chicky chick 8.july.2012

 H and I spent some time together unpacking the dressing up clothes today. I don't know what the fascination is but all three girls L-O-V-E to put on these chick hats from Ims & Flick's 1st proper Halloween costumes.

hyper-drive hula hoop 7.july.2012

H had a fabulous time at her friends' triple birthday party. We had no idea she could properly hula hoop, especially not at warp speed!!! That blue blur is her hoop. :)

end of year BBQ 6.july.2012

Spen and the kids had a super time at the annual PTFA BBQ, burgers, hotdogs and fab ice creams!

watermelon 5.july,2012

The three littlies and I went to the annual teddy bear's picnic in the park, saw a super magician and generally had a whale of a time. Ims and Flick spent ages giggling and throwing their teddies (donkey & bunny dressed in lil E's clothes) in the air. E was only interested in the watermelon. It was his first time tasting it and he was definitely a fan!

patriotic, if confused! 4.july.2012

 

Nice to see a bit of sisterly love during our bbq! When I asked H why we celebrate the 4th (after discussing it all week, rather delicately) I expected she would say something about taxes, the King, colonies perhaps... but was told that it was a celebration of surviving in the new world followed up by asking when we were going to have our turkey dinner. Yikes, confusing Thanksgiving and 4th of July!! We clearly need to spend more time discussing American subjects in this house.

small miracle july.3.2012

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This picture may not look like much, but it is a shot of Master E, in his bed. Yes, his bed. He went into it at 830pm and stayed there until 430am. In our house that is a small miracle!

face paint, up late july.2.2012

Two lucky little girls got to stay up late and go get their faces painted. They weren't excited, at all ;)

we're back! july.1.2012

I sorta thought we'd abandoned this 366 venture back in March with thoughts to try again next year. Someone asked why I stopped today and it made me realize that it was silly to wait to start the 'challenge' again so, here we are, logging memories like its going outta style. Thanks Heather!

Flick and I had a 'date' for coffee & cake at a local cafe. Since we were having fun (and wanted to stay out 'late') we went down to the beach to watch some kite surfers. Wow, it was windy! Thank goodness Spen had that fleece blanket in his trunk or we wouldn't have lasted five minutes.

It was awesome spending that time with Flick, she is one cool girl.

5 months for lil E mar 11, 2012

Lil man is 5 months old and is becoming quite a cheeky chap

gym star mar 10, 2012

Flick earned one of the three gym 'star of the session' awards today; she was very pleased with her stamp!

'magic' popcorn night mar 9, 2012

We added a bit of extra magic to magic popcorn night by having the girls' first viewing of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone. I was worried they would be scared but they definitely loved it!

eval day mar 8, 2012

Ims & Flick had their evaluation today at swimming lessons. They did a fabulous job of floating, scooping and bunny-hopping their way across the pool. Fingers crossed they will  receive their Duckling Level 3 next week!

elmer mar 7, 2012

Ims heard the story of Elmer today at preschool; it inspired her to create her own (as shown). 

twinkle toes twinnies mar 6, 2012

Another instalment of cute twins doing ballet. Today's toy of choice, the Belle and Ariel dolls received from Santa.

hello kitty biccies mar 5, 2012

H had an impromptu play date after school today. It only lasted half an hour but somehow the girls managed to play three board games and bake some strawberry flavoured hello kitty biscuits!

ladies (& gents) who lunch mar 4, 2012

While Dobbies is usually a place reserved for mummy meet-ups while the kiddies are at school, it seemed a perfect place for us all to warm up after a blustery and wet morning of fun at the coastal park. Flick looked fresh-faced instead of wind blown so she gets the star shot!

stabilisers mar 3, 2012

H decided it was finally the day to remove her stabilisers (with some persuading)! She was a bit fretful but made a lot of progress on her first day without them. H can ride a few meters without being supported, but unfortunately, isn't very confident and throws herself from the cycle as soon as she notices you've let go. She will get there, we have faith!

world book day, observed mar 2, 2012

Flick & Ims nursery celebrated world book day by having the children dress up as superheroes or princesses and having a 'read in' with parents and grandparents sharing their favourite stories. Our two loved it, especially coming in dressed as Sleeping Beauty and Tinkerbell!

sleepy lil angry birds mar 1, 2012

Flick couldn't sleep tonight and toddled down the stairs asking to 'watch angry birds.' Bless her, she spent a good 15 minutes swiping at the screen (and taking screen shots!) before her eyes drooped. She's going to be exhausted for Book Day at school in the morning!

bananaphone feb 29, 2012

I looked up from making lunch boxes this morning and found I&F doing their own rendition of Bert & Ernie's bananaphone. They were so involved in their conversation that they didn't notice me taking this snap. 

merits return feb 28, 2012

H had been experiencing a bit of a drought as far as merits were concerned having received none since October. This week, she's gotten two! We are so proud of her and it would appear she's quite proud as well.

boppy feb 27, 2012

Uh-oh, lil man has decided he prefers to be upright; if you put him on his back he keeps doing crunches in attempt to sit himself up! Thank goodness we were lent a bobby pillow, never had one for the girls but it seems like it will be a necessity this time around. If we didn't have one he would surely end up in a helmet as he takes a lot of tumbles.

sold feb 26, 2012

We noticed that the 'For Sale' sign had been changed to 'Sold' today! For some reason, the sign makes things seem a lot more real than signing the paperwork ever did. On a side note- it makes me wonder if estate agents are part ninja. The sign was 'for sale' when we went in the house, I looked out the window 5 minutes later and it had been changed. Surely there would've been some noise made in that process....

tasty toes feb 25, 2012

Lil man has been entranced with his feet for the last week or so. His long long legs had prevented him from getting them into his mouth while he had clothes on. He tried yet again straight after bath time and managed to get his big toe straight in. . . and LOVED it. Since then, he's been motivated enough to s-t-r-e-t-c-h to get a toe in during every diaper change.

disco diva feb 24, 2012

H was a right little diva while getting ready to head off to the school disco. She must've asked me to take at least 25 pictures of her in various poses and moods- everything from tongue out to Blue Steel was present but I opted to share something sweeter.

babies! feb 23, 2012

We should know that Ims is usually up to something silly if she is quiet for too long. She came bolting down the stairs this morning looking very pleased with herself and asked if it was okay to show us something. Before we could answer she pulled up her top and in a fit of giggles she shouted: 'look at my babies!'

squeeeeeeeze feb 22, 2012

The lil man is busting out of his 3-6 months wardrobe. Seriously, there is no way I am putting our 4 month old in 6-9 month clothes. He isn't chunky at all, just really really long so I have a feeling the scissors will be coming out soon and the feet will just be getting cut off of all the cute onesies in an attempt to keep him in his gear that bit longer.

1, 2, 4 feb 21, 2012

The girls are pretty much obsessed with Star Wars at the minute and after watching episodes 1& 2 were a bit desperate for 3. I think that 3 is more than a little disturbing and turns a character that could be a decent showing of a strong woman into a pathetic, simpering excuse of a mother victim.

As that's the case, we made the jump to Episode 4 thinking they wouldn't notice.
Curse our primary school for teaching Roman numerals!

stay little feb 20, 2012

Spen and I realise that the days where we will find H snuggled up with Piggy are numbered. 

Stay little, H, just a little longer.

technicolour monkey feb 19, 2012

It was a lovely, sunny Sunday, the girls were feeling low key and were more than happy to potter around the house. After some arts and crafts and a bit of homework we decided side walk chalking would be fun... and it most certainly was! I was a bit surprised by the girls creative ideas and found H's technicolour monkey particularly awesome.

very early morning snuggles feb 18, 2012

Saturday mornings start pretty early at our house, especially now that all three girls have gymnastics at 9 am at a gym that is over 30min away. This particular Saturday didn't include a mad rush to get out the door... guess there's more than enough time for a big&lil cuddle when the day starts at 5am!

leg room feb 17, 2010

We are hoping the lil man can keep sleeping in his moses until we move. 

The lawyers better sort the contracts quickly, he's running out of leg room! 

happy chef feb 16, 2012

When H was cast as a chef in her school's nativity play she was decidedly less than impressed. In fact, she asked us to throw her costume away. (do you have any idea how tricky it was to find checked trousers for a 5 year old?!)
Its a good thing we kept it as Ims used it today when she impressed us with her culinary masterpiece- cheese on toast!

sad kitchen feb 15, 2012

It is official, we've decided to put our house on the market and have really depersonalised in preparation for the realtor's photos. Can't believe how sad the kitchen seems without all of the girls' artwork, merits and certificates!

swak feb 14, 2012

Sending the world a big, smooshy, baby kiss and a 'happy valentine's day' from our house to yours! xx

coming in two's feb 13, 2012

Little man seems to be in quite a rush to grow up these days and is suddenly changing in pretty much every avenue. . . loads more sociable, body aware, full of movement and just now cutting his two bottom front teeth. Slow down, little boy, stay our sweet baby a bit longer. Please?

clicking flick feb 12, 2012

Flick L-O-V-E-S to take pictures. She has mastered the kiddi-zoom, the cell phone camera, the leapPad, and the galaxy tab. Today, she picked up the DSLR. I hyperventilated A LOT a little, then explained the importance of the neck strap and never, ever, dropping it, and let her go to town. She was a pro, knew exactly how to work it (with some brief tutelage on looking through the viewfinder instead of at the screen) and how to show the pics she had taken.

lil man's 4 mo stats feb 11, 2012

16.5 ish lbs, according to the hospital last week.

Significantly larger than Mr. Bear.

plaits (braids, people!) feb 10, 2012

There are days I'm particularly glad our baby #4 was a little man and not a little lady. The days when all the girls ask for plaits when we are already running late to get to school is one of those times!

bribery feb 9, 2012

Trying to get a 4 year old to sit still so you can have an eye exam is tricky, trying to get two to do it often involves bribery. I'm not too proud to admit it. . . thank goodness there is a Claire's next to the optometrist!

twins, in a bunk bed feb 8, 2012

The girls demanded a bunk bed for ages, mainly so they could be 'big' like their cousin. We gave in, it is great as there is a lot more room to play in their bedroom now, but at least once a week we find them like this. Snuggly and sweet!

mr. roly-poly feb 7, 2012

Lil mr E, mid-roll. He's mastered front to back with style, back to front is still in progress.

cootie feb 6, 2012

H played hooky from ballet this afternoon and the girls and I played a rousing (and incredibly long!) game of cootie. In the end, Ims pink cootie with every style of leg was the winner. Well done Ims!! 

(L to R: Ims, H, Mummy & Flick)

ruined snow feb 5, 2012

The girls were so excited to wake up to a garden full of fantastic packing snow! We had a whale of a time making snow angels, writing with sticks, making snowballs and bouncing on the snow-filled trampoline- all before breakfast. Before little man needed to go back to the hospital, H asked if I would take a pic of everyone together. I could eat these chaos creating kids right up. Never loved 'ruined' snow quite so much!!!

brave little soldier feb 4, 2012

The littlest Bashford has been rattling with a bit of a cough since returning from the states, but over the last few days its had developed into a horrible barking! A call to NHS Direct had us sent to the Emergency Room so that he could be seen to quickly as it ended up being a lot more serious than we had thought (poor 4th child!). After a long day seeing multiple doctors, x-rays, breathing treatments, specimen gathering and saturation tests he was sent home with an inhaler and an appointment to return in the morning for evaluation. We were so proud of him, he didn't cry at all (until we put his coat on to leave!) and still flirted with everyone he met despite feeling so ill. The x-ray tech even gave him his first sticker for good behaviour, a blue smiley face!

bumbo feb 3, 2012

He's not terribly impressed with the Bumbo. . . maybe that is because he can barely squeeze in while his nearly 6 year old sister fits rather comfortably?

sock hands feb 2, 2012

H came home from school with very sore, cracked and dry hands and was in need of a quick fix! Sudocrem and socks on hands for bedtime seems to be making things right. . .

sailor suit feb 1, 2012

 

We did a fair bit of clothes shopping for the little man before he was born due to the excitement of having our first little boy. Most items were full of vibrant colours, patterns and cheeky sayings. . . except this little sailor themed outfit. It looked so sweet online but the second we saw it we couldn't help but think that it was the sort of outfit that would have him getting roughed up in the sand box! Sure enough, the first time he wore it, his big buddy C gave him a gentle whack on the head. It goes without saying that we'll be saving the sailor outfit for days at home with Mummy from now on!!

twinkle toes tuesday

Felicity was a dream at ballet today, full of giggles and poses. Here she is taking a break from fluttering around Studio 2 before her lesson started. The pink haze is thanks to the heat lamps . . . ooohhhhhhhh, it was cold in there!

glitter

Its odd how much more mischief the twins get into compared to how much H did at the same age. Today they opened two pots of (brand new) glitter, poured it all over the table and 'painted' with it. . . on the wall, chairs and themselves. When asked why, the answer was that they "wanted to be sparkly." Obviously!

The glitter in the bowl is what was salvaged from the table top. Its really is amazing just how sparkly the kitchen floor is after being swept and mopped twice!!