More garden work

We spent another day in the garden. We finally decided we needed a sandpit. Hugo loves to dig. He borrowed this digger from his friend Baxi several weeks ago and it hasn't left his side. Since we're not going to be able to do anything about the ground in the garden (a mixture of tarmac and dirt) for the foreseeable future, Hugo was going to carry on digging in the dirt (near the dog poo) until we provided him with something else. He loves it and Daisy's pretty keen too.

And a few new herb pots as well.

Presents

Christmas morning. A civilised time, about 6.45am. A fire engine and a new hat, plus a much-loved sticker book for Daisy.

And then outside to find the present from Grandma, Granny, Grand, Nana, Pa, Mummy and Daddy that Father Christmas delivered for us. Much bouncing was done before breakfast

And modelling his new hat and mittens. Hugo loves putting them on himself.

Christmas lunch

Christmas lunch in the garden. The weather was perfect. And then a bit of a rest for some afterwards.

Or so we thought. Hugo was just pretending to sleep.

Day in the garden

We hadn't had much summery weather in the lead up to Christmas. But then it came good. We spent a day in the garden sorting it out. We (Scott) removed the post that used to hold the old washing line and the fence running next to it. It has really opened up the garden (it was in the front right in the photo where the darker patch is. There was a jasmine growing on top of the post and we were worried our garden would feel less green if we cut it down. The opposite has happened. We can see more of the greenery that was hidden. Still, the garden could do with some more plants and desperately needs something instead of tarmac.

We got the extra bits for the table out, ready for Christmas and had lunch in the garden.

and did some playdough

before turning into skaters

and eating icy poles

New arrival

Django is here. He has a lovely personality. He's pretty calm, except first thing in the morning when he's very excited to see us. We're gradually house training him. He's proving a bit fussy with his food but he's very fond of chicken wings. He's had his final jabs now, so we can take him out from next weekend.

And he's taking time getting used to his bed. He keeps falling off it.

Laundry

We've just had our new laundry cupboards delivered. Here it is before (imagine it with the tumble dryer on top of the washing machine), and here it is now. It fits like a glove. We couldn't have done better if we'd had it made to measure. Now I can fill it with stuff from the hall cupboard, ready to turn that into a toilet. More pics of the small renovation to follow in the next week or so.

Ski girl

We went to Falls Creek for a weekend of skiing. We only got to ski on Saturday because it rained heavily all night on Saturday and was still raining on Sunday morning. The children still went out and made snowmen though.
Here's Daisy skiing.

A friend of Scott's from work organised it. We had the lodge to ourselves, 12 adults and 13 children. Children's dinner time...

and absorbed in Dora the Explorer afterwards

Muddy boys

Hugo and Baxter found a tempting muddy puddle at the park at the weekend. It was like a play at the beach. Fortunately Claerwen had a bag of clothes for the op shop in her car, otherwise I'm not sure how we would have got him home.

A dog

We're getting a dog. We've been thinking about it since I was pregnant with Hugo. He's a labradoodle called Django and he arrives on 12 Sept. It was a tough choice between him and his sister. We let Daisy choose. She's always liked white Scottie dogs, so she liked the look of Django. And now Scott's sister is buying Django's sister. Here are Django and Cesky.
Everyone says they look quite big. They're supposed to end up as large miniatures - just below knee height. We'll see.


Djanjo
and with his sister Cesky

Recycling

Here's Daisy aged 2 in 2004...

... and Hugo aged 21 months in 2008

Zoo

The blog has been gone for some time. We moved it and then it didn't work, so we've moved it back again. So here we are today at the zoo with Claire.

Daisy showing off her missing front teeth.

And Hugo riding the dog.

And smiling for the camera.

Garden

We collected a stick that looked like a tree while we were at Ceres having lunch today. When we got home it became the centrepiece of a miniature garden.

And Scott found a tiny snail to move in.

Piano

Scott's nana's (Myra) old piano arrived this weekend. It's seen better days but it's lovely to have a piano again. It's got a great family history. Myra's mother bought it and used it to give piano lessons, it then became Myra's in her early 20s. It's been stored in a garage for the last 6 or so years. Now we've got it. We also got rid of all the excess sofas this weekend, making room for the piano and allowing access to the old bathroom again.