Getting Set. . .

One pimped bike for upcoming kindy trike-a-thon.

(And if you look real close you will see that stopping the trainer wheel is my lovely repaired boot - yay - which has been all made to look like new and I do love them so, except when I went to put them on there was a large staple or nail or something poking through - boo - but my daddy fixed that for me - yay - so now they are all good to go again, just like a bought one and shiny too, except I promised you no more blog posts about my shoes - boo.)

I finally got around to making my skirt from the fabric bargain I scored last year.

 It fits well, but it is distressingly wide. Sigh. The prospect of actually doing anything about that is too dire to contemplate. Obviously I can't give up the chocolate. Or pork belly. Or heaven forbid, the wine. And the idea of actually running, just as winter arrives, or indeed in summer either, well, that is clearly not an option either. Handily, I realised all I needed to do was the change the aspect ratio and it looks much better.

If only I could work out how to do that in real life. Middle-age is depressing.

The Menu

You just have to choose the 'mud pee' don't you?

Reason #367 To Have Children

 They do housework.

Okay, maybe I have used that reason before, but it is a goodie. And strictly speaking it completely doesn't even out, since for the first 5 or 6 years pretty much all they do is make mess, and pretty soon they are going to realise it is not actually so much fun even when machines are involved, and I do in all honesty realise that probably long before the teenage years strike I'm going to have to use bribery and corruption to keep them at it.

But right now, in these halcyon days in between, they love it.

And I'm gonna milk it for all it's worth.

Two!

Two Word Poem

By Laura Ranger (age 6 or 7 or some completely crazy age. Have taken the book back to the library, so not quite sure.)

The toad sat on a red stool

it was a toadstool.

The rain tied a bow

in the cloud's hair

it was  a rainbow.

Which witch put sand

in my sandwich?

I stood under the bridge,

then I understood.

I sat on the ledge and

thought about what I know.

It was knowledge.

Remembering And Waking Up

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

It is Anzac Day and we went to the local service. The children were both thoughtful about it this evening, even P4 saying her bedtime story was sad "like today, because Anzac Day is a sad day."

However, rather than having anything profound to say, my blog is about me remembering how special these days are for our family, so while it is probably of zero interest to the rest of the world, here is me remembering how mornings are at the moment around here. Today was a fabulous one because everyone slept in till almost 8am. Whoop! Growing up has its good side for sure.

L7 concentrating on a spy camera:

Sleepy husband, usually has a book by the time my eyes open:

Jumping on Daddy is always hilarious:

I don't think he minds.

Children grow 27 extra feet when they snuggle in your bed don't they?

L7 and I took pics of each other:

My view of the house from bed:

Just to be fair, L7's view of me taking these pics:

Soccer Star

 A happy L7 made Player Of The Day.

And boy, our team's trophy is something to work hard for.

Small accident with the head. Had to be replaced with lego man head, but you hardly notice eh?

I Feel Blind Without A Pic

Busy today so never got around to a pic. However, there is news. Big News. The big August-type family wedding in San Fran, is now in London! Whoop whoop anglo-rellies! Will be seeing you soon.
And a cutie from P4:

Me: Blah blah. . . like you might see when we go to England for the wedding.
P4 (who is very interested in the whole getting married concept): What wedding?
Me: You know, how your Uncle J and Aunty L are getting married and now it will be in England so we will go to see them.
P4: Yes! And then I can learn how to do it! Because I don't even know how to get married, but I'll have to remember it for a very long time before I do it.

Today she also told me the "Brides have flowers so when I get married I'm going to pick some flowers."

I really hope you do P4. Flowers you picked yourself will be just perfect.

Gratitude

I love it that L7 is so easily pleased. I bought him an anorak today (he's a nerdy type you see). Not a flash anorak. A super cheap unbranded crappy anorak. 

He loves it. He told me it was the best anorak in the whole entire world and wore it inside for a good hour, even though it wasn't raining in our house. It has a reflective triangle on it on the back! Awesome! And better than other reflective triangles he  has seen on other anoraks because this one is filled in - not just three reflective strips! Super! So happy.

Lucky he doesn't expect too much, 'cos really I'm not that flash all the time on the mummy stakes. Bit short on patience and all that. No bother. This morning he told me I was the greatest person he knew in all the world. Every atom of me is apparently very good. Every quark of me is good. Every gluon in me is good.

Yup, I had to look it up to even spell it, because apart from easily pleased and very grateful, L7 is kinda clued up. More so than me.

Gluons (glue and the suffix -on) are elementary expressions of quark interaction, and are indirectly involved with the binding of protons and neutrons together in atomic nuclei. The antiparticle of a gluon is another gluon.

So now we know.

L7, I'm very grateful for you, and all your gluons and quarks are pretty fantastic to me too. I love it that you are the type of chap who wakes up and now rather than yell out for me (which you did for quite a few years, being the rule-abiding type of child who knew that you should not actually get up out of bed) or leaping into my bed to cuddle me and surreptitiously kicking your similarly snuggling sister, you now wake up and dive back into whichever book I had to rip out of your hands the night before.

You are so my kind of chap.

Bon Voyage

to Grandad R. Good luck with your travels.

Easy to take a pic with P4 because she always sits like the queen.

This other one however. . .a wee bit trickier.

Actually you'll probably remember him more accurately from that second shot eh?

Boots and Bruises

I know I've already posted at least three times about my boots, so another picture and blurb would be really sad and boring eh? showing commitment eh?

Just one more I promise. Now they really have died. Zip fell to pieces while I was running, clutching small child, to get to a dental appointment for her that I had forgotten. But the good news is Minnie Cooper absolutely rock the customer service.

First I watched their lovely video:

and then I emailed them. Within an hour they had replied twice, and they can fix my boots! Even though it is a stinky big job and they only want $25 for it! Sandy even told me it makes her scowl when zip repairs come in, but I should bring them on in anyway. :) That's why you have to buy NZ made. Mwah to them. I can't cope with winter without my boots.

And as for P4's teeth? They are fabulous says the scary dental nurse - hurrah! Here she is showing them to you:

Or not. But you can see the bruises that came out (by her eyes - eeek!) from the couscous incident. When are they going to go? They look so awful! Stupid couscous jar. The lid came off when I was holding it by the lid  to put away in the cupboard, and well, you know how children are always underneath your feet? Or underneath the cous cous jar in this case. . .oh mummy guilt is a horrible thing. Poor baby.

Roadtrip Art

I haven't touched a camera today, much less gone for a roadtrip, but fortunately enough I have the lovely Lou's pics to share. These were my lucky dips from her fundraiser Artscapes for Aria. I think they are all beautiful and I have no idea which to print out the biggest. Just don't have enough wall.

(Actually I think the tree is my fave. Which is yours?)

Loving Circus Aotearoa

Face painting.

(Not so) Big top.

Candy floss.

Wide eyes. (No camera. Blurry phone!)

Blogger is having a hissy fit tonight (well, I hope it's them and not me) so everything else will have to wait.

I'm Not Gonna Post Today

Because I have been faffing about with my website all day and I'm completely over the computer. Trying to work out how to sugar-coat selling my soul, without actually admitting it.

Anyway, BOTH children are staying overnight with friends so I can't take any cute pictures of them. And I'm nervous for P4. She is so brave it scares me!

veni vidi vici

or rather, I spun, I dyed, I knit.

(I couldn't find a reasonable translation.)

I'm so stonkingly, breathtakingly in love with these it is hard to explain. Not just because I turned that ball of alpaca fluff into this fantabulous wristwarmer. Although I probably shouldn't admit it, I just love the cross between Dr Seuss and roller derby that they conjure up. Wish I was brave and muscly and co-ordinated enough to roller derby.

Only problem is, I still have to knit the other one.

Gotta love. . .

grandparents playing paper darts and paper dolls.

I'm not quite sure who had the most fun.

Playing, Laughing And Other Miracles

After my hissy fit yesterday, something clicked, and my children played together like a dream all morning. Why oh why does it take a Mean Mummy outing to get them to decide to have fun?

They made a bed out of small, uncomfortable wooden chairs. L7 actually pleaded to be allowed to spend the night on it, but fortunately it collapsed before that became an issue. Unfortunately it collapsed on P4's finger.



Hmmmm. . .the cushion ratio is looking a little less fair than it really was I'm sure?

P4 is also spending time doing stuff like this:

and this:

which is probably very dull on the blogsworthy stakes, but freakishly exciting for me. Makes me wish I'd been good and used all those little tags so I could search for 'writing' posts from the last couple of years, but the kind of people who are organised enough to do that are the kind of people who use ring reinforcement stickers on refill paper. I'm most definitely not a ring reinforcement kind of girl.

Grumpy Day And Pink Icing

It was a hard day. I wasn't the best mummy. They weren't the best kiddies. But there was still some nice stuff to remember.

It was P4 who exclaimed "How beautiful!" and reminded me to take a pic. Raspberry essence and red colouring on icing sugar. Not half as beautiful as you my sweet girl.

Despite, or perhaps because of, the tell tale icing sugar smudge. . .

Stirring.

You have to see the whole picture:

I'm not sure of the sudden compulsion to strip. But I am sure pink icing helps most days.

A Day With A Fabulous Present.

It's a picture.

P4 "It's a potato with hair like Rapunzel."

I love Potato Rapunzel P4. I shall treasure her.

Still far too much time on my hands with one child who sits endlessly on the couch.

Dying alpaca is kinda tricky, but thanks to an emergency plea to the lovely Angie, ta da! Hand spun and dyed alpaca:

It's not noodles for lunch.

Beautiful yarn I almost destroyed in three attempts at dying.

Almost pink in the evening sun.

The plan is stripey wristwarmers.

Oh and you know I like pics. . . this one isn't very clear, but it was an impressive bruise and lump this morning. This is what happens when you ignore your friend's suggestion of tupperware and go with glass, and then drop the glass jar of cous cous on your child's head. Youch. Sorry P4. You have a clutzy mummy. There were many (justified) tears.

Now you know. Just in case you had ever wondered about that.