Grant's op.

Yesterday Grant went in for a back operation - the 24th or thereabouts!
It was a discectomy (removing a piece of disc) and laminectomy (removing some of the lamina around the disc) and they also removed some electrodes that were in his back for pain control but no longer work. (He will have another short procedure on Thursday to remove the pacemaker which operated the electrodes.)

He is recovering in hospital now and doing a lot better than 24 hours ago. He was in good spirits this evening and has had a steady stream of visitors throughout the day!

The doctor is happy so far and hopefully after a few more days and probably quite a bit of physio he will be using his legs again. He willl be there for about another 8 days or so.

Some pictures from yesterday:

The long walk to ... the front door!

We were loaned this walker which was a HUGE help.

All decked out in his hospital pyjama's!

On the way to theatre.

Thank you to all those - near and far who have been helping, praying and supporting us during this time.

Student of the week.

Monday was a good day for Abigail to receive this:
for "good working habits and for being happy, confident, and reliable in the classroom. You are a pleasure to teach, Abigail".

Out-numbered!

Poor little hawk moth! It did survive though, Niave took it to school for show and tell and then released it.

Mayfair.

No, not the most expensive property on the Monopoly board but a fun morning at Barkly House!

On Saturday, the 1st of May, we went to school! The reason: Mayfair. The much anticipated fair at Niave's school.

It was a good morning, plenty to do, plenty to buy and plenty to eat!!

There were games and crafts for the kids, tea and cake for the grown ups and a snake show too!

Some pictures:

Face painting - 1,2,3 butterfly!

Making a glittery bookmark.

The all-time favourite: Pony rides!

These were a huge hit: you put some blobs of paint onto a piece of paper, spin it as much and as fast as you can and you get a beautiful result!

Niave's turn.

And then you get to read all the books that were bought at the book stall!!

No pictures of the snake show unfortunately, I had a somewhat nervous 4 year old on my lap!! It was a good show though, informative and entertaining.

Freedom (day) in the forest!

Today was the last day of a 4 day weekend. It is Freedom day, commemorating the first democratic elections 16 years ago. Yesterday was a school holiday making it a nice long weekend.

This afternoon we went walking in Tokai forest with Lisa and Mitchell. Bryce and Matthew were bike- riding in the forest too but we ended up in 2 different parts.

We really don't make use of the forests enough, they are really on our doorstep. I have no excuse we just don't and what a shame, it was lovely. A beautiful autumn afternoon.

Some pictures:

Beauty on our doorstep.

Running free and having a rest.

Little bits of autumn all around.

Niave found water! Her goal for the outing achieved!!

(Mitchell did so well on his bike. He is going to take after his brother for sure! We passed a family who were leaving just as we were starting who commented that they had carried their toddlers bike the whole way - Well not us !! Mitchell rode every step of the way negotiating rocks, snakes, bumps and bends - he had a ball.)

Dwarfed by the tree giants.

We simply HAVE to do this more often.

George's marvellous medicine.

On Monday Abigail started reading George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl to Niave.

I didn't think she'd really understand it much but she does actually seem to follow and has LOVED having her sister read to her. They have almost finished the book and already past the much anticipated part where George's horrible granny shoots through the roof! (It is Roald Dahl after all!!)

Anyway, I had to chuckle last night when I overheard this part of the story:

"you're a nasty little maggot" (this being the granny talking to George) "you're a lazy and dis... dis... - MOM, what does this say? (at this point after having heard the last 2 insulting phrases I suggested "disgusting" but hadn't actually checked the word in the book). As I made my way over to see which word it actually was Niave pipes up "disobedient Abby" - and she was right!!! I was amazed that she could actually pronounce the word and that she got it in context!!

The sentence reads "you're a lazy and disobedient worm" - such endearing sentiments from a grandmother!!!

Juice!

We hadn't used the juicer for a while so we decided to make some vitamin C packed orange and Grapefruit juice. It was a little sour, a little bitter, but really rather nice, and as nothing is added and nothing taken away it's SO much better than store-bought juice and beats chewable vitamin C tablets for kids!!

YUM!