Ten pin bowling with a 3 year old?!?

Yep that's right... one of Aiden's friends from playgroup had his 3rd birthday party at the ten pin bowling alley. I was really concerned at how Aiden would go... if he would be interested in bowling.... if he'd be feral or not... Anyway, it was fantastic! They have this awesome setup for kids with a ramp they push the bowl down and they put up rails to stop the bowl from going into the gutters. When we first walked into the place Aiden took one look at everyone bowling and just about drove me mental insisting he had a turn. The hardest part was keeping him from taking everybody else's turn and when it finally came around to his go he wasn't happy with just two bowls. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it all turned out. Apparently the birthday boy thought it was pretty cool too.



After they'd finished the bowling Aiden discoverd the arcade where these racing car games were. Thankfully he didn't get the whole concept that you're supposed to put money in but he happily spent a REALLY long time pretending he was Roary the Racing Car.

A trip to the zoo

You have probably guessed from one of the previous posts that my in-laws, Vicki & Hank (aka Oma & Opa) are here visiting us at the moment. Unfortunately life with two small children is kind of restricting so we've really not had much opportunity to get out much (however, Vicki & Hank have done a fair bit of exploratory walking around this area). We did manage a trip out on the weekend to the Peel Zoo - a local place that has a few animals and a petting zoo, etc. Here are some photos:

Megan's first smile

Megan @ 6 weeks old

Oops - over she goes

Megan at 4 weeks old

So sweet

Photos taken not long after Megan first came home - June, 2007

Happy moments

This is the latest game we play with Megan. She doesn't quite get kissing yet but she loves to touch noses.



With my new camera I tend to click away taking a bazillion photos - Megan now puts on this smile whan the flash is going off repeatedly:

Lessons in how to treat your in-laws...

They don't get to sit on the comfy lounge and watch the big screen... if they want to watch the news this is what they get:

Higher and higher

We no longer go to the playground to go down the slide... it's all about how high you can jump from

Megan's first bath

Monkey see, Monkey do

Aiden's favourite song at the moment is one that goes:
Monkey see
Monkey do
I'm a cheeky monkey just like you

Here are some photos of him dancing the actions while watching the song on the TV:

Play date

Yesterday my friend Kerri brougt her two kids over for a play date. Jordi is the same age as Aiden and Aiva is about 2 months older than Megan. It was a much needed respite for Kerri & myself as all 4 kids have been giving us a hard time... teething, bad behaviour, etc. It was nice to swap war stories with Kerri and sympathise with each other.

Aiva

Jordi

Happy Birthday Oma

Photos from Vicki's birthday last year - I went into labour with Megan a few hours after these photos!

Our little Easter chick

2 of my favourite things

Photos taken January, 2008

A couple more photos

These ones have been 'tweaked'

Introducing baby Lucas

Another first!

We were playing with my new camera outside at Grandad's yesterday when Megan actually managed to stand for quite a few seconds - first time ever! This is the only photo we got - it's not the best as she's actually starting to fall forward as I took the shot - but it documents the moment nonetheless.

My new toy

I have had my new camera for a little over a day now and have taken a bazillion photos. I am slowly starting to figure out the difference between aperture priority vs shutter priority and a few other things. There a mutlitude of photos of Megan and very few of Aiden - he just won't sit still long enough! I even resorted to photographing a toy giraffe - he was the perfect subject - never moved or complained! Anyway, here are a few of my favourite shots so far:

Aiden at the playground - I compared this photo to some I took last week with the old camera and I am spun out by the vibrancy of colours in this shot

Note - I haven't tweaked these photos at all - they are the raw shot (I normally fiddle with them in photoshop before posting/printing)

He is a funky dude

Photo taken February, 2008 - we got rid of the dummies once and for all not long after this photo

Who's a lucky girl?

My day started out as badly as the rest of the week has gone - we went to bed at about 10pm but was rudely awoken at midnight because Aiden had been in our bedroom fiddling with my alarm clock and had switched it on... I was then woken by a hungry Megan at 3am and then she had the nerve to start the day for good at 5.30am. So I didn't get much sleep and to top it off my neck/shoulder is cramped and is killing me. Needless to say I have been a little short-tempered for most of the day. However, things are looking decidedly better after a little shopping expedition. I have been hassling Dave for months now because I desperately wanted a new camera - and today he finally relented! I (oops WE) are now the proud owners of a Nikon D60 digital SLR. There's a lesson here for everybody: 1) for us girls: keep hassling/nagging those blokes because they WILL give in eventually and 2) for the blokes: the quicker you give in the better - in this case had Dave bought me a camera months ago I was only considering the D40 (much cheaper) but over a period of time the wishlist went from the D40 up to the D40x then up again to the D60...
Anyhow, I am very happy and very grateful for my loving husband who buys me these cool toys. I am now sitting here twiddling my thumbs waiting for the battery to charge so I can start taking some happy snaps. I have attempted to read the manual but my head is a fuzz of words like aperture, f-stops, shutter speed, etc - and I still don't know what they all mean. No doubt I will be posting some of my photos on the blog...

A proud daddy moment

Megan's first beer - January, 2008

Is this life in paradise?

Defintiely not! It's been a pretty ordinary couple of weeks here in the B-K household. I've had to deal with both kids having gastro followed of course, by me getting it. Next, Megan took a tumble in the bath and gave herself a corker of a shiner (see pics below) and finally, Dave had a shutdown at work so has been on night shift for the past several nights leaving me here to cope with the kids by myself. Aiden has spent the morning chucking a patty because he desparately wants to see his daddy who happens to be dead tired and is attempting to sleep amongst this mayhem... Needless to say I am feeling like I need a holiday right now... any offers to take two kids off my hands for a week or so (or perhaps a year or two)???

Megan & Me

A very recent photo of Megan & I playing on the floor