Good morning!

September 23rd, 2008

These are the photos that Garry likes to take. Photos of us asleep in bed. Usually it is early morning when he is getting ready for work, and one or two of the children are awake. So here is Monique and Danielle sitting quietly on the bed, while Bryce, me and Diana are fast asleep. We are slowly weaning the children off coming into our bed. It is usually when there are three of them in there, that it gets too squashy and I wake up and remove them back to their own beds. It is not surprising they feel quite secure in our bed, as that is also their bed from the time they are first born. Sweet dreams!

A typical evening in our home

September 22, 2008

This looks to be a typical winterish evening in our home. Pete is busy on the computer with Jarrod watching over his shoulder; Monique doing music practise on her recorder; Bianca folding washing with the help (?) of Danielle and Diana. Diana is holding her hand up asking me not to take the photo. The washing pile, the toys, the stuff everywhere... that's all normal. Thankfully, it is not like that ALL the time - just most of it!

Pamper Mum at Girls Rally

15th September 2008.

(This is me, Tanya.) Girls Rally held a "Pamper Mum or Grandma" evening with a few different pamper options. I had the face mask done - I think it had honey in it - as well as a hand cleansing and moisturising. Other options were a foot spa; hair plaiting; face painting (more for the girls); fingernail polishing... I enjoyed the 'pampering' and Monique was quite excited that Mum was taking part. She took the photo, too. Maybe we should pamper the Rally leaders next time - they do a super job, and it is all voluntary.

Two more of our pets

These are our beautiful boys; they look like a perfect pair to me.
Snowbell (Snowy) - he's the long-haired one - was left behind by neighbours when they moved away, as he was too wild for them to catch. We took a long time to tame him and now he calls our place home. He can still be a bit stand-offish outside the house and finds some people harder to trust than others, but he is quite loving and we haven't seen a nasty side to him at all; a little too playful with his claws at times, but not nasty.
Lucky Boy is Jarrod's cat. He picked him up outside church one evening just after Lucky Boy and his wee sister had run across the road following a man and narrowly avoided being hit by a car. The man decided to take the girl kitten and we couldn't leave the boy there, so we took him home thinking we would find him a new home. Well, we didn't. Snowbell had lived with many cats and kittens in his old home, and he took on the role of 'Uncle'. Lucky has had a few health problems; I don't think he has a very good immune system. We really enjoy watching the two of them playfight together on the lounge floor, or groom each other and fall asleep side by side. Despite both being neutered, they are a little territorial at times, and fight other cats that come onto our property. They, of course, are allowed to wander wheresoever they will! Including the neighbour's home to raid her cats food dishes!

Riding the trike

September 8th, 2008



Our wee boy was well entertained when he was little. He is eight months old here, having a ride on the trike with Danielle. He is not a demanding boy, although he certainly lets you know if he doesn't like what you are doing with him. He is quiet, and just as quietly gets on with whatever he is doing - which, at present, is emptying containers, cupboards, throwing objects.... It is understandable that the girls don't appreciate his company when they are playing with the teaset, or making 'dinners', etc.
He is quite adept at throwing a small ball ahead of him - it doesn't just land at his feet. He also kicks quite well - not just walking into the ball. Be interesting to see whether that develops into anything, or whether it is just a 'baby-ability'.

Pete's Snowboarding trip

August 16th 2008

Pete organised to go snowboarding for a week at Turoa, Mt Ruapehu, with some friends - Alec, Andy, and Alec's sister and partner. They left in the early hours of Monday morning and arrived at 7am. After getting kitted out, they hit the slopes. Just four hours into the first day, Pete was boarding down the waterfall, slipped on some ice and landed rather heavily and awkwardly on his hand. There was an M for McDonald's shape in his wrist that hadn't been there before, and it was just a touch painful! He thought he had better pop along to the doctor and have it checked. He was then taken by sled all the way down the mountain to first aid.

Yes, it was broken and he needed to get to Wanganui hospital to have it set - just 2 hours

drive away! The trip was a little rough with the constant movement of the vehicle on the road jarring his wrist. He had to stay in for two nights and have pins put through the bones to hold them in place. He had broken it into four pieces. (Doesn't do anything by halves, our Pete! ) Over the next few weeks, he had the cast removed and replaced a couple of times - he had an infection in two of the sites where the metal pins protruded through the skin - and got to try out a couple of different coloured casts.
He was very happy when it was all over and he was able to play his guitar again!


So, pictures - we have the outside of the railway carriage which was their accommodation; Pete with Andy and Alec; and the inside of the carriage; Pete by the side of the road; and finally, one of him at home after he returned from a physically relaxing week. (He did have to learn to sleep in a different position; and after the first few days, the pain died down to where he was able to handle it without painkillers.)

Jarrod's Science Project

(Okay, I stuffed up with the photo, and I can't figure out to rotate it, or delete it so I can redo it. Never mind.)

August 7th 2008

This is Jarrod with his project Fun with Magnets for the Homeschool Science Fair.

I read to him, and typed up the information he dictated, otherwise he did most of the work himself, and really enjoyed doing the experiments. It was a last minute decision to do the project, and he had just two weeks from when we started to when it was to be finished and exhibited. I helped with the layout of the board, and the frame, but he had put it all together one morning, before I got up - or else I probably would have had more input :) He did enjoy the fair, and most likely we would have entered something this year also, but for the fact that they are setting up and holding the judging on a Sunday, of all days! Lets hope they change it again next year.

Good on ya, bro

August 22nd 2008

My brother Paul having a rare relaxing moment.

Husband to Yvonne, father of four to six children, building project manager for his daytime job, deacon for our church, TBS contact, joint business owner with us.... He is a very busy man, and a wonderful, loving, forgiving person. He does a fantastic job in all areas, and we have called on him many times to help with house maintenance areas in which we would have had no idea where to start. ie re-roofing the garage, renovating the bathroom, making a bedroom at the back of the garage... Thanks, Paul, for everything you do. We love you.

A snapshot of Diana

10th August 2008 - just after Diana turned 3 years old on the 4th.

She is a bright, bubbly mostly happy wee girl. She has a special relationship with each of her siblings - she does "school" with Bianca and rides on Bianca's bike when we go out biking; she plays rough with Jarrod; she shares a bunk with Monique; she plays with Danielle and sometimes shares her clothes; she loves to hug Bryce hard, and carries him down the hallway to mum when he wakes from a sleep. She has a beautiful cheeky smile and loves people - she ran up to a wee boy a few months younger than her after church one morning, to give him a big hug and bowled him right over, then came crying to me, upset because he was crying.

She can't wait to be allowed to join in at athletics - we told her she will have to wait till the next season which starts at the end of this year.

She walked at nine months, and is physically very able and confident. She speaks quite well, and understands quite a lot. (Today, she was asked by another mum when she had turned 3. Her reply was: On my birthday!) She does love to join in what the older children are doing - hence the "schoolwork." She also enjoys all our pets and is quite comfortable with them. Our wee girl is/has just transitioned from daytime nappies although she still much prefers our bed to her own!

Making pot stands

16th July 2008

We got to the stage where we had three very damaged pot stands, and so rather urgently needed some more. One of the pot stands we already had was a fabric one, filled with rice. Well, I decided that we should try doing that as well, so we went through some old clothes we were getting rid of - which we used for fabric - then made some designs. Jarrod used an old skirt, and a 'star' shape. The girls made square, circle, and flower shaped ones. We sewed 'columns' onto the fabric with the machine, then filled them with white rice. We had to push the rice down with a teaspoon to compact it, then sew the opening closed by hand. Here is Jarrod sewing up one of the points on his star. The children really enjoyed the time and effort they put into making their potstands, and we have made good use of them all. This was a good family activity, and it took us quite a long time to make each one. If we do it again, we should add some cloves to the rice, and patterned fabric is better than plain.

Bianca turns Twelve

July 2nd 2008. Bianca's birthday. Twelve years old. A fairly quiet one this year, with just one good friend. They watched a Little House on the Praire DVD, we bought Indian for dinner, but ate at home, and Anne Roos slept over.

And she certainly did well gift-wise!

She is a great help in the home (she made dinner tonight, and often bakes), and is well-motivated in her schoolwork. She gardens, has a guinea pig and a cat (or two), and produces a newsletter for her friends once a term or so. She has thoroughly enjoyed participating in athletics, and our recent 20km cycle race ride, and would dearly love to learn figure skating (on ice.) You can probably tell by looking at the photo that she likes stationery, chocolate, books, and crafts.

Her thirteenth birthday is rolling on too fast!

Soccer - Player of the Day

21st June 2008

Jarrod played soccer last year, as well as Monique. It was also his first year playing it. Here he is holding his 'Player of the Day' trophy, which he got to hold onto for a week until the next game, when it was handed on to the next 'player of the day'. Jarrod enjoyed playing soccer, and we have joined him up to play again this year. There are gradings on Wednesday this week, to determine which team he should be placed into this year. (More early starts on cold, wet Saturday mornings!)