Family time - April 2013

Playing at the park outside Josh and Hannah's school one afternoon

Caleb doing his common snuggle into a pillow, next to Daddy who really is asleep...

My birthday morning

Josh and Hannah decorated my cake. Josh made a smiley face, and Hannah did a yellow "Mickey mouse" in the corner by her finger

Josh and Hannah's school redid the playground, including artificial lawn. This was their first time playing in the playground in weeks. Josh especially loved the nice soft grass!

And Caleb of course wasn't going to be left out!

Two of my gorgeous children playing nicely together!

The kids wanted me to make them a whole rainbow of balloon mice. You'll notice that Josh decorated the white one to be a zebra mouse.

Painting the bath and each other with soap and bubbles!

We went boating with Uncle Ron and Pamela, and all 3 kids enjoyed taking turns in the canoe with Andrew ;o)

Caleb moments - April 2013 (13-14 months)

Caleb is developing SUCH character! He is an absolutely delightful child!

One day he started walking backwards, playing a game running away from me, with a mischievous look on his face. But his manages to walk straight for a while and then it becomes a backwards gallop. So cute!
He's started the boy thing, making a brmm noise for a car, plane or any vehicle.

He loves it when I sing or he hears singing, and he'll often join in.

He wants to be picked up all the time :( One morning he put the biscuit he was holding down on the floor and then held up his arms to be picked up.

I'm still breastfeeding Caleb in the morning and evening. Both Josh and Hannah weaned themselves at 10 months, so this is a new experience for me - feeding such an old baby. I love the special time we have, and the special cuddles. But he does do some funny things, like putting his finger in my nose and fiddling with my clothes or my hands. I just love it! And sometimes, especially after or during the morning feed he'll pause during his drink, smile and say ma.

He is now able to push himself on the toy car, and he loves to join in with the older kids.

He is very strong willed and very strong, which makes it very difficult at times, especially if he doesn't want to be getting into the car.

He often puts his hands on his head and gives a big grin. It's some kind of game although I haven't figured it out yet..

He has found his voice, and often lets us know about it by screaming :(

One of his favourite people is Uncle Andrew! When he arrives in the morning or evening Caleb runs to the door to greet him, saying "uh ah!". Sometimes he'll even go to the door when Andrew leaves in the evening just to get a hug and then he'll be happy to go to the window and wave. Absolute hero worship!

He really loves bathing, and he's taken to pulling up his shirt to try and take it off when the bath is running, and he also tries to help me dress him in the morning or evening by moving his arms appropriately.

But he loves having his bare tummy rubbed and tickled, so he often takes his time about getting dressed - first wanting to play a bit :)

He is SUCH a cuddly child! He'll often just come and cuddle with you, just cos he feels like it (long may it continue!) He also likes to just cuddle into a cushion or blanket though. And sometimes he'll also just flop down onto the carpet and just lie there... Go figure!

But I can only catch his snuggles on camera on the rare occasions that he falls asleep.

Falling asleep holding his water bottle

 Trying to feed himself. "I'm big!"

"Of course I should be allowed to drive!"

What a mess!

 And the culprit is...

 Trying to ride Uncle Andrew's bike.

The first part of this video is hilarious! Caleb falling asleep upright, and still trying to be eating or something... So cute!

Hannah moments - April 2013

This little girl is getting to be SUCH a little madam! She is just an intense ball of character!

She is absolutely Obsessed with lipstick! One day she says I can have hers... The after 30 seconds she says "Can I have your lipstick?" Conniving already!

She's also getting to be quite a romantic. She starts grinning at the thought of people getting married, or if she sees someone kissing.

One day she said, "My tummy is sore." So I asked "Are you sure?" "No, my rest is sore"

But when she talks she of opens her eyes really wide, and although her upper arms don't move much, her lower arms can get really expressive. Or sometimes she talks with her eyes slightly closed and her lips slightly pursed. She is SO amusing to watch!

She's such a little mommy as well. If she sees Caleb is sad she'll come up to him and either hug him or pat him and say "It's okay..."

And when Caleb was quite sick she suddenly stopped playing, bowed her head and closed her eyes and started moving her mouth. Then she went to daddy afterwards and said she was praying that Caleb would stop vomiting. Such faith!

One day she suddenly said "I'm so excited! Its my birthday tomorrow!" It's not her birthday till the middle of May, but she just knew it was coming soon!

Looking all cool with her sunglasses and lipstick...

Amanda gave us some of Sarah's old clothes when we were at Fish Hoek, and Hannah wanted to try them all on... So here she is wearing a few of the outfits at once!

 Dressed up as a vet for school when they were talking about occupations

She was really sick when we visited Fish Hoek on another week. But she looked so cute when she eventually fell asleep!

 One of her first self portraits that is now starting to look like a person.

 Her letter to Uncle Richard.

 She did her style of writing and then I translated for Richard :)

Joshua moments - April 2013 (5 years old)

Joshua is growing up so quickly. He turned 5 this month, and it's amazing to look at what he can do now and what he knows, compared to even just a few months ago.

He is developing such great faith as well. He was sick one day, and without us saying anything he started praying on his own that he'd stop vomiting.

And one evening he really cracked me up. He suddenly stopped what he was doing and said "Can I ask a question? About this (with finger pointing up). We didn't say prayers!" Then he said a prayer, specifically praying for granny and also thanking Heavenly Father that we can go to church to learn about Jesus. Such a sweet boy!

He's started being able to do dot-to-dots on his own. He also recognises all numbers to 10 and he is able to write them. He's started tracing the outline of things with his finger, and if its far away tracing it in the air. Andrew says he remembers doing that all the time as a kid.

He has a very inquiring mind. He constantly asks questions on all sorts of topics. Like, "Did Jesus give us our spirits to make our bodies so we can talk?" And, "Why do we have volcanoes in our world?" I never know what is going to come out of his mouth next, so he's keeping us on our toes. Most of the things he asks I'm able to give some kind of answer to, but we've also had to do some research, so already we are learning things because of our children!

One day he said to us "I've learnt how to play the piano, now I'm learning how to play the guitar"

One Saturday morning he wanted me and him to dance and do a show for the others behind the French doors. He really likes the idea of a show.

He's getting very creative with playdough and prestick. I think this was a dinosaur with the people.

To get him to sit on the toilet for as long as he needs to we often let him draw or colour in or play with something. This time he had been colouring in, and when he finished he squatted down and just carried on colouring in, without pulling up his pants :)

 He was very proud that he ate enough pieces to leave a rectangle with his toast.

He is starting to colour in really beautifully! Although, because he's a perfectionist it can also lead to tears if he doesn't manage to stay in the lines...

 Joshua inside his house, with grass, sky and a tree

 And just about everything he does, he writes his name on.

This picture was great. He looked at a Barney we have and copied the colours exactly. And then Barney was lying so that the name on his foot was upside down. But Josh copied it exactly as he saw it (even with the TM) So if you look closely you'll see he's written Barney upside down at the top.

 An ambulance from when they were learning about occupations at school.

He constantly wants us to print pictures for him to colour in. For a couple of days all he wanted was swimming dinosaurs...