Hold on tightly!

We've been reading Charlotte's Web.



"Mothers for miles around worried about Zuckerman's swing. They feared some child would fall off. But no child ever did. Children almost always hang on tighter than their parents think they will."

it almost looks like school

sometimes
we do
some things
that
almost
look
a bit schooly!

SAD enough to make you CRY!

ow! ow!
What's happening to me?
I'm bleeding.
Someone has poked a long, skinny, shiny, sharp spear into me.
Oh dear.
Have you ever had this kind of hurt?
No?
Well, I guess you're not a pincushion then!

I'm a pincushion made by K8. She gave me a sad face, because I don't like getting pricks.

mmmmmmmMuffin

Mama discovered late in the day yesterday

that she needed to take supper out last night,

so J12 made a couple of batches of muffins for her

(with blueberries from her own bushes).

We all enjoyed the leftovers for breakfast this morning
(and yes that's chocolate on top!)

HOSPITALS

L6 broke his arm.
K9 broke his leg.
M4 broke his finger.
K8 had a baby.
T2 didn't break anything - she just lay in bed.

All in all, we needed a hospital!
J12 and J11 were the nurses and doctors and turned the boys' room into a hospital. There were beds enough for everybody. Even ER(9mo) crawled up to the beds, pulled herself up and "said" HELLO to everyone. She was a kind visitor.

And yesterday K9 made a wheelchair. Here he is using it with his broken leg:



PS from Mama....while the kids go to race round on the wheelchair outside!
On Thursday M4 gets to have another real hospital visit. He's having an ultrasound to see why some lymph nodes in his neck are enlarged. Actually, he's been really well this year - he's just had one fever bout and a couple of times when he looked like he was about to ail....but he came right before going downhill. So we are hopeful that whatever *it* is that's been knocking him down for the past couple of years, is working its way out of his system. But we'll still keep the appointment and hopefully rule out a few more nasties.

Team Racer

Bikes play an interal part in many of our outdoor adventures...actually it's an adventure just to find your own bike in the assortment!
Apart from the fun of biking, we like to be like our Grandpa too. He's in his late seventies and he still gets out on his bike a few times a week. This summer he did a cycle tour with some other mates round the East Cape - 450km in three days. And he always does the 160km Lake Taupo cycle challenge. He's a legend.

L6 felt the need to identify his bike with a number plate - Mama thought it said COPS TEA, but in fact it's 78PST34....and that's just the first line! Numbers are routinely written backwards - seems to be a feature unique to our left-handers.



When Mama is particularly dreamy, she would like to get a bike and one of these for the littlest kiddos. Then we could all bike to the local shops instead of walking (which takes a couple of hours there and back) or instead of taking the car (which pollutes the atmosphere)

a kiwi party

Summer parties in New Zealand revolve around the BBQ.....so we are finishing our party week with a "barbie" tonight (and not the doll sort!).

We've got lamb chops as well as lamb, mint and rosemary sausages to eat with lashings of mint jelly. We'll stirfry some veges from the garden on the hot plate to go with the sweetcorn. YUMMO. We love summer evenings.



Look who ended up coming for dinner.....Grandpa (well that's usual enough)....and he brought his brother and his wife and daughter too......when T2 saw Grandpa's brother she said "There are two Grandpas". They sure look alike!