Family Photos

It has been a dream of mine for some time to have a family photo shoot done - not just the single posed shot but a series of photos of us. We had discussed many ways to do this.. we had even looked into Starshots (where they do your hair and makeup etc) but we decided the formal studio setting was not us. We love the beach and the bush and wanted our photos to be more about us as a family.

So we got in contact with Rowena Field at www.willroandco.com I have known Ro for quite some time both through scrap days at the church and through various scrapping websites. We had a ball! We headed out to Callala Beach and (after a slight detour when I turned up at the wrong place) we spent a few hours with Rowena and her daughter Tara. It was a very relaxed afternoon and we had multiple costume changes and lots of laughs.

I love the pictures they got - yes we had some posed ones but we also got some amazing candid shots. It is impossible to pick a favourite of the almost 60 photos taken but I have included a few here.
The relationship between these two was captured perfectly.

This family shot is soooo not your typical normal family portrait but I just love it. It is now printed on a large canvas on our lounge room wall.






As I said this is only a small taste of the photos we got - yes we have the normal posed ones but also lots of candid snaps and fun ones too.

Visit www.willroandco.com if you are interested in doing this with your family - I cannot recommend her more highly.

Busy Weekend

I am a bit behind with blog updates but hey.. I am getting there!

A couple of weeks ago we had a very busy social weekend. We started with family date night on Friday night. It was a bit of a last minute thing.. but also something I have been working on for some time. Yes, yes I know... who said I had to make sense. ~L~ I guess I should say I had wanted to do this for ages so when the opportunity presented itself I jumped at it.

With my kids busy social lives we do not often have all four of us here and awake at the same time but it turned out we would all be free on a Friday afternoon/evening and as Breaking Dawn had just started that week we had a family movie/dinner night. We started off by picking the kids up and heading straight to the Roxy for a Twilight fix. Then we went to Posties for dinner. The meals were humungous (as you can probably see by Tasha's face)

Then Saturday morning Miss Jane and I met up for a trip to "A Taste of Christmas". It was a fundraiser for SECET and there were a number of craft and home made goodies stalls - entry fee was $10 and that included a high tea. So we sat and chatted under the trees and enjoyed our cuppa and sweets. (until we were gently asked if we were finished so our table could be used.... hmmmm I am beginning to wonder about us when we can be asked to leave a tea party - our reputation must proceed us! ~L~)
Then that night the kids and I headed out to Greenwell Point to celebrate with Jason and Amanda who both turned 40 towards the end of this year so had their 40th birthday parties as a joint affair. Tasha had fun decorating glasses and we had a lovely meal, caught up with friends we hadn't seen in ages, chatted with new people and even had a dance or two. Oh and Tasha and Tegan got up and danced for us AND Tasha sang for Jason and Amanda and..... okay slightly biased mother here.... she did a beautiful job.

Readers of my blog would recognise Tegan as she has appeared in numerous posts before - Jason and Amanda are her parents!
Then... Sunday! We went out to the Combers to celebrate Haylee's 25th birthday. It was a great day. We has a wonderful time, chatted with family and friends. Kyle got to cook the BBQ with Royce (watch out Royce the apprentice may one day surpass the master) and we had lots of scrumptious food.
I found this feature on my camera that I had fun playing with - it is a panoramic shot and takes three photos and joins them all together. Not the best pic as some people were inside etc, but definately a feature I will use again!

Summer soccer???

When Kyle decided to play summer soccer this year I thought it would be lovely to watch him play in daylight... in the sun... without umbrellas and jumpers etc etc. How wrong could I be!

So... we still head out on a Wednesday night (although he plays at South Nowra every week which is lovely - no big drives) but we are half way through the season and so far we have had ONE sunny day. Again tonight out came the umbrella as we sploshed through the mud and puddles to get to the field.

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Summer soccer - I don't think so!

Hot, hot , hot

What a day1 Mad day at work and horrid day at school for Miss Tash. She had to do a presentation in science today on breast cancer. I was so proud of her for getting through it - she managed to hold it together through her speech and finish her presentation before she broke down. WELL DONE TASH.

Anyway - 30 degree heat... tough day... of course it was beach time! This time it was just the girls - we had a fun time and it was just what was needed.
I have to say how proud I am of my girl. As I said she had to do a presentation on cancer and rather than taking the easy way out she not only had breast cancer as her topic (each pair in class had a different type of cancer) but she took the opportunity to share with the class about her Nana's cancer story and included a timeline of Nana's fight starting back in 2003. Apparently she had a tear or two in class but didn't cry until the presentation was finished but she had nearly all the class in tears too. It was lovely that she could share Nana's story in this way. SO PROUD OF YOU TASHA.

October

What a month! Full of ups and downs - Soooooo emotional.

After lots of hassles, dramas, and trauma - we now have our new Jazz. He is a lovely car - I was initially so excited about this vehicle but after being treated so badly by staff members at Nowra Honda -*NOTE* NEVER buy a car from that car lot - EVER!.* I was feeling quite ill about it. However I must say that when the car arrived the excitement hit fever levels! He is lovely to drive and easy to handle and oh such a gorgeous colour.

His name is Mike..... kind of a long story - will try and shorten it. Friends of ours have a large gorgeous blue car named Sully - with its colour and size it just had to be named Sully after the character in Monsters Inc. Now our car is a smaller version in the green colour so of course he had to be Mike (after checking with Sully's owners when we saw them in July for naming permission)
NOTE TO SELF NO 2. Think twice before sending Tony to get dog clipped! Okay to be fair he did need to clipped very short due to knots and matts in his fur but what a difference - so different Tasha believed we had a new dog!
We have had some gorgeous weather so of course we went to the beach. I hope to get out to the beach at least once a week this summer - I am working more days but knock off at 4:30 so can pick the kids up and head out for a few hours - got to love daylight saving!
I got to catch up with Cass and Annie - we had a big girls lunch in Kiama. I love catching up with these two they always put such a smile on my face!
And then we went back up to Kiama 2 days later for lunch and catch up with Mark, Mel and Declan.
So much more has happened this month.

- Our new building for work is coming along fast (and providing quite a few headaches as well as things emerge that haven't been done/planned or allowed for)

- I had major dramas when my laptop decided to die - I had not done a back up for about 6 months (yes, yes I know) and the last photos of Mum were on here. Whilst I was still in meltdown mode the calm voice of reason came from up North. I got an amazing call from Cass telling me her husband had told her to get me to send it to him and he would see what he could do. I have the best friends ever - not only are they clever but they were willing to do whatever they could to help me in what they knew would be a terribly traumatic time. NOT ONLY did I get my photos back on disc in the mail a couple of days later but I also got my computer back good as new with new hard drive installed and all my programs as they were and ready to go. LOVE YOU GUYS

- I got to catch up with Miss Jane - we called out to show off our new car - and for a coffee and catch up. Love these mornings and yes they will definately become a regular thing.

- This month was Mum's birthday and we had her plaque installed at Worrigee..... long story but oh so hard to deal with....

It has been a month of tears for me - I am still waiting to have a full day without tears but I know it will come.

October

Ggggrrr - had a months update all done and its disappeared.... hopefully blogger will find it again. If not I guess I will try again tomorrow night.

A social weekend

Wow what a busy weekend we have had!

Due to the fact we were all travelling out to Bathurst for the weekend we closed up work on Friday to allow travel time for everyone! Tony and I took advantage of this by heading to Cowra on Friday and catching up with my cousin David and Tanya. We had a lovely night catching up with them and I am sooooo glad we could have this time together.

Then Saturday morning Tony and I got up and and headed into Bathurst. We spent some time wandering around town before checking into our motel and getting ready for the wedding. Jessica is the daughter of one of the lady's at work, Michelle, and we have followed her life for years, both through her mum and through her happy smiling face calling in to work. It was lovely to see her and Chris get married. It was a gorgeous sunny day in Bathurst. The service was lovely and the church and reception amazing. It was a fun time and was nice to spend time with people from work in a more relaxed and fun setting.

I had hoped to add pictures but am having disagreements with my new camera - will try and get it sorted.... when I have time...... oh wait ~L~

Then Sunday was another catch up day. We headed off Sunday morning through Oberon and stopped in the delightful little town of Taralga where we had a late breakfast at a sweet tea room which my mum would have adored. If you are ever passing through Taralga call into the Taralgagirl cafe - Taralga is an amazing old town and it is just like stepping backwards in time.

Anyway, we got in Goulburn and spent some time catching up with Michael. Again it was lovely to catch up and we just sat and chatted - it was wonderful. It is mind blowing to think we are all the family left now and so we must make more effort to catch up - we used to get each others news through Uncle Les and Mum so now I guess it is up to us!

All in all a wonderful weekend full of social activities and catching up with special people.

Catch up

What can I say about the past month? It has been hectic (as usual) and has gone past so quickly. It has been an emotional month but has also had some good moments.

Okay.... scary - my baby is now a teenager! Yes, yes I know with the attitude we thought she already was but now she truly is a teenager.
As is family tradition Tasha got to pick dinner on her birthday so we headed out to Buffet Fusion. As generally happens things got a little silly!
We also celebrated Olivia's first birthday. It was a lovely sunny day and lots of fun was had. Tasha loves spending time with her cousins and was very excited.
Have been busy every weekend this past month and am looking forward to a couple of weekends at home (although now school holidays are starting!) I have been working long hours and extra days and feeling very washed out and flat.

Wow

What a weekend! busy, busy, busy but a wonderful time.

We started with a trip up to Wollongong after school on Friday - we found a reasonably priced apartment but due to the fact it was much cheaper than the others we weren't expecting much - well we were surprised! It was a massive room and gorgeous! Would definately go back if we needed. Anyway... the reason we were in Wollongong was for Tasha and I to go and watch Southern Stars - a dance and singing spectacular highlighting the talent from schools on the South Coast and Illawarra. WOW WOW WOW. I was blown away by the profesisonalism and the standard of the performance. Both Tasha and I came out of there in awe.

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Saturday morning we headed up to Miranda Fair for some retail therapy. After spending quite a few hours wandering in and out of shops we came away with a new outfit for Tash - a new short and jacket for Kyle but no new outfit for me for the wedding in three weeks :(

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Then it was a trip to the Sutherland where we caught the train into the city and had 1/2 an hour to get us all showered, changed and meet up with Mark, Mel and Declan for dinner. Aaarrghh - they were 15 minutes early! Luckily they were happy to grab a drink in the bar downstairs and gave us time to get dressed. We had a lovely dinner in Chinatown together before we said goodbye to the Stedfut clan and we headed to Capitol Theatre.

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What can I say about Mary Poppins? AMAZING. Okay obvious statement here but boy that Matt Lee can dance! Mary Poppins (Verity Hunt-Ballard) was brilliant and being supported by Philip Quast and Marina Prior as Mr and Mrs Banks just rounds it off perfectly. Apart from the talent everyone on stage just looked like they were having a great time!

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We finished the trip off with a quick visit to Pitt St Mall before heading home. Exhausted but well worth it.

Shame

I hang my head in shame..... my poor neglected blog!

The last three - four months have been hard..... very, very hard.

I have spent a lot of time at Berry with Mum as she got weaker and weaker and then she passed away on the 13th of May, being at home up until 3 days before she died at Karinya Palliative Care. The staff there were wonderful but there is nothing that can make that time any easier. The months since then have been kind of in a fog. At times I did not feel I would get through. The issues and just life in general since have been so hard to cope with.

In the middle of all this Tasha has had more issues at school.... some times I would love to be so anti-politically correct and go and punch some people and tell them to wake up to what their kids are like.

These past few months though have shown me how lucky I am with the friends and family I have. In Mum's last weeks and even after Mum died we had food delivered and left at the front door. Davina and Gail filled our freezer. It was amazing the care shown to us.

My friends have been wonderful. The constant phone calls and messages, the time for meeting up for a cuppa, the love and caring. I must make a very special thankyou to Miss Jane who was there for me whenever needed, she checked in regularly to make sure I was keeping my head above water or to pass me a snorkel if I wanted to slip under for a while (metaphorically speaking). The hugs, the cuppas, the messages and emails have all been a saving grace for me.

In the middle of this period we managed to pile everyone in the car for a long weekend trip to Melbourne just to give my girl SJ a big moving present - a hug from me! (Poor thing - she got a dud pressie hey!) Hopefully our trip down there, even as brief as it was, out a little of sunshine in what has been a tough year for her to.

Anyway I humbly beg your forgiveness for the neglect of my blog. May have to find a challenge of some sorts to get me back into blogging.... 30 day challenge? 20 questions? Photo of the day? Will come up with something - any suggestions?

gggrrr

yes I know there are spelling mistakes in the post below but blogger won't let me edit them. gggrrrrr

Long Weekend

What a mixed weekend we have had..... We spent some time with Mum on Fri/Sat and then gave her and John a quiet day at home alone on Sunday. Mum was looking very unwell on Saturday and was extrememy tired. When I rang her Sunday she was quite breathless and somewhat confused but said she felt okay.
Monday however was a different story. I got a phone call from Mum Monday morning checking I still coming over as she was feeling very ill. So I sent Tony and the kids off to the Lucas Family Easter and headed over to Berry. What a trip... bumper to bumper traffic through Nowra then it cleared as I got north of Bomaderry then I hit Strongs Road turn off and from there I got out of 1st gear once! It took me over an hour to get to Mum's! (it's normally a 20min trip) and knowing she was waiting on me to get there it was a rather stressful trip.
Mum was very, very breathless... she was very tired and finding it difficult to speak. We just spent some time sitting quietly together and just being there for each other.

So where are we now? Mum is still very breathless and tired. After seeing the doctors today it was decided to keep her home for now (Mum was so sick yesterday she suggested ringing Karinya which was a MASSIVE thing for her as she has done everything she could to avoid that). They are doing some fiddling with her pain medications and we wait and re-assess on a daily basis. Knowing Mum she is going to keep fighting as long as she can.... after all she has already waaaayyy surpassed the original expectations.

With all the stress going on around here lately I spent some time hiding away in my craft room (yes I should have been doing housework). Mainly tidying up etc.. I hadn't unpacked since going away to the scrapping retreat in February so I did that and then I sat down and scrapped. I had gone in there just to have some time away from the world and was surprised that I ended up actually doing some craft.

This page was put together out of a kit I bought at our LSS when it first opened. It was the biggest rip off I have ever bought and I have actually not bought from there since. This was their opening special "mystery kit" It cost $5 and all that was in it was this one sheet of paper, a short strip of pink ribbon and one silver flower. Every time I have opened this pack I have been frustrated at the price of it and put it away again.
Anyway I sat down and decided to use it. the page is quite simple and basic but hey...... I SCRAPPED!
It says all I wanted to say. My kids have been an amazing support to me over the past few months. The days I feel like I am barely holding on this young lady will cook dinner and Kyle will just open his arms and give me a big hug. They truly keep me from collapsing. I have to stay strong for them and to be there for them.

Bucket Lists

We have been busy lately working with Mum on ticking off things she had left on her bucket list There were people she wanted to see before she died and at the end of this week we will have managed to get all of them here to see her.
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She finished this beautiful book..... It is a wonderful collection of memories of her childhood, school years, family life, married life as well as dreams, advice for the future generations. She was determined to get this done and we finally got it completed last week.
She had a very special movie she wanted to see and a MASSIVE thank you has to go out to my wonderful friends SJ and Matt for getting this to us so that she could watch it.
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We have sorted out family heirlooms and distributed things to the people she wanted to have them.
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The beach has always been an important place to our family and Mum's dream was to get back to the beach one more time. Yesterday was a gorgeous day and she was having a good day so we headed up to Gerringong. Firstly we stopped at Werri Beach for fish and Chips. Before heading to the beach so the kids could go swimming and John's son could head out on his paddle board to catch some waves for Mum as another thing on her Bucket List was to see him surf. He is a surf lifesaver and does a lot of competitions but Mum had never seen him in the water. We sat Mum up on the beach where she could watch the kids and have her feet in the sand. It was a lovely day and we had a good hour or so with Mum before the pain got too bad and she had to head home. It was a very special day and one I will look back on fondly. Another day on the beach with my Mum to add to the many beach days over my life.

So we have nearly ticked all the boxes on Mum's bucket list. The one last big thing is not acheivable but we have managed to get so much done (Mum's big dream was a hot air balloon ride)

Anyway, it got me thinking...... what would you have on your bucket list? If you knew you were dying what would you do with your last weeks? I think mine would be very similar to Mum's..... Catch up with special friends, leave memories for those left behind and time on the beach.

My long term bucket list includes a trip to England to see where my Mum grew up. I would love to see Venice, learn another language and have a special "Girls trip" - a holiday with my closest friends would be my ultimate dream.

so what is your bucket list?

Happy Birthday

On Saturday night Tony and I went out to dinner to celebrate a very special 60th birthday. Jenny has been my "other mum" for over 20 years. Heidi and I met and became friends immediately and I was also just as quickly accepted into their family. Through those tough teenage years I often ended up at the Layland's (and in turn Heidi sought refuge at my house when needed). We saw each other through ups and downs. When Heidi left town with the show (yeah, yeah I know... no circus was available at the time) we kept in touch and I still visited the Layland house often. This family have shared so much with me * I was first (apart from her parents) to know Heidi was pregnant * I was there when Adam (Heidi's son) was born * We have seen each other married * When I was baptised in my late teens Jenny stood there beside me as my support person. We have laughed, cried and shared so much together so it was lovely to celebrate another occasion with them: HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY OTHER MUM

Phew - made it

Yay managed to update my blog before the month was up! Lets start with the mad dog! Wow has he changed and grown. up - putting these two photos together makes it so obvious... did someone swap our dog? The past month has been a hard one. Any spare time has been spent with Mum.... sharing stories, reminiscing, organising funerals, discussing life in general and catching up with friends. A lot of Mum's friends have been over to say their goodbyes and it has been interesting catching up with all of them. Lots of stories of school and early adulthood as well as life as a parent have been discussed and I have learnt lots of news things I had never known about Mum! She is getting weaker and weaker but keeps surprising the doctors who expected her to die weeks ago... boy she can be stubborn! Her pain relief has been increased on numerous occasions and she is very tired most of the day. She has a couple of good hours each day and we take advantage of these to sit and chat (she can stretch out on her lounge). Some days I take a book along and just sit beside her and read whilst she dozes. Its nice just to be together.

In the midst of this my kids have been my saving grace. They are wonderful and try to help out where possible. My house has become a bit of a shambles and they are helping out with a lot more chores to try and keep this place tidy. We were also blessed to have some of Tonys family cook some meals for us and drop them around one day. It has been such a wonderful blessing to have a ready cooked meal just needing to be heated up at the end of the day. Oh... and they were yummy!

Anyway as a thankyou for the kids and just to remind them that life can be good and to put a smile back on their faces we took them away for a couple of days. We had planned on going down to Melbourne these holidays but with Mum getting so weak we didn't want to go that far or for too long so we went up to Sydney on the first Sunday of the school holidays.

We dropped our bags off at our motel (Oaks Harmony Apartments.....lovely!!) and headed down to Darling Harbour where we wandered around, checked out shops, and Tasha managed to walk in every water feature she could find!

Monday morning we got up and walked across the street to Central where we caught a train down to Circular Quay to catch a ferry across to Taronga Zoo. Then we caught a bus up to the front gates and started our day!

We had a great time. It was such a great day and I am so glad we did it. We saw lions and tigers and bears... oh my! We saw birds, baby elephants, wombats, tassie devils, chimpanzees, big cats, reptiles etc etc. The kids had a great time and it was so wonderful to see the fun on their faces.

Then we caught the gondola - sky safari back down to jetty to catch the ferry back to circular quay.

We went down to Darking Harbour for dinner and then went around to the Lindt Cafe as Tasha had been hanging out for a strawberry platter...... to find they close early on Monday nights! We got there to see a dark closed up cafe :(

We caught a monorail just to round off the day.... so in one day we caught... a train, a ferry, a bus, we walked, we went on the gondola and the monorail!

The kids were very excited by the lights and the stalls and Kyle got a new lightsaber (ooops his mum broke his last one!) and Tasha got flashy bunny ears. And then proceeded to hop the whole way from Harbourside to near the big Park (can't remember what its called).

We laughed and had heaps of fun and I am so glad we did it.

Then on tuesday we came home via Miranda Fair.... We headed to the Lindt cafe for Tasha and guess what..... they had run out of strawberry dipping plates!! So the poor girl had to have chocolate mud cake instead. Oh and we got one job out of the way... Tasha and I both got new clothes for Mum's funeral. Thats one more job I can tick off the list!

Whooops

What a sad, neglected blog I have! what can I say - the last few months have been so full and life has been busy.
I thought I would try and wrap up the last month or so - just so I have the record when I look back.
We have gardened....... we transplanted some plants from Mum's garden to here (yeah okay I didn't include pics of them because they don't look too healthy at the moment) but we also fertilised the lawn and our front garden. Our Geisha Girl has just flourished and looks great now.
Buddy is growing up heaps.... Tasha works well with him and has his training underway. He sits, drops, stays, comes etc etc..... our one problem is walking - he HATES the lead, so it looks like puppy school for Tash and Buddy. I headed off to Melross for our annual girls scrap retreat. I wasn't able to relax so much this time. Firstly, due to concern for Mum but also because I had to come home 2 of the 3 nights so did quite a few trips over the mountain in the 4 day period.
The highlight of the weekend (apart from late night giggles and chats with Cass) was sitting in a paddock talking to Cass when we saw this cow drop it's baby calf... so then we sat for an hour or so and watched this little baby find its feet. It was lovely to just sit and watch.

On the 1st of March I headed back to work with the orthopaedic practice and it feels like I never left (except with much less stress!) It is the place I really feel I fit into and I am so happy to be back.

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Then on the 11th of March we were called in to see Mum's oncologist after he had some concerns about her cancer and had some urgent tests done. the week prior we had been told that he felt the cancer had spread to the abdomen and this may give her 3 -6 months. Well when we went back to see him with the results the news was grim. We knew her cancer was growing very quickly but now not only was the liver diseased but the cancer was spread throughout the abdomen and was pressing on the duodenum.

I don't think I have seen the doctor look so serious..... although this was explained when he told Mum that she was no longer suitable for treatment and that this was much worse than he thought - worse case scenario being she may be gone within the week.

She was given some medication which has relieved the nausea slightly and we hope may have bought us a few extra weeks but it is terribly hard to see her getting sicker and sicker.

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The day following this news I headed up to Sydney with Jane and Simon to watch Todd McKenney shake his maracas....... Just what I needed. It was a great show and I thoroughly enjoyed it...... oh and in a case of small world - my boss from work happened to be sitting literally across the aisle from us! So this past week has been an emotional one. We have spent a' lot of time with Mum... had conversations you hope to never have.... and generally just travelled along in a bit of a fog.

Friday the 18th Kyle got an early birthday treat. Kyle has (for quite some time) been quite obsessed with Weird Al Jankovic... a pop parody artist. (you may remember him from the 80's with such songs as Like a Surgeon and Fat). So when we saw that he was touring Australia and would be in Sydney the night before Kyle's birthday we knew we had his birthday present organised!

Well........ he LOVED it. Heard all his favourite songs (Amish Paradise, Another one rides the bus, etc etc) and was just so excited about seeing him live. Apparently the show was amazing. Tony and Kyle went up after school Friday - there were multiple costume changes and massive productions. A birthday he won't forget!

So Tasha and I didn't actually see him on his birthday until mid afternoon Saturday - we all met up at Mum's for birthday cake (caramel mud cake) and afternoon tea.

Oh and my boys spent Saturday morning shopping at Miranda Fair. WITHOUT ME!!!!! Funny, Tony thought that would be cheaper..... hmmm I don't understand that.

However, they did come home with a little bag for me from Lindt!

Over the weekend Mark, Mel and Declan came down to see Mum so we got to spend some time together at Mum's and then they came and stayed here so we had a special birthday dinner for Kyle (chinese of course).

So now we head into the next few weeks.... I know there will be good times and hard times but we are just taking advantage of every day we have.

Vent alert

*warning the following post may contain venting, anger and disappointment. This blog recommends viewing with the realisation that I just needed to get this off my chest*

I believe that Friday's should come with an offical warning. You would think that Fridays would be a happy day - after all it is generally my day off work. This does not seem to be the case and Friday's seem to be our "attract disaster and mayhem" day.

This friday started okay - did some housework, checked up on emails etc. Should have known - lulling me into a false sense of security. Firstly Mum was admitted to hospital today (albeit briefly) as this course of chemotherapy that they felt she needed to do battle with the cancer caused a SEVERE reaction in her and she had to be admitted for IV anti-nauseants and fluid. Sooooooo no treatment next week as her body is too exhausted, we will try again the following week but hopefully they will be able to alter her treatment as she cannot do that on a weekly basis!

Then the next hit to the gut. Tasha comes home from school in tears. She had been in class this morning when the teacher told them they were working with dangerous equipment (technology) so they HAD TO go place their wallets, phones etc in their bags outside the classroom. Now we resisted giving Tasha a phone and she only got it for Christmas recently as there have a been a LOT of issues on her school bus and we needed to know she could contact us if needed. The school state they can have phones as long as they are turned off during class. Anyway - Tasha leaves technology class to find her wallet and phone have been stolen from her school bag.

The school was good - they took it seriously and she spent quite some time with the deputy principal whilst he tried to help her out. She also said a couple of senior students came in and sat with her and chatted to her and supported her. The poor kid then spent the whole day at school upset as she didn't want to ring us because she was worried she would be in trouble. She had been told taking the phone to school she had to accept a risk and if she lost it she would be in trouble. This, however, was out of her control and not something she was responsible for.

The thing that upset me the most was when I posted what had happened the comments that I got back were so harsh. Along the lines of well tough luck she shouldn't have had a phone and well she learnt what life is like didn't she. For me the issues wasn't the loss of the phone it was the fact that this kid has just started high school and now feels violated because of the theft of her purse and personal items. Yes she only had 3 dollars in it but thats not the point. And the fact that this lack of compassion for the victim of a theft came from a local police officer! Well that just made me see red.

Watch this space

I forgot to mention - I actually got some scrapping done - will post pics over the weekend

What a week

Wow - what a massive week of ups and downs. We have had laughs, tears and lots in between.

The kids are both settling into school and we have a few dramas..... poor Tasha, sitting my kids down with a box of matches and telling them have fun and play is not something I have thought of doing.... unfortunately in Tasha's first week of high school lighting matches was on the science curriculum and as she couldn't light her match first go and then had everyone in the class watching and laughing it took her some time to light matches with a shaking, nervous hand. Apart from that we have had lots of homework, merit awards, swimming carnival, we have 2 x school camps coming up (one each child) and I am sure there is much more to come!

I have two weeks of work left before starting a new phase of life with much more flexibility to work around mum's treatment etc. Mum has had a rotten couple of weeks with very high pain levels, a MASSIVE jump in cancer markers and starting a new very radical course of chemotherapy.

Tony and I celebrated 17 years of marriage (yes Tony says I can claim all those 17 years as we were married the whole time ~L~) with a lovely dinner out at Red Raven. It was so lovely to have a nice night out with Tony and I wish it was something we could do more often.

Tony is in for a busy time with three weeks of helping one of the posties out so he will be doing his regular night hours (if not more as they have people away) as well as doing a mail run during the day - not quite sure when he will get sleep in. I am away the last weekend of Feb so I pity the poor kids as they have to cope with a sleep deprived Dad for the weekend.

New school year

Wow - my baby is heading into High School. I have no idea how that happened so quickly. She only just started Kindergarten - I'm sure that was only a year or two ago! Both kids had nerves kicking in the last few days. Kyle is nervous about the changes that come with year 9 and Tasha with starting a new school. She has heard all the regular horror stories about high school so was getting more and more concerned as the days got closer.
This morning she was up at 5:30. Dressed and ready to go by 6:30! At 8 o'clock we left home, dropped Kyle off at school and then headed down to Harry Sawkins Park for a quick photo shoot with her friends Kaysha and Maddy before heading in convoy to school so they could walk in to school together.

Australia Day

Australia Day this year was a quiet one! We had been planning on catching up with the Baldwin's over Christmas and time kept slipping by so it was lovely to spend time with them on Australia Day with a bbq lunch. Tasha made us a chocolate cake and decorated it - we had fruit, choc mousse pavlova and just had a lovely time. Oh and the girls got into the zinc! Very Aussie!

More school holiday fun

Wow the school holidays are over. In December when the kids went on hols it seemed like such a long period but boy has it flown. We have crammed lots into this break - movies, days out etc
We have spent quite a bit of time dining "al fresco" at our outdoor table and have watched the frangipani tree flower - this plant is a very special one for me as it was given to me as a tiny cutting about 5cm high made just for me as Jack had heard I loved frangipanis. We have watched this little fella grow up - he is getting so big. Tasha has taught him to sit and to fetch..... we just need to work on stopping him jumping up. He provides us with heaps of entertainment and has so much energy. He loves water, loves chasing his tail and is very cheeky.

We had this guys birthday - and celebrated with a day out

We started at Minnamurra rainforest - where Tasha was devastated to find out that there was no mobile phone reception. she didn't realise that such places existed ~L~

We had a great time walking through the rainforest and exploring .

From there we went on to Carrington Falls which were just amazing. They were flowing really well. I was amazed at the people who were walking right up to the edge of the falls - one guy was standing in the water leaning over the edge of the cliff. Madness!

In a previous post I had a comparison pic of Kyle taken at Barrington Falls. Now it's Tasha's turn. Wow my girl seems so grown up.

From there we headed down to the water at Shellharbour and spent some time just sitting in the sun and relaxing.

Before heading to Hogs Breath for dinner! We had a lovely waitress and when she heard it was Tony's birthday she brought his dessert out with a sparkler in it! Tasha was very excited to see a chocolate fondue platter on the menu for dessert! Happy Birthday Tony.

The day after Tony's birthday we met up with the Layland family - Heidi was my support/partner in crime through our difficult teenage years. Not only did Heidi and I share our thoughts, our dreams, our angsts etc we also shared our families! When she had a fight with her parents she turned up at our place and when I thought my parents were being unreasonable (yeah okay that was quite often) I ended up at the Layland's and even called Jenny and Andrew my other Mum and Dad. It was great to see Heidi and meet her fiance Scott. Oh and to catch up with "little" Adam - Heidi's son who is now 17 and over 6 foot!

We spent some time in the garden transplanting some lilli pilli trees from Mum's garden to ours.

What a great holiday - in between working we got to spend time together - in the sun and prepare for 2011 and all it has in store.