mental relief

How to get a good photo of all three kids!

2010-10-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

PUT THEM IN A TREE!!! Heehee, a beautiful tree setting, so i placed all three kids up in it. They weren't overly happy about being stuck up there, so i said let me get a good photo and you can get down. This was the result......

Left, Right or in between?

2010-08-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

Been reading up on left-handed children (Maggie). It's really fascinating. Did you know there are different degrees of left handedness? You also have a dominant foot, eye and ear, but they're not always necessarily the same side.
Just for fun try these:
1. Inagine the centre of your back is itching. Which hand do you scratch it with?
2.Interlock your fingers. Which thumb is uppermost?
3.Imagine you are applauding. Start clapping your hands. Which hand is uppermost?
4.W...ink at an imaginary fried straight in front of you. Which eye does the winking?
5.Put your hands behind your back, one holding the other. Which hand does the holding?
6.Someone in front of you is shouting, but you cannot hear the words. Cup your ear with your hand to hear better. Which ear do you cup?
7.Count to three on your fingers using the forefinger of the other hand. Which forefinger do you use?
8.Imagine answering the phone. Which ear do you hold the phone to?
9.An imaginary football is rolling towards you. Which foot do you kick it with?
10. EYE dominance test. Stretch your arm out in front of you and point at a small object some distance away, so that your finger is pointing directly at it. Now close one eye. If the finger is still directly in line with the object, then the eye you have open is your dominant eye. If you now look only with the other eye, the object will appear to shift sharply to one side of your finger, this is your non-dominant eye.

Apparantly very rare for someone to do all these with the same side of the body!

Slooooooow renovations.

2010-08-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

Our renovations are sooooo slow moving, but little by little we are making changes. Current project is the arduous task of stripping wallpaper in the kids rooms ready for plastering and painting. I will feel so much happier knowing they all have cute/cool bedrooms. After that it will probably be a while before we do anything more inside.
The kids play area out the back is looking cool though and the next task will be to put in a deck and do up the gardens around the pool area.

We've recently had to redo some of our back yard fencing too. Sub managed to break his way thru the gate (made out of an old door), so we now have a metal gate. Also had to put another level of retaining for the garden, as Sub had learnt to get over the wall and inside when we were out.....seriously i don't think Alcatraz could keep that dog in. For now he is fenced outside, but i'm sure it's only a matter of time before he finds a new way in!

Surprise!!!

2010-08-19T02:35:00.000-07:00

The gaps between posts are getting further and further apart i know, but i am a slave to facebook and once venting my daily disturbances on there am not so inspired to repeat myself here. Must try harder!!
Well since my last post we've had a couple of birthdays. Maggie is now four and at morning kindy, Charlotte is now seven and missing her top two front teeth (so cute)and while Ryan doesn't turn three till Nov, he has none-the-less, just started morning kindy. He's loving it, and for three afternoons a week it means i get some wonderful one-on-one time with Maggie, which she's never really had before. Have to say though, by the end of Thur afty Ryan is exhausted for the week and in much need of a huge nap on Friday (so i guess in a way i actually get 4 afternoons with Maggie).
Charlotte has recently performed in her school play, where she was the narrator for her classes part. She did brilliantly!! She loves the stage, so i am looking at booking her in for drama classes.
Ryan also has had hid tonsils and adenoids out, which is such a relief. I am so much more relaxed when he is eating now, without the fear of him choking. I know he still could, but it's a more normal risk now, not a very real risk.
Study for me has finished for the year. I passed my course, which is a relief. Was great doing the course though, before jumping in to full time study next year. I have learnt a lot about the university system and gained a lot of confidence in myself and my abilities. Still nervous about next year though.
Anyhoo, will try and come back on before another four months has passed.

Just putting it out there

2010-04-10T01:46:00.000-07:00

and in ten years time (ish) we'll see how right i was.
Thinking my three year old will one day be a vegetarian! (Although one of the ones that makes allowances for seafood!)
Maggie is not a big meat eater. She does eat it, but really takes her time. Put salad on her plate however and she scoffs it down! (Not complaining by the way!)
We were driving back from Kaiteri the other day and discussing what takeaways to have for tea. Pizza was mentioned (not something we have very often) and miss M yells out "I want a salad pizza" (Mmmmmmmmm!?!)
She does however love seafood of pretty much anykind. Fish, shellfish, whatever. She was happy to eat oysters at a very young age (and much to her Daddy's upset). On the same night that pizza was discussed we ended up going to the noodle bucket (First time ever and YUM!! Definitely going back!). Miss M saw the menu pictures and stated "I want the one with the wimps" (Too cute!). Sadly she had to share the honey chicken with her siblings (of which she ended up giving most of her chicken to her sister), but did get to share in a number of "wimps" from her Daddy's garlic prawn noodles (very happy little girl!).

Don't mess with the heart!

2010-03-23T17:45:00.000-07:00

While i am not totally against this government (they have made a couple of okay changes), they do have to be dreaming if they think the general kiwi population are going to sit back and let them go against some of our key 'from the heart' beliefs.
Specifically the mining, but there are other issues as well. I realise that yes the money would be useful, but at what cost?
Summing things up at the moment they are suddenly okay with killing whales and mining our national parks....next it will be nuclear power!! SERIOUSLY - WHAT ARE THEY THINKING! I know there is more to it than saying it like that, but you just don't mess with matters of the heart!!
There is also all this guff lately about trying to make money so we're as rich as Australia. HELLO....We are not Australia, why on earth would we want to be like them? If we were that desperate why not just become a part of Australia and be done with it (and NO, funnily enough i am not for that idea either!)

IDIOT

2010-02-28T00:37:00.000-08:00

Sadly these days it usually takes someone commenting i haven't been on in a while to get me in here. Life is currently soooooo busy.
Along with the usual intricacies (current favourite word, so while this isn't quite the right spot for it, i'm using it here anyway) of daily life i have added study into the mix. IDIOT!!
For this year i have one semester full of study from home doing my Certificate in Learning Support. I have realised that i didn't appreciate just how much time was spent on normal daily chores/tasks till i tried fitting in full time study as well. Again IDIOT!
So far we have had 1 official week of the course and i have no idea how i'm doing. We have a University of Canterbury site where you can go to see what others in the course are up to and a part of my course is actually based out of this site, but all of last week had very little happening on there, so i'm feeling quite unnerved. I'm hoping it's all because last week was orientation week at the university...so here's hoping for more feedback this week.
I do however have my first assignment ready to post away (due in March 8th), so that's kinda exciting. Not looking forward to some of my assignments though.

Anyway's we'll see how we get on over the next few months and if all does go well then next year i will start my first full year of three doing my Bachelor of Primary Teaching. IDIOT!!

Summer

2010-01-18T13:40:00.000-08:00

We have been having a great family fun-filled summer (when the weather allows). Christmas was awesome....kids were spoilt, but very happy and we had lovely food with all our relatives and some nice times.
I got to have my first New Years in a long time as we pitched our camper on Daryl's cousins' lawn and so kids were put to bed and i could continue to join in. Pretty casual evening, but good company and a few songs on singstar. Good fun.
The new year saw us head away camping up Quinneys bush with Daryl's sister and family, which was awesome! Such an awesome campsite. We camped on the edge of the playground, so were able to monitor the littlies, while the big kids took off on their bikes for adventures. Big flying foxes, a massive water slide, go karts and swimming in the river. Brilliant!
The rest of the holidays are now being spent catching up with friends and spending any sunny time in the pool or at the beach. GOOD TIMES!

'Gordon', our camper up Quinney's Bush

Go Karting fun

Cringing ready for the splash! Charlotte and her cousin go down the waterslide together.

Fun on the flying fox

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth

2009-12-10T00:35:00.001-08:00

Second to last in her class, but she finally lost her two front teeth! Drama central getting them out, but proud as punch once it happened. Two nights in a row the poor tooth fairy had to visit and both were special (extra money earning teeth). The first because it was the first, the second because she pulled it herself.

2009-11-23T11:50:00.000-08:00

I have two wonderful little girls. Really thought we must've been pretty good parents to have ended up with such good girls (sure they have their moments, but they really are few and far between).
Then along comes a willful, tantrumming, rough and tumble, testosterone filled two year old boy, who challenges all the great parenting skills you thought you had.
Not so sure now if my great girls are a result of good parenting or if we just got super lucky to end up with naturally occurring really good girls!

Family shot for 2009

2009-11-12T15:19:00.001-08:00

Happy Valley

2009-11-12T15:06:00.000-08:00

We got to go up to the skywire at Happy Valley, where we had a lovely bbq celebrating our good friend Julz birthday. We all had a blast, even though the weather wasn't great. The kids had a load of fun dancing too (hee hee, to Rod Stewart!)

The trio. Would've been a great back drop if it wasn't cloudy/raining!

Daddy and daughter moment. Dancing!

Hugging a Matai tree over 2000 years old!

Jester House and Grape Escape

2009-11-12T14:54:00.000-08:00

For Daryl's birthday we went to Jester house and fed the tame eels, then to Grape Escape for Llama kisses! A lovely day, but it is days like this where i feel for Charlotte who misses out due to being a big school girl now!

Ryan turns two!

2009-11-12T14:49:00.000-08:00

My baby is growing up (sob!). Loads of fun watching him grow though. He is a typical boy, but full of love and cuddles. Mummy's boy!
We had his party at the ride on trains, which is always fun and had an 'airpane' cake, which is his latest obsession! He got a battery operated ride on bike for his birthday, which is the next best thing to an airpane!

Ryan aged two....wearing the SINGLE most PERFECT tee-shirt you could EVER possibly get him!

Party fun!

Guy Fawkes

2009-11-12T14:24:00.001-08:00

Dad put on a lovely fun evening of Guy Fawkes for us. Charlotte had fun picking out all the big fireworks to let off, Maggie just loved the whole show, Ryan liked the pretty stuff, but not so keen on the noise and kept running inside to watch!
Watching from the safety of inside.

Sparkler fun!

Ryan and Alina.

Sharing the last sparkler.

A few fun photos.

2009-11-12T14:12:00.000-08:00

As you might have noticed, i'm not so good good at the verbal blogging (in fact i think i'm kinda dull), so my blog tends to be more a pictorial one documenting our fun-filled days! Here are a few more piccys!!
Only a face a mother could love.... and i do!

Charlotte getting a sled ride at the Saints and Angels fair! She loooooooved it.... bit of a dare-devil girl this one!

Fun at home and RATBAG boy!

Farm kids

And then it was Goodbye to our Hamilton Whanau

2009-11-02T14:31:00.000-08:00

Holiday - chapter 8

2009-11-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

Our last full day was another wet one, with a tribe of kids to entertain, so we caught the bus into town (which Ryan thought was fabulous!), and then went to play ten pin bowling. An awesome set up, where for the little kids rails come up alongside the gutter, so they can't get gutterballs. With this in mind Charlotte won the ten pin bowling and Maggie came second (with a little help from Aunty Yvette!)

Holiday - chapter 7

2009-10-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

Today we had a few extra bigger kids for the day, so while i stayed home with a sleeping Ryan the rest all went for a game of minigolf and a playground play.

Holiday - chapter 6.1

2009-10-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

After the beach we called into The Chocolate shop where Charlotte managed to tag along on the back of a school holiday programme. She got to see how Chocolate was made and then got to fill a plate with chocolate and add her own sprinkles. Needless to say we left with one very happy girl!

Holiday - chapter 6

2009-10-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

Our only sunny day (although still a bit chilly) was spent at Raglan on the beach. Much fun was had getting muddy in the black sand and really what kid doesn't like the beach!?

Little monster was chasing me with his muddy, wet everything saying "cuggle, cuggle!"

Holiday - chapter 5

2009-10-15T15:43:00.000-07:00

Our next day saw another wet day, so off to the pools. Loads of fun and Charlotte went on the hydroslide for the first time, which she absolutely loved. She even went back for more after donking her head and getting a nice egg on it.

Holiday - Chapter 4

2009-10-15T15:36:00.001-07:00

It was also great spending time in Hamilton. Charlotte was especially looking forward to catching up with Shae again and they had a load of fun together.
Sadly the weather wasn't the greatest so we had to find some inside activities on many of the days. This was great anyway as the kids got to experience some first and had a blast no matter what we got up to.
Our first day was rather wet, so off to Lollypops playland. Now what kid wouldn't like that!!?

Holida - Chapter 3

2009-10-14T15:16:00.000-07:00

Our final day in Auckland saw us visiting the museum and then on to the sky tower.
The museum was mostly above the kids heads, but they found a few exciting things while there. Charlotte again fascinated with a dead bat (maybe she's gonna inherit her Daddy's vampire fascination).
The sky tower was lovely. We enjoyed going up in the elevator and once up there the view was lovely. It was a bit cloudy, so couldn't see as far as usual, but still the kids got the concept. We stood on the glass floor, although Charlotte was a little nervous about this. Surprisingly it didn't bother Maggie at all.

Then finally a goodbye to Jeremy and Alana and onwards to Hamilton.

A few extra zoo photos

2009-10-14T15:09:00.001-07:00

Maggie also got to help give a parrot a shower. Very cute!

Maggie's beloved Himbo.

Holidays - Chapter 2.

2009-10-14T14:58:00.000-07:00

Our next adventure saw us going to the zoo. A lovely day out visiting the animals. Ryan was very interested in the elephant (Burma), however anything with a grey hard skin became an elephant (ie. the rhinocerous). Maggie loved, loved, loved the himbo (hippopotamus). She has a hippo hot water bottle named Himbo. All he did was swim back and forwards under the water, but she still packed a big sad when it was time to move on. Charlotte was hanging out to see the bats (not sure why). They sat up in the corner of their cage and never moved, yet when we left Charlotte still said they were her favourite! I loved watching the sealions swimming around and found a few other odd creatures fascinating that i had never seen before, like the flamingos.

Auckland and Hamilton holiday. Chapter 1

2009-10-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

The kids and I, in the holidays, had an awesome adventure holiday to Auckland and Hamilton. I will write about it in installments here as there is soooo much to tell (and more to the point, sooooo many photos to share!)
Our adventure started with an aeroplane ride to Auckland. I have to say i was a little nervous about having to handle three on the plane by myself, but they were stars!! No hassles and a really nice flight.
In Auckland we stayed with Jeremy and Alana, which was really nice and for me nice to have a good catch up with my little brother.

Our first full day in Auckland saw us visiting Kelly Tarltons. A wonderful place, where for me the highlight was seeing the penguins up close. Awesome creatures. Maggie and Ryan were a little intimidated by the big sharks and stingrays, but still had lots of fun and especially enjoyed seeing a diver in the tank. Charlotte enjoyed racing around seeing EVERYTHING!!

Small task = major renovations!!

2009-09-16T18:17:00.000-07:00

What is it about us and silly little tasks turning into major renovations? We recently decided we wanted a vegie garden, so Daryl managed to get a good deal on some retaining and the vegie gardens were built, which lead on to a fort being built for the kids which lead on to the whole pool fence being replaced. We now have a great looking completely renovated back yard that simply started with a vegie garden!!
Now we have had a situation where Daryl was doing a minor task in the bathroom and dropped a drill gun thru the bath. OOOOPS! Insurance called and we were getting the bath replaced. Builder here today pulled off the melamine surround and discovered pretty manky wood underneath. Now we were always going to renovate the bathroom, however it was supposed to be a year or two down the track. It's now happening starting tomorrow!! Since we have to replace the wall we might as well do the whole lot!
Hmmm, remind me to not give Daryl any new tasks (however minor they might seem) for at least a year!!

Stress relief

2009-09-16T18:06:00.000-07:00

I have discovered a new way of relieving stress. Having just introduced Ryan to the wonders of lego (the proper small stuff) I have discovered that it is very theraputic to pick up. Ryan has a big tub of the stuff that he likes to complete tip up and empty over the floor, but this is good it turns out. The feeling of scooping up big handfuls is just loverly. My only problem is that Ryan is a little helper and likes to help. No...Mummy wants to do this one on her own. Heeheehee, wouldn't really say it. There is no way i want to curb his helping tidy streak!!
However if anyone wants to know what to by Ryan for his upcoming birthday. LEGO!

Woohoo!! Thunderthighs are good for you health!

2009-09-04T15:41:00.001-07:00

Article on the news last night. Apparantly smaller waists bigger thighs are the key to longevity! Okay, so i need to work on the waist bit a little, but i've got the thighs well and truly covered!!
Waist should be no bigger than 89cm and thighs should be no smaller than 60cm.
Where do i fit in? Hmmm are you aloud to measure your waist as being just below your boobs? No?...okay well waist 96cm and thigh 65cm. A few sit ups and lunges maybe and i could be perfectly healthy.... I WISH!

food coloured flowers

2009-08-31T19:03:00.000-07:00

A fun experiment to do with the littlies. Get the lovely white flowers and pop them in water with some food colouring in it. (Try different colours) and then over a few days watch how the colour appears in the petals of the flowers. Very pretty!

Missed August

2009-08-31T18:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, so i managed to completely miss any August posts. And even now don't really have any plans of what to say.
Kids are great. We're ticking along and that's life!

Daryl has been working hard on the back yard, retaining and building us up a vegie garden. Can't wait to get some vegies in and growing in a couple of weeks time. YUM! He's also built the kids a huge fort which now dominates the back yard. Still have a few finishing touches, but the kids are loving playing in it already. He's been having such fun doing all the DIY stuff too. Getting up at the crack of dawn (seriously 6.50am on a Sunday. Banging and bashing with no regards for the neighbours Sunday sleep in!!LOL!) He's been getting terribly frustrated with the wet weather interrupting his fun too.

Six Years Old!!

2009-07-26T17:46:00.000-07:00

My little girl is growing up so fast!!!
Had an awesome birthday. Just low key this year (for Mummy's sanity). She had her best friend for a sleepover and then a couple more on the day. Swimming at the pool and then off to McDs for lunch and Littlest Pet Shop cake! Lovely day (and no mess at home for Mummy to clean!!)

Happy Valley

2009-07-14T20:15:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful family visit to Happy Valley yesterday. Got to ride on the four wheel motorbikes (Ryan's new love) and round up and feed hay to the sheep and horses. (Charlotte had a blast - She would make a great farm girl - was even prepared to go and help slaughter a couple of sheep had we let her!!)
We had loads of fun exploring on the bikes, meeting the animals and had a lovely lunch with a wonderful friend!

Our little thespian!

2009-07-05T18:20:00.001-07:00

Last week we had Charlotte's school play, where she had a main part for the juniors play. The play was "How the kiwi lost his wings" and Charlotte was the kiwi.
She did so well (Proud proud Mama and Papa!) and she just loved it. She had one line to say and had a little solo 'shake her booty' moment during a song. She was just so gorgeous and so into it.
We are now looking at putting her into drama classes, so don't be surprised if one day you see her on stage or maybe even in the movies!!

You know it's bad when...

2009-06-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

your three year old comes to you and says "i had enough tv Mama, turn it off".
Seriously i think man-flu can cross the bridge to woman. I am sure i have caught it off hubby and really need the world to stop for a couple of days while i get better.

And Todays ponderous question is...

2009-06-22T22:06:00.001-07:00

realistically how many flus can a person get in one season? And i'm talking full blown miserable as flu! I am on to number two already and have yet to catch swine flu (with the ease that my husband and younger two catch bugs you just know we're gonna get it!) and there are still a good lot of months to go before we are out of flu season. ARGH! I haven't decided whether it is better to get it one at a time (in that you only have to deal with one sick person at a time) or whether it would be better for all to come down miserable and get it over and done with. As it stands we have been doing the first option, so it just seems as if sickness has been in our house for forever!
Oh to have a housefull of Charlotte's who very rarely get sick and when they do it's only a fraction of the miserableness that anyone else gets. I think being my firstborn she took all the good immunities from me and left little for the other two!
In fact i had to take her to the Dr last week (urine infection) and that was the first time she has been in nearly two years. Our Dr (who has been relieving for a year) didn't even know i had a third child, LOL! And needless to say i don't think Charlotte could remember ever being at the Dr, so she freaked out somewhat.
All i can say is bring on Summer Loving Fun!

Bestest Big Sister!

2009-06-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

Charlotte just amazes me on a daily basis and has always been good with her younger siblings. This morning she just blew us away though. Apparantly Maggie had woken in the night (Mummy and Daddy never heard a thing, la dee da....snore!), but Charlotte went in to her and took her back to her bed for the rest of the night. Nawwwww, she's such a little Mummy and i think the best big sister Maggie and Ryan could ask for!

The kids

2009-06-13T21:26:00.001-07:00

The Ultimate Battle

2009-06-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

AAAAAAARGH, i hate hate hate them. Totally evil little creatures called lice. They make you shiver and your head itch.
We recently had a serious couple of weeks of re-occurances with Charlotte. Thankfully no-one else in the family got them, but still one child is too much. We had been using the Moov, but they say you should change things every now and then as they become immune to treatments, so we also have used some emu soap. Didn't end up killing anything, but stunned them and made the eggs easy to remove. We also gave the hair straightening a go. Charlotte loved her straight hair (and you'll see in the photo it made her look awfully, scarily grown up). Still it did kill a few, but not enough. In the end it came down to checking and removing every night religiously to get rid of them. ICK, ICK, ICK. Really hoping to not have to deal with them again

Maggie's THIRD birthday

2009-06-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

We had her party at the local kids gym and it was fabulous. Easy, relatively cheap and a huge hit with the kids (big ones too). Fabulous time running around and the biggest hit was the big sponge pit. Just launch yourself into it for an absolute piece of brilliant fun!! Actually i think i need one at home!! It is a real workout trying to get back out, LOL!!!

2009-06-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

Hokay, so you know it's been too long when you forget your password!!
Been told off a couple of times lately too. Have to admit kinda got lazy here. Most everyone i know is on facebook now, so manage to cover most bases there and of course i am an fb addict. Have been trying to limit my puter time of late, so to be able to just jump on fb (daily) and make little comments has been the easiest. Still you can't write loads of gabble in there (as i seem to have just done).

Anyway quick update. We're all doing okay and life ticks by...
Okay, okay here goes.
Charlotte is an absolute treasure. She is a great daughter and a fab big sister. She is loving school and doing really well at it. She is the lead for her classrooms part of the school variety show coming up. She gets to play a kiwi, has one line and a whole song about her. Can't wait to see it.
Maggie is a gorgeous little blessing, just needs to bat her eyelids and you melt. She's very cool though and it's so nice to have little chats with her now. She has just started afternoon kindy and is loving it.
Ryan is a total complete bundle of mischief and cheekiness (on a whole new level to anything experienced with the girls), but is a real Mummie's boy too and gives the most loving cuddles. He is starting to say quite a bit now too.
Nothing really new with Daryl or myself. I'm sure i could write stuff, but no need to overdo the useless gabble.

Coverbaby!

2009-04-19T21:20:00.001-07:00

Am asking a super big favour of everyone (PLEASE :-) !!).

I have just entered Ryan into a competition to be on the cover of the Treasures Magazine. But we NEED your votes!

All you need to do is go to www.coverbaby.co.nz , search the name Ryan Bonis and put in your vote. Please forward this to all your friends as well and ask them to do the same. It would be soooooo cool to see our baby boy on the cover!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE and

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

My new favourite photo

2009-04-07T03:09:00.000-07:00

Anatoki

2009-04-06T17:47:00.001-07:00

On Saturday we had a fun family trip to Anatoki Salmon farm. Had a lovely morning where we all had a turn catching a fish, then had a play while they smoked our fish for us and what a yummy lunch!
Charlotte had a blast and even joined in with stabbing the fish thru the head to kill them. Maggie was more interested in playing in the water, but did pull in one fish and Ryan just had a blast running about.
Afterwards we went to the farm animals next door, where Charlotte became besotted with the bunnies and guinea pigs, Ryan made friends with a donkey who eeawed at him and Maggie got freaked out after the goose stole her bag of pellets from out of her hand.

Airport trip with Playcentre.

2009-04-06T17:39:00.001-07:00

What a fun day out. We had loads of fun watching the planes and a nice picnic outside. Then a lovely man showed us thru one of the hangars and we were allowed on an old pencil plane parked outside, where the kids were allowed right up front to play with the buttons and all. Woohoo!

Been a while!

2009-04-06T17:23:00.000-07:00

so here is a bit of an update and a few photos.
Ryan is just gorgeous! He's a real Mummies boy, not that i'm doing anything to discourage that. The best cuddles!! Although he gets jealous if i'm cuddling with the girls.
Maggie is growing up fast. She is just coming out of a testing the boundaries stage. She has a lot of gorgeous moments, but also moments where you think 'Uh-oh'. She has become quite proficient at lying and she's not quite 3 yet. She had her first official day at kindy yesterday, although will only be going on Mondays until around July.
Charlotte is doing really well at school and has just progressed from learning words to learning to spell them. She is also loving after school soccer and is just about to move up a class in her swimming. She's awesome!
Daryl and i are doing well. Our 8yr wedding anniversary today! Daryl has this week off work and while today is a wet slobbish DVD/computer day, we have been working on the house. We have pulled the wardrobe out of Ryan's room and changed it around. Have also changed Maggie's room around and are in the process of stripping wallpaper from a number of rooms. (All the kids rooms and hallway).
That's the bulk of us, hugs to all!

Sick bubba boy!

2009-02-27T13:30:00.000-08:00

Have had a pretty rough week this week with Ryan being very unwell. Started on Mon night with him being a bit irritable thru the night and by Tues night he had uncontrollable fevers. I had him dosed up on paracetamol, ibuprofen, was doing tepid baths and he was still burning up with fevers over 39 degrees. Poor miserable thing. Took him to the Dr on Wed (not my normal Dr who was away) and he said just a virus, nothing they can do... blah, blah. Woke up good on Thur, but had come out in a rash and by late afternoon he had the uncontrollable fever again so had him back to the Dr yesterday (my Dr this time). He got out the book on the jab reactions and everything fit Ryan's symptoms, so he literally has a 'textbook' reaction to his MMR jabs last week. Nice knowing now, but sadly we may still suffer the fevers on and off over the next week. Hoping for more off than on. We had a much better night last night. I managed to sleep in my bed and only got up to him three times. He still has the rash, but seems to be doing okay.
The silver lining in all this is being glad i got him immunised as if the dead virus cells can do this much damage i really wouldn't want him to get the real deal!!

Adam, Eve and the forbidden fruit - And they say history never repeats!

2009-02-20T13:11:00.000-08:00

It's is just human nature to want what you can't have. With young kids i am discovering that this must be an inherit part of our nature as even my little boy is more interested in what he is not allowed!
Now while i am so so so so NOT having any more kids, if i were to, i have come to the conclusion that i will start out with a box of toys in a clear corner that i will pretend said child is not allowed. All in the hope that when i am sidetracked they will go for those toys instead of the remotes, phone, DVD, anything in the cupboards we can reach, anything in the fridge we can reach....Dah de dah de dumpty do!!!!

Kaiteriteri

2009-02-09T15:13:00.001-08:00

We had a fabulous day in Kaiteri on Friday. In fact i had one of the best days ever! As a child we went camping there every year and it just bought back so many memories and it was so much fun sharing some of the fun things i did with my kids. We went crab and starfish hunting, swimming, dug in the sand and Charlotte even learnt to snorkel.
Maggie couldn't sit still. She was so cute running from here to there, she was just so excited and just loved jumping in the waves.
Ryan just loved eating the sand! He even took to using a shell to scoop it into his mouth, LOL!
Charlotte loved hunting for creatures, although as you'll see in the photo was a bit unsure about holding the crab!
I'm really looking forward to getting into camping again. Last time was two Christmases ago when we went to Mapua with friends. Last Christmas i had just had Ryan so stayed home while Daryl and Charlotte went camping in Kaikoura and this year we're in the new house and wanted to have some fun at home with our pool (which has been fabulous). Next year camping is definitely back on the menu though!

To cut or not to cut!

2009-02-02T12:06:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's not about pulling the kids away from the apron, it's about Mum's reluctantly cutting the ties that she has firmly KNOTTED around her child.
Charlotte had her first weekend away camping without Mum or Dad this weekend. She went to Pohara with her best friend and they had a ball. Didn't miss us at all! And came home buzzing.
On the other foot Mum and Dad were pretty uptight about letting her go in the first place. Had to have the very serious stranger danger talk. Hard to know how far to go on this topic with a 5yr old! Don't want to petrify them, but they need to know enough to be aware and keep safe.
Thankfully her bestie's Mum was fabulous with little old neurotic me and put up with upteen texts a day with a lot of patience and care!
Charlotte was bought home safe and sound yesterday and very tired! Very relieved parents at this end!!

Also had a babysitter to watch the littlies while we went to a wedding on Sat. More Mummy neurosis!! Daryl's cousins 16yr old daughter babysat for the first time (and did a fabulous job). Felt bad though, her first time babysitting our kids and she had to do the works. Feed them, get them ready for bed and actually into bed! All apparantly went well, although Maggie tried it on a bit at bedtime! When she got up in the morning i asked if she had fun with D. She said 'yes, she makes me so happy!'. Pretty good feedback for the babysitter.
Oh and i did manage to only ring once, after tea!

Pool fun

2009-02-01T18:58:00.001-08:00

The pool has just been so wonderful this summer. So nice to not have to pack a million bags to go swimming and nice not bringing loads of sand home after a day at the beach. Just jumping in the pool at our leisure. It's great! Charlotte's confidence has grown soooo much in the pool and she is swimming really well, under the water too. She is a real fish! It's a struggle to get her out and when she is out she's asking when she can get in, LOL!

Playhouse renovation

2009-02-01T18:48:00.000-08:00

The girls and i painted up the playhouse. Also put some of our old carpet in and it's so lovely in there now. The girls have a blast playing house.

Rock and Horror!!!

2009-01-12T17:00:00.000-08:00

I went to a Hens night on Sat night. We went to the playhouse, which is a restaurant, but they have themed nights and kinda put on a show. It's mostly actors messing about with the customers and lots of people pulled up on stage etc. Was loads of fun though and our theme was Rocky Horror picture show. Was a very funny night! Scary photos, but here goes!...

'09 Afresh

2009-01-08T12:04:00.000-08:00

Things are starting to look up. Have decided that while 2009 really didn't start well, it just means all the bad has been gotten out of the way at once and 2009 can still be GREAT! Kids are all mostly better and our little Sub is home and doing well (5 different medications though). Sadly his year isn't fab yet as he is (much to his desperate frustration) separated still from his beloved Poppy, who really mistimed things and is on heat.
We are having some truly fabulous days at the moment and are really getting great use out of the pool. It's usually a battle to get the kids out and when they are out, they're constantly asking when they can go back in. The nice thing about having a pool (for a family of three kids) is we can go swimming whenever without having to pack half the house in the car for an outing!
Spent a good part of yesterday at Mapua though visiting camping friends from the Coast. Was a lovely little outing. Stupendously HOT though. Kids had a ball playing in the sand and mud and paddling in the sea.
I have taken on a pamphlet run to motivate me out walking and i am loving it. I was always finding excuses not to get out walking, but now i HAVE to and it's brilliant. I look forward to each walk. Mum often comes too and it's a nice moment away from the kids. I am starting to notice a change in myself for it too. I am getting a little fitter (there's a big hill involved) and am finding myself a lot more motivated and positive minded. IT'S FAB!
So here's to the rest of 2009, which is going to be a great year for ME!

A fun farm day

2009-01-04T23:09:00.000-08:00

My year 2009 so far (dated 2 Jan 2009)

2009-01-01T10:45:00.000-08:00

My year has not started in a way i hope it to finish. There have already been highs (although nothing truly flashy) and some pretty good lows and we're only just starting day two!!!
After having a rather viral year last year with the kids (specifically Ryan) i was really hoping for a healthy 2009. Now while the kids are all doing okay now, the new year did click over with two of my kids still on antibiotics for tonsilitis (which we apologetically have given to the cousins over Christmas) and Charlotte was still needing a little pamol for her sore throat.
For new years we went to Daryl's cousins in Wakefield and since we were out that far spent the night at his Mothers rather than come home. I left the party at 9pm with tired kiddies and Daryl and his Mum arrived home at 10.30pm, at which point we all retired to bed. Yep New Years is pretty uneventful these days with little kiddies! Daryl got up early to the kids and i had my first (hopefully not only!) sleep-in for the year. Bliss!
From there Daryl and his Mum cleaned out her downstairs and i minded the kids upstairs. Lots of fun playing in Nana's garden!
However once we got home mid afternoon we discovered our little dog Sub missing! The back yard is fenced off and they have access thru the cat flap to the end room of the house where they have beds set up. Poppy was still happily resting on her chair, but no sign of our noisy boy. He had chewed and bashed a part of the wooden fence till it gave way (Naughty boy). I called the council and soon got a return call from the dog controller. He had been picked up at 12.30am a good couple of kms down the road! However his story does not end there! The dog controller gave him his own cage at the pound as he's so small. Was very concientious about Sub and so after getting halfway home turned around and went back to give him a smaller water bowl. He was concerned the one he gave him was too big for him, but didn't even think about the
4L container of detergent in the corner. Once he arrived back in the morning he discovered Sub had knocked it over, the pack had split and Sub was wobbling around in concentrated detergent, so off to the vet with him, where he has stayed overnight, has been fed charcoal to help absorb the poison and is on antibiotics for an ulcerated mouth and nasty chesty cough from ingestion! The dog controller goes back to see him at 9 this morning. Am so hoping he's coming home! Dog controller feels really bad, i feel really bad he even got out and what a start to the new year!!

2008-12-30T11:23:00.000-08:00

Just wanting to wish everyone a Happy New Year for tonight. Hope everyone has a fab start to 2009 and may the fun continue on throughout the whole year!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-29T09:59:00.001-08:00

Hello,
Just coming in for the post Christmas catch up.
Right our Christmas. Hmmm! Good stuff first. We had a fantastic Christmas. Of course the kids were all terribly spoilt! Highlights were a bike, secret diary and snorkel and flippers for Charlotte, guitar, bubble machine and books for Maggie and books and race car track for Ryan. (The race car track is actually a winner with all the kids! )
Daryl and i also got spoilt by Mum and Dad. We got a voucher for a night in a 4 star motel in Hamner Springs and tickets to the hot pools there. We've decided to use it in April for our anniversary (it's getting cooler then, so good for the hot pools).
We had a lovely breakfast at home with Mum and Dad and then went to Daryl's cousins for the rest of the day. Pretty much most of Daryl's family was there (including his Uncle and cousins from up North) and we had a load of fun as did the kids. Especially good were the teenagers there who had fun taking on babysitting duties. Kids and teenagers had fun playing together which meant i had a few opportunities to sit and relax. Yay!
Did have a kind of sad moment though, watching Daryl's Uncle Pat play with Ryan. Just thought it really should've been Grandad!!
Boxing day was then spent at MILs farm with loads more family visiting, more good food and loads more fun for the kids, especially the rides on the trailer behind the lawnmower!

On the downside now, Christmas Eve day Maggie woke miserable and was diagnosed with tonsilitis. Since then Ryan and Charlotte have come down with a nasty virus (fever, sore throat) . I had Ryan at the Dr a couple of days ago, but was just a sore throat, however on going back yesterday he now has tonsilitis too. Charlotte is still in the sore throat stage, but the Dr gave me a prescription for antibiotics to fill if she gets worse, so at least i hopefully won't have to go back (for the rest of this year!). Anyway she was feeling a bit better yesterday and has gone to Blenheim for a couple of nights with Mum.

Other than that we have been having fun around the house. Daryl has been working hard in the garden and we've been enjoying the good weather and the pool (30 degrees).

Hope everyone else is having a lovely festive season and enjoying good family, friends, food and health.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2008-12-23T10:44:00.000-08:00

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!
I hope everyone has a fabulous day tomorrow filled with LOVE, HUGS and LOTS OF MERRYMENT!

2008-12-16T14:13:00.000-08:00

JUST WANTING TO WISH EVERYONE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! HOPE YOU ALL HAVE SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND A FANTASTIC 2009!

The little climber strikes again!

2008-12-16T14:10:00.000-08:00

Superhero costume party

2008-12-06T11:05:00.001-08:00

Toddler mutant ninja Ryan.

This costume belonged to her Daddy when he was 5!

Not a superhero, but a super cute princess.

When will i learn to take togs everywhere!?!

Party food, must stuff face!

beach fun with playcentre

2008-12-04T16:27:00.000-08:00

We had an awesome morning at the beach. The water was lovely and warm. And as you'll see in the photos i should've taken togs. Maggie had fun with her best friend jumping in the waves and Ryan just had fun shoving whatever he could in his mouth.
The only not so nice part was the amount of beach we brought home with us!

Learning to throw a frisbee at school atheltics.

2008-11-26T17:15:00.000-08:00

Siblings

2008-11-26T17:13:00.000-08:00

More wedding shots.

2008-11-26T16:56:00.001-08:00

The wedding was beautiful, the bride gorgeous and even the groom scrubbed up quite well.

The Bride and Groom

2008-11-26T16:54:00.000-08:00

Ryan and Pop

2008-11-26T16:53:00.001-08:00

I just love this photo.

Ryan and Pop

2008-11-26T16:53:00.000-08:00

I just love this photo.

All dressed up

2008-11-26T16:47:00.000-08:00

for my brothers wedding.

Ryan

2008-11-17T16:41:00.001-08:00

Yep, he's definitely a climber!!!

Maggie

2008-11-17T16:39:00.001-08:00

Blonde haired, blue eyed princess.

Charlotte

2008-11-17T16:36:00.001-08:00

Grown up and gorgeous.

Nice guy or Mr Super Cheeeeeeese?

2008-11-10T14:46:00.001-08:00

Can you guess who i'm talking about? I know politics are a touchy subject, but this is my blog and it's a place for me to write my views and toy over how i'm feeling about the new government.
I am not a fan of Mr Keys. That does not mean i am anti National (although i am not a fan of their leader choices - Didn't like their last choice either, in fact John Key is an improvement), (nor does saying that mean i am anti Labour), but i just really find John Key way OTT!!
He is just too cheesy and cliched (kiss the baby on the head) for my liking and i feel that he comes across as trying too hard, which makes it all seem fake. This in turn makes me wonder who the real John Key is and do we really know who we have chosen to Lead our country?
I have to say i kinda feel that he has made it in by default. People were'nt voting him in persay, but instead were NOT voting in Labour!
However, the last few days i have heard on tv and the radio a few comments by people about how John Key really is a genuinely nice guy. Am i seeing thru the facade or am i just a beeatch and have it totally wrong? If i am wrong and he truly is the super Mr nice guy this then raises the question of whether he is the kind of person to lead the country. He has some tough calls to make and tough positions to take, can he hack it?
Time will tell and with three years minimum ahead of us i sincerely hope to be proven wrong.

School twighlight carnival

2008-11-09T13:11:00.000-08:00

Photo of Charlotte with a candle she made and My two cuties with their faces painted. (Maggie was at home asleep on the couch with Daryl).

PARTY!

2008-11-09T13:02:00.000-08:00

A nice simple party. Was supposed to be at Rabbit Island, but crappy weather, so we all crammed in at home instead. Still everyone had a nice time and we had some lovely mothers help clean up at the end.
Ryan had a great time. Got some lovely pressies, that his sisters are enjoying as well.
Should be doing housework today, but the plumber is here and has cut off my water. Still yippee, means my new shower will be running by the end of the day and i'll have my washing machine usuable again.

My Baby is ONE!

2008-11-06T15:43:00.000-08:00

My Baby turned 1 yesterday. Both happy and sad about the whole thing. It is always a wonderful achievement, but it's all happened so fast!
We had a relatively quiet day at home yesterday (my poor wee man has tonsilitis), but he did thoroughly enjoy helping to bake his cake. And we are going to be having a family bbq on Sunday at Rabbit Island, which will also be to celebrate Daryls' birthday.

Our little florist

2008-10-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

Whaddya mean paint the paper?

2008-10-29T16:28:00.000-07:00

Places I (Ryan) shouldn't be

2008-10-29T16:26:00.001-07:00

Chore bores!

2008-10-18T20:45:00.000-07:00

Well, one of my most hated chores is dishwashing and our dishwasher broke last night. Argh! Needless to say DD1 had her first introduction to washing dishes last night. She loved it (don't think that will last) and i have to say it was kind of nice to spend time with her doing the dishes and me drying.
Really could have done with a little portion of the big lotto win though, just so i could get a new dishdrawer and while i'm at it i need a new insinkerator and ....

Bzzzzzz

2008-10-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

Charlotte as a bumblebee with her class for the masked parade. Her and two friends even got their photo in tonights paper.

Sleepy? Yeah right! Cute? Absolutely!

2008-10-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

Look at moi!

2008-10-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

I can stand!

The typical bloke award goes to...

2008-10-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

RYAN! Men always feel the need to butt in and take over!

A fun afternoon in the garden

2008-10-13T15:43:00.000-07:00

So snaphappy Mum got snaphappy.

Clean up

2008-10-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

When i was pregnant with Ryan i remember someone saying to me that boys were easier to wipe clean in the nappy compartment. I have to say i totally disagree! Girls a quick couple of wipes straight thru and you're done. Boys are so much more involved. You have to lift bits, wipe over and around bits and then add to that the fact he won't sit still!!! I've had two lovely girls who have mostly always just lain there and let me get it done, now i have a boy who insists on trying to at least turn over, but mostly he just wants to get away. I have managed to side track him of late with an empty wipes packet, but dread the day that it's no longer as entertaining as Ryan currently thinks it is.

How to keep kids from escaping so you can get a photo...

2008-10-09T19:27:00.000-07:00

Put them in a tree!!

T-rubble

2008-10-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

I seem to be getting an awful lot of pictures along the same theme. Hmmmm, i think we're in trouble!

Feral wild child

2008-10-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

Zonked!

2008-10-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

Feed us, go on! PLEASE!

2008-10-06T15:16:00.000-07:00

Painting at playcentre tastes so good!

2008-09-24T18:45:00.001-07:00

Uh-Oh!

2008-09-24T02:44:00.000-07:00

Ouchies!

2008-09-18T15:31:00.000-07:00

My dear wee Maggie (who has followed in her brothers footsteps and now has a very nasty flu) got into her sisters room this morning and proceeded to attempt to use nail polish as eyeliner. Ouchies! Needless to say a fair bit of screaming ensued.

That has all added to my bad day. I only managed a few hours sleep as Ryan was struggling to sleep due to being very snotted up. And on the way to take Charlotte to school i grabbed the wrong keys and locked myself out of the house.
I think i'm going back to bed and we'll start the day again!

Snuggle buds!

2008-09-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

I scream for ice cream!

2008-09-16T13:50:00.000-07:00

What the?

2008-09-07T18:11:00.000-07:00

My two year old is learning to read and spell. What the? I actually think it is more of a memory thing and oh so trying to be like her big sister, but we were blown away by our wee Maggie last night.
Charlotte has flash cards of words to learn for school, which Daryl did with her last night. Maggie is always interested in this process, so Daryl did it with her afterwards. She got four right (Mum, Dad, Look and my). What the?
A little later on at bedtime i was reading a book with her that has animals and their names. We used to just look at the animal and make the noise, but since Charlotte has been learning letters Maggie had been pointing to the words and coming up with random letters, so for the last few times of reading this story (last time about a week ago) i have been spelling the word with her. Last night without prompting she spelt dog, cat, pig and goat. What the?
Watch this space.

Dimple boy

2008-09-02T02:47:00.000-07:00