Diana's Birthday Party || 9yrs || Part 2

: : No idea what somebody's favourite colours might be! : :

: : Amelia wrote Diana some music : :

: : Gift-giving session : :

: : Diana was happily admiring this {purple} handbag, but Danielle said "OPEN IT, OPEN IT!! : :

: : So she did . . . chocolate for the win! : :

: : Diana loves long skirts and was excited to receive this one from Amy and Joanna, handcrafted by their mum! : :

Diana's Birthday Party || 9yrs || Part 1

So I meant to have these up *ages* ago, but left it in the hopes that the missing images would be found first. What happened was our [Mum's] memory card filled up half-way through the party and I allowed someone else to download them and clear the card. Then I'm ready to edit them and they're nowhere to be found. #nothappy Most of the images I captured of the card-making, including individual shots of each person with her card were in that first batch, along with various new background images, and {I think} more photos from Nana's visit to Auckland. (More on that in a future post.) *sigh* Fingers crossed they'll show up at some point . . . they don't seem to be in the recycle bin.

: : Plenty of outdoor play took place throughout the day. : :
Both Jarrod's homemade swings and the swing + bar/rings set were well enjoyed.

: : Since up is always better : :

: : Laura loved playing with Katie all day! : :

: : Aww... : :

: : It was so special to have Nana here for Diana's party, it had been several years since her last trip to Auckland! : :

: : Always a jam session with musicians around! : :

: : And Amelia has a turn : :

Church Picnic || Cornwall Park

March 1st saw a number of people from church gather at Cornwall Park for the day. Hooray for having too much gear to fit in one vehicle; a good drive by oneself is always good. ;)

We enjoyed a picnic lunch of filled rolls and bacon and egg pie (someone remind me to put curry or something in the pies next time, okay?) and set up volleyball and swingball.

Don't you just love our net? Initially they'd tried slinging blankets over the rope between the trees, but found it was difficult to play when the ball kept disappearing on the other side of the blanket. [smile] Occasionally the ball got caught in the tree but for the most part this was a great makeshift net!

Lunch. And the barbies are ready for dinner :)

Swingball: Amelia, Keith, Megan

During the arvo more sports were played and many of us walked up the hill (some more directly than others lol). While we were walking up we found a really steep patch (the path was next to it but hey . . .) so think: "Run up, slip, slide down." Haha.

People often use these rocks to write things. Here our group made F.P.C. (Free Presbyterian Church)

We finished the day with a barbecue dinner and group worship, by which time it certainly didn't feel like summer any more. :P 

Ambury Farm Park Visit

The actual reason for our (August) trip to Ambury Farm Park was so the little ones could see the cows being milked (some of us older ones have helped milk by machine, but that was three of four years or so ago). And get this . . . right now, I can't find any photos of that! And . . . Mum's camera hasn't been downloaded yet so I can't use any of her pics either :(

So anyways, you'll just have to enjoy the photos I have got at the moment:

We spent ages by the lambs;
they were really friendly so the little ones could pat them through the fence

This goat is allowed to roam free on the walking tracks throughout the park

Laura (5 months)

Group photo
Left to right: Monique (11), Bryce (4), Diana (7), Me, Amelia (6), Mum & Laura, Owen (2), Mrs. Smith, Maria (2), Danielle (9)
Front: Jarrod (13)

Jago children

Ah yeah, we took a heap of random pics in the frame!
This one is actually photoshopped; someone was crouching underneath so he's gone, and I've taken the green piece out from the bottom right corner of the frame.

My new portrait :P

This is how we found Diana and Bryce when we got back...oops!

Communion - Friday

: : Bryce awaiting lunch : :

Written 13.6.12

After we arrived home from church on Friday morning, Mum received a call from Mrs. Smith inviting us to have lunch with them. Farewell to all plans of doing school work that afternoon!

: : Maria eating : :

Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Rayner made a roast (beef I think?) with carrots, broccoli, potatoes and gravy. I think Diana and Bryce were too keen to play with the Smith children to bother eating much; we older ones really enjoyed it though! =)

: : Main table : :

After we’d finished eating that, Mrs. Smith brought out a Banoffie Pie and cream, which we quickly consumed!

We talked for a while, until Mum decided we should leave. 

 : : Diana (6) and Amelia (5) : :

: : Keith (5 months) and Laura (2 months)  : :

: : Mrs. Smith and Mum : : 

Another visit to the Botanical Gardens!

Smelling the flowers

One Friday afternoon (3rd of May to be exact), the weather was nice so Mum decided we should go for a walk at the Botanic Gardens. The Smiths agreed to go with us, and soon we were piling into our vehicles (I went with them since we don't all fit in our van!). 

Diana and Amelia pose
(Don't you love Diana's 'peace' sign?!)

The little ones played for AGES in this hut;
it's incredible how entertaining running
around in circles can be!

Left to right: Aaron, Danielle, Diana, Amelia, and Bryce

Church Picnic at Cornwall Park



Left to right: Maria (2), Mum, Mrs. Smith & Keith,
Mrs. Campbell, Mrs. de Boer

My dad organised a church picnic/BBQ at Cornwall Park for lunch on ANZAC Day.
Only a few of us went - the Smiths, de Bruins, de Boers, Mrs. Campbell, and us.
Personally I found it a bit cold (when isn't NZ cold tho!?) but the sun was nice!! lol

So yeah we had food (hehe the best part!), walked with the little ones to the hill you can see in the center of the photo on the left a few times, talked(!), later Mrs. Campbell, the de Boers, de Bruins, my dad, Monique, and Bryce left. Mr. Smith went to his car to prepare for the service that night, and took Amelia with him because she was really tired! The remainder of us went for a walk around One Tree Hill.

Dieuwe de Boer and his girlfriend Amie,
with my lil' sis Laura



Ok so my hair looks like the wind's been at it,
but otherwise I kinda like this photo!



Anne Roos and me



Anne Roos's dog Teasle



Amelia and Diana



Walking

The Smiths Come for a Visit



Mrs. Smith plays the piano for us

 One day during the holidays (sorry I don't recall which one exactly! lol), the Smiths (our pastor's family) came over for afternoon tea.

I must say the double choc chip muffins were, as usual, a hit! Sorry, no pics, but in fact I'm probably doing you a favour - if you saw a pic of these mouth-watering, choc-filled muffins, you might salivate so heavily your keyboard would be kinda gross...:P

But anyway, to get back to what I was writing about...



I'm not sure the ukelele is supposed to be on the tramp...!

 Nobody in our family can really play piano (Danielle was taking lessons last term, but no-one is learning right now), and Mrs. Smith is Grade 9 (!), so it was really nice to hear the piano played that well, despite the fact that she played from memory because we don't have any books her level!

Monique enjoyed Keith (4 months) and the other little ones (she loves young children).

Amelia enjoys our trampoline

Diana and Amelia LOVED playing with each other. I think Amelia has probably only met people within our church so far, and it is relatively small, so I think there is like one other girl her age (who is our cousin!). Also, my siblings were talking for AGES before the Smiths even came to NZ about being friends, going to their place to play and whatever!

Despite the fact that I was sewing, I still managed to read to Aaron (4yrs). He just loves Thomas the Tank Engine, so I got to read parts of a few books to him (haha little ones aren't patient enough to listen to a whole story!), and name the characters on the covers of the books shown on the back covers; thankfully their names were written down, or I would have been stuck!!! lol



Amelia and Diana pose...



 I think Mum enjoyed sharing some of her accumulated homeschool knowledge; it's nearly 11 years since she began homeschooling me!

And mainly, everyone enjoyed socialising for a few hours!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, um, I hadn't planned to write much...consider yourself lucky!!! haha

Bee

Meet and Greet

From 2-4pm on March 24th, all of us but Mum, Maria, and Laura, went to the de Boers' place to meet our minister's family, who had arrived from America the day before.
I was kinda sleepy, but it was nice to meet them!

The little ones were very taken with Snowy, Dieuwe's maltese puppy. (Sorry I just realised I don't have any pics of Snowy!)

And...Amelia Smith (5yrs) was very excited to lose her first tooth that afternoon! See if you can spot the gap in the pic:

Ok so I suppose I should introduce them a bit...

Mr. Smith is Texan, the eldest of 7 children, and was homeschooled.
Mrs. Smith is Canadian, one of 4 children (sorry can't remember where she is in the lineup!), and was also homeschooled.
The met through the church (The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland), and now have 4 children: Amelia (or Amy) 5yrs, Aaron (4rs), Owen (2yrs), and Keith (4 months).
You can read their blog here.