Four legged friends.

My Ash is afraid of animals. In fact, she will run from a tiny sparrow if one flies down to scoop up crumbs in front of her. She has never been too keen on petting animals or getting remotely close to them. She would much rather enjoy them from a distance. So you can imagine my anticipation in seeing how Ash would react to the miniature pony and the alpaca and goat and guinea pigs and three little lambs and chicken and rabbits that visited kindy today.

I'll admit I was a little excited they were coming because a) I love farm animals as they remind me of visiting my grandparents farm when we were little b) who can resist petting a cute little lamb or a funky alpaca?! c) I figure getting up close to animals more often (since we aren't allowed pets at our house) will get her used to them. You'd think.

Notice Asher's careful placing of herself in proximity to the caged lambs (thats her in the pink hoodie).

Just as I expected, Ash kept her distance and looked on while the other children pushed in line to hold the little animals or bottle feed the bigger ones. Oh well, at least she petted Honey the shitzu/bichon, that's about as close as she's ever been to anything on four legs.

Actually, Ash was more or less forced into it. Notice how her arm is held in position. I guess she was fine so long as she wasn't looking at Honey. Oops, she must have looked!

Usually I think pictures of animals are boring, but I took some anyway because they were all little versions of their kind. I mean big alpaca = average in a "sure you can have my attention for a second or two" kinda way, but a little alpaca = very adorable, so adorable that you just want to hug it or talk in baby talk to it!

And just check out the grin on this lambs face!

Our Mini Holiday

Asher has a few words and phrases she loves to use regularly on a daily basis. These include "I go kindy 'morrow!" and "I go holiday!" and "I love you too!"

We love hearing her put sentences together and watching her as she thinks hard about what she wants to say. Well since she came home from her one week holiday away with my mum, one of her favorite words to use was "holiday." And so I decided, a holiday for us is not such a bad idea. Since Eden has a weeks leave coming up very soon I decided I would search online for somewhere for us to get away to and have a lil vaycay.

The plan is to meet Eden after his week working in Auckland somewhere in the middle of the North Island. So far it's a toss up between Taupo-nui-a-tea a.k.a Taupo and Nga roto o Rotorua or Roto-vegas. I figure these are close enough that it wont cost a mint to get to and far away enough that we'll feel like we've actually left town. Oh the excitement and fun I am having looking for places to stay and deciding on things we can do as a family.

It would be a lot easier if one of these places were less exciting than the other but then I suppose they are both very similar in terms of attraction. Here's what I mean...

The views are stunning.

Above: Lake Tarawera; Below: Lake Taupo

The ground is steaming hot! You can't get this much action in Wellington.

Above: Whakarewarewa; Below: Craters of the Moon


People.

. . .

OK so I don't have any photos of people but you get the idea. If our mini holiday happens guaranteed it will feature here as soon as we get home, until then we will have to do with trips to the Hutt Valley where they have excellent playgrounds and lots of hidden picnic areas along the river. At least the Hutt is warm in the spring and we can always stop in at Nanna and Granddads on the way home.

While you were sleeping...

...we four in the Joseph household were well and truly awake. We decided 2:44 am would be the best time to wake up for once, just to be random. Not.

So I woke up early this morning wondering why my backside was unusually hot. "Oh my goodness, did I wet myself?" was the first thing that popped into my dazed and confused mind. I reached across to our pint sized bed pal and realized it was she that had watered our bed. "Phew!" I thought, relieved I had escaped what could have been an embarrassing situation to explain but gutted that I now had to get up and drag myself into the shower in the wee hours of the morn (I know I know... I HAD to do it).

I reach over the little one and tap my hubby on the head.

"Eden, Ash has wet the bed!"

"Huh?"

"I'm getting in the shower, can you bring her to me?"

"Freak!"

I think she slept through the shower and didn't wake up til she was dressed in new pj's.

Thankfully our foam underlay saved our super-king slash impossible-to-flip mattress from getting wet. I will admit I delighted in the fact that we would go back to sleep on super fresh linen. There's nothing like slipping into bed after laying down fresh linen, even at 3am.

We were almost all back in bed when Ash decided she wanted to stay up. She put on her best desperate face and in her 2 and 3/4 year old language pleaded we let her watch T.V. Luckily for me, Dallin woke up and needed my attention, so off went daddy and daughter into the lounge never to be seen again til day light.

So now that I've got the bed to myself, and the other two are off making a bed on the couch, I decide to put Dallin in with me. Little did I know another sneaky sleep impediment would find its way onto my path back to dreamland. At 28 years of age, my wisdom teeth are finally deciding to appear. I knew they were there since I had all my biters x-rayed before I went to the Philippines. I thought I was one of the lucky ones who'd escaped the pain I've known wisdom teeth to cause. I kept telling myself that if they haven't come through yet, I doubt they ever will. Obviously I spoke too soon.

Dallin was the only one who got a decent nights sleep. I suppose it's only fair since his teeth (there are 6 all up now) have kept him awake at night for the past 2 months. The funniest thing about our early bird start to the day is that rrrrrrright before I put her to bed last night, I said to Eden, "isn't it cool how we haven't had to put Ash in nappies for bed?" Suuuuure enough right after she went ahead and broke a perfect streak of nil beds wet.

I guess I only have myself to blame. I should have touched wood like a normal person!

Yesterday and today

I had Monday-itis. I don't even have a day job but still I just didn't feel like doing anything. I'm a full time mother so really my days feel like they're all rolled into one and the only reason I know it's Monday is because the day before I put on my Sunday best and went to church. So yeah, my yesterday was spent doing very little. It was great.

As for today. We got up. We got ready for kindy. We got in the car and off we went.

Dallin and I spent an hour at kindy playing and sitting and pretending to eat food Ash had heated for us in the wooden microwave. It was yum whatever it was. We watched the boys make a train track that stretched across the length of the classroom. It was long. We watched the girls make cupcakes out of playdough. They were glittery. When it was time for morning tea, Dallin and I snuck out the gate and went for a drive.

The afternoon rolled around and I found myself checking the usual places my friends hang out online. I had some great IM catch ups. I love to IM. I love how my social life (offline) improves after an IM chat. Yay.

Tonight I made sushi. Sushi is great, but even though I think it's great it's one of those things that if people ask me if I like it, I wait to see what they say first before saying I do. Then I will know if I have to play it down or not. You see, not everyone likes sushi. I have a fear of being disliked because I like it. That's right, a fear. It's not silly. It's just my attempt at being liked by everyone, despite my liking sushi.

I guess I am a people please-er. I have no idea why. I don't see people making huge efforts to please me. It's relatively easy to please me. Just bring me some chocolate and tell me how lovely I look and I'm happy. Actually chocolate is a tricky one. There is definitely a downside to bringing me chocolate. In fact lets list them:
a) one little block is never enough = me eating more than I should = me feeling guilty for not eating healthy = I feel fat = I want to eat more chocolate because I'm sad = vicious cycle = me spinning out of control = it's all your fault for bringing me chocolate.
b) one little block is never enough and so on and so forth.
c) you get the picture.

OK so I think I've established that chocolate is not a good idea if you want me to be pleased. I do like pineapple though, and mangoes and seedless grapes. Just in case you were stuck for ideas.

Right, now that I'm well and truly on my way to tummy grumble town I suppose I should make like Tom and Cruise or a banana and split or a tree and leave or a bird and fly or a ... oh snap, that's all I've got.

On that note, good afternoon, good evening and good night!