Toys from the olden days

I might need to do a few part mini series about all the 'stuff' at Grandie's house that has been unearthed lately. Aunty Beezy and Grandie have spent a lot of time trawling through 25+ years of stuff....boy she's a big job!!!!! And it's been fun and crazy to see what was still around up until a week or 2 ago. They had to be pretty ruthless with sorting and chucking and because I went to help and kept just a few things (came back home with a full ute!), now I'm getting a hard time for being a hoarder.

In my defense, the things I kept were totally useful, books/puzzles/games the kids will enjoy using, 72 hour kits that are brand new, dry packing that is still perfectly good, and frames (x30!!!!!!!) that I can use or sell.

Here's the 20-30+ year old toys that came back to my place to have a second life.

A little collection of good ol' McDonald's toys. Ella brings the container with these in it out to me at night because 'they're noisy toys Mum' as if she's so quiet down there and these toys would be far too noisy and wake Seth!

These are from Aaron and/or Matt. BP toys I think. Funny to think my 40 year old brother used to like playing with these little figurines. The girls love them cause Smurfs made a comeback movie a couple of years ago and it's a fave of theirs.

I think there's 12 in this set and they're not that old, maybe 15 years I suppose. I bought the set and they stayed in their packets for years and years. Now they're in the 'olden day' toy box. They're also McD's toys and I'm sure they don't make them this good anymore. The ones these days are silly little plastic things often with lots of pieces (makes me sound old and grumpy but it's true!)

Not sure who these originally belonged to but they've been around for yonks

Gorgeous little  nurse's uniform that Grandma made for Aunty Beezy many many moons ago. Faith turned it from a nurses cape into a sling for a pretend broken arm

Elmo (Aunty Natty), Mrs Bunny (Aunty Nae) and Elaroo (Me). These can't be thrown away!

These games have all seen better days but I think that's cause they've been so well used and enjoyed over the years. I may not be able to keep all of these forever, but I'm going to have a good play of them before they go if that time comes. Especially Glofriends Matching Pairs......love that game!

Pet Store & Bird Barn

Ella's kindy is around the corner from a pet shop. For the longest time the girls would ask to go there when we did the pick up in the afternoons/evenings. And for the longest time I said 'no, it's too cold', 'no we're in a hurry', 'no, maybe next time'. One day I finally said yes, and since then we've been about 10 times.

As much as I'd rather keep saying 'no' for some reason or other, the kids love it and seeing as we'll never ever ever have pets at home, I suppose this is the least I can do for them.

They're getting braver and braver each time we go. The first time they practically held on to my legs in the bird part and now they're quite happy to walk around by themselves (with a few little squeals when they get a bit close for their liking)

This is as close as my children will ever get to pets. Unfortunately their mother is 100% fixed on a 100% no pets policy.

Guinea pigs and Rabbits are stinky. Even they can figure that out without me saying it

Every now and again I have to remind myself to 'do things for the kids' rather than say no just because I don't want to. This is one of those times, and when we do, we're all happier for it :)

TOFW - Girl's Weekend

  

Since Time out for Women in July 2011 I've been excited for it to come around again, and last Saturday it finally did. I still occasionally think back to talks that I heard 2 years ago and I think that's a sign of a good messages and great presenters, and good listening skills on my part!

This year was the same - Talk about inspirational, motivational, thought provoking.....lots of food for thought. The theme of the conference was Think Higher, Believe Higher, Live Higher. That's inspirational just in itself!!!

I couldn't even write notes on what I learned if I tried cause it's all settling in my scatterbrain and new things keep coming to me, but these are a few things that stand out at this moment in time.

1. The greatest endowment is the divine gift of agency. Use it wisely
2. Choose to show up, even if you don't want to or don't know why
3. The Holy Ghost cannot work with us while we sit in the victim seat 'I had no choice'
4. We have a choice to be happy, brave, helpful, generous....
5. Choose to surrender, not because we see the Lord as strong and ourselves as weak but because we trust in him
6. Words are sacred......Say Love!
7. Conversion is not about sprinkling, but full immersion
8. Let go of fear and live in Faith
9. Sometimes we hold something that is special and we don't even realise what it is and what it can do
10. Don't be a timid Mormon
11. Live in such a way that we're able to receive revelation and that can bless ourselves and our families

And I'm loving the bag we were given. I love it even more now that I know it fits perfectly over the handles of the pushchair. Thanks Aunty Beezy for giving me yours. When my first one eventually dies, I'll have another one to keep me going

And of course it was all made better by the fact I got to spend Friday night going late night shopping with Aunty Nae and Aunty Beezy, and bunking down at Dad's house. 

And after TOFW, we went shopping again (don't tell my husband!) and to the Postman's Leg for a scrummy burger. Fantastic weekend and a great finale before Aunty Beezy goes home tomorrow :(

Kiwiyo on Friday night Fun little date night activity/treat

Dinner at the Postman's Leg, formerly known as the Glenfield Tavern. Great food and atmosphere for couples or families.

Already looking forward to TOFW 2015.....seriously!

Quote Boards for around the house

Last year I asked my friend Mary if she would be able to send me some stickers so I could make some quote boards for around the house, lounge, kid's rooms. Mary Pugh is so lovely and obliging that she made me exactly what I wanted and even sent over lots of extra bits and pieces.
Since they arrived I've known where they'd go and what colour they'd be, but I haven't made them because I've never gotten around to buying the wood. When I finally bought the wood I needed, then I didn't have the right saw to cut it into pieces. After about 8 months, I'm happy to say that I've made 4 of the boards. Thanks to our neighbours for lending us their saw (drop saw, circular saw, skill saw, jigsaw...can't remember which it was in the end!) I love having neighbours you can chat over the fence with, share dessert with when you've made too much, share tools with, give your fruit and veges when you're going away and they might go bad when you're gone, but that's a whole different blog post (and maybe a sad one since they put their house on the market today!)

I'm so pleased with how they've turned out. They add a special touch to the kid's rooms especially and I love they have this reminder of what we believe (even though they can't read them yet!) right next to their beds.

Now that the interior of the house has been painted and we have new carpet I feel like we can do some special things around the place to add to the spirit and feel of our our home.....exciting. Just can't go overboard on pinterest.

Faith's kindy holidays

Faith's just started back at Kindy after 2 weeks of holidays. The last ones before she starts school in 6 weeks...Wow!

Here's what she got up to (not in any particular order)

The lil cuzzies got to go out for a special treat with Aunty Beezy, kiwiyo at the mall, and a trip to the $2 shop - score!

We went to the mall one morning and Faith could tell there was going to be a show, there was a stage and posters everywhere. I told her we might try and go back to it at 2pm after Seth's sleep. How could I not??!?!?!?

It was being filmed for What Now on TV so that was even more exciting cause she got to see a guy she's seen on TV before

Typical lunch. 'I'm so hungry Mum'....so I make a sandwich and cut up their fruit and then have a bit and walk away. Annoying!

On the middle Saturday Daddy Joe and I spent the day cleaning, tidying, organising the garage. The girls saw Charlie walk past and heard him say he was going to be toasting marshmallows on a fire later on that night after dinner. We didn't know if that was really the case or not so we said the girls couldn't go over. WW3 erupted when we said no, so we did some fireworks with them instead.

Grandie and Aunty Beezy came to our ward and then back to our place for lunch. So fun!

2 favourite dishes for dinner too - Mac 'n Cheese and Chicken + Rice. YUM!!

Mac came over one afternoon to play. I think the 3 of them spent 90% of the time on the driveway playing, or digging in the garden (or in Ella and Mac's cases, coming inside to tell on eachother!)

Ella and Mac annoying eachother while making towers

 

Playing with Jenga and watching a movie of course

 

 

I ended up taking my 3, Mac and 3 neighbours to Ranui School to play. Was a fun little outing for the Robertson Road crew. The girls were super chuffed cause they always see the other 3 neighbourhood kids playing together and they're not allowed to join in, just cause they're not old enough to cross the road safely without me

Schnitzel, potato bake and veges for dinner. Most of it was eaten which I was pretty pleased with considering how picky these kids sometimes are

A highlight of the holidays would have been the day that we spent down in Hamilton with the Willoughby cuzzies. It was so fun to chill out at their house and then visit Grandma Ormsby.

Their house is brilliant, the layout is so child-friendly and the trampoline in the backyard was a winner. That might be us this Christmas.....wasting away summer days playing on the tramp!

Recently as Dad's been clearing out his house to sell, we've had a lot to sort through, chuck, re-house. As I've browsed through quite a few photos, I've realised we've got so many at the cemetery visiting the boys. And it's cool to see our family grow as another baby/child joins the pictures. That will continue on with our family's now as we visit Mum/Grandma

Daddy Joe and Faith had a good dishwashing session. I took Ella and Seth to the bath and I could hear a lot of commotion going on in the kitchen. It turned out to be productive commotion and all the dishes got done (eventually). Good Daddy/Daughter bonding time. This is why I always get told our home will never have a dishwasher. And if this is how it happens I don't mind that, so long as I don't have the whole stack of dishes to do myself every night which is more often than not the case

We went window shopping one morning and Faith asked for me to put money in this ride. I don't know why she bothers asking because I have NEVER said yes to that question. On this occasion I thought maybe I could since we were having a special little time together, but I decided no, I don't want them to think sometimes I'll say yes. So she had a play on it and it randomly turned on. Her big smile almost popped her cheeks when she squealed out to me that it was going!

Seffy jumped on for the free ride!

When she asked me if she could have morning tea at the mall, I was going to say we'd get a bun at the supermarket, but I decided to give her $2 and let her choose what she wanted.

Lucky we weren't in a hurry because although she knew immediately that she wanted something from the confectionery isle, she took soooo long to choose. I saw her eyes were focusing on the Wrigley's products (surprise surprise) so I had to say no Chewing Gum. Then she wanted Eclipse cause 'they're not chewy Mum'.

The winner was Peanut M & Ms

Faith's pretty sensible and good with her baby brother so she took him to the toys to look around while I checked out the cushions. They both loved it

And we don't go to the mall often, once in a blue moon actually, but when we do, we end up playing here (minus money)

Sorry darling, Mum's too stingy to pay for these games, we just come here to muck around and push buttons!

And last, but not least, Faith loves to make juicy, fruity drinks when she sees that we've got a full fruit bowl. The squeezing & cutting must be more fun than the drinking though cause she usually makes it and then walks away leaving a big mess behind?!?!

So that's all the pics we've got of her holidays. She also watched lots and lots of DVDs, went to Kiwi Valley Farm, did the regular school holidays catch up at Shepherd's Park, went to Terina and Niwa's disco party. It was a fun and busy 2 weeks but she's loving being back at Kindy again. Now to try and get there on time. It starts at 8:45 and we've consistently gotten later and later over the past few months. We arrived today and yesterday at 9:50. Gotta get that sorted before school starts!