and then it rained

When in Hamilton my home away from home is the Paea house. Aside from Rachael being a besty, I adore her children and love her husband like brother. Nepia is a wonderful man and an excellent person who fulfills many roles with grace and only a small amount of flaking out on the couch.

However, this past weekend the Paeas in all their generosity hosted the Deanwell Ward's youth garage sale at 7.30 in the morning. This was a delightful surprise.

There is a silver lining though... I got to catch up with people from my old Ward without having to leave the property plus there was a sausage sizzle so bread, mato sauce, onions and a sausage for breakfast - the breakfast of champions I'm sure.Some of my favourite people were there.....Kade and Mem

And Hanny, who was witness to the ever decreasing wares for sale.

By the end of the of three hours the Youth had made more than $600 towards EFY camp next January.

It only looks like I stood in the same place all morning. In reality I had Kade with me, who at 18 months old quite likes running onto the road at regular intervals - a fun, fun game at 7.30 in the morning.

Then it was time to make Hanny's day by going to watch her play netball for her school.

Hanny is a super prepared girl and played Wing Defense for the first half and was subbed off for the second half.

As I watched her it all came back.

Saturday mornings in the freezing rain in short skirts, running around having no idea what I was doing...

Luckily there were refs like Rachael there to keep an eye on things.

The best thing about that morning at netball - aside from watching Hanny's team win and Hanny get into the game - was that as the game started the rain pretty much stopped and didn't start again until the final whistle. Very nice timing.

Then Hanny and I went shopping for a birthday present for Princess Meg's birthday party that afternoon.


Ngaire, another besty and Princess Meg's mum does the best kids birthday parties.
Meggy turned six and you can imagine how perfect a princess party would be.
There were a few princes too.

Ngaire put together a great party - there was pass the parcel and statues and princess says and decorate your own cupcake and then eat it. And then run around until the sugar was flushed out of small systems. Simple works best I think. A perfect princess party with gorgeous dresses.

There was also basketball practice, soccer games, lunch, then a bit of in depth girlfriend catching up and talking late into the night.

A massive day was had by many.

A good weekend thanks to the Paeas (enjoyed meeting the Painters again) and the Reedys and most of all to Dae who drove me around to all my meetings, helped me with my goal to see more movies ("The Losers" - a nice bit of goofy violence and "Boy" - funny sad) and talk and talk.

'tis the season... for birthdays

So weird thing (amongst many) about my family is that we tend to be born at the same time of year, the best and worst time of the year too...

December

The birthday season starts with the beautiful, smart and sporty Mem - December 3rd she turned 14 and you how important that birthday is, the threshold of becoming very useful to her family and neighbourhood... yes she can babysit!

Next is Mags - her birthday is December 12th.

December 12th happens to be a very popular birthday date and I knows about 10 people born that day and many seem to be in a similar age bracket as Mags. She can also babysit.

Next on the December birthday roll is ......

Neps!

The very next day, the 13th is Neps birthday.

He too could babysit but he is quite busy caring for an entire Ward.

Then a bit of a lag, much to Red Mum's relief until we get to Kade, our newest addition.

The Stealth Bomber turned 1 last Saturday, the 19th.

An almost Christmas surprise for Nep and Red Mum (you gotta come up with a nickname!) and Mem, Hannie and Tommy Te (and the rest of us). That's the Stealth Bomber in the middle but he doesn't look like baby Mr Blobby now. He can be babysat..anytime I'm sure.

Then it's Pippapotamus and Joshua Stick Snake's turn on the 20th. Both very sweet and thoughtful people who like talking on the phone, at least to me, must be the birthdate!

Here's Smeggy, Joshy and Samu - a wee while ago - send new photos Nahiree!

And the semi-famous Pippapotamus..

This is a very recent pic. Pippapotamus will feature on roadtrip posts in the near future...and still plays with dolls but in an arty way.
Then there would have been my Pop's birthday on the 25th but his birthdays stopped sometime ago. There is way more famous fulla than my Pop and the 25th is his commonly recognised birthday and this is my favourite picture of him with his mum by Liz Swindle

And then there are a bunch of cousins who I've lost track of and then there is me.

on the 30th... yes the 30th of December... enough said.