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!

Playing in puddles

Earlier in the week we had a lot of rain. I gather there was a lot of rain here over the weekend as well. So by Wednesday afternoon, the lawn was over flowing.

I was about to take the boys for a walk but Fletcher wandered over to the huge puddle and started splashing. To show how different my boys are - I don't think that would have ever occurred to Lachie. Anyway, I told Lachie if he put his gumboots on (which he does not like to wear - again a stark contrast to his brother who ONLY wears gumboots!) he could splash too. He really enjoyed himself!!

They were both thoroughly soaked. I'm glad they had fun outside in the brief window of sunshine that afternoon!

Uncle Jim's 60th

Here are a few pictures I took at Uncle Jim's 60th birthday party on July 13th. I wish I had taken more, by the time I was getting into gear, my camera battery ran out!!

Look at them all! Six children plus "other halves" and two cousins. Oh, and a cute baby.

Me and the boys had a great day. They were both asleep in their carseats within five minutes of leaving!

Something funny..

I'm a bit of a royal family fan.

I found this on the net yesterday, what a giggle!

"If you have any poo, fling it now.."

I had my first ever poo flinging episode tonight. I was changing Fletchie's nappy and he whipped it out from underneath and flung it. The poo landed in a nice tidy pile on the wall!! Fortunately it was an easy clean job.

After I told him off, he gave me a hug and patted me on the back!

We are home again - arrived about 2pm, after our somewhat interrupted time away in Havelock North. Last Thursday (after our fabulous Ten Pin Bowling Expedition) Jamie got a call to say a good friend of his had been in a serious car accident. So Jamie drove down to Wellington Hospital to see him. He was there basically two days - he came back Saturday. No more news on Joel as yet...

And a big Tool Time salute (I know, that is sooooo old) to my husband who has done about 6 hours driving today. After driving home from Havelock North (not in the best of health), he then had to get in the work wagon again and go collect Cruz from the Rotorua kennels.

I've just done some baking so I better go and clean up the mess in the kitchen.

ps. Greg, I found the comment you posted!! I usually only see comments posted because they are emailed to me. The email notifying me was sent to my Spam inbox - I just found it there last week.

Hi there! I am posting live from Havelock North.

We all arrived here on Wednesday for a few days away. I enjoyed church with Mum & Dad this morning - I came home pretty shortly after the service ended and we are still waiting for them to arrive home.

Once I get home I will post a few pictures - including pictures from last Sunday at my favourite Auntie & Uncle's place....and our new house, which has framing up!

Thursday

I went to the orthodontist to get my braces tightened this morning. I ate my lunch and dinner fine, but now the pain is really setting in...! Hopefully by Saturday they will be back to normal. Meantime, I bought some soup to have for lunch tomorrow!!

We went out to the section/slab today. The concrete polisher came yesterday. He basically ground the top off the floor and exposed the aggregate. So we had a look at that - looks good! Took some pictures but I will put them up another day. The framing arrives today or tomorrow and Chris the Builder gets into it next Wednesday!

I went to the supermarket around 4.30pm tonight, and when I arrived home I got a bit of a fright - there was an ambulance at the neighbours!! Rosemary took a hit on the head from a fence paling as it fell over. She got badly concussed. So her two little ones came over to our house for the evening while they took her to the hospital to check her out. Lachie & Aislinn had a fabulous time playing together. And wee Callum did great too - he is pretty much exactly the same age as Fletcher - maybe a month older. They just went home about half an hour ago - and fortunately Rosemary is home too.

I am definitely due for an early night - I got up far too early this morning and lit the fire so the house would be warm . On a positive note (or is it?), it is due to rain for the next few days so the temperatures will be much warmer.

Bye!

Monday

It was about -2 degrees Celsius here this morning. That's about 28 F.

For some reason we didn't have our fire going, we just put on an oil heater this morning (duh!). We've definitely got the fire going tonight as we are expecting the same low again tonight. Brrr....!!

I went out to Rebel Sport this morning, hoping to get new walking shoes and clothes. There were lots of shoes on sale but none in my size!! And I tried on the whole store trying to find some pants. I settled on some Nike jobs - they are pretty thin though - not particularly "winter" pants. Still, they were on sale - the kind of sale you don't know about until you get to the till and get a pleasant surprise!!

Hope all's well with the holiday makers in Havelock North!

Lachie - isms

Me: Lachie, wipe your nose please.

Lachie: But snot tastes yum!

~~~~~~~

Lachie (to Jamie): Dad, what's that fluff on your legs?

A Pictorial Treat!

We had a quiet start to the day. Nowhere to go, nothing to do. Its nice to take it slow sometimes!

Fletcher has, I think, another tooth coming through. He was very grumpy this morning so I put him down for a nap at 10am! He slept for two and a half hours.

In the afternoon, we went to Awakeri Hot Springs. Jamie and Dave had been asked to do a Police Dog Display for the children of Te Teko School.

So me and the boys went for a look see...

Look, pictures of Lachlan, at last!

Jamie and Cruz did very well - Cruz was very obedient. He chased an "offender" and caught him, much to the delight of the children.
A couple of the kids had a turn at holding the dogs!

Here are Jamie and Dave doing "Distance control" - giving the dog instructions using hand signals.

It was a great opportunity to get out for an hour!

House Update #9

We picked our roof colour yesterday. It will be "Sandstone Grey".

Also went to the Bank today and lined up some more money!!

Went to the kitchen designer on Monday. After discussions with Jamie & Sarah I need to go back with a few changes. I went to go to the grocery store on Monday, but instead I purchased a new dishwasher (a Fisher & Paykel double dishdrawer). It was on sale - I got nearly $300 of RRP. I still have not gotten to the grocery store!

It seems I have the 'flu...

After our Weekend in Waipu, during which I had the flu, I came home and took it easy for a few days. Then I felt fine. Thursday night, I went to bed with a headache, which has been present ever since.

I went to the optometrist today, to make sure it wasn't my eyes that were the problem, and they weren't.

I didn't realise a headache was a symptom of the flu, but now I know that it is!

Its so weird, because I feel fine in every other respect, just a sore head.

So, if you're a praying kind of person, please pray for me!

If I don't feel any better next week, I guess I'll go to the doctor. Meantime, I don't want to waste my money on him telling me I have the flu, and to go home and rest!

Pictures of my (littlest) funny boy. I watched him tonight with a nail file, trying to shape his toenails - as he saw me do yesterday. I tried to get a photo but this was the best I could do.

Then I saw him getting some tissue to wipe his nose and then put it in the rubbish bin.

When I took these Lachie was already in bed. He didn't have a nap today (because we were at friends' for lunch) so he was very tired.

I am not feeling overly well myself. After I get some firewood in, I think I will go to bed.

Off to see a lady about kitchens tomorrow morning!

I'm feeling much better today. I went to work this morning. But it was totally great to just sit around home on Monday and Tuesday. Thank you Lord, that I don't work full time.

I did manage to get to the grocery store Tuesday afternoon so I could get some dinner on the table.

Jamie and Lachlan went and picked up a trailer load of firewood from Galatea yesterday. Not a whole lot, but better than nothing. Our fire is basically our only heating - we don't want to use the gas heater now we know how much water they produce - and the oil heater is only big enough to heat a bedroom.

The boys are asleep, Jamie has gone to work, so I guess I had better do some jobs around here!

Oh, What a Weekend..

We had our first weekend out of town for about six months. We went to a wedding up in Waipu, north of Auckland. We also took Jamie's Poppa along for the ride.

We started out on Friday night, dropping Fletcher with Steve & Ann about 5pm. I was a bit worried about how he would go, but by all accounts he was great. Lachie came with us.

Then we headed up to Auckland. We stayed in a (pretty crusty!) motel there for the night. Saturday morning we took Lachie to the airport to look at the planes and then headed for our bach at Langs Beach.

We were all really glad to get there. I think me and Jamie would have been happy to just sit back and relax but we had a wedding to go to, didn't we?!! Also by this time I was feeling worse and worse from a head cold. To cut a long story short, we were home early as the reception started at 4pm.

Then of course, the torrential rain started. I would have been happy to try and squeeze in an extra day there, but with the rain there seemed no point. So began our long journey home. I felt absolutely terrible in the back seat. And we made more stops than we normally would, as we had Lachie with us. It just makes the trip seem soooo much longer!!

We stopped for dinner at Steve & Ann's and were home by about 7.15pm. I think I was in bed by about 7.4opm! I feel much better than yesterday, but I don't plan on going anywhere, and wouldn't mind another nap.

To top it off, we left the cat inside all weekend!! She used a bath mat I had left on the floor as her toilet all weekend. Gross, yes, but at least she had the good sense not to use the couch or the carpet! Cats are fairly clean little creatures. Anyway, she doesn't seem any worse for wear after her little indoor adventure. Cats are fairly hardy little creatures too!! We WILL be getting a cat door at our new house!

And lastly, the wedding was lovely, the bride looked great, Rev. Dunn of Waipu Presbyterian did a great job of the ceremony...I just wish I could have enjoyed it in better health. And no, I didn't take any pictures of the weekend. None! Sorry. (Well, I do have some of the wedding, but seeing as you don't know the B & G...what's the point?)

House Update # 8

The concrete floor was poured on Friday! I haven't been out to look at it yet.

We also picked our joinery colour ("Ghost Grey") and our front door last week.

I really should make some progress on the kitchen front soon!

Wow, I have really not been in the blogging mood, have I?

We had a nice morning doing jobs around town and going out to the section. The concrete is almost ready to be poured, the section is looking quite tidy, you can see all the plumber's pipes sticking up. The floor looked bigger today. But then I think once the concrete is down it will look smaller again.

Hopefully I will post some pictures after the weekend!

Just a few hours after my last post...

I bought this really expensive mop at the store on Monday. And the matching bucket. All up it was nearly $40. (Mum, its one of those Vileda mops you have). I am pretty pleased with it - it certainly kicks those other "sponge on a stick" ones to the kerb. And I have mopped my kitchen floor twice this week!! Lord knows it was overdue.

Off to bed I think...