It has started....

Today I finished filling out the forms for the kids passports and birth abroad. My husband called shipping company's for our furniture and got three quotes that where all about the same and I cleaned out the girls toys into what we where taking and what was staying. I went through all the kitchen cupboards and got rid of all the unnecessary things to get ready to sell the house.

Travis and I (mostly Travis) have been doing painting touch ups, filling any holes, scrubbing off kids drawings and cleaning all the walls.

The de-cluttering of the house is looking good and the throwing out of unnecessary storage even nicer! now we just have to find a place for the last few boxes to be stored.

If you don't know anything about NZ here is a little clip ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sEZ-wdFegU&feature=related#

The list of to dos...

Travis and I have talked and talked and weighed the good and the bad, the staying and going and then the staying again and then finally the going (its a big decision you know!). We have gone back and forth and finally come to a decision.

It's official we have decided to go!!!..... and so the daunting task of getting everything done in order to get to NZ starts (*groan...sigh... and groan again)

And so the saga begins with a list of things to do....we have to sell the house, car and anything we don't plan on taking has to be given away, sold or donated. Everything we do want to take has to be cut to a minimum to keep shipping costs to its lowest. We need to fill in and register the kids as NZ citizens (something we should have already done) And then get the passport process started. My husband needs to get his residency so he can find a job legally! We need to find out the cost to ship all our furniture to NZ. Make sure all bills are paid in full (so we can start fresh) and find flights (cheap preferably) ...phew! and that is only the beginning!

Should I stay or should I go???

I called my mother in NZ to check how everyone was after the earth quake, she said some people felt it in Christchurch but didn't seem to be bothered about it. They didn't even know it was big enough to get on the American news stations....lol. I talked to her about how much we where missing home. She told me her and dad would love to have Travis and I living back in NZ. I told her I was worried about the cost to move back and she went on to say that she and dad have been getting ready for us to come home for some time now. She said "we have been collecting toys and clothes for the kids and even have a spare mini van waiting for you when you come" she said " the apartment down stairs is empty and furnished too! all you need to do is bring yourselves and everything will be provided for you"

The truth is for quite some time now Travis and i have been thinking a lot about moving back to my home country of NZ. I love NZ with all of my heart and had a wonderful childhood there growing up with my large family of 12. I miss them all so much, they are all so supportive and helpful I know that if we where to make the move anything we would need would be taken care of.

The move will be expensive though! We have to pay for flights, Immigration, Passports, Citizenship for my kids, shipping furniture and buying new appliances not to mention homes in Auckland aren't cheap. I don't know what to do? I know this is what the family wants but I am worried about leaving the family and friends and home we have here.

Oh and the beaches! ... Oh how I miss the Beach!!!

the little nothings of an everyday dinner

For my husband and I, cooking dinner is a way to catch up on the happenings of each others day and so we usually wait until he comes home at 5pm to get dinner started. He will take one thing and I will take another and by some happy coincidence it all seems to work perfectly. The kids know this is there parents time, so they will run off into there playroom until they are called to dinner.

At dinner it is then there time to say whatever they want to and Travis and I will give them all of our attention, usually something new and a little odd will come out too, like tonight when they asked where daddy worked, I replied "at a bank" they asked "what does he do at the bank" I said " he buys and sells stocks for people" Then the topic changed and cleo asked "can I have my birthday party tomorrow?" and Travis said "We don't have everything that we need for a party ready by tomorrow" she then said "why don't you just buy the stuff tomorrow" we told her "We don't have enough money to just get everything tommorrow" she replied "why don't you just get it from the bank" (like there are happy elves willing to pass out everyone money whenever they need it or something) "we need to work for the money to put in the bank" then she looked at us a little puzzeled "but daddy works at the bank!" We laughed a little but tried to fill in all the blanks as best we could for a five year old.

Felicity our two year old has to be watched like a hawk because she will literally do something the moment your back is turned. When dinner was finished and her two sisters had asked to be excused and where leaving the table to take there plates up to the sink, I turned back to find felicity out of her chair and walking around the back of her seat with her plate still full of food and with some bad two year old footing bumped her plate into the wall and down came all the food to the floor. After moving her out of the way and cleaning up the mess I dumped all the leftovers in the bin only to look up and see her licking a full block of butter! how she got it i don't know..... I swear she is so lucky she is cute!

All because two people fell in love....

Somewhere beyond the sea, somewhere waiting for me.... was my best friend and darling husband Travis!!!