Happy Birthday Katie Anne!

Our sweet Katie turned 7-years-old today! Katie is a joy to our family and she is so easy to love. It's hard to believe she's only 7 because in our family she is one of the big girls. We (Dugald and I) often lump her together with Meggie and expect things of her that are probably a bit beyond her years, but she rarely disappoints. Katie Anne we love you and are so proud of you!
Katie has started taking riding this year and she's doing very well. I think her ballet training helps as she looks so elegant, balanced and confident up in the saddle. There have been a few times where she has struggled, but she has bravely and diligently kept at it until the end of her lesson despite her fear, she has the makings of a champion I think!

This smile is infectious. Sometimes it gets her or her sisters in trouble when we are supposed to be doing schoolwork, or if we are somewhere that Mommy wants them to be calm (church, grocery store, etc) and she gets a case of the giggles and next thing you know everyone is rolling in the aisles ( sometimes literally). That's Katie though - funny, fun to be around and spreading joy.

And she is a gifted ballerina. I'm probably a bit biased, but I do think she is a natural when it comes to ballet.

The kid was born in Texas, and she's a cowgirl wannabe! I enjoy watching her learn her English riding skills and horsemanship but she thinks barrel racing would be a blast - so she may return to Texas one day performing in the rodeo!

And she's quick! This girl can catch birds in her bare hands, kind of a super power I'd say.

We call her Katie kitten as a nickname sometimes so this picture seemed appropriate as we celebrate Katie and her gentle nature.

Happy Birthday blue-eyed girl - our prayer for you this year is that "you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. . ." Col 1:10-13

The Art of Hospitality

Last night we had a lovely evening over at Rob and Liz's. Margaret and Hugh were in town for the night, having driven up to watch their grandsons (and our nephews) Hugh and Elliot playing in a rugby match. So, after having spent the entire day on a blustery, wet, cold field (which the Kiwis call a pitch if I remember correctly) watching Scots College (Hugh and Elliot's team) crush the competition, Rob and Liz invited everyone back to their place for dinner. We didn't watch the match -shame on us - due to the weather and various other commitments - but we did go over in the late afternoon and we stayed for dinner. Julie was there with her five - but she and the younger three had to leave almost as soon as we arrived so that Elliot could get to another sporting event. It was lovely to see them even if only for a few minutes.

As soon as we arrived Liz brought out an enormous trunk FULL of Groovy Girl dolls and accessories for the girls. They were enthralled, and sweet Hettie got down on the floor and played with them and basically looked after them so I could enjoy some adult conversation.

Lloyd and Julie's oldest two, having a car of their own, were able to stay and visit awhile longer. Here is a picture of Bella and Maddie with Margaret and Hugh (sorry Maddie that I caught you with your eyes closed).

Rob was the main chef for the evening and cooked up a lovely meal for all of us of lamb chops, sausages, green beans, some pastas and various salads. He and Liz manage to make feeding a crowd of 12 look effortless.

Meanwhile we all just kicked back and chatted . . .

Dinner was delicious and the company even better.

Hugh entertained us after our meal. . .

and Katie played a game of changing faces with Grandpa. Hand goes up over face, smile! Hand goes down over face, frown. Somehow this always entertains.

Anyway, reflecting on the night and the joy of being together with family I couldn't help but think of what a gift hospitality is to those who receive it. I looked it up in the dictionary and here is how Merriam-Webster's defines it:

1 a: given to generous and cordial reception of guests b: promising or suggesting generous and cordial welcome c: offering a pleasant or sustaining environment2: readily receptive : open

Rob and Liz blessed us last night with their generous hospitality. I only hope that when friends and family visit our home they feel as generously welcomed and received. Thanks for a lovely evening!!

Sunday in the City

We had a glorious Sunday!! The sun was shining brightly all day, we spent time with friends and we hung out together as a family too. Just perfect!

After church we went to lunch with our friends the Colemans - we had invited them to go have dim sum with us downtown. Sadly I didn't realize the need for a reservation so we couldn't go there, but we made the best of it and walked over to Te Papa, a fabulous museum, and had lunch in the cafe and then let all the kids go play awhile.

After they left our family went for stroll along the waterfront to enjoy the sunshine. We saw these two ducks courting, and pretty soon the girls got a biology lesson, very exciting!

I'm throwing in some scenic shots for my American friends and family who haven't been to Wellington before.

A fun play area right along the shore. The slide is awesome!

I would absolutely LOVE it if our next house could have a view of the water, it's just so lovely.

Ellie got a little tuckered out towards the end of our walk, so Daddy gave her a ride.

Lots of people were biking and skating so we promised the girls the next time we were in town on a sunny weekend day we'd rent bikes and join them. They also want to rollerblade, but I'm not sure Wellington is ready for all of us on roller blades!

After our walk we headed home in the car to pick up Rico and take him down to "crazy bay". It's actually Evans Bay but he goes crazy with delight whenever we take him so we've renamed it!

Here is a picture of Josie - her hair was making us all laugh.

He's a happy dog, he's a happy. happy dog!

After all of our trials and tribulations with the kennel, Rico is at last quite happy in it and now he is just a joy to have in the family. He's such a good puppy and the girls adore him and even Dugald is fond of him (he didn't really want to get a dog if the truth be told).

This is a sign you don't see at home. . .

Hope you had a great weekend too!!!

Skating with my stars

Katie's birthday party was today!! She invited some of her new friends to a skating party and a good time was had by all.
I have to admit that I haven't hosted a birthday party for any of the children in ages. I think I just got completely overwhelmed with the way we started out. . . Meggie had three, yes three, birthday parties when she turned one. They weren't small parties either, they were big deals. Then as the kids kept coming and it felt like I was planning birthday parties from March until September I came up with a plan. We started offering the choice of a party, a trip as a family or anything they wanted (one present) from the toy store. I realized even as I made these offers that I would have to put a price cap on the toy store stuff once they got older, but the times they chose that option they never spent more than $50, if that. So, we avoided parties for awhile and had some fun trips as a bonus. It hit me today though that Josie has never had a birthday party- well, except for her baby dedication/1-year-old birthday. I feel a bit badly about that. All that to say, today was simple, small, fun and a HUGE blessing to Katie. I think I'm finally recovered enough to start doing parties again.

We've only skated as a family once before so there was a bit of hugging the wall at the beginning. Katie had spent a few afternoons in her rollerblades on the back porch in Texas, so she caught on quickly and was soon gliding relatively effortlessly across the floor. Thankfully Ellie didn't feel the need to skate so she just ran around sliding down the ramps and generally entertaining herself. That left Meggie and Josie to be looked after and Daddy did a good job with the two of them so that I could take pictures and video, visit with the other adults, set out lunch and take Ellie to the potty on a regular basis. (As an aside, I hate to type it because I don't want to jinx it, but it's been three days since Ellie has had an accident!)

Georgia was the best skater starting out, but it didn't take long before most of the girls were cruising. This pic just caught her after a fall, but as you can see she's not too fussed about it.

This is Katie with Emma. She says she was having a rest for a minute.

Aren't they cute??

By the end of the party, as you can see, even Josie and Meggie were skating on their own. They all begged to go back again soon so obviously their confidence levels were up.

The obligatory photo with Mommy in it just to prove I was there. However, I realized once we got home that I didn't really get too many shots of Daddy either. Oops.

Happy Birthday sweet Katie!! We love you and look forward to celebrating as a family on your actual birthday next week.

CATS!

The big girls and I had a night out on the town last night - we went to the Wellington Opera House to see CATS. It was our first official outing with the Wellington homeschool group and we had a great time.
Here are Meggie and Katie outside the theater - the pink coats are a bit unfortunate as they've outgrown their good wool coats and I haven't replaced them yet.

They warmed up sufficiently during the show to have an ice cream at intermission. They both enjoyed the performance- Katie was enraptured while Meggie found all the songs too long and a bit boring. Surprisingly, at the end Meggie said she was glad she got to see it and that she liked it.

It wasn't the best way to meet other homeschoolers as we couldn't talk during the show, but I did sit with a lovely family of three girls and a baby on the way in a few weeks. The wife, Anna, is Canadian and her husband Peter is a Kiwi so they are also an international couple which is fun. Homeschooling suits people like us because it makes the travelling back and forth between countries so much easier! Hopefully we will have a chance to get together with them again after the baby arrives, and we all hope it's another girl since having four girls in our family is such fun.

Until next post. . .

We're Celebrating the Queen

Today the Kiwis celebrate the queen's birthday so it is a public holiday. Since all our friends were out of school and Dugald was off work we spent our time socializing a bit. But first, here is a picture of what Willow found in our house and killed. This is a baby Weta. I've posted pictures of these hideous creatures before, but keep in mind that this one is a BABY!





In other news, Katie finished a level in math so Daddy gave her a certificate of achievement in honor of her accomplishment.

But back to today, we had lunch with our friends James and Julia at their house. They have two sons, Jacob and Sam aged 10 and 7 who get on quite well with the girls. The adults always have interesting and fun conversations so we thoroughly enjoyed our time together and it was a lovely way to while away the hours as the rain poured outside!

Later in the afternoon Katie's friend Pippa and her family came over here for afternoon tea and that was great also. Pippa has a little brother, Monty, and he is five like Josie. He does remarkably well over here in girl world - he really likes to play Mario Carts on the DS Lite and he enjoys playing animals with my little animal lovers as well. Ironically he doesn't like the dog, but with the weather being awful and Rico being outside that wasn't a problem.

The weather forecast says tomorrow will be sunny and bright so I am planning on washing sheets and towels in the hopes that they will dry on the line. We are also looking forward to Katie's party next weekend and will spend a bit of time this week preparing for that. When I asked Alison (Pippa's mom) where I could get a nice cake she offered to make one for me - for shame!! Thankfully Julia gave me a place so I will go buy it but I do feel a bit like a lazy mom, but I really can't be bothered with that. I will make box lunches for everyone instead of ordering pizza as originally planned - that was also Alison's suggestion and seeing as most people here eat rather healthily it's probably a better option.

That's all for today!

Winter at the Beach

We took Rico to the beach for a swim this weekend. It was chilly but sunny and he loved it!

I didn't, however, expect my girls to want to get into the cold water.

Silly me! They kept inching in deeper and deeper. Meggie and Katie pushed up their leggings as high as they could and then Meggie didn't want me to get a photo of how silly she looked.

But I did - even in her silliness she's a beauty!

After their "swim" daddy showed them a how to tell how old a tree is by looking at the rings.

Ellie wanted to keep getting wet so it was back into the cold water for a few more minutes.

Who's watching the children and dog while this photo is being taken?

On the way home we passed a lovely church so I took a photo.

Hope you had a great weekend too!!