School hols -yuk!

It's very quiet here! Alice has gone to Auckland for the weekend to join Mandy and David who are there with their 3 children, Bloo has gone to meet the Dirty/Hairy/Horny (can't remember which) Milkmaid - don't ask, Harriette is at the Scotts and Eric and I are here - on our own. It's very nice. It would be nicer but I'm very stressed out. We are coming to the end of the school holidays and I can only cope with Harriette for one week! Trying to work (admittedly Harriette's large bedroom doubles as my office so the privacy is a bit lacking) with 3 children charging around, is mega stress making. Especially as I had decided that they had to pull their weight a bit over the hols as Eric and were working and they weren't. Getting them though the (small) list of chores each day was like getting blood from the proverbial stone. It would have been easier to do it all myself but a girl has to stick to her principals (are they headmasters spelt like that!?!) or her principles! It has not been easy and I am looking forward to Monday.

(Break for tea/coffee/beer with the Scotts)

Yesterday, after Carol left and we had finally pulled ourselves together I told the girls I would drop them at the movies at Te Awamutu. It was decided they would watch the Scooby Doo movie at 2pm. They then asked if they could watch Horror Mansion. I said only if they could persuade Daddy to go with them. Alice phoned Eric at work at 11.45am, and to put this in context Te Awamutu is a 3/4 hour drive away AND Eric finishes work at 1pm, and asked him to escort them. 'What time does it start Alice?' '12.30 Daddy'!! Guess which child is not gifted! I had assumed that it also started at 2pm. Anyway, we resorted to plan A and I dropped them off to watch Scooby Doo as I did some fridge audits at a Te Awamutu GP's and the prison medical centre. I had one more to do but they needed collecting so I dropped them at a park (after finding out where it was from tourist information). I was so impressed. You walked through a beautiful rose pergola and the grounds were GORGEOUS. By the time we got home it was 5.15pm and I was due to have Ashley returned to her parents in Ngatea (silent g) by 6pm and it's over an hours drive away. I phoned to say we'd be late and was thrilled to hear Jo (Ashley's Mom ) say ' we can pick her up tomorrow if that helps'. So, I did a salmon pasta and we quickly retired to bed. Alice had to come for a 'in bed cuddle' as she was off the next day and would not see us for 3 days. She does miss at when she's away and gets a bit emotional - bless her.

Before going to be I phoned David to see what time he wanted to pick Alice up the following day. Alice had been invited to Auckland with the Scott-Mackies for the week but could not go as Ashley was here. Mandy said that David was going up on Thursday so it was agreed he would take her up then. When I spoke to David (on Wednesday evening) he was on his way and said that Mandy had emailed earlier that day with the change in plan. We had not seen this. It was finally agreed that Mandy and Eric would meet halfway on Thursday afternoon to transfer Alice to them, in which case he'd drop Ashley off as the pick-up point was only a few kms from her house. It all became even more complicated when Eric got held up at a road traffic accident and Alice arrived without the required sleeping bag - ooopps. I hope they find have found her something to sleep under tonight! Can you see why I say I am stressed!?

Eric dropped Harriette at the Scotts so she could play with Sarah while he was away and they have just bought her back after feeding her a fish n chip (or as they say here fush'n chup) supper. She looks exhausted! We have just had a great chat with Richard and Robyn. They are so easy going and have become very dear friends. They went off to the Coromandel (can you believe it for the first time ever?) over the the last weekend and Robyn was milking (their cows) over Easter so we have not seen much of them over the holidays. They work harder when the rest of us are having holidays as they have to give their farm worker the time off. Robyn usually picks up Logans milking sessions.

We'll they have gone, Bloo has just returned (Milkmaid came with husband and a Canadian farming student) and gone to bed and I can hear mine calling me.

Still waiting to hear from Carol.

Love Michelle