Ryan's Baptism

I can't believe my little boy is 8 already! It seems like just yesterday he was making his hurried entrance into the world. (He was a very speedy 45 minute labour, born on the bedroom floor, delivered by Jonathan and Mum).

Ryan was so excited for his big day to arrive. When it finally he did got really nervous - mainly because Elle teased him that the Bishop was going to ask him hard questions in his interview!

The service was short and sweet. Grandpa conducted and talks were given by Ma, Mum, Uncle Laugharne and Uncle Paul. Elle was bribed with $5 to sing a song and did a lovely job. While Ryan and Jonathan were getting changed we played a little slide show of his life so far which was really cute.

It was a lovely night shared by family and friends and hopefully one which Ryan will remember for the rest of his life.

Rock Stars

I am not sure if it is a good idea to post this picture as I know I look quite ridiculous! But it was fun to dress up so I will anyway.

I went to a Rock Star themed Birthday Party at my sister-in-law Kelly's house which was quite fun and hilarious to see everyone dressed up...although i think I went a little overboard! Thanks to Crystal for the great make-up and to Carly for the loan of her studded belt which I think really made the outfit.

The next night the kids had a Rock Star Party and had fun dressing up too.

Elle and Ryan with their cousins Logan and Maddy

One a penny, Two a penny, Hot Cross Buns

On Good Friday we decided to have a Hot Cross Bun making competition - this was mostly a round-a-bout way of getting lots of hot cross buns to eat! Crystal and Sam aren't fans of hot cross buns so she made cinnamon rolls, Elle's buns were raisin-less as she hates them, Mum and I made normal hot cross buns and I made custard buns aswell. All were delicious but I think everyone agreed that Mums were definately superior.

The Yellow Eyed Bunnies I made for the kids classes at school.

Elle called them "Boggly Eyed Bunnied"

2 Disappoinments in One Day!

So, I finally watched Twilight. I've been hearing about this movie/book for months - admittedly the comments haven't all been good but on a whole I would say most people I have talked to loved the movie and have watched it at least 15 times (well, Isabella Tunstall has anyway).

It hasn't been released in NZ yet but a friend of ours lent us a copy she got from the states. I was so excited to see what all the hype was about! So I'm watching and after about 10 minutes I start thinking - surely this is going to get better! But it doesn't! I wouldn't watch it again if you paid me and I am super happy I didn't actually spend money going to see it at the movies. It was lame. Utterly Disappointed!

The second disappoinment of the day came when I made Easter Bunny cookies for the kids to take to school. Did you know that for some bizaare reason M&M's are now sold as single colours? Thats right people - no more lovely rainbow of colours - just one boring colour per bag! I'm thinking maybe the recession has hit the m&m company and they can no longer afford to pay someone to mix up all the colours.

I got the m&m's to be the eyes on the bunnies and my lucky colour was yellow - so all the bunnies had to have yellow eyes. I think they would have looked much better with all different coloured eyes but I guess now there won't be kids fighting over who gets the red eyes and who gets the blue eyes. Yellow's not so bad but I'll be really annoyed if I ever buy a bag of m&m's and they're all brown ... And Mum will hate to get a bag of blue ones cos she reakons she can taste the difference!?!

We are the Champions

The Waikato Junior Softball League finals were today and Ryan's team - The Uptempo Tigers took first place!

It was a nail biting game and for a while it looked like the other team was going to win ... but we had a great last innings and ended up winning 22 - 19.

Go the Tigers!

Ryan holding the Team Trophy

Ryan with a few of his team mates and his coach and manager: Brother and Sister Strother

Koromatua School Triathlon

The kids have been training hard for weeks and today was the big day - the Koromatua School Triathlon.

Ryan chose to compete as an individual which meant he had to bike, swim and run. It was a pretty long course but he did awesome!

Elle entered as a team with two of her classmates. She did the swimming and they all did really well.

Growing up too Fast!!!

I looked out the window last Saturday and saw Ryan mowing the lawns!

Our kids are growing up way too fast :-(

Honey Harvest

A little over a year ago Jonathan decided to become a bee-keeper. A swarm of bees landed near his classroom so he gathered them up in a carboard box and brought them home. They now live in a hive down in our back yard. Since then he has accumulated 2 more hives which are kept up the road at a native bush reserve.

I was initially a little nervous about having thousands of bees sharing our garden, but it turns out that if you don't bother them, they don't bother you. I have only been stung once, and that was when I stood on a bee as I ran across the grass. Max has probably been stung the most...but he has now learnt to stay away from the hive and to run for his life if a bee comes buzzing around.

So, February means honey harvest time. It is quite a process to get the honey extracted but after a very hot night of work we managed to extract about 50kgs of golden, runny honey! Its just amazing to me how much honey they can produce. We only take the excess and leave the majority for the bees to eat over the winter.

The sad fact is that it takes a single bee an entire 2 weeks to produce just 1/2 tsp of honey.

"Darling its better, down where its wetter, take it from me..." Sebastian, The Little Mermaid.

Crystal and Sam have this cool camera that takes photos underwater. We went to the Mount last weekend and had a great time taking lots of photos in the pool. It reminded me of that song from The Little Mermaid :-) Here's my favourite family photo. It cracks me up that somehow I managed to smile and pose under water ... Ryan on the other hand needs a little work!

Holiday to Wellington

On New Year's Day we left on a trip to Wellington with Grandma and Papa. Jonathan's Mum had a reunion on and so we went along so that Jonathan could do the driving.

We had a great time seeing all the sights - going to Te Papa - the National Museum, Visiting the Beehive and Parliament buildings, going up Mount Victoria as the sun was setting, going to the movies to see Bedtime Stories, going swimming and going to the beach.

If it didn't take 8 hours to get there it would have been the perfect holiday :-)

Honey Village - Taupo

Huka Falls - Taupo

At TePapa Museum

Outside Te Papa

At the Beach

Ryan and Mum

Best Friends

Up a Pohutukawa Tree

We came across "Ryan Building"

At the swimming pools

Outside The Beehive

At the top of Mount Victoria

Army Museum