How can it be nearly May already?

Our visit to the dentist for a polish and a clean turned into a nightmare as the news was progressively worse for each child. Hannah has to have 2 teeth out, and because of her age, and the state of the adult teeth, under a general anasthetic in the hospital. That means two appointments, one for X rays and one for the extraction. Eek! Katarina has to have a couple out and Janine has to have four! (not in hospital, thankfully). Most bizarre, as Chris and I have good teeth.
Zach had a great time at camp; this was "Transformers," a pilot project aimed at 9-12 year olds, encouraging them to step up and be leaders in their churches. The program incorporates the mentoring philosophy that I've been advocating for a long time, and is empowering for the children. Katarina was a leader but learnt heaps too - she was fabulous.
Janine went to Christchurch (on a bus, by herself) and helped my sister Sue by babysitting during the holidays. Sue brought her back on Saturday, and spent the day in Timaru. I gather there was a picnic at Caroline Bay, all good.
Chris and I are off to Dunedin Very Early Tuesday morning for a 'Mission Possible' meeting. This is a gathering of the project leaders for projects run out of the National Mission Office in Dunedin. Zach is going to spend a day at Opoho School as we were not able to get him to Dunedin these holidays to see his friends; one mate in particular is in a cast at the moment with a broken leg!
Katarina starts a babysitting course soon. Janine is disappearing off to Stage Challenge practices at odd times, and the weather is unseasonably warm.

Time off in Tekapo

We've had a weekend away in Tekapo, which is stunningly gorgeous at this time of year. The deciduous trees light up the landscape with splashes of red and yellow, and we had the best weather, warm and calm. Shadow ran away the first night, too excited to come back when we called but she was there again in the morning (bad dog. BAD DOG.) She was just a bit quick for Chris, and once she has a scent in her nose, her ears stop working. She was quite happy to be with us again in the morning, and none the worse for wear. Zach is playing with his roller blades at the moment, and Shadow tows him along quite happily.

It is a little weird to be completely out of touch for a couple of days, but a good idea to get out of town and out of routine. The school holidays mean the children can sleep in, and do some other activities. Hannah and I made marshmallow eggs for Easter, and Katarina has been sewing, Chris is making wine, and Janine and I read and cook.

This week the girls go to the dentist, Chris and I meet the Mayor of Timaru, and Janine has a babysitting gig in Christchuch with my sister for a couple of days. Katarina, Zach and I have a camp at the weekend. All good.

After Easter

The internet was off and on, off and on last week; an extra service was thrown our way at the last minute, we had both Presbytery and Session, plus Holy Week services, and a 2 hour walk of the cross last week. These are all good things and we have earned a weekend off - next weekend! Yay.

The children are home for school holidays, we've made Easter goodies, without too many disasters and went up to the Mackenzie A and P show on Monday. This is held in Fairlie, and it was great, lots to see and do for everyone, even grumpy teenagers (it's the holidays! I wanna sleep in!)

The weather is fabulous, the snow on the Four Peaks range has melted and we are eating quinces - yummy.

What I do on my day off

Love the change of daylight saving! We were early for church yesterday, the children were early for school, ah if only it would last!

I have soup brewing in the slow cooker, a pot of stewed peaches sitting on the freshly cleaned stove, and Chris is brewing wine in the laundry, as a result of the grape harvest. Later today I'm going to attack some of the ferns in the garden. We used a heap of the fronds for our Palm Sunday services yesterday, but you can't tell where I took them from. So, much as I like ferns, some of them have to go. I have bundles of bulbs including dahlias from the church Garage Sale that need a home!

I'm off to tell the Easter story to the playcentre in a few minutes; they are right next door, and I'll do that three times this week. Then the library, supermarket shopping, and hopefully the floor will be washed by the time the children come home.

The temperature this morning is 17 degrees, warmer than last week which was almost frosty. We're hoping for a nice long Indian summer, but we'll see how that goes.