How To Change A Tire On Your Bike
thanks for taking the time to teach us Dadda
we know it is quicker for you to do things on your own
but we love learning from you
Archive for March, 2007
today was the First Day of Rain
and so we celebrated by doing one of our favourite winter activites: making huts
Mama sewed and sewed and sewed T2’s quilt for her birthday and we made huts all over the house. We even had lunch in one under the dining room table. If we are all quiet for Grandpa tonight we will be allowed to sleep in one tomorrow! K9 knows this is bribery!!
This morning you came to me and said, “Mama could you take a photo of this for tomorrow’s blog? This is the best apron I’ve ever made and I really like it”.
Sweetie, I loved how you were so proud of your effort, your smile stretched across your face as you pointed out the special features, the double pocket, the small handsewn stitches. And so I thought I’d surprise you and sneak in a post for you….today!
Love ya lots darling….and I’m sure ER will love this first birthday present from you. She’ll be able to wear it when you teach her how to make salads or spaghetti!
We have an annual pass to get in to the
Museum of Transport and Technology this year
(what a wonderful Christmas present that was –
thanks Uncle John and Aunty Sandra!).
And we’ve been three times in the past two weeks!
The most exciting time was on Saturday
when they had a military open day.
L6: We had fun in the truck and using the remote-controlled tanks. I shot J11 and K9.
M4: We went on da steam train dere. Dat was fun. We saw a horse break da fence. And da steam train went very fast.
T2: In Motack. I had a face paint. We went on a swain. I sat wif Daddy and looked out da window for da swain to come and it was at da fwont and it was dwiving fast off now fast.
K8: There was a truck that you could have a ride on and there were very steep hills you went over and it felt like you were going to tip off your seat (T2 interjects :actually no you just hold on! And Daddy just hold me). There was a motorbike with a sidecar on it and we got a ride in the sidecar. There was a battle with guns and at the end we were given empty cartridges.
K9: My favourite part was having the ride on the truck. It was exciting going over all the bumps and down the steep steep hills. I liked watching the battle because the noise was loud and there were explosions with lots of smoke. ER(10mo) fell asleep in the middle of it and didn’t even get woken up!
J11: I liked doing the remote controlled tanks even though the batteries died and I had to wait a few seconds for it to charge up. The mock battle was also very interesting, espeically the noise and the big tank which came over the hill and fired some blank shots. The Nazis arrived on a train.
J12: My favourite part was the steam train ride. If you put your head out the window, the steam and smoke blew in your face. We waved at each other from the ends of the train. In the first class carriage the back of the seat could be moved so you could face whichever way you wanted.
There was a helicopter there and we all wanted a ride, but at $95 for one person for ten minutes we didn’t get one! Levi said “You could pay with your credit card Dadda and it wouldn’t cost you anything!”
We recognised the soldiers who were at the Howick Historic Village when we had a pass to go there a couple of years ago.
This is old news, but we need to put up a photo of it before the next birthday comes creeping up. (You see Mama is going to print all our posts out and make a book for us and we’ll want all the birthdays in it!)
K8 wanted a gingerbread house….with the three bears taking a stroll in the forest.
the boys had haircuts…..and Mama’s gone for the SHORT bob
We love soup…..any sort of soup….but our absolute favourite is pumpkin…..yes we all share the same favourite (well we don’t know about ER, but she sure liked this one).
Yesterday we picked our first pumpkin and Mama made Dadda’s favourite chewy crusty bread and we had a scrummy dinner.
Here’s the soup recipe:
2 onions, carefully chopped
as much garlic as you can manage, chopped as well as a 6 year old can
a good shake of cumin (2 teaspoons perhaps)
a little bit less coriander
about the same of turmeric
a pinch of ginger
a pinch of nutmeg
a few cracks of black pepper
as many mustard seeds as you feel like
fry together in a little olive oil and butter until nice-n-smelly
6 parsnips, chopped up
3/4 large pumpkin just picked from the garden(that’s all that would fit in the pot)
this one actually
a few cups of chicken stock left over from the other night
add and bring to the boil, boil for five minutes or so transfer the pot to the cooking bag and leave a few hours
a can of coconut cream
just before serving stir in and sprinkle fresh coriander on top - oh yeah, you need to whizz it up so it’s nice and smooth like this:
serve with Jim Lahey’s New York Times No Knead Bread
The other day Dadda put me in my cot for my morning nap.
I went to sleep.
I woke up pretty early and would usually go back to sleep again.
But my world was different this time.
The bars of my cot were not up.
So I sat up. I pulled myself up to standing.
I put my leg over……
…..I do love to climb, you know….
and before you could say
“bounce baby bounce“,
I was on the floor.
~ER10months
Yesterday we drove out to an avocado orchard near the airport. You’re only supposed to pick five per person……so we weren’t supposed to bring home more than fifty!!!!! Unfortunately there were only two ripe ones. But we had a lot of fun running amongst the trees and climbing them – avocado trees are so big. Well, not big like a kauri, but certainly bigger than our mandarins or plum trees! And it was interesting to see just how many avocados grow on one tree – they hang there like decorations on a Christmas tree!
ER(9mo) particularly liked the wind – she was snuggled up with Mama in her wrap and she kept opening her mouth and trying to catch the wind on her tongue!!!!
A light drizzle moistened our picnic lunch…..but we didn’t mind a bit. It was just great to be out with Dadda, coz he’s been working really hard and having lots of meetings.
We stopped at the vege shop on the way home…..we think it was funny that Mama bought 5 avocados for $1.50.
We’ve been reading Charlotte’s Web.
“Mothers for miles around worried about Zuckerman’s swing. They feared some child would fall off. But no child ever did. Children almost always hang on tighter than their parents think they will.”
