What's up?

There have been several requests lately enquiring about me and the kids. I must admit, it has been a long time since I posted anything and I apologize.

So much has happened! These last few weeks have been so chaotic....but great too. For those of you that were worried about me..worry no more. While I still miss my family, friends and the familiarity of home, if you put that asside, I am truly enjoying myself now. This really is a beautiful country. I have terrific friends that have been so kind and supportive to all of us. I am now used to the laid back lifestyle here and will find the hustle and bustle of "home" probably quite flustering when we return. When we return..when will that be? Before we left, B and I had agreed on giving it three years. Once we arrived and the vacation feeling wore off and I realized we were stuck here I got into panic mode and wanted to return home ASAP. I no longer feel that way and wouldn't mind living here forever if I didn't have such a wonderful family and extended family and friends back in Canada. If only I could come home every 6 months but the cost of flying there and back is completely out of our budget at this time. I miss everyone terribly..but this is the experience of a lifetime, for all of us. I've even done the barefoot thing when I swore when we arrived, "you'll never catch me doing that!" The kids want to be barefoot all the time and ask by saying, "can I do the kiwi thing?" How precious!

These past few weeks have been so busy as I mentioned at the start. In the past three weeks, between E and J, we've been to 4 birthday parties and have three more (if you include J's) in the next week. ahhhhhhhh! No wonder we're hard up for cash.. :-) The kids have really settled in nicely and talk about how great it is here. J still misses her grandparents and asks about them from time to time. She is also still adamant that she will end up marrying Evan..E still thinks about his buddy Malcolm quite a bit and says he'll marry him too one day..I handle that one by smiling and saying what a good friend he was to E and how much fun they had together. I'll worry about that one as he grows older..to each his own..right?? Noah is still a happy go lucky, little boy. And what a flirt!! He eyes all the women (and men) and says hi and hugs their legs.. He is such a charmer and everyone tells me how beautiful he is. People also seem quite impressed at how well he speaks. I am too..6 months ago he barely said a word and now you can't stop him from talking. He's got a great sense of humour and is still obsessed with the haka. He's always performing it at home and even when we're shopping. He's pretty good as people have commented, "looks like he's doing the haka", to which I reply, "he is..he's completely obsessed with it"...they usually walk away laughing and looking back over their shoulder to see a little more.

I've been distracted these past couple of weeks by a sick little boy..please pray for him. He's my good friends son, Matt who is 7 and quite sick in hospital. His sister is Lucy, J's best friend. For a week and a half, he suffered from fevers on and off and last monday night woke with agonizing pain in his leg. He was taken to the doctors in the morning and then to the hospital where he was quickly admitted and within hours had an operation. It turns out he had a bacterial infection in his hip that was messing with his hip joint and was quite corrosive so the fluid in the joint had to be drained. He's been on a morphine drip since but the darn fever keeps returning. I visited him in hospital on friday, got another good friend to watch N, and Matt was in such pain it just broke my heart. After days of being in tremendous pain despite the morphine, and the fever returning, he was given a bone scan and it has been discovered that the infection is now in his bones. I am so worried for this brave little man..he's such a sweet heart and in tremendous pain. This was my latest update from his mother in the form of a text message. I will know more tonight when she calls me. Please keep Matthew in your thoughts..thanks

As a family, we've done so much together these past few weeks. We went to a kindy disco for E and a disco at J's school too. Both were lots of fun for all of us. B and I danced and enjoyed ourselves more than we had anticipated. We went to an outdoor Wiggles concert and a carol singing night two weekends ago (I think B already mentioned these). This past weekend, we went to a new beach. It was a great time. We were quite dissapointed when we got there because it wasn't a sandy beach but was a rocky one. I wanted to leave and go to another but was convinced to stay awhile as more and more cars kept arriving to this beach. There was a path that led you on a three hour walk which we opted not to do this time as we were all wearing sandals. Instead we walked along the shore and with our shoes (naughty us) walked through the water and explored the sea life. We found starfish, crayfish, snails, little fish, cool plants that shrink away from you when you touch them..even I tried these things. It was so much fun that I can't wait to go back. I love the smell of the water..brings me back to family vacations in North Carolina..what fun!! This weekend, is a very busy one. Saturday is J's birthday. We are expecting our container to arrive that day...FINALLY!!! That afternoon, amongst the unpacking, J has a birthday party to go to. It's a half sleepover party..cute eh? It starts at 4pm and goes until 8pm. The kids are to bring their pillow and a small blanket to watch a movie after the birthday celebrations. Then Sunday is J's party to which we are expecting 9 little girls and of course J, E, and N. We have outdoor water games planned as this will be J's first summer birthday party..how cool is that?? We're hoping for beautiful weather like last sunday. We're planning on having a water balloon fight, and bobbing for apples and perhaps a little play in the wading pool if we've found which box it was packed in. There will also be pin the tail on the donkey and cake..which reminds..I should probably order that soon..really soon. I'm so excited about finally getting our things. It better come this time, I can't take another disappointment..and the kids would be heartbroken too. N keeps talking about his bike, E about his skateboard and lightsabers and J about her scooter, barbies and dolls. They're so keen to get their things.

I need to go but will be sure to update more frequently. Missing you all!
Hugs and kisses, N


E is all punked out for his Ngaio Idol at kindy. The kids were told to come to school decked out like rockers. We gave E a cool hair do and made a microphone together out of cardboard tubes and aluminium foil. He was so proud of how cool he looked. Sorry for the blurry pics..camera lens was dirty..fixed now though.






B was growing his hair..unfortunately, I couldn't take it any longer..and so..snip,snip, buzz, buzz. ;-)



Here's the end result..there's my handsome fella..




Bling was the theme for J's school disco..here she is all decked out.



Shake, shake, shake..



Shake, shake, shake..



Shake your booty...shakin' it up with Emerson



And for Pat..Maggie G..



I took them myself..so don't be too hard on me..



Really gotta to now...Cheers! N