A time to rain.... and more times of rain...

Today was kind of a writeoff really. Luckily we have a phone, thanks to the incredible generosity of Michelle D. This enabled me to FINALLY connect through to IRD.... Called Emma and we will meet up at next friday's Playcentre Playdough Party and then lunch at mine afterwards, went to Plunket coffeegroup with K as HE HAD THE NIGHT FROM HELL and then had the cheek to sleep until 8:50am!! I did enjoy sleeping in my own bed for a change hehehe. Finally got Cameron's IRD sorted, finally, finally!! After multiple attempts sigh. I must also confess to being a grumpy moo, who got put in a timeout by my husband - that was good :) and I visited Isabelle and danced to Just Music 2 - very enjoyable. I have resolved to own a Wii and buy the Just Music 2 and 3 for it!!!

Giggles and Grumpy

Due to a death Kingsley flew up to Auckland on Saturday.... to say K was excited was to understate the case. He sat in bed on friday singing "Grumpy is coming" to the tune of Incy Wincey Spider and Twinkle Twinkle and dashed importantly out of the house with his father around 7:30am to go collect him from the airport. He had previously dashed into the bedroom to ask his father if Grumpy was coming soon... it was 2am!!! His brother lolled in bed until 8am by contrast, but managed to play with Grumpy before the trip back to the airport that afternoon - also accompanied by Mr K. K has dropped his afternoon sleep with my blessing. He will soon be attending Kindy sessions until 2:30 so is all good. It doesn't seem to make him go to sleep any quicker tho :P The next morning I awoke in horror at 7:15 and raced downstairs, appalled at seeing Chris mooching around on his pc. In a break in my diatribe Chris noted that it was Sunday not Monday, and he did not "need to get his arse out of the chair and go to work, lol" I instantly scampered upstairs and my youngest child and I had a well deserved sleep in. Monday went well, it was a beautiful sunny day and I headed off with the stroller to the shops, the pharmacy and the postshop (for the 3rd time) to get C an IRD number so that it gets counted against Working for Families.... I had forgotten my marriage cert. No forms for us!! I was beside myself with frustration but gave up and visted Nakita instead. K was over the moon, He adores Nakita and rarely sees her now that he goes to Kindy and not the Plunket Coffee Group. We had a blast until Nakita announced the time, 2:05, and I leaped to my feet in horror, for I was expecting Darren at 2!! Boys and I dashed madly off, dodging the occasional raindrop for the blue skies had turned grey and menacing, and pelted off home as fast as K could run. I scudded around the corner at the bottom of the hill just as Darren headed towards his car - phew! We had a great visit and he and Kieran did multiple puzzles together. K seems to like "the nice lady" LOL!

Bright bright sunshiny day

The weather has been rather changeable around here but we have had a couple of lovely sunshiney days.... and a bunch of wet nasty ones too. The weather is starting to get a bit cold too Brrrr, which I am not too keen on. I need to buy Cameron a little hat like K's with the earflaps and braids haha. Kindy went well for K - he is really enjoying it. I seem to arrive and find him dressed up as a policeman etc... though his portfolio includes a picture of him wearing a bumblebee dress.. Other parents also advise that he has worn a fairy outfit on occasion... As long as he's not wearing one when he's 16 I could care less. Both boys are lovely and funny but I could wish that K would not headbutt C or push him over. C developed a Waah game where he stands facing the couch, bends over to bury his face in the leather then erupts bellowing "Waaah!" It is very amusing to watch, and is never repeated when I have the camera ready so is unlikely to be recorded for posterity. On thursday I headed up to the postshop to get C's IRD number sorted but had the wrong sort of ID - Grrrrr. Job for Monday methinks!!

Light at the end of the tunnel...

and it's not a train!!

K's fever broke on Friday and he began to take a turn for the better. C however managed to hang onto his fever until Saturday afternoon. Since he has had a wonderful case of flu, complete with an infected ear, and coughing so hard he actually throws up (you should see the mountains of laundry in the garage!!) it has been a splendid week for us... not.

Today, since one boy was almost well, and the other, well, we'll go with portable, I took the kidlets to Playcentre where the theme of the day was PIRATE PARTY! Which I did not realise, not that we had many dry clean clothes to choose from (see previous note re laundry). In fact, it wasn't until I checked my email late last night that I realised the party was today.

I arose this morning at 7:15 after a restless night. C slept through the night, alone!! This was fantastic but I kept getting up to check on him, recover him with blankets etc, and then K inserted himself into the bed for a cuddle and snooze before sunrise. I made a mandarin cake for the party and flung the boys into the car as soon as it was out of the oven. It was delicious! K and C had a blast at Playcentre and enjoyed the fairy who read stories, made balloon animals and other fairyish things. I am doing chicken nibbles and homemade pasta for dinner tonight - should be good. Hopefully C schedules his coughing fit for pre dinner.

Tomorrow is Plunket coffeegroup and K will be off to Kindy - yay!! I have finished knitting my scarf for Emma's daughter, and even managed to fringe it. I also knitted bunny and teddy a communal scarf upon request - now there was an exercise in frustration!! But the stripety scarf was knitted and now adorns the bedfriend's necks.

We are looking at getting a single bed for K. We looked at proper bed shops but the cost would be horrific when we could get a decent one for $150 on trademe. We will pop C into the toddler bed as he likes the freedom. It's being confined that sets him shrieking. He has also learned to navigate past the barriers at the base of the stairs.... time to emphasise how to get DOWN the stairs now. Bandit is fine, cold but fine. He spends much of the day in the bed or hot water cupboard - lucky thing!!

By Jupiter!!

Chris, the very spirit of generosity, passed on his tummy bug to the boys and me. Luckily K, already involved with his chesty cough, and I got off lightly. Goody - cos this means that while Playcentre was cancelled today he can go to Kindy tomorrow. Cameron is still having an exciting time of it tho - joy joy joy! We did however manage to amuse ourselves this morning with the space book - and thus the creation of a marvellous poster depicting Jupiter and Saturn, and their largest moons. We also made cupcakes - K instrumental both in their creation, and demise. I also got several loads of laundry on, dishes washed, part of the floor scrubbed, and am about to spray the wall behind the couch where we spotted some mould.

What I HAVEN'T managed to do is get the car WOF'ed. I am just going to have to drop K off tomorrow and then head into New Lynn with Cameron. I do however have a dr's apptmnt today at 3:15 so will get K to sleep early today or he will be a grump.... aaaah well no WOF for me. In fact, the WOF was got on saturday as both boys were wondrously sick with the flu. I wound up going to the Dr again on thursday, this time for C!! Apparently his eardrum is infected and the Dr described the experience for him as "agonisingly painful". Lucky lad! We have experienced fever so high that C has vomited all over Chris, however all following vomiting incidents were on me. I am just so special :) These are just because he coughs, can't stop and winds up coughing so hard his little tummy tenses enough to bring up its contents.

Circus Quirkus!

On Wednesday the kindy had a bus trip out to Manuaku where the kids saw puppets and sang and danced and basically had a blast. K was super excited and chattered away about it...right until he realised that I wasn't getting on the bus with him :( BUT he apparently had a fantastic time going there and back, as well as during the show. We have also decided to have a daddy/kieran trip to see the Gruffalo as the cost otherwise would be horrendous.

On friday I whisked the boys into town so Cameron could do his nursery rhyme thing at Akl Uni. He did very well and we did lunch with Colin and Ros. Translation: Chris had to come grab Kieran and then we met in the break room (not eating) while we chatted to Colin and Ros. I headed home and OMG the rain was vile. Visibility was a bitch, expecially when going past other cars. I came off accidentally at the Motat exit and the driving was much better. I even stopped and procured K some Lil Orbitz doughnuts which I had promised him. They had been at Akl Uni on my previous visit but were there no longer! Dangnabbit!! C fell asleep in the car on the way home so I dragged K inside and tucked him into bed where he passed out in under 2 minutes and then sat in the car until C woke up. K only woke at 4:30!! One of my friends asked if I would like tickets to the circus....hmmm, would I? Hell yes!!! She apologised that she could only get 2 tickets - I was just thrilled that we got 2 free tix at all, and instantly planned a father/son circus expedition. K has been doing "baby things" and I think it is to get attention the way Cameron seems to. I wanted to emphasise that K was going to the circus with daddy because he was a big boy. He was so excited and raved about it from Wednesday onwards. We had to wake him on the day so that the 2 of them got to the circus on time and he was placed in the car, weeping and pleading to be put back in his bed. However, with a fresh cheese scone in his tummy, and the excitement of watching his father put petrol in the car (just like he helped his mummy to do the other day!!) he perked right up. He apparently enjoyed watching the acrobats and performers but they came home after the intermission as he was starting to get a bit/lot fidgety. We visited Colin and Ros on Sunday which was a lovely sunny day, but alas, the car did not get WOFed. Now both boys seem to have a tummy bug and will need to see Dr tomorrow. The question is, do I get the car WOFed tomorrow (when it falls due) or just hope for the best until the weekend???? Decisions, decisions!

The Great Flood of Barnea Circle...

Satuerday evening on the long weekend was going well. Despite shambling around like a barely animated zombie Chris prepared a delicious beef casserole and I an apple and rhubarb pie. After we had dined I ascended the stairs and heard an ominous noise - water trickling... This is never a good sound in a carpeted area. Hastening around the stairpost a terrible sight greeted my eyes - water soaked carpet in all directions in the hall and a bath overflowing onto the floor with the cracked tile.... Bath was turned off pronto and the plug pulled to relieve the water level, while towels were flung against the lintel.....Meanwhile water began merrily trickling down the light fixture downstairs and along the gib board Aaaaaargh!!!! I set to work upstairs mopping the worst of the water out of the carpet while C splashed in the bath. I used almost all our towels and all the baby's cloth nappy inners - but I reduced the saturation to merely damp from stupendously soaked. I am da bomb! Chris had the baby bath set up downstairs to catch the torrent trickling down the light fitting. We then positioned the heaters in the stricken area upstairs, opened all the windows switched on the fan and went to sleep. I lay there imagining our power meter spinning around like a whirligig in a storm and visions of dollar signs whistling past.... I am not looking forward to the powerbill! Morning dawned and we have managed to dry the carpet upstairs - yay!! The ceilings look ok too and we have had the dehumidifiers going like the clappers - many thanks to Garth and Kim and Colin and Ros - lifesavers!! The real estate agent who looks after the property came and had a look and was pleased with how it looked. He has passed on the information to the owner and has suggested they get someone out with a moisture meter... been a week and no contact so I am guessing they are gonna flag that and just have a looksee when they lift the bathroom tiles and replace with vinyl. Chris has checked the meter after all the activity - heaters, dehumifiers, washing and tumbledrier etc and the power bill will be $120 more than normal. Ouch. There truly is a cost to forgetfulness :(

Movie Malaise

Recently I have been wracked with desire to watch movies...namely Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Toy Story 3, Shrek 3, Tangled, Pirates 4 , X Men First Class and sundry others. WOE, I say WOE. I have now decided that tuesday night at our place is movie night. I shall have to build movie rental into the budget haha. I have just bought the boys some waterproof overalls to enable them to go outside in the rain and mud - rather than staying inside with me :) They were super cheap - $18 each and made by a SAHM. I got K a lovely red one, and C a violent yellow - all the better to see them with! K was so excited when I told him we were going to visit Emma. Wednesday and Thursday he pleaded to forget kindy and go visit Emma instead - such a little sweetie! He is learning such a lot at kindy and while we were at Emma's decreed it was snack time and proceeded to the table, where he cleaned out his lunchbox and ate his bodyweight in cheese. Both boys are having a cheese loving stage. Sadly, the much awaited trip to Emmas had a cloud on it, the cloud being the GroClock that arrived 20 minutes before we drove to Emma's, K wanted to stay home and "snuggle the GroClock mummy, and give it a kiss!". I managed to persuade him that he could lavish attention on said clock on our return. We had an awesome time at Emma's, who really liked the quinoa patties I took along for her to try. We had barely walked in the door at 2 when the boys passed out, and then the real estate agent came to look at the crackled bathroom tile. In my 20 minutes of downtime I amused myself with the crochet I am TRYING/FAILING to learn. My problem I think is that I need a larger needle and wool so I can do something other than chain stitch. I am also knitting a scarf for Hannah, Emma's middle daughter - as we were unable to go to the birthday party at Cameron Pools. The long weekend is upon us and means nothing to me, being a full time mum. We have an exciting week planned. On wednesday I am doing a cat food interview and on friday I am going to Akl University so Cameron can be a lab rat again :)