Chip, Roof, God and other funny stories

The Weekend before last; rugby, more rugby and bad fraps; Les was home ANZAC weekend which was good and bad... a little disruptive for the baby who was both pleased to see him and a little reticent and noticeably bothersome in his continued absence come Sunday night. Will misses Les and for that one reason alone I am REALLY looking forward to him coming home. We didn't attend an ANZAC service- unusual for us as we have huge respect for the occasion and the sentiment behind it. Our lack of attendance wasn't a lack of respect so much as an excess of Rugby. Kieran had his first match for Massey a 'friendly' against Kumeu. I say 'friendly' because I learned fast- we're playing with the big boys now. It's Rugby and it's Men and it's Kiwi- there's no such thing as relaxed, trivial or inconsequential game of Rugby. I am bemused and also kind of amazed by the seriousness of it all- they're 11 and 12 years old and it is 'just a game'. We droppped K off to the park for the 1 hour pre-game practice/warm-up and then headed back to Westgate for Starbucks. At which point karma kicked in, I have a rule; I will not shop at any establishment that has no real need to be open on a public holiday. Which means I shouldn't be buying Starbucks at all let alone before 1pm on ANZAC day, but I did. And it was the worst Frappuncino I have ever tasted in my life. So bad I couldn't finish it! Les' was bad too and eventually Will ended up practically sitting on it- destroying the cup and getting frap on L's trousers and shoes- that's some serious karma! We went back and watched Kieran's game and I took a stack of photos while Les trailled around after Will and Merenia hung out on the playground. Kieran's team was outclassed their opponents had been playing together for a while under the same coaches for quite a while I think and Kieran's team is a half and half combo of new and old. After the rugby we did some supermarket shopping and not long after we got home L, M and K headed out for the Blues game (which Merenia reported on last week).

Hearts a flutter Last weekend Kieley's Mum aka Ma, Granny and Pam had a 'bit of a turn' that sent her heart racing a bit like a hummingbirds wings. It has been quite scary and stressful- and that's just for us... so you can imagine how the Rae's are all feeling! Will and I did go into see her last week but I felt a bit like we caused more stress as Will doesn't have a great bedside manner! Ma's home now (for the second time) after a few nights in the hospital's rather inhospitable cattle yard 'short stay ward'. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing from now on.

Baby Hissy Fits and School Run attention getting; Part of Will's missing Les has been chucking some decent tantrums he's a screamer and sometimes a biter and then there's the hair pulling- this is all a bit of a shocker for me as I don't really tolerate any of these behaviours... but I've also never seen them in someone so little and unable to understand/reason with! So it has been somewhat challenging of late. He is also a big attention seeker. He will turn the TV down if the kids or I are watching it and he wants us to play with him or switch the computer off or unplug the monitor if he can get near the back of it. He is most funny in the car after school. Each day I have 4 big boys and a big girl whjo want to unload their days there and then. Elliot is generally the most full-on as he only has a limited time between when we get in the car and when I drop him home to tell everything he needs to tell. But Finlay and Fraser generally have a few things to share as do K and M. So Will makes noise- BIG-I-don't-want-to-be-left-out-NOISE. Sometimes he just chatters away and sometimes he just laughs- real hearty big laughs that can't be ignored.

Myna Birds at head height The other day after school a Myna Bird flew right past my head as I was sitting down. The bird was followed quite closely by Ruby which all explained the commotion we had heard a few seconds earlier. So I got up from the computer and chucked the cat into the hallway picked the bird out of Will toy basket by the window and opened the window freeing the bird onto the driveway. Where Angel, the neighbours cat saw her opportunity at which point I screamed for the second time in that minute... the lucky bird ran down the driveway and eventually flew off in the nick of time. Ruby skulked off a little miffed as did Angel. Pity Will wasn't in the lounge at the time- he likes birds!

Why I hate Winter One word; Sport with Rugby and Netball now in full swing we have two Rugby practices a week which end in darkness- so heavy that last Thursday I couldn't see Merenia 50 metres away on the playground! And one netball practice that as the team manager I have to attend. Can I just say it's nigh on impossible to keep Will still for 10 minutes let alone an hour and a quarter! He gets good milage too around the playground, through drains, toward the carpark and nibbling on some shrubery. Then of course there is Saturday mornings. It's heartening to know that even in the midst of a weather bomb during which Civil Defence has issued a 'stay at home notice' Waitakere Netball don't cancel the games that way you know that even if there's torrential rain there's no need to listen to the cancellation service. And so we got to the courts at Te Pai at 7:45am... cool lots of parking and join 30 odd other teams and their associated parents and siblings for a game. (They lost, 9-1, I think). Then we head for the car as we need to get up to the next game (at Silverdale) and try and leave the car park at the same time as the 240 odd children from 30 odd other teams and their parents- many of whom also seem to be in somewhat of a hurry and at least one of whom is totally F'in' rude and quite menacing. And we drove to Rugby... I was so over it by the time that we got there that I asked the coach to drop Kieran home after the game... two more hours in the car/rain with Will was more than I could take...

Printing mayhem; There's some lesson's here;

1. When you say you'll help with homework don't leave it till the night before it's due.
2. Don't leave your A3 Printer idle for a long time.
3. Don't leave your A3 paper by a window.
4. Don't try and print something when one of you're fave shows is on.
   

Great Granny Roof- Last week Merenia was alos putting together a family tree and she rang Les' Mum to get the names Les' Grandparents. (The interrogation I mean phone call itself is a whole other funny story). Anyway Mira's gets off the phone and tells me she didn't understand what Nana said with regards to Les' Dad's Mum she thought is was maybe Rose. So I texted Les. Later he texted back that he thought it was Ruth. And Mira's is like; "so that's R-O-O-F" Yeah Mira's good old great-granny Roof!

The Appearance of God The other day we were coming home from dropping K at Rugby practice. After I got back in the car Fraser and I had a conversation about seatbelt and the potential for a crash. A minute or so later we had stopped at an intersection. The way for us to turn was clear but I had noticed the clouds. There were some unusual formations and I pointed out to the kids that it looked like the letters HELP in a fancy all caps font. We discussed the idea that this could be a message from God and also checked out the other clouds- an atom bomb mushroom cloud (trust Finlay to see that) and a large T-rex- we came to the conclusion God had accidently ressurected Dinosaurs which had gone mutant due to radiation and was looking for help. We turned the corner and were discussing the logistics of us as mere mortals helping God an omnicent being as we approached the next big intersection. Around this time an older style brown car came around the corner at speed swerving and weaving all over the road on which we were travelling... had we have been a few seconds further up the road we would have been involved in a crash.
I know I don't particularly believe in you and I'm still not convinced but.... Thanks for that one God!

Finlay's Chip I was standing at the bench the other morning while Fraser was rinsing his bowl and I thanked him for doing it. At which point he looked at Finlay's unrinsed bowl and reminded him that he needed to rinse it.....
Finlay: That's the problem with not having a brain. You forget stuff.
Me: If you don't have a brain then how do you do things like breathe and eat?
Finlay: I just have a chip that's programmed to do the basics, like breathin' and all.
Me: Oh (Finlay heads out to the lounge pausing as he's about to pass through the door)
Finlay: And pickin' yer nose.

New things Last but not least it looks like we will be getting new neighbour and new lino... I am beyond excited by both of these things... I am not sure which I am happier about... probably the lino but there are so many benefits to the other as well. Not the least of which is the 'ammunition' that the 'situation' gives us should we need it.

♥