don't feel blue...eat blue cake!

yew! yes for facebook and camera phones (and Holly :) ) 

i now have some pics of Honny's birthday...well the cake part anyway...the rest of the party consisted of trampolining, eating party food, dressing up and playing tigers...and the kids did the same too ;)

Honor REALLY wanted a blue cake.  so blue cake it was...with a pink centre...because...well just because okay!?.

the sunshine played the game and we all sat in the sun and ate our blue cake.  happy days.

holiday break...day five, six and seven.

i was hoping to have loads of party filled pics to show you today...but alas no. camera battery bit the dust very early in the piece...
and when i charged the sucker back up...the evidence was clear as day.
we had pictures of the cartoons on the tele...
we had pictures of certain sheep-type toys...
and we had this..

so i have to rely on other party goers to filter photos back to me :) (please!)

today i am grateful for

* Sundays. especially Sundays that are the last Sunday of the school holidays. holidays have been great fun...but i am so ready to get back to normal.

* left over party decorations that amuse the girls for hours on end. here we have balloon girl and the streamer monster.

* the fact that balloons do not last for ever. the smell...that squeaky noise...and the general lingering around the house gives me the hebie-jebies.

* for gorgeous flowers that have lasted in a vase for 10 days and counting. i like getting my monies worth out of things...although they are starting to look to the ground.

* blue skied winter days. takes the edge off. and then finding the sunny spot to sit like a cat.
also thankful for this blog writing that is keeping my mind off Lars friend down the other end of the house cutting a hole in my laundry ceiling...the swear words and grumblings are floating back to me...
must.stay.calm.

* for the HRV system that is being installed tomorrow morning. goodbye drippy windows.

* for the wee bit of caffeine that i can pump through my pregnant veins. because caffeine is just plain rad.

* for finally sitting down and taking the time to feel this baby kick...it's still awesome and strange and gross and magical all at the same time.

the year of buzz...holiday break...day four.

Honors 'actual' birthday day. In true Honor style she slept into about 9 O'clock...with Indie waiting eyeing up all the pressies from some early bird hour. she was amazing for honor's birthday...she was totally okay to sit back and reap the rewards that others birthdays bring. 

when she finally arose, the excitement began...after staying awake until 10.30 the previous night SO excited her birthday was the next morning, she awoke completely forgetting until she spotted the mound of presents awaiting her on the coffee table. i remember that feeling...yuss. 

buzz waited so patiently.

and the train set we got her...she loves it...but i am already tripping over tracks all around the house. i am hoping to survive the week without any train related injuries.

oh...and of course BUZZ LIGHTYEAR...that chin is so handsome.

buzz and winnie instantly hit it off. and now BOTH have to come with us everywhere. this was on the way to the supermarket for honor to choose her birthday dinner meal...( and yes. saveloy's and red sauce)

she was making buzz zzzoooom around the market, and everyone...and i mean everyone stopped and said in their best buzz voice "to infinity aaaand BEYOND!". it was hilarious. the funniest for me was the 300 year old Maori woman with a walking stick that shouted it to the sky. priceless.

Hons got some pretty sweet loot this birthday. Felt pictures....do you remember those people??

and this gorgeous ukulele. i have seen Lars eyeing it up. his rock band might have a Hawaiian flavour next time you see them...

and because her birthday party is this Saturday i made some little cakes. she requested buzz cupcakes...but my imagination didn't kick in to figure out how i was going to do that without them looking like a green and white splodge... i used my creative licence. bees.

because you know...bees go buzz. ;)

some people like goats more than others...just saying. holiday break...day three.

what to do on a horrid, drizzly...grey-blah day? why drive 90 minutes south to where it's even horrid-er, drizzlier, and grey-blah-er.

Rain or shine it was definitely time to get out of the house.

we went to this cool farm / rescue animal / animal petting place. don't get me wrong...i like animals...i just don't swoon and cluck like some people ( ahem...my mum over goats...) but it was neat seeing the girls chatting to them all.

Indie was super stoked to meet real life 'Barbara'...

donkey face.

...and nothing says awesome like a pregnant lady on a broken tractor. yeehaw!

Honor was not so much into the animals, but the bucket goes up...bucket goes down.

seriously. if there was EVER a cat that looked like a pirate. this is him.

Tomorrow my little sprocket Honor turns three. THREE whole years old. She has requested saveloys and red sauce for dinner... and pink fuzzy juice.

the queen does poos too...holiday break...day two.

it's true...i heard a rumour...she does.

the girlies stayed at mama and papas last night. and i have had the morning off...i thought i would go for a leisurely shop at the mall. find some gorgeous, pretty tops and things to cover my ever growing belly...and make me look like a glamourous baby-mama.
ha! who was i kidding. it is school holidays...gaggles of teens swarming around. giggling, OMGing. and wearing ridiculously short shorts even though we around surrounded in snow. (i know...i am showing my age right now)
i looked at some of the outfits they were wearing (the ones that dared wear appropriate amounts of fabric) and thought. yes. yes i could do that. that would look cute with a belly. yes.

no. no emma no. i scoured every shop in the mall and nothing said cute. nothing said buy me. love me. i am awesome. the colours were all muted dusky blah. the dresses were NOT going to cover the goods. and the vanity in me kicked in and there was no way i could feel good about myself wearing something 10 times my size. that label would haunt me. marf.

i decided to look at the preggo clothes that barely exsist. and no....i am not going to spend the next few months wearing grey,black and white stripes. seriously. what is up with that?

clothes hide and seek. the clothes i am dreaming of are still hiding.  they win. i lose.

so instead i brought a new doormat.

one that would sooth my dented pride.

and that i shall.

monday...holiday break...day one.

Monday mornings are usually chaotic in this house.
it usually goes a little something like this.

wake up...honor asleep on my shoulder...axl the cat asleep on my belly...indie already awake and watching cartoons in the lounge...i look at the time a realise that we have slept in AGAIN...why oh why am i not a morning person. i still find it hard to come to terms that i am not. i want to be that mother that has done ALL the housework before her children wake up and have a hot breakfast waiting at a beautifully set table...but alas no. i am the mother that jams toast and fruit down her kids throats while simultaneously making lunches and getting them dressed...and trying to make myself semi-respectable to go out into the public. a lot of the time i realise half way through the day i have only put mascara on one eye or have marmite streaked through my hair.
and then i have the fun time of dragging Honor away from Montessori in a fit of tears because Monday is not her school day...to come home to a house that looks like a clothing bin/breakfast condiment/toy store exploded. oh joy. my life can be so so glamorous!

but not this Monday. the first day of holidays. oh no... calmness over the house (obviously because of a calm mama) breakfast eaten at a leisurely pace. i even got to have a cup of tea...SITTING DOWN! and now i write this as the girls have a bubble bath mid morning...a purple coloured one.

don't get me wrong...the toaster is still on the bench and the beds aren't made yet...

and after lunch they are going to their mama and papas for a sleepover. and i have an afternoon of artsy things planned. yew!

this Monday is a good day. how often can you say that?
how is your Monday treating you?

it ain't all sunshine and roses!

it's so easy when you blog your life to skim past the hard/grotty/embarrassing parts of it. which is partially why i started blogging, to help me focus on the wonderfully good things that happen and not just focus on the gross stuff...but sometimes it helps to look back and laugh on those things too...and move the heck on!

like yesterday, while Lars was bathing the girls he noticed a (still) bright pink mark on Indies shoulder...a perfectly formed bite mark....you could count the teeth! ouch!
when Indie was asked who/what/where/when...he was told Honor/bite me/here/yesterday on purpose...whoa yesterday? and the mark is still looking pretty fresh? must have been an almighty chomp!

but yesterday? where was i? this was new to me....gah! mum-guilt time. surely i should be aware if one of my youngin's trying to eat the other?

especially when said biter looks like butter wouldn't melt... (obviously we all know different...)

so now i am on shark patrol... i felt like the worst, most unconnected mother last night...my poor Indie suffering for days not having told anyone...i have a carnivore for a daughter...and so on.
today the scars have faded (literally and metaphorically) and it's just one of those things.

nom nom nom.

Honny-bonon.

that is how Miss Honor introduces herself to people. it's like her superhero name. i love it.

today Lars had the day off and we spent a weekday morning shopping and hanging at a coffee shop. Honor had so much fun chatting away with dad, sharing a cuppa and some choccy fish.

this must be her listening face. it doesn't happen very often so i was glad to have a camera at the ready ;)

i won the pie eating contest! 22 weeks...

sharing the belly growth with you all. man half way already! 

i am hoping that i am starting to look like i'm pregnant and not just like i ate a whole packet of sausage rolls...(which wouldn't be far off the truth either)

still in my trusty 'normal' jeans (with the help of a hair tie)...but i fear not for much longer.

i am aware that i look somewhat like a McClouds daughter, well without the mud streaked face and knowledge of how to lasso a steer. i guess just another sign i really need to go clothes shopping.

i always feel like a bit of a spanner taking photos of myself. i tried the self-timer but i felt even more spanner-ish!

and when there is a camera clicking there is an Indie not far away!

the sunday morning mini pancake club.

where the pancakes are mini...and so are the people.

obviously exceptions are made.

todays pancakes were vanilla with maple syrup...

next week berry pancakes have been voted in.

Indie May and Honor Violet being very vocal pancake making 'supervisors'.

oh...compulsory pajama wearing.

and this is how dinosaurs eat pancakes.

bright side of the road....

waaahaaay. what a crazy few weeks. little kids with the lurgee. big kids with the lurgee but keeping on. job transitions. belly babies growing. thunder storms. rain for days and now a quiet blue-skied sun-shiney winters day has come to wash all the stress away.
As much as i like to think of myself as a season camelion...finding the good in all weather patterns...by the 4th day of rain in a row i am not the nicest person to be around.
So in ode to this gorgeous sun-speckled, leaf-glittering, blue-quilted-sky day... i shall start my list of things to do before the baby is born. and because on days like these nothing seems impossible.

these are the last of the season roses before the big CHOMP!

1. paint our bedroom. there is only so much i can take of this country blue and wooden room. i can imagine when it was done there was a lot of dried flowers and boat shoes involved.

2. finish building our chook house. although Lars now thinks it should be a kunekune house... of course he does. but chooks it shall be. i have visions of big fat happy hens clucking happily in the summertime. and glorious eggs.

3. organise babies room. if this doesn't get crossed off the list in time i am in trouble.

4. tile the bathroom. along with the farmhouse blue in the master bedroom...the bright sparks that had this house carpeted the bathroom. they were either very very very careful bathers...or maybe they didn't bathe at all. carpet + bathroom + kidlets = soggy.

5. finally get blinds for the girls room. blankets nailed are up are not really all that chic.

6. sell at least three paintings. this is the challenge for me. i haven't finished a painting all year. but hopefully now with both girls at morning montessori next term....TIME FOR ME TO CREATE!!

7. use an eyecream. serious.