Move it!

We are in the middle of moving house!!


We got the bulk of the furniture moved yesterday afternoon. And, thank God for that, because it is raining today!!


This morning Jamie has just been moving outside stuff like the dog kennels, and then we will call it a day.


There is still lots of small stuff here at King Street that we need to move - lots that we don't want to take because we don't want to clutter up our lovely new house with rubbish!!


Moving is SOOO not fun!!!

Christmas Eve

Well, for now, the rain has gone.

The town is jam packed with people doing last minute Christmas shopping & grocery shopping.

The supermarket I go to opened at 8am this morning. I arrived at 8.10am and it was absolutely jam packed. Why do we do it to ourselves?!!

I had to go and get some last minute gifts too, but fortunately I had in mind what I wanted to get, so it didn't take long at all, and there were no crowds in that particular store.

Just a quiet Christmas Eve for us, Jamie is working. He doesn't know that I am getting him to wrap the gifts once he gets home, as I am a lousy gift wrapper.

Have a great Christmas Eve!

Another Day Whizzes By.

Tuesday today, Chelsea today. Our last day with her before Christmas.


I decided to start the day off early with a trip to feed the ducks, and then around to the playground. It was a beautiful morning, just a little colder than normal.



There didn't seem to be many ducks around this morning. But after walking a little further around, we found these little cuties... some of them are very bold, they walk right up to your feet.



Lachie & Fletcher then found some sticks to use as fishing rods...

Unfortunately Fletcher threw his into the lake.

I think Lachie is showing me an eel he has caught...

We finished off at the playground. And after a busy morning such as this, its time to go home for morning tea!

I put our fake Christmas tree up this afternoon. I foolishly thought the boys would enjoy putting it up with me, but no. And now I can't find the decorations, so its looking rather bare....

Christmas Eve tomorrow! And many jobs to do in the morning. I'm not sure I'll be able to avoid the crowds :(

House status

So, basically, our house is finished. Just a few more things to do before we can move in:

1 CLEAN!

2 Carpet!!

Yes, the electricity is on, the plumbing is A OK, the kitchen is in... It was so cool, last night I went out to the house at MIDNIGHT because we had forgotten to turn the sprinklers off on the driveway....and the sensor lights came on!!

Well, there are a few other things - like the odd door handle missing, the shower glass needs to go in, and the heat pump.

The kicker is the carpet. A friend is laying it for us - carpet laying is a side job for him, so we can't put the pressure on - and of course he is working really hard at his real job at the moment.


Sigh....


I will of course try to keep you informed. Otherwise I might just turn up in my next post at the new house!

Lachie agrees to have a few photos taken..

Fletcher loves playing with the lawnmower. Here he is after I mowed the lawns last week.

I suggested that he needed his "Bob the Builder" safety goggles, which he happily wore.

He is a very strong boy!!

Boys playing in the garden a week or so ago..

I went out to the house this afternoon. We had rain today, so that has turned a few things in our favour....


The concrete polisher phoned this morning. He can come tomorrow to start polishing the floors.

The electrician phoned this morning. He started there today too!!

The shower liners have gone in.

More work is being done on the deck!

As the concrete polisher is starting earlier, we are bringing forward the kitchen installation to next Tuesday the 16th (instead of Friday the 19th)!!

Yay!

Worked (at work) yesterday and today at home with Chelsea & the boys. Had a bit of rain, but its been so long, we don't mind!!

We had a night without the boys last night!! Last night was my work Christmas dinner. And the kind people who looked after our children offered to have them overnight!!

Fletcher went up to his Nana & Grandad's about lunchtime yesterday. They went into Rotorua and went to Rainbow & Ferry Springs. And at about 6pm last night we dropped Lachie off to John & Moana's.

It was nice not to be the first people to leave the party last night! Although it certainly wasn't a late one. And, while we did not have a sleep in, it was nice to wake at 7.2oam, rather than 6am something.

Another beautiful day here in Whakatane...

Quiet Friday

Had a bit of a nothing day today. We went for a walk first thing, but other than that, we were at home.

Went out to the house, but forgot to take some pictures to chart progress! Anyway, there's not much progress to see ('oh look! the painter's done some more painting....)

Here's some pictures from the day.

I managed to snap Lachlan while he was watching a movie!

Some Overdue Pictures

Rather than wasting away the evening, say, playing Word Challenge on Facebook, I have decided to finally upload some pictures to my blog! I downloaded a program called "pixresizer" so I can easily upload them onto Blogger. Enjoy.



ps. there are no photos of Lachlan. Lachlan does not like having his picture taken, so I only have ones of him poking his tongue or trying to hide.





Here is Fletcher on his birthday. I got him some Bob the Builder gear.


He is such a funny boy!! He often pops up with a funny hat on, or the kitchen gloves!!

Here he is, opening his Mario Andretti car from Grandma.

Doesn't he look like such a big boy in this photo?

Summer seems to be here...

One fabulous thing about the last couple of weeks is that summer seems to be arriving!! I've been trooping around in my grey sweater for so long but lately I've been wearing tank tops, shorts & skirts!!

The jet ski got its first decent outing on Saturday. Nathan & Jasmine and their friends came up to the lake to have some fun. Unfortunately I didn't have a turn on the ski biscuit, but I did have a lap around the lake. Then me & Jamie both felt incredibly tired, so we went back to the in-laws for a rest and left Nath & Jas to it.

I guess I've been avoiding Bloggy Land lately....

Its almost 8pm Sunday night and I am definitely hitting the hay shortly. I feel a bit of a cold coming on....

Apart from a few snotty noses, all is well at the Kerr house.

Jamie has enjoyed two weeks off work - which included two weeks away from the dogs. And we have enjoyed having him around.

As for the house situation......


It turns out that the concrete polisher cannot come and finish our floor until 15 December. And we cannot install the kitchen until after that. So, the painter is in at the moment, doing a great job, hopefully he will be finished in a couple of weeks.

Then it is all action stations starting on the 15th. The concrete polisher will be there for two days.

Then on the 19th the kitchen will be installed, on the same day the plumber will start to finish off all the plumbing. Hopefully just prior to all this the electrician will come in too!! Then....carpet, and we should be done. All this in eight working days...??? Hmm, we shall see.

I've been taking the kids with me on my last few trips to the orthodontist. The appointments only take about 15 minutes, so it isn't worth the trouble of finding a babysitter, dropping them off, picking them up.....


I wonder whether Fletcher got a bit traumatised by the trip to the doctor yesterday (when Lachie was crying and had to be held down so the Dr could check his ears), so this morning when I sat in the chair, Fletcher started crying and wanted to sit with me. So Alan (the orthodontist) and his assistant Janelle said he could. Of course, I'm lying down, so Fletchie lay down on me! It was a great way to have a morning cuddle.


And, more on the ears....we've noticed this afternoon that Lachlan can't hear us very well, so we are going to try to get to the Dr this afternoon and get his ear/s drained. I asked him if he wanted a lollipop, and he didn't respond - something must be wrong!!

Wednesday

I've been to the doctor this morning so he could check out Lachlan's ear. He's been a bit funny for the last few days, and then yesterday afternoon he complained of a sore ear.

I had to wait FORTY MINUTES!!! I had been waiting about 20/25 minutes and was just about to get up and ask what was going on. Then I saw him walk in. Then he saw another patient before me! Grr... it would be nice if they could at least keep their patients informed.

The doctor had to get the nurse in to help out as Fletcher was crying and wanted to sit with me and Lachie didn't want the doctor looking in his ears. What a drama!! Anyway, after all that he told me to keep Lachie's nose clear and give him pamol for pain relief.

Jamie has just gone out to the house to meet the people from Telecom. They are going to connect everything up for phone to the house. He had to dig a trench with his brother for all the 'wires' on Monday.

Also on Monday he went to pick up our cool new table. Unfortunately we can't get it into this house!! Fortunately we found this out before they unloaded it off the truck. So, sadly, I will have to wait to enjoy it. Luckily we've got lots of big doors at the new house for it to fit through!!

That the news from us so far this week!

Happy Birthday Fletcher!

OK, technically Fletchie's birthday was on Thursday. He turned two years old!

This afternoon at 2.30pm we had birthday cake for him with friends. We had a great time with all his friends and he was blessed with lots of lovely gifts.

Anyway, the last guest only left about 10 minutes ago. My boys are now very tired. I should think about dinner.

Happy Birthday to Me!

31 today....

Had a fantastic pedicure this morning, arranged by my dear husband.


And tonight enjoyed a BBQ with a few friends, and watching the Election Results!!


Called it a night early though, our boys woke us up too early this morning!

I went out to the house this afternoon and saw my two lovely wall hung vanities. They look great. The plasterers were hard at work too.


Then we called around to the Wintersons to say hello.


I had a late burst of energy at 6.30pm and took the boys for a walk. And now, I am in bed, about to start into my early birthday present from Mum. Thanks Mum, it is a book I have had my eye on for a while!!

It is Tuesday morning and I am outside with the boys. Lachie is having a few tears as he learns about sharing and taking turns with his brother.

Chelsea is here this morning. Her mum picked her up for an hour and they went for a visit to Little Orchard pre school - she starts there next week. After that she was dog tired so I put her down for a sleep. I imagine she will wake up about lunchtime.

I picked up our vanities and took them out to the house this morning. They look so cool. I guess Chris is going to hang them today or tomorrow. The plasterers start tomorrow!! I think I may have already mentioned that.

Yesterday was a beautiful Labour Day. I went for a walk with the boys, and then mowed the back lawn. I do love to mow the lawn but only get to do it when Jamie is not here. Lachie had his friend Ashlin to play for a few hours and they had a great time playing together.

I made some of my divine chocolate chips cookies yesterday, I might go and get a few for me and the boys to have morning tea!!

Saturday Night

My sweet man has spent the week in Wellington. Yeah I know, it seems like he's there all the time. Anyway, he got up at 4am this morning to drive home to us!! He was home by 10am.


We met out at the house, which is looking good. All the doors are hung and all the skirting is up. Now the plasterers need to come in!!


Just been a quiet day really. I did go and buy some new sheets and duvet cover for our bed at the new house though.

Til another time!

Dale is wishing...

....that her family members were as good at updating their blogs as she is....

Lachlan likes to play outside when there is a parent outside to keep him company. Or any adult for that matter.


So I decided to bring the computer outside and blog!! Now though, he has heard his friend Ashlin next door. So he has gone around the front for a bit of over the fence chit chat. He's even taken a chair!!


I have Chelsea today. However today I have hit the jackpot and put her down for an afternoon sleep at exactly the right time.


We had coffee group here today - quite a few coming and going. I made the Healthy Food Guide chocolate brownie. Click on the link there if you want the recipe. It has no butter in it - you replace it with pureed apple. And it is really yummy and really easy. (I always have pureed apple on hand as me and Fletchie have it on our weetbix for breakfast)!


One of the girls at coffee group is a speech therapist. She is going to email me some things I can do to get Fletcher saying some words. He is two in a few weeks and does not have many words. I think by about two they like them to be stringing at least two words together.


The kitchen people phoned me today - they are finalising all details as they start to make my kitchen!! Lisa is going to phone me when there is something to go and look at. How exciting.


Well, here I am, all alone in the back yard. Best go check the boys and get my laundry in.

Sorry I haven't uploaded any more photos. On my old desktop computer, I used Photo Editor to copy & resize my pictures so they would be easy to upload on blogger. I can't figure out how to do that on my fancy laptop. I did have a program that came with my camera, but I can't find the little code to install that on my laptop either!! So, if you can help me out, do drop me a line!!

After a chilly start (I had a hot water bottle last night in bed), the weather fined up and I even did some laundry.....went for a walk....made a decent dinner for the first time in a while!! I made lasagne, which Lachie loves, but Fletcher doesn't. So he went to bed without dinner, sigh... Anyway, I only made a small one, but there is loads of it left!! So looks like I will have lasagne again tomorrow night. I might soften up and make Fletcher an alternative.

I was feeling so incredibly tired earlier in the day. And now it is bed time I feel wide awake!

More tomorrow! I hope.

A few pictures...hopefully a few more as the evening progresses!

Saturday Night

All is quiet here. Jamie is sorting out dogs and the boys are asleep after a very busy day.

Me and Fletcher started off with a walk to town to buy a birthday present for cousin Chelsea. We were gone just over two hours, while Lachie and Dad did their thing.

This afternoon was Chelsea's birthday party, which Fletcher missed his sleep for. We had a lovely time there, enjoying the sunshine and the boys had a great time playing.

Just before 3pm we brought the boys home and they both had a sleep. I should have had a sleep but I read instead. And, for the second night in a row, I didn't feel like cooking. So we met up with Steve & Ann and went to McDonalds! Lachie has been asking if we can go to McDonalds over the last few weeks, every time we drive past. So we did tonight!! We followed that up with a trip to the playground at The Heads. What a beautiful evening it was. No wind and warm. THEN we went for a drive out to Omega Place. All looking good there.

I asked Lachie what his favourite part of the day was:

"Seeing my Nana and Grandad and throwing sticks in the water."

I do have some great photos on my camera that I must upload at some stage..

Finally got some wireless internet sorted at our place, so here I am, in bed, updating my blog! Fantastic.

I had a great sleep last night after taking the antihistamine. Not sure whether I should keep taking them or not...

Enjoyed my 'day off' today, another one tomorrow. I have spent the evening reading a good book.

Its a bit late, I should probably switch off this computer.

I am pretty exhausted after getting next to no sleep last night.

I went to the doctor today, she just gave me an anti histamine for now. Hopefully that will stop the itching and that will be the end of it.

Anyway I have just taken the anti histamine, which causes sleepiness (hooray!) so I better finish up the dishes and take a shower before hitting the sack.

Looking forward to quiet morning with just me and Fletcher tomorrow.



And...wishing I had chocolate.

It is Monday night. It is 11pm. I am awake. I am itchy.

I have itchy arms, itchy legs, itchy tummy, itchy back, itchy scalp. Even itchy ears.

Ok, so its not all going at once. It started in the middle of the night last night. But once I got up today it didn't really bother me too much.

But now I want to go to sleep, of course, it is all that I can feel.

I've spent a bit of time trying to self diagnose on the internet. No such luck. I tried to get a doctor's appointment this afternoon but everyone was full up.

So til tomorrow...

I FINALLY finalised all the bathroom stuff for our new house today. Yes, right down to the toilet roll holders!! Changed my toilets and the bath too!! I am so glad to get that out of the way. I feel like I have made many trips to Placemakers. Luckily the girl there is sooooo helpful.

I also ordered all the lights/light fittings for the house on Friday.

Apparently I need to choose my carpet soon too. I had to spend some time today re-constructing the budget on to a new spreadsheet - as the last one got sent into oblivion when the computer crashed.

We have had TWO BBQs this weekend! Tonight we had Martin & Sarah and the boys around. It looked like it was going to rain but it was lovely while we BBQed and ate outside.

They have just left and hopefully me and Jamie will have an early night.

Night!

Jamie got home late this morning from 3 nights away in Hamilton for work.

Seeing as I didn't go to work Monday, with Fletcher not so well, I went to work this afternoon. I went for a walk with the boys. Jamie started to mow the lawn about 5.30pm - oh how I love daylight saving!!

Then we decided to quickly go out to the house to see the ceilings that have gone up. Please pray that it will be done by Christmas!!

Fletcher is doing way better, eating more and generally much more perky.

One of these days I will post some pictures...

Wednesday - a day off!

I got to do some clothes shopping this afternoon! I drove over to Rotorua, dropping Fletcher off at his grandparents (where Lachlan already was).


It was quite cold in Rotorua, but the day started well, when I parked in a space that had 45 minutes of parking left!! I only had 20c in my purse, enough for 12 minutes!!


Anyhoo, I got a few nice things (I think). Now that I am mostly at home with the boys, I don't just randomly go and look in the stores now. I just wear jeans and trackies everywhere!!


The other dilemmna, now that I am a 30 year old (nearly 31) mother of two, is where to shop. I had a look in Supre today. I am definitely too old for that store! They had mini skirts on sale that were slightly bigger than my hand span. In fact, I'm really quite sheltered!! Some of the clothes that were on the racks and the music that was playing made me think "I'm glad I don't have any girls". But I suppose saying that, I should be equally concerned I have two boys! Sigh...


Still, I'm not yet ready for Millers Fashion Club!! I'll stick with Glassons for now!

I took Fletcher back to the doctor again today.



He had been prescribed antibiotics on the weekend. Anyway, I didn't feel like he had improved, so I took him back.



Only to be told:



"It's a virus, you'll just have to ride it out."



So I left, armed with a prescription for more Pamol. And having also been told by the doctor that cough medicines are a waste of time (take note, Jamie!).



The poor little munchkin is full of snot and is coughing lots (there doesn't seem to be anything in the cough though, its just kind of a dry cough). And his eyes are yuck. Hopefully they clear up soon.

He doesn't feel like eating much and is getting tired earlier in the day and sleeping longer.

I hope to have better news later in the week!

What a morning!!

Well I guess you could say it started last night....


I had given Fletcher a bath and put him to bed when I heard him make a funny cry. I went to investigate. He has been coughing so much that he threw up his dinner (well, the toast he had for dinner, seeing as that is all he will eat). So I had to change his sheets and pyjamas and put him in the bath again and wash it out of his hair.


Then I abandoned it all into the laundry.


I let the dogs out.


I hear the dogs growling and see them playing tug of war with....Fletcher's sleepsuit!! He loves it, it is like a cuddly to him. Anyway, Mum, it is ruined!! I washed it anyway, I can't quite decide what to do with it. They ruined his pyjama top too.


(FYI, my house is 'old style' so the laundry is out the back door, all the gumboots etc are in there, I usually leave the door open, which is how the dogs got in).


This morning I was sitting at the back door writing a letter, the washing machine going nearby. Then I noticed the puddles of water all over the floor......


Our washing machine hose empties into the big sink next to it. Anyway, I had left a face cloth in the sink, it had blocked the plughole, the water had nowhere to go except.......all over the floor.....


Mop that up.


Then I did another load of laundry. I see there is another big pile of water on the floor....has my nine year old washing machine finally ground to halt?? I will have to go mop up and investigate!!

Poor Fletchie..

...is sick.

I took him to the doctor yesterday (Saturday). The doctor said he had a case of the flu - red ears & throat and conjunctivitis. He prescribed some antibiotics.

So we are on day two of the antibiotics and he doesn't seem to have improved a great deal yet. Mind you, he hasn't had a sleep today, so perhaps I should say he is doing very well. I don't think he will last much longer - hopefully he will have some dinner before he goes to bed. He didn't have any dinner last night.

First night of daylight saving tonight - it is a beautiful day, a perfect night for a BBQ.....maybe next week!!

A Big Welcome to My New Nephew

This lovely little munchkin is my new nephew, Joshua Stephen Grasser. He was born on 10 September (already two weeks old)!

Joshua lives with his Mummy (my sister Tracy) in Holly Springs, North Carolina. Isn't he cute? Look at his cute hair and his lovely lips...

I AM BACK!!

Oh the joy! Oh the excitement! The courier arrived about 3pm this afternoon with my lovely new Dell laptop. I got it in white so I could pretend to be a Mac.

Anyway, as I had three little kiddies hovering around, all I could do was read the set up guide and wait for their bed time!! I got it set up as easy as a wink and have been surfing for a while, checking out all the blogs I read etc.

And I have joined Facebook! Hopefully I will have oodles of "Friend confirmations" in my inbox tomorrow.

The laptop is great. I am even finding the weeny keyboard and mouse thing easy. Hardly any cords under the computer desk!!

And you will be pleased to know that I am taking our old desktop down to the E Waste Day on October 4.

Daylight saving starts this weekend!! It will be great to have the extra daylight, and to have darker mornings. I am waking up waaay too early at the moment!!! However I am not looking forward to Sunday morning because I am on music team. I usually have to be there an hour and 15 before the service and this week it will be like two hours & fifteen...:(

'til next time!

Still offline...

Hopefully we will be back in cyberspace by the end of the week.

Meantime I have called in to work to use the computer to check email and do banking.

Just an at home day with the boys, we'll head off to the library next.

Have a great day!

Computer Troubles...

Well! The reason for my lengthy absence from the WWW is that my computer has crashed!!

So I am presently at Sarah & Martin's. They are busy in the garden, enjoying the sunshine, while I am tucked away in their office.

Me & Jamie decided to buy a laptop, so I ordered one from Dell yesterday. I think it will be a few more weeks before it arrives. Last time the computer had problems, it cost over $300 to fix. So if I pay that again, it is more than half the price of a new computer!

I don't have all day, so I shall leave it there.

Another busy day has passed. We looked after Chelsea again, and we will see her on Thursday too. All the kids had a great morning at coffee group.

This afternoon the clouds finally disappeared and the boys exhausted themselves playing outside. I have just put them to bed, a little earlier than usual.

Tonight I plan on a little "Third Watch" viewing. I mentioned it on my last posts - I rented out the whole first season on DVD. Over 15 hours of viewing! I'm not even sure if we are half way through...

Sleepwalker

I think I witnessed some sleep walking from Lachie last night!

I was watching an episode of our all time favourite TV show, (Third Watch) and Lachie appeared in the kitchen. He didn't say anything (highly unusual!) and then stumbled into the lounge. By then I realised he was sleep walking so I walked him back to his bed and tucked him in again. Again, not a word was said and he was "back to sleep"!!

A busy few days...

Our week was much the same as usual, grocery day Monday, coffee group Tuesday, work Wednesday.

Thursday and Friday we had Chelsea both days. Her Granny is away in Samoa so we needed to help out for an extra day. We went to the playground on both days. The kids had a great time, and we stayed so long, they were ready to leave and it wasn't a drama trying to get them into the car!!Fletcher had a great time going down the little slide. He even went up the really big slide. He's a very courageous boy!!

And here he is showing his sweet side. He found Chelsea's sunhat in her bag and wore that around the house!

Lachie had a great time playing with the other kids at the playground. A couple of girls asked him how old he was. He said "three". Then he ran over to me and said, "Mum, am I still three?".
He climbed over these green bars for the first time!!
Our morning started out with a phone call from Auntie Tracy, who is *enjoying* strict bed rest in Holly Springs, NC (another post on that later, I'm sure).

Then we went to Jordan's 2nd birthday party in the wonderful sunshine. Unfortunately it has now disappeared! Might have to get my slippers on...

Got the Lurgy..

Last night I went to bed so early because I felt a cold coming on. I must have been tired out from working two full days, then I had Chelsea yesterday. Or maybe I just caught it off Fletcher who has had a runny nose for days and days and days!!

Been a bit more diligent about giving him Pamol today though. Went to the pharmacy this afternoon to pick some more up.

So other than that, I have done very little! Been looking through the house budget this afternoon (that was a more positive experience than I thought!!) We bought a heat pump today. It is going to be a floor console one that will sit nicely under the new TV, on the only wall we have in the lounge! That is a bit of a weight off my mind really. Nice to know we will have one for frosty nights next year.

I'll go and get ready for an early night.

Update from a Working Lady!

I am posting from work. I worked all day yesterday, and a full day today. I am filling in for the receptionist at work and doing my own work too. I have been enjoying being at work, I must say. However, I say that from the privileged position of having my husband at home with the boys. I am sure that if I was getting up the crack of dawn to organise myself for work and the boys for daycare, it would be a different story!!

Anyway, back to normal life tomorrow. Although I will be looking after Chelsea tomorrow!

We've been busy this week sorting out things for the house. I paid a big bill on Monday (at least I get some airpoints out of that!) and put a deposit on the kitchen. Met with the electrician and added a few lights and towel rails to the electrical plan. Unfortunately we've had big hold ups this week with the joinery. They ordered the wrong head flashings (whatever they are), and the correct ones won't be here until Thursday afternoon. So I hope that Chris will be back out there finishing off the cladding and putting in doors and windows from Friday morning. Still, there has been someone out at the house every day this week doing something, so that is encouraging.

I also got some test pots from Resene to sort out the colours for inside and also for our shadowclad exterior.

Back to work!

Zac's Birthday!

He he hee, we'll get a post about it up before his own mother does!!

This afternoon at 2pm we went to Zac's 5th birthday party. I tried to get both the boys to have a nap before hand but I was out of luck.

Here is the birthday boy patiently smiling to have his photo taken.


Here is the birthday cake, sooo cool!! (Lachie brought home his "Cars" paper cup but refused to wear a party hat.)

Martin & Zac playing "It's in the Bag". Or rather, "It's in the Bucket".

Even Lachlan was smiling for photos!!

Fletcher is very tired tonight and we have had a bit of trouble getting him down to bed. All silent at the moment.

We've had loads and loads of rain today. Jamie ended up being called to work so I went to church with the boys without him. They were going to do a fire drill today at church, but fortunately the weather was so bad they postponed it for another time.

Chris the builder phoned Saturday night to say there is a problem with the head flashings for the windows. So they won't be back at the house until Wednesday.

A busy week ahead for me, I am working two full days, filling in for the receptionist at work. Hope I can cope!!

New House Pictures!

We went out to the house this morning - I hadn't been out for a look for a whole week. Look what they had been up to in the meantime! Most of the windows & doors are in. And they have started on the cladding. I think the last picture I posted, it was just framing.

I am really pleased with how the joinery looks next to the palliside (the weatherboard look cladding). The palliside will not be painted - that is the colour of the house.

Here is my front door. I think it is so cool! There is a different cladding going around the front door. But I will post a picture when it is up.

A back view of the house - they have done most of the cladding here.

Dave the Plumber came and piped it all up yesterday.

This morning we spent a good while sweeping up all the mess inside - lots of sand!! I lost interest after an hour or so, and so had Fletcher. So me and him went to the supermarket and home. Jamie stayed to do some more tidying & Lachie stayed to do more digging with the sand. Then our neighbours who are build came by and he had a good yarn with them, and talked about fencing!

A Birthday Party

Today we went to Joe's 2nd birthday party. Joe is in our coffee group so it was mostly coffee group Mums, and a few extras. The kids had an awesome time playing with all the toys. They even went to the neighbour's and played on their trampoline.

I didn't hear a peep out of my boys all morning, and Fletcher didn't even have any party food! Obviously he was full up from breakfast. (I have noticed a slight improvement in Fletcher's eating of dinner this week. I gave him lasagne and casserole, which he typically won't eat. He ate a bit of lasagne and had two helpings of the casserole!)

As you can see from the picture, this morning the sun was shining brilliantly. Now, not so much. I have the fire going - it is nice to be cosy inside. And I have three (yes, Chelsea is here today) lovely children ALL SLEEPING!! How lucky am I??

Just an at home day today. We did go in to town briefly this morning to do a few errands, including a visit to the orthodontist. I took the boys with me. It usually only takes 15 minutes so I decided it wasn't worth the trouble of finding a baby sitter. I took crackers and sandwiches for them and all you could hear was the sound of the boys munching!! Phew. I was very proud of them.

After that we went to the library and paid some bills.

I got a call from our project manager about half an hour ago. I need to go to the plumbing store THIS AFTERNOON and pick out all my bath taps and mixers. Luckily I already have stuff in mind! The plumber is going tomorrow to pipe it all up. How exciting!!

I see that the Population Adjusted Olympic Medal Table has been adjusted as we have won a few more medals....we are in the #2 spot.

Olympic Trivia

Did you know, that according to a Population Adjusted Olympic Medal Table, New Zealand ranks Number 4.

Not bad....

Bathtime!

Ahh... sucking on the face cloth. Yeah, its gross. But you know you did it and you loved it!!

Happenings...

Here is Lachie showing off the railway bridge he made a couple of Fridays ago.

It has a been a rather full few weeks. Jamie ended up being at the hospital that Friday night with his Poppa. Poppa had a bit of a bad turn at home. They think it was delayed concussion - he went to bed 8pm Thursday and woke up 5pm Friday with no recollection of anything in between. But from the state of his house it was clear he had been up to something. So he is now set up with one of those medical alarm bracelets, meals on wheels and daily visits by family. He is 86 and lives happily by himself in the house which he has lived since the 1960s. That was a bit of a fright for his children.

I drove him to Tauranga last Thursday to stay with his son John. I took the opportunity at the same time to visit a Lighting Plus store and pick the lights for the new house. I was very pleased with my decisiveness!

The house is coming along, plenty being done I guess, but not much of interest to the non builder!!

We finally got some more firewood (also on Thursday). I was in two minds about whether to get it, thinking that winter is nearly over and we probably won't use it all. However, it is supposed to be -2 degrees tonight so I am glad that we got it!! It was also quite a miserable weekend with the weather so it was great to have a warm house.

For those of you who know her, Yvonne Winger (spelling??) (nee Kennedy) had her New Zealand wedding ceremony on Saturday. Yvonne and Stuart got married in Gibralter about two weeks ago. Her family could not make it over there so they had a celebration here on Saturday. Then they are going to Ireland for a ceremony there!! She gets to wear her wedding dress three times. Lucky thing!

Jamie is back at work this week, but just doing day shifts to ease himself into it. He picked up a puppy on the weekend. Faris will be trained to be his new police dog over the next year.

OK. I think you are up to date!!

To update you

Wow, nearly two weeks since I have posted.

After last post on Friday the 15th - about two hours after, Jamie went up to the hospital because he still felt absolutely terrible from his flu. He wasn't showing any improvement. Turns out he was badly dehydrated and had a throat infection and a minor case of pneumonia.

Anyway, once he started taking antibiotics for the infection he started to feel better. He was home all of last week though. It was nice to see him take it easy on the couch for a change.

A quick post while my potatoes cook...

We have just been out to the house for a look. The building wrap is on and the cladding has arrived - it will start going up next week. How exciting!! I need to take some photos though.

Poor Jamie has a bad case of the 'flu. He has been in bed since Wednesday. He's doing pretty well all things considered. But I think it will be a while yet before he is up and about.

We had Chelsea today and that went really well. We didn't go out - just watched the boys playing outside this morning.

A mate of Jamie's brought around a truckload of DVDs, so we might watch one of those tonight.

Me and Jamie just got home from an early evening out at the movies. We went and saw "The Painted Veil" (I know, its ages old but only just released here). We really enjoyed it. I would go so far as to recommend it.

Steve & Ann kindly looked after the boys for us. They were in town looking after Chelsea today, so its been quite a busy one for them!!

Its a cold night here - clear skies - because of all this rain we haven't had one like it for about a month.

Have a good Wednesday!

This afternoon we had a family outing to Awakeri Hot Springs. We had a lovely ole time. At first Fletcher and Lachie were a bit nervous - but the nice temperature of the water helped. Fletcher was crying at the beginning, but by the end was giving us the heebie jeebies as he sauntered around, as confident as you like! Lachie also enjoyed walking around the toddler pool. Hopefully we'll do it again soon. (And unfortunately, I didn't take the camera, sorry).

On the way home we stopped at the house. The roof is completely on, but they have some loose ends to finish up. The first half of it went up on Friday, but it got too windy for them to continue. We had a look on Friday afternoon. We couldn't really see what it looked like, but there were some sheets of the corrugated iron on the ground we looked at. We were very concerned to see that it wasn't the colour we picked!! We stressed about that all Friday night. Then I went back on Sunday, and realized we had been looking at the wrong side!! Oops. What a relief!! So the roof is indeed the sandstone grey that we wanted!!

The kids are totally whacked, so I had better get them to bed.

I am having a very quiet afternoon. About half an hour ago Lachie went with Auntie Sarah to pick up Zac from St Georges and go home and play. He has been asking all week to go so he was very excited!!

It has been a lovely day here. Very warm and windy. Great for getting laundry dry. And great after two days of horrible weather. Yesterday, rather than going to work and sending the boys to daycare, I decided we would stay home instead! It was just too wet outside.

And of course the other advantage of having a nice day, is that the builder should be at our house!!

Hoping to get out for a walk a bit later, once Fletcher has woken up.

Pictures at last!

I've posted quite a few, so keep on scrolling down.

House Update - A Pictorial Timeline!