ba hum bug

• So finally after a couple of years of this blogging thing...I have finally have to write the words I hate reading on other peoples blogs..."hello poor neglected blog"

• I'm not going to say I told you so...but I will... instagram has killed the blog mojo. I knew it would happen...I saw other bloggers fall into  instagrams miry dark underworld. A place where friendships soar over a picture of a cup of coffee and followers are gained from a hipstamatic picture of pink neon nails. Curse you instagram and your ease of use. Your ability to fill my time in line at the coffee shop as I scroll through endless pictures and comments and short descriptions, simultaneously placing me and other strangers connected by the same hash tag in real time some where, some place. Interconnected and scrolling. Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Curse you little heart that quickly informs the instagramer that I have indeed seen their picture and have decided to 'like it". And curse you little heart that make me want my pictures to have many hearts also. *waves fist*

• If only blogger could figure out a way to be easier to use on the iPhone...or at least figure out a way to leave comments on other peoples blogs from the iPhone/Android. Unless you have already figured it out...please share with it with me! Until then reading blogs and commenting while on the go will remain a mystery to me. 

• On a lighter note. I watched Pitch Perfect again recently, and I cannot get the songs out of my head! I think I might get the DVD version. I think it is going to have to be a "I'm having a bad day" movie pick me up. SO far my current bad day pick me up movie is "50 first dates". Oh I love that movie. 

• So we are back into some semblance of a school routine. Except for today. I'm bunking Mainly Music. Been working the last 4 days with this afternoon to come, and I'm kinda tired. Clapping and pretending to enjoy myself so that Mr Zak zak will finally show some enthusiasm for it was not on my agenda today. Honestly why I force it, I don't know. Maybe its the coffee and the cake for the grown ups and a natter with a friend that keeps me going. We are  having a quiet morning  instead.  

• On the first day of school Joe had his bags packed, lunch made and was ready to go to school at 7am...only a cool hour and half before necessary. I'm glad he loves school so much. Miss Joy couldn't wait to see her friends again too. It seemed like a really long summer holiday...7 weeks! 

• Although I must say we did squeeze in a few adventures....
• These two gorgeous monkeys entered into their first real sporting event. Both were rather apprehensive but gave all their athletic events a good go. Over 1000 young children aged 7-14 descended on Whangarei early in January for the North Island champs. What dedication these parents and children have! And I was so proud of Miss Joy who managed to get a gold medal with her mixed medley relay team. Initially she didn't even want to compete in this event! SO pleased we encouraged her to fulfill her potential! Well done my girl! Joe won himself a few ribbons for his troubles. 

• Exploring:  So there's this one museum we walk past on a weekly basis in our city..The Claphams Clock Museum but we had never been to it. One day on a rare occasion when we were all together we rather spontaneously decided to do it. And we really enjoyed it! The cuckcoo clocks were our favorite. I highly recommend going when the tour is on. The lady was quite knowledgeable and gets to touch the clocks and set them off together.  Zak Zak was a good boy for the most part and kept his hands in his pockets under my instruction. He did try sneaking through the barriers a few times though!

• Off the beaten track:  SO we have been to Auckland so many times and done all the usual kiddie things.  I thought this time we would try some different activities. I saw the ad for the Maize Maze. I googled and decided we would try it. We were staying in the area for it so it worked out well. It was super creepy driving in to the place. It is situated where the "Spookers" attraction is at an old mental health hospital. Its all abandoned, derelict and creepy as!!

{creepy place}

• The three year old was pretty over it quite quickly stating every few minutes "I want to get out of here". Dadda found another family who were losing their way a bit...and suddenly it was on! Us against them....who could get out alive first! They beat us by a narrow margin...only because we got stuck behind their push chair...Ha! Ice blocks all around afterwards. It was super hot and only 10am. Great fun for the family. 

• The Next day we thought we would join half of Auckland at the Pukekohe race track to watch the Colour Race. Major traffic jam getting there...but I managed to direct us through a few back roads. A friend was doing it...but do you think I could find her any where!? Needle in a haystack. We all decided we would be back next year to compete in it our selves. It looked like so much fun. 

• And on the way home we decided to take the scenic route home through Mangawhai...a bit of detour...but the coastal route home. We stopped off at the Bennetts Chocolate Factory for some goodies! And found a couple of fun play grounds for the kids to explore too. 

{The glee of an inward facing swing set}

{mmm Chocolate...}

{ Mangawhai }

Mandatory Selfie...otherwise who would even know I was on this trip!

I've decided...its fun exploring with this lot...and may there be many more adventures to come. 

Family and toolbox parenting.

Way back in April when I went to the Bloggers Conference in Christchurch, Leonie and I were at the table at the same time filling in an entry to win a Parenting Place (formerly Parents Inc) competition for a "toolbox parents course". We both looked at each other and said the same thing... "I hope I win because I'm a terrible parent!"...We both had a laugh when we both won a prize each. The prize was for one or a couple to attend a 6 week course. And ever since April, I had been on the look out for one in my area, but none seemed to be offered, until last month a Facebook friend invited people for one at her place. Phew!...I was considering giving it to someone in Auckland. And it was exactly the age group I needed..."the Middle years 6-12 year old's".

The group had eight of us and one facilitator and we met for 6 weeks from 7:30pm to 9:30pm. The course has been created by the genius parenting Gurus and mentors from the Parenting Place such as Ian and Mary Grant and John Cowan. Each of us were given a Participants Handbook to keep and to write notes in. The night is run by a mix of reading the handbook, watching short snippets of a DVD with presenters, some group discussions and review activity's. Time and care was taken to listen to each participants views and thoughts, but our facilitator kept us on track and moving through each of the nights topics. And there was a huge range of topics covered!

What did I come away from it??
Well I learnt perhaps I wasn't such terrible parent after all! I had found that over the years that I had been a parent, I had managed to glean a lot of the ideas presented in the sessions from reading the Parents Inc Magazine and from a couple of Ian and Mary Grants books I had on my shelf. My down fall was that I had read them...but hadn't been applying them.

So after attending the course these are the take home things that we have decided to apply to our family.

• There are a range of parenting styles...but our aim is to be a parent coach style...with a backbone as opposed to Sergeant-major parent we have been at times. 

• Trying really hard not to discipline with anger. I learnt that the emotion of the anger will override the lesson that can be learnt to improve behavior for next time.

• I want to to try and encourage good EQ in the kids by teaching good manners. To get along in the world they need social skills and our home is the first place they learn to get along in the world. Habitual good manners will lead to habitual good treatment of others.

• I learnt about the Anger Rules: "Its okay to feel angry, but the rules are...I must not hurt others or things or myself. And I must talk about it." I have thought about putting this one up on the fridge for the couple of hot heads in the house...me included! Along with some cool down strategies mentioned in my manual. 

• We did a session on personality types...the animal one: beavers, otters, golden retrievers, and lions. I almost cried when I realised each of us represent all of the  different personality types! No wonder we all clash sometimes! There was some good strategies on how to coach each kind of personality which was fab. 

• Understanding this is the perfect time for family traditions and creating great memories. Exploring together andhaving fun as a family. 

• Putting in the time and effort at this time in their lives will help us A LOT when they get to the teenage years. 

• But the major thing we have instigated is the "Family Meeting". I was a little apprehensive about it...but gave it ago. Our first family meeting was about family meetings! I introduced what it was about and how it will work. We decided a once a week family meeting on a Sunday would work for us...AND the kids loved it! They were asking for a family meeting every second day! I said NO..put it on the agenda for next time! How hilarious! 

• Things that we have on the agenda were: Chores for the week...they decided that doing the same particular chore for the week was better than alternating..so we let them do it. Other things we talked about were the things coming up the next week like what days I was working and who had school activities. One person is the scribe for the night and one person gets to have the gavel and be the chair person. The Kids Love being able to put forward ideas like "Saturday family  Movie night" etc. "Hmmm Mumma and Dadda will think about those ideas...." we reply! We make it fun by having ice creams or chocolate and a game after the meeting, like Uno. 

Lately as we have been eating our dinners at the table and conversing I have been looking around at my little family with a feeling of contentment. Like...we are on the right track if that makes sense? and we are making progress to making ourselves a nice little family unit. My hope is that we would one day use the words "we are a close family". Or that my children will grow up not only as siblings but have genuine friendships with one and another. That they will look back on their childhoods with fondness and joy. And  that I will make it through the other side with all my hair still intact and preferable my not grey from stress! 

So doing courses like this really helps! Looking forward to the next one!

The Perfect day.

Today was the perfect day.

• It started rather bright and early. We woke at 0630 hours, which we NEVER do on a Sunday. But NZ  played England in the Rugby League World cup semi-final. It was a nail biter of a game...England were 4 up in the last two minutes of the game ...and then in the final play we snatched the victory and won the game. We play Australia next weekend in the final. Cant wait. And we will HAVE to watch it live! We are the current world cup holders so it would be great to take it from the likely Auzzie winners.

source

• We made it our church on time even! I love hanging with my fellow God loving Peeps. This morning we were on Creche duty which is always fun. 

• Arriving home just before midday...I decided today was the perfect day to head to the beach for my Christmas shot. We decided to go to a beach we never go to...Langs beach. It is a 30-40 minute drive away from Whangarei. 

• Just before we hit Langs beach we came up over the hill and we were faced with the most most amazing view of the horizon ever. Literally breath taking. The blues were amazing, so many beautiful colours. When we saw this sight, we knew we had made the best decision to drive the extra miles to this beach.

• We drove on trying to find the best part of the beach and parked up. And this sight was right by the car on the side of the road. 

{ Langs Beach...post card perfect}

•  We got to work on our project with Dadda in charge...but more on that another time... Then it was play time. 
• I kept on snapping away with my camera trying to capture some great shots of the family and beautiful scenery. The kids were mighty sick of me and the camera...especially Zak Zak. 

• On the way home we decided to stop off at Waipu Cove for an ice cream. The cove was a lot busier than Langs Beach with the waves being a bit better for the surfers. 

{waipu cove}

{waipu cove}

{Waipu cove} 

Family Pic. Ice creams at Waipu Cove

• We topped off our perfect day with a pizza and a cold one at the Waipu Pizza Barn. So much fun all one day. Now Im pooped! 

ponderings

• I wonder if all the pumpkin flesh that America wastes from carving out Jack o lanterns during Halloween season could cure world hunger? 

• On a side note...Pumpkin curry is one of my favs. Chopped Pumpkin, onion, garlic, dash of tomatoes (fresh or canned), curry spices: Mustard seeds, cumin, curry powder, and turmeric, chilli. Goes well with  freshly made roti or naan bread. 

• This week I saw how fat my arms were getting and decided I better do something about it. When it comes to being healthy, I'm an all or nothing kind of person. Been more of the nothing lately. So this time I'm trying to be sensible and try a regime that eases me in slowly instead of scaring me off after the first day. I'm working towards an achievable 9km Fun run in March. I need to be realistic and balance shift work and children. I forgot how addictive the endorphins are, and how nice it is just to spend 45 minutes to your self and just think and pray and listen. 

• Speaking of Listening! I had a funny God inspired revelation about "TWINK PEN" ...or "Correction fluid"... of all things on my walk today.  Someone had written on a wooden letter box, "I am cool" in Twink pen. I thought to myself who uses twink anymore? I certainly don't. As a nurse when we write notes at work, we are specifically not allowed to use twink. If you make a mistake you have to make a cross through it and write above it or next to it "Written in error". But everybody can still see your mistake. Sometimes its an embarrassing mistake! It got me thinking about how if my life story was hand written on a piece of paper, and I had made an embarrassing mistake, or a mistake that I was really shameful about and I had to cross it out, people could still quite easily see it even though I had crossed it out. But it is written,  if we come clean about our mistakes to God he blots them out of our story and never thinks of them again or holds it against us. In a word picture it describes our mistakes like they were the color scarlet, and He makes them white as snow...Or...as white as liquid TWINK!! Nobody needs to know or remind us about our past mistakes or transgressions because the God can get out His "Twink" and erase them from our story, bring healing and help us to live better lives with hopefully less mistakes!

          Hehe...all that from a little graffiti on a letter box!

• Sometimes when my 7 year old is reading to me...in his really slow and  boring...still learning to read voice...I get lost in thought about how beautiful his face is...and can't believe I helped make that. He has the most stunning blue eyes and the darkest eye lashes.

• One time when Miss Joy was doing her reading homework  in her still learning to read voice, I fell asleep! It was only 7 pm and a woke up to find she had gone! She quietly tip toed away so I didn't wake up. I felt so bad! 

• Yesterday son number two fell asleep on me while were watching TV. He had missed his afternoon nap while we were out for the afternoon. Snug sleepy naps don't happen very often, so I took time to enjoy it while I could.

• I am going to be attending a  Parenting "TOOLBOX" parenting course! Way back in April when I attended the Christchurch Blogger conference I won something! It was a voucher to attend a TOOL BOX course, but there wasn't  any running in Whangarei. But recently a Facebook friend announced she was running one at her house, So I signed up.  The hubster is going to stay home and babysit while I shyly meet some strangers. Hopefully I wont feel too crappy about my parenting skills and will learn some new things! I'll let you know how I get on. Our church is running a really fun sounding Marriage Course the same month that Id love to go to...but I don't think I can fit in both and work some evenings too! Typical! ...after a pretty quiet year, everything happens at the same time. 

• Don't forget to check out this blog post "When Dreams Become a Reality"  for a beauty therapy voucher giveaway

• And speaking of giveaways...if you are a runner, Rachel from Curious Runner Girl has a giveaway for a race entry on her blog today. 

• The Hubster finished the retaining wall and  painted the hallway. Good Hubster. The poor fella has gone back to work for a break! But on the last weekend of his holiday, we decided we needed to go to the beach. The MIL and FIL had the same thing in mind, so we chucked the BBQ in the boot, and a picnic lunch and headed to Pataua South for lunch and a spot of Pipi picking. Kiwi As! We spit them over night in bucket of sea water and then made Pipi fritters for dinner the next night! So good!

I could do with a pedicure!

A seagull photo bombing my shot of the bridge and blue water

Picked Pipis!

A little game of swing ball. 

Getting a good dose of Vitamin D in my new Sunnies from Pagani 

Hope all is well with you and yours!

xx Jacksta B

Cheesy Blessing

If you know me you know I like food. I like making it...I like experimenting with it...I like trying new cuisines and new experiences. This week we tried fondue.

So the background on this one was that I offered to make a lovely friend and her family dinner as they were grieving with a major loss to their family. This lovely friend has made me and my family dinner (like really nice dinners) before, I knew a frozen lasagna wouldn't cut it.
They are a little bit Swiss... so I thought I would try and make some sort of "swiss cuisine". I remembered her talking about a special type of thing called "Raclette" that was her favourite and they would have it for birthdays etc.

I had no idea what it was so of course I googled it. Cue the wikipedia!

Raclette /rəˈklɛt/ is both a type of cheese and a Swiss dish based on heating the cheese and scraping off (racler) the melted part.

{Pretty Fancy contraption!}

So I went to the super market and headed for the cheese section looking for "Raclette" cheese . I had never heard of it. It wasn't in the the mainstream cheese section...but I had some ideas to substitute it with. Thankfully my local New World has a killer deli section..and lo and behold...the exact cheese I needed! One big massive wheel of it! I literally did a dance!

I put together a platter of cured meats, and pickled veges as well. I also added parboiled new potatoes and good ol' broccoli and cauliflower. And I cannot forget the french baguette. I made enough for our dinner too...in the hopes of trying a fondue type thing. So our dinner was half prepared too. 

I arrived at their place...and looked forward to the reaction. Had I really pulled off a cuisine I had never tried my self before?? They assured me I had! The special Raclette cheese was a winner...because they hadn't had any in years.  Yay! So good to be a blessing. 

I told them my plans to use the same ingredients I had left over at home to try and make a fondue. I had really no idea how to make it. I was just going to put a bit of cheese in my chocolate fondue set. They insisted that I took home their Swiss fondue set all the way from Switzerland ..and my lovely friend gave me the recipe and some of  the ingredients to make it as authentic to the Swiss way as possible!

Heres the recipe if you want to try it at home.

300g  Grated Cheese. We used Gruyere cheese and Mild. You can use Colby too.  

2 cloves of garlic cut finely

1 small dash of "Kirsh" cherry liquor

75 mls of white wine

and 1 teaspoon cornflour to thicken sauce. 

pinch each of pepper, paprika and nutmeg

Adjust your quantities depending on your family/party size. This was enough for the five of us

Before cutting the garlic clove, rub it all over the inside of the pan.

Stir cornflour in to the kirsh set aside.

Melt the cheese and wine and stir in the pot for a while then add the kirsh and keep stirring until fondue is smooth and bubbling. Stir in pepper, paprika and nutmeg. 

Transfer to fondue stand if you have one. 

And dip in some baguette that has been cut into squares.  

This was such a fun thing to do for dinner. Lucky for us we are cheese heads...so this is right up our alley. A BIG note is that in order to ward off the constipation that will occur after this meal...is that the grown ups need to pair this meal with some white wine...and the kids need some other acidic drink...they had to have orange juice.

I love those times when you decide to bless someone and then you get blessed your self! Such a fun treat!

Spontaneous trip to Russell

These days being spontaneous and towing along a small brood for the ride is a rarity. An oxymoron even. Usually trips out of town need to be planned...at least a day in advance. And don't even talk to me about holidays with kids...that takes months...or in our case years worth of saving and planning.

So last Saturday I had the day off, and decided to see what my mum and dad were up to for the day. They were going to Russell (Bay of Islands)  for an art and craft show that was a Fundraiser for the old church. It was already 10am, we gave ourselves 15 minutes to get our A into G in the car and on our 1 hour trip out of town. 

I told her we would meet her there. Blow me down we caught them on the car ferry from Opua to Russell  just in time. Lucky...since we were having difficulty with her phone.  

{Car Ferry Opua to Russell}

{Art and Crafts fair}

{A clever man carving.} 

{Russell Waterfront}

{Teaching the kids to Skim stones.} 

{Fish and Chips....
with vinegar for the pommy fella}

{So hard to get a good selfie with the SLR...my arms aren't long enough with the lens.} 

{New Zealands oldest church}

{Flagstaff Hill}

 Ah the kids must be growing up if we can make it out the door with the bare essentials for the day (a nappy bag, wallet and keys, and few snacks)....Roll on future spontaneous trips on rare days off together.