After school baking

After finally moving my kitchen contents from one house to the other, Maddie had her little boyf over after school for a baking session. As you can see I think they actually spent more time taking selfies than baking, but they managed to get some cookies made and in the oven before he went home.

They are so cute together, I love hearing them laugh as they hang out.

Cuties.

❤

Maddie's motorbike ride

This little daredevil just had her first ride on a motorbike when a lovely friend of ours delivered on a long awaited promise to take her out one Sunday after church. Being that she had just had her birthday it was perfect timing and they went for a half hour spin around his neighbourhood.

She came back full of smiles and adrenalin ready to do it all again at the earliest possible opportunity. I love her so much. She is everything I ever wanted to be and I get a front row seat. 

Holiday fun at Mundaring Weir

I despair with children in the house with devices and am constantly trying to find a way to get them out of the house, so that we don't spend the entire holidays that way. Easiest way is to invite their mates so they bring the party along with them. I love Mundaring Weir, nestled in the hills, so todays excursion was out there with their sibling mates from school.

We parked at the top, bush bashed down to the weir...

and found this cute little cubby made into a fallen tree on the way...

Then had a wander across... side note, I don't remember it being nearly that high, but last time we came they were doing maintenance and we could only walk up to the barrier gates, not all the way across. 

We stopped at the cute little guard house for a picture of course. 

Then the kids took off across the walkway, running, of course, while I followed a bit slower. 

It's a long way down, with the most beautiful views!

On the way back, we stopped in at the Mundaring Sculpture Park, seriously one of the best parks around! The kids love the mix of play equipment and nature play and never want to leave, every time we go there. All 5 of them got to it, working out an obstacle course that even Alex could follow and played for ages.

Alex eventually got tired of them and ran off to chat to these little old holidaying men sculptures before we eventually headed back home. I kept asking him what they were looking at and he'd race back in front of them and say I don't know! I can't see it! Hahahaha.

Was a great day out with our mates ❤

Joseph's twos-day party

This year there was a really cool day in the calendar. Twos-day. 22/2/2022 which fell on a Tuesday, so it was affectionally dubbed TWOS-day all over the internet. Joseph's birthday is on the 20th, so he decided that Twosday was 100% his and he was having his birthday party that day.

We had the party after school and knowing it was going to be hot, we organised with the parents to send some extra clothes and started the afternoon with a big waterfight. I spent the last half an hour before everyone arrived filling water balloons so they could go wild.

They had the best time! There was so much laughter and squealing in the street while they had their waterfight and funnily enough, Maddie ended up being the one who copped it as all Joseph's friends ganged up on her and soaked her, then grabbed the buckets and tipped the rest of the water on her too.

The best was yet to come though, as we headed inside once they dried off and came inside - we had hired Joseph a mini claw machine! When it got dropped off, he nearly died with excitement and I'm pretty sure it was the absolute highlight of his life. My friend's boyfriend owns three of them and hires them out for parties and events and oh my goodness was it a hit. The kids spent all afternoon playing it and refilling it over and over until it was time for pizza and cake.

Joseph has been on about wanting the duck cake from Bluey for months since he saw the episode where Bandit makes it for Bingo, so he insisted he needed it for his party. So, I made it happen and his face was so worth it. I have never seen him happier in his life than when he walked in the door and the duck cake was made and waiting on the kitchen table. Life, made.

Made every single second that went into it, worth it.

Joseph declared that this was by far the greatest day in his entire life and did not stop smiling once. I feel like we absolutely nailed this party. He and his mates had a ball. ❤

 

Joey's with the neighbours

It's back to to school tomorrow, so on Friday night, we hit up the local diner with our neighbour besties. We love having the Hayes live next door to us, it's genuinely the best thing that's ever happened. Their kids are all similar ages to ours and they just get along so well that it's actually a pleasure to have them spend time together. I mean seriously, you can tell how much fun they are having together.

On Great Northern Highway in Herne Hill, there is the most awesome burger joint, a retro looking diner style place, called Joey's. Their food is excellent, including their delicious burgers, waffle fries and iceberg desserts. All simple, but amazing. 

In winter, there is outdoor heaters and a closed in gazebo to sit in, in summer, aircon in the outdoor areas. Plus a kids play area, sandpit and arcade games. We really should come more often, everyone loves it.

 

Encanto obsessed

Since Maddie and co watched Encanto on Disney+ at the Pinkers, they have been hooked. The keep singing the songs, making jokes from it and today, we were treated to an Encanto dress up challenge from the Madi's while they were trying to entertain themselves. I haven't actually seen the movie yet and had to google pictures of who they were dressed up as, but I think it is safe to say they absolutely nailed it!

The Madi's as Encanto characters...

Madeline as Bruno

*

and Madison as Isabella.

I cannot stop laughing. So impressed with their efforts.

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Since this post, I have seen Encanto, about 20 times. I know all the songs, all the characters and oh my goodness are the kids nuts about it, especially Alex so we often have to sit through it (or at least just the songs) on repeat. They are so ridiculously catchy - especially "We don't talk about Bruno." I am amazed by that song, with so many melodies going on at once, but all working perfectly together. I was not at all surprised to hear that Lin Manuel Miranda had written the music to the movie, everything he touches turns to gold. It's another classic for sure.

esps discos 2021

the ellen stirling discos are over for another year. maddie and joseph have been to their separate sessions and danced their little butts off. maddie as usual loved hers and had the best time

and amazingly joseph had a good time this year too! considering last time he hid under a table for the whole thing, i was thrilled that he enjoyed himself.

especially when his teacher sent me this shot as proof! haha

these little girls have been friends since kindy and we've managed to get a photo of them together most years at their disco. i wasn't able to assist this year, but seeing as one of their mums is a teacher she snapped one of the squad and sent it to me. what a gem.

here's hoping this group is made of forever friends. ❤

outback splash

because we had decided to go to outback splash in the school holidays with our cousinbesties the niupalaus, until our plans were very much changed... we decided to play hooky from school today and sneak off the day before the long weekend, while there was (hopefully) no one there, instead of going on a saturday.

turns out you should always listen to that little voice, as while we were there (with the place indeed pretty much to ourselves) a snap 3 day lockdown was announced after an outbreak of covid-19 was detected in the community. 

we had everything we needed at home, so we remained at the park until it closed and drove home to make the 6pm curfew - and the kids had the time of their lives.

although the water wasn't very  warm, you would have never known while their crew did the slides and ran about

while this dad caught up with the latest news in sport

and cuddled the cold toddler while he warmed up

the kids all also did a run through the mazes, which are adjacent to the water park and included in the daily admission.

our model child posing for yet another photo.

i never thought i would be the mum letting her kids have the day off school without a really good reason, but in the past few years things have changed. sometimes you just have to listen to that voice telling you books and pens can wait awhile and run away for the day. i'm so glad i heard it.

today was a good day. ❤

colour run fun!

ellen stirling had their annual "colour run" this afternoon and the kids loved it. i mean who wouldn't... getting to run around under the sprinklers and then getting coloured chalk thrown at them. what kid doesn't love getting messy? when i picked them up they were chalky and happy as could be.

joseph's teacher even sent me a few pictures of him loving it. i'm glad he is happy at school as he is such a serious kid generally.

the happiest kid on the block! ❤

when i went to madeline's class to pick her up i was met with two giggling girls, her and her friend emily who had copped an orange chalk bomb right in her hair and was waiting to tell me, "hahahaha look jade! i'm maddie!" what a crack up. 

i love seeing them laughing and loving their lives. ❤

rugby roos

after a whole bunch of convincing from heaps of people we know, especially our bishop paul, joseph has embarked on a rugby clinic covering the next few weeks. day one was yesterday and he really liked it! sooooo that's good. he ran, he caught the ball, he gasbagged with the other boys (see above lol) and we will do it all again next week. let's hope he still likes it then. 

***********************

edited to add. he loved it! but then grandma died and he missed the last one which was a full day workshop to end them off, as it was the day of her funeral :( hopefully next year once the season starts again he'll get back into it and give it another try. doug's family have always been rugby obsessed so we can only hope he gives it a go sometime in the future.

esps hero dress up day

i laughed so hard at the choice of outfits from these two today on "hero dress up day" at school.

as i have mentioned in previous posts, there was a huge and devastating bushfire burning out of control for over a week, just a few weeks ago. many houses and a lot of land was lost to it's path. the perth lord mayors fund put an appeal into place and many people have donated money, along with those who have donated their time to help during this disaster and other physical items that were so badly needed. our school p&c rose to the occasion and called for a free dress day, where everyone could donate to the fund. we normally ask that people send a gold coin donation, but this time people were sending more, mostly $2, but some notes arrived and the school raised over $1000 from the day!

i was amused though, heroes was chosen as the theme because of all those who had been in the line of fire protecting our land (due to the closeness of the fire many in the school community were affected or knew someone that was) and there my kids are, turning up as basketball players and dance teachers! hahahah. classic kendall craziness. it makes me so happy to see them enjoying things though, so thatá mum win. love our school community!

 

fun with the cousins

just what we all needed, a day to chill out with the cousins in glen forrest, cause it was freaking hot today! i loooove their backyard, since jared redid the pool fence, it's as though they have an infinity pool and it has the most glorious view of the bush. i could sit out here for hours.

alex loves getting in the water with maddie and emma holding him and it's so cute watching him splash about in the water

maddie had all her mermaid fantasies come true, lounging on emmas blow up tail in the water

and alex loved emmas big ass rubber duck

it was a great afternoon and they all loved it

especially this unexpected water baby who ended up going back in the pool after they'd already had a swim in their bathers - in his undies! i'm at my cousins, it doesn't matter. apparently he's obsessed with the water and stayed in there for hours with aunty donna watching from the kitchen window as she cooked. an afternoon well spent, brings a week of content. ❤