A rainy day was Boxing Day

The Australian holiday has been fab so far – with a minor blip here and there. Like the fact that our plane left nearly an hour late – resulting in rather contrary little boys! Then, on our shopping trip to Southbank (so much fun looking at the shops, riding the ferry and having poffertjies for lunch) we got back to the car at 8 Mile Plains and it would not start and the steering column locked. This is not a good thing to happen at 2pm the Friday before Christmas. 8 Mile Plains is a park and ride station so there was no shade from the blazing sun, no shops etc. There were toilets however, for which 3 of us were grateful. Cameron had just fallen asleep on the bus and slept through being clipped into his car seat and the entire time that Chris was walking around trying to find a pay phone (twice), toilets trips, awaking just as the rental car guy arrived to collect us at 3:30pm. He swapped cars temporarily and we proceeded to get magnificently lost. We finally staggered home at 5pm having toured most of Brisbane, inadvertently with two grumpy boys in the back. We cooked a fast dinner for the boys and fled the house for Carols at Lincoln Green. The boys had a blast there playing in the playground, listening to carols and saying hello to Santa – then stuffing their faces with the bag of lollies they were given.
We also went to Logan Hyperdome and picked up some cute tees for the boys, as well as a personalised xmas ornament for each boy. They loved showing Chris where to hang them on mum’s beautifully decorated tree. On Christmas Eve Mike arranged to have the boys ride on Santa’s Christmas train – which was a big hit as it circled around streets with names like Robin court, Lionheart crescent, Archery close, Nottingham street and the like. Sweets were flung out to onlookers – to the young passengers’ distress. Cameron took note of the bucket of sweets the Fireman was scooping sweets from and snuck forward at disembarkation and had to be bodily removed from said bucket – clutching his treasure all the while. In between all this excitement we have been swimming, swimming some more, and enjoying even more swimming. Christmas went down like gangbusters. Cameron woke us at 5am while Kieran chose to sleep in :P They had a fabulous time opening presents, with only a few meltdowns from Cameron when the excitement proved too much for a little boy.
The only rain to date began at 11pm Christmas Night and petered out at 6:30am on Boxing Day. Today we plan to go to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and then later tonight Chris and I will see the Hobbit. I am really looking forward to it. Later on we will visit Mt Cootha and the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, Mt Tamborine, and another visit to the South Bank – Science Centre and Kodak Beach. Kirsten arrives on the 27^th – which we are all looking forward to J

Australia, ho (ho ho)

Life has been pretty full on around here.... we've been sorting and wrapping christmas presents, watching Dr Who, packing suitcases and wailing in despair and various other things. Yesterday we headed to Playcentre where the boys cavorted and painted and immersed themselves in a variety of messy play. I helped make xmas chains and plan what we needed for the xmas party on Sunday, then balanced precariously on tiny chairs hanging them from the rafters. Yesterday Isabelle and co headed back to Canada. It's pretty sad and I will miss them - though I am thrilled for Isabelle as I know she wanted to go back. Much of the early afternoon was punctuated with Isabelle coming over with kettles, toasters, various food items etc. Good times :) We have bought Isabelle's car as mine is just costing too much in repairs. I love her car and we got it - yay. I took my camry into the WOF while you shop and it failed, as expected, though for not for the reasons I expected it to. Nope, the tires failed as expected but 2 new issues have popped up - oh, yay! So we'll look at the cost of fixing them and sell the Camry. Cheap, as there is about $500 more in repairs due - windscreen, rust etc. We headed into Henderson today and the boys and I hit the Dragon playground, then KMart while Chris headed to the bank. Today is the Glen Eden carnival and we headed there around 3:30pm. As expected parking was a crush so we parked at kindy :) The boys had a blast! We had a free photo with Santa and then hit the bouncy castles with a vengeance. In between death defying leaps and tumbles we rode the teacups, the pirate ship (Cameron shrieking his joy to the skies as he did a mexican wave) and checked out a large kiddie play area. And it was all FREE!Kieran  was weeping with exhaustion yet didn't want to leave when we headed off at quarter to six. Poor little sod was asleep 10 minutes after being popped into bed. Cameron meanwhile cavorted joyously - rather like an elf on crack - throughout the house until 8:45pm....little sod :P After he wended his way bedwards I finished wrapping xmas presents while Chris baked the ham for the playcentre christmas party tomorrow. Yup, tomorrow at 9am the boys and I are heading out to set up the Christmas party - good times! There may even be a blog entry in it lol.

First School visit

Today was Kieran's first school visit. In NZ they have a system where children visit the school for a morning each week for 3 weeks prior to the start of school. Kieran has a birthday in January, School starts in February and therefore he has his school visits in December. The first visit was rather fraught - It was raining so we bolted up the hill andf turfed Cameron out at the church playgroup, leapt back in the car and raced off to Oratia. Getting there was quick - finding a park - not so quick :) The session went fairly well, with Kieran wanting to sit on my lap for most of the session and me hissing at him to sit on his bottom and pay attention to the teacher for the entire session. Afterwards he bubbled about how much he loved school and his teacher so that was good. This was also the week that I had the last Plunket coffee group session, the last mainly music session - and dinner. These went well, especially mainly music where Cameron donned fairy wings and graciously allowed Santa to give him a present. I then sorted the Plunket room, and made an inventory so that equipment and toys could go to various plunket branches for a small donation and the rest to be freecycled/off to dump/TradeMe. Naturally it was pouring with rain, and lo a tornado hit west auckland. I also almost had a car crash trying to merge onto west coast road - which made my day a bit more exciting. Everything else is ticking on nicely - boys loving playcentre and playgroup, kindy remains a hit with the boys and school is eagerly anticipated. We went Christmas shopping on the weekend which was exciting too. Sadly I bought the wrong size shoes and the sale has ended, so I will sort this after I get back from Oz. I also managed to find the boys swimming costumes. K has outgrown his, but Cameron now fits it so we just need to sort a rash shirt for K. The house owner also arranged for the house to be waterblasted and the gutters cleaned. The plants in the guttering had grown so tall it looked like a forest was growing on our roof.

Hijinks with hogs

We have had an exciting week or so.... On monday the inhabitant's of our circle were gratified to see a swarm of bees had taken up residence in the trees by the playground. I called the council and some apiarists raced out that evening to shake the swarm from the willow tree and pop them into a hive. Many gathered around marvelling at the event. I was at Zumba. On tuesday I went for a brisk one hour walk. I was sweating like a hog by the time I staggered back home. On wednesday I managed to purchase a GIANT tub of polydrons in time for a friend to bring them back from the UK to NZ. I went to a playcentre workshop on 2 year old play options. It was very interesting. On thursday I made my painful way through the streets of Glen Eden posting flyers for the Playcentre Gala. On friday we headed out to Kiwivalley as part of the Playcentre trip. The boys loved it. They dashed about feeding sheep and alpacas and donkeys and cows and chasing peacocks and chickens and then we reached the ring where the little Shetlands shuffled gamely around the ring with children perched atop their backs..we arrived and none of the children wanted to get on the ponies...until my eldest pushed to the front clamouring for a pony ride. He wound up getting 2 seperate rides. I asked Cameron if he wanted a ride and received "NO! Am eating!" as my answer. 30 seconds later he shoved a biscuit in his mouth, dashed to the front, grabbed a helmet, held it out to the pony escorts and demanded "Horsie please". He rode all the way around by himself and had a blast. Afterwards we retired to the barn for kisses and snacks. On saturday we had free tickets to the Ronald McDonald panto. Thank god it was free because it was DIRE!! Then that afternoon I took the boys to playcentre so I could help set up for the gala, then headed home at 3. On sunday I took the boys off to Playcentre and we hung out there and bought some cool extremely cheap stuff for their xmas stockings. Headed home for lunch then whicked K back there at 3:30 to help tidy up afterwards. I was knackered.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a person with a blog should update it frequently....oops!

Ok, so it has been a LOOOOONG time since my last post on Guy Fawkes/aka the abortive burning of Glen Eden. I will try and fill you in with what's happening - at least, as well as I can remember.

 

Let's start with me :)

Studywise I finished the last of the 3 exams on the 8th November. I then finished identifying papers for next year, and enrolled. My 2013 year will be a bit of a mare with 3.5 papers in semester 1, and 2.5 (internal, meaning I have to attend classes at Massey) in semester 2. I have also requested all known textbooks from the library so I can do some prereading. I am also being a session leader for Monday playcentre sessions and volunteering for Mainly Music - this will help my PG Primary enrolment. I am finishing up running the Plunket coffee group at the end of this year too - which should free up some time in semester one. I am also planning on doing course 2 at Playcentre in the first term - again to strengthen my application. I have 2 contact courses in Palmerston North in semester 1 - so Chris will have special daddy/son time....in excess even :) I put on plenty of weight sitting around studying at every opportunity, so am now trying to shift it :) I am still doing Zumba, which I really enjoy.

Now for the boys. They are flourishing. Sometimes I think they could flourish a little less. Cameron is still loving kindy and I am trying to increase his hours there (esp with next years workload). Kieran yearns for Cameron to attend kindy with him, but as he starts school next year this is highly unlikely to happen. He is however very excited by his 3 pre school visits which start next monday. He constantly begs to go to school - and who wouldn't want to lol. Cameron is going great - counting, alphabet, problem solving skills are all fab - and he has turned into an assertive young lad (or thug, on a bad day haha). They are both really looking forward to the Aussie visit too. Tickets have been booked for this, cattery booked and I will book the supershuttle next payday. I can't believe it's only 3 weeks away. Kieran and I also took part in the Glen Eden Santa Parade. He rode in one of the hot rodder cars and perfected his royal wave. He had a blast!
I suppose Chris needs a mention too. He had his neurological visit last week and has been cleared of any potential stroke experience - just a migraine. This is a huge relief.
Bandit is in fine form, unknowing of the torments awaiting him otherwise known as the cattery stay while we are in Aussie.
We will need to spend 1k on the car to get the next WOF - new windscreen, 2 new tyres and getting rust cut out above the rear windscreen. I have begun to hate the car for all the costly repairs. That money could have been spent on me after all lol. In better news my IPAD, which Kieran dropped face down on the tiles by accident, has cost us $200 rather than $500. We went through our insurance, paid the $200 excess and got a brand new IPAD. In a massive trip to Henderson I went to AMI, went to KMART, took boys to the dragon playground, got a call from AMI asking for the IPAD, walked to OMNITech, got IPAD, walked back to AMI, dropped it off and raced for the train - all before noon. Poor Cameron fell asleep in the stroller, and missed lunch before I took him up to kindy. I have been reading some excellent books recently - I feel really spoilt for choice lol. Some memorable titles are Unspoken, Team Human, Lord Vorpatril's alliance and a truckload of others :) I love this time of year when I actually get to read again.

Remember, remember…..

Remember, remember, the fifth of November

Gunpowder, treason and plot

Cause gunpowder and treason

Should never be forgot

I shall add extra details on Thursday afternoon, after my final exam – at the moment every spare moment is devoted to studying

Is there anyone out there?

Well I have finally poken my nose above the parapets. All assignments have been completed, tests have been undertaken and I am in the final frenzy known as studying for exams. I have 3 of the things. One on halloween, on on the afternoon on November 7th and the final one on the morning of November 8th. So what's been happening here at chez seal. Let's see.....
Obviously the most exciting event recently was Chris experiencing what seemed to be a stroke. He'd taken wednesday off work so I could do my assignment. I knew something was wrong when he came back from Parrs Park and told me about a dizzy spell. Mumbled something about seeing a doctor after we came back from Kerikeri. He then tried to get Cameron to sleep, had some more interesting symptoms - tingling in one arm and leg, tingling lips etc, staggered downstairs and asked me to get him an appointment that day. After I called and described the symptoms he got the choice of having an ambulance called or me driving him. So I drove Chris and Cameron to the hospital. Chris was in bad shape at this time - slurring etc. I thought I was doing quite well hiding my fear until I returned to the car at 3:15 and saw I have left the car in Drive with no handbrake on. Yes, my driving ability was not enhanced by thinking my husband was having a stroke. Chris then lolled around on a bed in the ER, getting his chest shaved for the ECG. Heehee that was funny. Cameron was exceptionally good for a little boy who was torn from his bed before he had had any sleep. After we headed off Chris was sent for a CT scan. Cameron was asleep 2 minutes into the drive and I popped him into bed before collecting Kieran from lovelt Isabelle who had walked to collect Kieran and Madison from kindy. Chris got to stay at the hospital and be woken every 2 hours and have a torch shone in his eyes. I got to do very little work on my assignment, and have a little cry when I got loving phone calls. Collected Chris the next morning, he had not had a stroke, or even a mini stroke. They think he experienced an atypical migraine, but he has been referred to Auckland Hospital's Neuro team. That will happen sometime in the next 6 months. Apart from that we have changed our diet, and will keep changing it to remove some fat and salt. And Chris will be encouraged to exercise more.
Cameron is settling down well at kindy. When I say settling down well I meaned he is rudely jerked from his slumbers by his mother shouting Kindy kindy! He then deigns to be carried downstairs, shod and escorted to the car. Once we reach the kindy gates he races through and begins cavorting. The kindy staff love him and call him a free spirit.
Kieran also loves kindy, but still persists in telling me how every day is a sad one as I wasn't there with him. I completely understand this for I am the bees knees :) The kindy teachers greet me with many stories of his exploits and I stagger out with sheets and sheets of artwork so he can't be too miserable lol. He has been getting better - which is all good for school. I have been helping out the kindy by sorting all their books and making a catalogue. Over the next few weeks I will order them into useful categories. Dewey decimal it won't be, but it will work for their needs. I asked to be a member of the kindy committee too and have a kindy committee meeting on the 25th. I am also session leader for Playcentre on Mondays which is kind of stressful, but good too. I have enrolled for my final 6 papers for my BA. Semester 1 will be doing 3 1/2 papers and semester 2 will be 2 1/2 papers. Semester 1 will be a frigging nightmare. Semester 2 I will have to travel to class so hopefully the classes will be on the same day or adjacent days as I am not that much of a fan of driving to Massey day in day out. This does mean that I can then apply for the PG DipPrimary. Yay me. Lets hope they let me into the programme! I am thinking of resigning from the Plunket coffee group - but we'll see. They are in the process of selling the building so will see how it goes.
The weather is very Springlike, sunny one moment torrential rain the next. We went to Kerikeri last weekend for Freya's christening. We got her a charm bracelet with the letter F on it. As we drove up saturday morning in the pouring rain, a truck roared past going well too fast for the conditions and threw a sheet of water up onto the windscreen (we couldn't see for a few seconds!) as well as a large stone, which put a half circle gouge into the glass. We managed to get into Novus in whangarei (the kind man waited for us as he was due to shut at 12) only to find that there was no point repairing it as it would fail a WOF anyway. Our WOF is due December 23rd. Merry christmas car, you get a new windscreen, 2 new tyres and the rust cut out of the roof by the rear windscreen. I don't really want to spend a grand on the car but it looks like we'll have to.
I am in the process of making the boys halloween costumes. They want to be peter pan from peter pan returns. Isabelle made the boys pants from a pal green sheet I scored from the op shop jumble sale. I converted 2 tops into Peter Pan tunics, and am making peter pan hats from felt. I have done one, and the next is to come. I bet on the day Cam isn't keen lol. Kieran currently has a double ear infection - lucky little lad! Our Working for families tax credit FINALLY came through, so we went and had my passport photo done. I could weep. One of the worst photos ever. Oh well. I took over 300 pics of Cameron and finally got one that hopefully is acceptable. Now we just need a witness to well, witness them and they can head off to the passports office.

Daddy's Day

It’s been an exciting morning. I dragged the box for the trampoline out of the garage and the boys played at being pirates. After the yo ho'ing died down they lolled in their pirate ship playing with IPAD's and LeapPads haha. Much later Chris sauntered down and was greeted with screams of joy and "Happy Daddy's Day!" They delved into the bag of Father's Day goodies, showing off their cards and pictures and then pulled out the chocolatey part of the gifts. These were loving presented, with many admiring comments and gentle strokings. Some bosom pressing also took place. A celebratory round of hot chocolates followed before Chris had to retrieve his cobwebbed furchild from the top of the kitchen cupboards. Tonight we'll have a rack of lamb chosen by Kieran, and Chris can bask in the fathomless love of his wee boys lol.

Gladiatorial combat aka kindy sports day

It’s been an exciting week or so. I have submitted the most recent batch of assignments and am now working on the next lot – no rest for the wicked! I have now immersed myself in more vampire movies and books, before I dive into Human Development. The boys have been having a blast. Kieran spent much of the week training for the Kindy Sports Day. He was in the green team aka God’s Gladiators. He has been sprinting, and climbing, and leaping and having a thoroughly marvellous time… as he should as we have had some lovely sunny days this week. Friday was especially sunny and the Sports Day went off well, with Kieran winning a silver medal in the bucket and ball race. He was so proud of winning a medal “just like the Olympics” and has vowed to win a gold medal next time. Maybe it was his haircut. We dashed up to the barbershop just before the sports day started, and K got his hair cut. He had a blast and chatted happily to the hairdresser while Cameron chittered his rage that he wasn’t getting a haircut. Kieran has settled nicely into his new kindy routine of Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday – in preparation for Cameron doing a morning session on Monday’s and Wednesdays. He is also enjoying going to the library storytimes on Thursdays. I am applying for WINZ child subsidy for Cameron. I am entitled as I am studying – woot. If I get it I won’t have to pay $40 for Cameron’s 2 mornings a week. They’ll only be starting mid-October – just in time for exams lol. We signed up for a free trial of the reading eggs program. In our 2 weeks Kieran did 34 lessons, and is able to sound out words and craft basic sentences. I am so proud of him. Cameron was also keen, but at 2 and 3 months was not able to progress as well as Kieran :). There is a Hairy MaClairy show coming up in September that I will take the boys too. As father’s day is coming up the boys have been churning out Father’s Day cards. I also took them up to the FourSquare and they chose a present for Chris. They were insistent that “Daddy wants chocolate”. I suspect Daddy will also be doing a lot of sharing lol.

Olympic shenanigans

I started this blog entry a few days into the Olympics and I finish it as I watch the closing ceremony. In my defence I had 3 assignments and 1 test on the go. It has been a mighty struggle wrangling the boys watching the Olympics and keeping up with assignment work – but I managed…I am also thankful it’s over so I can sleep again lol. NZ has a respectable medal haul – we even passed Oz at one stage haha. I loved the artistic and rhythmic gymnastics – my god, they’re SO fit! Kieran adored watching it too, although he is more a fan of the beam, bars and floor lol. He has been prancing around being a gymnast. We prepared a sheet “Kieran’s 2012 Olympics’ for kindy. Kieran chose the sports he wanted represented and we googled images of rowing, show jumping (the horses jumped over Saturn! And the Moon!), gymnastics and kayaking. He has pontificated on the Olympics at the drop of a hat to anyone who even mentions the Olympics, has made an Olympic torch and has begged to have gymnastics lessons again. I whisked the boys off to the doctors last week as they were coughing like old men with emphysema… to the point of vomiting. Oh yeah, the good times just keep on rolling in our house! And they have been rolling like this for 7 weeks. The boys were prescribed antibiotics which seem to have done the trick – booya! We have ordered our photos from the kindy photo session. Sadly we ditched the one with Kieran’s broad smile and Cameron’s cheesy grin lol. On Friday we headed to play Centre. The boys have gone from strength to strength bar their unfortunate illness lol, and have been having a lark. The weather was slightly improved this fortnight with some sunny days – awesome. We had a bike day at Kindy last week and Kieran had a blast. Then he and Cameron dragged the gym mats into a heap and performed death defying leaps onto them while the bikes skidded down the slope towards them. Cameron still adores going to kindy with Kieran. I hope his enthusiasm continues unabated in November when he goes in for 2 mornings a week. I have also prepared the letters from space up to Mercury which I thought would be the last one. More fool I! Gentle questioning of my son revealed he expected one from when Zoop reached the sun. I didn’t have the heart to mention that Zoop would have passed the sun several times in his planetary tour. Chris and Kieran made a kite on Saturday and had a wonderful time flying it over the weekend. It was pretty good for butcher’s paper, tape, string and scavenged sticks. I took the boys to Playcentre on Friday but had to leave early as Cam was listless, clingy, whiny and running a fever. We managed to score a dr appointment that afternoon. Luckily I did as he had a really inflamed ear. What a great weekend we would have had otherwise hehe. Medicine was prescribed, and collected and poured into the child who took a dramatic turn for the better. Plans for this week involved Play Centre, Plunket, calling Oratia Primary to sort Kieran’s pre-school visits, watching the Olympics closing ceremony, working on 2 assignments and trying to do all my reading and study for my papers at the same time. It is a struggle. I spend Cameron’s nap time doing readings and then once the boys are in bed at 7 I try and get on with assignments and study. The house, frankly, looks a tip. As I have assignments due on August 24 (x2), Sept 12, 17, 26, October 1, 5 & 12 (x2) & 26 followed by exams on October 31, November 7 & 8 I don’t really care to be honest. I have paid a lot for the 3 papers and I will pass them all. Perhaps even well lol. Cleaning has dropped way down my list of priorities. We may yet find Chris cleaning the bathroom and doing the laundry.

Calloo Callay

Well semester 2 has started and the workload has cranked right up! I have frantically read Frankenstein in preparation for 2 assignments based on it. Piece of emo fluff lol. I will be able to write a lot about it that's for sure. I have decided to write a letter from the monster to Frankenstein - lots of heart rending emo in it hehe. On wednesday I headed into town for my final SMNZI meeting. yup, I have resigned at last. And I think I made the right decision, looking at my study workload! On thrsday Isabelle dropped M and E over and we made pizza for dinner. Rather delicious ham, tomato and mushroom pizza too. Then I headed over to hers to get her lot into bed and headed home around 9:30ish once she got home from her event. Lucky I did as Chris let me know that we were going on the lash on Saturday or, as he phrased it, going to Prof Ferguson's retirement dinner at Sorrento in the Park. It was a delightful night. Isabelle babysat (yay) and we hiked from the stardome to the restaurant due to lack of parking. Me in my boots and skirt and all haha. Dinner was awesome, I got a bit tipsy heehee and then it went on and on and WE COULDN'T GET OUT. So we got home about 11:30 to be greeted with much relief by a weary Isabelle. I was just grateful that all she'd had to do was sit there and watch tv, read her book and wonder when the flaming heck we were going to come home lol. In child related news Kieran had his secomd eye test on Friday - and his eyesight is perfect. Afterwards we headed off to Playcentre where the boys had an absolute blast. Yesterday we did housework, played with playdough and baked walnut and cranberry cookies. The boys really liked the cookies! I made a pork pie for dinner and threw the remaining mix into the crockpot with some leeks and potato to make soup - yummy! So naturally the boys wouldn't touch it. I costed out the Aussie trip and nearly wept. The airfares alone are horrific. Add on cattery, car hire, passports, petrol and misc exp and it makes one gobsmacked. I sorted the car registration online today for the first time. I entered with a sense of anticipation and wound up shrieking imprecations at the site as it crashed when I finally reached the payment screen. How droll it was. Today was Kieran's kindy photo. I hung around at kindy and escorted him over to the room where they are doing the photos. The photographer said she was happy to do sibling shots so quick as a flash Keekersqueaker and Cameronbear nestled together on the pouf. Very sweet.  Afterwards I escorted him back to kindy and then they did their group shot. I should get the proofs within a month. Tomorrow is a trip to the StarDome for Keeks. He is so excited and looking forward to the busride. I just hope he keeps his eyes open this time lol. And tomorrow afternoon we are going into the Early Learning Lab at Akl University so I can "show Cam how to play with a toy, and they can see how he learns". It should be "interesting" lol. Cameron can now count to 13, knows and names all the planets in the solar system and sings the alphabet song while he points to letters of the alphabet - my clever boys :) Our favourite bedtime book at the moment is "How the Kangaroo got its tail" This epic yarn features roos, sugarbag, trickery, spiders, beatings and impalement. Naturally the boys love it. Keeks cuddles his bunny ans teddy while he listens, while Cam smooths a corner of his blankie over my knee and cuddles his Tiggy. Such sweethearts!

Vignettes

Walking to Kindy on a blue frosty morning with K running across frost spangled grass and twirling in glorious circles across the field.
Staggering around the house desperately trying not to vomit before asking Chris to come home.
Succumbing to Cameron's streaming cold the day after I recovered from the Flu.
Spending 53 minutes on the phone with IRD to discover they haven't received my tax form yet.
Running across the grass playing crocodile with the boys, and eating them up with hugs.Costing out the Christmas holiday and sighing.
Baking cupcakes for the boys before playing the Kinect.
Cooking soup for the Playcentre fundraiser.
Enjoying longer, warmer days with my boys
Completing my tax form to find that, naturally, I owe the IRD money. Of course I do!
Loving the fact K is sorted in the toileting department.
Pretending to be dragons walking to kindy as our breath mists in the air and K pontificating that boy dragons steam and girls puff.
Wending through bamboo on a blue afternoon, sunshine turning the bamboo green-gold.
Trying to take passport photos of the boys. Day three and no success to date lol.
Heart melting when Cameron tucks his blankie over my knee when we had bedtime storytime.

It can't be!!!

Where, oh where does the time go. How can it be July already!! Lets see, on Monday we cleaned the house and went for a walk as the weather was nice. I also called around like a maniac and began filling out my tax form. On Tuesday Kieran went to Kindy and I whisked Cameron up to the Plunket coffee group. The local pharmacist came up and showed off some new products. I was very taken with the Omega citrus flavoured fish oil supplement. Cameron snapped it up and wanted more lol. I also managed to get one of my textbooks cheap on trademe. This was especially great as the book retails for $200, and I have to buy books for all 3 papers. On wednesday we went to mainly music. How I wish I had known it was a pyjama party, I would have saved heaps of time getting ready lol. Afterwards we hit the library, Cameron slept while I did my tax return. A food parcel was dropped off to kindy so I grabbed some veges and baked pumpkin pie - for the third day in a row. We took the pumpkin pie into kindy.... and knocked it off the boot of the car outside the kindy gates. Luckily it was inside its pie dish, so although shattered (sob) was safe to eat. I have been rereading the Laurie R King Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series. It is such a great read. On friday we had a knock on the door and a parcel from Sue arrived. The boys were enthralled by the present of little cars and Kieran swooped upon the scarf intended for me, winding it nonchalantly around his neck and informing me that he "looked beautiful!" I must admit he did look cute :)
As it was a lovely sunny day for a change we headed up to the library to read books on space and wound up staying for Wriggle and Rhyme. K was so excited! We discussed space, digestion and then danced and sang. Once home I baked bagels and the boys cavorted with their blocks. Cameron was being grumpy and begged for "kiss!" 'cuddle" and then was being a bit grumpy again. I had to stay in his bedroom for his whole sleep as he kept waking up and wouldn't go back to sleep without me there. I hate how this always happens on a friday! I wanted to take him to the dr's but Isabelle had dropped Maddie off with me and headed off to get her boy from school and take him to swimming. I expected her back at 4 but didn't want to call and make an appointment in case she was later than that. Plus Cameron wasn't that hot, not really.
I baked an apple and quince pie to take to Playcentre's Matariki party that night at 4:30 when Isabelle collected Maddie. We skidded into Playcentre at 5:15 blazing-hot-from-the-oven pie in hand. Luckily there was food left, but the boys ate nothing. They also ate no dessert but LOVED the toasted marshmallows. That is Kieran panicked at the concept of cooking food over an open flame, loved gooey marshmallow and allowed Cameron to have the majority of the marshmallows. Chris had arrived for dessert and fireworks and we settled the boys into bed at 7:30 - so a pretty good evening. We spent the weekend dosing Cameron on Ibuprofen and Pamol and I shall make an appointment for him today. Sadly, we were unable to go to the much anticipated Twisty Willow Ceildidh due to concern over sickly boys. Yup, K was a bit warm on Saturday too, and has been an absolute gobshite all weekend. Roll on kindy I say!! On sunday I cut Kieran's hair as he was looking a bit shaggy. It looks alright although somewhat layered and has become a bit shorter than intended lol :)

Trials and Tribulations

What a week. It has been wet, and wild, and wacky - and that was just the first couple of days! Naturally, while the car was being fixed by the mechanic, it absolutely poured with rain. I collected the car on Wednesday afternoon and rejoiced in not hiking through the pouring rain even as my bank account wept in despair. On thursday morning we raced carwards (a bit later than usual) as I was going to get Kieran to kindy then head back to New Lynn to get the WOF. Leaping into the car I turned the key and listened to the 'sweet' sound of silence.... peachy, just peachy! It was then I realised that Chris had not closed the door properly when retrieving the cat from the car the previous evening... and the battery was flat, flat, flat. I confess that bad words passed my lips, if quietly, as I pulled the kids out. I then called the kindy, the WOF place and Chris - to advise him of his transgression. It took nearly an HOUR to walk the boys to kindy, with the only saving grace being the warm sunny day - and I cursed my decision to leave the stroller at home. I then walked Cameron to the playground, the library for storytime and the opshop before we staggered off home at 11:20. Of course, as 2:30 rolled around - the time we had to leave for kindy - it absolutely TIPPED down. Cameron was not impressed and truthfully, neither was I. On friday we headed off, slightly late and frazzled, to the WOF shop. As we got to the top of the hill I rolled down the window - and heard the window glass crash down inside the door. I confess to muttering some very dark words indeed as I rocketed back down the hill, where I heaved and tugged and pulled and dragged the window back into place. Let's just say that window will not be wound down again in a hurry. After that it was anticlimactic to get the WOF easily... and watching a police chase streak past me left me in a very zen state of mind. The boys perked up that afternoon when the postie delivered Zoop Zeeplebug's letter from Neptune. They were still all of a froth and a ferment when Chris got home lol. The weekend was a bit of a write off with foodshopping etc. Cameron's tooth is almost completely in place, and he is showing interest in his potty. Boys boys are playing a game called "make a bed on the lounge floor".... we look like we harbour illegal immigrants most days haha. We managed to get out to see Chris's grandmother, who gave the boys a NZ half crown apiece. Poor Chris came down with a mild case of food poisoning from my most excellent cooking apparently lol. Maybe I should just feed him charcoal haha. So sunday was spent quietly plumbing the mysteries of the universe. I have also been rewatching the Lord of the Rings movies - tonight is the Return of the King. I am all agog to ascertain the identity of the titular king and to find out whether Frodo makes it to Mordor... after all, one does not simply walk into Mordor.

Exam exhaustion

Wow, it's been a hard week! We headed out to stardome last sunday to check out the voyage to Earth. We took two excited little boys in, dashed around the stardome then headed in for the film. And that's when IT happened. One child quivered like a leaf when the lights went low and the black vastness of space appeared above us. Said child huddled on my lap hands over face for most of the session while his brother shouted "Nepnoo!", Mars! and Earth! as they came along. Apparently Kieran really enjoyed the show! What else did we do last week? Let's see, I studied a lot, the boys played up, a lot. I am sure there's a link there lol. We went to many playgrounds, many, many playgrounds lol and cavorted mightily in all - can you tell the weather was good? On friday I took the car into New Lynn for it's WOF. While it WOF'd we headed into the mall and discovered the playground has been removed. Fabulous. So we walked around and looked in stalls and found space slippers in a shoe shop that we admired, and did not buy :) Upon returning to the car we found it had failed the WOF due a broken engine mount. Naturally I was delighted by the news of this expensive repair, and drove it home heart in mounth each time the road was bumpy or I had to brake suddenly. And of course it meant having to ring up the trusty mechanic and book the car in for Monday. The day of my exam. Woot. To cheer myself up I decided to bake a chocolate and coconut slice for the boys. They were very excited, Cameron in particular was so excited he twisted the oven dial from a perfect 180 degrees to a massive 230 degrees. There followed a scene of much excitement as I pulled the charred object out, swore mightily under my breath, dialled down the temp, swathed it in tinfoil and put it back in to finish baking. Eyes aglisten the boys watched like hopeful meercats as I scraped the char off the top, bottom and sides once it was cooked - and pronounced it delicious. I should serve them charcoal for dinner rather than expending my effort on culinary triumphs obviously lol. We have watched many, many hours of Mr Moon and Space. Lots and lots of space. Sigh. I wrote up the letters from Space which arrived on Saturday and aroused such a ferment of excitement that we were impelled to watch MORE space, and read the letters aloud many, many times. The next one will arrive sometime this week. I have a suspicion Chris won't post it on a friday but will aim for a midweek delivery so he doesn't have to endure 40 minutes of letter discussion, space dances, really bad space jokes, and hysterical cavorting. Sunday was spent in a ferment, with the boys boiling around the house and Chris looking wild eyes and desperate at the thought of yet another day looking after them lol. I meanwhile immersed myself in Medieval times, learning about pilgrimages, crusades and the mad mystic Margery Kempe aka the weepin' creature. On Monday we were awoken by Cameron's howls at 5am. Poor love is sick. I managed to fall down the last 2 steps onto the tiles as it was dark (see 5am!) and I was still half asleep. Once the bottle was sorted C snoozed again and I studied some more before hiking off at 6:30am to catch the train, and then the bus which should have delivered me to Massey 30 minutes before my exam at 9:15am. I like to approach exams with a zen like calm. A calm I did not feel as I pelted from the bus stop Masseywards at 9:13am. Yup, bus was late, very late. However the exam is now over and I made my slow/wet/cold way home, getting in at 2:30pm to seeing Chris waving a Massey folder for semester 2 at me. Jeez, there is such a thing as being too proactive! Now I can't wallow in various entertainments but have to decide whether to start work on the folder. And I kind of have to as I am doing 3 papers this semester. What *was* I thinking?

Star Ship Ahoy

Sadly all here at Chez Seal have fallen into the clutches of a foul and vicious lurgy. Poor Chris got so bad that he headed home early on Friday, after a workmate's funeral. Naturally, like sharks scenting blood in the water, the boys pounced on our combined weakness. Valiantly rising above their own hacking coughs and Niagra like noses they have exhibited a range of behaviour last seen only in the most violent and depraved days of the Roman Empire. On Wednesday I took Cameron round the local playground on his trike. He really enjoyed it, especially as his feet now touch the pedals. He still can't steer for toffee though which made it rather...exciting :) On Friday, given that the forecast was for a sunny day with patches of cloud, we went to Parrs Park.... with the bikes. Kieran is an odd little chick at times. I don't know what goes on in that boys head. He ignores his bike for most of summer, says he doesn't like bikeriding, then exhibits an unholy desire to go bike riding in wet, cold, rainy winter. Truly, men are a mystery. Naturally we got rained out after an hour and a half, and I found myself jogging back along the path to the car, cursing my desire to have a walk that led me to park on the opposite end of the rugby field. Kieran happily pedalled along in front of me and Cameron lolled in my arms so I was the only one puffing at the end of our little scamper. That night I made pumpkin soup for Playcentre to sell at the stall at the market. I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed. At nine o'clock the house began to tremble with the snores of three congested males. There's only so much fun to be extracted from mirowaving pumpkin pieces so I amused myself with a website which captions comics with a WTF factor. (http://www.lileks.com/institute/comicsins/covers/DCheroes/5.html) I also began creating Kieran's Letters from Space. I came up with an idea to write a letter to Kieran from an Alien. Kieran will get 10 letters in total starting with the Kuiper belt and Pluto, then a letter per planet. I am wondering about making personalised stamps. Should I go for a more generic solar system pic, or have a pic of the appropriate planet for each letter??? Decisions, decisions. Having costed the personalised stamps I think we'll go for the normal kind! I managed to finish A Letter from Mars (Just Earth, Venus, Mercury and the Sun/Farewell to go!) before the soup was cooked. It was delicious! Just buttercup pumpkin, with sauteed leek and onion, cooked with some chicken stock and a splash of coconut cream. This afternoon we head to the StarDome for our journey to Earth. Despite feeling so ill I am really looking forward to it.

The Transit of Venus

A couple of nights ago I lurked furtively in the lounge until the magic hour of 10pm when there was a partial lunar eclipse, disturbed only by Chris crashing down the stairs again. It was gorgeous. At 10 the moon was exceptionally bright and surrounded by an orangey haze and puffy cotton wool clouds. By 11 a sinister reddish chunk had been carved from it. I debated waking Kieran but eventually decided there would be many more eclipses in his future so let the boy sleep. Sadly none of my photos was any good :( In other, related, news today is the Transit of Venus. Naturally, this being Auckland, we have a weather prediction of thunderstorms, cloud and rain. Yay. However I found this cool pic of the transit at SheSpeaks. Isn't it cool! If Kieran lives another 100+ years, retaining hawk like vision to the end he will see the next Transit across the Sun. I feel gypped, but will be watching via NASA's live webstream. I have booked us into the Stardome to see the show Chronicles of the journey to the Earth this Sunday. This show takes us from the Oort cloud through the planets until we end up at Earth. One wonders whether we'll see Venus and Mars.... I suspect so. I think both boys will adore this session given their unholy fascination with all things space related! All continue in rude health, sans Chris who is nursing his stair related carpetburn and a cut finger from slicing the bread too enthusiastically (Is it only I who imagines some kind of karate movement with a HIYA then a gush of blood!) and Cameron who has a nasty cold, for which he visited the Dr yesterday. I have submitted my final assignment for one paper and now just need to study for the other...as I have an exam on the 18th. I also need to do conference support work and some minuting sigh. I battled with semester 2 enrolments as Massey offers a choice of 5 papers in total, one of which I have already done. Gee, such choice! As a result I was forced to choose between a poetry paper on "love, loss and looking around (Hell, NO) and Gothic. Guess I am immersing myself in the Gothic experience semester 2 lol. We head off to Mainly music this morning and then a food focus group for Kieran's kindy. By the time this ends at 12:30 and I dash home to get Cameron I shall be able to watch the transit of Venus on the NASA webcast.

Hail to the Queen

It's Queen's Birthday Weekend and things are hopping here at Chez Seal. On friday the munchkins and I rejoiced at the blue, sunny day and headed out to Parrs Park. They had a marvelous time sprinting back and forth across the rubgy fields, cavorting across the equipment display all the gaiety of lambs in springtime (sans the threat of Easter meal slaughtertime of course). I also stopped in at Oratia District School, where Kieran will be going in January. It is gorgeous! Surrunded by apple orchards, it has a pool, it's motto is "find joy in work' - I fell in love lol. Then after we got home for Cameron's snooze we headed out to the library as the boys needed to replenish their supply of space books. Burdened with what seemed half the library we trekked home, pausing to climb upon every wall and balance. Cameron's last tooth is now visible, he can count to ten with a hiccup at 7, and he can walk up and down the stairs all by himself. On saturday Chris made brioche and cinnamon buns and after a rousing hour or so of Kinect adventures Cameron went down for his nap. Once awake, we headed out to go ice skating (Kieran and me) and for a play in Olumpic Park (Cameron and Chris). This proved exciting as I had not been on skates for lo, these many (ahem, 10) years so found myself clinging to the edge while my child clung to me. Sadly I had left my wallet at home so couldn't hire Kieran a balancing frame thing. I felt a real git. Kieran's excitement remained unabated however, and he has decided he would like to try ice skating lessons. So we will save up for those in October. Looks like we will be doing a lot of saving! On Sunday we did a hike to Harold Moody playground. We walked there sans stroller and Cameron was a walking champ! We ran them ragged, walked them up the top field and walked them home as it began to spit. At the library Cameron's wee legs began to fail and he was carried by his loving mother. We reached the wall of balancing and suddenly renewed vigour filled his body lol. Once home he was tucked into bed and I got stuck into my assignments. Monday Cameron staggered downstairs with streaming nose and a temperature. So we had a quiet at home day, me working frantically on my assignment were possible and the boys mooching about all grumpy like. Tomorrow is kindy and Plunket and Wednesday is the Transit of Venus! This one in a lifetime event will see Venus pass across the sun  between 10 and 4pm. Kieran is very excited. In other news it was the Queen's Diamond Jubilee - and I could not find any coverage of it at all. I had to resort to the internet lol. Go the Queen.

Rocketmen!

The boys obsession with space has hit a new high (low?). I was called into the toilet to marvel at my son's faecal output. After agreeing that it was an excellent effort I was gobsmacked to hear that their names were Phobos and Demos (Mars's 2 moons for those not in the know). The space dvd that Dad got for Cameron's birthday is watched on a daily, nay hourly, basis and 2 little boys shriek "Space! Space!" when asked if they want to watch a dvd. Worse, when I put Mr Moon on the tv we experienced the sniffy attitude of a space connoisseur "I don't want (tone of loathing) PINK and PURPLE space! I want BLACK space!"Farewell Mr Moon, Sunny and the gang - it was good while it lasted lol. The humongous pic I drew and placed on the garage door of the planets in our solar system with moons, with said moons drawn and named is there so Chris and I appear to at least have the illusion of knowledge....all too aware that this illusion will fade away with lightning speed as the boys age. My personal knowledge of space has increased exponentially over the last 8 months lol - in fact I can name most of the moons in our solar system. I am now terrified that I will have to come up with a way to dress the boys up as planets for halloween :)
In other news I am working like a maniac on my assignments and exam study starts soon as my exam is on the 18th. I have also been doing some minuting work, and also want to do fun stuff. Ha, fat chance! Zumba is going well. I have put on some 'winter condition' and wish to remove it. Winter is well on the way and Cameron's mink blanket has been replaced with Kieran's single duvet, and Kieran now has a queeen size duvet on his bed. Cameron is teething - Lo, the last of his baby teeth which is very exciting. He can name the sun, earth, mars re the space stuff and knows the other planets. Both boys sing along to the solar system song on youtube daily. Cameron loves to dance and leaps about in front of the wiggles when he gets a chance. He has walked to the library and back with me a time or 2, and to Kieran's kindy as well.... he's a great little walker. I have put his name down to attend Kindy in October. He is so ready to go now. The reluctance to leave after dropping Kieran off is phenominal! So we'll pluck down $40 for 2 morning sessions which I think he'll really really enjoy, especially as Kieran will be there for the rest of the year before going to Oratia Primary. Saving for Ozzie is nonexistant at this time due to a series of financial 'excitements' but looks like it's going to cost a minumum of $1500. Ouch. Today is a rainy day and I think we'll do some baking. It's gonna be ginger crunch, chocolate and coconut crunch and banana cake I think.

Happy 2nd Birthday Cameronbear

I can't believe you're 2!! My happy, loving little boy who loves milk and his blanky, who shrieks "cuddles!" and demands that we play space clips on youtube. My little boy who always has a vehicle in each hand, loves space stickers and dancing and adores his big brother.... I love you so very very much! Yesterday I slept in until 9am and got cracking on cake baking on the like while Chris crept back to bed for another couple of hours sleep. Once awake again we headed to Toyworld for Kieran to choose his present to Cameron, then bought party food stuff. Poor Cameron fell asleep in the car. Once home we baked the cake and then, with the aid of little meerkat like boys who would peer over counters and tabletops to sample the cake we recreated the solar system in cake. It was not as easy as you might suppose! Cake prepped we blew up balloons and popped them in the boys room once they were asleep. This morning I awoke before the boys and started baking cupcakes and sausage rolls. I heard the young beasties awake at 7, and become entranced by the balloons which were carried ceremoniously downstairs. Chris came down at 8 and Cameron opened his presents - Thomas bridges from Kieran and a floor keyboard from us. Then we ran about like maniacs getting ready for MOTAT. The boys had a blast and loved it. The sun was shining - after a worryingly grey start to the day and a good time was had by all. I can't believe my little monkey is 2!!!! We ate party food, galloped around MOTAT and headed home for naps and snuggles, keyboard dancing and trains. It was a great day.

The first day of autumn

Otherwise known as purple cake day dawned windy, sunny, rainy and blustery. The weather has cooled dramatically......not and it is still enjoyable to walk to kindy and back. Kieran turned up at kindy in blue as - oddly-  he owns no purple clothes lol. The weather has been lovely, warm sunny days, leaves just turning golden and orange and the weather perfect for trips to museums and MOTAT...as long as you pack a brolly for unexpected showers :) Both boys have been enjoying stopping off at the library playground for a play, then chasing me across the grass and demanding I spin them around and around :)

St Patrick's day aka a faecal festival

We headed out on St Patricks day for a morning of shopping at Lynn Mall. The boys wore green and we headed out on the train. We spent an hour choocing shoes as the boys each needed a pair. OMG! Most of that time was trying to fimnd a pair suitable for Cameron. Then I found that Kieran was one size away from going into regular boys shoes...which are $30 a pop. However his shoes were half price so I only paid $12 for them. Cameron's cost $14. I then bought McD's happy meals for the boys - big mistake as they were a) very expensive and b) hardly touched/spilled on the floor. I was feeling a bit fraught after the meal experience and extremely happy to head off to the train station. Once in Glen Eden we headed into the library for a rocking horse ride for the boys and then headed home for C's naptime. Once home the boys decided to void their bowels - copiously and often!! I was tempted to just strip them naked and turn them out in the back garden, washing them down with the hose occasionally :P After the excitement C slept off the excitement, K watched a space documentary and I worked on my assignments. Cameron loves his shoes however and runs to the cupboard under the stairs shouting "shoes, shoes!" when we get ready to go out.

Tis April Fool's Day

And this fool is working on 2 assignments.....Yesterday we had Kieran's last swimming lesson for the term, followed by a shopping expedition at Pak n Save. The boys had a blast helping. Afterwards we headed home for naps and then I worked on my assignment before dragging the boys out to the playground. Sadly we have decided to put Kieran's swimming lessons on hold for a term as he was starting to be silly and refusing to listen to the instructor. When we go back we will deliver him into the pool then wait outside until the lesson is nearly finished.

Easter shenanigns

Oh it was a chocolate bonanza here at Chez Seal! The boys went up to bed after lurid tales of the Easter Bunny and came down for the Great Egg Hunt. They had a blast!! We hid eggs everywhere downstairs and a bunny apiece under pirate hats on the table. The boys were so excited as they dashed about hunting out eggs. Alas that a raining morning meant no outside egg hunt. There was a serious chocolate high here at Chez Seal and Cameron learnt to open the fridge, point upwards and sweetly request "bunny! bunny!" Cameron is speaking more and more and has quite the vocabulary at the moment. He is using it at the moment to request chocolate and milk. Yes, Cameron is shaping up to be nearly as bad a milk fiend as his brother!

Calloo Callay, it's Mother's Day!

The day dawned early, Cameron finding 6am was the latest time he could bear before being reunited with his parents. His loving father refilled his bottle and crawled back to bed. I got a lie in, some lovely homemade cards from the boys and an Amazon voucher - followed by breakfast cooked for me by my lovely husband. After breakfast I made cupcakes with the boys eager assistance, then iced and decorated them... again assistance lol. Much munching ensued and we pulled out the train tracks. We do not have enough Thomas wooden train tracking according to Cameron, and K had managed to lose the battery operated train. Colouring books were pulled out and space depicted in pastels. Yes, both boys adore space with an unholy passion. In fact, Cameron;s birthday on Sunday will feature a cake of.....the entire friggin' SOLAR SYSTEM. Yup, the sun, all 8 planets, the flipping asteroid belt, the whole shebang. Wish me luck!

A hunting we will go

Yes today we used the zoo pass we got for Christmas and headed off to Auckland Zoo. We checked out the new Bird experience, spotting keas and kaka's and about a zillion more birds. We got out of there as fast as possible and went to check out the monkeys, and lemurs and meerkats. Just as we spotted the tiger and I raised my camera the poxy beast flung itself upwards into the tree - typical! At least the sea lions were good for much entertainment. Cameron was much taken by the zebra, ostriches, rhino's and springbok too. We had a great time, finishing up at the Australia experience where I watched a father instruct his daughter to stroke an emu. I instructed my son to keep his paws off the wild animals as "that's a pretty big beak. If it pecked you do you think it would hurt?" Narrowed eyes appraising glance at the emu and Kieran tucked his hands behind his back and galloped off to look at the wallabies. We tried to exit the zoo, but some fruitloop was waiting to go into our sopt. Oddly, when a vehicle is behind one's parking space one can't exit. One's husband, who gets stroppy in these situations, pulled the car back in smiled at the man and switched off the engine. After a minute he got the idea and reversed enough that we could get out.

This old man, he turned....

very old indeed! This year Chris's birthday fell on a Good Friday. As Chris had the day off work and it was a gorgeous sunny morning we packed a picnic and headed off to Coyles Park in Pt Chev. They have a little track that goes along a circular track, a zip line, a dragon, swings, slides etc etc etc Suffice it to say that the boys sprinted not walked towards the equipment. I had not been to the park before so was pleasantly surprised. The boys ran and leaped and climbed and swung and repeated it all about a hundred times over. When they began to flag we had a picnic at one of the benches. I was grateful neither boy could read yet as a most unfortunate word was etched into the bench table top. Then we gathered up the boys and headed back for round two. Around 11:30 we gathered up the little squeakers and staggered home for a refreshing nap. Chris settled in to enjoy his presents - Skyrim and the dvd set of Game of Thrones. Happy Birthday Chris!

Singing Siamese

It was an odd day today. Yesterday was stifling, and I cannot say I was really looking forward to Zumba, and lo I sweated mightily. I love Zumba but some days I feel like an electrocuted hare swimming through toffee. Once home I snuck into the bathroom to shower, as the boys room is next door to the bathroom. Bandit decided to provide some atmosphere and warbled a mighty song as I hastily showered, fleeing only as I stormed out of the shower. I then tiptoed into the boy'ss room to check that they're asleep and the friggin Siamese Soprano striked up right behind me as I peer into my baby's sleeping face. Then ensued a fun little game called Chase the Loudmouth Siamese from the Room. The boys didn't wake and the cat survived another night :P In other news the Siamese continues in his usual rude health. His penchant for creeping into the car while I am decanting the boys earned him a night in the car - and a reduced inclination to repeat the action lol.

Beach bonanza

As I was walking home from drooping k off at kindy last week a car pulled up and the driver beckoned mysteriously. I headed over to see what Isabelle had to say. She was off to Cornwallis and invited Cameron and I along. I gazed up at the clear blue sky, the heat haze shimmering along the tar and said.... yes :) Hoofing it home, I prepped a swim bag, changed Cameron, shaved my legs, got my costume on, found my sarong and crocs, and ripped Cameron's carseat out of the dead grey beast in the driveway. C sang a song of happiness the whole way there, thrilling in the feeling ob being in a car, and the "me car! me car!" he was holding. We got to Cornwallis at 10:15 and it was simply fantastic. We dug and splashed and snacked and lolled and dug and splashed some more. At some stage I decided to address C's diffidence to the water by swooshing him through the sea and then spinning him so his toes skimmed the surface. Madison thought this was the bomb. So did C!!! Fights broke out over it lol, and I was pretty knackered by the time the spinning came to an end. Somehow I managed to burn the backs of my knees while doing said skimming and swooshing. Normally I would have sucked it up but it was my wedding anniversary, and my planned outfit got a radical rethink lol. We got home at 1:30, and C enjoyed a 45 minute sleep. The only reason he got 45 minutes and not 20 is because Isabelle kindly drove us past the kindy, where I leapt out with child and stroller and Isabelle swapped carseats around when she got to Esteban's school. It really was a perfect day, bar the sunburn and the lack of sleep for C. He was such a happy boy having a special beach day with his mummy :)

Galumptious Gala

Kieran was so excited by his first swimming lesson of the year. He got all kitted up, got his goggles on, hopped in the car with Chris...and the battery was flat. It had been flat previously and Chris had not finished charging it. I had to call and cancel. He was so, so upset, however he is having a double lesson this saturday to make up for it.

The Glenora Gala was held on sunday. It was held on the field by the library playground so naturally the boys were super keen. We met up with Isabelle and headed off for fun times and bouncy castles. The bonus of being the first people there is that you get really long turns on the bouncy castles - about 3x the normal length lol. If one was to look at the top left of the picture one will see the slide portion of Le Giant Bouncy Castle. As there was much rain children whistling down said slide would hydroplane off the bottom and land several metres past the castle, on the grass. I decided to catch the little mucnhkins. As the bow wave drenched me from chin to calves and a children going roughly the speed on the starship enterprise skedaddling off I pondered the wisdom of this decision. However, I wasn't going to get any wetter so stayed at my post :) Kieran enjoyed a pony ride, a "train" ride, some doughnuts, both bouncy castles and then I couldn't take the rain anymore. We headed off home, happy and damp.

We decided to have some chilling home time at Monday - read I needed to get work done, and begin cleaning the house. Luckily the final assignment got handed in on friday so Summer school is officially over. I am really looking forward to Kieran's session of Kindy on tuesday though. I plan on asking if I can collect him half an hour later than normal as am whisking him off to the Dr to check his cough, and for Cameron to have his ears examined.

10 years of matrimony

So February 9th rolled around and with it our 10th wedding anniversary. I was banned from going to Zumba, Chris insisting on celebrating for some reason. I got dressed up, Sue arrived to babysit, we washed the boys then fled the domicile. We had a lovely walk up to Glen Eden where we visited La Rosa. Yup, italian. It was friggin awesome!! The food was delicious, the company witty, and the walk home at 10pm delightfully cool. It was a wonderful night out. Perhaps we'll celebrate the next one on a cruise ship :)

There and back again.....

My contact course..... what can I say. Instead of the glorious family holiday where we spent hours in a hot car, driving 8 hours off to Palmy I hopped instead onto an aeroplane and whisked off to test my children story writing skills. The course was awesome, and hard, and challenging and incredibly worth. I wrote and wrote and occasionally ate the disugusting food the student cafe served up for really quite unreasonablly high prices. Sadly, the cruisy week I promised Chris vanished. Cameron was ok, little tyke just kept on trucking but K devolved into a sad, weeping little heap who got sent home from kindy on the last day. Lets just say the whole airport heard his scream of MUMMY MUMMY when I arrived. I got to enjoy the luxurious surrounds of the Air NZ lounge as my new BFF let us in. We ate and drank, surfed the net, wrote some stories and had an awesome time waiting for our plane. And best of all was getting off the other side and seeing Chris and the boys...Not so good was having to knuckle down and produce the next assignment in 3 days... especially as I had a TCANZ meeting to minute. That was a disaster too. The train was well late, the car not drivable, I had to be collected from Mt Albert train station and I only got home at 3:30. To say Chris was happy to see me would be an understatement.

Birthdays birthdays everywhere!!

So, it's my birthday again. Not fair how that happens every year. However the blow was lessened by a gloriously warm and sunny day :) Presents were pressed into my not unwilling hands, and kisses dispensed liberally (that would be the boys, I received the usual warm handshake from Chris of course). So I had a lovely cake free day. I would have murdered anyone who brought cake into the house after we had to eat the first birthday cake, then the second. I was caked out!! I did enjoy my delicious dinner of roast lamb - mmmm so yummy!!

Party time is here again!

The week ticked on but one little pirate waited anxiously for Saturday - also known as PARTY DAY! The day dawned rainy, then sunny, then rainy, then sunny..... For Kieran's 4th birthday party.....his pirate party!! K tried on a variety of Pirate costume parts on the day before choosing the ultimate outfit. Snacks were procured, food cooked, and the hordes descended. Man those kids could eat! Finally, the pirate treasure was brought out and the candles lit. Lets just say that the treasure chest cake that Chris and I slaved over for hours the previous night was friggin awesome. Kieran loved having his friends at playcentre, the treasure hunt in the sandpit (in the snazzy treasure chest box I painted that morning) went down well with the kids and we all had a blast. We tidied up at the end and Chris drove Sue and the boys home while I vacummed then locked up. I then had a lovely stroll home on a warm sunny day.

A great birthday party for a great little boy!

Happy 4th Birthday Kieran!!

Kieran's special day really started last night, when Chris and I blew up nearly 30 balloons and scattered them across the bedroom floor. Or maybe it started before that, when I discovered that his bike was the wrong size and had to move heaven and earth to get a replacement. Aaah yes, the bike saga. Basically we headed into KMart to procure a velocipede. I now now that bike buying is best done just before xmas or well afterwards, and not in early January when KMart has zero stock and no display bikes out. We therefore purchased a 50cm bike, paid more to have it assembled and bought a lightning McQueen helmet for Mum and Mike's bday pressie for K. So I call the store on Tuesday to check if they have training wheels. The guy on the phone sounds perplexed and says "we don't offer training wheels for bikes aimed at 10 year olds." This is where I panicked, and begged and pleaded for him to find a 40cm bike. To his credit he managed to find one. Problem: Bike assembly guy is only there on tuesdays - and he has already left. I called Chris and we made the decision to get bike assembled and collect it after I get back from the Massey contact course. So, tuesday night we have no bike. Instead, I blow up 30 balloons and scatter them across the boys floor. I decorate Kieran's place setting and pile up his presents. The next morning we wait, and wait, and wait. Yup, K is having one of his rare sleep ins. Eventually poor Chris has to leave for work. K staggers down half an hour later and enters an orgy of present unwrapping. He loved the helmet, the wooden blocks, the fishing rod, the scribble and learn, and the birthday cards. He was over the moon. He and Cameron were down on the floor making like architects, K still wearing the bike helmet :)

I love you my Kieran. You are a wonderful special loving little boy and I can't believe we've been lucky enough to have you in our lives for 4 years now :)