Firewood

Well the colder days and nights are upon us, and so it was time once again, to order the firewood... We got 3m3 delivered... The job I hate the most is stacking it all somewhere dry {in our case, the new house came with a wood sheed WAHOOOOOO}... so I did what any parent who doesn't want to do a certain job does - I offered money to the teen to do it instead...

Paris - not so keen, and had a hockey game so didn't even want to start with the helping
Josh - jumped at the chance to earn some extra dosh

Now, although I love my kids, they don't normally stack wood in a very tidy fashioned, so I wasn't expecting much when I said to Josh "it would be great if you could stack some up on this side, and some of that side and leave a path in the middle"

I left him to it while I took Paris to her hockey game... it took him 3 hrs, but he completed the job and I was happy to hand over some cash...

This morning, I headed outside to get some wood from the wood shed, opened the door, and just about died from shock...

I am in heaven... finally a wood shed I won't actually mind having to collect wood from...

I'm Sorry...

I've been so super duper slack with my blogging lately... although in my defence, the last couple of months have been very hectic for me...

So we moved house 4 weeks ago... into our first home... so exciting... we have spent a fair bit of the last 4 weeks setting up rooms, then re-arranging the rooms, then re-arranging them again... and on and on and on and on... but it's fun, and pretty much everything is now as we want it to remain :)

We are now saving up to do up our kitchen a bit, something we are both very much looking forward to doing...

Cam is a changed kid since the move... in the old house, his nightly routine was to climb into our bed and watch a DVD till he fell asleep... but in the new house, he hasn't even watched a single DVD... at all!! his new bedtime routine is to play a game of memory on the tablet, then climb into his top bunk, and go to sleep... we don't have to sit with him or anything... it's brilliant...

Axel is sleeping alot better also... see the boys are now in seperate bedrooms, it's making such a difference during the night... we love it!

Paris and Josh are tired... as we are commuting them all the way back to Mt Roskill {we live in Papakura} for school... but it's only till the end of the year, as we thought it would be better for them to remain in their school this year and finish year 8 then start fresh at a new school next year.

All in all - things are coming along nicely.

Goodbye Primary School

Well Friday marked the official end of Primary for Paris and Josh.  Off they went to school, with gifts for their teachers and x-mas cards for their mates.

They informed me on the way to school, that it was "signing day" at school.  I enquired as to what "signing day" was and was promptly told "it's the day we sign each others shirts of course"... well of course - why didn't I know that?? I really didn't want them participating in "signing day" when I could get perfectly good money, for selling their perfectly good second hand uniform items... but alais, who am I to mess with apparently "ancient tradition" haha

School finished at 12.30 and they both headed off to their best mates houses for an afternoon of fun.  I'm not sure it's dawned on them just how different next year is going to be for them...

Proud Moment

Wednesday was Paris and Josh's Primary School Year 6 Graduation. I went along, proud as punch to be watching both Paris and Josh graduate {as I think any parent would be}
It was so awesome watching them go up on stage to collect their Graduation Certificate along with the rest of their classmates.  And they looked so nice too all dressed up in their Sunday Best.

What I was not expecting was to hear my baby girls name called out during the awards presentation. Out of 6 kids nominated for the 2010 Attitude and Effort Cup, Paris won!!!  I was soooo shocked, and proud, and close to tears all at once {luckily I held the tears in}.  I know that Paris does have an awesome attitude at school, and always gives 110% in everything she does.  I also know that she is well liked and respected by teachers and students alike, but I never in a million years expected this :)

Well done Paris, I'm so very Proud of you xx

And here are some pictures

Paris with her trophy and medal

Josh looking very swish

The two of them together



Tis the season...

 

building and "fluffing" the tree

Just about ready to decorate

a little boy waits

Finally able to help :)

Nearly finished

All done

with lights

And that folks is our Christmas Tree

boxes, boxes, and more boxes...

let the record state here and now - that I hate packing... I love moving, but I loathe packing my house up... I also hate unpacking lol...

right now - my house is in total disarray - there are boxes here, there and everywhere... it's unsettled the cat something wicked, not to mention Cammy...

Paris has been brilliant with packing her room up... Josh on the other hand - hmmmmmmmmmm... well lets just say that if I have to pack it up, none of it will make it to the new house at all...

My bathroom, is a pretty empty space... as is my kitchen... my tupperware collection takes up 3 massive boxes *whoops*

The upside of packing of course - is the sorting one does of their life and belongings... we have delivered so many bags of clothing to the local clothing bins, and still have more to go I'm sure {after all, I haven't even started on my drawers yet}...

right - well, I'd best be getting back to it... if you don't hear from me for a few days - it's probably because the boxes have swallowed me whole...

Kids in the Kitchen...

My kids love helping out in the kitchen... We have one meal that they can make without any adult assistance... it's the ever so yummy Chicken Pasta... a firm favourite in our house...

Doesn't it look wonderful!! The kids do so well making this meal... and there is hardley ever any left over for my lunch the next day...

too cute

Josh is starting to hand some of his toys down to Cammy... Apparently this Fire Engine, was Josh's pride and joy and drove Ian nuts lol... Cammy loves it...

School Disco

Last week the older kids had their school disco.  Paris loves the discos, as they are a great excuse for her to get dressed up, get her hair done, and dance the night away {ok, it's really only 2 hrs but you get the idea :) }

check out the shoes :)

The hair - this style is one of my specialities for Paris

Josh enjoys the disco too, but isn't keen to pose for pictures, and doesn't have his hair all done up flash by me lol

Kids Birthday Season is fast approaching

• July 20 - Paris
• August 4 - Josh
• September 29 - Cam

So now is the time to start thinking about presents, parties and cakes...

Presents - this is hard, I have no idea what to get the older two this year, and have a couple of ideas for Cammy...

Parties - the kids have been told they have a couple of friends over to do a fun activity with ie: ice skating, go karting... OR they can do something awesome like the shark cage at Kelly Tarltons. {Paris is finding it very very hard to decide between the two options}

Cakes - now this is the part I have no issues with at all... the kids just need to tell me what they want cake wise, and I will try my very hardest to make it for them... at this stage Paris has mentioned she wants a guitar cake {she doesn't even play the guitar}, I dont' think Josh has realised that the birthdays are fast approaching, so I may have to gently remind him lol... and well - Cammy is still too young to understand fully, however, he LOVES his toy doggy, and doggy comes everywhere with us, so I am thinking about a Doggy Cake

lovely evening..

The big kids are at school camp this week... and part of the camp is a camp concert that the kids perform in front of the parents... the kids really wanted us to go to this, but we weren't sure if we could both attend, due to the fact that we find it really hard to get babysitters for Cammy... but shock horror... my parents offered to babysit {that NEVER happens}...

so we both attended the camp concert... it was great... Paris was the MC and she did a really good job :) Josh wasn't in the concert {which was more of a talent show, and was completely optional}...

The kids are at Camp Adair in Hunua... I went there as a kid, and have been back many times since with St John... It's a great location....

Wasn't too late a night... we arrived there at 7pm and were on the way home again by 8.45... on the way home, I jokingly said to Ian "Whats the bet Cammy is still awake" he laughed at me and said "no way"...

Well, who do you suppose was right...???

YUP - ME haha... Cammy was STILL awake... I'm not angry at my parents for this, in fact it was soo cute, he was just sitting with Grandad watching TV... precious photo op, that I missed lol... ah well...

I'm hoping that the great babysitting experience my parents had tonight, might infact just create a few more babysitting offers from them :)