quick catchup

seems as if it's been years since i last blogged and suppose it was.
so a quick catch up of things of (i)relevance
school holidays are STILL on - 7 weeks - the powers that be have completely lost their marbles and as my friend Renette said "bet they don't have kids" but it has brought in a little bit more income as i have been looking after some friend's kids - some days having 5 of them !!

we had a lovely xmas/new year - david loved xmas morning, when he woke up and saw his gifts under the tree and said, with wide eyed wonder : "i nearly had a heart attack because look, santa was here"
we spent lots of time on the beach,boating, deon diving and fishing - i even went out one day on the Froggatt's boat and loved it !! I caught the first and biggest fish - what fun !!
had an impromtu new years party at our place - was great fun and everybody was out of here by 12.30 :))
david has reached some important milestones - he does not wear a nappy at all - not even at night - he wees before going to bed and most nights we hear the pitter patter of little feet to the bathroom and then a very loud waterfall of little boys' ablutions around 5am and then gets back into bed for another hour so... AND he put his dummy in the recycle bin a week ago and has only had one night of asking for it but has finally accepted it has gone - HOORAY !!!
otherwise, hope you all well and happy
much love to you all



xmas morning


Boxing Day - with Marnitz & Hirst Families





evening fishing with the Froggatt's - deon had to fight this stingray for over 15 minutes


i am officially a fish wife - loved it !


New Years at our place - Andrew, Duane, Steven & Deon and Lisa, me, Karyn & Sherri - good friends, good times !




a lovely day spent with the Froggatt's at Limestone Island

Photo Evidence

so here goes, a photographic journey of the last 3 months - starting with Nat, Stix & Zoe's visit to NZ, The Noodle's 3rd Birthday, our trip to SA and then home again - ENJOY !

David spent alot of time with "my cousin" Zoe and his Aunty Natalie including a wonderful trip to the Bay Of Islands and Pahia http://www.paihia.co.nz/
lots of fun was had with Ashlee & Logan too !

David's 3rd Birthday Party was held at The Froggatt's - very generous of Kathryn to host it - as our house was a complete shambles as we moved the next day - Kathryn also made the wonderful racing car cake - which david DID NOT want to cut, he just wanted to ride the cars on the track !

It was an exhausting day for boys & their dad's :)

the next day (moving day) was his actual birthday and he opened more presents, sitting in a packed box, whilst talking to Granny Patsi, Grampa Moi, Sue & Aunty Sal on Skype - gotta love technology !!

Deon and Stix got on like a house on fire (first time they had met) - they went fishing and caught a great snapper and then came home and made a BBQ in our new house - which we absolutely love !!

David & I at the hotel in Auckland before leaving for SA

JOHANNESBURG

With Granny Patsi and with a little girl he befriended at a playground (can you tell we are now in SA)

David with his Great Granny Joyce and his 2nd cousin Liora (my cousin, Daniel's new born daughter)

with Grampa Moi & Sue - having a ball - as usual !!

CAPE TOWN

With Aunty Gene, With Granny Deanna and With Granny Jane

With Shanti and "My Friend Jacqui"

With Aunty Tammy & Cousin Maya on Halloween - David was dressed as the Tokilosh - we spent a lot of time in Kommetjie - we really enjoyed being there - it was just like home - no high walls, no burglar bars ;)


David was intrigued with the 2010 Soccer World Cup Mascot at Cape Town Int.

BACK HOME IN WHANGAREI

With Casey - who I look after 1 day a week while his mom Karyn, is at work - in the Mulberry Bush and having lunch (KD the dog in the background)


Super Cool Noodle and all dressed up as a pirate in a life jacket for Logan's 8th Pirate Birthday Party - we all went over to Limestone Island http://www.limestoneisland.org.nz/ for a picnic - it was a great day !

yes, that is me ironing and me behind dave's boat on a biscuit - no Photoshop, i know, hard to believe but I did do both !!

david with some scallops Deon got last weekend diving and showing off our annual christmas/channukah decor

merry merry and happy new year to you all
much love
robyn, deon & david

Body Snatchers

i know i have a huge blog to do of the past 2 months i.e. noodles 3rd birthday and our wonderful trip to SA but first I thought you would all like to know that aliens have landed and have taken over mine and deon's bodies'. Why do we say this ? Last week, Deon mowed and trimmed our lawns to perfection and then he and David made a bird feeder and I made a home-made chicken pie - what do you think ? ;)

October - oi veh !

the next couple weeks are going to be crazy, so i thought i would post a blog about the upcoming events as i know i will not have time to report back on them. so here's whats happening:

• wednesday - my sister natalie and her family arrive for a visit from Australia
• saturday - david's 3rd birthday party (his bday is on sunday)
• sunday - we move house
• friday - the noodle and I go to South Africa

so it's going to be hectic, between packing boxes (ok, nearly done), having visitors (ok, only family), baking cakes (ok, kathryn is actually doing that), packing suitcases (ok, only 1 and it's going empty - to be filled by grannies). As Deon said, no half measures with me, always full on - yup only i would arrange to move house in the same week as getting guests and travelling overseas, but really, we had no choice - long stories, not worth repeating, so here we are, a hectic couple weeks ahead but then a nice relaxing holiday in SA !

we are moving to a really nice house, in the same suburb as where we are now but closer to the shops, school, library. the house itself is not much bigger than what we have, but it has a gorgeous modern open-plan kitchen and a lovely deck and garden opening on from the lounge (our deck now is off our bedroom, not too good for entertaining !) but the best part is that the whole underneath of the house has been made into a store-room/rumpus room with a toilet - so deon has loads of space for all his stuff - his fishing stuff, his hunting stuff, his diving stuff, his tool stuff, his, you-know, boy stuff !! so he will have a whole month, while we are in SA to sort his stuff !

david's birthday is going to be a low key affair - just a kid's birthday party on saturday afternoon, just too much else to do with the move the next day - kathryn is making him a cake he chose himself, a race track, which he is super excited about ! quite unbelievable that its a whole year since his last birthday - the last weekend we spent in Cape Town before leaving for new zealand !
so very excited about Nat, Stix & Zoe arriving tomorrow - they have not met David yet and its so great that they are so close and able to just pop over from Melbourne - and that we can just pop over to them once we have residency !

our trip to SA is most exciting - david and i had return tickets valid for a year so after a stressful and expensive last minute application to New Zealand Immigration - they granted us multiple entry visas - which just means that we can now come BACK to NZ and still hold valid papers - it's all a bulls**t, money-making racket but one we had to go through - so a couple weeks in joberg with granny patsi, granny joyce (thank you), grampa moi, etc etc etc, then onto CT to see granny deanna, gen&bo, etc etc etc !!

here are some pictures of the noodle with his new haircut - as he says "I'm a real boy now" and of KD Dog !

see some of you real soon
lots of love