Day 360: Christmas Day

Christmas morning got off to a very civilised start, the kids were curled up together playing with their iPods for an hour or so before we had our traditional champagne and pancakes with fruit for breakfast. We did the presents after brekky and then started preparing for lunch. We feasted on roast Turkey and Potato Bake and by around mid afternoon we started to sample Belinda's Gingerbread House, it was as delicious as it looked. By the time dinner rolled around we were all so full we just snacked on lunch leftovers. This is how Christmas should be done.

Day 359: Christmas Eve Construction

Belinda put her Gingerbread House moulds to good use today and then with some help from Jenna constructed this awesome little Christmas treat. The end result looked like something you'd pay a lot of money for at some fancy little Christmas boutique store. I'm very lucky to have such a talented wife & daughter team.

Day 353: Poppy Pressies

Christmas came early this evening when we visited Dad & Lee. They're not going to be in town for Christmas so we celebrated early with them and the kids. Henry loved ripping the wrapping paper into tiny little pieces and Jenna had almost as much fun helping.

We don't get to see Dad & Lee that often but it's always a good catch up when we do... we should do this more often.

Day 352: A Class Act

Belinda's school were performing at the Queanbeyan Theatre tonight and her class did a Dutch themed act that involved this cute little street scene followed by the Birdie Dance done to Dutch Street Organ music. The kids did a great job which is testament to all of Belinda's hard work, even more impressive were the props: Belinda spent a lot of time making the little dutch hats and clogs that all the kids wore. I also contributed to this production by supplying the kite that can be seen centre stage as any good start should.

Watching the production was interesting too, I had both Jenna and Henry with me and while Jenna can sit still for hours on end, Henry struggles. Event he iPod wore thin toward the end of the show. Apart from climbing on the seats and all over my lap like a little monkey, Henry coped pretty well with his first theatre experience. I think it would have been a bit more of a trial if  Jenna hadn't been there to help entertain him.

Day 337: It's That Time Of Year

The Christmas Trees went up today, I helped a lot by staying out of the way. In total we had 3 trees decorated at the end of the day. Jenna looked after the 6ft one in the Lounge while Belinda supervised Henry's decoration of the small table tree and then very carefully made the 8ft tree in the family room look amazing. Unfortunately the trees will need to remain present-less until Christmas Eve because Henry seems to think all presents are his, or as he calls it "Mines". This year should be an improvement over last years when he was more interested in the paper and the boxes than the gifts inside.

Day 332: Budding Environmentalist?

Today Jenna's class had a parent day at her school where the kids show their parents through the classroom and what they've been working on. My photo today is Jenna in front of her project on what would be required to sustain life on a new planet. They had pretty much free reign on how they presented the information and Jenna chose to make a tree that had all things she'd need on her new planet. There was a little plastic bag full of water hanging in one branch, a pinwheel windmill as a source of renewable energy, an origami fish and a carrot made of pipe cleaners as sources of food, another bag that was full of air and a bunch of other things that would make life possible on her planet.

It was very creative and well put together, as for Jenna being a budding environmentalist: I'm not so sure, I think she might have liked the creative side of this assignment more than the actual lesson.

Day 322: Opa's Birthday

Happy Birthday Hans!

What a day. We spent the morning shopping and then visited David's house to see the build progress, after this we all jumped into the car and were going to go back to the Frekes' house. This would have been fine if the car would start. It wouldn't even wind over. I checked the battery, it's one of those ones with an indicator to tell you if it has charge or not, it was showing the OK reading. I started to google mobile mechanics in the area and got on to one who could be there in roughly an hour.

While we waited for the mechanic Belinda went home with her mum to retrieve their second car so we could install Henry's seat in it and get him back for some afternoon tea and out of the heat. Once that was done I waited with the car for the mechanic who spent about 20 mins poking about and looking at all the stuff I'd already looked at, in the end he did something I couldn't do and that was check the starter motor was getting power with a test light. It was and since it wasn't doing anything with the power it was receiving it meant that the starter motor had failed.

Luckily, David was still working on his house and was able to give me a lift back to the Freke's so I could get changed and we could all go out for dinner to celebrate Hans' Birthday. We only just made it, I'd spent pretty much an entire afternoon sitting in a hot car that wouldn't start waiting for a mechanic to come and tell me there was nothing that could be done.

Dinner was nice and we had cake when we got back, today's photo is of Hans, Jenna and Belinda trying to show Henry how to help blow out Hans' candles. He didn't actually blow any out, but on the positive side: he didn't spit all over the cake either.

It was a long day and tomorrow I need to work out what I'm going to do with a car that won't start... I'm pretty over the drama with this BMW.

Day 301: Another Day At The Pool

Because the weather was so good today, we decided it was worth taking the kids to the pool so Henry could practice what he'd been learning in his swimming lessons. As usual we all had a great time and getting Henry out of the pool was the hard part, until we mentioned the word 'Ice Cream' that is.

While Henry was working his way through his Banana Paddle Pop, Jenna and I did hand stands and cartwheels. It was an exhausting outing for the Moss family and even Henry looked tired while he was eating his ice cream. The day took its toll on me too, so much so that I may have even had a little afternoon snooze when we returned home. This kind of behaviour is becoming a regular feature of many of my weekends... is it possible that I'm getting old?

Day 295: Soggy Sunday

It was pretty warm today and when we made it home after walking around Lake Burley Griffin, Henry and Jenna decided to cool down with the hose. Henry took particular delight in trying to wet Jenna, the dogs and even Belinda when she was trying to take some photos from behind the swing set. I played it safe and kept myself and my camera up wind and out of reach.

There were lots of opportunities for photos today and it was really hard to pick just one so I had to narrow it down to my 3 favourites from this afternoon.

Day 292: Swimming Lessons

Henry had his first swimming lesson this afternoon and Jenna came to watch. It was funny how watching quickly turned into joining in when Henry's lesson had finished, the funny bit being that Jenna didn't have her swimmers with her. This didn't present too much of an issue once she'd negotiated permission to just jump in with her singlet & shorts on.

It was great to see Henry enjoying his swimming lesson but he saved the real excitement for when 'Naa' joined in. Not sure if I've mentioned Jenna's new nickname before, but Henry has taken to calling her 'Naa' which I guess is the either lazy or just plain cute. I'm leaning toward cute because it's the last syllable of Jenna's name and he says it with so much energy, even Belinda and I have started using Jenna's new moniker.

Taking photos at the pool isn't that easy, the light always seems to be from the wrong angle and because it's not great light I need to use a slower shutter speed which isn't great catching the kids splashing about. Today's photo was a fairly still moment between Jenna and Henry. I didn't notice it when I took the photo, but I really like how Henry's holding on to Jenna's shoulder to steady himself in the toddler pool. I really do have great kids.

Day 283: Playing Cards

Tonight Jenna brought over some cards to play with Henry, it didn't take long for him to get the hang of taking turns to flip over two cards to see if they matched but he did like returning to the same cards that he chose last time. With a little help he started to get used to picking different cards and when he found a pair he'd yell out "Same!".

It's funny how little kids don't have any volume control when they're playing, everything is yelled rather than said. Henry is the same, his volume dial seems to get stuck at 11 when he's caught up in a game, just plain excited or he's saying (yelling) "Hello!" after bath time.

The post bath "HELLO!" has become a funny little ritual, it started before daylight savings when it was already dark by the time we'd finish bathing Henry. Once we have Henry out of the bath he turns off the lights and we both say "Oh no! Too dark! I can't see, where's Henry?" as we walk from the dark hall into the kitchen where the lights are on and this is when Henry's volume hits 11 and he yells out "HELLO!!!!". The funny thing is that now it's light until well after bath time he still yells out "Hello!" as we enter the kitchen.

I digress. Back to today's photo. Henry and Jenna played memory games tonight and I really enjoyed watching Jenna teach Henry a new game. I'm sure I've said this before and I'm sure I'll have occasion to say it again: I'm a very proud dad and I love how Jenna and Henry play so well together.

Day 280: Pod People

The kids disappeared shortly after rising this morning and this is where we found them. They were snuggled up together in Jenna's bed playing with their iPods, or at least in Henry's case with Belinda's iPhone that he'd stealthily 'borrowed'.

They've both got a bit of an iPod/Pad/Phone addiction which is handy when you want a little quiet time because they'll happily amuse themselves for hours with their chosen 'I' device. Of course there are always two sides to the metaphorical coin, so other times these Apple products can be ultimately frustrating. This morning it wasn't handy but it wasn't frustrating either, it was just really cute seeing them both totally engrossed in their own little worlds and at the same time loving each others company.

Day 267: Fun In The Sun

I love this photo, I took it at the park that's next to the Freke's house. Initially it was just me and Henry, but when Jenna came over to join us the fun really started.

Henry insisted on going down the slide in a train with Jenna, he was quite assertive with telling Jenna where to sit so they could slide together. I don't think she minded though, in fact I think she was enjoying it as much as Henry was. They had so much fun climbing up the slide and the sliding back down it, I said this yesterday and I'll say it again: I love watching these two play

Day 266: Excessive Exercise

This morning Jenna took Henry out to the Freke's back yard for a little exercise. For Jenna the exercise involved so many cartwheels that I became dizzy just watching. For Henry it was all about climbing up and down the little doghouse deck that used to be a picnic table, as well as this Jenna attempted to help Henry to a hand stand or two which ended with Henry rolling onto his back and giggling.

I love watching these two play in the sun.

Day 259: Such A Nice Day Today

 

We ventured into the city today to do a spot of shopping and hang out at Glebe Park for a while, unfortunately we left the stroller at home but then fortunately we discovered that the Canberra Centre has free stroller hire... which would mean you're not really hiring. Thinking this was a great idea we filled in the forms and borrowed a stroller, unfortunately Henry didn't want to sit in it. At least it was good for carrying the shopping.

After a bit of lunch we headed over to Glebe Park, sans free stroller, where Jenna and Henry took advantage of the playground. I snapped this photo while we were there and decided to use it for today's photo, mostly because it's very much a snapshot of our family life. Henry's taken off for the highest part of the playground with no fear, Jenna's shadowing him making sure he's ok and Belinda's there watching over them both and grabbing some great photos while she's at it.

It's times like this that I feel so lucky to have such a beautiful family.

Day 241: All Tuckered Out

I picked Henry up from Day Care this afternoon and he seemed a little tired, instead of his normal big smile and funny little run over to meet me he just kind of stood up and strolled over for a cuddle.

From Day Care we headed to Jenna's place to pick her up for the night and barely 5 minutes up the road I looked back and he was asleep. He stirred a little when picking Jenna up but was fast asleep again in a matter of minutes.

Unfortunately I had to buy some stuff for dinner tonight on the way home which required a stop off at the Calwell Woolies with the kids. I would normally have just taken them in to help with the groceries, but instead of waking Henry up I left him in Jenna's care, locked in the car.

Today's photo was taken with the iPhone before I hurried into Woolies, I thought it was cute how he had flaked out with his sunnies on.

Day 210: Happy Birthday Henry!

It's actually Henry's birthday tomorrow, but we had his party today. There were lots of present for Henry and he was really loving opening them up and playing with them all.

Today's photo is an action shot of Henry, after a few failed attempts, successfully launching his air powered rocket that was a gift from Poppy. The orange and green streak you can see below the TV is the little foam rocket shooting toward the ceiling.

Henry also received 3 different lots of Duplo, provided by Uncle Dion, the Freke Grandparents and Belinda and I. He's been loving playing with the Duplo almost as much as Jenna has.

Day 196: Photo Time

Belinda organised a photo shoot with Jenna and Henry today, they were at it for hours. I jumped in on the action as well so I could play with the manual settings on my Nikon. Unlike Belinda, my success was limited. Today's photo is one of the few of mine that were reasonably focused and didn't look grainy or underexposed.

I like trying to work out what Henry's thinking with that funny little look on his face, is it "god no, not another bloody photo.." or "when will this torture be over??" or maybe it's "I think I've just done poopoo in my pants...".

Day 193: Gettin' Our Scoot On

Jenna and I took our new scoots for a ride on the foreshores of Burley Griffin today and we had a heap of fun. It was a little chilly and very windy but with all the scooting going on we didn't really feel it much. We decided to have a competition of who could go the furthest on one push, Jenna kept winning even when I was using my jacket as a sail to take advantage of the wind at our backs.

I took a bunch of photos but I liked this one the best, it was when Jenna was chasing the seagulls and I liked how Jenna is silhouetted against the sun reflecting off the water. We had so much fun on the scooters but I must be getting old or something, my scooting leg is it a bit now.

Day 183: Cold Karate

Jenna had her first Karate tournament today and it involved her spending about 5 hours in a freezing cold high school hall. I have to say that I'm beyond impressed with how well she's done and is continuing to do.

Today Jenna's events were the Individual Kata, Team Kata and Individual Sparing (I can't remember the proper name for this one).

Jenna scored a 1st in her Individual Kata, a 2nd in her Individual Sparing and a 3rd in her Team Kata. She also came away with a cold that had her off school for a couple of days.

My photo for the day is of Jenna scoring a 'stomach level punch' in one of her 4 bouts on the way to coming 2nd outright in her age group. She did incredibly well considering she ended up having three bouts back to back with barely 5 minutes rest between them in the lead up to her final round.