The day Vegemitevix came for a BBQ

It was with great excitement that the day finally arrived when Vegemitevix, Kiwi expat blogger extraordinaire, and her ‘Englishman’, came to our house for dinner!

Well, dinner sounds way too grand… it was a hastily thrown together BBQ – with the potatoes nearly forgotten about and the salad pre-bought from the supermarket and chucked in a bowl (even forgot the dressing). It’s not easy keeping three young children under control, talking over wine with a couple you’ve never met before and simultaneously preparing ‘dinner’.

Dan had only got in from work minutes before our guests arrived and the girls had been out at the museum all afternoon. They were keen to burn off some of their endless energy on the water slide in the garden, whilst Dan and I juggled Alice and the BBQ. But, we got there in the end; and Vegemitevix proved to be a top sport when she took incoming fire from my daughters, when the lounge was temporarily turned into a ‘ball pit’.

Thankfully Vicki and her lovely Englishman were fantastically easy going and we felt at ease from the outset. I was so excited when Vicki said she would be visiting New Zealand this summer and very honoured that she made time on her hectic schedule to meet little ‘ole me and my family.

It is very rare that Dan and I have adult company and ‘entertain’ in our home these days – and we’re totally out of practice; but with the wine, beer and conversation flowing (and little people ‘kind of’ behaving) we had a very pleasant evening indeed.

Our little people were very awed with the presence of our guests. I had to excuse myself to take Charlotte and Alice for a ‘calm’ bath after dinner (leaving Sophie making something for our guests); but ended up running down in my dressing gown with a naked Alice when I heard Sophie exploding. She was working hard on her ‘creation’ for Vicki and had an artists ‘moment’ when one of her stickers wouldn’t do as it was told! Crisis averted, with some new stickers that turned her pout into a smile, I made myself and Alice decent (ish – in my p-jays kind of!) and rejoined the conversation.

Around 8.30pm we decided to draw the curtains to send the ‘sign’ to the young ones it was indeed ‘bed time’ (Alice was already conked out in my arms – enjoying the occasional nuzzle of Mama’s milk tinged with a hint of Sauvignon Blanc). When the curtains failed we tried the milk and yoghurt supper… Sophie asked me for ‘fairy bread’ (100’s & 1000’s sprinkled onto buttered bread – has to be white bread). When I tried to steer her to a low-sugar alternative she sneaked over to her dear Daddy, who got completely hood winked, failed to glance across at me for the ‘hand signal’ and got totally wrapped around the little finger of his middle daughter. She does have ‘those’ kind of dark brown, sparkly eyes too… anyway, hey ho, it’s the ‘school holidays’ (we must have said that at least half a dozen times as the evening progressed!).

In the end, all attempts to get the older girls to bed failed miserably (bribery included). They knew they should have been asleep, but didn’t want to miss out on anything. We admitted defeat, seeing as they were being quiet and calm (they knew not too push their luck too far!), and let them linger on the periphery, as we talked around a tea light candle.

Charlotte eventually crashed on the sofa and Sophie in her bed around 10pm (after testing Grandma & Granddad’s bedroom first and then needing me to hold her hand to ease her over-tired, excited mind into sweet slumbers).

It was a really special evening and we are so pleased to have met Vicki and her Englishman. Such a lovely couple and we wish them all the very best. We’re just sorry that Welly put on a ‘windy’ show for them – honestly it’s not ALWAYS windy – and our girls can be quite demure and quiet at times… see here they were in the morning after breakfast…