Hokkien Mee.

The weather has been exceptionally erratic recently, apparently the result of El Niño which has been officially declared in New Zealand.

The in-laws sponsored a new wok set, and it was handy for cooking up a large batch of Hokkien mee today. We hosted a Singapore family who's here while one of the family members pursues his Masters degree. 

Happy birthday, Sr Val! It was timely as we received a letter in the mail from her today, on her birthday. She's in Sydney on her postulancy journey, and she sent a brochure of Blessed Carlo to share his story with the children. They perked up when they heard that he enjoyed football and Pokémon, interests they share as well. We miss her but take comfort in being united in prayer. 

The older three children enjoyed game night with Papa. The played Shadows in the Woods, a unique board game that involves a tealight and a dark room. Later bedtimes are certainly one of the perks of the school holidays.

Our little lady's finished Black Panther project:

Money Well Spent.

Our little lady used some money from Popo to buy this Black Panther activity kit. She's spent days slowly piecing it together and painting it; she's determined to do it all by herself no matter how long it takes. Best $5 ever spent. 

He's 37!

We booked him in for a tour of a beautiful garden farm and picked up a garden bed with money from his mum. We also bought him a garden bed and some seeds. 

Rum from my mum to help with the gardening. 

Yay for a rainbow lapis kueh cake, colours beautifully mixed by our big girl.

Happy birthday, my love. 15 years of birthdays together and godwilling, many more to come.

Spring Term Break!

Term 3 is finished and two weeks of school holiday stretch before us. Yessss. 

The term was a full one with cross country, excursions and the school show. The children enjoyed it but between all that, the wet winter and the number of illnesses we got, I'm glad to see the back of this term. 

The week was spent nursing the family back to health. Every day this week, there was at least one extra family member home with me; even the husband ended up taking a day off because of stomach flu.

We were happy to unwind with a movie dinner. We will be relaxing and catching up with a few families this holidays. 

A Restful Friday.

The school show concluded its run last night, much to the relief of the adults in the house! The children, on the other hand, wished the show would go on every night. I think that means they had a great time.

Some pictures from the full-dress rehearsals and actual night:

With that over, we spent a slow Friday at home resting and playing. We kept our older three home today and they were glad to be home.

Our littlest lady and I are still nursing unhappy stomachs from a gastro bug and we're glad for the early start to the weekend.

School Show!

It was the first of two nights of school shows that the children are performing in. It's entitled, "The Best of Broadway" and features songs from popular shows. They've rehearsed hard and it's paid off. We celebrated with supper after, much to their delight. They get to go in to school late tomorrow so they'll be able to sleep in and unwind.

Our little Tiger, "Bare Necessities" from The Jungle Book

Our big girl performed a medley of songs from The Sound of Music.

Didn't catch a picture of our Big Boy in his outfit but I'll do that soon. 

Tiger see, Tiger Do.

Twinning at supper!

School Assembly

Well done to our little man for receiving a certificate at school assembly today!

Also, happy birthday Mother Mary! 

Picked some flowers from the garden for the altar and some birthday cupcakes.

Dentist Checkups Done.

Three consecutive days of dentist checkups/followup appointments, two days of pulling the children out of school, and two special lunches at Taco Bell with my favourite young people. After all that, we're finally done with the week's appointments.

Looking forward to a more restful Friday. 

Whiteboards.

We picked up a couple of large whiteboards for the children today. Our mission to have open-ended, simple, non-electronic toys for the children continues. After dinner and baths, the children sketched while Papa played on his guitar.

These whiteboards fit nicely under our couch; bonus points for easy storage! I'm quite happy with our new purchase.

Father's Day.

It's Father's Day here in New Zealand. The children each made a little something for Papa. They made cards, and breakfast, and our big boy made him some chocolate coffee truffles which were yum.

It was a restful day spent playing on the Nintendo, kicking ball outside and watching TV. 

I'm grateful for the husband who is an incredible father to our brood. God bless him as he continues to lead our family.

The pants got sewed! It was a steep learning curve. Lots of unpicking and resewing. I now know how to sew a pair of pants. 

Lunch Date.

It's the first day of spring!! It's been a long, wet winter with lots of sickness. I'm rejoicing. We're a step closer to summer and no more school for the year!

Lunch today was a real treat. Margaritas with our meal, delightful Mexican bites and the best company.

No one was more thrilled to have Papa home for the day than our littlest lady, thanks to the college mid term break. 

We had homemade burgers for dinner and watched The Lion King. Everyone's glad it's the weekend. It's Father's Day weekend so the children all have a little something up their sleeves for their dad. 

My current workspace. I volunteered to sew a pair of pants for the school production, despite never having sewn anything remotely resembling pants before. It's intriguing and slightly terrifying to actually have to consider the pieces that make up such an essential clothing item. Let's see how this comes together.