WOW.... it's been awhile...

I can't believe it's been so long since I was on here last... sometimes life just takes over and time runs

away on you completely.

I guess I start re-blogging with some sad news...

In the wee hours of February 15th {4.15am to be precise} my darling Nana very peacefully left this earth.  I honestly believe she died of a broken heart as she had pined for Grandad every day since he passed...

I miss both my grandparents like crazy... It's been 11mths since Grandad passed but it still feels like it was yesterday... and my Nana... well obviously, unlike with Grandad, we had NO warning what so ever that the last time we spent with her, was going to be the last time we ever saw her.

Me, hubby and the kids, actually took Nana to the Zoo not to long before she passed, so I got some awesome photo's of her with the kiddies... I smile often when I look at them... 

Anyway... signing off for now... if there is one thing I have learnt in the past year... it is, Keep making memories... treasure every moment you have with your loved ones xx

Grandad

At 1pm on Monday 20th October 2014 with the love of his life by his side, my grandad took his final breath and very very peacefully left this earth.

 

12.5.1926 - 20.10.2014

 

“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”  - Dr. Seuss

 

 

family IS important

My grandad is the head of our family... and as he enters his final weeks, it makes me sad to think of a life without him... here is a photo of him with 8 of his great grand children on fathers day 2014

Abandoned...

Thats how my poor blog must feel these days...

Sometimes we all have days of feeling abandoned... and I've been feeling this a bit lately... see for no reason at all, I'm missing my dad... it's been nearly 7 yrs since he passed, and just lately, it's really hurt...

I have no answers still, and perhaps thats why... you see, my step-mother did an amazing disappearing act with the funeral insurance, and has never been seen or heard from since... and thats cool, I don't need her in my life, but what I do need, I believe is closure... I have no idea what the coronors report said about my fathers death, or the name of the heridetary heart disease he suffered from... I have nothing of his, except for a ring that my aunty gave me... I should have his hundreds and hundreds of pages of sheet music, I truely believe that getting those was my right, as I would have treasured each and every page.

I know I will move on, I have before, and I will again, but for today, and yesterday, and most likely tomorrow, I am feeling hurt and abandoned...

Hard Road...

We have had a bit of a rough time lately... Our boy Josh {my step-son} said goodbye for the last time 2 weeks ago, as she lost her 10yr battle with cancer.

Josh is coping very well... too well to be honest... we have him seeing a counsellor through school who is very good, and used to specialise in grief counselling.

It's hard enough to lose your Parent as an adult, I can vouch for that, but I couldn't possibly imagine what it must be like for a 13yr old. My heart just breaks for him over and over again.

We were all booked to go on our honeymoon 3 days after she passed, but unfortunately our travel insurance wouldn't cover us in changing our trip, and we couldn't afford the $2,000 it was going to cost to change it ourselves, so at everyone elses insistance {incl, Josh} we headed off as planned and missed the funeral.

We have been told by our families and friends, that Josh was amazing at the funeral, and that he got up and spoke beautifully of his mum.  I am so proud of him.

Cousins

 

Axel and my niece Kaylee are only 7mths apart in age... they love each other sooo much, they hug everytime they see each other, and then proceed to immediately swap dummies... they also can't be trusted together lol..

Sleepover

A few weeks back, my niece CJ came to stay... She wanted to sleep in Paris's bedroom, but Cammy really wanted her to sleep in his bedroom... so they compromised... and had a sleepover in Cammy's bedroom...

Paris on the bottom bunk {Axel had to join in for a bit too}

Cammy on the camp stretcher in his sleeping bag

CJ in the top bunk

30 Days of Me Challenge - Day 14

Day 14- A picture of you and your family

Engaged

This year is a leap year... and according to age old tradition, on the 29th February a girl can propose to her guy... so that is what I did this year...

I took a photo of our kids, and edited it till it looked like this:

then bluetoothed it from my computer to my phone and waited....

For hours....

Till he walked in the door after work, then I sent it to him... I heard him get the txt, I heard him open it... then nothing.... At. All... For. Hours...

I was so peeved, that I went out {ok - I was always going out, as a mate was in Auckland from Christchurch for work, for one night only}, had a great night, and headed home...

Still nothing...

By now, I was thinking I had seriously done the wrong thing... read all the signs wrong... clearly we weren't at the "marriage" stage of our relationship {which was a worry in itself, as we've been together for 5yrs}... ah well... I thought that seen as he hadn't said anything, we could probably both pretend it had never happened... so I went to bed...

He came to bed about 5 mins later, and as we were lying there cuddling before drifting off to sleep I said "did you like the photo I sent you earlier" and he said... Wait for it... it's a goodie...

................

...............

“I couldn’t open it”

OMG - Men!! why can't they use a simple thing like a phone!! So he tried again, went into the message, scrolled down like I told him too, looked at it, said "that's cute" squinted, pulled the phone closer to his eyes, then said "of course I'll marry their mum"

So there you have it... the story of how we came to be engaged... it's a great one for the grandies thats for sure :)

More on Christmas...

better late than never right... :)

Some pics of our Christmas Morning after Santa's visit to our house

'Tis the Season

And before you can blink people, it's that time of year again. My kids love the day we get the tree out to decorate.  This year, for the first time ever, I decided to let the kids do all the decorating, so after I "built" the tree, I left them to it.

Cammy getting ready to start decorating while I finish "building" the tree

Didn't they do well?? This is the first time Cammy has every been involved in any aspect of the tree going up at all, and he really loved it, was singing us Christmas songs the whole time

School Holidays are here...

School holidays here officially started yesterday afternoon at 2pm here...

Paris however, had already been dispatched on a plane to Melbourne on the Thursday night, for 10days with her dad.

Josh headed off with his mum yesterday at 3pm for a week with his mum...

Both of them are due back to us on Sunday 16th October...

So a lovely quiet week here for us... really quiet for Ian actually, as come Monday morning, me and the little guys, are off on holiday with my aunty for a few nights...

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to both my Bio-Dad {who sadly isn't here today} and my Step-Dad {who raised me}... both very special men in my life... Some people, never experience the love a father has to give... I'm lucky enough to have experience that love from two men throughout my life x

Happy Birthday Dad...

If roses grow in Heaven Lord
Please pick a bunch for me.
Place them in my Father's arms
and tell him they're from me.
Tell him I love him and miss him,
and when he turns to smile,
Place a kiss upon his cheek
and hold him for a while.
Because remembering him is easy,
I do it everyday,
But there is an ache within my heart
That will never go away.

She's late

my brothers first baby was due on Tuesday... and we are still waiting for her to arrive... I feel for my SIL as I have been where she is twice before, and being overdue sucks... however, I've decided, I have less patience waiting for my new niece to arrive than I did for my own boys :)

Fingers crossed she arrives sooner rather than later

Family Fun Day

On Sunday just been, we decided we wanted to do something different with the kids... My sister wanted to join us also, as she was gonna be stuck at home with my niece for the day... and it was a pretty miserable day...

We decided that a train ride into the city for lunch would be fun :)

Followed by a walk up Queen Street {Well - some of us walked}

Then we had a lovely, delicious lunch at Rebo, Sky City {sorry no lunch pictures}

Let the kids have a play on this thing outside the ASB building in Town

There are no photos of the Walk back down Queen St to get the train station, but I can tell you that we ran the last 3mins as I looked at my watch and realised the train was due to depart in 4mins haha

But we made it:

We had such a GREAT day!

a lifetime together...

Yesterday was my grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversay {also my mum and step-dads 26th}

We had a lovely surprise afternoon tea for them.  The day was a happy occassion, marked with a little sadness as my nana has been diagnosed with Cancer and is too frail to fight it... This is most likely their last wedding anniversary...

I know my grandparents love each other very much... my grandad hates leaving the house without nana for fear she will have a fall or a bad turn while he is out... it breaks my heart to see his heart breaking...

I can only hope that me and Ian can be as happy together in our 80's as my grandparents are...

Aren't they gorgeous...?

These are the flowers I bought my mum for mothers day this year... Aren't they gorgeous???

Birth Announcement...

Just a quick update to let you all know that Axel Luke Mitchell joined our family on Sunday 27th March 2011 at 1.35pm weighing in at a whopping 9lb 1oz {4110grams/4.11kgs}.

Pics and Birth story to come later...

Isn't she lovely...?

This is my darling niece Shae {aged 15mths old}