tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-184235782024-02-04T04:38:40.926+13:00Tyler McLeod's Daily DoingsMamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.comBlogger303125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-54913397948455889152014-11-22T10:21:00.000+13:002014-11-22T10:21:02.031+13:00 I'm keeping my promise<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm baaaaack! Let's just tacitly agree to ignore the fact that the return is some 3 months later instead of the following week. Thank you :)</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ok so bad mother that I am I did not take any pictures of Tyler's birthday! In my defence it's because we were having so much and I was busy DOING stuff. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Highlights from the last few months:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler went on his first school skiing trip. Chris went too as parent-helper. It was lovely day and he enjoyed it but I don't think he has a burning desire to spend his winters skiing. Our bank balance rejoices. </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He started playing basketball in a school team and is enjoying it. The team are all new at it so they're a bit like headless chooks at times but very enthusiastic chooks. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Player of the Day</b></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He's back into softball. This year he is in the Wallacetown U13 team as his skills are sufficient for him to be there despite being only 10. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course all that running around (he's also still doing waterpolo, touch and swimming lessons) means that a boy and his Dad need a bit if a nana-nap on a Sunday afternoon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last night his class and 2 others had a sleepover at school. It was supposed to be a campout in tents but the weather did not co-operate although the toasted marshmallows still made the cut. Unfortunately he was feeling a bit crook so I got a call late evening to go and pick him up. A good sleep-in has left him feeling a lot perkier this morning and softball has been cancelled due to the rain, so a nice lazy day for us all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So what else? Chris has a great trip to South America. The Stuffed Hawks won all their games, he ate loads of enormous steaks, saw a lot of interesting sights and most importantly brought home lots of prezzies for us :) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stretching before a game - looks like it hurts a bit - those legs aren't getting any younger.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Typical tourist shot in front of the famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am still doing lots of singing - two more major concerts to go before Christmas. The first is on 7 December (the day after my work Christmas party - not good timing) with A Capella Singers where I have duet and a solo in the Saint-Saens Christmas Oratorio and then the following weekend a concert of Bach & Handel where I am singing 'Let the Bright Seraphim' complete with chamber orchestra and solo trumpeter. Am excited and terrified in equal measure! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hard to believe there is only 3 weeks of school left for Tyler and then Christmas will be upon us. </span></div>
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MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-62161026769421890902014-08-15T09:18:00.000+12:002014-08-15T09:18:29.718+12:00Where did my baby go?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler is 10 today.TEN!!!! I spent some time late last night scrolling through the photos from the first 4 months of his life and reliving the memories of those precious, sleep-deprived days and nights. We have a family lunch tomorrow and then his party (10-pin bowling and pizza) on Sunday so I will do a big post after that with lots of pictures. Promise! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-21331904244335259592014-06-29T09:48:00.000+12:002014-06-29T09:48:21.712+12:00Southland is the place to be this winter<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While storms rage over the rest of the country on a semi-regular basis leaving uprooted trees, floods, slips and power outages in their wake, Southland has escaped and although cold and sometimes wet and windy, we have got off rather lightly so far. Of course August/September when the lambs are due is often a different story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not much to report: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler is waging a campaign for a basic cellphone so he can text with his friends. ALL of them have a phone Mum don't you know??! While Chris and I are not averse to this (it will truly be a basic phone with only the ability to text and make the odd phone call to us) he is having to earn it with good behaviour and so that is extending the process somewhat :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He has been playing table-tennis on a Wednesday, pairing up with one of the girls in his class and they have been doing quite well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are enjoying the fruits of summer's wood gathering/chopping/stacking as the fire keeps us toasty warm on the cold nights. Tyler has claimed the big lounge suite chair as his and sometimes invites Pedro (who is not getting any younger) to join him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chris is busy at work, as he has been relief crew-leading for the last couple of months. He is also starting to do a bit of fitness work in preparation for his Golden Oldies rugby trip to Argentina in September. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've been doing lots of singing (including at the funeral of my old boss and mentor which was very sad but an honour). I have a concert on July 13th where I have some solos and a duet as well as choral work and then there's a little break, which will be welcome and allow me to focus on my repertoire with my singing teacher. </span></div>
MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-56926704658107097442014-05-17T11:30:00.003+12:002014-05-17T18:55:52.627+12:00Vignettes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few pictures from the last week or two. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wee dude now has glasses for distance, which is definitely helping at school. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He discovered the joys of sewing (didn't get that from me!) and has made various things including a cushion for Pedro.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mothers' Day he presented me with this tissue flower he made at school, complete with Cookies n Cream Hershey's chocolate in the middle. Said chocolate has long since been devoured.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Apart from that, not much to report as we hunker down inside with the cooler temperatures.</span>MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-25705060208913647002014-04-19T11:04:00.002+12:002014-04-19T11:04:58.110+12:00Time flies when you're having fun. Or getting older. Whatever.<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Having been gently but firmly taken to task for the yawning silence on this blog, I will try to remedy it as best I can.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The first term of school is over for Tyler. He is in Year 5 and is doing very well according to his teacher at our recent parent-teacher interview. He is also still progressing nicely with his swimming and will start in the main pool next swim term. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He continues to grow like a weed and is vastly amused that he now fits my shoes (no, you will not be seeing photos of him in my high heels) and is hanging out for the day when he is taller than me. Which I don't think will take much longer as he is about up to my chin.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We acquired a bunny which Tyler named Mr Nibbles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chris has bought a road bike (Honda Fireblade CBR900) as a project for winter. I'm still singing away - currently in the throes of the annual Easter sing-athon - and blogging over at <a href="http://amusingsofalyricsoprano.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">(A)musings of a Lyric Soprano</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of my fellow 3GW (Three Good Women) got married and we (the remaining two GW's) sang a duet at her wedding. You can read about how I came up with just the right piece of music <a href="http://amusingsofalyricsoprano.wordpress.com/2014/03/07/god-defend-new-zealand-yeehah/" target="_blank">here</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And so to some photos and video.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mr Cool Dude</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHdEFoLa4ftZvxWct3-lyvD7UAHM-DmO5NcqdvmmUwVmgvogQ5U2D3goHLWkinQTXDrUqzaKPgH6MWKX9lz7ixVGiU_j-UdsaEyxBTxD5ygePdVd7m9oO2al9n7MDrE0NjOy5oiQ/s1600/SAM_0585.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHdEFoLa4ftZvxWct3-lyvD7UAHM-DmO5NcqdvmmUwVmgvogQ5U2D3goHLWkinQTXDrUqzaKPgH6MWKX9lz7ixVGiU_j-UdsaEyxBTxD5ygePdVd7m9oO2al9n7MDrE0NjOy5oiQ/s1600/SAM_0585.JPG" height="640" width="360" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Motorbike Exhibition at the Otago Museum</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6owppiKbrST-YiVFeXisqvMtTUrX8p_R6vQDIAncWIeX7Qq7i1v7pucaPZQKIj6qXsjoDIZ65t8GRGvB9qSrbpu6GHGAZCLyPYRBZ5rt9hOZaQxelfdPLX4JO2RZ9od0oX6QMpg/s1600/SAM_0597.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6owppiKbrST-YiVFeXisqvMtTUrX8p_R6vQDIAncWIeX7Qq7i1v7pucaPZQKIj6qXsjoDIZ65t8GRGvB9qSrbpu6GHGAZCLyPYRBZ5rt9hOZaQxelfdPLX4JO2RZ9od0oX6QMpg/s1600/SAM_0597.JPG" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mr Nibbles</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3GW at the wedding - the bride wore blue!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihUzwcoTxzn-nqD3FoFmAydGMcrGUoivVm8dOYXDtN9Oh0LKBrrXpjoG78yxDi4q-YWWQeyL0X68MSaB7r3YKvilc3r6RESlrexF-Nqz_o9WF0wZlWSNReah1mVD7NmKudzjv2CQ/s1600/SAM_0668.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihUzwcoTxzn-nqD3FoFmAydGMcrGUoivVm8dOYXDtN9Oh0LKBrrXpjoG78yxDi4q-YWWQeyL0X68MSaB7r3YKvilc3r6RESlrexF-Nqz_o9WF0wZlWSNReah1mVD7NmKudzjv2CQ/s1600/SAM_0668.JPG" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A partial recording of the duet - sorry about the sound quality.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-35727761729069158292013-12-26T22:31:00.000+13:002013-12-26T22:31:38.741+13:00What do you mean - it's nearly 2014?!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well how embarrassing - no blogging since early October. And here we are post-Christmas Day and rapidly approaching 2014. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since then I've had a '0' birthday, Tyler has finished Year 4 with a very good school report and we've just had a lovely Christmas. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So here's a few photos to help recap the last few months:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pedro went from this - </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFSVKa3ZMwC2IErBOpmP8yXttI6OaVjwSWgLsEyxpd8aNenxjFFnjn_RqYpbuVvbiGYGU9O8BtdNatamgsy1bmH0FeLEbCa9wTN443v2TTmiURC1QEoopc9BHdM2lysu9ZAG_Pzw/s1600/SAM_0571.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFSVKa3ZMwC2IErBOpmP8yXttI6OaVjwSWgLsEyxpd8aNenxjFFnjn_RqYpbuVvbiGYGU9O8BtdNatamgsy1bmH0FeLEbCa9wTN443v2TTmiURC1QEoopc9BHdM2lysu9ZAG_Pzw/s640/SAM_0571.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To this - </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiLDMzFlH8S18d-xyv6f7-7srwKEBBIriFzqD5rkAmuEdPVuveYUUJYqhMPdFX2jU8QXEadakeO1tuCEgGhvbJAy8j9y8lYxx3VmHiRKVnT1iFui9bi3pF_n-Nv-bGZ2aDLEn6eA/s1600/SAM_0572.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiLDMzFlH8S18d-xyv6f7-7srwKEBBIriFzqD5rkAmuEdPVuveYUUJYqhMPdFX2jU8QXEadakeO1tuCEgGhvbJAy8j9y8lYxx3VmHiRKVnT1iFui9bi3pF_n-Nv-bGZ2aDLEn6eA/s640/SAM_0572.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler dressed as Count Dracula for Halloween</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUwtLdBl09LSbf4nCi3faRRyU2cmpho1eaJTWNwbwVvcr5BwfYFrqp9uO9R3CsL1g6ZGQ7MlVwAZZsbXgJ5hTNQvuDJY_RaC7EhgM-eForm0PfWJXA2gA_Ml5AYmeF5K6H2eX6Sw/s1600/SAM_0545.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUwtLdBl09LSbf4nCi3faRRyU2cmpho1eaJTWNwbwVvcr5BwfYFrqp9uO9R3CsL1g6ZGQ7MlVwAZZsbXgJ5hTNQvuDJY_RaC7EhgM-eForm0PfWJXA2gA_Ml5AYmeF5K6H2eX6Sw/s640/SAM_0545.JPG" width="360" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I had my '0' birthday</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47FsDBqNqEn9c4Ka6NNR1ESR8qTuQ9p4HeQ_Rbfod_3CiW9OaNnaXszVXFjXW2QKmLDNCl-EfgB4pIATVf2mupsL114FYuZoMnT4_GhzEU3-CcQqKHjps_WL6WXO-x1msqmhAmA/s1600/SAM_0549.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47FsDBqNqEn9c4Ka6NNR1ESR8qTuQ9p4HeQ_Rbfod_3CiW9OaNnaXszVXFjXW2QKmLDNCl-EfgB4pIATVf2mupsL114FYuZoMnT4_GhzEU3-CcQqKHjps_WL6WXO-x1msqmhAmA/s640/SAM_0549.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chris got us a new toy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And Santa visited</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So a good ending to the year - although apparently we are doing a repeat of <a href="http://tjcmcleod.blogspot.co.nz/2013/04/hes-crumpy-im-barry.html" target="_blank">the Nevis trip</a> tomorrow with some friends, one of whom is a rally driver. At least we have a 4-wheel drive this time. I think that helps...!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-72731902443769674642013-10-09T07:53:00.001+13:002013-10-09T07:53:56.017+13:00♫♪ ...when I'm 64 ♪♫<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me, giving Tyler a big hug after coming from work: Do you still love me?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler: Of course, why wouldn't I?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me, teasingly: Oh I thought you might have forgotten me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler: Of course not, I'm still young.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me: What difference does that make?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler: Well when I'm older and you're old and crinkly, I might love you just a wee, wee bit less.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me: !!!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In other news, I won some bling at the annual Vocal Competitions recently (I'll blog about it soon over at <a href="http://amusingsofalyricsoprano.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">(A)musings of a Lyric Soprano</a>)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3BOxkWcJjycf0gjBJlRzR6J5JpWnywXOsiF2A-cIQpKetOZq_zmgy-JWU_jVp6oiUe1KLzaqhhzdtvhUnJJhOMUCAlYE0nq4YsH2jbQssF2ME17lMo_9OSizeVjM9LBcNMPD4-g/s1600/SAM_0521.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3BOxkWcJjycf0gjBJlRzR6J5JpWnywXOsiF2A-cIQpKetOZq_zmgy-JWU_jVp6oiUe1KLzaqhhzdtvhUnJJhOMUCAlYE0nq4YsH2jbQssF2ME17lMo_9OSizeVjM9LBcNMPD4-g/s1600/SAM_0521.JPG" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last weekend I took Tyler and Anton to Riverton for a bit of crab-hunting and ice-cream-devouring.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-50635195582546016382013-09-22T19:32:00.000+12:002013-09-22T19:33:42.746+12:00Happy Holiday<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A regular reader (Hi Rosina!) has gently pointed out that I have been very remiss in not posting photos here for some time. So without further ado, here is a traverse through our Gold Coast holiday.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At Dunedin airport</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmP84TfawIbYJkKm3OMFcqutSSq0ihCMW_Va6E3RF0V9mBYeoxEPAVfRImB84o2j8VttmMEcQmbqXJ-1yGEBpdRRUDE0PkXEQVEfYs0ym3FTjTtrydr4R6g0AXyQS0kQpaeQFNlg/s1600/SAM_0417.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmP84TfawIbYJkKm3OMFcqutSSq0ihCMW_Va6E3RF0V9mBYeoxEPAVfRImB84o2j8VttmMEcQmbqXJ-1yGEBpdRRUDE0PkXEQVEfYs0ym3FTjTtrydr4R6g0AXyQS0kQpaeQFNlg/s1600/SAM_0417.JPG" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kookaburra alarm clock</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sea World - we could pat these stingrays.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pirate ship fun</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dinosaur Island</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pingus!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary which we loved. Tyler got to tick two items off his bucket list - hold a koala and hold a snake.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At Movie World, the Harry Potter shop. Tyler now has his own wand.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wet N Wild - the Green Lantern rollercoaster. That's Chris and Tyler nearly at the top.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler turned 9 while we were away. Cupcakes sufficed for a birthday cake.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the four pools at our resort</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had a fabulous time and would like to go back again. Still paying this one off though!</span></div>
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MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-21857447231762015592013-08-07T16:41:00.000+12:002013-08-07T16:41:08.253+12:00♫♪ We're all going on a ...spring holiday.. ♪♫<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A short post - yes I know, I owe all two of you Gentle Readers a long one! But I promise the next one will be long and photo-filled as the Campbell-McLeod family is off for our very first proper family holiday - hooray! We're heading to the Gold Coast for 9 days of theme parks and wildlife encounters and while we are there, Tyler has his 9th birthday. So an extra memory card has been purchased for the camera in anticipation of frenetic photo-taking.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We will be staying at <a href="http://www.turtlebeach.com.au/" target="_blank">Turtle Beach Resort</a> in Mermaid Beach. We have the Super Pass for Wet 'n' Wild, Movie World and SeaWorld Theme parks and we will be visiting <a href="http://www.cws.org.au/" target="_blank">Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary</a> where Tyler is very keen to cuddle a koala. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">See you soon!</span></div>
MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-85189291717931201832013-07-07T08:27:00.001+12:002013-07-07T08:27:58.706+12:00What a mother loves to hear<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, we love to hear "I love you Mummy". Can never get enough of that one. especially if accompanied by snuggly hugs and kisses. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But this one of Tyler's has quickly become a favourite of mine: "I'm just going to use my imagination". Accompanied by the turning off of the laptop/tablet/Nintendo and followed by sounds of swishing imaginary swords and cries of "I will defeat you" coming from the bedroom/hallway/back yard.</span>MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-81804638922982304652013-06-09T15:17:00.000+12:002013-06-09T15:17:54.051+12:00Why I bake<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Time for a photographic update.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler and his best friend Caleb who came for a sleepover. They decided to sleep in the lounge and gathered pretty much every single cushion and pillow in the house and arranged them in a large square which they then covered with blankets. The little rat bags were still chattering away at 2am!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Big bro Anton visited recently before heading off to Christchurch for a new job.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rosina came and stayed with us for a week. While she was here I managed to scrape the side of her car (which was about to sell) with a loaned car (a Subaru WRX STi). Amazingly enough she got offered the same for her scraped car down here as she did unscraped in Christchurch. Chris reckons the salesman will get a telling-off! Anyway she's still talking to me :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today Tyler asked if we could do some baking and decided on Gingerbread men and chocolate chip muffins. I got the ingredients together for the Gingerbread Men and asked him if he wanted to sift the flour. "No thanks" "But that's what we need to do for baking" With a cheeky grin he said "Oh I just want to EAT the baking!"</span></div>
MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-84890654465718019162013-04-13T19:42:00.000+12:002013-04-13T19:42:14.475+12:00He's Crumpy, I'm Barry<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Easter Monday we hopped in the truck for an Adventure Day. We headed up to Garston and then turned off to take the Nevis Road. This involved a steep ascent on a windy, dusty road frequently with 6 inches between us and a swift decent to the bottom of the valley. As Chris' truck is not 4WD he took this road at a fair clip to ensure that we kept moving in a forwards-and-upwards direction rather than a sideways-and-downwards one. There was a lot of bouncing and skidding. But the bouncing, skidding, sheer drops and general scariness of the ascent left Chris unfazed and for some reason unfathomable to me, he felt it was perfectly acceptable driving behaviour to remove one hand from the wheel for the purposes of pointing out various bits of scenery. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Those of you of a certain vintage will remember a series of Toyota ads involving Barry Crump and his passenger Scotty. This example pretty much sums up both our ascent and the subsequent descent:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The descent was a lot less hairy in terms of steepness but in place of that were the obstacles of stream crossings and large rocks to negotiate. Chris did a great job of picking the right places and only once did he confess that he was unsure if we were going to get through a particularly deep crossing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">See the shadowed side of the hill behind me and Tyler? Chris and his mates rode their dirt bikes up that recently!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We stopped at the Bannockburn pub for lunch in the sun and then went on to Queenstown where we took Tyler up in the gondolas and then did the luge. We followed that up with a round of indoor mini golf. We headed home well satisfied with day's activities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We had Tyler's parent-teacher interview last Monday. The teacher goes through each subject and Tyler has to say what his current goal is for that subject and the teacher explains what he is working on. We started with reading comprehension and in terms of where he's at, he's way ahead of the standard and she said his results in the PAT test (yes, they still do those!) puts him in the top 10-15% of NZ. He gets that from me. She said everything else he is fine in, no concerns at all. Although he can get distracted sometimes. He get's that from his father. :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Only a week till the end of school term so Tyler's touch, t-ball and summer soccer have finished. My netball has started and we are yet again going to spend the entire season outside - rain, hail or shine - due to the continued delays with the reconstruction of the Stadium.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We are still dealing with the uncertainties of a potential closure of Tiwai, but life goes on in the meantime and we have a holiday to the Gold Coast to look forward to later this year.</span></div>
MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-92138334512989461792013-03-31T12:55:00.000+13:002013-03-31T12:55:55.302+13:00Happy Easter<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Happy Easter everyone! We started the Easter break by decorating hard-boiled eggs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Early this morning was the Easter Egg Hunt, and Tyler was very happy with his haul. After he found the last egg he held up his torch and declared "This case is closed!" and dramatically clicked the torch off.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yesterday we had an Easter lunch at the Howards and obviously some people ate enough to make them sleepy :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aunty Helen made a gorgeous chocolate birds nest cake</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And yes, it tasted as good as it looked!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As usual I have been singing since Friday and have one last lot this afternoon. My voice is feeling pretty tired so it will be good to finish. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are hoping to get away for a day or day/night trip tomorrow, probably up Central or Te Anau way.</span>MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-80718194280144479132013-03-02T15:37:00.001+13:002013-03-02T15:37:41.445+13:00Whoosh! That's 2 months of the year gone.<div style="text-align: justify;">
Goodness me where has the year gone? Let's pick up where we left off shall we?</div>
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Alright then, <a href="http://tjcmcleod.blogspot.co.nz/2013/01/those-darn-vegetables.html" target="_blank">vegetables</a> it is! Doing the grocery shopping recently, I stopped at the drink section (not alcohol, we're in a Licencing Trust area, but if there was an alcohol section I would definitely have been perusing it) and had one of Oprah's Aha! moments. OK yes I know that Oprah's Aha! moments are generally about significant things like 'I finally figured out how to cure cancer/make World Peace/be a nicer person' but I'm a simple girl. It was the V8 juice. This is not just your standard apple or orange or mango juice, this is juice which includes vegetables. Juice that doesn't taste as if it has vegetables in it. I hatched a plan that could indeed be called a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp5St7hORyw" target="_blank">weasel</a>.<br />
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That evening when Tyler asked for a drink I gave him a glass of juice. "What's in it?" he asked with a touch of suspicion. "Oh mostly orange juice, with a bit of apple" I responded airily. He took a cautious sip. "Mmm this is the nicest juice I've ever had!" he said and proceeded to skull the contents of the glass accompanied by much inner celebrating by me.<br />
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Later that evening I chanced my arm and said to him "Do you know what else was in that juice? Carrot juice!!" "What? Really? Wow, now I know how I can eat my vegetables!!" Now I just have to test out the other varieties of juice-with-veges to see what he'll drink.<br />
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In other news, we have acquired a pub-size pool table which is ensconced in the man-garage. Chris has bought a slab of some kind of hard board which converts it into a table tennis table. So here's the wee dude taking on the big dude. Big dude is looking intensely competitive.<br />
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MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-22796288045004236842013-01-16T19:30:00.000+13:002013-01-16T19:30:24.978+13:00Those darn vegetables<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler, like many children, thinks most vegetables are made of rat poison and elephant dung and have been grown purely for the purposes of <a href="http://tjcmcleod.blogspot.co.nz/2010/04/wegtables.html" target="_blank">torturing him</a>. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He will eat:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Potato - but only mashed</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Corn - but only in chicken and corn soup.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yep, that's the sum total. Bribes, threats and guilt trips leave him unmoved and making gagging sounds every time we mention the word carrot. Last night's conversation ended on the following note:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Mummy! I know it won't happen for a long time, but when you die I'm never eating vegetables again!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few photos from the holidays:</span></div>
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MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-84482749351218452822012-12-27T14:20:00.001+13:002012-12-27T14:20:11.013+13:00Christmas 2012Christmas Eve I came home from singing at the first service at St Mary's at around 9:20pm to find Tyler fast asleep in the hallway because apparently he was '<b>waiting to catch Santa</b>'.<div>
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On the bench he had laid out a feast for Santa and the 'rainder' with a little note.</div>
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Off I went to St Mary's again for round 2 at 11:30pm, finishing just before 1am. By the time I got home and ensured everything was ready for Santa it was 1:45am. </div>
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Tyler came "Merry Christmas!"-ing into our room at 5:15am but amazingly we were able to get him to settle down in our bed till 6am at which time he dragged me out to the lounge with him to open his Santa presents and the presents from us. Much excitement ensued as amongst other things a skateboard was revealed.</div>
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Tyler and I played Monopoly and then we headed over to Mum's at midday to open presents and indulge in a traditional Christmas feast with Mum's personalised home-made crackers between courses. </div>
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It was a gloriously hot, sunny day.</div>
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Chris Stephen</div>
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Back home Tyler played happily with his loot while Chris watched a movie and I had a big nana-nap! </div>
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MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-32751069597149329082012-12-01T17:29:00.000+13:002012-12-01T17:29:06.726+13:00Christmas is Coming<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We have one not-so-small-now boy happy as a Christmas elf high on frankincense and myrrh after putting up the Christmas tree this afternoon. We put up the Advent calendar last night so he has already had his first gift from that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We have one of those Advent calendars with 24 small pockets into which I put a slip of paper with a picture of a location at which he will find a 'wee something.' This year we are having the usual toy/lolly type gifts and then we are adding in some 'Time Vouchers' which will have things like "Spend an hour at the beach with Mum &/or Dad' or 'Picnic at the park'. Like a lot of kids, Tyler's love currency is time with us, so not only do we get away from buying cheap cr@p that will get tossed in a week or two, but we all benefit from the time together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Surprisingly, we have been having difficulty getting out of him what he wants for Christmas presents. He consistently says that he will like whatever we get him (oh the fish-hooks in that one!) and that he wants to do things with his family. He actually wrote a note to Santa asking for 'something the whole family can do play together'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I recently created his <a href="http://www.portablenorthpole.com/watch/mfqC0IkFst_H_lXaMNjRlmg" target="_blank">PNP Santa video</a> and it was a sight to behold when the video got to the bit where Santa has a look under the cover at what the elves are making for Tyler. Santa "Oh Tyler, I see you want something that everyone can do together". Tyler's eyes went like saucers, his mouth dropped open and he exclaimed "Oh my goodness!" Belief is still strong in him :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This year's new ornaments.</span></div>
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Random Tyler photo - with his new Beywheel rink</div>
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MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-19172280740268339922012-10-27T18:07:00.001+13:002012-10-27T18:07:56.724+13:00'Soccer Mom'<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Along with the start of the last school term of the year comes the start of summer sports. Tyler's got a fairly full programme starting with soccer on Monday, touch and then t-ball practice on Wednesday, Flippaball and a swimming lesson on Friday and t-ball game on Saturday. Chris coaches the touch team.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today was Tyler's first t-ball game (t-ball is a junior version of softball where the ball is placed on small pole at home base and the kids hit it off there). He was very proud of his Wallacetown Tigers uniform because now he looks like Daddy when he plays softball. He's in an under 7 team at the moment because he's never played before and the club didn't have enough players for under 9. The next group up plays full softball so it would have been a bit too much of a leap. It's always as funny as a play watching littlies play sport. Playing tag in the out-field is much more fun than listening to the coach ! Trying to decide what to do with the ball once they have it - very taxing on a wee brain. And they get that they have to run....but which way??</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyway, the wee dude did pretty well for his first go and although I forgot to take the camera (d'oh!) I did get some photos and video on my phone.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/c38.0.403.403/p403x403/579060_10151296061526823_944232142_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Photo: First hit of the Tball season. Go the Wallacetown Sharks!" border="0" height="357" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/c38.0.403.403/p403x403/579060_10151296061526823_944232142_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">First hit of the year</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Making sure he hits that home base!</span></div>
MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-45606229528227405122012-10-19T10:04:00.001+13:002012-10-19T10:04:32.431+13:00Where IS that green sheep?<a href="http://thegracefuldoe.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/where-is-the-green-sheep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://thegracefuldoe.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/where-is-the-green-sheep.jpg" width="193" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most nights I rea</span>d Tyler a bedtime story. He has his own particular favourites of course, but our mutual favourite is 'Where is the Green Sheep?' which he received as a birthday present one year from G-A Betty and G-U Dennis. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The method of reading it has evolved over time from straight off the page as written to the current methode du jour which is where I substitute a wrong word in each sentence and Tyler corrects me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But it doesn't stop there. Before we start reading Tyler will say "Do the one where you get really angry!" So it will go something like this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me: Here is the purple sheep.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler: No, here is the BLUE sheep.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me: Hmmph. FINE. *exaggeratedly* Here is the BLUUUUUE sheep.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(Page turn)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me: And here is the der sheep.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler: No Mummy, here is the RED sheep.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me: No. No. Look see, it says d-e-r. Der. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler: No! It's r-e-d. Red.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me: But I'm reading it from over here, looking at it this way, so it's der.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You get the idea. It's actually quite challenging thinking up inventive ways to change the words on the spot. Especially the pages with multiple sheep doing various activities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The other night after a particular hilarious read-through, Tyler laughed so hard he had tears running down his face. As he wiped them up he said "Oh look, I've got tears of funnyness!"</span></div>
MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-14742290185202284262012-10-07T13:36:00.000+13:002012-10-07T13:36:12.005+13:00Hawaii<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The boys are currently in Christchurch staying with Chris' Mum, so in the interim here are some photos from Chris' rugby trip to Hawaii.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The Black Pearl from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies</i></span></div>
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<i style="text-align: left;">Dolphins</i></div>
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<i>Battleship at Pearl Harbour</i></div>
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<i>Submarine for tourists </i></div>
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<i>Battleship - an idea of how big it was</i></div>
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<i>Chris was fascinated by these wooden, windowless buses</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-35950540686596504222012-09-17T21:48:00.000+12:002012-09-17T21:48:10.565+12:00Artistic Endeavours<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our oven has been playing up and would not heat properly for baking so Chris finally got it seen to and to celebrate, Tyler and I made gingerbread men in the weekend. Tyler got right into the decorating side of things and reserved two of his best for Daddy.</span></div>
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MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-79360034621378898752012-09-09T19:16:00.000+12:002012-09-09T19:16:08.501+12:00Expelliarmus!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler's school had a Book Character Day on Friday so he decided to be Harry Potter. Unfortunately the local costume place had already lent out it's HP costume, so we cobbled together a suitably wizardy costume which he thought was pretty cool. He couldn't wait to get to school and bounded around the house exclaiming "Expelliarmus!" and "Expecto patronem!" Fortunately for Pedro he appeared immune to spells :)</span></div>
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MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-21017171456084116042012-08-26T13:35:00.000+12:002012-08-26T13:35:41.386+12:00Fun in the Sun<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's a glorious spring day here in Invervegas and while Chris was sleeping off his night shift, Tyler, Pedro and I popped across to the school playground.</span></div>
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MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-63020399003913609482012-08-23T18:46:00.000+12:002012-08-23T18:46:57.433+12:00Yes, it has taken this long to recover<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sunday 5:30pm found me reclining on the sofa, ears ringing, staring vacantly into space. Two hours of rampant, sugar-hyped 8-year-old's charging around the house </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">followed</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> by cleaning up after said 8-year-olds can do that to a girl. Was it worth it? Oh yes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thankfully the weather also came to the party (did you see what I did there?) which allowed much of the partiers' sugar-high manic energy to be dispersed by running round and round the lawn, shrieking (sorry neighbours) and firing Nerf gun bullets at each other. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That's one of the good things about parties as the kids get older - they entertain themselves a good portion of the time. We ended up doing the food as a sort of on-going buffet, where they could run screaming around the lawn, then grab some more food fuel before running screaming around the lawn again. We all came together for a game of pass-the-parcel followed by sundae-making which turned out to be a hit with the kids.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As I Facebook-statused later, you know you've hosted a kid's birthday party when your own dinner consists of 2 potato-top pies followed by icecream with M&M's, multi-coloured sprinkles, mini marshmallows and jelly!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As promised, some photos (the theme was rainbow):</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lots of balloons</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Blowing out the candles</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The alternative to loot bags - lolly jars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Eating sundaes and watching 'Up'</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mmmm, sundae</span><br />
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MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18423578.post-31575868980815180932012-08-18T21:31:00.000+12:002012-08-18T21:31:30.739+12:00Party time's a-comin'<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2RE54jNlw4DMoPsB0WR35YFdizo7IfLCtSIz4JcgbRacnHG57uTIF41DLGJMj_Zqzd39kSqQTaA0fi3GR0BilpcvTmCM1wfqNEXFM2IhehnvQGneA2YFZZ1Fw9V1Ky_o1G5frIQ/s1600/SAM_0102.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2RE54jNlw4DMoPsB0WR35YFdizo7IfLCtSIz4JcgbRacnHG57uTIF41DLGJMj_Zqzd39kSqQTaA0fi3GR0BilpcvTmCM1wfqNEXFM2IhehnvQGneA2YFZZ1Fw9V1Ky_o1G5frIQ/s640/SAM_0102.JPG" width="361" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here's Tyler in his birthday gear - hoodie from Grandad and Jan, track pants and sneakers from Pop and Ali.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tomorrow's the kids party, so I'll try and post some photos tomorrow night.</span></div>
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MamaBellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262346519660496330noreply@blogger.com0