This Labour weekend we enjoyed the wonderful company of Steph and Francis (multi-talented nannies, early child-hood educators, superb baby-sitters and house-sitters). They stopped by for a BBQ on Sunday ‘avo along with an old friend of ours, John, who has recently returned to Welly for a while. John brought his son, Billy, with him. Billy…
Author: BritMumInNZ
Playdough step-by-step with Sophie
Sophie loves making playdough. Here’s her recipe, with step-by-step instructions. 2 cups flour 1 cup salt 2 tsp cream of tartar 2 cups water 4 tbsp vegetable oil Vanilla essence (smells lovely) Food colouring
Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho…
It’s home from work we go… We dig, dig, dig… This was after school on Wednesday. I picked up three sacks of sand and then got the girls to help unload them into an old paddling pool (we have an identical one to fit on top as a lid). Anyone would think it was the…
Action in the playhouse
The little playhouse in our garden has been transformed over the past weekend, with the girls helping ‘Handy Daddy’ to source wood, hammer it up, give it an undercoat and then paint it with chalk board paint. Sophie loves the work-bench at Kindi (complete with real hammers, saws and nails) and was over the moon…
Irresistible flashing fins: A fish story
We returned from holiday to find one of Charli’s ‘Black Moor‘ fish had passed away in our absence. Naturally, a trip to the pet shop to get a new friend for the now lonesome Black Moor was needed. However, the trip turned into something a whole lot more expensive… It all started because there were…
Kindi Fair Sizzles
The sausages were sizzling at Sophie’s Kindi Fair this morning. Dan and another Dad did a fabulous job of stoking the BBQ and selling around 300 bangers in the course of the morning. Thankfully the rain held off, with only a few drizzles, and no gale force winds to contend with. They could really have…
Wave Watching
Monday, beginning of Term 4, and the waves crashing on Wellington’s south coast held us captivated after school. We sat with hot chocolates at The Bach, Island Bay, and cried out with excitement at each ‘ba doom’ on the rocks. Sophie was a little worried that they were ‘sulami’ (tsunami) waves. And was keener to…
Blue Sky!
After last night’s post of gloomy weather we woke this morning to such a treat – blue sky! It’s calm, sunny and the day is full of promise. Heading out around the bays for some fresh sea air and to check out the new Chocolate Fish at Shelly Bay. School holidays are over and spring…
Less than perfect weather for the school hols
My geographers roots always have me studying the weather, amongst other things, and with the recent cold snaps hitting the country I thought I’d take a look at some statistics. Just when we were being lulled into a false sense of security that spring was really here, a wintry blast has seen us reach for…
Bon Voyage (at least it was one way!)
‘I’m sad Mummy,’ said Sophie as she hugged her favourite bear and waved bye bye to Wellington. Charli, meanwhile, was focused on drawing a dolphin and was richly rewarded with the sighting of dolphins and orca as we entered the Marlborough Sounds. The crossing to Picton, on Sunday 27 September, was thankfully very calm. We…
Not to be revealed
We returned from a wonderful week’s holiday yesterday and had the excitement of bubs scan this afternoon! Thankfully, all is going extremely well and everything is where it should be. Bubs is growing really well with the due date being put at 13 February, five day’s ahead of my original estimated due date of 18…
All packed and ready for the off!
Clocks have swung forward an hour and we’re all set to leave the house at 7am tomorrow morning for our ferry crossing to the South Island and a week’s holiday in Nelson. It’s always a mission getting the car packed with all the essentials and I wish I could be more zen about packing. It’s…
Mind, body, soul
In the garden… Busy bees (aka Charli & Sophie) have been exercising their green fingers in the garden. They’ve planted a wonderful assortment of sunflower seeds in every conceivable corner of the garden, from giants and teddy bears to dwarfs and a red petaled variety. At the end of the driveway, where our letterbox stands,…
Happy Baking Monday
Sophie and I started the week by baking a simple fruit cake from our trusty Be-Ro recipe book. I love the smell of baking and the house is now filled with the most wonderful, wholesome aroma. We gave this cake a big thumbs up for simplicity to make, little mess to clean up afterwards and,…