Norn Island just got lucky!

Can you believe the cuteness??!!!  (and the incredibly relaxed looking mother?  She had a 4 hour birth or something insane like that!  I'd still be weeping, wailing and gnashing my teeth!!)  Alan gets another baby to steal chocolate from and NI gets this darling cutie, in addition to the angel Kaia.
xxx

Little bit windy....

We had some high winds the other night...  which blew the 18ft trampoline over the driveway and into the raised garden beds... and then it kept pushing the trampoline until it buckled like this.

Cute cakes

Meg does "holiday day care" and as part of the programme they made some unicorn cupcakes!  You know how I love unicorns, butter and sugar!  One of the little girls she was taking care of made this, but you have to admit, it is pretty darn cute.

 And then or Radhika's birthday she made this gorgeous "50s swimming cap" cake.  Sure, she doesn't like to call it that but *I do*! 

BK is back BABY!!!

My darling niece Nellia FBs me on chat all the time (there might be a name for that but I'm not all techno like a teenager).  Because of the time difference, I'm often at school.  During lunch hour.  Last week when I was talking to her I had to go out and find Meg (to scrounge some lunch off her) and I told Nellia she would be found sitting by the river, feeding the ducks.  And she was...  I bet our campus is the most beautiful in the world...  from this angle.

 Meg, Rubs and Gracie

 This is the view of our school from the street.  We recently put up these huge art installations to distract from the fact that the auditorium is looking a bit rough...

 Just to the left of the auditorium is the river where the girls like to relax and eat lunch...

 That heavily tree-ed island is where we have the music department, staff room and careers advisor block.  Yes, we have an island on campus :)  (in my day it was the Art Department)

 This shipping container has been turned into a locker room for the junior students.  It has been painted all pretty by the girls so each one represents one of the school houses.
 Because the connection between these two buildings is EQed, we have to cut thru the PE block/pool to get to the other classrooms.... ordinarily this area is totally out of bounds.

And there are signs like this at school.  We are used to them though, they are all over the city.
 I LOVE this school.  I think we are doing an amazing job still using it for a school and no one complains about it or anything.  Who cares if the lunchroom/cantine is now in the art history room?  And the drama department is trying to work out of a pre-fab classroom? 
I am so proud of the people of Christchurch for just getting on with life since the earthquakes...

Babies in the park

Look at this gorgeous picture!!!  Sam, Keeks and Colt at the park.  I love them xxx

Farewell to a wonderful man

We love this family so much.  They are fun, and caring, and just great to be around.  Today I attended the funeral of Mike, the Dad.  He died while on a hunting trip on Queen's Birthday.  Everyone that met him quickly knew that he loved his family more than anything else in his life, and he loved living the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I'm also sure he never doubted that he was *adored* by his wife and children.  He will be deeply missed by many people and it really feels like life will never quite be the same again. 
We love you Mike, and all the Becks xxx

Mothers Day 2013

 Lucy and Dom have been hiding this box of chocolates under her bed for WEEKS!!!  The kids were really happy to finally see inside it  :)

 Beautiful Yadu, and Monica

 The Dhakal girls - Sam, I took this photo for you...

 

 10 minutes ago - Lucy and Monica rollerblading while waiting for dinner to be cooked

 They  have been playing roller hockey in the road (we live on a dead-end) for the last 2 hours)

 Sebastien...  found in the garage making something.  When I found him he said "Mum, I really need a candle and some matches."  Uh huh.  Yer.

Megane swinging in our back garden. The red tree is my favourite this year.  It is magnificent.

I've got standards...

WELL!  In my day, you polished your shoes every Sunday and that was that.  If you didn't do it, you tried to hide your feet from your form teacher at school, and from your Dad.  Nowadays there is some kind of mana to be had by having really scuffed school shoes.  No more!  Sure, I had to bribe them with pizza but my Yr 12 form class, and my Yr 13 French class (which is full of Prefects) are now reformed citizens :)  For your viewing pleasure I got photographic evidence

And before you ask... yes, these feet and socks belong to the same body.  Someone got dressed in the dark....

There were a few girls that went along with it (for the pizza and for "a Mothers' Day gift")...  bravo to them for being team players!

 

 yr 12 feet

 yr 13 feet (and yes, we talked all about it in French)

 Yes.... well, it was just quicker, easier and less messy to do some of the really tragic shoes myself.

 This is Megane (bottom right) and her friends doing some group work...

And other girls in Megane's class working on paragraphs in the past tense about what they did on the weekend.  Supposedly...  Bex, j'ai pris ces photos pour toi. 

Baking Day

Meg and Radhika have been baking for the last two days...  Everything has been delicious (except the feijoa and chocolate chip muffins, which got burnt) and beautiful.  I wish I had taken more photos - the lemon cake was amazing too, and the chocolate cake was so good it disappeared before photos could be taken. 
PS I would like to mention that I tried them to make aloo ghobi yesterday and they got as far a chopping up the veggies and then... they drifted off.  It seems only baking holds their attention.  Bother.
PSS Sam, the afghans are even better than your wildest dreams.  Sorry... 

Lewis Bear Grey

They look innocent don't they? 
Well they are not!  These two can make something out of NOTHING and they think nothing of biking all over Christchurch in search of adventure.  They eat constantly and put their dishes in the sink, not the dishwasher! But, it is all good fun so I guess I'll keep them both around :)

The eagle has landed!!!

I was shocked in the best possible way today, Dad came over!  And he drove over :)  He timed it perfectly because Seb was trying to make a slingshot and needed The Master to advise him, and provide the strip of leather.  We watched a French movie recently (La guerre des boutons) et the kids in it used slingshots really well...  and well, I think you can guess where this is going.  I've already had one neighbour come over and tell me that 2 kids were hurt during this afternoon's practice session, so I have had to make a few rules about when and where the slingshot can be fired. 

Babysitting.... Dad style!

Kez and I were in the kitchen making amazing food (duh, what's new?) and The Dad's were in charge of entertaining the kids.  I snuck in and took some pictures while no one was looking.  You gotta love it!  Dom's puppet shows are halarious, especially when Unicornio is involved  :)

Happy 2070

We recently went to a New Year celebration for the Nepal - NZ Friendship Society (best food ever!!) and during the evening there was some dancing...  Dom was doing us proud down at the desserts table, but Meg got up to dance!  It was Gangnam Style so I stayed glued to the chair, but Meg was up with the Nepalese grandmas and super good dancer guys!  I know this picture doesn't really show her in action, but trust me, she was dancing wildly like her mother does at home...

Check out the body positions here!

And this is my Lucy-Angel about to go to a Fun Fundraising Night at her ballet school.  Isn't she adorbs!!??!!

Bolder Bay!

Best few days ever...  We've been up and down to BB for the last few weeks and we just got home from spending a few days there.  Dom was a tropper and went up every morning at 6.30am to go to work, and then came back (thru the vile earthquake traffic that is ONE LANE IN AND OUT OF SUMNER) after a full day of work for an evening of Cluedo, long-drop trips with the kids, and showers in the great outdoors.  As you can see in the pictures we have done some EQ repairs, and it is just bliss down there...  There are record numbers of walkers going past the bach at all times of the day and night because of the new walkway around Godley Head.   

 Meg, Kate and Lulu playing Monopoly - after an hour or so of this Lucy said she still didn't know the rules or what she was supposed to be doing.  Meg's leg is wrapped in plastic wrap because she and Kate went for a wander over the hills and Meg decided to do a Kate impersonation at one point and (of course) fell off a rock and ripped her thigh to bits.

 Mike, about to BIKE BACK TO CHCH!!!

 Oh yes, Mike biked to BB and then back home after a hard day's grafting.  What a legend...  See ya in 27km Mike...

 Sebas' first fist (he is telling Dom about it on my cellphone)

 See how the bolders are now more like small, volcanic rocks?  This is because of the scree slopes made by major cliff falls during the EQs.  I guess the little rocks will eventually get washed away and the big bolders underneth will be exposed again.  But for now, it looks odd.

 Bear Grylls would be proud!  Mike made himself a raincoat of a bin bag... to go back up the hill.  Meg and I decided we preferred the Backpacker look - and just put our backpacks in the plastic bags.  Far be it from me to stop Mike from looking like a homeless muscle man as he hiked up the hill inthe driving rain.  I was laughing so hard that I nearly fell off the path several times.  And what did he do as soon as he got to the car? Got changed... yer, that raincoat sure worked a treat Mike! 

Lucy and Seb raced up to the car,as usual, and then had to sit there for 10 minutes trying to shelter from the rain.  They had muddy bums is allI will say.  (And yes, those bags are full of rubbish, you have to bring it back home and dispose of it)