Swinging

Josephine's friend from over the road, Cohen, has a lovely swing in his front yard. They spend a lot of time out there.

Sunday lunch

The girls made a lovely lunch for themselves and shared it in the lounge room. Sausage rolls and lemonade.

New Zealand's Tectonic Plates

Here is Charlie's science project. He was asked to build a 3D annotated model showing New Zealand and its tectonic plates. In its creation, Charlie and I learnt a lot about geology, tectonics and playdoh.

Old Hat New Hat

Reading

Rangitoto Island

Charlie and some mates hiked up Rangitoto Island, a dormant volcano in Auckland Harbour. It was a great day.

Personal grooming is important

Sleeping in

Birthday cake

Happy Birthday, Josephine!

Our little girl is 7!!!! She had a lovely day. Aunties Jude and Janny were here to help celebrate. We started the day with pancakes - a gigantic one for Josie. Then she followed clues around the house to find some presents. Clues included "the place where the giants who rule the house sleep" and "where stinky socks find happiness." Cohen from over the road came over to 'help.'

With Grandma and Grandad

A song for the patient

The young men from Charlie's youth group came over to visit Rich and sing him a song. It was truly beautiful.

Heart Surgery

As many of you know, late last year it was decided that it was time for Rich to have a new aortic valve. Rich went in to the hospital three weeks ago and the operation went as planned. This has been a huge deal. We are not a family used to being sick, and it has been a big eye opener for us. I am awed by people who deal with chronic illness or with a family member who is an invalid. Rich is doing very well indeed. We feel sure that his quick recovery has been aided by the many prayers of friends and family. He He has been home for two weeks now, and is each day improving, though some days are better than others. This week he is scheduled to shift from 2 10 minute walks each day to one 20 min walk. He may lift anything lighter than 4kg, do light household chores, knit and play card and board games. He is also cleared to pull weeds and participate in slow ballroom dancing. He tells me he is looking forward to a sedate Canadian three step with great anticipation. We were very blessed to have Gayle and Jeff, and Jude and Janny come over to help out. We couldn't have managed without them. Thank you everyone, for your kindness and care.

Story time

Baaa!

Summer!

We had a beautiful long lazy summer. These pics are from a day at the beach, with extreme low tide so we could walk out and explore the caves around Waiake.

Evenings with the neighbourhood

One of the best things about summer is long evenings out the front with the neighbourhood kids playing piggy in the middle, tag, volleyball and all sorts of other games.

Cubby House

Adam at two and a half

Adam is two and a half now. He loves playing with little tiny toys that belong to the girls (much to their frustration), and also with his jungle puzzle. He is also very partial to two spatulas, one blue and one yellow, which he takes to bed with him. He loves the trampoline and soccer on the grass out the front. He gets great pleasure out of doing things "by myself." He loves vegemite toast and will eat a whole punnet of blueberries if I don't put the brakes on. He is cheeky and loves to tease. Every day when I take him up to bed for his nap, he turns on his fan and then looks at me with a cheeky grin and says "and my light, too?" "No, it's day time!" I say, and he chuckles and climbs in to his cot.

A return to blogging!

If you look in the blog archive to the left, you will see that last year we only managed a measly 8 posts. And further research will reveal that these 8 posts were made on only 2 days. Terrible! (Some might even say lazy, but we try not to use that word.) There were many memorable things we failed to record here in 2013, and my resolution is to return to posting more regularly to share with family and to record for ourselves. Looking forward to keeping in closer touch this year and to seeing your comments.