Dear Alice, What a celebration you have had! You woke on the morning of your 6th Birthday, stretched up with your arms and said, ‘My, I have grown!’. And yes, you really have. This past year and a half, since arriving back from our amazing experience living in California (which you still talk about with […]
Loved Valentine’s Day falling on a Sunday this year – what’s more it was a stunning, sunshine, summer’s day and the city of Wellington had something happening in every suburb and street. On the waterfront the Chinese New Year Festival took centre stage and we enjoyed a lovely visit to Capital E on Saturday to […]
When I read that ‘The Prompt‘ this week was the word ‘Paint’ I knew exactly what to write about. This past month my dear parents have been staying with us in New Zealand, visiting from their home in England. My dearest Mum loves to paint with watercolours and has been taking classes for a couple […]
It’s been well over a month since I last blogged, but Instagram has been a constant online ‘fix’ and brought back a few memories from the year with the ‘Best of nine’! The end of 2015 came around so quickly, with our three daughters finishing a great school year in early December (in a flurry […]
Father’s Day, celebrated on the first Sunday of September in New Zealand (and Australia), was this year spent with a mix of action and creativity. Two of our three daughters were keen to get their Daddy out for some action and took him to the local recreation centre for an hour or two of roller-blading! […]
There’s nothing like a Birthday, particularly one of your child, to make you aware of how time flies (and seems to keep speeding up the older they get!). Our oldest daughter turned 12 today and she’s had the most fun weekend celebrating. She spent the night before her Birthday celebrating with friends. They played Laser […]
On the 29th May this year, hubby and I celebrated 16 years of marriage, a good fourteen-plus years of which have been spent living as expats in New Zealand; on the opposite side of the world from our birth place of England and our dearly loved (missed and thought about often) families and friends. It […]
Dear Alice, Since turning five you’ve accomplished so much in your young life. Seeing you head off to school with such confidence and independence has filled me with many moments of deep pride (and a few Mummy tears!). I wasn’t sure how you would adjust to school life, having never been to any type of […]
There has been colour from afar, by way of gifts and cards, and colour near to me, by way of nature, food and art. There has been colour in my children’s creations and in the candles, lit to warm the dark. I have been spoiled with loving gifts and thoughts this week, in celebrating my […]
The Easter School holidays in New Zealand started with the sudden onset of dark evenings, as the clocks turned back an hour on the night of Easter Saturday. After an incredible summer it was an abrupt change for everyone to be plunged into darker evenings; but it is only fair that the northern hemisphere get […]
As the sun set on 2014, after an inclement day of weather in Wellington, New Zealand, we gathered at one of our neighbour’s homes, along with other lovely folk in the community that we are blessed to have in our lives, sharing this parenting journey. Pizza and puddings was the perfect combination, with fireworks at […]
Between Christmas and New Year we’ve had some perfect days; the kind that leave a person feeling completely content at day’s end and very grateful to have a loving, healthy family, living in a peaceful pocket of the world. As I write, on New Year’s Eve in New Zealand, on the last day of 2014, the […]
It’s been a wonderful few weeks of holidaying in the countryside of the Wairarapa, enjoying the build up to Christmas, and our daughter Sophie’s Boxing Day Birthday, catching up with friends and enjoying the long light evening’s of summer. Our oldest daughter finished school for the year at the beginning of December and we’re loving […]
Our oldest daughter has just turned 11 and she celebrated in sunny California (her first ‘summer’ Birthday – as she was born in the middle of New Zealand’s winter – on a particularly wild day in Wellington!). She has grown tall enough to have her first proper bike, with gears and all that jazz, for […]