Being Adored By Your Grandparents

I should have put it to stirring music or something, but this is what we  found when we went to pick up L&P from staying the night with the grandparents. 

You can't quite see all the hoists and pulleys and magnet action, but the thrill of watching Baboo parachute is surely a worthy blog post?

Thanks M&B for giving my lovelies such a fab time. 

What Is It You Plan To Do With Your One Wild And Precious Life?

I wrote a quote on the pantry door which P6 read out loud over my shoulder:

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"


Then she answered it: "Um, finish my book?"

Stash-Busting Sister

We had a great wee holiday with Aunty Iz here, so it was sad to farewell her today. While she was here she stash-busted the fabric stash I didn't even realize I had. She made a beautiful little dress for P6

 and some ammo/lego/manbags for L9.

I have a dreadful urge to put up more Elbow you tube clips since it was The Elbow Holiday, but naw, I might start Aunty Iz off again. . . drip sniff drip. . . we miss you Aunty Iz!

I have to start the countdown to M16 coming to visit so I don't get all maudlin.

One Day Like This A Year

would see me right. 

Iz and I went went to see Elbow. 

Hooray!

Aunty Iz is here!

She bounced with us.

She and P6 sketched each other.

She wrote us bedtime stories even. We luffs her.

P6 took a family pic of our little grown up nuclear family, which is interesting only because I can't remember the last time we had a family pic of the four of us. I look warped, but my sister looks like Sarah Palin. Ha! 

Heh

Homebody

After the sociable weekend in which I went out and had to chat in large groups for two evenings running, the hermit in me had a great time hanging at home with my babies being ultra domestic and dull today. I finished off the raspberry beret:

 P6 has snaffled it. There isn't a good pic of the pinwheel top if it, but it was fun to knit.

 I baked chocolate raspberry muffins

 and then it was time to make lemon curd. Yum. 

It needs a loooooooong stir, but thankfully I had a helper

 or two.

 In a last ditch domestic spurt I even tidied my plastic-hell cupboard. Things have lids! (It'll never last.)

All this homebody business must have inspired Geeky Husband, because today, after about a year of polite requests and a wee smidgeon of nagging. . .

he finally attached my cubes to the lounge wall. 

Domestic heaven.

Motorcycle Day

Geeky Husband and I went to learn to ride motorcycles.

It was scary. I'd go so far as to say very scary. 

Also, you can't look suave with a hair net under your borrowed helmet.

Book Club Night

And your point?

The House I Grew Up In

is being demolished. It's a bit weird, but better than the disrepair it has been in for the last few years.

 The loo :)  The seat was red in those days - go the 80s!

My old room, with better indoor outdoor flow than it used to have.

 You know you are old when the tree that was once a Christmas tree in a bucket by you and your sister's beds, that came with you from house to house until it was planted here, is now a protected tree. Ha!

 The tree is also 10 years older than the man responsible for demolishing the house.

Oh Goody

A new craze.

Lego minifigures have the same evil twist that all the crazes exploit - you don't get to see which one you are choosing when you buy it. The potential for disappointment is huge. Luka is desperate for a Roman legionnaire to fight his Celtic warrior.

Talking At Dinner

about how the children might look after each other when they are older.

GH to P6  "If you want help to move into a flat L9 will be able to help you."
Me to L9 "And if you want to meet some nice girls P6 might be able to help you."
P6 [excitedly] "Yes! If you want a nice girl to go and have a cup of tea with."

Cluck Cluckity Cluck The Baby Post

My brave friend had her baby today - squeeee! Congrats L. Six is a good number :) I'm not sure about the ethics of putting someone else's baby pic on your blog, but surely, she won't mind since I bet he's all over Facebook already, and there is a small possibility that Facebook gives a tad more exposure than my blog ;-P So here he is, Arlo Spike Otis!

(Nah, I'm just being mischievous, baby still waiting on his name.)

Since the baby decided to arrive at 3am this morning I'm hoping my friend is getting lots of sleep right now, so it won't spoil a surprise to pop a piccie of the owl cable cardy I made as a prezzie. Mmmm. . . squishy malabrigo yarn.

Let's face it she's seen it already as I needed guidance on how long a newborn's arms are. If anyone should know, it's a mother of six ;)

Oh Happiest Of Happy Days

It's a good day for mama when both her children are big enough and brave enough to go on the flying fox without demanding she run along clutching at them just in case. 

(This one's been riding his bike - I did not make him wear a helmet on the Flying fox!)

It's a great day for children when, thanks to the foreboding sky, there's no other kids in the line for the flying fox.

It's a fantastic day when Geeky Husband sets me free to go replace my beloved Minnie Coopers, which finally bit the dust last year, but were already looking pretty well worn in 2010.

 Sadly, these ones aren't NZ-made boots, so you never know how they'll fare, or if they are going to be a daily lasting love for years to come, but these boots and I? We have a pretty good infatuation going at the moment.

St. Patrick's Day

A few green photos. There was Guinness.

Then there was silliness.

Even from those who did not partake in the Guinness. You can't look elegant doing the Matchbox Trick.

L&P decided they were at a disadvantage nose-wise, and modifications were required. L9 started it.

P6 perfected it.

And then L9 one-upped her with this final modification. It worked, but he was in danger of inflicting  brain damage on himself by inserting the pen swiftly up his nostril if he missed the matchbox and face-planted on the floor (which was a fairly common occurrence).

(I promise this photo was the result of being caught mid-blink rather than the result of the aforementioned injury, or the aforementioned beer.)

Today

First thing in the morning. . . I open L9's door and he's hard at work on his movie. I forgot how to help him and actually use iMovie this afternoon, which was not quite as cute. But this morning? Cute. Squatting as always. It's our family talent.

And on the remote off chance that endless snapshots of my kids don't do it for you, the ugliest dog in the world died today. No question. It was Ugly.

Painting Ceilings

Big ups to Michelangelo. His was even a little bit more complicated than mine.

He's dead though, and I just feel it.

I would give you another picture of my plain white ceiling, but the camera has been hijacked by a small boy remaking the Star Wars movie with lego, and it Must. Not. Be. Moved. On. Pain. Of. Death. I'm far too wise to try.

Painting, And Also Drawing

Take some advice from and old lady and never, ever, under any circumstance whatsoever, undertake to paint a ceiling. I painted the bathroom ceiling today, because whoever painted it before me seemed to run out of paint and water it down in one corner, and it always annoyed me because it was clearly blue underneath. Maybe a slopey ceiling is even worse to paint than a straight one. Whatever the reason, it was hellish. Worse news - the paint isn't nice and thick like ceiling paint is supposed to be, it was thin and drippy and translucent, so it's going to need two coats. Tomorrow looks even less fun than today. 

What was fun was doing Star Wars drawings with L&P after school. L9 has a wee Star Wars obsession going on at the moment, so it was an easy way to get him to draw. I used a library book to do Queen Amidala, and L&P used a lego R2D2 as a model. 

P6 also did the world's cutest C3PO:

I love his anxious expression.

When Muffins Fail

spectactularly

 the only thing to do is fill them full of cream.

Monkeys After School

This afternoon there was lots of tree climbing. We don't have many suitable trees, but they use what we have and always add ropes (which scares me silly). The trees are already on a raised bank, which adds a metre of falling-down space beyond their climbing-up ability. They are quite risk averse though, and usually pop on their cycle helmets. L9 made himself this swing, that lasted approximated 5 milliseconds longer than it took to take this picture, before it collapsed.

 P6 got pretty high too. I was busy taking a picture not realizing that she wasn't calling to show me how high she was, she was in fact calling because she needed rescuing.

L9's big trick was to climb up the tree over the top of the tramp nets, and jump in. It's all well and good now, but I dread to think what's going to happen when he is a teen and adds beer in to the crazy escapade mix.

Okay, Slightly Gory Pictures

So happy! Almost a year ago was horrorshow day, when P-then-5 came off her scooter, face first into brick cobblestones. I remember how strange she looked to me on unveiling day, after she'd had all four front teeth pulled out. But how quickly that became the norm. I've always had a niggling worry, because they mentioned her adult teeth might not come through easily without the baby teeth to hold the gum open, and it was always possible they'd have to intervene to open her gums again to let them out. There's also a chance those big old teeth were damaged when the roots of the baby teeth were pushed back in. I guess we'll know the answer to that soon, because hurrah! I spy a tooth happily emerging on its own. My little girl is going to look so grown up very soon. . .

 I'm going to miss the gummy-vampire-smile look.

Yesterday

was the annual horror that is Camp At School Night. It would be fine if it weren't for the fact that our school is right by the main road, has nearby town floodlights on all night, and that they lock all the toilet blocks bar one. Okay, it still wouldn't be fine, but it'd be less of a trial.

Still, I'm working on the tiny hope that if by some miracle my children turn out relatively normal, I can claim this as part of the parental sacrifice whereby I deserve some credit.

L9 and his mate start to erect the tent under Geeky Husband's knowing eye:

P6 is a true girl and despite declaring she loves camping and had to go, she spent the entire time while the boys worked sitting comfortably in the back of the loaded car (there was Big Lambie to supervise, after all):

Poor Blokey Husband was being hounded by his boss in the US, while trying to play decent family man:

Aw, cute. Was all fun in the end.

Also P6 tripped over  a guy rope when it got dark, bumped her head and wanted to go home. Hee - lucky escape for me! I got to play the good school-minded mummy all evening and still spend the night at home in my comfortable bed while the boys  stuck it out next to the bypass getting very few hours sleep. Maybe next year. But hopefully not.