Lazy Days of Summer

Loving Summer! Lazy days - not doing much! Going to parks everyday - water play somehow everday -picnics everyday & beach bag packed by the door just in case we're in the mood!

And then there's lovely weekends away... Some of these photos were taken while at Taupo staying with Dale & Nell between Christmas & New Year. And then last weekend we took Em on her first camping experience. We went to Raglan which was perfect - I love the beach there. Emma thought sleeping in our very small tent was great - it did keep us dry & very warm when there was thunder & a lot of rain on Saturday night!

Joy, joy, joy long may Summer continue...

Then Christmas Day....

We had the morning to ourselves... Which of course consisted of opening presents and then playing with presents! We had a yummy pancake breakfast which Emma helped to make in her new chef outfit! In the afternoon we went to a local park for a picnic (dogs still need walking on Christmas day!) And then mid afternoon we headed to Grandma's house - for more presents and yummy food. Mum made a delicious meal of Christmas ham, lamb and chicken. We ate outside on the deck - which was perfect with the lovely weather on the day. All in all Christmas 2008 has been fabulous - I love Christmas and the journey leading up to it and Emma makes it more special every year.

Christmas Eve

Emma really got into the whole Christmas story this year. She loved dressing up like Mary and wrapping baby Jesus. We went to a Christmas Eve service and she wore this blue/white dress and a blue scarf of mine -complete with a dolly wrapped in a blanket for baby Jesus - and she was a gorgeous Mary through out the whole service. She said the Christmas carols were lullabies for Jesus. She wanted me to dress up as Shepherd but in the end she was happy if I carried a stick - which I was happy to do cos it was only about 5cm long!!

The next photo is Emma writing a note to Santa to leave with his Supper of cupcakes, lollies and juice.





We decided we would sleep under the Christmas tree - which meant moving a mattress into the lounge. It was great fun! A new Christmas tradition started for us there! Emma's only request from Santa was for red balloons which appeared during the night...!