Whirlwind Week

Reflecting on the week that's been...SATURDAY was so much fun - I drove the kids to Himatangi Beach to meet up with two wonderful friends who came up from Wellington for the long weekend to stay at a bach. We bbq-ed, drank wine and reminisced for hours and it was great! SUNDAY was the day that the All Blacks became the 2011 Rugby World Cup Champions Of The World by a mere point against the mighty French, which will go down in NZ history. MONDAY was a public holiday to celebrate [actually it was Labour Day anyway] and Auckland held a parade in honour of our boys in black, with over 100,000 attending. TUESDAY I had a job interview [fingers crossed!] and Fraz headed over to Palmerston North for his cousin's funeral [age 65,cancer]. WEDNESDAY I attended a funeral too, for dear old Jojo, aged 98, who was my grandmother's best friend and neighbour for most of her life. A gentle reflection of a wonderful life. That evening Erin and I held our Ballentynes Summer Fashion Show fundraising event for Cystic Fibrosis at a local church hall and raised several hundred dollars for the welfare of our branch members. Such a fun night that was months in the making. THURSDAY was a housework type of day, with Bella's school PTA meeting in the arvo, for the school gala on 5 Nov - I have put myself in charge of organising media attention. FRIDAY the heavens opened and I attended another funeral for Mo, aged 43, who lingered in a coma for 10 days after a car crash and finally succumbed to his injuries, leaving behind his 12 year old daughter, Grace, whose sweet words at the funeral had us reaching for the tissues. A huge funeral for a much loved man.

Today is SATURDAY again and I have slept in, read a book for ages in bed, had my porridge at 11am, and have yet to get dressed for the day, which is shaping up to be a beauty. My Dad is taking the kids beach-combing later when the tide is going out, which they are looking forward to and then I'll feed them all dinner at our house, after hosing the sand off them in the backyard! Yay for weekends!!! [Sure hope next week is a tad quieter...]

Day trippers

These images are from a recent day out at the Tawhiti Museum in Taranaki. It is the best private museum in the country. The family went for a day trip and spent a few hours perusing the awesome displays of farm equipment, and historical events - Maori land wars was a fascinating display. The life-sized models were just as impressive as the many miniature scale models. We even went on the 'underground' boat and became a part of the 1800's era in NZ of traders and whalers. Very realistic! I learned a lot and we all really enjoyed it. This was a part of Bella's birthday, albeit a week beyond the date.

Fame for Wanganui

This morning I took Bella along to join a group of her schoolmates from Carlton School, to visit 27 Carlton Ave, which is now famous for its innovative and bright Rugby World Cup 2011 decorations. An Auckland ad agency wanted a photo of the kids for an ANZ bank advertising campaign that will begin after the RWC is over. It will feature on billboards at Auckland and Wellington airports and on ANZ bank windows all over the country. This photo is my own, but the real thing may be similar. Bella is standing in the middle, right beside the silver fern.

I emailed this pic and details to the River City Press so it will feature in that paper next week :)

Bella turns 7

Bella turned 7 today, at precisely 1:10pm, if we want to be exact. Big ups to Aunty Meg who was there at the birth, and my two midwives. Fraz and Lockie arrived a little late, but Bella and I were both in better form at that point so no worries :)

Today my little sweetie was up bright and early - 5:40am [!] - but was happy to go back to bed for a while and at 7am she got her pressies and her parents' attention. Lockie gave her a present a bit later, and all morning she's been getting mail with more presents - thanks Aunties Meg and Jess!! We've had a home movie theatre experience, and the kids have climbed the giant tree in the front yard, although Bella had to be rescued which put paid to that game ;) The cake has been iced and decorated with love and lollies so we will have that particular ceremony soon. Happy Birthday!!!!!

girls' day

Busy day for young Bella and me - we saw Lockie off on a day trip with the tramping club and then we headed off to town for some stuff - she got her face painted in an ocean scene and we hung out at a local event that produced a large piece of artwork, made up of 100 paintings by 100 local artists, who painted through the day to complete it by late afternoon. Cool to see it all happening.

BTW we are very proud to be hosting the Rugby World Cup 2011 in NZ, hence the flag in the living room window ;) Our city is hosting the USA team so there are American flags flying all over town.

Cystic Fibrosis Chairpersons' Conference NZ 2011

The beautiful alpine village of Hanmer Springs, in the South Island of New Zealand. Ski fields nearby, plus a large and popular thermal pool complex, great restaurants and cafes, scenic walks, mountain-biking, bungy jumping, etc - great for our conference but I am keen to take our family back here over summer for a more relaxing time. So much I have yet to see here :)

I Am Crap...

at this blogging thang! No, REALLY crap. Try forgetting I had a blog for 2 years kind-of-crap. Damn you Facebook!!!

Right, changing subject now, here is a pic of me with my great friend Erin, who has Cystic Fibrosis and had a double lung transplant 18mths ago and really rocks! We are at Christchurch Airport, waiting to catch a flight home to Wanganui, after a weekend away in Hanmer Springs [gorgeous!] for CF Chairpersons' Conference 2011. Erin is our branch's Chairperson and I am the Secretary :)

Highlight of that weekend away for me, was the thermal pools, and also the lovely hotel we stayed in and conferenced in.

A Special Birthday

My twin sis Meg came over from Sydney recently especially to travel with me to our hometown to celebrate the 40th birthday of one of our oldest school friends, Erin.
Erin has CF too, and looks bloody amazing for a lass on the lung transplant waiting list! In fact, during her party, as she sat surrounded by family and friends, she got the call to say new lungs were waiting for her in Auckland! There were many tears shed amid the great excitement - not a party I will ever forget. With her entourage and husband, Erin later went to the airport and was on the plane for Auckland, but before it took off another call came to say the lungs were damaged so the transplant was off - wow - more tears but Erin remained upbeat and completely inspirational. She headed back to the party and we saw her again the next morning for a BBQ at her bro's house. Go Erin - you rock!!!

mucking around at Makara

On a whim I took the kids to Makara Beach yesterday. It is really on our back door step - only 15 minutes away by car, but in a direction we rarely go! After a winding rural drive along narrow roads, we arrived to find many others with the same idea. No matter; plenty of rugged coastline and rockpools to explore, enough for everybody. We spent more than two hours pottering about [and climbing large rocks!] until we got tired and headed home. A highlight for the kids was finding a driftwood shelter someone had made on the beach, and 3 small carved pumice heads within. Rather intriguing that someone went to the trouble of carving them and then left them half-buried in the sand...

I love our outings - Wellington has so much to offer like this!

5 Days lost in hospital

Lockie - awoken by me taking his photo as he lay dozing in his bed in the Children's Ward following admission for a partial bowel obstruction. Good timing [well sort of] as this all took place during the second week of the school holidays - less to cancel and work around as we juggled being there in the hospital with Lockie, and being at home for Bella.

Needless to say, Fraz and I only glimpsed each other briefly, in passing, during this time but we both pulled together when it counted and got through it. Lockie was in for 5 days [one of us stayed in each night beside him], and when he was 'going' again he bounced back quickly and we were out of there as fast as possible ;) During his stay he had a nasogastric tube fitted, and IV fluids to keep him going - nil by mouth for 4 days! The medical staff still can't decide the true cause of this problem so they gave us a BIG bottle of Lactulose to keep him going regularly and minimise blockages in the future - sorry if this grosses you out, reader!! All part of the fun of being the parent of a child with cf... Lockie was out in time for the new term of school and several days later it's all a distant memory. One good thing to come of it is that I intend to become a Volunteer to man the Ronald McDonald Family Room at the hospital - a wonderful peaceful haven for parents and family members of sick kids in the wards, where they can go for coffee and food, a shower, a nap, or a rest in a quiet atmosphere, away from the bleeping and constant noise of the wards.

when the sun won't shine...

Week one of the two-week school holidays is nearly over. We didn't care that the forecast sun never showed up, we were sick of sitting around the house so after lunch we ventured out and drove to the Botanical Gardens, Wellington, NZ. For the next 3 hours we wandered around the entire Gardens - although there were plenty of paths we chose to leave for next time. The kids loved exploring and posed for numerous photos very patiently! It sure beat watching dvds at home with the heater on and despite the 11 degrees outdoors we didn't feel the cold at all - it helps that the Gardens are very very hilly ;)
Hopefully my cherubs will sleep well tonight! [Have been invited to 2 birthday parties tomorrow - on top of two we went to a few days ago!]

Who's up for a party?

They may be smiling sweetly in this photo but my two darlings are normally busy annoying the c**p out of each other! And the next two weeks of school holidays are looming... Bella has been invited to 4 birthday parties of friends turning 5. Lockie is able to come along to two of them, which helped placate him as he was quite jealous!

The weather is a bit gloomy - we have forgotten what a sunny day looks like :( And it's quite cold, but you get that with Winter. I am planning to apply draught-stripping to the back door and bedroom windows today. And maybe do some baking - that's one way to warm the kitchen anyway. Boy is my life a bundle of laughs!!!

Budding Ballerina

At 4 1/2 years of age, Bella is very much into dancing so I started her off with ballet classes, four weeks ago and she just LOVES it. It helps that she goes to 'Fairy Ballet' and there is a lot of talk about fairies and the occasional brandishing of wands and wearing of fairy wings :)

In this picture she is wearing her ballet outfit for the first time as it took me a while to get organised and get all the various bits and pieces. As a kid I never thought much of dance as a discipline but even now I love to dance for hours [under the influence mainly] whenever I get the chance.

Lockie is understandably unimpressed with the attention she gets when she shows us the steps she has learned - the mums are discouraged from watching the class although I do peek when I can.

It is all so innocent and sweet, in a world where this is increasingly rare.

What happened to 2008?

Oops! It seems that I got a bit side-tracked in 2008 - damn you Bebo and double damn you Facebook!! Anyway, I have been inspired to jump back on the Blogger bandwagon by a friend [Kitchen 37B], whose lovely blog really touched me :)

Here are my lovely family whom I love to pieces, and who continue to enlighten me, frustrate me, delight me and surprise me. I took this pic on my husband's birthday at breakfast time.

I wonder if anyone remembers I am here? Who will read this... what will I write about to keep it interesting? Will now go sleep on it.

Happy families

Well, we all survived another Christmas and it was SO MUCH FUN having my two sisters, my bro and my Dad there to share it with us. And surprisingly stress-free! The food and drink were abundant, the conversation and laughter flowed and plenty of happy memories created. Also, we all took loads of photos to remind us of this rare time spent together.

In this picture, taken yesterday, we had taken a train into the city and walked along the sunny waterfront before heading into the city for lunch and then, on a whim, we went to the movies together. Bella had never been to the movies but was really really good and we all enjoyed the Bee Movie. Then we had ice creams and walked back to the Railway Station, stopping at Frank Kitts Park for a slide and a swing, etc. We had missed the train so opted for a bus back home - although it was at this point that Bella got a bit screamy/tantrumy in the bus and deafened everybody thoroughly as she became more and more hysterical, until we finally got back to Johnsonville - the longest 10 minute journey I've endured in a while! It was getting late and she was just really tired after a full-on day I think, but the other passengers probably didn't appreciate that...

Hanging in there...

I am starting to feel the strain! B***** power company is breathing down our necks just cos we are a teensy bit late with our bill - and at Christmas too - have they no Christmas spirit?? Stressful. Trying not to think about it too much. Much more fun things to be done! Have wrapped oodles of pressies for under the tree, baked gingerbread and shortbread stars and christmas tree bikkies, and checked with Santa that he will be bringing stockings-full of goodies for the kids.

We are set! My twin sis arrives late tonight, and my brother and Dad arrive Sunday, followed by another sis flying in from London on Christmas Eve - it's gonna be O for Awesome!!!!

If the worst comes to the worst, we will still have our gas bbq to fall back on in case of power blackout...

Oh yeah, big earthquake up Gisborne way last night. Only felt the smallest of tremors here in Welly and in fact, barely noticed it and wouldn't have known it was an earthquake at all if I hadn't seen it on the news and made the connection between the tinkling sound I heard [probably light fittings shaking] and the timing of it. I hear that 15 people had minor injuries and one old woman died of a heart attack soon after. Loads of damage to property though. Need to think about updating our Earthquake Kit. Can never decide quite where to store it - in the garage which is UNDER the house, or in the house itself...hmmm.

Watch out!!

Have you ever come across anything that puts such heebie jeebies in you that every tiny hair on your body stands on end... like this fine example of NZ wildlife which confronted me in the kitchen recently, to my horror. The New Zealand weta looks rather menacing - check out those waving spiky legs and the LARGE stinger thingy... but I do believe they are relatively harmless. I didn't ask it though - I just removed it as quickly as poss to the great outdoors where it belonged, and managed [very bravely I thought] not to scream loud enough to alarm the kids who were playing outside and remained oblivious to my distress - or indeed the distress of the poor weta. Once removed, I calmed down and reflected on where it may have come from, as I had been doing stuff in the kitchen for ages before I noticed it, bold as brass, on the stove top, possibly with its front leg stuck in the element.

Oooh, I am sitting here shuddering about it still, and this happened 5 days ago! What a wuss I am :)

How to Spend A Summer's Day

Bella was delighted when I stopped at a local park for a play today. She has the urge to be spun around til she can't walk straight on a regular basis!
We love our 'Mummy and Bella' Days and she's the ideal companion for shopping and cafe breaks! We met our new neighbours at the park today and we were shocked to see the mess that the toddler area was in - clearly some local high school kids had trashed their school text books and spread them everywhere, along with a whole lot of other rubbish... I actually gathered some of it up, including the parts of the books with school library barcodes on them, and returned them to the high school and even showed the office staff photos of the awful mess... call me a busybody but I was really
pissed off. Not fair for the little kids to have to play around such garbage.

Anyway, enough of my ranting. We had a lovely day today generally. Time now for the final episode of the latest series of my fave homegrown TV show: Outrageous Fortune.

Whew!! So hot today. The hottest this summer so far I reckon [considering Summer officially started a week ago!] I think we got to around 27 degrees Celsius. Anyway, as usual being Sunday, we headed to the beach, only the car trip was pretty roasty and it took a paddle in the sea to cool us down - a rather icy cold sea too, although that didn't deter the surfers today. Fraz had to work today but we didn't really notice his absence as he usually just naps in the car or on the beach anyway! On the way home, eating ice creams, the kids and I decided we would try out some other beaches on our Sundays in the future, like Hataitai Beach, and Balaena Bay, both spotted on our way home from Kilbirnie, via Oriental Bay. Roll on summer daze!!

Busy week ahead, with our cars booked in for warrants, etc - I feel like they are sitting exams and hold my breath that they will pass without it costing us an arm and a leg! Especially this close to Chrissy...wish me luck!

'Old MacDonald Had A Farm...'

Last week 'Old MacDonald's Farm' came to Bella's Monday morning playgroup! There is a small grassy driveway outside the door and they tied up several small goats, a miniature horse, a lamb, a small pig and an aloof alpaca, and inside they had some rabbits and a chicken. I'm sure lots of the small kids had never seen animals such as these, in the flesh, and there was great excitement. Bella loved the 'big horsie' [about 4 feet tall!] called Dusty Rose, and we helped feed milk to the goats and pig. We really like this playgroup, it's the best in our area I reckon and is very popular, yet never too full that people are turned away. I know loads of the parents who bring their kids there and try to meet a new one each week too. [And at a mere 50cents a week, it's completely affordable!]

Lockie was writing something after breakfast this morning and I sneaked a peek at it later - it was a Christmas wish list and all I could see were the $$$ signs!!! Oh boy. Bella's wishes are a lot simpler - she really wants a blue ball. Yesterday, on a girls' day out [ie shopping and lunch at a mall], we visited the mall Santa, and he spent several minutes chatting to her [despite a restless queue] about eating her veges each night and having Mum report back to Santa that she was being good! She took all this on board, and last night ate several more veges than usual. Thanks Santa!!! If only that logic would work on Lockie...