The Tafuna Tribe

Whiti Farm etc

2012-01-08T20:49:00.000-08:00

So boxing day (day after christmas for those non-kiwis) we headed up to Cooks Beach. My parents have bought a section there, with long term plans of building on it, but for now we are tenting it. I was a little nervous about being in a tent for a week with our boys, you just never know how they'll take to sleeping there. But they were so good! Both took good naps, went to sleep early as (due to a day full of moving). Granted they woke up with the sun at 6.30am, but all in all it was really nice. Malachi went out fishing with Grandad and caught us some dinner, caught an eel too. Most of my siblings were there, along with my parents so we got to hang out.

Poor Grandma the slave.

We caught the ferry over to town for the day.

Mmmmm Jellytips. Wouldn't be summer without them.

I have a thing for fobby signs. This was at our fav fish and chip shop.

Vili is clearly over his dog phobia.

Part of the reason of going up this time was to help Dad with some manual labor. There's a little utility there, Tui helped to build a shed, we all helped level ground, and the boys did some cobble stone laying. For Tui it was more a working holiday then anything else.

Malachi loved playing in the gravel watching the men work

But of course we managed to get to the beach.

One day we happened upon this starfish breeding ground. It was insane. In all my years going to the beach, I have never EVER seen that many starfish in one place. Malachi collected 39.

And we went to the Whiti Farm, which is like a huge petting/feeding zoo. It was totally worth the money, and we will go back for sure. The boys loved it, and I was surprised at how brave they were feeding all the animals.

Malachi fell in love with this sheep.

There were a ton of tractors around the place, which made Vili one happy camper.

So just before this picture, Tui decided to ignore the "Dont' feed the ostrich" sign, and almost got his hand bitten off by this giant bird. He screamed so loud I almost wet my pants. Hence why he won't stay any closer to it.Lol

Unfortunately our holiday was cut short by the greatest rainfall in that area in 30 years (go figure). But it was good while it lasted. Granted, it was no Tongan paradise, but it was nice.

Old School

2012-01-08T17:38:00.000-08:00

While we were in Tonga I took pictures of some of the pictures of Tui growing up. A picture of a picture isn't exactly great, but it's better then no picture. I would hate for something to happen to the originals and then those memories would be lost.

It was so weird looking through the photo albumns. I had no idea which one was Tui. I could tell his sister, the only girl, his brother sione by his eyes, and siope because he's so much younger. But even Tui couldn't tell which one he was. He looks NOTHING like that now. Its insane. It could be another kid.

So here are a few of them. Eventually I'll spend hours digitally restoring them. Eventually.....maybe after I'm done having kids and have finished my Phd....

Tonga 2011

2012-01-05T18:12:00.000-08:00

Too much to say, too many pictures.

We had a fab time. Tui loved being in his zone with his peeps, I loved not having to cook or clean, the boys loved all the dogs and kids and food and treats and hugs and riding in the car without a seatbelt.

Everytime I go to Tonga I leave feeling very different about the "Western world". The first time we went I felt really guilty for being so greedy and selfish and having so much. This time I came away really, really grateful for the conveniences we have - constant running water, a fridge, supermarkets, a fully automatic washing machine, a government system that functions and cares. All the simple things I take for granted.

All that aside, it was such a great trip, so sad to leave. Tui's family, and Tongans in general, are so overly generous and hospitable. We're hoping to be back May 2013 to welcome Tui's brother home from his mission, and hopefully go out and visit the other island where Tui grew up - a REAL island experience.

Now, brace yourself for a very small (yet still really large) taste of the 1000's of pictures I took.

Having a jam session with Grandpa.

At LHS (Malachi was busting to go toilet)

Outside the Tongan Temple.

Vili spent most of his time eating. This kid could not get enough of anything.

Malachi was really excited to make a fire (he keeps asking to do one at home, but we have a fire ban during summer). He even brought marshmellows from NZ to use over there. Every day he helped collect the leaves and burn them. Daddy showed him out to make a fire with coconut shells, which I was really impresssed with.

Malachi loved all the little Tongan kids. He would speak his pretend tongan to them and they thought he was hilarious.

And of course we spent a ton of time at the beach. It amazed me how beautiful the beach is there, crystal clear water like from a postcard. And since Tongans only swim when it's dark or raining, we had full run of the beaches during the day when it was sunny.

The boys, who were both previously terrified of dogs, over came that fear pretty quickly, thanks to Grandma's dozen. In the end they adopted "No" as their own. They would take her for walks every morning, Vili was always stealing food to give to her. And since we've come home, Malachi pretends he's No all the time.

It was the first time Tui's parents had met Vili, and they hadn't seen Malachi since he was one.

Tui got a chance to prove that he still had the island skills. He even taught us how to scrape the coconut.

I was one happy pregnant person with all the fruits etc we got to eat. And with watermelons being $1 a pop, we ate them alllllll the time.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-03T18:44:00.000-08:00

(I'm so behind on so many posts that I've started but they're waiting for the pictures (and at the moment I have so much photo editing to do that the thought of photos makes me feel physically ill) and so they're neglected. But they're all coming.)

This was a really odd Christmas for me. I think mostly because we did the celebrating the season part (crafts etc) in November, before we went to Tonga, and then we were away during the real Christmas season, and in Tonga there wasn't any Christmas reminders, so then we came back and like the next week it was Christmas.

Anyway. It was a really nice Christmas weekend. Like I said, we did a bunch of Christmas' crafts, and Malachi was finally old enough to actually participate in them and enjoy them. I love google searches, I got so many good ideas for easy stuff to do with them. We made reindeer out of hand and foot prints, did finger print christmas trees, made lolly wreaths, and made some cornflour clay christmas tree decorations that we painted. I got so involved that I actually forgot to take pictures most of the time.

On Christmas Eve Eve we did our Traditional Brunton Family Donuts. It's one of the only Christmas traditions I've carried on from my family, and I love it. Having to dedicate an entire day to making, cooking and delivering hundreds of donuts to other people, makes you forget about yourself. I love it.

Christmas Eve Malachi got to go and sing at the Immigration Services Annual Christmas Party with kids preschool. They were so cute, they sang and did the sign language for the national anthem - it made me smile so bad!! But we were in a rush to get there and I forgot my camera which makes me sad. That night we had a traditional dinner, Roast Ham and Chicken, roast vegies, a pavaloa, the works. It was my first time cooking a ham, and my fussiest brother declared it was the best ham he's ever eaten. I wish I'd taken a picture of it. It was awesome.

Christmas day we let the boys have their stockings (which I made and I'm really proud of), and we had a really yummy pancake breakfast. Then it was off to church. We waited until after Church to open the presents.

We then spent the rest of the day at my sisters with the rest of the Brunton Bunch and had a good old kiwi BBQ. The kids did a little nativity play which was way too cute.

Mary and Joseph.

The Inn keeper.

Shepherdess'

Wise men.

Shepherdess sitting on Baby Jesus.

But the whole weekend was made so much more special due to fact that us 5 older siblings chipped in and bought a ticket for our youngest brother to fly up from Wellington to be with us for Christmas. So it meant we got to take a sibling picture, which we haven't had since.....1998??? This proved to be harder then trying to take a picture of the grandkids. This was mostly due to sibling # 5 who was testing out some different facial expressions. (I'm tempted to just print one of these and send it to all our family, that'll teach him!)

Such an awesome weekend. Full of family and food, the way it should be. It really was a Merry, Merry Christmas.

Cousins

2011-11-27T00:25:00.000-08:00

I can't express in words how happy it makes me that all of my sons' best friends are their cousins. That they get to see them almost everyday, play with them, share birthdays and holidays with them. I love that they're so close, that we can have movie nights and sleep overs. It makes me sad that our little happy-families set up won't last much longer, but for now, I just love it.

(Note - 60 pictures were taken in order to get this one....they're not all smiling, but getting them to all look in the same direction? By golly that was a mission!!!!)

Oxo

Just because

2011-11-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

Some random pictures of the boys.
Just because a picture can paint a thousand words.
So here's about a million.

Guess who he was copying?

The Daddy mobile.

The best part about putting up the Christmas tree was of course playing with the box.

My kids are the weirdest sleepers.

Cheeky. He has so many more teeth then Malachi had, its insane.

You lick that plate babe.

Vili is obsessed with Malachi. He just will not leave that poor boy alone.

Meditating perhaps?

Harassment...

Vili started putting himself in time out when he does something he shouldn't. It's so cute, he just walks himself over there and sits down and after about 30 seconds stands up and comes to me and says sorry.

Little book worm.

Boys in the bath.

Malachi is really into "I can do that Mummy" - he wants to make all his own food now.

And he of course shares it with his brother, sweet kid.

Vili had this runny nose for I swear 2 months straight. We were going through 3 boxes of tissues a week.

These two are just the best buds. My Dad asked me last week if they're always so happy together, if they ever fight. But they really are such good brothers to each other. I can't wait for there to be a 3rd little musketer for them to play with.

Sunday "Do-Box" - Memory/Go Fish

2011-11-19T12:52:00.000-08:00

This one came from this website, that has a ton of stuff, way too much to ever look through. I think I printed 4 copies of the cards so we could use them for Go fish. I worried that Malachi would struggle coz he couldn't read the names, but much to my surprise, he figured out who they were after a few times of me telling him (I shouldn't underestimate little sponge brains).

The more I add to the box, the more grateful I am for it. Sunday is beginning to be such a fun day for us, without "fun" meaning bike riding or tennis. Malachi loves all these games and activities, and even asks for them during the week (which I don't give to him, it builds the suspense up for Sundays). We have church at 1pm, so we have the whole morning to fill. And once we've gone through all the stuff in the box, it's pretty much time for church and the Sabbath is saved!!

I love our Sunday Do-Box.

The farma larm

2011-11-15T21:35:00.000-08:00

We went with PORSE (the company that I babysit through) to an Alpaca farm. I thought that Alpaca was just another name for llama, but apparently there are differences. But I told Malachi that we were going to a llarma farm. He called Tui at work to ask if he wanted to come, and this is the conversation I heard.

"Daddy, do you want to come to the farma larm?.....to the farma larm?.......to the farma larma?......to the larma farm??? its a farm with larms......like big larms.....larmas......"

He still can't get it right, and it still makes me laugh. :)

It was really weird, in a cool sort of way. The alpacas are soooooooooo ugly. Some of them look like those little bears that live in trees on star wars (ewoks?), others look like a cross between a sheep, a giraffe and a camel, and they have the skinniest little legs. I never heard them make any noise, but they had super soft wool. Tala'i's mum came with us, which was awesome, she's really cool.

The kids just enjoyed the whole farm experience (Malachi didn't enjoy the dog part so much, as usual.).

Guy Fawkes

2011-11-05T14:44:00.000-07:00

So when I actually had to explain to Tui what Guy Fawkes day is for, its a little odd. Most people don't even know what it's all about which is probably a good thing. But let me just say it's the day we have our fireworks, what americans do on July 4th, we do November 5th.

This year we went to the Huntly speedway to "celebrate" it. First was the stock cars, which I haven't been to since I was like 16. (It's basicly a bunch of different types of cars that race around, smash each other out of the way, and are just so freakin cool.) It was AWESOME! Our boys had the best time, didn't mind the noise or the dirt or the smell. It was like watching the Car movie in real life!!

Malachi refused to sit with us. He wanted to sit on the very front row. Throughout the night he moved closer and closer until he was finally sitting up by the fence.

Vili spent the whole time pointing at the cars and saying "ar! ar! ar!"

And once it got dark they did a fireworks display. Probably the best we've ever seen. (Maybe one of the new years in Waikiki was better.....maybe...). They had the biggest fireworks money can buy. It was totally worth the money spent. Of course pictures don't ever do this sort of thing justice, but let me just say, they were so big, the whole display line probably would have taken up 4 or 5 frames. It was massive.

Seems like we've found ourselves another family tradition!!! (And if this baby is a girl she better learn quick smart to appreciate cars.)

Sunday "Do-Box" - Bingo

2011-11-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

This has to be Malachi's favourite so far. We've even used it for FHE. It's so good. Although I quickly learnt that Malachi did not understand the concept of "3 in a row" - he would just call out Bingo all the time. We used to have Church Bingo when I was little and I loved it then too.

I just picked random church related pictures, made 6 boards (you gotta make sure that every board has a different combination of pictures or else you'll always get 2 people finishing at the same time), cut up cardboard for the counters to cover the pictures, and away you go.

I realise that none of these games are particularly uplifting, or teach my kids anything about the gospel, but I feel like at least they're being surrounded by good things. At least their Sabath seems to have a theme, and its not Mickey Mouse or Lightening Macqueen. You can pretty much take any kids game and change it to be a church game.

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T01:52:00.000-07:00

Halloween in NZ is a totally different ball game to in the states. In most areas they just dont do it. Period. There aren't any shops decorated, no haunted houses down the street. Nothing. It's actually kinda refreshing. I mean, I know the dressing up part is fun, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt like it was just a comerical excuse for kids to be greedy and eat alot of candy. And all the demon, scarey stuff is not exactly kid friendly. Of course when I lived in the states I was all for it, but now that I'm out of the motherland, I guess I feel differently.
Anyway.
My SIL and I were talking about it all and we decided that we never wanted our children to feel like they were missing out. And so we started a new family tradition. Of having a non-scary Halloween party. The kids dress up, we play games, they get some lollies. All the best parts of a 'traditional' Halloween without any of the spooky stuff.
And it was awesome. It was exactly what we wanted it to be, and everyone had a blast.

Malachi was "...a builder man like uncle matt!", and Vili was a cowboy (not a boy cow, as i had to keep explaining to his cousins).

Then we had some princesses, fairies, a superhero, an elephant, an ewok, and spiderman.

We did bowling, apple bobbing, egg and spooon race, balloon race, digging in slime, wrap a granny, and a treasure hunt for the kids to find their treats. Vili of course participated in none of the games because he was crying the whole time, darn you blasted teeth!!!

Last minute I decided to dress up too.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Malachi's prayers

2011-10-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

Malachi says the funniest prayers ever. I think he uses prayer time as a soapbox, to kind of just talk about whatever he wants. So long as he puts "thank you for..." or "please bless..." in front, it's pretty much ok to say.

Take yesterday mornings as an example.

"Dear Heavenly Father.
Thank you for this day.
Thank you for our great sleep.
Thank you that I can go to school.
Thank you that rug rat and cookie are dead and their spirits go to heavenly father and jesus and so they can help and tell the prophet to go to the temple with the spire and jesus lives at the temple, behind the temple, not behind the temple, that's where the boss of the temple lives, jesus lives at the front and down the stairs and he talks and tells us to go to church, the church of jesus christ of latter day saints, and we go to church and learn about jesus and heavenly father and they tell us to go to the temple.
In the name of jesus christ, amen."

Meanwhile, I'm sitting there shaking with laughter, trying not to let him see. What a ripper.

(You kinda have to be familiar with the layout of the nz temple and visitors center and temple presidents house to understand what he's talking about, sort of. lol.)

Tala'i

2011-10-25T20:05:00.000-07:00

Introducing our new paycheck.

Tala'i is half samoan, half maori, tri-lingual, just turned 2, has the longest eye lashes and eye brows in the world, and is super cruisey.

He's been coming for a month or so now and we haven't had any problems. He idolises Malachi, calls Tui Uncle, and is so careful with Vili.

He's been through a lot in his 2 short years of life, with illness and custody issues, so all things considered, he really is an amazing kid, so well behaved. We love having him around.

So he'll be the new random kid in our pictures. :)

RIP Cookie

2011-10-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

Poor cookie, he lasted a week. The same dog, THE SAME FREAKING DOG, came back, flipped the cage and cookie got out. Tui was there, chased the dog away, then chased Cookie and caught him, only to have the poor thing die of fright in his hands (I guess you really can die of fright!).

Needless to say, no more Guinea Pigs. Not that this house anyway.
I've promised Malachi that after we get back from Tonga we will get a fish.

A very LOOOOOOOONG Saturday

2011-10-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was one of the longest saturdays that I can remember. That's what I get for trying to jam so much stuff into one day.

It started out with getting up at 6am to drive to the markets in Otara (not nice after staying up til midnight to do an airport run the night before). We were in search of some Tongan T-shirts for the boys. Turns out only asians, maoris and samoans sell t-shirts, so that was an early wake up for nothing. We got one for Malachi, which he was super excited about. He's been really obsessed with Tonga lately, but that's another post.

Then it was onto my Grandfather's 80th birthday Party. Pop is on his last legs (in fact we've been up a few times to say our last goodbyes in hospital, but he always manages to pull through), so it was really nice to be able to celebrate something with him, something happy. Andrew flew up from Wellington, Dad's sister and sons flew down from up North, it was really nice. We missed a few family members, which was sad. There was great food, and of course, with any Brunton gathering, a ton of mocking and laughing.

The birthday boy himself.

1 of the 30 pictures we took of everyone. This is as good as it gets.

The Brunton grandchildren, minus 2.

Dad and his family, minus one sister.

Pop cutting his cake, closely monitored by some of his great-grandchildren.

My sweet baby brother. oxo

Me and my Nana.

Pop was a bit worn out and went to bed before I could get a picture with him.

Then we drove to the Hot pools, that turned out to be crusty as and way the heck out in the middle of the country. The boys loved it, Malachi was a trooper, going down any slide he could find. That kids a fish! And Vili is following suit, paddling around in his floaties. Afterwards we had a BBQ, while I got attacked by bugs (I counted a total of 38 bites).

The slide king.

And then after all of that we were meant to go bowling, us 6 siblings, but we were all so hammered we gave up. BUT Malachi and his elephant memory remembered that I'd promised him that we would bring the matresses into the lounge and watch and movie and eat icecream and sleep in there - are you kidding me kid?!!! So it was back off to the shops to find the exact icecream I'd promised (note to self, don't promise this kid anything!), and then watching Kung Fu Panda, and then trying to get to sleep with Malachi kicking me constantly.

What a long day.
But an awesome one. If every saturday could be filled with that much family and food, I would be one happy person. Grossly obsese, but very very happy. :)

Guinea Pig #2

2011-10-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

So Rugrat, sadly, was dog-napped a few weeks ago. (It was so annoying, the same dog came back 5 different time during the night, I got up and chased it away 4 times, on the 5th time I was too tired and the blasted thing flipped the cage and in the morning we found fluff all over the grass.) Malachi was pretty sad. And so this weekend we went and got another one. Only cost $12, I can live with that.

Introducing "Cookie".

He's cute. A little insane though, I'm wondering if it's a petshop thing, coz he'll like litterally run around in circles sometimes. But the boys love him. Vili even asked to hold him the other day, which he's never done before. Malachi makes sure that he's ok every time he's outside, sits and talks to him. It's so sweet.

(Malachi had his facepainted at the petshop. He ALWAYS asks to be a tiger, he's never been anything else, although this is the worst tiger i've ever seen.)
Let's hope he lasts longer then the last one....

Joseph

2011-09-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

I decided I should probably blog about Joseph, seen as he's a pretty consistent part of our life at the moment. At the moment he's coming 3 days a week 9-3.30. Well, he's meant to. His mother has issues with time and he usually gets dropped off more like 10am or 10.30, and it's not uncommon for her to pick him up at 2pm, or 4pm. I think it's a cultural thing, the lack of dedication to time. But it sure makes life hard for me. I try really hard to plan stuff for Joseph, activities, outings, etc, but it gets totally thrown because of his mother's inconsistancy. And talking to her about it doesn't help as she really struggles with English, and always just pretends she understands. I cut her soooo much slack coz I feel bad that she's a single mum living in a country that's not her own, as a refugee, trying to learn english.
Anyway, she's the bad side of the whole situation.
Joseph himself is great, he really is a good little kid. So excited to learn and to do things. I've been working hard lately to teach him his numbers 1-10, and to write his name. Infact, I've been trying to make everything we do educational in some way. When we go for walks we stop and look at the numbers on the letter boxes, when we're at the park we talk about the colour and shape of everything. I guess I want to do for him what I'd want someone to do for my child, not just babysit him, but enrich him. After all, my title is "Home Educator". I also try to do things with him that I know he doesn't normally do, like baking, or swimming (he's been swimming twice his whole life - I've taken him both times), or to the museum, or gardening, or going to the library, or dancing. We have fun together. And my boys loooooove him. Vili gets super excited when he sees him, cuddles him, wants to be right next to him. And Malachi and Joseph are just buddies.

I'm glad things are working with Joseph. Without him and the income he provides Malachi wouldn't be thriving at Pre-school the way he is. So I'm glad to have him.

**The day after writing this, Joseph's Mum gave her 2 weeks notice, said that her friend was going to watch Joseph now. I am kinda bummed, for him. I've met the lady he's going to, and he's just gunna sit and watch TV all day, not be spoken to in English, not socialise with other children. I'm really sad for him actually, sad that all his hard work, all his learning, is going to be a waste because it won't continue to be reinforced. And he was finally starting to write his name!! Oh well. Because we still need the money, I'll be having another little boy come and replace him. I know that replacing children is like trading 2nd hand cars, you give up one set of issues for another set of issues. Watch this space for more on the newbie.**

Whangamata

2011-09-17T16:43:00.000-07:00

The race was in Whangamata and we made a weekend out of it. We drove down friday afternoon and stopped on the way in Paeroa, home of L&P.

When we got to Whangamata, we could not have been happier. We were literally, across the road from the beach, in the biggest, flashest bach I've ever been in. It was awesome. Before we'd even unpacked we were at the beach. And when everyone else turned up later that day, we went back to the beach. And the next day after the race, beach again. And then after nap time, beach! It was so good. Vili finally got used to the sand, and Malachi was just in his zone!

Vili looks pretty happy about those views!!

Malachi was sooooooo excited to sleep in a sleeping bag!!

Vili getting used to sand.

Malachi would have dug to china if I let him.

We have a picture just like this from Hawaii, except with only 3 sets of footprints.

Checking out their shell collection.

So happy.

Vili spent a good amount of time covering himself in sand, and then trying to swim in it. Crazy monkey.

Babies on the beach.

We shared the house with my brother and his family, my SIL's parents and sister, my other brother, and his pre-missionary friend. My sister stayed down the road. The kids had a blast being with cousins and aunty's and uncles. It makes me so happy to see them together. I grew up living away from most of my cousins (there are about 20 1st cousins I have never met), and I always wished I was closer to them. So I love that Malachi and Vili get to see one of their cousins practially every day. It was just a really great family weekend.

D-Day

2011-09-11T01:55:00.000-07:00

So the day has finally come and gone. And here's the story.
I saw the physio the day before and he told me that I was not, under any circumstances, to run more then 5km. After 3km I needed to stop and see how i felt, but definately not to run more then 5km. I would do permenant damage and regret it. I was still keen as a bean to do the half-marathon, but the thought of having to walk 16km after running 5km was soooooooooooo not appealing, it would just take waaaay to long. So instead I opted to just do the 10km, coz walking 5km was doable. So on the day I made a goal for myself to try and run the first 5km. Well, the race started, it was carnage, 1000 people all pushing and shoving trying to get through all the walkers and pram pushers, and find their pace. But off I went (starting on HILLS of course - I have never run hills!!), running, running, running, singing, running, and I wasn't really sure how far I'd run, coz there weren't any km markers that I could see, not that I was really paying attention (actually I was way too busy singing, I felt bad for the people running next to me, coz singing Adele while running up a hill makes for some terrible sounds). And then when I finally did see a marker it was 6km - I'd already passed my goal! So I stopped and walked for about 100m, and realised I was totally fine, my ankle was ok, so I ran to the 7km marker, walked again for 50m, I was fine, and so I ran the rest. Finished in 52.54min, a time I am very proud of. I'm so glad I did it, even though it wasn't what I'd planned on, or trained for, it was awesome. I got a blister the size of my thumb on my foot so I won't be running for a while, but I'm signing up to do the Rotorua Half Marathon in April next year. Hopefully my SIL will be fully recovered (she had a stress fracture that meant she had to pull out completely this weekend, couldn't even walk the 5km, poor thing) and we can do it together. My goal now is to do 1 race a year. If I'm pregnant it will obviously not be a half marathon, maybe more a brisk 5k-er. But something. They had Sarah Olmer (sp?), a NZ Olympic gold medalist there and she basicly said that at the end of the day, your health is the greatest thing you'll ever have, without it, you can't enjoy any other part of your life. And it's so true. I wanna make exercise and keeping fit a family tradition. I want my sons to wanna go for a bike ride instead of playing x-box afterschool. I want them to be excited to hike, and not dread it. And in order to have that I need to set an example to them, that running is fun,that exercise is awesome, and that it's important. Coz it was fun, and it was awesome. Here's to many, many more to come.
Yay me!

All of us that ran, right before we left. As you can see, we're wearing matching airforce shirts that my dad got for us, all the supporters were too.....oh yea, except for Richard!!! What a dork!

Waiting to start.

Stupid hills.

Malachi ran the last 100m with me to the finish. He was so excited. He ran the last bit with my brother too.

The finishers.

My support team.

The whole support team.

River walks

2011-09-11T01:19:00.000-07:00

As part of my endeavour to never take for granted a place I live in (like I did in Hawaii), we have been going on weekly river walks. Hamilton (for those not familiar with it), is divided in half by the Waikato river and the council has made an effort to make these amazing river walkways all along it. Every time we go we pick a different place to park, and just walk. The kids bring their bikes which they love, and we just enjoy some outside time. We stop along the way at playgrounds or to feed ducks or throw rocks into the river. It's so much fun. And now that spring is finally here, we're having more and more fine days, and this is the perfect way to take advantage of those days. Here are some pictures from our last few walks.

T minus 1 week

2011-09-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

So after I found my motiavtion again, and got all super pumped to do this, I found out I'd torn a ligament and I've been out of commission for the last 3 weeks. No running. None.
What are the odds right?
Is the world trying to tell me something?
This week, with one week to go, I've been given the ok to run up to 5km......wow.....a whole 5km......considering I'm gunna need to do more then 4 times that in a week, it's pretty pathetic.
But I'm still going to do it. My goal now is just to do it, and to finish. I'm going to ignore the physio guy and run the first 10km and walk the rest. It's pretty disapointing, but I'm determined more then ever just to do it.
T-Minus 1 week.

Sunday "Do-Box" - Apostles

2011-08-27T15:24:00.000-07:00

The next addition to the box. These are super versatile, we use them for matching, go fish, don't eat pete, you name it. Malachi can play with them on his own or with us. We also have cards that have the names of the apostles on, for later when he can read them. He holds them up and we tell him the names. He's gotten to the point now that if I tell him the first name, he knows the rest (I say "Henry" and he says "B. Eyring").

I just downloaded the pictures off the lds.org website, printed, laminated, and Bob's your uncle.

Free itunes card

2011-08-20T17:20:00.001-07:00

That's right,
$25 free itunes card.
Click here to go in the draw....and help me to win too!!

Who gives out presents on their birthday.....crazy people.....

Family Tree template

2011-08-17T01:08:00.000-07:00

So people have asked about a template for the family tree. Unfortunately, there isn't one, not if you wanna do it the way I did with siblings and nieces/nephews etc. If you just wanna do a generational tree with grandparents then there are tons of templates. So I googled for templates and found this one that i liked the look of. Then in word i drew up the amount of circles I'd need (it'll be different for everyone, depending on how many siblings etc you have), and then in paint i painted the tree outline, put them together and then there was my family tree.
Sorry there isn't an easy answer, it does require a bit of fiddley work. But totally worth it.

Sunday ''Do-Box'' - Family Tree

2011-08-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

So for a while I've been feeling like Sunday is a "Don't" day for us - all I'm ever saying to Malachi is "no, we don't do that on Sunday" (riding bikes, going to the pool, watching TV) etc. And I didn't want Sunday to turn into something Malachi dreads. So after looking at a couple of blogs I came up with the idea to make a Sunday Do-Box - a box of really cool, fun things that Malachi CAN do on sundays. To make them extra special they can only be done on Sunday's, so that he'll look forward to the sabath to do all the stuff in his box. I bounced ideas off my Mum and it's all slowly coming together. I'll update as things get added in.

First completed was the family tree.

This took a bit of time and organising, but so, so worth it! There's a big one that we keep on the wall at home and a smaller one for Malachi to take to church (to replace the 30 cars he usually plays with in sacrament meeting). There's a space for all the faces, that have velcro on the back and Malachi has to put them all in the right place.

This has been a huge sucess for more then one reason. It takes him a good 15minutes to do, and as he goes he says everyone's names (My favourite is when he says "Uncle Huuuuuubit") and who they are (Mummy's sister, Daddy's Mummy, Aunty Jessie's children etc). Before doing this I had never seen what Tui's grandfather's looked like, so that was cool for me. And Malachi now gets to see that his family is bigger then the ones he sees here. And Vili stands there for ages looking at it, gooing and gaaaing and pointing to people. It's so sweet. We're gunna be together for eternity, might as well get started learning everyone's names now!

T-minus 4 weeks.....uggggg.....

2011-08-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

So the last month of training has been bleh. I had my cousin come stay and didn't run at all that week because we were so busy. And then it was the wrong time of the month to be running, and by then, not running for 2 weeks, my cardio dropped and made running harder (it's like biking up a hill, the second you stop peddaling, you don't stay still, you roll backwards), and then the weather got colder, and thus I got less and less motivated and since then I really have not been running as far or as often as I should. I've also been having issues with sports bra's ~~and chaffing~~ and now an ankle that isn't right, and it is just sooooooooo cold outside! But it's all booked and paid for so I'm in it to win it, or lose it I guess. I think I've started dreading running, feeling like I HAVE to, and I've lost the drive and motivation that's so important. When I'm meant to be doing a long run I get to a certain point and I'm just like "I'm bored! I'm going to stop now." And now my SIL isn't running it anymore coz she's fractured her ankle and so I don't have that push from her, and I've started making excuses for myself again. It's just a bad place to be in 4 weeks out from the event.
But.
I decided yesterday that I've come too far to let myself stop now. I've invested too much time and money to just be bleh about it. (Plus if i stop running I'll have to cut back all the junk I can eat without gaining weight, and I DEFIANTELY don't want to do that!) So I've recommited to do ALL of my runs for the next 4 weeks. Even if I walk part of them, I'm going to finish them. I'm going to start physio tomorrow to make sure my ankle is ok. I think I've sussed the sports bra ~~and chaffing~~ issue. So no more excuses. If the 300lb people on The Biggest Loser can run a half marathon then by golly, so can I!

T-minus 4 weeks.....

Arrrrrhhhhh me harty......

2011-08-05T02:14:00.000-07:00

Today we went to party planet. It's this place that you can hire out for birthday parties, but on cetain days you can just go in and play. It costs something ridiculous like $13 per kid, but I got a coupon, 3 for the price of 1, so not so bad. Man was it awesome! On one side is the pirate room, with a full sized pirate ship, with ladders to climb up, slides coming down, a plank (which vili was continueously trying to walk - surely your life isn't that bad kid!), tunnels underneath to go under the deck and see skeletons and treasure and stuff. There's a sand pit and balls an all sorts of other stuff. And there is a stack of pirate costumes for the kids to wear. On the other side of the place is the fairy room, with trees and flowers everywhere, real life stuff made by the same people that do the props for LOTR. There's a fairy tree house that you climb inside and come up the top and down the slide. If you wanted to spend the money, it would be an awesome place for a birthday. But for us it was just a great day of fun inside on a winters day.

All dressed up in their pirate costumes.

Vili would only tollerate a hat, and only for 30 seconds.

Having fun on the ship.

Malachi up in the fairy tree house.

Sandpit time! Vili, unlike his brother, is not so acquainted with sand and did not want it touching his skin.

But Vili and the cars, now there's a match made in heaven!

Fun times.

Day trip to the snow

2011-08-01T03:49:00.000-07:00

Last week I was inspired to take a day trip down to the mountain to take the kids to the snow. It was totally last minute, and by far one of the best ideas I've had recently. We ~~over~~loaded the car, and headed south. I don't know the last time I was so excited to be driving somewhere. We took my SIL and Hannah with us. We made it down there to find that it was snowing, like actually snowing. I've been to the snow a million times, but I've never seen it snow. It was so cool. Except when it blew in the kids eyes and made them cry, not so cool then. It also meant that i couldn't actually take my camera with us to the mountain, coz snow melts into water and my camera is allergic to water. So the only pictures I got were in the carpark when we arrived and before we left (although right when it was time to leave I realised I could use the umbrella to protect my camera, and yes, i did look silly standing in the snow with an umbrella....).
But man the kids loved it! Went sliding around, eating snow, throwing snow, making snow angels, building snowmen, riding on the free ski lift. What a day. Even little Vili enjoyed himself, didn't want to be held, wanted to run and flop on the snow.

Mmmmm....snow.....

My awesome snow angel.

Our snow man. We had to improvise for his face, but I think he's awesome. The kids were done with the snow in their eyes however and smiling was out of the question.

Driving was interesting. Why people live somewhere where they have to deal with this every day during winter....I have no idea.

Pretty view. My SIL made my hat for me while we drove down there - yes, she is awesome.

Afterwards we went down to the hot pools in Turangi, as per tradition. When we'd go to the snow as kids we would ALWAYS go to these hot pools afterwards. It was packed, but soooooo nice. We had to drag the kids out kicking and screaming (litterally).

What a day!
We've decided to make it tradition to visit the snow every year. As Malachi said, "That was a awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwesome one!"

Johanna

2011-07-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

Last week was the school holidays and we had my cousin Johanna, who is 11, come stay with us. She is one of my 5 cousins on my Dad's side (plus 1 more that I'm not sure I'm meant to know about, and another that I know I'm not meant to know about, so we don't count them. They're not exactly "legitimate", if you know what I mean). My Dad only has 3 sibblings, and each only have 1 or 2 kids, so it means there aren't really very many Bruntons out there, except our hord of course. So it was really cool to have her come and stay. She's such a great kid. Has had to grow up faster then she should have, and knows things 11 year olds shouldn't, but man is she awesome. So helpful and polite, but still managed to let her hairdown and have a blast. We stayed up late eating junk and watching movies, had endless phase10 battles, baked, went swimming, went walking, and just had fun. She's already told her Dad that she wants to come back every school holidays. Most of the pictures are on her camera, but here are some of the ones I took.

We had a picnic with all the kidie winks of one of the unseasonally warm winter days. Most of the picnic food that us mummys worked so hard to make ended up being fed to the ducks, and we had a few munchkins make a break for the water. But it was a really great way to spend a morning.

Johanna made huts and beds and all sorts of cool things for Malachi. He just adored her. He kept saying to her "Johanna you're my big cousin and I love you." And after a day, Vili was all over her.

We did a ton of baking.

We went out to the temple to see it at night. Johanna had been there to see us come out after our weddings, but it looks cool at night. Then we stopped at McD's for icecreams, only to discover the had $1 cheeseburgers, so it was icecream AND cheeseburgers for dessert.

We went to Te Awamutu to these awesome pools. It was so good, super warm. After wards we ate lunch at some gardens down the road.

We had a dessert night with all the fam bam. Other then our weddings, it was the first time Johanna actually met most of us, that she can remember. So that was nice. She was so excited to see everyone, kept making sure that we were all coming etc.

We took Johanna to the Museum, now that we're recently acquainted with it. She didn't appreciate the woolen garden as much as the munchkins, but she could actually read and I didn't have to worry about holding her hand, so it was good.

It was so good having her stay. I'm a firm believer in family relationships, infact I'm hoping to have our first Brunton Family Reunion in the next year. So it was really nice to have another Brunton around for a week.

Rugrat

2011-07-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

We have been visiting the pet shop alot, partly so I can do exposure therapy on my kids with the animals (completely unethical, I know) which has been working really well, and partly coz its winter so anything warm and inside and free is a must for us. During our visits we've talked about getting a pet, maybe a bird or some fish, but decided that a guinea pig would be perfect, coz its small enough that the boys could hold it and play with it, it would live completely outside, and have very small upkeep costs. And then a few days later, like mana from heaven, one of the girls I visit teach (always pays off doing your VT!) said she wanted to get rid of her guinea pig and did we want it. Heck yes! Totally free, which made it even better, cage, food and everything. And so we now have our own little guinea pig It's a "she" and she was originally called baa-baa, but we decided to rename her. I let Malachi pick the name, and if you know Malachi you can probably guess what his first pick was - "LIGHTENING MCQUEEN!!!!" Once I advised him that it was a girl he changed his mind and decided on Rugrats (I dropped the s so it didn't sound fobby lol).
And there we have it. Both the boys love her. As soon as Malachi gets home he asks to hold her, and he sits there patting her saying "It's ok, its ok. Ohhhhh, what a good girl." Any chance Vili gets he makes a break for the door and is out there banging on her cage, which I'm sure she doesn't appreciate.

I'm hoping having her will help to teach my kids about the responsibility of caring for an animal. And that not all animals will kill you.

Hamilton Museum Visit - Part 2

2011-07-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

We went back to the Museum, to see all the other stuff that we'd missed, all the regular exhibits. I thought it might be boring for the kids, but it was awesome! It's all about the history of Hamilton, so it started with the Maori history, then had stuff from the early settlers. Hats off to the people in charge coz they did such a good job of making learning about what could potentially be boring stuff, be super exciting, even for 3 year olds.

Malachi got to practice his Pukanas.

This huge magnetic board had all the parts of a Maori village that the kids got to move around. Amy and I decided that when we've made our millions we're going to have a magnetic wall. It's awesome.

They had a bunch of items from local artists. This was one of my favs.

We of course went back to the vegie garden.

Then we all played dress ups with the early settlers clothes.

The kids watched an oldschool movie, black and white, no sound, Charlie Chapman styles.

Malachi did some embossing. He thought it was magic.

Yey for warm, fun places with free admission on a rainy winter day.

The Pet Shop

2011-07-14T00:41:00.000-07:00

Such a life saver on a rainy day. We went with Porse (the company I work for/through doing my childcare). I was a little worried that it would be a waste of time seen as Vili thinks cats are the devil and Malachi cries when dogs bark. But boy did they surprise me! I totally put it down to peer pressure - all the other kids were doing it so they did too. Both of them patted the animals and there were no tears. I'm thinking of going back once a week, to do some fear reduction training with them. Either way, it was a fun way to spend a morning.

The Dog.

The Rabbit.

The Rats.

One was hanging to the top of its cage, and Vili took the opportunity to harras it.

Guinea Pig. These were by far the favourite. Probably due to their smaller stature. If we ever did decide to waste money on a stinky animal, this would probably be my first choice.

The cat. This was the biggest shock, because usually Vili SCREAMS at the sight of a cat 10m away.

The turtles.

The birds.

Fun day.

A day in the life of Malachi

2011-07-10T01:23:00.000-07:00

I went to pick up Malachi early last week so I could take some pictures of him hard at work. Which didn't turn out so well coz I was a huge distraction, to ALL the kids. I felt bad for the teachers that no one was listening coz they were all too busy saying "Malachi, there's your Mummy!!!" But here's a little taste of what Malachi does at school.

This is where I found him when I got there - eating. No surprises there. The kids help to prepare the morning and afternoon tea, and then they serve themselves whenever they feel hungry, have as much as they want, take as long as they want (which for my son is alot and along time), then they put away their own plates etc and back to work.

For most of the day the children are chosing different learning activities to do, all self directed. They choose what to do, they pick a spot, and can do it for as long or as little as they like. When they're done, they put it back again. I guess that's kind of a big thing with the Montessori way, the children are their own bosses, responsible for themselves.

Here Malachi is doing an activity with the wood. They're differnet textures and shapes, and as he gets older he will learn to name the different parts of the tree etc. For now he uses them to build.

This one teaches about size and volume and order. Once he's figured it out a little more he'll learn to do it while he's blindfolded.

Then when he's all done he rolls up his mat and puts it away.

They also have some guinea pigs that Malachi has taken a strong liking too. He likes feeding them grass.

At the beginning and end of each day they have mat time. The older kids bring things from home and the other kids ask them questions about it, like why do you like it, where did you get it etc. And then they sing songs etc.

c

And it wouldn't be fair to leave out Malachi's favourite part of school - his best friend Isabella. I was so worried about him being alone, not having any friiends. Then one day he told me about his "....happy smiley friend with a purple coat who shares her smiles with me....". I found out her name so that Malachi would stop calling her "hey girl!". They are joined at the hip at school. She's so sweet.

It makes me feel so much better to know that he's happy and thriving at school. He asks every day if it's a school day. I really hope its setting him up to just love learning. For now at least he's having fun.

QFT

2011-07-10T01:00:00.000-07:00

It has been unseasonally warm for winter. Thank goodness. Last winter in Wellington, after leaving a Hawaiian summer, was a KILLER! So it's been nice to have these non-freezing days with sunshine where we can be outside and enjoy some good ol' Quality Family Time. I know that Tui's job won't always allow him to be home during the day, and soon enough the boys will start going to school full time, and life won't always be as easy breezey as it is these days, so I really am trying to cherish the days like this we have. And here are the photos to prove it. :) Such simple joys, such big smiles.

We've been so pleased with all the different playgrounds here in Hamilton. They're awesome. If you live in Hamilton and don't take your kids to the playgrounds, shame on you.

Flying fox.

Lots of playgrounds have this thing. It's like an octopus, Malachi calls it a caterpilla.

Slide.

Swings.

Malachi wanted to ride in the "handy-cat" swing.

Rats wheel.

Climbing.

Family.

Baby no more

2011-07-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

(I thought I posted this 2 weeks ago, turns out I didn't.)

This week it happened. That dreaded day. When my baby is a baby no more. Ok, he's already not a baby today, but now its official. So bare with me as I reminise and blab about my little sausage.

It's amazing to me how different Vili has been from his brother from day 1. Personalities are definately built in. Vili is adventurous and daring and rough. This kid climbs on everything and anything, knows how to push a chair to where he wants to climb up - Malachi still doesn't know how to do this! He has had more falls and bangs in 1 year then Malachi has had in 3. And if you tell Vili "Be soft" he thinks you mean "scratch me more, pinch me harder, and then run away". He's a little clown - does anything he can to make you laugh, and once he's figured out you think something is funny, he does it over, and over, and over, and over, again, (like spinning in a circle until he's dizzy and bumping on to his but on the ground), always checking to make sure you're still laughing. He's an early bird like his brother, if he sleeps past 7 I worry that he's dead. But unlike his brother, Vili is such a Mumma's boy. He's growing out of it, slowly, but in general, if I'm around, I'm who he wants to be with. He'll stand next to me and heave himself upwards, almost jumping, and making an "uh uh uh" sound. If I'm far away he'll look at me, tilt his head to the side making double chins and motion with his fingers for me to come. He is terrified of cats, hates going to my sisters house because of her cats. When we're there he SCREAMS if I put him down on the ground. However, if he sees a dog, he gets super excited - he just loooooooves dogs!! Vili is a book worm like no other. Usually when a kid is too quiet you know they're up to something, pulling out wipes, drawing on the wall etc. Not him, if he's quiet I know 100% of the time that he's snuck into Malachi's room and he's on the ground surrounded by books. Doesn't really like me reading them to him, he mostly just wants to read them to himself. He's obsessed with putting clothes on his head and around his neck and walking around the house, which causes crashes. Any chance he gets he pulls his socks off so I've started putting little woolen tights on him instead, yes, girls tights, don't worry, I bought blue ones, and they work like a charm. Vili can say - muma, dada, ma (malachi), baya (brother, which is super cute coz that's what malachi used to say to my stomach when I was pregnant with Vili), nana (num nums, food, drink), osi (finished), yes, na (no), dis (this), dat (that), doh (dog), he makes this awesome duck noise, he fake burps. He does the sign for more, finished, thank you, please,apple, banana, cracker, sandwhich, drink (they're all food related, what a surprise, little hungas.). He does peek a boo whenever I'm trying to growl him. He loves helping to clean up and put things away, just like his brother (hurray!!!!). If you're lying on the ground he runs to body slam you. He gives the biggest, sloppiest kisses ever. He talks and squeals all day long, there is never a quiet moment in our house unless Vili's asleep, and even then he snores. He thinks that everything is a phone, remotes, calculators, toys, rulers, and he walks around the house yabbering on it. And if he sees the real phone and I don't give it to him, boy oh boy get ready for tantrums. And man does this kid know how to throw tantrums!! He drops to the floor, throws himself down and cries, looking up to make sure I'm watching, and if I'm not, he'll stand up and throw himself down again. He loves to dance. He has a set routine; he'll jig up and down a few times, then spin in a circle, and then sway side to side. And then repeat. It's so cute. He has such a strong personality, so full of energy and life. He makes me smile every minute he's awake. I feel like with Vili I've had to give more of myself, be more available, more patient, and I'm glad. Anyone who knows Malachi knows he's pretty easy breezey, and Vili is alot higher maintainance. But oh how I love that boy. Man oh man do I love that little boy of mine. He has me wrapped around his finger and I'm OK with it.

Ok whoa, that's long. But even though all these things seem so insignificant right now, but they are what makes up Vili the 1 year old. And I don't ever want to forget it.

Vili's birthday party - part 2

2011-06-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

Vili's party was a barnyard/animal theme. I really rattled my brain thinking of themed food and decorations, without being over the top and ridiculous. So our barnyard food consisted of corn, porcorn balls, oatmeal cookies, chocolate and strawberry milk, carrots and hummas, sheep meringues that were a disaster and only my big brother who was starving ate, and apples, all in someway keeping with the farmy theme. I also made some cow flag banners

The kids had so much fun in their little costumes. We had a cat, a mouse, a dog, a cow, a tiger, a bear, a frog, and an animal fairy.

First we played a few games.

Pin the tail on the donkey. It was so funny how sneaky the kids were. "Oh I don't need that blindfold aunty sarah.....but I can't see....wait, let me just take it off to see where to put the tail.....I need to do it again coz I didn't win...." They were funny.

Then they ate donuts on a string. I've only ever seen this done, never actualy participated, but it seemed like a good idea. Well. After 10 seconds Nathan ran away crying because he couldn't do it, Malachi ripped his donut off and downed it, and the other kids just struggled in vain. Funny to watch though.

Pass the parcel. I thought I was all PC and had the exact right ammount of layers for one per child and so they'd all get a chocolate. Well. Some kids didn't come, some didn't want to play, so some got more then others, making for some sad kiddies. The older girls who knew what the game was about took a really loooooooooooooooooooong time to pass the parcel on.

Last the pinata. I'm quite proud of my homemade "chicky pinana" (as Malachi would say), made under the careful direction of Leeyen, who made Malachi's pinata at his first birthday. It was strong enough that it lasted through all the kids having a go at it, and some of those girls REALLY had a go at it. They moved so fast my camera couldn't pick them up. It was funny seeing Vili go at it - cow verses chicken....

And then in comes Uncle Matt and smashes the poor chick into shreds. Lollies go flying, kids start cheering, it was awesome.

The cake was a replica of Vili the little piggy. Poor porky underwent major ear reattachment surgery twice during the course of the day. But he put on a brave face in the end. Vili either thought everyone's singing was horrible or he was ready for a nap, because he bawled his eyes out when they sang Happy Birthday to him (reminded me of my late friend Amanda's daughter Ansley, she bawled during happy birthday on multiple occasions when she turned 1).

Then Vili opened his presents, of which I didn't get any photos of because I was busy hugging Dani and Joseph and their munchkins who came down to visit from Auckland. He got some books, these cute dinosaur decals for his room, some instruments, this dump truck lunchbox that his brother is so jealous of, some clothes. It was a fun afternoon, although like most 1st birthdays, the birthday boy didn't know what was happening. And I was so busy running the show (coz I'm a control freak) that I didn't get to take as many pictures as I wanted to (I know what you're thinking, hello, you took a million pictures! But just imagine how many I could have taken if it wasn't so busy....), but hopefully Vili will look back on the pictures and feel that he was loved and special and totally worth all Mummy's grey hairs. Coz you're worth it little man. Oxo

Hamilton Museum Visit

2011-06-25T02:02:00.000-07:00

So we've lived in Hamilton for almost 6 months and have most definately NOT taken advantage of the things to do here. We've been to lots and lots of their playgrounds, which are AWESOME btw (not generic clones like the ones in hawaii), but thats about it. So this week we made a start. We went to the Waikato Museum. Theres a part there for the kids where its all learning games, figuring out puzzles etc. It was amazing.

They had a knitted garden and the kids picked all the vegies. The carrots etc were in the ground, the tomatoes were on a vine, it was very clever. The kids played there for like an hour, and we only left because a school group was waiting for a turn.

They got to sit in full sized racing cars and play wii marrio carts. Malachi was in car heaven, but his brother was even more obsessed! If i turned my back for a second, Vili was gone and off to those cars.

This one was fun, the lights would flash and you had to run and slap them and see how many you could slap in a minute.

There was a huge waka, Malachi wanted to get inside. Wasn't sure how the local iwi would feel about my son singing row row your boat in their historical canoe, so we just looked at it and sat in this little boat instead.

Malachi had a go at their climbing wall. He did really well. But once he realised he was off the ground he didn't think it was so great.

There was also an earthquake house, that mimiced the power of different earthquakes in NZ history, like Taupo exploding. My sister sat in it with the kids, as soon as it started, Malachi and Katherine freaked out and jumped out. Vili however thought it was awesome and wanted to do it again and again.

It was such a fun day. I'm considering getting anual passes. Because I've found that for most places, if you go twice in a year, you might as well get an anual pass. And during the winter, this would be a great place to go on a rainy day for a couple of hours.

Here's to discovering more Hamilton treasures!

Vili's birthday - part 1

2011-06-25T00:23:00.000-07:00

So on Vili's actual factual birthday, to which he was completely oblivious, we started with the traditional pancakes.

Malachi was at school for the day and Joseph didn't come coz he's sick so it was just me and the boy for the day. It was so nice! Kind of reminded me of when it was just me and Malachi, and I could give him 100% of my time and attention. We rolled on the floor, laughed, and went to the playground.

Then later that night we had some cupcakes for the birthday boy. He was excited to eat the M & M's, but once he got the icing on his hands, he was done, he did not want any part of it. I kinda tried to make him eat the cake, but nah. So no cake covered photo like when Malachi turned 1.

T minus 11 weeks

2011-06-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

So. Almost half way through my marathon training. And I can't believe how much a little bit of running has taught me.

- Long distance running is 30% physical, 70% mental. Sure, in order to run a long time I need to increase my lung capacity etc, but mostly I've found that it's my mind that needs the work out. No matter how far I run, I get to the point where my head is screaming at me to stop, but then I look down and see that my legs are still moving so I tell myself, just to the end of this street, just one more power pole, just one more song, and if I can distract my head long enough I find I've run another km. And then I get to the point where my legs are so tired and my mind has to take back over and tell my body, I might be sore or tired or hot or thirsty, but I'm not going to die, and after about 10 minutes I'll feel fine again, so I can run a little more. It has been this huge mental battle of learning self control and self discipline, something I seriously lacked, but now I'm getting better at.

- Running kinda takes over your life. You have to be 110% commited, because training requires commitment. To run 4 or 5 times a week, I have to schedual my day around the runs, especially as they're getting longer and requiring more time. Life really gets in the way and I almost have to put running first, as weird as that sounds. And I'm thinking about running all the time - where I'll run, when I'll run, what new running sounds can I download, I wonder if the shoes I want are on sale, how many more sports bras should I buy, I've just got running on the brain. And my running has changed my eating and sleeping too. If I stay up late and eat icecream, I don't feel like running in the morning and I miss a day and get behind in my training. I quickly learnt that you can't run and eat whatever you want and expect to be skinny - you just end up being a fatty that runs alot.

- I am so much stronger and more capable then I ever thought I was. I think at first I just liked the idea of running a marathon. But I had my list of very respectable excuses as to why I wouldn't end up running it. But I've realised that I can do it. I can set goals, and I can accomplish them. And it feels so good. The first time I had to run 4km, I felt sick in my stomach all day leading up to it, like I physically felt sick just thinking about running that far, and it was really, really far for me. And now my short run is a 7km. Amazing what can be done in 9 weeks.

- It's so important to celebrate the small achievements, coz they're what lead to the big ones. The first time I ran a full 3km without stopping, I celebrated by buying a new top. Coz it's all those 3kms that will make up the 21kms.

- But the biggest thing I've learnt is this - If I can do this, ANYONE CAN!! 10 weeks ago, I would have rather done turbo jam 6 times in a row then run even 1 km outside - I really really hated running. After about 20 seconds I was out of breath and tired and so I'd stop. And yesterday I ran my first 10km, and I felt pretty good after it, I could have run more except that it was raining so hard I couldn't see in front of my face and it was dark already. But it is totally doable. I was the last person to ever consider running. You just have to decide to do it, and do it.

I'm so glad I decided to do this. I'm glad I have my sister in law doing it with me so I can check in with her and we can push each other along. Running 21kms doesn't sound so insane to me now, doesn't seem so distant and unachievable. Instead it feels doable, totally doable.

T minus 11 weeks.....

Vili's turning 1

2011-06-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

My original plan was to have a piggy party, coz he loves pigs and snorts like one ALL-THE-TIME. But then my mum suggested that when he's 10 and realises that I made him have a pink birthday party, he might hate me. And so instead, the barnyard. I still get to make a pig cake, but save me some child drama later in life.

NOTE TO SELF - no more babies born in June, OK? 2 parties to plan in one month is plenty.

First day of Kindy

2011-06-08T23:09:00.000-07:00

This week Malachi started kindy (kindergartin, preschool, etc). In New Zealand, when a kid is 3 they start afternoon kindy, 2 hours 3 days a week, then when they're 4 they go to morning kindy, 4 hours 3 days a week, all free, until they're 5 and then they start school. I made the choice to not send Malachi to the traditional kindy and instead enrolled him in a Montessori preschool. He goes 6hrs a day, 3 times a week. I made that choice because while I think that kindy is great, playing in the sandpit, painting, singing, making crafts, I can do all that stuff at home with my son, and I do. If he's going to be away from me for that long, I want him to be getting something that I can't give him. At Montessori, all of his "playing" is learning, all the games and toys are teaching tools, and not just numbers and letters, but sizes and shapes and volume and life skills. It's all about independant learning through play. Ok i have to stop before I get carried away. But from the first time I learnt about the Montessori way of learning, I knew it was what Malachi needed to thrive.

So this week, now that he's 3, he started going to school.

He was super excited to have a lunchbox and a bag, and to have teachers and friends and a school.

Ready to go with his little bag.

About to go in.

Hanging up his stuff.

He had a great time. I was a mess. The whole time he was gone I was watching the clock, twiddling my thumbs, counting down until I could go pick him up. I missed him so bad. Other then the time I was in the hospital giving birth, it's the longest I've ever been away from him. The house was so quiet and lonley and sad without him. And ok so I went and picked him up an hour early. And the look on his face when he saw me was undescribable. (I wish i got it on camera, I had my camera, but I got all emotional and was just too excited to hug him that I forgot to take a picture). He did really well, they said he was settled and happy and just went about his business. I really hope he enjoys it and loves to learn. That's the whole point, to help him love learning on his own. But my days will be so different without him there.

When I asked him what he liked about going to school, he said,

"Um I like to eat my lunch (typical tongan), my teacher says i need to go to sleep but i just play (refuses to nap while there). And I pour the water and see the rabbits and we do the scooping with the spoon and put the things in the other container."

3 year old boy

2011-06-01T02:30:00.000-07:00

Today is Malachi's birthday.
Today my baby is three.
Don't ask me how that happened.
I look at these pictures and think how it just seems like yesterday, but at the same time, I don't really remember that baby at all, that's not Malachi to me. Malachi is this big, able thing that amazes me everyday.

We started his real birthday off with the traditional pancakes. They're meant to be chocolate chip but I was out, so chocolate ice-cream instead.

Then we went to his last Chartwell Playgroup at the library. These have been an awesome part of our week, singing songs, reading books, doing crafts. He loves it. But he'll start school next week so won't be able to go any more. We had to leave early to go for a school visit so he missed the craft, but loved it none the less.

And to finish off the day we went to the movies. Every time we go to the mall he asks to go to the movies, and every time I tell him, no, I'll take you on your birthday. (Note to self: Malachi is an elephant and remembers EVERYTHING you tell him.). So we went and watched Hook Winked Too. We had the whole theatre to ourselves, which meant Vili was able to screech and sqwark to his hearts content.

And to finish it all of, Mc D's. (For him, not me. I'm doing Weightwatchers at the moment and there are waaaaaaaaaay too many points in those little delites. It was subway for me.)

I'm so proud to be Malachi's mummy. He tests me and pushes me and makes me be better, because he expects and deserves so much. I have never met a child so helpful. As part of his daily duties (that he willingly volunteers for) he opens and closes all the curtains in the house, morning and night, cleans the toilet and basin, puts his clothes in his draws, gets himself dressed, helps daddy wash the dishes, puts his dishes away in the cupboard, tidies up all the toys, the list is endless, fetches vili's nappies and takes the dirty ones to the nappy bucket. He is willing to do anything and everything. I don't know what I'd do without him.
He's so inquisitive, always wanting to know about why things do what they do, why people feel the way they do. He remembers EVERYTHING (for example, we're driving along past the place where Uncle John's graduation ceremony was (where malachi had been in the car when Tui dropped me off), and malachi points out, "Mummy that's where Uncle John goes coz he's finished his school and we say good job to him." Tui didn't even remember what that place was.) I don't mean to sound braggy, I hate parents that over rate their kids and you read it and think, ah, i know your kid, and that's NOT how they are. But seriously, this kid is sm%*!t. I just hope that I can be the kind of mother he needs, that will push and encourage and love him enough to help him be the best he can be.

Malachi, we love you more then you know. You have changed me in ways I never knew you could, realigned my life, made things clearer and brighter. I love every day I have with you. You're amazing.
Happy Birthday Son. oxo

The Bus Ride

2011-06-01T01:10:00.000-07:00

Here in hamilton they have a bus called 'The Orbitor' - it does a big loop, a big orbit, of the city. So this week we went for a spin. and man, best $3 i ever spent! the boys had an absolute blast. Lucky there were hardly any people on the bus at that time, coz they were screaming and squeeling the whole ride, at every house and car and tree. It was awesome. The whole ride took about an hour and a half. It's totally a ride we'll be taking again!

Waiting at the bus stop.

Super excited.

Whole back row to himself.

Peek a boo.

It was such a huge novelty for Malachi. Let's hope the novelty lasts well into the future so when I tell him "no you can't take the car, take the bus" he'll still scream and squeel and say "yey! i love the bus" ;)

Random May Stuff

2011-05-29T17:46:00.000-07:00

Here is some of the stuff we got up to in May.

The kids painted the house, with water and paint brushes. They loved it! Kept them busy for a good hour.

Vili discovered the bucket of water.

We played in the leaves at the park. I keep meaning to go out and take some pictures of the beautiful autum leaves on the trees, all those amazing reds and yellows, but every time I think to do it, a storm comes and blows them all off. so the kids had fun playing in them instead.

Can you believe it, they're only 8 months apart.

We do lots of chalk drawing. Thank goodness for our carport and deck, so even if its rainy they can be outside doing something.

Vili mostly eats the chalk, although he is starting to get the hang of drawing with it.

This time I showed them how to draw around their bodies. They thought it was the coolest thing, and after I did their bodies, they did each others again and again.

We try to go to the lake or the playground every fine day, because they're becoming fewer and fewer.

Eating our picnic lunch at the Lake.

The boys on the slide at the lake.

Little Vili taking a stroll on the boardwalk.

Feeding the duckies. We save all the crusts from our bread and about once a month we have a bag full to take to feed the ducks.

Vili eating the bark at the playground.

Brothers, going for a walk at the park behind our house.

One day we took some hot chocolate to the park with us. It was so yummy! (In the process of making it I spilt boiling water on my hand and got some serious burns. I had to rotate cold packs on it every hour, even through the night, for the next 36 hours. Good times!)

On the seasaw.

That poor slide......

No hands!

I love our little adventures. And it's been so nice having Tui home during the days some days (sucks that he then works at night), so that he can be part of all these memories. I know that next month when Malachi starts Pre-school that it'll be the beginning of the end of our long days together. Before I know it it'll be school then highschool, then mission and gone. So I'm tryna make the most of them while they still last.

Malachi's Party

2011-05-29T00:49:00.000-07:00

It had been cold and rainy all week, but luckily the skies parted and we had a (mostly) fine day for the par-tay.

When Malachi woke up and saw the streamers and balloons I'd put up the night before, he went crazy!! Seeing his face was totally worth staying up til 11pm blowing up balloons, 100 in total.

This is how Malachi shows three fingers.....

His cousins and little friends came to celebrate with him. First they ate.

One of these is not like the others.....

Little Lachlan, or as Malachi calls him "rockrin" (Malachi still can't say L's)

And then we made cars out of cardboard boxes.

Then it was cake time! I'm pretty proud of my $2 shop cake decorating kit, it served me well.

I found this chocolate mould of cars and melted white chocolate to make some. They were the best tasting cars I'd ever seen!

It was so funny, when we were singing Happy Birthday, one of Malachi's friends (who's name is also Malachi) was getting confused that we were singing to him and kept saying "Me? My cake? It's my party?". Cute.

Next presents. No surprises, his favourite was a dump truck. He finally got a big boy bike too, although he still hasn't shown any excitment about it. Maybe I'll hide his cars, maybe then he'll finally notice his bike.

It was such a fun, simple day. Despite the burnt pizza's and starting an hour late, it was an awesome day.

He did it!

2011-05-25T02:02:00.000-07:00

I had a ~~selfish~~ goal for Malachi that he would be able to write his name before he turned 3. I knew he was capable of it, and I wanted to make sure I'm feeding his hunger to learn and do. He has such a drive to know about things and learn things. Most of the day is filled with "Mummy, what does 'dog' start with?" "it sounds like duh duh duh.....d!" (he's really into his letters and hes recognising them even more these days, especially by sound.). So we started practicing a couple of months ago, every week we practiced different letter, and everyday he wrote a page of them. And the practice paid off.

So here it is, his first name written completely on his own. A week shy of his 3rd birthday.

The first picture is really dark so that you can see the letters. They're a little shakey and there are some gaps (we're still working on getting the letters next to each other), but they're there! The second picture is there to show how happy his face is about doing it.

Well done big boy!

Oh the places you will go....

2011-05-25T01:58:00.000-07:00

My little climber boy, up on everything. Malachi was always just content to be on the ground. But the sky's the limit for little Vili. He's even learnt that he can push things around to climb up to the places he wants to get stuff from. Here are a couple of his perches I've caught on camera.

Elder Tafuna

2011-05-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

Today Tui's little brother entered the MTC to serve his mission in California. He's the last of the Elder Tafuna's for a while. We're so sad we didn't get to see him before he went in - they stopped over in NZ for a whole day but couldn't get visitors visa's and so couldn't come out and see us!! So close and yet so far.

Mele travelled with him from Tonga to drop her baby off at the MTC.

And Sioana met them there.

We are so proud of you Siope, Malachi has already started telling everyone that Uncle S'ope is a missionary. What a great example.

We love you. oxo

Malachi's turning 3

2011-05-18T16:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it.

Almost 1

2011-05-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

Vili's almost one.
Its insane.
Here are some of his almost-1 tricks.

He can point to parts of his body.

Ulu

kete

ngutu

elelo

He climbs like a vine. Nothing is sacred. He thinks he's invincible. The collection of bruises on his head suggests otherwise.

He has 2 teeth down the bottom and 1 up the top, which makes him look like a goof.

He chews on his thumb or finger, doesn't suck on it, just chews.All the time.

He likes lying down. He'll be in the middle of playing or chasing his brother and he'll just drop to the floor and lie there and talk to himself.

He doesn't just walk, he runs! Ok more like super power walks, but if I turn my back for a second, that kid is gone and down the driveway.

He loves bowls. There is one cupboard we don't have a lock for and he knows it and knows just what he wants in it.

He L-O-V-E loves books!

His vocab is increasing. He says -
Dada - daddy
muma - mummy
ma - malachi
nana - num nums, food or drink
dis - this
dat - that
bubba - baby
yes
and his favourite word
arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

He signs for osi (finished) and thank you. He blows kisses and gives 'uma's on demand, nice big open mouthed sloppy ones.

He takes these fantastic 3 hour naps in the day, but wakes 3-4 times in the night (we've discovered he has enlarged adnoids which makes him snore like crazy so during the night when he's in a deep sleep he snorts really bad and wakes himself up, giving himself a fright, makes him cry etc. We're waiting til he's a little older and bigger and then we'll take him to get his adnoids taken out.)

He's a little groove machine. If he hears a beat, or his brother singing he'll stop mid-walking and do a jig. Or if he's really excited he'll sit down so he can totally rock out. It's awesome.

In general, he is the happiest little boy. He has these crazy big grins that he loves to share with the world. He's big enough and fast enough now that he can play hide and seek with his brother. It's awesome.

He's officially our big baby now. And one day soon he'll be a big boy instead. But for now I'm just enjoying those tubby cheeks and baldy head.

November 30

2011-05-17T03:02:00.000-07:00

we will leave NZ soil and land 3 hours later in the friendly islands.
I.am.so.freakin.excited.
I loved Tonga the first time we were there and I cannot wait to go back.
And I'm super excited for Tui's family to see the boys.
Malachi can't stop talking about it.
He tells everyone who'll listen.

WE'RE GOING TO TONGA!!!!

Too Funny!

2011-05-16T00:52:00.000-07:00

I generally try not to laugh during kids prayers; they're trying so hard and I don't wanna kill the spirit.
But tonight I just could not contain myself.
Tui was helping Malachi say the prayer in Tongan and part of it went like this:

Tui - "...mo mummy, mo viliami, mo au..."
Malachi - "...mo mummy, mo viliami, meow...."
Tui - "...mo au..."
Malachi - "..meow..."
Tui - "...MO AU!!!"
Malachi - "...MEOW!!"

Then....

Tui - "...tapuaki'i..."
Malachi - "...to cookie..."

By that point I was in tears and the prayer was over.

Man, that was just too funny.

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T20:16:00.000-07:00

This year I was lucky enough to have my Mum up for Mother's day.
She's awesome.
The older I get, the more I wish I'd listened to her, and the more I want to be like her.
So patient, so positive, so diligent, so willing to sacrifice, so firm in her testimony, so sure of her values, so much love for her children.
She doesn't do anything grand, just quietly goes about doing the right thing.
My kids adore her.
She's the only other person that Vili will go to happily.

She probably won't like that picture, but it totally illustrates her. She sits and reads to them for hours.

The day before Mother's day my boys took me out to eat. It was sooooooooooooo nice not to cook! I had probably the best chicken burger and fries ever, even better then Cheesecake factory, and that's saying alot!

I love being a mother to these little people. It's the most rewarding thing I have ever done, and there is no other way I'd rather spend my time then being their Mum.

I'm so glad there's a day when we can specifically appreciate our mothers, and recieve a little appreciation ourselves!

And then there were 2 - Part 2

2011-05-07T22:44:00.000-07:00

So the day after John's graduation we had a family dinner in his honor.
And I made him a cake.
Once again my creative abilities didn't live up to my creative imagination = it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to. I take my hat off (no pun intended) to anyone who does cake decorating, it is so much harder then it looks!!!
But at least they could tell what it was meant to be.
Plus, it was made out of cadbury chocolate, so I don't think they would have cared what it looked like, coz it tasted good.

Yay for you John.

After seeing the cake and discovering the solid chocolate graduation cap, my oldest brother announced that next month the mayor would be awarding him his official master builders certificate, and that he now required a cake just like it! Being a builder, I think I have something else up my sleeves for him.....

Something old, something new

2011-05-05T23:46:00.000-07:00

Our old camera was discovered and revived recently, which I'm really happy about because my big mumma camera doesn't do video.
On it we found an old video of Malachi when he was about 14 months old. It's crazy to see how much he's changed, and how much he hasn't. He still does the same thing with his legs, kicking like crazy, and does that same angry face too. I miss his little golden curls.

There was also a video of Malachi about 20 months old, dancing with his buddy Rhythm.

And then there's a new video of little Vili following daddy around. He has really started to move it.

There were 3 in the bed...

2011-05-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

Vili still sleeps in our bed.
Every night.
He always starts in his bed, but when he wakes up I'm way too tired to feed him and put him back, or rock him back to sleep, so he just comes and sleeps with me.
I don't blame him. Why would you wanna sleep all alone in your cold crib when you could snuggle close with your Mumma all night?!
I know that some people have very strong opinions about co-sleeping, think its dangerous etc (I've decided that if that was the case then mankind would have died off coz that's how we've slept for thousands of years.).
Sometime I wish he would stay in his bed.
But most time I love it.
Because I can't even begin to list all the special little moments we've had with him in there in our bed with us, moments we would have missed out on if he was in his bed crying himself to sleep.
And I treasure those little moments.

Like last night, he was moaning and groaning and I thought it was his teeth hurting him, until he sits up and lets rip a few loud ones - he just had gas.. Then he looks to his Daddy and grinned the biggest grin, as if to say "Did you hear me Dad? That was awesome!" And then the two of them rolled around and laughed about his little man noises. It was precious.

I love my little boy.
He'll be 1 next month.
Crazy.

And then there were 2

2011-05-04T23:46:00.000-07:00

Today the "Brunton Family Uni Graduates" club welcomed its newest member (I'm the president, and only other member lol) - John! He graduated from Waikato University with a Bachelor of Arts in Japanese and Physical Science. He's still studying at the moment doing his teaching diploma, with the goal of teaching Japanese and PE at high school. John served his mission in Japan, so what a blessing to be able to use that language to help him graduate.

It actually was a really odd ceremony to watch, so different from what I'm used to at BYUH - people with giant beards, blue mohawks (i kid you not!), no signs, no inflatable rings, no Apostle speaker, no leis (other then the ones we made for John), it was almost un-celebratory, made me kinda sad. But their gowns were way cooler then ours.

Probably the best part of the day was coming back to find this.....

Nothing says "Congratulations" like a fine!

T minus 19

2011-05-03T03:33:00.000-07:00

(I actually have no idea what that whole t-minus thing is, but im sure rocket people say it....right???)

In 19 weeks, I'm going to run a half marathon.

Not a full marathon.

Calm down.

Just a half marathon.

21km.

13 miles.

My sister in law and I are doing it together, inspired by my brother, her husband.

Training has begun.

It's hard.

I die.

But I'm gunna do it.

Thinking about it now, it sounds a little insane, who the heck pays money to run that far?
It's as crazy as paying money to give birth in the states - insane-o!

Mostly it'll be a mental battle, putting mind over matter, developing self disciple, something I seriously struggle with.

But here goes.

T minus 19 weeks......

Joseph

2011-05-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

So this week we have started looking after Joseph. His family are refugees from Colombia. He speaks mostly spanish, a little english, and he is just an awesome kid. His mum is going to school to learn english, so he's going to be coming to play with us for a few hours every day. Although I'm glad we can help Luz out, the real reason for him coming is so that the money can help to pay for Malachi to go to a Montesorri Preschool, starting June. In NZ preschool, and all school, is free. But ever since I visiteda Montesorri school, I've been impressed that it's the place Malachi could really thrive. I could go on forever about it, but I'll just say that I'm hoping it will help him develop a self-directed motivation to learn that will set him up for life. And Joseph is going to help fund that.

So he'll be part of many of our posts, in all our pictures I guess. Malachi had loved having him come, someone big enough to play soccer with. His family aren't members so I'm hoping we can teach them a little about eternal families too, coz who doesn't wanna know about that?!!

The Milk Factory

2011-04-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

I love local newspapers, I always find hidden treasures in them. That's how I found out about my $3 zumba class, and free swim lessons for the kids, and the Fonterra Open Day.

It was such an awesome day, something we plan on making an annual family day out. They had games and exhibitions, face painting, free samples, trucks to sit in, a band playing, just a fun family day.

The boys loved their free trumpets. They also got chocolate milk and cheese, and they had a spit roast company there making sandwiches (I've decided I love roast beef), and everything for free! It was a good thing Tui didn't come with us, or they would have gone out of business. Lol.

They got to sit in a milk tanker and beep the horn. I learnt that it's a really technical job being a driver, there are so many things you have to be in control of, deadlines to meet, technical computery machinery things. Tough job, good on them.

The line for the factory tours was 2 hours long. But thank goodness for this angel woman Kate who saw that I was struggling (you couldn't take strollers in the factory so I had fatty boomba strapped to my front, and holding hands with two little toddlers who did NOT want to stand still.), and smuggled me to the front of the line. I will love her forever. We all had to wear fluorescent vests and safety glasses. The boys looked so cute.

We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the factory. But man was it awesome. Ok, the billion stairs to climb, not so awesome. But everything that we saw and learnt. Heaps of cool robots that the boys thought were amazing. I learnt that in a day, the factory processes 6million litres of milk. 80% gets made into milk powder and exported, mostly to china. And the last 20% is what gets used for milk, cheese, butter, cream, and cream cheese.

A long tiring day, but so worth it. Malachi's still buzzing about the robots and the tankers and "can the lady give me another icecream?".

Thanks Fonterra.

Easter boys

2011-04-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

Ok so this will be my last Easter post. 4 isn't that extreme is it?

We had to wait a while to get a nice day, when they were both awake, when they weren't sick. So maybe Vili's first "Easter" was a week or two late, but he didn't know and I'm not going to tell him.

He really had no idea what was going on, but once he saw that Malachi's egg had treats inside, he was shaking those bad boys to find the ones with treasures.

Don't tell my mum that I let him eat a chocolate egg. But he loved it.

Happy little Easter boys.
(I promise they both had fun, but this was the only picture of both of them looking up and not looking at the eggs, and they look like they're depressed. lol.)

Until next Easter....

Rotorua Marathon

2011-04-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we traveled to Rotorua to be support for my brother John running his first Marathon. I could not have anticipoated how much of an emotional day it would be. Now it's no secret that John is my favourite sibling, we were often mistaken for twins as children. We shared a bedroom by choice, and just seemed to be on the same wave length. I love him to bit.

On the drive down there I was thinking about what an amazing thing it is to run a marathon. There's no prize, other then your own self satisfaction, there are months and months of hard training involved, that no one is making you do except yourself. What a huge personal accomplishment. Before the race started I was already in tears. I am so, so proud of my brother. He worked so hard for this one day, and even though the day didn't go as he'd planned, he finished it. John, you are now offically a maraton runner.

Here are some pictures from the day.
(I was lucky enough to borrow my brother in law's father's paparatzi lense, but I should have practiced with it first coz some of the pictures didn't turn out, due to my lack of experience.)

And they're off!

Cheerleader # 1.

The marathon track went around the Rotorua Lake, so at least it was awesome scenery for the 42kms.

Cheerleader # 2.

Cheerleader # 3

The whole cheer squad.

Dad drove up and met up with us. John had some issues with cramping in his legs and had to walk the last 10kms, but Dad was there to support him. I ran with John for about a km, but my jandels just weren't cutting it so Dad took over.

The cool thing is, Dad ran this same marathon 20 years ago.

I am so proud of my brother. (I promise I started the day modestly, but running in a dress just didn't work out well.)

After the race was done we all went to Polynesian Spa's for a soak in their mineral hot pools. Great day.

Because I never want to forget

2011-04-27T01:52:00.000-07:00

Last night we had a family family home evening. It happens once a month with all the munchkins etc. Yesterday I was teaching the lesson about Easter (Nursery version). I told them, "...the angels rolled the stone away and Jesus wasn't dead, he was alive again...", and before I could continue on with the story, Nathan lept from his chair, threw his arms in the air and SCREAMED, "HE'S ALIVE!!!!!" Too, freakin funny. Everyone died of laughter. He was so genuine, so excited, so extatic that Jesus was alive! I loved it.

I love that boy.

Hot Cross Buns

2011-04-23T03:01:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite parts of Easter at home is these little delites. I don't know why they're not sold anywhere else.
The process was drawn out and not quite right, but they sure tasted good. So good I think I might try again on Monday.

But I found this really cool blurb on someone else's blog about the story behind the buns. Kinda interesting.

"There’s so much legend and lore behind Hot Cross Buns, which date back to the old country. English folklore said that Hot Cross Buns baked on Good Friday would never spoil throughout the following year. Some bakers believed that holding on to one Hot Cross Bun and hanging it in the kitchen meant that all yeast products in the coming year would rise successfully. Some sailors took Hot Cross Buns on their voyages to ensure their ships wouldn’t sink. And friends who gift one another with Hot Cross Buns every year are said to remain friends for life."

Auckland Day Trip - 2

2011-04-23T02:56:00.000-07:00

So after the zoo we navigated our way into town to the Sky Tower. (Note to self and all: Never move to auckland unless you enjoy oneway streets, confusing motorways, and being lost in general!) I've been to it before, and so has Tui, but never inside. Malachi was super excited about going in the big tower, until he saw the glass platform, then he lost the plot and freaked out. He wouldn't go anywhere near the windows. Vili thought it was great! (I feel bad for the cleaners that had to get rid of the handprints and slobber my baby left all over the glass.) I don't think it was worth $30 per person (thank goodness for coupons!), but was very cool. Good way to see all of Auckland.

In the elevator going up, which went up 50 floors in like 20 seconds - very fast!

The view from the top.

This glass was 30cm (I think that's like 12inches??) thick. But it was so trippy to stand on!! And even though I KNEW it was safe, I still hesitated. Malachi freaked out. Vili loved that he could see the cars beneath him.

Leaning on the glass was a bit of a push. Tui wouldn't do it. I only did it to make him feel stink. Lol. The photos dont do it justice. I was like lying on a wall of glass leaning over the city. Crazy.

The very best part of the day was going to see my Grandparents. My Pop is coming to the end of his mortal adventure, so it was nice to see him, and to give my Nana a big hug. The boys love them.

Auckland Day Trip - 1

2011-04-23T02:41:00.000-07:00

So we tagged along with my brother's family and went to Auckland for the day.

First we started out at the Auckland Zoo.
Oh my gosh.
As far as zoos go, A-MAZING!!! The way it was all set up, the viewing platforms, it was just fantastic. We spent about 4 hours there, and only left coz we'd run out of time.

There was a bunch of chickens running free around the place. Vili spotted one in a bush and followed it for a bit.

Then I saw one with little chicks and I caught one. It was so soft and light. Malachi wanted me to keep it. And Hannah thought it was just the bee's knees.

How funny that our little piggy boy's favourite animal was the pig. He was so excited, squealing away at his cousin piggy.

There was a meercat enclosure that had tunnels underneath it and you could pop up and see them. Cool.

We got to feed the Giraffes. Yes people, like actually feed an actual giraffe. It was huge!! Like 7ft tall, maybe bigger. I'm so proud of Malachi, he was so brave sticking out his hand for that giant creature.

And we got to ride an elephant too!!!

If you're visiting Auckland, it's a must see. Worth every cent!

Bowling

2011-04-20T20:02:00.000-07:00

Haven't been bowling since we were at BYUH. I'm pretty sure I sucked then too.
Fun night though, Malachi was finally old enough to be part of it and be excited about it all. He practiced on our Wii first, just so he understood the concept.
I didn't come last, so I'm happy.

Pre-Easter Hunt

2011-04-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

This is our first New Zealand Easter. And while I'm soooo glad to be back with real chocolate and hot cross buns (more on those later), Easter isn't as commericalised here, so people don't really do egg hunts. And in order to keep Malachi's American heritage alive, we had a little hunt. The weather was terrible, every time we planned to do it, some unseasonal storm would hit and it would be postponed (Easter is in autumn here, not spring.). But we held it none the less, and despite the odd blue lip, the kids had a blast. But in all honesty, I think the parents had more fun, watching all the kids. It was funny, Katherien only wanted big gold eggs, Malachi only wanted little coloured eggs, Hannah got one egg and then just wanted to eat that one and didn't care about any more eggs, every time Katherine bent down to pick up an egg she'd drop all the rest and Caitlyn was right there to pick them all back up again. It was fun.

First they made little baskets and decorated them.

Get ready.......

Go!

With their loot.

Vili was asleep, so on the real Easter weekend, we'll have another hunt so Vili had have his first little hunt. Means I'll have to get more eggs to replace the ones I've already eaten.....

Fun day though!

I'm sorry, what??

2011-04-08T03:00:00.000-07:00

This iddy biddy baby (ok fine, he wasn't exactly iddy biddy, but you know what I mean) took his first steps today. He's been cruising for like 2 months, and today he just let go and walked out to me, 4 or 5 steps. Did it a few more times after that (until he flopped on the ground and his brother laughed so Vili decided it was way more fun to keep flopping and watching Malachi laugh.....). He was just born like yesterday (and 9 months ago), and now he's walking. And it's April. What the heck, is someone fast forwarding through my life?? Slow it down please!!!!
Good job my sausage baby.

Pictures of us

2011-04-05T01:59:00.000-07:00

Won an online competition for some pixie pictures. Coming from being the #1 (unpaying) customer of Loblee, pixie pictures are a little meh for me. But they were free, so I guess I can't complain (even if they are completely void of any creativity, personality, or real talent). Aunty Nana had sent these super cute outfits for the boys that matched and they looked awesome. There's a picture of Tui and I and one more of the family that I haven't uploaded yet. But this should be enough to satisfy a pining aunty. :) PS. If I look like I haven't slept in weeks, I HADN'T. Come to think of it, its been a lot longer then weeks.....

March stuff

2011-04-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

These boys are just cute and funny. And I don't ever wanna forget how they were as little peeps. So at the end of each month I'm going to put up all the pictures that are off nothing and everything. Just because.

Malachi loves to bake and cook with me. And he's such a good helper, getting things out, putting them away, measuring stuff.

Vili is so dangerous! He scares me half to death daily, with his climbing and leaping and falling.

I love that little face.

We alternate weeks with my brother and his wife for going to the temple, so we have Hannah here alot, she's a blast, and the boys love having their cousin around.

Nudey rudey.

The boys in their dressing gowns.

Malachi is such a drama queen. Everything he does is done with pizaze and a sideway head.

Messy eater, just like his brother.

Someone has FINALLY given up the army crawl and is crawling properly. Well, crawling with one leg still bent, just like Malachi.

Vili often goes missing, and is found under, in between or behind things.

This boy loves his jolly jumper, keeps him entertained for a good 40 minutes at a time.

Bath time is fun time!

the boys on their bikes.

Living closer to hamilton means we can have cousins over to stay the night! Malachi and Nathan are a couple of months apart, so they're buds.

Malachi loves to dig in our garden.

We go to the pools once a week. Malachi is swimming under the water for a good 5 seconds now, its incredible. And Vili just loves to splash.

Malachi thinks that anyone with anything on their head is santa. So here's my two santa babies.

Malachi got a horrible stomach infection and was throwing up for a week. He was often found asleep with his head in the spew bowl (the bowl was empty, luckily).

My boys. At the park. Happy days.

Turangi Vacay Part 4 - River walks

2011-04-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

In Turangi there are heaps of really nice walks, by the river, through the forest, really pretty. We went for a little walk after FHE on monday. It was a walk we used to do as kids when we came to stay in Turangi. It's so cool to bring my children back to the places I visited as a child, and see them enjoying them just as much.

My sister and her family.

Cousins by the river.

Us on our river walk one morning.

On the bridge (they're fake smiles - they were both totally freaked of the bridge).

The men and the babes.

We also went to their thermal hot pools almost every day, but no pictures. It was so nice. One of the days it was raining, which made it even better.

It was a good weekend. Good FQT. Our next little getaway will be Rotorua for my brother's Marathon. So stay tuned.

Turangi Vacay Part 2 - Craters of the Moon

2011-04-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

We went to Taupo for one of the days. After eating lunch at the playground, we visited the Craters of the Moon. It's a geothermal walk. So cool. It was amazing to see the steam just coming out of the ground. And the ground was so hot it was red.

On the big swing at the Taupo playground.

He kept doing that with his arms. I think he's trying to be a gangsta.

Our little tourguide, he hung onto that map for dear life. Still has it a week later.

The mud was all bubbling and stuff.

The Daddy express.

Turangi Vacay Part 1 - Trout Farm

2011-04-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

So Tui's job requires him to work different hours and different days then a usual 9-5. It does mean though that every second weekend he gets Sat, sun, mon, tue off and goes back to work wed morning. So we took advantage of one of his long weekends to go away for a bit. We went to the airforce holiday home in Turangi (where we'd been last year for our snow adventure, also where Vili was blessed). My sister and her family came with us. The first two days it poured with rain. But then we had 2 good days of beautiful weather that we took advantage of.

We visited the trout farm, feed the fish, and walked by the river. It was really misty and dark and the air was so wet it was amazing. So different to what we're used to. It reminded me of Twilight = I loved it!

Because the area is volcanic, there is pumas everywhere, and everyone makes these pumas towers. We collected a bunch and we're gunna make one for our Nana to put in her garden.

Cousins, ready to feed the fish.

It was incredible to see how many fish there were. I've seen this many goldfish in a koi pond, but these are trout people, big old giant trout!

Big man at the river.

Even bigger man at the river.

Turangi Vacay Part 3 - The Honey Hive

2011-04-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

We also went to the honey place and looked at some bees. I always thought of honey being a one flavoured thing - totally wrong! There are hundreds of different kinds of honey. And I learnt that bees are pretty cool. Malachi loves them too. He's always talking about how "the bees drink the flowers, and make the honey for the people to make honey toast! Thanks for the honey bees!" It's cute. He loves honey.

Malachi and the big buzzy bee.

Bee hive.

Can you spot the queen?

Vili doing his thang.

Testing the honey.

My little bumbles.

I love places like this; they're convenient, educational, fun, and best of all, FREE!!

Cooks Beach

2011-03-15T01:37:00.000-07:00

(All of the pictures are massive. But it took me so long to load them in the first place, I can't be bothered doing it all again. So be prepared for some unexpected closeups.)

My family used to go to our batch in Kennedy Bay, up in coromandel for the summer. Then it got sold. Then Matt married Renee who's family go to cooks beach and slowly but surely we've all made our way up there too. So that's where we had our summer fun this year.

All our family was able to come. Like ALL of us. That hasn't happened in about 5 years. So it was awesome. We rented two houses across the road from each other. We played and swam and had so much fun. Unfortunately, I had issues with my camera and it somehow deleted all the pictures that weren't taken on an auto setting aka, all the good ones. I'm so sad coz there are a bunch of pictures of the boys together on the beach that were awesome that have been taken by the camera gods. So you'll have to make do with the leftovers. :(

It was Vili's first real time at the baech (he'd been before to the beach in Wellington, but that's more of a coastline then a beach.). Surprise surprise, he loooooved it! He got to splash in the water and eat all the sand, fun fun fun.

Malachi got to play with all his cousins aka his peeps. He went fishing on the dock and caught some little fish, went out in the boat with Grandad and caught some monster crayfish in the net. He was so much more confident in the water, despite it being 20 degrees colder then the water in Hawaii. I had to be careful how far out i let him go.

We went on a little hike up to Whitianga rock. The view was amazing, and the exercise was greatly needed.

There was a ferry that ran between Cooks Beach and Whitianga (the closest town with a supermarket etc). Driving it would have taken about 40minutes, or you can take this 2 minute boat ride. It was awesome.

My brothers tried skim boarding. They were pretty awesome. Then Tui tried. He was pretty hilarious.

While we were there we visited the cemetary and found the headstone for my dad's dad's grandparents. Talk about luck! Me and mum used sticks to clean it up a bit, scrape off the moss.

Because my whole family was there, we got to take a new family picture, the first with all of us in 6 years.

The last day we were there, Mum and Dad put an offer in for a section there and bought it. So it looks like this is the first of many cooks beach adventures to come.

Be kind.

2011-03-02T00:51:00.000-08:00

So my friend Leisa posted this link on her blog.

I read it.

It's amazing.

(Long, but totally worth it).

Made me think of President Monson's talk at the Relief Society Broadcast last year.

We just need to be kind to one another.

You NEVER really know what's going on with someone else, so who are we to judge?

Someone might be treating us badly and making us hurt, but usually that's coz they're hurting 10 times more.

We just all need to be a little more loving.

To everyone.

Despite how they may act or treat us.

Thanks Leisa Marie.

I needed to hear this.

oxo

The Brunton Bus

2011-03-01T22:03:00.000-08:00

We had an FHE on Monday with all the gang - trying to get ideas for our 72hr kits.

It was super helpful.

The kids....

...they pretty much ran wild, ferral almost.

They ripped to shreds some cardboard boxes.

They had a full on punch up over a toy motorbike (girls included).

And they made a Brunton Bus and sang the wheels on the bus.

They're awesome.

I love them all to death.

(I
had
to
put
the
picture
way
at
the
bottom
so
that
you
could
actually
see
all
the
kids
coz
i
couldn't
be
bothered
going
back
to
photobucket
and
making
the
whole
picture
smaller,
it
was
alot
easier
to
just
do
this.)