cousins | The Lattimore Acre

A bit of this and that…..

I have been a little slack when it comes to blogging of late. I have lots of little bits to catch you up on. Oh also I have not picked up my Nikon since discovering Instagram. I will have to dust the cobwebs off the Nikon this week….. promise.

1. We are seriously excited about having family move closer. Andrew’s brother and his family are now only an hour away. Ben can’t contain his excitement about being closer to Tom and Maggie. We had a bit of a party afternoon tea when we went to visit. Don’t they look pretty spiffy in their school uniforms!!

2. Andrew and I went to see Mary Poppins at the theatre…….. It was Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!!!!! I loved it – REALLY loved it. Andrew thought it was ok. I loved it so much that I came home and booked tickets to go again. Mum and I are going and we have the best seats …… two rows from the front. I can’t wait eeeeee!!!!!!

3. We have had heaps of rain. It seems to be raining most days in the afternoons. It is really difficult not to have a nanna nap!! It would be (and is) so easy to curl up on the couch! I am trying to break the habit!

4. We have been teaching Ben to play Uno. He loves it. He is particularly found of draw four and draw two cards. He loves to use them and laughs when you have to pick up. He is pretty switched on and can beat me. He loves that as well. I have to get my game face on now!

5. Oh my……. can you believe Ben has a Barbie and Ken. Barbie is a police woman and Ken is a fireman. I think they look more like strippers. I’m not a huge fan!

6. Check out our Bonnie. I went to pick her up from her haircut and nearly died. They shaved her. It must have been a new person clipping her. I hardly recognized her. She is still pretty adorable and looks so tiny.

7. Ben has the greatest marble run ever. If you don’t have one…..you need one. It’s called Quadrilla. Ben got it for Christmas from his Gamma and Grandad. If you are thinking of buying one the marble catching trays are a must. We don’t have them and are forever picking up marbles from the front door to the back door. I really need to order the trays.

8. This is Ben’s creation – a spider. Ben has never been into making craft. It seemed the more I tried to encourage it the more Ben pushed it away. But recently a miracle has happened. His got his creative mojo happening……. it’s fabulous! This week at Kindy he made another spider and so did his whole class. It is super to see him take ownership over his play at school.

9. It might look like just some bits of Lego on a board to you. But it is a very serious Lego game. Do you like the dice made from Lego men legs. Ben sits with us playing his games (totally made up, with rules that change continually) forever. His imagination is so interesting and fresh. He always surprises me (and he always wins!).

10. This is Ben’s new favourite. He calls it a ‘fluffle pillow’ instead of a ‘whoopee cushion’ which I find hilarious. He was given it as a prize at Charlotte’s 9th birthday party. I have never heard him laugh so hard. I suppose this is the beginning of the toilet humor that I don’t think boys ever get over.

11. This is my new favourite breakfast….. for a treat – Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake. I’m pretty sure I have mentioned it before. You really need to make it. So yum!!!

12. I am so so so excited to finally have a Tom Tom GPS. Those who know me know I have absolutely no sense of direction. Andrew has an inbuilt GPS. He very rarely gets lost. But unfortunately he can’t be my full time chauffeur.

13. We have been visiting our cousins on the coast. We caught up with Hugo, Evie and Aunty Claire…… always a pleasure (well when the boys aren’t killing each other – we will have some stories for them when they are older xo).

14. Ipswich Art Gallery had a pretty spectacular Children’s Gallery this school holiday – Built for Speed. You could design, build and race your Lego hot rod, dragster or supercar down ramps and slick tracks. It was busy and loud but so fun!

15. Finally Andrew is home – tired, smelly but refreshed from a week skiing in Japan with his mates Tapio and Ben. Check out Tapio’s video of the posse carving up the mountain! We are happy to have him home with no broken bones (hehehe). Missed you heaps honey!! I am sure he will update you on his fab adventures soon.

A Big Day in the City xo

We had a day out on Saturday in the city. Cousin Tom and Cousin Maggie joined us on a trip to the Queensland Museum and the Gallery of Modern Art.

I had to giggle to myself on our way there. Tom and Ben wanted to listen to the Star Wars sound track and this was the result. (Excuse the filming – just close your eyes and listen…. just a bit cute).

We arrived at the Museum and vooom everyone seemed to head in a different direction – all excited to explore. We wandered through two floors. Our favorite exhibition was the Animal Zoo.

We then headed into GOMA – Gallery of Modern Art. Ohhhh it was so lovely. My sister-in-law has been telling me how wonderful it is. And you know….. it was all that wonderful and more. The exhibition was ‘Art in the 21st Century’….. fabulous. We quickly lost Tom, Ben and Andrew at the Lego table – a sea of white lego.

There is so much to see and do – a slide from the top floor to the bottom, quiet nooks to explore, fabulous art and a wishing wall straight from heaven!! Maggie and I made our way to the wishing wall to see what it was all about. Artist Rivane Neuenschwander has developed an amazing interactive art piece called ‘I Wish, You Wish’. An ancient and spiritual tradition from the depths of Brazil has found its way into a modern art installation in the heart of Brisbane. Neuenschwander’s installation bedazzles you with over 10,000 brightly coloured ribbons hanging from the walls. Each ribbon has one of approximately sixty wishes printed on it, such as “I wish for a lovely family,” “I wish I had more time for myself,” and “I wish I had magical powers.” You are invited to take a ribbon and then in return you are expected to write your own wish on a piece of paper and put it in the hole on the wall from which you took the ribbon. In following with the tradition, you are supposed to wear the ribbon until it wears away, and then your wish is said to come true. Neuenschwander then prints the written wishes onto new ribbons and so the project sustains itself.

Maggie had no trouble coming up with a wish ‘We wish my Daddy all BETTER’. We wrote it on a piece of paper and rolled it up ready to put in the wall. We scanned the colourful wall for a wish to take. Maggie chose ‘I with for a lovely family’. I really had to hold back the tears. What a beautiful gorgeous girl. This amazing piece of art was just the wish that we needed. Maggie and Tom’s Daddy- Ben’s Uncle Cam-Andrew’s brother is doing fabulously. He has jumped one massive hurdle and still has a few more to go for a full recovery. Every wish helps xo

After our amazing wish, we headed back to the boys at the lego table. What amazing creations!! We will definitely be heading back to GOMA soon!!

On the way back to the car Ben spotted an ice-cream van….. and did the bolt! Andrew chased after him and returned with Ben and ice-cream to share. When driving home Tom commented that the Brisbane skyline looked like the one made of Lego…… so I took a snap out of the windscreen – it was a beautiful day.

There really is something special about family. Watching Tom, Maggie and Ben together is a joy xoxo.

Linking up with Life Made Lovely Monday xo

Maggie’s Fairy Party

Ben’s cousin Maggie had her 3rd birthday. She had a beautiful fairy party. We went shopping and made sure Ben had his wings and his wand. I thought he would make a great fairy. The party was lovely, full of little fairys. Well……. Ben put on quite a show, he wasn’t happy. He is teething but we aren’t sure if it was his teeth or the fairy wings that he was most upset about. Party food and party games didn’t even make him happy. We took him home for a nice big sleep and went back in the afternoon (without wings) for a play with his cousins.

Celebration!

On the weekend, Andrew, Ben and I made the trip out to Chinchilla to celebrate the sale of the family business – Lattimore’s Carey Ford! George and Judy have worked hard for 35 years and now deserve a wonderful retirement. All the boys, wives and children joined George and Jude for dinner on Saturday to help celebrate.

Ben had a great time catching up with his cousins – Tom and Maggie. Ben just loves playing with older kids. Ben also loved meeting the newest member of the family – Megs, the adopted long haired cat.