Tasha Party (pt 2)

Well after our late night a sleep in would be in order right? Haha. I had warned the girls that they were not to emerge from the bedroom until 7am. However, we did hear voices coming from there way before this time!
Once everyone was up we sat down to a brekky of pancakes with lemon + sugar, jam, nutella, butter...... thankfully not all on the one pancake!

We then headed out in the sun for a game of charades (or sardines as Tasha kept calling it ?!?) This was the catalyst for lots of laughter and fun Next we played the chocolate game.... if you haven't seen this before it is heaps of fun. Bascially you need a block of chocolate, knife and fork (the blunter the better), a dice and a costume (we had an apron and funny glasses). You take it in turns to roll the dice. If you get a 6 you get to put on the costume and start cutting the chocolate. You cannot eat until you have cut a piece off smaller than one square and you cannot use your hands. The fun/frustration of this game is when you have just cut a piece off and someone else rolls a six so you have to put down the knife and fork. In some instances another 6 can be rolled before you even get the costume on.

And then because you never can have enough chocolate we had fondue for morning tea before taking the girls home.

All in all a great fun time with lots of laughs.

Tasha's party (pt 1)

Wow - where has the time gone? My little girl is ALMOST 12! Instead of having a big birthday party she just wanted to have a little sleepover and invited three friends over. They all came home on the bus from school on Friday. I did offer to pick them up but they chose the bus!
Of course first thing on the agenda was to check out her birthday cards and pressies. Then we played dress ups with a difference! The girls were each given a garbage bag, a roll of streamers and some sticky tape and they had to design a dress. They were really quite innovative and not only did they make their dresses but boy the accessories were amazing.... we had headbands and bracelets and Kaysha even made Tasha a pair of sandals out of streamers! Oh and we had a massive mess at the end of it!

Then for dinner we cheated! Tasha's dinner of choice was McDonalds so we all headed out to South Nowra. Tash took advantage of the fact that she isn't 12 for 4 days and the girls played in the kids playground for ages. They were having so much fun playing and running around.

Then we came home and watched the movie "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and then the girls had a game of murder in the dark before heading outside at 11:30 at night for a game of spotlight which didn't last long as the noise levels kept getting louder and louder!

About midnight the girls were told it was bedtime - this is how you fit 4 girls in Tasha's tiny bedroom for sleeping. Apparently Tasha and Courtney got to sleep about 12:30 and Maddie and Kaysha finally dropped off about 2:00!

to be continued.....................................

Goodbye

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to a much loved member of our family. She has only been with us for three years but she is such a part of our lives.
If the kids are outside you will find Maggie trailing along behind - she loved being near people and adored the kids. She made it to the amazing age of 17 and we had her with us for longer than we had first hoped for. It doesn't make it any easier to say goodbye though. We will all miss her terribly and there have been plenty of tears here this weekend (from all of us)

Love you Miss Maggie May

Oh NO!

Just to add to the dull life we have around here I was out South Nowra yesterday when a woman walked into the shop we were in to let us know she had just run into the side of our car as she was pulling into the parking lot!
From near the boot along the back panel and along the back door is now a BBBIIIIGGG dint, and scratch marks.
So Tony ducked out this morning to get quotes etc to get it fixed. Oh well, at least it is still drivable (oh and Cass - it is on the other side to bike mans dint!)

Beginnings and endings

Well this week has been another big one. Last week I worked Mon, Tues, Wed so I could head off to Cowra on Thursday with Mum and John. Mark flew in from Brisbane and we all happened to arrive at the motel within about 20 minutes of each other! Then we headed over to Dave's to catch up and spend some time together. Mick and auntie Di were there too so we had our own family reunion.

Friday morning we got up and headed to the church for Uncle Les' funeral. The service was lovely - David and Michael got up to speak and actually got through everything (eventually) and then Mum got up to recall some of the moments she had growing up with Les. THEN I had to get up after all that and do the bible reading - not an easy job! We headed out to the War Cemetery at Cowra for the burial and then back to the church for lunch. I was so glad the boys had been able to speak and get through it - it wasn't easy and Mick had to stop and ask us "to bear with him" but those boys did such a great job. And they don't scrub up too badly either!..... Dave (Uncle Les' oldest son), Mark (my brother), Rod (Mick's mate for years and pseudo member of family) and Michael (Les' youngest son and my old partner in crime)

Then we went out to the club for dinner - here is a photo of Mick and Dave with Mum

And (some of) the kids. Not all of the kids came to the funeral.... and yes Henry's hair is blue (it was originally orange). Rylee (on the right) is Mick's daughter and almost exactly the same age as Kyle... hehe I won by one day!

We also got to meet David's girlfriend Tanya who is just lovely. You know how sometimes you can just click with a person - well she fitted in with us so well and we have already arranged a catch up at Christmas.

And here is what is left of the Cox/Reynolds adults here in Australia. Kind of scary that this is all thats left. Oh... and because it was Mick's 40th birthday last week I am officially the only young, irresponsible left. (Although the boys did argue they may not be young but they could always be irresponsible).

We got home from Cowra late Saturday feeling exhausted and washed out etc etc.

Then Sunday was a celebration of soon to be new life with Mone's baby shower for her little girl Olivia who is due on the 3rd of Sept. It was a great day - nice and casual, lots of laughs, chats, the kids had a great time playing and we had very yummy lunch. What more could you need?

Speed dating......

Hehe thought the title might get your attention. I went to parent/teacher interviews at Kyle's school last night. Now I have been to many P/T interviews over the years - but never a high school one before and oh what an experience.

Firstly you must log in online and tick the boxes of the teachers you want to see and then it gives you a schedule of appointments which you print off and bring with you - each in 10 minute increments.

You walk into the hall and all the teachers are seated at desks spread out in a circle around the outside of the room facing inwards. The parents walk into a group of chairs laid out in a square facing outwards... (I was tempted to call out "Musical Chairs" and start skipping around but didn't think that would go down well)

At your alloted time (mine started at 5:00pm as I finished work at 4:30) you head over to the first name on your list then you sit down and have your interview (which went well by the way) then in exactly 10 minutes a bell rings and you get up and move onto the next teacher on your list until the bell rings again etc, etc.

Felt like I should be rating each person for future reference..... gave me a great experience of speed dating (hhmmmm should I be upset that no-one wanted to see me again?)

What a week

Well this week has been one of ups and downs - sounds like life as usual around here!
Sometimes you think you just cannot take any more knocks but then they just keep coming. When the phone rings at 10 o'clock at night you know it can't be good news - and then you realise it is your mum on the phone and you KNOW it is bad news. Mum's brother Les passed away and was found in his home by his son. Les and Mum have always had a really close relationship - they came out from England when they were teenagers and only had each other and their parents in a strange new country. He will be very sorely missed by us all.
This pic is of Uncle Les with his Grandson Henry and son David. Then the next day we headed up to Wollongong hoping for good news from the specialist but unfortunately the drugs they were trialling have not worked so now it is on to the next trial. Praying that this one will work!

We have also had a house full of flu-ey people with Tony having a shocking dose of flu and me just the headaches and runny nose/sore throat and then Tasha decided to join us as well.

However there has been some highlights to this week and some fun social times:
On saturday we headed up to the Kings for lunch and some time just hanging out with the King family. I love this family - they always make us feel welcome and loved. Tasha and Annie played finger puppets and all sorts of games with the boys playing Wii games and even all the kids heading outside for some cricket and soccer (ooops sorry for the mud on the carpet Cass - hope it came out okay)

OH and of course we had a game of Flippin Frogs.

Then saturday night I got a call inviting me out to dinner. It was a really good night. We went to Wing and a Pear and had a 3 course meal for $30 and the food was oh sooooooo yummy. Will definately have to do it again - I miss our times together and our chats. MWAH.

Worked Mon, Tues, Wed - but still had time for some catching up. Was able to meet Jane for lunch on Tuesday and it was so just what I needed with all the upheaval of this week trying to organise getting us to Uncle Les' funeral.

So we head off to Cowra tomorrow - Mark is flying in and will meet us there. Mum, John and I are travelling over together and heading home on Saturday. It is really sad that it takes a funeral to get us all (cousins etc) together.

A girl and her dad

Yes you guessed it - spent some more time in my craft room! Some days (okay, okay lots of them lately) I just find it difficult being around others and just wish I could sit on the lounge and relax but that is not possible around here so I tend to shut myself in my craft room as I just don't want to talk. The upside of this is that I am getting some scrapping done.

These pics were taken 3 1/2 years ago and I have been waiting to scrap them. Tash and her dad have such a great relationship and she is such a daddys girl. Another thing I have had lying around waiting to be used is these chipboard swirls. They are so gorgeous and I knew this was just the project I wanted to use them on.

Oh and I got to use up some of my new alpha stickers (thanks Cass- they have made me and my family smile, laugh, ooh and aahh!) with the phrase "any man can be a father - it takes a special man to be a daddy"

A Berry good weekend

Wow - time to take a step back and try and find time to just enjoy life. Last weekend we had a nice quiet one planned so after having a rough night Friday night we decided to get out in the fresh air. Saturday morning we headed over to have morning tea with Mum and John to wish John a happy 85th birthay. The kids had a ball playing out the front (my girl is so camera shy hey!) I know Kyle's face is all screwed up in this pic but I love this photo anyway.

Mum has her new garden going well. They are working on a vegie garden at the moment but the major gardens are established. Had to share this gorgeous camelia (I think - my knowledge of flowers is very limited) from Mum's garden. Aren't the colours just amazing!

We then headed up to Gerringong and had a wander around and Tasha felt she had found her place in life at Natural Necessity. Hmmm pity she doesn't have the wallet to go along with it.

Sunday we headed back over to Berry to wander the Berry Markets. We used to do the market thing regularly but haven't been for a while. Apparently we didnt get the memo that said 1) you have to take your dog with you to the markets and 2) don't forget to take out a bank loan before you go.