Recreational Shopping – one for the ladies!

What is it about that thrill of trying on new clothes, looking in the mirror and seeing yourself looking AWESOME?! I love that self-centred rush of buying something just for me.  Terrible eh?  It is not that unusual a sin among women...to desire new clothes even though I have a perfectly functional wardrobe already.  I don’t love that I love shopping, and neither does my wallet  (and with the wallet issue means that my husband doesn’t really appreciate this desire either).  But at the end of the day, I can reason myself into all sorts of purchases....even fake long hair attachments in this trip!

Several years ago I was introduced to the term “recreational shopping” – shopping without purpose… just because it’s fun.  Marty and I do this fairly often (although a bit less now there are 3 terrors to take along with us) and it is one of my favourite activities.  Every holiday must include a shopping expedition or two in order to make it a success!  So when we planned to come to Auckland for 10 days over Christmas, you can understand that a trip to the mall was one of the top on the list of ‘things to do while in Auckland’.   I did go a little bit overboard this trip…Marty spoilt me rotten and let me pretty much get an entire new wardrobe.  

We had a secret weapon of Aunty Steph, who was wonderful and took the kids to the play area while I had a wonderful time trying on every single item in Pagani.   Mixed results here – some dresses completely shocked me and made me ask Marty in horror where the heck that tummy bulge had come from?!  It must have been a scorched almonds baby in there…and it was about 4 months along… hmmmm, must start that exercise program when I get home!  But then I squeezed myself into a couple of rather stunning little black dresses that made Marty grin and made me feel like a supermodel….pity I really can’t wear cocktail dresses to playgroup and so couldn’t quite justify getting them to myself.  

Later I timidly stepped foot into a lingere shop, something I generally avoid unless necessary because I can never get my size right.  I once plucked up the nerve to get fitted at the Bendon Outlet store – what a disaster that was, resulting in me attempting to squeeze me into a bra that was at least 2 sizes too small and then leaving feeling rather puzzled and even more confused.  This time, when the sales lady came over to me beaming and asking if she could help, I wasn’t sure if I wanted it.  But she was like some kind of bra expert/angel.   It was so pleasant to be listened to, explained to and with one glance to be fitted correctly.  Everything she gave me to try on made me blink at my reflection in amazement and delight.  I had sadly thought my 3 adorable parasites had sucked all life out of this area of my body and had resigned myself (and Marty) to this sad fate.  But my faith (and gravity) has been restored thanks to the wonders of a well fitted (and engineered) bra.   We left that store raving about the service, we were both very impressed –and also a lot poorer. 

As well as the malls, I squeezed in a quick trip to the New Lynn Savemart – which can take a whole day to do properly as it is HUGE, but I stuck to just dresses and skirts this trip, meaning it ONLY took 2 hours.

At the end of the shopping adventures, I had enough bags to make me feel like I was in my favourite scene from Pretty Women.  

It is just a pity that I don’t have Richard Gere’s money to spend. 

Catching up with Family and Friends

This has been the longest trip to Auckland since we moved to the Hawkes Bay, so I was determined to finally catch up with some of our friends and family that we don't normally have time to see.

Visiting my Grandma Towns

First up was a visit to Grandma at the Auckland Hospital (mental health ward).  Grandma was having one of her better days, and recognised us, yay! Her face lit up when she saw us, and she thought the kids were just adorable.  Grandma's mind is wandering, and during our visit it was very hard not to laugh as she told us how she owned the place (which apparently was a backpackers for deaf and blind people), then told us all about how if you put salt and pepper on cats, you need to watch out because there will be kittens everywhere!  She also made reference to a family member who got married the day after her 21st birthday (what a scandal), before I reminded her that that was actually me!!  She mumbled "no comment" and I had a giggle.

The next day, I caught up with some of my old friends from high school, some of whom I hadn't seen since our wedding.  I had a hard time in high school, and wasn't really sure how this visit was going to make me feel, but everyone has grown up a lot and it was such a lovely time catching up, laughing and sharing stories.   Our kids are similar ages, and all got along wonderfully as well- when Jaimee left, she asked if she could please come back for a sleepover!

Second generation of friendship - awww!

Tanya, Chrissy, me and Andrew

Jaimee, James and Kate watch the crocodile get fed

On the 28th we ventured out to Butterfly Creek (another place I have never been before) and joined one of our bridesmaids there with her wee boy.  Jaimee and Kate adored James, and he took a liking to me, so that was another really fun day.  I loved hanging out with Kylie again, and to be doing it surrounded by crocodiles, butterflies and farm animals was even more fun!

Kylie and Me

Lastly, one of my friends came up to the bach to see us with her family, so I feel like this trip has been a real success in terms of catching up.  Kathryn and Dave have 2 very cute little girls, who have similar personalities to mine (oldest shy, youngest outgoing).

Luke and me with Amy, Kathryn and Emma

What is even better is that every visit has been relaxed, easy and enjoyable.  I love friendships that you can slip on like an old glove, it means so much to have those kinds of friends.

A Merry Christmas!!!

So how did we spend Christmas day?  

This was the first year that Jaimee actually woke up by herself (Usually I am first up and get impatient of waiting for our kids who always sleep late...I end up waking them up normally!).  She came into our room complaining she couldn't get to sleep.  Then she was quiet for a moment before asking "Is it morning?"  I glanced at Marty (It was 6.45am at this stage) who mumbled "Kinda" in reply.  Jaimee asked daddy to come with her please...and led him to the lounge where the stockings were bulging.  I heard the gasp of delight and grinned from the bedroom.  She managed to wait in our bed with us another 15 minutes for Kate to wake up before they opened their stockings, full of treat food and small trinkets.  

Then we got ready for church, which was a really cool service with carols, drama, you tube clips and a hearty chorus of "Happy Birthday to Jesus" by all the kids.  It was really important for us to take this time to remember God's gift to us at Christmas - Jesus Christ his son.  Then we went to Poppa's house and the girls waited patiently for us adults to get the roast sorted so that they could finally get stuck into the presents!

Poppa and his grandkids enjoy the presents together

Luke is fascinated by Poppa's dancing, singing dog!

 After lunch, the girls decided to do a 'production' for us that they had been busy rehearsing over the last couple of days.  We listened to them sing and dance to a few carols together, it was very cute to see them performing for their family.

Aunty Danielle

 I was determined to update the family photo finally, so snapped this cool shot of us all with my wee timer on the camera!  

Back row: Garrett (Danielle's man), Jaimee, Mike (Poppa), Marty, Kate, Joshua and Luke

Front row: Danielle, Anneke (Oma), Nikki and Stephanie

The 2011 family photo!  

Downtown Auckland on Christmas Eve

Twas the day before Christmas...so we did what all good families do, we went into the city?!

Uncle Josh meets his nephew

Ok, so it is not the most traditional way to spend Christmas eve, but we really wanted to go up the sky tower and the weather was fantastic (I have lived in Auckland all my life and still never done this, typical local girl - I had to wait until I moved out of Auckland before I even wanted to!)

Poppa and the girls enjoy the view from the sky tower

No fear at all!

Daddy was a bit queasy - not such a fan of heights!

We had such a good time, It was nice to have Uncle Josh (20) and Aunty Steph (17) hanging out with us, because they hadn't come down to the Bay since Easter, so hadn't met Luke before or seen us for a while, and we really love spending time with them.  We went up the sky tower with Poppa first, something that Jaimee has been asking to do since she had a view of it from her Starship hospital window last year.  It was fun watching the elevator rise up through the glass bottom of the lift - it made my legs feel a bit wobbly, and Marty (never a fan of heights) felt gross after the trip - but the girls thought it was awesome!   

At the top we watched someone do the drop down the side of the tower - I was keen, but not at $220 for the 5 second thrill that it was!  We posed for a funny photo of us 'pushing' Marty off the edge which was fun, although the girls were a bit unsure when i suggested the pose!

Falling off or a bug on the window.  Some kind of Impersonation!

Walking & scootering around the Viaduct Harbour

Christmas Eve in downtown Auckland! 

 Afterwards, we went down to the new viaduct basin to see all the improvements they made for the RWC.  Jaimee and Poppa had great fun scootering around together! I had a go too, and I am now keen to get scooters for Marty and me once Luke is old enough to use one, they are so much fun and make going for a walk that much quicker with children!  We all sat down at one of the flash bars by the water for a coffee and fries before continuing on over the new bridge that lets through the boats.  We were lucky enough to see it in action, which Jaimee was fascinated by.  Kate got tired from walking, so she ended up in the pushchair while we carried Luke the rest of the way.  There was a phone booth with a 'hot line to Santa', so Jaimee listened to Santa asking her what she wanted for Christmas before handing me the phone and whispering "mum, can you tell him what I want?!".  I asked Santa for headbands please...Jaimee mentioned the phone call when she found the headbands the next day so that was a bit of Christmas magic for her!

On the 'Santa line" asking for headbands (which she got!)

Oma, Kate and Poppa

Watching the new gate go up to let a boat through

...all in all, it was the perfect way to spend the day with our family, and we finished it off in our usual traditional style with board games all evening.  I love Christmas.

Its snowing for Christmas at our place?!

Today I was cleaning the house madly in preparation for our holiday in Auckland ( I like to come home to a clean house, plus we have a family staying here while we are away).  Towards the end of the day, I went to get some fish out of the freezer for dinner, and decided spontaneously that now would be a great time to defrost the freezer.  That is how i get things done - when i see they need doing, i just do them!  Luke was asleep, and the girls were curled up with Monsters Inc on, so I got to work.

Halfway through, Jaimee came out to find me.  I handed her a chunk of ice and said "here, go play with this".  Yelling for Kate to come, she gleefully grabbed the ice and ran outside.  Two seconds later, Kate also was armed with a chunk of ice and Jaimee had returned to grab the T Ball set (?!).  I heard lots of giggling as they apparently smashed the ice to bits with their bat.  I threw a few more chunks of ice out the door for them and continued the job.  

As I finished up, I came outside to be greeted by the sight of Kate in her ballerina dress, complete with gumboots, gloves and beanie (with headband perched on top) jumping on the trampoline happily bouncing the ice around.  I cracked up laughing and went to get my camera....

...excuse the coughing, I am still recovering from this horrid cold.  

So next time your kids are driving you up the wall, give them some ice. 

 It kept my girls happy for over half an hour!!  

Christmas Number 1

Luke's first Christmas

 On Sunday morning we had mixed emotions in our house - I had barely slept between coughing violently half the night and dealing with an upset and teething Luke the other half.   The girls woke up super excited that it was their first Christmas today (we have 3 or 4 Christmas celebrations each year, lucky girls with 4 sets of grandparents!!).

I went out to the pharmacy and purchased large amounts of drugs to try and get through the day..."soldier on with Coldrel" the TV had promised, so i popped the pills and my nose and cough cleared up, although the dizzyness and shakes remained, I still managed to suck it up for a few hours.  It sucks being sick just day before Christmas, I just don't have time for this silliness!  Worse is the idea that the rest of the family (who have started sniffing and coughing mildly) might be sick for our holiday, so I have been dosing everyone up with vitamins and hot soup, early nights and quiet days, in the hope that we can avoid disaster!

Granma and Grandad, Nana, Granny, Grampa Muz, Aunty Shona and cousins Brianna and Jakob joined us for a yummy afternoon tea and present exchanging.  The girls ripped into their presents - in fact, we never even saw them open their presents from their cousins because the kids tore into them as soon as they arrived, the little monkeys!

Granma and the girls open gifts

Ballerina Kate

 Kate got a ballerina costume from her Granma and Grandad.  Kate dreams of being a ballerina one day, so this was her ultimate present - she hasn't taken it off since she got it except for bed really!  She LOVES it.

Granny and Gramp Muz get a bit of help

Thanks Granny!  

yummy!

The girls had such a fun afternoon playing with their cousins, and I really enjoyed sitting down with the ladies of the family and having a good catch up.  Marty and Gramp Muz fixed our headlights on the car ready for our trip to Auckland on Friday.  Oh, and of course ridiculous amounts of food was consumed by all!!

Marty and Luke watch on with Grandad and Granma

Everybody loves good Neighbours...

3 years ago, we moved house to get away from some horrid neighbours.  That time was just awful.  I was on anti-depressants and was in tears every time I drove into my street to go 'home'.  My home was like a prison, I would go out as much as possible and stayed at peoples houses whenever we could.  I lost weight and lost my milk (Kate was 10 months old).

So when we put the house on the market, we were desperate to find a nice neighbourhood above all other criteria in a house.  God is amazing....Marty's workmate let us know that his mother's neighbour passed away recently, the house was quite good, he could contact the family if we wanted.  Yes please, why not?!  The family actually 'interviewed' us - they just really wanted the house to be looked after by a nice family - they wanted  US to be wonderful neighbours for Joyce (Marty's workmate's mum), as Joyce had looked after their mum so well.

Over the last three years, my nerves have healed with some great neighbours....It is peaceful and quiet, with 3 single adults on all 3 sides of us!  I try really hard to be a good neighbour back by sharing fruit and veges with all my neighbours and making a point to stop and chat when we are both outside.  A couple of years ago, our neighbours (Joyce and the people on the other side of her) got together for a few wines on Christmas Eve, followed by a lot of giggles as they helped us put the trampoline together as it got darker and darker!!

Joyce is awesome, the kind of neighbour who has you over for a wine on a summer's evening, and lets us use her washing machine when ours broke down.  We chat over the fence, the girls love to chat to her and she came with presents when Jaimee was in hospital.  A few months ago she came over with some fresh fish for our dinner, and today she said she would like to mow our lawns for us as a christmas gift.  Here she is bouncing the kids up and down in the wheely bin to fit in all the grass clippings - they thought that was so funny!

A Visit from Santa

Santa and his helpers

 Today was the annual Santa visit to Rascals, a much anticipated day in our household.

As a christian parent, I face the dilemma each year about how much emphasis we put on the whole Santa thing.  I know my children know exactly why we celebrate Christmas, they know it is Jesus' birthday.   I want my children to trust that when mummy and daddy tell them something is real, that we mean it.  We want them to understand that there is a difference between Santa and the tooth fairy, and God and Jesus.  So although we love Santa and all the fun about him, and we hang up our stockings on Christmas eve just like most kiwi kids, we do occasionally remind our children quietly that Santa is just a man pretending, but its lots of fun to pretend isn't it?!

Completly in awe!

Of course, once we remind them about that, I immediately start to panic that they are going to go and spoil some poor child's dreams and ruin their Christmas. So on the way to the Rascals party, I reminded Jaimee that it is a secret that Santa is just pretending and that we don't tell other children that!  I don't know why I panic though, both girls refuse to listen to me tell them Santa (or the tooth fairy) is a fake, they just love Santa.... When he arrived today, they both went completely shy and round eyed.  The dream is still very much real to them, even with all my parenting tactics!!    I am reminded that the first thing the angels told the shepherds was "Don't be afraid"....they were probably just as stricken to see actual real angels appear to them (Just like my girls went completely shocked to see santa turn up at daycare)!!

Both girls were almost in tears, they were so star struck.  I had to sit with them on the mat, where Kate was meant to be singing Santa some songs they had been practicing.  Kate just sat there with her fingers in her mouth staring at Santa.  She snapped out of it in time for the last song!

All the kids enjoyed sitting with Santa for a photo (and a present for the girls...mummy helped him out there).  Luke stared into his face with this completely baffled look and loved playing with his (real) beard!

Thanks Santa for visiting with us...

,

Leanne, Lisa and Dave - the girls daycare teachers

Luke and the cat

How cute is my son?  Luke is coming up to 7 months old, and has just got to that awesome stage of being able to get to where he wants to go...kind of.  He sets his eyes on some object, and with a fierce concentration he starts rolling himself in that general direction.  Once close to what he wants, he 'swims' for a while while on his tummy, arms and legs flailing as he attempts to master control over his body.  Eventually he pulls and wiggles himself to what he wants.  Yesterday he managed to get out of the family room to the kitchen entrance, because he heard us talking in the kitchen and he wanted to see what was going on!  It gave us a big surprise to glance down and see Luke grinning up at us.  

The favourite toy at the moment would have to be Bogie, our cat!  Luckily, Bogie is the most pathetically lovable cat who laps up any attention, even if it means putting up with a tight fistful of ear or fur.  While I still cautiously watch, ready to grab Luke out of the way, Bogie just purrs at Luke and leans in for more!  Apparently there is not much difference between a good scratching and a good grabbing of fur after all.  

What else is new for Lukey-Duke?  Today he is cutting his first tooth, it is just peeking through the gum a tiny bit now...doesn't phase our placid cruiser though, he is his usual happy self (as long as we don't force the sleep thing...he likes to be with company when he isn't feeling great).

 Luke also has started 'talking' to us.  That cute little cooing sigh, a few rasberries and then a nice drooling "aaahhh" translates into "Am i not the most adorable baby ever....I love you mummy".

We love you too Luke,  our amazing wee man.  

Life of the Party

 Jaimee took these awesome photos yesterday morning before school while she was mucking around with her best friend and sister.  They capture Kate's personality so well, they make me smile.

Kate has one of those cheeky, giggly personalities - she has one of those infectious belly laughs that you can't help but join in with. With Kate, everything is loud and fun (yes, i know, she is a lot like her mother!!).

Kate loves more then anything to be with Jaimee, by 2pm on a school day she is asking "when are we going to get Jaimee" every 5 minutes.  There are always tears if Jaimee goes anywhere without her, or if she doesn't feel like playing with her sister (thankfully, 95% of the time the girls are caught up in some game of schools or families together and happy).

Kate is my wee genius too, she amazes us every day with her abilities.  

When Jaimee started school and was bringing home level 1-3 books, Kate would sit there for hours reading and re-reading the books.  I started getting out books from the library for emergent readers and Kate was in heaven - she can read ALL BY HERSELF....and she isn't even 4 yet.  

I think she may take after her daddy too with a real love for numbers, Kate can count up to 100, and her favourite game is "what number comes before...or after....".  She thinks it is funny to test ME: she asks me what comes before 66.  I try and trick her by replying 69 and she giggles hysterically before saying "no mummy, its 65!!!"

Kate doesn't have a day sleep anymore because she recharges too quickly, (5 minutes means she is up for hours after bedtime), so by mid afternoon  when my little bundle of energy is all pooped out, she curls up on the couch with a soft toy (even a jersey will do if we are out), pops her thumb in her mouth and grabs a coil of hair to twirl in her fingers.  On goes "Maisie mouse", or on a good day mummy reads her a book.  

...I love you Kate

The first school report

As I was writing this title: "The first school report"...it suddenly hit me.  Wow, I have a child at school...I am the PARENT getting the school report. I am an ADULT.  When did that happen?!  I feel way too young to be reading school reports on my own children!  Ah well, life goes on...

Jaimee did not want it to be her last day of school today.  In the last fortnight, she has suddenly found her place. Gone is the child who cries all the way into the classroom and refuses to go outside.  This new and happy Jaimee  runs off in the morning with various friendswith a quick "bye Mum!" yelled out to me with a grin over her shoulder.  Jaimee seems to have a lot rather then one close friend, and some of her best friends are 7 and 8 year olds!  I just love how the school is so small and intimate, all the teachers know Jaimee (and me) by name, and Jaimee counts the principal and the office man as equally wonderful as her own teacher!

 I have enjoyed helping one morning a week in her class, getting to know the kids, the teacher and the learning system.  I am having so much fun being a 'parent helper' that I even volunteered to help organise and tidy in the holidays (this was quickly accepted - i am going in next week to tackle the resource rooms!).

Here is Jaimee's school report - she did so well! Comparing it to my own school report, I am pleased that the teacher says that she "produces neat and tidy work"...all through school I had "poor presentation skills"!!  Oh, and where I was the class chatterbox, Jaimee got lots of ticks for listening, staying on task and for beautiful manners.  Must take after her father!!

The flip side is that just like her mummy she is above average in reading - we both love to read, it is not 'work' at all to Jaimee, it is a great joy and pleasure to learn to read new books.  Kate is already reading at 3, so no doubt she will continue this family trait too.  

I was surprised at her math report (although it was still great). because Jaimee (and even Kate) love to play "what number comes before/after"...she can do that with numbers past 100 at home, but on testing day she must have been distracted, because apparently she didn't do past 20! That's school life though, no worries.

The first school portrait

 

Jaimee had a photo shoot and make an album for us as a  christmas gift!