Term two ......

School and kindy went back today in our neck of the woods. It was an odd day, almost like I had the  post holiday blues. I couldn't quite get it together, had all these things planned to do, but did nothing.... you get the drift!
 I really enjoy the slower pace of school holidays, hanging out at home, no time restraints etc. Don't get me wrong my kids drive me crazy from time to time, but in general they are great wee friends and I love watching them together, playing, interacting and creating. Its so nice for Archie as well to have his big brothers home to play with, I'm sure he gets lonely with just me! I guess what I'm trying to say, is it obviously takes me a while to get back into the swing, of school/kindy pickups, swimming lessons, school lunches and that I miss my little boys! I know It will only take a couple of days and we will be back on track! Anyone else feel a bit blah when the holidays end??

Life .....

Well life has been very busy round here the last few days! My sister and her partner flew in on Saturday for the week, so there has been lots of coffee drinking and gossipping. Andy and the boys were lucky to be invited on a fishing trip out to Durville island, on Sunday. It was a very long day for them, especially wee Charlie who was car sick and sea sick!! They bought home loads of Blue Cod though, that we had for dinner two nights in a row YUM!!!
I have started knitting my very first 'Milo'. Ive been wanting to knit one of these for two years, after drooling over the ones that keep popping up over here! Hopefully I can get it done ready for this winter, I really am such an amateur knitter. Ive been really enjoying my market book 'Toast', will give you a wee review once I'm done.
Two more days of school till the holidays, I can not wait! I really love that time to re connect with the kids, and for everyone to recharge their batteries.
Off to the farmers market now, for lunch and the daily coffee with sister. Then home to make some Easter egg hunt bags!

(These pics have no relavence to the post, just thought id put them on because I hate a blogpost without photo's and because they are cute!)

Weekend .......

This weekend we celebrated a birthday. Jack turned 8. Cliche I know, but wow where did that time go! He's getting so grown up now, a real little man.

We had cake, pizza and Italian doughnuts!!

We went to the Basket ball and watched the Giants win!!

We had our first sleepover with 2 friends and didn't got to sleep till 11pm, such good fun!! In the morning we scooted at home and at the skate park.

                                                                              

Then it rained, and we rested bliss. Boys played with the new birthday lego, I played in the sewing room, and we even painted some little toe nails.

 

We then watched Jack do the Aquathon, he did GREAT!! That night I went out for tea with my Mum, Thai yum yum, followed by a french film.

Phew what a weekend, it was pretty busy! Considering the amount of things that we did, it all went pretty well. Jack apparently had the best birthday ever, and loved the aquathon. Though the kids were pretty tired, and it rained a lot, it all ran smoothly! I sometimes find it hard to find a balance between letting the kids do all the things they want to do, and giving them the downtime they desperately need! I think we achieved that this weekend, and I even got to spend a couple of hours at the flea market but that's tomorrow's post xx

13.7 km's ..............

Yesterday Andy and I ran from our place to his mum's place in Richmond. It took us 1hour and 40 mins, 1.7 km's. It was the longest run I've ever done, and just quietly I was pretty proud of myself! You see, I have only been running for just under 6 months, I started because I could burn twice the amount of calories in half the time. This appealed immensely to my lazy nature, and my want of needing to get exercise done as quick as possible! Little did I know that I would end up really liking it, and even dare I say it, get addicted to it!! Well it has happened and I'm embracing it!

The start....

The end YAY!!!

Well earned coffee.

So ive set myself running goals:

- Run up the centre of NZ
- Run to Richmond
- Run a 5k race
- Run a 10k race
- Run a half marathon (in nov)
- Run a 22 k trail race (april next year)

I'm happy to say that I have crossed off the first two, and the 5k race is booked for May. I still can not believe that I can go out and run without stopping, for hours sometimes! I have never been a runner, even when I was playing loads of sport in my younger days, I didn't run. I guess I just want to put it out there, that anyone can run, if you want to!!

The rest of the day was pretty chill. My brother came over and we went for a stroll around some beautiful historic homes in our neighbourhood.

I baked a Spiced Apple Cake for book club. This is a delicious cake, I found the recipe on Melissa's blog, a while back and have made it many times.

Just enjoyed these last few warm days. Hope you all had a lovely weekend xx