Busy Weekend

Wow what a mad weekend. The boys headed up to Sydney to see Ben 10 Live show at the Entertainment Centre. It was good to see the boys doing something together (although with trains being replaced by buses and timetable muck ups etc they didn't get to spend much time in Sydney).
As for the girls... well... originally this weekend was supposed to be taken up with Tasha's dancing Medal and Scholarship day but due to all sorts of muck ups and politics at dancing we didn't end up dancing this weekend. So what does a girl do to cheer herself up? Of course we went shopping! It was going to be just Tasha and I but at the last minute Kaysha joined us too. The girls had heaps of fun - I think we looked at every pair of shoes in Westfield Warrawong! They had lots of laughs, took pictures together in the photo booth, climbed on kids rides and generally just had a fun day out.
And to top the day off we called into see the King family on the way home!

Sunday was our hard work day. Mum and John had a large pile of crushed terracotta delivered for their new garden paths and needed it moved around the back! Kyle and I shovelled and Tasha and Tony did the carrying and we actually got the job done in just under an hour which was a lot less than we had expected (mind you we did all kind of collapse after as we just kept plowing through the work). The finished job looks really good.

Last weekend Jane and Cass came over for a catch up and I did get some scrapping done. Not overly happy with it as it seems very basic but it is the only scrapping I have done recently so I thought I had better share!

Aussie Gal

I had to put this photo up just for Miss Tash. She went to a lot of effort and was upset that no-one got to see her so I told her we could post it here! Today is the last Friday of the month which means monthly get-together with the Combers and the Hutchburys..... the theme this month was aussie bbq so Tasha went into OZ overload. I forgot to take full length pics but she had "beach hair", her aussie bandanna, a singlet top, boardshorts and thongs!

We raced around to get ready in time to drop Kyle off at youth group on the way to dinner. The problem was that when we got to Gail's we found out they had postponed dinner until next week :(
So we had grumpy old man here as he had gone down town today to spend money that we really didn't have on groceries to make something to take along to share. Hmmmm NOT HAPPY JAN!!! And a cranky Tony is not fun..... Anyway we got to come home and have some of the yummy seafood pasta that Tony had made and it was decided that it was so yummy it was good we didn't have to share ~L~ Oh and now we have enough for leftovers for tomorrow!

The birds and the bees.....

Well birds and the flowers really!
Just a couple of pics to share with you. The first one is a pic of our shed! Over the past month we have noticed two seperate nests show up - clever birds.... tucked away from the wind, roof over their heads etc etc. Both had eggs and we could see them from Tasha's room without going near to disturb them. This week we saw our first chick. Okay it looks a little scruffy and scrawny but we can't wait to see it grow. These flowers were a gift from my wonderful friend Jane. I love fresh flowers and I couldn't tell you when I last had a bunch in my home. They are beautiful, glorious colours and an amazing scent. Thank you so much Miss Jane.

Weekend part 2

Sunday was a really nice day and after taking the girls down to Nowra Fair for a spot of window shopping we headed off to Lyrebird Park for Kyle's soccer presentation. Tasha and Tegan headed straight to the trees and started climbing! I got a few pictures of the girls that I was really happy with but this would have to be one of my favs.

Kyle has been playing for Shoalhaven United Youth B team this year. They have been lucky to have tow great coaches in Dave and Jason who have supported and encouraged the boys. Under their coaching Kyle's game has improved dramatically and he was rewarded with the coaches trophy for best and fairest player. Well Done Kyle!!!!!! Can you tell I am a very proud mum?

Then we headed home and the girls headed off to the park to go visit their "secret place" which is actually a treehouse built beside a playground just near Tegan's old house. The girls then came home in a panic as there was a grass fire near her old house. The girls were in a bit of a flap so we went back to make sure her place was fine. By the time we got back the fire brigade had it under control (even though they had managed to get 1 of the 5 fire trucks there bogged!!! Good thing the fire didn't change direction!

Then I took the girls out to McDonalds for a final play together before Jason and Amanda came and picked Tegan up Sunday night. It was over way too quickly but I am sure Tasha loved the surprise and she is now counting down the days until January when Tegan will come down and spend a week or two with us!

Stunned.......

I have been reading through a series of books lately by an author named Lee Child and quite fittingly was reading this excerpt a couple of days ago
"Present somebody with an astonishing sight, and it takes about 3 seconds to develop. That was his experience. They look at it, they see it, their brain rejects it, their eyes bounce it back again and then it sinks in." Tripwire, Lee Child
We got to see that first hand on Friday night when Tasha got a massive surprise. Her best friend Tegan who moved to Qld 3 months ago walked in our front door! We had 3 -5 seconds of Tasha sitting totally still (luckily I had been pre-warned so I had the camera ready to go) Then she jumped up from the lounge and the squeals and the hugs began! She still claims we were trying to kill her by giving her a heart attack!
Tegan stayed with us from Friday night until Sunday night - way too short a period but it was great to see her. These girls have a great friendship and talk a couple of times a week via MSN. They tend to end up buying the same clothes and quite often come out looking like twins (although we did note that although they had bought matching jumpers Tasha's was in Black and Tegan's in pink.) Their t-shirts, however, were exact replicas.

Saturday also involved a catch up with Jane and Cass which was lovely. Unfortunately as per usual I forgot to get the camera out whilst they were here. :(

Family weekend away

Wow what a weekend - our annual family weekend away this year was a big one! what an emotional ride we have been on over the last few months so it was nice to get away and just have fun.
I drove to Sutherland and managed to park the car without collecting any random cyclists or adding any bumps or dings to the car (YAY ME) then we hopped on the train and headed into central.
After a slight detour when Tasha saw the Raben Footwear shop we went and checked into our motel. This seems to be the place to stay. Cass and I have been here a couple of times and we have come here as a family before as well. Convenient location... literally across the road from the doors of the Sydney Entertainment Centre... just across the road from Paddy's Markets.... a block from Capitol Theatre... and easy walking distance to Darling Harbour and Cockle Bay..... oh and Tony's favourite -- an amazing buffet breakfast. The other big plus for the Holiday Inn..... Just a couple of doors along is Cold Rock which (thanks to Haylee) is Tasha's FAV place to call in. If you haven't been there before basically you pick your favourite ice cream flavour, pick what extras you want ...... hmm lets see choices include smarties, flake, mars bar, strawberries, nuts, fudge brownies, sour worms, caramel, mars bar, raspberries etc. etc. etc..... then they mush it all together for you. Sounds kind of weird but tastes YUM

Then we headed to the Capitol Theatre to see the matinee show of Wicked. As usual just happened to bump into someone from Nowra. Hope you enjoyed the show Janelle!

It seriously was just as good the second time around. Interestingly this time the cast was quite different. We had Jemma Rix as Elphaba, Bert Newton as The Wizard and Tim Campbell as Fiyero. When Cass and I went these three parts were played by different people. Have to say Tim Campbell doesn't fill out the costume as well as Rob Mills but he does dance a lot better! Everyone loved it. Tony even stated afterwards he could understand why I wanted to see it a second time (which from him is HIGH praise). Kyle was mesmerised and Tasha thought it was "Brilliant but they kept talking about feelings - YUCK!"

Then we wandered over to Darling Harbour to get some dinner and have a look around. The kids were amazed by the buskers and the amount of people walking around (oh and the fashions - "Does their Mum let them out looking like that?" ~L~)

Then after we had some dinner we introduced the kids to the Lindt Cafe at Cockle Bay. Mmmmmmmmm Lindt.........................

Kyle had a caramel tart and I had a blueberry/chocolate mousse layer cake.

And this is the scary result when you introduce Tasha to a strawberry dipping platter! Talk about sugar high. this girl does not need alcohol when she gets older. Just give her a spoonful of sugar! After polishing this off she was singing and dancing and jumping around Darling Harbour.

Sunday we had a relaxed breakfast at the hotel before heading over to Paddy's Markets to do some shopping and then heading back up to the trian station as Tony had to be home by about 2pm to get ready for work.

We're off............

....... to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz!

woo hoo - some slightly excited people here (oh and the kids too ~L~)

A week in review

Wow - so much has happened in the last week and my blog has been sadly neglected. I have posts in edit mode just not quite up to publication yet. So lets see if I can update:

* Tasha turned 12 and had a 5 day celebration starting with a party/sleepover on the Fri before her birthday, a special birthday party with Nana on the Sunday and then on her actual birthday (Tuesday) she had a cake at school (loooong story - will catch you up on that one when I get around to publishing her birthday post), then she had cake at dancing before racing home getting changed and having dinner out with the family .... which included her Dad which was a massive treat, it is not often we have dinner midweek with Tony.

* Wednesday was counselling appointments for Kyle and we are slowly getting there - working out programs for school etc.

* Saturday morning we had an early start as Tracy and Jacob moved out into a place of their own (well shared with her brother Ben) so the weekend involved lots of carrying, moving furniture and then some more unpacking

* Sunday was spent de-cluttering our lounge room and setting up the rumpus room for the kids (which has been Tracy's room for the past 12 months). I wish I had a pedometer to count the number of trips I did between the lounge room and the back room with armloads of books etc. We were also able to pull the boxes out of the shed that were filled and thrown in there in a hurry 12 months ago.

* Sunday was also the day of the big winds were we spent the day without power. The power went out briefly about 9am. Came back on long enough for Tony to go around and reset all the clocks before it went out completely! We rang Integral and got a recorded message saying it would be back on the next morning. The kids took advantage of having the rumpus room back and the boxes out of the shed to play board games.

* We rang Integral back late afternoon and spoke to someone who told us the power would be off until Tues. So out came the candles, torches and camp stove (which didn't work). After a nudge from a friend we treated ourselves to takeaway dinner. Then as we headed home we noticed the streetlights starting to come on! YYYAAAYYY Power. We got home just in time to hear everything starting to turn on and warm up.

* Sunday night Tasha's runny nose suddenly escalated into a fever of 39 and 2 days off school (including her first day off dance classes in 2 years - thats when you know my girl is sick!)

So today is Wednesday - Tasha went back to school today - still has a runny nose but the fever has gone. Tomorrow is a trip to Wollongong for another specialist appointment. This weekend is our big family weekend away! We try and do something as a family once a year and this year it is a thank you to the kids for the way they have coped with the changes in the house. So we are heading up to see Wicked on saturday afternoon - can't wait!

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.

Scrapping

One good thing about all the hibernating I have been doing in my craft room lately is that I have been getting some scrapping done. Admittedly it is nothing flashy and all very basic but I have scrapped!
This first LO was using a pic taken of Tony sitting on the beach at Vincentia. The tag above the photo comes out with some journalling I wrote for him. The Life is Good rub on is one I bought at a craft show in Melbourne. Kyle and his cousin Mark. I have been wanting to do this LO for ages. Just to get the story down. Kyle and Mark had an amazing relationship and when Kyle was younger he totally hero worshipped his cousin and he was the only one who was allowed to call him by a nickname.

And what LO of Gail would be complete without Basic Grey papers and lots (and I mean lots) of fussy cutting - and of course I had to use Romani - the first papers she fell in love with! I was going to call this Lady in Waiting but the look on her face doesn't seem to patient so I thought I'd better not!