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!

Busy Busy Busy.....

We have been so busy and I am going to have to do a brief summary or I may be here all week.

1. Matt has suffered no after effects following that scary weekend. He is not allowed to drive for at least 6 months, but we finally have a date to see a neurologist! End of May!!!? He is back on his bike, so is able to get to work without resorting to the bus.

2. Matt and I went to see Richard Dawkins talk last month. It was a very interesting evening and was funny to see the protestors outside. Check out the Banana Creationist on youtube.

3. Easter was spent with the Jacobs at their place. The kids made the cutest Easter baskets and then tore around the garden to look for eggs - what a haul!

4. Joe is seriously back into the rugby season. He officially has the all clear from the 'bone doctor' after his last set of X-Rays. A very impressive set of scars remain, but he almost has a full range of movement.

5. I turned 40 last week and was treated to a 'surprise' party on the Saturday afternoon. Our fabulous boys burst into our room at 7.05 am shouting "Happy Birthday Mummy!" I said "but it's not my birthday until Monday". "We know" they replied "but you have to open these and then get ready for your surprise party this afternoon" Bless them. Actually it was great, I had enough time to tidy up the Chinese Laundry in the lounge and clean up before people arrived. Best of all I didn't have to prep any food! Big thanks to all the friends and family who provided scrummy food and to Anna who decorated a beautiful cake.

6. On Sunday 11th the boys and I headed off for a little holiday. My friend Luanne lives over the road and her son Jordan is in Joe's class. She also has 2 other boys - Daniel aged 5 and Callum aged 3.

The 7 of us had booked a cottage at the Farmyard Holiday Camp in Geraldine. We had a fantastic time!!!! The boys hurtled around on their bicycles for 3 solid days. There were also donkey rides each morning, quad bikes each afternoon, playgrounds, rabbits and guinea pigs to hug.....a never ending supply of entertainment. It was a great few days away and such fun to go with friends.

7. Matt also surprised me with a weekend away without the boys. Nana moved in here and took the reins while we headed off to a luxury hotel and spa in Hanmer - just Bliss!

Mum handled a very busy weekend brilliantly and we can't thank her enough! Joe played Rugby on Saturday morning, scored 2 and the team drew. Then he went to a party at the airforce museum. Time for a quick shower and a reunion with Ben before he was off out again......to the AMI stadium (see 8).

8. Joe's team had been selected to play the curtain raiser at AMI stadium prior to the Crusaders vs Cheetahs Super 14s match. Joe was so excited and couldn't wait to touch the hallowed turf! He led his team onto the field, carrying the ball. He scored another 2 tries and they drew 4/4. They then had seats in the stands and were able to watch the match. Hopefully someone from the club was taking photos and video so we will be able to link to some soon. We spent much of the evening texting Nana to get updates on how our star was doing!

9. Ben had his last days at both preschool and playcentre.

He was centre of attention and enjoyed the special kai and cakes at his celebrations.

He also attended his last playgroup session, but we didn't know it was his last session until we received the phonecall from Kindy. He has done his first 2 days at Kindy now and seems to be enjoying it. He is able to wave to Joe at playtime and feels like a really 'big boy' now.

I'll just finish with one of Ben's latest photographs. How we laughed!!!!!!!! Love it!

Drama!

It's all been happening here over the last couple of weeks!

We have found an architect that we like and have started discussions about our build. It will be a long process, but hopefully exciting as we have never done this before. We went out for a site visit last weekend and Ben was desperate to take his tent so that he could sleep in it overnight and move into the house the next day. Not sure he has the idea about how long things will take. He has one thing right though - 'Mummy and Daddy can't build a house as they aren't clever like builders!'.

We had a trip up to the Waipara wine and food festival. Friends had organised for us all to stay nearby. The boys were thrilled about sleeping in a converted railway carriage.

After a nice barbecue tea on Friday night they headed to bed in their sleeping bags. Not a great night for Matt and I, the bunks were narrow, the mattresses noisy and the boys restless! The Saturday dawned wet and rainy but the kids enjoyed a walk to the local cafe for hot chocolates. We decided to try out the festival as we had already bought tickets online and hope the day brightened. Luckily it did, we had a picnic,

sampled the wine and watched the kids run around all afternoon.

Great day! Joe and Ben both had a go on the bungy tramp and even managed to behave during the half hour wait!

That evening Matt fell ill (not due to excess alcohol we should add) and we had to call an ambulance. It took a while to find us and we are very grateful to all our friends who took care of us. Luckily there was a nurse on the site and she and some of the other guests were a great support too. Louise came with Matt and I in the ambulance while other friends looked after the boys (who all slept together with Josh, Quin and Toby in their own carriage). The ambulance met up with a road accident en-route and Matt was transferred to the paramedic's helicopter. Louise was a star and drove me to Christchurch Hospital. After some scans and tests Matt was transferred to the ED observation ward. The next morning Matt was fine, didn't remember the events of the night before and raring to go! He has been referred to a specialist for further investigations and we are waiting to hear about an appointment. It was all horribly scary, but things are so normal now that it seams totally surreal.

Joe has received the Player of the Year award for his touch rugby team. This is despite not playing this term due to his broken elbow! He is pretty pleased and champing at the bit to play ripper rugby this season. we are not sure when he will actually be able to play because he still cannot straighten his arm and the wound is still open. He also received an excellence award at school this week and was chosen to be the 'star of the week' by his teacher.

Ben has been signed up for kindy. He will be going to the centre next to Joe's school and will start some time in April or May. He will attend every morning so we are finishing up at Playcentre and playgroup this term. End of another era! and only another year until he starts school. He is enjoying having Ella around and has even named all his toy dogs Ella too. Today at playcentre he dressed up in a dog costume and played fetch! aaahhhh.

Police, Tsunami and an All Black

We've had a busy few days since Joe's last hospital visit. Christchurch Police and other emergency services held an open day in the city. The boys enjoyed climbing in all the vehicles

meeting the search and rescue dogs, setting off sirens and dressing up in uniform. We met up with Louise and Josh, then joined Gillian and Eddie for a cold drink. We hopped on the open air tram to get around the city centre

and stopped off at Victoria Square to see the topiary animals.

Then the next day we were rudely awoken by Nana informing us of a tsunami alert. We live in the evacuation zone so were supposed to be ready to leave if necessary and to listen to the media. We had a barbeque planned with friends so cancelled that 'just in case'. We decided to go out for the day rather than staying tied to the radio so headed with Nana to the Jacob's place. Matt rang the insurance company at 9am as our house insurance lapsed last week!!!! The first wave was initially expected at 9.05am, so nothing like cutting it fine! Anyway nothing huge affected our area although there has been plenty of unusual water movements over the last 24 hours. Ella has missed her walks on the beach, but did have a fantastic day rolling around and chasing Ash and Indy's dog Lucy.

Today was sign on night at Parklands Rugby Club. Joe is hoping to play ripper rugby for the under 7s this season. He may miss a couple of the first games because of that elbow! 2 Crusaders came to support so the boys went with shirts and autograph books in hand. They were thrilled when they saw that the players were Isaac Ross (All Black) and Adam Whitelock.