Whilst Watching LOTR 1...

Lena: "Wow! Look at the castle! It's really pretty!"
Daddy: "That's the elf castle. It's called Rivendell."
Lena: "No... It's not called Rivendell: It's Heavenly Father's castle."

Silly Daddy.

Cross Dressing

One thing that Lena loves to do lately is be everything 'princess'. We haven't exactly encouraged it, but she has gravitated toward anything girly. She frequently wanders around the house with a handbag, requests to have her hair 'done up like a pretty princess', dresses up in tutus and prances around the house, and turns her brother into frogs with her magic wands. Oliver adores his sister, and wants to do everything that she does. He isn't really old enough to grasp the concept of gender-appropriate dressing, and nor have we really cared to set boundaries, so the outcomes have often forced me to stifle giggles. 

One of Lena's favorite accessories right now are headbands. She wore one to Claire's wedding, and ever since then we have had to hide the darn thing so she won't wear it constantly.

I love her gesture in this picture.

So, I guess it was to be expected that Oliver would notice how much Lena loved her coveted headbands. And I guess it was also expected that when he happened across one of these beloved accessories he would wear it with pride. And I guess it was to be expected that, since he is a boy, he would wear said accessory the wrong way. Jeez... get it right, son.

Which reminds me... I am pretty sure I never got around to sharing this picture. It is from about a year ago. I forgot how dark his hair used to be. A lot has changed since then... Well, you know, apart from Oliver's desire to accessorize with Lena's stuff.

I Couldn't Resist

We bought the kids new beds on Saturday. Twin beds. Lena was outgrowing her toddler bed, and Oliver was most definitely outgrowing his crib. But they both look so tiny in their new beds. It makes our hearts melt. Their room isn't done all the way yet, and I was going to wait to post about it all until we had a finished product, but I couldn't resist sharing this:


That tuft of hair is Oliver. Doesn't he look tiny? When we checked on the kids last night I thought he had fallen asleep on the floor because I didn't see him in his bed at first.

Now to get around to (finally... after more than two years here) painting their room. More pictures to come.

Rainbow

This happened back before Christmas, but I never got around to sharing it.

The jist of things was this:
Lena: Mummy!! Mummy, look!! A rainbow! It's a really really is a rainbow!! LOOK, Mummy!
Me: Hmmm?
Lena: It's a RAINBOW!
Me: (Look outside at the cloudless, sunny day) ...Yes, Lena. Very nice...
Lena: No, Mummy. A rainbow on the floor, a rainbow!
Then she tugged me over to the floor where a beam of sunlight was hitting a vase just perfectly and refracting into a rainbow on the floor.
Lena: See, Mummy? A RAINBOW! It's sooooo beautiful!

Proceeded by much ooh-ing and ahh-ing by Lena, and me trying to snap pictures of her unadulterated glee. It was fascinating to see her try to work out what was happening as she did all the usual toddler investigative stuff like sniff it, trying to grab it, kissing it, licking it...



Oh, to be a child....

Hmmm... It's a Bit Furry...

Growing up, one of my dad's old standby stories was of the first time he visited Ireland. He was there for a rugby match (All Blacks vs. Ireland if I remember correctly) and spent the whole day trying, without success, to figure out this strange race of people. He arrived at the stadium, where some NZ company or the Department of Agriculture or someone of that nature had set up booths giving away free kiwi fruit for the Irish to try. Dad made his way to his seat and found himself behind two Irish men who were trying to eat their free kiwi fruit like apples. Skin and all. "Hmm... It's a bit furry...", one said to the other, as my dad stifled sniggers. Oh those poor, silly Irish folk.

So, naturally, I just had to share the day that Oliver decided he would call upon his Irish heritage and eat his first kiwi fruit, skin and all. Appropriately, he was wearing an All Blacks shirt at the time. (Thanks Evan for getting the camera out.)

Music Junkie

This is Oliver.


Oliver like music.


One day, Daddy was doing homework. He let Oliver watch Mighty Machines on the laptop. But it was too loud for Daddy, so Ollie got to wear Daddy's headphones.Ollie loves Daddy's headphones. Oliver loves listening to music on Daddy's headphones. Sometimes, Oliver tries to sing along.
Mostly, he likes to listen. Oliver likes to be alone with music. He gets Daddy's iPod touch, turns on the music, puts it to his head like a phone, and wanders off to be by himself.

Recently, we walked in when Oliver was spending some alone time with Miley:

The best part is when - about 0:42 in - he starts weaving side to side.

Oliver likes Music.
anyone who makes snide comments about lotion or asks why Daddy has Miley Cyrus songs on his iPod will be annihilated.

Aaaaand... We're Back.

Belated Merry Christmases, glad tidings, and New Year (decade!) wishes to all. For all the (two) people that read this blog, yes, we are still alive.

It seems to be the story of our lives that we find ourselves perpetually busy with something or other. I think it is one of those sad facts in life, to spend all your time waiting for things to get less hectic so you can do other things, but then to realize eventually that there will always be something else that monopolizes your time and efforts. In our case, if it wasn't studying for the third round of midterms last semester, it was writing papers (yes, joint effort). And if it wasn't writing papers, it was studying for finals, and then racing over to SD for Claire's wedding, and then the wedding, and then the post-wedding, and then Christmas, and then driving back, and then school again, and more school, and... You get the picture. Funny thing is, though, that whilst all of our tasks seem so daunting at the time, looking back we have trouble actually pinpointing why it was that we felt so busy. Such is life, I suppose.

Is it too late for resolutions? I have plenty, so I will share a few... In no particular order:

1. Use our gym memberships. We pay money for them every month, and yet every month we wonder why we have them, because they rarely get used. But, getting rid of them is not an option (because, you know, if you don't have one you suddenly need to have one come hell or high water), so we shall use them more.
2. At least one outdoor activity per month. Preferably more. Not so much of a problem in the middle months of the year when the weather is more civilized, but rather a problem for me since I hate snow, cold, and boots. We are good for the month of January, though, since we went sledding about a week ago with our neighbours.
   
3. Eat healthier. As of today. Last night we celebrated, and Evan came home with fish fingers, oven-chips, and apple pie. We made English custard for the apple pie, too. Between the egg yolks, sugar, cream, and the pie we could feel our blood flow being constricted almost immediately. Now my body hates me. 'Detox' time. (Note: I think detoxes are a ridiculous waste of time and resources. And I think they are unhealthy. There is a lot of merit in just eating right the first time around.)
   
4. Be more organized. Hopefully then I will be able to have more time to...
5. Keep somewhat regular updates going on this blog. I'm not kidding myself... this is not an online journal. It probably will never get used by posterity. However, we have extended family and friends all over the globe. This is kind of our way of keeping in touch.
6. Read more. Evan and I both have very long lists of books we would like to read. One of these days we need to start making dents in them. One way we have decided to do this is by reading books together, and having 'book discussions' about whatever we have been reading. I know, I know: we are geeks.

And there are plenty more. Mostly personal stuff for me, like learning how to use all the functions on my camera that I have had for longer than we have had Oliver, playing our piano everyday, going back to school, doing artwork again... that kind of stuff. I know Evan has a mile long list of his personal goals, too. I won't bore you.

So, with that, and since I know that the real reason you are reading this is to see how our children are doing, here are some pictures.