lunchbox apples

Our new tupperware lunchboxes don't fit a whole apple in them unless you cut it up.  We had a nude food mover lunch box (about $16) for kindy but one of the clips snapped off after less than 6mths use.  I was gutted so decided to get one with a lifetime guarantee (which was twice the price) rather than replace it with the same thing.  I have always been anti gladwrap and try to create as little waste as possible with the kids lunches so I love having compartments in lunchboxes.  Anyway back to the apples...

I was happy to discover these perfectly sized tiny ones at the supermarket and many do actually fit.  My friend goes to the Avondale markets every weekend for their fruit and veg and always gets tiny apples very cheaply.  We don't make the effort to get there more than once every year or so.

#2 loves helping in the kitchen.  He washed, rinsed and dried them before we put them in the fridge.  I keep all our produce in plastic boxes in the fridge and it keeps them so much fresher than the crisper/vege bins.  They're not those hugely expensive tupperware ones either.  I think they're sistema brand?  I have two in the size pictured and one which is twice as deep.

breakfast in bed

What's better than breakfast in bed on the weekend?  That same breakfast planned and organised by your sweet five year old in his flannel pyjamas.  He greeted me with a lovely menu that he'd created himself.  I had been forewarned that it was coming so grabbed my camera (he's done it before but I've never bothered to get photos).

 I ordered coofe, warter, eggs and toast.  I asked why the "wheat biskits" had a picture of a strawberry, did it mean I could have strawberries?  He told me there was a picture of a strawberry on the side of the box.

After I'd eaten (delicious food cooked by B), #1 came back to visit and rescued me from a stay eyelash on my cheek.  It was so totally sweet and gorgeous.  This was the day before the grumpies started.

In our family we blow an eyelash away and make a wish.  

Do you do that too or is just us?

knights of the realm

The royal ball at our friends' church on Saturday, was so much fun for the boys.  Great dancing and games, glow sticks, fairy lights and yummy food.  I was impressed by both kids who hardly knew anyone there (and there were a lot of people).  Their dancing was fantastic, I tried to capture it on video (my point n shoot camera does both) but it was much too dark.  These photos used the flash.  Thanks for the invite Simone.

getting the grumpies out

Winter seems to have made it's appearance around here this week.  Our 5yr old seems to have a case of the grumpies too (or maybe a seasonal disorder ;o)).  Especially on our way home from school.  Yesterday he was uber snappy and irritable with his brother. He  told me this morning that he'd rather stay home all the time because school was a bit boring!!!  Uh oh. This afternoon he sobbed over leaving his drink bottle at school, he was almost hysterical.  Turned out he had a bit of a falling out with one of his close friends at lunch time.  Anyway #2 had wanted to bake bread and so we had a whole lot of dough needing kneading and bashing at home.  Just what the doctor ordered for getting some of those grumpies out... and it made for a tasty dinner too, with the fish caught and smoked by B on Sunday.

random acts of photography

Edited to add more photos from the point n shoot... 

that was the original intention but the day got away on me!

Showing off their tiles at the awesome Kids Art Festival.

Mothers' Day at the zoo, watching mama hippo devour her gift.

Loving autumn.

#2 selecting his breakfast in bed choices from #1s menu (he loves writing menus for us).

The boys all ready for another Royal Ball at the weekend.

I messed up the times and we were two hours early, oops!!

Some dinosaur chocolates I rustled up at the last minute before the junior school disco.  I realised that there would be food treats all over the place and I had nothing special (for #2) which was dairy free.  I had never done this before but it was oh so easy... melt chocolate chips, spoon into moulds, whack in the freezer to set (we were in a hurry) and you're done.  In the end he had some chips at the disco so these were eaten another day.

my eyes don't glow in the dark

There was a wet bed incident early one morning (430am) recently.  The words out of the sleepy ones mouth were classic so I had to record them here...

"i haven't eaten enough carrots, my eyes don't glow in the dark"


"mum because i'm having a hot shower i need the fan on because it's so misty"


"mum can i stay in the shower till it's morning?"
the answer to that last one was an emphatic "no" from me.

the art of cheese

He does look particularly cheesy, grinning out the window at me.  The 4yr old and cheese are usually not a good combination (unless you want to administer adrenaline (epipen) and call an ambulance).   So I was slightly apprehensive about taking him to a cheese factory and a cheese cafe!

A few weeks back we went to Puhoi, actually it was ANZAC weekend and the Puhoi pub (our intended destination) wasn't going to open till 1pm.  So we headed along the road to the Art of Cheese cafe. Mum and Dad (NanaD and Poppa) had been there before and I was relieved that it really wasn't all about the cheese.  Us adults drank coffee and the kids shared a phoenix juice and snacks from the backpack.

Really it was all about the awesome play hut and massive sandpit (BYO spades).  We sat at the picnic tables with our drinks and watched them play and play and play.  Then we went exploring by the pond and found great climbing trees, leaves for throwing and a bridge for some games of Billy Goats Gruff.  Since they were little it's been one of their favourite things to do.  We've played it under couch cushions at home, on many playgrounds and at various bridges when we're out and about.  Long may it last.

It really was a fun place for an outing and close to Wenderholm which is completely gorgeous (except for the camp ground that looked pretty rubbish).

what to do with sticky tape that won't stick

Crappy quality stuff really irks me, the sellotape this afternoon was a perfect example (no not sellotape brand).  #1 had a slightly complicated paper crafty thing that he wanted to make (and needed assistance with).  You were supposed to glue in all of the tabs but the last three tabs were impossible.  So we got out the sticky tape only to discover it wouldn't do the job it was intended for... arrrgghh!  As I was about to chuck it out I had a better idea.  I gave each boy an end (there were two dud rolls) and told them to run as far as they could away from me.  It was really fun :o)  Then I wrapped them in tape until we'd used it all up.  The getting unstuck part was fun too, until #2 freaked out a little and we had to grab the scissors to rescue him.

people we love

Family is everything.  That's the new Parents Inc. motto and it's something I agree with.  My sister in law Sam had her second baby last week, my first nephew!  How lovely.  I can't wait to meet him.  Sadly they're in Christchurch and we're way up here in Auckland.









The only downside to living in Auckland, for us, is that every member of our immediate families and many of our cousins, Aunts and Uncles, live in the chilly garden city.  The photo of #1 and his cousin Maddy above was one of only 3 or 4 times that they've met.  I can't believe she's almost two now (and a big sister!).

We miss you guys so much all the time.  The boys got cards from Nana on Friday and #1 got a bit misty eyed, "I really miss Nana" he said.  It makes me a wee bit teary too and I know that Nana feels the same.  Please would you all think about moving here? Go on. It's much warmer (and only a teeny bit wetter) I promise.  x

this moment

{this moment} -  A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Thanks SouleMama for the inspiration.

off sick

We had such a great day today. Not the day I had planned (running errands, shopping etc) but all in all it was good.  It started well around 6am with our lovely friends sharing breakfast with us.  They arrived late last night and the boys were very excited to know that they would be sharing their room with some new friends.  The kids got on really well once their initial shyness was overcome.  Sadly they had to leave early this morning and soon will be back on the other side of the globe.  Maybe we can skype them.  We headed to school on wheels today (rather than on foot), both boys are keen to get those training wheels off so we'll have to give that a go sometime (but not on the way to school!).  The big boy has a new(ish) backpack now, fits him much better than the massive one he started school with.

At school the little guy got to join in with the class library visit which he thought was pretty awesome.  They use these wooden "browsing paddles" which help the kids to remember where they got their book from and put it back in the right spot.  I get to pretend to be a librarian which I enjoy, and it's a way I can be a parent help without coming to listen to kids do reading (I don't know if I'd have the patience for that).  After a rather snotty library visit I decided that the big boy should really spend another day at home rather than sharing his germs, ick.  So his lovely teacher gave him his handwriting and story writing books to take home and work on.  I learnt about "compound sentences" as he included some in this story about the muffins we made yesterday.

By kindy pickup time he was much less snotty and quite chirpy really, wanting to take plastic bags so we could pick up rubbish on the way home.

We had a wee stop to watch some workmen pouring concrete up the road.  The boys weren't actually all that interested .   Is it funny that they've never been super into trucks and cars?  I almost forgot that we had morning tea at our local cafe with Simone too. Lovely.

Wow this is a long post!  Anyway when we got home the school boy wanted to make a surprise afternoon tea for us.  It involved baking popovers from the Pretend Soup book.  So I got out the ingredients , melted the dairy free margarine, and heated the oven.  Then while the little guy and I snuggled and read library books on our big bed, he made them all by himself!  I was very impressed and he was oh so proud.  There was a minor problem when he cracked one of the eggs and it went all over the place.  Luckily I had him working on a tray and could salvage most of it.  While they cooked for half an hour we all cuddled up and I read some very cool library books that I'd chosen yesterday.  We get books every week or two but don't usually spend such a concentrated period of time reading them.  Usually they read them by themselves and we have one as a bedtime story at night.  It was so lovely.  The popovers were really good and we gobbled them up.