dress on for the occasion.

A happy sausage smile.

Can I eat it all?

Our gorgeous little man turned two today! We started the day with presents which was very exciting then he headed off to playgroup where there was a little party for him. Andy was able to make it home for a birthday dinner and the all important cake, hurrah!

It didn't take Zach long to work out that it was a special day for him and he could eat what he wanted didn't have to share his new toys with Daisy if he didn't want to. Boy did he take advantage of that...

It's been a wonderful first two years with Zach. He's happy and cuddly and a lot of fun. He's also smart and funny and a really good singer. We're looking forward to another fun year with him and hope the terrible twos aren't too terrible!

Bx

Happy Birthday to me!

Daisy made me this card. She's getting really good at writing.

Cake! Three candles for 33.

I've had a really nice birthday. Andy took the day off work and we went out for breakfast, without the kids! Daisy was at school and Zach was at playgroup so we headed off to Raffles at Wafi. We never go out during the day without them so it was quite exciting. As an extra birthday bonus, I had a call on Monday to say I'd won the Wafi Christmas prize draw and the presentation was today. A family trip to Austria, woohoo! It includes flights for the family to Vienna, 3 nights in the plush looking Sacher hotel, Vienna and a tour of a chocolate factory. Mmm.

Bx

Glorious!

Painting is always a winner

Andy kicks back.

Can I seeeeeeeee? Zach is always desperate to check out the photo.

Watering the plants probably doesn't help Zach's potty training.

Daisy cleans up after her brother.

Serious playing.

Not so serious see sawing.

Daisy lines up to catch the rugby ball.

The weather here at the moment is perfect. Warm sunny days, cool evenings and enough rain to keep the air sparkling. We are spending most of our time in the garden, Daisy and Zach have plenty of things to do out there hence I spend lovely afternoons lying on the couch under the gazebo occasionally getting up to kick a ball round. Being a stay at home mum is great.

Bx

Al Ain Zoo

Pumas. There was an impressive amount of big cats.

Checking out the Pumas.

Icecream stop.

Daisy hones her photography skills.

Then hones her posing skills on the other side of the camera.

Another Daisy effort. Her photography skills are better than mine.

We had a great afternoon at Al Ain Zoo yesterday. It's a really impressive place with a huge range of animals. Daisy LOVED all the animals and wanted to stay FOREVER and Zach had an excellent time roaring at all the lions and making monkey sounds.

Bx