Well some of you may be asking...what the heck is going on in your lives? I've heard all these rumours. So yes Andrew has officially dropped out of law school. It wasn't for him and it was too expensive...end of that story. So naturally you might be wondering then what the heck are we still doing in NZ? Well I've enrolled in a 1 year Grad-Diploma program in Early childhood education (equivalent to a 3-yr undergrad degree), because it was on Immigration's long term skills shortage list, Andrew was eligible for a work visa. They took it off the list right before Andrew applied for the visa but it came through anyways, God wants us here obviously. So I'm on a student visa in a 1 yr program that finishes in November and he's on a work visa. Why early childhood? Because I love working with kids, it will help us stay in NZ, and also it fits us for where we are in our lives right now, especially if we have more kids (ie: you can take your kid to work), oh and super flexible hours. It seemed like a perfect fit. Once I graduate I'm eligible for a graduate work visa if I can find a job, and that makes it easier to stay. Otherwise we'll be back March 2013 (when our visa's expire). So the next 8 months will be extremely busy because Andrew will be working full-time, I'm in school full-time and the kids are still at home with us....how do we juggle it you ask? We're just that awesome! Ok we have some tactics:
1) We have a schedule
2) Andrew works 20 hours from home
3) I am doing my program via distance (except for 3 x 5 week placements)
4) Logan has started preschool 6 hours / week (3 on tues, 3 on thurs)
Life will be busy but I think this year will be a lot of fun!
I don't want to make this post too long but just wanted to tell you very quickly about our summer. Summer was pretty terrible this year, cold and rainy. I had put all my winter clothes away and on very many occasions regretted it. However there were some awesome things this past summer. Andrew's dad and step mom came out to visit us for 4 weeks in December. I was a bit nervous about how it would work out in our 2.5 bedrooms apartment with 4 adults and 2 young kids (more for their sake) but I think it worked out really well and we had a great time having them here. Logan absolutely loved it and was so excited to have them here. They were up in the north part of the south island when the Dec. 23 swarm of quakes hit so I'm glad they missed it. They came and picked us up and took us to Kaikoura which is 2.5 hours north of Christchurch. We were pretty rattled and thankful that we could all get away. It kinda ruined Christmas but I think we had a really good time in Kaikoura for 2 nights, so Christmas was just a bit different.
We also went out to the westcoast (Greymouth) for a few nights. That's about a 3.5 hour drive west of Christchurch. It's a pretty dull town but the scenery is absolutely stunning.
There were lots of great family friends walks to do and lots of cool scenery to explore. I definitely would like to go back there. This is one of my favourite sum-ups of Greymouth but I think it's funnier if you've been there:
In the never-ending story of our children. They are both doing great. Logan has started preschool 6 hours a week and loves it. When she turns 3 she is eligible for 20 hours for free (I love NZ). Fox is still scooting and tries to pull himself up but has only been successful twice in the last 3 months.
Here's us giving Logan dance lessons:
As some of you remember, I sent out a youtube video of Logan riding a little trike for the first time when she was about 19 months old. Well here's Fox on the same trike recently :) We're in the process of getting Logan onto 2 wheels, so Fox inherited her old bike:
That's all for now folks....Miss all our friends and family dearly!
