Earthquake day was surprisingly sunny so I snapped these shots and stitched them together into panoramics – they’re a bit rough but you get the idea!
Above: Looking up to the house from the pond, chicken coop at top left of pond
Below: Looking down the hill, orchard on left, Dad’s shed on right
You know how people say that life can change in an instant? Well life has changed, been flipped on it’s ass and all of us along with it.
It began with a visit to the doctor for a pesky cough. A sinister cough that was actually indicative of a big ass tumour hiding in Dad’s lung. An X-ray showed this and a ct scan showed some more masses on his spine and in his lymph nodes. Holy hell.
Surgery not an option there would not be enough viable lung tissue remaining so chemo began on Wednesday.
We are 2 days post chemo now and Dad is doing great, I’m playing chauffeur so he doesn’t go crazy in the house and can keep jobs rolling. His attitude is amazing, so positive and strong I don’t think I would be able to drag myself out of bed or my lip off the ground.
One day it wasn’t and then the next we had bouquets out the ying-yang and we were all sad. Baby Peanut had missed the bus and it was a BIG shock. I never in a million years had considered that I would miscarry, or that if I did, my body would be so retarded as not to tell me at all. For like 5 WEEKS! I know.
Having spent the day in hospital having unspeakable things done to me, I can honestly say that I have lived through the worst day of my life and I am quietly proud of myself. I expected to fall apart and lose the plot and crawl back to my GP begging for antidepressants. But I haven’t done any of those things, I am just quietly getting on with things, loving Ethan about a million times more and being so thankful for him.
Hello Hello 2010! I think I love you already. The weather on your first 2 days! Hello? Keep it up.
We saw in the New Year Rhodes Family style as we did last year, but with children who were fast asleep as the fireworks blasted in the New Year – Success!
Let’s say good bye to 2009 shall we?
January - The Summer of Fish - Dave's hunting & gathering really came into it's own this summer during The Jacks Go Camping '09
February - The Year of Prizes - My first prize extravaganza led us to the VIP section (which was just us really) at Summer Series and tonnes of free food, wine and cellphones! Hooray 95 bfm
March - We celebrate Greer & KC's wedding in style in Matakana
April - Summer winds down, I turn 30 and we prepare to leave the suburbs
May - New house rules, winter sucks and Ethan loves his 1st soccer team, The Wizards
June - It keeps getting colder, Bush visits and Ethan starts new kindy
July - I get a job (yay-ish), we otherwise hibernate, cook, make sushi and E scores a bajillion goals
August - Daddy's birthday, Jim moves to the farm and Hadyn leaves for his first contract on the big ship
September - Spring appears for a moment and Ethan learns to ditch his training wheels
October - Dave loses a tooth, Ethan catches his BIGGEST fish ever
November - E turns 5, starts school, mummy cries
SUN SUN SUN and Santa arrives on a ride-on-lawnmower, Blissful New Zealand Christmas with family
What a year, seriously. Not a stellar stand-out year by any measure but there were definitely some diamonds in the rough.
This show was incredible, the music, the weather, the company of my best friends and seeing a band you have loved for 16 years AGAIN. How lucky am I? So lucky in fact, that if I ever want to relive the moment all I have to do is watch the numerous videos I shot during my fav songs and listen to my god-awful-i-love-eddie-vedder wailing. No. I won’t be posting any of those for your viewing
I wasn’t prepared for just how prepared Ethan was to get amongst Santa’s loot on Christmas Day. The child didn’t even wait until 6am! I’m pretty sure he slept with one eye open the whole night, listening for the jingling sleigh-bells and the dent he was sure Santa would put in the roof when he landed.
But Santa did find us and showered the boy with gifts as per usual.
This year was different though. Ethan was mesmerized by everything and seemed to want to savour the moment a lot more than in prior years. He didn’t just tear into his presents with reckless abandon only to discard them for the next seconds later. He relished each gift, opened it and was very thankful for each one. It was fab for the hour it lasted!
But by 9.3oam it was all over, the exhaustion had set in and he was crashed out in his inflatable boat watching his new shark doco – we still had Christmas lunch with 40+ people at Mum and Dads to go yet, boy needs to learn how to pace himself!
The rest of the day was awesome, Auckland turned it on and the weather was blazing hot, we had such a great day with the family. The kids had so much to do they were never fussy or whiny (Ethan saved that for the way home, bless) and the food was amazing. We all got to chat with Hadyn via skype which was some consolation to him not being with us, but I’m sure he and Joanna had an awesome Christmas together on the big ship.
So it’s done. The craziness of shopping and cooking and shopping are over for another year and I might need some physio for my wii injuries in the New Year. Hope your holidays were special xxxx
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