Licking the beaters

Is it just me or is this the best place to do this?

Jack the Knight

Jack, like all kids I suppose has phases where he becomes absolutely obsessed with something like Cars 2 or Thomas the tank engine, Dinosaurs or sharks. When a friend invited him to a costume party recently he was desperate to go as his new hero Mike The Knight. 

Mike is on a newish show on ABC2 and has inspired in Jack a love of all things Knightly. When my brother got Jack a light saber for his birthday he proceeded to use it as a jousting stick. So I agreed to make a Mike costume with his help and together we made armour, a shield, helmet, shoes, tunic and a sword. Blue metallic cardboard worked better than expected. I'm not sure what people did before the interweb, but when it came to the helmet I googled knights helmet from cardboard and up popped instructions including a template. Giddyup! Jack was thrilled, so much so that I feared the costume would wear out before the party. However the day of the party arrived and his costume was a hit. I had prepared him for possible armour annihilation but somehow it remained pristine. Then it turned out that there was a dress up day at preschool. true it was a disney dress up day but we bent the rules so he could be a knight again. He was the only knight amongst a sea of woodys (tehe), buzz lightyears and pirates. And the armour survived!

More brotherly love!

Cuddles

We really have been busy. New baby, new kitchen, new job for S and lots of visitors or visiting because the thing about babies is that (most) people love to cuddle them. Here are some cuddlers with Sam. Luckily he'svery sociable and doesn't mind being passed around too much.

 

 Chelsea

Uncle Craig 

Nonno 

Jeannie sitting very still & upright

 Barn 

 Ganma 

  Amy (the baby whisperer)

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Big Brother

For nine months or so Jack has been soooo excited about the imminent arrival of his little sister. No we didn't know that we were having a girl (though most of us thought that). Jack was just absolutely certain that I would have a girl and then the family would be balanced (obviously not taking into account the dog and three chickens and 1 broody duck). We even discussed finding out so we could Jack used to the idea of a brother (not that that was going to happen - surely all those weird jalapeno cravings meant a girl?).
Then on the9th of March Sam made his debut and he was definitely not a girl. S laughing gave this away, followed by the cries of "It's a boy!"and then he weeed on me and I had other things on my mind.
Jack took the news well and didn't try to put him in a dress, as suggested by a friend of mine, but did have to find a new home for a very girly doll that he and Barn purchased. Jack finds the whole sleeping/feeding baby thing booooooring but is trying hard to be a fab big brother and is making the most of Sam's 'playtime'.

Sam!

So surprisingly (for some) we have a new member of the family. For about eight and a half months we thought it was going to be a Ruby Sparkles (Jack's choice of names) but we ended up with Sam instead. Luckily he's cute and doesn't cry too much, or feed as often as Jack did, so we think we'll keep him. More photos to follow.

Bunningtastic Birthday Bash!

ta-da!

We decided (where 'we' means me) that due to the imminent arrival of RubySparkles* it would be prudent to have Jack's birthday party early. I was hoping for early March but got the last Sunday in February. My choice was limited due to the fact that we were booking the party at Bunnings. Bunnings?

Whilst I haven't been the biggest fan of Bunnings in the past, though I do like the availability of sausage sangers on weekends, I have to say I was impressed by the party. We turned up and all the bits and pieces were set out ready to make toolboxes. Kids, with the help of parents and the lovely professor and Cassie from Bunnings (whose crowd control was impressive) put their toolboxes together




and then painted them.


After that it was off to the cafe and playground for Cake,


hammer shaped biscuits


and teddy racers. According to one guest it was, "the BEST party EVER!" which I was well pleased with and we didn't even have to tidy up.
The surprise hit of the party bags were these mini Groucho Marx glasses which I thought would amuse me (they did) but the kids loved them too, though they thought they were Harry Potter glasses.



And of course Jack and I got a sausage on the way out (it's for charity you know).

*RubySparkles is Jack's new brother or sister due in a week and a bit!