Haircuts and such

Before I show you the girls with their new hairdos I had to show you this adorable sight:

I just love it when the big girls read to the little girls. So stinking cute!! Looking at this picture you really would never imagine that they ever were anything less than perfect. Like you'd never think that the red-head pictured above would try to entrap her younger sister, which happened this morning. Or that the little brunette would try to extort candy from her mother every time she used the potty by herself even though we officially gave up rewarding her for such doings once she proved she was more than capable. Hmmmmm . . . .looking at this picture though I just have to forgive them. 

Moving on, here's Ellie modeling her bob. Hers alone is as short as I wanted, as mentioned in a previous post, the other two took advantage of my absence to tell the nice lady they wanted theirs a bit longer. 

Josie. . . the victim of the entrapment scheme set up this morning. I won't mention what it was all about but Meggie totally set her up. 
And Katie, hers barely looks cut at all and hers was the hair I most wanted short. Katie is extraordinarily sensitive - her eyes are the ones that hurt in the dentist chair when the bright lights go on and she is the one who screams the loudest when I comb out the tangles hidden below the top layer of her hair (which is the only one she has combed) to put her hair up for ballet.

Ok, that's all for now. I have a new lens for my camera on the way and I'm very excited about that. . .  thanks Dad for sending it to me from America! I asked how much it would be to buy it here and the camera shop said they'd have to get it from another store or order it and that it would be $750 New Zealand dollars. Instead it's coming from America for $85, plus the shipping. I kid you not, things are expensive in these here parts.

Have a good day!

A Few Firsts

Yesterday the girls and I decided to pick Dugald up from work since we were already out and about. The trick of course was finding a parking space near his office so I could see Katie and Josie get in the elevator to go tell him we were there (he had forgotten his phone at home so I couldn't just text him to come down). Anyhoo - lucky for us, or so I thought, there was a spot just across the street from his office. It was a parallel park, which I hate, but it was all that was available so I eased on in and sent the girls up to get him while Meggie, Ellie and I waited in the car. 

As we were sitting there for about five minutes several cars came and went from the spot in front of us. There were white lines marking the spaces and everything so I had absolutely no cause for concern. However, just as Dugald, Josie and Katie were walking towards us a big ole city bus came up the street and went right in front of me, hitting my car in the process. My parked car. With us in it. 

Thankfully it wasn't a big deal but since Dugald saw it all I decided to let him handle it. But he didn't do anything. As the bus was being loaded I thought for sure it was going to hit us again as it left, but it didn't. Once it was out of the way Dugald and the girls got in the car and Dugald informed me I was parked in a bus stop. SO THEY JUST HIT ME??? So very rude!

It turns out that the spot I was in is a bus stop between 4 and 6 pm and the dotted yellow line outside of the white parking space line was supposed to indicate that fact. However, I want you to know that even though I was parked there between 4 and 6pm I was actually hit at 6:02pm. 

So I've learned a little more about parking and lanes and whatnot. Presumably I had read that somewhere when I studied for my driving test, but I was going with the fact that other cars were parked there too so it didn't even register. Here's the car:

My second "first" happened immediately following the collision with the bus (see if we ever go downtown to pick Dugald up from work again). This time I witnessed a taxi running into a biker, both of whom were trying to pass me on a one lane road (plus a bus lane which you just know I was staying out of). The taxi was pulling off the curb from the left to get in front of me to turn right (he so could have waited) while the biker was coming up on the right to pass. Dugald, still explaining the bus stop situation was reminding me that they had changed the speed limit to 30K's on Lambton Quay (which is unbelievably slow, slow enough that bikers do indeed whiz by you). So the taxi driver hit the biker, right in front of me, and we sat there and watched them get in a big ole fight because we couldn't pass. The biker wasn't hurt so Dugald told me to stay out of it. It was the second time in 5 minutes that I had totally wanted to tell someone off. 

What's happening in your world???

Amazing friends

Well we survived the night with nobody else getting sick, thank you Lord!! Yesterday was rainy and cold and the girls stayed in their pajamas all day watching "Little House on the Prairie", playing on the computer, updating their blogs, and recuperating. Despite all the cleaning it was a nice, peaceful day for me too, and I loved having my house so clean. At least until dinner. . . you know how that goes! 

Today I woke up to some emails in my "in" box from some amazing friends, I am so grateful for all of you. I'm thankful for the hugs I feel across the miles from those commiserating with me over illness, I'm thankful for those working in situations so much more difficult than anything I've ever faced and bringing hope and change to the lives of others, I'm thankful for those literally working to help the widows and orphans in their distress, I'm thankful for those who live with children with disabilities that unlike illness don't get better. I'm so humbled. And so grateful. Matt Redman's song "Blessed be Your name" comes to mind. That song brings me to tears almost every time I hear it, it gives me strength and hope. It reminds me in a powerful way that God is the same in the rain and in the sunshine. He is glorious and I was created for His glory, to praise Him. He is worthy.

I've added some links to the Blogroll over on the side, blogs of friends and blogs I find inspiring. I'm so glad I've discovered the blogosphere since moving here! It is such a great way to feel connected to a "community" of friends and people who encourage me to be a better wife, mom, daughter and friend.  

Time to start the day!! 

Blessed Be Your Name

by Matt Redman

************

Blessed be Your Name

In the land that is plentiful

Where Your streams of abundance flow

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name

When I'm found in the desert place

Though I walk through the wilderness

Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name

When the sun's shining down on me

When the world's all as it should be

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name

On the road marked with suffering

Though there's pain in the offering

Blessed be your name

Every blessing You pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away

You give and take away

My heart will choose to say

Lord, blessed be Your name

Testing the limits. . .

. . . of our bathroom.

Remember we only have one bathroom?

Well, last night the stomach bug hit. Thankfully it only affected two of us, because if all six of us were sick there's no telling how we would have coped. 

Poor Meggie and Katie were up all night. And Josie and Ellie were up much of the night listening to their sisters' anguish, or shielding their eyes from the light as I changed sheets, or inhaling the fumes of the bleach as Dugald cleaned the toilet furiously between each child's visit. 

So, we're taking the day off today. The girls started watching tv before 6:00 am and it's now 10:25 am and they are still watching. I'm still doing laundry and just finished mopping, twice, for good measure.  

Needless to say we'll all be taking naps today!!! 

Check them out

I'm obviously experimenting with the look of my blog. I kind of decided today to go back to the original, but couldn't do it in a hurry. I'll probably revert soon!

Anyway, check out Meggie and Katie's blogs, they've been updating and wanted you to know.

Ellie has had a pretty good day. . . just thought I should say something nice about her too. Katie, Josie and Ellie all had haircuts today and she was very good in the chair, I was nervous. They are all sporting cute bobs, although I left Katie and Josie in there alone while Meggie, Ellie and I ran a quick errand and they talked the girl out of cutting their hair as short as I would have liked. Oh well, it's much better. 

Talk soon!!! 

Family Business

Just wanted to post this great picture of my hubby, his brother Lloyd and his parents. Margaret and Hugh were in town for a meeting at Lloyd's company a week ago. As always it was great to see them and get to spend a bit of time together. They took us to a very nice dinner at the hotel where they were staying in Wellington and Meggie declared it the best night she's had in New Zealand so far!!

Too tired to post much. . .

We've had a wonderful few days . . . sunny, busy, filled with family and friends. But they've left me too tired to write much about them! 

Yesterday the girls had their swimming classes, which meant two and a half hours at the pool for me. Ellie's lesson is first and she didn't like the bathing suit I'd brought for her so she had a big fit (like last week) and ended up missing her lesson because she refused to stop screaming. I was glad I was surrounded by understanding mothers, and a few chuckling lifeguards, because I was not giving in and so she was making quite a ruckus. Oh my girl. I do love her so very much, but I am just about at my wit's end. I am of two minds as to how to handle her  -- the one I'm going with at the moment is to try to correct the mistaken notion she has of being in charge by allowing her no choices. Until she can respect that I am the boss and she must do as I say she will not be allowed to make her own choices about much of anything - breakfast, clothes, what she wants to drink, etc. If this doesn't work soon I'm going for the "picking my battles" method. I'm sure I will get fewer fits that way, but if ever I do make her do something she doesn't want to do it's sure to get ugly. Motherhood is ever so humbling. 

The day before the fit at the pool we were walking the big girls to their Musical Stars program which is held at a church about a kilometer away. We were almost halfway there when Ellie ran out into a parking lot full of cars coming and going picking up their children from school. I told her she was going to have to hold my hand and she had a full-blown fit. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, sitting down in the parking lot and making the biggest scene ever. I scooped her up and did my level best to hold onto her but she was so wiggly and at three-years-old a little tricky to hold onto, so I let her down and held tightly to her hand so she couldn't pull away and get into the street, she was screaming the entire time "You're hurting me". It was exhausting. She continued this way the entire way there and back to our house again. 

I was praying the entire way there and back that God would give me wisdom as to how best to handle this child. I obviously am not doing such a fantastic job and things seem to be escalating. I thought about how she is often treated like her sisters and given the freedoms and privileges they get even though she is only three and that's when I decided upon the fewer choices method. But I also thought about how like her I am right now in my relationship with God. It's like I'm the three-year-old kicking and screaming that He's hurting me and He is just calmly holding my hand tightly to keep me from danger, even though I just don't get it. 

I think Ellie also is still dealing with all the change in her life, and just yesterday she said she missed Rico. Dugald's been extremely busy at work so she hasn't seen him much either. And let's face it, after those two Mommy is just sloppy seconds as far as she's concerned. Smile. 

On a more fun note, after swimming we went over to Rob and Liz's to have tea. Kate and Wills were in Wellington (from Auckland) to look at Victoria University for Wills and so we went to see them too. It was such a lovely afternoon just hanging out and relaxing. I was especially grateful for the adult company since Dugald was in Auckland on business. We got to see Liz's new dress shop, Harry's, which opens in about a week and is going to be so lovely. The girls got to play with an absolute ton of Groovy Girls dolls and Beanie Babies, and even more exciting, Rob and Liz's dogs had arrived at long last from Hong Kong and are just adorable. We were only going to stay a few hours but ended up staying for dinner. Dugald's plane got in about 7:30 pm and since Rob and Liz are so close to the airport he came over for a glass of wine and we watched the olympics a bit, and finally left around 8:30 pm. 

Then last night we had Kate and Wills over here for dinner. Poor Wills, he still isn't completely well. He gets tired quite easily and he just can't eat very much. He's very tall - 6'4" or something - and very thin. We're still praying for his complete recovery from all he's been through this year. We loved hanging out with them and hearing his future plans. It was fun how they had changed from the previous night after his visit to the university. At first studying law held no interest for him, but after visiting and hearing the students' presentation he now thinks he might quite like to study that. 

That's really all from here, it's a beautiful, sunny Saturday and Meggie has a soccer game - her first one in weeks that hasn't been cancelled due to rain or wet fields. Dugald and I are actually having a date tonight, the first time in months because of his crazy schedule, so I'm excited about that! Have a wonderful weekend.

Sunday Celebrations

We had much to celebrate Sunday - Hugh and Margaret drove down from Palmerston North, Hamish Howard and his girlfriend Delaney joined us for lunch, it was Delaney's birthday and we got to spend some time with Lloyd and Julie and family! 

Hugh and Margaret arrived at our house at noon, just as Dugald and the girls returned home from church. Hugh immediately retired to the "study/playroom" to read the paper and get over the heart-stopping drive. Apparently Margaret drove on the back roads - not sure if it was too curvy, too long, or what, but Mr. Morrison needed a break once he got out of the car. I sometimes feel the same way when Dugald drives. I hold my breath, as if it will help, as we whiz around the narrow streets, barely missing parked cars on the left and cars coming straight at us on the right. Dugald says my spatial reasoning is off. He's probably right since I hit the side of Karori tunnel in an effort to avoid a bus coming straight for me when we first got here. 

Poor cousin Hamish and Delaney. They were immediately attacked by four very excited girls.
Delaney even got to play with the enormous barn that takes up a good bit of our living room.
To celebrate Delaney I made a yummy Kahlua cake. I don't need much of an excuse to make one of these, they are always a huge hit and very delicious. Secret recipe, it's my one and only hat trick, thanks Ali!!
Josie got hold of Delaney's camera so there is no telling what kind of pictures she went home with. . . I KNOW there were some lovely ones of me. Never let a 5-year-old shoot you while looking up at you, not in the least bit flattering.
Beautiful Grandma. . .
After a very enjoyable lunch together we headed over to Bolton Street to visit with the Lloyd Morrisons. They have a lot of construction work going on there so we just popped in and had a look, watched Michael Phelps win his 8th medal (of course we were cheering for the USA), then headed out to the Botanic Gardens for a stroll. 

Dugald and his dad looking over the roses. Or where the roses will  be when it is time for them to bloom, right now they are all pruned back. That made me think I should probably do something with my roses at home.

Elliott Morrison catching some fish - with his hands!


Julie pointing out where the good ones are. . . the ones that light up. Oh and that's Josie with her hair in the fish pond, have to love that.
Ellie and her milkshake that's as big as she is. Amazingly she downed the whole thing!
Then came home and did this:
It was a wonderful day, we're so grateful for family. Our hope in coming here was that the girls would develop relationships with their New Zealand kin, so days like these fill our hearts with joy. 

Now I'm off to rock climbing, so until next time. . .

Rock Climbing - Lesson One

Let me start by saying that Meggie does in fact own a few more clothes than recent posts might suggest - we've seen an awful lot of the purple fleece hoodie. Believe me I have tried to get her to wear something, anything, else but to no avail. The purple fleece hoodie is warm, comfortable, and familiar.  Just getting her to take the hood off of her head is a negotiation. And so the hoodie appears in almost all of our photos from the winter of 2008. It's unfortunate. 

We are beginning to do a few more "homeschool" activities and this week in the spirit of trying new things we went rock climbing. Meggie and Katie were old enough to participate. I was hoping to help belay but my attention was fully demanded by my youngest, so I contented myself with taking photos while holding Ellie and trying to keep Josie off the rocks (seeing as they'd said she was too young) and out from the tangle of ropes attached to all the climbers. I know you are jealous. Oh how I miss my daytime babysitters. 

Here is Miss Meggie getting all harnessed up for her big adventure. Those of you who know Meggie know that she is not a huge fan of the big adventure. Anything new typically goes like this:

Me: Meggie it will be fun, just try it.

Meggie: I don't want to, I said I didn't want to. Why are you making me? I don't want to do it.

Me: Because I know you and I know you will love it once you try, you just have to be brave enough to give it a go.

Meggie: Hmphh.

Me: That's my girl. 

Once harnessed the girls were sent into the "free climbing" wall to wait for their turn. They loved this room because the cushion in there in case you fell was very bouncy. And here I'd thought they'd kind of outgrown jumper thingies. Apparently not.

Katie trying out the free climb wall. Not bad for a novice!
Of course the girls wanted to climb together in the big room, but at first that just wasn't possible. So guess who went first? Yep, Katie of course. Here she is on her first go:

Heading up. . .
Repelling down. . . 
Finally forced onto the wall Meggie took a few steps and then wanted to come back down. She was done. Or so she thought. But no, I paid money for this fun experience and that was NOT going to be the extent of it (said smiling in front of all the other perfectly behaved and adventurous homeschoolers and their parents). 
So, she tried again and this time got to head up with Katie. And guess what???? Surprise, surprise (ok, I know you aren't surprised), this time she really liked it!!! 
Look at Meg go, she's heading for the top.
When we finished our afternoon adventure both girls said they couldn't wait to do it again next week! 

Meggie is so consistently uninterested in trying new things that her reactions are very predictable. I'll admit I was like that growing up too and my younger sister Ali had to do everything first, so I can relate to her hesitation. But, like my mother before me, I don't tolerate it much.  And thankfully Meggie always laughs about it later. Again I am reminded of me and my relationship with God and how He has to remind me that the last time I totally trusted Him it all worked out, usually even better than I had hoped or imagined. 

We are facing a few things that cause me to fear and feel insecure, and yet I know that God is faithful. He has graciously been reminding me through His word that He who cares for the flowers and birds will care for me. I am so grateful.

"What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and he way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God initiative, God provisions. You'll find your everday human concerns will be met. Don't be afraid of missing out. You're my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself."

Luke 12:29-32 The Message

Motherhood Rocks

I love having four girls! God knew that I wanted girls, that I wouldn't really know what to do with a boy, and He has blessed my socks off with these daughters of mine. But my fourth one, God bless her, is giving me a bit of grief. I'm not sure if it's because she's the youngest, and therefore spoiled, or if it's because we didn't "Grow her up God's Way" (a book that we basically read as much as the bible when Meggie and Katie were small), or if she just is Miss Independent and it's her personality and that's just how God made her. Any which way, some days she just drives me to distraction. But then again, she's also so darn cute I can't keep my hands off of her. Probably part of the problem. 

Anway, I read this post over at "It's almost naptime" and I could totally relate. You have to read it if you have what is typically called "a strong-willed child". Nothing like our children to bring out the sin in us. . . but there's also no better gift. Truly. 

Speaking of gifts, my sister-in-law Liz gave me THE most awesome gift. She gave me a voucher for FIVE hours of time from a girl who runs a business called "Delegate". I met Louisa  yesterday - she arrived with a gift basket and coffee, I love her already. She's going to take care of selling/giving away the dog kennel and fixing the post that the dog chewed up in the back yard. The post that holds up the trellis in the garden. Glory be, that dog just keeps on costing us money. I still have a fondness in my heart for him though, which is saying a lot given how tight finances have been recently. 

It's another sunny day here in the capital of Godzone. We are off to swimming so I better start schoolin' these here children, but I'll write more later!

Winter Weekends

This weekend we went skating on Saturday. It was what Meggie wanted to do for her birthday, but the rink wasn't open on Wednesday, so we went this weekend instead. It was a fun way to spend a couple of hours and I even skated some. I have to say it is still a challenge - only one of our children is really capable of skating on her own, but she doesn't want too, she'd rather hold my hand and whiz around the rink together. Dugald and I divided our time and energies between holding up the skaters that couldn't skate, speeding around with the one that could, and watching Ellie over in Tiny Town. I'm tired all over again from just typing it!

You can also bring bikes and scooters to this rink, and they hand out basketballs for those who want to practice their shot. It's an extraordinary amount of chaos and it's a wonder anyone has room to do anything and that no one got hurt.  There was a hockey game going on at one end, baskets being shot at another, and skateboarders going up and down ramps everywhere in between. Craziness!

After church on Sunday I spent a few hours in the yard trying to get it to look like it had never seen the likes of a dog. It is amazing the amount of hair I swept up. I also cleaned out the kennel, and under the kennel, weeded a little bit, filled in a rather large hole that his majesty dug by the fence and hosed off the deck. Dugald mowed the front. Overall the appearance is improved, though the grassy area is still all torn up. I'm hoping it grows back in over the next few months.

The next week will be filled with all the usual activities - ballet twice, horseback riding, Musical Stars, swimming and soccer. I've started swimming on Friday mornings and I love it - last week was my first go at it and I was exhausted but in a good way. I have a girl who is able to come spend a few hours with the children and it seemed to go well enough for me to try it again. I was pleasantly surprised to see my sister-in-law at swimming, it was fun to catch up more with her too.  We have nine children between the two of us so it's been hard to find a time to get our families together - at least at swimming I get to see her face and hear how everyone is doing!!!

Have a great week everybody!!

Comments are ON!

I know it's mostly just family reading our blog, but I've turned the "Comments" section back on because the girls LOVE to read them when we get some, especially after birthdays. . . hint. . hint. You just have to select "name/url" and type in your name and then word in the box and you'll be good to go. So please feel free to let us know you dropped by. Thanks!

Bittersweet Birthdays

Our big girl turned 9-years-old yesterday!!! The day began very early with presents. . .


Josie gave Meggie a robe, something she's been wanting for a very long time!
She also received cards, money, a scooter, a game for her Nintendo, a board game, CD's, DVD's and a gift card. . . a very happy birthday indeed!

We Morrisons don't particularly like the donuts available to us here in Karori, and since one of our birthday traditions is to eat something sweet and bad for you for breakfast I decided to try my hand at cinnamon rolls. They didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped, but the family ate them anyway, they smelled divine!
If anyone has a yummy cinnamon roll recipe they'd like to share I think we'd all welcome it!
Now for the bittersweet part, after breakfast Meggie and I took Rico on our last walk together.

Actually Meggie rode her new scooter and Rico and I walked.
We are re-homing sweet Rico. We love him absolutely, but he's just been too much dog for our circumstances and I don't think we're doing him justice, and I can't really handle taking care of him as well as our sweet family. Sadly Meggie is going to miss him the most. She's been so responsible with taking care of him. She's also really bonded with him. It breaks my heart for her.

During our walk Meggie and I stopped for a drink at a cafe and sat outside with Rico at our feet and talked about what fun we've had with him. Our hearts were heavy, but thankfully the lady that is helping us place him found him a wonderful possible home. We took him out to the country after lunch to a home on lots of land with a stream running through it, another dog (albeit rather elderly and much calmer), chickens, cats, miniature ponies, and parrots. Meggie called it "doggie paradise" and I think she's right. He's there now having a test run to see how he fits with the rest of the animals. He was very exuberant upon arrival and also went chasing after one of the cats, so my hope is that he calms down a bit or I fear he won't get to stay. We do have other options, but to drag out the process of saying goodbye will be too hard on everyone.


After the cinnamon role debacle my next baking challenge was a cake, not from a box mix. Here it is cooling on the rack:
And the butter cream icing being mixed, yum!
The finished product, cute huh? But will it taste good?





It was a bit rich, but better than breakfast.


Happy Birthday Meggie!! We love you and are so proud of you, you are growing into a beautiful young lady - we love your pure heart, your love for God, your desire to please, your incredible talent for writing, your care for your sisters and pets, your smile, the song in your heart at all times, and the way you are growing and maturing in ways we couldn't have imagined. This year has brought a lot of changes in your life and you've handled them all with a grace we didn't imagine a girl your age could possess. You have brought us joy from the minute you entered this world and our prayer for you this year is that "out of God's glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,to him be the glory." Ephesians 3:15-20.