Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my precious Angel Degen today - 27 May! Two years old - how time flies! We miss you so much and wish you were here with us on Earth to celebrate - although we always know we are with us in spirit.

You continue to be such an inspiration for so many, especially for your mommy and daddy, in your short 6-months here on Earth. Thank you for enriching our lives, in everything we do, we think of you. We love you sweetheart!

He greeted life with a smile, lived it with determination and said farewell with a fight. 

Beloved son, cherished friend, eternal inspiration. 

Love,

Mom & Dad and your sissy Miss G

xoxo

Degen's Story

The Green Torpedos, continued...

Well, I have picked, given away, chopped, froze, preserved and baked with literally THOUSANDS of feijoas... There are *still* more under the trees, but I am choosing to ignore them by not going into the backyard. (Side note: if anyone wants any, feel free to bring a bag and help yourself!)

Auntie Tracey was just telling me yesterday they are apx $3/kilo at the supermarket. Hmm. May have to start selling these little bad boys next year for a bit of extra coin... Okay, I probably won't... But, it would be a good idea! :)

What we have found is that feijoa muffins and feijoa crumble are yummy! Will see how the preserves go later in the year...

In other news, Miss G is 4 1/2 months now! WOW! Where has the time gone? She is just such a lovely cheeky girl - so happy and smiley. Love her to bits!

4 months old - with the feijoas! :)

We are still enjoying a relatively mild autumn here - it's actually been fairly warm for this time of year. Which we are *loving* at our outdoor netball games! We are now 3-0, our last game was a bit of a nail biter, so we all need to step it up for our upcoming games!

Edan's project car is officially 'home' now. Well, it's more like a body of a car at the moment, but he's out in the workshop every night tinkering... Oh well. He's happy with that. Now, if only I could get him to hook up my bike trainer...

Miss G and I are headed to Mainly Music this afternoon, she *loves* music, just like her brother did, so hopefully she has a lovely time there. And, well, me too. :)

Until next time!
:)

My Favorite Things!

Amber at Life on a Stick tagged me in her post, so I'm going to play along! Amber, a ND native, is an RN at the Mayo, a mommy of 1 and soon to be 3!, and is studying to become a Family Nurse Practitioner! Amazing!

A few of my favorite things (in no particular order):

#1 Cloth nappies. I recently purchased 11 cloth nappies to try out on Gretchen and I LOVE them. No big accidents yet (knock on wood), feel like I'm helping the environment by reducing our weekly landfill waste and saving $$. yay. (I still use disposables at night, I'm not quite that brave yet...)

#2 My netball team - Te Kawau Greens. A group of girls that just want to have fun playing some  weekend netball. Love it. :)

#3 My besties. I have the best of family and friends. Yay for all of you! Where would I be without your love and support? :)

#4 Travelling. Ok, so I haven't done this in quite a while... but I have backpacked a good portion of Europe (twice - @22 just out of Uni and @27 on our honeymoon), North America, a bit of Asia and some of the South Pacific.

Edan and I hiking - Mt. Ngauruhoe in the background

#5 Studying Nursing. Yep, I love it. My gorgeous Angel Degen enriched my life and has encouraged me to study nursing and I *LOVE* it. Can't wait to graduate with my Bachelor of Nursing, and then hopefully I can start my Nurse Practitioner study in the USA...

#6 Popcorn. Yum. Love it. Especially with butter.

#7 Living in New Zealand. My husband is a native "Kiwi" so I agreed to give it a go living in NZ for a few years. Plan was to be back in the USA w/in 5 years. Well, that's this year... (Finishing my RN training in NZ before we head back.) Such a beautiful country with super friendly people. I've been fortunate enough to have travelled to a vast majority of the country and it is just amazing.

Top pix - top of the North Island, Bottom Pix - Glacier on the South Island

Pancake Rocks/Blow holes - South Island

On Mt Ruahepu looking at Mt Taranaki (both volcanos)- North Island

#8 Autumn.

Pix I took here in the Manawatu

#9 Spending time with my family and friends - esp my hubby and sweet baby! So lucky my USA family come down here as often as they do. Would love to see more of you though - fab vacation destination! :)

#10 Reading. Love to read - was getting through the books quite quickly after I had Gretchen, however now she is a bit more active, so it's getting harder. But, still managing to get in a few books/month.  Any good suggestions?

Ok, I'm new to blogging so I don't really have anyone to tag yet... But, I'll get there! :)
Have a great weekend everyone! xoxo

Happy Mother's Day!

Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa.
Let us keep close together, not wide apart.
-Maori Whakatauki (Proverb)


Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mother's out there - especially mine and my grandma of course! :) While I am not physically near my mother, I am really happy that we are 'close' in the other sense of the word. Thankfully, she has been a positive rock for me to lean on during the darkest year of my life (losing Degen). So, yay, for her! Happy mother's day and sorry I just mailed your card yesterday. oops!

Mom with newborn Gretchen

Fruit galore!

Well, my feijoa harvest is definitely underway and I've been giving bags of the tiny green torpedos away as quickly as they've been falling off our hedge of trees! 

A days pickings! Yipes! 

Waste not, want not ... however, nature has provided us with more than our fair share. Thankfully, we have lots of friends that enjoy them as well. So far, I've made feijoa crumble, feijoa muffins, preserved feijoas and have frozen them as well... Which will be fantastic this winter! My next goal is feijoa/grape jam... Yum! :) 

Scooping out the inside to freeze in containers for later use! Yum! :)

When did I become such a "domestic goddess"? Hmm. I think I'm a domestic goddess in training really... I love trying to find ways to be more 'organic' and finding ways to save money... Funny how in my 20s, I poopooed the idea of being a stay at home mom and what could they POSSIBLY do ALL day!?!? Hmm. I'm really glad reality slapped me in the face - I have never knows such hard work, but yet, so rewarding. I absolutely love being home with Miss G, and of course I loved every moment with my precious Angel Degen. 

Some of my new 'missions' are attempting to quilt for friends and to sew dresses for Miss G. Wish me luck! 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you have a wonderful day filled with good food, and great company. :) Edan and I stayed home this year for Easter, although we would have loved to go away. Although, we are quite glad we did stay home - we got a lot of yard work done around the place, and it's looking fantastic! We are just building up our winter veggie garden, and I'm itching to plant some broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage. leeks, lettuce, onions, and beans. And, Edan is busy getting his workshop ready for his project car to come 'home' soon.

We had a bit of an impromptu Easter dinner on Sunday eve at our place. It was great! Most of our friends were home for the holidays - and we had 14 adults and 5 kiddos in our place! It was chaos, but very fun. It's so cool to get together with loved ones for the holidays and it was really fun to have our friends over to share the joys of Easter with. Jen & Sam also came down to share in the fun day - and it was fantastic to see them! Miss G was so spoiled with all of the attention!

Our place when we bought it. 

SOLD! (Note, I am 8 months preg here.)

Today is ANZAC day in Australia/New Zealand - a day to remember the soldiers that have fallen in battle. Since we are so close to the Air Force base here, we heard the helicopter going around the area doing fly overs during the special services. It was quite neat. 

Otherwise, today is a bit of a rainy day - but since we enjoyed sunshine for the weekend, a bit of rain is a-okay. :) 

My next project is doing something with our feijoas. What is a feijoa you may ask - FEIJOA. We have a hedge of feijoa trees on our back boundry fence, as well as our neighbors tree that hangs over into our yard... I have "gifted" several bags to friends and family, but figure I better start doing something with the remaining... Watch this space... ;-) 

Hope everyone is well - and until next time. 

xoxo

3 Months of Bliss!

Miss G celebrated her 3-month birthday on Weds! We had quite a busy day - we went to a seminar on Baby Talk - and are planning to teach Miss G baby sign. Apparently we can start doing the signs with her now (just a couple) and she will be picking them up and using them around the 9-month mark! Very cool! So we are starting with milk - and then add in some words as we go on. I've had some friends use baby sign and have good results with it, so I'm hoping Miss G is able to use it as well.

3-months old!

We also had Gretchen's Plunket check-up - she's weighing in at 5.06kg (25%) and 60.5cm (75%).  She's such a happy wee dot - and LOVES her voice! When she squeals with delight and it sounds like cats fighting! I kid you not - it is absolutely HILAROUS! Mom, Dad and Dan were on SKYPE with us Weds afternoon - and as usual, she put on a good show.

 I can't believe how quickly the past 3 months have gone - may the good times continue to roll on! :)

Have a great Friday everyone!

First Post!

Hello! Just thought I'd give 'blogging' a whirl to keep everyone posted on what is happening in New Zealand! I'm trying to figure out how to change the background, etc - so please bear with me while I have some growing pains. ;-)

Well, 2011 has been such a rapid whirlwind for us - Gretchen Klara Maria was born on the 13th of January - Edan's birthday! She is such a fun addition to our family - such a sweet happy girl! Mom arrived the evening of the 12th, so she arrived just in time - which was absolutely fantastic! Even Jen made it down from Taupo in time for Gretchen's birth.

In February we celebrated Jen's and Sam's wedding - it was a beautiful day and everyone had such a wonderful time. Welcome to the family Sam! Couldn't ask for anyone better for Jen! :) Both Dad and Daniel were in New Zealand for the wonderful event as well.

Beautiful bride!

Being cute is so exhausting! 

The "Thorstad" family

In March, mom and dad flew back to cold Minnesota to start their calving season. Daniel went down to the south island and spent some time hunting with his college buddy Ryan, and their NZ mates down there. He brought back some venison and crayfish for us to enjoy, which was yummy! :)

Two months old - by Belle's 2nd birthday cake!

April has come before I could even blink! Gretchen is 12 weeks now - oh where has the time gone? She's such a wonderful baby - she's fully discovered her hands and loves to put them in her mouth! She also enjoys reaching out and grabbing, as well as playing with her musical gym and her stuffed animals on her bouncy chair. (Tigger is her favorite!) She has a very similar smile to her brother and we are constantly reminded of him when we look at her - which is really nice. We wish he was here with us to enjoy her as well, but we know he is here in spirit everyday. :)

Dan's crayfish

Cheeky monkey! 

It's coming into autumn here now, leaves are starting to drop and the air has a bit of a chill in it. Netball season has also started and I am playing for the Te Kawau social team. We had our first game (grading game) on Saturday, and we had a blast together as a team. Despite that we lost 25-39, but nevermind - it was very fun to get out and play. (PS To all my American friends, here's what netball is: NZ Netball) It's a very fun game!

Well, until next time... :)