A Fort, A Cake and A Badly-dressed Mummy

Well, I have to say that I get quite excited about little additions to my blog...I have spent a lot of time creating it over the past year. An added bonus is that through creating the blog I have learned how to do a lot on the computer and photo shop, mostly all on my own and sometimes through a lot of perseverance! So on the blog this week I have added a couple of new 'funny comments' by Ashton. I finally sorted the play list out which is at the very bottom above the family photo (scroll all the way to the end). I am a big fan of Celine Dion, Garth Brooks and David Archuletta, but if you can't stand Celine or Garth, just click on another song or turn your sound off. 'The Dance' by Garth Brooks and 'A Mother's Prayer' by Celine Dion are such beautiful songs. I have added three new videos to the video bar on the right hand side (each only a minute long so as not to bore anyone). In order to watch them you will need to turn the music off first so scroll down to the play list and click on the large middle circle to stop it. The first video clip is of Noah balling while we try to celebrate his birthday (for some reason he was afraid of the cake and candles - I know my cakes are bad, but surely not that bad!), the second clip is Noah carrying his Easter bucket and dropping his chocolate, and the third is the boys having fun on a rope swing during our camping trip to the Coromandel in January. They are only sitting on a very small piece of wood - check out how high Ashton goes and how much he is laughing! Doesn't it make you want to be a kid again!

During the week the boys made a fort (Ashton calls it a tent) in the dining room with the chairs, cushions and blankets. They had so much fun playing in it that we kept it up for several days until it became a nuisance not having couch cushions or dining room chairs to sit on. At least several times we found the boys quietly sitting inside the fort scoffing down their left over Easter eggs. Ashton took the tent very seriously since it was his idea and his creation and low and behold if Hayden or Noah knocked down a cushion or took a blanket away! He treated the tent as his new home, continuously trying to pile more and more stuff inside it. He carefully arranged the inside with DVDs, pillows, scriptures, bottles of water, trains, planes, hot wheels and two pretend TV’s. The boys spent much of their weekend inside their fort laying on their pillows and blankets listening to music and talking to each other. As opposed to the boys usual weekend ritual of running crazy around the house and making lots of noise, thanks to Ashton's tent, Tony and I actually got a lot of peace and quiet!

Lately, Noah has been quite confused at figuring out his own identity when we say his name. When we put him to bed in the evening and say, “Goodnight Noah” he will say back to us “Goodnight Noah”. When he's done something to hurt one of his brothers (ie. hit them on the head with a toy), Tony and I will say to him: “Say sorry Noah” and he will repeat ‘Sorry Noah'!

Have you ever wondered what little boys get up to when they use the bathroom together at school? (besides pee all over the toilet seat!) Maybe us mum’s would rather not know exactly what they do, but Hayden recently shared with me that his friend Alec has a really cool…I’ll use the word ‘private part’. Mmmm, I thought, what could this be all about!! As I was helping Hayden get in his pajamas after his shower he excitedly told me that his friend Alec could make his private part look just like his and then he could change it to also make it look like his friend, Gian’s (kiwi boys aren't circumcised). Doesn't the teacher ever wonder what on earth is taking six year old boys so long in the bathroom!

Ashton went to a fun 'Ben 10' birthday party last Saturday. The mother who hosted the party made a beautiful, luscious looking chocolate mud cake. Since I stayed at the party and helped with the games I was sooooo looking forward to a piece of it. That was, until the birthday boy sat at the head of the table with his cake in front of him and coughed and sneezed all over it about ten times without ever once covering his mouth. I actually saw his spit fly everywhere and land all over the cake so when I was offered a piece I decided to politely say "No thank you!" Ashton, however, had two pieces of cake and told me it was really good...spit, germs and all!

We went to church this Sunday and as usual we were 15 minutes late (okay maybe 25 mins). Since our ward doesn't start until 1pm I get so busy in the morning doing things around the house that I never give myself enough time to get ready. So come 1pm I am always in a frantic rush to get out the door and to make sure we have bags, shoes, scriptures, Noah's dummy and blanket, etc. When we arrived at church and were walking into the chapel I suddenly realized I had forgotten something. It took me a moment to figure out why I was feeling as if something was missing. I suddenly realized I had forgotten to put my bra on! As we walked into the chapel I immediately became self-conscious that I was 'hangin-low'! Tony confirmed that I was, but there wasn't much I could do about it (I just had to remind myself that I wasn't a size F and it's not like they were hanging on my waistline!) I then sat down on the couch in the foyer and as I readjusted my skirt I noticed I hadn't shaved my legs in quite some time (just before our trip to Hawaii) and my legs were sprouting noticeable black hairs. Then I became self-conscious of my hairy legs as well as not having a bra on....how much worse could it get? I decided to take a little walk to the bathroom (with my arms folded so as not to draw attention to my chest area) and luckily for me I took a glance in the mirror, only to notice that the zip on my skirt was down, AND I had a little bogger hanging out of my nose!!! Tony had told me I looked nice, but he was obviously looking at me with his eyes closed. Lesson finally learned; get ready for church earlier than 12:45pm!!

Ashton proudly received the reverence award in Primary during closing exercises. He participated well during sharing time, he tried hard to sing the songs and he sat quietly. For awhile both the boys were really playing up in Primary with me being 2nd counsellor, but thankfully, that has passed over and the two of them have behaved really well over the past few weeks.

Noah stayed in Nursery all by himself yesterday without crying. First time ever...what a breakthrough! He sat in his stroller the whole time with his blanket and dummy, but we are so happy for him that he didn't get hysterically upset like he usually does.

A few photo's taken this past week;

Ashton and Noah enjoying chocolate after an Easter Egg Hunt.




Hayden and Ashton playing outside;


Hayden giving Noah a swing;



Ashton makes some cool things with his toys;