Tetris Miss Wendy Style

Miss Wendy blogged these today so I thought I might do to. It would appear that my kids like the taste of soap because they liked the biscuits with the lollies on. :-) In fact Will liked them so much he asked me on the weekend (3 weeks later) if we had "Anymore of Miss Wendy's biscuits Mum?" Unfortunately no. But we enjoyed them when we did!

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Collections and gatherings

There's been a bit of collecting going on around here and gathering too.

We got all the FIFA WC glasses from McD's. My faves are the blue and green.

We also got all 12 of the series one Lego mini figures with help from the lovely Louise at Toyworld. And are now eagerly awaiting series 2 in the next month or so.

I also made a space to display some of my collection of art deco vases. Normally they hang out in the laundry waiting forlornly for flowers- but they are pretty enough without the flowers so...

And I put on display our wedding, engagement and Saskia rings which are all too small now for our fingers. I thought it might provide a bit of weight loss inspiration. They are also just nice to look at.

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Funny!

I just read this on the Cosmo Cricket Blog and thought it was too funny not to share:

In the hospital the relatives gathered in the waiting room, where a family member lay gravely ill. Finally, the doctor came in looking tired and somber.

'I'm afraid I'm the bearer of bad news,' he said as he surveyed the worried faces. 'The only hope left for your loved one at this time is a brain transplant.

It's an experimental procedure, very risky, but it is the only hope. Insurance will cover the procedure, but you will have to pay for the BRAIN.

The family members sat silent as they absorbed the news. After a time, someone asked, 'How much will a brain cost?'
The doctor quickly responded, '$5,000 for a male brain; $200 for a female brain.'

The moment turned awkward.

Some of the men actually had to’ try' to not smile, avoiding eye contact with the women.
A man unable to control his curiosity, finally blurted out the question everyone wanted to ask, 'Why is the male brain so much more than a female brain?'

The doctor smiled at the childish innocence and explained to the entire group, 'It's just standard pricing procedure. We have to price the female brains a lot lower because they've been used.

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You can lead a horse to water

You can lead a cat to books...

But no matter how hard you try.

You can't force her to read. We know.

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And may there be more like it....

The photo below is from the Thermal Thaw back in June which Les won. I thought it would be fitting to post today as he takes off tonight for a second go at the F3J World champs, held this time around in France. I have to admit I wasn't very happy about his decision to go- he was coerced- not that his arm was that hard to twist- but I didn't see how he could justify the expenditure. So anyway I haven't brought into the preparations as much as I did when he went to Turkey. That said as a family we are all very much behind him and hoping that he manages to bring home not just a team medal this year but also a personal one. We love you babe, we'll miss you and most of all good thermals and good luck!! G, K, S, M and W (and if he got it E as well) xoxoxoxo

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Gone to the horses

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Couldn't have said it any better myself...

Happy Birthday Les!
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Pass the wood

There are a bunch of little things that Will is going to miss when Les heads away to France. Not the least of which is being a good helper boy with his Daddy.

I'm not sure that Les will miss taking twice as long to get anything done. But I know he'll miss Will.

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Cleaning Up and Getting Dirty

Will is great at getting dirty. In both big and small ways generally just as cute as the other....

He's also 'good' at cleaning up. Do not try this at home..... (notice it is switched off at the plug).

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Hey-e-opter

Yay for the Airforce and Yay for homeschool!! Lucky for Will, Merenia and I when the rescue helicopter and their Flight Simulator came to base recently we were able to go and check it out....

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Thirty One

I missed another day this month. Will was sick and cranky last Friday (16/7) so I didn't have time to reach for the camera and he didn't really want it in his face anyway. That's 4 days now- such is life. :-)

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Fineapple and Framango

For some reason only know to Fraser he started bothering me to get him a Mango- which turned into a Fra-Mango. It took me a while to cultivate it. But eventually it was ripe and ready to be delivered- of course I also needed a Fi-apple for Finlay as well (left) .

Apparently they were well received and the Framango was taken on many adventures and well photographed in all it's capers. I think they may have driven Niamh a little crazy with all the stories- but at least they were well entertained.

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Heart Break High

When I was a kid unless your parents wanted to keep you away from the opposite sex as your hormones were setting in you went to the local high school. Full stop. End of story.

Life is MUCH more complicated these days and it leaves me longing for a move to a small town with no options.

We were always of the mind that Kieran would go to Westlake Boys ever since the maths tutor that the school had for a while told us that Kieran really needed to do Cambridge Maths and not waste his time with NCEA. For a short while last year we considered applying for the Governments Private School scholarship until a wise person pointed out that private school would be something of a life style choice. On considering this we realised it was a lifestyle we either wanted or could afford even with the scholarship.

Thinking along those lines we also considered that going to Westlake also has some aspects of this, like Kieran being ready to catch a bus at 7:30am and not being home till 4:30 which is as far as I am concerned less than idea for a growing boy and his family. Especially when we add sports team practices to the mix as well. And lets face it the kid is more than just a maths whizz.

So the local, Massey High, has now been added to the mix and we are about to start the process of open day visits and so forth to see where we think will be best. Massey comes highly recommended by the parents we know who have kids there and also by Mrs Brown who is a former DP/Acting Principal from Whenuapai and someone whose judgement that I value highly. Massey is closer. Massey is more 'our sort of people' and it's also likely to be cheaper.

Westlake has Cambridge, it's all boys, it's academic and sporting achievement record is higher.

Les seems to lean which ever way he's blown depending on the conversation.

I'm leaning towards Massey.

Kieran has his heart set on Westlake.

And meanwhile in the background at least two sets of parents of currently year 7 boys are looking to see which way we ultimately go- we're testing the waters.

I have reasonable faith that where ever he goes Kieran will be fine because he genuinely seems to enjoy school so long as he is being challenged. He has friends going to both- though he thinks he prefers the ones already at or heading to Westlake. But it's five years of his life so we need to be sure we are making the 'right' decision for all the right reasons.

We will most likely apply for an out of zone spot at Westlake and go from there. Is it wrong that I'm quietly hoping that he won't get it and that the choice becomes moot- or that we leave town and don't have either option?

And I thought the two year old was hard work!

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Today and more

The better part of today has been spent without power and with the mindset that we have no water (although the promised 9-3 water outage didn't happen) Kieran skipped out early for a place with a working internet connection (Jakes). And the rest of us here at home have been taking it easier reading by the light of the clouds! And playing some duplo and games.

Now that the power has been restored the natural order of things is back and the Wiggles (the current favourite) are ringing out across the lounge.


Will has been sick since the VERY early hours of Tuesday when he crawled into our bed HOT and extremely restless. He had a fever and vommity bug which saw him hanging out in my lap all day and unfortunately cancelling the plans for a visit by the smaller Dawsons. The next day I thought he was better but he wasn't and so all our time playing outside and romping up large left him tired and with a cough that makes him sound like a sea lion ate a dog. :-( I've been trying to get him to take it easy and have an afternoon sleep- but it's a rather fruitless battle of wills because he is the ultimate Will and you can lead a toddler to the couch but you can't make him sleep.


The holidays have both gone fast but been very very long. Merenia had two days at Camp. Kieran had 4 days at Jakes. Tony and Petra were here for a day and the kids went to theirs for a day also. Alyssa was here for 2 days and when we dropped her off we picked up Brody for two nights as well. Thankfully there has been no rugby games, netball games or practice, St Johns or Haka practice and with Kieran allowed to skip two rugby practices it has been nice not to be constantly running around.

Les is ramping up for the worlds and will be gone before we know it- but not before celebrating another birthday. We'll be counting the days till daddy gets back for sure and not long after Kieran will also be leaving on an airplane for Fukuoka, Japan. Taking weet-bix but leaving behind his nervous parents.

It's possible more passports may be in order soon.... and while those decisions have yet to be made it's interesting times here down the right of way.

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