Jane visits the zoo!

Jane and Laura had a great day at Auckland Zoo with the rest of the year 0 and 1 classes.

Beach Day

Saturday was a glorious day so we headed off to the beach for a stroll. Ted did a lot of walking/cantering/galloping and his fair share of social sniffing. We humans walked, drew in the sand with sticks, climbed rocks and met a woman from Vietnam. Beautiful day.

Golf day

Last Thursday Charlie, Grace and Rich played golf. After whacking 50 balls on the driving range to warm up, they played a delightful 6 holes before everyone got a little bit tired. Charlie hit some nice seven irons, hybrid drives and a corker of a sand wedge plopper onto the fourth green. Grace was the scorer and cheerleader. She also had a turn on the driving range and practice putting green. It started chilly, but we warmed up and had a great time on a glorious New Zealand winter morn.

Hiking on a sunny day

Saturday was a beautiful clear day, though very chilly. We went for a hike in the Waitakere ranges. We ambitiously chose the second shortest trail, which was 1.5km. This took us almost an hour, with the last 500m being extremely drawn out due to Josephine's 'thirsty legs.'

Charlie is 10!

Charlie had an awesome birthday - a quiet Saturday with basketball and bike riding, then a movie night with six friends. They went to see Toy Story 3 with Rich in charge. Charlie came home on cloud nine, Rich was a a little quieter than usual.

Josie and Laura

With Jane at school now Josie and Laura have a lot of time together. Here we are at the park near Albany library. There are ducks and swings and amazing things made out of old tree stumps.

Party!

More photos from Jane's last day at Kindy

Jane's last day at Kindergarten

Jane had a fantastic last day at Kindy. Turning 5 is a huge deal, because it means it is time to start school. Jane spent the morning creating a beautiful crown and playdough cake with her teacher, Mrs Dowdell. When it was mat time Jane sat in the throne and shared her memories of kindy with her friends and teachers. Everyone sang Happy Birthday, and said goodbye. We feel blessed that she has had such a wonderful time over the past year and a half, and that she has learned so much.

Room 8 Blog Launched!

Grace's class has just launched their blog - please check out it out here.

Silly Billies

The most remarkable thing about this picture is that Jane agreed to wear jeans that day.

Walking home from school

Our first Mandarin!

A little sour, but very beautiful!

Josephine at Kindy

Josephine enjoys dropping Jane off at kindy. Often the drop-off becomes something a little more...

Bake off

The kids have a funny habit of using the word "random." Examples are, "Just some random dog came along and said hello to Ted," or "There was this random boy at school." (This begs the question, are there organised dogs and planned boys out there?) Thus we weren't that surprised at Grace's reply when asked how she wanted to place the flowers and caterpillars atop her school bake off cake. "Just randomly."

Which look do you like the best?

As time passes after a haircut, Ted looks more and more like a muppet. He sings songs and has guest stars talking to him. Even though we appreciate the educational aspects of having a muppet in the house, there comes a time when Laura's dog hair-length threshold is reached. Such a milestone was passed this week. The pictures here show before and after. You'll note the muppet look versus the 1980s new romantic style. Do you prefer Ted as a muppet or Duran Duran lookalike? Send us your comments.

On Friday a bird flew into Gracie's classroom and banged into the wall and fell into the reading corner. Gracie picked it up and looked after it. Miss Kao helped Grace and her friends identify the bird as a house sparrow. Grace put the bird out in the garden, and then checked on it throughout the day. Eventually, the bird had gone. Miss Kao suggested that the girls find out more about house sparrows. Grace spent much of this weekend researching and writing her report.

House Sparrow Report

It was a house sparrow that we saved. sparrows eat seeds. sparrows are very noisy. we saved a girl and we know it is a girl because it has a yellow beak. they tirjp. You can find them at the zoo. They eat bird seeds, corn and sunflower seeds. A sparrow's nest is made of grass, twigs and feathers. their eggs are cream and white with brown speckles. The egg is the size of a 20c coin. they make their nest in trees.
Sparrows eat chickin. Some sparrows dont get scird. their correct name is passer domesticus. It is a chunky little bird, with feathers mostly different shades of brown and grey. Sparrows have pink spicky feet. Sparrows ackcherle have mouths. Sparrows have yellow bogrs. They can grow very big. They have brown and black botums. Sparrows have long tals.

Sunday

It has been a lovely Sunday today. We went to our National Conference at church today and listened to some wonderful and inspiring talks. When we came home we had lunch and took a nap. Bliss! I have had a horrible head and throat for the last few days, and I think all the time in bed has really helped. I feel almost normal again. After I woke at about 3, the house was remarkably quiet. I went to investigate, and here is what I found: Jane was putting jigsaw puzzles together. Josie was pretending to be a duck talking on the phone. Charlie was investigating the lego website. Grace was drawing up a chart which looked like some kind of merit/demerit system. When I asked her to explain she remained mysterious. Back upstairs, Rich was tweeting and Ted enjoying a tummy rub. So that was our day. It is almost time for me to make the customary Sunday night pancakes. This has been a tradition for several years now, to the point where Rich and I find pancakes rather repellant. Still, the kids insist that the tradition must not be broken. I think it's time for some fresh ideas.

Mr Squiggle

Remember the show Mr Squiggle? You have to turn a squiggle on a page into a picture. We were playing it the other night and Rich produced this masterpiece. Thought we should record it here for posterity.

Mothers' day

It was a lovely Mothers' day today. I was treated to brekky in bed, and THEN more sleep! What could be more luxurious than that? I am so thankful for the privilege of being a mother every day, though often the daily grind makes me weary. I remember when I was in hospital nearly 5 years ago and the doctor was talking about kidney cancer, all of a sudden I was mortal. I remember thinking that there was nothing I wanted more than to go home and be there to see my baby smile at me.
Now, when I am so tired at the end of the day and desperate for some quiet time alone, when a little person pats the pillow and asks me to lie down a while, or to tell a true story from when I was little, a voice inside my head whispers, "Remember!" And I lie down or I tell the story because I know that every day is a gift, and this is where I truly want to be.

Kids

Circus Aotearoa

Jane

Gracie's Poem

"Graceful Things" (an exerpt)

Unicorn, unicorn, you are pretty.
You fly gracefully
And you are very secret.
I wish I was as magical as you!

Fairy, fairy, you are very tiny
But you can be kind.
You fly like a butterfly.
And so graceful you are!