A Very Big Year

2010 saw the arrival of Wyatt, and our family of three grew to four.

We moved into a new house, and are still in the process of decorating and unpacking boxes!

I crazily decieded to go to school full time while I was on maternity leave - I'm now certified to teach High School.

James completed his first year as an Officer in the NZ army

It's been a crazy roller coster year for us. Plenty of ups and downs, but the one thing I am most grateful for is to be married to the most amazing and supportive husband, and wonderful father that one could ask for. Life is better when him. I'm also thanful for two beautiful and healthy (most of the time) boys, and a warm house which makes the NZ weather all the more enjoyable. Wait...I think I might have my holidays mixed up....anyways... Happy New Year - it can only get better from here!

We celebrated with the boys by going to the Square to watch the children's concert and eat a picnic of Pizza on the lawns. We had no babysitters, so we decided to bring the party to us. The kids...they slept through the whole thing, and by 1am I was ready for bed.

What do guys in the army do when they have a few weeks off work? Grow beards, of course.

My wondeful and gorgeous friend Toni and her husband Darron

And there were many, many more

Happy New Year!

Christmas Day 2010 - Wyatt's First

The Elf on the Shelf has arrived! He made the journey to NZ in Grandma Fran and Grandpa Dennis' luggage when they visited us in November. He has been watching the kids everyday in the lead up till Christmas. Each night he reports to Santa on the boys' behaviour. Luca would get delight in waking up and rushing around the house trying to find out where Ralph (that's his name) was sitting. Each day he would be in a new location, but the boys were not allowed to touch him - otherwise his magic might fade. This was all well and good....until the bug man arrived.

The week before Christmas he came to spray the house for spiders - and we walked around the house together covering up all the toys, pillows etc. While I was in the other room covering up cots and toys, he must have advised Luca to move the elf. That day I looked everywhere for that darn elf, and started to panic that the bug man had hidden him away somewhere. We ended up finding the elf under Luca's duvet. The bugman apparently instructed him to move the elf somewhere safe. I can just imagine the puzzled look on Luca's face when he was asked to move it....when we had so clearly been telling him DO NOT TOUCH THE ELF. And our own real live version of a little Elf! Wyatt on Christmas morning with his one tooth.

When Luca woke up, the first thing he noticed was not the presents, but that the cookies were gone and part of the carrot had been eaten. This was the first Christmas that Luca really understood what was going on.

Mommy, we don't want to take pictures, we want to open up more presents!

Our baby alarm clock went off at the standard time of 6:30am, and the festivities began. Stockings, gifts, a cooked breakfast of homemade egg mcmuffins, skyping and more skyping, and playing with toys. Again we all were spoiled. James got me a gym membership to my beloved gym in the city (this year I have been going to the university gym because I was a poor student but I MUCH prefer my other gym, and now that I'm going back to work we'll be able to afford it again). I think most wives would take that as suggestion to get into shape - but James knows I've been wanting to go back to my old gym, so this was a perfect gift. The day after boxing day, guess who went to the gym? Thanks Babe :-)

James got a pile of new clothes from family in the States - and they all fit! He loves them. I also surprised him with a new ipod. The boys...well yeah, you guessed it....more toys! (and a sleeping bag, magazine subscription, PJ's, and socks). Thank you Dad and Fran, Mom and Bob, Erin, and Grandma Loomis for sending us gifts to make our Christmas Day special.

We did something that we usually don't do. We went to church. We all enjoyed it, and it has inspired us to get back into Christianity and find a church to join. More about this in a later post. It's an exciting development in our little family, and one I am really looking forward to.

Then the chaos began...everyone started arriving at our place for Christmas Lunch. James' Dads' side of the family came over - about 20 of them. It turned out better than I had expected. We had plenty of food, and it was a great afternoon. You feel like a real grown up when it's actually your turn to host Christmas. Now that we've had our turn, I guess we are off the hook from hosting it for the next few years...lol.

Caydn (Luca and Wyatt's oldest Cousin) and his new guitar. He's a very talented musician.

James' Aunts, and Miang


Your lovely Christmas hosts...look at us in our matching black shirts - I didn't even realize this on the day (PS...mom, James loves that shirt!) We were exhausted by the end of the day and took all our leftover desserts to our neighbors. We had eaten too much and just wanted it out of the house. We had sooo much food left over and the last thing we wanted were rich calorie laden desserts. Our neighbors gladly accepted the desserts. Unfortunately the next day we were like, "hmmm, I kind of wish we would have saved a few of those desserts." Ha ha...live and learn.

Luca's new inflatable crocodile. He's got a thing for alligators and crocodiles. He insisted he take it in shower with him. It takes up the entire shower. When the shower was over James stood it up in the corner of the shower, and in the middle of the night when I used the bathroom it scared the living daylights out of me. From the corner of my eye it looked like someone was actually standing in the shower - YIKES.

An Early Christmas - the Beach

Jo and Bruce were headed to Australia over the holidays, so we celebrated Christmas with them a week early. I highly recommend splitting the holiday over two weekends - otherwise it's just too many places that you have to be at one time. I love splitting it up this way, and if I had it my way, would do this every year.

The weather was great - this is not always the case...in NZ it can be very up and down, but we lucked out with a warm (hot!) sunny day with very little wind.

Wyatt's first Christmas

We ate, drank, ate, drank...

The boys were spoiled. Toys, wool sleep sac for Wyatt, diggers, and more toys! Luca actually screamed when he opened some of his gifts. His scream would stop Wyatt in his tracks, and then of course Wyatt would have to crawl over to Luca to 'help' him play with his new toys. We were all spoiled with an amazing Lunch and dinner, and we got to catch up with Bruce's kids and their families. It was the first Christmas with multiple littlies. Luca also screamed with delight when James opened his gift - a remote controlled helicopter! James would go outside and attempt to learn how to fly it. Luca would wait patiently till it crashed then go run after it. Almost like a bird dog! ha ha

and then before we knew it, it was time for more drinking and eating! We left around 8:30pm, with full bellies, and we had to actually 'load' the car up with toys and boxes. Luca was so hyped up that he managed to stay awake for the whole car ride home.


It was a wonderful celebration with family, but I've got to be completely honest about one thing.

I've given it a good five years....and I definitely prefer the northern hemisphere Christmas. It's just not the same without cold weather and snow, Christmas lights, and indoor cozy parties. Having Christmas in the winter gives you something to look forward to during the cold months, it helps to break up the year. In NZ, you wait all winter (and it's a LOOONG winter) and then you have summer break and Christmas all in the same few months. Besides, snowflakes, snowmen, and pine trees just seem odd when you are in the middle of summer. Oh, and this year I heard that St. Louis actually had a white Christmas. How cool is that?! But regardless of my opinion, here's some cool beachy Christmas shots...

Wyatt's first crawl on the beach

Jo and Bruce's amazing view and backyard - the beach is literally just through the dunes

Backseat driver

It had just started to rain (again for 5th time in the morning) as we were driving into town today. In a very soft and innocent voice Luca said "Mommy you're being naughty." When I asked him why, he said "because you don't have your wipers on or your lights!" Easy, tiger it had only been raining for a few seconds! Ha ha....he's pretty funny. My three year old driving instructor.

He will also occasionally tell Daddy and Oma, "Slow down, it's not a racing car." I don't think our little blue car could get to speeds anywhere close to that of a racing car, but now Oma's car.... now that's another story. ha ha

Christmas Prep

Christmas festivities have been in full swing for the past few weeks. I waited till James got back from Singapore and we decorated the tree and got out our small box of decorations. As a young (can we even call ourselves that anymore?!) couple, we just don't have that many decorations - I think it's something we'll need to aquire over the years. Our tree looks pretty good, and thanks to Grandma Cassie, we got some pretty sweet stockings. The new house is bigger, and thus we need a few more decorations to add to the collection. Two really cool things we got to do this year.
1. Hang stocking on the fireplace! One of the main reasons I wanted a mantle was to have a place to hang the stockings. Now....trying to hang them was another mission. In the states you can get these stocking holder things - like paperweights - but in NZ each one costs about $50. Yeah....Crazy expensive. In the end we used those 3M sticky hook things, and they actually look pretty good.
2. Hang matching wreaths on our front doors. I'm a big fan of wreaths, and I wanted two to match for our double doors. After visiting every single christmas shop in town, and seeing how expensive they were I decieded to make my own. And...they look pretty darn good If I do say so myself.
Since putting up the tree - I've had to redecorate it about a dozen times. Wyatt is our expert tree dissassembly man. Now we only have it decorated from midway to the top. Oh! Along with the new wreaths, we also purchased an angel for the top. That was an exciting day, as I found one 1/2 off last week. In fact, I don't think you should ever pay full price for christmas decorations. Does that make me sound cheap? Yeah, probably but when you are struggling to afford diapers and petrol, christmas decorations are a pretty low priority!


That's enough new decorations for one year. Next year my mission is to find matching fake greenery for the mantle and also for the front hall table. Our house looks more cozy with the decorations up, and I will be sad to take them down - we really do need to get some things to make our home feel more 'homely.' If only we had a Garden Ridge here....

I was hoping to get some cutsy decorating the tree photos with the kids - after all it is Wyatt's FIRST CHRISTMAS but Luca was in a 'mood' and refused to wear clothes, and all Wyatt wanted to do was play with the sparkly balls. Bless him.

I'm at home with the boys every Mon/Tue/Wed until I start back at work full time. It's all good when it's nice outside. We visit friends, we go for walks, we go to the park or for hikes (sometimes twice a day) but when it rains, it's not so fun. I've checked out every children's christmas picture book, and DVD that I could find from the library. We've made cards, cookies, and gifts for teachers at the preschool. Being inside all day drives me crazy. Or maybe it's the kids that drive me crazy.

Anyways, here's a few pics of our cookie making project.


I'm hosting a second annual cookie exhange at my house. My big plan was to make peanut brittle. I failed. 3 batches failed (using two different recipes) - plan B was to make more sugar cookies. 5 dozen more! The cookie exchange was a success. Lots of girl talk and drinking of bubbles. Gotta sample all my brands somehow.
I think I'd rather make these cute cookie jars instead. This way I don't end up gaining 5 lbs from eating batter and cookies laying around the house. Oh, and get this...no one in NZ has ever seen this concept. Well most people haven't. They all thought I was so clever to make this up. Ha, yeah right. Luca loved helping me make them, and he'll get a kick out of delivering them to our neighbors on Christmas eve.

We took the old fashioned steam engine train to fielding to see their christmas parade. Luca loved the train, and of course the parade. But honestly I think the train was the highlight of the day. Oh, and riding the mini ferris wheel with Daddy.

Hard to believe only a few more days until Christmas! We're hosting James' family at our house on Christmas day, so we are hoping for sunny weather so that the kids can go for hikes on the trails and play on the slip n' slide. This whole week has been wet and windy. I almost wish it would snow - then it would feel like Christmas.

Memory Lane

A friend from CG just had twin baby boys a few nights ago. She now has a grand total of 3 little boys for her house. Luca, Wyatt, and I went to the hospital for a quick visit and delivery of breastfeeding fuel (see previous post). Being in the hospital, seeing these two gorgeous and perfect tiny little boys, and visiting with my friend brought back a rush of emotions of how I was in the same situation just a few months ago, and how completly amazing the childbirth expierence is. Okay, right....the situations aren't exactly the same. She has two, and mine came out the sunroof....but the emotions are the same.



She's got an enormous job in front of her. I can't even fatham how people with twins deal. I guess they just do...they get on with it, and it becomes easier. I have huge amount of admiration and respect for her. Having 3 heartbeats inside you for 37 weeks...then going through the pain of labour...twice. She looks amazing. AMAZING. Total admiration. The CG will be there for her...supplying her with meals and enteratainment/babysitting for her older son.




My eyes get all teary just reflecting on the birth of both my boys, but more recently and fresh in the memory is of Wyatt's birth. I was telling my friend about how I stayed in the hospital as long as I could to get routines established, and bond with new baby before the madness of going home. I'm pretty sure she's thinking about doing the same (who can blame her....with TWO to deal with!)



Why would you want to rush home? Those days you will never have back, you might as well have the support of the nursing and midwife staff, and let them do all the cooking/cleaning while all you focus on is healing from birth and bonding with your little bundle.


The swaddling, the tiny sqwaking sound they make, the big blue eyes looking up at you as they feed, the tightly closed fists, the tiny heartbeat....Ohhhh....it makes my overies ache just thinking about how amazing it is. If you haven't had kids, you'll probably think I'm being all sappy. You're right. I am.



How much Wyatt has changed in 10 months. First tooth broke the surface today, he's now 'wrestling' with Luca on the ground and captivated by his big bro, and crawling everywhere. Seems like just yesterday we were in hospital together....you fast asleep. Me trying to get fast asleep before you wake up. Up at all hours, those long nights looking at the clock thinking "I can't wait till it gets to be 6am...because then everyone in the hospital will be up, and I won't feel so alone....how much longer till the next meal comes?" Little did I know that probably everyone else on the maternity ward was thinking the same thing! Those precious days. I miss them already.


I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Secret recipie

We have been nominated to host Christmas Lunch at our house this year for James' Dads side of the family. With spare time on my hands now that James is away I've been surfing the net for recipies. I think we're going to supply the ham (which can be cooked in the slow cooker), the mashed potatoes (which I can make masses of the day prior), cookies and treats (which will come from cookie exchange), and some alcohol. Hopefully the rest of the family will bring the other bits and pieces. Fingers crossed for nice weather so we can set up a slip n' slide to entertain the kids.

While recipie searching I came across something that I made last night for a baby shower today and also for a friend in hospital who has just had twins. It was rated 5 stars online, so I just had to try it. The hype was correct. The whole plate was finished at the shower and I had 3 people ask me for the recipie. I was almost embarresed to tell them how it was made. Maybe I should have let them all think I was some kind of gourmet chef or something....anyways, my friends I'll share the secret with you. SOOO easy.

A double package of regular oreos
A block of philly creame cheese (I used full fat version, but I'm sure you could go low fat)
melting chocolate (milk or white)

Blend in food processor. Then put in fridge for a bit. Take out and roll into 1 inch balls and put on wax paper. Put in fridge a bit longer. Melt chocolate. Roll and gently spoon chocolate onto balls. Let them dry on wax paper and then put back in fridge to set. For gourmet look stripe white chocolate onto the chocolate covering.