Remember the time it snowed in Wellington….

I must be almost the last person in Wellington to put up photos of the snow.  Some of my pics are really blurry – I didn’t even check the settings before I started snapping away – and the snow on the lens really didn’t help!

Yet, in among the blurriness, I think I managed to catch some special moments.  Like this:

The WONDER of snow!

This is going to get picture heavy so I’ll just get on with it….

"look at the snow dad!"

"no, LOOK at it Dad!!" LOL

The snow wasn't actually settling yet, so the best place to collect snow for your snowball?? From the wing of the "teenagers" cars!s

Family Portrait

Duck! Neighbour N has just attempted to hit Mr 10... having been ambushed by Mr 10 a number of times!

Our house at dusk... after a little more snow fell

First attempt at a snowman... well, snow blob! There really wasn't enough snow on Sunday!!

Snow buddies - I didn't see Neighbour boy or Mr 10 the whole Monday afternoon!

Mr 10 and Neighbour Boy spent much of Monday afternoon in the new snow that coated the back deck - and made Mr Snow - a portable snowman on a baking tray so he could be moved under the verandah, out of the rain, so he wouldn't melt!!!

Tuesday after school - thought I would try to get some shots of falling snow.... so far the attempts hadn't been great

This is the same Kowhai - just 20 minutes later! With our local Kereru trying to find shelter

That same roof and tree - just 20 minutes after the snow started falling!

Just loved the look of our tree with the snow

Almost forgot to do snow angels!!!! Mr 7 had come and gone - he loves the snow but there is simply no insulation on his body and he wanted to get out of the cold!

Looking down from the top of our cul de sac....

Looking back up to our house

...round our corner.... that turn at the top of our street was so slippery, people were leaving their cars several streets away!

our last snow man - Mr 10 did this largely on his own... and was so disappointed a large chunk of snow fell off the torso before I got the camera on to it. That bottom snow ball... it lasted until Saturday before finally melting completely!!

I haven’t shown pics here, but one of the nicest things was how many meighbours were all out – especially on the Sunday at the first snowfall – and Wednesday.  Such a special time seeing as this is such a rare event… On the Tuesday our elderly neighbours came out to join in where they could.  He pulled out some toboggan runners that were around 40 years old, another neighbour had some wood in the garage so the old was added with the new and a sled was created!  Not quite enough snow depth to actually make it work – but still it was fun trying!!  Those guys now have a sled to use the next time snow gets anywhere near us!!

OH, and Mr 10 just told me that I completely forgot to tell you all that at school on the Monday, they were allowed to go out to the field and have a massive snowball fight, and Mr T(the caretaker) found a whole lot of bags so that they could slide down the big bank at the back of the field.  Super cool!

Jumping into 2011

I just realised actually that I need to download the photos that actually relate to the very start of the year – and our family camping trip. Oh well. I’ll jump ahead to the pics I have already because they were emailed to me and then go back….. who needs chronology??

So, for those of you that haven’t been in cyberland in the last 24 hours and caught up with the hilarious photos on facebook already, or Mandy’s or Sue’s blogs…. here’s my take… using the photos that Kris took because those are the ones that were sent! Actually, Kris sent pretty much all the ones she took which is great because she takes lovely photos and I now have a bunch of quite nice ones of myself to use in various ways. I had asked Kris or Sue to bring along their “magic” lenses… I think they are portrait ones or something…and they do help take lovely portraits pics of people. I’d asked for them to take some photos of me as I need one for a scrapping project I’ve started. I still hate being in front of the camera and it normally shows as I get all tense and results in pretty terrible photos. However, with the confidence in the person taking the photos and especially with their magic lenses, I thought I’d get at least one I was happy with. I got a real choice with several quite nice pics of me…. Thanks Kris!!

The reason for the pearls and being slightly glammed up is that we (a bunch of scrappy friends) were together at Carmel’s and enjoying a DIY High Tea. Great fun!!

Last year workmates gave me a lovely High Tea recipe book for my birthday and although I had read and re-read and really drooled at the pretty pics, I hadn’t had the opportunity to try anything from it.

I decided to give some macaroons a go:

They were mixed berry rather than strawberry and definitely lumpier on the top than the lovely flat ones inside the recipe book (does anything ever come out the way it looks in a book???!!)

We drank from wonderful, old-fashioned tea cups that I think Carmel said were her nana’s… each of us had a different kind.

I was able to provide my fancy tea set which I got as a 21st present and rarely sees the light of day (because to be honest, I’d never drink that amount of tea on my own!)

There were little, bitty scones with cream and jam, wonderful shaped cucumber sandwiches, homemade from scratch cream puffs, yummy salami and cheese sandwiches, some gluten-free toasties which were sooo more-ish and at least a couple of more goodies that I’m sure I’ve left out.

Once the food and the chat and the looking over December Daily albums (Sue’s, Carmel’s and Mandy’s) had been completed, Mandy wanted some advice from Sue as to how to go about setting up a successful jumping shot. Yes, I blame Mandy entirely for the fun we had for the next part of the afternoon!!!!

Sue gave us a couple of examples….

…and the madness took hold.

All in all, a great way to JUMP into 2011.

Mr 9 has just seen this and declared: “You were jumping in the air? ….Silly billy!” He’s not far wrong there!!!!!

Some pics as promised and another new beginning

Happy New Year!!

Another new Year, and another new decade. I’m constantly amazed at how fast the time just zooms by. At the BBQ/party we were at last night, we were comparing tales from a decade ago – almost all of us sans kiddos.  And being a big night (you remember….. a new Millenium!) we all had tales to tell. Awesome stuff. I hope you and yours celebrated in good ways

As promised in my last post, I downloaded my pics. All 858 of them. Uh-huh…. 858 in one month alone! Wow…. I wonder if it was the influence of the new toy or not?!

Anyway, I couldn’t possibly inflict all 858 photos on you. Besides, I don’t think I would be finished even now if I had decided to do just that! So here is a taster from our week in Ohope. And guess what? It barely scratches the surface of even those pictures!! Anyway, I’m sure you’ll get the idea!

You’ll see lots of surf and sand… the gorgeous Pohutakawas, our Christmas hats, cousins, berry picking, gingerbread house building (YUM!!) and playing in the sprinklers at Creel Lodge (Turangi).

Having put all of these photos from December I’ve realised that I have a TON of material to scrap. Plus all the items I’ve not done through the year. I was a slacker scrapper in ’09! But I’m really itching to get back into some good creative messes. Having spent quite a number of minutes (…hours?!) taking the photos from camera to PC, I have also completed a couple of digi pages a la Jessica Sprague’s Holidays in Hand class. Great templates and papers were given away in the free class.

The plan is to get December’s activities into a photo book. Shutterfly or Snapfish for printing? Any thoughts?

Right – having spent a good number of hours on the PC today, I’m being told to get down and cook dinner. The cheek!! Actually, I think the late night last night meant they were all happy to let me play while the Mr’s all chilled out in one form or another.

So happy 2010 to you all – see you soon!

Spoiled Rotten

Ok, so I’ve been 38 for a whole week now. Kept that one quiet didn’t I??! So different from last year but hey, you have to have change. It’s only been quiet out here in blogland though. On the day, I was truly spoiled by friends and family and it made me realise just how lucky I am to have the friends (and family!) I have.

All the birthday cards I received have been handmade – including one from a neighbour and friend who doesn’t consider herself a cardmaker at all, but knows how much I love them. Awesome. Her son E (who happens to be one of Mr 8′s besties) knocked on my door a little after dinner time and was standing on the doorstep with a little cupcake soap box. He’d brought it just for me from the $2 shop…. which I thought was just about the nicest thing. Of course he was completely grossed out by the fact I kissed and hugged him by way of thanks!!

Earlier in the day I set out for an unknown destination thanks to *The Girls* – Beverley, Janine, and Sarah. By way of some instructions that had been sent to me I was a little wary that I might be getting into some sort of Amazing Race!! A bonus was that I discovered a parking place in town that was pretty darn cheap and I’ll certainly be keeping that in mind for the future. Our first destination was Martha’s Pantry where a High tea had been organised.

This place is truly amazing – very cute, and inspirational. The tea is served in real teacups, the food is in lady-like bite sized morsels but Oh-So-Tasty-And-Goooooood. And to add to the overall ambience, the place was filled with modern handmade crafts.

Thanks to Beverley and her great camera….. I realised just as I was leaving home that mine had still-flat batteries. I reckon Bev’s photos would have been better than mine anyway so I think it might be a good thing I hadn’t charged mine!!

After our morning tea that did for lunch and afternoon tea as well (…..we did linger you know!), the rest of the late morning was spent wandering the wonderful upper Cuba Street where we found Minerva – simply the best bookshop dedicated to all things related to textile crafts, and Madame Fancy Pants – another store just stcked with all things good and handmade. Bliss!! And just to rund out the day, we finally headed over to Karori where Inky Pinky is located as is Piece by Piece (a fantastic little quilt shop). It is safe to say our minds were just stuffed full of inspiration and I think we all came home thinking of the next project we had in mind!

After school on thursdays I looked after Donna’s son, C, (another of Mr 8′s besties too as it happens). Well, he came home with my Mr’s with a wee package that looks worse for wear in this pic simply because I had to open it. Clever Donna has worked out how to reuse a pull-tabbed can. Apparently she opened the can from the bottom with one of those magnetic openers, washed the can after emptying its contents, refilled with goodies and sealed it back up again before decorating it. Man, that just had me stumped and I was worried about using the pull-tab… but you’ll see that lasted for all of a few seconds!!

At dinner time I was presented with the gifts from teh family… Hubby brought home a lovely sparkly Pandora Bead having taken heed of my desire for colour to be added:

And the boys gave me a Soda-Stream! Now, I need to tell you that it was something that I had suggested to Hubby as a gift from the Mr’s as I knew they would love it too and it was coming up for a good discount on the Farmers Cardholders Day. We have had a lot of fun making the drinks over the past week – and you just know the Mr’s love the ….errr…”Buzzing” sound!

And to cap it off, Hubby and I went with Donna and B to watch the latest Star Trek movie on Friday. I can tell you that choice raised a few eyebrows among the mums at school…. But let me assure you all that it was indeed my choice – I love sci-fi books and movies and having seen the shorts for this movie, it was one that I really wanted to see.




Convention Waikanae

What a beautiful weekend we had weatherwise here in Wellington. And it was just as lovely a little further north along the Kapiti coast and specifically in Waikanae. Just right for a convention.

You see, the wee plot we had going was to bring Convention to our Stampin’ Up friend, Keryn. Having set the date for our girly weekend away, and then finding out that Keryn had decided not to attend the Australian convention which just happened to be on the same dates as our weekend, Donna came up with the idea to bring convention to Keryn. Vicky and I thought it was a brilliant idea and between the three of us, we concocted plans to ensure the things that conventions are known for were very much part of Convention Waikanae.

Namely, the goodie bag:

Sewn and stamped by Vicky and myself, with all sorts of goodies to be found inside. Things like this cute wee shoe from Donna

Donna's Shoe

and bath salts, gift boxes with chocolates, a mini-album etc. All good things to find.

The result was brilliant: Keryn was almost speechless. For those that know Keryn, you’ll agree this is quite an achievement

During the course of the weekend, we all took turns at presenting our Make’N'Takes – just like convention classes. ETA: The individual images aren’t on my camera so watch for these to be added later – they are really cool!

A friend of Donna’s, Sally, who wasn’t even attending but thought it was a great idea and sent along a little challenge pack. Included was a bunch of sketches and I used one to inspire me to do a quick card for my mum.

Local girl, Jackie, was also able to pop in as a day-attendee and brought with her lots of sunshine in the form of bunches of Yellow Chrysanthemums. Plus we also had a convention dinner organised – the ritual visit to Cobb & Co in Paraparaumu. Fantastic!

There was also plenty of time for free time and we were all very productive. This is the end result of our combined efforts.

One thing I didn’t get to bring home was a wee card I’d made for Keryn as it is her birthday today. Keryn isn’t really a girly-girl – all pink and frilly. But I had a lot of fun making this card for her – right in front of her! – while she had no idea she was the intended recipient. It was handed over at the end of the weekend and she was thrilled to get it. Sometimes even the most non-girly-girls deserve pink frills and flowers!

Why don’t you pop over to the birthday girl’s blog and wish her a Happy Birthday too.

Celebrating {Inter}National Scrapbooking Day

You know how America has a myriad of “holidays” – almost one for every day of the year it seems? Well, Saturday May 2 is no exception. That is their National Scrapbooking Day. And being a dedicated (ignore the fact I haven’t done so much this year!) scrapper myself, I’ll be joining in for sure.

Not by actual planning though. No, that is not how this girl operates! Such things are purely coincidental in my case!!

Last October myself and three other crafty girlfriends put our diaries together to ensure there was a weekend free that none of us were allowed to cancel out from. Looking through the diaries, this weekend was the first date that could be set in concrete. I am so NOT the only busy bee in town.

So, tonight, a winged car leaves from Tawa and the blue Oma-mobile leaves from the Hutt, each carrying two occupants and the best part of a scrap/cardmaking shop between us. The cars and their occupants will meet in Waikanae where we will be enjoying a bottle of wine, lots of laughter, chat, fun and games and best of all great company – for two fantastic nights. Oh yeah, there should be a bit of crafting going on as well. We’ve been counting down the sleeps and my share of the “shop lot” is spread out in order to determine what to take. Actually, it’ll all be packed and taken because it really is that hard for me to decide what to leave behind!!

If you hear lots of laughter and general mayhem as you drive through the Kapiti coast this weekend, you’ll know it is four friends having a whale of a time. Especially as there’s something afoot………

Oh, and for those of you not coming to Waikanae, you can still join in the {Inter}National Day by checking out Scrappin’ Patch as they have plans too.

I blinked

And April sped past! Wow!! I know I’m harping on a theme that I bring up frequently…. but wow!

So, the holidays passed by pretty darn quickly. Hubby was in Napier the first Wednesday-Saturday with the Hutt City Brass Band. They were very pleased with their result of first in the Own Choice category in their grade, and 5th overall in their grade. A much improved result from the previous year where they felt very hard done by.

Mr 7 had a game in the Cake Tin ahead of the Hurricanes Vs. Stormers match. It was an exhibition game of Ripper Rugby and he was a bit nervous before I dropped him off to his coach:

*Mum, all those people looking at me will make me nervous and drop the ball.

Later:

*Mum, that was soooo cool. I was on the big screen and I was watching myself!! Um yeah, the nerves weren’t there at all!! LOL

The biggest thrill (apart from the big screen) was seeing some school mates in the crowd and knowing they thought he was cool, plus running out from the actual players tunnel. I was a bit bummed that I wasn’t in attendance as well, but I was still a bit tired from recovery and Mr 5 didn’t need a late night.

We then had a couple of days that we were all home, and then the second Wednesday to Sunday, the Mr’s and I flew via Christchurch to head to Invercargill for the big family ‘Do. My Nana and Grandad were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. Not too many of those celebrated these days – and I worked out that most people my age will need to live well into their 90s before they will get to celebrate. Wow! This could be a very rare celebration indeed!!

Wednesday night we had a joint family dinner with my sister’s in-laws as R turned 17 the day before. We headed to Sequoia 88 – and the Mr’s could not believe their luck: it was their first experience of Buffet style restaurants. Eyes bigger than their bellies led to quite a lot of wastage, which I hope no-one will condemn us for. But they thought it was great to just go get whatever they wanted!! Mr 7 really had a decent meal – even selecting some vegies. Mr 5 had to be persuaded to try more than just the buttered bread roll or water crackers! But he did enjoy all those that he had!!

Thursday night saw Mr 5 and I begin our journey south while Mr 7 stayed in Chch with my sister and his cousin. Our car stopped in Timaru where we stayed with an aunt and uncle in their new house. Another uncle had flown in from Australia and was also staying there this night so it was a great catch up. It was amazing to have six extra bodies in teh house and we were not tripping over each other!! Wow!

Friday we continued south and stopped at Dunedin for lunch and the Cadbury tour. My neice, S, and Mr 5 were disappointed they didn’t see any Oompa-loompas and the adults were surprised that we didn’t actually see any chocolates being made…. the buttons line was down for cleaning. We did leave with a stash of give-away chocolates but thought the tour was a little under-done.

Friday night we stayed at the Ascot and had a little hiccup with the room allocated to us. Five bodies in one small studio room was not the go. After talking to reception, we were shown a fantastic room that we were prepared to upgrade to, only to be told that it wasn’t available!!!!! Great! Anyway, with the threat of us leaving to go elsewhere, the staff worked out a great alternative and we ended up with adjoining rooms and more than enough beds for the two nights. In fact the second room that adjoined the first was good enough to serve as lounge and yet another uncle and his fiance plus my mum and her husband joined us for some welcome, relaxed drinks.

Saturday was great. Warm, sunny weather (I’d been expecting cold, rainy weather so the few summer clothes we’d packed got a good workout!) Mrs Frizz had managed to track me down (I’m sooooo not good with specifics and she really had to hone her detective skills in order to meet me for a coffee!!) and it was fantastic to spend time with an online buddy.

Our room was again picked as being the best space wise and the rest of the family in town began to congregate before the festivities began. It was also the morning the remaining family that was attending were arriving in via the airport – Mr7, his cousin and my sister among them. After quite a bit of the usual family catch-ups, teasing and general larking about that goes on in this family, it looked like we were about to settle in for the day. Thankfully Nana started panicking about the time lunch was due to arrive as most of us thought the afternoon tea was at 3, but it was in fact at 2. Doh!! A quick sort out ensued and we were there in time.

Uncle P had worked hard behind the scenes and organised messages from all sorts of dignatories: the local MPs, John Key, the Governor-General and even the Queen herself. The resthome residents were most impressed by these – and then the honourable Tim Shadbolt himself arrived with a gorgeous bunch of flowers. I think the impression of grandness was cemented well and truly!!

Afternoon tea with the Mayor dropping in

Dinner was an extended family affair and very nice indeed at the Ascot. Grandad had had enough of all the family photos by this stage though and was just wanting to get back to his dessert!

The happy couple – albeit tired!!

The grandkids and the great-grandkids that attended (there are 7 grandkids that didn’t make it and a further 9week old great-grandkid)

One thing that was a big bummer was that for all the photos that were taken on many, various cameras, most had issues. A cousin accidently reformatted her card and lost the pics, an uncle had something weird happen to his, someone else had settings on the wrong thing and my own camera decided to take very grainy, blurry shots despite being on the correct settings! I’m thinking the cameras weren’t happy that day!!!

Sunday was the big drive back to Christchurch…. Stopping at Oamaru for lunch, then Temuka for afternoon tea (with an Aunt on the other side of the family) the Mr’s and I were finally checked in to head back to Wellington. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how well we travelled back on the Sunday – I thought we’d be a lot longer on the road. Although it was really a good thing we weren’t!!

Monday arrives and term begins. We’re back in the school routine again and suddenly I’m hit with how fast the month has flown.

From the recovery room

So the week that was last week has finished. We managed to cram a LOT into it. I have yet to download some pictures from the camera, so I will do that and do some proper posts with pics in the next few days. In the meantime, here’s a few snippits.

*****

Tuesday: The Mr’s and I went to a friends evening photography class where they were meant to be “models” for the portraiture lesson. I’m yet to receive any pics. I suspect because Mr then4 believed he was being funny by not looking at the photographer working with him at any given point in the evening. Mr 7 was posing lots…. A la “America’s Next Top Model”. As he struck each pose and was *fierce* abut being ANTM, I kept asking myseslf “How does he know about ANTM?? He never watches it!!!!!” And then I cringed in embarrassment, but also motherly pride as he really was being quite funky!!

Oh, and I learned that turning your ISO setting up too high is not a great idea. Then I found an online widget thingy that will fix these mistakes and make the yuk-grainy photos half-decent again. Who needs to be a great photographer when you have technology??!

*****

Thursday AM – Mr 4: Last day of kindy and “Happy School Day” celebrations. I spent the  morning with him at kindy and we had fun just doing stuff that he enjoys. We also made our celebration hat, had pop-corn and fruit party food, and tried to get a decent photo. Yes, we made it just into this year’s kindy photos! The photographer was really patient with Mr4 – he kept trying to hide his eyes and wasn’t terribly interested in the fact Mum wanted one last kindy pic! I’m sensing a theme here……. Anyway, she thought she got a good one in the end, so I’m happy.

*****

Thursday AM – Mr7: Meanwhile, over at the main city pool, school swimming is winding up with school swimming sports day. Officially it is for Year 4-6 students, but those Year 3′s that can stroke are also asked if they would like to take part. Mr 7 managed to conquer a discomfort with being in the 3 metre section of the pool and is now almost unable to leave that part of the pool. He has also managed to swim the entire 25m length without stopping so when he was asked, he jumped at the chance. Year 3′s swim widths instead of lengths, and he did freestyle, backstroke and something else which I’m not entirely sure of. He finished a very proud 2nd in all the events he swam in. I was so proud to hear this – and so sad I can’t literally be in two places at once for these kinds of things! And because I was with Mr 4 in the morning, I thought it was only fitting that Mr 7 had the Red Plate for dinner.

*****

Thursday evening: Last night for K School Athletics season. Mr still4 had been worried because he was having a few problems with high jump. It had been a bit upsetting for him the last couple of weeks, especially as his neglectful mother had been down at the adjoining ground walking Angus while they were busy and before Dad arrived to save the day. One mum on this night told me off: you really need to be here, he gets so upset!! Actually, I found out from other parents that while he was looking for me, but after they reminded him that I was just over the boundary and that dad was almost there, he was happily rejoining the activities. But that aside, it was a BIG night for the kids doing athletics. Those that had been pretty much every night and were noted as doing their best recieved medals from Miss J, the Principal.

*****

Sunday: Party day. “The” Event in our household this month. It was such a gorgeous day I was very happy we had decided to go ahead with a family BBQ prior to the party. Originally planned for afterwards, we had to either cancel it or move it because Hubby’s band had a rehersal in the late afternoon. One of my SIL’s commented that she was amazed I would even think about having the BBQ prior, but everything was planned and done so you might as well have fun too, right?!

The extra things I did because I got carried away with myself came off and it sure has been a good party.

Needless to say – I was completely knackered afterwards. A couple of yummy, ice-cold beers to relax with, peanut butter sandwiches for dinner and I was in bed early!!

*****

Monday: First Day of School. We did our traditions of the first day photos outside our gate and again outside the school. Mr 5 (as of the 16th) was walked to school by Dad and Big Brother. It was so fun to see the three of them walking up the hill. I drove Hubby’s car up to the school so he could continue on to work afterwards. Mr 5 comes out of that class room beaming at the end of the day. I cannot get over at how well he fits in – as if he has been there for ages already.

I go to the gym to restart my fitness efforts.

*****

Tuesday: Swimming Assessments. I’m throwing this in here because FINALLY Mr7 is allowed to move up to Otters. AND after just one term in Turtles, Mr 5 is doing well enough to go to Octopus. OMG, he is just the biggest learning sponger there is right now!!!!

Also, I spend the morning on the phone and internet arranging life. Me and the Mr’s are off to the big family do in Invercargill for my Nana and Granddad’s 60th Wedding Anniversary in April. Some by plane, some by car but we are going to be there. I’m thrilled! And Mrs F, Julie et al…. I hope I get to meet you lot!!!! Consider this notice!! ROFL.

*****

And that’s been our week. Look for the pictures in the next few days So how are YOU all doing??

Oh, and just to finish off, we are heading out right now for a “Rugby Trial”. Yes, indeed, the madness round here continues…….

And in amongst the insanity

There is a little normal life continuing in our household as I tick off items on the To-Do lists heading towards “The Party”. For instance, Janine hosted a small crafty get together for a few of us over the weekend. So nice to actually scrap something. Not that I’m going to show you guys right now, because I kind of like it a lot, and I’m thinking when I’ve done the journalling, I might even have a go at submitting it somewhere. Possibly.

But some cards I’ve done last week, I will show you. Because my camera battery was finally charged and I took some photos! Firstly, I’m very pleased with this very pretty card I made specifically for our neice K over in the US. She’s been feeling more than a bit poorly after being hit with a cold and various compounding infections. We hope she’s feeling better very soon. Actually, I’m only going to pop the sneak-peek here….

And then I made a card for Keryn’s latest colour challenge. Actually, she made it really easy for me to do. Having meant to take part in her challenges for a few weeks now, she got exasperated with me and handed me the cardstock scraps when we got together on Friday night. One way to make sure I do something right, huh??! LOL Considering I was putting this together in 10 minutes before I left Vicky’s house as I felt it was getting late, I’m quite pleased with how this came out. The colour challenge was Close to Cocoa, Sage Shadow and Barely Banana with a neutral.

While I was downloading these photos off my camera, I also realised I never even mentioned something I did way back at the beginning of February. So I’ll quickly share with you now.

Feb 3 was my Dad’s 60th. My brother suggested I fly down and surprise him and we’s all go out to dinner together. It worked really well – he had no idea. My sister had arranged to just come out and meet up with him, so when he saw me, the surprise was evident. In fact his first words were when he saw me was “Bloody hell! If I knew you were coming, I’d have cleaned up a bit!”. Sis was a bit miffed at that!

He had taken the day off work at the behest of Little Bro and was just pottering around his place. While he was off getting a shower and a change, Sis and I mooched around his place. It’s the first time I’ve actually seen it since he’d done quite a bit of work on it. And while I laughingly call him the newest “Trailer Trash” I’m actually very impressed with how homely he is making his pad.

He’s added on a full lounge and ensuite bathroom as well as that verandah. Plus he has cobbled the side drive and has a workshop and vegie patch out the back. Not too shabby!! Although my sis might have something to say about being caught in the photo

And a little later on that day, we wound up at the West Coast bar and cafe for dinner. It was the biggest, juiciest steak I’ve had in a very long time.

And hte cake featuring stuff that Dad is:

And then having gotten over the party fun and goings on, mid February saw Hubby and I get some quality time by leaving the boys at a neighbours for the afternoon, and what turned out to be longer part of the evening than anticipated. We took the bus ride over to Martinborough, and the return journey was late departing as we seemed to have the most concientious driver in the fleet who wanted to ensue no concert goer was left behind. but apart from that little glitch, we had a fabulous time. Where? Here:

That’s Opshop up on stage and along with Anika Moa and Dave Dobbyn provided just the best summer concert in a very long time.  We saw them at Alana Estate in Martinborough, the day was nothing short of perfect, the food on offer was divine and yeah, we had a great time. If you haven’t already been and they are coming to your neck of the woods soon – go!

Come on in February!

Because you all know January has gone by just far, far too quickly!!

We came back from camp and had just 2 weeks to go before the year started back at kindy for Mr 4 and today was the first day back for Mr 7. He is in year 3 this year, and is very pleased with his new teacher. He is now an “M-blocker” which forms part of the S-syndicate….which denotes being in the senior school. However, the truth is that a bunch of year 3′s are in M-Block and the rest are in R-block and it is probably more to do wtih the squeeze from both new entrants/Year 1 at one end and Year 6 at the other. No room for big heads in this household!

So, I can’t remember what I last shared and seeing as January has been a truly busy month, and you all know I know how to chat on here. I’m going to try and let the pictures do most of the talking. Here goes:

Right, I think I got the gallery working OK (although you may have to click on each thumbnail to get a better look), so if you look left to right, here’s the run down.

1. The camp kitty made friends with us – or at least our tent in the last couple of days we were in Napier. He slept two nights in the hidey holes under our fly, and hung around at the last breakfast. He got really brave when he decided to keep hubby company on the seats!
2. Walking along the path during the Poet’s Park walk – part of the Kev the Wandering Kiwi series of walks. Mr 4 and friend P on the stopbank.
3. We found blackberries growing – and most of us picked at least a few. Shame the thorns get in the way!!
4. Drink stop! Mr 4 working out the best way to drink from the fountain.
5. Look who we discovered lurking in Barton’s Bush!
6. Awwwww! These two are great mates.
7. Climbing a very cool tree on the way back to the car park
8. Mr 7 and his friend were also on the walk – but usually so far ahead this is the only photo I got. He’s gorged himself on the blackberries – and enjoyed every single one.
9. My attempt at the perfect cupcakes for a stampin up demo I hosted. I think I got pretty close – but you know, gotta keep trying!
10. Printed out wallet sized photos and made some little books for Mr 4 and P to remember their adventure.
11. Mr 4 has returned to Kindy as of last week so Mr 7 and I headed to the bead shop to get a little one on one time. He loves making his own necklaces and would not be told that the new one was very similar to his previous one. Just a few differences and he was a happy chappy. We also spotted the style for next time   (oh, and of course, I made one too!)
12. Walk Number 2 – into Belmont Regional park this time. A more strenuous walk, lots of hills and narrow paths. It was the first time Mr 7 and I had been into this park, and we’ll be going back again. We were taken on the Oakleigh St loop to Korokoro Dam. We all enjoyed it – and Angus did too. Great walk!
13. The dam – we got up and personal to it, Angus had a wee paddle and it was very worthwhile.
14. The weekend just gone was a hot one. When the BIL suggested hanging out at the river in Kaitoke Regional Park, we said YES! So Mr 4 helped build up the dam by throwing some more rocks onto it;
15. Mr 7 swam;
16. Uncle R showed the boys how to jump off the big rock into the big hole;
17. and Mr 7 tried out his diving skills.

In amongst all that, the local craft group held it’s first night of the year and was pretty successful with Donna and I demonstrating working with serviettes, dog training has restarted, swimming is about to restart this week, I’m off to Christchurch for a surprise overnight trip for Dad’s 60th, and…..

Gee whizz, February isn’t looking any slower than the last month!!