Fletcher

This morning Fletcher was out much of the morning with Dad while me and Lachie potty trained. In the afternoon we dug out Lachie's bike from the garage - Fletcher was more interested than Lachie I think! Anyway he is great at holding on and loves being pushed around on it. He even managed to get himself on the seat! Here he is watching Dad and Cruz playing around. I thought all the pictures were so cute I had to put them all up.

Fletcher is proving himself very err... strong willed. He was having hissy fits over sharing the bike with Lachlan. Then tonight he had a hissy fit over dinner - then I realised he wanted to feed himself. So he held the spoon and graciously allowed me to guide his hand & the spoon from the bowl to his mouth!!

Potty training Part 2!

We have had another day of great success! By the end of today Lachie has been telling us when he needs to go potty - tonight after dinner I even sent him off by himself! The other great thing is that it seems he has transitioned to the toilet! He has been great using the potty, and I don't mind it. Its just that going out of the house gets a little tricky. I didn't really want to take the potty to church on Sunday!

Anyway, ages ago we bought a seat insert for the toilet seat. I gave him a try on it this afternoon and he loved it! We even went to the gas station and the library this afternoon (just for half an hour) and we had no accidents!

I hope tomorrow we will have more of the same!

One Way Ticket to UndieVille

At long long last I have decided to toilet train Lachlan. I tried several months ago but quickly decided that I was not ready! But I realised I really needed to get on to it after he turned 3. There is no going back now!

Jamie took Fletcher out most of the morning so me and Lachie could have some one on one training time. There have been a number of accidents, but lots of success too! Most notable of these being that he did a poo on the potty, and also he told me that he wanted to go potty and once he was on, did the business! He's done so great and I am so impressed with him!

More of the same tomorrow!

The Final Countdown...

yes, hum the tune with me now. I think I used to finish a step aerobics class to that tune. Knee repeaters everybody!

Anyhoo..

Jamie is home tomorrow. He graduated from his course today! I am so proud of him and can't wait for him to be home and start work! Although the week's holiday before that will be great too. Jamie over-ran his goal to be a dog handler by age 30 by three days. (I think it still counts!)

Finalised our house plans this week - got the quote from the architect today for the working drawings. We will talk to builders next week....it's starting to happen! It would be nice to start soon, but we have discussed September as a start date for the build.

Did a smidgen of work from home just now....also we are thinking about starting a family trust so I played around preparing a few documents for that.

Beautiful Fletcher

Yesterday morning me and Fletcher went for a walk. It was a bit chilly, so together with a sweater and pants, I put proper shoes on him for the first time ever! He thought he was pretty cool. After his nap yesterday afternoon, he brought the shoes to me and wanted them on. Doesn't he look cute?

Here he is on Sunday afternoon, after a biiiiiig nap. He's so gorgeous I just had to get out the camera.

At the Lake ...Again

Well its all quiet at my place.

We went up to the lake this morning, this time with the Wintersons & Dean & Gaynoll. The weather was a bit iffy, but in between the showers it was great! Nice not to be up there allll day though.

Lachie is staying with his grandparents for a few nights from today - so I left him at the Lake with his grandad.

Fletcher is having a sleep after a big day and I should be getting ready for Megan's 30th birthday party tonight. It is a uniform/costume party so I am going in a soccer uniform. Martin & Sarah are looking after Fletcher for me and I am also going to spend the night at their place. Hopefully I enjoy the party even though I am going SOLO!

We are back!

Its been about two and a half weeks since I have posted. From the 29th of January to 2nd of February we enjoyed a trip to Poppa and Grandma's at Havelock North with our cousins. Here are a few pictures.

Other than that we have just been doing the usual routine!

More again soon.

At Ocean Beach

We spent a couple of hours at the beach. Lachlan wasn't very cheerful that day, so there are no photos of him!

At Poppa's work

On Lachie's birthday, we went to the stockyard where Poppa works (Stortford Lodge or something..). It was really interesting to look around, and also to watch the stock being auctioned!

Lachie's 3rd Birthday!

L a k e p i x

You're in luck, our friends Andy & Sarah took these yesterday at the Lake and emailed them through this afternoon.

A neat pic that I guess Andy photo shopped.
That is actually me and a couple of the ladies sitting by the lake.

Lachie & his pal Miss Riley

Fletcher & Miss Bailey

Jamie and the trusty jet ski

S a t u r d a y

I am very tired after a great day at the lake with friends and the jet ski! I went out a couple of times on the biscuit and it was great fun. Jamie is becoming a very accomplished driver!

Lachie enjoyed playing with Riley on the playground and sharing a bean bag with her and eating every one else's food! Fletcher enjoyed digging in the sand and also playing on the playground.

Jamie went out fishing with the neighbour yesterday and we were fortunate enough to have wonderful fresh snapper for dinnerlast night (that was after I had a Friday afternoon pedicure)!

Sorry no pictures again today. I could take a snap of my toes if you like...

A rainy muggy day today. I went up to Abby's for coffee group. I used my red hand bag today, which I love!

My cell phone has indeed died. I was able to turn it on this morning and check all the messages that came through over the weekend, then I tried to text and it froze on me. Then I got a phonecall and I couldn't answer it. So I will probably go and get a new one in the next few days.

Hmm...that's all for now. Have a good Wednesday!

Saturday & Sunday

After that lovely video and pix were taken, we got organised to go see our cousins at Ohiwa Holiday Park. We arrived just before 11am. It was a very windy so (fortunately!) we didn't go to the beach. I didn't fancy hiking all the way down there holding a baby - and my kids probably wouldn't have gone in the water anyway! Lachie did have a play on the bouncy pillow. We just lurked around the camp and the caravan. A great way to spend the day! Me Ben and Martin started a game of monopoly but I tired of it pretty early on. Dylan T took over from me. I believe Ben won in the end!

Jamie has been in Taupo all weekend at the A1 GP. Lucky for him it hasn't been jet skiing weather. I think we are due for some rain now. He's been working hard, but back tomorrow.

Fletcher threw my cell phone into the paddling pool on Friday morning so it is finally stuffed. I have been on the net all weekend trying to decide what to get next - Telecom The Evil Empire with crappy phones for only $10 a month - or Vodafone which is currently ripping me off....sigh.

Finally, we went to the architect Friday morning and got a second draft plan for our house. It is getting so exciting. The only real change is making the kids lounge more separate. So there should be loads of space for when y'all come to stay!



Lastly here is a picture of Fletcher with Lachie's sunglasses on. He thought he was pretty cool! He is a bit grumpy this afternoon - hopefully it is just tooth coming through.

Me and the boys went to church this morning and then this afternoon enjoyed feeding the ducks and playing at the park. Have a good week everyone.

I took these pix yesterday (Saturday) morning. The boys had a great big sleep in - which is unusual for Lachie, but not unusual for Fletchie. Although Lachie is a lovely cuddly happy boy, he is hamming it up for the camera here.

Thursday we went to Ohiwa Harbour on the jet ski. It was very busy but really nice. I'm sure we will get back there again. We had to call it quits about 12.3opm though, so Jamie could get to work.

Moana & the boys came down for a look. Only Jordan was game enough to go on the biscuit though. I went on twice, and boy are my arms sooo sore! Lachie had a turn on the jet ski with Dad and Grandad and even had a turn driving!

Here are the boys on the trampoline tonight. It gives us the willies every time Fletcher is on with Lachie! Also we find we are sometimes having to put the slide on its side because we can't be outside every time Fletcher wants to be on it. He has fallen off it a couple of times, and tonight he fell down the few stairs at the back door. He's a bit bruised up.

I went to work this morning and by all accounts the boys had a fine time at Starlights.

Lately when you ask to take Lachie's photo, he either hides his head or acts like a noodle. Here he is acting like a noodle. All smiley and giggly and laughy.

At about 6pm tonight, we went for a drive over to the Harbour to check it out for jet skiing. Looks great! When we got home, the boys played outside for a bit. Here is Cruz and Fletcher.

Fletcher enjoys the slide Tuesday morning after his breakfast. Still in his PJs!

Tuesday

A super hot day here today, and swim wise the best we could manage was a sit down in the paddling pool at about 4.30pm! Lachlan and Fletcher joined me.

Lachlan spent most of the day with his grandparents, which meant I got to go out for coffee with friends (at a cafe) with only one child, which made things easier.

We FINALLY went back to the architect this afternoon to get him to make a few changes to his initial scheme plan. He asked about cladding etc too, which we have some idea about (what we want), but do feel a little out of our depth...

There was a fire in the scrub above the church this afternoon, after visiting the architect me and Jamie went for a look. They had to get a helicopter & monsoon bucket in. I'm sure the Beacon will have the full story (next week some time!! - nah, two full days should be plenty of time to get it in Friday's edition).

Monday Update

Another busy day here at 213 King St. I dropped Lachie off at Starlights this morning and then went to do some jobs in town. Mo had given me a voucher for Farmers for my birthday, which I spent on a shirt 2 weeks ago. I decided I didn't really like the shirt so I went back and exchanged it for not one, but two, hand bags! One red, one black. Anyway they were cheap as chips as the Farmers Red Dot sale was on (and I got 50% off the lowest marked price).

I ran into my friend Sarah at Farmers, she was looking for something to wear to a wedding this weekend. So I assisted her in that regard (the spirit of clothes shopping came upon me). We found a fab dress in Pagani (that store has some wee treasures - and cheap ones too). She ended up zipping over to Tauranga to get the size she needed, while I looked after her son Connor for the afternoon. So the boys enjoyed having him around here.

I dropped some clothes off at the second hand shop today. I think I drop some quite decent items off, but strangely I never see them on the racks...(mind you I don't look too hard). Only the really old stuff seems to be displayed. Just a funny thought I had..

I'm about to do some work from home and I am looking forward to coffee group tomorrow morning, which we are having at a new cafe out on the Tauranga Highway. Byee!

A Day at the Lake

We just had the most amazing weather today at the lake. It was great. It even seemed better weather at the lake than in Whakatane (which I think is rare).

Anyway we had lots of fun on the jet ski. Jason McD broke the ski biscuit on the first run of the morning, so that was a bummer. (I probably shouldn't solely blame Jason - I'm sure the biscuit was past it). But we still had the skis. I tried my hand at water skiing again. I didn't get up, but I didn't do too badly either. I think it is in my head - I don't want to get up and go for a ski yet. Hopefully soon!

Who dis cutie?

Lachie got a wasp sting but he was over it pretty quickly. I think I overdid it a bit and put him in the water to cool his hand down and he was screaming his head off - but that was fear of the water and not the sting! He has not made a peep about it (the sting) all afternoon. We got his life jacket so he went for a ride on the jet ski but not for a swim or anything. We need Ben & Zac around to get him all excited about it! I tried to take Fletcher in the water too but he wasn't that keen either. I think it may have been the temperature.

Jamie has had super action man day. He got up at 5.30am to go mountain biking in the Redwoods at Rotorua with Jason & Isaac before we all met at the lake. Then he was towing everyone around skiing etc. So it will be an early night (and back to work tomorrow).

I'll leave you with some pictures of my boys

Notice I always seem to take pictures of Fletcher in his high chair??

Lachie loves sitting on the jet ski. We have bought him a life jacket which we pick up tomorrow. Hopefully he will have some fun on it tomorrow and hopefully the weather is as good as today!

Introducing...

...police dog CRUZ:

OK, so we have just been totally blessed with this. Basically trainee police dog UDOLF was not quite working out. I think there is some hope for him yet, but he needs more time. However, I think 'they' (the bosses) just want Jamie on the street working. So there was a 'spare' police dog - Cruz - floating around and he has been given to Jamie. They will do one final course together and be operational. This is going to save us the stress of training another police dog which could take a year. So, praise God!

Cruz is a very cool dog and you can tell he is operational (yes he has been working with other handlers over the country). So lovely and obedient!

AND AT LAST - a decent name for our dog!!

Back to Normal

Its sort of back to normal around here, back in routine. Jamie went to work on Monday and Lachie went back to Starlights for his Monday morning.

Then today I went back to work and Fletcher went to Starlights too.

I found out that I got an awesome Christmas present from the partners at work - a very generous gift voucher from Body & Soul ("Advanced Skin & body therapy") - so there will be a few pedicures in the pipeline for me! Yippee! (I wasn't at work the last day before Christmas when they gave them out, so I got it today).

Work was good and I have plenty more to do at home.

Introducing...

Our shiny new jet ski!
Its been a busy day! We decided Thursday afternoon to go ahead with the purchase of a jet ski. So Friday night we drove up to Lake Rotoma and left the children with Grandad & Nana. We zipped up to Auckland, arriving at about 10pm, and stayed with the lovely Stephanie!

This morning we went and picked up the jet ski from Bryce & Debbie in Greenhithe. It was a long trip back to the Lake, but we got there with plenty of time to go and give it a blast!

We are looking forward to lots of summer fun with family & friends!


The ski is a 1998 Seadoo GSX.

Its just been a quiet couple of days around here really.

I got up this morning at 6.30am and went for an hour long walk. It was a great way to start the day! Especially as it is already quite warm at that hour.

We've been looking at jet skis on Trade Me over the last few days....we'll see what comes of that!

My lovely boys enjoy their breakfast this morning. Fletcher had a haircut from Auntie Sarah yesterday, mainly around the ears, and doesn't he look lovely?

Dolf and Lachie enjoy a bit of time on the trampoline together.

Happy New Year

We have had a great run of weather ever since Boxing Day. Jamie got home just before 5am from work. Then at about 11am we went over to the beach, where a whole bunch of others from church also were.

These pictures were taken late this afternoon, we went back to the beach for an icecream.

New Year's Eve..

...and I am at home blogging! Tragic.

Jamie is at work - we have never, as far as I can recall, had a New Year's Eve together in all the time we've been together. Oh actually, he was home by 8pm last year, but we just went to bed early.

After dinner the boys spent an hour outside playing on the trampoline and the slide and the water table while I hovered close by. I just put them to bed - haven't heard a peep so they must be whacked - and then ate too much chocolate icecream!

And now to tidy up my kitchen.

Happy New Year everyone

At the Lake..

Yes, the two in one day. Martin & Jamie ran from Whakatane over to Ohope today, through that bushwalk. So me and the boys and Sarah and her boys drove over to the beach to pick them up. We spent a bit of time at the playground there.

In the afternoon us Kerrs drove up to Lake Rotoiti to catch up with some friends Jamie used to work with. Lachie had a spin in the boat!