Easter 2012

Well Easter has been and gone and I had a fabulous time! I went to Sydney again for 5 days. I haven’t any holidays left at work so I had to squeeze the visit in between my Thursday and Friday work days. My sister Judy came over with me and she also took her grand daughter Abbie. C1 and D1 brought a new home in January so it was our first time to stay in it, and it is lovely. We also met their new little puppy Rosey. Now I want a dog too. Rosey is so cute! It was great to be with the family in Sydney again. We showed Abbie the Opera House, the harbour bridge and the monorail. On Saturday the children had an Easter Egg hunt and they each filled up their baskets! On the Sunday night we had a family dinner with C4 and D3 as well so we had quite a gathering. On the Monday we went to the Easter Show. I am sure there were over a million people there…it was packed! I was sad to leave as always and am hoping to go over again in September….maybe

G2’s Birthday and Taranaki Anniversary weekend

For G2’s birthday Robin and I travelled to Palmerston North, picked up the boys and spent the day together. We had a lovely time. We took the boys to the Museum and found this amazing interactive house there. Both boys loved it and had a fabulous time playing with all the things there. They tried out doing some plumbing and also helped build a wall. What a great place for children!

Anniversary weekend was an opportunity to travel to Palmerston North once again. This time I picked up both boys and brought them back to our place for the weekend. I brought their bikes back with me and on Saturday we went to the walkway. What a great day we had! Both boys loved riding their bikes along the walkway…I had to run to keep up with them! Robin dropped us off and took the car to the bridge car park. We met at the bridge. The rest of the afternoon we went to the park. A big day but one filled with fun. Here are some photos of both events.

Time goes so fast

I just realised that I haven’t loaded anything onto my blog since last year! And there has been so much to share as well! We had everyone home for Christmas, even C2 and D2 from London, and we had some fabulous family times together. C5 turned 20 on the 15th of January, D2 turned ? on the 19th of Jan, C6 turned 18 on the 24th of Feb, G1 turned 15 on the 24th of Feb as well, G3 turned 6 on the 5th of Feb, G2 turned 6 on the 29th of Jan, and Robin turned 57!!!!!! on the 2nd of Jan!!! WOW!!! So many birthdays and so much fun! We had a big family holiday in Rotorua and Hamilton to show D2 some of New Zealand. We also walked our walkway twice. Once with C1, D1, G1, G3, C5, her bf, C2, D2, Robin and me; and the other time with G2 and G4 on their bikes…I walked/ran behind them! Jordan worked at Powerco with Robin and C5 over the holidays and stayed with us most of the time as well. He is doing well at Uni and is onto his second year. C5 is now onto her final year of nursing and has been working at Taranaki Base Hospital. She has also left home and is flatting with a friend who is doing nursing as well. C6 has entered her Uni years. She is now living at the Auckland Uni Hall…and loving it I must say (by the looks of her photos oin Facebook….a little worrying I must add). No….seriously…she is a good girl and is studying hard. So that leaves Robin and me at home alone!!! After 6 children and many years, we are now home alone!!! Thank God for our Scrapbook/computer room! It entertains us nicely! I am loving the lower work load I must say. I only need to do washing twice a week! My house stays tidy..everyday! And the bathroom is amazing! It stays clean and we don’t have masses of towels to wash everyday! I do miss the company though and the girls brought LIFE into the house (boys did too, but that was many years ago really as C4 left home at 17 and he is now 25). We picked up G2 and G4 last weekend for 3 days and that was a very special time. I love having some of my Grand children in NZ even if they do live a 3 hour drive away.

Our family was also in 2 magazine publications. C4 and D3’s Wedding was featured in ‘New Zealand Weddings’ and G1 was in ‘Dolly’ magazine as a model! I am so proud of them 🙂 and have copies of both magazines to keep forever!!!

I am once again very involved in mainly music and have been leading the second session all term (and helping with the first session). We have 40 families coming along to that session (the same at the first) and we have lots of fun. I love singing and as I don’t worship lead anymore it gives me an opportunity to keep music and singing alive in my life…and hopefully blesses a lot of people at the same time.

Mum and Dad celebrated 64 years of marriage on the 4th of March. Well done I say! We all went out for tea and spent the night chatting about our childhood! We had lots of laughs and I think Mum and Dad realised just how much we appreciated our family and them as our parents. We took some photos outside the restaurant and had a laugh as we looked at the photos. The restaurant name was ‘The Ugly Duck’ and we took the photo under the sign. I was right under it! It was a bit of a shame that Rodney wasn’t there (as all four of us girls were), but we did get a family group photo on Christmas day 🙂

I’ll attach some photos as a sample of the time from November 2011 until now March 2012. Have fun browsing them xx

 

My baby is growing up!

C6 has had her final day at Sacred Heart College. That means my baby has finished school! How scary is that! Although she is happy and can’t wait to get to Uni next year, I am feeling less excited. Home is not going to be the same without her! At least C5 will still be here (when she isn’t at WITT, the hospital, with her friends or at Powerco…busy girl that she is). Robin and I are going to have lots of time with just the two of us…I guess we will cope 🙂 Mmmm lots of time to scrapbook, do other craft and maybe go away and explore more of NZ and maybe another overseas trip???

Last Tuesday evening we had the school prize giving and then Wednesday night the leavers dinner! C6 had a fantastic time with her friends. This week has started off with exams for her. The first being Statistics at 1pm today. She really needs to get good marks to be accepted into Uni. The type of degree depends on her exam results. It may be Chemical Engineering, but it may also be a Science degree???

Australian Holiday Sept-Oct 2011

I have just got back home from 15 days in Australia. C1 was going to the Formula 1 car races in Singapore and D1 suggested that I go over to keep her company. Booked a 5 day holiday and then my work said that I needed to take 10 days off in a row…immediately. I didn’t argue! Phoned and changed the flights and ended up with a 15 day holiday. The first 3 days we stayed in Sydney and then we all flew up to Brisbane for 6 days! Stayed at the Hilton and lived the hard life….NOT!!! Visited Australia Zoo, Dreamworld, Southbank Beach and did some shopping….and lots of swimming in the lovely warm hotel pool! Back to Sydney and stayed for the last 4 days..home on the 15th day away! C1 and D1 always spoil me with a wonderful experience every time I stay with them!! And…I just love seeing G1 and G3! My 2 lovely grand daughters. Also spent some time with C4 and D3. They are both doing very well in Sydney and as newly weds…well they haven’t been married for a year yet. I managed to do 15 scrapbook pages using the valuable time every evening. Funny how I manage to get pages done while away on holiday, but not while at home! Darn housework and the busyness of life! Makes me want to quit work and spend more time doing crafts…that I love doing….life is too short…but I do need the money to spend on crafts as well…so I will continue to work!

 

Latest events

Well…I am seriously thinking about finishing up with Stampin Up. (AND I HAVE GIVEN UP). The new catalogue comes out on the 1st of September, and I have a huge decision to make. Do I buy the new products and keep up with all the Stampin Up supplies…or do I finish up and just use the products I already have? They do have some really lovely stamping and scrapbooking supplies available, but as I don’t sell (as a business) it does get a little extravagant buying the products for my own use every quarter….and I do have heaps of supplies! Only trouble is that I now have an amazing scrapbook room! Yes a ROOM! We have converted our family/games room into a big craft/movie room! It is fantastic…and nearly available to use…I just need to load it up!

 

I am so blessed….I can’t wait to have all my scrapbook supplies set out and have our next Wednesday Scrapbooking group meeting out in the room! Photos will follow I can assure you!

So can you see my dilemma? I could turn Stampin Up into a business and work it from home. But do I want to turn my hobby into my work? Will I still enjoy scrapbooking as much or will it become less interesting because it will be my job?

I have a decision to make and I have to make it before the end of September.

The latest family news is that I have spent today at hospital with C5. She got her Gall Bladder out as it was causing her all sorts of problems and the doctors advice was to get it out so she would be more healthy. I have taken tomorrow off work to pick her up and be her nurse for the day. Me nursing a second year trainee nurse! It is going to be a interesting day. She was looking much better when we left her tonight so hopefully she will be able to just have a restful day reco-operating..and I can just spoil her 🙂

I have also had 2 weeks in Sydney seeing the family there. C1 and D1 went to Singapore for 5 days, so I drove G1 to the bus stop and G3 to school each day. Driving in Sydney isn’t as bad as I though it would be. Once in the car, it was just like driving around home, only the lanes felt a lot narrower! I have taken heaps of photos and will be busy scrapbooking them very soon. I managed to do some scrapbooking while there as well. So in my next post I will try to upload some of my latest pages to share with you.

Until then

Pam P 🙂

Saturday the 5th of March

This week has been an emotional one. The clean up is still happening after the BIG earthquake in Christchurch. 165 people died! and possibly more! It is so sad. Jordan (C5’s boyfriend) is back home from University. He couldn’t stay at Canterbury Uni until it was cleaned up, power back on and water running again. He was only there for 10 days and is just managing to cope with the change of plans. C5 on the other hand is delighted to have him back home again! Tonight they have gone out to a dress-up party. I have added some photos of them and also some of my G4.

Don’t they look great!

Judy (my sister) and Len have moved into their new home. They have been busy getting it ready for nearly 3 months after transporting the house onto their farmland. C3 (my son) has been busy doing lots of different labour jobs for them so the job could be made earier. C3 has been demolishing, then rebuilding, making fences, concreting, building decks and heaps more! He has had his mate Colin helping him. I have had the job of looking after G4 every day from 1pm until 5.30pm while they build. That has been lots of fun and yet also very tiring. I haven’t the energy I used to have with young children that I had nearly 20 years ago. G4 is a very active little man but is growing up into a lovely little chappy. He will be 2 on the 25th of May. My baby C6 turned 17 on the 24th of February, and G1 (my grand daughter) turned 14 on the same day!

Mum and Dad have celebrated their wedding anniversary yesterday (the 4th of March). They have been married for an amazing 63 years. Congratulations Mum and Dad…you are a fantastic example for us all and we all love you xoxo.

Today has been a wet day and I have taken advantage of the opportunity to stay indoors and scrapbook! I love days when I can sit and scrap and not worry about anything else! I did do some housework though. I managed to stew up lots of apples from our trees and got 3 2litre containers full and into the freezer. I now have 5 containers in there ready for winter. The tree is still laden with beautiful apples so I plan on getting many more done….hopefully.

I will put up some photos of the scrapbooking on the next post 🙂