Home Economics

This term at his Intermediate school Kien has been doing Home Ec. I loved that option when I was at Intermediate school as well. Back in March when we went to Level 3 lockdown Kien was tasked with preparing some meals or doing some cooking / baking for his home studies. I decided to teach him how to make pizza, from scratch. Kneading dough was a bit tough though with his tiny hands. After a while I had to get in there, but other than that he did it all by himself.

Kien likes garlic pizza so that's what he made for himself.

Home schooling while we were working wasn't easy. I've been working in the kitchen so I had to have him next to me to keep him on task. We also use our windows as whiteboards.

Another session of baking on another day, and this time he made banana muffins.

Sometimes when he has a friend over we'll also do some baking. It's great! It saves me time having to do it, and it gets them doing something useful and off their devices!

Making pet rocks

Kien's school had a carnival in the weekend to celebrate the completion of many years of rebuilding work that went on over there. One of the activities they had organised was a pet rock competition. So a couple of his friends were over here last Tuesday to make their creations.







Glue gun, paints and a few other accessories and their pieces came together nicely.

Our quiet Christmas day

It has been go-go-go, and I've basically hit the wall today. This morning I was up at 4am wrapping the remainder of the presents - Jef had done the majority of the wrapping last night when Kien and I had crashed out. I went back to bed to get a little bit more shut-eye but the kid decided that 6am was wake up time on Christmas day. We stretched out his patience until 7am before heading downstairs.







He got a letter telling him how good it is that he has been kind and considerate this year, and to keep up with his learning.







On his list this year he had asked for a whole bunch of beyblades, most of them rare. I had managed to find one of them at the last minute on Mighty Ape, and a launcher that he really wanted. The rest of his presents this year were practical ones that we can take up to Mangawhai, like board games and a magnetic backing torch. He didn't seem to mind that Santa gave him a jar of vitamins and a packet of Oreos - hey, they does like both of those things a lot!

Then Jef and I took turns at catching up on sleep. We sure know how to party around here. As the weather was so miserable all our planning of driving up to the property today was shot, so it was a good opportunity to be still for a day. Kien didn't mind. He had plenty of beyblade battles today!

Kien's birthday party

Last weekend we had Kien's birthday party to celebrate him turning 9 at the end of the year. It's always difficult to juggle a late December birthday (as far as I'm concerned), and everything gets frantic leading up to Christmas. We were very lucky for amazing weather.

Jef took Kien to his cricket match in the morning while I finished off decorating the cake. When they came home Kien was very happy with his cake.



Kien decided once again that he wanted to share his birthday party with one of his best buddies, Naotaka, which is great because then I didn't have to do all the work. This year the piñata was hand crafted by Ayako, and we shared the responsibility with food.





We played classic party games like pass the parcel and treasure hunt. They had water balloon fights and jumped into the spa to warm up again.

















Candles stabbed onto cake by children, then lit by anyone who was keen.









I let Kien do the first cut of the cake since he was really keen for it. He's had lots of experience up at our ngahere in the glades chopping woody weeds down with the machete, so I can trust him with a giant knife...



After everyone devoured the cake (I didn't even get a slice - it must have been good!) Jef strung up the piñata and supervised as they all took turns bashing the thing.











Such a fun afternoon. I feel very fortunate that we are able to provide these experiences for Kien. This will contribute to his childhood memories, and adds to my fulfilment as a parent.

Kien's social calendar

When we were up north the other weekend Kien said that he liked being in Auckland more than Mangawhai. We asked him why that was so. He said it was because he wanted to see his friends. So I promised him we would have the following weekend at home so he (meaning me) could arrange playdates for him. Well, talk about a full social calendar for the weekend just gone. On Saturday he went over to one of his good friend's place early morning until early afternoon. Then I reciprocated with having Hemi at ours. They ended up spending a couple of hours in the pool, and it was dark by the time his mum came to pick him up, and even then the boys didn't want to get out.

On Sunday we had Naotaka, Philemon and Sonny over. Sonny is new to the group - well, new for them all to hang out together at school. Sonny and Kien were in the same team for cricket in their first year. I must admit, having the four boys together for a playdate is much easier than just three. When its three there's always one who is left out at one point or another.

I told Kien in the morning that he needed to come up with some activities they can do. I didn't want them to be playing minecraft all afternoon. So he came up with a schedule. Firstly, they were going to play minecraft for 30 minutes. Then they were going to the playground. Well, they did play minecraft while I went to the supermarket, and then when I got home I sent them out the back to play with nerf guns.

After an hour I feed the ravenous bunch, and then they ran around some more.

Such good fun. They are all plotting another playdate. Boy of boy, the kids' social calendars are busier than ours!