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!!

The Macster loses his 1st tooth

These are some more pics that I didn't get a chance to upload before our laptop went missing in action for the better part of the year, but that I don't wanna miss out on recording....the day Mac lost his first tooth - Feb 11th 2015 (2 months off his 7th birthday) 

He lost the other bottom one not long after that & then nothing's happened since so I guess he's gonna be as slow to lose them as he was to get them as a baby!! (He only got his 1st tooth at around 14 months!) 

Oh well, I'm sure we can handle waiting a little longer for those awkward big top teeth to arrive - am sure gonna miss that perfect little smile of his when all those baby teeth are gone cause the bottom two have come through crooked as! :(   

He got paid $2 for each of the 2 teeth he lost & just left the money sitting in the pillow & never spent it cause he said he would rather get to keep his teeth than get paid for them! Funny boy!
Oh & one day he actually found the little orange container I've kept them in at the top of our wardrobe & came in to show them to me looking all confused??! Once I realised why he was so confused (cause the tooth fairy was meant to have taken them when she left the money off course!!), I explained to him that the tooth fairy knew how attached he gets to things & how he doesn't like to throw things away, so I asked her if I could keep them for him so he can show them to his kids when he gets older ;) He totally bought it too lol.. Man the things we do as parents just to keep the magic alive for our kids ...
& just as equally for ourselves I think ;) 

Halloween 2015

My aim for this year's Halloween was to keep it super simple & stress free which meant not buying any new costumes & just choosing out of what we already have. So yesterday morning the boys went through the costume boxes & decided to go as a lion & batman (actually I may have done a little persuading getting Spence to be the lion by telling him he'd get more lollies in that costume cause he looked so super cute, but it was the last year it'd fit him so I figured we needed to get a bit more money's worth out of it since it was only worn by Mac once two years ago)

They were both super excited to get to the trunk n treat all day long but Spence was just a tad grumpy in these pics cause he didn't like the stupid little dots on the side of his nose lol

I managed to get him to smile by telling him to hurry up cause otherwise all the lollies would be gone before we even 
got there though, so just after this pic we headed off to the party!

The idea for Kol's trunk (actually his half the carpark more like!) 

was by far the coolest again :) 

That guy should be a party planner in his next life for sure ;)

The kids loved it & did it over & over again trying to beat their times

Pantyhose on your head is always a funny concept & entertaining to watch so just 

had to take a photo of Mac giving this one a go :)

Such a fun night & so much better being held earlier this year! This little critter didn't come home with much cause he was eating most of what he was given straight after he'd been given it.... Here's hoping the dental appointment goes without any hitches next time the dentist calls us up for a check up!!!