Little Gardener

it's so funny how different my two boys are.

one is obsessed with cars and anything even remotely related to transport,

while the other is a happy gardener and cook.

there is three things braxton is OBSESSED with:

1. Lawn Mowers

2. Wipper Snippers

3. Leaf Blowers

and when i say obsessed i mean to the point that he has to go to sleep with it RIGHT next to his bed and he will not go to sleep until it is within reaching distance.

i really hope that this continues until his teens and he will happily do our gardening for us :).

you can tell, he takes his lawn mowing very seriously.

brothers

to be a mother is a special thing.

what i love most about being a mother is the opportunity i get to watch their individual personalities and their spirits grow and shine.

i am always amazed that these two boys were created by the same two people but yet are so different.

makai is reserved at times and will assess all possible risks in situations that are presented to him.

braxton has absolutely no fear and no worries that he will just dive into everything.

makai is sweet and tender but can be very challenging and strong headed.

braxton answers to noone but himself but if he is without his "ted" will cry until he gets him.

i could never compare these two little boys, they both bring a unique and special attribute to our family which we love, adore and couldn't be without.

i always wonder if they were best friends in the pre-existence and wanted to come down to this earth as brothers, i know they will always look out for one another and will share a deep love, connection and bond with one another.

i get the privilege to be apart of that and watch that special bond grow.

i cannot wait for their baby brother to come to this earth.

i bet he has been missing them while they have been gone and he has been itching to be with them again.

Teddy Bear Picnic

on saturday we celebrated braxton's 2nd birthday with the people that he loves most,

 (minus those that live overseas)

but really, he only cared that his "gampy" was there.

if anyone knows brax, they know about much he absolutely adores his teddy.

his teddy has been his buddy since he was born and he never goes anywhere without.

he named his teddy, ted - very OG.

so of course I had to throw him a teddy bears picnic.

i love it how simple parties are in at the moment.

no fancy decorations or food.

the most time consuming part was putting together an adorable sign that i just wanted to do ever since i started researching ideas on pinterest - i'm telling you that site is dangerous when you get going.
every party i say it's my last, lets face it i'm a total liar.
it's so worth it to see the smile on your kids faces and there's a feeling of satisfaction you get when it all comes together on the day.
enough talk here's some pics from the day

all the kids got so filthy, so i'm going to go ahead and say that's a sign of a good party ; ).

When Daddy's Away

when daddy's away,

superhero's come out to play.

i'm loving kai-kai's age at the moment, he's into everything.

particularly, dressing up.

jevan is away for the next two weeks in melbourne.

because kai-kai is starting to realize that his dad is not home very often and asks where he is all the time, i have decided this week to keep very focussed on the kids and activities that will keep them pre-occupied until their dad comes home.

we played superhero's and pirates.

kai-kai's imagination was in full swing.

he was pretending that the grass was water and the outside play gym was his ship.

it was being hit with canons and set on fire. 

we had sword fights and there was alot of flying around the backyard,

because after all there are always superhero's taking on pirates.

Boys Are From Mars

lately i've been finding myself saying:

"you are such a boy"

"only a boy would do that"

"boys will be boys"

i am a mother of two boys and how do i know this?

our house is full of any mode of transport - you name it we have it.

cars, diggers, boats, garbage trucks, tractors, trains, planes, helicopters the list could go on.

i am consistently telling not kaikai but bracky now as well to get their hands out of their pants.

this is a CONSTANT basis, it happens at any point even when we are out at the shops and just about to have lunch, mid-conversation with someone - where's their hands, down their pants.

i have to say it does drive me INSANE.

their fingers are up their noses 24/7 and sometimes they go for the full boy-ness of sticking their finger in their mouth afterwards.

they will not watch movies about princesses or any girl that is the star feature, their is the exception of Jesse in Toy Story - but "she's a cowboy mum."

our book collection merely exists of you guessed it anything that remotely is related to transportation.

they love spending the afternoon playing outside particularly playing sports, this includes a game of rugby between the two of them.

they are the first ones to jump in the mud, run in the rain, anything that gets them all dirty so mum has to change them - they are there.

they would absolutely LOVE it if i would let them run around starkies all day long.

doesn't matter if they knock themselves into anybody they just get up (scratches, blood and all) and keep playing because they are boys.

my mother's reply to all this is "they are just normal boys,"

i am feeling quite out numbered in our little family of four but that's ok.

because at the end of the day just before i tuck them into bed they always make sure they give their mumma a kiss.

Family Date 7

i thought i better update our family date this month before july ends.

i know family dates are all about the time that you spend with each other and you should always allow plenty of it to spend, unfortunately at this point in the year jevan really lacks time to do anything outside work or his calling, so to keep within our goal of one family date per month i decided this month would just be a simple big breakfast at home with just the four of us. 

we have never done this with just us and i LOVE when we go away and choose the package of "Buffet Breakfast Included." 

so we bought the buffet breakfast package to our own table. 

we had the lot bacon, eggs, hash browns, croissants, pastries (my FAV), toast, english muffins, pancakes, juice, chocolate milk, all the spreads and sauces you could imagine.

the kids were so excited they had no idea what was going on, and with all the choices they had they simply could not choose just one. they taste tested everything somethings even twice.

at the end of all good buffet breakfasts you feel ridiculously full - on the border of sick - you always eat far to much.

at the end of our breakfast we rolled out the door and drove jevan into work, the bonus with having a husband that works in the city is that we get to park for freeeeeee on the weekends 5 min walk away from circular quay.

the kids and i felt like extending our date a little further.

we took a stroll to observatory hill.

we counted the boats, trains and all the big buildings.

we stumbled across the best patisserie, it makes macaroons that are out of this world.

bracky danced to the buskers at the rocks markets and makai gave his approval with paying them for their services.

this day, even though we were not altogether for most of it was one of the most memorable family dates because instead of focusing on the quantity of time we had, it was more the quality of time that made this day special.

West's Hidden Treasure

yesterday, it finally stopped raining.

although we could not go to the park because of the week down pour we have received, the boys and mostly i needed to get out of the house.

and since its our exploring thursdays we went to poco first.

if you haven't been to poco you should, it's like a BIGGER version of ikea.

it is literally a one stop shop for your own - inclusive of appliances.

that outting was purely for my benefit, the boys didn't particularly care much.

whilst we were out in blacktown we decided to go visit "Mater and Thomas"

if you have boys, that are anything like mine (OCD transport),

then you should take a trip, it's well worth it.

you will find these two guys out the front of 4 Richmond Road, (not to sure of the suburb - it's such a long road) Winsdor-ish?

It's just past Windsor Downs - on the left if you are driving towards richmond, right if you are driving from richmond.

whoever owns this house, i just want to give a High-5.

they have old diggers, tractors, utes, trucks just sitting in their front yard.

what's even better is it's free and you know how i love a free activity.

oh and then we totally swung by to The Windsor Pie Stop - now they do good pies.

C is for Chalk

while brax was sleeping today i decided to cut makai's quiet time in half and spend some one on one time with the little monkey.

i made a outside chalkboard a couple of weeks ago and so i decided we would use our artistic skills.

i let him decided what we would draw, to my surprise it wasn't a train track or a road this time, to my delight -  there is only so many tracks and roads you can draw.

he started by drawing a brown circle and started talking about sting-rays (he has been obsessed with sting-rays, sharks and dolphins since our trip to sea world all the way back in march).

i love his little imagination it can run wild.

we drew sharks, fish, crabs, "seagullies",  2 suns and waves.

 we had conversations

"Oh no the stingray is going to get the crab"

"Hello Mr Shark *DoDoDoDo* with his hands on his head"

"How many legs do crabs have"

"Oh quickry swim away nemo, the shark is going to get you arghhhh"

our masterpiece - TADA

Rainy Day Explorers

rain + my boys is not a very promising combination.

kai-kai & bracky LOVE being outdoors.

so, you can imagine when the cooler months set in and with that then comes beloved rain, for this mum i need to have some serious fun, engaging indoor activities to keep us all sane.

yesterday it poured down, you can imagine my joy.

we started out making a train track all around the lounge room, but we ran out of tracks.

we made play-dough in my new food-processor (thanks joovy).

FINALLY, we had a break of rain and i seized this opportunity to get the kids out.

one of my favourite past times was jumping in puddles, and of course i have passed that down to my kids.

we took this time to find puddles and made big splashes, we went on a little nature hike through the creek which our house faces, that bought loads of exploring opportunities.

kai-kai's imagination was in full swing.

just after the creek they are building a new field and there are "truck" loads of road work vehicles, and i always say to my boys "One day when we have time, i'll take you and look at the trucks."

today was that day.

bracky was in absolute heaven, he is a HUGE digger fan and what was there?

a GIGANTIC (makai's imagination took over here), HUGE, YELLOW digger.

oh the excitement on that boys face, i cannot begin to even describe it.

this is how i stay sane with a rainy day, what activities do you do?

(this is makai's new favourite way to take photos, he makes us all do it) 

Simple Things

doesn't the beach just make you feel 100x better.

i don't know what it is, the waves crashing, the salt in the wind, the beautiful blue scenery ?

it's something.

today, #2 and i headed out to my childhood favourite beach, Manly.

#1 was at pre-school so this was a bracky and mummy date.

i love spending one-on-one time with this little guy (which is not often).

anyways back to the beach, it is so therapeutic - for me anyway.

taking nice long walks along the shoreline, the sun splashing back off the water, the pristine blue waters that are so inviting.

it's one of heavenly fathers wonderful creations.

bracky and i enjoyed our walk spotting boats and helicopters as they went by - such a boy.

we took our shoes off and walked on the sand, dipped our toes in the water - because it's may and it was FREEZING.

we finished this all off by having some yogurtland together.

today, it was all about enjoying the simple things.