Brrrr!

A polar blast from Antarctica is set to hit us tonight and temperatures are going to dip to about 3 degrees celcius overnight.

We've tucked the children in and put towels over our worm bin to keep the worms warm (They die when compost temperatures go below 4 degrees).

Our home is well insulated. Having lived in some really, really cold rentals over the years, I can't be more grateful for a warm home.

Our big girl was home today and she thought of trying a coconut. We bought two from the supermarket but they both turned out to be bad!

We tried one more from the greengrocer. With a screwdriver and hammer, we poked a hole to put a straw in to drink the juice. With some help, we used a hammer to crack the coconut open for the flesh.

No fingers were harmed in the process. 

Success! 

Unsurprisingly, the juice and flesh of an older coconut isn't as tasty as that of a young coconut, but it was still an interesting project.

We also received a surprise on our doorstep today. Our friend Dom had gifted us a 3 month subscription box of carefully curated Japanese snacks, straight from Japan. Our second box arrived today!

It was so nice to have a taste of summer in the middle of a cold spell! We're enjoying these treats very much. 

Matariki 2021.

We celebrated the Maori new year with Play Centre this evening. 

It was also a chance for the rest of the family to see where the little man, little lady and I spend two mornings of our week.

The highlight of the evening was toasting marshmallows over a fire. The children loved it and kept going back for more!

The best part? Home was just a short walk away after the celebrations. 

Little Breaks.

Five doctor visits in two weeks has been a stretch on the energy tank. That being said, our big girl seems to be on the mend and has had a new cast fitted in a colour of her choice. The cast comes off in three weeks and is now a lighter fibreglass one instead of plaster. 

I've recently been nostalgic for simpler times, dwelling on old tunes and a memory or two. Perhaps that's a little escapism, mental respite from the load of keeping the household going. 

I'm taking a break from lunchboxes tomorrow and, much to the children's utter delight, have ordered them hot lunch from the school's lunch service. Sushi (big girl) and hot dog (big boy) plus jelly for dessert isn't exactly hot, but it's one less thing for me to do and the children are thrilled. I'd say it's a win-win.

Zzzzzzzz...

My energy ran dry by 7pm and the top of the hour found me prone on the couch, semi-asleep. A cat nap helped me to power through the rest of the evening's routine.

The children, between three of them, managed to inhale four kiwifruit, two bananas and one mandarin. All in between bath and bedtime. They have big appetites, but I'm glad they enjoy their fruit.

We went to Kelly Tarltons this morning. Our little lady was not thrilled to come face to face with a curious penguin. 

A Meal Out.

We enjoyed a yummy lunch out at one of our favourite Japanese restaurants, thanks to Popo who sent us money as a treat. Father's day is celebrated on September here in New Zealand, but it was a good time out nonetheless.

The weekend has passed by way too quickly! The hours were filled with baking (apple buns, Korean beef buns, chocolate chip cookies), play and some work on the garden. We hope to have a playground structure up for our garden come summer, but the ground prep work begins now!

Three more weeks left to the term... Here we go! 

Adaptation.

Our big girl has adapted pretty well to life with a plaster cast. She has been in good spirits and getting on with things, making the most of the situation.

She was pretty thrilled to come out tops in our Friday tabletop game night. 

At night prayer,

Little man: Thank you Jesus for looking after jie jie (big sister, our big girl).

This is the same child who barely 15 minutes earlier, had jumped on her on the sofa. Life is full of surprises.

Happy weekend! 

Longest Day.

Today got the better of me a little bit. The little man had a swollen foot this morning, which meant a trip to the GP first thing. It turned out to be cellulitis, a possible bug bite that got infected and led to swelling. Thankfully we caught it early, so it didn't get a chance to spread. He's on antibiotics for the next week.

We had a good few hours at Playcentre, the little man spent a solid amount of time burying toy dinosaurs in the sand. Play, after all, is serious work.

We had just gotten home when the school called, saying our big girl had fallen off the monkey bars at school and was in quite a lot of pain.

We rushed back out the door to pick her up. She couldn't contain her tears when she saw me and it was hard to watch her so miserable. We plucked the big boy out of school and zoomed off to the doctor.

The afternoon was long, but she eventually was found to have sustained a non-displaced fracture of her left arm. She's left handed so there will be tricky days ahead.

She's in a plaster cast now and is due back tomorrow to get a proper one done. She's excited to go back to school to have her friends sign her cast.

It's been a long and exhausting day. On the bright side, the little man's swelling on his foot seems to be subsiding. After some food, lots of TLC and a shower, our big girl is in much better spirits.

One day at a time. 

We Love Reading!

Every couple of weeks, on a weekday morning, the little man, little lady and I go to the library and come back with a haul of just over 60 books. Each card has a borrowing capacity of 35 books and with 4 cards (the little man was very proud to get his own library card today), we are well within our limit. That being said, it is a mission to check them all out and lug them to the car.

The older children dive straight into them when they get home. The stash of books are well read and re-read over the next couple of weeks until it is time to exchange our stash for a new one.

With everyone at different reading levels, we borrow everything from board books to chapter books.

I suppose it's not a bad thing that the older ones often have their noses in a book... It's just hard work getting them to put their books down to take a shower, get changed for school, or say night prayer. :) Oh, and with the current fascination with snails... We've got quite a few books on the subject on loan from the library. Our little man is very pleased. 

Family Games.

It's Friday!!

A few of us met some friends at the pool after school for a swim. Our little man put his head under the water for the first time! Pretty amazing to see him getting more comfortable in the water. Reason, surely, to go more regularly.

We watched a movie after dinner and because the little man was still up at the end of it, we decided to invite him to family board game night.

We played "Shopping List" and "Knights & Dragons". He was pretty good at taking turns and grasping the rules of the game. It went better than I thought it would! Pretty chuffed to have had 3/4 of the children involved tonight!

A Growing Prayer Life.

The older children have recently started saying their own prayers at night before bed, on top of our usual family night prayer. We only found out when they told us last night.

They take turns saying a prayer to their guardian angels for an intention, mostly to pray that they won't die during the night. They invited me to join them in their prayer time tonight.

"Angel of God, my guardian dear, 

To whom God's love commits me here

Ever this day be at my side 

To light and guard, 

To rule and guide. 

Amen." - Prayer to Our Guardian Angel. Part of our morning prayers. 

Also, we bought Papa new work socks yesterday. This is what happens when the children get to choose what their daddy wears to work:

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? 

"Baby Yoda". 

Sick Day.

Only the 8th day of winter and already, the winter sniffles are upon us. Papa, our little lady, our big girl and I are down with colds. Our big girl was home today.

We made bath bombs using a combination of epsom salts, citric acid, baking soda, corn flour, oil, colouring and water. They're drying out overnight and should be ready for some bathtime fun tomorrow evening.

Not quite one to choose the path of last resistance, I thought I'd make my own dumpling skins today. I doubted myself midway through rolling out my 10th off 19 dumpling skins.

I was making mashed potato/cheese dumplings, a cross between Chinese potstickers and Polish pierogi. Why? 

We have a son who only eats the skins off the usual pork/cabbage combination and mashed potato/cheese was strangely a hit. When it comes to something as fickle as lunchbox likes/dislikes... If the shoe fits...I'll wear it.

These don't look half bad. But the test is in the pudding, or cooked dumpling, in this case. 

In Search of Hope.

Of late, it has been especially difficult to find hope in a society where Christ seems so absent. The way many people live seem to be at odds with the way we've chosen to and that's been hard.

In a time and place where pleasure, instant gratification and the "I" seem to be of paramount importance, the journey of self-denial, and the search for God feels like a long and lonely road.

I think I'm looking for people who reflect my beliefs and with whom I don't have to explain myself to be understood. Perhaps I'm simply looking for some hope.

I'm grateful for the little slice of sanctuary that is our family. With the long weekend and constant rain, we really got to enjoy being home. 

Watching corn pop before movie night on Sunday. We watched Raya & the Last Dragon. 

We procured a badminton set and took advantage of our high ceiling to play badminton indoors.

We now have four pet snails instead of just one (well that escalated quickly), and we spent the weekend getting to know the snails (they love having their shells stroked and love being handled) and upgrading their home. Watching the snails and playing with them was a huge source of entertainment this weekend.

Hope in humanity might seem distant at present, but I'm just going to trust that God has a plan for all this. 

Swimming Milestone.

Our dear Big girl,

Today, you passed your first assessment and have been moved up to the next level in swim classes! We are so thrilled for you.

You've come a long way in conquering your anxieties and I love seeing how excited you are to go for your lessons. 

Your teacher has also been such a nurturing guide this half year. Unfortunately, she's leaving the swim school and this is her last week there.

We'll miss her but are grateful the mark she's left on your journey.

Way to go, dear girl! 

A Pet and Some Baking.

Attending morning mass after drop off was a great way to re-centre and nourish my soul. In spite of the active littlies whose chatter would ring out in the quiet at the most inopportune of moments, it was worth it.

It was a rest day at home today and we... 

... adopted a snail. It's in a box now with some food and hopefully it survives the night. We found it curled inside its shell on our living room ceiling, of all places. Our little man cried when he thought it was dead. "I am sad because I really like snails," he said.

I pulled out a batch of cookie dough from the freezer and that made for a handy afternoon activity and snack:

We plonked these in rainbow rice, edible confetti or chocolate rice before baking and they turned out quite pretty, and were all gone by dinner time. 

9 Years Married.

9 years have blessed us with four beautiful children. We celebrated our wedding anniversary with a meal out, our first in a long time. We left early (4.20pm!) for a casual place nearby with beer on tap and a food truck serving great burgers and fries.

We got home early, 5.45pm, and bedtime routines proceeded as usual. Life would be so different without these children and I felt a need to let them know it.

"(Insert name), You are important to this family," was what I said to each child in turn at the start of our night prayer. The older ones grasped the weight of the statement a little more. Our little ones.... 

Little man: I'm a doggy! Say I'm important doggy!

Me: You're an important doggy to this family... 😉

Little lady: squawk!

Big girl: You should say she's an important parrot to this family! 

Me: I guess we have 2 children and 2 pets after 9 years. 

It's been a pretty amazing 9 years, love.