Kitten Chaos

2 weeks ago we took the plunge and added 2 kittens to our family.  Ben and I drove across town to the SPCA and chose a 5 month old B&W male and a 3 month old Tabby & White female.  Very cute little things.  The black and white kitten yowled yoyoyoyoyoyyo all the way home, so was named Yo-Yo by Ben.  Joe named the girl Mini.  Within 24 hours it was apparent that Mini was unwell.  She was incontinent, listless and unresponsive.  I took her to the vet who administered antibiotics.  We gave her a couple of days but she was still listless and the incontinence was not improving, so we felt it was best to return her to the SPCA.  Ben was really upset and we had to mop up tears.  He chose another kitten to take home and Tom has joined the family.  He is really tiny and it is estimated that he is about 8 weeks old.  Unfortunately Yo-Yo and Tom came down with something too and they have just been on a course of antibiotics.  They are now back to lively and inquisitive kittens and wreaking havoc in the house.  Ella's nose is well out of joint and a little scratched too!

Happy 4th Birthday Ben !

Wow - hard to believe that Ben turned 4 this week. He was 18 months old when we arrived in NZ, now he is a real kiwi boy, attending kindy and just a year until school! Both boys are adept at the lingo now. They eat lollies (sweets), wear undies and pants, have swimming togs and gum boots, and they love awesome rugby heaps!
Ben has had a great birthday - he celebrated at kindy in the morning and then he had his swimming lesson (doing great!), then lunch with Joe. Olive, Annie and Nana came for tea and Callum, Daniel and Jordan from over the road came for cake.

He did very well on the present front and we are officially knee deep in LEGO!

This weekend was packed as always. Joe won his rugby match (he scored 4 tries and a black eye). Ella had more than her fair share of long walks on the beach and Matt managed to fix some 'stuff' around the house. Sunday was dominated by Ben's party and after a glorious sunny week we woke to a misty, chilly start. I rang the venue which had very similar weather, but we decided to go ahead and risk! Didn't want to disappoint the kids! As we drove north the rain started and got more and more persistent, luckily we had the wet weather gear, but the picnic was looking unlikely!

The kids had a fab time, despite the weather.

The ponies were well behaved and put up with lots of changes of rider. After an hour we were all drenched and the kids were cold so we decamped back to our place for hot drinks and the 'picnic', plus party games etc.

Phew, all over now! 3 months till Joe turns 7!