Cross Crountry

as P6 would say.

Both the kids did amazingly considering their unco genes, and started at the end, but finished somewhere in the middle.

Annoying, the school ran the junior races 15 mins early so I only arrived in time to see the last lap of P6's. A friend is sending me a copy of her video. I did get to see L9's, but my Flip vid skills are so poor I only managed just after he began, and just after he finished. Not exactly riveting viewing, but you get the ra ra atmosphere. Here's the start of the race:

Grumpy Old Afternoon

Getting busy helps.

P6 painting blackboard paint on the pencil jars. 

L9 making pizza.

Decorating Masterpiece

Home decor is a whole different ball game when you have young kids. And I'm not just talking about the constant tidy battle. There's so much stuff, even though we try hard not to collect toot. (Speaking of which - oooo, lovely toot here.) So since April (now I look back and find the post) I've been lusting after old scrabble games so I could copy clever-old-Meg-clogs and make something for the lego minifigues like this. She made that up! Isn't she a genius?

Alas, scrabble clearly holds its value too well to appear in my local op shops, so I started searching for other ideas. Lego makes these which are not only insanely expensive, they are really ugly too. There had to be a better way. I had an old frame so I could do it this way but I could not get the okay from the Lego King around here to glue some of the lego pieces on to make stands. Using glue on lego is apparently heresy.

By now I was obsessed, and handily enough I remembered we had an old scrap of skirting board that had been rattling around in the cupboard since we moved in. That, combined with some leftover shiny turquoise paint, and it works like a charm. Decor quirk and storage solution in one, for free. Squee to that baby.

(Sorry - lousy nighttime photos, but you get the idea.) I need a couple more rows now. Might have to rip up my actual skirting boards.

A Pic From Last Friday

since I didn't take one of today. This is L9's recorder group, with the school principal on his guitar, at the local shopping mall to raise money for red nose day. 

Wonderous music they made too! :)

Writing

We hung out with some friends today who swear by nap time, so we went with the closest we could muster this afternoon - quiet time. Reading, writing and of course, cuddling, all encouraged.  Yeah, I snoozed. P6 came up to our room with some writing for her Daddy:

Our beaches sands sparkling like diamonds. I like to jump over the eardrum-breaking, crashing waves. I also like to lie on the itchy, silvery wet grass and watch the fluffy white clouds gently, softly float by. 

She's not too bad eh? (Yes Bunce, I promise I'll teach her about apostrophes soon!)

Earthy

Something weird happened to my potato plants. They were doing well until a couple of weeks ago, when they started to rot. Ick. Since they had to go I decided to see if I could scrounge lunch out of what lurked below, and lo and behold, I could. P6 washed for me:

 Looking all shiny and scrubbed:

 I worked in the garden this avo too. My compost is absolutely writhing, in the best possible way:

You totally need two worm pics eh?

And I got a whole bunch of new seedlings in to start the end of winter tidy up. It's a mess of some veg, some flower, and the odd herb. I've decided trying to be organized in the garden is just tedious. Much more fun to chuck in a bunch of stuff and see what unfolds in the coming months.

Spring

That's just about how happy Aunty Iz is today eh?

I especially loved this last one:

That's why I want to be six again.

Neverending Knitting

I'm running out of winter in which to finish my Guernsey Wrap. Would probably have been a good use of today.

I am pleased to have immortalized my favourite holey, stripy leggings before they die though.

Some Recent Art

P6's art:

 L9's art:

Recon CS-6

Sorry cuzzie, L9 sold your legacy ;) A timely buy now bid from a stranger, and today all he could think about was the Recon CS-6. He had no patience for a mother faffing about with a camera while he struggled with that well-known frustration magnet - the impenetrable packaging.

 But at last, his configurable plastic dreams were realized. I'm sure you'll have more than one battle with this too when you come visit us sometime S2!

Growing Up

L9 is trying to sell his Zac Power collection on trade me. He used to adore them so much when he was about six or seven. Another phase outgrown. He's still trying to raise money for a Recon CS-6. I don't want to be home if the auction doesn't sell. Eeeep!

Weekending

trampoline hair

 daddy-made kisses

 and a swag of Asterix books 

Gutbusters

I have new pants! When you are as unusually shaped as I am, new pants are totally blogs-worthy. These are long enough (!) and high enough (!) and have special knees that almost turn into cyberman legs when you sit down. Which you can't really see from this picture. Also they do such amazing things to my mummy tummy that I have nicknamed them my gutbusters. Which is not very imaginative. If I was my sister I'd call them Immanuel or Nigel or something. 

(Not terribly illuminating, but I am very tall and my mirror is very low and so that hunched figure in the pic is as good as you get.)

Candle

of beeswax, made by P6 today on a school trip to the Honey Centre.

She is slightly glassy-eyed after being traumatized by A Little Princess for movie night. Despite reassurance all would end well, Sara losing her Daddy was all too much for my big-hearted girl. I have to be so careful that she doesn't just disappear into her room to deal with sadness by herself, so as not to make a fuss, when what she really needs is lots of cuddles. Lighting her very own candle helped too. We watched to the end so we could see that all was well when it finished. I do believe tears were also shed by Daddy. . . they are so alike these two.

Desk Saga Complete

It's been a bit of a mission to turn the ex-bedroom/new playroom into a place that could be used as a study too. Who would have guessed that finding an old table to paint up was such an impossible task? The new desks all looked cheap and nasty, but were actually expensive and nasty, so in the end I settled for a rough, outdoor plain trestle table from trade me, and painted it up in a glossy bright turquoisey blue. I've painted up the old chair to go with, but that's still wet, so will have to be a picture for another day. 

Just needed two lovely girlies to make that picture come to life eh?

Courage is grace under pressure.
-Ernest Hemingway

Ha! Backfire

This morning we were called down to read the new contracts L9 had written for himself and P6.

Excuse the nasty name removal. In case it's hard to read it says:
I, L9, agree to reward P6 if she sucsessfully nags mummy into bying a nerf gun.
Sined *L9
I, P6, agree to nag and nag and nag untill mummy or Daddy buy him (and) me a nerf gun befor crismas.
Sined *P6

That last bit was an addition as I said I would get him the thing as a Christmas prezzie. They do actually already have a nerf gun or three between them, but he has a strong urge for a Recon CS-6, and an evil streak to go with it.

Grandies

M&B are keen to see L&P before they head off on their holiday, so I put them to work this avo. Mutti kindly gave L9 a much needed haircut.

And doesn't he look older with his stylish do?

Meanwhile, Bunce kept P6 happy by teaching her clock patience. Which didn't quite work out because, um, we bought our pack of cards at the $2 shop, and somehow it had five eights in it?!

Uh Oh

New family contracts mean it hasn't all been plain sailing around here the last few weeks. Still, a big grumble this morning meant a better day. We each have our new resolutions, agreed to with thumbprints.

We're all going to try harder. (Especially the annoying ones. Yes, that includes me.)

Getting To Work

I'm painting again. This time a trestle table/desk for the playroom so we can start turning it into a more useful place, with room to study, rather than just a lego scrapyard. The paint is much greener than this IRL. Frustrating how it always looks wrong in pics.

Also been getting L9 into the DIY. He did a great job sanding back my old study chair and we can't wait to get it all painted up.

Singing And Arguing

One lovely song.

I heart Sam Harris.

I Spy. . .

Early Cheer in the garden. Spring is coming!

You have to look for the last signs of autumn and first of spring, because winter is such a drag.

L9 Discusses

Which would be the most effective heating source, a large furnace with vents or a fireplace? He's supposed to be hopping in the bath. You perhaps could pick that up from these pics somehow? 

He has more to say on the matter than I do. No, it's not relevant to anything, like much of what interests him ;) Afterwards he had a long discourse on how aqueous cream going down the plughole was not dissimilar to a star being formed and then being sucked into a black hole.

Spinach Ice Cream

I'm so going to make this tomorrow to torment my children.



With more cream, sugar and chocolate of course. How will they resist?

Flower

You just cannot be grumpy running an errand with a list like this:

Thanks P6!

Gibbons Rule

Went to the zoo. The Siamang gibbons rule.

Outa There

We went out to dinner to celebrate Geeky Husband moving to his new work premises today. Never again to cycle down the road. Sigh. Change is good though. He's still got his fingers crossed for more of it.

 P6 was such a trooper. As we walked up the hill she realized she'd lost some of my costume jewelry that she had been playing with. She and I went back to search, but to no avail. There were tears. Then a heartfelt apology which just about gave me tears. Then a brave little girl who said she was going to be happy anyway for Daddy's dinner out. She told me about a poem her teacher had shared with them about being happy for someone else when good things happen to them. We both agreed she has a very wise teacher.

This was the old grumpy face, hands up, happy face, hands down trick. She's good at putting on an unselfish smile for others this lovely girl. Of course the ice-cream sundae helps too.

Been Spinning

Nervously waiting for the race, like the rest of NZ . . .

ETA - Yay!! They did it!! :)

On The Door

Big brothers with black marker pens are awful things.