Tipene's 1st Birthday

On Saturday we went to Tipene's 1st birthday. It was a great party with all the party games and party food. Jamie, Semu and the whanau did an aweome job!! Nathan had a cool time and went hard out on all the treats he could get his hands on :)

Kids table all decked out with all their favourite party food, YUM! The adults table of food was the bomb too, with crayfish, bbq, chopsuey, etc etc on the menu, Awesome!

Pin the nose on Poo Bear

Yay, I did it!!

Happy Birthday to you....

Nathan getting some help with pass the parcel

The Birthday boy

Maia with Faye aka Tania and Te Kohe aka Kingi The on screen and off screen couple from Shortland Street

Faye took a shine to Maia and Maia seemed to do the same as she was too shy to go to anyone else but when Faye grabbed her for a cuddle she didn't mind at all, Maia is a real tv watcher so must think she looked familiar :)

Go Zoe!!

Dean and Semu

The 2 One year olds - Look out for these two at Te Kaha they'll be all over the place this year!!

Going in for the goodbye kiss - Better not try those styles Tipene my Dad's watching!!!

Nathan pooped out from all the party fun!

You think I'm going to sleep Mum, don't think so!!!

Rutherford Preschool Culture Night

Nathans Preschool has had a theme of 'Culture' over the last month. On Friday night they had a 'Culture Night'. The kids dressed up and sang us some songs and we all took food from our different cultures so you could imagine the awesome feed we had.

Nathan and Maia getting ready to go

Nathan was pretty chuffed with his Tiki T.Shirt, Pounamu (greenstone) necklace and the Kete bag that his mum wove him a while back. He looked like one cool little Maori Boy.

Tahi, Rua, Toru, Wha... PUKANA!!!

The Whanau

Our Day

Our day started with taking Nathan to Pre-School, well actually it started with eating porridge and watching Handy Manny but anyway. At Pre-School Maia likes to crawl around while I'm putting Nathan's bag away etc. Today she crawled up to a little girl called Sophie, but Sophie didn't want to be friendly and told Maia to go away. Thats when big brother stepped in and very slowly and seriously looked Sophie in the eye and said.... "Don't you talk to my sister like that". Wow what a cool big brother!!!

We got home to do a bit of housework and got a visit from Aunty Lisa and Kael who came bearing Latte gifts, yay!! Kael and Maia are starting to play well together and don't much get the chance without the bigger siblings around, so it was cool to see how they interact when it's just the two of them.

Uncle Reid came around for the afternoon and babysat Maia while I went out and got my haircut, aaahh bliss. I was way overdue for one and felt like I had been hybernating for winter and turned into a yeti or something. Reid took a funny picture on his phone of Maia's facial expression which didn't leave her face the whole time he had her, if you could translate the expression into words it would be something like... "Who are you and where is my mother?" She didn't cry, she just looked at him funny. It probably wasn't helped by the fact she really needed her nappy changed and he wasn't really up for that.

On picking Nathan up from school I learnt that he crashed heads with another little boy while playing and took a while to be consoled and that he won a silver medal in the Pre-school olympics in a running race of some description. Choice!!

The Weekend Check

Saturday
Carport Mission was back on for Dean and Reid!!!! It's looking good and just needs the roof now, getting there slowly but surely. I went out and sussed out a few house auctions to see whats happening out there in home buying land. We have found a house that we like and it's coming up for auction next Saturday, so good to see how the auction process goes down. This week we are frantically finalising things to get finance approved and house inspections done etc etc. Will let you know if we succeed or get outbid.

Sunday
After church there was a bit of World Wrestling Federation action going on in the lounge!!

Yeah I got him pinned, he's going nowhere!!!

ooh hang on he's making a move...

Nope, I've got him!!

Nathan and his Ears he made at Church Creche. "Thank you God for my ears"

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