No empty chairs 2014 - Celebrating Mama xoxo

Well I had the coolest weekend just this weekend past, Celebrating Mama. Saturday was 8 years since she passed away so I decided that I wanted to be at the temple where I could feel closest to her. I loved the year that Stan & I got to have going down to the temple with Mum & Dad so I always picture us there together every time I go.

The other cool thing about the trip down that day was that I got to have Dad come along as my chauffeur :) Stan & the boys decided not to come since the weather was pretty shocking, so it was really special to be able to have quality time with my Dadda all the way down & back! Of course we had to make the compulsory stops at Pokeno & Mama's Donuts so they made the trip even sweeter too ;)

Then on Sunday afternoon we carried on the weekend with dinner & our 2nd 'No empty chairs' FHE (See our 1st one back in 2012 here). Love being with my fam bam & there's nothing I want more than to be with them for all eternity! Here's all the pics....

All the kids were taking turns trying out the Heke's new exercycle :)

Funny how this boisterous & larger than life 4 year old gets so shy & coy when she's put in the spotlight x

She wanted me to take a photo of her beautiful french braid that Mummy had done for her for church :)

Precious Pod xoxo

Our family definitely wouldn't be as cool without her in it!

Can this cutie boy even see outta those super smiley eyes??!!

If Uncle Stanie's chair was empty we'd have no-one to do the thumbs up in all our photos lol

There was 26 chairs in all for the fam

Everyone cracked up when we realised Uncle Pete was sitting in the high chair lol

Disclaimer: Grandie WAS at this dinner, but he wouldn't allow any photos to be taken so that's why there's none of his handsome face this time round....

Click here to watch Pod's gorgeous talk. I just spent the last half an hour trying to load the youtube clip but it didn't wanna cooperate, so here's the link instead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06btnrD-BWI   (Make sure you go there - she's so cute!)

After FHE Ella wanted to me to come & see their pretty new duvet covers :) I would love the same cover for my own bed - such a cool colour!

Mac & his dessert bowl - Reeses slice (Stan's 1st attempt), Lemon cheesecake & boysenberry icecream. Yum! 

I forgot to take a photo of our mains, but we had yummy chicken & rice, the chicken salad that everybody loves - but without the chicken lol, rolls & garlic bread. I'm sure Mum would've been more than happy with the delicious spread :)

And then after Grandie had left, it was out to do a few fireworks. (It had to be after he'd left cause otherwise he probably would've reported us to noise control haha)

The Heke kids getting their groove on to the dancing fireworks (there was one that they thought sounded like you should dance to it - what did you guys call that one Mell? I can't remember?)

This little big man loves fireworks these days, but still likes to keep a real distance - unlike his cuzzy, Seffy "no fear" Heke who wanted to be right up in there lighting them all by himself!!

Just a few more sparkler pics. I was hoping to be able to do some words with all us adults there, but the box only had 6 sparklers in it so they had to go to the kids :)

Mell did do a pretty cool heart for me though....

Can't believe it's been a whole 8 years since Mum passed away already. Hate the distance that keeps growing since I saw her last, but so grateful to know that when I see her next, we'll never ever have to be separated again :D Love you forever my precious Mumma xoxo

Our baby shower message for B xoxo

Just this past Saturday B had her baby shower over in Oz & a couple of months ago her sister n law, Sarah (who was organizing it for her), contacted us & asked if we'd like to put together a slideshow with some photos of her & Mum & maybe a message from us - just so that we could feel like we were a part of it. So sweet :)

Anyways, Mell & I were super excited to be able to be a part of the celebrations in some small way, so planned to get onto it a.s.a.p!

However, as is often the case with me, I procrastinated - all the while still excited to do something special....& I have to say Mell, who isn't usually a procrastinator, was equally as bad too....meaning that we only got it filmed at our family dinner last Sunday. So for a few days after that I was editing the clips trying to get the slideshow sorted so it'd be all ready to send....& I have to say, I think it came out really good!! At least B said she loved it, so mission accomplished :) Yay!  

Can't wait to see our new little Miss just after Christmas!! Unless she decides to surprise us all & come early ;) x

Guy Fawkes

We weren't really planning to get any fireworks this year, but as we were driving home from swimming last Wednesday, Mac saw a picture of them on the side of a bus stop & started whinging saying 'oh, we don't get to do any fireworks!! :( ' .....so I decided to do a quick detour past the mall before we headed home. 

I told the boys as we were walking into the Warehouse, that we'd only be getting a small box & tried to explain to them that people that get the $200 boxes may as well just go out & burn their money haha....so they were pretty happy with their $7.50 sparkler box :) And I was really excited too cause I've been waiting since last year to have a go at taking some sparkler pics!! The ones on the net always look so cool so we got the boys going & I told them to make me some shapes....

They were really good at doing squiggly ones, but not much else :( 

So then Stan jumped in on the act & did a few more....

Now I'm just looking forward to being able to do it with more adults around next time so we can write some cool words cause it was so much fun!!

Halloween x 3

Halloween was a really busy time for us this year, with not 1 but 3 Halloween parties to go to!! The 1st one was a halloween disco at the Bayview Early Learning Centre (Spencer's old daycare). They asked us if we wanted to still come seeing as he'd only finished up there a few weeks before, so without really thinking it through I said yes....I forgot that swimming would've started by then though so we had to rush home from swimming, jump into our costumes & then go & pick up Shylah :)

We were in such a rush that I didn't mange to take any photos of them at the disco though, so they had a do a few poses for me when we got home, before I would feed them any dinner haha 

Shy & Spence got their faces painted :) Mac had been wanting to be a ninja & Spence Batman, for the longest time now, so they were super chuffed with their costumes this year...they both actually had masks & headpieces that I haven't got any photos of though so you can't actually see exactly how they looked all dressed up!

And even I wore a costume this year which is pretty much unheard of!! And not even once, but twice - for the trunk n treat again on Friday night...

I fake tanned before Friday though cause I decided I was looking a little too pasty white for Esmerelda in this photo :) 

Our 2nd Halloween party was Aunty Jose & Shylah's afternoon tea on Friday but I didn't get any photos from there as we were rushing to & from that as well with swimming lessons in between....

Then it was onto the trunk n treat. I only got a few photos from the trunk n treat this year cause it was so cold & windy that I just wasn't really feeling it!

Bishop (as Zorro??)

Kezia, one of my beehives (as Dorothy I'm guessing?) & her Grandma, Maleficent

Katie (another one of my beehives whose just about to move up to Miamaids this month), as Medusa?

Our friend Loretta's cute boys :) She brought them along last year too, so it was neat to have them come again!

Shane saw me taking photos & came up & asked for a photo with Stan, haha. Cute....

But not as cute as these 3 - home to watch Hotel Transylvania (their Halloween pick). I couldn't be bothered trying to put them to bed after all the sugar they'd been eating for hours, so I decided to take the easy way out.... Then we just had to carry them into their room once they'd petered out :) It worked a treat!

Hanging out the next morning x

Such a cool few days - but so nice to have the sugar high over...for now....

at least until the next party :)