So tired!

On Sunday I sold my parent's house via TradeMe and since then I have been helping them pack their boxes and look rental properties. I have looked at six properties: three were yucky, two were nice but too far and the last one was too small. If the were comes to the worst, they'll get a long term rate at one of the local motels and put their furniture in storage. I really just hope that the right place turns up ...sooner rather than later! But in the meantime I am very tired and stressed (but then so are my parents).

Look at the new header!!

This is what the wonderfully talented, really kind Vicky did for me! And then she even told me how to add the code to Blogger! Oh and she is such a talented scrapper and one she's going to be famous - and then I'll be able to say "I know her". Thanks Vicky

This photo was taken at 4.15pm Friday

And yes they are both still in their PJs! They didn't want to do anything at all today except stay at home. I believe that children need time out to just "blob" so I was happy too.

Yesterday afternoon they came to the conclusion that they were actually very lucky to always have someone to play with - ie each other.

I really like how closely they are sitting together and the look of absolute relaxation on their faces

Some more achievments

Last year, Colin was getting around 51% on his Basic Facts tests and also getting quite stressed about the ten minutes they have to do the test. So I set him a goal: 75% and I didn't care about the time. He has slowly been getting closer to his goal and last Monday he got 85%! He was so proud of himself and I was so pleased too. Adrian has been working with Colin and his tables in the car on the way to school every day and this is clearly paying off.

Ross wrote the Australasian Maths exam a couple of months ago and got his results on Friday - Distinction which puts him in the top 10% of those who wrote the test. What an achievement! He also got a Class Merit on Friday for consistent effort in class. Last Monday, Ross also did his Grade 2 Gymnastics badge which he passed extremely well - they have to get at least 7.5 on all six events. Ross got three 9.5s!

We ate at Denny's twice last week to celebrate all their achievments

June Tunes X

Tawa, and Tawa College in particular, has a long history of music. Every year, the College Music Department, either produces the Tawa Music Festival or June Tunes, which is the smaller event. All the feeder primary schools send choir members to the College once a week for eight weeks for rehearsals and the Intermediate have their own rehearsals. There is one final rehearsal with all the musicians the morning of the concert. This year was June Tunes X. As the current Head of the Music department said, he remembered in 1969 as a primary school pupil standing in the second row singing in a Tawa Music event and today he is the Head of Music.


Colin sang with other members of Redwood Year 5s and 6s. He was so excited on the evening as were many of the other kids.








This was the end of the evening with all the choirs either on stage on or on the side of the stage. The four young men in the front are MIB - Musical Island Boys, an internationally known babershop quartet, trained by one of the College staff. They are currently in America at the Internationally Babershop competition where they are hoping to improve on last year's third place.

My new toy

I bought a new toy - Olympus SP 500 UZ (Ultra Zoom). It is a 6mp 10X optical zoom and has a host of really cool features such as "Use available light". I took this photo of Ross in his bedroom: the blackout curtains were closed and the only light was from the TV set - no flash.

Now I have to find a new home for my other Olympus C5000 5mp 3X opitical zoom - any takers?

They must take after me!!

My boys and their brains, that is! We had a parent/teacher interview at Colin's school where all his English - reading, spelling, comprehension is at a 14yo level - Colin is 10 so we are so very proud of him.

Then Ross brought home his report and his maths level is higher than many of the kids I teach who are three years older than him. So we have a mathematician and a linguist. To celebrate we went to see "Cars" [did you read that part Sherri?] and afterwards we took them to a games arcade where they played on a car racing game.

Have a look:

An update

Well Jenny and Sherri - here it is an update. Although I'm too busy writing report and marking test and assessments to do this properly!

So what should I tell you? Probably that I've lost weight: 16kgs (35lbs). Here's an new photo of me - compare it to the one with me at the cheetahs! Oh and I probably should add that my new goal is to loose 3kgs (6 1/2 lbs) per month; so far in June I've lost 1kg

More home renovations

Before and After! I wanted to get the "grey" bedroom painted over the Easter weekend. It was dull and dingy with awful grey striped wallpaper and curtains. We wanted to have Buttermilk (pale yellow) and blue and in January 2005 I found blue curtains on sale at Bunnings. Peter at Rezene Porirua, mixed up the blue paint for us and got an exact match - we were so pleased!

Friday we stripped the wallpaper, Saturday morning we picked up the paint and came home to wash the walls. Sunday morning after finding what the Easter Bunny had hidden, we were able to put the first coat of Buttermilk in the bedroom and Barley white in the passageway. After a lovely bbq lunch, Adrian and I went and did the second coat in each room. Monday morning we put on the first coat of "Engelbrecht Blue" and in the afternoon we put on the second coat. Then the worst job of all - cleaning up!

We are so pleased as it looks fantastic! Slowly our house is taking on a new lease of life with the painting we are doing.

Hurricanes vs Sharks!!

A collegue at school offered us tickets to this match on Friday 24th March so off we went. It was freezing cold and raining and very windy, but the boys were looking forward to it. They got Captain Hurricane tattos and black & yellow face paint; we bought wine and cold-drinks and went to find our seats which were rigth on the half-way line. Just after the game started, the rain came down so we went to the top of the stadium behind the big screen. It wasn't a very interesting game and the boys and I were a bit bored, but Adrian was keen to stay.

View from the top

.................... of our deck that is! We finally finsihed the fence - this is the view looking to the back and then to the front. behind our fence can be seen the neighbour's fence - brown like ours used to be!

Busy, busy, busy

I've been really busy since school went back - my hours have increased so I have four classes now (last year I had three). The increase in time is more than 25% though - seems like 200%! I am doing a digital camera course at the local Community Education; hopefully I'll be able to use my camera with all its functions at the end.

At Intermediate, the pupils earn "Merits" for example, when they get 99/100 on Basic facts, they get a Basic Facts Merit. Well, Ross got his within a week of being there.

Colin loves his new teacher - Mark Kyne - and I am pleased as I asked for Colin to be in his class.

Adrian is very busy at work but loving it. He is doing a Web Page design course at Com Ed and is enjoying that too.

I had some news from my sister-in-law this week: she and my niece are going on a three day scrapping cruise!! That sounds so wonderful and I am envious of the two of them

Painting Update

Well, the decks are done, as is the gate next to the garage and the shed outside. Adrian and Colin also sanded back the garage doors and put new oil onto them. I have now bought the third 10 litre bucket of paint and hopefully this weekend will be fine so we can waterblast and paint the fence.

February!

First of February today and I had a department meeting at school while the boys went to the pool with Gay-Gay and Pa. School starts next week and not a moment too soon for the boys - seven weeks is waaaay too long for me to have them at home! I was really pleased to go scrapping on Saturday and managed to get quite a few l/os done (two above).

On Friday night, Adrian and I went to see Memoirs of a Geisha, which was very good. We saw it at the Lighthouse cinema, where one sits in couches to watch the movie. The is also a cafe where one can get food and drinks to have in the movies. After the movie we had dinner at a little Thai place in Petone - a very pleasant evening indeed!

Kapiti Island (or the day I nearly stayed!)

On Sunday we went to Kapiti Island for our annual Christmas present from my mom and dad. We set off early and were soon on the boatfor the twenty minute trip from Paraparaumu. After listening to the guide's talk, Adrian and the boys were off up the Trig Track (straight up the mointain) while I took the more leisurely (!) Wilkinson Path. Ross ran up and would have been first up had Adrian not called him back for a photo (video) shoot. I plodded my way up and by the time I got to the "twenty minutes from the top" point, the mist had come down and there was just enough time for us to eat our lunch and start heading back.

We had to eat our lunch quickly not only because of time restraints, but the kakas were incredibly quick at pinching food out of one's hand or mouth. In the photos, each of us has a kaka on our shoulder.

On the "walk" back, I realised that there was no way I'd be doing this little jaunt again! (I've been suffering since then.) There were times when I would have been quite happy just to stay right where I was, I was so tired.

The two boys enjoyed themselves immensely, but I think Adrian and I wouldn't choose to do the trip again.

Painting the House

After five years living here and debating what colours we like, we finally got a colour consultant in. best $75 we have ever spent! All we've done so far is paint all the decking which up until now has been boring brown. Both Adrian and I really like the colour the consultant suggested and now that it's on the decking we're even happier; it is easier on the eye and blends into the trees better. In the photo you can see the older yucky brown and the lovely new green which is Resene Xanadu. We also have colour suggestions for the rest of the house with which we were happy. (Sorry you have to lie down to see the photo, but I can't work out how to turn it!)

My Present

I got the best Christmas/birthday present: a cheetah encounter at Wellington Zoo. The zoo does animal encounters where people are able to interact with amongst others,the otter, red pandas, giraffes and of course the two cheetahs. I have said on numerous occasions that I would love to do a cheetah encounter but at $195 it was a bit beyond me. But my darling husband organised one for me! What an event! There was a whole parade consisting of me and the cheetahs through the zoo from their enclosure to another area where the encounter happens. Inside this enclosure it was just me, the cheetahs, a few zoo staff and Adrian taking photos. The cheetahs are lovely: they purr just like a domestic cat! Their fur is not as soft as a cat's but still quite soft. They just love the interaction and Charlie statrs purring from the moment his halter is put on. It was a wonderful magical afternoon.

January

I can't believe that it's January in the new year already! We started painting our deck in a lovely green colour; we will be pleased to get rid of the yukky brown. We also have plans for the rest of the house, but all in good time!

Nelson

What a wonderful week we spent in Nelson! At least three days at Rabbit Island, which we love. We also went down to the Nelson Lakes (Rotoiti in particular) where the boys swam (very cold) and then had a lovely lunch at Top House, an old hotel. The photo is of the three boys walking along the beach at Rabbit Island towards Mapua.

What a Day!

Today was the end-of-year gym display and as we didn’t go last year we didn’t know what the format was. Anyway, the pre-schoolers all did their display and then there some certificates and one trophy for them. Then the others in the club did their displays. Just before the senior girls did their display, certificates of excellence were awarded. After the senior girls display, trophies were handed out. Ross got a trophy for the Male Incentive Award i.e. for achieving and improving so well during the year! I was so pleased unfortunately my camera battery took it upon itself to die at that moment! Anyway, he also got a drink bottle that the head coach had bought for all the trophy recipients at the World Champs. Ross was so pleased with himself

And then on top of all that, Ross brought home an excellent report! He is achieving well above his age level in every area and loves school. This is his last year of Primary School and he is off to Intermediate next year.