Category Archives: Friday Fun Day

Friday Fun Day: Revisiting the past

Posted on by Mika
1

And the winner is….ME!! I won Spa Factory at Kiwi Mummy Blogs today!! Thank you Sarah!! I can’t wait to use this with my kids! (Why am I visualising my youngest daughter eating the lip gloss?!?)

Yay! The sun was back today…I missed you!

I am still trying to put in an effort once a week to do something a bit out of the ordinary with the kids.

Today, I took the kids to our old stomping grounds in Wadestown. I showed them our very first flat/apartment. This was my oldest daughter’s first home. I told them stories, and showed them the sights as we drove around. My son started asking about where his first house was, and where my parents used to live. They really seem to enjoy stories from the past. I still remember sitting in my grandmother’s study, and reading notebooks that she had complied with stories of my ancestors and black and white pictures to go along with them. I loved it! Even if we aren’t natural storytellers, or record keepers, I definitely think it is something that we can learn and develop….I think it is something that our kids would benefit from and perhaps even our kids’ kids!

So, after the trip down memory lane, we went to a local park, and just played in the sun. My favourite part was having my 9 year old on my lap on the swing and just lying back and swinging together. (How many more years can I get away with this?!?!)

No camera on hand today, just my trusty cellphone camera

We grabbed hubby on the way home and a HUGE 20 inch pizza from Wholly Pizzas..yum! It was so fun to watch the kids try and put the HUGE pieces of pizza in their mouths!

Off to have our in-house date night tonight…yay! Hubby’s been out 3 nights this week, so it will be nice to relax together.

M.I.A – Missing In Action

Posted on by Mika
2

I haven’t really been on my computer since Wednesday! Here is just a snippet of what we’ve been up to while I was “missing in action”.

Thursday:

School Picnic at Days Bay, Eastbourne. It was a BEAUTIFUL day!

This was the first year I didn’t have a baby, or two preschoolers or a runner (a child who just seems to run in all sorts of directions, and never comes back!), so I decided to go along as a parent helper. My 3 year old enjoyed being held by all the big girls.

I enjoyed watching my daughter’s team work really hard together on their turtle design for the sandcastle competition. The girls came up with their design and implemented it themselves …. and they won!

Had a nice evening out with some friends. What more could you ask for, good company and an endless supply of dessert (we went to “The Whitby” and had the dessert buffet). I got to hold a gorgeous wee baby….yes I am very clucky!

Friday:

In my effort to make Fridays a bit more special, I decided to take the kids to the Wellington Zoo after school. The tiger looked like it wanted to eat us for afternoon tea!

Saturday:

We went out to Yum Char to celebrate my brother’s 35th birthday. So yummy! Then my kids spent time with their cousin playing with a whole big tub of retro lego that used to belong to my brothers. They had a blast!

Sunday:

It was an eventful day, because my hubby became Bishop of our Ward. Although it is a big responsibility, we feel really good about it. My mum invited the bishopric and my hubby’s brother’s family for dinner at her place – spur of the moment! So we went home and checked what we had in each of our freezers and pantries, and managed to pull it off. Everyone ended up bringing something, so it worked out perfectly.

Reality Check: I love the fact that as I have looked back on the week, I seem to have forgotten all the odd, weird or frustrating moments. The only one I can remember is when I had to use food to entice my son out of his comatosed state so he wouldn’t have a nap in the middle of the day, and be up all night! ha! I love my short term memory!

And then my heart melted…

Posted on by Mika
3

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.