Queen Lizzy's Birthday

Its been a nice weekend so far... we had a first birthday party on Saturday, church this morning and then out for lunch at John & Mo's afterward.

Also I couldn't resist posting another picture of Fletcher eating a gingernut, this one was taken on Friday.

Pay Parade

The Police used to have pay parades every fortnight - get into their "number ones" and be inspected and then receive their..pay. Electronic banking takes care of the pay these days. However Jamie had a parade on Monday of this week as a bit of a farewell for their Area Commander and to give some people long service awards etc... Me and the boys went down to watch!

My goodness! A whole week since I have posted, sorry 'bout that!

Here goes...

Here is the lovely Fletcher. This photo taken yesterday (Saturday) afternoon. Jamie had just mowed the lawn, the sun was shining - it was a lovely afternoon! So I put Fletchie on the blanket outside. Note the two new teeth on the bottom! They have just come up in the last week. He is streets ahead of Lachie, who didn't get any teeth until about...10 or 11 months.

Me and Lachie tonight just before he went to bed. We bought him a Thomas set of "Snap" cards yesterday. He is a bit young for it yet but it is fun to 'play' it with him anyway!

Me & Jamie had Chinese tonight. Takeaways are NEVER as good as you imagine they will be!! I was so organised - I put our dinner into the slow cooker after church this morning. Anyway, at some stage this afternoon, one of us accidentally turned the slow cooker OFF! I didn't notice that until about 3pm, so it is still cooking! What a bummer. Hence the Chinese.

Our church is getting new seating installed this week, how exciting! So Jamie was busy for a couple of hours this afternoon taking out the old chairs.

It was another lovely day today - sooo warm. Our friends Sarah & Andy called around briefly to have a cup of tea with us which was great.

Friday night we went and stayed at Jamie's parents, and on Saturday morning went with the boys into Rotorua. We took Lachie to Toyworld - he didn't get past the front door where all the Thomas trains were. We were home by early afternoon Saturday.

Jamie had to go to A & E (Accident & Emergency) on Thursday night. He was working over in Rotorua and there was a car chase (he was not the 'chaser' - just went to help). He was a passenger in a Police dog van and the 'car chasee' saw them come out of a side street and lined them up. Luckily they realised what he was doing and slammed the car into reverse and only got clipped on the front. The side airbags came out. I guess he had very minor whip lash but was able to drive himself home that night. Thank you God for bringing him home safely!

We got our first ever non-family babysitter on Wednesday night. We got Amy C around to listen out for the boys while we went to cell group together.

So that's the week that was with the Kerrs!

Once again the week has gone by so quickly. We have been doing the usual stuff - Starlights, Mainly Music, Cell Group...

Friday night we had Nana Ann over to babysit. However at 6pm we were still not sure how we wanted to spend the evening! In the end I phoned up Abby & Grant and invited us over there! So we had a great night chatting with them. Y'know what Friday nights are like - you do something exciting like get takeaways or rent a DVD or go to friends'! But when you have children life requires a little more organisation. So it was great that Ann could come around so we could be free to do whatever.

It was also great to see Mum & Dad as they made a flying visit town, arriving Thursday night, and leaving Saturday morning.

Saturday was also a little less boring as we went to a workmate of Jamie's for a BBQ lunch. We had to be the first to leave, to get home by 3pm and pack up Lachie's things for a night at his Nana & Grandad's. So today was a very quiet day! Jamie went and collected him this evening, as he has Starlights tomorrow.

FOUR MORE WEEKS TO GO!! I have been getting a few RSVPs so that has been cool.

Love to you all, dear readers!!

The dog is ten months old, and, it appears, had not been brushed in all that time. His coat had the matted curly look about it. So Jamie took to shearing him! You should be able to appreciate from the picture how much hair came off!!

A New Dog

Jamie came home on Wednesday morning with a new dog. His dog Essex was good, but not performing very well at tracking, a pretty essential task for a police dog. So Essex is staying with someone else and has been given a bit more time to mature and improve. So we're back to the regular looking German Shepherd. He doesn't know very much, but Jamie is pretty pleased with him.

Last night and tonight Jamie is working late. So I've been doing the evening "hour of power" (as Jamie so aptly coined it) by myself - bathtime, dinnertime, bedtime - with the boys. Fortunately I've been reasonably well organised so it hasn't been too bad. The key is to make your dinner at lunchtime so all you have to do is heat it up at 5pm! Tonight we had "devilled sausage pie" which is basically devilled sausages thrown into a casserole dish, topped with mashed potato and cheese, and baked for 20 mins. Don't ya just love it? But it is soooo toddler friendly!!

Me and Jamie have been feeling a bit tired for the last few days - the boys both seem to be waking in the night. Lachie for no real reason - a bad dream maybe, or cold and Fletcher is either cold or hungry. Sometimes we can be up 3 or 4 times!! Its not like we have to spend ages settling them, just minutes, but the broken sleep takes its toll...Last night Jamie didn't get home till midnight, so when Fletcher woke at 3am I got up and fed him so he didn't wake the whole household!

Here is Fletcher eating a gingernut. They are so hard that he can't bite pieces off, he just sucks it away to nothing. And makes an impressive mess in the process!! There is gingernut all over his legs and hands. Note the remains of the gingernut stuck on his bib (bottom right). Fletchie is starting to roll over!! I found him on his tummy in his cot this morning. Also he is sitting up well.

Lachie on Sunday after church. He is wearing his new jeans.
He had been playing with the dog.

Lachie didn't have a sleep yesterday. Yesterday afternoon we took dinner out to Jason & Janie's, and I was busy telling him that he was to stay in the car, he could not go inside to play with Riley, as I was just going to be quick. When I hopped back in the car I realised he was fast asleep in his carseat!! The 10 minute trip had helped him nod off. (Anyway he was pretty grumpy for the rest of the evening and had a very early night).

I had better leave it there! I have laundry to fold!

More comparing of my boys....

Lachlan at about 7 months old

Diary of a mother & housewife...

Being a stay at home mum some times takes a bit of getting used to. I decided yesterday that yes, I could be doing something useful, like cleaning, while my boys were asleep, but instead I decided to have a go at making some hummus! A can of chickpeas, a bit of oil, garlic & lemon juice later and it was as good as the bought stuff!! Even Jamie was impressed. One of these days I might even try making some bread (without a bread maker!).

Lately Lachie has the odd day where he does not go to sleep at his naptime. He just hops out of bed and starts playing with his toys (he's sooo not sneaky, he plays with the loudest toys!). Sometimes I have to go in and growl him and put him back in bed. I feel such a meanie, because he is playing so happily. Yesterday I burst in to his room and he was reading a "Thomas" book and singing a song about Gordon (the big blue No 4 engine - if you are unfamiliar with Thomas). How cute!!

Also, he is not yet sure about the words "stink" and "smell". Yesterday he got out the Baby Vicks and opened it up for a whiff. He says "I can stink it". Its so funny.

This morning we went out to Janie's for coffee. He is quite interested in the new baby Bailey, he wants to pat her head and remembers her name.

And not forgetting my littlest boy - he is doing great. Just over the last few weeks we have gotten in to a good routine of putting him to bed at 6pm and he usually sleeps through until 5/5.30/6. (It depends on how well he was fed during the day). This morning it was 6.30 which was awesome. He is having pureed vegetables at dinner time and is polishing off quite a lot. He loves his jolly jumper - yesterday he got quite a work out in it - I could hear him panting!!

Saturday

I think it will be an outdoorsy sort of day....we have just been to the Ohope Craft Market to do some plant shopping. All we got were some more plants to hedge up at the back of the section. Jamie has just gone to borrow a ladder so that he can trim the hedge up the driveway.

The weather has been outstanding - yesterday it was 20 degrees (Celsius!). Looks like it will be another nice one today.

Yesterday me and the boys went down to Sarah's for the morning.

In the early hours of Thursday morning I got up to Fletcher. Then he threw up his feed so Jamie got up to help me out - and that's when he discovered Lachlan sleeping on the couch!! We have no idea what time he got out of his bed - we didn't hear anything. We wonder whether he was sleep walking. Usually he would come in to our room if he got up in the night (which he has only done twice I think).

Fletcher has been practicing sitting up. He has also been sleeping really well. Lachie has cut another tooth - can't see any more coming through as yet, but he has been dribbling and putting his fingers in his mouth so there must be a few more on the way.

a note about this video!!

I uploaded this one using Google Video, which appears to be better than Photo Bucket!

Enjoy.

A note about the video..

No, I haven't been taking photography lessons from mother. For some reason that I have not yet figured out, when I upload it it seems to cut off most of the picture. But at least you can see Lachie's beautiful eyes and hear his lovely voice!

If anyone cares to enlighten me about the cutting off most of the picture bit, please let me know!!

It's a very wet Monday - I have elected to skip my trip to the supermarket for now!! I picked up Lachie from Starlights at 12pm, where he had a great morning.

Sarah & Martin went to a wedding on Saturday night, so Ben and Zac came to stay with us for the night. Lachie loved having them to stay!

A visit from Grandma & Poppa......& ANZAC Day

Mum and Dad drove up from Havelock North on Tuesday afternoon. It was great to see them. Wednesday morning (ANZAC Day) we had a really awesome breakfast together at our place - Mum & Dad, Kerrs & Wintersons. It was so nice we were able to sit outside on the deck under the umbrella. Jamie did an outstanding job cooking the bacon on the BBQ and my blueberry pancakes were pretty good too.

(Here is Lachie washing down his trike on Tuesday afternoon. Jamie had just been washing his boots, and who can resist a bucketful of soapy water?)

The rest of the day we didn't get up to much, but we went down to the Wintersons in the evening for dinner. Fletcher went to sleep in his portacot and Lachie had a great time playing with Zac's "Thomas" trains - Spencer & Bertie. At 7.30 me and Jamie went to cell group - for the first time @ Russell & Sharon's. We are changing cell groups as Jamie is too often working on a Thursday night to make it to Grant & Abby's. Anyway we left the boys at 126 and picked them up on the way home.

(Here are all the cousins on the couch at 126)

Me, Mum & Sarah spent a little bit of time talking about Dad's birthday and I think after I was gone they got the invitations sorted.

Seven weeks until 15 June!!

The highlight of our weekend was going to the netball over in Rotorua, to watch the Magic vs the Flames. We went to Lake Rotoma on Saturday afternoon and left Fletcher & Lachie in Ann's capable hands. We went with Grant & Abby and they picked us up on the way. We hope to get to another game this season.

We got outstanding seats in the third row and the game was really good - our team (the Magic) were losing in the first quarter, but fortunately they came back to win.

Our final load of firewood arrived on Friday night. The wood shed has never looked so full. It is a bit cold at the moment but we are holding out until least May to light the fire! Jamie just went and got the gas bottle refilled, so that we can have the gas bottle on in the evenings and mornings.

Other than that it has just been the usual stuff.

Zac came to play this afternoon while Martin went to the physiotherapist. He also came over one afternoon last week while Ben was getting another cast put on his arm. Here are some photos!

And a big Happy Birthday to Mum!!

Fletcher enjoys a whirl in Jolly Jumper.