Svelte Chicken Lives.... for a little lego empire

Well here we go again.... more signs that the kids are growing up.

Since Daniel was small (well old enough to be trusted not to jam assorted size lego bricks up his nose) he has had lego everywhere.  Lego has been a staple "go to present" every year since then.

He has bucket loads of it.  I shudder to think how much has disapeared up the vacuum cleaner over the years.  He has a desktop that we lowered so that he could kneel at it and set up and leave out all sorts of creations and have wonderful adventures.

I am sitting in the lounge and the Light Of my Life is in the dining room talking to Dan, I hear her say, "ask Dad".  That of course got my attention.

The Light Of My Life looks at me and tells me "Dan wants to pack away his lego, get rid of the desk and have some room".  Simple words in themselves, but think of the connotation.  I could see in my Darlings eyes that she could see what I was feeling.  This was reinforced by a frowny face when Dan left for his room.

Good grief, I need a picture of the lego.  What a shame I didn't get one of him younger playing at his desk.  I can see it clearly at the moment, I hope I still can years from now.

I also used to love playing lego, I stopped years ago myself, Little Em's into it now.  The pile of Lego we have is massive, and hopefully will continue to expand.....


Svelte Chicken Lives.... for a little lego empire.

 

Svelte Chicken Lives.... For his baby turning 11

On the 14th our baby turned 11.

I have been asking little Em if she is sure she is correct, isn't she 7? 11 she tells me, apparently her maths skills are excellent, (at an 11 year old's level, she's only 7 remember...)

Like every year the birthday boy or girl as the case may be gets to choose what they want for dinner.
This is normally a take away of some description and an excuse to eat something we would not normally eat. This year little Em chose lasagne (cooked by the light of my life). "Lasagne?" I said to her, immediately greeted by the light of my life saying "what's wrong with my lasagne?". "Nothing, it's very yummy"  (dodged that one)...

So little Em, "what shall we have with the lasagne?" Me thinking of some high powered purchased entre and desert. "Garlic Bread" she replied (we have that in the fridge, that's not very exciting I thought.) "What else"?  "Salad" said Em, and "for desert a self saucing chocolate pud with cream".  "Do you mean those little ones we buy every now and then"? I said. "No, Mum's going to make one" said Em.

Now the light of my life is a good cook and everything will be yummy but all I could think is lets have takeaways on your birthday (Thursday night) and Lasagne on Friday..... (and everyone wins...... The light of my life gets to create a yummy meal, Em get's lasagne, and I get, hmm I never got to decide that... Still, being the mature one in the family I reminded myself, it's the birthday Girl's choice).

 I will help by playing Xbox with Em in the lounge.

Truth be known, we don't have lasagne very often so it is a rarer event than a takeaway so it is probably more special (perhaps my clever 11 year old baby may in fact be on to something.... )


Here's a picture of my 7 year old baby (not the picture of the chap in brown pants....)

And now 11......

"That's the hankie you wanted......." (a beautiful "Yeah right Dad"   look from Em)

By the way, dinner was fantastic, we made a good choice Em....

Svelte Chicken Lives.... for a bithday to remember 2014

Well here we go again, we are both now closer to 50 than 40. 

No I say, as part of my birthday powers bestowed upon me in my imagination I have decreed that I am 44, not 46.

This of course means that the Light of my life is now also 44 and not 46 and that the kids all made mistakes in their cards this year, who’s 46? Not us.

 Of course we all want to grow to the oldest age possible, and while doing it be fit, mobile, healthy and not snookered by Sudoku. I of course am happy growing old (very old in fact, along with my Darling may we one day be in accordance with the previous statements and not looking like prunes (is a panda’s bum now an appropriate description?)

Anyhow, our birthday has been and gone. This year, like last year, we promised ourselves that we would not buy each other pressies, very grown up. We did however buy ourselves a board game that the five of us could play together during forced family time (there is no such thing really; our kids are still at the age where they want to spend time with us). 

So there we are, our birthday, a Saturday morning a very busy day ahead of us with sport, little Em has a hockey tournament to boot. We would not get to open our present until later in the day. 

It’s now later in the day, Little Em would be off to hockey soon. “Let’s open our present” said my Darling.  Ok then, sitting at the table, looking at the little pile of presents thinking to myself “what the h@ll have I done? Where are all of the flippin’ presents?  I’m not ready to be grown up” 

My Darling of course did get me a couple of pressies, and I got her one as well.  I ordered my Darling’s pressie online the week before, she knows what it is, she paid for it (that’s her department). She seemed a bit miffed when it arrived via courier and when she asked if I was going to wrap it up and I said “what for”. I thought the yellow courier pack was very colourful..... I very quickly realised my error and wrapped the present (Or should I say little Em did....)

My pressies from Her were some star trek socks (very smart, too good for work, unfortunately my safety shoes will put holes in them by the end of the day).  I immediately put on the science officer socks. The other pressie was some star trek  jammies. They look like James T Kirk’s uniform (very commandly if I say so myself). I now think of it as James T Kirk is running around in my jammies, how embarrassing for him. 

The kids all created wonderful cards (even though they mistakenly thought we were 46) and pooled their money to buy a movie voucher for us both to go on a date to the pictures. 

Thank goodness Catherine and the Girls didn’t get the memo and we got cool pressies and home made cards (you have to love home made cards).

After the hockey tournament we all had a lovely dinner.

OK now it’s  time for the captainly command jammies. I must say after looking at myself in the mirror I look quite the part. The light of my life has a lovely smile on her face as we get ready for bed. The jammies didn’t seem to work correctly, even though I look the part it seems I am still not in charge....

Svelte Chicken Lives.... for being showered with pressies

Svelte Chicken Lives.... for bandy lipped smiles

9/7/2014

She is so beautiful, her smile so infectious, you know we are compatible as evidenced by the fun we have and how easy it is for each of us to make the other laugh.

It’s difficult to explain, there’s a laugh and smile that is the type of laugh that is at the point of being difficult to curtail, in my Darlings case this is the bandy lipped smile. (And never to be confused with the panda’s bum...)

The Light of my life has wonderful lips, as you can no doubt tell from the various pictures scattered about this blog, I will comment no more an how wonderful they look and feel (kiss kiss).

When my darling laughs her “I am finding this incredibly funny” type smile her lips all but disappear, stretching into a bandy lipped smile.

The other night she seemed obsessed that everyone had a fork with their dinner.

Daniel was asked first, eating his chips with his fingers “Dan, have you got a fork” “Pardon” “have you got a fork” repeated my Darling (Our kids seem to be selectively deaf, case in point, last night Dan was listening to his ipod with headphones on and little Em from across the room asked him in her normal inside voice, “ would you like a bowl of icecream?” Dan replied without looking up “yes please”)..... 

“HAVE YOU GOT A FORK? “....No headphones, No reply “Do you need to get a fork”? Eventually Dan said “yes I have a fork” in a what’s the big deal type of voice, and held up his fork as proof.

 That seemed to please my Darling, it seemed as long as we have a fork on standby for emergencies, perhaps an unexpected visitor, we can quickly switch to civilised cutlery wielding people and eat accordingly. 

About five minutes later, “Sam do you have a fork?” I looked at Samantha eating her burger, and back at my Love wondering what is she going on about? So I asked her “What’s the obsession with forks at the moment? Do you have a new job we should know about? Are you on commission?”

“Sam” I said, “have you got a fork, Daniel has, I have, do you”?

  “Yes” said Sam holding it up

“There, we all have forks” Bandy lips, a beautiful sight.  

Of course I am still not sure why forks were all of a sudden key to the burger and chips meal, my Darling also admitted later that she was also picking up her chips and not using her fork (assuming of course she had one, she didn’t after all hold it up for viewing and proof......)

Svelte Chicken Lives.... for his bandy lipped Darling

Svelte Chicken Lives.... for a boys day in

18/3/2014

Ok, so It’s Friday and my Darling and my flock of the fairer sex are going to be out on Saturday for the day.

Little EM is going to a girl guides camp cook thing to help someone prepare for a badge, and the Light of my life and Sam are going to take the opportunity to go shopping (shopping for things that boys don’t consider to be fun..).

 “Would you like to come?” asked my Darling.

“Shall we go shopping with mum, Daniel”? I enquired.

We both probably had a slightly glazed look in our eyes at the thought…..  “No Thanks”,  this sounds like the chance for a boys day in! Xbox, chippies, ginger beer and no girls.  Dan seemed almost as excited as I am.  Dan explained to Isis, “sorry, you’ll have to wait outside, no girls” That’s a bit harsh I thought, surely a dog is exempt?  

Anyway, part of the excitement for me is being able to have the sound level more than one click away from mute.  In fact, if the sound level could be half a click away from mute it would probably end up being set there.  I’m not suggesting I am getting old or having trouble hearing but let’s just say if I moved close enough to the TV to hear it, I would no longer be able to see it properly, it would be too close….  Yeah, we will be able to hear the game….

Boys day in tomorrow Dan….

Saturday arrived.  “Boys day in Dad” said Dan.

“Yes, I’m going to have a shower and then we can go and buy some chippies, ginger beer and a new game to play”

Now I’m all clean, and ready for the boys day in.  I go to the kitchen, ask my Darling “Where’s Dan” “he’s in the Lounge” was the reply. “Boys day in Dan” I said as I walked into the Lounge. Dan is folding washing into little piles. (You’ve got to love how my Darling likes to include everyone, there’s always a deal to be made)… Folding washing, not quite the start I was looking for…

The girls are now ready to leave, “Please get the washing in at lunchtime and put the oven on at 4.00pm so that it is ready for when I get home (to cook wedges etc. that my Darling would pick up on the way home)”. (Again, you’ve got to love how my Darling likes to include everyone, there’s always a deal to be made).   

Not quite the plan for a boys day in, washing + cooking. Yes I hear you dear reader, perfectly reasonable things to ask and not a big thing to do. However dear reader, if you do think this then you do not really understand a boys day in, it’s just not part of a boys day in.

We went to the shop, bought the boys day in goodies, we also bought the dinner stuff and a few extra bits so my Darling did not have to stop on the way home (Yes, I agree, very sensitive and  thoughtful).  We also bought two copies of plants v zombies garden warfare to play and went home.

Yeah, boys day in, Isis, you can stay inside.

“Daniel, set up the Xboxes for the oncoming excitement” I said.

We cracked open a bottle of ginger beer and sat down to play. “hang on a mo, I just need to ring mum”

“Hi, just wanted to let you know we have dinner items, there’s no need to stop on the way home” I said. “Are you having a good time?”

“Yes” said the Light of my life, I have just bought a cool handbag that’s not that expensive now but was before I bought it (something like that anyway). That’s good I said I’m pleased you are having fun, it’s just that it’s a boys day in, and we’ve already started by folding washing, we are primed to take washing in at lunch time (I have set the timer on the oven to remind me, you know when you are in the heat of battle….), we are going to heat the oven and start dinner, and now we are talking about hand bags……..

So there we are playing xbox, chippies half gone first bottle of ginger beer finished (we do love that stuff) and there’s a beeping in the distance. I don’t think that was my zombie making that noise… “Why’s the oven timer on?” asked Dan.

“Come on, let’s get the washing in.”

Yeah, boys day in……

Right that’s done, back to the gaming.

I’ve always fancied myself as a bit of a gamer. Whatever game we play, Dan is always better than me. Case in point, at the end of the day I finished on level 6 with 8 achievements, on plant v zombies, Dan level 9, with 9 achievements. It’s a rare occasion when I do manage to beat him at something.  I’ve been playing xbox since before he was born, what’s going on? Why is he so much better than I am? I use to be able to run rings around him, but now the reverse is true, ever since he mastered the controller he can run rings around me, I do believe he mastered the controller at about 5 years old….

Still, I really enjoy playing with him, and I like it more when he is on my side…..

Yeah, boys day in….

Svelte Chicken Lives.... for a little valentine's

15/2/2014

It’s the 14^th February again, Valentine’s day once again..

Now we’ve all done it. I know we have bought all sorts of presents, cards and flowers and given them to girlfriends/spouses or significant others.  Roses for example are just ridiculously priced on that day.

I know people who are my age (ahem, let’s not discuss that, I can’t cope with it) and are still buying roses, going out for dinner, jewellery etc. and making a big fuss. I can also see that they really enjoy it, so I agree for them it makes them happy so it’s a great day.  I know a lot of people who tend to think more along our lines as well.

My Darling and I are of the opinion that the day is not a big deal, we can’t believe how ridiculous prices get so we just sort of ignore it. It’s Valentine’s day every day for us. (I hope she really believes that and there isn’t a little princess within her rocking backwards and forwards sobbing “why won’t he buy me ridiculously expensive roses?”) is the “Every day is Valentines day” line the mantra of the unromantic and the cheapskate?  I hope not.

On the morning of the 14^th we woke up, rolled over in bed, and said to each other “happy Valentine’s day”, I stumbled out of bed and into the shower. I couldn’t even tell you if my Darling opened her eyes, I certainly didn’t.

At the aquarium that I work, I was told about a few Valentines’ day plans, “going out to lunch at Subway” (Pardon I initially thought, Subway?), she continued, “that’s where we first met….” Now that is Valentiney. Flowers, dinner plans etc. “ahhh young love (and some not so young love…).
I told them:
“My only regret was that I mistakenly filled my Darling’s card up with red and silver glitter, and now when I get home I have to do the vacuuming” I continued,
“in the card was a voucher for dinner and a voucher to stay the night in Wellington  at a fancy place”, very Valentiney everone was thinking. “My Darling was very excited, and when she is away, I am going to play xbox with Daniel”……

When I got home from work I made the Light of my life and I a cup of coffee and because it was such a lovely day outside we went into the garden to sit down to have a drink and a chat. Now that’s sort of Valentiney isn’t it? Yes it could be considered romantic, however, we do that quite often now days, especially in the weekend (assuming it’s a nice day) since we have done the garden up a bit and it is no longer depressing to be out there.  So perhaps it doesn’t meet the gesture requirements of the day?  We don’t do it once a year.

We were having a lovely moment together my Darling looked at me and asked me what I was thinking.
I said to her in my most thought provoking, soul searching voice combined with a look that matched,
“On this most romantic day of Valentines’, I have been watching you smile and realising that your happiness is possibly my main reason for being.  So I have been internalising a few thoughts and searching my soul to discover if there could be a way I could make your life any better or happier?”
I then received the most beautiful smile (perhaps that was my Valentine ’s Day pressie?) and the Light of my life said “there is nothing”.
SOOO I am a romantic after all and supremely Valentiney, I told my Darling “That’s good, that’s exactly what I got you for Valentines……”

Svelte Chicken Lives…. for making my Darling happy.

Svelte Chicken Lives... for a little hidden talent

25/1/2014

Today we decided to spend some time hitting a hockey ball around.

Angry Chicken thought it was a great idea and wanted to come.

Driving to Hockey…..

Angry Chicken spent the first few minutes in the dug out watching us..

Then decided to join in, Goalie, the only position he could try really..
Ready:

Determined:

The Shot:

Not enough oomph, technically a save, well done Angry Chicken! (Still, little Em didn’t want to knock the stuffing out of Angry Chicken)

In the wild…

A good time was had by all, little Em can really hit the ball well/hard with her new hockey stick. I am looking forward to the next hockey season.