School holidays and Amelia's 8th Birthday

There are days when the kids have been cooped up too much, with perhaps too much time on their hands and they end up quarreling one with another.  Sometimes it gets too much and I say,

"Thats it! We're going for a walk!"  And even though they are half crying as I put coats/jumpers and shoes on them I figure it will be worth it...and guess what?  It was...

He doesn't look unhappy at all does he?

Or this little monkey who smiled nicely for the camera...yes he just *had*to bring this flag with him.  Thats okay. :)

30 minutes of play keeps the children happy all day!  Well, maybe. 

 They certainly were much better after a good play!  Aaron here is showing his front teeth but guess what??  Mommy accidentally(oops!!!) yanked a shirt off to hard and it loosened his front teeth so bad that I had to pull one out.  Later he asked if I could pull the other because it was bothering him...he is officially front-toothless!  He was very brave and didn't cry much at all and I might add that they were already wiggly to begin with...I just ahem helped them along...oops!

 The other boy here (Keith) has a tooth that looks like it is missing which its not but rather impacted really badly (and no it wasn't my fault this time).  He has an appointment next Friday to make steps to get it out...poor boy he is only 2 and 1/2!

 We had a lovely communion season just a week ago.  Rev Rayner and Mrs Rayner stayed with us as well as Mr Dick Vermuelen (the children love having these people come to visit and stay). Below is a picture I took of the Rayners with Mrs Macpherson.  Mrs Macphersonis a very special lady that moved to Auckland from Gisborne this year and she happens to live in Conifer Grove too.

 Amelia turned 8 on the 24th...can she really be 8 already?!  Mrs Macpherson gave her these gifts which was so sweet and Amelia thought so too!  The shirt A is wearing was a gift from the Rayners.

 Daddy and Mommy bought Amelia a toy ironing board set.

 She was very pleased with this too. :)

 Amelia wanted a bunny cake for her birthday and thankfully it was easy to make!

2014 History Fair

Last year we saw our friends with their history projects and this year we decided to do a joint project for both A&A.  We've been doing Astronomy in Science so it was easy incorporating a historical figure like Neil Armstrong for the fair!

Here is A&A with Bryce (who wanted to be in the pic too lol) with their board in the back.

And here is the board....

And Keith...who likes "Eee-ah-nots" (astronauts) and lift-offs!

This was a corner of the hall that Keith and Owen played in, thankfully someone brought toys (cars) which kept my boys busy for a good long while!  Apologies about the quality of the camera, I'm not sure what it is doing. :(

Another view of the hall with people and more projects about.

Here A&A are being judged... :)

Prize giving time!

And they got 2nd place!!  I was not expecting prizes for my children, I ust told them they would be getting a chocolate bar at the end (they give them to all the kids participating) so thi was pretty nice and special! :).

We really enjoyed learning about Neil Armstrong in the last couple of months!

Owen turns 5!

We again celebrated Owen's birthday when Jett got home.  Owen turned 5 this year and I attempted to make a special "Car" cake!

 He liked it, and he did a very good job of blowing out most of the candles this year...which is an improvement from last year.  He also started to sing for himself but we had to stop in the middle as he didn't like it anymore...we were okay with that. :)

 Here we are getting Owen's b-day present out of the plastic packaging...

 And here it is all laid out for him!

 

Here is Amelia waving her American flag.  So nice having Daddy home again!

 

The Zoo

Yes, I'm overdue with this post.  But hey I'm a busy Mama!

I'm a full time mess-cleaner-upper, referee, playmate, therapist, cook, baker and sandwich maker, school teacher, taxi driver, doctor and nurse, book reader, singer, piano player and piano teacher, and....well everything else in between!  So if I don't post every month I have every good reason.  This blog was never meant as something I had to do every week maybe when I had one or two children...but no longer.  :)

So, back to the Zoo pictures...

Auckland Zoo of course, will specialize in Down Under versus another country...only natural. So NO snakes whatsoever which is fine by me.

Here is the very up close Emu!

 And his or her friends...

 Before my American's start saying "it's a kangaroo"...it actually isn't!  It is a wallaby. Which looks like a smaller version of a kangaroo.

 The giraffe we got to feed. Amelia said his tongue tickled her.

 Giraffes!

 Flamingoes

 Asian Elephant

 Our very cheeky and very Kiwi mountain bird the Kea!!  This bird was hilarious to watch.

And probably my new favourite animal...the Red Panda too cute!

 Me and Keith

 The gigantic Galapagos Tortoise

 The spider monkeys and Keithie loved!

 Keithie...he kept calling out monkey in his little two-year-old voice.

 Trying to watch the monkeys.

And now I must referee again... :) Bye for now!

Jett's Holidays

Jett had almost two weeks off (or maybe it is two...I'm not sure how you figure that out when it is a minister) so we've been getting out and enjoying the lovely weather!  If this is Autumn...wow! 

We've been to several beaches in the past 3 weeks!  Beaches are just so common you see, no really they are!  The following photos are first from Kawakawa Bay...

 My silly Keith!

 He has a good appetite and likes condiments very much (except mustard).

 Yes, I wear that hat almost every single time I'm out walking. The sun is very powerful here!

 My two older sillies.  :)

I have more pictures when we were at the zoo and such but those will have to wait until another time.  Here we are at another beach on the dangerous west coast.  Muriwai Beach.  Beautiful!

It is impossible keeping children out of the sand.  This is not the usual light coloured sand.  No, this is what Kiwi's call black sand.  Stickier stuff! :) 

 We would be looking towards Australia here, over the Tasman sea.  The tide was coming in at this point.

Our current news: We have my cousin currently living with us (he is also working here).  We are nearing the end of the first school term - two more weeks to go.  Kids are enjoying swimming lessons (A&A).  I'm still teaching piano, and may be adding another student we'll see.  Hmm, that's really it I guess! :) No news is good news they say!  Hopefully I'll update again soon with more pictures. Until then! :)