Christmas Day 2011

The aim of this blog post was to tell about our Christmas Day in photos – but as few photos as possible. It’s really hard to pull back the numbers of photos, but we’ve given it a try. We initially wanted 1 photo per hour, however that is easier said than done! Too much going on in some hours, and not much in others. By the way – click on the photos to see them bigger

6:00am – Stockings

The kids were up before 6 am. It was time to do stockings. We don’t do Santa in our family. The kids all know that their stocking presents are from Mummy and Daddy.

In the kids stockings were some Christmas decorations that Becca had made them.

Oh, and we can’t forget our new dog Maddie – she needs a present too!

What’s Christmas without cleaning up a mess?

Oops – Becca spilt the jelly in the fridge!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Every Christmas we bake a birthday cake and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. It’s just a small reminder of what Christmas is really about. We hope that our children grow up remembering this and not think it’s just about presents!

Presents!

What else can we say?

Play time!

After unwrapping all these toys we’d have to start playing! That slot car set took a while to set up!
The kids love being at grandparents for Christmas, but they also loved being able to open up and set up ALL their toys without having to wait (sometimes a couple of weeks) until we get back home.

Crazy!

We realised that the slot car set was right in the way of everything in the lounge. Becca and I decided to put it on a mat, but we didn’t want to take it apart! Somehow we succeeded as can be seen in the photos. MissK10 took these great photos – Well done! All this work was destroyed later in the afternoon when MissC2 decided to start pulling it apart.

Lunch

We headed off to Avalon Park to have our Christmas lunch and let the kids have a play. The first photo is actually of the two older boys putting sunblock on! (Sorry for the quality of the lunch photos – we forgot our main camera and took these on our phones.)

Skype with the rellies!

Later in the afternoon we had a Skype chat with both sets of grandparents (and other extended family). Only took one pic sorry.

Hi Poppa!

Dinner – well… dessert

As you can see we missed a photo of dinner – but it was a beautifully cooked roast lamb with roast veges. Mmmm! Here’s dessert though – Jelly, ambrosia and icecream. It was pretty late by this stage so kids were in bed soon after this. Was a fantastic day though!

It’s all about LOVE

It’s been an unusual week for our family. Rebecca and the kids have all been away to see a sick family member, and I’ve been home alone so that I could still go to work. It’s always tough being apart from the ones you love, but occasionally this it what happens. What it does though, is it reminds you not only how much you love them, but WHY you love them.

I might complain sometimes about how noisy the kids are, or how exhausting they can be, but over these past few days I would’ve loved to have heard them playing, shouting and even arguing! The interactions – both pleasant and unpleasant – are important. They’re part of what makes a family.

So parents… Give your kids a hug. Give them a kiss. Play with them. Tell them how much you love them! Do it even after you’ve had to discipline them. If I hug and love on my kids after I’ve growled them for something, they always respond positively. I’ll tell them that I love them and they always tell me, “I love you too.” That’s a moment I know I’m doing an okay job as a Dad.

Don’t forget to show affection to your spouse also! Show love to your husband/wife in front of the kids. Give them a hug and a kiss. Tell them clearly how much you love them and how fantastic they are. It’s such an important thing to model to children – how to be loving parents.

Raising a family is all about love. Let’s share it around!

Nathaniel

Quality time – for parents

Well it’s been a while since the last post. This is mainly due to the fact our main computer is in for repairs. Hopefully that’ll be back soon.

During this time we’ve had sick kids, they’ve had sick parents, and we’ve been pretty busy. Becca has been busy being a Mum, wife and general super-woman (especially during the week of illnesses). And I’ve been busy working and trying to get my study underway for the year. I’ve personally found it quite difficult to keep up a good work-life balance. For those who don’t know, I’m a teacher and it has been a pretty full-on start to the year. I’m certainly looking forward to slowing down a little in the holidays coming up. I’m also studying two post-grad papers this year, and they have filled up most of the extra time I’ve had.

This is where daddy time is so important. I must admit I sometimes find it difficult to come home from work and make sure I spend time with the kids. Sometimes I simply don’t want to as I’m exhausted. I’d rather sit down for a bit, knowing as soon as the kids are in bed that I’ll need to begin studying. I have had to have make-up time a couple of times where I’ve got home late due to meetings or bus/train delays. The kids are pretty good about this, which is a relief.

The other thing that is so important is my time with Becca. When we’re both really busy it’s so easy to give up the time for us, but it’s really important to make time for each other. I think it’s really important just to even find five minutes to sit together, hold hands perhaps, and talk. It doesn’t necessarily matter what about, but it gives some time to reconnect after a busy day where we may have hardly had anything to do with each other. I’m not very good at this, myself, but I know that I need to make this effort both for our relationship and for the kids. They need to see that Mum and Dad make time for each other too.

One of the most important things for all children to see, I believe, is a loving relationship between their parents. This quality time between husband and wife is vital for keeping marriages together and working. It’s about communication, and it communicates to the children that Mum and Dad love each other, and that’s what a healthy relationship is about.

I want my kids growing up knowing that their parents love each other and would work things through when required so that when they are married they know that love and quality time together is so important and they can give those gifts also to their spouses.

Well, that post was not how I planned, but I hope you may be able to take something from it.

-Nathaniel

Daddy time

Photo by Dave Kellam

Last Monday I started ensuring that I spent quality time with all of my children individually. Having 5 kids it seems like a challenge, however a couple of weeks ago I came up with the (possibly obvious) solution. I decided that I would spend the time between getting home from work and dinner each weekday spending time with one of the kids.

Rebecca helped by setting up a roster. This wasn’t just for Daddy time, but also for helping cook dinner with Mummy (also quality time), saying grace before dinner (they LOVE to do this!), feeding the pets (rats and budgies) and checking the mail. Five kids and five daily things to do. It keeps them all happy because they know that they all have something to do, and that they will get their turn at the other things during the week also.

So, back to Daddy time.

• Mr X4 started off the week. Now, I’ve allowed them to choose what they want to do with me. Mr X4 chose to go to The Warehouse to look at toys. How easy is this! So we drove off to The Warehouse and spent some time looking at the toys. He LOVED it!!!
• Tuesday was Mr J5. He chose to colour in with me and then we headed off to the supermarket together to grab a few bits and pieces that we needed. On the way home he started planning what he wants to do with me next week .
• Miss K9 also decided to go to The Warehouse on Wednesday and so we looked at girls toys, girls clothing and then books – all her favourite things! (This is the only time that I considered feeling sorry for myself… but I got over it pretty quick as I was spending some need quality time with my daughter.)
• On Thursday I pushed Miss C1 on the swing and we played on the tramp.
• On Friday Mr J2 was so keen for me to push him on the swing, so I did this for nearly 10 minutes before we hopped on the tramp with a ball and played and played and played together. I’ll tell you that I was more tired after this than he was!

On Tuesday (22 February 2011) was the day of the 6.3 magnitude Christchurch earthquake. I was heartbroken as I heard of the lives lost in the earthquake – adults, children and babies; and of the parents who were missing their children. This terrible event really hammered home to me the importance of spending quality time with my kids. It doesn’t matter how long it is. The important thing is that it’s done. Kids are important and they love to spend time with their parents. Make the most of the time you have with your kids. Love them with everything you’ve got at all times. I know I’m loving on my family much more right now.

Our love, thoughts and prayers go out to those families who have lost loved ones in the Christchurch earthquake.

- Nathaniel