Changes to my blog

Hello to the readers of this blog.

I have made a couple of changes to this blog's settings.

1). It will now appear differently when viewed on your mobile device. If you hate the new way, you can click at the bottom to view the page normally.
If you don't like this new way, please tell me and I can change it back. I think this new way is supposed to reduce the data your phone has to download to view the page.

2). Comments have changed.
I would LOVE it if more people would comment. I know heaps of people that read this page and never comment.
I have made some changes so posting a comment is now easier than ever. Try it and see!


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Drawing people!

Below is a video of Ben drawing a person.
Both boys have only recently started to draw people.
It's interesting to watch Ben draw. He swaps between left and right handed all the time.
Ethan is right handed, he is too busy riding his bike to draw this morning. He did a drawing and was off.




Ben drawing.
Love the commentary!

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Breakfast with Ben

Ben loves eating the same breakfast as me (sal). At the moment our two favourites are Bircher muesli with natural yoghurt or all-bran apple crunch with yoghurt. Ben also likes crumpets (more than me).

This morning as I was laying in bed trying to wake up (i work till 11:30pm 4 nights a week, so mornings are tough for me!) Ben went down stairs and made me and himself some breakfast. He poured cereal into two bowls, added milk, and because I had run out of my yoghurt, he shared his yoghurt with me. He barely made a mess, then came up to my bed and told me to get up as he had made my breakfast!

What a cutie!!!!

He did a great job too.

I'm so proud of my kind, helpful and clever boy :)




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Toddler talk

Toddlers (or are they preschoolers now?!?!) say some funny things.
I often intend to post them on here as a memory, but mostly forget.
Here's some recent ones.

Right now we are sitting at the table having breakfast. Ethan finished first and got down to play. E got his bike and started riding. Ben soon followed with a very mischievous laugh, running over to get his bike.
Mummy: oh that Benjamin is trouble.
Mumma: trouble with a capital 'T'
Ethan: yes, him is trouble, but him is my brother.

Ethan's tone of voice was the funniest part. The first part of his sentence about Ben being trouble was said like he was resigned to the fact that he was trouble, and it was just something he would have to live with.
The second part "but him is my brother" was said with love. Like I he will love him, because he is his brother, even if he is trouble!

-------------------------------------
Last week there was another funny one.

Once again, trouble Ben was annoying Ethan. Ethan came to my crying and says
Ethan: Benny is annoying me. Benny said I was a naughty boy
Mummy: Don't listen to him darling, you are not a naughty boy.
Ethan: But I have TWO ears (pointing to his ears)!!!



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Pre-School Photos

Ben and Ethan got their photo taken by a professional photographer at pre-school. We are very happy with how they turned out, and very proud of our handsome boys  and how well they behaved to get their photo taken. They were very happy to wear their handsome shirts that they got from Uncle Graham. They know their shirts are from Uncle Graham, and are very pleased with how they look in them.

 

We were only given actual photos, so the above images were scanned. They have lost a bit of quality, but you get the idea!

A short break

About 6 weeks ago we had a week off, and went away for a little holiday. (took me a while to sort the pictures)

First we went to Canberra (That’s the capital city of Australia for my USA friends!). It’s about 5 hours drive south of here, and inland a bit.

We stayed in a hotel with a nice little 2 bedroom apartment. The boys were thrilled to sleep in real beds for the first time in their life. They are still in toddler beds at home. The slept brilliantly, and nobody fell out!!

Ethan winking again. It’s his latest trademark!

Ben

Riding their bikes in the hotel room. Typical boys!

 

We visited the Royal Australian Mint (aka money factory to the boys). We saw a machine tip a large barrel of blank coins into a counting machine. The boys though the ‘money factory robot’ was great!

Outside the Mint with the coins they made.

We also visited Cockington Green. It’s a model village with little people, houses, trains and plants. It’s very cute and the boys loved it.

This was their favourite train, as there was a button you could push to make the train drive around the lake and back to the station. Very popular with little boys.

A model of workmen fixing the road. Also popular with little boys who love construction!

We also got to take a ride on this steam train around the little village. The boys loved it!

Ben, reading the map.

Model aliens!

More buttons to press to make things move!

And more trains to control Windmills too!!

 

Our next stop was Questacon. It’s a hands on science museum in Canberra. There are many rooms, filled with many interesting things to look at and manipulate and experiment with. The boys had a wonderful time running around and experimenting and looking at all the different things.

Mummy and Ethan in a plane

Boys try out the aeroplane seats. Wouldn’t you love to have that much space and legroom on a plane!!

Hovercraft type chair

The had a wonderful time experimenting with everything…..

There was handles to turn

Wheels to peddle (if your legs were long enough)

Balls to roll

Buttons to push

Wheels to turn

Handles to pull

Shadows to make

Balls to throw

And finally the younger child play area. It was the last room. I think they plan it that way, or you would never get your preschooler out of there. There was cars, building supplies, toy kitchen, water play, a climbing maze, holes to peek into with lights and all sorts of fun experimental and play things.

Both boys enjoyed the water play section the most.

We had a great afternoon at Questacon. If you’re ever in Canberra, we recommend it!

 

After a few busy days in Canberra we headed 3 hours further south.

Of course we stopped at many parks along the way…

Our final destination was the snow! The boys had never been to the snow before, and were very excited the day we told them we were going!!

Tracie with Ben(red) and Ethan(blue)

We stayed at the snow for about 4-5 hours and we were all ready to go home. It was fantastic! I did not take the big camera out of the car for long, as I wanted to just enjoy the day and not be stuck behind a camera. I did take the following few photos with my phone, so please excuse the quality.

Our first attempt at a snowman!

Our second snowman! Ethan hugging the snowman. A split second later the whole snow man fell apart. It was too funny! Lunch time! 

We went sledding, built 2 snowmen and had a wonderful fun family day at the snow.

We all slept well that night!

Ethan in his pull out sofa style bed. He called it his “fancy bed” and was so happy about sleeping in a fancy bed. This is the first night he slept without a dummy.

 

Ben – his last night with a dummy.

We had a wonderful week away, though like all weeks away, it has flown by way too fast. We are now looking forward to our next big trip.

Our plans are to visit America in early/mid 2012.

We are saving our money and planning our trip!