Christmas in Melbourne

(Beat you this time Mel - nyer, nyer, ner-nyer ner!)

The Birds had a wonderful Christmas Day here in Melbourne. To start off, we had a nice little family gathering under the tree, where we proceeded to loot it of all its presents. Both kids were quite happy with their hauls this year!

After that, we went over to the Hohwy-Barclays to celebrate Christmas lunch with them. A lot of fun and cheer (not to mention food!) was had by all. Right now, we're all just focusing on digesting (no need for dinner!), and resting up for our big road trip up to Sydney via Wodonga!

Here's wishing that you've all had a Merry Christmas as well, and hope to see you soon!

Story time...

For years now, the Bird parents have been reading stories to their children. They have been very happy and comfortable in the role, up until now. It would seem that someone else is keen to take over the role of story teller! Perhaps we'll subcontract the position out for a probationary period, and see how it turns out...

All I want for Christmas is...

Toothless

Lucas' third baby tooth has fallen out!

Queensland holiday

My goodness, has it been THAT long since the last update? How the time flies. Profuse apologies to all our avid followers here on birdsnobees.blogspot.com, here at last are some long-overdue snapshots of our recent holiday trip to Brisbane, which we underwent well over a month ago!

Wiggles karaoke extravaganza

Time for another video treat (fingers crossed). This time, Lucas and Alicia take each other on in a karaoke sing-off! I knew that SingStar Playstation game would come in handy one day!

Clowning around

This morning Alicia made Daddy (only recently recovered from a wisdom tooth extraction) crack open the face paint once more. Daddy was just getting ready to paint in the standard "butterfly on my face" pattern that Alicia knows and loves, when she asked for a clown pattern instead!

Daddy did his best to comply, here are the results...

Alicia seems quite happy with the results, but personally, there's something about clowns that freaks me out.

I'll let her form her own opinions on the matter - for now, she's having fun.

New garden!

Last weekend was a very busy one for the Birds, as we planted some new bushes and shrubs in the patch near our fence and bedroom wall. Lucas helped Daddy collect the mulch from the gardening outlet, and Alicia helped Mummy with the planting and watering.

After all that helping, they were too tired to help Daddy and Mummy cover the plants with mulch, and settled instead on spraying each other with the hose.

Best buddies (for the moment)

A rare, but welcome moment of sibling camaraderie... 

Gymnastics

Alicia and Lucas showed us some of their tricks the other day, and we were very amused. Possibly not in the way that our performers intended, but nonetheless, amused.

Chalk artists

Lucas and Alicia have had a great time today, doing some huge, colourful drawings in chalk on the driveway.

Day at the beach

Well, the weather certainly isn't warm enough for swimming yet (and is probably a LONG way off being so), but that didn't stop a determined bunch of people from trotting off to the beach and playing in the sand.

I'm pleased to report that Lucas and Alicia (under Lewis' encouragement and guidance, I suspect) are finally starting to actually HELP me when I start making sand sculptures for them. Prior to this, Lucas would simply sit back and tell me it wasn't big enough, and Alicia would try to jump on any part of the sculpture that I'd just finished patting down and smoothing out.

The trio are pictured here on their heavily-modified, ultra-fast three-seater F1 racer.

A lot more fun this time around - pity Melbourne beaches have such coarse sand, though. Still, a beach is a beach...

Handyman and artist

Lucas' school recently had a "student free day", which of course meant that Daddy had to take a day of annual leave in order to have a corresponding "Lucas and Daddy day".

I enforced a strict "one hour maximum" policy of electronic entertainment, and was happy to let him decide what it was he wanted us to do in the remaining time. We chewed up an hour or so on the workbench, trying to sand-down a broken branch into a nice, smooth gun shape. However, once Lucas realised that "Lucas and Daddy day" didn't necessarily mean "Daddy is your personal slave day", he got a bit fed up with having to work at the stick himself. So he asked if he could do a painting, and I said of course. I was about to get him some paper, when he objected, and said he wanted to do a "proper" painting.

"Proper? What, like on a canvas?"

"Yeah, yeah - a canvas. I want to get a canvas! Let's go and get a canvas."

Oh, foolish Dad.

So, off we went to an art store, and bought Lucas a "proper" canvas. He was absolutely chuffed, and immediately drew a picture that he could paint. He then happily sat outside, and painted every last square centimetre of his masterpiece.

A fun day, all in all. And the picture is still hanging in his room. 

Lo hicimos!

We were doing a bit of gardening (i.e. hacking away at the overgrown and ill-tended vegetable matter in our front yard) the other day, when Alicia demanded to help us. Of course, we're not going to refuse, so she got the job of picking up the smaller branches that Daddy had, ahem, "pruned" off the tree, and putting them in the green bin, as well as broom duty.

Don't get me wrong - she was doing a fantastic job of it, and I certainly couldn't fault her enthusiasm. However, one thing that irked me (just a little bit) was the way she was constantly shouting, prancing around and singing about what she was doing in an almost painfully enthusiastic tone of voice. It took a while for the penny to drop, but then I realised what she was doing - she was behaving exactly the way that Dora the Explorer does in the cartoons! I had a little chuckle, but at the same time I made a mental note to perhaps cut back on the Dora episodes.

Dog boy and butterfly girl

Today was Top Dog day at Lucas' primary school, where the kids were allowed to dress up as a dog. Daddy decided to get off his butt and make a bit of an effort this time around, so he got a cheap set of hoodie + pants from Big W, some brown felt and face paint from the craft shop, and crafted a puppy costume for the occasion. Of course, what's good for the daschund is good for the fairy queen, so Alicia was second in line for some face painting as well.

Would you like some irony with your vegetables?

Getting Alicia to eat her meal at the dinner table these days is never an easy affair, but tonight she was being exceptionally recalcitrant. Every mouthful had to be force-fed (she refuses to feed herself), and we had to "remind" her to stay on her seat between every mouthful.

After finally having stuffed sufficient food into her (and getting truly fed up with the rigamarole), we let her have her way, and she ran off. Two minutes later, we discover the reason she was so eager to leave the table: she had set up her dolly in her high chair, and was feeding her some pretend dinner. I asked whether Dolly was eating her dinner like a good girl, and Alicia said, "Yes, Dolly is a good eater."

If only...

Flinders

The Birds and Hohwy-Barclays decided to end the school holidays on a high note, and went away for three days down to Flinders, near the southern tip of the Mornington Peninsula. The weather forecast was looking a bit dicey on the middle day, so we packed as much outdoor activity as we could into the first day - a trip to the Arthur's Seat hedge maze, followed by a dip in the Peninsula Hot Springs - ouch!

It was after this point that we remembered that we'd brought our camera - d'oh! The next day wasn't too bad, and we were able to get out for a stroll along the beach and out along a jetty in the bay. We were inside for a lot of the day though, playing a few games. The place we stayed at was fantastic for kids, and included an adventure playgound in the backyard! Well, what would you call a two-storey tree-house, swing, and trampolines? Lots of fun.

We finished off today with another little walk, a lot of playing in the back yard, and a stroll around the local graveyard. (Don't ask me - it wasn't my idea!)

By special request

Some happy snaps that Jules has "persuaded" me to place on the web.  :)