Tuesday, December 26, 2006
We are off to the South Island!
Going to go explore New Zealand's south island.
We are taking a ferry across in the morning and will be camping and staying in some hotels.
We are mostly staying in the northern part of the south island though..
Nelson, Abel Tasman, and Marborough.....
Back on the January 7th.... 2007
Happy New Year!!
We are taking a ferry across in the morning and will be camping and staying in some hotels.
We are mostly staying in the northern part of the south island though..
Nelson, Abel Tasman, and Marborough.....
Back on the January 7th.... 2007
Happy New Year!!
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Advent Day #24 - Merry Christmas!
And good will to all.Best Wishes from the Reynoldz.
Love to our good friends and family.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Advent Day # 23 - If only in our dreams.....
We'll be home for Christmas!
If only in our dreams......
Please have snow and mistle toe and presents under the tree...
Christmas eve will find us
Where the love light gleams
We'll be home for Christmas..... If only in our dreams
Everytime this song played on the radio this season.. I started to cry...
It will be the first Christmas that we have spent away from "Home" and family....
The ironic part about this song we realized tonight is.. (after having the girls sing it)
The guy we are house-sitting for (who let us have a home over the holidays) is CHRIS MOSS..
We'll be home at at Chris Moss's you can count on us... (get it?)
LOVE YOU!
Friday, December 22, 2006
Advent Day # 22 - The Mountain Boys
Here are wonderful Christmas wishes for our dear nephews Jeb and Finn in Bozeman, Montana. It sure would be wonderful to celebrate Christmas with you. Here is Haidyn posing with her two cousins in November. Oops!Thursday, December 21, 2006
Advent Day # 21 - School's out for Summer!
Yes, it's true! Haidyn's last day of school was last Wednesday. She doesn't have to go back till half way thru February. However, I wouldn't say that the weather has been very "summery" as of late. Oh well. We suffer so much! :)I was gonna post the lyrics to Alice Cooper's "School's out for Summer", but they don't really apply to Haidyn. She loves her teachers and loves school. And gets bored with hanging around the parents all day, will probably ask when she can start going again.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Advent Day # 20 - Christmas Shopping
Well, here is a crazy new way to do an advent box. Really pushing the envelope here. Sideways. See? This is Haidyn and Athea playing at the Moore Wilsons' Toy Store, while mum and dad look for gifts for all their little friends. Well mum mostly looked. Dad probably sat around and tried taking nice pictures of his girls. It seems to be the thing here in NZ. Furniture stores, clothing stores, restaurants, Mitre 10 (like a Home Depot....mmmmm...Hommmme Depoooooooo) all have a play area for kids. It's not just for McDonalds anymore.Cheers, and good luck shopping! I know you are not done yet!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Advent Day # 19 - Making X-mas Cookies with Grandma Jo
Here are pictures from last Christmas.We were in Montana with Grandma Jo, Papa, Auntie Chris, Uncle Jim, and Jeb (Finn was yet to be born).
Haidyn is making christmas cookies with Grandma Jo. Cooking and baking with grandma is one of her favorite things to do.
PaPa can be seen briefly in the kitchen in one of the photos, but later was found napping with Athea. Napping is one of PaPa's favorite things, and (sometimes) Athea's too.
Missing all of you!
Monday, December 18, 2006
Advent Day # 18 - School Christmas Program....Outside!
This evening was Haidyn's School Christmas program. The kids sat outside and sang a few Christmas songs. We (the parents and siblings) all sat around on the grass in the warm late afternoon sunshine and sang along. Pretty laid back.They did alot of the traditional songs we all know up in the Northern hemisphere,..."We Wish You a Merry Christmas", "Away in the Manger". "Jingle Bells",..etc.
Plus a few for the Southern Hemisphere. Here is one of Haidyn's favorites
Haidyn is the kid in a Santa Hat to the right in front (not facing the camera....but you get the idea..)
CHRISTMAS ON THE BEACH
(chorus)
Christmas on the beach.
Christmas on the beach.
Pack your picnic hamper up,
We're gonna have a feast
Underneath the huge
Pohutukawa tree.
Christmas on the beach.
We don't want no reindeer
We don't want no sleigh.
We just want some sunshine
And a good old holiday.
We don't want to suffocate
In our shoes and socks.
We don't want to sit around the box.
(chorus)
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Advent Day # 17 - Christmas Party
Saturday night we went to a fabulous Christmas party hosted by our canadian friends out here; James, Jennifer, Marcus and Victoria Jacobs.
It was an amazing party! Fun was had by all!
They had a magician come in to entertain the kids, a fully stocked bar (including James as bartender), tons of food including ham and turkey... plus... heaps of yummy christmas desserts...
They also arranged a gift exchange for the kids so they all had a present to open.
Now if that was not enough.... I just wanted to let you know that Jennifer Jacobs is the gorgeous gal in one of the pictures who is 9 mos pregnant! She is due Jan 11.
I am telling you I am in awe of this fabulous lady and her beautiful family!
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Advent Day # 16 - whoops
Well,...clearly we were a bit mixed up in our move and thought it took a day longer than it really did, so we threw 3 advents out there yesterday. Now any of you keeping track should have realized that this was one too many. You lucky buggers shouldn't have gotten the 16th advent door till NOW! Well what's done is done. So since you feasted so much yesterday, you must fast today. No advent door for you!
Have a nice day! All is good here.
Have a nice day! All is good here.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Advent Day # 16 - We are back Baby!
Oh yeah!
As Freddie Mercury said,
THE SHOW MUST GO ON!!!!!
As Freddie Mercury said,
THE SHOW MUST GO ON!!!!!
14 - Moving Day - The car is loaded even the tree had to go
15 - Buried in my new room
16 - Our Tree found a new home (Dad, a house rerun on the TV to the right and on local TV even.. my cup runeth over =)
15 - Buried in my new room
16 - Our Tree found a new home (Dad, a house rerun on the TV to the right and on local TV even.. my cup runeth over =)
Advent Day # 15
Never fear.. we have connected now.. we just need to get it all sorted..
the advent doors will be coming soon.. we promise =)
the advent doors will be coming soon.. we promise =)
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Advent Day # 14
going off line in about an hour... due to the move, the 14th door may be a little late depending on when we get internet again. =)
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Advent Day #13 - Another House Bites the Dust
Well, tomorrow is moving day. Onto our next house for this year. We will only be in this new house for a month and a half. So most stuff will stay in boxes. But not our Christmas Cheer!!! Oh no! That will be out and about. =)The picture above is the only one we have of our current house we are leaving. That is Haidyn playing on the beach out in front of it.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Advent Day #12 - Reindeer
Rudolph, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and Blitzen are the most commonly cited names of Santa's nine reindeer.
In the poem "The Night Before Christmas" (attributed to Clement C. Moore), from which the names of the reindeer come, the reindeer known today as Donner and Blitzen were originally Dunder and Blixem (the Dutch words "Donder" and "Bliksem" stand for "thunder" and "lightning", as rendered in English orthography).
Dunder was later reprinted as Donder, which developed into Donner (the German for "thunder"); while Blixem was reprinted as Blitzen (Blitz is German for "lightning").
All of these reindeer names are recited in the first verse of the popular song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which in turn has helped make Rudolph by far the best known and most popular with children.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was born for the American department store chain Montgomery Ward in 1939, and has since entered the public consciousness as Santa's ninth and lead reindeer. (and I also just found out that Wards is still alive and kicking on the internet http://www.wards.com)
Thanks once again to wikipedia.. here is the link if you want to read more about the man in red... =) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_claus
and.... a special heart felt thanks to our dear sweet Haidyn for her lovely picture.. It is one that she drew by the christmas tree this afternoon.... She has been captured by the magic of the holiday and it tickles our hearts to see!!
Monday, December 11, 2006
Advent Day # 11 - The Mall Santa Photo Op
My mall Santa photo ops with Haidyn in the past have always been.... well... hmmm.... some what of a torture event for my wee girl. =)I have captured many years of a happy Santa and a terrified little girl.
This year was totally different. Haidyn my 5 year old spotted Father Christmas at the mall downtown Wellington, and was actually really excited to sit up on his lap to have a chat.
Then a week later, at the Seatoun local christmas parade, my big girl took off right into the mob of kids that surrounded Jolly ol' St Nick just to get close to the man in red. (seriously, I actually lost her in the crowd of screaming claus fans =)
Athea at 2 years was still a bit more reserved about the whole thing... (which was actually a rare site to see =)
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Advent Day #10 - Swinging Girls
Here are our two gals.
One of their favorite things to do is swing.... for very long amounts of time. Well I FEEL like it is very long amounts of time. They would probably disagree. Disagreeing is their second favorite thing to do these days. :)Anyways, here in New Zealand, the land of extreme sports, ordinary swinging just will not do!
So here are the girls, down at the Queen's Wharf, swinging NZ style.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Advent Day # 9 - Santa
Santa and his better half =)
and their cute little elves...
This was christmas in Minnesota last year.
We always have such a great time together at Grandma's house!
Friday, December 08, 2006
Advent Day # 8 - Happy Christmas Thoughts
Well the Big Day is getting closer! It is not quite the same, having Christmas in the summer without any of our relatives to share it with. But we are working at it. We have a tree with lights, and presents are arriving to put under it.
Here's a little something to get you in the mood!
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Advent Day # 7 - Mother and Daughters
Here is a special advent day for my Anna. Who just so happens to have two wonderful girls. (One is snuggling her even as I write this.) We are all just so lucky to have her. Five moves (with two kids in tow) in two years would make most people go mental.
We have two more moves in our immediate future.
Here's hoping we will then have found a place to stay for awhile. And relax.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Advent Day # 6 - Date Night
So we finally had our date night. It has been a few weeks. Anna always had the plan today to use date night for the day 6 advent calendar theme. So she spent a good part of the day scouring the internet looking for a poem about date night. I thought maybe that wasn't something most poets would write about. But I was wrong. Check it out!
Date Night
Date Night, Date Night,
It's something you should do.
Just take your honey on the town,
and have a drink or two.
Then follow that with a nice good meal.
at a trendy downtown spot.
Oh look!, it's getting so very late.
Let's head for the parking lot.
ATM stop for sitter money, then drive back home again.
Pay the sitter, check on the kids.
Yay! We're in bed by 10:00.
-by ???
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Advent Day # 5 - Favorite Toy
Holiday Dress Ups for the Kitties
To get in the spirit, we gave the girls 8 christmas kitty dress ups to play with during advent. (they are suppose to be for bears but not in our house)
Here you see Santa kitty getting ready for the big day along with her trusty helper the kitty elf and black kitty is standing in as the christmas tree.
Missing from the christmas kitty pageant are:
Angel kitty, snowman kitty, gingerbread man kitty, rudolf kitty, and penguin kitty....
The TY beanie kitties are an extremely loved toy in our family.
Every year Haidyn asks for a kitty from Santa and seems to get new stuffed kitty of some sort. =)
This year she is a bit smarter about her wording.. She has actually asked Santa for a "REAL LIVE" kitty. Oh my......... =)
Monday, December 04, 2006
Advent Day # 4 - For Lucia
Christmas Without our Best DogThe tree is all trimmed.
The gifts are all wrapped.
The hymns are all sung,
And the travel plans mapped.
And still there's a sadness
That lies in your heart,
For a dog that was lost
And a love now apart.
A stocking is missing,
With toys and a treat.
A lap is now empty, A space at your feet.
Yet remember this season
God's gift to you
Such wonderful memories
To treasure life through.
-Unknown
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Advent Day # 3 - Joyeux Noel
Advent Day - Nombre TroisBonJour!
Today the whole family met our friends, the Doucette family at a French bakery cafe in Wellington.
Athea and Haidyn had a table to themselves by the window where they chatted, sipped cocoa, munched on scrambled eggs and ate yummy chocolate eclairs. (It was very sweet to watch =)
A christmas wish - In 30 years we sure hope the girls will still be getting together and doing the same thing. =)
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Advent Day # 2
Hark! how the bells,
sweet silver bells
All seem to say,
throw cares away.
Christmas is here,
bringing good cheer
To young and old,
meek and the bold
Ding, dong, ding, dong,
Merry, merry, merry, merry christmas! Merry, merry, merry, merry christmas!
Knock Knock
Look what happened when Athea saw the advent calendar "day 1" door from the earlier post........ (doesn't Eric have a cute laugh - hee hee=)
(I finally got a video loaded on UTUBE!!)
Friday, December 01, 2006
Advent Day # 1
Day 1 Only 24 days until Christmas!
Ho Ho Ho!
and
RABBITS!
