It's a...

...busy time for us. We've had Christmas shopping to do, Santa to visit, visits to the beach to be made and time in the sun to be had (although the sun has temporarily disappeared - Iris looks on the bright side: rain=gumboots).4 Campbell girls at the bay.

Cheesy soft focus shot (actually courtesy of Phoebe's fingerprint over the camera lens) of the decorating of the ENORMOUS;) Christmas tree.

Iris and Phoebe's favourite past-time (and favourite storyteller)

We went to Kate's house for her birthday brunch and the girls LOVED the 10(!!!) puppies currently resident there.

Phoebe is a voracious reader...

Iris sleeping, with a whole roll of nappy liners behind her and wipes hanging from the top bunk. What you can't see is that she'd also taken off the nappy she was wearing for her nap. No more nappies for this girl! She only wants to wear "big girl knickers".

Enjoying the sun and the water view from the rose garden.

Cats need hats too, you know.

Campbell child #3 update: we went for a scan yesterday and were pleased to find that all looks good with the in utero Campbell child. Heart, lungs, kidneys, stomach, bladder, spine etc all appear as they should and the baby is right on target for size. We've had lots of people ask if we're "going to find out". To put you out of your misery, yes, we did find out and it's a....



(drum roll please)





...nother GIRL!!!! Iris would like to name her Dorothy the Dinosuar. Phoebe seems a bit bemused by it all and just pats mum's tummy and says "baby!" Mum and Dad are thrilled to bits she's healthy and can't wait to meet her.

Biker chick and mother's little helper

We've been spending lots of time at our beach now that the weather is warmer. The girls have been hooning around on the sand and, in Iris' case, even in the water...

As the shots above and below show, Iris has recently discovered that she can control her shadow - a source of endless fascination.


Mother's little helper... broom in one hand, drink in the other!
Iris and Frank chill on the couch - their eyes are glued to Iris' favourite Hairy Maclary DVD.

Gratuitous garden shot - Josh managed to produce this stunning red iris, first one this colour in several years of growing them.

Gratuitous Phoebe shot - post-bath hair.

Play hard - random pics

Phoebe got sick of waiting for Dad and Iris and decided to head home on her own.Iris was so absorbed in what she was doing she didn't realise Phoebe had left her behind...

Phoebe proudly surveys her Duplo kingdom.

Phoebe decided that the baby rocker (which Devon uses when he's here) makes a great morning tea spot.
Iris training...

...and making sure her Duplo dog doesn't miss a photo opportunity.

Au revoir

We recently had a family get-together to scatter Alastair's ashes. We started off with lunch at our place, followed by a trip to Wellington's south coast to scatter the ashes (Alastair used to enjoy diving around this area) and afternoon tea at Margaret's house turned into dinner and a very late night for two little girls (and their parents!).

Alastair's brother, Ian, finished off the rocking horse that Alastair had started making for Iris and Phoebe. They delivered "Mac" (aka Guppy) before lunch, much to Phoebe's delight.
The whole fandamily, including Jen, our surprise visitor from Melbourne. For those who are interested or who have bad eyesight;) they are: (standing from left) Josh, Jared, Ian, Linda, Brad, Jen, Sue, Trevor and Audrey and (seated from left) Alan, Margaret, Iris, Sarah and Phoebe.

We stopped at "Better" Bay, the bay next to Worser Bay to visit Josh's grandmother, Norma's, seat. As you can see from the photos, it was a pretty wild day and no one was game to swim where Norma and her fellow OBEs (over bloody eighties) did for so many years.

Spring blooms

Winter has finally left the building and we've welcomed in spring with a fantastic crop of irises. Our own Iris is very proud of them and shows everyone the "Irisflowers". Here's a random selection of shots showing what we've been up to lately.Breaking out the summer wardrobe.

We've been looking after Devon, our friend Amanda's baby, a couple of days a week. Iris is great at entertaining him.

The spring winds did us a favour by blowing over the dead tree that we'd been procastinating about chopping down...

Beach trip...

...in Josh's dad's van, Iris' favourite mode of transport until it disappeared to be sold.

Our little monkey at "Little Monkeys", an indoor playground.

P.S. Thought we'd test you all and see who reads to the end of the posts...For those of you who don;t already know, the third Campbell child is due to make his/her big entrance on May 17th 2008. Watch this space for progress updates!

The drama of the dopey digger driver

Once upon a time in Titahi Bay, there was a dopey digger driver. He drove his truck, with his digger on top, down a very steep bank across the road from the Campbells' house. Little did the dopey digger driver know that the bank was not only steep but very squidgy...His truck, with his digger on top, got stuck in the mud providing hours of entertainment for the residents of the Campbells quiet street. The dopey digger driver tried and tried to back his truck, with his digger on top and his coffee in his hand the whole time, up the bank but only succeeded in getting it more and more stuck.Eventually, the dopey digger driver had to admit defeat and it wasn't long before two cranes drove up the Campbells' street and spent a long time lining up to try and pull the trucker, with the digger on top, out of the mud.




Just before lunch, they finally got the truck, with the digger on top, out of the mud. There was much cheering and jubilation from the residents of the Campbells' street. The dopey digger driver very sensibly decided to drive his truck, with his digger on top and his coffee still in hand, 100 metres up the street and use the brand spanking new concrete driveway to get down the steep bank. The residents of the Campbells' street wondered why he didn't do that in the first place...

Time got away on us a bit...

As you'll probably know by now, Josh's father, Alastair, died at the end of August. His funeral was held in early September and since then, we've been getting used to life without him around. It's been hard but there have been some fun times as these random photos will show.

We hit the play ground after Sarah's birthday lunch...

Phoebe learnt to walk! No stopping her now.