Movember.....

We can't stop cracking up every time we look at The Lad! We're so used to seeing him with his goatee that we just dissolve in fits of laughter every time we look at him sans facial hair. Ah well, what''s a husband for if you can't ridicule him every once in a while:


Here he is as we're used to seeing him, before he went all nudey on us:

A Variation On The Washing Mountain.....

I know I need to fold the washing when the kids start saying things like "Let's go jump on the washing mountain!" or "I've got no (whatever)'s" - because we all have a million "whatever" 's - pairs of underpants, socks, singlets, t-shirts, shorts, skirts, dresses, long pants, jerseys, etc.. And these days it's getting a bit harder to find a home for said mountain, especially now we don't have a spare room (whose Big Idea was it to have all these bloody kids?), or even a spare bed for that matter, and now that we're down to one two-seater in the lounge suite stakes (does it count as a suite if there's only one item? - honestly, we're like the beginning of The Simpsons when the TV gets turned on, when they all sprint to the one couch and try to all fit).

The girls have a new washing basket in their room and they empty it into mine once a day (well, it saves on actually picking your clothes up off the floor and putting them back in your drawer!), and when mine is full we get a Washing Tower. Joy of Joys for me - a Tower of dirty washing patiently waiting for me to magically turn it into a Mountain of clean washing. Every Bloody Day.

Balagan Farm.....

Brownies was at Balagan Farm this afternoon, and the other kids were a bit lucky that I was on Mother Help so they got to tag along too!:





There were loads of new babies up there to feed:





And cuddle:



And pat:

Brann's Farm.....

We picked L9 up from Guide Camp today. She'd spent the weekend out at one of our fave places for the summer, Branns Farm, so while we were there we took The Lad on a bit of a tiki haere. There was Thomas and Harold:


This *very* cute Highland calf:


This very handsome ;o) Highland bull:



And the very cool and funky log cabin we are definitely going to stay in next time we're there:

Minden and L'Anson's Bush.....

H7, L5 and I set out on a bit of a wander mission this morning in our quest to see a bit more of this region that we live in.

We started at one of the Minden walkways:




This tree looked a lot more imposing that it does in this photo - it definitely looked like a very climbable specimen and we thought we might try it on the way back to the car:


L5 was complaining that his legs were getting itchy from all the grass - not too surprising really, when you see the height of some of it along the way. It made us wonder how many people frequent this particular walkway:


Then we hopped in the car and drove down the road a bit to have a jack-nohe round L'Anson's Bush. It was very cool and definitely worth another visit, perhaps with a picnic and some food for the ducks:





I didn't have the zoom lens on the camera, so it's a bit hard to see this patchy sheep in the paddock across the stream:



We have made a bit of a habit of meeting new canine friends on our little soujourns lately - today we met Rastus:

Kitchen Cupboards Back.....

After waiting for a week to be able to use the kitchen cupboards and drawers again, it's almost like having a new kitchen. The dark chocolate brown colour might take a bit of getting used to, but it's amazing what a lick of paint and new handles can do:

Sparkler Fun.....

Nush gave L5 some sparklers in his birthday pressie and he's been waking up in the morning saying "We forgot to do the sparklers last night AGAIN!".

This morning, he put the sparklers under his pillow with his jamies so that he would remember when it was bedtime and he'd get to stay up late (because it's daylight savings now) till it was dark.

Yay, it worked, and we had some pre-Guy Fawkes fun:

XBox.....

A11 hired out an XBox this week, and we ahrdly got him off the couch. One good thing that came of it was that he got all his jobs done lightening-fast of a morning ;o)

He had a mate over to help him conquer one of the games, which they managed to do the day before he had to take it back:

Happy Birthday Mykel.....

We gathered at the park after drama to wish our friend Mykel a very happy birthday:


Him and his Mum Kerry are regular after-drama-park-dwellers with us, and very cool peeps:



My first cuddles with the gorgeous Kinsee - I managed to make her cry a total of five times before her mother stole her back ;o)

Tui.....

We've had a bit of a flurry of Tui lately, L9 and The Lad were enthralled with three of them in one tree singing to each other outside her bedroom window:

The SandMaid.....

We went to Memorial Park with some of our mates today and the girls spent ages making a mermaid in the sand, she had glorious curves, a sea lettuce tail and sea lettuce hair, a sea lettuce necklace and shell faacial features:

Iris'.....

I love Iris', especially purple ones. About 4 years ago I got these bulbs from a friend and planted them in this pot so I wouldn't forget where they were - and then promptly forgot all about them.

Then all of a sudden, all this time later, they appeared! Who ever said I didn't have a green thumb?:

Summer's Coming Again.....

With visitors (who came bearing Banana Bread - yumm!) who were keen to get wet 'n wild, we didn't need much persuading to get the togs on and the water buckets on the tramp:



But we needed a more constant supply, so Caleb was in charge of the hose:


Remember drinking from the sprinkler in the backyard when you were a kid?:


And 'skipping' with the water from the hose?:


Roll on summer!

Old Forest School.....

We went visiting today and knew we were in for a treat when we saw the driveway:


We had to stop in said driveway before we went any further to let the horse-mad girlies get an immediate fix:


Can you sympathise with this mare, being so pregnant she had to roll herself back to her feet, lol!:


On our little tiki-haere we came across The Bike. Now the owner had never (yep, never) ridden a bike before last Christmas when her husband bought her this stunner:


Not only does it have whitewalled tyres, but the tread pattern is flowers!:


She had to have a dust on the way past and any fingerprints or breath marks neatly wiped away. It does actually get ridden, I understand, but I don't think it will end up out in the paddock to die like these wheels:


"Debbie, Debbie, If you're able, get your elbows off the table, this is not a horse's stable, but a respectable dining table" was one of the etiquette chants the girls learned over lunch:


This is the Schoolhouse proper, and there's grand plans for renovation, that's for sure:


Here's the interior, and just walking round hearing the plans and the enthusiasm with which they are painted, you just know this is going to scrub up a special kind of something:


There were great stories being woven and dramatised in this sunny corner:


I've always loved a swing in a tree:


Now these chooks live in style! Here's the entrance gate (check out the cute heart cut-out):


They've got a deck, doors, windows, a second entrance complete with a ramp. I wanted to move in with the chooks!:


We fed Peaches the calf. We realise now why we milk cows - that wee dot had a *huge* lunch bottle:


And talk about gorgeous (I hope I got her best side):


If you know anyone who had anything to do with the Rotoehu School, do tell them to go here and share some memories ;o)

John's Back.....

Yep, we get to lamb-sit our favourite ovine again for a few more days:

More Painting.....

So the girls have been allowed to move back into their newly painted room after having slept in the lounge for the past week, although this photo makes it look a lot darker than it is:


And The Lad and L5 have set about sanding and painting the kitchen cupboards:

Happy Birthday.....

5 at last! It was a long countdown for him and a bit of a milestone for me, I have to say - my last baby turning into a big boy :o(

He had already opened his present he recieved in the mail on Saturday from Nana. He rang to ask if it would be alright if he opened it early and the conversation went along the lines of:

"Hello Nana, this is Logan. Thank you for my present in the mail. Can I open it now?"

Very Short Pause and then:

"OK, Thank You. Bye!"

After rescuing the phone before he could hang up, we continued talking with Nana while he started ripping.

He was the first one up and got straight into the pressies, lol! :




L9 had given him the picture of a "Giramonkey" that she had drawn yesterday and he had taken a shine to:


Then it was on to his Birthday Brekkie - the Boy Of Varied Tastes (he is famous for such culinary delights as Salami and Nutella sandwiches) had selected sausage, hashbrown, wedges, spaghetti with grated cheese and asparagus:


We rang a few friends and they joined us at Lollipops for a Bit Of A Play:












Because the staff were so grumpy, we took our cake to a park for some *more* play and some candle-blowing:




H7 took advantage of the patch of longer grass to make a daisy-chain:


For the first time in more than 11 years, we are not legally required to have a child restraint in our car!:


We then took our birthday dinner of Sashimi to yet *another* park for dinner:


And stayed till it was nearly dark!:


Before bed it was a last play and the low-down for Dad on the cool pressies his mates had given him today:

BroTown.....

I loved this story I got from a fellow homeschooling Mum in Auckland, and have republished it here with her permission ;o)

Brotown may not be everyone's cup of tea but we always watch it because it's about our neighbourhood.

We live in Sandringham not Morningside, (next suburb) but the show has bits of the whole area. Its central Auckland BTW not South Auckland. Places in the show are based on real places and fully recognisable.

St Sylvesters is Mt Albert Grammar (beautifully caricatured as well) and some scenes at school picture Mt Albert Primary which is in Morningside. The beach the boys sometimes go to is Pt Chev beach.

Wednesday's episode was about youth gangs which are endemic around our area - the street recently featured on TV where the poor woman has 10 kids, the oldest ones of whom are youth gang leaders who wreak havoc on the nearby community, is a few streets away from our house.

Our place is on a corner and has a long paling fence. We moved there in 2000 and the fence was tagged shortly afterwards. The council painted out the tagging but a few days later the fence was tagged again. So I went out with my own can of paint and added to the tag, in large letters, "is gay". (Not meaning to offend gays, but because gansta culture is highly homophobic). It stayed there several days till the council painted it out.

After that, although the properties round about were forever getting tagged, out fence remained pristine till 2006 when it was tagged again by a lad who must have been too young in 2000 to know what would happen.

Again I strolled out with my paintbrush and added my own comment to the tag. Our fence hasn't been touched since. Then, while watching Brotown, we were thrilled to see - yes, our paling fence, faithfully rendered, with one of the characters adding "is gay" to the gang tag. I was so proud!

Cave Bay.....

We packed up the fishing rods and our walking shoes and set of for the morning to Cave Bay in Bowentown.


After a rather dodgy access trek we arrived and got so carried away with exploring the stunning caves (go figure):




That The Lad was the only one who actually got around to putting his rod out. L4 did a few poses by the rod, but that was as close as he got to any fishing:


We were quite surprised at the difference in the colour of the sand on the beach and inside the caves, both sands were nice and dry, but the beach stuff was really white and the cave stuff was really black (I'm so techo!):


There was much sand sculpting:




And quite a bit of larking about:


Some philosophising and theorising:


And just a tad relaxation:

Bagels for Brekky.....

We all love L4's inventiveness when it comes to food, he devises the strangest of concoctions and devours them with relish, ignoring all the hoots of laughter from us all.

Here's the breakfast he made himself (with the help of A11) - poppy and sesame bagel with a hashbrown, 2 chicken nuggets, 1 fish finger, bacon, bbq sauce and baked beans on the side.

He's lucky it's not every morning and that he burns off more calories than he consumes of a day!

The Garden.....

Now, admittedly, my involvement with the vegie garden to date has gone something along the lines of "Sheesh, it's 4pm, can somebody run out to the garden and dig me some potatoes and pick some silverbeet please?".

We had decided not to plant a vegie garden this summer as we are looking to put the house on the market. BUT - best laid plans and all that - we bought some seedlings at the Farmers' Market and then we had to dig the bloomin thing!

So the kids and I, well, mostly I, lol! dug the garden, sectioned it off with walkways, and then planted it with all sorts of things that the kids wanted but will probably come to nothing (I have loved jasmine to death in the past!).

So far we have sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes, three variants of big tomatoes, butter beans, sugar snap peas, green peas, watermelon, rockmelon, gherkin, maori poripori potatoes, baby cabbage, brocolli, spinach, silverbeet, lettuce, strawberries and garlic.

Wish us luck!

Animals, Animals.....

While we were waiting for H7 to finish Brownies, we wandered round the Polytech's animal enclosures. It was a bit hard to get good photos through the wire-netting, so they look a bit blurred as the camera tried to focus beyond:




These baby quail were incredibly tiny, it's hard to judge size in these photos (to give you some idea, the wire had squares about 1cm wide and tall), but they were almost like a cotton ball with legs and a wee beak:




L9 was in horsey-heaven:


There's something about a pig that I love (is it something to do with bacon, I wonder? Or maybe we're kindred spirits, lol!):


Then, bonus! We picked H7 up and this beautiful (and expensive - $2,500!) St. Bernard puppy was there:

Skint on Skinks.....

L9 came to the garden centre with me today and as were loading our supplies into the car she happened upon this wee fellow.

We usually see loads of them at Nana's Hamilton house, but we haven't seen any up on our hill, so he was a bit of a novelty and he absolutely had to come home with us.

He hung out in a specially constructed habitat for the afternoon so we could have a bit of a close-up squizz at him before we let him go.

I hope he manages to find himself a wee home somewhere up here:

Home, James.....

Well, our home at least. We were stoked to have Aunty Sokchea and Uncle Graeme visiting today. Of course, it was lovely to see them, but the star of the show these days is BY FAR the most gorgeous new baby cousin we've got:



He's growing up so fast, I'd almost forgotten just how fast they grow in such a short time.

Dear John.....

We're babysitting a very calendar-cute lamb this weekend. He has a very (not!) lamby name, too - JOHN, lol!

We've had to create rosters for who gets to feed him, make the bottle, put him away at night, let him out in the morning (we have a very sophisticated sheep-fence-wire-wrapped-round-the-trampoline-legs system), pat him ..... you get the picture ;o)

Across The Road At Sharon's.....

We have a lovely neighbour across the road who is always available to come for morning tea or a picnic on the lawn whenever we invite her, and she is always happy to have us visit and help her with her many and varied animals:







A bonus now is our friend Peter and his lovely dog Tui have moved into one of her little cottages, and he is always great fun to visit with - he does such cool things as cutting and de-barking branches to make into swords, and builds trolleys to race down hills in, and serves up homemade cheese with freshly squeezed juices:

Citrus Season.....

One of the most used things we got from Uncle Graeme before he moved to Cambodia (aside from the dinner set, the fully equipped tool boxes, the lounge suite, the storage jars, the cutlery set, the assorted trendy crockery and glassware, the linen, the ornaments, the office supplies and equipment, get the picture?.....) was the Italian citrus juicer - we love squeezing ourselves some fresh tangelo or grapefruit juice of a morning, and it's so easy to use:

Gettin' On The Plonk.....

The Lad has been getting into a bit of vino lately, and he off-handedly mentioned he might like to try a Bordeaux.

Well! What a hassle I had trying to locate one in Tauranga. I finally found a fantastic little boutique cellar (it's apparently world-famous in Tauranga) that had a surprisingly great range of any kind of wine you might imagine, and so I happily tootled out of the store with this bottle in hand:



It wasn't as grunty as he thought it might be. Now there's a review for you ;o)

Welcome Kinsee.....

Remember that space?

Here's that space a little bigger than before ;o)


Kinsee finally arrived, safe and well at home, tonight.

Welcome :o)