my 15 year old :)

Sometimes i find it hard to believe i have a 15 year old!!!! 2.5 more years and she will be at uni!!!! eeekkk. I remember being 15 so clearly, and really i think my daughter has it so much more together than i did. She is amazing and i love her.

Almost a month!!!!!!!!!

So it's been almost a month since my last post!!!! 

We have been super busy with life. Me writing assignments, kids on school camp and Tama heading off to Thailand!!!! check out the blog to find out what he and the others he went with are up too, it's pretty exciting.  

He also got himself a new toy!!! an iphone, and after playing on it i am officially hooked. Thanks to me downloading instagram, hence the pics below, enjoy :)

My handsome husband and now intrepid traveller

Birthday party time, 9 year old yeehhaaawww

A cool shot out the church office window, just cause i could :)

Me and my baby

Me and instagram, my new love (yes yes i realise i am a bit behind the 8 ball this has been round for a while :)

                                         

                                                            Peace out, mim

Morning out in the school holidays :)

My eldest daughter is doing a history assignment on the Napier earthquake so we decided to take a trip to the CHB Settlers Museum this morning.

We had a really good time and the little ones totally loved it all. They pumped the water and played with the old telephones and ovens, enjoyed looking at the chainsaws and old farm equipment, lots of interesting things to see.

My favourite moment was when my 8 year old daughter asked where the screen was on the typewriter!!!!!!!!! Then called her older sister over to come see it saying "come and look at the cool old fashioned computer"!!!!!!!!!! wow times have changed and only in like 15 years!!!

I also had to show them how to use the dial phone, one day they will be showing their children how to use a button cell phone.

Good times in the school holidays :)

One great holiday

So last year me, Tama, our youngest daughter and Tama's parents took a trip to aussie!!!! It was such a great holiday and we had so much fun. We went to the gold coast, sea world, movie world, Australia Zoo (Yes it really is just the best and made me sad thinking about steve, the crocodile hunter) and then Tama and i went to Sydney to stay with our really good friends!!!!

It was one of those holidays that i will always remember and was over too soon. We had these dreams of moving over, and running in the mornings beside the sea, having brunch in the cafes, taking the ferry over to the Sydney Opera House, scanning and picking through the markets for hours. But these are the moments of holidays, not my everyday life, and really thats what makes holidays special.

Tell me about one of your favourite places?

LENT IS FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today lent finishes for our family!!!!! i am so excited. We as a family chose to do only water for drinks!!!! and boy was it HARD. We also did it for the whole term so although lent does not officially finish until Sunday i think, we are finishing today as it is the last day of term.

Last year we did no tv, and i tell you this has been WAY harder. As we go into Easter, i am reminded of the life giving sacrifice Jesus made and am looking forward to the most significant holiday of our year.....and a nice cup of tea :)

crochet bebe banket

So my lovely cousin Fiona has had her precious baby girl!!! I am so excited. Don't miracle babies just make everything great in the world.

Our grandparents passed away recently and we are a super close family so it was a big loss to us. I knew i wanted to make something really special for Fiona and the baby that could be a reminder of them also.

Then it came to me. Granny and Grandad were big spinners. They would dye all their own wool and spin it. I had a bit already and my Mum gave me what she had and i crocheted up this baby blanket.

I am so pleased with how it turned out and will be not only something really special as the homespun wool came from them but also super useful in the cold winters of the South Island.

It will be winging it's way to the South Island 2moro, yay for miracle babies...and crochet

I just love all the yummy homespun tones on this wool

My little scalloped edges

The underside, I crocheted the edges together

I washed it in wool fabric softener to really soften it up, it came up so well and smells great.

I got it right!!!!

So i don't always get my parenting right, often, too often, i get it really wrong. But yesterday I got it right woohoo!!!!!

It was time for my sons piano practice after school. He was not keen on the idea and had spent a bit of time playing games on his ipod. I sent him off to the piano to do his practice.

Well for about 15mins he crashed and banged on the piano playing not what anyone would call music mucking around, very grumpy.

My usual response would have been to go in tell him off, try the 'wait till your father gets home' but i thought mmmmm, no.

So i asked him if maybe he needed some time outside playing around and then could come in and practice. He shrugged and grunted, yay pre pubescent!!!! Then i had a brain wave, how about we both go outside and play some soccer.

We had the best half an hour tackling each other and trying soccer skills, his ever so slightly better than mine lol, and after he came straight inside and did his piano practice without a grumble.

It was by far the best part of my day. A new technique and a happy household and he even agreed to pose for a pic for my blog!!!

Grandparents

This weekend we headed to my mums to help her move all her furniture for her new carpet. After that was done and before our trip to the warehouse to buy bey blades and la la loopsys (small town+ trip to city=warehouse visit) we went to visit Poppy, my granddad. We took Tilly our new puppy to see him and he totally loved her.

My kids have been so fortunate to have so many great grandparents. Unfortunately due to two of them passing away a year ago i only have Poppy left.

It's always hard to visit him. He often forgets who i am and makes up funny stories about what he has been up too. Its hard because i just want to remember who he was and not what old age is doing to him. He will be 94!!!! this year so has had a pretty awesome life.

But he really enjoys our visits, i am sure. And i always feel great taking the kids too see him.

I didn't take my camera in but his pic was taken as christmas when we went in for his resthome christmas party, always the joker :)

Kony 2012

I really encourage you take a look at his. We need to help in any way we can and getting the word out there is an awesome start. My daughter is so passionate about this. She really wants to make a difference and has put links all over facebook. I am so proud of her doing what she can.

Lent

So is anyone else doing lent? I have been doing it for about 5 years now, but it is our whole families 2nd year. Its an opportunity to deny yourself something for the 40 days leading up to Easter. A chance to, while you crave and think about what you cannot have, (did chocolate one year!!!) remember the sacrifice Jesus gave at Easter. A chance to grow closer to him.

Last year my husband decided as a family we should all do lent and we should have no tv, which in our house seemed a really difficult reality. And to make it even more difficult we decided to do it for the whole term!!! not just 40 days. At first it was hard, the kids complained.. a lot, but after about a week we had all settled into a new way of life. More time for homework, more reading, earlier nights, more board games. I Loved it.

This year we decided to do the term thing again and do it again as a family. This year the thing we have given up is drinks, all drinks apart from water!!! NO juice, fizzy, tea, coffee, alcohol. The whole shabang!

It's hard!!! I want a glass of coke, i want a latte, i want a hot chocolate on a cold evening. But you know what, it's not as hard as having all your friends turn against you, not as hard as being whipped and spat on, not as hard as having the sins of the world on your shoulders.

Papamoa how i love thee let me count the ways...

weddings....

So one of things i totally love seeing on people blogs are weddings!!!! I love the creativity and the colours and all the happiness and love going around.

Now we got married 15 years ago!!!! Thats so long ago it's crazy. We were really young and i guess when you are young you often don't really know your style. We were not quite of the era where 'anything goes', even though what we did do was pretty way out for the time.

Unfortunately digital cameras were not around, and people were not so photo crazy as they are now. Anyway i have re photographed a few shots and will share them.

I am pretty blessed to be married to such a great guy and love him more after our 15 years.

To name or not???......

So obviously i am new to this whole blogging thing, and just in case one day I do actually get some people reading it :) I thought i would ask for your blogging opinions.

It's all about privacy, with the kids. So far i have not mentioned names of them or my husband.

But I am a bit of a name addict. I LOVE hearing what people have called their kids, funny though when it comes to your own!!!

I have posted pics of them on facebook, not heaps, but still some. I have used their names there so i guess I could totally use them on here. But my facebook is not accessed by the world.

So what are your thoughts????