Leap Year

Chris has been in Dunedin this week starting his study leave. He is working on finishing his Masters degree in Ministry, and has also been able to help Katarina with a few bits and pieces - like fixing the hard drive that crashed on the new second hand computer.
Hannah cycled to a friend's house today.
Janine is enjoyed a puncture free run on the bike this year.
Zach is enjoying playing futsal at the local stadium on Wednesday nights. He plays in two teams, his own and subs for Chris'. He is also having the chance to referee games, which gives him another dimension of experience.

Post Katarina

Things we miss:
Katarina often put Shadow to bed, as she was the last one up.
I am down a labour unit for folding things for church.
We are short a baby-sitter and now Janine needs to check before she offers to baby sit for someone else.
We are using less hot water and the cornflakes and juice stay around longer.
The sound and computer roster at church are a person short.
The data usage is going down.

Family Assistance has been less since New Year, not that anyone formally told me until I rang with a 'Change of Circumstances' which as it turned out was completely redundant.

One week to go

Katarina leaves home officially next week as she begins her life as a university student at Otago. She is undergoing a grueling preparation regime that involves several hours a day on the internet, some catch up time with friends, and a thorough immersing in contemporary cultural issues via television. She has yet to pack up her room or make a list of what she might need to take south, but it is early days after all.
Janine is back into school life, head librarian this year and still helping with Girls' Brigade on Tuesdays. She is also interested in archery, and is a peer support person. Last week these two things meant a trip out to the Year 9 camp at Raincliff.
Zach is Head Technician at Gleniti, which will not surprise anyone who knows Chris. He is busy playing futsal on Wednesdays, and refs two games a night.
Hannah continues to be often late to school, there are just too many distractions in life.
We've had a couple of busy weeks at work, and celebrated 5 baptisms last Sunday which was rather lovely.
We had a combined service so all the ministers were there for a change.

There's a garden in there somewhere

It is rather nice to be able to start the school year with at least one short week. It is Waitangi Day here in New Zealand. Some go off sailing, others stay home and garden.
I did the latter.
Chris has bought a mulcher so we fired that up today. It is amazing how much bulk can be reduced! It is also amazing how much more interested in gardening he is when there is a power tool involved.
Zach is off to the first of his soccer training events today. Zach and Hannah seem to be happy enough to be back at school. Katarina is starting to think about packing up for her shift to Dunedin, it will roll around fairly soon.

Feb already? 2012!

Janine had a wonderful time at ISCF horse camp in Taumaranui. She flew to Auckland, stayed overnight with a family who also had a daughter going to camp, who drove them the next morning. After camp she caught a bus to Hamilton, stayed overnight with Oma and Opa, and came out with Marijon to join us at Whangamata. Erin came over as well, and Justin and Carol came for lunch! Justin lives in Holland usually, but he and his Colombian girlfriend were spending time in New Zealand and managed to be in the right part of the country to see us!
The beach was great - Gary and Kif had a house down the road, and we managed to catch up with everyone before Anna headed off overseas. The boys are into "Setters of Catan" and now so are our kids!  We enjoyed meeting various friends and "friends"and managed to swim, read, relax, and catch our breath in all of that.
Zach and Hannah are much more confident in the water and loved boogie boarding! We also managed to get the best of the weather - summer, you are such a tease!
Thanks to Parachute dropping their prices this year, we also managed to get in and see Avalanche City and Reliant K. Janine attached herself to the Knox group again, and we enjoyed catching up with the team, and meeting their fantastic new youth leader again.
We enjoyed the hospitality of Chris' sister Marijon and her husband Mike for a few days in Cambridge - thanks guys, you were awesome!
So, we're back at work now, the children are all at school, and Katarina is starting to get organised for university.