Founder's Break

Scots College & Queen Margaret Colleges celebrated Founder's Break with 2 days holiday so we had a 4-day weekend - Josh was thrilled! On the Monday when all the other schools went back, we packed up 9 of the children and headed into town for a 'blat' around the wharf area. Their energy levels are astounding - we played indoor bowls, played tag and hide and seek along the wharf, had 1km races along the water front and then endless playing at the park !!

Payton, Elena, Spencer, Harrison, Baylee, Summer, Josh, Jahn & James

No surprises when I saw Josh and Harrison slowly veer off to one side .... Josh just adores "big boy Harrison"

The last game of the season

The last game of the season today ... and the Mustangs had a win ! Suffice to say that Mummy, for one, will be very pleased to have a break from both the early and incredibly muddy Saturday mornings that control our household throughout winter - roll on summer !

In his after-match report, Coach Kevin did a 'skit' and spoke as if the Mustangs had played the All Blacks with a score of 50-0 to the Mustangs ! Kevin placed Joshua as the No. 8 against Kieran Reid, a formidable All Black, and the report read ...

Joshua Turnbull packed down today at No. 8 in today's brutal walkover of the All Blacks. Joshua hit every ruck and maul, wrestling for the ball with enormous strength, easily outplaying Kieran Reid. He foraged for the ball at every chance he had and could barely stand at the end, having played himself to a standstill".

What a wonderful end to the season ...

Hard to see but Huddy joined in on the final Mustangs chant before the last game - he too put his paw in the air, albeit with the help of Daddy

And Josh passes to Tomo ...

Josh and Tomo racing along, eyes on the opposition and the ball

And Josh's last tackle for the season - take him down !

Cheers, albeit with a hot chocolate ! PS And thank you Huddy, for being the best mascot a team could ask for - you have come along and played in the mud with the boys EVERY Saturday.

A Dad and his Son

Boys will be boys ... whether it is building ramps in the garage, bouncing on the trampoline, kicking a ball around in the garage or painting ....

Studying Structures

Josh's class are studying structures this week so to help him with his morning talk today, we decided to build a structure and Josh chose a bridge. Josh is such a visual learner that having a prop or something to visually present to the class, makes morning news so much easier for Josh.

So Mummy bought a bag of balsa wood and some balsa glue and tonight was all about designing and building a bridge. Let's just say that the end result was our third bridge !

The designers, architects, structural engineers and builders at work

Da ... da .... the bridge !!

Think Pink

Spencer's sister, Payton, turned 6 today. She invited 20 little girls from school and the theme was THINK PINK. Spencer was allowed to invite ONE boy - and he chose Joshua. So I picked up the boys after school and got them changed in the back of car amidst much laughter and frivolity. Whilst the little girls looked adorable in pink, I have to say that when these 2 young dudes walked in with their pink caps and dark sunglasses, white shirts and pink ties and of course the white socks with pink ribbons sewn on the top - they stole the show !

The party was held at Martha's Pantry which is a very cute tea-house. High-tea was served inside, Fairy Treena came and entertained everyone, and they also had a bouncy castle set up in the car park. Spencer's Mum Lani, also served Moet Champagne as a special 'brew' of tea in the bone china cups & saucers for the adults - very stylish !!

It was an amazing party and everyone had a great time. Josh and Spencer got completely smothered on the bouncy castle by all the girls - they pushed and pulled them, they sat on them .... at one point when both Spencer & Josh got a little upset, I did smile to myself and my thoughts wandered ahead 10 years and whether they will be complaining about all that attention then!!

Happy Birthday Payton

A flyaway helium balloon - Joshua's balloon heads up to the sky ... make a wish everyone

This one is for Grandad & Grandma

England ..... England ..... England .....

The Mustangs were asked to be the 'models' for the 2011 Rugby World Cup - quite amazing really! So we all headed back down to the Stadium for the 'official' photographs of the team wearing the rather large man-sized jerseys !! These photos will be used for promotional purposes between now and the World Cup so we may well see Joshua's photo on billboards and in magazines between now and September next year.

So Mummy asked Coach Kevin if Joshua could wear England's jersey - for his Daddy, Grandma & Grandad - so here he is ....

The Rugby World Cup Lineout for 2011

But oh no .... we have left the best for last !!!!!!!!!!

Go Black !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Mummy got in on the act too - sorry England !

Spencer turns 7

Happy birthday Spencer ! Spencer invited all the boys from school to join him at laser force - laser guns, car and bike racing, air hockey and other games machines kept them all hyped for 2 hours only to then be fueled by party food. Oh dear me ... boys' parties !!!

Loaded and ready to fire

Happy Birthday Spiderman Spencer !

Jubilee Cup

For the first time in 8 years, Poneke Club got into the finals of the Jubilee Cup. The 'big' boys of Poneke asked the Mustangs team to come along to the Stadium and play for the curtain raiser.

Again we remind ourselves how lucky we are .... how many people would just so love to say they have played a game at New Zealand's premier sports stadium - and the Mustangs have now done it twice !

The Mustangs outside the Stadium

The Mustangs having a practise before the Stadium opened

And here is Leo again - and this time Josh got another hug !

We decided to go all out for Poneke - Joshua having his face painted (and for those of you who remember ... this is the boy who has always hated having his face painted!)

The finished product !! With a face looking like that, and a haka to perform ... all I can say is 'watch out' to the opposition !

All the boys in red - big and small !

Ted-E Bear and his travels

Sara, Joshua's speech and language therapist, recently went overseas. Prior to her leaving, Joshua gifted her a little Teddy-Bear to take on her travels and Sara fondly called him Ted-E Bear.

Well Ted-E Bear went EVERYWHERE and Sara took photos of him at every opportunity - sometimes in the most entertaining places and poses. Ted-E Bear was also given some pocket money and bought for Joshua a little Paddington Bear in his own suitcase.

Paddington Bear was given to Joshua along with a CD of photos showing Ted-E Bear's travels thoughout Singapore, England, Italy and France - wow, what a well-travelled bear !

For news talk at school, we helped Joshua put together a photo board of Ted-E Bear's travels and the story certainly entertained the class and Joshua was awarded 3 merit points !

Thank you Sara - you are not only Joshua's speech & language teacher, but have become a very dear friend - what you did for Joshua was incredibly thoughtful and special.

Skip-a-Thon

Joshua's school has given every boy a skipping rope and we are now working towards a skip-a-thon for the Prep School in mid-September. Each boy has to get sponsors and then on the skip-a-thon day 'perform' by doing as many skips as possible. As much as Joshua wanted to put down a goal of doing 1,000 skips, we instead convinced him to write that he would do as many skips as he possibly can in the time allocated - phew !!

It is nothing unusual to arrive at school in the morning to find the quad full of at least 50 boys, all with their skipping ropes out doing tricks and skipping to music that is roaring out of the surround sound speakers and a few teachers up the front on the verandah also skipping and yelling out enthusiastic encouragement - sometimes the music is so catchy that even Mummy wishes she had a skipping rope !

Joshua practising his skipping at Grandma's after school and before going to swimming lessons

Look who came down from Auckland

We were very excited to hear that Mummy Sarah was coming down to Wellington for a friend's 40th and staying the night with us. Josh was a little disappointed that wee Georgia was not also coming down but that was quickly forgotten when Sarah played 10-pin bowling with him on the WII - and you should have seen the 2 of them cycling on a tandem together !

Mummy Sarah is just one of these real 'natural' Mums and makes every child feel very special. We have so many wonderful memories of when Sarah & Andy and the girls lived in Wellington - and we do miss them.

10-pin bowling - look at Sarah's style !!

And here they are together on the tandem bike ... look at Sarah going around the corner - hilarious !

I won ... I won ... I won

Scots College, along with their 'sister' college, Queen Margaret, recently printed a rather special cookbook. The school then ran a competition to see who could sell the most cookbooks in the Prep School and in the College. There was also a competition between the Prep School and the College.

Joshua - along with a whole heap of help from Mummy (!!) - won the competition. In total 'we' sold 81 cookbooks - by far the most for the Prep School and even the College.

For his efforts, Joshua won the grand prize which was an IPOD TOUCH (gosh Mummy would love one of those herself!). It is quite something - it has a GPS facility and the option to download endless games and music. Oh joy, another piece of technology to take Joshua's attention ! However, he was absolutely overjoyed to win the prize and his confidence soared when so many of the 'big; boys came up to congratulate him. Mummy even had a few boys come up to her over the following few days asking how did Josh do it ????

So ... a very big and heartfelt thank you to all our family and friends who didn't hesitate to buy a cookbook and support Joshua in this competition. I sincerely know that the last thing some of you wanted was another cookbook - but you did it to support Joshua ... and we won't forget that.

Joshua up on stage receiving his prize - from the looks of things, he had already turned it on!

I arrived at school on the day the results were announced ... and managed to capture this photograph of Joshua as he ran towards me shouting "Mummy, I won, I won" - a priceless moment!

Joshua and the grand prize

We all love Aunty Karen

Aunty Karen and Uncle Terry came in for dinner this evening. Poor Aunty Karen - she is pounced upon by both Hudson and Joshua and they almost have a competition to vie for her attention. But Aunty Karen ALWAYS manages to make them both feel very special and very loved. Aunty Karen has a wonderful way of joking around with Josh and brings simply the best out in him.