a little misunderstanding...

S8 woke up this morning and vomited *six times*
eeeeeeeewwwww
so we dashed to the movie store for chicken little and then to pick up some juice for him.
we're onto the second viewing of chicken, and there's a scene where his dad is looking at a family photo: mom, dad, and CL. but mom is not in the movie.. she has died.

so i asked the kiddos, "How did his mum die?"
and J10 replied, "I dunno, maybe bird flu..."

kate's tuesday soup

In pressure cooker place
2 bacon hocks
onion, sliced
leek (green end only, sliced)
2 carrots, grated
packet lentils (500g)
half a pumpkin, diced roughly
boiling water to the bottom of the studs

Screw on lid. Bring to boil, when it squeals, turn down heat, cook for 20 mins.
Leave in pot to cool for few hours while you take the kiddos to the library, drama, food shopping, the park, drop the middle two boys at kids club, drop kids’ friend off home on way to take eldest son to work, only to find out that it was cancelled and now ya have to phone hubby to go back to get him because you need to stay home with youngest son who is rapidly reaching the end of his day and needs some lovin, and a bath….

While youngest son is in the bath, and daughter is hovering, waiting to gnaw on bones... pull out hocks and remove meat from bones, chop meat and return to the pot. Stir vigorously to separate lentils. Add extra water and season with salt and cracked pepper.. bring back to heat gently, stirring, be careful not to let it catch.
Dip hunks of crusty baguette into soup and feel your shoulders relax and your tummy get very happy !!! Oh what the heck.. have TWO bowls of soup and then promise you will do the cindy crawford exercise video later on tonight.....

SHORN !!!

yep, it's the new-and-improved-aerodynamically-designed haircuts.

Q: What's the difference between a bad haircut and a good haircut?
A: Two weeks

MUM !!! I'VE MADE MY FIRST PYRAMID !!!!!

M4 must have a logical-thinking-maths-brain like J10:

at any rate, he is conquering the LONPOS

"I'm following the instructions."

"HOORAY!!! I've just made my first pyramid

ALL BY MYSELF!!!"

the fabulous fleur

babe. i love this photo of you. looks like you had a wonderful time last week. i miss you!!! and i'm so thankful our paths crossed 24 1/2 years ago. do you still have all those notes we passed to each other during fourth form maths class??
love and fond memories of coffee at all hours of the day and night at the hardware cafe.

WARNING: shocking images ahead..

just LOOK...

the kids are

"DOING SKOOL WORK"!!!

(a.k.a. Writing Stuff Down In Books)

Just for the record...

S8 this morning, "Mum, can I take a photo??"
It must be quite an event.
She cooks dinner, she bakes a chocolate cake, she cleans, she does the washing, she even IRONS...

daffy duck

our looney tunes daddy

has fixed the scooter,

and now it goes..

*th-uffering th-uccotash*,

it g-o-e-s !!!!!!!

It's no wonder Daffy Duck has a split personality. In his early years, Daffy was manic, explosive, and unpredictable, engaging in adventures that seemed outlandish even to him. As his personality gained depth at the hands of Warner Bros. cartoons' directors, the little black duck became more self-analytical, competitive...

POP QUIZ

*guffaw*

D16 and I went on our *date* yesterday, into town, and we had sushi (i'll pick yours and you pick mine and ya HAVE to eat it lol).. and then he asked for a raspberry coke... a WHAT?? didn't you know you CAN'T put nuts in chocolate (because nuts are *savoury* and chocolate is *sweet*), you CAN'T bring your wife pretzels when she asks for a crunchie bar.. and you CAN'T put raspberry flavouring in the coke!!!

JUST KEEP IT PURE'N'SIMPLE, i say..

so it wasn't surprising to see my result from:

what kind of soda are you?

Go on, click the link...

You Are Coke

A true original and classic,

you represent the best

of everything you can offer.

Just the right amount of sweet,

just the right amount of energy...

you're the life of the party.

Your best soda match: Mountain Dew

Stay away from: Dr Pepper

still, I couldn't prevent myself from begging a *taste* of the raspberry coke.. but D16 was happy he got to finish the rest of the bottle *eeeeeeeeeeeeeewww!!!*

Blue skies, smilin' at me...

Nothin' but blue skies do I see

we managed to persuade S8's beloved Teddy to have a wee swim in the washing machine this morning, the problem being that ".. it takes at LEAST two weeks for her to *get her smell back*.."

mamma and bubba at the beach..

blowing the cobwebs away...

Yeah, the nutters went to the beach today, in the wind and rain. But the weather didn't matter, we had our usual B-L-A-S-T !!! R12 and S8 went for a *swim* in the surf !! and the rest of the kiddos dug holes in the sand and built sandcastles and ran around madly, getting sand and salt in their hair.. and faces.. and chippies...

J10 and mum had a snuggly moment wrapped in a blanket, and J10 read his book... he's up to a chapter called:

SK8R BOY

S8.. stunt boy in the carpark at the beach..

approaching the jump..

houston, we have lift off !!!!!!!

WOOO HOOOOO !!!

oh yeah !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the makeover

R12 and her friend Steph (who's hanging at our place today cos her school has a Teacher Only Day) have set up a facial and manicure salon in R12's room....
you girlz look gorgeous!!!

the THOMAS game

Logley and M4 love playing THE THOMAS GAME

"Is it my turn?"

"YAY!!" Logan is tinny at winning card games, just like his mum..

chortling with the chinchillas

R12 and her cool friend Ems are having a fun moment with the chinchillas, dressing fluffy wee Timon in a porcelain doll's hat!!

ten pin bowling

S8 scored 105 in today's ten pin bowling..
just look at that style!!!

THE READING BOY...

life is *so exciting* !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
M4 is learning to *read* !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

here he is, completely absorbed in a book this morning:
Jillian Cutting's THE AEROPLANE !!!!!!!!

I go up.
I go down.
I fly, all around.
I go here.
I go there.
I go, go, go...
everywhere.

my two fave developmental phases in my kids' lives are LEARNING TO TALK and LEARNING TO READ.. the world suddenly opens up and their lights go on :o)

cheat !!!

i don't know what it is about this game that's so appealing:

maybe it's the joy of foolin' yer sister..

maybe it's the fabulous squabbles we always get into..
i used to play this card game with my bro and cuzzies

when i was a girl..

and now my *kids* are playing it!!
it's like last card, but you place the cards down

so you can only see the *back*,

and you say what they are ..

"king of spades, king of diamonds, changing to diamonds.."

and then you see if you get caught out...

but watch out!! they may actually be the cards you say...

or they may be in another player's hand...
...CHEAT!!!

Mum.. close your eyes and come with me..

S8 has made my bed for me as a surprise.. thanks buddy.. now let's tackle YOUR room (*kate takes deep breath and prepares to excavate carpet buried beneath mountain of boy-stuff*) !!

stripey sox !!!!!!!!!!!

this morning, R12 has nicked off with my stripey rainbow toe sox.
the weather man says it's gonna rain until the end of the weekend...
but *we* say...
rain rain go away come again another day

our wonderful wednesday at wairua..

Laura, Hannah and Jessica are making meteors.. sticking leaves and sparkles onto star shapes.


Two of the kindergarten angels, Logan and M4, are upstairs making playdough. Everyone's having a turn at pouring and stirring..


Keenan and J10 are painting the (chicken wire and papier mache) dragon's head for our St Michael and the Dragon festival next week!!


Deb is patiently showing us how to make flax stars..


..the finished flax stars, resting on a rainbow of autumn leaves.

J10 ceremoniously snuffing out the candle after our "ploughman's lunch"..

.. down at the Twealm Realm we dipped our autumn leaves in red red wax... mmmmm.. and made a billy full of blackberry leaf tea (in the rain!!)

.. and came back to the house for some devonshire scones, which tasted fabulous with Huia's crab apple jelly and whipped cream!!! we sweetened the tea with little spoonfuls of Auntie Mim's honey.

two sleeping boyz.. Jack was rocked to sleep by his mamma Nicky..

..and M4 is not feeling so well today.. he put himself to bed on the couch amidst all the goings-on!!

HAIRY MACLARY from Donaldson's dairy

Our kids have all loved these fabulous books, since D16 was tiny and Granny and GD started buying them for birthdays.
now M4 is *watching* the stories on video, from the library..

(we've just been to the local library today, it was too wet to go to the park lol)
I love library visits, everyone is always so happy for the subsequent days... and it gets very quiet as books are lovingly digested and shared..

star quilt beginnings

J10 has started making his STAR QUILT !!!
It's blue, red and yellow, and will fit on his bed. He's doing all the blanket stitch around the seven stars, and I'll machine sew it together. I'm making a pillowcase to match it.
It's looking fabulous already, and will be a wonderful winter memory...

sunday "sleep-ins"

Oh how I love all snuggling up together in the weekends..
chatting about life, the universe and everything..
giggling...
of course, it always seems to turn into a BOY-RUMBLE, and mamma gets chased out of the haven!!!



there were FIVE in the bed and the little one said, "Roll over... roll over... so they all rolled over and one fell out...

(the teenage sleepyheads tend to stay snoring in their boudoirs...)

the LONPOS

Daddy has brought home this very cool LONPOS puzzle. It's a brain teaser, and J10 loves it (his electronic SUDOKU puzzle has been put on the shelf.. temporarily)

Lonpos is a pyramid puzzle which consists of 12 building pieces in various shapes that can create more than 20,000 different combinations. The player starts off with a layout (problem) of few pieces in pre-arranged positions. The goal in each problem is to complete 2D or 3D pyramids by putting the rest of puzzles back to board.

is it a bird..? is it a plane..? no, it's....

after the bath, the thing to do is to streak around the house in your boxer shorts, with your sister's (ancient) Princess Leia cape.. being..



Captain Undie-Man !!!!!

he even flies...

angels at the beach

we walked around our fave mountain this arvo...
here are four lil' angels: Farrah, Myre, M4 and J10.
we got our traditional ice-creams on the way home..
M4 announced, "This is making me melt with love."

Papa will come home.. soon.. it won't be long 'til your hearts will be satisfied!

S8 woke up this morning saying, "I'm so happy... cos Daddy's coming home today!!"
Me too.. it's gonna be a blessed reunion of souls.
The kids wanna celebrate with a movie and popcorn (no surprises there!)
Oh how we have really missed you this whole week.
"You have bewitched me body and soul, and I love, I love, I LOVE YOU!!"

bien fait

D16's french teacher phoned home tonight to say that she's really excited about his progress in french this year. He just scored EXCELLENCE in the french oral exam!!!! and she'll be gutted if he doesn't want to study french again next year...
WOW.. it makes all those headaches from trying to parle francais avec toi so worthwhile!!!!!

You so totally rock, squirt!!!

kiwifruit pig out

gold kiwifruit are in season here @ 99c/kg and so the kids have been devouring mountains of them.. they are so good!!!!!!!!
four of the fab's have snuck into the kitchen, and are chowing down just before dinner..

wisdom from the wizard of oz

i found this little gem while out blogsurfing

(well, there's nothing on the telly!!) tonight.

i love it.
Each of us is the Scarecrow,

with more brains than we know.

Each of us is the Tin Man,

with all the heart in the world.

Each of us is the Cowardly Lion,

filled with boundless courage.

And each of us is Dorothy,

able to find our own way home

when the journey ends.

the two brave knights

There seems to be a lot of bravery in the family today. S8 has just come home from kids club with a sword for himself.. and one for Teddy, made out of ice block sticks.