Sunshine after the rain

 Poor Jackie has the worst sort of flu. High fevers, aches, exhaustion, asthma, nausea and a sore throat. He has been in bed for 4 days and only been out to pick William up from Preschool or visit the doctor.

He really pushed himself to walk down to the preschool when he was feeling miserable and I saw a glimmer of hope as it had rained all day and stopped in time for us to get William and walk him to the car. He went straight back to sleep in the car and left William and I to entertain ourselves all afternoon. So we did a selfy and a painting or two.  

After another night with asthma attacks and fever we went back to the doctor who put Jack on more bed rest. William went to the playschool concert with Jules and Sam. 

When he got home he took care of Jackie, bought him juice and took his temperature. He made some cupcakes which Jack thought was great but he was still to sick to eat one. It has rained and hailed today so with any luck the sunshine will be out tomorrow and Jack will be a bit better again.

William rides on 2 wheels and Sam's birthday

 

William loves his babies. He has a caring nature and loves to play Dad. He learnt to ride on 2 wheels faster than any kid I know. He has been chasing the older kids in the street on his balance bike for the last 12 months and our lovely neighbor handed him down a peddle bike this week. It took him less than an hour and he was riding on his own. He was as proud as punch and stayed out until Dad came home to show off. 

  We've had a busy holiday and enjoyed in the festival of Sam's 5th birthday. There was a dinner at Sam's house, movies, pancake parlor, a sleep over, playing at Beth & Grace's house, an enormous party including the cake we made below!

The Snow Report

 

There was 15cms of snow on Selwyn and patchy rain. It made for an interesting drive through the fog. The boys had been excited to see the snow since 7am so as soon as they were able to get out of the car they fled down the toboggan run. Jack had no fear and got some good speed. William was very independent and didn't want to share his snow ring. 

 

After an hour of running up and down the hill William said, 'me loosing power.' He had the best seat by far.

 We dined at the Snow Goose Hotel and had a perfectly positioned table, close to the fire and within sight of the arcade games and toys.

The boys were very excited to sleep in the snow cabin and took some time to stop their giggling before they fell asleep.

On the second day we went to explore Perisher and found the roads far less windy. The weather had cleared beautifully and there was little wind. The toboggan run was a lot of fun and we ran up and down the hill until the boys had damp socks and were completely worn out. 

Room on the Broom

 We were lucky to have Stu at home for 4 days so we made the most of our holiday at home. Stu missed out on the Gruffalo so he was keen to join us for Room on the Broom. The story of a witch who is off to fight a dragon. William instantly fell in love with the story when we bought him the book last week. He knew the words by heart today and was mesmerized by the puppets that came to life.

We dined at Riccardo's in Jamison which has the most amazing dessert counter I've seen since Vegas. Stu had the chocolate mousse and cheesecake boxed up for later. I hope they taste as good as they look.  

 

Later, William made a gallery of dot pictures while Stu and Jack upped the stakes in Star Wars and played the full version of the game. 

 

Skate in the City

It was hugely exciting to watch the professional ice skaters doing 'Wizard on Ice' on a perfect winter day. Jack was confident and instantly took off. William was very protective of his penguin and enjoyed pushing it around. He was mindful of the 80 or so other people skating around him and only occasionally bumped into someone. 

It was great to have Alex, Chris, Eliza, Beth, Grace and Sam there too. We had a well deserved Hogs Breath lunch after an hour of skating. 

 We took the opportunity to go on the merry go round before heading to the car. Both Jack and Will coincidentally picked an elephant on opposite sides to each other.

Sam came for a sleep over and the boys squeezed their beds into Jack's room. Funnily, William was the most excited of all and stayed up over an hour later than the older boys.

Arrabella's Christening Day