Mother Wants Funeral To Be Fun And Bright

The Pirongia mother of two children killed with their father in a collision between a car and a truck in rural Waikato four days ago wants Saturday's funeral to be a "fun and bright" celebration.

Kylie Nicholas said her 10-year-old daughter Jaiden and seven-year-old son Kade loved life, had many friends and the funeral should be about celebrating that.

Tia Nicholas, 3, survived the accident while the children's father Justin Paul Nicholas, 34, died. His cremation has taken place.

Mrs Nicholas said Jaiden loved jazz and hip-hop dancing. Her passion was the Hannah Montana television series on the Disney Channel about Miley Stewart (played by Miley Cyrus) a teenage schoolgirl who by night is a pop singer called Hannah Montana.

"Her bedroom is covered with Hannah Montana. There's nothing that isn't Hannah Montana."

Jaiden also loved music and was a "little social butterfly".

"Our house is always full of girls her age. The house is like a railway station. She has a huge amount of friends."

Kade was always smiling, always happy and not a rough and tumble type of boy.

"He's sensitive and kind. He loves reading, writing poems and stories.

"I'd go and have a shower and he would have written 'I love you" and put it on my dressing table.

"I want Saturday to be just about the kids and about all their friends so we can just remember them.

"The day will be about celebrating them - having their favourite songs."

There will be hundreds of coloured helium balloons.

"If people want to come and say goodbye to Jaiden and Kade before Saturday they are welcome. The house will be open so they can say goodbye," said Mrs Nicholas.

Tia will remain in hospital for up to six weeks.

"Six weeks in some ways is going to be good. I don't have to go home because I don't want to go home by myself. In five seconds my world changed forever. My main focus is getting through this week, then getting Tia well and then going home.

"Then it's going to be the changes, the things you don't think of. At the moment, it's still a bit unreal. I've cried non-stop. I'm on kind of a roller coaster ride," she said.

"It's not just me suffering. It is just totally mind boggling on what a grand scale this affects everybody. It's the ripple affect.

"I'm trying not to be absorbed in my own self. I think that's it. In the beginning, it was 'look at me, look at me and Tia' and as I've looked around me, it's not all about me.

"It's about their little friends, it's about the truck driver and the people that came and got them. It's just huge. The talking helps (me). It's nice to feel those human feelings again, it's not fair."

Mrs Nicholas described Tia as incredibly brave.

"She's very responsible, wise beyond her years. She's mini Mum all day doing what I'm doing."

Mrs Nicholas had not seen Tia's car seat, which disintegrated at the scene.

"That's the only reason she survived because of the car seat. She had room to move, she wasn't a solid structure."

The funeral is at Pirongia School hall at 11am on Saturday. The school's PTA is looking after the catering.

Mrs Nicholas said media were welcome to attend but asked they keep a respectful distance.

ENDS