Morning at the park

When we get a sunny day we cannot let it pass without getting out as they are so few and far between at the moment. So it was off to the park with Kael, the boys had heaps of fun in the sun!!

Reading my book

Maia likes reading books and reads out loud like this bitty bita bitty bit bit she knows exactly what she is talking about.

Birthday dinner

The hat is just a little too small :)

The big kids playing with Maia's puzzle

Kiddies enjoying a good ol birthday feed of nuggets, cheerios and chips

Maia having Jelly, since she can't have Ice-cream or birthday cake

Carport Stage 2

The carport moved beyond poles swaying in the wind on Saturday. The framing for the roof was put on and a great job was done by the team which consisted of Dean, Reid and my Dad. Unfortunately I was getting organised for Maia's birthday dinner and didn't get any mid way action shots, but here is one of Dean painting on Sunday. Hopefully this coming weekend will see it complete :)

Hari Huritau Maia - Happy Birthday!!!!

Our Baby girl turned 1 today. Lisa and Ayla came around after gymnastics to give Maia her present and then we headed our for lunch. We met Nana and Poppy there who had a little gift for Maia also. We've got a bit of a family dinner planned for the weekend, but it was nice to have a little outing to make today special. The highlight of her day though was watching herself on tv when we put on a photo slideshow of her first year, she bopped up and down and clapped and grooved to the music :)

Getting her Mushabelly from Ayla

Playing in the cafe playpen

I can stand up by myself

Maia will be one next week and is pretty stoked with herself when she stands up by herself. Her record is about 10seconds :) Don't think she is any hurry to put one foot in front of the other just yet though. Here she is saying hi to her Daddy who is tidying up outside.

Monday-Tuesday

Yesterday we finally had a break from our stormy, rainy weather. Out went the washing and on went the gumboots for a run around at the park next door. It was so sloshy which made it lots of fun and as you can see from Nathans backside he was right into it. He went for a nice big kick of the ball and did a nice big slide onto his bum. Fun!!

Today is back to the horrible non-stop rain. Nathan is back to Pre-School and they had a trip to the Library and the YMCA for some gymnastics. He didn't see me arrive and was just hanging back, but I decided to go in and encourage him to get into it and he did. He is so different at school, so quiet and reserved compared to when he is at home where he can be so boisterous.

Bedtime

Here are the kids all bathed and in their P.J's getting ready for bed. We're having our bedtime story in the lounge tonight and Nathan is our storyteller.

Carport

Yay thanks to a break in the constant rain, the carport is underway. This means we can get the valuer around to value our house and sort out our finance for the new house. We can also get the rental appraiser in to get an idea of what we could rent it out for too.
Stage one is complete with the posts in. It took the boys a little longer than expected, due to a few unexpected things. Hopefully the weather holds out this weekend also so we can get it done!!

Second Week School Holidays

This week the weather is pretty yuck again, so it's mostly been indoors. For the kids just playing and watching a few movies and Playhouse Disney. Nathan got to go to McDonalds playground with Ayla and Uncle Troy. For me I've been doing a bit of organising on the house front, arranging valuations for finance etc, getting quotes to re vinyl our bathroom. We found out we missed the house that was top of our list, pretty gutted but lots of lessons learnt, so we'll just press on and find the house that is meant to be :) The kids are both well which makes things a whole lot easier when you're stuck indoors for a week solid. Also the Nana's have made the week a bit easier too with my Mum up for work helping out with the kids in the mornings and evenings. Nana Miriam also had the kids for a day while I went into town to take my Jury reimbursment form. Go the Nana's, you guys are awesome!!!

Happy happy bath time
Our Glamour Girl, Maia's morning hair and marmite toast face

Nathan brought me the camera and said "Take a photo of me Mum"

He's such a handsome wee man I had to take a few :-)

Mini Break

During the first week of the school holidays we went North and joined the rest of the Hilliard crew at Coopers Beach. We drove up on a nice day (Wednesday) and drove home on a nice day (Sunday) but unfortunately every day in between was pretty cold and wet. It was still nice to get away. Dean was still able to go and get mussels off the rocks at low tide, Dean and Troy went fishing and caught a Kahawai which they filleted and got battered at the local fish and chip shop, and I was able to pick some watercress from a stream on the side of the road. That's one thing I love about New Zealand you can get out there and get yourself a feed from the land and the sea. Awesome!!!

Despite the not so nice weather there was one Beach outing

Some rough and tumble with Uncle Troy

Giddy Up

We ventured to the Kiwi Park but it had closed down. I did spot some watercress though to take home for dinner!

Starry Noses

Saturated Saturday

The yucky weather on Saturday meant aborting our carport building mission. Dean and Reid were not so keen once the hail kicked in :) That along with a bit of lightning and thunder does not make for good, powertool usage and outside work weather. Even though it was pretty yucky and freezing outside we thought we better make use of the day. We bundled the kids into warm clothes and cranked up the car heater and ventured out to some open homes. We made it to one, and weren't the only crazy ones out there, the traffic was horrid. Which made us late to the house we really wanted to see. We'll have a look at that one during the week. Once we got home and felt how freezing it was inside our office/rumpus room, it made us get onto insulating the roof. Our house is quite warm really, and looking in the ceiling you can see that it is all insulated except for what was the old internal garage area which we converted. So Dean ventured out in the rain to buy some insulation for the ceiling. It has really made a difference. A lot of the houses we are looking at are quite old and will need insultating, so it's good to know it's a pretty easy job.

Nathan watching the hail fall

Nathan and Moses Playing in the Insulation Packaging

Dean keeping his chin warm with an insulation beard

Watching the All Blacks beat South Africa on the big screen (projecter against the wall)

Jury duty, Kung Fu, Teddy Bears...

Well the week started with a beautiful day, and unfortunately I spent half the day inside seeing if I was going to get picked for a jury. My name got pulled out of the ballot box, so I got to go through the process right up to going into the court room and hearing the charges etc. I then had to go through the funny process of walking towards the jury box where on the walk up you may be challenged by either the prosecution or defense lawyers. Being that it was a sexual violation charge, I knew most of the women would be challenged, so on my way up to the jury box I walked very slow so they could check me out as I knew I would be challenged. I have to say I was very glad that I was as I don't think I could sit through a couple of days hearing the details of such a horrible thing.

The rest of the week was a bit miserable weather wise and with Maia still teething and with a chesty cough, she was very grizzly. My mum had come up to watch the kids in case I had got picked for jury, so I had the chance to take Nathan out and about on his own which is nice. On Monday afternoon after Jury duty I took him out to the park for a ride on his bike and on Wednesday I took him to the movies to see Kung Fu Panda, which is a bit stink really. Thursday mum went home and the kids and I chilled at home.

On Friday we had to get out of the house, although both kids were a bit sniffly we couldn't miss Teddy Bears Day Out at Mainly Music. After that we went to Toy Library and scored some cool toys. While we were out and about we went and checked out a house. Our house hunting is still going, we are sussing out what we like, don't like, prices etc etc.

Here's our pics from Friday...

Maia with Jonty who was born two days after her

Maia and Liam who were born on the same day in the same hospital

Nathan and his buddies

Bounce, Bounce, Bounce

Look at me practising standing up