Star Wars Lego Lucas

Almost every single night since his 6th birthday, Lucas has laid in bed at night, just after lights out and whispered in my ear, "Mum, for my next birthday I want  a Star Wars Lego party with a remote controlled spider and a remote controlled snake."

"Er... We'll see!" I say almost every night.

Well the day came, and all his dreams came true.. and then some. x

Check out the preparations here

I accidentally invited the whole of his year! Luckily it's a long weekend and only 13 could make it! :)

After initial training, the kids were tested. They could use both of their new skills - the Jedi mind trick and light saber fighting.

To our surprise we had 4 unexpected visitors... they were in white so we called them Storm troopers and put them to work!

 After fighting the storm troopers on the flying fox, the kids ran into an aerial attack:

 (good job it was a hot day!)

After lots of battles with the Storm Troopers  (poor guys! They got beaten to a pulp :) Hahaha!) we had cake. Totally yummy, strawberry-lemon cake with white choc icing. Homemade marzipan Lego men were yummy. Should have made more!

After fighting through the undergrowth, finding enemy balloons and bashing them, they made their way to the Death Star!

This little girl got so into it, that she went for another super whack - watch out Steve!

The final blow!

Just as parents arrived, the Rebel Alliance was ready for their own areal attack.. on the Mums and Dads!

Then lastly, the non-lolly bag to take home. Of course they got to keep their light saber and cup full of pinata lollies. So this was a fun extra. Homemade Lego crayon shapes with a mini colouring in book.

I LOVED that the kids went for the R2D2 water bottles, glugged down the Jedi Juice (mild apple juice), and munched on all the healthy snacks (Darth Vader cookies may have been a bit evil, but if they had a wookie cookie to follow it would balance out right).

We all went home exhausted and on a buzz. It was SO MUCH FUN!!!! I can't wait for Riley's now. It's an easy one, another trip to the fire station :) Aaah!

First love... Aw!!

Lucky for Lucas his regular teacher is off with appendicitis. He likes her, but he's rather taken with the substitute teacher.
He came home asking if he could write her a letter.

Now what he told me, and what he told Dad were two different stories!

Version to Mum when asked, "What did your teacher say when she read your letter?"
"We stood there smiling at eachother, I love her and she loves me. We're in LOOVE. When she smiled at me and said 'Thank you Lucas' my heart went all warm" (Big cheesy mushy grin)

Version to Dad when Mum told him the story,
" I never said that! She just read the letter and said thanks that's all"

He's such a softie this one. So caring and kind. Rather sensitive which sometimes helps me understand what I'm like for Steve to deal with when I'm tired! :)

Seeing his potential...

Spending time with Riley as he grows is just amazing. Kids learn so much at this age and we wonder if they're ready for school, if they make friends well enough, if they can make good choices etc.
Well Riley's vocab is pretty amazing for a 4 1/2yr old. He also shows fantastic dancing, body rhythm skills and ... well.. you can hear for your self about the noise! (above)

He will sit for 20mins at a keyboard "playing" music and is just so mechanically minded that everything becomes a working machine and has a purpose with a story.

At the moment he "reads" and keeps in his bed a Collins reference book of places and helicopters. So much so that Lucas keeps yelling at him to be quiet so he can get to sleep!

He loves organising. He got a special treat for doing such a great job with the shopping in the trolley.

July Fun

... or some of the fun. We didn't take many pics!
Pre-movie sushi. Can I just say how completely surreal having a 4 1/2 year old yell out "MUUUUM! I want EEL! I want EEL!" at the Sushi counter... what the?!  Only to have me reply, "No, just have the salmon (raw) today"

When I was a kid we were very lucky to have delicious and varied food made from scratch. My other friends' mums didn't do so well. Egg and chips, fish and chips, beans and chips.

So nice to be in Australia with all the healthy and diverse food!

My kids pretending they're Monsters... they do better impressions at about 7pm every night. So cute.

Our kids LOVE Ribs night. We don't have ribs very often, usually when the LDS Missionaries come over for a feed up.. we all get stuck in. :)

Having lots of mucky fun at the park with charcoal.

A very proud boy after making his bed and arranging all the teddies very carefully.

Proud moments

Lucas came home with 10 merit awards yesterday. He'll be presented with his bronze certificate today. All but one are for Personal Best. :)

The boys enjoying the last few days with Dad before he goes back to shift work. It's been a wonderful 8 months having him home!

Riley blows his pre-school teachers away with his creativity. This was yesterday's effort. Lots of moving parts, crane and support stands, winches etc.

Here he is putting his masterpiece by his picture for tomorrow's adjustments. 

"And it's a firetruck Mum!!" Of course Riley, what else would it be?! haha Our little firetruck fanatic.

He spends so long concentrating that I have trouble getting him to leave the lego alone at dinner time. He also wants a keyboard so he can play me long songs (he can sit for ages!).  So we'll have to keep and eye out for one. Meanwhile Lucas is determined to make a noise on the flute/fife that we have at home. He's taken it to school today for show (just for fun, his news was yesterday).

Early June

Not really much of a title I know.. but this is just what we've been up to:


 Steve and I went on a date day..We didn't talk much, walked around some beautiful places,

..found another Mum and Dad and disturbed their peaceful moment

 We sat together, said nothing, and enjoyed it!

Then onto a marvelous time on the Queen's birthday long weekend, showing the kids an important part of their English heritage.. rock!

 We found an angry crab at the shops

 .. and a happy crab (he's always happy!)

My Norwex team tripled in May and I made Sales Leader (the first ever in Sydney might I add)...

..saw the funniest thing at the shops. Watching a middle aged woman struggle with the massive card and phone (doing the chalk board writing body wobble) gave me the giggles.

Family on Anzac Day

Gosh it's been a while! It's been a busy busy year. We had a family get together on Anzac day which was lovely because it was the first time I'd seen (not so) little Liam!

x

Holidays (Fire, insects, family and fun) Jan 2013

We've really enjoyed ourselves over the holidays. Just taken time together, had a bit of fun with friends and cousins. Spent time making delicious and healthy food... having an accident with the healthy food, and just being silly with Dad.

Don't care what you say, my lemon pancakes are the thinnest, lightest most delicious-est EVER, and even achieved with whole grain organic flour. (Who cares?! - just me I'm afraid)

My lovely neighbour showered me with gifts when they returned from Christmas holidays in Melbourne. Some were baking supplies and cook books. These were a treat to find, super healthy but still really yummy breakfast muffins. Two small ones with yoghurt had me full until lunch! Gotta love low GI. 

.... unfortunately, they're not fire proof.

(We awoke to Lucas saying, "Mum! Dad! There's a fire in the kitchen" There was so much smoke that I had to take the kids and "get down low and go! go! go!". Fruit muffin for 11 mins on high = lots of flames and smoke. Goodbye microwave! Good riddance!)

 Being silly with Mum's phone camera...

.. and Lucas doing the "Look what I caught Mum!" while I keep an enthusiastic face, seem interested and then say cheerfully, "why don't you take him for a walk in the garden?" then crumble because I'm squeemish.

 Riley asked me, "Does he protect our garden?" so I told him no. He's just happy waiting for his dinner.
Our lovely little monk was given to us by our Thai neighbours, together with the odd meal of the MOST delicious Massaman curry you've EVER tasted!  Gotta get a cooking group together to learn that one.

 FINALLY I grow something in our garden of rock. This is what (as well as my delicious little boys and the every day delight they bring) makes my heart smile. From dirt to dinner.

Bowling fun. Riley coudln't quite get that it's ok not to get all of them down. He got a bit cross but finally chilled out.

 Most of all we've just enjoyed time. Time with these little ones that LOVE and want our attention. We're trying to drink it all in. Aren't they beautiful?!

 We finally went over to our cousins house to see their new view. If you look closely you'll see the 7 year old on the quad bike from next door (what the!?).

 It's so relaxing to eat dinner outside and watch the cows come in and the sun go down.