Friends, Parties, Snow, Family & Cuteness

Life cruises along pretty quickly sometimes - and gets pretty busy!  Here's a quick recap of our world lately...

Cutie pie James came for a play date. We haven't seen this little monkey in a while so Kahu was very excited to hang out with his little kiwi cuz. James was such a great mate - running around after 'Koko' and sharing all the toys. What a fab lil kid :-)

One of the little people Maddie turned 3 and her party was at Gymboree. Great idea for a kiddies party with plenty of action for the little people - soooo stealing that idea for the next birthday!

Gingerbread man - can there be a more fun sweeter treat? Probably not

L-R clockwise: watching the diggers & trucks, carb loading at a cafe, hanging out on the fort in the backyard, laughing at mama

Playing 'kitchens' with BFF Lola while Mama had a morning of spa treats courtesy of the lovely Lu. Bit special!

Long weekend love

A long weekend means trips to the park, playdates with besties, takeout coffees, cafes, walking Titus, eating outside, playing 'airplanes, copters & wrestling' with Papa, watching episodes of Newsroom with the hubby (loving this show), baking muffins, market shopping and lazing about.

Pretty perfect really.

Of course we did take advantage of all the sales and did a bunch of shopping for the newly renovated home,  (should be moving back in 2 weeks - yippee!!!), and were still deciding on white leather for a couch - are we mad to be thinking white?

To finish off the weekend I'm heading off to see Gatsby at Dendy Premium with Lu & Shirley tomorrow. 

Thanks for making your birthday a holiday Queenie!!

Loving the tiger hat

The little dude got a new tiger hat this week. Suddenly it's his fave accessory and he wears it everywhere (see yesterday's post with him wearing a onesie & said beanie). It fluctuates between bring a lion or 'liner' in kid-speak, or tiger hat. They both involve a fair bit of roaring.

Pretty freakin' cute.

Miss Gracie came to visit today, and there was a point where they 'shared' toys and played nicely. Pictorial evidence that it actually happens. Ha!

Who doesn't love Mister & Mrs Potato Head?

Slack blogger

It's been about a week since my last post - post long weekend come down and a BUSY week has meant no time for anything other than daily life - arghhh.

Life does get in the way some time hey?

Benefits of working part-time mean it was only a 2 day work week , but negatives mean that there's just another days worth of work to cram in somewhere. Yawn - this management gig is way too much responsibility sometimes.

Anyway post work has meant watching mama's netball team in the grand final, a couple of play-dates with the little people, a birthday party, playing with some of the birthday loot and the monkey generally being the cool kid on the block.

All in a week's work!

On the plane

Eating chippies for dinner at the netball final

James & Kahu on the fort

The boys hanging in the backyard

In my cool police car from Marcus

Little People running riot

I made it to the gym today - 1st proper class since the ankle rolling incident. Just about passed out at the end but I'm back at least. Now just to keep up momentum ;-)

Leah & Grace, Julia, Sebastien & Frida & Miss Lola came over for lunch and play - chaos with the little people running about, but apart from a few incidents with sharing 'racing cars' they all played nicely & the mamas got to have a bit of lunch, some left over birthday cake and a goss. Nice!

Miss Lolly stayed all arvo while her mama did some party prep. That girl sure does have us Clements wrapped around her little fingernail- especially the monkey.

Rainy days

All effort to get out of the house this morning and go to the gym was thwarted by a slow start, playful child, crappy weather and general apathy. Much more fun playing My Potato Head with the monkey.

We finally got dressed in anticipation of heading out at some point. The little guy decided that wearing his new McQueen gumboots indoors was a clear fashion winner - thx Aunty Lu!

And Miss Lola came for a playdate and kept us entertained for the afternoon. That little princess realty does light up a room (and my little guy just adores her!!!!)

Rainy days aren't that bad when you're hanging with the little people.

The Invalid

Being incapacitated doesn't sit well with me!

Ironic since I have to sit all day with my ankle up ! Thankfully Lu came to rescue & the monkey spent the day with his BFF Lola so I could sulk alone.

One bright spot was the lovely tradies taking care of our deck - made for a pretty decent view out the corner of my eye ;-)

I did spend the arvo on Lu's couch - change of scene yay! And watched Kahu & Lola run each other ragged. Cuteness!!!!

And there was dinner as well! Lucky hey ?

Tradies at work

BFF Fun

Stuck in Titus's car carrier

Friday fun

Big day today.

Early start with tradies electrifying our garage doors. Hooray!!! I'm just a little bit excited for push button access.

Then off to Julia's for coffee & play with Sebby & Grace (oh & mama goss) then home for sleep for the monkey & some QT girl time with Miss Lola, who came to hang out for the arvo.

I just love that little princess! While Kahu slept we had cups of tea & big cuddles on the couch. Lovely!

Then of course her BFF claimed all her attention when he woke. Dancing, singing, yelling, racing cars, and having snacks & naps together.

 They're just so cute together ;-)

And to top off our busy day JuJu has come to stay for the weekend. Kahu's big bro & just one of his absolute favourite people.

Big day indeed!

Clockwise L-R JuJu & Kahu, Kahu & Sebby, pulling faces with Lola & Kahu, BFF naps

Jumping for joy while dancing with my BFF

Hot enough???

We travelled to Sydney today where we watched the Celsius reach an alarming 46 degrees. Ouch!

Thank god for decent AC in the car!

We're staying at the Novotel Darling Harbour. Normally we stay with friends but fortuitous that we opted for a hotel this weekend given the soaring temps.

The room is large - with great views of Darling Harbour. Perfect for the monkey to spy all sorts of wonder, especially a big yellow duck. Such delight!

We spent a wonderful evening with some gorgeous friends, hanging at our hotel bar, & dining in house as well. Thank you Larry, Kay, Em & Deni for coming to us. Made for easy work with the monkey.

Lots of vino & goss, & a hubby who took the little guy off to bed while mama stayed on for more wine with the ladies. I love you babe - thank you :-)

And my girls - well they rock.....big time!!!

Lady Loz, Me, Lovely Larrett & Aunty Kay

Thursday fun

Thursdays are the beginning of my weekend.  Officially my favourite day of the week.

It starts with a leisurely brekky with my boy, then a gym class with a couple of my mama friends while the monkey hangs with his buddies in the creche.

Coffee and conversation follows after (with one eye on the little guys running around the mall).

Home for a nap, then some fun with friends in the afternoon.

Today we headed off up the hill to one of my fab mama friends who has a glorious pool - which was perfect for 37 degrees.  The monkey and I got to hang with some yummy mummies, and their little people.  Some lovely bubbles and eats, and gossip with the ladies while the little people trashed the joint, followed by a swim...gorgeous...

Best Day!  Thanks for having us Nolans.  You guys Rock!!!

Snacks with one of Kahu's BFFs - Miss Maraid

'Should we get dressed? nahhhhhhh!

Besties

I love my friends! I love having that special group people that I share my inner most thoughts with. You know those friends that you can laze about with all day and not say much at all and it's perfect, or with who you can talk for hours and hours about everything. Those few that have been there for you and seen you at your worst and love you anyway. The ones that have celebrated your triumphs, and picked you up when you've stumbled. They are people that listen to you rant about your husband/boss/family, raging with you in solidarity, but also will tell you to 'get over it and move on' when needed. I love my besties, they're BFFs forever.

My monkey has a special BFF already - Miss Lolly is the gorgeous daughter of a wonderful mama-friend of mine. They are 2 weeks apart in age and have been hanging together since they were about 2 months old. Miss Lolly has been hanging out at Casa Clements a lot over the last few days with Kahu, and it is just gorgeous watching their special friendship develop.

My hope is that my baby boy is as lucky in his friendships as I am in mine, and watching these 2 monkeys together I can see he's going to be just fine.