Wednesday 28 February 2018

John and Ngaraka Moore Reunion in Rotorua - Waitangi Weekend 2017

So I completely never downloaded these pics from last year of our trip down to a family reunion in Rotorua. It was so nice to see them again cause we had such a lovely family time. Definitely worth the effort of packing up and driving down about a week after our Goldie adventures.









Ngaraka Moore's pounamu pendant....Dallin's great, great, great, great grandmother



Joe's flat from 2004-ish

Our family marae just out of Rotorua....Tapuaeharuru













A marae a few kilometres down the road that I first met my husband at...while I had another boyfriend. I think that was in about 2003





The bridge on the road into Whakarewarewa village that Mum always used to tell us about....where kids ask tourists to throw in money. That must have been 60 years ago, and they still do it exactly the same today!






People actually live in the village in these little houses. I feel like you'd like a walk around B, cause it reminds me of olden day stuff and I feel like you love historical things. We didn't go in though cause you've got to pay!


Heading out of Rotorua on our way to Taranaki on an absolutely stunner of a summer's day




Our first view of Mt Taranaki (Egmont)


Wednesday 14 February 2018

A new chapter....

Stay at home Mum life. I love it and I have a feeling Dalls does too!

Cleaning the skirting and windowsills


Every Friday afternoon at our place. Dinner, shower, movies in the lounge....does it get any better? I think not

The first time Dallsy and I went to our new gym class/kids party. I do the 1 hour workout session while she goes to a playgroup next door (that she thinks is a party)




One of Joe's random purchases. I honestly worry when this guy goes to the shops. I happened to call him to ask where he was and he confessed that he'd found a drift bike....when he was supposed to be buying aqua shoes for Faith's camp. It's only $50 down from $150 cause it's just missing one screw. I said it's a waste of $50 cause we don't need it but of course he bought it. The kids love it so that's cool...but I still maintain we don't/didn't need it.

What the kids come home to every day now that I have more time on my hands. I promised myself that I'd do better with their learning at home seeing as I wouldn't be so rushed doing everything else. So far, so good

A little book that all of the kids in Seth's class had to make





As well as coming home to their homework books on the table, their dinner is ready to eat as soon as they get in the door too. Now we don't do crackers, biscuits, fruit, sandwiches after school and then feel too full to have dinner. half an hour later 

The first scoot to school for Seth and Faith without Mum...well I crossed them over the busy road and train tracks and then they went off from there

Joe said I had to take a pic of the speedo when he looked down and saw this...I kinda appreciated it too

A quickie lunch date last week when Joe got rained off work

At the end of the kids fit bootcamp that we started at my new gym. The kids really enjoyed it...and it's free twice a week!



This is where Dalls likes to sleep B....kids like baby beds. She's got a proper bed (bunk) right there but for some reason she really likes to pull out her old cot mattress

Mummy and Dally at a YW dance last week. I got comfy on a chair while she danced her little backside off. She even went up to a teenage boy and asked him to dance....seriously!






Pooped by the time we got home at midnight. Guess she did do it just over 10 years before she's officially eligible to go

This little tutu girl found my family home evening box and LOVED sorting, organising, fluffing around for a good hour with all of the pieces

Oversized remote anyone? I thought it was a joke, but no, some people must actually need theses (thumb there for size reference)




We LOVE these Elders (Elder Isaacs Inn and Elder Kunz). I must admit we haven't had a relationship with the missionaries for a long time. Honestly our kids are so feral when people come over, particularly the elders, so I kind of tried to avoid it. But now that we've got these guys, it's really fun. I think I feel that way because they remind me of Matt and Mac, and they totally reassure us that they love coming and spending time in our home. We'll all be bummed when they move on.


I feel like this girl is the queen of comfy jammies (or Mummy's t-shirts). Most times we come home it's about 2 minutes before she walks out of her room and announces 'Mum, I'm in my jammies'. And sometimes I feel bad when I have to tell her we're going out again in 20 minutes to get the kids or do something else.....like it's 10:30am in the morning

This year Seffy's got the hang of school and he loves telling me what he's done. This was a super exciting activity he did earlier in the week when they were learning about balancing. It's so much harder than it looks....for a tall adult like myself at least. Thank goodness for Seesaw. I pretty much see a photo of each of the kids every day, or every other day at least

Faithy and Joe are on School camp at Kawau Island right now, with another 2 nights to go. Was cool to see them both on the school facebook page yesterday. Apparently she's having a blast, giving everything a go, including the optional morning runs. And I got a text yesterday from the principal saying she's the best out of all of the kids (120) at archery. She got 4 bullseyes and she's never even done it before!

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A little visual aid for a youth activity last night

Just found this sneaky photo Dally must have taken while I was doing my class this morning
It still feels weird that I'm a stay at home Mum now. It's great, but still weird. The days go so fast and I feel like I'm still kind of finding my groove with the new normal. I did my first day at work yesterday for the māori academy which went really well. I suppose next week when Joe's back at work and all the kids are back at school for a full 5 days I'll really see what our weeks will be like.....fantastic I'm sure