It's been incredibly busy over the last couple of weeks. Lots of toing and froing to school, playcentre, preschool, swimming and LOTS of rugby..................................... And to top it all Ben turned 3 on Wednesday!
His birthday started bright and early - Joe woke us all up, unable to wait until 7 am - probably just as well, as we were able to get presents opened before the school run! Ben was a very lucky boy and got some colour shifting Hot Wheels cars and track set
from Joe and a 6V battery operated quad bike from Mum and Dad. He also received some lovely books from Grandma and Grandpa and great clothes from the Wincotts and the Crabbs. Thanks everybody!!!!!!!!!After dropping Joe at school, Ben headed to playcentre. He had a great time getting covered in paint
(including in his hair) and had a little birthday celebration at morning tea, 
complete with sparkly hat 
and a rendition of 'Happy Birthday'.Nana, Aunty Annie and Olive came to join in the fun and Ben was thrilled with the baby boy doll and pushchair that they gave him.
This has since been taken to school and for a walk. He has also taken his quad bike everywhere including school, the park and to rugby. He attracts quite a lot of attention with both his new toys, but is quite oblivious to it!
His party happened on Sunday and we hired the playcentre as our venue for a jungle expedition. The place was decked out with big jungle trees, streamers for vines and lots of balloons.
It looked great! The kids came in jungle costume
and we played animal games (pin the tail on the tiger, animal charades, hidden animal hunt, pass the parcel?) and had 'high tea'. 
Very tiring but loads of fun!Joe has also had quite an amazing week. He ran in the school cross country on Tuesday afternoon. The 5 year olds had to do a lap and a bit of the school field. Joe was the first boy home!!!! It was really exciting and unfortunately I got so carried away that I switched the camera off as he ran past sprinting for the finish, instead of taking a picture - sorry Joe!
I don't know who was more proud! He has received a certificate at assembly and has his name in the school newsletter.Then Saturday was match day for his Rugby. It was club day, so all the club's matches were played at their home ground. It was a beautiful day and lovely and warm, so there was a great turn out of supporters too. Joe's team won their match against New Brighton 13-6 and Joe scored 3 tries! All players, home and away were given a free sausage from the barbecue and a free drink. Matt got roped in to cooking sausages for an hour, but the boys had a great time watching the other games and then climbing trees in the park. It was a really lovely morning!
Just in case you were wondering... Joe is also doing really well in school. His reading is improving exponentially and his writing is good too. His favourite subject is Maths! His teacher has him sussed and says he is bright, but FIDGETS!
Now onto the not so great. Matt was told just after Easter that his job had been disestablished and after a period of consultation this was confirmed 2 weeks later. There is a complicated system now of people having to apply for one role where once there was 2 or 3 . If they are successful they get the job and if not they are entitled to redundancy. If they get another job, they are deemed to have resigned and will not get the redundancy. With me? Anyway he isn't sure he really wants to stay after a third of the workforce is cut, neither does his colleague - but of course they both want the redundancy money - therein lies the dilemma. He has had a couple of interviews - one for the council, but it is less money for a more senior role????? Or for a power company which entails 3 days a week in Twizel (3.5 hours away, small, remote). Oh what to do?
Anyway because of the uncertain situation we have had to pull out of the land purchase - luckily we had grounds to terminate the contract and were able to apply this. I know this is a quick summary, but its been a pretty complicated few weeks! I had my first paid face painting job - a child's birthday party - not sure my $25 is going to make up for Matt's salary though?
