Liam and Anna

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Charades! (Have I Mentioned Lately How Much I Love Our Church?)

Happy birthday Claire!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Buzz Cuts Part 2

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Marmite and Lemon-Pears

Liam got to hang out with his buddy Rohan this morning.


 - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

MN Playtime

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The video rental guy made me sad today... and Being a Boy Mom

I went to our local video rental store, Video To-Nite, this evening trying to find season 2 of the tv show Modern Family. Unfortunately I got a little hooked on it on the flight from the US to NZ -- I was laughing uncontrollably on the flight trying not to wake up Liam. That being said, NZ is not a good place to get hooked on a tv show. For starters, we don't have a tv here. This wasn't a problem in the US because we could stream the occasional episode of The Office or Saturday afternoon Florida Gators football game. The NZ gov't blocks almost all streaming video from the US. No nbc.com, no CBS sports.com, and no Hulu. As a result, the neighborhood video rental store (a relic of the past in the US) is still thriving in NZ.

When I went to the video rental store tonight, I asked about Modern Family season 2 (originally aired Sep 2010) and he said it should be in later this week. I explained that in the US we stream most of our tv shows, and he got a semi-horrified look on his face and crossed his fingers and said hopefully it doesn't catch on in NZ. I want to say to the video rental guy, "Sir, I coming back from the future to tell you that video rental stores won't exist in the near future in your country... it is time to start looking for a new profession, or consider opening a new type of store store, or a new something..." It kind of made me sad... I felt very nostalgic in the store as he advised me on different kiwi films -- it was nice, and not really possible when streaming entertainment from home...

On another note, I like being a boy mom. I'm sure it is super sweet being a girl mom and perhaps not that much different, but I really, really like being a boy mom.  Wow - I never dreamed it would be this much fun to have boys. Charlie got a Hot Wheels loopy track thing from a friend at his birthday party (pics from party later - I promise!) and I was a little mystified at how to put it together... I've seen them before, but with four daughters, I don't think we ever had one in our home. Jason (coming from a family with three sons) kept saying: "this is so cool, this is so cool." He was thrown back to his childhood and had so much fun playing with Charlie. I am thankful for these new experiences with my little men. I'm just having a lot of fun.

Charlie is BIG into imaginative play lately (of course, usually involving trains) - our whole home is a train, divided into dining, sleeping, toilet and sitting cars.  He also takes these buckets and makes them into train seats for all of us to ride. 

This Boy Mom did splurge today and got her haircut (the first one in over a year - YIKES!). It was so, so nice... I left Liam with a really great babysitter and Charlie was at creche. As I left our home, I felt naked without kids, diaper bags or strollers... it was a really foreign feeling. After getting super cute, I met Jason for lunch at work and got a few hours in at work.

This is our friend Minnie (Minneline) from church who is helping us to watch Liam.   She went to beauty school and works part time at a salon in the city.   She reminds me of my sisters!  (combination of Emily, Maria, Juliet and Ashley!)

The video below shows Charlie passed out after a dinner run.  We bought one of those coupon Entertainment books for Wellington.  On Monday or Tuesday evenings (slow times at restaurants - so we don't feel too obnoxious with our double BOB stroller) our tradition has been to run a 5k and end up at a restaurant from the coupon book.

.

 

Dinner Party

We just finished hosting a dinner at our apartment with almost forty people from church and work. It was SO MUCH fun! I'm feeling very blessed and thankful for this new community...



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Kiwi Accent and Paci in the Potty

Here is a good sample of charlie's kiwi accent (especially the beginning).

This morning we had a great family long run. Jason was amazing and pushed the boys in the double BOB for 8 miles (an especially arduous feat with the Wellington winds) and I was able to go 12 miles. The boys are so content in the stroller and there is plenty for them to see along the way. Jason and I are just longing for family and friend visitors to come visit so we can show them this beautiful place.

Today is Guy Fawkes day.  Our sponsor family came over for dinner (Greek yumminess!) and then we watched fireworks on our roof. (historical note : Basically Guy Fawkes tried to kill the King if England in the early 17th century and was caught and hanged/executed and people celebrate with fireworks)

Pretty gross...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Showing Off

Our friend Rachel came over for dinner and Charlie really loves her and he was hyperactively showing off.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Party!

Today was Grayson's birthday/Halloween party.  Thanks for the comments on the costume post - we went with bumble bee costume.  Pictures posted soon! 



The haircut revealed

Charlie hugging Grayson and Lola sitting on the ledge

   

Laughing with Jason's co-workers - the couple on the right (from UK) are coming over for dinner this week

     

Party ended on a low note - Charlie (the poop-master) went #2 on the potty and then clogged their toilet (they didn't have a plunger)

 

Your Response is Required

Maria thank you for your blog comments. I'm not sure who is reading so I invite more to leave a comment. In order to facilitate that, let's try an exercise together.

Today I was delighted to get a skype call from most of the mn heille clan all eating dinner together. They asked me a few very important questions that I want to pass on to any bloggers out there:

1. When will baby Judah Spindler make his appearance (due date 17 Oct) - date and time

2. How much will he weigh?

Emily can you post answers from your poll?

My guess is 24 Oct at 1pm weighing 8'10"


Here are 2 pics from today. We hung out with an American family who served as our sponsors from NZ. Charlie played really well with their little guy chase. They live near the top of the cable car so Charlie had a blast getting to their house. As an aside, I'm really thankful to be in our apartment vice a house. I'll blog the reasons in a future blog.













- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Freak Accident

Jason and I started hosting a small group from our church on Thursday nights at 7pm. At 615pm Jason tried to open a bottle of beer with kitchen sheers and somehow sliced his fingertip (almost) off. Jason started getting really light headed and we were concerned that he needed stitches. We didn't know what to do with the boys, so Jason suggested I call NZ 911 and get him an ambulance. Instead we called our friends who picked him up and brought him to the ER. Here is a picture of him eating his omelette before leaving. It was on his right hand so our friend helped him fill out the paperwork (what happened - "playing with scissors"). Although the nurse suggested Jason wait for the doctor to decide if stitches were necessary, after waiting for almost 2 hours and the bleeding stopped, Jason consulted with the nurse and decided to head home to small group.

Things I'm thankful for today:
1. Jason finger is healing nicely
2. Charlie napped at preschool and pooped in the potty before bed
3. We had 13 people at our home tonight - it is a SUPER great group
4. Meeting about possible job went well - waiting to see how we could work it out
5. My baby sister is going to HAVE A BABY SOON!!!

Waikite Hot Springs

I hate to disappoint my huge blog fan base (not really sure if anyone's out there, but I'm having fun doing this) but I'll flesh out posts from the long weekend with some pics/videos. We finished our long weekend at Waikite Hot Springs. Hopefully
pics will entice people to come visit. Overall a great weekend with Jason's co-workers and our new friends!

Backyard of the house we rented on Lake Tarawera

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Rotorua

The weather today was rather gloomy but it made the geothermal steam that blanketed the city especially pronounced. We shared a lake house with the other American couple who works with Jason. They have a 6-week old baby and 2-year old son. It was their son's 2nd birthday today so we celebrated with yummy birthday breakfast in Rotorua and then checked out the geothermal park.




Our friends have an German au pair and she brought a friend so they babysat the 4 boys while we all went for a 5k run around Blue Lake. After the run we jumped in the icy (NOT thermal!) lake. It was really great to connect with them.










- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Te Toroa Dr,Lake Tarawera,New Zealand