Home Show

Every year at this time the Home Show comes to Hamilton.
They are always more elaborate than last year but I can't always say they are bigger, some years I have noticed they seem a little smaller with slightly less stall holders.

We never go with a particular item in mind, more often than not, we are just going to see. See what takes our fancy, see what people are suggesting is the new way of doing something, seeing what crazy new gadget is out that apparently we just can't live without.....not!

We do however like looking at the spa pools and dreaming of what it would be like to have one in the back garden.

We like to look at the new invented ways of having a sun shade in the garden, because maybe one day when we have our deck we might have a sun shade, although by the time we get round to it umbrellas will be back as the new in thing to have.

I love checking out the crazy selling speel the man goes through to get you to buy not just 1 but 2 steam mops, because we all have houses that are large enough to need 2 of the dam things.

We love looking at the next best thing in decorating, the thing that will help you do something and it will also 'save you time and money' yea right.
Any new cleaning product that works wonders on any surface and is still only made from 'baking soda' or 'vinegar'.
We dream of how crazy it would be to have new appliances in the kitchen that are all psychodelic pink or green because SMEG seems to think we all want weird colour appliances.

We are also happy to sample any and all new drinks, wines, cheeses and fudge anyone has to offer to try and tempt us to purchase they new product.

Generally we have found the Home Show to be a great evening out for the family, where we wander round viewing everything and then go home with absolutely nothing to show for it!

Home Help

Some very dear friends of ours have an Au Pair. I wrote all about it last June.

I mentioned at the time about looking at getting a local university student in to care for the boys 2 afternoons a week. Well low and behold, we did.
As of the end of February we have had a loving young 3rd year student collect the boys from school 2 afternoons, bring them home, organise afternoon tea for them, assist them with their basic homework needs and then just generally be here until we get home at 5pm.
And the amazing thing about it.......it actually works for our family. Tuesdays before Judo are now so stress free and relaxed, everyone has eaten before Judo so no trying to serve dinner to 2 very tired boys at 7.30 at night! Chores are completed so no racing around the house getting frustrated because nothing is getting achieved. I am loving it.

We made sure they had their own car, in good condition with all the current insurance needs. We were not too fussy in whether they were studying childcare or not, we didn't need someone with that specific skill, although it was very easy to gauge whether they knew about children or not.
The person we chose is 20 yrs old and is the 2nd oldest of 5, with her younger siblings currently being 10 and 12, so got the immediate feeling she has been around younger ones for a few years and understands them.
We purchased 2 new carseats for her car, as both boys are still in seats and will in fact remain in some form of safety seat for at least another 6 years! Both seats will grow with the boys, both have backs on them at present but have the ability to grow to booster seats when they just need that little extra height to use the seatbelts in the car. So even though this was an expense we just had to carry, it was a worthwhile one. When she finishes at the end of the year, then I am sure we will employ another next year, even then when we purchase a 2nd vehicle ourselves then we will need seats in that car too.

I was very sensible and actually made a contract up between us that we all signed. She was happy with this and I feel this made us all comfortable with where we all stand etc.
I organise dinner for the nights she is here and then she just has to do a small amount of preparation work to serve it to the boys. If rice or pasta is involved then she cooks enough for us as well.

Money wise, then we are paying 60c more an hour than we were paying putting them into after school care for the hour, but the benefits so out weighs the money. The boys are more relaxed, they are at home enjoying their own surroundings, they have eaten at a sensible time of day therefore have more energy for Judo and they are getting their homework finished, which sadly did not happen last year very much at all, mainly because being at after care 4 days a week they got very tired and were not interested in homework at 6pm.

The plus side of this is that in the 3 weeks she has been here Alex's teachers are already commenting that he has come along really well with his reading etc because he is getting his sight words better and following through and this is showing in class. This was an area of concern for all at the parent teacher meeting last month we had to discuss our aims for the year. Alex is not as high in the reading levels as they would have expected and so therefore work needs to be done more around this area, so to see some improvement already is awesome.

Oh and the other thing....the boys love her!

Identification Needed

On Sunday it was reported that a ladies body had been found in a local park in Hamilton.
She was discovered by 2 teenage boys as they walked through the the park.
It was decided that the lady had unfortunately been unable to negotiate a bend on a steep path whilst riding her bike and had hit a tree and fallen into the knee high water, were sadly she drowned.

I did not know the lady, but what struck me as the sadest part was that it took her family 4 days to realise she was missing.
Because she was out cycling, although she wasn't wearing a cycle helmet, she had no identification on her at all.
It turns out that she was a 40 yr old lady who lived alone. She had seen her family the night before and because of that they didn't notice her not being around until about Wednesday.

Now I can see this happening very easily, my mum lives on her own, (an hour away) now ok my brother lives 500m down the street from her, but I can happily go 4-5 days without talking to her on the phone. If my brother didn't live so close then I wouldn't know if anything was wrong until I tried to contact her and couldn't. So it is not unusual.

But what I am trying to stress here is the importance of ID when out running or cycling on your own.
This lady had keys with her and nothing else.
It would have been so great if she had a card on her that said her name and emergency contact details.

So if you have a friend or loved one who loves going for long runs or bike rides on their own, then encourage them to make a card that is about credit card size, that they can slip in a back pocket of shorts etc that gives their name and emergency contact.
That way, if anything ever happened to them whilst out, someone would be notified immediately and not have the whole town wondering who this poor person is and who do they belong too.

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!

Found

Once again we are a 2 cat family.
Yes that is right, the elusive wandering cat has been returned to us after 2 weeks away.

A nice gentleman called today to say that he had been given our details by the SPCA and he wondered if the cat that he had at his mother's house was ours?
Turns out she had arrived there about 36 hours ago and he had took her in and looked after her, fed her and then called the SPCA to see if anyone was missing her, because she was pleasant, well groomed and had a collar on.

Luckily I had called and informed them that she was missing last week and they in turn placed her on their 'lost and found' board.

Let's see how long she sticks around for this time!

Home

Yep that is right, we are now home from our honeymoon.

We didn't want to come home, but are so happy to be here with our 2 little munchkins.

I really enjoyed my week away from them, didn't actually miss them that much, but on the other hand I missed them loads.

It was lovely to have days to myself and not have someone constantly going "Mummy, I need, or Mummy I want?!"

I was fine with being away from them until the last night, when whilst sat in the hotel restaurant having dinner, I noticed a lady with a young boy, he must have been about 4 or 5 and all he wanted to do was go to sleep, it was about 7.30pm.

As I turned and looked over at this scene my heart went crazy.

All I could think about was how just only a week before I had been sat in that exact same position during our wedding reception trying to eat my dinner whilst Alex slept on my lap!

At that point I was so glad we were getting on the plane to come home the next morning.

The flights home were the longest ever when your heart hurts, especially the short 25 minute flight from Auckland to Hamilton that got delayed for a while and then seemed to take ages to take off.

When we finally landed I think I was running across the tarmac to get into the building to see the boys.

There they were stood with Grandma, waiting patiently.

Ben turned and saw me and ran and I just ran to him, picked him up in the biggest hug ever and cried.

Cried because I was so happy to hug them both, because I was tired from travelling and because I get emotional when I travel home from holidays etc.

It actually ended with me kneeling on the airport floor hugging both of them and I could see all the ladies standing around smiling and watching their hearts break with the knowing feeling of what I was going through hugging my boys after being away.

Tahiti was wonderful and we have loads of pictures and stories to share.

So I will get myself organised and over the next few days share with you our experience of honeymooning on Moorea, an island of Tahiti.

Glad to be back,

Sign

Grandma is in the country!

Yes that is right Alex and I drove up to Auckland the other day and collected her.

Shame that as we had to get out of the car so the biggest thunder storm came over head, we were drenched by the time we got into the airport, although we timed our arrival so well that when I went to pay the carpark ticket we had been there all of 14 minutes, now that is well timed for international travel.

Because my parents have been known to travel rather a lot, then we have got into taking a sign to the airport for when they arrive.

Ben actually got to meet Grandad for the first time when he was 2 weeks old, at the airport.

Yes that is where I presented this bundle to my father with tears in my eyes, going 'look at what I did!'

So going to the airport to meet grandma or grandad is not new to my children.

But because I couldn't find the usual sign I quickly threw one together the night before mum arrived.

Due to the rain and the quickness with which Alex and I entered the airport, found mum and then got back to the car, sadly I was unable to get a shot of Alex holding the sign, but I have posted a picture below of the sign.

So imagine Alex standing in the arrivals area of an airport holding the above sign and yes he was a hit!

The amount of people that read the sign and then smiled at the sight of this little 3 yr old boy looking for Grandma was amazing. I must have made everyones day. Pretty sure we probably could have come home with several other grandmas apart from our own if we had the space. I think several of the old ladies wanted to come home with Alex after seeing him with his sign.

Alex and the Cat

The cat has well and truely made himself at home.

We have taken him to the vet and got him checked over. He is fine, about 12-15 months old. No microchip to identify him and they don't recognise him from anyone else bringing him in previously.

So looks like we have a cat.

Not that anyone in the family seems too bothered by this.

The cat has made his place known, as all cats do. One evening this was his favorite spot...

Although when the boys go to bed each night, this is where we find him.

Alex is asleep in this picture but the flash made it light up so clear

He goes up with us at story time and then he snuggles and stayes there for the rest of the night. Usually moving finally about 4.30am.

He is going to the vet on Tuesday to be seen too.