Kira's Art

Kira drawing a picture of "Daddy and Kira". Daddy has spiky hair, and ears - Kira has eyebrows! And this is the first time we've noticed her draw arms and legs, as well as hands and feet - no body yet though!

This is a picture of "Kira, Aunty Jeni, Daddy, and Uncle George"! Kira has pig-tails and a fringe, Jeni has long straight hair, and Daddy and George both have short spiky hair.

I'm not sure what/who this is, but the fine motor skill required to draw it amazed me!

Naughty Barbie!

Kira loves to play with the Barbie Aunty Virginia gave her for Christmas, but like the rest of her toys, Kira tends to leave her laying around. And this is what we find:

She's going to get a name for herself - we've already nick-named her "Hooker Barbie"!

Erika's Birthday

Erika turned ONE on Tuesday, February 16, 2010. We skipped playgroup that morning (we'd had a bit of a rough night anyway!) and hit the shops! I also weighed Erika - 7.3kgs, and 69cm long. She's long and skinny, like her Mummy. When Daddy got home from work, we opened some presents:


Erika got lots of lovely things....

Kira had fun helping her little sister unwrap the gifts:


This one was from us - a shopping trolley! Kira thinks it's hers, though. It plays music, helps teach counting, colours, shapes, sorting, role-playing...the girls love it!

Here's Erika getting into it (on another day) - she's starting to get up on her knees more now! She can even stand for a few seconds whilst holding onto something (if you put her on her feet to start with).

I made cupcakes for Erika's birthday, too, but these ones were chocolate "Cherry Ripe" ones (choc, cherry and coconut), and they were HEAVENLY! (If I do say so myself!) Kira helped Erika blow out her candle:

Erika wasn't too sure what to make of the cake. Not the same texture as her usual food (still not a fan of bread at this stage, but getting better with it now), but fabulous for making a mess with!

More Random Pics Of The Girls At Play

Cheeky mischief-makers, getting into Erika's drawers:


"Help! I'm stuck!" Kira in the ball-pit, under the trampoline (which is covered in toys!):


"Do these glasses suit me?" As if Erika's blue eyes weren't big enough!


Kira and Erika having a cup of tea:

Erika found "snacks" under her chair!

Erika loving on "Angela" (the baby doll Kira got the day Erika was born!).

Erika at the playground:

Kira (and Teddy) on the swing at the playground (Kira has only recently taken to sitting on the swing, AND letting it swing!):

Kira clopping around in Daddy's shoes:

Erika talking on the "phone" (not sure why this pic keeps uploading sideways - it's up the right way in my file!):

Erika "reading":

Kira taking care of a sick Teddy (she's using her pillow as a mattress):

Kira playing with her Barbie in my cupboards! Who needs a dolls' house?!

Potty-Training

Kira is doing very well with her potty-training. She's essentially toilet-trained for day-time - she even manages to go on the potty independently (to do wee and/or poo) during her "quiet time". We even go out on lengthy drives or shopping trips, and she'll tell us she needs to go, AND holds on 'til we find her a toilet. Yay!! Now we just need to be brave enough to stop using nappies at night-time...

Kira has the best seat in the house, parked in front of the TV! No excuses for not going - she still gets to watch her show, or read a book. Plus, it's not as cold as the bathroom, and Mummy gets to continue with what she was doing, as well as keep as eye on both kids.


We put the potty in Kira's room for her to use during quiet-time. I put the tissues handy, but Kira wanted baby-wipes, too. Kira often does a poo during quiet-time, so wipes are good for her bottom as well as her hands! So I left the wipes with her, too. When I came to get her up, this is what I found:

She put the ENTIRE contents of a NEW pack of wipes in the potty, along with about half a pack of tissues!! And she'd only done a wee!

Bath-time Fun

The girls LOVE bath-time. Sometimes it's a challenge to get Kira into the bathroom, but once the girls are in the bath (or shower), there's lots of giggles and splashing - and then it's hard to get them out!

Kira undressing herself: "Help! I'm stuck!"


Kira and Erika in the bath:

Splish, splosh, SPLASH!!

The Fairy Party

The girls celebrated their FIRST and THIRD birthdays with a combined Fairy Party on Saturday, February 13, 2010, at 10am. We were blessed with perfect weather - lovely and sunny, 29'C top temp, beautiful cool breeze gently blowing - fabulous day for a garden party. Kira was SO excited for their party day to arrive! Don't the girls look cute in their fairy costumes?! You can't see it in the photo, but Kira has Barbie-pink toenails with silver "fairy dust" (silver glitter nail polish) over the top (she insisted Mummy do the same to her toes!), and also "fairy dust" on her fingernails. She has shimmer powder dusted over her cheek bones and upper arms, and a touch of pink glitter lipbalm to her lips. She thought she was it-and-a-bit!! Here they are, waiting for their guests to arrive:


The little guests were all given wands and wings (though most of the guests were boys, and they weren't too keen to be fairies - took some convincing to tell them they were "elf" wings instead!). Here's Kira with her cousins James (in green) and Adam (in red), and Noah (in the blue wings - a friend from playgroup), looking for fairies in the bottom of the Enchanted Garden....


Look! There they are! There's one near Kira's hand, and another further up to the left:

Some of the guests... Grandad, Felicity (Noah and Poppy's mum, from playgroup), Adam, Rob with his son Daniel (the bumble-bee!), Amanda (Liam and Nicholas's mum, from playgroup), Liam, Aunty Virginia (holding Erika) and Grandma:

Some more guests....In the back is Wayne, baby Athena, and Angela (Angie is now expecting again!!), Sue and her son Thomas (in the green singlet), Kira's cousin Adam, then around the table is Kira, Liam (I'm friends with his mum, Amanda, through playgroup), and Noah. There were 12 kids there (plus our two!), and their parents, plus Grandma and Grandad.

The "teacups" were a hit! (Marshmallow "cups" with half a life-saver for a handle, on a Tic-Toc biscuit.) So was the fairy floss served in plastic shot glasses.

Here's Kira opening presents (with James). By this time, Erika was very tired - she normally naps around 11am - so she was in bed. Unfortunately, she wasn't sleeping! We eventually gave up trying....she wasn't too thrilled to be up, either, but at least she wasn't screaming! She spent much of the morning being cuddled while she whinged/cried, so unfortunately we don't seem to have many pics of her.

Here's the Fairy Godmother!


(Ooh, look! There's Erika in the background, having a cuddle with Grandad!)


The toadstool cake! It didn't quite turn out the way I envisioned - I had to rebake the top part, and so it ended up being larger than the original (different quantity of mix). I also should have used powdered food colour instead of liquid - I used half a bottle of red to get that pink colour! Powder would've been more effective. Oh well, lesson learnt for next time. Still, Kira was suitably impressed, and it tasted just fine, so that's all that matters, really! Kira was thrilled to see Tinkerbell on her cake, too!


Some of the decorations: This is the Tinkerbell "Happy Birthday" banner I found...


I found fairy stickers, and put them on the clear plastic cups. And I made LOTS of paper flowers! Here's some of the paper flowers I made (since I don't have many real ones in my garden at the moment, and lots of unattractive bare earth and empty pots!):


Our back yard, after the party.... There's four pots with paper flowers (three at the back, one on the left), a green "shrub" (left-over green shadecloth with paper flowers stapled to it!), paper flower garlands hanging from the fence, and the toadstool fairy ring (cardboard circles painted red with white spots). And Kira's in the vegie patch, trying out the new gardening tools Grandma and Grandad gave her!

Kira's collection of treasures from her special party....

...and Erika's haul:

It was a lovely day! Kira was sad to see it end, but I was glad to be able to relax at last!