brotherly love

Today Little L was so happy to have Big L home. He spent the day basking in his big brother's love and attention. This photo was taken after Little L observed Big L for a while eating his apple in the rocking chair. At first he tried sitting next to him on the floor but decided it was not good enough so painstakingly dragged the rocking horse up the stairs so he could sit next to Big L and rock <3 Once he completed the task Big L simply said to him "Good job little man". And there they sat with Little L beaming up at him in adoration... There is something so speciaĺ about a sibling bond. One of my greatest hopes for my kids is that they will be good friends. Watching this exchange my heart felt filled to the brim, I am so blessed.....xxxxxxxxxxxx

Happy Weekend

After an immensly trying week with less than minimal sleep (there seems to be a virus going round with high fevers and a wicked cough- yay!) we all woke up on Saturday morning and the sun was shinning. Phew N and I both breathed a sigh of relief, we can do what our family does best, go bush! So we packed up some snacks, no need to load up the bikes because they are permanently in the car, and headed off to our favourite spot- Huia!

 The Rascals took their bikes as far as they could then set off on foot. Little S made me laugh so much! That girl just never stops talking! It felt like we were on a nature tv show.

 She particularly loved these "fluffies"!!!

 When we reached the end we arrived at a spot we had been past so many times before yet never explored, so we decided to stop for morning tea...

 The rascals devoured a feast of grapes, crackers and peanuts- yum! And we were all delighted to find a little peephole on the bridge to allow you to look directly down into the water overflow of the dam. wow was that trippy and strangely dr seuss like!!

 Then after stopping off for a coffee on the way home the Rascals collapsed into their beds for a well deserved rest before setting off to celebrate Littlè W's birthday. While they rested I frantically finished off this little dude for Little W. I was so pleased with how he turned out! Bright, friendly and oh so cute! Thank you for a great free pattern Emma from I love buttons by Emma

 And Happy Birthday Little W! What a full on first year of life!!!

Sunday started off with a bang- Happy Fathers Day N! French toast on the deck with presents. N was lucky that I bothered wrapping anything seeing as the Rascals had been consistently telling him what we got him since friday! The best present of all was that the Rascals settled in for a happy day at home. We hung N's bird feeder, he mowed the lawns and relaxed on the deck. I dyed some custom order yarn and sorted out our strawberry patch for the coming summer, while the Rascals gave the sand pit and trampoline a good work out. Mix in a few cups of tea and it was a great morning followed by a spot of tennis in the afternoon.

This year we are going to have two rather large strawberry patches- woohoo!!! Last year N and I didnt get any strawberries because the kids ate them so fast so this time we are hoping for atleast a taste!!!

So needless to say that the twins and I needed a quiet morning on the beach this morning to recover from that happy but crazy weekend.... Hooray for Happy weekends! Boy did we need this one... xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx