What to do

School holidays are fab. I have pretty independent boys, who for some days, I have barely seen. They are out and about on trains, buses, with friends, at baches etc, so I have a lot of free time.

My days seem to revolve around cups of tea, knitting, sewing and more knitting and a bit of reading. (we saw the genius Paul Kelly in concert on Sunday - such an amazing treat!). And a few pretty full on days at university for lectures on Pasifika education in a New Zealand context. I have had some pretty intense conversations with my lecturer (one of the top school maths researchers in NZ) - I have huge worries around maths in NZ and namely how it is being taught... one of my boy's schools say few are turning up in year 7 with the standard of maths they like and most students seem to have big gaps... They (along with my lecturer) detest the NZ numeracy project and have flicked over to NSW (Australia) maths. My lecturer puts it down to the teaching in multiple schools... all interesting.

Writing an essay too has been time consuming, but that is around tea, knitting and sewing. The days away last week and being at uni are enough for me to be out of the house. Love being home and pottering. New roman blinds for two other bedrooms have been ordered and we have also booked a holiday in Hong Kong in January, 2016 - boys will not know until Christmas Day and that will be their gift! Can't help it when the husband e-mails and asks "is this a good deal?". "Of course dear - YES". And love it when an 11 year cooks pancakes and delivers them to everyone in the house - this child will never starve.