Sick family update...

For those of you who are concerned:

• Joanna is fully recovered
• Ben was a lot better by this afternoon (he felt well enough to go outside and play in the sandpit and tree house) - not quite back to normal, but getting there
• Naomi is still extra tired
• Peter is feeling tired but his belly doesn't seem to be overly affected
• I thought I was getting a bit better half way through today, but then got a bit worse again as the afternoon wore on

Tree house additions...

A couple of months ago I built a tree house for the kids... and said that I needed to construct a rope ladder for it. I didn't have any dowel to use for the rungs, so nothing happened for a while. A couple of weeks ago I got the dowel, and yesterday I finally got around to actually putting the ladder together. Today, I tied it up in the tree, along with a pulley system so the kids can lift stuff up into the tree house. Both were a big hit with all the kids - they had lots of fun climbing up and down and lifting leaves up into the house!

Family portraits

On Christmas day we took the opportunity to take family photos. Here they are:

us

van Gemsts

Colyers

Christmas day

Christmas day seems like sooo long ago now. We had a really good day...special breakfast (cinnamon brioche and brioche with berries), Church, present opening...followed by lunch (with the van Gemsts and Colyers)...some DVD watching (the kid's watched Toy Story 2 which Ben had got as a present) and game playing (the adults played one of Bill's games).

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Writing about sickness reminded me that in the business of the last couple of weeks, i have yet to mention that i have an actual surgery date for getting my tonsils out! The date is the 14th of January. So after 4.5 years of almost constant antibiotic consumption, I will finally get a permanent solution to the problem. (I just have to get through the 2 weeks of pain post surgery)

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sick family

It looks like all of us have caught the bug joanna and Ben have. I think i've had it for a few days already but thought the symptoms were my IBS flaring due to my really busy lead up to Christmas. Peter and Naomi have now also come down with the common symptoms. Hopefully we are all over it before we leave for our beach holiday next week.

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sick kids

Joanna was feeling off colour all of Christmas day...threw up in her bed that night...and has been feeling really tired and hasn't been eating much since.
Ben woke up this morning complaining of a sore belly...ate 1/2 a slice of toast + some milk...belly then evacuated its contents.

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blogging void

Like most bloggers I've been extremely quiet in the busyness of the lead up to Christmas. Here's a summary of what has been going on:
Last week we went to the dinosaur exhibition at the museum. The kids had lots of fun with all the interactive parts.
I also spent a couple of days last week cooking stuff in preparation for Christmas day.
On boxing day we left for Taupo for a couple of nights while Peter and Bill went bushwalking/tramping.

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mobile blogging

Just installed a blogger app on my phone so i can easily post blogs from my phone.

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And then there were three...

Our sick chook was dispatched last night. It was no longer able to stand, so it wasn't going to recover, and today was rubbish collection day, so we thought we should move it along. The kids were playing round the other side of the house when we did it - until Joanna wondered around and asked what we were doing. She wasn't upset at all - she actually thought it was a bit funny, so I had to tell her that it's not really funny to have to kill one of our chickens...

One sick chook...

A week or two ago, we noticed that the chooks' legs were looking a little scaly. Mel discovered that that probably meant they had mites, so we got some Pestene, which is supposed to get rid of them (the mites, not the chooks!). One of them was worse than the others and we had to separate it so that it wasn't hen-pecked to death (quite literally - chickens aren't nice to each other!). Unfortunately, it seems to have gone downhill... it hasn't eaten for a couple of days and is now very weak. Unless it starts eating soon, I think it will be shuffling off to wherever chooks end up when they stop breathing. I'm not particularly keen to accelerate that process, but it may have to be done - the poor thing is suffering :(

exercise

Simone has just posted about here exercise plan for the holidays. Now my problem is, that I don't have a plan. I've had to suspend my gym membership for the school holidays, as although Naomi and Joanna can still go to the creche, I have no options for Ben.

My ideas for exercising over this time includes going running, doing some weights (we have a couple of 5kg dumbells at home), and maybe some pilates too (mat work, which I also have a resistance band to increase intensity with). I also got some 'Playground pump' cards at the start of the year (I haven't used them yet), which I'm thinking I can take the kids to the park and do some exercise while we are there (although this requires either a quiet park or a certain amount of confidence to do it in front of other adults).

Running will have to be done when somebody else is around to look after the kids, which will mean either early mornings or after they've gone to bed.

Weights and pilates mainly just require me prioritising time in my day to do it.

And doing the 'Playground pump' workouts, means organising to make trips to the park with the kids (which I'm sure they will love!).

Now I should sit down and actually plan when I'm going to do all this exercise I would like to do. Otherwise the 1st of February will roll around and I won't have done anything and will be feeling the effects really bad.

Hamilton is not boring!

After a sunny, hot day, with a maximum of 30.3 degrees yesterday, today is a cool, cloudy and rainy 19.8 degrees (forecast to get to 22). Which I actually don't mind, as it meant I was about to get out in the garden this morning and do some much needed weeding (and hopefully some planting this afternoon sometime). It has been too hot recently to do any gardening during the day, only being suitable to be outside after the kids are in bed, by which time I'm feeling tired, with no energy for gardening. So the salad garden has finally been weeded and half mulched (to reduce the number of weeds which return), and some more salad greens seeds planted. I had been hoping to have an abundant supply of salad greens for Christmas, but I think I might have left planting them too late (which I kind of knew when I initially planted it, it happened a couple of weeks later than what I intended due to being busy/sick/tired etc.)

Wow!

It does actually get hot here... this is the first time we've topped 30C in the last couple of years. And yes, it does feel rather warm...

It's a heatwave!

Outside temperature = 28.4 degrees (forecast to get to 29)

Temperature at the sunny end of our house = 31 degrees

Temperature at the opposite end of the house = 27.2 degrees

Humidity = 25%

So if you stay still in the shade and don't do anything, it is warm, but not uncomfortable (with a fan on to circulate the air). If you start trying to do do any physical activity and definitely if you try and go outside in the sun...you bake!

Style

I've just finished watching the second series of 'Masterchef Australia'. For those of you who have watched it, you will know that Donna Hay was a semi-regular judge on the show. I really like Donna Hay's recipes and how beautiful she can make the food look (although if you study some of her food photography closely, you will notice that sometimes all the ingredients aren't in the dish like the recipe says). But after watching this series, I have come to the conclusion that although she may be amazing at styling food, she needs someone to give her a bit of advice on style in the clothing department (maybe Trinny and Susannah might be able to help).

Anybody else agree?

Taste of summer...

As I just mentioned in my previous post, I made Raspberry sorbet this morning. This is the first of a number of ice creams/gelatos/sorbets that I am planning on making this week. I've borrowed my friends ice cream maker and it is all systems go to make:

• Blueberry sorbet - made with fresh, locally grown, new season blueberries
• Peanut butter ice cream - we made this one last year and even though Peter was the biggest skeptic of it last year (before he had tasted it), it was the first flavour he requested I make this time!
• Honey ice cream
• and hopefully one more flavour, I can't decide between 'Wild berry gelato', 'coconut milk ice cream', or something with chocolate in it!

Productive morning

Not having to get up and get Ben to school by 8.30am has totally changed our mornings. I was able to sleep in for an hour and then during the morning I managed to make Raspberry sorbet; put ingredients for Apricot, Date and Walnut bread in the breadmaker to bake; and do 3 loads of washing.

I wonder what I will manage to do tomorrow...

Washing machine fixed...

A little while ago I wrote about trying to fix our washing machine ourself...Well unfortunately that didn't work and yesterday I took the plunge and called the appliance repair people. Today they came and our bank account in now less $200 - for this we got a new drain pump (the old one had burnt out). And by getting it fixed now we have saved ourselves doing more damage and having to pay and extra $200 (as if we had left it, the burnt out motor can end up shorting and blowing up the electronic controls!). It was very quick and easy to fix and the repair guy said that our machine is a dream to fix - with the error codes it displays reducing the diagnostic work required and also it is a fairly simple machine parts wise - nothing too complicated. So now we will be able to cope with the demands of washing clothes for a household of 10 for the next couple of weeks!

Last day of school...

I'm about to go pick up Ben from school for the last day this year. He is now on holidays till the 1st of February.

Joanna finishes kindy for the year on Thursday, but goes back on the 18th of January.

Summer fruit....I love it!

Plums, apricots, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries...I love to snack on them, bake with them, make yummy desserts with them, eat them on my cereal at breakfast. So much more exciting and tasty that boring apples, oranges and bananas. The kids seem to feel the same way too, although they are still partial to bananas.

Busy week

This week has been a very busy week...Each day this week, we have had an extra activity (not part of our usual weekly routine) to attend.

• Monday - parent information seminar at school (about nutrition, which all the kids at school have been learning about in class)
• Tuesday - sharing afternoon at school (parents go and children present what they have been learning in class that term)
• Wednesday - Kindy committee meeting (this is once a month and just happend to fall in this busy week)
• Thursday - Tonight we have the annual Kindy Christmas picnic (Kindy families all bring their picnic dinner to kindy and we all eat together - the kids also sing a few songs)

Urge to declutter

I must be starting to feel a bit better...I am starting to get a strong urge to de-clutter our house. There seems to be stuff everywhere (kind of expected in with 3 kids in the house) - and a number of things that are no longer required (exersaucer, high chair, office chair, baby clothes...). There is also the extra motivation that Peter's sister and family are visiting us over Christmas (10 people living in 94sqm for a couple of weeks), so there isn't any room for unnecessary cluttter. Just don't know if I should be.

It's back...

I thought I'd got away with a relatively mild dose of the tummy bug that's been doing the rounds in the family... until yesterday. Yesterday afternoon I suddenly came down with it again, and this time far worse than on Monday. I've managed to avoid throwing up, but still feel like death warmed up.

Salad garden is in action

A couple of weeks ago we dug over and chook-proofed an existing garden bed to be our salad garden (it gets a fair bit of shade from our big tree out the front and the house, so the lettuce etc. won't go to seed too quickly). The other day, while I was sick, Peter installed a sprinkler system (there are no outside taps on that side of the house so the options were either, get a mega long hose, cart watering cans around there or run irrigation piping under the house from the existing outside tap). Today, I finally got around to planting some seeds in it, in the hope that we will have salad greens in time for Christmas (although I'm slightly afraid we might have left it a bit late!). I'll put up some photos of it some time, maybe once the plants have started to grow - at the moment it just looks like a bare dirt prison, so not very interesting.

Goodbye mitt

We've had the same oven mitt since we were married (we were given it as either an engagement or wedding present). But they had got to the stage where they weren't much better than using a tea towel (the wading had all compressed giving no insulative qualities to the mitt anymore). For at least a year now we have been making comments to each other about the need to replace them...Well today was the day, I was given a new oven mitt for my birthday and the old one has found it's rightful place in the rubbish bin!

Funny chooks.

A few months ago when cleaning out the gutters we discovered just how much chook food was getting consumed by the local sparrows rather than our chickens. Apparently the sparrows like to pick up the food and then fly up onto the edge of the roof and consume it there, not only wasting chicken food, but blocking up the gutters with their mess as well. So, we bought a Chooketeria to try and get around the problem. This requires the chickens to remember how to open the thing, which is as simple as putting a foot on the pedal out the front. Our chickens still haven't quite got the concept - they do it, but it seems to take them a little while to remember how each morning. Have a look at the video to see what I mean!

Blasts from the past

Mel got herself a new phone for her birthday (a fancy new Android job)... so we copied all the old pictures that she'd taken over the last few years off her old phone. All 16 of them. The pictures aren't exactly fantastic quality, but they bring back memories!

We had to use our old dinosaur laptop to get them off as

well... the only way to communicate with the phone was to use infra-red... which is something that has disappeared from most modern

laptops.

Movie Marathon

While I was sick yesterday (with no energy to do anything except lie on the couch) and recovering today, I've had a bit of a movie marathon. There were a few movies that I'd recorded on the PVR and hadn't got around to watching, so in the past two days I've watched:

• Charlie's Angels (well only the first 30min of it, the PVR stuffed up the recording - luckily, I've seen it before, so wasn't greatly annoyed)
• Runaway Bride (which I also have watched before)
• RV (which I haven't watched before)
• Catch me if you can (well I'm actually only 1/3 to halfway through this one - had to stop watching when Ben and Joanna arrived home from school/kindy - I have also watched this before)

I've been enjoying watching movies for a change instead of episodes of TV series...it's nice to have approx. 2hrs for the storyline to develop etc. instead of it all been squeezed into a 40min TV episode.

And again...

It was Mel's turn last night. She popped out to the shops to pick up groceries after the kids were in bed, feeling very tired, but otherwise OK. By the time she got back she was feeling decidedly off-colour. During the night some dinner returned. So that's all the girls that have had the bug - I think I may have had it on Monday and managed to avoid throwing up. Which leaves only Ben...

Tummy bug strikes again

I got a call this afternoon to tell me Joanna had thrown-up at kindy and could I please come and take her home. I found out from another school mum that there is a tummy bug going around the school. Funny thing is our 'school boy' has yet to catch the bug, but the hangers on (ie. his sisters) have now both had it!

Walking, walking

I'm going to attempt walking to school to pick Ben up (and obviously walking home again). Will see how tired he is when we get home.

Don't slice bread straight out the breadmaker...

All you get is a hack job of bread pieces.

(I know the instructions tell you not to, but I really needed some bread for Naomi's lunch!)

Freshly baked bread crusts...

YUM - crispy, crunchy and warm!

Christmas decorations found!

After some unpacking and tidying of stuff, I have located the christmas tree decorations in a box.

Sick girl

Naomi threw up twice yesterday afternoon/evening and a little during the night. Hoping it is just a 24hr bug, but for now have a reasonable unhappy girl.

can't find the Christmas decorations!

I can't find the Christmas tree decorations. Don't know what has happened to them since the move - are they still in a box that hasn't been unpacked? Hopefully I can find them in the next couple of weeks.

Sailing...

Yesterday, we went sailing. One of Peter's friends from work lives on a yacht with his family in Auckland Harbour. So we went sailing out to Motuihe Island for a play on the beach, then tried some fishing near Rangitoto island before getting back to the Marina in time for dinner. Ben got a chance to "drive" the boat and the kids had great fun playing in the sand on the beach...unfortunately we didn't catch any fish (although one of the other guys from Peter's work did!).

Am I a Kiwi or Am I an Aussie? At least I know I'm turning One!

That was the theme of Naomi's first birthday party. She was born in NZ, lives in NZ, but since July has been an Australian citizen.

So we decorated the house with Aussie Flag and Silver Fern balloons.

For food we served food which both Aussies and Kiwis claim to be theirs: lamingtons (the first time I've ever made them - apart from some fuzzy memory of making some in class at primary school), meat pies (the mini party variety), BBQ sausages on bread and pavlova.

We also had a gumboot (for the Kiwis) and thong (for the Aussies) throwing competition.

For the cake we had both an Australian and New Zealand Flag.

Natural pest control

Last night, while I was watering the veggie garden, I was thinking that we haven't had much of a problem with slugs and snails so far. I have been sprinkling around a bit of slug and snail bait (a child and pet friendly one - it's made from a common food additive - but toxic to slugs and snails), but I had thought it might have something to do with the chooks finding the slugs/snails hiding places during the day and eating them. But just now, I found a little wild bird (the ones we call pests for pigging out on our chook food), cracking a snail shell open on our path for a lunchtime feast. Go for it, I say, as long as they stay away from my strawberries!

Bread making update...

After making our first loaf of bread in our new breadmaker the other day, we have made 2 more loaves. The first 2 were just basic white loaves and the 3rd loaf I tried doing a multigrain loaf. We haven't had any flops yet and the kids like eating it. I'm enjoying not having the pressure of needing to go to the supermarket multiple times in a week to buy more bread.

Comparing marathons

(Apologies to those that couldn't really care less about marathons. Go read something else!)

I dug out the times recorded at my previous best marathon - Gold Coast 2008. At that race, times were recorded at 5km intervals, so some sort of pacing information could be plotted, similar to what I did the other day, but without quite as fine a granularity. This is the result, compared to Auckland last month:

My summary of what it shows:

• My pace seemed steadier in the first half of GC - possibly because of having no hills. The first half of Akl is relatively hilly.
• I started slowing down from about 15km already... and it just got worse.
• Somewhere between 25 and 30km I was starting to hurt
• Shortly after 30km is where I started walking - and walked most of the rest of the way.
• A slow and easy first half at Akl ended up being a slightly faster time overall.

Advent planning

Now that birthday season is over, I have time to start organising stuff for our annual Advent/Christmas traditions. A lot of these traditions we only started last year and plan to continue this year. So what have I been up to:

- buying gifts and thinking of other special activities to use in our Advent calendar

- we went as a family to select our Christmas tree (but got to the Christmas tree farm to find out we are too early getting it organised this year - they don't open for another 2 weeks!)

- I've bought ingredients to make Christmas cake and rum balls (to both eat ourselves and give away as gifts to our friends and neighbours)

- Gathering some supplies and ideas for christmas decorations

What I need to do in the next couple of weeks:

- construct the advent calendar

- select the christmas tree (when the tree farm opens!)

- make the Christmas cakes and rum balls

- make and put up christmas decorations

- plan Christmas day menu

- borrow a selection of Christmas books from the library and collect up all our Christmas books to put in the Christmas book box so that they are easily on hand for the month.

Feeling hot, hot , hot...

It feels like summer! For the first time since we moved here, it seems that summer might have arrived early!

Fresh bread...

We got ourselves a breadmaker the other week... and finally got around to making our first bread last night. yum.

Our big boy...

is now a school boy. Here in NZ, you get to start school as soon as you're 5 (if you like - you don't have to be at school until you're 6). So, with Ben's birthday yesterday, he got to start school today. He was very excited about starting school - and we feel like he's ready... he's keen to learn and has started the "keep-asking-questions-continuously" phase.

Busy busy busy...

Life's been busy recently. Too busy to blog. Here's some highlights:

• Naomi's birthday party. Photos here.
• Ben's birthday party. Photos here.
• Ben's last day of kindy. Photos here
• Ben's first day of school tomorrow. (Edit: Photos now here!)

Dissecting a marathon

A few months ago, I got myself a Timex Ironman watch, which does all sorts of cool things. The main reason I got it is that it lets me store up to 75 "laps", which means I can record my km splits during a race, assuming I manage to see the km markers as I'm going past. What that means is that I can work out at what point I start to fade during a race, and work at keeping a more even pace. Anyway, last week's marathon was the first time I've got to use it in a race... I managed to record 23 "laps", some of which were obviously more than just a single km because I missed the markers. A plot of the km splits is pretty cool though (just splitting the times evenly where I missed the markers):

It's interesting to note:

• The first few km were a little slow, as would be expected, because of the crowds of people at the start.
• Between about 12 and 15km is the Harbour Bridge, which is probably the hilliest part of the course, so I'm guessing that's why that's a little slow
• 34km must have been about when I got really tired!
• I managed to hold it together relatively well - the small amounts of walking I did don't really show up that much, which means I must have still been moving at a sort-of reasonable speed.

I'm happy with it, anyway!

Bad time of year to be sick

There is so much to be done:

• naomi's birthday party this saturday
• ben's birthday party next saturday
• ben starting school
• advent calendar to organise
• christmas shopping to organise (haven't be as organised as previous years)
• tidying/organising the house - including hanging some new curtains to block the light in the bedroom b4 it is still light at 9.30pm

sick days

My 'Bad cold' is still bad, so Peter's taken some time off work so I can rest a bit to try and get over it. I am feeling a little better, but I'm still coughing and using a lot of tissues.

How to run a marathon PB

• Do a few training runs
• Acquire every cold and flu virus in your city, preferably in the month leading up to the marathon, just to make sure you don't over-train.
• Give yourself an injury to something vital, like, say your foot, with less than a week to go. Spraining a toe is suitable.
• Run a marathon with perfect conditions: 18C maximum, cool gentle breezes, flat course. It may be a little hard to guarantee those conditions, but you can at least pick one!
• When you get tired and your legs are sore, keep running.

There, easy isn't it? Auckland Marathon was today, and after debating whether I would even start the race because of a cold still hanging around and a rather sore toe, I managed to keep running longer than I have before - I only briefly walked around the 39km mark. By that stage I was not exactly running fast, but I did manage to keep going, and finished in 4h18:47, which just so happens to be 19seconds faster than I managed in 2008 at the Gold Coast.

I'm certainly happy with that.

Cold!

We went on a day trip to Devonport with some friends today. We had closely been watching the forecast all week which had progressed like this:

• Fine with an evening shower possible. Easterlies.
• Morning shower then fine. South-easterlies.
• Morning cloud clearing. South-easterlies.

The weather today actually turned out to be:

• Fine morning with increasing cloud, developing showers by mid-morning with southeasterly breeze, not clearing until mid-afternoon. Then fine sunny afternoon/evening.

Anyway this meant we all dressed and planned activities around the 'Morning cloud clearing' prediction and so had a very cold morning playing in a couple of parks in Devonport; not getting to play at the beach and being home again before the sun had emerged from the clouds.

We did have a good time spending time with friends - the kids got on really well and played heaps (no complaints from them about being cold).

Good news...

Talking about Drs and being to busy etc. I remembered I haven't told you all that I'm finally on a surgery waiting list to get my tonsils out!! After being on a waiting list for over a year in Brisbane to see an ENT before moving to NZ and then waiting until I wasn't pregnant and then waiting foranother 6 months here to see an ENT...I walk in, he listens to my history, looks at my throat and says yep, they need to come out, ENT fills out some forms, I fill out some more forms and now only have to wait another 4-5 (max 6) months to get a surgery spot!

Bad cold

I am suffering from the worst cold that I've had for ages. Currently my nose it totally blocked, so I have no choice but to breath through my mouth. Plus I have a cough which I strongly suspect is caused by a secondary respiratory infection. Am seriously thinking about self medicating with antibiotics and prednisone, as we are in Auckland for the weekend and I'm too busy to get to the Dr (And even if I went to a Dr, they wouldn't actually need to 'do' anything to diagnose me - I'd just be asking for antibiotics and prednisone and be out the door before they have even warmed their seat!)

Up, up, up...

Naomi's ability to pull herself up from a sitting to standing position has improved dramatically over the last week. She now is pulling herself up on nearly anything that is taller than her sitting height - chairs, tables, prams, boxes...

Garden update

I ended up spending a large amount of time in the garden over the weekend (it was a long weekend here). I planted out our chilli plants, planted more seeds (Zucchini, pumpkin, gem squash, basil, tomatoes), and finally got around to mulching the strawberries, garlic and lettuce! Peter also made my 4th raised veggie bed (that I hadn't got around to digging out myself).

The potatoes I planted in my potato planter bags have sprouted through the soil, so hopefully we will have homegrown potatoes for christmas. I've also filled up about 5m of garden bed with more potatoes (red rascal and desiree).

Beetroot and mini carrots have started sprouting too.

Sick kids

Well actually we all seem to be sick at the moment with coughs and colds. Hope we all get over them soon!

Tree House!

I'd been thinking of making a tree house in the big tree out in our yard for a while... it seemed like a good candidate for a house. A couple of months ago I manhandled a palette into the tree, but it wasn't quite the right dimensions to sit nicely in the fork, so last weekend I got around to starting building a platform. Today, I finished off the job (for now, until it needs renovations!). There's one main platform with rails covering the biggest gaps between the branches, and then, because the main platform is still fairly small, I built another small platform, which could either be used as a table or to stand on if the kids feel like it. Next job is to construct a rope ladder so they can actually get into the house without me having to get my big ladder out!

Summer's here! Nearly...

With daylight savings having started, a beautiful warm day and a nice long evening meant we decided to go out to the Gardens for a picnic dinner. It was a beautiful evening, but once the sun was low, there was a decided nip to the air. Still nice to be able to get out for a picnic though!

Another room down...

I spent most of yesterday painting the kids bedroom. Didn't get finished until just after 6pm, so the kids slept on Thermarests on the floor of the playroom last night. That's 2.5 room painted (not including skirting boards, window frames or doors - we'll do all the gloss paint stuff later) - I would kind of like to paint another room tomorrow (Naomi's room), so that then there will only be 2.5 rooms (plus hallway) still to be painted, but I don't know if I have the energy.

Marathon forecast: 7 days out

1st Half: Mostly fine, chance of some pain.

2nd Half: Very heavy pain, walking, significantly longer time than 1st half

PS: No, my running hasn't been going fantastic for the last month or so - holiday stuff, then sickness has meant this morning was my first run in just over 3 weeks.

Chicken pox...not

Don't know if many people in Aussie have had much experience with seeing the actual front line defence of your child's Chicken Pox vaccine working (considering the babies to get it for free are only 5-6 years old now). Living in NZ - where the vaccine is not part of the normal immunisation schedule and hence is not free - I have now had two experiences of the front line defence.

This week is the second time that Ben and Joanna's kindy has reported a number of cases of Chicken Pox among the kids. And this is the second time that Ben and first time for Joanna (now that she is at kindy too), that coinciding with a Chicken Pox outbreak at kindy, they have come down with a headache and temperature for appox. 24hrs, and then been totally fine. And I am concluding this the the outward signs of the immune system in 'attack mode' fighting the Chicken Pox virus they have come into contact with at Kindy.

I am very grateful that because they are vaccinated, I don't have to worry about them getting it whenever it goes around at kindy - no having to stay home for weeks on end (as no doubt they would infect each other) caring for itchy, spotty kids. It has also reminded me that now Naomi has turned 1 - I should go and pay to get her vaccinated against it too!

Happy Birthday to Naomi!

She's one today...the year has gone so quickly! She is still a cruisy, cutey that we all love very much.

More photos on flickr.

MasterChef

Our kids LOVE MasterChef (and Peter can't stand it!). We've been watching the 2nd series of Australian MasterChef. Ben knows George and can recognise and name a number of the contestants! We also have conversations about MasterChef at dinner - Ben and Joanna start discussing whether Peter or My dish that night would make it on MasterChef! It has also increased Ben's interest in getting into the kitchen and helping to cook dinner or bake stuff (he has always liked cooking, but he is now volunteering to help more regularly, plus making suggestions for recipes).

The age of technology

Our washing machine isn't working properly...but it looks like we might be able to save the time/frustration/money of having to deal with an appliance repair man! We bought the machine just under 5 years ago (just before Ben was born), we spent a reasonable bit to buy a machine that would cope with a growing family and so ended-up with a FisherPaykel EcoActive Smart water saving washing machine (one of the ones with the electronic push buttons and LCD display).

This may seem over the top to a lot of you, but the advantage of the LCD display is that instead of us now wondering why it has stopped mid-cycle with water still in the bowl, it has given us an Fault Code - number 37. So we've stuck the this into Google and found out that most likely the problem is just some foreign object (probably out of one of the kids pockets) is blocking the water pump. And to fix it, all we need to do is tip the machine a little, undo 4 screws (on the front right-hand corner) and remove the offending object!

Will let you know what the object is when we get around to taking it apart on the weekend.

Fallen off the face of the earth?

Peter pointed out to me the other day, that we had a all time low of only 2 posts last month. Sorry for the silence. Two major reasons for this were/are:

1. I was on holidays in Oz for a month, so although we had internet access most the time, I was trying to have a bit of a holiday from sitting in front of the computer.

2. I have been crazily busy since we got back (2 weeks ago), trying to get family life in some kind of order - which has been made extra difficult by having Ben at morning kindy and Joanna at afternoon kindy.

I hope to get back into blogging a bit more, but unfortunately there isn't much time for it at the moment.

Spring in the Waikato...

On Sunday I went for a long run and managed to get sunburnt - the sun was really hot and it felt reasonably warm (even if it did only manage to get to 17C for the day). By yesterday morning, we'd got a nasty blast of cold air... it was a decidedly cold 5C and raining on my ride in to work, with snow apparently falling on Mt Pirongia about 20km away. By the afternoon, the sun was out, with more rain in the evening. And sun again this morning.

I think that's spring - if you don't like the weather, wait an hour or two and it will be different!

I guess at least we're not underwater like half of Brisbane seems to be at the moment...

IKEA

We took a trip to IKEA while in Brisbane - I wanted to get some more of their kid's plates - BUT in true IKEA style, we ended up buying a whole house of curtains, some new light fittings, plus a couple of other things (but no snakes!).

Holiday achievements

While we were away, Naomi decided to achieve some of the many milestones that seem so important in the 1st year of life.

First, she started crawling - after a few weeks of skill development, she started fully crawling the day after Peter joined us! (go here to see proof)

Second, she got her first tooth - the day after starting to crawl!

Back...

We're back from our Aussie holiday. Arrived back at 12.30am last night, so today was a bit of a write off (various members of the family only woke up between 8.30am and 10.15am this morning).

Squelch squelch splash

Ah, the sounds of tramping on Mt Pirongia. I just got back from a trip up to Pahautea Hut on Pirongia. The weather forecast was for pretty atrocious weather - wind, rain, hail, thunder etc. But hey, it couldn't be that bad, could it? Well, it wasn't - I survived perfectly adequately.

I decided to try going up a way I hadn't been up before - the Tahuanui track. It was a nice enough track - very muddy up the top, but that's kind of expected: this is Pirongia after all, and it has been raining for months now. As we got higher, we got more exposed to the wind - which was pretty ferocious at times. Finally, we made it to the hut to try and warm up. Some chicken biryani was soon bubbling away and warming us up.

After a good night's sleep, the hut was still standing, despite being thoroughly shaken in the wind and massive amount of rain (I'm guessing 200mm of rain fell overnight - there was a sink outside that was filled up that much - and there's no other way for water to get into it... it really was raining!). After some coffee and porridge, we got walking, and the weather got back to raining. By the time we got to the top, it was hailing again, along with wind gusts that must have been getting up around 80km/hr. With the temperature being somewhere well below 10C, it was certainly cold! The track had turned into a stream by this point, so there was plenty of splashing all the way down. I managed to get down only falling over 3 times, which isn't bad considering how wet and slippery it was.

All up, a good trip - it was nice to get out into the bush again! Next time I go there, I think Naomi might be with me for her Dad-and-daughter tramping trip... hopefully the weather's a little better then!

Why does it always rain on me?

It seems to have been raining for months here... we had a wet June (~220mm), followed by a relatively dry July (~56mm), and then a wet August ~165mm). And September has, so far, been wet (~70mm in the first 12 days). I'm looking forward to summer arriving sometime... and dryer weather to go with it.

Party review

I had meant to do another post soon after Joanna's Birthday, reviewing how various things went (in case you need any ideas for kids birthday parties, or also just a reference for me next time).

Highlights:

• The kids really enjoyed the dinosaur dress-ups and cave (made out of a few large boxes taped together, which they could crawl into play, plus draw on/put stickers on to decorate it). It was a good activity for them all to do while everybody was arriving - and they all enthusiastically played dinosaur roll playing games.

• Having kids all sit up to table to eat, really cut down on the mess on the floor (especially as it was wet and rainy and we all had to stay indoors) - it also creates another 'activity' to add variety to the party.

• The favourite food for both the adults and kids was the 'dinosaur bones' - pretzel sticks that had been dipped in white chocolate and then put in the fridge to set. The second favourite was the 'teradactyl wings' for the adults (chicken nibbles covered in marinade and then baked) and the 'dinosaur eggs' for the kids (small balls of ice cream rolled in hundreds and thousands).

Would change next time:

• Except for my kids, none of the other kids like fizzy drink (ages ranging from 2 - 7).

• Eating time took a lot longer than I allocated, so I ran out of time for any games/stories. Not so much of a problem for a 3yr old party, but will have to factor this in for Ben's party as he will expect/want some games.

Complicated

Trying to complete our Aussie tax returns - our financial lives are complicated and the ATO makes it even more confusing.

Accepting defeat...

I've called a roofing specialist to come and find the source of our leaking roof problem. (Hopefully it doesn't result in a leaky bank account!)

Going to Aussie

I am making our annual trip back to Aussie (that is how NZ's refer to Australia) in September. I'll be back with the kids for 4 weeks (1 week I will be marking QCS papers - it pays for the airfares), and Peter will be back for 2 weeks. So now that Joanna's birthday is past, this is another thing that I now need to spend time planning for and packing for. We are looking forward to enjoying some nice warm weather and sunshine!

Turf cutting

Now that preparation Joanna's birthday/party is over and the weather here is turning more towards spring (warmer, sunnier days)...I have managed to get out in the yard the last couple of afternoons to prepare for spring planting (which is what I will want to get into when we get back from Oz). At this stage, this means creating some new garden beds, so I actually have space to plant stuff. So each afternoon I have removed the turf from a 3m x 0.85m area, to convert into veggie garden beds. It takes me about 1 hour to cut the turf for a bed this size. I think I want to make one more bed, which will mean a total of 4, plus the existing garden bed along the fence line that was already there when we moved in.

New couch = making money

We got a new couch (modern look, leather, 3 seater) last week for free! We had been talking about how it would be nice to get a different one as our old one didn't fit nicely with the shape of our new lounge room(the chaise part just cut the room in two). So thanks to Freecycle we have a suitable couch for free (although we wouldn't have chosen the colour if we'd been buying it), and thanks to TradeMe we were able to sell our other one for a price we were very happy with!

Joanna's 3rd Birthday

Joanna turned 3 last Thursday. Thursday was just the usual family affair - opening presents before breakfast, special dinner and birthday cake for dessert. Joanna was really excited when she came out and saw her presents on the couch. And she showed a lot of appreciation for all her presents.

On Saturday morning, she had her 'Dinosaur Dance Party'. She 'loved' the decorations and all the kids had fun at the party. Playing dinosaur games (dressed up with the dinosaur tails I made), going in the dinosaur cave (including torches to use in the 'dark' cave), and doing the dinosaur egg craft. They also ate lots of yummy food - Bronto bites (meatballs), teradactyl wings (marinated chicken wings), dinosaur bones (pretzel stick covered in white chocolate), chocolate sinking mud (chocolate custard), dinosaur jelly cups, dinosaur eggs (ice-cream balls rolled in hundreds and thousands), and of course the dinosaur cake!

Waikato Cultural Centre

The Stadium! Ben and I had some father-son time enjoying a game of rugby. Waikato ended up losing (to Taranaki, 33-23), but that's just because the ref sin-binned two of the Waikato players just as they were coming back into the game. Or maybe I'm just being a one-eyed local :)

Ben enjoyed the game - he liked the bull (Taranaki mascot) and the cow (Waikato mascot) best.

And I think Waikato Stadium two-thirds empty makes more noise than Suncorp Stadium with 50000 watching a rugby game - have a listen to the video: that's the boo-ing and cow-bells as Taranaki line up a kick.

One other weird thing - Waikato have a guy up in a cherry-picker, just outside the stadium, revving a chainsaw. Just because.

Sneeze and cough into the bendy part of your arm...

It is what I've been trying to teach the kids over this winter colds and flu season. But now I've found an entertaining way to try to get the message and habit to stick - Elmo! (instead of my nagging repeats)



(Thanks to Nicole)

Beware the table saw.

It bites.

End of marathon...

Ok, so it was more like a sprint. But Naomi has woken up from her nap, so off I go...

Outlet for my creative side...

It's Joanna's birthday next week and she is having a Dinosaur Dance Party. So I have been busy making dinosaur dress-up tails for the kids to play with at the party (and to take home with them afterwards). It's been fun to create them (I got help with working out the making process from here - why waste all that brainpower, when somebody else has already done the thinking), to have a deadline and concrete reason to get out the sewing machine. I really like planning and creating things for the kids birthday parties each year - it gives me a purpose to direct my creative energy/inspiration into. I've also been making paper pompoms/flowers to decorate the room with - Joanna and Ben think they look 'cool' (idea from the Donna Hay kids magazine, actual instructions from here).

This coming week I'm going to have to switch my attention to preparing in advance as much as the food as I can (so I don't have to do much on the day) - this will include making Bronto bite, pterodactyl wings, dino egg ice-cream and chocolate sinking sand.

Weaning...

Now I know this another kid development related post (feel free to skip if you aren't interested in this stuff), but a lot of it has been happening in our house lately. This time, the news is that Naomi has decided to wean herself. She has been eating 3 good meals a day for a while now and decided milk from Mum was no longer required. Which frees me up a bit, but does mean we have had to buy some formula to give her (in her sippy cup with her meals), to make sure she's getting enough dairy etc. It was a bit unexpected, seeing as we have had to initiate the weaning process with the other two.

Nappies for 1

Related to the previous post...When I found out it was possible Joanna was going to start kindy sooner than I had anticipated, I quickly had to take the plunge and do the whole toilet training thing. Thankfully she was ready to make the transition and it only really took a week for her to get the hang of it and there wasn't really any frustration from either side. The thing that has suprised me is she is already able to stay dry during rest time and also at night as well (we are up to at least 5 dry nights in a row - I've actually lost count).

Kindy kid...

Joanna has a definite date for starting kindy! The first day back in Term 4. This is a whole term earlier than I was originally anticipating a few months ago (at that stage kids were only getting into afternoon kindy at 3yrs 4months or so, which would have meant Joanna not getting in until the new year). It will mean that Ben will be at morning kindy and Joanna at afternoon kindy at the same time for just over a month. It also works out well, as we only get back from Australia during the 2nd week of NZ school holidays, so if she had got a start date any sooner, we wouldn't have been able to accept the place and would have had to wait until term 4 anyway.

Blogging marathon

I feel like I've been really busy lately and so haven't had time to blog much...Which is not to say that I haven't had stuff to blog about...So I have a free 30min now and I will try blog as much about stuff that has been happening as possible (and that I still remember!).

(the posts are in no particular order - other than the order that my memory recalls them in)

Egg stash!

Our chooks had been slowing down laying eggs over winter. Or so we thought. Then the other day Mel noticed that they definitely were getting in under the house, past our makeshift barrier... and one of them had been looking like it was running off to the loo when it went there. So, the kids and I crawled in under the house to see if we could find any eggs... and this is what we found: 22 eggs, along with at least two that were broken. I think eggs are back on the menu!

(I've now finally got around to making a gate that actually fits the gap under the house, to make sure they don't get in again!)

Jet setter...

We received Naomi's passport in the mail today - so we now leave...I mean arrive in her country of citizenship. (We find it a little ironic that as part of the application process, they ring up Peter to check that he gives his permission for Naomi to travel overseas, when she is already living overseas!)

Quick trip to Auckland

Naomi and I drove up to Auckland on Monday to apply for her passport so she can fly back to Brisbane in September. Because it is her first passport, we had to apply in person at the Australian Consulate. All went well and we should receive her passport before we are due to leave. Here are a few comments about the trip:

• We spent twice as long travelling, as we did actually in Auckland. (90min travelling there, 90 min in Auckland, 90 min travelling home again)

• They have funky lifts in the Price Waterhouse Coopers building - they are just labelled A-G and you go to and information board, press the number button for which floor you want to go to and it tells you which letter elevator will open and take you there (now I don't know if this makes me look like a country bumpkin, but I'd never been in a building with lifts like this before).

• I felt like I was going to the 'Big Smoke' - even though the population size of Auckland is less than Brisbane (1.4 million vs 2 million approx.).

• Naomi travelled very well - slept 1hr on the way up and the whole time on the way home.

• I really like the NZ countryside - nice and green, lush, rolling hills.
  

Garden progress

We managed to get out in the garden last weekend - something we've been wanting to do for a while (we thought we might get out there a bit more over winter, but between the weather and other jobs around the house, we haven't had the chance). We dug over the herb garden and replanted the herbs that we had transplanted from our old garden. We also developed a new barrier to keep the chooks out the garden beds - it seems to be working. I got around to weeding our raised bed (it was at the stage where there were more weeds than edible plants!). And during the week, we have also managed to plant our garlic (just in time! - we are hoping it sprouts this year, last year it didn't).

busy, busy, busy

Between sicknesses and other extra activities in the last couple of weeks, I haven't had much time to blog. There's lots I'd like to write, but haven't got around to it.

How do YOU vote?

After seeing Simone's post the other day about the "Christian Values Checklist", it got me thinking about how people vote generally (not just Christians). The media often seem to think that people vote very selfishly - that whichever party promises to give the biggest tax cut, or the best schools in their area, or whatever directly affects them, will win their vote.

But is that really how people vote?

If a party was promising someone in your particular situation a 30% tax cut, but said tax cut would probably cause the economy to fall apart, would you vote for it? I would think probably not.

If you'd finished having kids, would the parties' policies on the baby bonus affect the way you vote, even if it had no direct bearing on your life?

Of course, if people don't vote perfectly selfishly, it's a lot harder for the media to proclaim what effect policies might have on voters, which would make it harder for them to sell their product. Poor media companies - life's a little too complicated for them to put it in a headline.

Nathan Campbell also has a good post on similar issues.

Fun in the snow

As promised, some more pictures and details of our snow trip last weekend...

The weather forecast for the weekend was pretty ordinary - snow showers and icy southerlies on Saturday, cloudy on Sunday and strong westerlies by Monday. Because of that, we left after breakfast rather than before. By the time we got down to Taupo, there was no wind there, so we figured we may as well head up the mountain and see what it was like. Blue sky, not a breath of

wind. We ended up having lunch at Whakapapa Village before heading up - and then had a great time tobogganing and playing all afternoon, before getting back to the village to get into our cabin.

Sunday turned out to be perfect again, so we decided to head up

the chairlifts (the "sightseeing" option), which the kids loved - Joanna wanted to go, then didn't, but once she was on, loved it. Two year-olds. Anyway, by the time we got up to Knoll Ridge, it was almost lunch time, so we had lunch up there, before Joanna ended up falling asleep in Mel's lap. Ben, Naomi and I headed back down to make a snowman in the meantime. By the time Mel and Joanna were down, our snowman was done and it was tobogganing time again!

Monday was yet another perfect day (it's pretty rare to have 3 days in a row as good as that!), so we took advantage of it and did some more tobogganing, before heading home after lunch.

So much for that weather forecast...

Full set of photos at flickr

Mystery illness

I mentioned the other day that Ben had developed a cold, well at that stage he only had a temperature, which I assumed was the start of a cold. So I expected that a runny nose etc. would develop. Instead...he developed a rash - viral looking one on his chest and back, accompanied by splotchy/welty/slightly itchy rash on legs, arms, face etc. So off to the Drs we go - no cause could be identified so we were sent home with some anti-histamine (phenergan) and steroid (prednisone) to treat the over active immune response (ie. the rash). Well see how it goes...

Btw...I just have to mention (again) that I love the Waikato District Health Board's funding of medical care for children. The whole visit (seeing Nurse, Dr and getting prescription medicine) cost $0, that's right - nothing!

Big week...

After long weekend at the snow, processing mountains of dirty washing (produced at aforementioned weekend), and dealing with sick kids...I am well and truly ready for a quiet weekend!

Adult education

I'm watching the Spider-Man movie for the first time ever. Being from a family of girls I have never read Spider-Man comics or been involved with any other of the 'superheros'. But being a 4 year old boy, Ben is starting to get into that stage. At the moment it is mainly from what other kids tell him/play together at kindy. However I've decided that I need to familiarise myself with the Superhero stuff, so I can engage in meaningful discussions with Ben and help guide him through all the issues that this superhero stuff can explore.

Sick house...

3 down...only 2 to go! (Naomi got cold before the weekend, I got cold on the weekend, Ben developed cold overnight)

Whakapapa blue

We just got back from our snow holiday... we managed to get the most fantastic weather possible - blue sky for 3 days in a row, with only the tiniest breath of wind the whole time. More details and many photos and videos to come once we've unpacked and recovered!

Time standing still?

Do you find at times that it feels like time is standing still? It felt like that to me this afternoon...then I realised that's because it was! The clock had stopped.

Tonsilitis again

no comment.

Australians all let us rejoice

Naomi is officially an Australian citizen! (and has yet to set foot in the country)

Washing line false start...

On the weekend, we tried to install our new washing line (that I'd been given for Mother's Day). Peter dug a hole in the ground, then went to put the washing line in it, when he realised there was a problem...it was too short!

Back when we shopping around for a new one, the height of the washing line was one of the important criteria to consider (because Peter didn't want to be able to 'clothesline' himself on it). So we specifically chose one that was height adjustable (it didn't have a crank handle like the traditional hills hoist, but more like the length adjusters on aluminum crutches). The problem is I am even at serious risk of 'clothes lining' myself on this one! (let alone Peter) - even at it's highest height setting. There was no way we could know this before opening it up, as nowhere on the packaging does it tell you the height of it, it just tells you the arm span length and how many metres of line space there is...which brings me to our second complaint with it - it has 50 m of line space, but the lines are only space a maximum of 5cm apart - which a) doesn't allow for good airflow and so if I filled it all with washing, it would take ages to dry; and b) it means that even on the longest outer lines, it would take 2 sides to hang a queen size bedsheet (not to mention the fact that the sheet would drag on the ground due to the impractical low height of the whole contraption!).

So now we need to find out if we are able to return this one and find another, more suitable washing line - which will cost us at least twice the price, based on our previous research . At least it is the middle of winter at the moment and so I'm using the dryer most the time to get the washing dry (as the weather isn't suitable for drying 'all natural').

Back into routine

Ben went back to Kindy today. It is a lot quieter at home with just the girls. I also got to the gym for some exercise (I only managed to go once during the holidays).

School holiday progress...

While the rest of us were kept busy going to playdates etc. Naomi was busy learning to sit up by herself. At the start of the holidays she couldn't sit for more than a minute or so before flipping herself onto her back. Now (at the end of the holidays) she can sit for an undetermined length of time...until she whinges because she doesn't want to be in the sitting position anymore and can't get from sitting to lying yet - ahh...2 steps forwards, 1 step back!

Getting in the groove...

After walking to the shops for the first time the other week...this weekend I have walked to the shops once and back from the shops twice.

World Vision I Old Spice

I thought this was a good take on the new Old Spice ad.

Old Spice | The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

But he'll still smell of Old Spice, which Peter and I still think will just bring mental images of old men.

Thanks Simone

I love Jackie Chan movies!

The fight scenes actually look authentic and they usually contain some element of humor - not just all fake seriousness.

Enjoyable holidays...

I have been really enjoying the school holidays, even though we haven't gone away for any of it. I think the secret has been; a) planning (which I have control over) and b) weather (which I have no control over.

Before the holidays I made sure I organised a number of play dates with friends of Joanna's from playgroup and friends of Ben's from kindy. So this is what we have done 2 or 3 mornings each week. The other mornings and afternoons we have done a bit of shopping, gone to the movies, done some craft, and just hung out at home.

Both the outings and the hanging out at home have been greatly improved by amazing fine, sunny weather (especially for winter school holidays in Hamilton, where it is traditionally wet and cold). We have had frosty mornings the past week, but the sunny weather has meant that by mid morning it is nice and warm (it actually has reminded me of Brisbane winter weather).

(Although since I started this post yesterday, the weather has turned cold and wet today! - thankfully it is the last day of holidays)

First 3D movie

I took Ben to see Toy Story 3 today. To get a session time that fitted in with Naomi's routine, so I could leave her with somebody else, meant that we had to see the 3D version. Toy Story isn't the kind of movie that is really improved by 3D, but some of the previews for other movies looked pretty spectacular. 3D movies have come a long way from my last experience - Imax movie at Expo 88 in Brisbane (where you wore the cardboard glasses, with one red and one blue lens - a pretty daggy look...the modern glasses actually make you look kind of cool)

Sitting up

We can now announce that Naomi is officially able to sit by herself! (this means she can sit and play with a toy for about 10min before toppling over).

Gardening progress

Even though I voiced my frustration last week about our garden, we have made some progress out there over the past couple of weekends (thanks to 2 weekends of fine weather). Last weekend, I went to the New Zealand Tree Crops Association sale and bought some olive trees and feijoa trees to plant along our corner fence line to create a hedge (for privacy and as a noise barrier). This weekend, we built a compost bin out of pallets (which involved transplanting 2 rose bushes) and made a little more progress fencing off the herb garden.

Edible gardening...

excites me! I'm sitting here watching 'River Cottage - Winter's coming'; looking at the large garden, with lots of veggies which are picked and used for yummy recipes. But lately, all that the edible garden does is make me feel frustrated. Because I don't have one! because we are free ranging our chooks, it means we need to do a lot of work to make chook proof garden beds. And we just haven't found time to do it (we had thought it would be a job that would get done over winter, but we still haven't got to it yet!).

The kit out continues...

In preparation for our fast approaching snow trip...we bought the kids snow boots and goggles today. We had been tossing up whether to get them boots or not (and just get them to wear their gumboots), but the stores have already started having 50% off sales on them, so at half price we thought we could afford it and hopefully it will now guarantee that the kids will be comfy and enjoy the snow and want to spend a worthwhile amount of time playing in the snow.

Ewww...mouldy carpet!

Yesterday, Peter got around to making some shelves in the playroom cupboard recess. So this afternoon I started the task of unpacking boxes of stuff onto the shelves (boxes of stuff that haven't been unpacked since we moved). All was going well, until...I removed a box that had been stored on the floor of the wardrobe in the playroom, the whole corner of the carpet is covered in thick mould! We think it is related to the leaky roof problem I discovered a couple of weeks ago.

I don't like running in the heat...

Just as well that's not a problem here in winter. Just went for a run in the middle of the day... 7.2C when I started, and warmed up to a positively balmy 9.7C by the time I got home :)

I just made the yummiest stew for lunch!

It had a nice distinctive sweetish taste - as opposed to my generic savoury taste of the 'chuck in every vegetable in the house' kind of stew that I usually do.
Ingredients:

• Hoggart neck chops
• leek
• fennel
• carrot
• sweet potato - orange and red
• rosemary
• couscous
• vegetable stock
  

Mover and shaker

Naomi has taken off in the moving/wriggling department. Now when we put her down on her play mat on the floor and turn our back for a couple of seconds...we discover she is no longer on her mat but off on an adventure. And in the last couple of days she has learnt to roll from her back to her tummy, and she seems more like Ben now - rolling to get wherever she wants to go!

Egg count for June

66 eggs! That is a total of 96 eggs that we have now received from our chooks - so they have paid for themselves and have paid off about 1/2 of their house (so they still have a mortgage hanging over them).

Cafe search...

This morning I got to go out for a morning of RnR without the kids. So first stop was the hairdressers to get my hair trimmed (I haven't had it cut since Mum and Dad were here last November). What I really wanted to spend my morning doing was sitting in a coffee shop, relaxing with a cup of coffee while reading some of my magazines and latest novel (Frederick Forsyth - Afghan). The problem is I haven't had the chance to go to many cafes in Hamilton, so don't know the good ones; the bad ones; the ones that have comfy seats; the ones with good coffee; the ones to go to when you want to feel like you are in happening place... Actually now I think about it, I have been to a handful of cafes (7 including todays), but most of the time a big factor is whether they have a good kids play area. Here's a quick review of the ones I've been to:

Scotts Epicurean: First discovered on my last solo RnR outing, it has a great brunch menu; great coffee; a really nice honey, lemon and ginger drink. It is a happening place with a steady stream of customers; cheerful staff and good music. It also has paper and crayons for the kids to do drawings with while your there. It isn't the place to go if you want to relax and read a good book - it's too noisy and happening (although they do have comfy seats).

Sierra: This is also another busy and popular cafe (especially on weekends). I wasn't impressed with their food - they make it sound gourmet on the menu, but what comes out looks and tastes a bit pedestrian. The coffee didn't taste nice. Also, they don't have comfy seats and it is a bit noisy - would be hard to carry on a conversation.

Columbus: Great coffee, great cakes/slices (something with a bit of character, not just the normal cafe cakes), good relaxed atmosphere. Unfortunately they don't have comfy chairs for long sits with a book (they are wooden seats), and they don't have a kitchen so there is only cabinet food on offer if you are wanting something more than coffee and cake.

The Verandah: This cafe is situated right next to the play equipment at the edge of Lake Rotoroa in Hamilton. This is great because it means you can grab a takeaway coffee and then go and supervise the kids while they play on the play equipment; or you can adjurn to the cafe after the kids have had a play and you are all starting to freeze (as I did with a friend the other week). They make great coffee, have reasonably priced cakes/slices, and make the best sausage rolls (they have carrot and other vegetable matter in them and it is real mince, not just reclaimed carcass stuff). It can be very busy during school holidays and at weekends, and again it isn't the kind of cafe for book reading.

Smo's cafe: Went here with a friend after it had been suggested to her as a kid friendly cafe. Well it had what you could define as a kids play area, I guess - a large playpen with a few broken/miss matched toys in it. It is in a large warehouse building, so has a very cold and empty feel to it. The food was reasonable, but nothing I'd rush back for.

Cafe Agora: This cafe is actually owned/run by one of the church's in town. I found out about this cafe when it first opened, from a mum at playgroup as it had a 'kids play area'. This is actually the best 'kids play area' in a cafe that I have found in Hamilton - it is a large separate room (with a window, so you can still see your kids), where the kids can go and play with a range of toys. It has great coffee, nice food and really comfy couches. The only downside is that is only open Monday-Friday, so I can't take Peter and the family there on the weekend or just go there by myself while Peter looks after the kids.

Pumice: This is the cafe I went to today. I had found out about it at the food and wine festival where they had stall selling food. I tried some of their food samplers then and it was really good, so I decided to try out the real thing today. The cafe seating is rather limited - fitted in around their shelves of deli produce - and no comfy couches. But their bistro area has nice booths with padded seat - this is where I decided to set-up camp. With a whole booth to myself I ordered a coffee and got out the Donna Hay magazine I'd bought a couple of weeks ago, but hadn't got around to reading much of. So there I sat for 2 hours looking a recipes for delicious food with beautiful photography (although having studied a few of Donna Hay's cookbooks, it has come to my attention that sometimes the photo of the 'finished' dish doesn't always have all the ingredients in it - especially if a particular ingredient has a tendency to make the dish look 'messy', but is needed for the flavour). The waitress after a handful of visits to the table at the start to check if I wanted anything, left me alone in peace for the rest of my stay. I came home feeling refreshed and energised - ready to enter messy family life again.

I walked to the shops today!

It's the first time I have walked to the shops since we moved into our new house (compared to the at least 3 or 4 times a week I used to at the old house!)

Happy Birthday!

It's Peter's birthday today.
We have had the obligatory presents, card and cake.

Pottering...

Is what I did today. I stayed home all day: unpacked a couple of boxes that had been sitting in our bedroom since the move; sewed a button back on one of Joanna's jumpers (which she no longer fits, but Naomi will wear one day); put away random bits of washing that had fallen down behind the aforementioned boxes; made some hollandaise sauce twice (one flop batch, one batch that worked quickly and perfectly); froze up some food for Naomi...

It felt good not to be rushing to get stuff done and not have a deadline that I absolutely need to get any of these jobs finished (well apart from the sauce, which we need for breakfast tomorrow).

Sad...

I've been noticing more acutely how TV dramas gloss over the moral implications of relationships. The story line gloss over the long-term consequences of the 'miss deed' that has been committed and just focuses on the supposed 'good' consequences. It totally devalues relationships...but I guess you probably have already noticed this.
(and maybe it is because now we have the PVR I am watching TV)