Smile

At the moment in New Zealand it is wintertime.

Although we are lucky enough not to have snow on the ground, it can get pretty cold here.

This, as everyone will know, can really get you down somedays, especially if it has been raining all day and the temperature has not risen at all all day.

I have a calendar in the toilet, not sure why, although it is pretty to look at.

It is an Anne Geddes one with lots of pictures of babies in poses that are so cute.

However I am in love with July's picture.

It is of a baby laid on rose petals and it makes me smile and feel so happy everytime I see it.

Not the greatest shot of the picture, I tried to find it online but to no avail, so had to resort to taking a picture of it myself and cropping it

Definitely a moral booster for the middle of winter!

School Holidays

Ben has gone to Grandma and Grandad's house.
Yes he managed to drink sufficient for my liking and now he is having a party with them.

Alex on the other hand is not quite sure what to do with himself.
He is at Daycare today, but yesterday he was not exactly himself. And he must have asked at least 4 times if Ben was coming home today?!

He is fine going to sleep at night in his room by himself. This is something I thought might have been a problem, they share a room, and he is staying in bed all night as well. Surfacing about 7am.

But he is definitely missing his big brother.
Not sure if he will manage until this weekend when we go to the caravan!

Boys Art

We have got to the stage in life with the boys where we are constantly getting art work brought home.

Everyone knows what I mean......you look at every piece and say all the right things but then you wonder "what the hell am I meant to do with it all now?"

We have treasure boxes for the boys and I do manage to keep some of the better pieces for them to view when they are older.

But I also love to have it on display so we can appreciate what they have achieved.

So, I copied an old friends idea, and created an art board in the dining room.

This board can now display any piece of art that we want to view for a while.

Then when something new comes along, we change it all over.

Ben also gets to display any achivement awards he gets from school there.

Works for us.

Blackmail

Well maybe it could be down loaded to bribery!

We are once again blackmailing Ben into doing something. No not medicine this time......drinking, not alcohol, just everyday normal drink.
He just doesn't want to drink!

We can send him to school at 9am and when he comes home at 5pm he has drunk all of 100mls.
Now in my book that is insufficient for someone to go over 6 hours without having drunk anything.

So we started to bribe him this week.....if he drinks sufficient, then he will get a star.
3 stars and he gets to go and stay with Grandma and Grandad next week (school holiday time), all on his own.
On a day that he doesn't get a star, then he gets no computer time.
This is big to him at present as we have a ball game on the computer called 'Peggle' that he is just loving. It is a super little game that both him and Alex are managing to master very well. In fact better than I am at times!

So even though I am trying not to make a big deal over all this, I still am trying to get him to understand that he does have to drink something during the day.

Swimming Update

Alex has been working hard with his swimming recently.


He looks like a little champion channel swimmer.

He loves going under the water and then staying there for a long time. Sometimes a little longer than the teacher likes!

Looking After

Steve woke this morning not feeling great.

He went to work, but after Alex had finished swimming, we went and collected him from work and all came home.

Alex asked why daddy was coming home, so I explained that he was not feeling well.

So Alex decided that daddy could sit on the couch, with him of course, and a blanket, pillow, drink and soft toys (Barney and Kung Fo Panda) and they could sit together snuggled under the blanket and watch a movie.

So that is where they are currently snuggled together.

Joke

A 75 yr old lady rings her local hospital and this conversation follows:

"Hello, I'd like some information on a patient, Mrs Tiptree. She was admitted last week with chest pains and I just want to know if her condition has deteriorated, stabilised or improved?"

"Do you know which ward she is in?"

"Yes, Medical Ward, room 5-1"

"I'll put you through to the Nurses Station"

"Hello, Medical Ward, how can I help you?"

"I would like some information on a patient, Mrs Tiptree. I was wondering if her condition had deteriorated, stabilised or improved?"

"I'll just check her notes for you.........I'm please to say that Mrs Tiptree's condition has improved. She has regained her appetite, her temperature has steadied and after some routine checks tonight, she should be well enough to go home tomorrow"

"Oh that is wonderful news, I'm so happy, thank you ever so much!"

"You seem very relieved? Are you a close friend or relative?"

"No, I'm Mrs Tiptree in room 5-1. Nobody tells you f*#k all in here!"

New Banner

Thanks to the wonders of those wonderful people over at The Cutest Blog On The Block I have a new banner (heading at top of blog).
They have so much on their site at present for novice computer designers like myself.
I can do most things on the blog now, but changing html code and such likes is a little beyond me at present.
But with the help of their 'how to' section and the joys of my darling husband, we were able to get the banner looking just right for the design I have from their website.

I love it.....

Sunday Prayer

Dear Lord,

Every single evening
As I'm lying here in bed,
This tiny little Prayer
Keeps running through my head:

God bless all my family
Wherever they may be,
Keep them warm
And safe from harm.

For they're so close to me.

And God, there is one more thing
I wish that you could do;
Hope you don't mind me asking,

Please bless my computer too.

Now I know that it's unusual
To Bless a motherboard,
But listen just a second
While I explain it to you, Lord.

You see, that little metal box
Holds more than odds and ends;
Inside those small compartments
Rest so many of my friends.

I know so much about them
By the kindness that they give,
And this little scrap of metal
Takes me in to where they live.

By faith is how I know them
Much the same as you.
We share in what life brings us
And from that our friendships grew.

Please take an extra minute
From your duties up above,
To bless those in my address book
That's filled with so much love.

Wherever else this prayer may reach
To each and every friend,
Bless each e-mail inbox
And each person who hits 'send'.

When you update your Heavenly list
On your own Great CD-ROM,
Bless everyone who says this prayer
Sent up to GOD.Com

Amen

Bath Time

As many of you may recall, we have been redoing our bathroom.

Ok it is not totally finished, in that it still needs painting! One day Steve will get round to it, although it has been a little too cold to paint. Damp and wet does not make for great ideal paint enviroments!

Anyway, we were actually brave when redoing the bathroom in that we took out the bath and have not replaced it!

We have just a shower in the house now.

We looked at how many times we used it and found it was about once every 6-8 weeks and even then it was just the boys jumping in for a splash around.

So the decision was made and the bath disappeared.

However, the other evening, Alex wanted a bath, he had had a rough day and you could tell it would calm him.

When the boys were little, we actually used a 50l fish box in the bath, saved us having to fill the huge bath with all that water for such a little person. It worked well, Ben used to love his deep bath.

So Steve came up with the wonderful idea of getting the bin out again, and so the boys had a shower bath instead.

Kept everyone happy, although I am going to have to make sure the bin disappears again soon, because they seem to want a bin bath more than a shower now!

Mad Morning

The other morning didn't go quite as planned I expected!
Ok mornings are like that, but this one just went!

On the days I work, I get up before anyone else as I get the bus to work. So there I was sorting out the lunches and realised that with the boys raiding the pantry for sandwiches the evening before, we didn't have much bread!
Worked out what we had enough for and realised that I was not getting any bread for my breakfast. Now I am not a breakfast person, well I am not someone who will eat breakfast as soon as they get up. I like to wait an hour or so.
So I decided that if I left the house early enough I could sneak into McDonalds and treat myself to a Sausage and Egg McMuffin before the bus arrived.

Left the house at a suitable time and consequently watched one of the buses drive straight on past! So no McDonalds for me today as I was not sure when the next bus would arrive.

Got to work, sorted the stuff I needed and casually mentioned to my colleague that I was leaving sooner to get to the school as I was going through the McD's drive thru to get breakfast. Hang free she said, there is toast etc in the kitchen. So they pushed me that way and I ended up making breakfast for 3! It was nice too.
As we left the building, so my mobile rang. It was Steve to say he couldn't find his car keys and could I please help. So after a little shuffling around, I zoomed home in another work car and rescued my husband. He took Ben to school and I rushed Alex to Daycare.
I knew the Nurse we were working with was planning on getting morning tea, so I stopped via a shop and got a nice slice to share. Thought it would go down nice as I had messed a few people around that morning.
Knew the school I was going to, but didn't account for taking the wrong turning in the fog. Hamilton has some nice back country roads, when you don't have 100% of an idea as to where you are, in the fog!
I was driving imagining the conversation I would have with them when I called to say I was lost....

"Hi, thanks for letting me run home to rescue my husband, but now I am lost in fog! Where is the school again?"

I finally managed to find the school and the rest of the day actually went ok.
I called Steve at 11am to see if he had located his keys, he said not yet, but that he thought he knew where they were.
I know he was busy that day with a guy from Auckland, so I knew not to call him too often. But at 3pm I called once again just to check about the keys. He said he would be sorting it soon.

Left it at that.
When he got home, I didn't mention it, but then I suddenly remembered and he said yes he had found his keys.
With which he then walked to his jacket that was hanging at the bottom of the stairs, where it had actually been all day as he had decided not to wear it today, and then consequently took the keys out of the pocket!

Don't you just love husbands!

Last One for June!

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Joshua
Happy Birthday to you…..

Have a super 12th Birthday. Don't eat too much cake and be nice to your sister.

Lottery

New Zealand had one of its biggest Lotto draws yesterday.

On offer was $35 million, money on a credit card, money towards travel, 2 cars, a boat and money towards a holiday home.

It went......!

A group of 4 people, in a syndicate, won the whole kitten caboodle lot! The total prize pool included.....

1. $34,453,401 NZD ($22,049,073 USD) in cash
2. 2 luxury cars - An Audi R8 and a Porsche Cayenne
3. $250,000 ($160,141 USD) on an American express Platinum Card
4. $250,000 towards luxury travel
5. A Four Winns V258 boat
6. $750,000 ($480,445 USD) towards a holiday house

The Lottery people said that 4.78 million tickets were sold last night, usually there are about 500,000 sold each week. It generated $28 million in sales.

Everyone dreamed of what they would do with the winnings, but of course it is only a dream.

4 Yr Old

Alex had the wonderful fate of having his 4yr old Immunisations yesterday.
Consequently he is not a great fan of the nurse at the surgery because according to him she 'put holes in my arms!'
He even went so far as to ask if he had to ever see the nurse again? Because he said he doesn't want any more holes in his arms!
The look on his face when she put the first injection in.......if looks could kill, she was way out of here!
That made getting the second one in more of a challenge, although he was actually a fabulous little boy with the nurse and I am very proud of him.

My son, sadly does not do pain, no way at all, so this of course left him very fragile for the rest of the evening.
He didn't want a shower because his arms would get wet!
All he wanted to do was snuggle with mummy because then he would be safe.
He didn't like Grandad, who is currently staying with us, decided that Grandad needed to go home!
Didn't even want daddy because daddy was the one who suggested a shower in the first place!

Alex is the type of person who will hurt himself, cry for a while over the sore arm, leg, hand etc. He will then be fine for a while, but then several hours later will see the wound and promptly start howling again, because he remembers that he has a sore wound!
He can even work himself into a frenzy several days later.
As I said, he does not do pain!

Invention

Ben came home from school the other day and had Steve carry in this......

Apparently they had been making them at After School Care!

But he was all in to this, explaining how it works and what it does.

This is a Macaroni Cheese Maker, which has blades and turning things inside.

You apparently put everything in the Easy Mac Cheese box, it then gets pushed through, by blades, to the KFC box, which in turn mixes it all together before pushing it through to the Weetbix box and then it flows through all the other boxes to the end, where you are meant to place a bowl ready to catch the cooked Mac Cheese.

Simple as that, according to Ben.

This is not the first time he has come home from school with an invention, ok they are not all usually this large! He has also tried to use boxes etc to invent machines in the garage as well.

The Waikato Museum has a display on at the moment about 'The Da Vinci Inventions', so I thought we would take Ben along to it today seeing as he is so into inventing things at the moment.

Sour Note

As I was doing the shopping this morning, I decided to treat myself to the local weekend paper. Not sure when I will get time to read it, but if it is there then you never know.
Well after all the cooking I have done and the fact that dinner is taken care of, I thought I would give myself 5 minutes now.

The front page headline was "Swine Flu at School But Doors Stay Open"

So far no worries, till I read the first sentence of the article.........

"XYZ Primary School is set to remain open - despite one of its boys yesterday becoming one of the latest cases of swine flu."

Oh %&#*! really glad I got the paper this weekend because that is actually my sons school.

So a quick yell to Ben to see if he has any notes from school for us?
No he says, but then you never can quite trust a 51/2 yr old.
So a quick search of his bag and low and behold, there is a note from the local Public Health Dept informing us of the situation.

I am not altogether that worried, I know that there is nothing to jump up and down about. They have the case under control.
They have informed us on the day they discovered the results, which was yesterday (Friday) and it is obvious that the boy is not in Ben's class because it mentions that we would have received further notice if he was in the actual class.

But, hey, am I glad I bought the weekend paper today!

Productive

Today has been very productive for me.
I did the weekly shop first thing this morning, whilst all the boys in the house got their hair cut.
Unfortunately the weekly shop came to way more than I expected, so I won't be doing that again in a hurry, although I am still not sure what I exactly brought that was so expensive sent it up so high!
Once home, I have managed to do 2 loads of laundry and get it blowing on the line in the winter sunshine.
Make up dinner for tonight in the slow cooker. Man I love the slow cooker, the feeling I get at about 3pm when I realise that dinner is sorted and I don't have to start worrying about "what shall we have for dinner tonight?"
Make up a huge batch of chilli, that eventually portioned down into 5 servings, that can go in the freezer for future use when I need something to get out for dinner and I don't know what to have!
Used up the old bananas, by making a wonderful banana cake, which the recipe actually ends up making 2 loaf tin size cakes, so will share one with the neighbours.

And even managed to solve my Mum's computer problem.

So all in all a great day. Maybe tomorrow I will sit around all day in my pyjamas reading the newspaper and my book!

And Another One!

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Janet
Happy Birthday to you…..

Hapy Birthday Aunty Janet, hope you have a fun day and maybe even get to play some golf.

Computers

My 2 are getting quite adapt to the computer.

We can sometimes realise that we don't actually know where Alex is and then we find him surfing the web for his game site that they like to play.

It is so cute to watch him, he knows exactly what to do and how to do it, but he also likes to test out buttons!

Sometimes you will find something has happened to the computer and we have no idea as to how he got it to happen!

I love the little feet resting on the hard drive!

Such concentration

We are actually beginning to realise that one day we will actually have to have more than 1 computer in the house!

Birthday

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Sarah
Happy Birthday to you…..

Have a great day niece, hope it is fun.

Swine Flu

As we are all fully aware now, Swine Flu is out there in the world.

Unfortunately I sometimes feel it has been taken a little too far!

People die from Influenza every year, or at least they die from complications due to Influenza.
Influenza is catching, you can get the flu from someone who has it, yes, if at work someone is coughing and sneezing, you can catch it, they may have the flu, and bingo, so could you have it a few days later.
This is how it has been for many years now. Medical professions are aware of this and that is one reason why they try so hard to have an active Flu Injection available each year. Because they know that Flu can kill. Or at least people who develope the flu are susceptable to further compications.
If next year everyone who had the flu was to report it to the Ministry of Health, there would be a major out cry, but we no longer really keep a tally on the amount of people who die each year from the flu.

Suddenly we have people panicking over Swine Flu, when at present it is showing no more symptoms in people than the ordinary everyday flu. And the other funny thing about it....it is exactly like the flu.

Alex's daycare has just sent a message home about Swine Flu. Seems that they will turn people away who have any flu like symptoms.
Such as:

1. fever
2. cough
3. sore throat
4. runny nose
5. stuffy nose
6. headache

Alex is home today as it is not a day he goes to daycare, he has a snuffy nose. A typical childhood cold that he no doubt caught from one of the other little kids at daycare, or even from his brother, who caught it from school. I have a snuffly nose too, have had for about 2 weeks now, again typical thing I have in the winter months.

So does this mean that suddenly we should stay home till the symptoms disappear? So far I would have been off work for 2 weeks.

Yes we need to stop this spreading, but how do you stop a cold spreading?

There has been, apparently, 1 death in England. But what they don't tell you, is that even though the person was H1N1 positive, they haven't actually said that that is what they died of! They may have died from Pnuemonia, which could have been a complication of having the flu, but because they were positive then it must make the media.

As you may be able to tell, this bugs me a little. I don't want anyone to die from Swine Flu, yes I will do all I can to assist in it not spreading, but to start telling people that if you have a cold to stay home until the symptoms have disappeared, well then New Zealand may as well shut up shop for 7 days, everyone stay home, do not socialise with family and friends, do not pass go, do not get $200 and don't dream of breathing!

A vaccine is required, and yes I know they are working on one. There will be pandomonia when it is released. They had better have enough because I think the uptake on it will be huge and it will not go down well to have the medical company come forward and say 'sorry, we just don't have enough!' People will want it when it is available, so lets hope there is enough.

Day Off

Ben has had his first official day off school.

Alex woke this morning not feeling 100% so I made the simplest decision in that Steve could take the car, as I was staying home all day and wouldn't require the car. As it was Wednesday, it was a usual day for us to stay home anyway.

Ben however got himself all in a fluster this morning and was really not 100% himself! So after a big hug I asked if he wanted to stay home and he said 'yes'.

Now this is quite a surprise as he is the child that loves school. He often gets annoyed because he can't go to school on a Saturday!

So suddenly I realised I was at home for the whole day with 2 children who were not 100% and generally just wanted a quiet day at home.

So they got dressed, snuggled under a blanket and watched kids tv for a few hours.

Perfect way to spend a day when feeling under the weather, which by the way has been beautiful today and so I got all the washing done!

Dummy Update

We are now on the start of night 3 and you would think dummy's had never exsisted!

The first night was a little rough. Alex was restless before he fell asleep, he was so use to having his dummy to switch off with.
So he was very clingy and wanted me to stay with him. Once he was a sleep there were no problems. He didn't even ask for it the next morning when he woke, all he asked for was juice!

Last night, he went to bed and never even mentioned it, almost as if he had totally forgotten that they ever exsisited. He got his juice from the kitchen counter and just hopped up into bed for a story with never a word mentioned.
Tonight was exactly the same....!

We are now a dummy free house! Man that was too easy!

Parents Centre

As many of you know, I am involved with a Not for Profit Organisation in New Zealand called Parents Centre.

They are an organisation who provide Antenatal Classes and Parenting Education Classes for new Mums.

I have been involved with them since 2003, when we did our own Antenatal Classes with them.

When Ben was 5 weeks old, I joined the committee of my local centre and now 6 years later I am still involved!

I have held several positions on the committee since joining and have enjoyed them all.

When we moved to Hamilton I transferred to the local centre here, and walked straight into the President role.

After 19 months in charge I have sadly handed over the reins.

My family no longer uses anything that the centre has to offer, not that that matters, as I was not involved because of them.

I was involved for me, for something that I wanted to do, something that I could give back with.

Sadly my interests have changed slightly, I am still passionate about what Parents Centre does, but I found that as my family have grown, then I had less time for them and was not giving the same amount of time and committment that they deserved.

So last week I handed over the role of President at the Annual General Meeting.

I thought it would be a piece of cake to hand over, as I was quite happy to see it go, but, it was more emotional than I imagined. I got choked on my Annual Report and actually realised what I was saying goodbye to!

I have not walked away totally.....I am still involved with the centre but I now only look after the website, which is one area, not 6 like I was doing before.

I have made some awesome friends through volunteering and I am eternally grateful for that.

I am not going to stop volunteering, I just need to take some time with my family and the maybe find something else to move in to that fits with my growing family at the time that I need it.

Dummy's

This morning Alex decided that his dummy's could go in the rubbish bin!

He has done this before and then a couple of hours later he has fished them out and washed them ready for bedtime.

But today he forgot all about them. I didn't! And they were duely fished out, washed and hidden in a cupboard.

That is where they still are at this present moment of 7.50pm.

Alex on the other hand is upstairs in bed, without one!

We have had a 5 minute rage, because there wasn't one available for bed, but we just calmly explained that he had thrown them out and I had cleared the rubbish. He even went so far as to ask me to go see if the bags were still beside the road!

After a while he calmed down, obviously realising that mum and dad were not about to produce one for him and he has now settled for the night without one.

So first 30 minutes looking good so far, will keep you posted as to how the night goes and how we get on over the next few nights.

One more milestone getting crossed off, next it will be 2 little boys dry at night without nappies!

Even before I managed to hit 'Publish Post', Alex has crept downstairs and demanded his dummy. It is going to be a long night!

Another Birthday

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear John and Ken
Happy Birthday to you…..

Happy 80th birthday to my dear father in law John. You are doing well for your young age of 80.

Also happy 55th birthday to your son Ken, my brother in law, Hope you day is good too.

Insulin Update

Steve went to the Medical Centre Pharmacy and the nice man very nicely gave him the ampule of insulin that he needed. Only cost him $34 and the man said that if he brings his next script there, they will give him a refund discount off of the script due to him having got this one ampule from them.
How nice.
At least that way as well they have history of the drugs he is on and then they will know him.

Insulin

Today has already started out well......!
Here is a conversation Steve and I have already had by 9am on a Saturday morning!

Steve: Oh I seem to be out of my long acting insulin!
Me: Well we better call the pharmacy and see what time they are open today!
Steve: I don't think they are open on a Saturday...!
Me: Well I will try.

Quick call to the pharmacy and discovered that indeed they are not open on a Saturday morning. So the conversation continues....

Me: Well you will have to go to the local Accident and Medical Clinic and see the doctor and get a prescription for the drug you need?
Steve: It's ok, I will be fine!
Me: What?? Till Monday?
Steve: Yes
Me: Well you just call you Dad when you have a hypo at 3am!

His Dad is currently staying with us, but he is almost 80 and is blind. So actually of no help what so ever at 3am.

Now I don't want to take responsibility for this. It is Steve's illness, he is a big boy, he can deal with all of this himself. BUT I am the one that will have to deal with this in the middle of the night when he has a hypo!

I am happy to remind him about the fact his drugs are about to run out, but again he is a big boy and can do it himself.

But for now, he has no long acting insulin and probably won't have any until Monday when I collect his script, which is a little too far away for my liking!

Consequently, Steve has just walked into the study and read this blog as I am writing it! I guess now he understands where I am coming from and has agreed to go to the local Clinic and Pharmacy to see what he can get.

Birthday Party

We have decided that we are not going to have parties for the boys birthdays each year. It gets very difficult to come up with something new and different each year.
And I have already decided this and they are still so young!

So we decided that we would celebrate their first 5 birthdays, they will then get to have a small gathering for their 6th as this will be the first birthday they will get to celebrate with school friends and then that is it until 10, then 15, 18 & 21. For all the ones inbetween they will be allowed to invite 3 or 4 friends from school to come home to dinner or out to a restaurant or an outing of some kind etc. We will have a cake but there will be no big party with goody bags and games every year.

So this year we already ran away from the house decided that we would have Alex's party somewhere other than at home. We ended up going to the local museum.
It was awesome.
I paid for the little ones and their mum's to get in and then we got to go round 2 of the kid friendly exhibites and have cake and juice in a room the museum supplied for us. They also, free of charge, provided a nice young man called 'Scott' to look after entertain the kids for an hour.

It was so worth it. No mess, no worries about property, no damage. All I did was supply a nice cake, some juice and some little party bags to take home. As we held the party at 2pm till 4pm I didn't worry about other food. It was awesome.

Alex now wants his 5th birthday there and Ben wants his 6th in September there!

Everyone had an awesome time and the kids loved it. Yea for other places to hold birthday parties.

On another party note, this post is my 700th.

Yea for me, another milestone under my blogging belt.

Alex's 4th Birthday

Sadly Alex was still asleep when I left on his birthday at 7am. I gave him a sleepy kiss as I left and wished him Happy Birthday.

By the time I got home from work, made his cake and wrapped presents, it was 5pm and time to collect him from Daycare.

So our poor little boy didn't get to start celebrating until the end of the day.

We made up for it though with lots of balloons, presents and a chocolate cake.

My cousin and her fiance came for dinner and we had a fun evening.

Birthday table waiting for him to come home

What he so desperately wanted for his birthday, a fire engine and station. It was a hit!

Birthday cakes

Birthday

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Gareth
Happy Birthday to you…..

Happy birthday to my nephew Gareth, hope you have a good one.

Air France

We all unfortunately now know about the crash that happened on Monday somewhere in the Atlantic.
Nobody likes to ever think about an areoplane coming down, because lets face it....people take planes everyday, some even commute on them daily to work and think nothing of it.
We get on with life and tend to get blaize about the fact it won't ever crash.

If we do think about it, then it is only for a couple of days that we worry 'it might happen to me?' and then life just slips back to normal.

Today I read the newspaper and saw a story about the crash. It was listing people who had sadly lost their lives on the plane and what they had been doing in Brazil and why they were on the plane.
You had the couple who were on holiday, the scientist and his wife who were doing research, someone who had won the trip in an office contest and even a group of doctors who were taking a well earned break. But what really hit home to me and really shivered down through my emotions was the 11yr old boy who was flying back (on his own) to England to go back for the next term of Boarding School.

I went to Boarding School for 6 years in England and at the time my parents lived in several places around the world, in fact at least 40% of the kids at the school travelled by themselves to far away countries to spend time with their parents. That to us was life.
Now I think back to that time and realise just how lucky we were, we never had the headmaster have to tell us someone was not returning from so far away place due to a plane crash. I never once in all the time travelling with my younger brother thought about the worst thing to happen. I just got on the plane, put my headphones on, listening to the radio and waited for what ever crap awesome movie they decided to show us. (remember this was before tv sets in each seat!)

My heart goes out to those families, waiting in Paris for the flight that is never coming home.
It is everyones worst nightmare, and they now have to live it. I do so hope they are able to find the flight recorders to assit with the recovery for these families. It will be a mammoth task but here's hoping.

Birthday

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Alex and Malcolm
Happy Birthday to you…..

Happy 4th Birthday to a darling little son. Hope you have a most wonderful day.

Happy Birthday to my cousin Malc. Hope it was a good one.

Old Pictures

I came across some old pictures of family and friends the other day.

Unfortunately we do not have a scanner anymore, after Steve managed to burn it out when connecting it back up!

So to get these pictures, I used the old fashioned method of just taking a picture of the picture, thus the reason why the quality is not so good.

Me running for my life at school in about 1979, I was about 8 or 9.

Me at 17 in 1987

Me at 20 in 1990

My brother Iain and I in 1991

Me in 1994, I was about 23.

See, I can clean up nice when I have to!

Titanic

Everyone knows the story of the Titanic.

It has been made into a movie and there are countless books about that fateful day in April 1912.

So it was with much sadness, even though it doesn't directly effect me, that I read in the newspaper that over the weekend the last known survivor had died.

She was 97 years old. She had been on the boat at the age of 2 months as her family emigrated to Kansas in the United States. She lost her father but her mother and brother survived.

It is still a fascinating story that will be read with interest for many generations to come.

Birthday

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Olga, Penny and Tanisha

Happy Birthday to you.....

Hope you all have a wonderfully special day.

Queen's Birthday

Today is Queen's Birthday Weekend, so it is a Public Holiday for us. Yea a day off work.

In the car yesterday on the way back from the Birthday Parties in Rotorua, Ben heard on the radio that it was Queen's Birthday Weekend.
Now we have 2 more Birthday parties next weekend and 1 the weekend after.
So this charming little 5 year old piped up and casually asked "so are we going to the Queen's birthday party as well?'

Steve and I were wetting ourselves with laughter over this, just so Ben and just so cute.
We think the Queen would have quite a birthday party with Ben there to talk to her!

Busy Time

I am one that likes to keep in touch with people.
Ok I may be slacker now than when I was younger, but I do at least try and remember Birthdays for the people that are very important, like family & close friends and Christmas cards for people I manage to get in touch with once a year.
Now I know once a year is not good enough, but that is how life goes. We usually live in a different country and so therefore have absolutely no idea what the others life is like.
I am getting in touch a lot more with people's day to day activities through the likes of Facebook and email.
I use to write letters all the time when I was younger, but that seems to have stopped in this day, email is the way to go.
I can not believe that we get annoyed with people and feel they are out of touch if we are unable to reach them by email or mobile phone!

So I am in the middle of one of my busy periods when it comes to keeping in touch.
I have 17 birthdays in 4 weeks, all family and friends, but all ones that I HAVE to remember.

1. May 28 - Andy and Sam (2 very dear friends)
2. May 29 - Best Friends Daughter Eleanor, who is my son Alex's best friend
3. May 30 - My father's (was 65 this year) and my nephew Harvey (was 5 this year)
4. June 2 - Olga, my niece, 1 of my Aunties and a friends Daughter
5. June 4 - My son Alex and my Cousin Malc
6. June 6 - My nieces son Peter
7. June 7 - My nephew Gareth (married to Olga)
8. June 14 - My Father in Law John (turns 80 this year) and my brother in law Ken
9. June18 - My niece Sarah
10. June 19 - Another Aunty
11. June 26 - My nephew Joshua

Add to this I have 4 more in July, 2 in August and 5 in September then this time of the year is manic for birthdays.

BUT I love it......!