It's Life Jim, but not as we know it...

Kinda feels like that round here some times.
All of a sudden, Jayden has decided to revert back to some behaviour that is just beyond any form of reasoning. It's inorganic collection time and so (despite our requests not to do so), he keeps heading out to find new junk to bring home. Some bits aren't so bad and we just ask him to go return them. However, we have also had; the old printer, which he proceeded to take apart, smash the ink cartridges and paint the outside downpipes, himself and his clothes with the ink and an old can of white oil based paint (gone off and lumpy) with which he decided to start painting the back fence (previously-whilst in need of repair and a repaint - dark brown). In the process he ruined a full set of clothes (including new jandals). He then proceeded to tip the entire tin of paint out onto the lawn. He was warned not go to near the paint again and to stay out of the backyard until we had managed to clean some of it up. Yesterday I noticed he was once again covered in paint. I told him off and sent him to his room, only to be told (by him yelling it at me), that it was not the same paint, it was from a different can from a different house!!! - Oh, that makes it allright then!
Along with that, we've had the pipe cleaner stuck into the electrical socket, a full container of powder emptied out in between our dressers (right over the hairdryer and all the plugs) and a new tube of lip balm cut up and dug out with tweezers and smeared everywhere!
I will never be able to say parenting Jayden was boring!!!

Most Improved...

Was the trophy Jayden received at his recent Rippa Rugby prizegiving. His coach Ken said some awesome words and accurately described how Jayden went from being a boy who cartwheeled all over the field last year looking at everything but what was happening on the field, to a child who got involved, concentrated on the game, scored some awesome tries, ripped loads of tags and was right up there this year. Is was heart warming to know all the decisions we made on his behalf and the changes to his diet were all worthwhile and had really paid off.

That was followed up by him being released from both the RTLB and ABT teams at school, as his reading level was now just above his age, no behavioural issues were being seen and all round, he was doing exceptionally well. Then last week, he gained his level 7 competency badge & certificate in gymnastics. What an awesome turnaround for this wee lad of ours! Very Proud of you Jayden!

Fairy Room Pictures

Taryn got in and cleaned her room up this morning, so couldn't miss the opportunity to take the photos. Goodness knows when it will be this tidy again. lol!

The photos don't really do justice to the cute little fairies around the room. So, I just have to paint her small bookcase and cork board purple, hang them up, then the room is complete. yeah!!

Goodbye Yellow

A few weeks back, I finally got around to redecorating Taryn's room. I say finally, cause I first decided to do it 3 years ago, asking her what she wanted in the way of colours etc. She wanted a fairy room, so seeing as it was 3 years later and she will be 11 at the end of this year, I double checked she still wanted the same thing and she did (thank goodness, as the new curtains, duvet cover and fairy related ornaments and items were all still in a bag downstairs).














Taryn wanted to help, so she had a go at sanding down the walls. We then cut in all the edges and corners and proceeded to cover the yellow walls in a very soft purply-pink colour (Taryn chose this colour herself).

We bought her a new (secondhand) desk. A large white one, with plenty of shelves and drawers to keep all her stuff. It was heavy and awkward, but Mike and I decided not to take it apart to take it upstairs, instead opting for the get it in quick theory. Darn thing was a nightmare on the stairs and anyone watching would have been in fits of laughter. After much grunting (and pain), we finally got it up to her bedroom door, to find it was 1 inch too large in any direction to go in in one piece, so we ended up taking the darn thing apart anyway. Argghhhh!

Up went the new curtains, the fairy motifs and on went the duvet and it looked just gorgeous!

I should have taken photos as soon as the room was completely finished, as within 1/2 an hour it was back to it's usual messy state, but I'll try and get a photo either today, or a day this week (when she's tidied it up a little) and post it. Room looks so lovely when it's tidy!

Last Try, Last Minute

That's exactly what Jayden got in his last game of Rippa Rugby for 2008. Boy was he fast too. He ran like the wind for that try, with everyone on the sideline cheering him on. He was so fast in fact that after I caught him running down the sideline and took the first photo, my camera was just too slow to recover sufficiently to catch the actual try, instead getting him as he stood up and walked away while the defending team all flopped on the ball (a few seconds too late sorry boys!). He's not sure if he's going to play tackle rugby next year. We think he's a natural and so will try to encourage him to continue. His stats for the season - 24 Tries, 88 rips!

Tea Cookies

These must be one of the easiest cookies to make. I pressed them through my cookie press, but you can also pipe them or simply place a spoonful on the tray and press them down with a fork. Not too sweet either. Just right.

150g butter

75gms caster sugar

1 egg, beaten

few drops almond essence

225g flour

glace cherries or candied peel to decorate

Preheat oven to 230c. Line two baking sheets with baking paper.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy then beat in egg, almond essence and flour.

Spoon, pipe or press mixture onto baking sheets, place 1/2 glace cherry or candied peel on top and bake for 5 minutes or until golden brown. How easy is that?

Time flies....

...when life gets just a little too crazy for comfort. Can't believe 3 weeks just zoomed by like that. I was starting to get in a groove of posting a bit more often, then wham! Everything at once. I guess life is like that sometimes - feast or famine.

Anyway, I have a few posts to catch up on which I'll get to over the weekend, but the news at present is -

• Ashley & Wendy are moving up to Auckland and will be coming to live with us. Actually Ashley's already here, Wendy arrives in just over a week. Emptying that spare room for them was such a good opportunity to have a huge clear out. Now that I've started, I just keep finding more and more stuff to get rid of!
• Jo and I did our first real catering gig (not friends/family). We had loads of fun, a great set of helping hands on the night (Thanks Miss Wendy), great wine served to us by the host, good music in the background and were well paid. Who could ask for more?
• Brian and Cathie are expecting-not sure on dates yet. Got the call from Bri 2 days after I emailed Cathie to tell her I had a dream about them buying all this baby gear!
• My car died. First kept cutting out on me, then all the electrics went and poor thing went away on a transporter. I'd like to say to the car graveyard and my new one's coming any day, but reality is that it's off being fixed (hopefully) and after it's transplant (hopefully from a previously strong donor car), should be back with us sometime next week. It's been painful being down to one car!