What I Love....

I'm a summer lover through and through, but i have just recently remembered that I have a little love affair on the side with Autumn. One of the things I love about Autumn is the stillness of the air (that is starting to cool) and the heat of the sun still going strong.

Needing to remind myself to 'stop and sniff the daisies' we popped out to Raglan (or Ragland as my LJ calls it) to take a deep breath of the sea air, run around on the beach, splash in some tepid pools left by the tide and eat fish n chips as the sun set. This little excursion out in creation did good things for the soul.

I need to remember in the hurry of life to stop and do more of this.

Vintage Moments

My parents have been sorting through all their gears as they seek to de-clutter.

I offered to give my Mum a hand with a particular hall way cupboard and came home with these.....

The big wooden box was what my mum used as a sewing box for much of my childhood, it's an old display box used by travelling salesmen back in the day, the small carved wooden jewelery box probably originates from Indonesia (and although we're not sure, it was probably brought back to Holland by my late Opa S. on one of his trips there) and underneath is a large handkerchief or bandanna, on it is a map of The Netherlands surrounded by seals representing the provinces, a very Dutch item.

And this......

....is my favourite.

The cross stitch was done by my Mummy when she was pregnant with me and it's on linen.....love the colours. The jug, is part of my childhood. I always remember this sitting on a table in our house, so home it came.

Our New Bubba

Welcome to the world our little boy, MF! Born 25 October, a smidge before midnight and without complictions (Praise the Lord!) 9lb 8oz (gosh they just keep getting bigger!) and 57cm. He's just perfect and we are so grateful for his well being. We love you lots our little MF and we pledge to you that we will do our best as parents to bring you up to be a great citizen.
Your brothers adore you and will be your best friends.
Arohanui

Busy Nesting

Ahhhh! The nesting bug has gotten me!
I have

• knitted
• cleaned and tidied random stuff
• reorganised
• sorted
• oh yes and knitted
• sewn stuff

and I still haven't done 1/2 my list but we're making progress and that's the main thing.

It's 4 more weeks till my scan date (technically my due date was the week just gone.....after all this is Laura we are talking about and the last 2 just turned up when they were good and ready, yes 2 and 3 weeks later).
I'm feeling good! Not too incapacitated by the large basketball protruding out the front and enjoying this little person moving around inside my belly.
The boys are showing lots of interest in bubba and JK has taken to commenting at least once a day "I wonder if it's a boy or a girl?". LJ's fav comfort thing is to lift up my shirt and put his head on my puku (tummy), talk to the 'bubby' and rub my stomach like it's magic. All very cute! Oh yes and speaking of cute, my darling hubby has been bonding with his next child too.

So here are some of the projects that I have completed and attached photos of

1. Emma's Apron! This is an 'Emmeline Apron' from a pattern by Sew Liberated (formally Montessori By Hand). This special apron has been sent of to my darling sister who is on the Mission field in Ethiopia. Oh and it's reversible! She chose the material herself before she left so this is totally her style.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Sarah's Mei Tai. This was great fun to make as it is so simple and quick esp once you have all the pieces cut out.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Knitted Baby Soakers and Longie. One girlie coloured one, just in case we have a little girl!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Calorimetry. My first attempt at one of these in this cool wool. It was easy to knit and a great instant gratification project. I think I didn't check the gauge carefully enough (i'm just lazy) so it's a little wider than it should be.....thinking I might give it a bit of a hotish wash to size it down a bit.
   
   
   
   
   
5. One toddler sized longie for LJ. This was the first one I have ever knitted. Am so proud of the new skills I learnt along the way. Knitted in Tekapo Landscape.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Another 2 Dishcloths... One went all the way to Ethiopia for my Mum and the other to my sister Marcella....opps no photos of these.
   

Baby Thoughts

I was just having a little meander through the photos on our computer and came across a file named "LJ's Birth". They brought back lots of memories of that first day and week, along with the reality of having to do the whole labour thing again.
I felt quite tearful looking at the photos as LJ and I were seperated for 3 hours following his birth as I was transfered to the main hospital from the birthing unit.... he had made a bit of a mess. I still remember being in theatre and thinking....'damn this is just wrong, I should be bonding with my new bubba not lying here in this most dignified (NOT) position listening to the theatre stuff discuss family and work'. ( I know it could've been a hang of a lot worse....but still). I have a wishlist for this labour....if God will just cover 2 of the bases, I'll be stoked.
LJ bonded with his Daddy for those 3 hours, a bond which continues on even now. They have something a little extra special going on between them.
As most parents we did wonder how our the 2 and half year old JK would handle going from an only child to sharing his world with a little brother. Well we needn't have worried.....look at the photo I found ...............................

Winter Busyness

It's that wonderful time of year when the evenings are long and the need to be in close contact with great colours and textures is paramount. It has been rather chilly over the last month and very wet so lots of time to be indoors working on projects etc. I think it's not only the weather but also my pregnancy that motivates me to be home....even when I'm offered an evening out, I am happy-as-larry to be home keeping my hands busy with a new challenge.

Here are some of the things that are happening......and it's not just me but the kids too!

Jordan and Levi with hammers, nails, softboard and wooden shapes.....they LOVE it.



And then there's Mummy's projects.....

The Wheat Sacks requested by my Ken and Dad, they have been divided into 3 compartments to stop the wheat travelling from one end to the other and just a little bit of lavender to keep it smelling yummy.










I knitted a baby beanie from leftover wool to add to a small pile of baby gifts that I'm trying to gather for my own and all those up and coming. It was a quick satisfying project (anybody get the feeling that I need quite a bit of instant gratification!!).



The following knitted item is not my work...you can tell cause it's not very simple looking!!.....my Oma in Holland knitted it for our new bubba.



For my twin sister's birthdays I made them each a messenger bag to take with them on their year long family adventure to serve on the mission field in Ethiopia. They have magnetic closures and the fabrics were esp chosen for each twin. Just in case you don't guess.....one of them is a bit horse crazy. Here are photos of the bags I made.

Bag #1 was made from denim and cute cherry print cotton with an appliqued flower on the outside for a bit of fun.





Bag #2 (sorry no close up photo yet....am doing some adjusting to the strap length....what a mare!!!.....hehe no pun intended) Made from vintage bark cloth picked up at the local sallies and lime green lining. This one even has a pocket on the inside.



And then of course you need to have something sitting to the side to do when ya finish the projects currently on the go (pjs for JK, nappies, flannels, baby cardy, baby hats etc etc) so I purchased 2 patterns from Sew Liberated (formly Montesori By Hand). The apron will be part of my little sister's 21st pressie and the Mei Tai carrier for a friend who is having her first bubba any day now.

Walks, Autumn Leaves, Playgrounds and Helicopters

I LOVE summer!!! Especially with two rambunctious little boys who do some much better when they can burn off their energy with running round outside, swimming and more running.
Therefore the minute winter starts to crawl up, I hold my breath and wish the months to go quickly. I'm a bit lazy so even though I say "oh yes, no matter what the weather they WILL go outside EVERYDAY", in reality that doesn't happen, as the thought of MORE washing etc etc just puts me off.

I've been making an effort to get out with the boys to do what boys do best....adventuring. This is what we've been up to........

VISTING PARKS

WEEKEND WALKS WITH DADDY

NAVY HELICOPTER VISITS @ DADDY'S SCHOOL
(We live @ school....one of the perks)

FUN WITH OUR FRIENDS FROM ACROSS THE FIELD

Airballoons Over Waikato

The past week has been the Waikato Air Balloon festival, a bit of a long standing institution around these parts. The kids have been running outside every morning to see how many balloons would be up in the sky and spending quite some time watching them drift on by. The festival is rounded off with the Night Glow on Saturday night. Here are some photos from the past week, the night ones are a bit (or a lot) blurry but that adds to the novelty...

Scrumptious Little Boy

~~Our 6th Anniversary~~

I just spotted some photos from our Wedding Anniversary back on January 19th.
So here is a post in hindsight.......

On our Sixth Anniversary we took our lovely children to their Opa and Oma's home for a day and night of fun with the rest of the whanau.
We headed off to spend the day doing whatever we wanted without having to think about feeding and napping little people on time. We popped in and said HI to our dear friends Dave and Rae on the way out to Raglan. Consequently we stayed for a leisurely lunch and a good catch up (at that stage they were waiting for the arrival of their firstborn Eva-Elise). We then meandered out to Raglan with a stop at the Bridal Veil Falls (55m high) and enjoyed the sights and sounds.












Then we spent a leisurely 3 hours out at the beach, Ken surfed, I read my book, we swam at 7pm and basked in the warmth of our summer sun.



All of this outdoors worked up a bit of an appetite so Fresh fish and homemade kumara fritters for dinner. Followed by a coffee at The Tounge and Groove.

What a wonderfully relaxing day, spending time together, just being.

Time like this is so refreshing to one's relationship and binds us closer together.