from the weekend

Jamie worked night shift over the weekend. Friday night while tracking someone, he rolled his ankle running under a bridge somewhere. Here's the damage. He's doing good though, hasn't taken any time off work and it seems to be recovering well. The swelling has gone down a lot.

Our weekend was a pretty slow one. Jamie worked a night shift in Tauranga on Friday - which was a great opportunity for him. But it meant he was out of action all Saturday morning getting some sleep. Me and the boys went for a walk and to the playground. It can be a bit of a stress trying to keep the boys quiet while Jamie is sleeping off a late shift. But now I have realised it is an impossible task and I don't bother trying! And, wouldn't you know, Jamie didn't hear a thing from us.

Cleaned the house this afternoon - which is lucky cos I am going to have coffee group here tomorrow. Looking forward to that..

House Update #2

Submitted the plans to the Council yesterday. No going back now! Handed over the first of many cheques too...

Some pictures for you...

Thought I better post some pictures of what we have been up to lately. Another good day today. Lachie is just in the lounge with me playing trains, we've also been doing some colouring in tonight. Hoping to settle down with a few books once he is in bed!

Helping Dad wash the car

Here is Fletcher giving Dad a hand to wash the car today. He's so industrious! We had a busy morning out for a walk, then to the playground, then home for lunch and car washing.

At the Lake - Easter Weekend

Here is Jamie after he had taken his Poppa for a spin on the Lake.


After a ride on the "Skurf" board..

Did I ever mention the $1000 worth of marine accessories we won? When we insured the jet ski we went into a draw. And we were the lucky winners! I was in the newspaper and everything, a photo of me receiving the voucher. Amongst the things we got were some cool life jackets. The Skurf board however, was bought at a garage sale!

Jamie's Graduation

Here is a snap of Jamie and Cruz from their graduation at the end of February. It took some serious photo shopping and I'm still not sure its quite right!

House Update #1

Our working plans are complete - we picked them up last Thursday. We will submit them to the Council this week some time.

Jamie also dropped them off to our builder Chris today. He is going to do a quote for us, but we probably won't get it for a month.

Easter & such..

First up, I must tell you I have no photos to post! Sorry. I did take the camera with me on my Easter travels but I didn't get snapping.

We had a great Easter weekend. We started off by having friends around on Good Friday for breakfast. Me and Jamie cooked breakfast for 10 adults in our tiny kitchen with 3 frypans running! It was a great start to the weekend.

In the afternoon Jamie & Lachie went up to Lake Rotoma with the jet ski. I stayed home so Fletcher could have a nap and also so that we weren't running around like headless chickens before our dinner with Mum & Dad and the Wintersons.

It was great to catch up with the parentals over yorkshire puddings....& brownie & icecream...

Saturday - another lake day!! It was such a great day. The weather just got better and better. Me Jamie & Paul had lots of fun zipping around on the jet ski and towing each other on the sea biscuit etc. I had a nice swim after my last sea biscuit of the day. I didn't want to leave!! Maybe we'll get one more day like that in before its too cold.

Monday we went up to Galatea where a friend of Jamie's from work lives. They had got us a bunch of firewood so we went to collect that.

In other news....

* I am getting braces to put on my teeth at the end of April. Its to correct my bite and make room for a tooth coming through.

* Also at the end of April, I will be looking after our niece Chelsea every Friday, while Mel goes back to work.

Lachie's awake! Better go.

Remember this?

Remember this?

I've been leaving it so long between posts, I have to check my blog to see what I wrote last!

I got home from work about 12.30pm, and Jamie just went off to work - the 2pm til 10pm shift. He is loving work. He got called out at 2.30am Saturday morning and had a great few hours tracking people down...then he went and cut firewood for the morning! That was probably a good thing because it kept him going for the rest of the day.

Lachlan went to his Nana and Grandad's on Friday afternoon - a spur of the moment thing. Nana called in to say hello and he asked if he could go home with her. So he did! Uncle Paul & Auntie Mel brought him home on Sunday.

Looking forward to Easter weekend - we'll just be around I think. Hopefully the jet ski will get a run.

Lollipops!

How cute is this kid??!!

Today me Jamie & the boys had a day out. We went to Tauranga and took the boys to Lollipops Play land. It is a great little set up there. Unfortunately my boys weren't feeling too adventurous, so we mainly stayed off the fun looking climbing tower with tunnels and slides. They were more in to the merry go round, the digger, the ride in cars and the play house.

It was our first Sunny Saturday in a few weeks. Me & the boys headed out this morning about 9.30 while Jamie slept in from his night shift. We spent a good while at the play ground and then came home via the sushi shop. I might make sushi my Saturday treat. A store opened in town a few a couple of months ago, though I only found out about it 3 weeks ago (shows how much I go to town). Anyway every week I go there I think the sushi gets better! Hopefully they do well so they don't close down (like the squillions of eateries at that premises have).

After the boys naps me Jamie & Lachie went over to the Harbour for a cruise on the jet ski. Fletcher went to his friend Connor's house. Lachie was supposed to go to a friend's as well, so me & Jamie could have "couple time" but they phoned back and cancelled. Anyway, it was lovely out on the water. Jamie thinks the jet ski is running well since its service at the beginning of the week. And I backed the trailer down on to the boat ramp! Luckily its really wide...

We got our TV out of storage yesterday. We can only watch DVDs and VCR though because there is no cabling to hook up the TV in the bedroom it is in. That's OK though. So I watched "Becoming Jane" last night, which wasn't very worth while.

Jamie's last night shift tonight, and then a few days off! I'm off to bake some cookies.

An Update!

It is very quiet at my place at the moment - all the boys are asleep - Jamie included!

Jamie has been on night shift since Monday night - 7pm til 3am. He has been going really well - caught his first crim with the dog on Tuesday night! Its a bit of a mission keeping the boys quiet in the mornings - although Tuesday & Wednesday we were out of the house as part of our usual routine anyway. In our new house our bedroom is the farthest point from the kids living room so that will be great.

Speaking of new houses....we have booked in Chris Ballantyne to do the build. He has a great reputation for good workmanship. Also a property developer bloke we know (Lance) has offered to project manage the build for a small fee. He is building a house across the street so that is going to be incredibly convenient! Lance has already done a job for us - we have to get our house plans signed off by Ian Lysaght, the Coastlands developer. Jamie met with them last week and it didn't go so well - they didn't seem very happy - but Lance just phoned to say that he has spoken with Ian and everything is all go!

So, proposed timeline for the house is: final drawings done in March, plans in Council in April/May, costings done after that.....should be ready to go by August/September.

On the potty training front, things are going very well. After two days of staying home doing "intensive training" we were out much of the weekend. Lachlan did great - he went to the toilet at the Ohope Craft Market on Saturday, then at Riley's house, then we went out for dinner to friends' and he went on their toilet too!! And of course church on Sunday. He hasn't had any accidents since....Tuesday. However, we are still working on the POO front! But he's doing so good with everything else, I'm not stressing about that (which is a miracle for me!). And all with the help of the book "Potty Training in Less than a Day" by Mr Azrin & Mr Fox (although it was a bit longer for us!)

Thank you Grandma, for the potty training present, which arrived yesterday. I was at work but Lachie phoned me from home to tell me the wonderful things he got. I just checked on him to see if he was asleep, but he was gazing at Mater (still fully packaged)!

Here are the boys the other night playing nicely together with the blocks. Note Lachlan's red undies!!

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!