Lynnie's Birthday Festival

Renee, Adam and baby Amaya arrived on Wednesday night to kick off Lynnie's Birthday Festival. Isn't she beautiful!

And they bought with them lots of presents. This is Gram reading Paddy is first book

Thursday was Mum's birthday. We all bought her an IPad. She had to share the present opening duties....
Mr Adam made beautiful lamb shanks for Mum's birthday dinner (if anyone has Cook with Jamie you need to try the lamb shanks recipe...)

Paddy played with Aunt Ren and got read lots of stories - Brown Bear is sure to be a favourite.

Saturday was Lynnie's Birthday Luncheon. Renee and I got the house to ourselves to prepare a feast - Mister helped with making the pasta. Renee dusted off the pasta machine I purchased 3 years ago that has never been used. Will be sure to use it now - the pasta was beautiful!

Lunch was outside in the glorious sunshine - you never would have thought we were in the middle of winter.

We finished off the meal with some Singstar action - there are the Seamons family busting out a classic.

Danny was playing polo all weekend so he didn't get to join us but pulled out Brown Bear when he got home.

Sunday was a lazy day - started with Poets Cafe at Montville for breakfast. Sunday night we dressed Mum up in her Montville outfit to head out to dinner with friends while the 3 kids + husbands ate Chinese and reminisced. Well Renee & Troy did - I can't remember a bloody thing!

When Troy left and the babies were fast asleep we played Singstar until late in the night. For the record we did smash Danny Cook on a number of occasions - the most memorable smashing was Danny and Mr Adam singing A Girl from Mars. It was a shocker but Mr Adam pulled through with a win!

We said goodbye to the Seamons and hello to Cooper who arrived today. He has already done all the jobs with the horses, set up Paddy's toys in the car and is now beating his Dad on the Wii. He will be guest blogger for the rest of his stay (something I am still trying to convince him to do.....)

I'll finish this off with some amazing Paddy news - he loves his high chair! He does lean to the side a bit but had a great time for his first run. Let's hope it's a winner when Mummy wants to get dinner on......

What a great Birthday Festival Lynnie!!! We love you xoxoxo

When to stop Paddy sucking his finger....

It is so hard to pull his finger out of his mouth when it looks this cute!

And no he wasn't hungry....

Apparently this is the finger his cousin Billy used to suck on.

The slurping noises didn't come across that well but believe me he was really sucking that finger!

Lucy my little helper

Lucy came for a sleepover to help with Paddy while Danny was at Clifton playing polo.

After a day of doing the groceries and making brownies we were ready for bed.

Partners in Crime

Ra Ra came to visit for the day today.

She does crafting with Natty.....

But spending time with Danny is way more fun!!

Cute Slippies!

We went for dinner at Poppy's last night so I thought it might be time to pull out the bunny slippers Nanna bought Paddy in New Zealand.

How cute are they.....

Is it too early to claim VICTORY?!!!!

This morning in the new car seat there was again much screaming on the way to work.

But on the way home we did this....

A forward facing car seat! And though there were a few moments of little winges, there was no screaming like we have become used to on our car travels.

He even grabbed onto and played with his puppy.

Danny thinks it's too early to claim it to be a success but I am taking every success, no matter how small, and running with it!

The Premier

This is Paddy's new car seat. We bought this seat this afternoon in the hopes that we would have peaceful car rides from now on.

Driving home from the shop he went to sleep - good sign.

After waking up though there was much screaming - not a good sign.

Let's hope we didn't just blow $300!

Sports Update: Cooper Cook

Cooper played 2 games of Rugby on Thursday
All Saints - lost 12 points to 7
Coomera Anglican College - won 8 points to 1. Got knocked out in this game when the biggest kid on the other team stepped on his head, right on the temple.

On Saturday he played AFL against Coomera and smashed them. They don't score in the games yet but Cooper assures us that he smashed them.

Other news to report... Cooper has a 30-word spelling test tomorrow. Dad just got 5 of his words wrong including kaleidescope.
....Athletics trials are tomorrow.
Good luck buddy!

Queens Birthday Weekend

Started with a visit from Aunt Debbie on Friday night........

Another Wallabies viewing at Phil & Sal's. I cooked my first baked cheesecake - a caramel one - which worked out pretty well. Very excited by that.....

Polo on Sunday at Riverbend in Amamoor. Nanna cam for the drive - it was freezing but really good to see Danny playing again. We worked out on that trip that Paddy definitely doesn't like his car seat or travelling in the car, which is a bit of a major issue. Will try and sort that out this week.....

Will and Tracy came for lunch today with baby Hugh. He is 3 weeks older than Paddy. He may be smaller but is much better at entertaining himself. We are hoping that they had a chat and baby Hugh taught Paddy a thing or two.

Now to relax and prepare for another week of work....

Lava Speeder has Gone!

For those of you who knew Lava Speeder I realise this may be a shocking headline to read. I am sorry to break the news to you this way but Danny sold Lava to some poor, unsuspecting women in WA and today he and Skip took her away.

Fond memories we all have of Lava I know but in particular I loved the way he would chew everything - the antenna on Norman, the paintwork on Norman. He loved a good feed and that is how I will remember him.

At least we still have the Northern Territory Lava Speeder with Kate.....

Paddy's First Bib Experience - had to be the French one

Paddy's first run at the bib - I had to put him in the French bib that Em and Scotty sent over.

There was a problem.....

Ah that was it! The French bib is now officially christened with spit up.

Sorry Em & Scotty xoxo

My First Wallabies Game

Paddy watched his first Wallabies match last night - well 10 minutes of it anyway. He was wrapped in the Aussie Gold blankie that Uncle Phil used to put over the girls when they were little.

Sunday ended in a furious bout of de-nitting. I am pleased to announce that the Cooks are now nit free - well until Ra Ra comes to visit again anyway.....

We Have Nits!

Thanks to Ra Ra and her Kindy friends who haven't washed their hair since August, we are pulling the dreaded nit comb through our hair.

Don't worry, Paddy's locks are safe.

But that doesn't stop us from going out for breakfast in Maleny....!

Nanna bought Paddy this cute outfit when he was born. He is saying "Thank you Nanna" in this photo

A Day at Home

We got to spend the day at home. It was a slow day with lots of sleeping by Paddy and cleaning by Mum and Gram.

But this afternoon.....

We watched Dad get ready for a ride

And we spent 20 minutes in our Snugglie which is definitely a record

Back to Baking Bread

Our first loaves of homemade bread in soooo long.

Third trimester, labour, birth and newborn Paddy have all gotten in the way of us baking our own bread.

Apparently this is "the best loaf I have ever made" according to Danny aka Daryl Kerrigan.

It's so good to be back....!

2 Month Needle Day

Paddy got his 2 month needles today. One in each leg. He cried, Mum cried and Gram cried. Such a brave boy. I can't believe we have to do that again in only 2 months!

This is the calm after the storm - cuddles with Gram