Thursday 27 May 2010

States 21 and 22

Apart from the three (THREE!) pizza parties we hosted last weekend we are in the middle of preparing for a vacation. During the last week I headed out with the girls to the famous Freddy's restaurant for pork chops, Lucy finished preschool and Henry is now walking very very fast.

Can I say it again? We're busy.

Unexpectedly we are heading off on vacation this Sunday (just 3 days away), our original plan being to head off on the following Friday.


First we're heading to the Lone Star state to tour through Houston and San Antonio. Then we are travelling NW to New Mexico to visit Carlsbad, Ruidoso, Las Cruces, Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Lucy's cowgirl boots are ready to board the plane but not much else is.


You can follow our adventures via Twitter @noatomfish

Monday 17 May 2010

Wrap up

The weekend was primarily spent in the backyard. Henry loves to play with the water table and playhouse. Lucy loves to swing. We ate lots of ice blocks, worked on our vegetable gardens and did lots of general tidying up.

On Saturday we went to the Greek festival. We enjoyed some good Greek food, music and atmosphere. Aahhh Greece!

On Sunday Fiona went to the Ladies tea, the last women's ministry event for the year (everything revolves around the school year which finishes in 3 weeks time)

Although our activities are winding down we are still busy. I'm taking a break from blogging for a few weeks. There's a lot to be done here as we're looking at going on vacation at the beginning of June and we haven't planned anything yet. You can still say hi by sending me an email.

Friday 14 May 2010

Board Games 20: Chateau Rocquefort

Lucy is frowning in this picture because Dad has just won the game (and she did not).

The aim of this game is to collect 4 different cheeses whilst avoiding falling into the cellar. The mice move through rooms and on each turn you can slide tiles underneath all the mice (its a 3D game)

It's all a little complicated for a 4 year old but I know that she is going to love this one in the future.

Thursday 13 May 2010

Mother's Day

Of course we didn't have just one event on the weekend, we had two. Not having cleaned up the aftermath of the 4 year old party we were still into Mothers Day. The kids woke me up with cuddles and then headed to the kitchen to get breakfast (though Lucy kept sneaking back into the bedroom trying to give me my gifts and in her efforts she accidentally let slip what was inside the wrapping) I got some lovely cards, a home-made cushion from Lucy and some cookware. After church everyone took me out for brunch at the Brasserie. It was fun to have Henry on the 'outside' this year!

Tuesday 11 May 2010

A horsey birthday cake

It's a 4 but it's also a horse. Cool but time consuming!

Monday 10 May 2010

Lucy's cowgirl party

Lucy had her pony party on Saturday. I was worried about thunderstorms earlier in the week but it turned out to be an awesome, and even a too hot day (90 degrees F)

We had 15 kids turn up in their cowboy/cowgirl finest. We provided the hats, the bandannas and the sheriff badges.

The 'surprise' animal that arrived was in fact two goslings, less than a week old. The girls loved them. Lucy hesitantly touched them, a little worried about the whole situation.

The pony, Patches, was the highlight of the day. Everyone had a turn riding him around the backyard. Lucy enjoyed it a lot and Patches didn't seem to mind so many kids running around.

We had a hay bale 'photo booth' set up and a wanted poster with a face cut out. The new swingset was extensively tested and approved. Our gardens survived intact.

Andrew cooked up a lot of pizzas that we served with freshly picked strawberries and other fruit.

We had birthday cake and then lots more playing.

Photos to follow

Friday 7 May 2010

Board Games 19: Maori

This is the first of Andrew's birthday board games. Maori has a simple concept of building islands. Various items on the islands give scoring points ie palm trees are worth 1 point each except if there is a hut on the island which doubles the value of the trees. A boat sailing around a square of tiles is the means for obtaining new tiles.

We have had a fun time playing this game. Lucy played once and beat us both (with lots of help) She didn't understand some of the rules but we helped her by showing her the best pieces and then she ended up with a really high score.


And by the way our game shelf is getting a little crowded!

Thursday 6 May 2010

Carpenter bees

There are numerous pests we have discovered here in North Carolina: no-see-ums, deer, walking canes, corn snakes etc

Now we can add another species to the list - carpenter bees.

Andrew noticed some sawdust on his wood pile. Upon investigation we could hear buzzing in a piece of untreated pine. Andrew thought it was borers as there was a perfect hole 'drilled' into the wood. I thought it sounded like a wasp.

He poured some water into the hole and out came a large bee. Still more buzzing in the hole. More water extracted a second bee.

It turns out that they are carpenter bees, known for destroying wood. Not much you can do about it except treat all wood. They bore a hole, lay eggs and fly off leaving you a problem to deal with next year.

Wednesday 5 May 2010

Lucy's Birthday

It was a BIG day yesterday! Not only did Lucy turn 4 but Henry took his first steps! Apart from the constant rain it was a fun day.

Lucy's mood fluctuated wildly throughout the day. Although she had a good nap we still had some problems (Ava brought over a present in the afternoon but Lucy wouldn't open it)


Events:
  • Lucy woke up and ran to the back door. She opened the blinds and shouted 'there's a slide out there'. I don't know how she knew to look out there - she thought we were building her a bookshelf. It took 5 of us to move the playset from the garage to the backyard under the cover of night.
  • Andrew cooked pancakes for breakfast which we enjoyed with chocolate ganache, whipped cream and cherries
  • Friends from our mom's group came over for a playdate. The kids played and then we had cupcakes with purple icing
  • Andrew took Lucy and Henry to Cracker Barrel for lunch (Lucy refused to eat the pancakes she ordered, wouldn't eat the ice cream the waitress brought her and when she came home told that she had a bad time!?!)
  • Long naps
  • Playing on the swings with Ava
  • Salmon dinner with tantrum
  • Webcam with Grandpa who asked her to put both feet in her mouth (which she did)
  • Bath and bed

Monday 3 May 2010

It's kind of busy around here

Our period of rest was short. We are back to full-on busyness. This weekend we didn't have much planned but it turned out to be full and the rest of the week is looking similar. On the weekend we did a lot of gardening and hosted a pizza party for the men's ministry. We also spent a lot of time working on Lucy and Henry's surprise birthday present (at least 8 hours). There's lots more to do tonight plus we need to decorate the house. Stay tuned tomorrow for the unveiling of the 'new garden bed'.