Reflections.....

1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either, just bugger off and leave me alone.

2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and a flat tyre.

3. The darkest hours come just before the dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbour's milk and newspaper, that's the time to do it.

4. Sex is like air. It only becomes really important when you are not getting any.

5. Don't aspire to be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.

6. Remember, no-one is listening until you fart.

7. Never forget that you are unique, like everyone else.

8. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

9. If you think that nobody cares whether you are dead or alive, try missing a few mortgage repayments.

10. Before you judge someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you judge them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

11. If at first you don't succeed, avoid skydiving.

12. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

13. Have you ever lent someone $20 and never seen that person gain? It was probably worth it.

14. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.

15. Some days we are the flies, some days we are the windscreens.

16. Don't worry, it only seems kinky the first time.

17. Good judgement comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgement.

18. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.

19. A closed mouth gathers no feet.

20. There are two theories about how to win an argument with a woman. Neither one works.

21. Generally speaking, you aren't learning much if you're lips are moving.

22. Never miss a good chance to shut up.

23. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

24. When we are born we are naked, wet, hungry and we get smacked on the bum. From there on in, life gets worse.

25. The most wasted day of all is one in which we have not laughed.

26. Remember not to forget that which you do not need to know.

Go, You Good Thing!.....

New Zealand Maori through to Churchill Cup final

New Zealand Maori breezed into the final of the Churchill Cup tournament by beating Ireland A 50-22 in Exeter, England, this morning (NZ time).

The defending champions will play England Saxons in the Cup decider on Sunday morning (NZ time) at Twickenham.

.....

Initially, the Maori had few opportunities to execute their trademark backplay and had to rely on counter attacks sparked by skipper Rua Tipoki, wing Hosea Gear and first five-eighth Tamati Ellison to keep the Irish honest.

.....

Ellison cut the deficit with a fifth minute penalty before his side took the lead from their first breakout of the match.

A clever Shannon Paku kick through after a lineout saw Gear swoop for his side's opening try, which Ellison converted.

.....

A Gear surge close to the line was finished off by Paku whose try was converted by Ellison in the 31st minute.

With the Irish down to 14 men after halfback Frank Murphy was sinbinned in the 35th minute for a blatant offside, Ellison touched down after beating a couple of tackles.

.....

Gear took three minutes to double his tally and May atoned for his sin binning with a couple by the 56th minute, with Ellison converting all three.

Ahoy, Me Hearties.....

A10 has been waiting to go and see the new Pirates of the Carribean movie (I've been waiting, too, but my focus is more on Cap'n Jack than the movie itself, lol). I hope the people behind him can see past his hair when The Lad and him go this afternoon:

Go Ahead - Make My Breakfast.....

I heard a few muffled chortles behind me this morning as I was rattling round in the kitchen preparing the breakfast, and this is the sight that greeted me when I turned around, lol:


Fresh out of bed and into the Dress Up Box! Complete with hat, shades, dagger and gun - you gotta love a 4 year old boy!

NZ Maori Crush Canada.....

NZ MAORI (A Tahana 2 P Te Whare S Waldrom G Horton C Bruce J Kawau T Ellison W Smith tries, Bruce 7 con).

The Magic Show (Part Two).....

So the costumes are sorted, the tricks have been polished and the delivery is faultless after all day has been spent perfecting THE SHOW! The photos don't really do the event justice, as it was pitch black, with a single spotlight trained on the performer - the atmosphere was electric (and then the flash lit up the whole place every time I took a photo - ah, well!)


A10 fills in the starting hiccup with an impromptu adlib version of his finale. This version involves this nail that mysteriously disappears:


After some careful thought on just where that sneaky nail may have got to:


It is discovered behind his ear!!!!! I don't know why we never thought to look there in the first place ;o)


So L4 is now ready with his "Super Dooper Card Trick": It involves these cards:


Then some very intense and very verbose wand waving and magic conjuring:


And amazingly, this happened! I KNOW!!!!! We could hardly believe it ourselves (and I don't think L4 gets it to this day), but there was lots of suitably impressed applause because the delivery really was impeccable:


Don't you just adore that lippy application?


Another little seamless-delivery hiccup, so The Lad treats us to one of his Amazing Card Tricks (if you look closely at the cards they aren't actually the same ones, lol! - it's not that he's useless and we're unobservant, it's just that he did it twice and the photos are a mixture of the two tricks). So he hands A10 two random cards:


A10 places them in the deck, wherever he wants:


Then The Lad shuffles the two piles together on the table:


With a flick of his wrist, the entire pack goes flying across the table bar two cards - astoundingly, they're the one's A10 put back in the deck!


Now it's L9's turn, The Lad is asked to choose a card, any card, without letting her see (she kindly turned her back so he could point it out for the camera):


After a few re-deals and repeats of "What column is it in now":


Almost like MAGIC! She is able to select his card from the entire deck of cards!:


Now it's H7's turn to do a suspiciously similar trick! A10 chooses a card from her selection:


H7 does a few redeals and queries "What column is it in?" a few times:


And that MAGIC must have been strong, cos it hung around long enough to enable H7 to correctly point out THE CARD!:


Now, seeing as how we're running with a theme of suspiciously similar at the moment, A10's next trick involves this nail again:


It gets placed carefully in his hand - he reminds us at this point that he hasn't read this trick anywhere, he's figured it out all by himself:


One MAGIC clap, and the nail disappears:


Any ideas on where it could have got to? We were scratching our heads too:


Would you believe it? It was behind his ear again!!!!! And do you know what else? He ended up with quite a collection because *three* more nails magically disappeared from his hand and ended up behind his ear. I tell you what.....:


Back to H7 now, and her amazingly powerful eyes! She closed them while I shook the dice and showed the audience what I had rolled:


I placed it inside the little black canister, and then H7 placed that canister inside another equally black and non-see-through canister, waved her magic wand and was able to tell us all just what number I had rolled! How *did* she do it?:


Now L9's Amazingly Clever Cards. They could not only hear what she was saying, but they could answer tricky spelling questions as well! L9 would ask "What does A-(put down a card)-C-(put down another card)-E-(put down yet another card) spell?" The very next card that was turned face-up was, and I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself - AN ACE!!!:


Right up to a JACK we sat through, er, I mean, her cards managed!:


H7 again and her amazing disappearing red ball:


It started out in that cup, she put the lid on it, waved her magic finger (the wand was probably being re-charged for the next trick) for a bit:


And VOILA! She removed the lid and the ball had disappeared - we checked behind A10's ear, but, alas - that cute little red ball is lost forever:


So L4 takes centre stage again, he presented us with his magic trick tin, put the lid on it, said some magic words, and took the lid off again, and we were once again amazed at this boys delivery of non-tricks! ;o):


H7 shows us a plain old playing card she has bent slightly so it will stand on it's end:


Then horrifies us all by attempting to balance the (almost-)good stemware on said card - NO! Don't smash the glass!!! - But Wait! - What's all the panic for? We forgot she was MAGIC and of course it balanced there quite nicely:


A10 chooses a card from L9's deck and shows the enraptured audience:


L9 shuffles them all back together and begins to peel them off the top of the deck, one by one:


All of a sudden she stops! "Is THIS your card?" she queries of A10!:


A final TA DAH and the lights went on and the curtains came down to thundering applause as the evening draws to a close:

The Magic Show (Part One):

While they were mucking around (anyone who has performed or been an audience participant in any Family Show will know what I mean here) The Lad and I showed A10 our chicken trick:

If I'm ever round you and you have a few minutes to spare, let me show this delightfully long tale about a chicken and a hedgehog:


L9 calls us back to attention and asks us whether we could get the baked bean tin off the paper without touching the tin?:


We tried all sorts of whipping the paper out from underneath type tricks, till we gave up and L9 showed us her way - she simply rolled the paper up and as she rolled it, the tin slid off the paper. Tricky!:


Then H7 shows us her amazing ball-suspended-in-a-sealed-glass-box-on-a-string trick - how will she ever get that ball out of that box without touching it?:


Of course, all it took was a few magic words and that box literally flew right apart, leaving the ball free to dangle (at least, I *think* that was the essence of the trick - she's not the loudest of public speakers:


And for her next trick ..... she is going to pass this nail right through the palm of her hand!


Slam! She stabs it through her hand and ..... what? Where Is It? "Ooops, sorry!" she says "*That* was the disappearing nail trick - NOT the passing through my hand one!"


A10 has this magic coin:


And a few waves of his hand, some intense audience interaction and he STILL has this magic coin:


So L9 shows us her amazing one-loop-into-two-intertwined-loops trick:


Then L4 shows us how he can stick the magic coin to his forehead:


Say a few magic words:


And the coin disappears!:


They were booed off the stage and told to practice tomorrow and polish their acts, and we'd sit down to a REAL magic show tomorrow night - I can hardly wait!

The Boat Race.....

Because of the America's Cup racing being on the news a lot lately and the new Pirates movie is out - A10 has been busy creating, testing, re-building, re-hashing and repairing various trials of cardboard boats:


This is Draft 3 of the Phoenix, and it stayed afloat for more than 24 hours!:


It's still evolving even, as it now boasts two sails and a name.....

Buddies, Booze, Blues and Beads.....

The lovely S9:


Took these cool photos for me today. There was A10 getting a few guitar lessons from the man himself:



The girlies were well-ensconced in the beadwork:


So that left Kate and I to - um - B52 it!:



I love Kate's welcoming nature - I love the way you feel relaxed and at home the minute you cross the threshold, you feel sated when you leave because you've been spolied for choice by this devastatingly good barista chick and her gourmet palate, and all the way through the visit you've been treated to wonderfully rich conversation and no-one ever wants to leave!

Swimming Lessons.....

Shockingly bad light, but I'll publish them anyway.

L4 riding his horse-noodle out to the middle of the pool and back:


Then kick-powering his speedboat-noodle along the lane and back:


Him and the other two who are in his class kick-power the big mat down the pool and back:


Then practising his bubble-blowing:


I wonder what he can actually *see* through his very funky, green turtle goggles sometimes:


The Big Kids lesson now, and here's L9 showing them how it's done:



H7's turn:


And then A10:



They're all coming along in leaps and bounds, they'll officially be fsh in no time at all!

A Bowling We Will Go.....

But you could have probably guessed that by our spunky footwear, lol!:


H7 in action, not quite topping her Personal Best this game, but giving it a good go nevertheless:


Kate set a difficult target for me to chase in scoring 103 this morning - my competitive nature tells me I'll have to step it up a bit for next week - I scored 102 today, my best so far this term.

The Do's.....

The boys are still keen to have their hair 'up' in public *some*times:

New Zealand Maori Squad Named.....

New Zealand Maori coaches Donny Stevenson and Shane Howarth today announced the New Zealand Maori squad for the 2007 Churchill Cup tournament in England. The squad is (province and iwi):

Callum Bruce - Otago, Ngati Kahungunu
Keith Cameron* - Otago, Te Whanau Apanui
Aled de Malmanche* - Waikato, Tainui
Tamati Ellison - Wellington, Ngati Porou
Hosea Gear - Wellington, Ngati Porou
Brendan Haami - Taranaki, Te Ati Awa
Glen Horton* - Otago, Tuwharetoa
Jason Kawau* - Southland, Ngati Apa
Tanerau Latimer - Bay of Plenty, Ngai Te Rangi
Angus Macdonald - Auckland, Ngapuhi
Luke Mahoney - Wellington, Te Ati Awa
Ben May* - Tasman, Tuhoe
Liam Messam - Waikato, Ngai Tuhoe
Kristian Ormsby - Counties Manukau, Ngati Maniapoto
Shannon Paku - Wellington, Ngai Tuhoe
Isaac Ross* - Canterbury, Kai Tahu
Chris Smylie - Otago, Ngati Mutunga
Warren Smith - Bay of Plenty, Ngati Kahungunu
Dwayne Sweeney* - Waikato, Tainui
Anthony Tahana - Bay of Plenty, Te Arawa
Pehi Te Whare - Southland, Ngati Maniapoto
Hayden Triggs* - Manawatu, Ngati Kahungunu
Rua Tipoki (captain) - Canterbury, Te Whanau Apanui
Hoani Tui* - Wellington, Ngati Apa
Scott Waldrom - Taranaki, Ngati Porou
Craig West* - Waikato, Ngati Apakura

* Denotes new cap

A total of 10 new players have been included in the squad for the tournament, which will be held from 18 May – 2 June.

New Zealand Maori coach Donny Stevenson said the squad was well-balanced with a good mix of experienced players and newcomers.

“This is the beauty of this team - we are able to give young players the opportunity to play international rugby. A couple of the new players came to our attention during last year’s Air New Zealand Cup, which highlights the importance and value of this domestic competition,” Stevenson said.

The Churchill Cup tournament has previously been held in North America but will this year be staged in England.

“There is an air of excitement about the change of venue. This is new territory for us but that is the exciting challenge. We hope that the strong expat Kiwi community in the UK will come out and support us,” Stevenson added.

It will be the first time since 1998 that New Zealand Maori will play in the United Kingdom after playing matches in Scotland that year.

adidas Head of Rugby Nick Drake said the apparel supplier was delighted that one of New Zealand’s most iconic rugby teams would be in action in England.

“This will be a fantastic opportunity to see one of the world’s most exciting teams playing in England. New Zealand Maori are more than just a rugby team – they represent one of the unique cultures of New Zealand's society and we are proud to be associated with the team. We wish them the very best of luck in defending the Churchill Cup,” Drake said.

TV3 will televise New Zealand Maori pool matches and the final live.

Churchill Cup tournament (kick off times local)
Friday 25 May: New Zealand Maori v Canada, Northampton at 8.00pm
Tuesday 29 May: New Zealand Maori v Ireland A, Exeter at 8.00pm
Saturday 2 June: Churchill Cup finals day, Twickenham

Happy Mothers' Day.....

After having breakfast cooked for me, A10 and I sped off to league for the morning, and were greeted by these balloons on the gate when we got home:


And we had to dodge this "I Love U....." banner to get inside:


".....Mum" it said on the other side:


And then I got to read all my lovely cards, unwrap my new pyjamas, and we all popped balloons with little love notes and dark chocolate scorched almonds inside.

Preamble for the next photo:

Thursday May 3rd:
L9 "Can I brush your hair Mum?"
Me "Dearest, can you snap this brush unbelievably tangled in my hair please?"
The Lad: "Hold on, I'll get the bolt cutters"
Hairdresser "Wow, that *is* a big chunk out of the back of your really long hair, isn't it?"

So now I have short hair ;o)

Nesting.....

After a late lunch we headed off to Hamilton for the afternoon to visit Uncle Graeme and Aunty Sokchea in their new house:



The kids had a ball climbing the huge tree in the back yard:


When L9 decided she'd like to see if she could make it on to the roof of the garage from the tree, we handed her a broom and told her to get sweeping ;o)


Predictably, it wasn't long before they were all sweeping the roof:


And at the bottom was L4, who was sweeping the grass, lol. He raked up all the mess and threw it in big armfuls into the wheelbarrow then dumped it round the back onto Aunty Sokchea's newly created compost heap:



After christening the new barbecue (and adding "Install Exterior Light" to Uncle Graeme's list of jobs to do), we sat round chatting while we waited for our dinner to settle. We can't wait for our newest little cousin to arrive, it's all very exciting:

It's Winter Sports Time.....

So that translates to a loss of any weekend jaunts for a few months!

A10 plays rugby on Saturday and league on Sunday, and L9 and H7 play netball on Saturday mornings. Next year L4 will add his sport to the mix, I'm sure:


This is the first year the girls have played netball, previously they have played rugby:



They did really well and learned heaps on their first day:



After a bit of a shaky start, L9 was awarded Player of The Day, which she was absolutely stoked with:

Kiwi Nostalgia.....

Family Fun Day.....

It was L4's turn to organise the Family Fun Night this week, and he opted for the bmx track, followed by barbecued sausages at Pilot Bay, then home for a DVD and popcorn:

I tell you, since this boy has decided he can ride a bike, not alot fazes him:




H7 was undaunted as well:




A10 hates this photo, but I published it anyway so you could see how much 'air' he caught:


After some minor repairs, L9 was away:


Then we went to the beach for a play and some dinner:




A quick bath before we settled in to watch Shark Boy and Lava Girl, and The Fantastic Four. Goggles in the bath are a new craze since we've re-started taking swimming lessons:

Luther Vandross.....

Back when I was a child,
Before life removed all the innocence,
My father would lift me high,
And dance with my mother and me,
And then...
Spin me around til' I fell asleep,
Then up the stairs he would carry me,
And I knew for sure I was loved

If I could get another chance,
Another walk, another dance with him,
I'd play a song that would never, ever end
How I'd love love love...
To dance with my father again.

When I and my mother would disagree,
To get my way I would run from her to him.
He'd make me laugh just to comfort me,
Then finally make me do just what my mama said.

Later that night when I was asleep,
He left a dollar under my sheet.
Never dreamed that he would be gone from me.

If I could steal one final glance,
One final step,
One final dance with him,
I'd play a song that would never ever end.
Cause I'd love love love, to dance with my father again.

Sometimes I'd listen outside her door
And I'd hear how my mama cried for him
I pray for her even more than me...
I pray for her even more than me.....

I know I'm praying for much too much,
But could you send the only man she loved.
I know you don't do it usually,
But dear Lord she's dying,
To dance with my father again.

Every night I fall asleep and this is all I ever dream...

Anyone For Tea?.....

We all got dressed up for the Victorian Tea Party we had at The Lovely Kate's house:






Sorry, Julie, couldn't resist:


Bella gave us a quick peep at the fabulous sparkly dress she had stashed in her car (don't you love the green Doc's?):


The best china was in use, and the silver was polished perfectly, nothing more than we deserved, dahling:


And how was that table? The floral tablecloth was the perfect backdrop for all those delicacies:

The Murder House.....

Well, that's what we used to call it when we were little, but it's nothing like that these days! The kids love their six-monthly visits to Jane and Kelly at the local school dental clinic:


Even though L9 has had two teeth pulled in the last three weeks due to abcesses and L4 has to go back because he has a hole in one tooth, right where the two teeth sandwich together and it's hard to get in and clean properly with the toothbrush, so he needs to use his flosser more often.