Thanks Papa

Thank you Papa for the shirts and lollies. They've been great!

Oh No!

Ammon has learnt how to open the shower door! This is a day we have dreaded. :-) Ammon loves to have a shower and now there will be no stopping him if he wants to get in. Great.
He's also into socks lately. Insists on wearing them all the time and especially to bed. Wasn't happy when I took them off him this morning to be washed, so promptly went to his drawer and got some more, brought them back and got me to put them on him. Once on, he sits there rubbing his socks saying "Nice"!
He also came to me this morning saying "Poo wee" with his hand on his bum. He wanted his nappy changed. He's learning so quick.
Ammon is really into airplanes and just loves the photo Dad gave him of the plane they flew on to Auckland. Will carry it all over the house while he pretends he's a plane. It's very cute. Nate plans to get him an airplane to put on his bedroom ceiling for Christmas, so if you see one, let us know!
Well it's time to go swimming, then we can swim back to the car afterwards in the rainstorm that is supposed to come today. Woohoo.

T-ball? No thanks.

Well Em decided not to play t-ball after all. There just weren't enough girls in the team for her liking. So it's just basketball. Their first game was great, her team won 10-4 and Em scored the last goal. Next week the team is going to burger king after basketball as a get-to-know-you for the parents.
On Saturday I went to the Church College of New Zealand market day, this weekend hosts the final reunion before it closes at the end of the year. I enjoyed a yummy coconut bun and caramel cinnamon scroll then purchased an awesome family proclamation on canvas with a picture of the first presidency, temple and Christ on it aswell. We get it later this week as they had all sold out and were only taking orders on the day. I'll post a pic when I get one. There were lots of little stalls with tempting things to buy but I restrained myself. Of course I may be kicking myself later for not getting some kind of CCNZ momento but ah well....
Nate's Mum had the kids for the day and it was nice to be able to browse and wander all by myself. I was also able to pop out to Dad's and put a few things in the fridge for his arrival home today. Oh and then I bought some new curtains for our lounge and a crockpot to replace the one that got melted. Sorry Mum, but now you have a brand new one! I got about an hour or so after all that to myself at home before my family arrived. We were all going to go to the rugby together but decided Ammon wouldn't last, so Nate just took the girls. Although he was home about an hour later, the girls had driven him up the wall. Once the hot dogs and chips ran out they were done. Leah kept asking him why he wanted to watch the rugby. Thank goodness the tickets were from work and we hadn't had to pay. So home they came and Nate watched the rest of the game on TV. His words? "Never ever ever again!". Ohhhhh.....
Church today then our friend Ru is coming for dinner with his boys. Tomorrow is a holiday. No plans yet, but the girls might be having a sleepover tonight and a movie tomorrow but we'll see if their behaviour improves from this morning! Good luck I think!

Kindy

...is going well. Ammon went off like a charm yesterday, too interested in blowing bubbles and looking at the hot air balloon to worry about Mummy leaving. Sounded like he had a good day too. His only tantrum I think was that he couldn't ride all the bikes. Leah's area had bike day and he wanted to ride too.
Nate's ride yesterday didn't go so well. He got a flat tyre and two broken spokes after the warm up round. He got to ride on his friend's bike for the third race but by then it was getting dark and he couldn't see the track very well. Bummer.
Em starts basketball tonight. She's also looking at playing t-ball on saturday's but only if her girl friends are playing too. She has to decide by tomorrow morning. Costs $5.
We've got the elders coming for dinner tonight, I'm so not motivated in the kitchen lately. We'll have butter chicken and rice, but not sure that dessert will happen. Mmmm... crack open a couple cans of fruit and all might be ok.... lazy huh? I am just not into cooking dinner anymore. Of course I still do, 'cause the kids get hungry but for me it is one of those dreaded tasks where I wish I could afford to pay someone to cook our dinners every night. Anyone want to work for free??

Sunday

Ammon had a visit to nursery today. His Daddy took him while I taught the relief society lesson on the restoration (#44 Joseph Smith book). My lesson went really well and the ladies really seemed to get something out of it. I realized that the appearances in the Kirtland Temple (see D&C 110) of the Saviour and Moses, Elias and Elijah all tie into the 3 fold mission of the church. The Saviour appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery first as he is the head of the church. Moses then restored the keys of the gathering of Israel, which is missionary work or PROCLAIMING the gospel, after which Elias restored the keys of the Abrahamic Covenant, which gives us the opportunity to receive the blessings and covenants of the holy temple or PERFECTING the saints. Lastly Elijah restored the keys to the sealing power so that we can be eternal families and REDEEM the dead. They appeared in that order, and that is also the order of the 3 fold mission. Doesn't everything tie in and go together!

Oh - back to Ammon. He wasn't too keen on the lesson that was being given, but he did like it when the blocks and toys came out for playtime. There were only 3 of them today and none of them are his usual little playmates, so I imagine he'd do even better when they are there. It's a good start.
His rash is all gone and he's doing good.

I'm planning to bring Nana home for the afternoon tomorrow so that she can see Rose and Jean on skype, and to catch up on everyone's websites. She'll be here from around 1pm-3 or 4pm so Mum let me know when's a good time to call you when the girls are awake.

Back to School

Yay - school holidays are over! I like having some structure to our routine and set activities for the kids to do.
Emerson has been waiting for over a week for school to start again, her classroom has had some work done to it, and she was excited to see what it looks like this morning. She is hoping to do basketball and cricket this term.
Leah and Ammon start swimming and gymnastics this week, and they both love them so it will be fun for them. I was going to take Ammon for a kindy visit today but he had a temperature last night and I don't think he'll like going there today, so we'll just stay home instead. He slept with us from about midnight but had woken up twice before that, I knew it wasn't going to be a good night!
Nate went motorbike racing on Saturday - a cross country one. He came 7th in his class and loved it. He's going to be doing that series this summer aswell as another race series which is made up of three sprint races in a day. He's really into his bike riding right now.
The days are longer, the weather a bit better. Bring on summer!

Ammon's starting daycare

Next wednesday is Ammon's big day. He's starting daycare. He'll be going to the same place that Leah goes to, which will be great because if he's ever having an off day or quite upset, they will go and get her and she can comfort him.

We've had a few visits already and each time he does better and better. It's not ideal, because he's one of the older babies so won't have anyone to really play with, but after the Christmas holidays he will be old enough to move up to toddlers and it will be much better for him.

At the end of this month, he is also old enough to start nursery at church. Yay! But we'll see how he goes with just starting daycare too. Might be too much change for him, but he'll have his buddies in there - Taj, Frank and Ben so he might be ok.

Unfortunately our youth are fundraising at the moment, and of course we should support them, so darn it, we have to go for a pancake breakfast on Saturday morning. What a shame. The girls are going to love it, it's their favourite breakfast. I also get my car washed, so it's going to be a good morning. They are also doing a hangi at the end of the month, so we'll be keen on that too. I haven't had one for ages!

Work is busy as ever. I usually manage to get on top of what I have to do by about 4.45pm, write a quick email to my job-share buddy and then it's off home. It's good to be busy, I don't like twiddling my thumbs at work, it seems pointless. Emerson wants to come to work with me on Friday, don't know what she's going to do there, but she's excited. Work won't mind. Hmm... maybe I should tell them she's coming?? ............. Nah.

I reached a milestone recently - September marked 10 years with my current employer. Of course I have come and gone and raised a family in that time, but I like it there. I'm celebrating with morning tea next week - what to make?? Feijoa and apple cake? Donuts! Or maybe Bex's caramel shortcake... mmmm..... yum.....