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.

Road Trip

Today we packed up the girls and the dog and drove to Palmerston North to spend the day with Dugald's parents. I always look forward to our visits there - I even like the two hour drive. The kids are usually good when we travel and it's two hours with my family without distraction. Plus the sun was out for most of our drive, a rare treat lately.

We arrived just before lunch time and the girls and Rico reveled in the freedom of running wild on the large lawn. It was sweet to watch them frolicking together. We closed the front and back gate and considered things fine as far as the dog was concerned. However, just before we sat down to the table Meggie and Katie came running inside in  a bit of a panic yelling that Rico had escaped out of the yard and they could hear him barking. I went outside and called for him but I couldn't see or hear him anywhere, so I told the girls if he didn't wander back we'd go look for him after lunch. The immediate result of that comment was that Meggie didn't want to eat. I wasn't in too much of a panic until midway through lunch when it hit me that we haven't had him de-sexed/neutered.  When I realized he might wander to nearby towns in search of love, I got a tad tense. 

Margaret and the big girls and I all set out to look for him, me yelling his name loudly - and you know I can be loud. Their neighbor came out and I asked her if she had seen a golden retriever around and she said she had and that he was tied up in her driveway because he was bothering her dogs. I found this a bit odd since we'd all called for him before lunch and the girls had even seen her son playing in the backyard and he hadn't said anything to them though they were calling for Rico. Oh well, she wasn't very pleased with us, so I apologized profusely and took Rico back where he had to remain tied up for the rest of the day. Poor guy, but at least we found him. Meggie's prayers were answered. 

Later in the afternoon, when the rain came, the girls got stitching lessons from Grandma. Here's a sample of some stitching daddy did when he was a boy:

They decided to start with some simple stitching of their own. Here's Grandma helping Meggie thread her needle while Meg prepares the edges of the cloth.
And then Meg started stitching away:

Grandma also generously offered to make the girls new quilts for their bunk beds and so we went out and picked out some fabrics last week and brought them to Palmerston to show her. Here is Meggie with her choices:
And Ellie with hers:

And Jo:
And Katie:
They had so much fun running around the fabric store like crazy people choosing what they liked best. It will be fun for them to each have their own personal expression of who they are on their bedcoverings, especially since they are all together in the same room, a little individuality will be welcome. I would have been thrilled if they'd chosen complimentary colors to each other, but you can see that wasn't a top priority.

Thankfully Grandma had her camera available because I had switched lenses on my Canon and unfortunately something has happened to the lens I put on and it wouldn't work, so I need to get a new 50mm. But I'm very grateful it's not the camera that is broken, which is what I originally thought and as I posted earlier that is one of my very favorite toys. Whew.

After a fun, full day we piled back into the van and headed back to Wellington. The girls are safely tucked in bed, Dugald is watching rugby and I'm going to have a bath and say my prayers, thanking God for the gift of family. Hugs to all!!