The Reynoldz

Here in NZ a few people have asked what is the history of Halloween.

I have learned that some people here think it is a form of satanic worship.. some are digusted by the "American" influence.. and some just have fun!

I could not educate my KIWI friends because to tell you the truth, I did not really know the "true history" of Halloween. To me it has always been a time to dress up in a costume, have fun and get treats!

So I looked up the "History of Halloween" on wikipedia to get the scoop.
Here is the link in case you are interested http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

This year though in NZ, I have decided that the Reynolds girls are going to hang out in the house and observe Halloween to see what it is all about down under.

I have heard stories about children "trick or treating" here and getting treats at some houses and angry doors slammed in their faces at others..

We will not be slamming doors in faces.. We bought a heap of candy, dressed up and carved an albino pumpkin just in case we do get any NZ treak or treaters.. =)

Happy Halloween to those who par-take in the festivities..
and for those who do not... well just have a plain ol' good evening! =)

I have such a great family and friends!



I wanted to share some more of my special surprises today!

* Michelle stopped over for afternoon tea with a homemade birthday cake and a gift voucer for a massage at Haylo!! Ahhhh a massage and chocolate cake!! now that is a true girlfriend.. =)
* Lisa and Andy sent me beautiful flowers - There was a big knock on the back door and when I opened it, I found a really gorgeous bouquet!! How cool is that! Flowers in a room just make it so much nicer!... and these ones smell wonderful! I also got a totally cool birthday poem.. my god are the Doucettes creative! Sooooo glad to have you in town!
* Heidi and Dave called all the way from Texas.. I just can not begin to explain how great it is to hear Heidi's voice! She is just one really cool gal! (Happy Birthday to you too Dave! - his birthday is on the 29th so we get to celebrate it together this year.)
* Vashti, Robin, Jacqui, Kate, GLuv, Ruth, Don all sent really great blog/email/greetings.... These are really just so very cool....
* L and J Reynolds (Eric's folks) called in to sing me Happy Birthday in beautiful harmony!
* Tonight Eric hired a babysitter and I get dinner!!
What a Fantastic Day!!
Thank you everyone!!

Sure wish I was really there!!




They sure are CUTE!

And they sure make me Smile!

I Love 'em to pieces!!




I even get a virtual CAKE!

WOW!!
Oh my gosh!!
Eric made me a super dooper surprise pan of "K Bars" with candles in it and everything.
For those who do not know "K" Bars" is a special treat that my Mom makes and I devour..
Eric secrectly obtained the recipe from my Mom, and last night after I went to bed Eric got to busy in the kitchen..

Well the verdict.... CHOMP CHOMP...
We all agreed that the NZ "K Bar"version, even though it looked super yummy!!, well......, it just did not work..
We are calling this version "Nay Bars"..

All I can say is "Send butterscotch chips! and white corn syrup!" They do not sell 2 of the key ingrediants here in New Zealand. Eric had to make do with what we have here so he substituted these ingrediants with Maple syrup and white chocolate.. hmmm.. sounds like it should be delicious.. =)

It was a really really nice attempt on his part though!! I sure do love him!

oh... My mom and dad are having a party/gathering with all my family at their house today. My mom is making the thick COSTCO pork chops, potato salad and they will probably have the real "K Bar". YUM YUM.

I will call in using the web cam at 10:00am my time/3:00pm their time so I can "virtually" join the festivities.. Can't wait to see everyone!

oh and by the way...

The package from my parents that I mentioned in an earlier Blog.. I opened it today, and I got a really great shirt! a cheese grator, and coffee filters (they do not sell the kind I need here in NZ)..pretty great gift if I do say so myself!!
Eric and the girls bought me a cool gift of a ton of acrylic paints and canvases..

I sure am lucky!

Oh oh oh.. (read excited) Athea starts pre-school today, she will go 2 mornings a week. This morning we will have a visit and get aquainted day. "She is excited to play in the sand pit.." more on that to come.. Gotta go and help get her ready for the day!

Busy Busy Busy!

And Eric Reynolds!!!



We are getting ready for our Halloween party tonight and Eric gets this monster nosebleed..
Athea who has no idea what is going on with her daddy, runs up to me and asks me to put tissue in her nose... she says "BOOOOOOGERS like Daddy "

Eric sent out an email at work to ask if anyone knew of a place for us to stay from Dec 15 - Jan 31. One of his co-workers emailed back to say that we could stay at his place while he is away on vacation during the exact same dates. (how lucky is that?)
We went to see the house today and it is fabulous!

Mom did you rattle your beads again and make some magic??
Nice work Tony!

Hi all.. so it is a week before halloween and we hardly even know that it is just around the corner down here in New Zealand.

All my life Halloween has been a major event for me. I have always loved the crisp fall night air, the houses with jack-o-lanterns, and spoooookable decorations..

I actually really dig walking into Walgreens, Target and Safeway and checking out all the halloween items that you could buy to make your house and costume more cute or SCARY... (mostly I like it during the after halloween clearance =)

Here in New Zealand I am guessing Halloween is not celebrated in the same fashion. There is only one store in town that has a section for halloween decorations and they are tucked away in the back. It is nearing summer so we do not have the typical autumn dark crisp nights until later in the evening. It seems to me that only the folks that I know from North America seem to be talking about costumes and candy.

I asked some KIWIs if they celebrated halloween and they said that only a few people did the halloween thing (probably folks from North America I was thinking) but mainly the KIWIs celebrate Guy Fawkes Day on November 5. (hmm Guy Fawkes day.. I will have to google to find out more)... BOO HOO no halloween this year=(......

BOO! =) - Today.. We just got an invitation for a Halloween party!! Hooray!

Don and Kim work with Eric and are from the States.

Looks like I better get busy finding a costume..

Not sure what to do about trick or treating.. I will have candy available in case anyone shows up at our house.. But I may have to have the girls dress up and drive them around to all the North Americans I know in town.

Have to keep the SPOOKABLE spirit alive even if it is DEAD down under... =)

These are pictures of our house that we purchased last April.
It was purchased with the condition that the current tenants could stay until their lease finished 31-Jan-07.

We really liked the house so we agreed to take the house and the tenants. We found a home in the mean time that was furnished and the rent was cheaper than the tenants were paying. We figured that this gave us time to actually purchase bits and pieces for the house so we did not have to immediately scramble to furnish a house. (All of our stuff that furnished our house in the States is sitting in storage in the middle of California some place because it is too expensive to ship it all overseas.. but that is another story all together)

When we met the tenants after the sale of the house last April they had asked if it would be O.K. if they moved out the 1st of December 2006 instead of end of January 2007 . This was perfect for us, because the furnished house we rented was only available until December.

Well after many attempts at trying to contact our tenants they finally just emailed us this week (44 days away from Dec 1st to be exact) stating that they were not going to move until 31-Jan-07. (must be a good house to live in =)

Ughhh, So now we are scrambling to find a place that will take us short term for Dec and Jan. (sounds a lot like the situation that we were in last year at this time.. are we cursed? again another story =)

Luckily we have a few leads on short term leases so we are not really panicking yet.. (apparently many KIWIs like to travel during the summer holidays so we may be able to housesit.)

We also decided to do the KIWI thing and take advantage of our holiday homelessness. We just booked a holiday to the New Zealand South Island! The Interisland ferry will be leaving Wellintion 23-Dec-06 and returning 7-Jan-07.

Now we just have to find a place to live from the beginning of Dec and the end of Jan.. =)
WOO HOO

We last saw our cousins in July.
Matt, Dani, Faith and Erin

We went fishing and camping in Minnesota and sure had a good time.

We sure do love them and miss them! We are excited because they are coming all the way out to NZ to visit us!







Here are our cute Montana cousins.
We got to see them when we went back to the states in July too..
Jeb and Finn














Sadly we do not have any "real" current pictures of our other Uncle Glenny's cute kids.. we got see some them briefly this summer but the pictures that we got were not in focus..(digital cameras do that too often!!)

Sooo they better send me some soon!!

Good thing we have them in our hearts and in our minds so we can draw what they look like.

We love Jaqueline, Michelle, Brian Jayden and Harrison.

Haidyn was asked by her teacher to tell what she did over the school holiday.
These are pictures she drew for her class.

The Invitation>>>>>>>>>
Alex wrote in an email... (Alex is one of Eric's work mates.. a real great guy from Britain)

"Yesterday as most of you know was Eric's birthday and not just any birthday it was his 40th! Therefore a few of us have taken it upon ourselves to get him totally annihilated this Saturday, starting at Chow from 930 onwards...so there will be no excuses Reynolds! So you better don your drinking boots as you only have a few days to train before your kidney/liver marathon! You know you don't want to disgust me!"



THE GOAL >>>>>>>>>>
This is a picture from last year that Alex had taken during Eric's bachelor days in New Zealand. (before Anna and the girls arrived)
Alex sent it out with the email invitation..

Eric just yelled out, "don't put that picture out on the blog my mom reads it.. it is only lemonade in the glass mom"




<<<< THE RESULT

OK.. so when Haidyn started school I decided that I was going to be an active parent in her learning so I decided to join the Home and School Committee (PTA). I have volunteered at schools during my teaching classes and the ones that stand out as being really "cool schools" always had a really active PTA. So I thought that is what I want for my girl as well..

Well.... The school has their annual "Fun Fair" coming up in November, now that is fine and dandy.. most schools have one of these and all schools need the money.. SOOOO I volunteered to help.

I was handed a list of a bunch or companies in the neighborhood to call and ask if they would be willing to sponsor the fair. <**BIG SIGH**> Great.. begging for fair goods.. yuck.. I hate to do this more than anything in the whole wide world! Can't I clean the toilets instead??

But I have a hard time saying "no" so I took the list and started my rounds... and guess what, it has been as terrible as I expected! I have spent probably 100 bucks in gas/thank you flowers/chocolates and have received about 40 bucks in donations. Not to mention dealing with the fed up shop keepers who, as I am finding out, are getting hit up by all the schools around town. (Summer is a busy fair time here I guess) ughhh.. I only have 5 more to go.. <*SMILE*>

Yesterday, the fair "committee chair" (mental note.. I do not want that job in the future) stopped me outside of school and asked me to create the school flyer. "OK" I said (because again, I can not say no)..
I did not have much direction so the picture above is my inital attempt.. (and guess who the featured illustrator is hee hee)..
I have submitted the flyer to the "fair committee" and will see if they approve.

WHAT IS NEXT??.. only 29 days until "Fair Time" and it does not seem like much has been done.. I have a feeling I am going to be BUSY..

But she takes too long.... (ha ha.. I know, this is coming from the person who had entry # 2 hit the web a whole year after entry #1 )
Just to keep you updated, Big Andy and Lisa made it to New Zealand (see Doucette Blog if you do not know who they are)..
I talked to Lisa on the phone and saw Big Andy at Weta.. he was on his way to his first driving lesson to get aquainted with driving on the "other side".
I am trying not to bug them too much so they have some time to just breath! But we are excited to have them here!
My life down under could be complete if I could get a certain persons' resume emailed over... wow am I picking on you guys or what =)

Here are more pics from Tonga..
I should really show you pics of the heaps of laundry that I am trying to get through after the trip!! UGGHHH......