Fun in the pool

A new haircut!

So as you all know Eli has been insisting on growing his hair for ages now. In fact I think the last time he had it cut was right before we went to Disneyland in Sept 2011 - so almost a year. His goal was to grow it long enough for a ponytail! It has been so hot lately and I've been trying for weeks to get him to have it cut as it is sooo incredibly thick that he must be sweltering under the layers upon layers of hair that he has. It is also hanging in his eyes and driving me (although not him!) insane. Anyway I was doing Davids hair with the clippers this morning and I asked David to see if he could convince Eli to have his done at the same time. All it took was David saying "hey I'm having my hair cut like a footballer - do you want to have yours done like one too?" I'm thinking he will just say "no thanks" like he has to me for the last few weeks but he says "Ok, I'll have it done like Owen someone or other who plays for Tranmere". Woo hoo the clippers were revving and raring to go within seconds. It took me almost an hour to get it all done as he seriously had SO MUCH HAIR. It sort of doesn't really look anything like the footballer that he wanted it to look like coz I can do clippers but not scissors so we'll have to wait 'till it grows a tiny bit again and I'll take him to Emma's to get it down properly but he didn't seem to notice and was super happy with his cut and I'm a super happy mummy that he looks neat and cool again! 

(Pictures before and after *please note that he never actually wore his hair in a ponytail except for this picture that I made him take! oh and I had to hold his head in place in the after pic as he will never stand still for a second ahhhh)

Imogen's I

Immy did an I for Imogen this morning. This was the second one she drew which wasn't as good as the first one but still great for a 2 year old 😃

Eli's sixth birthday - on July sixth.

We were at Helen and Buu's for the weekend of Eli's birthday. Uncle Buu was turning 30 so it was a double celebration on the Sunday. For his actual birthday on the Friday it was just Helen, mum and I and the kids. We spent the day at home playing outside in the glorious sun!

My sleeping boy - last night being 5

When he first came downstairs. His present from us was a new bike so he had already had it as I couldn't exactly hide it in the car when we came over as it was poking him in the head!

He was very sweet and let Immy and Zach open presents with him.

Nana (before the coffee lol)

Ben is thinking "what the heck is going on with these two, they normally don't do this before coffee"

Out for his first bike ride on his new bike!

He did ask for a Robbie Williams cake but I got away with this (delicious) chocolate layer cake, yum, yum, yum!

Enjoying his cake

I was worried that Immy would be upset that it wasn't her birthday but all she was worried about was if she got to eat the cake or not!

Eli playing in the paddling pool boat that we got around his 1st birthday (that Zach and Ben now have!)

beautifull little nephew!

On the Ferry to Vancouver for Eli's birthday weekend

I love the ferry in the summer time. Ok I hate the fact that we have to pay extortionate amounts of money to BC Ferries to get on and off our beautiful Island but somehow in the summer, when we can go on the outside upper decks (without freezing anyway!)  I can almost forgive them. The boat is filled with tourists who are all excited to be going on their trips to the Island and they stand marvelling at the view (and hoping for a glimpse of a whale) and I look around me and see it through the eyes of someone who is perhaps seeing BC or Canada for the first time and I feel extremely blessed to be able to see that view every day and to be able to play at the beautiful Pacific Ocean beaches whenever we like.

And I may just shed a little tear or two that very soon we won't be quite so close....

Look at how long Eli's hair is blowing in the wind!

The two of them were dancing and singing "let me entertain you" - the song of the month.

 Eli took the picture below. He took it through the window and zoomed in. I guess the window was dirty or something but anyhow it ended up looking like an oil painting. I love it!

Happy Birthday to My Amazing 6 Year Old!

To my gorgeous boy,

How are you six already? The years have flown by and we have loved every minute (well ok there have been a few 'minutes' that we haven't loved quite as much) of them!

This year you were a kindergartener! I still find it hard to believe that I am the mummy to a school aged child! What a great year it has been. It has been a joy and delight to see you learn. To witness you learning to read has been one of my favourite things this year - to see the delight in your face when you know that you can read a whole book on your own. When you come to a word that you aren't familiar with you quickly look at me and say "don't tell me, I can figure it out on my own" and you do! You are so proud of yourself! There is nothing about learning that you don't love right now and as much as you love reading I have to say that surprisingly (to me who always hated it) Math is your favourite subject.

This has been the year of board games for you! You love nothing more once Imogen is in bed to get out a board game for Daddy and I to play. Monopoly is probably the number one game closely followed by Money Bingo, Snakes and Ladders, and Connect 4. You are very good at all of them but just like your mummy used to be when I was a little girl you HATE to lose and will usually try and stage a game so that you can win! For example if you are winning but it's very close then you will usually say "I think we should finish now and get ready for bed - let's count up and see who has won!" However when it comes to Imogen you will very often purposely let her win things which makes up for all the tears and tantrums when you lose to Daddy and I!

You are a great big brother. You are mostly amazingly tolerant as Immy follows you around everywhere wanting to play. You love to play together and I am continually reminded of how blessed I am to have two children who love each other.

Right now your favourite sports are soccer and swimming and mini golf (if that's even a sport?!) Every day you put on your Tranmere Kit and want to go outside to kick the ball around (just like board games you also try and fix soccer games so that you score the most goals!) You don't mind me playing with you but you much prefer Daddy playing! You and him also love to play soccer on PS3 together. You are his best supporter and cheer him on no matter what! Swimming has been a love of yours for the past two years but this year you have really excelled. You have flown through the levels and are now in Level 6. You can swim better than me for sure!

Sometimes I forget that you are just so young really, probably because you are as tall as a 9 year old. You still need me to kiss every bump, cut and scrape and you still cry (loudly!) when you hurt yourself.  You are very affectionate with those that you love and you love to give hugs - 'Eli hugs' as you call them. After six years you finally sleep all night through but you don't need much sleep and are still up by 6:30am most mornings - you still love to come in and get in bed with us and sprawl out/kick us/walk up our backs snuggle in the morning.

You are very independent and definitely know your own mind. This year you have chosen to grow your hair long. You will not let us near it to cut and insist on growing it until it is as long as mine as you want to wear it in a pony tail like Immy and I do! You love music and have recently discovered and only want to listen to Adele and Robbie Williams  (you told me you wanted your birthday cake to have Robbie's picture on it - I'm writing this a few days before your birthday and haven't decided yet if we will do that!)

As much as I am sad that you are growing up I am also loving each and every minute and soo looking forward to seeing what this year brings for you!

I love you Eli,

Love from Mummy xxx

Visit from the Lammies (minus Mr Lammie)

Helen, Zach and Ben came over for a quick visit last week. 

On quite possibly the windiest day of the year we went to Rathtrevor Beach. It was so sunny but sadly the wind made it just freezing! The kids played and splashed around in the water but the cold won out and we ended up leaving early (although we were still there for a good hour) I had to tie Eli's hair up as it was blowing in his eyes all the time and he was seriously freaking out! Good thing not many people were there!!

Imogen was the only one who didn't come and sit behind the umbrella to escape the wind at any point! She's a toughie!

Ben enjoying his (first??) splash in the Ocean

'jump'

When we got home Eli and Zach played outside in the water slide and then came in for a bath to warm up!

The Immy and Ben band

With special guest in her pj's and full bedtime hair and make up Helen Lam

If only they would stay still long enough to get a clear shot!

Singing

Playing singstar....current favourite song. Completely inappropriate words to be singing! Thank goodness they have no idea what they're singing!

Canada Day

What a fantastic day we had yesterday. We asked Eli a while ago if he would rather have a friend birthday party or do something special - that he could choose - with the family. Thankfully he chose to do something special with our family because it was going to be hard to find a good weekend to do a friend party!! So because David will be away on his actual birthday we chose yesterday to go out and do something. He wanted to go mini golfing and go karting so we set off to Victoria for the day.

Our first stop was Tim Hortons for lunch! The kids were funny and picked a table for 2 next to ours as Eli wanted to pretend it was just them out for lunch! I so remember Helen and I doing that and really thinking people would think we were on our own!

I asked Immy for a photo and this is what she did! Eli copied her!

 Next stop was Langford for golfing...

It was a bit of a free for all which usually happens when we take Imogen!

She wanted to sit on the bridge?!

This was near the last hole. She was super hot and tired and said she was all done and going to have a lie down!!

After golfing was done we headed over to the go karts. There was a kids track and a big track. They decided to do the big track together (rather than Eli going on his own - he would have had to remember the difference between brake and gas and I'm not sure if he would have done it or not?!

David and Eli in the red car to the right

We finished up there and drove in to Victoria. Managed to find a parking spot easily and headed straight to Marble Slab for ice cream!

M&M cookies and cream for the birthday boy. He wasn't wasting anytime looking up for a photo!

by request... 'pink' ice cream for Imogen. It was called Cotton Candy Circus and had gummy bears and marshmallows in it. She loves both so I thought she would really like it but she was seriously unimpressed with candy in her ice cream and picked each one out and made a giant mess!

After ice cream we walked through town and made our way to the Parliament buildings where they had  all the Canada Day celebrations going on.

Walking past 'The Empress hotel'

No idea how I managed to take pictures of my feet while I was walking?! I must have left my phone/camera on!

Mummy and Immy listening to the music

Eli dancing/collecting flags!

Immy dancing

getting his groove on!

We sat on the grass for a while and listened to the music. The kids went on the bouncy castles and then we had a slow walk back through town and lastly we went to The Noodle Box for Eli's favourite dinner! It was such a lovely relaxing day out. Eli thoroughly enjoyed his 'pre-birthday' celebration and being Canada day made it even more special. Especially nice as we don't get to spend lots of time together lately so days like this one are just what we need!

A lovely parting photo of Eli slurping his noodles!