Tyler's First Christmas

The boys have been very excited opening their Christmas presents this morning. Tyler enjoyed it too - especially the wrapping paper and playing with the rubbish bin!
The walking sticks that Nate and Blake are opening are from Opa and Omi - they thought they were really cool!

Are we there yet?

The Gavin Gaskills

There were eight of us sleeping in Gav, Cristy and Sammy's house on the 23rd of December. We had a great time and I think this description from mum sums it up 'There is a Finnish tent called Sopu which translates to Harmony, quite a small tent, but it fits a lot of people in it as long as they are in Harmony with each other!' The Gaskills were in harmony, thanks for having us Gav, Cristy and Sammy!

Adelaide

Oh boy are we glad to have a rest day in Adelaide!

Woomera

A spooky town (no longer occupied by many people) but very interesting - they boys liked the town display of military equipment. I liked the food at the pub!

Coober Pedy

We really liked this town - we stayed in an incredible underground motel, and then went to a disused mine and home that had been converted to a tourist attraction.

On the road!

A typical NT roadside stop - nothing but dirt to play with!

The Ghan

Our Ghan adventure was not what we planned it to be - no Rohan - but the big boys still really enjoyed it and yes it sure was an adventure! These are the only photos I managed to take, a quick snap of the boys in their beds and Tyler on the floor, and then again when the boys were asleep! I would have liked to have taken one of the five of us in front of the train but that didn't happen.

Our Trucks

We had just over two containers of treasures to bring with us to Canberra - look at our big trucks!

Moving Day

The removalists arrived this morning at 7:30. The boys were pretty excited!

Blake took a photo of me and Tyler.

Tyler wasn't too impressed that the removalists were in his room, but he very much enjoyed going to sleep like this. Actually, I think he has enjoyed the whole day so far - just being carried around and relaxing!

Boxes

My birthday

Loved making this cake with Blake. We have been planning it all year (does it show?). Both Nathan and Blake enjoy reading the Women's Weekly Birthday Cake cookbook, deciding which cake I will make them for their next birthday. Of course I have to choose a favourite, so I chose the ladybird cake. We decided to get creative with the colours, because the head is supposed to be black and I thought 'who cares!'.

Random photos

What I love about this photo is that it is 8:30pm after Nathan's school concert - and look at what we are wearing!

Photos I like

Tyler and Blake Crawling

Choc Chip Muffins

I am going a bit blog crazy at the moment - I think it is because of our new laptop - it is easy to blog while being in the living room with the children. This afternoon while Ty was napping, Blake and I made some choc-chip muffins. I grabbed the camera when I saw Blake doing this - too funny!

Mango Mania

Kirsty came over today with two crates of mangoes to cut up - we got through the lot and she took just under one crate home of cut mangoes with her! What a productive morning. I have asked Rohan to go around to her house to pick some more for me on Sunday. Mmmmmmm...... (the bottom photo was taken by Blake and shows us drooling over the mangoes).

More adventures of Tyler

I needed to get some paperwork done in the study today (filing, pay bills etc) so I brought the entire box of baby toys into the study and let Tyler loose. What fun! He really enjoyed checking himself out in the mirror too.


Now what other food would you introduce to your baby when you live in the tropical north of Australia? Thanks to Kirsty and her mango trees, Tyler got to try some delicious mango for a snack this morning. He liked mooshing it around in his hands and feeling the lovely texture. He might not have digested much, but he definitely liked it!


I'm not really sure why I am posting this picture of Tyler with food all over his face. I'm not a fan of this look in other people's children so apologise to all who aren't interested in my children in this state. However, Tyler is really enjoying his solids and so am I - I love how he explores the new tastes and especially new textures. Tonight we had mango chicken (yuuuuuummmmm!) and Rohan fed him some with a spoon (including rice) but he took great pleasure in getting his fingers stuck into it. After that he had some pumpkin and drank some water from a sippy cup. What a clever boy!

Melbourne Cup Auction

Rohan and I wanted to purchase an aboriginal art work before we leave Katherine. Luckily, I bid for and won a lovely piece at yesterday's Pre-School fund raiser. Good thing too, as I don't know when we would have found time to traipse around the art galleries to choose one!

For some reason, blogspot has roated the photo automatically! Guess the designers of this page aren't appreciators of indigenous art :)
The painting is of various Australian animals (their foot prints), and the lines are the animals' tails.

Bike Riders

The four boys went for a bike ride today. It was Tyler's first time in the bike trailer. He seemed to enjoy it.

First Solids

Tyler has started solids. The photo shows his first food - banana cut up into pieces. Finger food! The food he had in his first three days of solids were:
soft banana chunks
beetroot (at the Mess - from Dad!)
chilli crab leg (while out to dinner)
cheese, garlic and tomato paste grilled toast
grated apple
a piece of apple
a milk arrowroot biscuit.
He is really enjoying trying 'family food', and we are enjoying introducing him to food in this way (called baby-led weaning, or baby-led solids).