Wolf's parents (Grandpap and Nano) came to visit... and brought his grandma too!
Actually it wasn't all that long ago (May), it's just that so much has happened since then that it seems like forever ago!
They came for Wolf's 40th birthday party and for Monkey's baptism. The best photos, I think, from while they were here were the ones we took on our couch the night before they went home.
The boys call Grandma "Lapun Mama" (translated: old mother, Wolf informs me it's a respectful name for an older lady in PNG) and we needed to get a photo of Lapun Mama with the three McTavish terrors boys...
Yes, this is the best we got :-( it was late and the boys were getting silly.
We also needed to get one of everyone... but Lapun Mama insisted on hiding...
We were using the remote for the camera so the boys insisted on taking a photo each using the remote so we let them and we all pulled the face that they said we had to do. This is Lion's turn...
The problem was the boys didn't actually do the face that they said we had to do (neither did Nano!)
And this is Dragon's turn with the remote.
See that man down the front... I'm married to him... and I think he's handsome even when he does this silly face (which is surprisingly, a lot!) ... it reminds me how much his boys look like him!
The marketing machine isn't working... or maybe it is... it depends on who the machine belongs to. When I was awake WAAAAY too early this morning I turned on some news and the ads came on so I tuned out but remained vaguely aware that there was a food ad on when Lion turns to me and says
Lion - "That's not true mum"
Mummy - "What's not true?"
Lion - "The burgers are better at McDonald's, not Hungry Jacks"
For those not aware, HJ's tag-line is "The burgers are better at Hungry Jacks".
I grabbed some clothes out for the kids to wear and since I didn't feel like searching too hard through the folding I haven't done I found a pair of soccer shorts and a batman shirt for Dragon to wear. Wolf told Dragon he was going to wear Soccer shorts and Dragon replied that he didn't play Soccer,
Wolf - "Well, you are sporty, you run around and stuff"
Dragon - "But I don't play soccer"
Wolf - "But sporty people wear soccer shorts"
Dragon - "Like a ninja?"
Wolf - "um, yes, like a ninja"
Dragon - "I'M SUPER NINJA"
I've got a soft spot for photos of my kids sleeping but these next few shots are really special...
My kids don't fall asleep by themselves. They each have a couple of times as babies but only by accident when they were wrapped and tricked into it. Monkey had a cranky tummy so he had to get back up for a bit after he had already been put to bed. I put him on the blanket in the lounge room with Wolf and went off to finish whatever I was doing while he wriggled and squirmed until he did a pop or a poop. Wolf called me in because he had fallen asleep!
Just like that. Squirmed his way off the edge of the mat and crashed.
He's so cute!
Speaking of cute, here's a video of another cute kid that we made for Nano and Pappap.
We hope you enjoy it Nano and Pappap. Lion was so excited about his new Lego that he worked soooo hard for and he wanted to video it to show you. I really didn't make him work all that hard... kind of... but that's another story for another day.
Oh, yeah, this also shows our current LSS (Lego Storage Solution) for you, Renata. Problem is it wont work if he doesn't use it! But it does solve the "Place for everything" we just need to master the "everything in it's place" bit.
Right now, I must resolve to stop writing blog posts so late at night so that my brain has half a chance of stringing a few simple concepts together when I do sit down. I am doubtful that this makes much sense but that's really how our day rolls.
G'night.
By the way... Lion and Dragon were playing policeman and baddy this afternoon... the baddy was making a speedy escape... on a Lego segue...
Lion "Policeman" - "STOP, I said stop running away baddy"
Dragon "Baddy" - "NO, I am getting away from you! I am escaping on my segue, you can't catch me"
So what do you do if you find a lizard egg in a pot plant at playgroup? Why, you give it to your older and wiser brother to look after don't you!
Dragon found a lizard egg and gave it to Lion to look after. Thankfully Lion told me about it because he had put it in his breast pocket "to keep it warm". I managed to convince him that the best place for lizard eggs was in the soil of a pot plant and his pocket wasn't a good place for a lizard egg because it could easily get squashed and if he forgets about it it'll go through the wash and that won't be any good for the lizard egg. He needed to take it for one more ride around the playground on the trike before he would put it in the pot plant. I have my doubts about that one ever hatching but it's got a better chance where it is now that in Lion's pocket!
Dragon is starting to get excited because as he says "my Grandpap and my other Grandpap are coming to see us when our new baby pops out!" Yes, Nano, "other Grandpap" is you! This week at least. (Grandpap and Nano are Wolf's parents)
Lion had this whole different names for different grandparents thing figured out from the start. He had a photo of Nano and Grandpap that he would carry around the house with him and tell anyone that would listen that it was Grandpap and Nano in the photo. Dragon however has gone through a variety of names for a variety of grandparents. Sometimes the various "grandma's" get "grandma and other grandma and other grandma" and sometimes he gets the great-grandma thing right and the other great-grandma is Lapun Mama ("old mother" in pidgin). Occasionally he does get I think our current confusion though is that we have been talking a bit about Nanna lately, that would be Grannysarus' mum. So now he is confused because he has figured out that Nanna isn't married to Grandpap and isn't the one coming up with him the baby "pops out". Oh man, I am confused reading back through this. It's a lot for a little man to figure out, these boys are really lucky to have so many grandparents around but the names just get a bit confusing!
Anyway, Grandpap and Nano aka "other Grandpap", Dragon is REALLY excited that he will be seeing you soon! He's just got to figure out the logistics of your travel once he gets the names sorted. He informs me that you are flying here and driving back... at least that is what he is saying today. But he just will NOT believe us that you are driving here and flying back... it makes much more sense his way. He even asked yesterday if we can "pop the baby out today so my Grandpap and my other Grandpap can come and see me".
Note to self: Make sure you get some good photos of the grandies while they are here because you don't have any of them in the same photo and both looking at the camera... for now, just distract everyone with some cute old photos of your kids...
a wee little dragon about 2 years ago
a wee little lion about 2 years ago... yes, his daddy thinks this is the funniest thing to do!
Yesterday the boys and I were shopping and treating ourselves to a bit of morning tea. A man walked past the cafe and Lion noticed his shoes, this is the conversation that followed...
Lion- That man has shoes like nano and pappap. Mummy McT- Oh yes he does, Pappap wears shoes just like that. L- Yeah, he likes them, so does God. MMcT- Does God like Pappap's shoes? L- No, God wears those shoes too. MMcT- Oh? L- Yeah, but God doesnt live here. MMcT- Where do you mean "here"? L- God doesnt live at this shops. My sunday school teachers told me that. MMcT- (now very confused) Can you tell me everything your sunday school teachers said about where God lives? (we are now completely past the shoe topic in case you havent noticed) L- They said God lives in my heart. MMcT- Yes he does, and he is everywhere so we can pray to him whenever we want to can't we? (something we have been talking about a lot lately) L- Yeah. And he wears those shoes like that man and like nano and pappap. (okay, so we werent completely off that topic)
I think this shoe focus may have come about because we were buying a new pair of shoes for Dragon. Last week we were going to playgroup in the park (we often have a special playgroup on the holidays in the park so that big brothers and sisters can come) and we decided that was the day we were going to put Dragon up into the next size clogs which happened to be lion's previous pair. Well, Dragon lost them at the park. I looked everywhere for them, they did not want to be found.
We have hunted around for some in Dragons size and couldnt find any but yestrday I remembered Cotton On Kids has them about as cheap as they come. In we went, I steered Dragon away from the pink ones and let him pick some, he wanted silver, I tried to offer him blue. This shade of blue, that shade of blue, maybe even green... he wanted silver. So now we have a pair of metalic silver cloggs. I'll get a photo of them eventually. They certainly attract attention to his feet.
