Since last Friday...

Saturday I announced to the boys that we would be going to watch the Brass Band Festival Parade Thingie straight after our music practice.  They weren't overly enthusiastic, rating it about 6 on the excitement and interest scale.  It was only after texting a bunch of people to see if there would be any friendly company in the crowd that we realized we'd got our dates muddled, and the parade was on Friday!  Rats.  Looked around Farmers for a while, then came home and spent the afternoon cleaning the house and playing Monopoly.

Sunday was busy with the regular church activities; loneliness hit hard having to come home after both services without Nick.  I taught the boys the game Balderdash before the afternoon service.  I hope this proves that I don't suffer from misopedia - "hating children, especially your own".  The boys did brilliantly in making up some very creative definitions!

Monday was more of the same at home - the boys have been enjoying reading and drawing.  I made a huge lasagne and invited Jemima to share it with us before she gave me a violin lesson.  It has been good having her over to tea the last two Mondays.

Tuesday I collected the very last piece of my violin set-up - a bow!  Very kindly imported for me from Germany, it's a beauty with silver trim and all the pretty inlays and stuff one would expect.  Took ages to get enough rosin on the hair to make it not whisper, but I can see the three of us are going to have many happy times together - violin, bow and I.  Popped in at the Camerons for a quick cup of tea and hello as their house was directly on the way home, then arranged with Nyree for a haircut as well, so we were out until lunch time.  At 2.15 Tom came to collect the boys to take them for a drive to Waimate and back - not just for fun, mind you, but for them to join him on his courier run.  They enjoyed the afternoon with him immensely, especially Caleb who personally delivered a few parcels.  Thanks Tom!  I enjoyed three hours of solitude.

Wednesday we spent the day entirely at home, not even going outside except to check the empty postbox occasionally.

Thursday we had a lunch date with the Camerons.  I left the boys at their place after lunch and popped off to the school for two hours.  Matt and Rachel commented that the blog is getting a bit thin these days (yeah, I know), so here are some photos of them :)