tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40663662142529397382024-03-14T15:06:08.760+13:00The Ramblings of a Multi-tasking MamaMulti-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.comBlogger417125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-58800760744216726182016-03-31T21:26:00.000+13:002017-05-09T21:44:11.329+12:00A Different Easter 2016<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year Easter was quite different for us as we were missing one of our wee family. It was the first time one of the children has been missing for a celebratory event and was quite odd and certainly a very quiet affair.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Fashionista went on an Easter Camp with her BFF (and their family who were there as leaders). This camp is HUGE, it's for 13-18 year olds from right up the top of the country down to Gisbourne and had an estimated 5,000 attending! Whilst looking at the photos of the camp online I came across this one of kids coming back from lunch and noticed TF straight away ... can you?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite TF being away, we still had our annual easter egg hunt with just Agent Smelly as it didn't seem to be right for her to miss on our annual tradition -- not that she claimed to care. She is a very cruisy child and doesn't seem to like too much of a fuss or fanfare over anything. On the other hand she does have quite a sweet tooth and loves chocolate so it's pretty easy to get her to go on an egg hunt. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-61995703600135991762016-03-28T20:57:00.000+13:002017-05-09T21:01:15.090+12:00Trying to keep the Fun with One<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have found it is really easy to get stale homeschooling just one child and we don't always have the same fun that we used when there were both girls to do things with. So this month I made a concentrated effort to celebrate a couple of events as I do feel a bit guilty at times that Agent Smelly's days are a bit more curriculum filled.</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So on Pi Day 3.14 (14th March) we did a few Pi related activities ... including eating PIE! </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then for St Patrick's day I made up a couple of wee treat packs (I popped one in The Fashionista's school lunch as a surprise much to her delight) and Agent Smelly was able to eat hers throughout her activities. I purchased the green lollies from a shop in the mall that just sells lollies and chocolates -- the Korean lady working there looking perplexed as she watched me sorting through the different containers so I could grab just the green ones. I did explain they were for St Patrick's day and that brought a big grin to her face. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found the 'shamrock nails' in a $2 Shop and threw those in for a bit of fun. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I do a 'special unit day', I do not include ANY of regular school work; we make it a day of all new and fun stuff. I feel like it actually revives us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Similarly to the Pi pack, the booklet had word finds, crosswords, sudoku, word scramble, codeword puzzle, maze, etc. which I printed from free sites. Sometimes there will be a recipe in there, for instance in this case it was how to make Shamrock pancakes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I always use a few different sites for my print outs because sometimes some of the activities may be too young for her or something we've done before. This gorgeous wee front page and some of the pages I used were from <a href="http://embarkonthejourney.com/free-st-patricks-day-printable-activity-pack/" target="_blank">Embark on the Journey's</a> blog page. I just use google or pinterest to find things on the subject that I am wanting to put a book together on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because Agent Smelly quite likes music we also listened to some Irish music, folk type and also The Pogues (her dad likes them so we have some CD's). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I really love doing activities like this -- they learn so much whilst having fun and learning things in a completely different way. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*Please note this post is delayed posting it's from last year. </span></div>
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Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-49874637213440584712016-03-10T22:09:00.000+13:002017-05-09T22:12:45.967+12:00Piano for a Song<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Both girls have often expressed how it would be cool to play the piano so recently I saw a rather old piano being sold locally for the grand price of $10.00 So of course I thought 'why not' if they don't take it to it, it's only $10 that it's cost us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bonus is the Papa just loves it when I tell him things like, oh hun can you put the trailer on the car, I've just bought a piano. Well I think that's what it means when he rolls his eyes and takes a big drawn in breath. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So we are now the proud owners of an old piano, it even came with a stool. It has a couple of sticky keys but other than that it's perfect to start learning on. Agent Smelly particularly has taken a liking to it is so we are looking for piano lessons for her. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's been placed in my study ... so I can close the door to save my ears ... I mean so they can practice in peace. </span>Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-64365698899550254092016-02-09T22:25:00.000+13:002017-05-09T22:27:14.958+12:00First Day back at School 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whilst her big sister is off in her uniform in a classroom setting, leaving at the crack of dawn, Agent Smelly settles down to do history ... laying on the couch eating an apple and reading Story of the World (Book 3). Homeschooling rocks!</span></div>
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<br />Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-69132219400184516932016-01-31T10:59:00.000+13:002016-09-05T11:01:38.694+12:00Performing Arts for The Fashionista in 2015<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I just found a pile of posts sitting in my drafts that I had written but obviously forgot to post it. This is one of them. So please check the dates to see when this was actually written. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was a very big year for The Fashionista last year in the performing art area. She chose drama as one of her electives which they did for year 9 and of course she of course had to sign up for everything going as is her way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Early on in the year she performed in the Sheila Winn Festival with her high school. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Festival is an annual event that involves more than half the secondary schools in the country. During the Regional Festival, students engage with Shakespeare's plays by performing 5-minute and 15-minute excerpts from them with schools in their area.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Schools from each region are then selected to go on to participate in the National Festival.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">She played one of the dancers. Unfortunately I was sick and didn't make it but her dad and Grandma when to see the regional one she was in. Their school got best costumes I think, but the 'boys' school that they are affiliated with won and went to participate in the National Festival. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is a pic from one of her dress rehearsals. On the night they also had colourful ribbons tied around their wrists with bells so they jingled when they performed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">She was fortunate enough to attend a Black Grace dance workshop in Auckland with her contemporary group, Manu Wairua, in April. The group was so blessed as <a href="http://www.blackgrace.co.nz/about" target="_blank">Black Grace</a> is New Zealand's leading contemporary founded by Neil Ieremia (on chair in pic) in 1995. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Each student got to partner up with one of BG's dancers and so got some one on one treatment. MW's 'manager' I suppose you could say (far left in the pic below) told me it was very funny to see The Fashionista doing one rather flexible move with her legs and the male BG dancer she was working with try it, and laughingly make some joke about not being quite as flexible as she was. She came home from this event on an absolute high ... the BG group are really warm, funny, flexible and helpful apparently. They were all given Black Grace t-shirts ... it's 12 months later and it is still her favourite t-shirt!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Post workshop pic of MW and BG ... I love how they felt comfortable enough with them to take a funny picture as some events the kids are quite reserved. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Performing an exercise with one of the BG dancers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Her drama class performed a couple of sketches in June to show off what they had been working on throughout the two terms. She was one of two given the narrators role (first pic), in the class production and then she got to perform with some of her friends in a mini piece that they had put performed in class where she was the wicked aunt (second pic). She got a bit of the acting bug doing this course and performing ... hmmmm </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Apologies for the quality of the photo, I had to cut her out of a larger one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Outside of school she started 'en pointe' ballet and also continued with contemporary. Unfortunately due to her travelling such a distance each day to and from school the added external class were more than either of us could take much more of (I was spending hours on the road each day!) so she dropped ballet as it was three classes a week but still continued with her weekly contemporary class. Here's a pic of her the day she took her exams, which she passed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All of the members of Manu Wairua, except for The Fashionista, attend the same small character School (120 students in total). </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This school is a very progressive </span>maori<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> school (although you don't have to be Maori to attend there). </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the very talented lasses, who started the group, has been sitting her High school levels in dance and had to choreograph and perform a repertoire as part of her assessment and as they don't have a lot of dancers at their school to choose from so they asked </span>XXXX<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> to help out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">She practiced with her partner a few times and had one practice with the group before going on that night. They were the finale and did really well. It was a war based theme, with very strong and theatrical music. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was a great night held at a centre in the middle of Hamilton. Some students performed a scene if they were doing drama, some performed on a musical instrument and a few sung with a band they had in to accompany the students. They were being assessed as they performed their routines and they did so well. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Around the same time she was also rehearsing for her schools annual performance. Her girls high school joins together with Boys High each year to put on a big school performance. They each take it in turns to host and run the event. In 2015 it was Boys High's turn to run the event and they chose Jesus Christ Superstar. She actually was one of two year 9 girls (there were about 300 girls in year 9 but of course they didn't all apply or audition) to get a part as a dancer in the show. She was over the moon as you can well imagine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There were hours and hours and hours of work putting this performance together. Every Sunday between 1 and 6 she attended rehearsals at Boys High, along with another 1-2 nights a week there also. On top of that the dancers rehearsed through their lunch breaks at school for the special performances they were doing in the show that didn't involve the rest of the case. It was tiring that's for sure. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They ended up performing about 6 shows in July and I have got to say, trying not to be biased, that the show was just AMAZING. The singers were awesome, the dancers perfectly rehearsed and looked so professional, and the student band (up the back in the pics) just first class. Anyone who saw the show was just blown away by it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">She just loved being with the cast and crew and they really bonded during the rehearsals. She still has some amazing friends, even a couple of males ones, from this event. I think I was the highlight of her year. During this show the acting and performing bug hit her BIG TIME and she now wants to pursue it as a career. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVE1ZDQKtTZFQt79cKt2OCsw1oTrsv-jgBcqhCVSuytPrav16aXosHI44Df8sPeOubHq2RnZTCEmkjUg9DQokV9aPLCsxSEEiW5rBxHpZcHCsc8Sws7J6P8ME_xGM4aXQNJR8fZQjMZc_X/s1600/11111059_691269697672320_4707074439185555371_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVE1ZDQKtTZFQt79cKt2OCsw1oTrsv-jgBcqhCVSuytPrav16aXosHI44Df8sPeOubHq2RnZTCEmkjUg9DQokV9aPLCsxSEEiW5rBxHpZcHCsc8Sws7J6P8ME_xGM4aXQNJR8fZQjMZc_X/s640/11111059_691269697672320_4707074439185555371_o.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">She's the wee angel up the back right. She did a beautiful job.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Photo by Cirrus Photography</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Can you spot her? She's the wee one at the front left. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Photograph by Feisty Photography</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Waiting back stage to go on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In November she performed in her new dance academy's recital doing contemporary. She was only in the one dance as it is a large school and the recital lasted for about 2 1/2 hours or more!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When I advised the owner early this year that she wouldn't be returning, who also was one of two of her ballet teachers, she told me that she thought she danced beautifully in the recital and that she was welcome back anytime, which was just lovely as she is a very exacting teacher who does not give praise lightly. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My favourite photo taken by the photographer the school hired - she hates it.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeRZeYdUdcerEOTLIoZ0RXegzBkomtfLk-1tWIeCtS9xF8d0MqdNq5GodspnaFpRbypbgISKYNdgTSRv7X4C81ldD17u5ZLBY-LFAF6mj8sz_6DTXhdbs1Tz3xKMf-X4ObF19JOT2ys5p7/s1600/12395455_1539576983031601_383145152_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeRZeYdUdcerEOTLIoZ0RXegzBkomtfLk-1tWIeCtS9xF8d0MqdNq5GodspnaFpRbypbgISKYNdgTSRv7X4C81ldD17u5ZLBY-LFAF6mj8sz_6DTXhdbs1Tz3xKMf-X4ObF19JOT2ys5p7/s320/12395455_1539576983031601_383145152_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That's her in the front, middle. </span></div>
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Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-86988755304462736192015-04-30T11:10:00.000+12:002016-09-05T11:14:33.864+12:00The Fashionista becomes a Teenager<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I just found a pile of posts sitting in my drafts that I had written but obviously forgot to post it. This is one of them. So please check the dates to see when this was actually written as some are over a year old now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">My darling Fashionista turned 13 recently. We are in the middle of renovations and she didn't really want a party (well anything we could agree on anyway) so I took her down to our bach with a friend for a couple of nights whilst Agent Smelly was away on camp a week later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">She is a particularly amazing young lady. She is extremely intelligent, well-mannered and a delight to have around. Her determination and courage blows me away at times and I can only look on in awe at what her Papa and I have created. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-58468652965108834672015-04-17T11:15:00.000+12:002015-06-24T11:15:54.544+12:00Oh for the Love of Onions<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One afternoon some dear homeschooling friends of ours (9 kids!) that live locally called to ask if we'd be interested in heading off to some nearby paddocks to collect some onions with them and we jumped at the chance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every year once the onion (or potato) pickers have been through the paddocks, our friends get permission to go in afterwards and collect any produce that hadn't made the grade. They go with another family (of 8!) and this year were kind enough to offer us an invitation to come along too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our haul after we have given some away to Grandma and friends. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a lovely evening and the girls and I had a great time grabbing the onions off the fields. All that bending and hauling bags was hard work but really rewarding. Agent Smelly spent more time talking to one of her friends so only managed a couple of half bags much to our amusement. The Fashionista despite picking with her bestie did a great job and collected a few bags.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There weren't so many red ones left and those that were, were quite small. We still collected enough to see us through for quite a while. There were loads of brown ones that were of really good quality too, I am not sure why they leave some of them. We got a great haul ... imagine how much our friends got with their crews!!! These onions would have been simply ploughed back into the ground if we hadn't of picked the left overs so if you live anywhere near some onion fields (or some other produce) write to the people and ask if you can clear out the paddocks after they've finished picking them, you might be lucky like us and be given permission to pop along and clean up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we now have onions a-plenty I had the girls help me make some onion soup. We learnt that it used to be made by peasants during a time when they could not afford much and hence was referred to as "peasant soup". The papa and I don't mind it but the girls have suggested I don't ever make it again, even if we end up living as peasants. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-34438013690012916852015-04-03T06:00:00.000+13:002015-04-07T15:36:03.508+12:00COLLINS, Suzanne <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjK-vejxRanm8g9tpiIPSoGJyNbNqh6kxcNjHEY1ZY2fG98I8D4SgWTbcT6jNSkACDLk8fFx9GLpIkiiBABekkwYuiL2qHYu5Iopp_wNVqa-B-8CZa5pP9H59EsE72c3H7b-Yn87bpmzSQ/s1600/C.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjK-vejxRanm8g9tpiIPSoGJyNbNqh6kxcNjHEY1ZY2fG98I8D4SgWTbcT6jNSkACDLk8fFx9GLpIkiiBABekkwYuiL2qHYu5Iopp_wNVqa-B-8CZa5pP9H59EsE72c3H7b-Yn87bpmzSQ/s1600/C.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suzanne COLLINS is the author of the extremely popular dystopian trilogy, THE HUNGER GAMES.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">When I first read The Hunger Games, it was with the view to see whether it would be suitable for my tweens girls. I decided that it was not at all suitable, I found it terribly violent, teens being manipulated to kill each other in order to survive and an evil, controlling government using people like puppets. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">After a while, and much pressure from them for the chance to read it, and discussions with friends who have children of similar ages I decided to let them read and I do not regret it one little bit as i</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">t turned out to be an amazing series for lots of discussions. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">We discussed the heroine, Katniss, in depth. Was she a hero? She volunteered to take the place of her little sister, whose name had been pulled to enter the fight, in a sort of reality show where teens fight to the death. That was indeed brave but she still entered the game and ended up being 'involved' in some deaths of other entrants. Is it brave to let others die in order to save our own necks? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">We discussed some characters who were indeed innocents who were killed in the "games", thus pointing out that in war there are always innocent people with families who lose their lives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">We discussed Haymitch, who had won a previous Hunger Games, and was an alcoholic and still suffered nightmares many years later from his involvement in the games. We discussed 'Post Traumatic Syndrome" and how so many people/soldiers suffer long after wars are ended and some simply never recover.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">We also had a big discussion on classism; the Capitol (the government who ran all the districts) and how these fat cats lived very different lives to those in some of the districts that were poor and suffered greatly. Despite the Capitol being a rather futuristic and over-exaggerated city, we talked about the similarities between that place and our own governments and major capitols now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Don't get me wrong, I still don't think that the books are particularly well written and they are violent but they do have a way of making you want to read them to the very end simply to see what happens. I would definitely recommend letting your teen read them but I would strongly recommend that you read the books yourself first in order to discuss them with the child as you go along. Also if they are particularly sensitive some of the scenes may upset them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Fashionista (12) -- 3 out of 5 stars</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Agent Smelly (10) -- 4 out of 5 stars</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The Mama (over 20) -- 3 out of 5 stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-91386246710295180732015-04-02T20:17:00.000+13:002015-04-07T08:06:38.273+12:00Balloons Over Waikato<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are a hot air balloon enthusiast then Hamilton, NZ is a great place to visit for 5 days every March. Each morning the balloons ascend over Hamilton and land somewhere different throughout the day - often a primary school. For the past 15 years they have been holding the </span><a href="http://www.balloonsoverwaikato.co.nz/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Balloons Over Waikato</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and it is quite an event for the town. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGll4-x5hOihc9UaNb7-b-uaMyNt-qMTFrx2_XTADm0TCryHCM9AaCIMucDfAl2umgwz7dGwTDZIJW1FbfZKH1U9UYwPr7tLQtPnPp02Md3CivRfjWYNUYIbPW9D48fj5vm576WTC6SfH/s1600/110_7406.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGll4-x5hOihc9UaNb7-b-uaMyNt-qMTFrx2_XTADm0TCryHCM9AaCIMucDfAl2umgwz7dGwTDZIJW1FbfZKH1U9UYwPr7tLQtPnPp02Md3CivRfjWYNUYIbPW9D48fj5vm576WTC6SfH/s1600/110_7406.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Agent Smelly reading and listening to music whilst waiting for dusk to fall.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year I took Agent Smelly to the highlight of the Festival which is the orchestrated Balloon Glow Show and a dramatic fireworks finale. (The Fashionista was also there with a school friend and her family and we met up afterwards). Whilst waiting for the "Night Glow" there are bands playing live music which I have to say was really very good. A lot of modern yet popular tunes with some very recognisable older and always popular songs. I quite enjoyed watching the small children amongst the very large crowd dancing away to the tunes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The balloons glow to orchestrated music finishing with the best fireworks display in town. Here's a picture taken with my phone. It is a huge even and we were quite a distance from the balloons. Unfortunately the weather was starting to change as we were there so the weirdly shaped balloons did not get put up as they were concerned about the weather conditions. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFMYNiN8yqLYQ-TT19jiwQREEXfpuW5eqGanYfTkAGKRRYVC_12kbxdpfFGwThisPQb6ps-YjH_hhfERMJA7SJRi-pYPEAW6lYYCILEebIKS1LeEjHtfSJ2pcjgvOtHyiqeddgMuUxqTi/s1600/Arky%20with%20Resene%20Low%20Res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFMYNiN8yqLYQ-TT19jiwQREEXfpuW5eqGanYfTkAGKRRYVC_12kbxdpfFGwThisPQb6ps-YjH_hhfERMJA7SJRi-pYPEAW6lYYCILEebIKS1LeEjHtfSJ2pcjgvOtHyiqeddgMuUxqTi/s1600/Arky%20with%20Resene%20Low%20Res.jpg" height="320" width="246" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo taken from the Balloons Over Waikato website as linked above.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As it was the rain started, albeit gently, just a few minutes after the fireworks finished and we were walking across the fields back to the car. Unfortunately the final lift off the next morning had to be cancelled due to the inclement weather setting in.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remembering a camera would have been handy ...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-44397951227766518002015-04-02T08:07:00.000+13:002015-04-07T08:07:37.680+12:00Balloons over Waikato<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8NCdMYEjQq52YvoGPeM8XgHT2p2Dj5-Hq_XmOeiBJhG9QkGr0qkubkICXud5uBYf3Syzlu5X3mVj12zfh7KmZJ2_37KJP0G4E16PpD4tzkH8O0i9uleLNREIVz_-iIe6v5STDe4Qr4ecF/s1600/B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8NCdMYEjQq52YvoGPeM8XgHT2p2Dj5-Hq_XmOeiBJhG9QkGr0qkubkICXud5uBYf3Syzlu5X3mVj12zfh7KmZJ2_37KJP0G4E16PpD4tzkH8O0i9uleLNREIVz_-iIe6v5STDe4Qr4ecF/s1600/B.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are a hot air balloon enthusiast then Hamilton, NZ is a great place to visit for 5 days every March. Each morning the balloons ascend over Hamilton and land somewhere different throughout the day - often a primary school. For the past 15 years they have been holding the </span><a href="http://www.balloonsoverwaikato.co.nz/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Balloons Over Waikato</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and it is quite an event for the town. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGll4-x5hOihc9UaNb7-b-uaMyNt-qMTFrx2_XTADm0TCryHCM9AaCIMucDfAl2umgwz7dGwTDZIJW1FbfZKH1U9UYwPr7tLQtPnPp02Md3CivRfjWYNUYIbPW9D48fj5vm576WTC6SfH/s1600/110_7406.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGll4-x5hOihc9UaNb7-b-uaMyNt-qMTFrx2_XTADm0TCryHCM9AaCIMucDfAl2umgwz7dGwTDZIJW1FbfZKH1U9UYwPr7tLQtPnPp02Md3CivRfjWYNUYIbPW9D48fj5vm576WTC6SfH/s1600/110_7406.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Agent Smelly reading and listening to music whilst waiting for dusk to fall.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year I took Agent Smelly to the highlight of the Festival which is the orchestrated Balloon Glow Show and a dramatic fireworks finale. (The Fashionista was also there with a school friend and her family and we met up afterwards). Whilst waiting for the "Night Glow" there are bands playing live music which I have to say was really very good. A lot of modern yet popular tunes with some very recognisable older and always popular songs. I quite enjoyed watching the small children amongst the very large crowd dancing away to the tunes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The balloons glow to orchestrated music finishing with the best fireworks display in town. Here's a picture taken with my phone. It is a huge even and we were quite a distance from the balloons. Unfortunately the weather was starting to change as we were there so the weirdly shaped balloons did not get put up as they were concerned about the weather conditions. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFMYNiN8yqLYQ-TT19jiwQREEXfpuW5eqGanYfTkAGKRRYVC_12kbxdpfFGwThisPQb6ps-YjH_hhfERMJA7SJRi-pYPEAW6lYYCILEebIKS1LeEjHtfSJ2pcjgvOtHyiqeddgMuUxqTi/s1600/Arky%20with%20Resene%20Low%20Res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFMYNiN8yqLYQ-TT19jiwQREEXfpuW5eqGanYfTkAGKRRYVC_12kbxdpfFGwThisPQb6ps-YjH_hhfERMJA7SJRi-pYPEAW6lYYCILEebIKS1LeEjHtfSJ2pcjgvOtHyiqeddgMuUxqTi/s1600/Arky%20with%20Resene%20Low%20Res.jpg" height="320" width="246" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo taken from the Balloons Over Waikato website as linked above.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As it was the rain started, albeit gently, just a few minutes after the fireworks finished and we were walking across the fields back to the car. Unfortunately the final lift off the next morning had to be cancelled due to the inclement weather setting in.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remembering a camera would have been handy ...</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4koPrjd_6yOsvj6E1zA8ZiNIspEiO3BVeHTv5D4Kk9NDnKwC1-0HwXtgrlHC0-JduFCDAmyFI_vKPNtjgsRteN2bzP5X2Z0cmgg3ZhB3lcea_xonGglAIVdini6KF_2kWwCsmjz03W_I-/s1600/atoz+%5B2015%5D+-+BANNER+-+910.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4koPrjd_6yOsvj6E1zA8ZiNIspEiO3BVeHTv5D4Kk9NDnKwC1-0HwXtgrlHC0-JduFCDAmyFI_vKPNtjgsRteN2bzP5X2Z0cmgg3ZhB3lcea_xonGglAIVdini6KF_2kWwCsmjz03W_I-/s1600/atoz+%5B2015%5D+-+BANNER+-+910.jpg" height="52" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-40172434713066104192015-04-01T08:23:00.000+13:002015-04-01T08:23:39.365+13:00April Fools Day ... <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWAebvt1ZITQCEIPjx7gD-Gs4Ga5yimIkM4CXNUi7JPjKrxm7fQE5cBpPRgmMvdDA035mpoOzxz0ahPPALIKieVVCpjqWKVtlv7CaHASoTIKGOjGEHimYnQtqiaya0ydzpIvqGwrABM5Gx/s1600/April+Fools+Day.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWAebvt1ZITQCEIPjx7gD-Gs4Ga5yimIkM4CXNUi7JPjKrxm7fQE5cBpPRgmMvdDA035mpoOzxz0ahPPALIKieVVCpjqWKVtlv7CaHASoTIKGOjGEHimYnQtqiaya0ydzpIvqGwrABM5Gx/s1600/April+Fools+Day.png" height="157" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's April Fools Day and I just realised that I forgot to trick The Fashionista before I dropped her off at the bus stop this morning, so I decided that I would simply have to text her and this is what has transpired ...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now first of all we have a painter in doing the spare room, bathroom, hallway off her bedroom, etc. at the moment. It's quite early and he isn't here yet but that didn't stop me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Me: "Sonny tripped and got paint all over you room!!! So cross right now"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TF: "Over the carpet or walls????"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me: "Both!!! Bookshelf, door, wall!!!!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TF: "On my stuff?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TF again: "I'll murder him" (someone needs some sleep ... )</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TF again: "What was he doing in my room anyway?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me: "little bit ... it's 'mostly' coming off" (I was replying to the first line with my old lady fingers but she was firing them through)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TF: "Brilliant! Just great!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me: "by the way Happy Aril Fools Day. :p "</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-62850996736697932812015-03-31T06:00:00.000+13:002015-03-31T19:33:59.016+13:00Red My Lips 2015<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now I do not usually wear lipstick these days. I am not against it, after years of wearing makeup to an office, I suppose I just enjoy the fact I don't have to "doll up" each day. Through the month of April though I will be endeavouring to wear bright RED lipstick each time I go out or have people over.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This is not about vanity. It is about visibility.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why, you may be wondering. Well first I will explain what <span style="color: red;">Red My Lips</span> is ... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">"<span style="color: red;">Red My Lips</span> is an international nonprofit organization based out of the U.S. We run an </span><span style="line-height: 20px;">annual</span><span style="line-height: 20px;"> global awareness campaign where our fierce and fearless supporters rock red lipstick all throughout the month of April (Sexual Assault Awareness Month) to demonstrate solidarity and support for survivors and start important conversations with people in their lives. </span><span style="line-height: 1.2857;">Red My Lips is designed to raise visibility and awareness about the realities and prevalence of sexual violence, while combatting rape myths and victim-blaming. </span></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 1.2857;"> We continue to convince ourselves that rape only happens to 'those girls' who 'weren't careful,' 'gave mixed signals,' or 'put themselves in a bad situation.' This tendency to deny, shame, or blame survivors who come forward only serves to convince other survivors that they are wise to keep quiet, giving those who per</span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 1.2857;">petrate these crimes free reign to continue doing so without consequence.</span> Additionally, w</span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 1.2857;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 16px;">e frequently </span><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="color: black;">misunderstand rape and sexual assault as something provoked by uncontrollable sexual attraction or desire...instead of what it is: an act of domination, entitlement, a</span><span style="color: black;">nd violence. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2857;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2857;">Wearing red lipstick in April allows supporters to speak out against these damaging myths and victim-blaming attitudes. It allows us all to stand in solidarity with survivors and refuse to be invisible...refuse to be silent."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2857;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 1.2857;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Above quote taken directly from the </span><a href="http://www.redmylips.org/About.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Red My Lips</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> website.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2857;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2857;"><strong>Did you know ...</strong></span></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2857;">that in the UN report of 2011 sweet little old NZ was ranked worst of all OECD countries in rates of sexual violence. That shocked me!</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2857;">Only 13% of recorded rapes by the police are actually convicted! That makes me so freaken cross. Just 13%, how many people are out there having gotten away with it people ... how many!</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2857;">90% of sexual assaults are by someone known to the victim.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2857;">In New Zealand, up to one in three girls will be subject to an unwanted sexual experience by the age of 16 years. The majority of those incidences would be considered serious, with over 70% involving genital contact. As a mother of young girls this stat scares the shit out of me!</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In NZ up to one in five women will experience a sexual assault as an adult.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are varying rates for sexual violence offences against males but large scale international prevalence studies have tended to find a figure of one in seven boys.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2857;">So when someone comments on my red lips, which I am sure they will, as frankly it's not a colour that suits me, I can explain why I am wearing it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2857;">Please check out this very worthwhile cause whether you're a male of female. If you males can't wear red lippy but would like to show support, how about wearing a red tie for the total month! Or you could even wear a pair of red lips on a brooch.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2857;">No more blaming and shaming, and silence ... lets show support!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2857;">Big red lips kisses from me!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Red My Lips website ... </span><a href="http://redmylips.org/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://redmylips.org/</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Red My Lips Facebook Page link ... </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/redlipstick4acause?fref=nf"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">https://www.facebook.com/redlipstick4acause?fref=nf</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 1.2857;"></span></span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 1.2857;"></span></span></span><br />Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-52495540265599753512015-03-26T06:00:00.000+13:002015-03-26T06:00:00.241+13:00The A-Z Challenge 2015 Big Reveal<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the last couple of years I have been inspired to join the A-Z blog challenge and I start off with great gusto but always something ends up throwing me completely off (an illness or something) and I have not yet completed one challenge. Last years effort was completely abysmal and I wasn't going to bother this year but a fellow blogger suggested this could be the year that I actually complete it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those who don't know what the Ato Z Challenge entails, basically you post something every day in April except Sundays and as there are 26 days (minus the Sundays) that matches the letters in the alphabet. So on April 1, the blog will be about something that begins with the letter “A.” April 2 “B,” April 3 “C,” and so on. You can blog about anything at all as long as it matches the letter of the day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Having a theme is optional but personally I think it's easier if you do have a theme (especially when I find it so hard to thing of blog ideas at the best of times), so this year I have chosen the theme of <strong>"Teen and Tween Books"</strong>. There might be a slight twist though and I am very much cheating as I have enlisted my two little buddies here to help provide some of the posts. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">It's also recommended that you keep your posts short as what you are asked to do each day, is check out about 5 blogs that are also participating in the challenge (there's a HUGE list of participants). It's a bit of a way to meet some new bloggers and increase your audience I suppose you could say. Frankly, I am not too worried about increasing my audience (if I was worried about numbers I'd have stopped blogging way back ... lol), I just want to finish one darn challenge! I also quite like reading and finding other blogs from the list. I still follow a few blogs a couple of years later, they weren't even homeschooling ones, which is usually my main focus too. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Anyway if you are mad enough to join me, please do, then let me know so we can support each other ... who's up for it?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Here's the <a href="http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/a-to-z-challenge-sign-uplist-2015.html" target="_blank">link to sign up</a>, c'mon you know you want to. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-76666174910388287512015-02-25T13:55:00.000+13:002015-03-09T15:05:56.136+13:00Mana Wairua's First Workshop<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year The Fashionista joined a recently formed "Youth Contemporary Dance Company" named - Mana Wairua, set up by the amazing dancing son and daughter, of one of TF's old teachers. Their aim is to perform at festivals and other events.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week they were lucky to attend a two day contemporary dance workshop.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cathy Livermore (in the black top on the right) 'discover all that you are' and an amazing dancer and choreographer, took them on the Saturday and again on the Sunday. Cathy is originally from Aussie but has Maori roots which brought her back to NZ to investigate further and she has really become involved in the Maori culture and incorporating it into her dance. She's simply the loveliest, most authentic woman.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's Cathy working with the Kila Kokonut Krew, at the factory, who toured Aussie last year along with the Endiburgh Festival. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trey Pickett visiting from New Mexico, USA taught them on the Saturday. Trey is the sweetest most beautiful man and he doesn't actually seem to dance, dance simply seems to be part of him, just like you and I breathe, he just dances. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Trey Pickett is an acclaimed performer and choreographer in New Mexico. He was first inspired as a young boy performing with his family when he then ventured into street dancing. Trey's passion for dance has grown through-out the years and has inspired him to share his passion by opening his own dance company, Disciples of Chaos(DC). He has performed in NY, has danced in the UNM dance program, as well as being the first black principle dancer at New Mexico Ballet Company."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is from YouTube, there's a few other things on there with Trey also. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway TF really enjoyed it but there were parts where she was VERY out of her comfort level. The students were asked to really be authentic and to simply throw themselves into it but there was still a bit of stiltedness and reservedness (I could have just made those words up) in them which I think will go with more time and further experience. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TF hadn't never danced with a male before and the kids all had to dance together and had to sometimes touch and connect, and she felt a bit conscious doing this as a lot of 12 year olds would I imagine. They also brought a lot of Maori spiritualism into it and it is all quite new to her but it was seriously a really great experience and she enjoyed but felt a bit lost at times. It was a steep learning experience for her. She actually has been loving learning more about the Maori culture and dance, so is getting more than she bargained for with this beautiful cultural opportunity being added to her dancing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How lucky are these kids to get these opportunities to learn from professionals, at such a young age and there's a different work shop coming up soon!!!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you'd like to follow these kids and their contemporary dance group, they can be found on Facebook on this link ... </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mana-Wairua-NZ/1490466271218392" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mana Wairua - NZ</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The more likes and support the better!</span>Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-38364872540723335392015-02-23T13:48:00.000+13:002015-03-09T13:48:49.434+13:00An Adventurous Day Out<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently I took Agent Smelly and one of her friends, Miss Y, to </span><a href="http://www.sonshineranch.co.nz/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sonshine Ranch</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> as part of a homeschool outing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As part of the day included some horse riding the children needed to wear closed in shoes. When I picked up Miss Y, I asked her if she had togs and sneakers in her bag as she was wearing jandals (thongs for you Aussies and flip flops for you Americans and Brits). She told me that she had, but unfortunately when we arrived at the camp / adventure park and she went to put on her sneakers she found that she had forgotten to pack them. Well her bottom lip actually started to tremble (seriously was the cutest thing I have ever seen) and she was about to burst into tears when I quickly said "here try these on" and kicked off my own sneakers (we were over an hour away so wasn't like I could slip back home). She tried them on and thankfully these sneakers that are loose on me fitted her perfectly. Unfortunately her jandals were slightly a bit big for me (I have tiny feet) but I managed to tramp all over the hills and through the trail in them without breaking my neck ... the things we do!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Agent Smelly on the Flying Fox</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi39m_CCu6sKwNydWyPYtiMVVONNtSN2l-KjQaTeeLfCl5GM5_zHWquWqDNeISxILOuI9l2uiyobycKoSlClj_SZ7wQu4h8d5cTrh1VVd9M3cvgXqbOTXdwO0Hx_GdzZ8lYrbJ9HAl3EdGt/s1600/110_7323.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi39m_CCu6sKwNydWyPYtiMVVONNtSN2l-KjQaTeeLfCl5GM5_zHWquWqDNeISxILOuI9l2uiyobycKoSlClj_SZ7wQu4h8d5cTrh1VVd9M3cvgXqbOTXdwO0Hx_GdzZ8lYrbJ9HAl3EdGt/s1600/110_7323.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was quite a long ride through the bush ... I wouldn't have done it!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway our first trip was down to the flying fox and the rope swing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Agent Smelly on the rope swing</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then our group (there were 58 kids, two groups) was moved onto the horse riding. Agent Smelly was a bit disappointed that the trail ride was very short as she was dying to have a proper ride of her horse. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjUbvwcSx-s6P6GVUWqwJcXyd6mPRCNkQ9wc5ffJ-BprfzK2SQmk1YUfu2cSBDjYytdrkFBMP-OL2NNc8Oq7WlNteD9Q4OKE50ZCMac_Px3Wu4pjBrJqaDQ7PTouQE6QwyDsqwZzVekH2_/s1600/110_7340.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjUbvwcSx-s6P6GVUWqwJcXyd6mPRCNkQ9wc5ffJ-BprfzK2SQmk1YUfu2cSBDjYytdrkFBMP-OL2NNc8Oq7WlNteD9Q4OKE50ZCMac_Px3Wu4pjBrJqaDQ7PTouQE6QwyDsqwZzVekH2_/s1600/110_7340.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I finally got up the hill from helping the remainder of the kids on the flying fox (parents lend a hand at each activity) they had already set off. When they returned I saw the kids on their sweet little horsies and then she comes out of the trail on bloody Phar lap. Apparently when they asked if anyone wanted the largest horse they had on the farm, she threw her arm straight up! She so was pleased she got him as she loves big horses. His name was Flash and he was missing one eye. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We then broke for lunch and sat on the grass in the most idyllic little area with all these lovely ferns and bush around us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After lunch we moved onto their last activity which was a water confidence course. It was pretty gross to be honest ... but the kids had fun trying to get across the water without landing in it. Miss Y was really struggling on that type bit you can see in the bottom photo. You need to swing back and forth to get to the next one. She was taking ages and Agent Smelly was right behind her. AS's hands get really sweaty and whilst she had no trouble swinging and grabbing the next one, holding onto the same rope waiting for Miss Y to move was too much and she slipped into the drink. It was really quite funny, especially as Miss Y was just a tyre or two from the end and actually made it to the end without falling and all the kids behind waiting started dropping like flies ... haha</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSPhiHgTJQyel3CpCsxDuXxA0O6fBxTvSPEaSbju1XktBFVnoXl9A50ZMsE8UXp87fTXbkXGXe7KV3IVyCT5V64ubofFNxoTzRRw8xKGEHeQPjqvaPdEp2RFKQl-vlUM-I1a-7oupAzhCp/s1600/110_7344.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSPhiHgTJQyel3CpCsxDuXxA0O6fBxTvSPEaSbju1XktBFVnoXl9A50ZMsE8UXp87fTXbkXGXe7KV3IVyCT5V64ubofFNxoTzRRw8xKGEHeQPjqvaPdEp2RFKQl-vlUM-I1a-7oupAzhCp/s1600/110_7344.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Agent Smell pink togs right in the centre.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIDiChq1_8ky9j_6LnTytg_34FVV4rd3hH0vUYrHCbTSVQZMxB4cP5_Q5QeDKMzsanQyNOQqfdplMnLWjaTYMuOfNp4x_3W5uptpAP_DwIttl4iyl7e7d5PDiPpfSMluTnhzaebtbRxUFR/s1600/110_7346.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIDiChq1_8ky9j_6LnTytg_34FVV4rd3hH0vUYrHCbTSVQZMxB4cP5_Q5QeDKMzsanQyNOQqfdplMnLWjaTYMuOfNp4x_3W5uptpAP_DwIttl4iyl7e7d5PDiPpfSMluTnhzaebtbRxUFR/s1600/110_7346.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Miss Y bottom left sitting on one of the tyres holding on ... haha</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's a water wheel the kids climb onto and try and move by running on it like a giant hamster!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had really lovely weather and the activities kept moving and the girls really seemed to enjoy their day out together doing some fun and new activities. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Agent Smelly really seems to be gaining confidence at these activities without her big sister around. In the past she hung back, she did them but now she is putting herself out more to the front. It is interesting to see.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-11857497042501389262015-02-18T09:37:00.000+13:002015-02-18T09:37:00.181+13:00Reward Scheme <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Fashionista's new school (how long before I can stop saying 'new' school I wonder) came home from her first day of school and showed me one of the things that they do there, that I think is a pretty cool idea and have been meaning to share. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Her tutor teacher explained to the girls that at their school they prefer to encourage the students for good behaviour rather than punish them for bad. I was very happy to hear that, as that is how I attempt to bring up my children. I say attempt as sometimes I do end up giving them punishments ... I mean how many times can one ask someone to please get off minecraft and set the table! So no tablet or device punishments come into place sometimes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So essentially what happens is that each student gets a card which they can place in front of themselves on their desk during their class.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rules are the student needs to display</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a willingness to learn</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">interaction with respect</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">strive to understand</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">engage to achieve</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If they are displaying these behaviours whilst in class, then the teacher of that class signs it. Not all teachers remember to walk around the classroom, so if they want to, the students can go up to the teacher to have it signed once class is finished. Once the card has been filled they hand it back to their tutor teacher for a new one and the signed one gets submitted to the office. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once three are accrued they received a Bronze certificate, 6 for Silver and 10 they earn a gold owl badge to proudly wear on the lapel of their blazers. They also have it presented by the School Principal at a special ceremony. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">No guessing who already has her sights set on getting that badge. She has completed three cards already ... that poor school won't know what's hit them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I have discussed it with Agent Smelly and we are going to make up something similar here for her so she can earn stuff at home. She doesn't want a certificate though she has chosen food rewards ... no surprises there either!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-79933558000561705122015-02-16T06:00:00.000+13:002015-02-17T11:50:24.133+13:00High School Update - Week 3<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The third official week of High School has gone a lot better.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The worst bit for TF is getting up at 6am or even 5.30 if she wants a shower in the morning! She still gets herself up and doesn't display any bad temper but, she says she is tired and could happily creep back into bed each morning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Science that had gone so badly for her the previous week, went exceptionally well. She got a score (1 point less than the top score) that her tutor teacher (who is also a science teacher) told her was a really high score to get on that particular test. She told her the first one actually didn't matter, so that has returned her to her previous good feelings about science. A huge relief to me!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">She was made the Junior Council Leader (Year 9's and 10's) of her tutorial group which she was thrilled about. In full disclosure she admitted to us, with a big giggle, that she was the only one who had put her name forward for it in her tutor group. Apparently in her merry group of 7 friends all them had put their names forward to represent their respective tutor groups but sadly they didn't get elected. I am not sure exactly what's involved in the position but they attend meetings. She thinks it will be good experience for when she applies for more senior leadership roles down the track ... seriously I never looked that far ahead as a kid ... who is she???</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">She just loves her drama class so much. They are split into groups and have to put on a little performance to be shown to the rest of the group in a few weeks, based on (not the same as) the movie, The Little Princess (with Shirley Temple). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">She did her first Beep Test (running test) ... ever ... and got a pretty good score showing she is quite fast. So bam, in response to "how do home schoolers do PE?" ... like a boss I say</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">She had her first real homework this weekend which freaked her out and like all good students spent the first part of the weekend putting off. She spent a lot of Sunday doing it. All she wanted to do was rest but it had to be done, so I had to give her a gentle nudge in getting it complete. Some of it wasn't due until later in the week but seeing she has so much dancing it doesn't leave much time during the week to do it, not to mention she's exhausted of an evening too. Got to say, the homework is crazy and I can't see why they can't do it in class. Write an essay on a biography they have read (English), write about a scientist (Science), write about the appendix (Health/PE and all kids got different body parts) and lastly Social Studies which really annoyed me as it was stuff like, what Iwi do you belong to (it's your Maori tribe), what is your spirit mountain, what beach are you connected to, where do you meet friends and a personal favourite 'how do you get to these places?'. Seriously important stuff there!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I have to say she is really enjoying the social side of things and is having fun with her new friends. She has the group she hangs around with ... I call them the seven dwarves as there are seven of them, and also some other lasses that she has met in other classes. A couple even attend her new dance academy, so she is slowly building up a nice group of girls to associate with again. They text each quite a bit even outside school and are quite a diverse but nice young girls. She has tried a lot of new things too that we probably wouldn't necessarily do in a home school environment. The school had a different sport on each lunchtime for the new girls to go out and try and see if they'd like to join. She is keen to join the dance or drama groups so as much as she'd like to join some sports groups she simply can't fit it all in. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">In full disclosure it's not all a bed of roses, besides the travel and homework, she doesn't like the time when they are not doing anything and she doesn't feel that they learn enough or are especially challenged and whilst she thinks all her teachers are actually really nice and helpful, she </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">finds it amazing that they can take a subject and teach it so boringly. She said mum, you aren't even a 'proper' (ahem, I think she means qualified) teacher and you always made learning stuff really fun and interesting. She doesn't have much time for emailing, talking to her 'old' home school friends or even visiting them which saddens her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-10789499345194515272015-02-13T17:00:00.000+13:002015-02-17T12:41:51.043+13:00How Home Educating has been going ... <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well due to the very busy and new demands put on us by The Fashionista's move to High School, we have slowly eased into home schooling. So we have completed 2 weeks now and here's what we've been up to.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This photo is from last weeks Home School picnic that was held at a city park on a lake. Such a good turn out despite a lot of people not being able to make it. They held an egg n spoon race, three-legged races and sack races. It was a lot of fun and despite it being held from 10-12pm many of us were still there at 2pm! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On our first "official" school day Agent Smelly was a bit of a whiner to be honest. I had only planned a couple of easy lessons to ease her back into things which would have taken about an hour at most so was kind of annoyed at her dragging stuff on and behaving like a brat. She's been on her tablet playing Minecraft much more than is good for her over the school holidays. I know some people suggest letting them self-regulate but she will spend the whole day on it if we let her and then she is a real beast when we ask her to come down for dinner or do anything to tidy her room or help around the house. We had to have a bit of a chat that evening (I really wanted to know If this was how she was going to be acting all year) and the next day she was much more happy and ready to get on with stuff and get it finished rather than dragging everything out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She's started working on Math-U-See Epsilon which is mostly on fractions at the beginning. She managed to complete three levels, tests included, in less than two weeks and got every single answer correct. All it appears to take is me sitting beside her, otherwise I hear "it's too hard", "I don't know what to do" and "I can't do it". Once I sit next her, she just cracks on and does it although she will occasionally ask me valid questions or for help to understand the question more and I am fine with that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She's also continuing on with a spelling curriculum, Spelling Workout Level E, by Modern Curriculum Press, that she worked on last year. More so because her new English curriculum hasn't arrived yet, than because I particularly think highly of it. In case you can't read the above, she was supposed to write down words that she struggled with in lessons 13-17 ... her response "none, I'm brilliant". Rather her getting told to do things like this properly I simply have a laugh (as does her Papa) and let is slide. I really can't see what it would prove to do otherwise. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So on day 2 we did the same lessons as the day before but, this time I put her onto </span><a href="https://diy.org/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DIY.org</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to complete some badge activities from there. She has been signed up for ages when blogger Sue Elvis put us onto it but, we always had trouble getting onto it properly. Turns out we simply have to go through Chrome to have full access to is. I knew she would be enthused when she saw she could earn a minecrafting badge and she was!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She completed her Stitcher badge ... watch out Aunty Sheryl, there will be a little something on it's way for you. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And of course she completed her Minecraft badge. She had to do a minecraft 'art' challenge and so she designed an owl with a 3d heart on Valentines Day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I like the fact that by introducing DIY into her curriculum, it has been keeping things interesting and she has more control over what she'd like to. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For her literature study she chose "Sherlock Holmes" for us to work on. It's an abridged version, so I didn't think it was that great and unlike other abridged classics we have read this one didn't have her yearning for more. We have already completed it and begun work on Alice in Wonderland. She chose that one next (I suggested Little Women) and then complained that she had already read it, so why where we bothering ... sigh ... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">We continued with our Story of the World, Volume 3 for history and because the chapters we were working on were on American history I put on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt8MmmLLHJY&list=PLDJIqrrPuaVZ6ruFXXDYrxY5vJ_o1Ey7X" target="_blank">Liberty Kids</a> off YouTube which is a cartoon series that was made about the American Revolution, Boston Tea Party, etc. It is really thorough and quite good and from what I can tell she is retaining the knowledge. I pop a show or two (or three if I wander off and forget about her) on each day whilst she is eating her lunch. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">We also have started work on an old Introductory course to Physics program that I purchased years ago and forgot on the shelves ... as you do. Am using it as an opportunity for me to start teaching her about Mind Mapping too. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">She is also taking a weekly Jazz and Hip Hop class and also a performance class. Mostly because some of her old home school friends attend also and I feel she needs to be out amongst some mates more so than even before.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">So we are starting to get in the groove again but, I must admit I am still adjusting to having just one student. It's not quite as much fun for either of doing some of the group activities that the girls both enjoyed doing together and laughing over. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span>Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-7610974548374218612015-02-10T06:00:00.000+13:002015-02-10T06:00:05.811+13:00High School Update <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well The Fashionista has completed two part weeks back at school (Friday was a public holiday in NZ). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She gets herself up every morning at 6am, and gets her breakfast and gets ready (we do her bag and lunch the night before) to leave at 6.50 with me. I drive her to the nearest town to catch a bus into her school for a 8.45 start. Then she arrives back at the bus stop at 4.30ish for me to pick her up and drive her back home ... you can see the exhaustion in her little face. Frankly I ain't loving the early mornings too much myself and I get up half an hour later than she does.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In year 9 they place all the 300 odd girls in random classes, except for 2 classes which they call extended class for the girls who did well in their placement exams that they took late last year and 1 class for children that didn't do so well and require a little extra help to bring them up to speed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TF was placed in one of the extended classes which she was pretty chuffed about ... don't get me started on how thrilled the mama, papa and extended family were too. It's kind of nice to have confirmation that home education works as well as we all believe it too. She stays in that class for most subjects except for her electives and math. For math they have another smaller special class for top performers which she ended up in apparently so far it is very boring whilst they review math which frankly if they don't know they shouldn't even be in High School. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She also has a "tutor teacher" and every day a tutorial session is scheduled. There are 5 girls from each year level (Year 9 -13 are the High School years in NZ) in her tutor class and the reason they do it this way is for the older girls to help mentor the younger girls with any issues they may have also. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She started off loving just about everything about school but within a week there was a major melt down one evening. She did not do well in a science test (just to see where they were at), fell down a flight of stairs in one of the buildings (there are 1800 girls at the school and apparently it is pretty manic at times), was petrified of her new Social Studies teacher, and was having issues with her IPad and kept heading to the library every day to get it online but the person was never there, so she ended up at the school office which had a queue a mile long and so missed lunch. She just exploded into tears that night. She wanted to keep going to school, but not that one because it was too busy, etc., etc. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Her Papa, who was at work, told me over the phone later when I explained what had happened, to tell her she could have the day off if she needed it, which really brightened her up. Not because she could have the day off, but I think because she realised we had her back. She and I discussed it but agreed that it would be better to get everything sorted the next day, and after a cuddle and our chat she went off happily to bed. I actually drove into her school the next day to pick her up as I was pretty sure it was simply tiredness that had made things so bad the day before (the bus trip home exhausts her as she has to stand sometimes and it's nearly an hour trip), and was pleased to hear that her day went really well. I took her and her sister out for an early dinner and we had a little bit of fun shopping. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There has been minimal homework so far, more tasks like doing their front pages for their classes, etc. and introducing themselves. Much to her surprise the scary Texan Social Studies teacher has turned out to be really nice and has offered to help her catch up on any work she has missed due to problems with the IPad situation. There were 3 in her class that had issues but she was the only one she offered to help, when TF was packing up her bag after class. Apparently everyone else rushes out of the classrooms but TF likes to place everything properly away.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I must say that the teachers there do sound quite lovely. All very supportive and nice so far, I am impressed with that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She absolutely LOVES her electives, drama and digital technology but they only go for 6 months of the year, so will be interesting to see what happens next semester. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am really not sure how it is going. She gets quite frustrated with some of the things that happen and more especially seem to take forever to happen. She does enjoy most of the actual classes though. So at the moment it's one day at a time.</span>Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-35439122021722134542015-02-09T11:02:00.003+13:002015-02-09T11:03:28.067+13:00Weighing In<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently I had to change the batteries in my scales and ended up leaving them in the kitchen as the whole household wanted to use them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is what I woke to this morning ... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apparently the bubble wrap should make the weighing in more fun ... thank you Agent Smelly you never cease to amaze me. </span>Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-34652056224671369392015-02-07T13:07:00.000+13:002015-02-09T13:22:15.820+13:00Pretty in Pink<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went slightly batty covering The Fashionista's school books. Curriculum is such fun, and wasn't too expensive overall, except for the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) which was costly seeing that she got an ipad.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She chose the covering paper and left me to it. She probably shouldn't have ... you really would think that these girls would know what I am like by now ... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apparently adding little pieces to her pens case was "a bit much" but, the best moment was when I took her glue stick into her ... all pinkefied; she nearly wet herself laughing. I was pretty chuffed with myself. The glue stick has also given a bit of a laugh to her friends and even her teachers have laughed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A couple of her teachers have professed they love her books and wish they'd picked that colour too -- her English teacher went the sparkly silver and supposedly is having regrets about not going pink now. Some of the poor teachers have complained to her that they have had to use leftovers from their kids books so had no choice in paper. So tragic!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She already had the pencil case and yes she chose a pink scientific calculator too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This little Sansha ballet slipper keyring with her locker key was a bit of an oops. TF picked some dance gear for Christmas and whilst in the dance shop I slipped the keyring into my purchases so she at least had something she didn't know about. When I got home, I saw that the price was $15! Seriously $15 for a keyring ... thankfully she loves it ... but seriously I spent $15 on a keyring! Some of the gear on special, cost me less. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I suggested covering Agent Smelly's books if she wanted me to and she raised her eyes and very dryly said "why bother" and shook her head at me. Pfft ... kids! </span>Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-79582210027972650572015-02-05T20:48:00.000+13:002015-02-06T21:25:18.002+13:00Dietary Changes<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">November last year when I was diagnosed with diabetes, my doctor simply said "You are right on the line, do NOT eat anything ever again with sugar". He also scooted around his desk in his chair, looked me up and down and said "and lose 10 maybe 15 kilos and you'll be fine. You can make this go away by doing these simple things". My doctor and I have a good relationship, he is honest and straight with me and I pay him for it. In case you think he was being rude by saying that about my weight , he wasn't, I can easily afford to lose 20-25 kilos and still not hit the ideal weight for my height so he was actually being rather kind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I left the surgery and with a couple of small exceptions I haven't had any sugary drinks or foods, except for the stuff that's found in fruit and veg. I now only drink herbal tea, the occasional regular tea with almond milk and water. I don't drink or eat anything with "fake" sugar because all it does is make you continue to want the sweet tasted in foods and drinks. Many of my recipes for sweet desserts are now made from raw food recipes so I am still getting "my fix" every now and then. Surprisingly it has not been that hard, maybe because I have HAD to give it up. If I simply wanted to for diet reasons I know I'd fail almost immediately. So I am counting this news as a blessing really; a necessary boycott of sugar.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Ideally I would like to give up wheat and bread but that seems to be harder for me. I am making a little bit of my own to ensure it has no sugar and I try and make it with rice flour, etc. I suppose every little bit helps. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I also no longer drink milk except for almond milk, but I haven't been able to give up cheese or some natural yoghurt (I am not even sure I want to) and as for eggs I get mine from my own free range chookens so I can live with that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A couple of weeks later, after more tests, it was found another couple of organs were struggling so I was advised again to stay away from anything with FAT. I then made the decision to cut out meat to make life easier for my liver and gall bladder. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So people I am now a pescatarian which means I can still eat seafood but although I ate a bit of it at the beginning I don't eat too much of it now as my repertoire of vegetarian recipes has increased. I am happy to report that the pain in my gall bladder area has cleared up. I had thought once my liver and gall bladder were recovered I would return to having a bit of meat every now and then but, I have tried a small bit of meat on a couple of occasions over the last couple of months and found that it doesn't agree with me when I do. I end up in a bit of pain, bloated and nauseous. So I am not sure what will happen with regards to meat but for the moment I am doing OK without it and it's no real hardship. Now if you think you could never give up meat, think again, I was a huge meat eater so if I can anyone can. I just adored the taste of meat. The Fashionista has joined me, although occasionally she might have a bite of her sister's meat simply to see what it's like. Agent Smelly wanted to do it too but lasted 24 hours, although I have noticed recently that she often enjoys the non meat dishes more than the meat which surprises her. The Papa has been fully supportive and happy to have vegetarian meals and says not to make him meat especially as he likes the idea of eating less meat and is happy to go without it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">You can see the difference in my skin too, it was quite blotchy before the dietary changes and despite not exercising much due to my recovery from the op (like I really need an excuse not to exercise ...who am I kidding) I have still managed to drop 5 kilos. So I am heading towards to my target of 15 kilos minimum. I would love to face my next operation having lost 10 kilos ... so wish me luck.</span><br />
Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-25925074656619193392015-02-03T11:54:00.000+13:002015-02-06T14:32:00.868+13:00The Fashionista farewells the Tooth Fairy ... <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now of course my children understand there is no tooth fairy but even so this has not stopped either myself or the kids still indulging in a little bit of fun and make believe. My girls tell me I am a nut but, they simply love it and I enjoy bringing laughter into their lives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well last Saturday morning The Fashionista had to have her last baby tooth removed. It has been loosely hanging for the past week (perfect timing with starting school) and kept bleeding whilst she ate. I tried pliers much to her horror but was unsuccessful and thought a professional might be best under the circumstances. Not to mention she kept running away whenever she saw me coming near her ... haha</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now TF is petrified of the dentist (no idea why there have been no bad experiences) and was starting to make a few whimpers in the dentist chair so I kept talking to her to keep her calm and somehow ended up saying that if she was really brave then the 'tooth fairy' would bring her $10 because it was her last tooth ... the things we say and do! Anyway she was really good about getting it out and afterwards had to clamp down on medical padding for nearly 3 hours afterwards as the darn area kept bleeding. She remained quite calm and good about it all, so she definitely deserved a treat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I not only popped $10 into her little white 'April' jar that we have used over the years for her teeth and dusted glitter, pink of course, but wrote 'bye' in it (hey this is her last visit) with a trail to one of her beautiful faeries made by </span><a href="http://wildflowerinnocence.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wildflower Innocence</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Yup that's the kind of person I am. She of course loved it and when I suggested she could wipe it up now, she said "Noooo, it's too cute". She did remove her cash and stash it though. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So my first baby has now lost all of her baby teeth (and apparently requires braces due to over crowding ... sigh ... kaching, kaching) yet another sign that she is maturing into a young lady. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Funnily enough Agent Smelly was at a birthday party whilst we were at the dentist and came home with one of her front teeth that had fallen out whilst chewing a 'skittle'. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By the way if you order a doll (check out her site as there are all kinds of dolls, not just faeries) from the talented Suzanne at <a href="http://wildflowerinnocence.com/" target="_blank">Wildflower Innocence</a>, let her know we sent you, she's a friend and a homeschooler too! Which reminds me I must ask her about some Easter bunny dolls for the little Misses. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-57018950932541998652015-01-27T08:54:00.000+13:002015-02-05T08:54:52.355+13:00First Day of School<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is something decidedly weird about posting a picture of your daughters first day of school when she is nearly 13 yet at the same time I still look at her and think she's too young for it all. </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How on earth people send their kids off at 5 years of age beats me!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But anyway here she is in part of her school uniform. It was too hot for the school jumper and all their blazers (which are burgundy in colour) have been held up and we'll be getting them in a couple of weeks. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4066366214252939738.post-21521153179346068992015-01-19T23:17:00.000+13:002015-02-06T14:16:17.934+13:00Post Camp Review<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Fashionista came home from camp on an absolute high ... I seriously thought that I might have had to put her on a string and let her fly out the car window on the way home. Those little footsies were not touching the ground ... she glowed!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apparently she </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">made lots of lovely new friends</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">rode mini quadbikes </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">went on a sea biscuit in the harbour (one of those inner tubes that gets toed by boats)</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">participated in a talent quest; she danced of course</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">made crafts (see hat above - formerly all white truckers hats)</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">swam in the camp pool a lot!</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">did a confidence course</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">did archery (she stunk!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">used air rifles (she stunk again!)</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">participated in a sand castle competition (the group she was in won!)</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">slid down a hill on a zoom slide (see video at 2:20 mark)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">did tobogganing down a hill</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">did some team building activities</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">had a go at BMX riding on a set track. She ended up being the only girl to make it onto the leaders board and apparently when her name was called out that evening, all the little boys in camp groaned to hear a girl had made it onto the male dominated board ... which still cracks her up when recalls it.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and of course because it is a Christian camp (there are lots of non-Christian children who also attend so you don't need to be Christian to attend), there were bible games, memory work and bible stories which were all good fun apparently.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's a video compiled by the camp organisers. TF is in a few shots but as the video is quite long, if you simply look at the 2:20 mark you will have a bit of a giggle.</span><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlTJYzk28CA&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Click here for the camp video</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Each group of 10 girls (or boys ... they are kept separate for some things, like sleeping ... lol) is assigned an aunty (or uncle for the lads) who sleeps in their dorm room with them and basically is responsible for their every need. TF was blessed with the most wonderful young lady, Aunt V, who sadly may not be back for the next camp as she is finishing Uni this year and hopes to end up in full time employment. Aunty V did so much more for TF than simply making sure she went to bed on time, went to all her sessions, etc. She had some wonderful conversations with TF and ended up being the most wonderful mentor and example of a kind, warm and modern, open-minded Christian woman that TF herself would like to be one day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">It turned out that TF was the only pescatarian (a vegetarian who includes seafood in her diet) or even vegetarian on the camp (surprising with over 160 kids I thought) but the lovely kitchen people made her special dishes, similar to what everyone else was eating but substituted vegetables for the meat. She was really impressed at how lovely and kind these ladies (and gentlemen) were at accommodating her dietary needs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She is already looking forward to next years camp. So am I, Agent Smelly is going to go too, so the Papa and I will get some alone time for the first time in like FOREVER!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />Multi-tasking Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07824304337746456198noreply@blogger.com0