Hannah and Hunter

Last week, I was treated to a sneak preview of what life will be like once Hannah is mobile and "into everything"!! We had the gorgeous miss Hunter over for the afternoon and oh boy, did she keep me on my toes!! At 13 months old, she is walking and climbing, and constantly on the go!!

Here she is having some lunch after waking up from her sleep...

Gorgeous girl! We sent this photo to Mummy so she could see all was well!

The timings worked quite well!! While Hunter was sleeping, Hannah was awake and having lunch. When Hunter woke up, Hannah was just due to go down for her afternoon sleep. I then had two hours play time with Hunter while Hannah slept, and from 3:45pm onwards, Hannah was awake too, so I had the two of them for a couple of hours!!

Climbing onto the couch!!

I really enjoyed playing with Hunter... she's so interactive, and understands what we're doing - it's very cool! We spent time with her taking toys out of her Dora bike, and handing each one to me. (Ta!) Once it was empty, I handed each one back and she put them back in again. So cute! Here she is playing with Hannah's stacker cups, putting shapes into and out of them.

Standing up at the door... Norman too! hehe

Once Hannah was up, I popped her into the activity walker and the two of them played nicely together...

I LOVE this photo!!

Ahhh, good sharing!

By far the cutest part of the afternoon was Hunter pushing Hannah around in the walker!!!

Once Hunter had gone home, and Hannah was in bed, I returned the house to order, flopped on the couch and relaxed... needless to say, I slept very well that night! Hehe!!

The Havas Family Visit

We were recently lucky enough to spend a fun 24 hours with our friends from Perth - Marc and Taryn, and their girls Lara and Erin. They had been holidaying in Sydney with family and friends, and spent their last night and day with us!

Marc, Lara, Erin and Taryn, with Hannah

Taryn, Lara and Erin singing to Hannah!

It was soon that time of day... into the home stretch! Bath time for all the kiddies!

Once Hannah was in bed for the night, the adults and big kids had a yummy dinner, Lasagna (Mark's speciality!) salad and fresh crusty bread. Yuuuuummm!!

Mark and the girls before they went off to bed

The next day, we were blessed with gorgeous fine weather, and headed up into the Blue Mountains to The Three Sisters, and lunch in Katoomba. It was cold, but oh so worth it for the view!

Hannah was such a good girl the entire day, and we got these gorgeous photos of her...

Thanks Marc & Taz for taking the time to come and spend the end of your holiday with us - it was great spending time with you and catching up!

Time is Flying... 8 Months Old!

We are galloping towards 12 months way faster than I believed could be possible! How did we get to 8 months already?! Part of me wants to scream *SLOW DOWN!!!* because my baby girl is growing up, and isn't going to be a baby for much longer. The other part of me is loving this stage, so much development and interaction, and lets not forget all the SLEEEEEP I've been getting recently!

At 8 months, we are still waiting for Hannah to roll over... but she is OH so close! Excuse the bare bum shot... we had a long-awaited poo after dinner, so went with some nappy free time before her bath!

It won't be long now!!!

She's getting pretty good at sitting up, and has been for a couple of weeks now. Still a bit wobbly and I can't walk away and leave her sitting, but she's definitely getting there!

I love this shot... asleep in the car after swimming. Adorable!

Hehehe!! Something was funny?!!

Happy 8 months my gorgeous girl xxx

Picnic Lunch in the Park

Another Sunday of cancelled soccer... it's a bit crazy, but I'm not complaining! Well, that is until Mark is out on both Saturday AND Sunday in the future doing catch-up games, then I won't be too impressed!! Hehe!

Anyway, at the last minute we decided to throw a picnic lunch together, load everyone into the car and head off to a local park for some fresh air. It was a gorgeous day, too nice to spend it all inside.

We took HEAPS of photos, so this post is going to be a bit heavy on the pics!

This was Hannah's first time on the swing and slide. She was so chilled on the swing, it was so cute!

Macey and Norman LOVED their outing to the park... they are such little characters and got right into the action, running & jumping through the play equipment!! 

The funniest thing was Macey trying to walk UP the slide... oh man, I wish we'd gotten it on video!!! Here she is going about it the right way!!

Hannah in the Bumbo enjoying some picnic lunch!

Then back onto the playground for more photos!!

Looking through the windows with Daddy...

I love seeing them together :-)

All in all, a really lovely afternoon.

Mark's 50th Celebration Dinner at ARIA Restaurant

1st July 2011, Mark turned the big 50 and we celebrated in style. Mark & I and Al & Steve went for dinner at Matt Moran's ARIA Restaurant, on the edge of the Sydney Harbour, overlooking the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

In a word... W-O-W!!! What an amazing experience!!

And here we are, all dressed up and standing by the ARIA sign before going in for our meal...

 
 This was the view from our table...

First things first, Al and I attempted to select a bottle of wine to share. A little thrown with the fancy (16 page!) wine list and not recognising any of the wines at all, we were assisted by a waiter who's sole responsibility was to assist with wine selection! Al explained to him the type of wine we normally drink, and from there he recommended some from their list that we would like. We chose a bottle, 2009 Neudorf from Nelson, NZ. Al tested it first - the waiter was right on the money, it was PERFECT! Mark then had some fun with the same waiter, selecting a glass of red. He wasn't keen on the first one and asked if there was anything fruiter!!! It was hard not to giggle. "Certainly sir", said the waiter... he vanished, and returned with a fresh glass and a different bottle, which was much more to Mark's liking. Hehe!

 

And here we all are at our table, enjoying the evening to the max!

Mark and Steve

Best friends :-)

Me with the birthday boy!

Al and Steve

We were served with the a soup appetiser in a shot glass - creamy pumpkin with coconut cream on top, and some fresh bread and butter.

For entree, Al and I both had the scallops, spiced and roasted with glazed witlof, pistachios and dried apricots. Puuuuuurfect! Mark and Steve both had the Kurobuta pork belly, with pickled watermelon and crackling (which us girls tasted, and it was also perfection!). Here are the scallops...

For main, myself, Al and Steve had the lamb, roasted fillet with ricotta gnocchi, pumpkin and mustard fruit purée and a sage and balsamic sauce. Mark had the fish special, which was grilled and served with muscles - can't remember the details of that one as it wasn't on the menu! To accompany our mains, we shared a bowl of truffled potato mash.

Here is the lamb...

For dessert, we all had the passionfruit soufflé with white chocolate ripple ice cream. I think Al described it as "a cloud in your mouth" which was a fair description!! Here it is...

And then it was gone!

Our dessert was also accompanied by the most scrumptious petit fours... 

This was without a doubt, the most amazing dining experience of my life to date! Everything was superb. Every single mouthful from start to finish was pure perfection.

Once we had paid the bill (which we won't even talk about!!), the waiter came to the table to ask if we would like to see inside the kitchen! Steve had arranged this secretly for Mark's birthday. So off we went, to watch the 14 chefs in action. The place was absolutely spotless and running like a well oiled engine. It was very impressive to watch.

To cap off a perfect evening, Hannah was also the model baby! She slept from 7 without a peep til 11 when we got there to pick her up from my friend's house, transferred home in the car babbling dadada nanana, had a feed and went back to bed and midnight, without a peep until 7.30am!

All in all, an absolutely spectacular way to spend a special birthday evening and to cap off a wonderful week of celebrations.