No empty chairs 2015

Hard to believe that another year without our precious Mumma has come & gone :( That makes 9 years without her beautiful, kind, sweet face here with us now....but one thing that does console our hearts is knowing that she still lives on even though we can't be together just for the moment :)

So 2 weeks ago, on her 9 year anniversary, we had our annual "No empty chairs" celebration :) I love this little tradition that we're up to the 3rd year on now. I know Mumma wanted nothing more than to be with her family forever so it's such a precious reminder each year to make sure that we're on track & doing what we need to be doing to make that happen! So gorgeous to see a special relationship being built for the grandies with Grandma Julie as well, even though they didn't get a chance to meet her in this life xxx


These guys trying to make a house out of wood Uncle Joe had only just sorted under the deck (that's the completed house haha)

Everyone's names on the bookshelf instead of individual chairs this year - LOVE being part of such a big family!!

Aunty Mell had collected special items from around her house & put them in a box so that the kiddies could take turns picking one out & hearing about how that thing reminded us of Grandma. Some of the things were:
- Mummy Bear - GJ bought this for Aunty Mell for her birthday cause she knew how much she loved the Forever Friends bears. Aunty Mell is super lucky to have this as she can give Mummy bear a big hug any time she misses her Mummy & needs to feel close to her 
- Bad kitty jammie pants - used to be Grandma Julie's (before they got claimed by Uncle Jo lol)
- Grandma's wig & scarf thingy that she wore when she had to shave her hair
- The pink lei GJ wore to Grandma Rose's 70th birthday a few months before she died
- Scriptures. GJ always read her scriptures early in the morning, sitting in a chair out in the lounge with the sheepskin rug on her lap
- Children's songbook. This one was a reminder of how we often used to get woken up by Mumma practising her Hymns made easy book. Not the nicest way to start the day, but she was consistent & persistent I'll give her that :)
- Her gym bag - it's always seemed unfair to me that she had to die of lung cancer & so young when she was one of the fittest, most health conscious 50 year olds I know! In the latter years she'd joined the gym & been going at 5:30 in the morning...I mean who does that???!!
- Eleroo & pound puppy were other toys GJ had given to Aunty Mell when she was a kid
- Mrs Bunny was my special soft toy from growing up. Mum used to write me funny letters from her sometimes - when I needed to do things like tidy my room. Miss seeing her writing on things....Love those memories x
- Mell's reverence book. This was another thing where Mell lucked out being the only one Mum made a quiet book for. Such a detailed one too - it must've taken her ages!! 
- Primary partners book - Mumma was so dedicated & caring in her callings & especially when she used to teach a little class back in primary. She totally loved those kids more than just teaching them a lesson on Sunday

Then to finish off everyone got to choose the item they wanted to have their photo taken with. I'm so grateful to have been born to such a special Mumma. She wasn't around for anywhere near as long as I would've liked, but I'd still take her over any other mother that I could've had double the years with any day!!! So thankful that she's mine for eternity & can't wait for the day that we'll see her again!!! Love you my precious Mumma x

p.s Dad was here too, he just didn't want his photo taken - party pooper!!