An end of an era

Well, it's been 4 years of blogging our lives. Luke has grown from a baby to an almost 5 year old, the girls have started and thrived at school, I have managed to complete a college certificate and Marty has supported us all. 

With a digital age, I feel like I am triple logging each activity Into different memory keeper and sharing spaces- I am juggling maintaining photo albums, video files, a blog and a Facebook account all at the same time! I have decided that now the kids are all through their preschool years it's time for this blog space to stop too. It has served its purpose well, recording many glimpses into life with our 3 darlings over a 4 year period. I hope my children (and I) will gain many smiles as we read over these memories in years to come....and between Facebooks memory log and our photo albums we will  continue to record and share many more moments I am sure. So thank you blog. I wonder what new ideas 2016 will bring? Who knows! Over and out! 

Christmas

The obligatory photo with Santa 

Well, we are at the end of the madness of Christmas and I finally have a breather to record how we spent it for 2015.

I had great intentions of spending the week leading up to Christmas in a festive way, and mostly this worked as all the kids were off school/daycare by the 18th. We watched oodles of festive movies, we listened to carols (pentatonix was the hit here this hear) and we did a lot of baking - well, that was mostly me, the kids just like icing them! 

Christmas with the vBC staff! 

Christmas with granny came first, with a lovely relaxed roast dinner outside on a beautiful summers evening. A few days later it was Christmas Eve and I gave the church message at the packed service, after a rocky tech start that left me a bit flustered it went well in the end. 

Christmas morning started at 6:30am - of course I woke first as usual! The girls woke Luke up because we like to open the stockings all together. We let them open one gift before church - this time we picked the one from Aunty Steph, knowing it was very special indeed and could be worn today. Aunty Steph had designed and made the girls each a beautiful outfit (Luke got a cool hat too) which they modelled with delight for the camera to show her in Auckland! After pancakes with Icecream, it was off to church. After church we opened our gifts to each other. I was delighted that this year the kids really enjoyed every single present, making a big fuss and getting excited about each gift. It made it all worth it! 

Bailey loved his new tug rope too! 

We took the dogs for a walk before heading out to the big (24 of us!!) family lunch held at the golf club cafe. It was such a wonderful afternoon, with happy cousins, lots of laughter and fun, loads of presents for all the kids and good food food food! 

By mid afternoon we were all stuffed and tired and packed up the masses of food. We decided to continue the eating and fun at our house for dinner and drinks. It was a leftovers feast followed by a hilarious game of heads up and tension. What a great day! I love a family Christmas with all the relatives together. 

End of year reports

Wow we are yet again blown away by the girls end of year school reports. What stood out to us especially is that both girls got 100% excellence for their attitude and effort across all areas. They are both among the youngest in their classes, working alongside many kids who are a year ahead of them but both girls are keeping up well and shining. Here is a snippet of their reports:

Well done my beautiful girls. You are doing so well at school and have worked hard this year. We love you lots and are so looking forward to a long summer break together. 

Jaimee's Baptism

A couple of months ago, Jaimee came to me and said "mum, all my questions about baptism have been answered.  I want to be baptised".  Our hearts rejoice at this decision to follow Jesus personally - something we have been praying our children will decide to do since before they were born.  When Jaimee asked what she should say, I asked her "well, what is your life like without Jesus?".  She replied "my life wouldn't even be my life without Jesus mum!".

On the 6th December, Jaimee declared these words in front of her church family, family and friends: "I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. Without Jesus I wouldn't be me because He is the most important person in my life. I want to be baptised because I want to show the world that I want to live for Him".  

Jaimee asked to be baptised by mummy, and daddy really wanted to sing to his little girl when she came out of the water so Jaimee asked Katie Spurgeon if she would baptise her too.  Katie has been a big part of our lives, when Jaimee was in her hip spica casts, Katie used to come and entertain her after school, and Katie has been coming over weekly almost ever since.  Daddy sung one of Jaimee's favourite worship songs (Covered) to her during her baptism.  The words are so appropriate: no matter what I've done, you have removed my shame....I am covered by Your Grace, beautiful Grace. 

It was a bit emotional baptising my own daughter!  After asking Jaimee whether she declares Jesus as the Lord and Savior of her life, I choked up when saying that "It gives me great joy to baptise you.." and I had to take a breathe to compose myself before finishing that!  Jaimee had practised going backwards in our pool at home with her nose covered!  We always fully immerse in baptism, showing the total washing away of sin and the coming up washed clean.  Then Katie and I prayed for Jaimee to be fulled with the Holy Spirit and to know God's love always and to seek Him always.

After the baptisms of Charlotte Woodruffe, Sarah Terry and Kriztian Leyser, it was time for sharing verses of encouragement.  I shared Psalm 119:105-112 with Jaimee, as I felt this week that these words were for her to hold onto.  Marty spoke of God's plan for her life, mentioning that she was a miracle birth for us, and that God had carried her through her big hip operations too.  He read from Psalm 37.  Poppa told Jaimee to wake up each morning imagining that God was looking around to see who He could use today.  He said to imagine jumping up tall and saying "pick me, pick me!!".  Granma shared some words from Micah for Jaimee and mentioned that the verses mummy had given her were special for her family also.  In cards, Jaimee was given Psalm 46 by Katie to read, Proverbs 3:6 by Granny and Grampa Muz, Numbers 6:24-26 by Oma and Poppa and Hebrews 11:1 from her Godparents, the Dempsey family.  Jaimee was delighted to recieve a beautiful plaque with her own favourite verse (philippians 4:13) on it from the Dempseys too.

We had a big potluck lunch at our home afterwards to celebrate!  We presented Jaimee with a simple gold cross necklace to remind her that Jesus took her sins away on the cross.  We were surrounded by loved ones who have impacted Jaimee's life and been praying for her and we felt great joy at having all the grandparents represented at her baptism as well as having her great nana, the Sunleys, the Puts, the Dempseys, the Winters, the Spurgeons, the Brewertons, the Gibbs cousins, her best friends Annaliese's family and her teacher Ms V celebrate along with us.

Bits and bobs in November

Just a few photos highlighting out week! 

Kate got glasses last week to help take the stress off her eyes with her close work. Considering she initially was devastated about this, she had taken them to school to use in public even though she doesn't need to! I think she looks beautiful. 

This weekend was all about dancing, with a disco on Friday night and a rock and roll night on Saturday! All the kids enjoyed dressing up and dancing (like learnt fast too!) and Jaimee won the hula hoop contest...I came second! She was delighted to get her own block of chocolate. 

On Sunday we put up the Christmas tree, giving in 2 days before December to do it at a convenient time. Nice to get into the spirit! 

...and Jaimee came home with these certificates this week for her amazing work at athletics day! It's such a big testimony considering last year scar tissue prevented her from doing well! 

Meet Bailey and Max

For the last year or so the kids, especially Kate, have been asking for a dog. I think Kates obsession has come slightly from her love of the "famous five" novels, she has a soft toy dog named Timmy and she insists she is a tomboy like George! 

A few months ago I was watching her with some other dogs and wondered hmmmmm maybe. And then we went to "paws in the park" - an event for dogs, and spent an hour just sitting with a family of dogs, soooo happy. And I started looking on trade me at options. Of course, biggest hurdle was daddy - he said firmly "it's me or a dog"! And then a few weeks of negotiations later he said "definitly not this year anyway". I assured him I would now only bring it up again if an amazing opportunity came up. 

And one did only a few days later. 

Max (age 5) and Bailey (age 16monrhs) were lovely poodle X bichon dogs who needed rehoming. They were free, they had been registered, vaccinated and came with all we needed. And they were in Hastings.  Oh puhlease can we just have a look at them and see if one would suit us? 

We went to visit them...and they were perfect. The kids loved them and they were extremely gentle and quiet with the kids. Max just cuddles up and stares adoringly at you, Bailey loves to play  fetch and have cuddles. And Marty caved - on both of them!!!!! Softie said that we couldn't split them up. So the next day we picked up our new boys and brought them home. 

Bailey spent day one staring at the Guinea pigs and trying to get into their hutch. And once they discovered the cats it was crazy - all barking and chasing and growls and not listening to a word of obedience. What had I done?! That night the cats refused to enter the house. The dogs kept barking at cat noises under the house and I was in a bit of panic! These dogs do come when called, but not when chasing. And they  don't know any command words. Oh boy. Best bit of night though was laughing at Marty who had both dogs lying all over him that evening lol. 

But we did get them settled for the night (apparently they like to be tied to their bed with a lead) and the cats snuck into our room (their safe end of house) eventually. I was shocked  when Marty took them for a walk in the rain at 6:30am by yay for that!!! 

I woke determined to put some boundaries on these dudes and figure this thing out. We played fetch in the morning - Bailey had to sit first though each time. I pulled out the treats and they soon learnt to sit when I asked them to. Lots of cuddles and praise has helped and they both seem to be responding to me better already.  They even managed to look at the cat in the lounge through the gate without too much of a bark. (And the cat put her claws back in - yay!). One cat slept on Kates bed all day, the other under our bed - but at least they were inside.  I'm positive with time and effort we can all live together happily. And the kids are over the moon!!!! 

Our Gym champ

Kates gymnastics club held a short "competition" for the older girls classes on Saturday.  Kate is the youngest in her class, which was for 8 & 9 year old girls (she turned 7 this year) but she is keeping up and loves her class, going with a cheerful grin every week with great joy. Jaimee wants to rejoin the class next year, which suits us fine as the girls can both bike home with daddy after class - easy!

Kate scored well, with an 8.3 on her mini jump (a dive roll) which was the highest in her wee group of 6 children.  On the bar, she got a confident 8.0 and on the beam she also got 8.0.  Pity she had a wee slip off the beam, or it could have been an 8.5!  I love the way she just kept smiling and jumped right back up and finished though.

On the floor she did a well practiced routine with elegance, even if that handstand to roll was more of a dive roll!  She scored her highest here - an 8.6.

Well done Kate, we just love your cheerful "can do" attitude to everything you do.

Nana, legend.

Today we Celebrated a very special occasion. The matriarch of Marty's family, his amazing nana, turned 90 years young. She has lived through the Napier earthquake, a horrific war and some amazing changes in this world and has taken them all in her stride - nana has a tablet, email, and a laptop and will be reading this blog! 

Nana is a legend. She still lives in her own home and walks into town. She is actively involved in church and her craft group and still does all the family mending and adjustments.  Each school holidays she has the great grandchildren over to do a little craft project and she has patiently and lovingly taught the girls how to use a sewing machine and how to knit. 

 Our beautiful Nana insists on paying me a little pocket money to vacuum her house even though I would do it for nothing....and Luke still maintains the most important part of that fortnightly visit is the mint from her lolly jar that is always waiting for us - we can't leave her house without that mint! He loves going to nanas, they feed the birds together. And when nana comes for dinner every fortnight, Luke and her have a race to see who can eat dinner the fastest! Even our cats love nana, oozing attention over her just as she gives it back to them. 

A big Happy birthday nana, you are an absolute legend in our books. You are sweet and kind and fun and speak "family" to us all. I never had a nana who lived so close as a child, one who came to every birthday party (sorry about that noisy 'bounce' party nana!) and every school play. I know that it's so special to have her in our lives and we treasure her as she deserves.  Here are some of my favourite nana moments this year:  

  ....See you on Thursday for more Downton Abby Nana!! Xxxx