BYE BYE KIDS

 It's been an absolute pleasure having Mike, Joyce and their gorgeous dog Beau here for the past 4 days.

Lots of laughs.

Doggy moments... mostly good!

Coco and Marley were on a whole very good with Beau, though we did have a few argy bargy moments... which just made us all laugh.

Beau just wanted to play with the girls, but they didn't want to 'play'.  Coco put Beau in his place when he annoyed her, and he backed off.

Marley and Beau mostly avoided each other... well Marley avoided Beau!  At least once a day Beau would push ALL of Marley's buttons and she would have a go at him... no damage done on either side luckily.  😂😅😊

Mostly, Marley was only being protective of her humans/toys.

ABOVE:  A very rare photo of all three dogs in close quarters... without any argy bargy.  I think Beau was feeling a bit anxious about how close Marley was to him!  lol

The kids are leaving for Palmerston North sometime today, not sure when.  I forgot to ask them last night.

I'm pretty sure Mike is going to get his usual haircut before he leaves.  I will do the normal before and after photos.  😊😉

Once they have left, I am going to get back into my sewing room and finish working on my new Market Sign.  I think I've sussed it out now, how to get it to hang perfectly straight etc.

ABOVE:  A reminder to myself (and others) that one day does not mean the end of good intentions.  It just means you had a wonderful Christmas, and now it's time to get back on track.

12.57 pm:

ABOVE: The Grandbaby dog jumped up for cuddles in bed this morning.  So cute.  Got kisses too.

Shopping fun at Chartwell Square this morning:

ABOVE  X's 3:  Two new tops from Taking Shape, and a gorgeous pink dress from Blue Illusion.

Two older grandmas (in their 80's), were in Blue Illusion and saw me in my pink dress.

They gave me lots of compliments, then one of them decided to try on one of the pink dresses too.

She looked DARLING and we all told her so.  So she bought it.

Then she gave me a big hug and kiss, cos I'd made her day.

She said she would NEVER have tried it on if she hadn't seen me in mine.

Awww she made my day too.

ABOVE: Mike about to get the chop...

ABOVE:  Looking very swish.  (Stew took that photo)

ABOVE:  Before, and after.   Gosh it makes SUCH a difference!  

We have all had toasted sandwiches for lunch.  Ham, Chicken, Cheese, Pineapple or Tomato.  Slowly using up the left overs.

ABOVE:  Chillin' out after lunch, watching us in the pool.

ABOVE: And just like that, they were heading home.  Traffic is horrific by the look of the photos they are sending us!

To be expected though.

Just after they left, we had a visit from Richard, who is my 'brother by another mother'.  He lives and works in Pukekohe right now, but he's usually in Indonesia with his family.

ABOVE:  Loved seeing you Richard, was lovely to catch up again.  

It is finally just Stew and I here again.

We are having sausages and left over potato salad for our dinner.  Then a quiet evening before bed.

Dinner was lovely.

I'd made another trifle using left over sponge/fruit/custard/cream etc, so invited Amanda and her little kids, and Brylee over to eat it.

So they came over.  What wasn't eaten here was taken home.

No more temptations in my fridge.

Excellent.

NOW it's quiet and I'm bloody exhausted!

It's been a full on 5 days.

Tomorrow WILL be a day to rest and relax.