Play dough, parents and a penguin

Friday 26th: Asher enjoyed this play area - squishy balls in coloured water (a bit too much food colouring though as there were quite a few orange hands today).

And although Asher enjoyed playing with play dough for the first time - it was Ruth who really enjoyed this today. They even let her take some play dough home.
So Hezekiah got to enjoy it too. Ruth tried to get some photos of him with the play dough.
Later they went out to the garage and enjoyed using all our other play dough things. I will need to make play dough for them regularly. They had so much fun.
Ruth seeing how thin she could roll it out.
Very thin indeed.
Saturday 27th: This was what is left of the snow man and igloo. So fun to still have some of the snow 8 days later.

Brendon and Ruth headed off to the squash courts. They teased the others and said "come and look at the trophy Ruth won". :-)
Sunday 28th: I had given Brendon a haircut and not even thought of checking Hezekiah's hair. Not long afterwards he actually said he needed a haircut (because the hair was on his ears). He said he wanted it cut like Dad's - so we quickly got that sorted. It was the first time there was not one complaint from him. Other than the cold - but the jacket quickly sorted that out.
Rachel and I headed off to the tea rooms for afternoon tea and a chat. Photo taken when we got home.

Ruth has gotten back into her loom bands today. I think she wanted to quickly get some things done for taking with on their holiday next weekend. She made matching wide bracelets for herself and Rachel. It was a new pattern that she hadn't done before and although she said it looked rather strange while she was making it - the end result was really nice.
Monday 29th: The younger 4 children had their check up with the dental nurse last week. The x-ray showed that a previous filling of Hannah's was loose. She had the other filling fall out in April (and it was so painful) that we decided it would be better to rather put a new one in. So a friend came and watched Asher for me so that I could take Hannah to get the new filling put in this afternoon. Thankfully there was no drilling needed (the whole was clean from the previous filling being in there) and she sat nice and still and didn't get stressed. So hopefully this new one will last. That makes it 4 problems with fillings this year for our family (2 each for Hannah and I). It's frustrating that the major issues we have had have been because of fillings (not the original "reason" for putting the filling in).
I got my "lecture" on not using fluoride again when I went with the children last week. I think in future I will ask Brendon to take off so that he can deal with these comments. I was just too emotionally drained, and so it was a rather stressful day for me.
Having Brendon with will also just make it easier with one of us to be with Asher while the other is with the child in the chair. They know by now that we don't easily allow fillings. Again this year we had to say "no" to a filling for Ruth. The problem only shows on the x-ray, it's not causing her pain, and it's one of the first molars that are going to come out in the next few months.
Even though I felt sure we would not want the filling done, I told her I would discuss it with Brendon and call to make an appointment if we wanted to make one. I had felt a bit rattled at the time and just didn't want to discuss something more.
Not a day I want a repeat of for a long time.....
Right: Asher enjoying some "juice" this evening. She hasn't had milk kefir smoothy with the other children for a while, but today was interested in having a little bit.

And I just managed to get this picture of the little pony tail that Ruth had put in her hair. Ruth can't wait for her hair to be a bit longer and for her to learn to enjoy having someone do her hair for her.
Tuesday 30th: This morning Asher spotted Hezekiah's buttons on his pjs before he changed. She loves buttons. He is such a good big brother - happy to let her sit on him and climb all over him. She also hugs him in a way that shows she wants him to pick her up. So sweet.
And I have told Hezekiah that if he brings his Barnie blanket through to the lounge - then he needs to let Asher play with it. She loves Barnie and loves the blanket too. This morning I spotted her like this. She does love being in a "tent". She often does this in her bed for nap time too - pulling her own blanket over her head. Hezekiah also sleeps with his blankets pulled up - over his head.

On Tuesday evening the girls had a "prize giving" at St John, so as a last minute plan, I stayed with them. It was a much shorter evening, so it saved us the trip back to fetch them afterwards. It was nice to be able to get to take the photo of Ruth receiving one of her badges. Rachel (and a few others) missed out on receiving their badges today as there was a delay in their arrival.
And then I also took a photo of their "mascot" so that Hannah could see what they had been talking about. It brought a lot of laughs.
And there were tears too. One of the older boys had his last night tonight. The other older guys did the Haka for him and it was very emotional. It was probably the first time I saw the depth of meaning that it can hold. It was really special and I was glad I was there for it.