Autumn Traditions

 As we pulled out of church after an awesome morning of worship with our family, I spontaneously suggested buying some lunch from the supermarket and heading over to Keiranga Gardens for a picnic and some fun in the leaves.
At church we had been talking about the legacy we pass down to our children, and this is certainly a ritual that has been handed down the generations - one of my favourite childhood memories are of our annual autumn "leaf fights"!  It only works if there are piles of leaves on the ground and it hasn't rained in a while, so they are fresh and dry.  And today the sun was shining, and conditions were perfect.

We sat in the sun and shared juice out of the cup I had purchased, nibbled on fruit, mini pikelits, luncheon and crackers and finished our feast with the ultimate treat - a chocolate bar each!  We had the place almost to ourselves, and all we could hear were the calls of the Tui in the stunning colourful treetops. Bliss.

The leaves were perfect for our fun, piles that had Luke in leaves knee deep, and that Jaimee was able to literally sled down the side of the hill on!  We all had a lot of fun chucking leaves at each other, chasing around trees and corners and giggling with delight as we showered them over daddy or Luke or whoever was closest!

And the views.  Wow.  It really was pretty magical.  At the conference I had been on for the last few days, several Amercian speakers had commented on the sheer stunning beauty of New Zealand.  Looking around me today, I had to agree.  Of course, Autumn is the most beautiful season of them all in my opinion, especially with a backdrop of clear blue warm skies. The trees were every colour you can imagine visable in autumn, layer on layer on layer of prettiness.  I couldn't say much more then "Thank you Lord".

Marty and I were able to just sit and enjoy the kids fun, I think they could have stayed much longer in the tranquil garden of leaves.  We might be back next weekend - Luke was quite excited to see the train tracks, we haven't been on the miniature track for quite a while so sound like more fun to come...

Can you find the girls?! I had to uncover their faces a bit to take a pic that wasn't just leaves!

Luke screamed blue murder every time the girls emerged from his burial of them.  He loved it!

(the burying, not the emerging!)

Shameless Selfie! Marty looks movie star good here huh?!

 After exclaiming over the fantails that flitted so close to us that we could almost reach out and touch them as they sat in front of us and tweeted merrily away, we finished off our time with a wee walk, the kids took turns taking photos, and then Marty timed them on the obstacle course by the playground.  We didn't get in the car to go home until 3pm, happy and with a full family tank!  

Jaimee took this photo as we posed with a giggle....and  Luke said with a deadpan face: "That's eww mum" 

Marty laughed at him, because he told me that Luke was giving Kate "funny kisses" the other day.  I asked what a funny kiss was and Luke gave me one - it is him just coming up to my mouth with his mouth wide open!  Marty is pretty sure Kate got some tongue action from him.  giggles.

Oh dear Luke!

Had to record this one for the archive! 

Over the last few weeks, Luke has been taking himself to the toilet and doing "standing up wees". It's not something I initiated at all, in fact it drives me nits cause he leaves the seat up! But he's pretty proud that he is (only just) tall enough to achieve success. 

Tonight, I heard a bit of a fart noise as he went toilet. Didn't think much of it, figured he was sitting, doing his business. Then I heard a little voice in dismay "OH NO!". I went running to find Luke standing there, twisting his head around and staring at the wee mess he had made on the pants around his ankles behind him. Yep, he had gone poos...while standing up. 

He was devastated at this, smacking his forehead with his hands and saying "oh no! I did poos!" While Marty and I tried not to laugh at his reaction as we grabbed wet wipes and new pants. 

Oh dear indeed Luke, maybe sitting is a good plan eh? A lesson learnt? We will see! (Giggle) 

Birthday boys bash

Today we celebrated the men of our house.  Marty turned 37 yesterday (much to his disgust at being truly "late 30s" now) and our baby Luke decided he is so not a baby anymore....he is now 3. Last night Marty played wii with the kids for some fun time, Kate won at bowling (she is really good at it) and Luke had fun boxing with daddy!!

Then this morning We started off the fun by opening his present from us to keep him busy before the party. We combined his two favourite toys and got him dinosaur duplo!
I don't know who had more fun playing for the next hour, him or his sisters...but the proof that the toy was a success is that I went off and read my book for half an hour! 

Then it was off to McDonald's with some family and friends, where it was so packed we couldn't find a seat.  Then I noticed the empty (locked) party hire room.  I did my best sweet talking and smiles for management and they let us use the room....ahh...quietness in McDonald's on a Saturday. Nice! We sung to Marty here, and had yummy gluten free cake.....but Luke was NOT impressed that daddy was blowing candles out on HIS party day, so we redid the candles for him to take a turn (good thing too, no candles allowed at aquarium!).  

 Luke is able to hold up 3 fingers for his age when asked, a new clever big boy trick to show off.  He was so excited, telling us for days "EVERBODY (cue big arm circles on this word) coming to my party!!).  Well, it was like we had everybody there today, I added up 21 kids on the invite list, but due to sickness etc etc, it was more like about 12 kids and 16 adults in our aquarium group! 

We met up with the rest of the party crew at the aquarium.  We have joined up for a year pass, which is pretty much the same cost as going along twice in the year.  We had decided over a year ago on this plan (to go for his party which already was paying for half the pass!), it will be a fun rainy family day option to have with our 3, who all loved it there.  We hadn't been on a paid outing since our last trip to Auckland, so it was very very exciting! 

Highlight of the aquarium would have to have been Matt the diver, who interacted so well with all the kids, who giggled as they "fed" him party food, and made signs to hold up so he could read them, telling him it was Luke's birthday! After the fun, Matt found us when he was back in uniform to give Luke a high 5 for his birthday and to speak to the star struck kids, thanking them for being so much fun.  This kind of attention made me really glad we got the year pass. 

Luke loved his dinosaur cake and his awesome presents, and seeing all his little friends and loved ones in one spot.  It was all very special for our wee man and I loved watching him enjoy it.  While Marty had put the presents and food back in the car, Luke had been racing around in the shark tunnel - when he reappeared he looked at the now empty spot and said "hey, where's my party gone!?"

After all that fun, we popped by the golf course to see Gramps finish (and win) his golf game and to have birthday hugs all round.  Home for baths, baked beans on toast and all is silent now at just 7:30pm as my tired happy family settle down....thanks everyone for an awesome day full of shared memories.

Mother's Day

From my precious girls: 

Jaimee wrote...

My gorgeous mum is 32 years old and has silky brown hair that sways when she walks. I love my mum so much and she is friendly. My mum is prettier than the queen and her warm skin warms me up when I'm cold. I love my mums baking because they're sweet.  My mum adores chocolate and baking. She loves reading and dancing. She likes doing computer games with us and spending time with us.  Her cuddles are warm and sweet. My beautiful mum is as soft as a teddy near because when I cuddle her, her skin is soft.  My mum is sweeter then the honey the buzzy bees make.  Her cheeks are as red as the roses that grow on the bushes. 

....awwwwwwww! 

Our separate ways today

Oh man, I am so over this cold!  I have been down for 5 days now.  At least I am past the "sneezing-so-much-I-can't-open-my-eyes-fully" stage, which went with the "snot-dripping-on-the-floor" stage.  Yesterday I thought it was all coming together again for me.  I was up to the "flaky-nose-of-shame" stage and the "I-feel-dizzy-with-exhaustion" stage, but being able to walk around the house without a tissue pressed to my face was pretty darn awesome, even if i was still in the 'completly-blocked-up-like-cotton-wool-and sounding -it" stage.  I made it through work bravely, then collapsed at home.  And boom.  Back came the "razor-raw-throat" stage and that "mother-of-all-headaches-my-eyes-hurt-with-it".  And to top it off, a couple of new symptoms began this morning to boot: the exciting "vertigo-like-I-drunk-too-much-wine" stage and the "coughing-hurts-my-chest-and-leaves-me-gasping" stage.
Let's just say this week of school holidays has not been NEARLY as fun as last week!  I was ultra grateful to Abbie for bringing me dinner and a hoard of groceries on Thursday, although thanking her in my croaky blocked voice while looking like death wasn't so nice for her I am sure.

 And today....well today was another great big fat blessing.  Lovely(so so so lovely) friends Anne Marie and Geremy offered to have the girls for the afternoon, giving them some always great fun time with their lifelong buddies Ella and Seth.  Knowing the girls were going to be gone, and Marty had been asked to play soccer that day, I sent a text to Granny and Gramp Muz if they would like to have a "lovely little boy for the afternoon".  Mum rang me back, saying she thought Marty was a bit too old for such things.  hehehe.  They happily took Luke!

So all the family went off their separate ways today.  The girls were treated in the biggest way ever - they got shouted out to the new "Inflatable World" in Napier, where they bounced around for ages and basically had a grand time of excitement with their friends.  And the icing on the cake - PANCAKES for dinner!  Yum yum!

Luke got taken out to Pakowhai Park for a walk with his grandparents.  He wasn't so sure about the dogs that stopped to say hello, but he did love his trip out being the centre of attention and the only child for a change.  He came home clutching his beautiful art work of leaf prints that he had done proudly, and told us all about helping with the gardening.  What a special time he had.

And Marty?  Well, Marty realised how unfit he is playing soccer for the first time in years.  They lost 2 nil.  But he had fun and came home grinning and tired.

.....and I laid on the couch under a blanket with a glass of Orange Juice (Thanks Abs!) and my new blue ray copy of "The Desolation of Smaug" and watched it all, special features and everything.  The kids came home in time to see the final scenes with the dragon (Jaimee was very put out when it finished without 'finishing' and I told her we had to wait until Christmas to find out what happens next!.  That left them wanting to read The Hobbit , so we read the first half of a chapter before my voice completely gave out and I started coughing again. I even let them watch a little of the movie, just the part that we had just read!