Sunday Surprise

 

Today was one of those clear bright Christchurch days, where the sky is a vivid blue, and the sun glares even from early morning.

“I’m taking you somewhere special,” I told Miss Nine,  “Just you and me.”

As we were driving, Miss Nine asked “Why just me?”

“You’ll see.”

It was market day at the Riccarton Sunday Market.

We met our friend Pat, selling her paintings.

(A shout out for Pat – she previously relied on the Art Centre weekend market to make a living, but since the earthquakes has struggled like so many other Christchurch Artists.  Check out some of her work at http://www.newzealandinwatercolour.com/index.htm.)

We ate some yummy mini donuts.

Then Miss Nine spotted a couple of her classmates, and her teacher.  I gave Miss Nine’s name to the lady in the red hat, and Miss Nine got given a T-shirt.  She thought that was pretty cool.

She sat on the grass chatting with her friends, when one of them spilled the beans and spoiled my surprise. 

“If you’ve got one of those T-shirts that means you’re going to get one of those bikes.”

“What? Are you serious?”

The Mayor gave a speech (Hi Bob).

I liked the bit where he talked about every child in this city has been a hero over the last two years.

Then the 100 children who had been nominated by their schools or community organisations got presented with a new bike each, along with a helmet and safety card, thanks to The Variety Club Bikes for Kids tour. 

Miss Nine was one of four pupils nominated from her school.

She had been nominated by her teacher for being a good role model and having a great positive attitude in class.

I am so proud to have such an awesome daughter!

Isabel

hi I'm Miriam and i am going share my poem about my friend Isabel 

Isabel, Isabel, you are my best friend 

you like me and I like you, 

you like my teddies and I like your tramp 

we like both things and we like each other 

but we like different colours 

Isabel likes yellow and I like blue 

but that dustin matter          

Homemade Pizza for Tea

(Updated below)


I made pizza from scratch for the first time ever.

Dough was mixed using the bread maker.

Each family member got to choose their own toppings on their individual pizzas.

Fresh herbs from the garden.

Pizza will never be the same again - it was so yummy and filling.

And this is what helped make it so yummy:  Fresh home-grown herbs.

Picture Story by R (age 5)

"There's the water and there's the trees and up there are the ducks.  And that's the grass" 

(Big Sister Miss Seven helped with the bit in the middle).

I'm Loving... WotWots

J loves the WotWots.

What's a WotWot I hear you ask?


J is right in the middle of the target age group for these characters.

Since before Easter we'd been looking for a special cuddly toy, that we thought would be helpful in coping with aftershocks.  There had been a small plush DottyWot toy at a friends house, and J had spent the entire visit clutching this toy. We decided a similar SpottyWot would be perfect.  None of the toy stockists we looked in had anything.  A staff member at one store told me they were pretty much last year's fad, and no, they weren't planning to get any more in.

We did manage to find the last WotWots DVD in stock at our local bookstore.  J picked it out from the shelf, clutched it to his chest, ran up to the counter and handed it over to the clerk.  What choice did we have?  It remains his favourite DVD.

We looked for second hand WotWots on Trade Me without finding anything we liked.

After 13 June we started looking even harder. The DVD's were available to buy on the WotWot's website, but there was no link to buy the toys. I asked them where I could find a toy in Christchurch.  They referred us to a couple of stores, so we went back out shopping again, but without success.  So I asked if I could buy one online.

In the meantime...
Rebuild Christchurch announced:

There is a facebook page, a twitter hastag, and lots of media coverage.
And in our mailbox, directly from Pukeko Pictures, was this parcel.



It certainly brightened J's day - as well as ours!  I was blown away by the generosity of Pukeko Pictures.

And if anyone else wants a WotWot toy, they can be found here.  (Please support these wonderful people).

Linking in with Paisley Jade:  I'm loving being loved.

Matariki Winter Solstice

With our log burner out of action, the usual plan of camping in front of the fire with takeaways and movies needed a bit of tweaking.  Mummy got inspired by the blog at Liturgy to make the evening special.

We followed the Matariki theme by decorating the room with stars.

We still started with a takeaway "picnic" in the lounge.

Then R read a poem from school about winter.

M read a poem that Mummy had written:

     Hope
     After the darkest night comes morning
     After the coldest winter comes spring

     After hurting comes healing

     After brokenness comes restoration

Then we wrote some prayers of things we hope for onto some stars to add to our Matariki stars.

My prayer: I hope that spring comes soon and no more earthquakes happen

I hope for fewer shakes and for rebuilding

Then we had some yummy dessert.

After dessert, Mummy turned the lights out, so it was all dark.  Then she lit a candle and M read:

 ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5, New International Version)

 ¹² When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12, New International Version)

Then we used the big candle to light a small candle each.

   ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16, New International Version)

We spent a minute thinking silently about how we can be like light to people who need it.  Then Daddy prayed.

After that we folded out the sofa bed and watched a movie all snuggled up.

M and Mummy camped in the lounge on the sofa bed overnight.

Share_an_idea

We went to the Share an Idea expo.

We used lego to build some buildings on a Christchurch centre city street map.

We drew some pictures of what we would like to see in Christchurch, and got to talk about our pictures for the video camera.  Then we pinned our pictures on the wall for the staff to look at later.

The staff were really interested in even the children's ideas.  They asked the children lots of questions about their lego buildings and their pictures.