Christmas is near

Monday 15th - Ruth doing some "baby sitting" for me with Asher outside. It's wonderful to see the sun. I didn't mention but last week we had one day that the fire was going it was so cold. Well, the next day it was so hot that we had the fan on to help cool us all down. No wonder we are all getting sick. Our bodies just don't know how to cope with this on-going changeable weather. Hopefully soon summer will settle in for good.
In the evening we got some Christmas cookies packaged. It's a family tradition that is just too difficult to give up - even when life is so busy.

The 4 of us who are off wheat struggled terribly to not be able to snack on any broken biscuits. So on Tuesday Rachel and I worked on changing the recipy. We used almond meal and coconut flour instead of normal flour and even changed the sugar to xylitol so that I could enjoy them (guilt free). :-) They are not crunchy like the others - but they are nice.
Right: Ruth having some fun climbing. For one of her brownie badges she had to climb a tree. This one will definitely count. Hannah was so impressed with how high she went. :-)
And then Hannah, Ruth and I took Rachel down for her last St John meeting (ballet is over now that the concert is done). They started the evening off with the waiata and the boys did the haka.

Rachel got her blue level first aid badge. She was so quick to leave that I couldn't get her face in the shot. A lovely one with Aunty Ruth smiling behind her though. :-)

Then her team were given their certificates from the competition they did earlier this year.

Then Rachel got the certificate for "Over 13, Certificate of Excellence for An Impressive Frist Year". Well done Rachel. And nice to get a photo of Jo. We hear so much about her. Rachel really enjoys having her as a leader.


Brendon had originally planned to go with Rachel on Tuesday night, but he was not feeling well. He had a bad cough and his chest was really tight.

It was even worse on Wednesday morning. He had almost 2 hours of work that he just had to get done in the morning and then came home to rest. After lunch Asher headed to bed for her nap, so he came and lay in the lounge instead. Asher would have spent the whole afternoon saying "hi" to him otherwise. :-)
Hezekiah enjoyed getting time to cuddle with Dad as they watched a movie together. Brendon benefited from being still. It's always a worry when his chest gets so sore, and moving around does make it so much worse.

The children were all so pleased when Lynn popped in during the afternoon with presents for all. :-) An early Christmas for them all. Thank you so much Lynn.
Ruth specifically asked me a few days before if she could give Lynn her Christmas biscuits. She says that Hannah has given the biscuits for 3 years now. So Ruth was extra pleased - to get to give Lynn her biscuits this year.

I had been researching essential oils in the afternoon, to help with Rachel's verruca. She has been putting Tea Tree oil on it since we went to the doc (we heard about that the same day from the Chiropractor). It was great to know that lemon (which I also had) was another that could help. Frankincense was also highly recommended, but is quite a bit more expensive than the others.
The research led me to look into what could help Brendon for his sinuses and cough. He had peppermint in his shower (the steam helping the vapours to get to the sinus passages) and then before bed I rubbed lemon, orange and tea tree on his back and chest. He could not believe how well he slept that night and how much better he felt in the morning.

Ruth took this photo of Hezekiah on Friday morning.
She enjoyed listening to his game as much as I do.

He even rubbed them onto his chest before heading off to work. It being a Thursday, he could just not stay home. Thankfully his chest only hurt for the first hour, when he had very physical work to do. He said he did still cough through the day, but it was loose and so he was not worried about it. At least all the muck can get out now. Before it was so tight and he was worried about pleurisy hitting him again.
I had ordered some more Tea Tree oil and had decided to invest in some Frankincense too. I was really pleased when it arrived on Friday morning. We could get some onto Rachel's foot before she went away for the weekend. I also found (after ordering it) that it is also highly recommended for epilepsy.

I had actually put some lemon and orange on Asher on Thursday to help with her cough and cold and was very pleased to read that they are both also suggested for epilepsy. I was also relieved to read the list of oils to avoid with epilepsy, and I don't have any of those.
Rachel got a full day of work in on Thursday. She had been struggling before with sore wrists and a sore knee, so we were pleased to hear that they didn't bother her at all through the day. Now to just get rid of the verruca.
Right: Brooke and Ruth enjoy doing loom bands together. Brooke brought her things over previously in the week. Just such a pity my silly (new) camera won't allow me to force a flash. Ruth's face is totally hidden in this shot.
Rachel headed off on her St John camp in the afternoon. She has been so excited about it and I am sure they are going to have a great time.
Left: Asher - thinking she is really clever, climbing onto the dinning room table. Ruth quickly ran to get the camera to have proof. Nice photo Ruth. Asher's hair has been so curly with the hot weather we have been having. So cute.
And Val dropped these beautiful flowers off for me. Aren't they just lovely. And they smell wonderful too.










Saturday 20th. Asher has seen the other children playing here so much that she wanted a turn today. Ruth is such a wonderful big sister to her.

In the afternoon I heard these two singing one of The Nutcracker songs outside. It was so cute to see Asher on drums and Hezekiah on the piano. Please note - he says it is NOT a keyboard - it is a piano. :-)

Then later we were treated to the performance. Ruth was on drums for this performance, and for some reason she felt being in the tent was the best place to be.
We got them a copy of The Nutcracker recently and they really enjoy watching it. I especially enjoy the fact that they are learning all the lovely music (even if with different words). :-)

Doing their bow after the show.



I eventually headed and not long afterwards Brendon came in with Asher. She had had another seizure. She had been playing with stones at the wheelbarrow and Brendon noticed that she had started shaking (like shivering). It was only talking to her that he realized she was not breathing. She was still standing fine and even reached over to put the stones down. Thankfully it did not last long - only about a minute.

Then it was play time with Dad. They all had so much fun.

It's always so clear that it has been a seizure though because she again had a long hour nap afterwards.
She had an increase in her medication on Friday (with an extra 1mg given in the evening as well as morning now) and so we start to wonder if this is related. That's two weeks in a row now. We do pray that again it settles down. We will have to see how things go this week and next weekend when the dose is increased again.

Sunday 21st. Rachel got back from camp in the late afternoon. She had a great time.
Brendon had worked in the morning and then had to go back to for an hour over lunch time. So the rest of the day was spent just relaxing at home.