Easter and holidays in Adelaide

Easter and the famous easter egg hunt was held at our house this year; this was good for the kids as the relatively small size of our backyard made the easter egg hunt much simpler! It was also Addi's first hunt and she had an absolute ball!

Thanks to a very generous Nan and Grandad, the family flew to Adelaide for the second week of school holidays. The kids are quickly becoming seasoned travellers, so they had no issues at all on the flight. Well, almost. Linc got quite sick as we descended into Adelaide; but to his credit, no spewing!

We spent the week doing lots of different things: Cleland Wildlife Park, beach, shopping, wineries, more beach and finally feeding the fish at Port Noarlunga.

The week went very quickly, and we definitely enjoyed the warmer weather. True to form, post Anzac Day the weather here has gone south; it will be -1 deg Thursday morning...

The girls go shopping in the city (on the train!)

Moana beach

Kays Brothers winery

Cleland Wildlife Park

Three cheeky monkeys...

Last night Mum and Dad had our first night away from all three kids. We attended the Ronald McDonald House Charity Ball and it was so much fun. After stumbling in at 0230am, it was nice to get an extra hour of sleep (thanks day-light saving) and even nicer to wake up (at around 10am) and discover that we had come out of our rather large night of fun and frivolity relatively unscathed (aside from some very sore heads!)....

The kids relaxing on the couch...

Addi watching some Foxtel with the boys; notice who is in 'control'...?!

Our hectic lives continue with the latest issues being Lincoln's mouth and Mum's car. We booked Linc in to see the dentist as one of his adult teeth (bottom centre) was growing quite twisted and cutting his tongue. Anyway, the dentist wasn't too concerned about that, but did identify that he has a cross-bite; they referred us to an orthodontist (we got in quite quickly as they had a cancellation) who said the cross-bite was not too bad so he wasn't going to do anything about it, aside from putting some drops of glue on a couple of Linc's teeth to try to get his mouth to realign.

And Mum's car: brakes, alternator, tyres and a service will end up costing us thousands... but at least we are looking forward to having a wonderful holiday in Adelaide soon (thanks to the grandparents), so that makes everything better!

Life gets in the way...Addi walks!

For the first time in the blog's history, we missed a month. But that's what happens when life gets in the way, and Dad spent more of February interstate/overseas than he did at home!

Luckily it's not too common an occurrence, as Mum had a tough time. While Dad was O/S both boys got a nasty stomach bug which they shared all over the carpet on multiple nights; and Addi got quite crook with a virus that turned into some type of infection. She's onto her second batch of antibiotics now, and about week three of whatever it is she has. She hasn't been to child care in ages. Oh, and Mum's car decided not to start one morning and, with no Dad to fix it, Mum had to drive Dad's car! She ended up enjoying, by the way...!

Amazingly the weekend before Dad departed O/S, Addi took her first steps. It was on February 15, and we were all so excited (especially that Dad was around to see it!). Unfortunately Dad wasn't around for the 10 year wedding anniversary. But Dad bringing Tiffany home certainly made up for this (in part!).

She has her second tooth now, and says 'up' a lot as she loves being picked up and being part of whatever is going on. She's just beautiful.

The boys continue to grow way too quick; Linc is now so tall, and Carter is not far behind.

We went to Enlighten last night and had a fantastic time. There's something about having a big family to take out to events like that and share all of the fun and frivolity.

Happy birthday you and you!

It's big birthday month, as we tick off two birthdays for two-thirds of our offspring. Not bad really, as it's a fair while now till Carter's birthday, which is handy so we can recover (financially) from spoiling these kids rotten over Christmas and big birthday month!

Addi's birthday was relatively subdued, as a planned morning tea at a local cafe had to be cancelled as Dad was a touch crook; but Addi obviously didn't know any better and enjoyed her special day with all of her new toys. Yep, we feel a bit bad that we didn't have a huge party, but with everything going on right now, (Addi sick, Dad sick, Mum sick, Mum starting back at work, Addi starting childcare, the continual oppressive heat, the continued financial worries as we have to find another $440 a fortnight for childcare) we honestly just did not have the energy. It's almost as though we're corralling the wagons, trying to deal with the issues at the forefront of our life without opening ourselves up to more stress (like spending an entire week deciding on a theme, distributing invites, tracking RSVPs, cooking, cooking, cooking, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning)...

But I digress... Her little grin is as cute as ever, especially now she has a little tooth poking out from her lower gum! It hasn't given her any grief, but just wait till the molars start coming through!

Linc's birthday falls on his first week back at school, so when we asked him what he wanted to do, he chose to have dinner at the local club! And that's what we did tonight, and it was very pleasant (especially being in the cool of the air-conditioning as Canberra experiences a pretty bad heatwave - 39deg today!)...

2017 in full swing...

They say that the busier you are, the more time seems to fly. And for 2016 that could not have been more true. With three kidlets there is always someone wanting something. Always someone requiring attention. And mostly, it's Addi, which has been a challenge as we are well aware of the need to spend quality time with our two fast-growing boys! But we seem to be balancing things about right, and have enjoyed our family time - such as going to Yerrabi pond for a walk and a little picnic and, most recently, splashing about in our NEW POOL!

It's been a tumultuous start to 2017. Mum has started back at work and that means Addi has started childcare. Which has gone as well as can be expected. That is to say it has not gone very well with Addi being clearly distressed during her first few days of orientation. Plus the little rascal caught a virus and brought it back home so everybody got a lovely summer cold... So that has stressed everyone out, but hopefully this week (her third week) she should be a little more settled. Ideally Mum wouldn't have to work, and Addi wouldn't need to go to childcare, but that's modern life for you in a time with huge mortgages and Canberra's extremely high cost of living...

Addi has her first tooth, and she is standing unaided more and more - she currently thinks its so clever that she claps her hand. She's an absolute joy to have around and anyone who meets her is just so taken with her - the big brilliant blue eyes and blonde hair certainly has an effect on people!

Oh, and Happy Australia Day; Mum is working and we're all at home playing iPads, Xbox and watching Moana (a Disney movie we've all fallen in love with - probably cause it reminds us of Hawaii!)...

Christmas in Adelaide

On 19 December the family flew to Adelaide to spend Christmas with family. The 1850 Virgin flight departed slightly behind schedule, but it was the strange fact of Carter being placed three rows in front, separated from the rest of the family, that was most irritating. Luckily a nice woman swapped seats so we could all sit in a row (the Boeing 717 seating configuration is three/two).

One hour fifteen minutes later we arrived at Adelaide, picked up two large suitcases, two smaller bags, two car seats and a stroller. Yep, it was one heck of a load. Nan and Grandad were waiting (in two cars) when we arrived and it was a pleasant trip home watching an overhead storm throw down massive lightning bolts all around us!

We then had a very relaxing and enjoyable time, some days doing nothing, other days heading to the beach (Moana and Glenelg). Mum and Dad (and Addi) even got a night away at the Stamford Grand as a Christmas present.

Christmas day was a huge success - especially for the boys, who each got a new iPad Air 2 64gb. Very generous grandparents! 

All too soon it was December 26 and time to head home. Everything went smoothly (aside from the bumpy flight!), and the mighty SV6 was waiting for us in the long-stay car park to get us home in comfort.

Addi's first christmas

BIG hugs when you give iPads for christmas!