Sienna at 2

SIENNA

 

Also Known As:

Sen

Senna

Sen-Sen

Senny-Boo

Sienna Benna

Sienna-Sue

Sue-Sue-Magoo

 

Sienna is nearly 2 and a half. She is FULL of energy. This energy is at times a little manic. She is very imaginative - making up songs, dances, games and names for her dolls and teddy's. Sienna loves her baby sister Alissa...at times a little too much. She looks forward to her dancing class every Tuesday, where she is learning how to follow dance instructions (instead of the freestyle, interpretive dance style she normally adopts). When Sienna doesn't get her way, she screams. And screams. Then Sienna goes to the 'thinking spot' for some time out. Sienna loves to give everyone cuddles and kisses (just watch out for her "lick" kisses...they are wet). The "dummy fairy" has recently taken Sienna's beloved dummy aka "do-do" away. Luckily, the dummy fairy left 2 presents in exchange for the dummies and Sienna hasn't even asked for a dummy since. When questioned about the dummy fairy, Sienna replied in a bored voice that, "the dummy fairy came and chucked my dummies in the bin and gave me presents (followed by a 'so what' kind of shrug)". Sienna is still very sneaky. She gets into everything and is impossible to keep clean. She has a definite sweet tooth, favouring lollies and chocolate. Sienna has an amazing memory - BEWARE - if you tell her something or promise her something, she will hold you to it. Sienna loves Disney princesses; Belle, Ariel, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Mulan, Pocahontas and the list goes on. She is also Minnie Mouse obsessed. Sienna likes to accessorise with bracelets, necklaces, handbags and shoes. She has started to become VERY particular about what she will or will not wear. Sienna loves to play with Harrison and copy everything he say and does. She also likes to tease Harry. She enjoys painting, play dough, cooking, reading stories, puzzles, making mud pies, tea parties, swimming, scootering, swinging, making beds on the floor, feeding her dolls, pretending to run an icecream shop, pretending to go to the shops, playing snap, drawing pictures, eating "snacks" and watching princess movies. She is kind, affectionate, hilarious and cute. We couldn't imagine our lives without Sienna. We love you Senny-Boo. xx

 

 

Harrison's School Assembly

Last Thursday, Harrison's year one class did their school assembly. During the assembly the class dressed up as sheep in board shorts with zinc on their noses and recited the words to 'Sheep on a Beach' a book by P. Crumble.

 

 

Harrison dressed up as a "sheep" waiting for the assembly to start.

Harrison's teacher Mrs Tomlins getting all the kids ready.

 

Harrison had to raise this towel every time they said "towel underneath".

 

 

 

 

Amy videoed the whole performance and very kindly shared it with me! What a great record for Harrison. You might be able to hear Sienna saying she needs to do a poo! I had to rush her out towards the end of it and take her to the toilet. It was a false alarm and I missed the end. I got to watch the video though which was great.You can watch it here...

  

Harrison had to say "are there any other announcements?" He was very confident and did a great job.

 





Well done on a great assembly Harrison!

Grammie & Papa

Grammie and Papa left on Wednesday morning to drive back to Perth and then fly to Melbourne. We were so sad to see them go, I admit that I might have cried (ok, balled) when I hugged them goodbye.

The kids weren't much better with Sienna crying when she realised they had gone and Harrison crying when he came home from school and they weren't there. They were so kind and patient with Harrison and Sienna. Alissa absolutely loves Grammie and Papa, every time she would see them her face would just light up. She never snuggles into me and falls asleep like she does with them. Already there is a special bond between them. We hope they come and stay with us again next winter but for longer this time!

We were all so spoilt. Grammie cooked up a storm - of course! Everything was delicious! Clinton and I were able to go on a few "dates" which was awesome. Anyway...I could go on and on so, here are some photos of their stay with us. (Warning: lots of photos)

 

We visited Point Samson for some lunch at TaTa's and a swim (unfortunately it was too windy to swim but we showed Mum and Dad the beaches). On the way to Point Samson we visited Cossack, a site that used to be a thriving little town with a booming pearling industry. It was also the major port for large vessels to stop at in the region. This port moved to Point Samson and the pearling industry moved on to Broome - where it stayed. This is Dad's photo of the lookout over Cossack beach.

 Dad is so good at photographing flowers and wildlife

 Some of Cossacks major buildings have been restored - including the general store below. There is a museum where you can learn more about Cossack's history. Sadly, Indigenous Australian's were very poorly treated in Cossack. Often kidnapped and forced to work in the pearling vessels and subsequently, many lost their lives. There was also an Aboriginal massacre here. You can feel an eerie sense of the many people who lost their lives as you walk around this area.

 Grammie and Papa were constantly playing with Harrison and Sienna. Both of them pushed Sienna up and down the street in her little red car. You would never know that Grammie is recovering from knee replacement surgery and Papa has a very sore ankle that will be operated on next month.

Papa took Harrison fishing after school twice. Harrison caught lots of fish and had so much fun! What wonderful memories Harrison will have of learning how to fish with his Papa.

On the way to one of their fishing trips, Papa spotted these plants and pulled over to photograph them.

 Such a stunningly, vibrant desert pea

We visited Dampier and Sienna and Papa had fun at the park.

 Alissa having a cuddle with Grammie in Dampier

Sienna was constantly asking Papa (and Grammie) to push her on the swing. Papa would oblige and push her for really long stretches of time with Sienna yelling "higher, higher" the whole time! I took these photos because Sienna decided she wanted Papa to push her while she read a book...multitasking??

 Sienna also discovered she loves "spinning" so Papa had to do that over and over too. No wonder his shoulder would be sore after all that work!

Sienna decided to put on ALL her skirts at once- several times while Grammie and Papa were here.

Grammie and Sienna had several 'tea parties' together. Usually they would just pretend to have "tea" in the teapot but this time they filled the teapot with ginger ale - which Sienna drank by the cupful (several cupfuls)! Grammie would call Sienna Mrs Frogmorton and Grammie's name was Mrs Codswallop. During this tea party, Sienna poured a cup for Aunty and left it on the corner of the table. Aunty better be prepared for several tea parties when she comes in August!

 Love the pinky!

 The things Papa will do for his grand daughters!

 

 

Harry enjoying Grammie's cooking...really enjoying it!

Alissa loved sleeping on Grammie and Papa - she would leave little sweat patches and drool patches on them!

We miss you Grammie and Papa!! Come back soon!



Mum's Birthday

Our family was very excited to have Mum/Grammie staying with us on her birthday. I'm not sure how relaxing a day it was for her though! The morning was a bit chaotic with getting ready for church and then after church Mum and Dad were entertaining the kids while I cooked.

 

Cooking for Mum is always a bit daunting as she is such a good cook. Mum and I had seen a recipe in the paper for scallops, pork and chilli caramel. She actually did the prep work the day before by slow cooking the pork with soy, palm sugar, ginger and garlic. She then shredded the pork and mixed it with some XO sauce. The pork is then pressed into a tray and left overnight in the fridge. Clinton and I cut the tray up into 1 inch cubes and then flour, egg and crumbed it with Japanese breadcrumbs. Clinton then deep fried them until golden. I made a chilli caramel to pour over the top and a coconut cream for it to sit on. We pan fried scallops in butter and served with fresh pineapple cubes. Our presentation was a bit rushed but the flavours were yum!  

 

 

After making the entrée our main was too rushed and not that great. I made bread rolls and a pumpkin, bean and ricotta salad. My pumpkin was a little undercooked. Clinton's job was to BBQ the salmon fillets but the gas in the BBQ ran out half way through, so he was forced to panfry them as well, which made them a little dry. I made fresh hollandaise sauce in my thermomix (literally takes 6 minutes and is so yum!) so that made the salmon taste a bit better.

 



 

Cherry chocolate birthday cake for dessert. Alissa was mesmerised by the candles! 

 



 

Grammie did blow out the candles but then we had to re-light them so Harrison could have a go too. (How cute is Alissa's face here?)

 



Then Sienna needed a go too, with some extra puff from Papa - nice sunglasses Sen.

 

Time to cut the cake...we were all stuffed with food by the end of the night! We love you Mum/Grammie and hope you had a nice birthday with us this year. xox