Saturday Sports

 
 
 
Wow, did we have an excited Tommy this morning about to play his first game of rugby. We bought some boots for him during the week and since then we have the boots on, off, sprigs off and then on again, running up and down on the grass, cleaning the boots inside on the carpet in the lounge (he won't be doing that again) and even sleeping with them right next to his bed. He played pretty much the whole game today and was so excited when the team won by 6 tries to 5. I need to improve my rugby photo taking skills, I was too busy watching him having fun!

Nick played a great game of hockey too and even scored one of the 9 goals. A very good little team and I just love their uniform colours. Unfortunately Andy and Alistair were working in Hamilton again today so they missed seeing both boys play. They weren't too worried though because Nana came along and helped me cheer them on. Nick reckons Nana is his good luck charm now.

Headlines

I have recently changed my homepage to Stuff and when I logged on this morning I saw this headline "Girl calls for police help over messy room". How funny and what a great way to start my day. I wonder if that would encourage my boys to clean their rooms any more.

Ruth came round for coffee this morning, it was great to catch up and get the low down on what to do in Pukekohe. I have been trying to get the boys all into sports teams and Nick back into his guitar lessons. It is so hard trying to get into teams that are already full, but we have managed with Alistair and Nick who are both playing hockey.

Tommy had decided that he wanted to play rugby this year so we went last week for a weigh in. Tonight I rang the lady and found out what team he is in. Our Wednesdays are about to get very busy! Alistair finishes school at 2pm every Wednesday and we usually pick him up, then back in to get Nick at 3pm. Tommy will be practising at 5pm until 6.30. Nick starts his hockey practice at 7pm until 8.30. I guess we will eat in there somewhere!

Teacher Only Afternoon

 The primary and intermediate teachers had a stop work meeting one afternoon so I figured I would be a good mum and take the boys to the swimming pool so they had something interesting to do. I decided to take my camera with me and see what pics I could get. You can see how peeved Nick was with this idea. Tommy was just too excited to even notice the camera.

Later that afternoon I sat them down for a chat when I had finally had enough of the continual fighting that was going on. They were so grumpy with each other. Fortunately this didn't last too long especially when I pulled out the camera so I could get a pic of what a loving set of brothers they were. Huh, out of 35 pics I didn't get one decent one. Too bad, I will scrap the silly ones then :-)

Bernie & JP's Wedding

 We managed to get Mum and my sister to watch the boys overnight and run away up north for this wedding. So much fun to catch up with all our Lakes friends again after all that had been happening. We let our hair down big time, talked a whole lot, drank a whole lot, danced a whole lot and ate a whole lot. The next morning I was very much wishing that I hadn't imbibed quite so much in one of those things! We left the beautiful Hokianga Harbour and headed back to our house in Whangarei to do the lawns and have a catch up with Ruth. So nice to just be Andy and I with no children fighting in the back seat.

V8 Weekend

 Figured I would make a few posts just showing you what we have been up to since our shift to Pukekohe. The highlight of our first 2weeks was definitely the V8s being here. We trooped along on Friday for a real fun day with the kids and then again on Sunday. I got up all early and Andy dropped me at the track at 6.30 so we could be one of the first in and get a decent posse to view the racing. Got a great spot inside the track along the entry to pit lane. Certainly made for a much more enjoyable day having a really good view and our own little roped off area. Loved the pics of the kids on the fence especially the one of Jade and Georgia talking to each other.

Home Alone

Andy has taken the boys out to the boat show for the morning and left me at home - yay! I know I have been such a bad blogger - lots of reasons all of which are incredibly boring so I won't tell you any of them :-)

We are loving our new house and everyone has settled in really well at their new schools and jobs. Alistair and Nick have both signed up for hockey teams and both played their first games this last week - they both won so that was a good confidence boost for them. We took Tommy along for a weigh in at the local rugby club on Thursday and are just waiting to find out which team he will be in.

 
Aren't these flowers just beautiful, I love those bright orange gerbras! These are the flowers that my bloke gave me on my birthday - he still can't believe he got away so lightly. I don't know what he is on about, saying that I am hard to buy for. Um, I think the list is endless but flowers well that topped the lot. Unfortunately they don't look quite as fresh anymore which is why I figured I would share the pic now so I could see them again :-)

Do you remember the gerbras that used to be around when we were kids? Mum used to plant them and I didn't particularly like them back then. I am sure they weren't as big and meaty as these suckers are though. And the colours weren't as bright as what you can get now either. Maybe they have stuffed them all full of growth hormone or something - oh well, I still love gerbras :-)

Happy Birthday to my little sister who is going through a really hard time at the moment. Be strong girl, you have a huge support network and you will get to the other side with a bit of help from your friends. Hmm that sounds a bit Beatlesish really doesn't it. My mind is jumping from one thing to the next here maybe I need another glass of bubbles to settle things down a bit.

What a good idea.

Later

Happy Birthday

Yay, happy birthday to me :-)

My birthday present to me this moring was to buy the boys' lunches, yay, I hate making school lunches. With Andy being away we were going to postpone my birthday until Saturday, but I have just had a phone call from him and we are going to meet up in Auckland tonight. Yippee birthday wishes do come true :-)

I've been painting

and not even scrapbook painting. Ali's bedroom really needed a going after and it has since we shifted in and I took down the pelmets over the curtains, figured the walls were looking just a bit to shabby with the screw holes still showing. Anyway I moved all the furniture off 2 of the walls, washed them all down, filled the holes and painted 2 coats. As to why I decided to do that today when I am feeling like garbage with a cold anyway I have no idea.

Pantry Finds

 
Looking for a snack this morning I opened the pantry to find this, certainly not what I was expecting to find. Now I am left wondering who left them there and whether it was by accident, or if this is the new hiding place so that his brother's can't use them.

I feel sick

Sky TV sent me a little bag of Jaffas trying to get me to buy something - can't remember what. I have just eaten the whole thing and I don't even like jaffas!

On the move.

Yep, I have been really quiet over the last few weeks. We have had lots going on in our life since buying into this new business. Finally we made the decision that living apart was not what we wanted to do and finding a place to rent in Auckland is what we needed to do. Andy has been busy hunting out likely places and we have found a place - not really Auckland, but Pukekohe! Just heard this afternoon that the place we liked was ours if we wanted it.

We will finish up this term in Whangarei and shift in over the school holidays so the boys can start their new schools at the beginning of a term. Now the real work begins as we get packed and get this place into a state that we feel comfortable renting it out. Unfortunately we will be miles away from the Lakes, but with winter coming on, it will give us a chance to get used to our new surroundings and the Auckland traffic.

Weekends

 
What a great weekend, just perfect weather and so much fun catching up with DH again. The boys loved getting to cuddle up with their dad again. We decided to go and check out the Queen Mary while it was in port. Funnily enough so did the rest of Auckland, man what a nightmare that traffic is!

Sorry a very boring post, will try and make it a bit more interesting tomorrow night :-)

And today

the mulcher man came and chopped up all our large piles of clippings and made them into a huge mess all over the lawn. Lots of clippings for the gardens now. I think I might have to resort to more bribery to get them all raked up and distributed.

Ali has gone, off on his big adventure of his first waterski tournament that is not at his home club, and we aren't with him. Weird feelings really, but he is with Glen who will look out for him anyway. With a bit of luck the fact that we aren't there will mean he will have an even better tournament and ski really well.

We are meeting up with Andy and having the weekend together. I so can't wait to have a cuddle. Have a good weekend all.

Shelter Belts

 
Well I love living behind one, but man when you get them trimmed it is a freaking nightmare. We have a rock wall and garden down one whole length of the drive - about 100m and of course the trimmings are all over both of these. Unfortunatley we have to get the clippings off the garden and onto the grass so the mulching man can come and do his thing. I was outside this afternoon trying to clean up and only managed to get really peeved, hot and sweaty and about 10m cleaned up.

Time for a rethink of plan - bribery and corruption - yep it works a treat, the boys were in big time when the temptation of bucks was dangled in front of them. They worked so hard and with no fights either. Yay, they cooled with a water fight and I lay on the grass and took photos of the piles for the mulching man.

I got a sewing machine

 
Yay, now I can sew on my cardstock! OK, if you aren't a scrapper and are reading this then that will sound really sad. But, if you are a scrapper then you will completely understand why I am excited.

I was in Countdown yesterday and saw these machines for $39 and just couldn't resist. It operates on 4 batteries and weighs in at 2kg, perfect! Now all I gotta do is hide it from DH so he doesn't think I can now take up his jeans!

Scrapping to be done

Yay, I have done some scrapping for the first time since before Christmas. Ruth came round today and we spent a wonderful school day with no kids or interruptions and talked and laughed and caught up on all that has been happening. Ruth did lots of scrapping and completed 4 layouts, while I procrastinated lots and made up lots of excuses such as not having the perfect piece of paper. I had 2 circle journals that were sitting on my desk waiting to be done, and I finally got settled down and stuck into getting these done. Yippee, both completed and packaged up ready to go to the next contributor. One posted today and the second will go tomorrow. I don't think the mailbox would be big enough for both of these at once!

Changes

So many changes going on in our life at the moment and I really don't know where to start. We have bought into a new business, the New Zealand master franchise of Howards Storage World. All very exciting and very scary at the same time. The Head Office is based in Auckland which is making things very interesting for us being in Whangarei. We are not keen to shift back to Auckland so have decided to see how we get on with Andy commuting and spending 3-4nights a week in Auckland.

He spent his first night away last week and left today for his first full week. So far he is hating being away from the family. Obviously the fighting and boyish stuff doesn't get to him as much as it does me! His task this week is try and find an apartment so that at least he can leave his stuff there and not have to live out of a suitcase the whole time. It will also turn into a base for us when we want to head down for a shopping trip.

Learning new routines as a single parent is my big challenge for the next few weeks. So far today, I don't think I am doing very well. I headed to the lake to pull down Alistair's tent which he "forgot" to get down while he was there yesterday and needs to take away this weekend to a waterski tournament. By the time I got back from that and did the groceries for dinner and lunches tomorrow there is no time left and the boys are home already. Hopefully the rest of the week provides a chance to start some new routines.

Home.

Home again thank goodness! I love being away but being back in my own bed has to be the best thing. The last 10days of the school holidays were incredibly busy with our waterski club hosting the National Championships. We had 115 competitors from all round New Zealand and it was our job to feed and entertain them and their support crews for the duration. Lots of fun, lots of new friends to meet, lots of talking and lots of smiling, lots of serving in the bar and for me lots of collecting all the money and collating it all at the end. That bit is still happening!

The boys are back at school and very happy with their teachers and being back in routines. It didn't take the teachers too long to get the homework underway and they each came home with some on the first day back. Man, I hate homework and the stress of getting it done.

Happy Holidays!!

Yeah, it is finally here, school has finished, the boys have just come home from a week at ski school where they learned so much, the presents are all bought and wrapped, the cards sent and we are nearly ready to take off.

Hope you all have a very safe and happy holiday period - catch you all in the New Year.