Sorry for the delay folks, we've had a few momentous events in the last few weeks which means I've been a bit distracted from the blog. I'll start at the beginning with the post that I was halfway through and finish sadly with the death of my grandmother last week:

Post from 9th January:

Back home again and it looks like a building site but we can "see the potential" now which is brilliant. For those of you who have been to our place you can now stand at the window in the front room and see all the way to the back garden.

This is the end of phase 1 so once we have our permits and some more money we'll be taking out the chimney and the back wall before we build the extension so we'll live with the building site for a while!

We hadn't let the boys see the house until we moved back on Friday and they came running in all excited, Jack's draw dropped and he said "the walls are gone Daddy" and Tom looked up into the exposed ceiling where all the big silver air conditioning pipes were exposed and said "Wow Daddy built a space ship!!"

Jack has since been obsessed with vacuuming all the balls of insulation fluff that continuously emerge and spent a whole afternoon chasing bits with the hover and having a great time.....rather him than me!

The following week we had a visit from Adrian's Uncle Richard and Aunty Pat who came from Ireland and London. We had a brilliant time with them - they were so much fun! After a bit of a tour over the first few days we had a great night out in Wellington which ended with us leaving them dancing in an Irish Bar Molly Malones when we just couldn't keep up anymore! Adrian also took them up to Taupo for a good look around, a swim and canoe on the lake before heading back to Wellington where he went with them for a ride in a helicopter - huge treat for Adrian!! He also took them to Hell - see pic.....

Once they returned to Wellington I headed off to Melbourne for a little holiday with my Aunt Liz to visit my brother Michael. We had a brilliant time shopping and eating and drinking too much wine. We had a great time and I felt very spoilt having my dinners made and being able to laze around and go shopping unencumbered! Thanks so much to Mike and Katrina, you are brilliant hosts and we had a blast. Meanwhile Adrian and the boys had a great lads week including a visit to the annual teddy bears picnic...aaaahhhh

Sadly I had to redirect my flight on the way home to meet Adrian in Invercargill as my grandmother (Nanny Nora to the boys) had died while I was away. She was 93 and ready to go but it was sad to see the end of an era for the family. She had a great send off and I'm sure she would loved to have seen all the cousins having a great time chasing each other around and playing around together during the few days we were there.

All back home now and it's good to get back to normal - well as normal as it gets for us!!

Cute story for the week: Tom had something stuck between his teeth and Adrian opened his mouth to show Tom how to get it out, Tom looked into Adrian's mouth and his silver filings and said "Daddy why do you have robot teeth?"

Part II now…..

After a wonderful Xmas day we spent boxing day picking up some real bargains in the sales including a new oven and dishwasher (for the new kitchen when it’s built) and a printer/fax scanner thingy so now we are officially broke!

The rest of the week was a wonderful leisurely time with the boys having lots of lovely family outings to parks and the beach and visiting friends. We also had our first visit ever for the boys to the movies and we saw B Movie, it was a great film and the boys had a wonderful time with their popcorn and the big screen so it’s great bribery for the next time. We also had a gorgeous ferry trip to Eastbourne for a swim and an ice-cream and then home again (Mick and Tori - this time it was hot!).

New Year’s eve and I had a great night out with some girlfriends and Adrian opted to have one of his first new years not working or with anyone but watching bloke films and having a quiet whiskey on his own – he loved it, especially getting away from a load of girls me thinks!

We are now officially in residence at Eastbourne at a friend’s wonderful house which has an amazing view of the ocean and a stroll to the beach. We are staying here while Adrian is demolishing the internal walls of our house. So far he and the concrete cutters have demolished one wall and cut the hole for the French doors in the other – it looks amazing!! We are due to move home again on Friday so Adrian is working madly to get everything safe and sound before we do.

Hope you all had a wonderful new year, stay tuned next week for photos of our newly demolished walls X

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.... This is the first of two posts as there's too much for one!!

The week before Christmas was the usual rush of last minute everything at work and home for both of us especially for Adrian as he is now officially his own company "Backlight Limited" (please contact us for your future lighting requirements!).

I also spent the weekend with Chris in Invercargil at our Aunt Sandie's funeral which was really sad. She was only 42 and a truely beautiful soul so it was a real shock for everyone.

We took the boys to see the most brilliant Santa ever at Capital E. He was free (even better) and the loveliest man who chatted to the boys all about how he gets down the chimney and what they wanted for Christmas (Thomas said he just wanted chocolate as that's all he keeps asking for - easy pleased that one). They also had an exhibition on simulating a Victorian English Christmas so we checked it out and the boys did lots of activities including making their own Xmas Crackers which they made for each other and put under the tree.

The boys Creche Xmas party was great. The Arnold family will remember the one last year and this year was even better as the staff club where I work funded the whole thing so parents didn't even need to buy presents. They also had a bouncy castle which was painfully obvious when Adrian and I arrived to find Jack with half his top lip missing after bouncing a little too well!

Christmas eve they boys were really excited and got everything ready for Santa including his beer and the carrots for the raindeer. They also got to see Santa running in the garden to check if they were asleep and when we tucked them in that night to great excitement Adrian and I had one of those moments where you want time to freeze so they would stay that lovely and excited forever.

Christmas morning arrived and the boys came and snuggled into bed. Adrian and I waited and nothing, then I said "Merry Christmas" and they remembered what day it was and squealed with delight! They ran to see their stockings and it was a brilliant morning in a rush of wrapping paper, excitement and happiness.

Adrian and I had decided we would have a lovely relaxed bbq with anyone who wanted to come along to our place for the afternoon and it was one of the best Xmas' ever. Uncle Chris and Aunty Sue came along and my friend Louise and Raph, two of my friends from work Susan and Cherie and we had an absolute ball. The sun came out in perfect timing for our lunch al fresco and everyone brought something for the table and a bottle champagne. We had a a fabulous lunch with far too much champers and then Uncle Chris set up the water slide that he'd brought the boys for Xmas which was absolutely brilliant! Once we were all suitably merry and the boys were tucked up in bed we finished off by playing charades and had a trivia competition until midnight - an absolutely brilliant Xmas had by all.

Lots more to tell around New Year but I'll keep you hanging for a few days first!!

Love to all and wishing you a safe and happy 2008 X