Platypuses & A Little Victory.

Today, we learned about the story of Noah's Ark and dove into learning about platypuses. Did you know platypuses are one of an exclusive group of venomous mammals?

Hot chocolate always puts a smile on our faces. 

It doesn't seem too long ago that this one would call out, "Mama, push me!" but now, he's learned to swing on his own. He says he flies almost as high as the birds do. 

Cuppa with friends

The husband brought home a little victory story from work. A former student came back to address the school. That young man was the college's dux, or top performing student, and is now reading mathematics at university. In his speech, he credited Mr Lee for inspiring him to do what he's doing now. The husband wasn't even at the assembly, but heard about it from students after. He's happiest flying under the radar, but he told his students he felt humbled to know he made a difference to one student. 

It's been an exceptionally tiring week, so this was a welcome and uplifting story. 

Approaching Spring.

Staying home has been the littlies' first choice this week. They've asked to stay home to play again tomorrow.

This morning, our little lady pretended to be a purple butterfly and our little man, a green butterfly. They fluttered up and down the lane. Play extended into a painting session:

And extended a little more into Te Reo Maori:

With beautiful, sunny weather, we've been outside playing on the lane a fair bit. It's as if the children have been drawn back outside by the warmth and sunshine after huddling indoors over winter. 

Give the children an old tyre... 

We're midway through term 3. The older children just had school photo taking today. "Don't go play football and get all sweaty before sibling photos again, kor kor," our big girl warned her older brother this morning. He didn't.

Cheese/Roasted Capsicum/Kale scones. Morning tea for the husband this week. 

Board Game Night.

Board game night with the bigs was good fun tonight. The husband and big boy were facing off for 3rd and 4th placings when this happened:

Papa: If I guess right, are you going to cry? 

Big boy: Not if big girl and mum hug me tight until the end of the game. 

😂 So he got big hugs and graciously came in 4th.

Winning and losing has always been a big deal for the boys. Our little man flipped over our game earlier this evening when he realised someone else had won and the game was over. Very intense feelings! 

Chocolate chip buns for the week and tortilla wraps to make the husband's morning tea. Weekend baking pays off for the week ahead. 

Deepening Communication.

As our children get older, parenting seems to shift from meeting mainly physical needs to emotional and intellectual ones. Our older children openly talk about the ups and downs of school life and we often get into discussing these at dinnertime conversations. 

Recently, our big girl celebrated a little victory where she was able to reach out and help a classmate whom she has struggled with over the course of the year.

Our big boy is currently navigating the new waters of a troubled friendship at school and we spoke about it at length this afternoon and continued in the evening after the others had gone to bed.

It's a great blessing to be able to journey with our children this way and I'm grateful for the honest communication we have. It's certainly something we don't take for granted and are constantly working on. While the husband and I have pretty similar perspectives, I get to see how a father's insight differs from a mother's how we are complementary in the way we support and guide the children. 

God bless this road and our children. 

See You Soon!

We accompanied Ligna to the airport this afternoon to say "see you soon". The bigs bade her a cheerful goodbye at school drop-off this morning before running to class, and the littlies gave her quick hugs at the departure gate before making a beeline for a joy ride on the escalators. Cheerful goodbyes for the children, that's the best we could all hope for.

It was a full, meaningful 12 days and I want to say we made every moment count. She was fully present with us, playing with the children in the day and talking life with us adults at night. We talked, laughed, pondered and connected.

We're immensely grateful for the time spent, and the memories will be in our hearts for a long time.

"When you part from your friend, 

you grieve not;

For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain. And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit... 

And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.

For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed." 

- On Friendship, in The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran 

It was ever so humbling to remember that even as we exchanged stories and perspectives on our shared humanity, the path we walk is ours and ours alone. Perhaps it is, though, that in our brief togetherness, we find witness, strength and hope for the path ahead.

Almost Au Revoir.

In the blink of an eye, our 12 days with Ligna are almost over. She has very gamely immersed herself in our home life, the good, the bad and the plain messy. She dived right in and has helped with everything, even with brushing our little lady's teeth one evening.

The children have formed and deepened their relationships with her. They especially loved the time she spent playing Mario Karts with them on Nintendo. 

We presented her with a little gift with the children's scribbles and notes on the inside cover pages. Photos were taken, too. It's not the last night yet but starting the process early to ease the children into it as well.

Movie Night & Sleepover.

The little man helped me organise tonight's movie night/sleepover. He was really proud of his work and he took some pictures:

Poster

Movie tickets. 

Movie night prep through the eyes of a 4 year old.

We watched The Sea Beast, on Netflix. Mattresses downstairs and popcorn popped, the children were riveted by the movie. Ligna and the three older ones are "sleeping over" downstairs tonight. She's on the sofa bed and the rest are on mattresses. Hopefully we all have a smooth night! 🤞

Making Memories.

The children have been away from school the last couple of days. We have been rock-climbing and visited the Howick Historical Village.

These are a few of their favourite things, things they've wanted to share with their godma. 

Today's visit to the Historical Village was a step back in time to life as it was in the 1800s.

School house

Writing on slate with a slate (rock) pencil. 

It's back to school for them tomorrow and it's cross country day. Rain is lashing against the windows as i type this, so I'm not sure if cross country plans will go ahead. 

Joy!

When a friend who hasn't received the sacraments in YEARS texted to ask for help on how to make a confession, my heart sang for joy.

Granted, the good Lord had to stick her in a hospital bed to do that but bless her soul for being open to receiving the sacraments of reconciliation AND the Eucharist at Mount Alvernia when the nurses asked her. 

So glad for her today and I'm sure heaven, too, rejoices. 

Matakana Mingling.

We drove up to Matakana over the weekend and stayed a couple of nights in a sustainable, solar-powered, rain water supplied Air B&B with slow WiFi and no phone reception. It's the perfect place for a digital detox. 

It was a massive bungalow that had more than enough space for the 9 of us: our family, the Michael family and Liggy, who is visiting from 🇸🇬! It has been 4 years since the children met their godma and they were over the moon to see her again. Our littlest met her godma for the first time, and they hit it off in no time. 

We visited the popular Matakana Farmers Market on Saturday morning. The men later bonded over beer at the 8Wired Barrelworks Brewery while the ladies and littlies explored the Matakana Country Park. Pony Rides and Mini Train Rides for all. Fun. We finished off our trip with mass on Sunday and a sculpture trail walk at the Brick Bay Winery. 

Thank you for capturing these moments, Ligna. It was a worthwhile weekend. Looking forward to the days ahead with Ligna staying with us. 

Majulah Singapura!

Happy 57th Birthday, Singapore!

Our big girl suggested we celebrate with a birthday cake for Singapore, and so we did. 

The cross has felt a little heavy of late, but as the song goes, "Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can't cure" (Come As You are, by Crowder). There is always grace, joy and hope on the long winding road, we simply need to look for it.

This one little love of mine has taken to colouring recently (as have the others, for some reason). The focus, attention to detail and creative flair he displays while staying true to the actual colour scheme is a joy to watch. 

Pancakes and Buns.

We won a cupcake/pancake pen in a draw last week and had fun testing it out this weekend.

I also tweaked a favourite bun recipe to create pandan white chocolate chip buns and coconut buns for lunchboxes this week. 

Most of Sunday was rainy so we spent a good bit of time indoors, and the children were focused on colouring pokemon sheets. Time passes quickly on days like these and the weekend feels like it has flown by. 

Movie Night.

Ever since they discovered the sequel to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, the children had been eager to watch the second. 

We rented the movie online and staged a movie night event at home, one that involved takeaway pizza, chocolate cake and fruit juice. What a treat! 

Just before movie night started, our big boy tried to climb the kitchen shelves to sneak a free movie ticket. In coming down, he fell onto the open dishwasher door, and it is now slightly misaligned. It was a completely avoidable accident, and extremely frustrating. He's our most expensive child to raise as his list of accidents gets longer by the year.

It was humbling to recognise the point where a telling-off stopped being about teaching and became more about venting our feelings. I'm grateful we had the grace to stop at that point. He apologised, and we forgave and hugged him. Not an easy process but something important so that it doesn't hang over the beginning of tomorrow for our boy. 

Fruit Princess.

The happy look on her face says it all. She's got her fruit. This little one asked for fruit after dinner. I forgot about it, so she went up to the bathroom, knocked, and lay outside on the floor until I came out to cut her fruit.

Slavedriver. 

Afternoon at the Museum.

The bigs were dismissed at noon today because of parent-teacher interviews happening today and tomorrow. We scheduled our interviews for tomorrow instead and spent the afternoon at the museum!

We finally met Pete the T-rex, one of just four black T-Rex skeletons in the world. 

We especially enjoyed the interactive exhibits there. 

Writing what she loves about Auckland. ("I love the nature.")

Bedtime conversation with the little man:

Him: Would you like to be a dinosaur trainer? If dinosaurs were real. 

Me: Sure, if the dinosaurs won't eat me up. 

Him: I would not want to be a dinosaur trainer because the tiny dinosaurs will grow big and eat me. 

Ear Worm.

Our family sings the "Salve Regina" for night prayer on weekends. A Marian hymn, it is the "Hail, Holy Queen" prayer in Latin. It took me awhile to learn the words to it, but the children picked it up quickly. This morning, I heard them singing the Latin hymn as they prepared for school. Such beautiful singing, and in its essence, a prayer for Our Lady. I can't think of a better earworm to have.

The littlies and I still pray the Angelus at noon, just before their TV time which is an added incentive. Without the bigs there, I get to explain what the prayer is all about and take them through it slowly. The little man relishes the chance to take turns with the Hail Marys and can pray the Hail Mary quite beautifully now.

To Jesus, through Mary. We didn't start out meaning to cultivate a love for Mother Mary in our journey of faith, but are grateful for the way that it's happened naturally. 

Monday started out sunny and crisp, and we enjoyed some time at the playground and some painting time before lunch.

I love this picture because it quite aptly depicts the different loves of our two youngest ones. If there an opportunity to get messy, our little man is right in the middle of it. Our little lady started out painting, but once she spied food... Painting never stood a chance!