A few photos to relieve the drought this blog has been experiencing in recent times!



These are from today....bike riding after a successful morning at soccer....win to Ohaeawai, with Joseph scoring the only goal of the day and really showing some improved skills with the ball, earning himself player of the day!



Afterwards we hit the shops for new shoes for the big boys....we have given them a stern talking to and told them that any more growing of feet will not be tolerated under any circumstances heh, heh!! At least we are accumulating a nice stock pile of trainers for Samuel for the years to come!!


...And we had to buy our big Kindy boy a new bag for his first day of kindy coming up this Monday!! When I told him the lady had phoned and said he could start he began adamantly telling me that he was still a little boy and that only BIG boys go to kindy! So a new bag was offered as an incentive (definately not a bribe in any shape or form lol!!). He clapped eyes on this little penguin number and it was love at first sight....even has handles and wheels, the lot...so he'll be wheeling it on board the plane in September with all his hand luggage no doubt Gran and Pop!! Its not the biggest bag in the world, but luckily we manageto squeeze in a lunch box and drink bottle and a few spare clothes so he'll be all set for his Monday and Wednesday kindy mornings...thats if it lasts the weekend, its been all over the garden, goat feeding, bike riding, and carried and wheeled all over the house non-stop since getting it home!!

Lo, a garden gnome making the most of some wintery sunshine whitening and brightening the house with a lick of paint!

The daily inspection of the daffodil bulbs...happily all the bulbs are peeking through now and are being eagerly monitored by their little owners, yipeee, not long now until Spring!

....now we backtrack a little with some older pics I found on the camera.....

These are from May...Mothers day...went for a walk in Kerikeri...found a hill to run down...well, ahem, the boys did lol! ...I didn't fancy the long haul back to the top!!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

and back up again!

Home for an afternoon of teaching the boys to sew...they really gave it a good go and I was suprised by how much they accomplished themselves...I helped when they got tired but they were determined to get them finished that night...

and they did!

Recently I've been doing a bit of knitting and they wanted to learn how to do that too...so they are busy knitting little scarve's for their teddies at the moment!

June.....Queens birthday weekend we drove down to Cambridge to spend a lovely weekend of chat, board games, food, drink, walks and scrabble matches at Nana and Grandad's!

Here J and S are checking out the ice on the pond after a good old Waikato frost....tsk...look at those Northland boys walking around the frosty garden in t-shirts and bare feet!! I ran out with the camera in my jammies and barefeet too and nearly got frost bite after a couple of seconds...my toes were actually hurting they were so cold....but no amount of coaxing would get these two back in for footwear....

Working up an appetite before lunch at the race course.......

Don't worry Dad...I can see the pub from here!

Back up North the boys took part in the Jump Rope for Heart day...Patrick and his friend Isaiah show us how tandom jumping is done!

Also in June we added to our 'herd' (heh, heh!)....Dominic and Salty Sue had been rescued by the RSPCA in Whangarei and now have a home for life (not just for Christmas) at our place!
They have settled in well with their new paddock buddies...other than a bit of bossy head bunting when the hay and pellets come out...but the sheep just stand their ground and Lulu is quick on her feet and dodges any lowered heads coming her way.... Other than that they are very friendly and will do anything for a handful of feed pellets!!


Our neighbourhood kingfisher....

Oh and our white fluffy hearth rug.....


So there you go....a bit of Wintery goings on from up or over our way!!....depending where you may be!

Some snaps for you!

The boys making their own pizza's during the holidays which flew by very quickly.

Back at school now ready for a new soccer season, first game this Saturday...brrrr... I will be digging out the thermals for my stint of sideline cheering lol! Dad has volunteered to help with the sausage sizzle so he'll be keeping nice and toasty!

Here is Farmer Samuel helping me pull a few carrots for tea...

and sharing the tops to an eager Lulu...

Even Rosie came for a taste....funny sheep...

After a wet Saturday we were happy to see the sun on Sunday and went for a fish and chip lunch followed by a hoon on the beach at Matauri Bay...the boys enjoyed watching the surfers who were out doing their thing on the water...one day I guess it'll be them out there being gnarly dudes on their boards!! Heh!

Joseph and Samuel were keen to get their feet wet and race the waves....

....while Patrick, Bert and I had a huddle going on to ward off the brisk breeze! lol...gale would be a better description!

and finally....spotted....Samuel last week heading off into the paddock with his backpack full of picnic.... on an adventure...

til next time

ta ra for now...

PS....Go team Rawnsley...we are thinking of you heaps!! any day now!

l

Hey there blog, been a while!


Life goes on (and sometimes you have to run to keep up lol!!) but it is all good at the Darges!


Anyway to get the ball rolling again, here are some pics of all of us with some new found friends at The Parrot Place in Kerikeri yesterday. Joseph's best friend Zoe and her family were visiting up North from Huntly so we had arranged to meet them there. Love the way kids just pick up where they left off and they were soon hooning around together having fun like old times...


The parrots were gorgeous, what characters!! We all found a friend to sit on us (and poo on us aye Joseph heh, heh!!)

Annabel the parrot has found a suitable place to crack a nut....on top of another nut ha!!

Zoe's Grandad and Mum keep avaries at home so they were able to tell us the names of all the different sorts of birds there.

This fine blue fellow decided Josephs head would be a good look out.

Samuel didn't want to get too cosy but enjoyed letting them eat of his hand..
This little guy loved having his head scratched just behind his tufty feathers and would give you a little nibble if you forgot to keep it up lol!!

The parrots love anything shiny or metallic so Jims glasses were getting the nibble treatment here and Zoe lost some of the bling off her pretty top lol!!

So if you happen to find yourself in Kerikeri one day wondering what to do, I definately recommend checking out the friendly folk and birds at The Parrot Place, they have lovely tropical gardens too and we couldn't resist coming home with a few bromilliads for the garden!

At least we didn't come home with a parrot!! Although the kids have decided they are saving up their pocket money for one lol! Jim said he thinks the next best alternative is to train chickens to sit on our shoulders although the poo might not be so easily flicked off with a baby wipe. His project for this winter is to build a chicken coop ready for next spring and on top of creating my outdoor hot tub (oh yes, it is going to be very awesome...all done McGyver style of course with a recycled steel bath and gas burner underneath ...I can hear you laughing now but just you wait and see!! heh, heh)....anyway DIY boy is going to be rather busy!

All scrapbooking is on the backburner at the moment...other things to do at the moment...I'm sure one day there will be a time when I get back into it. Thanks to Lisa and Lianne and everybody at Scrapbook Studio, I had lots of fun during my time there! Also NZ dares are running their final dare...had a good innings there too...it was great scrapping alongside all the inspirational dare girls!

ok on with the day...a nice relaxed day at home....more vege gardeing calls....the holidays have been good, doing bush walks, kayaking, fishing, Monsters vs Aliens at the movies, shopping in Whangarei...

catch you later

Meek and the gang!

Dear Blog...

Sorry but Christmas followed by good weather, summer fun, beach, garden, boys in holiday mode and some house redecorating means time has flown by without a single update for 2009 yet...*gasp!! Even the Bulls crew have updated their blog before me heh, heh!! Go Looby!

So this is us catching up...firstly...

Christmas at Mum and Dads in Cambridge...yay Jim is on holiday at last!...

Ok people so after going through the many, many shots i clicked off of 'the cuzzies' group shot this was the 'best' one....mwah ha ha ha!! They are so going to hate us when we pull this out at their 21st's!!Carol and Al coping admirably with a house 'full' of kids and grandkids!!

Now Santa...about that Pony you promised last year......Samuel found flaked on the couch Christmas day, cuddled up next to his new fire engine from Santa...

and hanging out with his main man Connor...thanks Connor for playing endlessly and so patiently with all your little hanger on'ers!
Nice to have some gorgeous girls around the place! Jessica and Shea get into the spirit of the day with some grape juice bubbles....

...the lovely Nyah....

and even little Daisy la-la was dolled up in her best christmas gears! Poor Bert and Harry didn't know what they were missing!

Jim has the cream whipping all under control with the egg beater which made the move from the farm...it must be an ancient artifact by now that thing...was around when I was a kid...no smart comments please!

Awww look its number 11...playing peek a boo's with Aunty Meek...so nice to meet you at last Ben!

Another ancient family artifact still going strong, the Sorry boardgame...

And cricket also proved popular with one and all...the boys are still into it since getting home and we have had to upgrade Grandad's home made bat to a bigger kids version of the real thing.
and then after a lovely few days catching up with the family..especially the memorable game of pictionary we had, that was really lovely...ha ha ha!! Well it just wouldn't have been right if we had played it nicely... It was home again for New years eve...Jim lit the bonfire in the back paddock and we roasted marshmallows....eventually...once the raging inferno had died down a tad and we could get close enough iwthout singeing our eyebrows...ha!


The boys were given the opportunity to stay up til midnight to see in the new year if they wanted...so we turned the video channel on tv and had a good laugh at some of the old songs on the countdown, the boys busted out some pretty good moves to MC Hammers 'You can't touch this' when they wern't cracking themselves up over his funny pants!....Samuel was snoring by 10, Patrick valiantly lasted until 10.30 and of course Joseph was determined to last the distance and triumphantly counted down the last seconds of 2008 with Mum and Dad and has the champagne cork tucked away on his treasure shelf as a reminder of his first ever New Year that he stayed up!...and so here we are in 2009!!

Oh look it is the resident nudist colony having a picnic in our garden... they are in an out of the pool so much they soon grow tired of getting in and out of clothes and so on very warm days they give up on the idea all together!

Our new past time.....Kayaking...the best fun!!

....Jim (all on his own...and no pressure from the missus whatsoever!its true!)decided as much as he loves him that it was time for little red car to move on...so he is off to live with a gentleman in Christchurch, where he will be very well looked after with lots of other classic cars to keep him company...yes its sad...an end of another little chapter....

...but on a happier note it has enabled us to get set up with our first kayak, aptly nicknamed the 'Big Banana'! Getting the whole family out together and enjoying something together was the aim and its been a great success. After the first try the boys have proved their worth with a paddle and get stuck right in each time...Jim already has his sights on a second kayak so we can all go exploring together, apparently you can even fish off a kayak...who knew?!...so there are great plans for fishing and camping trips...here's to many adventures to come on the HMS Big Banana!!

and when he is gliding through the waters of the BOI he can usually be found in the garden or mowing the grounds lol! The vege patch is coming on great this year...courgettes and green and butter beans coming out our ears, love the red onions...will definately seed a bigger onion patch next time, the iceburg lettuce were a success..but should have staggered the planting...small lesson learned...the runner beans are going nuts, hairy but strangely fresh and tasty lol...the corn and tomato's and watermelons are coming on well, the spuds are growing like weeds and taste good too, threw in some radish, rocket and carrot seed the other day and they popped up in record time...planting conditions are GO!!

Oh look the nudist colony's Dad has joined in the action..heh, heh...if you can't beat 'em join 'em!

Today we headed over to Paihia for the annual sandcastle competition ...such a fun day, absolutely knackered when we got home...some mad closet sand sculpting talent around! Unfortunately our camera was out of action so we couldn't record the day but we managed to score a prize with Jim's creation...so hopefully there might be a pic in the local paper next week to share then...

Well thats it for my mammoth first post of the year...

hey! wake up.

lol.

As promised...sailing pics..lots of...heh, heh cause we had fuunn!!...absolutely lovely day spent on the water...the boys quickly found their sealegs and were all over the boat...Thank you James and Di for being a fabulous Captain and Captains mate lol!!

Move over Dennis O'Conner....the next contender for the America's cup is starting his training...

Ahoy there Captain James...we are about to take over your good boat the Bellatrix lol!

The boys all kitted out in their flash new life jackets...

After exploring the boat and stowing the bags we were on our way...there was just enough of a breeze to raise the main sail...

Happy to have a go behind the helm....


On the look out for pirates!!

Di bringing in the sail...

Time for a spot of treasure seeking on Turtle island!

Who's this lovely mermaid...mwah ha ha!!

... a game of tiggy on the beach...*gasp has Jim actually taken off his socks and boots!!

Some exploring of rocks and inspection of rockpools
...before rowing back for afternoon tea aboard Bellatrix...isn't she pretty!

December so far....

Joseph has taught himself to shin up poles at school and can now be frequently found sitting in very high places....I'm sure it's fun but it dosn't half give his poor mother a heart attack!! He has asked if we can have a holiday in fiji so he can climb the coconut trees lol!!

Having loads of fun at Playcentre as always...and we had a Mums only day out a few Sunday...a walk in the bush, a stroll in the bush, followed by a luxurious long lunch...cause we're worth it lol!

Samuel helped me put up the Christmas tree...nuff said...lol...Its cool.. he's right into the whole Santa thing...where does he live, how will he get here, how do the reindeer fly....and 'What would you like Santa to bring you Samuel?' "...heaps, heaps of fire engines!!!!'. Went to the Warehouse the other day....'Santa lives here aye Mum' why is that Samuel...'cause its red like Santa' lol!! and I suspect cause of all the toys...Samuel thinks the Warehouse is just a big playground for him to go and fiddle with all the toys...its nightmare trying to go shopping with him cause he is just off on his own mission the whole time...to the toy section!

School Concert and Prizegiving was this week...the kids put on a very cool circus show with jugglers and clowns and unicycles...they did an awesome job..nothing nicer than kids singing...I love having a giggle watching the little ones singing erratically whilst picking their nose or waving madly at mum or the ones who are really into it singing for all they are worth...
Patrick was given a certifitate for achievement in Numeracy...way to go P!! Although afterwards he was more excited that he was allowed to keep the sparkly hat from his band player costume than getting an award lol!!

Some scrappy stuff here...my DT work from last months kit...I like this one..sooo cute!

And I went digi for the last ever Kiwi Jack Me Up...heh, heh...chubby checker!

Check out Niella's cool layout here...she is offering up 3 prizes from her Randomkitsandpieces shop so if you have time to enter a layout this month...you will be in to win!

Last week of term this week...Playcentre Christmas party on Thursday, Joseph's class is having a Pyjama party...lots of fun end of year stuff....have done all the Christmas shopping WOOOOT!!

Today we are off sailing!! Jim's work mate has invited us along on his boat...so better get off and make a picnic and organise the kids...will update with some pics later...

ta ra!

Hi!


thought I better dash in and pop something up for November!!


We had a fun day out two weekends ago with Play Centre on the Kawakawa steam train...it was great to have all the Play Centre gang bring their Dads and brothers and sisters along too.


This is the lovely Gabriel who is lovingly looked after by the volunteers at the railway....and just behind you can see the Kawakawa fish and chip shop....does the most beautiful fresh fish with a herbed batter.....just in case you are ever passing through...highly recommend you stop and try the fish and chups here!!!
Some of the big brothers and Sisters...

chuffing down the main street...the Hundertwasser dunnies to the left......Dad and Samuel enjoy the rural scenery and count pukeko's and cabbage tree's... The volunteers love to show off their pride and joy and Samuel soaked it all in...so many levers and dials and of course the fire



and Yay! now we don't have to listen to the kids asking to go on the train everytime we drive through Kawakawa any more lol!!

The warmer weather is upon us at last...Samuel has been enjoying a dip in his 'pool' most afternoons and the vege garden is putting on a spurt all of a sudden! We are expanding all the time and have nearly completed the whole circle of the parterre pattern at last...one more bed to dig!!

Dad and Joseph built a go-cart together for the trolley derby at Kea's but I'll have to pop those pics on later as they are on Jim's camera...apparently theirs wasn't the fastest but was the most controlled...which in my book is a very good thing...I was having the horrors thinking of him flying out of control down a tarmac road lol!! After my stern face and raised eyebrows over the fact that their was no brake...the inventors went back to work and devised a brake to appease the great Mum goddess....heh, heh!!!

I don't have many flower type plants in my garden these days but these pretty little love in the mists are very special as they are from seeds Mum gave me from the ones at the farm...they are planted next to the garage so just as I used to admire the farm ones which were always by the gate as you walked in from the car...I now admire these as we go to and from the car....oh and Mum and Dad...the orchids have just flowered with some lovely great stems....I keep meaning to find out how to look after them properly but they seem to have liked the complete lack of attention I have given them and just got on with things lol!! Sometimes I do remember to splash a bit of water their way...but other than that, thats it!! Keep em keen, treat em mean seems to work!

On the scrapping front, its hard to find a spare moment lately but I have been having a little play with digital scrapbooking which is a lot of fun..I'm learning new stuff all the time...I did this one for last Sunday's Bossy Scrapper at Scrapbook Studio (thanks Boss Jenny for the fun sketches you found for us to work off) and was very proud to work out how to cut my photo into a circle all by myself lol!!

If you are a digi or hybrid scrapper don't forget to check out Louise Williams new site http://www.eidou.com/ her team have some fun kits to get you creating.

Paper scrapping wise I joined in the Halloween ATC swap at Scrapbook Studio and created 8 of these...which once you are on a roll wasn't too bad at all...although I did stick to a fairly simple design...I think she's a sweetie little wannabe witch though lol...

There is one more ATC swap happening before Christmas so if you are keen come on over and sign up here...this months theme is FABRIC.

If you are looking for a great way to wrap up your scrapping for 2008 check out fellow DT member Sonya's highlights for 2008 challenge here and her layout for inspiration here upload it in the gallery by December 30th to be in to win some fabbo alcohol inks from Scrapbook Studio.

There is also sign ups for the December guest designer here just put your name down and you will be in the draw to receive a lovely goodie box of scrap supplies to design with.

You have until 30th November to complete Liannes Sketch challenge and Lisa's monthly competition

and if that isn't enough to keep you going its my turn to post up the new NZdare on Friday...heh, heh...this one will get you thinking! and oh my goodness its almost time for a new Kiwi Jack too!!

Phewf...well that makes me tired just thinking about it so I'm off to check on my smallest one who has a tummy bug...he was horrified when I said this to him earlier because before he gets in his paddling pool Mum has to scoop out a large variety of unfortunate Northland bugs which have come to a watery end...'Muuummmmm buuuggs'! lol! So poor kid now thinks he has some creepy crawlies from the pool lurking around in his tummy!!

Oh and one last thing if you havn't seen it already....Jim and I highly recommend the BBC tv series 'Life on Mars' we just finished watching the series on DVD and were hooked!!

Playing catch up here...

Some pics of last weekend...

Homemade Halloween fun...

Got the boys busy creating their own monster masks....

"Slime and Blood" drinks went down well after all that monster tag in the long grass...

I made up Trick or Treat bags which contained these hard case teeth...very funny....

Followed by ghost stories before bed...the kids had a whale of a time...who needs to go walking the streets knocking on strange doors aye!!

The following day was Patricks birthday party day....a friend over for lunch, spider man cupcakes, treasure hunt and then into town to see Wall-E at the movies....love living in small towns....we were the only ones there for the 1pm session lol!! Had the whole place to ourselves...didn't have to listen to other people rustling their sweet packets, the kids could talk and laugh loudly, Samuel systematically went round and put every single seat down and tried sitting in the front row, the back row and every row in between heh, heh....a very happy six year old...had a lovely day and then on Tuesday his actual birthday got a few more pressies too....thanks to all the far-now who sent something...he loved everything!!

Fast forward through a week of Samuel going down with a cough and cold, having a pet lamb to stay while its owners were out of town, an uneventful guy fawkes, and ususal weekly stuff to today...

It was the BOI A and P/food festival show at Waimate North (2 mins up the road) today. And we actually entered some stuff for a laugh. Seeing as we have been into making our own bread lately we decided to make some for the baking section, I made the traditional white loaf and Jim made his fancy beer pull apart loaf with poppy seeds on the top...Joseph made chocolate truffles...I made a jar of lemon honey and we picked 3 of the best Avocado's off the tree to put in the garden produce section....

Look what we came home with!!!!

A first for my bread, highly commended for Jim's, highly commended for Joseph's truffles, 2nd for the Avo's....and sadly nowhere for the lemon honey...lol...but it has since been spread liberally over thick pieces of bread and is nearly gone...so it really was rather good despite its lack of award!! Very chuffed we all are with our last minute efforts....

...and we also won the DOC raffle for 4 native trees...so it was a bit of a lucky day for us!

Had a fun few hours at the show, Joseph and Patrick tried the rock climbing wall, Joseph had a good go at it and got about 3/4 way up several times...Patrick got a quarter of the way, looked down and bottled it lol! Thought he was very brave to try though...he said he would give it another go next year when he was bigger...good on ya P!

They all scored toys in the treasure dig, Jim brought the most expensive sausage in bread ever from the food festival tents lol...well they were choice organic sausages with saurkraut in french bread...so I let him off....luckily the kids were starving so after eyeing the saurkraut suspiciously for a couple of seconds (in which I was thinking oh my god Jim why on earth did you buy fancy sausages with strange vegetables on the top!!!)I was amazed and happy to be proven wrong and watched them wolf the lot!! Apart from Samuel who was far too busy jumping on and off pieces of farm machinary to bother about eating!!

Came home to spend the rest of the afternoon vege patch gardening... and dreaming and scheming of what we could grow and enter in next years show lol!!