Sophie: ‘I’m 4 today aren’t I Mummy?’ Mummy: ‘Erm, yes dear.’ (Thinking, actually in another two hour’s time at 8.30am you will be!) Sophie: ‘I don’t feel any bigger. Should I feel different?’ Mummy: ‘Well you’ve grown a lot in a year.’ Sophie: ‘Will there be presents under the tree?’ Mummy: ‘No, not today, but […]
Special Days
Christmas Day 2009
After not going to bed till past midnight on Christmas Eve, we weren’t prepared for a 5.30am wake up call! We’ve never been woken quite so early on Christmas morning, but the girls had gone to sleep very early the night before, hoping the night would pass quicker! We’d packed their stockings with enough goodies […]
Christmas Eve 2009
It’s here! The children have been asleep for hours and went without wanting stories and much earlier than normal (Charli even tidied her room!). They have been incredibly excited and there is so much magic in the air. We have (I have) spent most of the day making a ginger-bread house… The girls started off […]
Sophie’s 4th Birthday Party – Fun at the stables
Sunday morning we woke to overcast weather and the threat of rain in the distant hills, but thankfully it held off for Sophie’s 4th Birthday Party in the afternoon. She turns four on Boxing Day, but we decided to throw the party a little earlier this year and it was a lovely, relaxed celebration. Our […]
Wellington Santa & Victory Parade!
The rain held off, the wind was strong, but thousands braved it to celebrate the All White’s victory and see the amazing floats, bands and, of course, Father Christmas. We found quite a sheltered spot on Lambton Quay, tucked back from any ‘wind tunnels’. We got there early, so we’d have a spot at the […]
Guy Fawkes Night 2009
As usual Wellington put on a spectacular firework display and evening of entertainment. We didn’t stay in town to watch the big bangs (but could hear them booming around the distant hills from our home). Earlier in the evening we enjoyed the fun of the fair on the waterfront, before returning home at dusk for […]
Happy Beltane to the Southern Hemisphere…
or Samhain, popularly known as ‘Halloween’, to all those in the Northern Hemisphere. Unfortunately, the majority of folk in New Zealand seem to lose sight of what season we’re in on 31 October every year and follow the Halloween celebrations. However, up in Northland ‘The First Church of Ancient Crafts‘ has the right idea with […]
Peacocks and ducklings at Staglands
On Saturday we made the most of the sunshine and drove to Staglands for a family day out (thanks to Charli for winning a family pass at the Kindi Fair!). There were baby ducklings everywhere and it was as though Charli had never seen one before. She was absolutely besotted with them. I thought of […]
Star Wars Extravaganza!
Six year old Birthday parties at home are not for the faint hearted. We had 12 children to entertain (including our own) and with only two parents staying (the rest wisely making a ‘drop and run’) we had our hands full! Preparations started a couple of days before, with decorations to put up, loot bags […]
Celebrating
This weekend we have Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to thank for an extra day to our weekend. Though her actual Birthday is on 21 April, it has long been customary to celebrate the Sovereign’s birthday on a day during the summer (unfortunately winter in New Zealand). Since 1805, the Sovereign’s ‘official’ birthday has been […]
Easter Weekend: Sunshine and Stars
Autumnal sunshine has bathed our Easter weekend in shades of Spring. Only the silver-birch tree, with its leaves turning to shades of yellow, hints at the reality. The nights draw in. The blanket of stars, and recent full moon, have brought great wonder and excitement to our two little darlings who have, until a month […]
Birthday Boy!
Last Thursday was Dan’s Birthday and having been out the Saturday before for some dance action, it was more about the simple delights of celebrating for the love of it! The girls are of an age when Birthdays equate to party, cake, candles and balloons. Needless to say; they were excited. Charli didn’t really want […]
Driving into the sunset
New Year’s Eve itself was a quiet one for us, but we did enjoy a little countdown and fireworks with the girls. Our dear neighbour was home alone, so we joined her (or at least I did for a few chick flicks – Sound of Music and Runaway Bride!). Dan joined us at midnight and […]
Happy Birthday Sophie!
Our dear Sophie turned 3 on Boxing Day and her first words on waking were, ‘I’m three, I’m three, I’m really three!’. It seems only yesterday when she made her joyous arrival and she’s been our happy ray of sunshine ever since. Ever the charmer, the peace maker and the joker. She only stops talking […]