Sunday 14 February 2016

13.2.2016

Yesterday was a cool day, we did so much from sun up to sun down so Saturday 13th February gets its very own blog post.

1st of all it was Uncle Stanie's 35th Birthday. Wow, mid 30s hits again. Only a few more sleeps till someone else special gets there too!!!!! When I told the girls that it was his birthday and we'd make cupcakes for him, they were sooooo excited to see him for his party. Not far away now I'm sure of it!

2nd, we had our helping hands project.






It was a weeding, mulching, rubbish picking up, water testing morning at Brookwood Reserve down the back of Summerland. I lasted about 10 minutes with the little ones cause I was really paranoid around the big overgrown bushes and waterway. My kids are such wanderers that I could see it was a recipe for disaster, but that gave us a good opportunity to leave the big girls to muck in with everyone and go home to make our cupcakes.










3rd exciting thing for the day was going to pick up this beast/baby....my husband's new girlfriend (he calls her a girl). We've tentatively named her Rocky cause of the business being called Rock FX & Shotcrete. I was pretty excited about finally getting to see her cause I've heard about her since Grandie and Dad first saw her in mid November but this was my first time going out there....sometimes it felt like this day would never come with all the too-ing and fro-ing over a custom built toolbox and water tank, mounted compressor and water blaster.... I can only imagine how excited Joe was when he got the keys and got to drive her away. But I think the overriding excitement went to the kids.....we had to stop about every 10 minutes on the drive home to swap front seat companions and they acted like they were being tortured to have to get back in Mummy's truck and watch the big white one drive away without them!











Tight squeeze is probably an understatement right here....no idea how he's ever going to back her out with the pump on the back


And then last of all we met up with the Leones for a tikitour around the city...a bike ride, bus ride, slushy, swim, play. A great way to finish our full on Saturday



It's the thought that counts right?!?!?! I was so excited to put these in the car so we could have a special birthday treat for Uncle Stanie but by the time they got passed around the hot car from little person to little person, they arrived looking like this!!!



First bus ride for Dalls


I'm surprised we didn't get asked to leave BK with this lot. They're feral when they're together, which really means excited, but they really do go wild


You can't tell in this pic but this was in the underground New World on Queen Street, where Seth stole a packet of chewing gum just after I took this pic. Well he opened it and came through the checkouts trying to hide about 4 pieces in his mouth. Good luck trying to hide that buddy! So we had to go back and find the opened packet and buy it.

And we loved Wynyard Quarter down by the Viaduct. The water feature thing was awesome and no one's gotten a tummy bug so it must be all good...phew! cause they all had their heads under that mysterious water...where's it from?


And this cute little pic was of my big babies lying on Mummy's knee during Stake Conference today. I'd like to say they were like that for the whole 2 hours but it was more like for the last 10 minutes. Thankfully they both had something to share about what they heard from a talk.....Joe and I decided that in our Family Councils on Sunday evenings we all have to share something we've learnt in church that day which I think is a great idea.
Faith learnt that when people are struggling, we can encourage them
Ella learnt that when you feel sick you can ask for a Priesthood blessing (a girl told a story about how she felt sick on the pre-mission camp and got a blessing)
I learnt that when we set goals we have to act and do everything we possibly can and Heavenly Father will help us achieve them
Joe learnt that success is in invitations not in outcomes.

Monday 8 February 2016

End of Jan 2016

New Fav dinner....Kumara Chips. Once a week here. Would be more if they weren't so expensive 
An example of our new healthier lunchboxes....not that we used to have terrible ones, and not that this is the leanest lunchbox you'd ever find, but I'm trying to think of some healthier choices. Ella's fav last week was 2 chicken strips cooked in soy sauce and honey and Faith was 4 Chicken + Vege Dumplings

Staff Team Building at Sachie's Kitchen...everyone was in Heaven...I was pretty much in H- - -. Nah, not that bad, but I don't know if I'll ever eat prawns. But I did learn some cool skills and a couple of new dinner ideas.





Pretty excited about the water day at Kindy I'd say!
A sweet family day at Mairangi Bay, such a laid back day with the big girls and a few super cool families


We found a new playground about 10 minutes away last weekend...been back twice already




YW present for our girl's birthdays this year.....thank goodness for internet shopping from China

Our second trip to Mairangi Bay with the whole fam this time and Leones and Willoughbys. Awesome Auckland Anniversary Day

Practising my new skills at home, prawns 'n all.