Black and white is the theme this week on ‘The Photo Gallery’ and it is especially poignant as I struggle to let my youngest child ‘go’, and settle her into school. I feel like my wild butterfly is being closed up in a box, of sorts, and having her wings clipped. The vibrant colours of […]
It’s been a fortnight since we returned from the UK to the US. We are heading back to New Zealand to live at the beginning of October, but for now we’re in limbo; between the two places we love. I haven’t felt like writing anything much, but have tried to fit in a little reminiscing about […]
This Easter we are far away from our home (though home, for my husband and I, is forever split between the UK and New Zealand). By home, I mean our literal home, the property we own and have lived in for eight years. Our little patch of New Zealand, on Wellington’s south coast. The place […]
Between the game play (Minecraft), the crafting (Rainbow Looming) and all the preschool arts and crafts (baking ginger-bread men, sand play, painting, imaginary story telling and so on…) there’s been a lot of action in the house in California this week. My New Zealand born children have been energised with slightly cooler temperatures and rain […]
There’s nothing worse than flu to knock a person off kilter. It’s worse when the whole family, children and all, are affected. It’s forced us all to slow down and write off the first week or so of this New Year. The only silver lining for the adults, particularly me, has been a forced detox […]
It’s been a lovely week shared with friends. We returned from Disneyland on Tuesday evening and have been enjoying a quieter time back at the house in Santa Barbara. The children have been playing in the pool a lot and we’ve had a couple of trips out and about, including a gorgeous little boat trip […]
A few snippets of life from the past week that have brought a smile to my face… A sunset enjoyed with my family (except not all the children were happy to be at the beach… but it meant a lot to the man of the house and I!). Seeing one of my children with her […]
We arrived here in early August. It’s nearly Halloween, end of October, and today, for a couple of hours, we had PROPER rain! We’ve had a couple of hours of attempted rain only once in the past three months. This was real rain, that created hundreds of circles on the surface of the swimming pool, […]
Her face was just like all the rest, on pick up time at three. The adrenaline that had twisted thick, buried for a spell. The anguish of the morning, the torment of the night. The constant torture of anxiety, that steals family time. It even creeps upon us at weekends, when we’re trying to forget. […]
You have to celebrate the good days when your children try their best, because they want to from their hearts, and achieve a great outcome in what they set out to do. There’s so many other days – that aren’t worth storing in the memory banks (even though they leave a torturous feeling on your […]
I knew how it was going to end before they even began. I wished for a moment the grown up in me, lurking somewhere, would step forward and declare the activity ill-timed. But the child in me wanted to aid their spontaneous creativity; even though the adult knew we’d be forced to clean up the […]
Three generations Father and son reunited, for a special holiday together, after nearly four years of living on opposite sides of the world. The bond never breaks, but grows stronger yet with a new granddaughter to get to know. Grandparents and grandchildren reunited Stories and laughter, days out and late nights, treats and sweets. The […]
In the past four years, since we moved into our new home, there has been much growth. The garden, once a section with nothing much than a lot of grass and a couple of trees now looks lush and inviting. A little 9 month old Sophie, that chuckled in her Daddy’s arms on the swing […]
If only I had some of it – high energy that is. Both my girls are full of beans from morning to night. They have such a need to throw their bodies around. At school and kindi pick-up the Mum’s of boys say, ‘You’ll get a shock if your third baby is a boy,’ but […]