A Village Life








Tuesday, September 13, 2011

More California

cute buns

baby face

cheers to the girls...and more margaritas!

Gigi

the big race!

picture perfect moment

what up homes...this is my bike

3 years on since the last time they frolicked in the grapevines together

AOK swimmers

crashed out...too much holiday fun
breastfeeding mamas

playing ball with auntie mikie

could I fit one more on my lap?

Friday, September 9, 2011

California

There is so much to say about our California holiday that I don't even know where to start.  So I won't even go there.  Here are a collection of photos from my favorite moments over the past 3 weeks.
meeting up with old friends

all of our children hanging out together

smores!

visiting with papa steve

swimming

happy grandma, happy baby

yummy cake for jen's birthday
To be continued........

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

And now with a great sigh...

We fall back into the routine of our simple life.  It was a whirlwind 3 weeks in California but we enjoyed and savoured every single moment.  Each year we go back I see more clearly how far apart my two worlds really are.  The place where I was raised, where all my old dearest friends and family still live and where I have some of my fondest memories versus the place where I have settled, am making new friends and where I am raising my own family.  The two couldn't be more different.  This morning as I walked home from preschool in the brisk sunshine, I heard the sound of birds.  And that was it.  No cars, no construction work, nothing but birds singing.  I saw the woman who works at the shop (there is only one shop), I said hi to my neighbour who noticed we were away and laughed uncomfortably when I suggested that it would be a bit noisier in the hood now that we were home.  I hung out the washing to dry on the clothes line and picked a carrot from my garden.  There was no jumping in a car to head off to do something or go somewhere.  I am just home and doing laundry, thinking of what to cook for my family tonight and writing preschool committee dates on the calendar.  Yesterday after I rearranged the furniture in the living room (spring is in the air) and unpacked the kids' suitcases we went down to the beach to play.  We ran into another family from the preschool so we strolled the beach looking for shells, watched the ducks play in the estuary and played on the playground.  The other mother and I talked about our children and families.  I learned she has 6 girls!  I counted my blessings that I only have 3 to deal with.  It was a glorious few hours in one of my favorite spots.  The sun was shining, the water was blue and the hills were green.  Oh how I love my simple life!

Sunday, July 31, 2011

It's official

After 2 weeks of paternity leave, Peter has officially turned into me. 
He used to give me a hard time for losing my patience with the kids.  He would also suggest I let Rita help me in the kitchen when I cook.  Well....after a few times of cooking with the kids I heard him say "Rita, get your hands out of it, you are making a huge mess.  If you don't stop touching everything, you are going to have to leave the kitchen."  At the end of the final week I also overheard him raising his voice in frustration at the children being children.  He was saying things that I have heard myself say to the kids before.  He started cleaning windows just to keep himself busy while inside with the girls on a rainy day.  I must say that he has done an amazing job keeping up on laundry and other household chores.  The icing on the cake was coming home after a morning in town to find he had rearranged the living room furniture!  That is such a 'me' thing to do, I couldn't stop laughing.  On Thursday I worked most of the day and when I arrived home, Pete looked absolutely knackered. This was partly due to the fact that Tui won't really take a bottle so he spent the morning holding and cuddling her while she cried that her real food source was nowhere in sight.  Even when I am home with the baby I am either sitting on the couch breastfeeding her or walking around holding her trying to get her to sleep.  There isn't much time spent hands free that's for sure.
I have seen our life through his eyes and vice versa which has been quite insightful for all us no doubt.
And now back to life as it was pre paternity leave.  Dad at work, mum at home.  Lucky Pete.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

snapshots

sleeping Tui

a morning at Matheson Bay

our local stomping grounds never fail to amaze me; stunning!


the 'widow maker'; Pete's fishingboat.  nice name, eh?

clean, clean, clean

always wanting to cuddle baby sister

helping daddy make fish fingers

my spinach gnocchi look like the photo; success!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Good Morning

Woke up this morning with 4 out of the 5 of us in our bed.  It was an indication of the type of night we had.  Good thing we opted for the king sized bed!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Memories in the Making

This past week began with a suggestion from Pete that Rita and I go to the movies together (mother/daughter bonding, you know?)  Her reply:  "No, I want Pa to take me!".  My feelings weren't hurt.  The big "date" was set for Saturday and off they went to see Cars 2 together, just Rita and her grandfather.  She got all dressed up looking like a gypsy girl in a long purple crushed velvet skirt and beaded chiffon lilac tank top.  He told all of his mates at the pub on Friday night about his movie date with his granddaughter.  I don't know which one was more excited.  They shared a chocolate bar, Pa managed to stay awake for the whole film and Rita proclaimed that she didn't get scared at all.  So cute!
Gigi, the terrible two toddler monster had a week of highs and lows.  She kept waking up at night for no clear reason which meant Pete was up in the wee hours and even spent 2 nights sleeping in the girls' bedroom with them.  On the other hand she has decided that she wants to use the big toilet like Rita.  She's done a poo and a few pees which weren't just flukes.  Progress towards a single nappied child household for us, happiness indeed.  We are still trying to figure out what she means when she says "hotmama".  I am pretty sure she's not calling me a super fit mummy but it is not clear what her intentions with the word are.  Pete thought he made a breakthrough and that it was her word for marshmallow but we've since come to the conclusion that it isn't that.  More to come on what the hell she is trying to say.....
As for our wee Tui, well she slept from 8pm last night till 4am this morning.  I'd say that is pretty much sleeping through so lets hope she keeps it up.  She isn't really into big naps during the day which is challenging for me but I'll take the 8 hour stretch of sleep at night for sure.  She's just starting to get a bit too big for her newborn clothes now.  It's going too quickly for me.  At 4 am this morning when she wouldn't go back to sleep I put her in bed next to me and we stared at eachother.  She was smiling and cooing and I was eating it all up as before we know it she'll become that toddler monster thing and this precious moment will gone forever.  A distant memory. 
Yesterday Pete had to get out of the house before he went crazy.  The girls already had gone crazy.  He took Rita and Gigi out on his boat for a tour around the harbour.  This is him trying to make them want to be his fishing buddies.  I think it's working.  I stayed home with Tui and worked on my newest crochet project.  I am trying to make myself a jacket/chunky sweater thing.  So far so good but I might run out of yarn.  Pete suggested making the arms a different color.  Um.....no, but thanks for the suggestion.  I finished making a baby pouf and the girls love it but my filling of using cloth nappies is a bit too heavy so I need to make some adjustments before I post a photo of it.  In other news I went for a run on Saturday morning and managed to run all the way to Ti Point and back.  Pretty good effort but slugging along slowly it took me about an hour.  We'll see if I can pick up the pace a bit this week....if the weather stays fine long enough. 
We've got our eye on the weather in California.  The countdown has begun, just over 4 weeks till departure.  I've already been looking in the baby clothes for a swimsuit for Tui!


Sorry about the poor quality photos, we are hoping to pick up a new camera while we are in the States!