Snake-Sitting

Last weekend, we decided it was time to have a MASSIVE pre-christmas toy clear out and reorganisation of all the boys toys. Tracie got out all the toy we have in storage upstairs  (that’s a lot) and put them in piles in the living room. Pile to keep, pile to sell, pile to throw away.

On Tuesday, Trace went to work, and boys went to pre-school and I had my usual Tuesday alone. I went grocery shopping in the morning, and came home to continue organising the total mess of toys on our living room floor. About an hour or so into organising the toys, I walked into the living room and saw a snake tail disappear behind the TV unit. Then i heard it making noise as it moved behind there. i couldnt see it. I didnt know what type of snake it was, or how it got inside, or how long it had been there!!

I made a few phone calls, and finally got onto a wildlife group who had people that come to your house to remove snakes. I spent the next 4-5 hours sitting on the couch, snake-sitting. I didn’t want the snake to go somewhere in the house where i might lose it. I can’t say I was happy about it behind my TV, but at least I knew where it was!

At one point, the snake poked it’s head out one side of the TV, I moved and it went back again. A while later it poked its head out the other side. I got a better look this time, and was relieved to see it was a diamond python. (Better than the poisonous and aggressive brown snake or red-belly black snake). I stomped on the ground to scare it back behind the TV

At around 5:30pm the snake catcher arrived. About 10mins after Tracie and the boys arrived home, so they got to see the show!!) He poked the snake with his long pole and made it come out from behind the TV. He calmly picked it up and put it in a bag and took it away. He said it was quite fat, and probably a pregnant female. He was planning to let it go in local bushland.

We are now a little nervous about another snake visitor, and more careful to keep our doors and windows shut!

Santa Pic 2013

We went shopping the other day and saw Santa! Ben wanted to get his picture taken. Ethan took a little more convincing as he wasn't ready, and didnt know what to ask for!

Both boys asked for a surprise.

Santa was lots of fun. He told the boys that Dancer had been a bit naughty lately. Apparently, Dancer keeps sneaking into the workshop by head butting the door to let himself in. Once inside, Dancer eats all the chocolate. This has made Dancer quite fat, so Santa had to put him on a diet. Santa asked that Ethan give Dancer a stick of celery this year. Santa then asked Ben to put out 11 carrots for the other reindeer. Santa gave both boys a little bucket. filled with sand toys. Santa said that the carrots and celery can go in the bucket for the reindeer.

Ben and Ethan thought that this was fantastic, and loved hearing the story about the reindeer!

Preschool Graduation

Ben and Ethan graduated from pre-school this week. They have been going to the same day care/ preschool since March 2011. They have formed many friendships and loved going to ‘school’. This year, they have been attending 2 days a week (Tuesday and Friday). After Christmas they will begin Kindergarten.

I blogged about the start of school here. This is how my little boys looked on their first day.

 

This is how big and handsome they looked at their graduation.

 

And of course a picture with their best friend Hayden

And with their favourite teacher, we will miss the wonderful teachers at their preschool.

Graduation Cupcakes!

The graduating class..

 

On presentation of their certificate, Nat announced what the children would like the be when they grow up.

Ben would like to be a policeman

Ethan would like to be an actor, or many other things..

I did take a video of their graduation, but their certificate shows their last name and school name, so for safety, it will not be uploaded.

Well done Ben and Ethan for graduating preschool!

Ben has learnt to ride a bike!

Ben and Ethan have been riding a bike with training wheels for well over a year now. We do not have anywhere for them to ride in our back yard, so they do not ride very often. A while ago we took their training wheels off, but it was not very successful so the training wheels went back on again.

On Thursday, we went to the local bike park with their friend Hayden. Hayden doesn't ride with training wheels, and I was hoping a little peer pressure would encourage them to want to learn without the training wheels.

When we came home, Ben was instantly keen to have his training wheels removed. The boys also own balance bikes so he started out gliding on the balance bike. Then we moved to his bike, without pedals and he was pushing along the ground with his feet and practicing balance. He mastered that by bed time on Thursday.

Friday evening (after pre-school) he was keen to try riding again,  so we took him out into the Cul-de-sac and put the pedals on his bike. He rode for about half an hour until dinner was ready. He started to get the idea of pedalling and balance. He struggled to get himself started. Steering was also tricky, he rode where-ever his balance took him.

Saturday he was keen to go to the bike park again with Hayden. We only got in half an hour of riding before the rain came, but he improved SO MUCH in that time. He learnt to steer. Getting himself going from a stationary position was the last step.

When we got home from the park, the rain eased, and we manged to get in another ride in the street. Ben mastered the whole thing!

Ben Can now start, pedal, steer balance and stop!!! We are so proud, he leart to ride in 3 days! He is also very proud of himself.

playing shop

Ben and Ethan are playing shop. Ben’s the shop keeper, Ethan’s the customer.

Ben: you can pay with credit

Ethan: do you take….

Ben:we take credit only

Ethan: do you take the tap thing? [aka pay pass/ tap&go]

Ben: yes, we take the tap thing

Ethan: ok good (taps his card)

Ben: wait a minute, it didnt work. try again, there’s a problem with my machine

Ethan: ok

Ben: ok, yep, it worked that time.

…………………………………………………………

 

I just love how their role playing games are so modern and even include the technological issues of todays world!!

Introducing Baby Amy Lee

We are thrilled to welcome our niece and cousin Amy to our family. Aunty Shell went into labour in the early hours of Saturday morning. Amy was born at 6:21 am Saturday 2nd November 2013, and she is beautiful. Shell did an amazing job with the labour, and came home from hospital later that day. We went to visit them when Amy was one day old. we all got some cuddles!

I just love the look on Ben's face in this picture as Amy began to cry!

 

We are all totally in-love with our new Niece/cousin.

CONGRATULATIONS to Aunty Shell and Uncle Michael! ! ! !

New laptop…. new blogging possibilities!

So, we finally bought a new laptop this week. The other one was just so terrible, and the poor iPad was so full of photos, and the hard drive broke… it was just not working for us. We now have a new hard drive, new laptop and all is right with our photos again

(Except this touch screen and windows 8 seems highly confusing to me!)

 

So, this is a quick blog, to see if I can make it work.. Here’s a few new pictures from our recent