Our Book of Life

Our family has been pretty good with no major injuries this past 6 months. (the ones that you can't fix with a plaster). Until yesterday........ 07/12/11 As of late Kawea and Nauvoo in particular have been battling over who gets the front seat of the car when we get in..... not a big thing to get worked up about I know but when you are in that car twice a day and the same riot happens every time, something has to give... and I did!! Finally I snapped and declared that seeing as they could not get in the car (knowing our family rule is eldest in the front) without the drama's we simply would not use the car. So, now instead of driving to the bus stop approx 1 km away, we walk it. Yesterday afternoon was the first day. It was a beautiful day and I actually enjoyed the walk. Renata, Rakaipaka and I made it down to the stop in about 20 minutes. Walking back was actually fun. For me.. Nauvoo and I had some great bonding time. She was determined to let me pull her up the hill so ...

In recent times, for me I have come to realize that life can be quite difficult. There are amazing days, filled with wonderful friends and happy moments, then there are days where it feels like I am sitting in a dark corner and my legs won't move to turn the light on. Today I watched this clip. I have seen it before but it reminded me of a focus I can draw my energy to. Now even though it is a clip from my 'church' it is something that can be applied to ANYONE's life, especially, I feel, if you have children of your own or feel a little lost yourself. If anything, it can help you to become a better you... http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WyiSSBHJy6I I hope you find it as uplifting as I did today. Have a beautiful day.

It was such a beautiful day this day, we decided to walk to the supermarket (from our car park of course). It was so fun to see Rakai all excited to be in town running everywhere not walking.   On the way out of the shop Rakai insisted on carrying a shopping bag.  After a while it was dragged along, but he insisted on holding on to it... (must have had lollies or soemthing in it). It was neat to see kawea holding his hand too.... big brothers....

While I know you are all hanging out to hear about the world cup (which is not far away now), I have a few other stories to tell.. Labour weekend. From memory, it usually rains on labour weekend but this weekend was beautiful. Arama was suppposed to be in PNG this weekend, luck reigned and the trip was postponed. So what do you do on a beautiful Spring day? Go fishing!! It has been like, forever, since we have been fishing. Rods in hand and a packed lunch we headed off to the coast. We stopped off at an old favorite place to get some pipi's but was greated by a sign that told us that the area is now a marine reserve and taking of any sealife is "STRICTLY PROHIBITED". Oh Phoey!!! Instead, we stopped and had lunch and the kids had a great time playing at the park. Now, we were sitting on this table enjoying our lunch when Teancum motioned for me to turn around and check out something behind me. When Hikawera took a look this happened..... No, Arama is NOT ...

did this work?? I am trying to find a way we can put in music from itunes and get some movies on here....HELP!!

Yesterday we arranged an outing for everyone. We have been contending with the rain a little this week, and a change of scenery was what everyone needed. We headed out to our old stomping grounds. South Auckland. We took all our washing and blankets and hit the laundromat, then the yummy cheap bakeries then the free heated pools where the kids had a great time and we had super long hot showers.... Such a good day!!

The rabbit LOVED my cauli this year in my garden, so I was so happy to find these at the vege store on Tuesday. They were only 1.90 too so I was sold. I bought about 4 of each and blanched them and put them in my freezer for when I have no vege's..... Look at the size of them, my hand is not exactly 'petite' either.  YUM!

We are loving having family (whanau) over for the holidays. Aunty Jacque invited us over for Monday night to have FHE. It was great to see cousins working together on assignments and enjoying the evening together. Truth and Ratauhinga conducted This is most of the cousins Kawea conducted the music. Rakai loving sitting on his "bigger" cousin Tawhaio Emeka and Arama watching from behind, making sure all is well. Arama and Jazz Gave a great lesson on service and looking after those that need our help. Well done you two! Inspiration was from this months New Era. Then game time. In the pond out the pond is a family favorite for generations! Still a favorite. Just more competitive. We had a couple of ponds. A big pond for the big ones, a little one for the little ones. Truth and Tawhaio taught us how to play Pukana too. That was a great game, then there was a train game where you sit in a circle and hold hands. Then you squeeze hands  around to a...

I have been keeping to a menu for our meals lately, and with feeding our big family this week (10 kids) I started baking again. I needed garlic bread for our bolognaise one night but couldn't get to the shop. I planned to make Elissa's herb rolls but can you find the recipe when you need it the most? Yeah right!! So, I dove into my Edmonds cook book and tried this recipe, It was for white bread but I amended it a little by 1. adding crushed garlic and 2. rolling them into buns not bread. If I had realized how good they were going to be I would have made 3 batches instead of 1. They were amazing!! You have to try these. Recipe 5 cups High grade flour 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons surebake Yeast (or any yeast) 3/4 cup cold water 2 tablespoos oil 3/4 cup boiling water oil Egg wash - 1 egg yolk   and 1 tablespoon water Method. Combine 2 cups of the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large bow, add cold water and oil, immediately followed by bo...

My darling was kind to say, he was used to seeing gardens that are clean. In other words politely he was telling me he was not too happy that my garden had more grass and weeds in it than growing plants!!! I read somewhere it can be good for the garden to let it grow abit. Well that was my justification. Anyway, I have been busy finding materials around the property from the previous owners, there is tonnes of stuff. I have been able to make some new planter boxes and prepare for my long awaited strawberry plants. In the end we have changed around some of the garden. I ended up transplanting my veges to a new  rested garden patch. My broad beans have to stay where they are because they are growing fantastically!! So here is a picture of my new garden patch, I intend to split my big garden into 2 so I can have 3 plots each at different stages, so that I can have crops all year round. And have my seedlings going on in the greenhouse.  The boxes I have made. On the right,...