Oct 2013 General Conference

This time round we stayed at home and watched General Conference through the TV (My clever husband made the executive decision the night before to buy apple TV which I was totally happy with). It meant the girls could see and hear what we were watching and be part of it, but they were still able to move around and 'play'. We both got so much more out of it in this way, rather than being at the chapel trying to quieten children and keep an eye on them.

 They played with church books, read friend magazines and mucked around with our Book of Mormon characters. 2 hours flew by pretty fast and before we knew it we were off to the Bradfield's for Matt's 21st Birthday BBQ.......so so so fun to catch up some cool friends from our old ward.

Faith found this in the Friend she was looking at.....a family in our old Stake.....such a cool article about how Russell is a good missionary to his friends. Will use it for a FHE lesson soon I think.

The girls were in heaven.....heaps of things to play with, big kids to look after them and a trampoline. I was in heaven catching up with everyone and eating all the yummy food!

And now we've got lots of conference talks to catch up on so we'll do that when the kids go to bed and hopefully have it all done in the next week or 2. I find it cool, and kind of funny that as a child General Conference is one of the most boring things EVER but as an adult, it actually becomes enjoyable to watch and learn. Aunty Nae was saying that they did the thing where you have a lolly jar and the kids get a lolly every time they hear a certain word during a talk. I think the girls are old enough to do that now so we'll definitely do that next time. I think words like Christ, faith, gospel would come up often enough to keep their attention.....anything for a lolly!!!!

Heke kids....aka.....

My kids have had lots of nicknames in their short lives......They're 'also known as'

Faith -  Faithy K K
            Pod
            Firi Firi
            Puddy Parm Parm
            Pananampalataia
            Fa'atuatua
            Missy Moosie
            Sasuki
            Miskoki

Ella -  Ella Bella Butt Butt
          Billy Bob or Billy or Bob
          Paloogie
          Baruguay
          Paroogoo
          Bobby Butts
          Ella D

Seth -  Seffy Ma Leffy
           Sunny Man
           Leff Leff
           Sundy
           Little Baby Man
           Lilly
           Bunny Bundy

           

Maybe if I do this list again in 5 years time some names will be the same, and I'm sure there'll be a whole lot of new ones at the rate we're going!

Holiday Playdates

Over the 2 week school holidays we were popular enough to have 6 playdates with 6 different groups of friends!!!! I'm sure some people have enough friends to do that day after day, but 6 was cool for us.

Our first one was with some Sherwood friends in Dairy Flat....no pics :(

2 days later we were off  to Val's place for a Mums group playdate...also no pics :(

Then the very next day we met up with Hayley and Naomi at Normanton Park in Glenfield with their little ones.

4th up we met at Lincoln Road McDonalds to see 3 of Faith's old Kindy friends.

 

 

Of course we did the regular school holiday play at Shepherd's Park in BeachHaven with the Leones, Halls, Bennetts and Murrays.

 

And last but certainly not least, we got to see Aunty Jill, Steph and the kiddies who were up in Auckland/Hamilton briefly for temple week. Sooo cool to see them and especially meet Timmy for the first time! It was Seth's first time at Chipmunks and he was a real trooper, pretty much entertaining himself all over the place for over 2 hours.

 

Faith had a sleepover at Aunty Nae's last night, and tonight we've got Mac. He was so cute helping me put Seth in bed a little earlier. He helped me sing his goodnight song and really wanted to sleep in the cot with him!

As I finish this post, these 3 critters are drawing pictures for me at the table (with a whole lot of silly talk and giggling going on)......They're all fed, bathed and we're going to watch a movie when they get tired of drawing. Hopefully that'll lead nicely into an easy, quick and quiet bedtime......it's so cool to watch the cuzzies have heaps of fun together!

Gosh I'm thankful for good friends, and I mean that for my chidlren and myself. We're blessed with a few special ones and I love it!

Hair Updates for Mummy and Ella

Sunday morning as we got ready for church we were faced with an interesting problem. Ella had a huge knot in her hair!

I tried to save it, but after much brushing, conditioner, and effort on my part, we had to do a few snips to remedy the situation.

Lesson learnt...my girls need their hair brushed and conditioned daily to prevent this from happening again. I'm actually surprised this hasn't happened before with the state that my girl's hair sometimes ends up in!!!!!

Her hair still looks fairly normal for her, but I know that one side's a bit thin on hair compared to the other....oops. Not that she's bothered at all.

And excuse the unphotogenic shot, but I got my hair cut and coloured last week by my talented hubby. I love it for a change....definitely lighter and quicker to maintain. I'll have to take a better shot with a different colour top so it stands out more.

Saturday with NO fixed plans....the best!!!!

On Friday last week I realised that the following day, Saturday, we had no plans....nothing. Nowhere to be, nothing to do, no timeframes, no schedules. We were free to potter around and do our own things all day.

As much as I love playdates, parties, baptisms, temple trips etc, it was so so so good to chill out at home with my hubby and kiddies.

I slept in (surprise surprise) and the kids messed up a storm in the lounge while watching a DVD with their Dad. Once I got up we got to work outside on prepping the garden for planting in the next week or two, and getting the bbq back in working order. A little trip out to Daddy Joe worksite in Titirangi finished off the afternoon and then back home for a Barbie.

Such a productive and easy going day, would love to have days like that more often.

Ella was fascinated by the big slugs, snails. slaters, skinks, worms that we unearthed.

Yes, that's Seth in jammies again, probably at about 2 in the afternoon!

Good ol' Kiwi Sausie sizzle for dinner. Not sure about the nutrition, but it was pretty yummy

By the end of the day Ella was in a real state.....the face had tomato sauce smeared all over it, and she was wearing my bra, togs from friends of ours, a skirt of Faith's and Seth's jacket. No wonder we had such a saga with her hair the following morning. Will save that for another post!

To finish off the day Faith broke our chalk table by dancing on it.....

And then Ella smashed a plate on the deck....actually she'd already smashed two glass vases on the driveway much earlier in the day (luckily they were being put out in the recycling bin anyways....not that she knew that when she threw them 'to see what would happen!')

Oh, and we got sent this magazine with an article of Daddy Joe.....an 'everyday hero'