Tuesday, January 13, 2009

It's been far too long...

I'm not really in the frame of mind to be writing this right now but if I don't start it while Will's asleep then I will have to wait till tonight and then I'll be too tired and so on and so on....

So what have the Stockley's been up too since the year turned new??

Thursday 1st As any good new year should be we spent our by the pool! Well part of it anyway. This year I made a scrapbook for a client who lives locally and she offered us the use of the pool while they were away on holidays. It was much enjoyed by all including Ashlyn who was at out place for a sleepover.

Friday 2nd We spent today just hanging out at home. The girls played around outside and in. The kids gardens are totally blooming especially the tomatos and corn. Merenia and I took a photo of her hand next to the zuchini so we could watch how fast it was growing and Merenia took a photo of me in front of my sunflowers which are now on the way out after a massive display. The only problem we are having is that our Monarch Caterpillars are failing to grow past tiny. We think that maybe the ants are eating them or something else.

Saturday 3rd Just after his Chiefs shirt arrived in the mail Kieran went to spend the weekend at Jakes and so we were just a family of four again. We spent the day just hanging out and in my case a touch of scrapbooking. With all the busyness of Will’s birthday and the Christmas I never did get around to taking his 12 month ‘monkey photos’ till today!

Sunday 4th While Les was out flying and Kieran was at Jakes, Merenia, Will and I picked up Kieley and headed for Takapuna and Devonport. At Takapuna we went to the Market and looked around the shops. The weather was super hot so we got some nice cooling Frappunchinos from Starbucks of course. After Merenia spenther Trade Aid voucher we drove to Devonport and did the same thing with cooler shops. Merenia had a horse ride and Will cooled his feet in the ocean.

Monday 5th We lost one kid and gained two more! While Kieran returned home with Jake in tow
Merenia left for a sleepover at Jades place. The boys spent the usual time playing on the computer, as well as some Lego, sport on the back lawn and some fun with Jakes electronics set. Kieran allowed us to wash his Chiefs shirt which he had been wearing since it’s arrival on Saturday.

Tuesday 6th We went to brother John's in Papakura to catch up with Les' Mum.
  • We arrived at 2:30 despite saying we'd be there around three.
  • It was a stinking hot day.
  • The food with cream, butter and other foods needing refrigeration were already on the table.
  • There were flies.
  • Les' sister-in-law has MORE stuff than his Mother.
  • I didn't think this possible.
  • We got lovely American souvenirs for Christmas.
  • They tried to give my children about 600mls of Sprite Zero EACH
  • And didn't see the problem with that.
Ahhhh the less said the better, It was nice to see my other sister-in-law Glenys and her daughter, Natalia, and her wee girl Caitlin who is just 2- and very smart, funny and cute!

Wednesday 7th Merenia was off busy playing with Ashlyn and so it was pretty quiet at home. Another stunningly hot day we spent some time on the front lawn and gave Will the hose. Kieran
got out the camera to photograph Will and I got out the smaller camera to photograph Kieran photographing Will.

Thursday 8th Another hot summer holiday at home. Just doing our own things which included scrapbooking for me and working at taking the little stones off of Saskia’s garden for the kids to earn computer time and cash. The heat saw us jump in the pool at the end of the long hot day.

Friday 9th Kieley, Ma, Will and I enjoyed a huge day out today! We picked up the Rae
girls and headed down the Riverhead-Coatesville HW. A couple of places we wanted to go to were closed so we kept on to one of our two main destinations- The Red Crayon in Waimauku.This is an absolutely amazing design store, we all agreed we could spend a LOT of money there. We all left with a little something I got a little blue ‘G’. After that we looked at the rest of the stores in Waimauku and had a drink at the cafe. Then we headed for ‘Just Plain Interesting’ in Oratia. Funnily enough the cafe that Kieley had sussed out for lunch was in exactly the same place. Will was asleep so he relaxed in the push chair while we enjoyed Eggs Benedict and BLT’s. After a couple more stops we headed for home with an Ice Cream stop on the way. In the evening I sorted out my photos which was long overdue and seriously satisfying!

Saturday 10th While I cleaned the spare room and Les did a bunch of other jobs around the place like mowing the lawns. The kids just hung out and played- things like A1GP (pictures to follow). In the evening I sorted out my filing cabinet which was long overdue and seriously satisfying!

Sunday 11th Sunday was a lazy one in the morning. I did a little scrapping in the afternoon we headed out to Westgate for a little shopping and Starbucks because it was Les' last day of holidays. I did a little more scrapbooking in the evening. We cooked up our second Ham for dinner... We brought two smaller hams this year for two different reasons:
1. Because you sometimes do get a little Ham fatigue when you have it so much even if it is SOOOO good!
2. Because there's always a point in the year where Christmas is both long over and very far off when you wish for that tasty Ham goodness.... in our house that happens around the 10 of January I guess... good holding out Les and Gypsy.... way to save that Ham for a far off time. :-)

Monday 12th Kieran headed over to Jakes in the morning and Merenia's friend Jade arrived not long after for a sleepover. We went for a swim in the Base pool after tea it was fantastic!! Will loved it he's becoming a real wee water baby although he likes to try and drink the water which sometimes ends up in him getting a face full which always end up in him screaming his lungs out in shock and horror.

Which brings me to today the kids have been messing around the house. And we dropped Jade back home just before lunch and then headed to Westgate to do a spot of supermarket shopping. On the way back we stopped in at Massey Gardens and Orchard to get Ice Creams. Normally I would recommend MG&O but not today they have a new policy where they won't sell you an empty Ice cream cone for your baby!!! That is just about the dumbest thing I ever heard!!

I have a whole bunch more to tell you- a whole posts worth about Will and I had hoped to add photos as well but it's super late now and I am here in a towel still with a quick guide to Auckland to write before I head out to the Airport to meet my little (yeah right she's taller than me!!) sister who is up with a friend for the Big Day Out and shopping and general touristy stuff.

So to get to the point the rest will have to wait till tomorrow or later! Hope you are well Catch you soon!

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