Cooking with Em

Leilani's birthday is just a week after Emily's so it's a busy (and expensive) time for us! We spent most of Lani's birthday at home getting ready for her party the next day, and at 3pm Aunty Ange and Zak picked her up and took her to swimming so that Em and I could start cooking her cake. Emily is a real pro in the kitchen, especially now that she has all the gear!

Here she is wearing her new chef's outfit, her birthday present from Grandma and Grandad:

Cleaning up time...

New Bike For Leilani

Leilani was very lucky to get a new bike for her birthday! And even luckier to get it the night before! We all went down to the bike shop together to pick one out. It was very exciting and lots of fun trying out all the bikes in the shop.

We decided to go with the smaller of the two we picked out - mainly so Lani can build her confidence up and feel comfortable on it and also so Emily can learn to ride it too. Next summer we will probably get a bigger one so they each have one.

As soon as we got home the kids got ready for bed and then around and around they went! This empty room is really quite handy!

Leilani loved it. Emily got a new basket for Leilani's old three wheeler bike, so she was very happy to put her cats in there!

By the end of the night Leilani was getting very good on the bike (in the limited space she had to ride it) and was even doing some 'no hands tricks!' We'll have those trainers off in no time!

Our Night Time View of Hobart, The Derwent River and Eastern Shore

Walking to School

A couple of photos I took one day on our way home from school (with my phone). It's such a lovely walk with such an awesome view! I love Hobart! The girls really both enjoy walking and often complain if we have to drive (usually because I'm running late or feeling lazy!)

Emily's Third Birthday

It was fun celebrating Emily's birthday in our new house (well, new rented house!) and having everyone over to check it out!

Emily has a Miffy top that she loves to wear, it's one of her favourites, so we decided on a Miffy cake for her birthday. She was very happy and reckons she wants a Miffy cake every year!

In the morning she was very excited to open her presents, she got a new baby cradle and highchair for her much loved dolls. We then headed down to Grandma's where her and Lani stayed for an hour while I played netball.

It was then back home and ready for the party! It was quite a warm day and the kids had fun running around outside and playing in the big empty front room together.

Leilani and Olivia both trying to be very good helpers!! Em looks pretty impressed with her new watch here!

Playing under the parachute!

Em was very spoilt by everyone and it was really nice to be back at home with all our family and friends to celebrate her birthday this year (a little different to last year!)

Emily is such a sweet little girl and whenever I see her smile I just want to kiss her and squeeze her tight! Emily seems to have grown up quite quickly and she often gets treated older than she is. She loves Leilani and really looks up to her big sister.

We don't get many tantrums from Em, a few rebellious shouts every now and again, but compared to Leilani at this age she is very easy going. She can dress herself and do her own hair (!!) and put her shoes on ready to go.

She gets very attached to soft toys and usually takes one everywhere (most often it's her Minnie Mouse). She gives you big cuddles and kisses - but lets you know she's not a baby anymore, she's a big girl!

Emily is also a bit of a funny girl. She cracks jokes (and laughs at them) and pulls faces and loves to do her 'funny eyes' to make everyone laugh. She will quite often have Lani in fits of laughter and they giggle for hours. She can be quite rough when they play fight too and gets right in to defending herself!

She also gets shy too, and is often happy to play on her own when there's lots of kids around.

Emily is our special little 3 year old and we love her to bits.