Monthly Archives: February 2010

And then my heart melted…

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I made a choice earlier this week, to try and “participate in life and make my choices more meaningful”.

As part of this, I wanted to make Friday a little bit different since we have more time up our sleeves (no homework, easy meal for dinner – During the week I make bigger meals that are re-heatable so hubby can take it to work the next day)

Come Friday, I was tired, and I could feel the motivation had drained out of me! We walked home from school in the heat, my wee man often stopped and just sat on the footpath. My two girls had gone ahead and was sitting under the shade ready for me to help them cross the “busy” T section (it’s not that busy, but feels busy when I think about my girl’s crossing a T section that has some blind corners!) I was pushing my youngest in the pram, who was about ready to fall asleep because of the heat and the busy session at Playcentre earlier that morning. Yet, we all pressed on, and we made it home….except my motivation had not made it!

Part of me wanted to forget about my little plan, part of me wanted to go through with it, because I liked the idea of trying to do something a little special on a Friday.

Who won?

It took a little while, but I finally got myself moving. I decided that we were going to have a picnic at the playground for dinner.

In my head I knew it was a good idea to do this, and that thought helped me go through with it…and then it happened…my heart melted.

I could see my two youngest children on the springy bike, giggling to each other. My youngest was sitting at the back of my 5 year old son with her hands wrapped around him, gleeing with delight. (the shot above is of my two youngest on another occasion on the springy bike…but captures what I saw yesterday.)

Aaaaahh…this was the reward, this is what made the effort all worth it.

My mind was in it, but now my heart was in it also.

My 9 year old daughter and I spent some time hanging out on a climbing frame that had a hammock type set up at the top. We just talked. Bliss…

Today I had many moments where I noticed my heart melt….

…….working as a team to tidy our house and Playcentre this morning. We worked hard, but for a good cause.

……..watching my kids having fun with their friends at our Ward Picnic at Eastbourne Beach. You can’t beat the huge smile on their faces!

…….watching my kids play together building sand castles.

…….watching a mum and a dad taking baby steps with their children to help them jump off the warf for the first time. (I wasn’t quite ready for it, I think my kids would have seen the fear in my eyes!)

…….the many hugs and kisses I got tonight from my kids…heavenly!

…….feeling that today was a good day, with wonderful memories.

Participating in life. Making our choices more meaningful

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Thank you for the all the lovely encouraging comments by the way, they always make me smile!

Lara from The Golden Seven said in the comments yesterday, “You’ve just about convinced me to come to Wellington on the next plane and sit at your front window and stare out of it all day.”

It made me think about how I really don’t stop and sit and admire the view as often as I should. Those times I took the photographs, my children were the ones who recognised the beauty and came to get me. And where was I? I sure wasn’t looking out of the window to notice the beauty that was unfolding right outside.

So, I have been thinking a lot this morning. About how there are things to be appreciated around us, but we may not be paying attention.

Do I take my blessings for granted?

How good am I at connecting with each child on a daily basis?

How well do I notice the world I’m living in and what we can learn from it, and what it has to offer?

Am I missing the beauty that is unfolding right in front of me? 

Am I there physically, but my mind is elsewhere?

Could I be more engaged?

Can I change my actions, to make a positive impact on my life and my family?

I let these thoughts jumble around my head during my discovery date, while I did some writing, planning, shopping and photography.

After pondering all morning, I really wanted to make more meaningful choices in my life.

After picking up my 3 year old from Playcentre, I decided we were going to have a picnic by the beach. We went home, I did the laundry, and got everything ready for the picnic and off we went to Oriental Parade.

It was looooovely.

After an early dinner, we all jumped on the tramp once we finished our chores. We even did a spot of cloud watching.

One of the kids wanted to go to ride their bikes at the school (something they have asked, but it always seemed to be at the “wrong time”) and I thought “yeah, let’s do that!”.

So this is my journey this week….to make my actions more consistent with how I ultimately want to live my life.

If you have any tips on how you have kept you and your family from falling into the trap of a bad version of a grounds hog day, let me know!

“Look mummy! It’s heaven!”

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The kids burst into my room this morning to tell me that they could see heaven!

I came out and looked out our living room window.

Oh wow!!

The kids were so excited, they thought angels were going to come down!

Just before bedtime, my 5 year old said,  

“I want to see heaven again.”

“I’m going to go check”

He walks off to the living room, then returns.

“Hey I got some bad news, heaven’s gone”

“I like heaven…”

:)

My 5 links for the week

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Take a look at this mouth watering delicious Chocolate Mousse Cupcake Recipe. Yum! http://melbourneepicure.blogspot.com/2010/02/chocolate-mousse-cupcakes.html

Want to take a trip down memory lane. Here are some New Zealand ads that were on the TV in the 60′s, 70′s, 80′s and 90′s! http://www.filmarchive.org.nz/sellebration/ (thanks Jen for finding this site!)

I love how this family writes sweet letters to each other on their blog!  http://priority1mail.blogspot.com/

I have a corkboard at home that could do with this easy crafty upgrade! http://freshvintage.typepad.com/freshvintage/2008/01/post-2.html

What a great craft project for the kids (and adults)! Just chop up a paper doily and voila! http://thecraftsdept.marthastewart.com/2010/01/snowflake-cards.html

 

Fun Kids Activity: Exploring rock pools

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We had a fun Playcentre trip to Whiteria Park, which is about 20 mins drive towards Titahi Bay from our place.

The road gets pretty narrow as you are winding around the hills. I had to practice my backing skills when a car came the other way!

When we arrived, the kids all went to the rock pools in search of creatures and treasures.

I found a crab underneath a rock. We were able to have a close look at the crab before letting it go.

My youngest is a collector, so she stopped and picked up shells on the seashore. Others used the spades to dig up the heavy wet sand.

The water was warm, so the children ventured in. They jumped the waves and waddled around.

The time passed quickly, and it was time for morning tea. We sat on our picnic blankets eating our kai (food) and enjoyed the sun on our faces. The children enjoyed the nice cold lemonade ice block that were given out. We heard a lot of “please” and “thank yous”. Ka pai! (Well done!)

Some of the children got changed into their togs so they could wade deeper into the shallow water.

Some of the children stayed behind and listened to books about the beach.

The children had a great time playing together, and enjoyed the water, sand and searching for sea creatures!

You may also enjoy:

I want it to be summer all year, and live at the beach

and this AWESOME book:

The Life-size Guide to the New Zealand Beach

Andrew Crowe provides the best reference books I have come across. The pictures are clear and are “life size” as in, they are photographed in their actual size…which means children (and adults!!) can quickly identify things found in rock pools and the beach. (His book in this series about insects is even better! I have refered to the book many times to get the correct name for butterflies and spiders etc!!)

Inspirational Quote: The beauty around us

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“Keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life”

KAHLIL GIBRAN

Earlier this week, the girls told my hubby that there was a beautiful sunset, and that they should tell me. When I saw it, my jaw dropped. It was the most beautiful pink sky I had ever seen! I quickly grabbed my camera and started running (yes running!) down the street to the hill/reserve near our place that overlooks the Wellington harbour. By the time I got there the pink had turned into a deep orange and the edges were a mixture of blue/orange/pink. Nature always surprises me at how beautiful it can be! It takes my breath away.

“Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.”

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Discovery Date: Teaching myself how to crochet a beanie!

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My grandmother taught me how to crochet when I was in Standard 4….so I was about 10 or 11 years old. She taught me how to make a square blanket. I would just go around and around and around, and would pick it up over the years and add whatever wool I could find.

So, I could crochet some stitches, but I had no idea they were called a special name, and how to start it off!

Now that we have wonderful technology like youtube and online tutorials, I thought I would attempt to teach myself how to crochet, and make a beanie!

1st problem: I didn’t know how to read a crochet pattern!

Solution: Google “how to read a crochet pattern” and came up with this site:

http://www.anniesattic.com/crochet/learntoread.html

2nd problem: I had no clue what a slip stitch, or double stitch was.

Solution: On the same site as above, they had the abbreviations for the terminology used in the patterns, and a link to how to do the stitches.

3rd problem: I didn’t have a pattern.

Solution: I googled for a crochet beanie pattern.

This video was very good. I liked how I didn’t have to follow a written pattern and all the jargen, I just needed to copy what she did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoCRUObS0Tc

But then I encountered another problem…

4th problem: I only had one roll of yarn/wool…and it was running out fast with the pattern I was following…it also was looking kind of wonky. I think it was because the wool I was using was thicker.

Solution: Take it apart and find another pattern.

5th problem: I didn’t have a pattern.

Solution: I had a crochet book that I picked up for 50 cents at Spotlight. It had a beanie pattern in it. Even thought I would have to follow a pattern, I thought I would give it a go.

6th problem: The beanie didn’t look like the one in the picture! doh’! I re-did it, and then it was too big.

Solution: Take it apart and start over.

7th problem: I didn’t have a pattern.

Solution: I googled for a beginner’s beanie crochet pattern.

I came up with this:

http://www.get-hooked.net/free-patterns/peek-a-boo-flower-hat/

8th problem: As I was muddling through yet another pattern, I found that the beanie was getting a bit too big again.

Solution: But this time, I had a “weee” bit of experience up my sleeve, so I adjusted the pattern, and it worked!

OH HAPPY DAY!

And I finally got to use the crochet flowers I had done a while a go.

This is the video tutorial I followed for the crochet flowers:

http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-to-crochet-flower-video-tutorial.html

Reality check: When did I find the time? This was all done while my youngest was at Playcentre for a couple of hours. When hubby came home from work I had a bit of time to myself, and then I worked on it some more in the evening. Phewwww!

My 5 links for the week

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A must read about a lesson learned about jealously, envy, gratitude and contentment http://memoriesoncloverlane.blogspot.com/2010/02/lesson-learned.html

A new blog that gives you ideas about dates with your spouse. I love their quote: “A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, and always with the same person.” http://thedahlingdatingdivas.blogspot.com/

A great video tutorial on making your very own Kanzashi flower http://www.craftypod.com/2009/09/16/now-with-video/

Look! You can make your own book using “blurb”! Some people have even downloaded their blog entries to make an annual record of there posts http://meetthepassionista.blogspot.com/2010/02/blurb.html

Excellent tips on how to get your email inbox under control! (I cleared my inbox not too long ago, but it has quickly filled up again, so I need a better system!) http://zenhabits.net/2010/02/email-sanity/

I am the ANTI-PLANNER! (said with an Arnold Schwarzenegger accent)

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It is not that I don’t like to plan. I love it! In fact, when I write things down, it ALMOST feels like I have done them already! hahahaha

I am the anti-planner because I constantly deviate from what I have scheduled in my planner. “I AM THE DEVIATOR!” (said again with an Arnold Schwarzenegger accent)

Mondays are my “recover from the weekend”, “get the house in order” day. After putting on a load of laundry, I looked around my garage and decided I was going to clean up a part that was bugging me, instead of tackling my “planned” housework. So satisfying!

Later on that day, I had to pick up our car from the mechanics with my youngest daughter, but after missing the bus (by seconds!) I had to deviate from my plan, and pick up the school kids, and take allllll 4 kids on the bus to get the car. We enjoyed a deviated visit to the Pet store on our walk to the mechanics and then a yummy drive-thru McD’s raspberry slushy…mmmm….slushy!

Planned items also got done. I managed to get a lot done on my Playcentre Water Play workshop I’m doing next month. Other things on my computer were calling my name, but I managed to stick to the plan, and complete the outline…yay me!

So I am a planner, an anti-planner, a deviator, Miss Spontaneous and all round floater, but isn’t that what motherhood is about sometimes? To go with the flow, and not stress too much when plans change. I also look back on my day, and the spontaneous things are usually the most memorable, and gratifying! So I probably won’t change my spots…even if the “planners” around me don’t know whether I am coming or going!

I think the art lies in getting all the “planned” stuff and “to dos” out of the way quickly, so you have more room to be spontaneous and creative!

PS I hope Valentine’s day was great for you all! Hubby and I went to dinner at Tinakori Bistro and watched Invictus at the movies on Saturday (a little bit hard to be reminded of our loss in the World Cup, but other than that, I liked the movie). I love the last verse in Nelson Mandela’s favourite poem “Invictus” :

 It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Date night (in house as usual)

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It is Friday evening, “date night” in our household.

My 5 year old son approached me as I am choosing a channel on SKY TV to watch upstairs with hubby.

5 year old son: Mummy? Are you going to watch a movie with your “hoooney”?

Me: (a bit taken a back by him referring to his daddy by my nickname) aahh, yes

5 year old son: awwwwwww!! I want tooooo!

Happy dating everyone!

(Hubby and I are trying a bunch of sweets we don’t usually get: Milk Duds (man, these are chewy! me likes), Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Creme, Reese’s and Quake Bars. Gotta love our local ethnic store for carrying all these brands that you usually can’t get at our supermarket!)

After post:

My friend asked me how we have date nights with kids….so here is my answer:

We try and get the kids in bed and then start our date. So in our case, our oldest children go to bed at 8.30pm. If your kids go to bed earlier, there is no reason why you couldn’t start earlier. In the past we have also worked around waking babies etc. We sometimes watch a DVD we rented, or something on TV, or play a game, or just talk. It isn’t fancy. It isn’t so much what you do (if you make it too orchestrated, you maybe less inclined to keep it up every week), what I think is the key is that you both have an agreement that on Friday night (or whatever day it is) you will commit to coming together after the kids go to bed and do something fun together. We also try and have a nice dessert (or in tonight’s case a junk food feast) to make the night a bit more different from the other week days.

Now that the kids are getting older, we tell them we are having a date, and that it is important for mummy and daddy to have this special time together (this is to try and encourage them not to come out of their room and ask us a thousand questions before they go to sleep….some nights are more successful than others). Hope that helps. But with everything we do, it is pretty flexible, we have had things come up on a Friday every now and then that postpones our date. We sometimes leave the house for our date (!).  Sometimes we have let the older kids stay up a bit later on a Friday and we start our date and put them to bed later. So, find what works for you.

 Let me know if you have any other questions!

Inspirational Quote: Feeling accepted, Priceless

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I was reading Small Notebooks, and Rachel’s hubby/partner Doug, was asked: “What do guys want for Valentine’s Day?”.

In his answer he talked about how one Valentine’s day was particularly memorable because he remembered feeling accepted:

“It helps a man feel accepted when he knows that the things he has already done are more important than the things he has not done yet.

A guy likes it when a woman acts like she has everything she wants when she has him.”

Awwww…gush material!!

Feeling accepted is a priceless gift, it is so important not only with our husbands, but with our children as well.

When I was pregnant I actually thought I looked pretty good. It wasn’t until after I had the baby and I would look back on photos of me pregnant that I realise how huge I was! My hubby would make lovely comments all though my pregnancy, that made me feel beautiful….he made me feel accepted.

I know I will be thinking a bit more about how I can show the ones I love that I accept them, and love them for them.

My best buys this week!

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I love a good bargin. It makes me happy :)

I think the thing I love about it is the fact that the item is affordable enough to take home with me!

Here are some things that I am swooning over this week:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen R Covey – I have been on the hunt for this book to read for the Simple Mom’s Book Club. I bought the book from trademe (similar to ebay). The seller was 5 mins drive away from me, so no postage necessary. $10!

Singleton Flower Brooch – This lovely brooch was made by Ms SewFunky. I have been wearing it the last couple of days. Makes me feel very pretty! $10 + $2.50 postage!

Modena Bowls – I spotted these at The Warehouse yesterday, and just loved the colours. They will not be making an appearance in the kitchen, they will be living in the study as part of my home decor. $8!

Yummy yummy fabric - I think I actually “gasped” when I found this in the fabric bin at our local op shop/thrift store. I’m officially in love with it. For one meter….$3!!!!

It was my discovery date today. So I went out to get inspired and find fabrics for some sewing projects. 30%-50% off the discounted price of the sale fabrics at Spotlight Wellington! At Spotlight Porirua they are selling some rolls for $1 a metre! Now I will be surfing the online tutorials to teach myself how to make something out of them! ;)

Taming the “Yes Beast”

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There is a monster called the “Yes Beast”. It does not dwell in a lot of people, but in the people it does dwell in, it comes out when they are asked to do something, or to attend something. In Jim Carey’s movie “Yes Man” he had to learn to say ”Yes” to things. For me, I am having to learn to say “no” to my “Yes Beast”.

These are some of the traits of the Yes Beast:

  • If it is a good idea, it will want to commit to it.
  • If there is space in the diary, it will want to commit to it.
  • It forgets about other projects it is currently doing, and thinks it has more time that it really does.
  • It does not think things through.
  • It often doesn not write down what it has committed to.
  • It is a people pleaser.
  • It thinks “She’ll be right!” (or in non-kiwi terms: “It will all work out…somehow!”)

It sprang up this Sunday and I said yes to 4 things! Actually the beast tentatively said yes to them. The only thing holding the beast back, was knowing the hubby would not appreciate the “beast” single-handedly making plans for the family (again!).

I am a “serial volunteer“, therefore I have to work really hard to tame the Yes Beast. Here are some tips that may help:

  • Just because it is good, doesn’t mean you have to do it.
  • Don’t be afraid to take time to think about it. I really wanted to do parent tutor reading at school, but I didn’t sign up straight away. I thought about the commitment and whether I could fit it into my schedule. After weighing it all up, I told them when I was available to help. Taking time to think about it means that you are less likely to agree to something and then stress out or even back out.
  • Think about how it will impact the family.
  • Carry a diary/planner. My mother-in-law does this. When someone asks her to do something, she gets out her diary/planner (she calls it her ”brain”) and she can instantly see whether she can fit it in or not. This also works well to show the people doing the asking, that you are a busy busy bumble bee!
  • Be aware of what you have already committed to. Not only outside of the home, but be aware of your projects and needs of your home and family. The Yes Beast isn’t really aware of all the projects it has on its plate. If it did, it would never agree to do anything else!!
  • Work on what’s already on your list, before taking on more.
  • The world will not fall apart if you say “no”.
  • The more you say “no”, the better you become at it. It will even start to feel good – freeing!
  • Start saying “Yes” to what is really important.
  • Let it go. The Yes Beast does not like letting people down, or feeling like it is not pulling it’s weight. But we can’t be everything to everyone, we just have to make sure we aren’t disappointing the wrong people.

You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you’ll never please everyone all the time.

Good luck taming your “Yes Beast”!!

My 5 links for the week

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What a great personalised valentine’s card: http://24-7-365.blogspot.com/2009/02/lavish-me-with-praise.html

Loving these molds to capture a special moment in time: http://comeonovertocrazytown.blogspot.com/2010/01/in-week-my-life-will-not-be-crazyit.html

What an original idea for a banner header!http://domesticblissnz.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-new-collage-blog-banner.html

My post on Motherhood: Riding the Rollercoaster is featured on Kiwi Mummy Blogs this week!  http://kiwimummyblogs.blogspot.com/

A delicious homemade bread recipe (Her mixer looks amazing…I want one!) http://www.musingsofahousewife.com/2010/01/homemade-whole-wheat-sandwich-bread.html

Fun Kids Activity: Ferry Trip

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I woke up this morning, and hubby was buzzing about the amazing weather.

He has always said, that if you want to run an event that relies on good weather, you should run it on the “Seven’s” Weekend in Wellington. For some reason, we ALWAYS seem to have amazing weather on those days!

The Seven’s is an international rugby competition of 7 a side rugby, instead of 15 aside. The games are also shorter. 

The Wellington ”Seven’s” have become more about the party atmosphere than the game itself. The best way to describe it is, “New Zealand’s version of Halloween….but for adults”! Grown men and women, dress up in all sorts of weird and wonderful costumes! Today I saw Little Red Riding Hood and a wolf strolling down together, I saw a man dressed up  in green like the little plastic army figurines. I saw a bunch of grown men dressed as teddy bears. (Look at the guys below and their wigs!)

Hubby had the great idea of going on the East by West Dominion Ferry today. The kids were so excited!

We drove to Eastborne, boarded the ferry and made our way around different stops in the Hutt Valley and Wellington Region.

We had so much fun!

I noticed my girls snuggled up to each other on the top deck. On closer inspection, they were actually playing shadow puppets on the side of the ferry!

When we arrived back in Eastbourne, we all just went to the beach and swam….in our clothes! The seats in the car got very wet on the way home ;)

Inspirational Quote: Shine!

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“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkenss that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsiously give other people permission to do the same.”

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON

From her book “A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles”

At “Marta Writes” I stumbled across her “quote wall“. I JUST LOVE THE IDEA!

(I secretly covet Marta’s quote wall…shhhh!)

Then I realised that I haven’t put a quote up for a while! I love quotes, they make me feeling like pulling my shoulders back and stand a little taller!

I *heart* quotes!

Discovery Date: Cruising Able Smith Street

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I gave my youngest daugther a hug and kiss good bye, as I dropped her off for her second drop off at Playcentre. What a big girl! What’s a childless girl to do in 2 1/2 hours…..laundry? pay some bills? baking? Oh! Maybe fit in a “discovery date“!

Today, I went to my first photography exhibition at Toi Poneke Gallery in Able Smith Street.

It must be great for the photographers to get their work showcased like this!

The exhibition is called ‘Locale’, and it is a group show of images created by Lynda Garrod, Shaun Matthews and Kirsty Woods. It is showing until 12th February.

Photograph by Kirsty Woods

Then I noticed this shop across the road:

Outside the sign said “One of everything”. I was intriged, so I went inside.

As I navigated my way to the back room, I found this!

The prices are a bit more expensive than an opportunity shop…but you can’t deny that this place probably has EVERYTHING! And it’s vintage baby! ;)

Oh my! Look what I found on the record shelf….Wham! Bananarama, Madonna, and Boy George!

These mugs look exactly like the ones my grandparents had!

 This is what I took home with me: 

Is it bad that I bought it and I didn’t know what I was going to put in it? I was thinking those big yarn/rope balls would look cool in it.

It nearly ended up as a fruit bowl, but then I got selfish and wanted to keep it in my room. So now it holds all my notebooks that are too pretty to stay hidden away in a drawer ;)  Half of the notebooks are from my friend Shelly. I get to remember her whenever I see them now.

At the shop, I was quite tempted to buy the old glass milk bottles. Remember how we used to get them delivered to our letterbox? Gosh that was so long ago! Remember the little tokens that you would buy from the dairy?!

Thanks for the memories David N White Gallery! 

Oh! Look what arrive in my letterbox today:

Kellie from “Mere Motherhood“ sent it to me all the way from America because I won a quiz she did on her blog. Look at her cuuuute personalised card! And check out the customs declaration form…she declared “yummy chocolate”! I like her! I like her a lot! hahaha! Thank you Kellie!

Motherhood: Riding the rollercoaster

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I used to love rollercoasters. The scarier the better. I loved the rollercoaster theme park “Six Flags” in America! Since becoming a parent however, (and therefore mortal) I seem to be a bit more cautious.

I think that motherhood sometimes feels like you are riding a rollercoaster. There are highs and there are lows…and I’m referring to just one day!

Today I had a wonderful day catching up with friends who I haven’t seen since Christmas time. It was blissful. Fast forward to the early evening, and our family are all grumpy in one way or another and I just want to hid under a rock. Then fast forward again to the evening, and (I emerged from the rock) calm was restored and I relished in the special time I got to have with my kids and hubby.

Hopefully you can relate.

I think the trick to riding the rollercoaster is:

  • Get out of the lows. When a difficult moment happens, don’t dwell on it and let it spoil your ride…Re-group, Recover and Re-commit to trying to have a good day.
  • Savour the highs. There are good moments within every day, it is up to us whether we stop and notice it, or close our eyes and miss it all together.
  • Enjoy the ride. The ride maybe the same, but our attitude towards the ride will produce a totally different outcome.
  • Ride it with others. The truth is, most, if not all mothers are on their own version of a rollercoaster ride where they feel out of control and sometimes isolated. If we reach out and support each other, we will be able to manage through this ride a lot better!

A year older, and an award

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On Sunday I celebrated my 33rd birthday!

It was wonderful…I got woken up to my family singing “Happy Birthday” and I had our birthday tradition of breakfast in bed. You know you’ve been married 10 years when you look at the breakfast spread and think, “oh yeah! I forgot that was my favourite food!”

My kids gave me some really cute handmade gifts, and my hubby secretly enlarged some of my photographs and hung them in the house.

On Saturday, hubby and I had a beautiful patio lunch at Cobar Restaurant in Eastbourne…the weather was phenomenal! (the next day, not so much!)

My mum made a delicious spread of my favourite japanese foods for dinner on Sunday night.

Did I mention hubby did all the chores and I was able to fit in a nap during the day.

*bliss* I tell ya!

Today I got my first blog award! Carla from “My 1/2 dozen daily” awarded me a “Kreativ Blogger Award”! Thank you *hugs*! Carla has four kids as well, and is the creative mastermind behind “Moralia’s Weblog“. Her homemade cards are the best!

With this award, I am supposed to tell you 7 things you may not know about me:

1. I have braces on my top teeth. I should be getting them off this year! (post edit: my braces are off now! yippeee!)

2. Hubby and I sang “Shower me with your love” by Surface at our wedding. It was the first time I had ever done something like that. My lips started shaking whenever I looked out to the audience because I was so nervous! I tried to focus on my hubby to get me through it.

3. I hate that I care way too much about what people think!

4. My hubby and I can speak Japanese. Since Japanese is our second language we are finding it difficult to teach it to our children, but we are trying to introduce words and sentences here and there.

5. I attend Playcentre with my daughter once a week (Playcentre is a parent co-operative Early Childhood Centre). I really enjoy playing with the kids at Playcentre and mentoring adults who are adjusting to the “juggle” of parenthood.

6. I am a Christian. When I have difficulties I turn to prayer for comfort and clarity. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

7. Our youngest daughter was born in the car during rush hour traffic!  My husband was on the cellphone to “111 emergency” (back in the days when we could talk on the phone and drive) as we inched along the Terrace Tunnel in Wellington. I was in the backseat screaming through contractions (thank goodness for tinted windows!). Apart from the fact that I gave birth in a car (!), I felt that the birth went smoothly and my body just knew what to do. When the baby came out she was just amazingly beautiful. I was in awe! Although my water broke in the car, there was hardly any “mess” . Thankfully the messy part happened after I transferred to the ambulance when we were out of the tunnel! (phew!)

And now I would like to award the Kreativ Blogger Award to the following bloggers who make me smile. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have already received a blogger award (or two…or three, or four etc etc ?!).  Just like Carla, they have a wonderful outlook on life, and inspire me to be better!

  • Centsational Girl – Kate has inspired me to tackle my decorator’s block and try new things. Her home decorating tutorials are great!
  • Chez Lee – Sarah is a fellow Wellingtonian (ex-Brit) who writes about her wonderful adventures she has with her two girls (with number 3 on the way).
  • Clover Lane – Sarah has lovely posts that make me think and ponder and nod along with. The photographs she shares are pretty yummy too.
  • Karen Cheng’s Snippet of Life – Karen’s posts are always light and fun. I love all the fashion outfits she tries on and shows us.
  • Katherine Marie – This is my most recent find. I drool over her photography, and the ideas she comes up with to do with her children
  • nienie – Stephanie’s blog, is probably the first blog I started following. She has amazing strength in spite of the  difficulties she faces every day.
  • Small Notebook – Rachel recently had baby number 2, but still finds time to write posts that contain really interesting tips and posts that I can relate to.
http://katherinemariephotography.com/