Anniversary Celebration

This past week we spent 3 nights (4 days) in Christchurch with Marco's side of the family celebrating his parent's 40th wedding anniversary! Wow, 40 years... 

40 years is the same length of time that God had the Israelite's wander around in the desert before bringing them to the promised land. There are a few conclusions we can draw from this comparison.  

1) The Israelite's wore the same pair of shoes for those 40 years, surely I can keep the same spouse!

2) If I had to walk for 40 years, I'd probably be a lot skinnier. 

3) 40 years is a REALLY long time :)

So, we went down on Sunday morning and immediately my girls slotted in with their cousins, picking up where they'd left off 6 months ago (having a baby has meant we haven't gone down to see family as much as normal)

On the Monday, we all went to a wildlife center.  Morgan loved it! She got to feed the giraffes and while at first she was a bit timid, she warmed up quickly. 

 Unfortunately, Owen and Addison didn't get quite as close to the action as the others. This is them feeding the giraffes...

 Kelsey enjoyed herself if the animals stayed a safe distance and if Oma stayed close. Oma was very obliging!!

 Master Owen got quite the preferential treatment. This was his bed in our "house" for the week. There was a playpen for him to sleep in, but one of the sides didn't go up entirely and there was no mattress or blankets for it.. so.. the bed worked just as well.

 And of course, everyone had turns holding the newest family member, even if he did always have to have one eye on where his mama was. (Ok, I like it that he's a bit of a mama's boy. The girls have always preferred their daddy and now I finally have one that prefers me.)

 On Tuesday, the men folk took the older kids to the beach for the morning. Kelsey took a bit of an accidental swim! haha! But she was great about it and got up and started smiling right away. However, that ended that trip!! Meanwhile, the women & babies were having a lovely quiet time at one of the houses.. ahh, peace and quiet.

 We had 2 of our dinners catered while we were there so that it could be a holiday for all of us. Here's Kelsey chowing down on the dessert platter on the second night.. Mmmm!

We also taught the big kids a song to sing for Oma and Opa:

Congratulations on 40 years of marriage. May God bless you with many more.. 

Silly Faces & Funny Giggles

Owen's growing up. 

He's soo adorable, and I'm quite certain it has nothing to do with any sort of mommy bias.. 

He is becoming quite the little talker and just loves looking at anyone and talking and telling them his life story. 

And, as one would expect from one of my children, he's becoming quite expressive. 

Happy 65th Birthday MOM!!

Today is my mom's birthday!! And.. she's officially a senior citizen today -- ooh.. soo old mom!!

isn't she cute?

So here is my birthday present to you: I cannot fill your house with flowers (well, at least not without it costing me an arm and a leg), but I can fill this blog post with flowers just for you. And, since most of them are your flowers and your pictures, they should be perfect!

 

ok, so not a flower per se, but an awfully cute kid with really yummy kale! :)

anyone notice the gorgeous couple hiding in the background? :)

pretty rings mom. 

 

 

that is one cute kid! :)

what? the picture has flowers in it.. I can't help it if I make a gorgeous subject... 

see? occassionally your flower pictures had other subjects too.. not quite as cute as me, but trying. 

I think that's enough flowers to fill one blog post.. hope you enjoyed. See you soon. :)

Aye Aye, Captain!

It was an exciting day in our house last week when Marco passed his final check and officially became a captain!!
The girls were VERY excited! (but mostly to get him home after 2 days away)

We also made cupcakes to celebrate!!

Well done Marco!! We're very proud of you!! 

Hard Conversations

I don't know if all children are like mine or if I've just been specially chosen but my kids say the darndest things and ask the most jaw dropping questions!

I had to have a really hard conversation with my girls today. I'm a big believer in being honest and upfront with your kids and things that are going on, but telling them things at their level. So, when I got the news that my mom had been admitted to the palliative care ward at the hospital and things weren't looking good, I had to figure out a way to tell my kids.

What I find hardest about these conversations is that you never can guess which way they're going to go. And, with my girls, that's especially true.

Here's a few golden gems from our conversation today:
Me: Girls, grandma is really sick. She's had to go to the hospital and she might die soon.
pause. breathe.
Kelsey: Will Grandpa marry a new wife?
WHAT?! Seriously, that's her first questions? pause. breathe. look at her funny.
Kelsey: well, your grandpa married a new wife when your grandma died.
Me: yeah, well, not yet. maybe. I don't know. grandma's not dead yet.
Kelsey: well, maybe Grandma will rise again from the dead like Jesus.
Me: no. It doesn't work like that. Jesus rose from the dead because he's God. Grandma's not God. But Grandma will get to go and live with Jesus in Heaven.
pause. breathe.
Kelsey: oh cool. She'll get to see the holes in Jesus' hands and feet. I can't wait till I die and get to see what Jesus looks like.
(by the way, she thinks Jesus looks like Eli from the Max Lucado kids books)

Yikes. So, then we got onto a conversation about how we don't want to die, but if we love Jesus while we're living, then we can go and live with him in heaven, after we die, when we're old. Which also led to talking about how we all are going to die, we can't live forever.. oh boy. this was supposed to be an easy conversation. Every time I said something about dying when you're old, Kelsey would interject that sometimes babies die. Oh boy. panic mode setting in.  At which point Morgan burst into tears. After some gentle, "what's wrong Morgy?" prodding. She answered, "Kelsey's my best friend and I don't want to die and leave her." Gotcha. Note to self: Don't have conversations with the sensitive one at the same time as with the curious one.

I suspect we'll be having a lot more conversations like this one. I hope they show a progression in their thoughts though... I don't think I can handle too many more questions like these..

First Look-See of the 'Naki

Marco and I took a weekend visit to check out our new home base (or what will be our new home base if we ever finish and sell our house).

We dropped the girls and the dog off at various locations, boarded a plane and headed off for 2 nights of peace and quiet. Or, as much peace and quiet as one can get with a 3 mo baby in tow - but he's sort of attached to his food source, so taking him was a necessity.

It was Owen's first time flying, so we took the customary first picture. However, the lighting was a bit off, so imagine, if you will, that we went for a arty look. :)

As expected, Owen did great in the plane. he doesn't seem to like boarding the plane very much, but then again, who does?! But, as soon as we were sitting and he was eating, he was lovely again. 

We didn't arrive in New Plymouth until 7ish, so, we quickly made up a bed for Owen (I LOVE my safe t sleep that allows him to sleep in a normal bed without costing us extra for a cot).  After a feed and a change, he was out like a light. I also LOVE sleeping babies. :)

 And, after a feed and a change, we were out like lights too. After the customary wine in bed, of course!!

Saturday, we drove. And drove. And drove. 

Over the whole weekend we put 370 km's on the car, and the large majority of that was done on Saturday. (we'd be lucky if we put 50 km on the car on Friday or Sunday). 

We drove through wide roads and narrow roads. flat roads and hilly roads. paved roads and gravel roads. Road with pig farms, roads with chicken farms, roads with houses, roads with ocean next to it.
We drove.

 Oh yeah, and it rained. and it stopped. And then it rained some more.
So, there were rainbows.
We joked that if we were driving somewhere and there was a rainbow it was a good place to live. No rainbow meant bad place to live.

 We did a bit of sightseeing too. :)

 Look, we tried to see the mountain!! (its behind the cloud)

 And through it all, Owen was cute.

 And cuter.

It really was a good weekend for us.
On Sunday we had the opportunity to attend the church that we hope to become a part of when we eventually move. It was good. The pastor was gone, but an elder preached and did a pretty good job. The congregation was friendly and lots and lots of people introduced themselves. I hope they don't expect me to remember all their names in several months time! yikes!
But, we had a lovely lunch with a couple who live on a gorgeous rural property. They have a 5 & 7 year old who they home school (and who are really eerily well behaved - but I'm sure my kids will cure them of that when they get to know them!). Anyway, they also invited 2 other couples around for lunch so it was a great chance for us to get to know a few different people and ask lots of questions.
We eventually had to head home again, where Owen was another pro-star at flying. But, what else can you expect from a "nearly-captain"'s son?! ;)

I think I can now say that I'm looking forward to moving to the 'Naki. it has stores, beaches, places to walk, playgrounds, (i even saw rumour of a mall!). It should be a good place for us to raise our kids, meet new people and make new friends!!

We did however, have a good laugh at the local slogan:

 - really? that's the BEST slogan you could come up with?? it's "like no other". WOW! Owen just had a poo "like no other", you don't hear me bragging about it?? :)