Happy Dance.

We dance everyday. For awhile the Happy song was the favourite. You can really see how much IB gets into her dancing in this video from May 2014.

Our Hut.

One of the best things to observe as a parent is your children playing together. I really enjoy watching the games they play and how they interact with each other. Here are some photos of the girls in a 'hut' made from bedsheets.

Magic Mangawhai Heads.

At the end of April we went away for a week to a friends Bach (holiday home) at Mangawhai Heads. It felt like we were trying to eek the last bit of summer out before winter set in. Fortunately we had a great week and it was warm enough for lots of swims.

We found out that IB does not like the feeling of sand on her feet. This is the look of feet that do not like sand on them.

EV loves the sand and the waves. Dadda took her boogie boarding everyday. In the end she was standing up on the board and declared she must learn to surf. Here are the surfing buddies after a big afternoon swimming at the heads.

One of the most beautiful parts of this holiday was the most glorious sunsets we saw every evening. I was so captivated I even busted out the panorama view on my camera.

And if you were unfortunate enough to be up very early the sunrise was pretty cool too.

While EV and dadda were at the beach IB and I hung out, and painted and rode the scooter, with a handbag of course.

We enjoyed the local market and found some good chillies and fruit. Even managed to make pizza, rolling the dough out bach styles.

This was the best bach holiday we have had in ages, even the dog's bed was good for relaxing. Thanks Marion and Pete for sharing your bach! "woof!"

March 2014

March was a month when IB discovered Feijoa's and liked them so much she even eats the skin (actually she does that with a lot of fruit, crazy kid). And of course IB was still carrying handbags everywhere. IB also began to walk by herself, there was no going back.

 IB also loves icecream, or "I Keam" as its now pronounced, usually while standing beside the freezer with a charming twinkle in her eye.

Finding wee chairs and places to sit is a favourite activity with IB. She loves to find a seat and read a book to herself.

The longest lashes! 
EV had her mate BH over for an after school playdate. There was some spontaneous ninja action after I improvised some masks.

 March is also Poppop's birthday and EV drew a gorgeous card with some fabulous portraits.

Butterfly Farming.

Earlier this year we planted a couple of small swan plants, also called milkweed. We don't have a garden but there are large gardens all around us and lots of Monarch butterflies in the neighbourhood so I knew we would get a few butterflies on our plants. We got lots of eggs and the baby caterpillars hatched but they started to get eaten by wasps so I intervened and we would bring the caterpillars inside and feed them leaves everyday.

This was actually a bonus for the girls because we could closely watch the transformation of the caterpillar into a chrysalis and then a Monarch butterfly.

Once they hatched and seemed dry enough to survive we put the butterflies outside and watched them fly away.

In total we hatched 4 girls and one boy butterfly. We didn't have enough food left to sustain any more. Maybe next year we will be more successful. I shot a little video of the chrysalis being made with the wriggling caterpillar inside.