Max did it!

Today Max stayed ALL morning by himself in his Sunday school class. He was very uninterested in me when I left. We had talked about all weekend and I told him he was going to play for a few minutes then I would come back and say hi. He kept saying, "mommy bye bye. Mommy hi."

I came back after 5 minutes and he was drumming away with his friends and teachers. I LOVE his teachers and am so sad they are all going home for summer break!

When I left again he didn't give me the time of day. I returned to this sweet picture of him reading books with Anna, one of his teachers. He saw me then cried a few tears, then told me all about his morning. He evidently cried a little but his teacher got him calmed down and he was fine.

It's a new season! I love him growing up and am loving each new season. I love being his mommy and love it more and more the older he gets.

Day at the Beach

It was sunny today & a bit cold but we did what we do best: went to the beach. Max is talking so much and loves doing everything himself. "Mac do it" is said constantly at our house. He can't quite say Max yet but gets Mac out.

It was SO fun playing at the beach. Soon it will be warmer....I hope.

Lately

We have had a fun weekend even though it's been so windy. We had Liam for the day on Friday and we attempted going to the park, but when you are with the Acklands you always end up at the beach! We played and ran and rolled in the sand. And then found out Liam hates the beach. Ha! He was so cute and had so much fun! You wouldn't have known he usually screams when he's been taken to the beach before.

Sam had a final on Saturday and then his last one Monday. Woo hoo!!! Sunday he took a break from
studying to watch the All Blacks play. It was an afternoon game so Max was able to watch it too. We love Rugby.

Sam finished his last exam and has been slowly recovering the last couple of days. He is wiped out, but I am so proud of him finishing his first semester and learning so much. I sometimes find myself jealous of his learning and test taking (I'm so nerdy I loved finals week!) but then as I sit on the couch enjoying Grey's Anatomy I'm perfectly content for now not having homework.


Watching Sam being willing to go after what he wants inspires me. There is so much risk and hard work involved, plus a whole lot of undoing some things learned that weren't true about his mind and ability. He's brave. He's not okay with the status quo. He's driven. I would have never been able in my wildest dreams to come up with this scenario and adventure for my married life, but it actually doesn't surprise me. The location. Med school. Stay at home mom in a different culture. That surprises me, but the big picture of who we are and where we are going makes total sense.

Sam has three weeks off to recover and tie up some loose ends. We value vacations greatly in our family, but because of a weird car thing we can't travel too far so we will be creative this break and hope for good weather (or to win a Fiji vacation contest I entered this week. Dreaming of island life!)


Oh and I was able to meet up with a new friend from Canada I am really enjoying being friends with here. We complained about the price of groceries and clothes. Ate chocolate. Talked about having busy husband and what we wanted to do for work while having kids at home and trying to figure out what we are qualified to go in NZ. It was refreshing. Easy. Fun getting dressed up to go out all on my own!

Lately life has just hummed along here in NZ. We are still waiting for summer. We hate winter! We are still loving being close to a beach (but definitely miss Mount life where we walked & never got in a car!!) And we are still cracking up at our silly boy who has now added his Woddy doll to his night time regime after watching Toy Story with Sam yesterday. His reward after trying on clothes with me all morning (which he actually loves. Ha! He walks around the store grabbing things saying, "Mac?" and holding it up to him. He can't quite get the "x" sound so it's so cute to hear him say his name.)

Lately we have just been enjoying life in this moment!

Hard Day at the Office

Beach + Nannying = Sweet Work Day

Max LOVES Ardjo (aka Liam,not sure how he gets Ardjo out of Liam but it cracks me up to hear him scream for him). We don't usually have Liam on Fridays but were lucky enough to have him today. I took the boys to the beach after giving Liam some of Max's clothes. It was still a bit cool but the boys had so much fun.

Dress Up

Kiwi's love any excuse for a dress up day! Max had his last music class for today and it was a dress up day. Which pretty much is a free for all like Halloween, come as anything you like. Ironically Kiwi's hate Halloween though. Go figure!

Max went as a surfer boy & I dressed up too! A surfer boy mom. I was the ONLY mom that even attempted. Ha! Poor Max.

We arrived at Liam's and he decided he needed to be a surfer too. He was supposed to be a lion but that didn't fly after he saw Max. Unfortunately didn't have board shorts but he so badly wanted to be a surfer and wear his swimsuit. So I layered him in thermals too and found a too small pair of flip flops, slapped some zinc on him and he was HAPPY!

True to form all the little girls were taken with these little surfer boys.

Birthday

I l❤ve my birthday! This year it fell in the middle of Sam's first Finals week. Oh well! We will celebrate next week. BUT Max and I had a fun day. We went to Starbucks. Walked around the mall, looked at his favorite fishies, I tried on dresses (haven't done that in forever!!), and went to lunch with Liam and his Mom Steph. Birthday miracle:: Steph found us a Mexican restaurant!!! A great one!! She had never tried it either and we are both so glad we did yesterday! I walked in & smelled this amazing aroma. Real authentic Mexican food. I feel liked a walked into a restaurant in CA! Max even drank horchata and loved it. Such a fun day! Sam and I definitely found our new date night place!

Then we ate dinner at home and I wend out with a friend for dessert. It was so great to be out with no kids for a little bit. I got some fun things in the mail and had lots of great message. All in all a great day!

I ❤ Bedtime again

Whew. 6 weeks later I finally can honestly say I don't dread bedtime. 6 weeks was not what I expected but I will say it was worth every minute, tear & fight. We read books, watch a video, saying our goodnights and out I go. A few "mommy?" to check to make sure that we didn't fly to Fiji or something while he has to go to bed. (Ahhh Fiji how nice that sounds, I digress).

I love seeing Max grow. I love seeing him empowered. I absolutely love seeing him conquer fear. Going to bed by himself after the move and the hotel was his Everest. And he did it!! I'm so proud to see him go to bed each night. But I just melt seeing him feel so proud of himself.