My photo
Wellington, New Zealand
welcome to my corner of the blog world! i love step, boxing, zumba, scrapbooking, photography, watching movies, walking the hills of my suburb, my family, and life in wellington. take some time to have a look around and be sure to say hi!

Friday, April 4, 2014

so here's what's new (and not so new) in my life

yes it's been a while (how did it get to be april already?)

so here's a recap

a photo heavy one at that!!!



on the first family event that occurred while katelin was at Berkeley, i made this, and whoever was handy got to do, well - this

i didn't end up using it as much as i had originally intended, but 'katelin on a stick' certainly got plenty of outings during her 6 months away.

katelin on a stick a-la bestie meredith

here's katelin on a stick at our thanksgiving dinner
we figured knowing 2 americans was cause enough to have a thanksgiving dinner

remember abby the hitchhiker from ithaca that lived with us for 3 months?
she cooked thanksgiving dinner
all.of.it.
on.her.own.


including pie

from scratch.  just in case you were wondering

back to katelin on a stick...

at some point katelin on a stick acquired a goatee
she did NOT find this funny


katelin on fathers' day


and here she is atop the Christmas tree


eventually she came home, and i think her exact words were:

"can we burn this now?"


at the end of the year Mikaela left school
she had one year left, but chose instead to head to WELTEC
(community college)

oh, and she got a scholarship to study free

7 weeks in, she's loving her food and beverage studies
what she doesn't know about stocks and sauces isn't worth knowing
ok - after 7 weeks, that's not technically true, but she's loving it and that's all that matters!

in november we threw a surprise high tea bridal shower for one of our scrap mates
apparently 'we' (not me) stalked her pinterest a/c and set the table with all her favourite colours and decorations!

we also made her a tag album with marriage advice



although many will tell you that we didn't have much of a summer, there were still plenty of days where we could eat at cool places with cool views like this
apparently you're never too old to ride a toy fire engine...



we continued with MY FOOD BAG
we haven't eaten the same meal twice since last september
i am very happy about this
no-one ever complains that we have the same thing twice
because we don't


then in december i took part in the fat mum slim gift exchange
the experience was a bit of a mixed bag for me, in that my GIFTOR was very very young and didn't perhaps put as much thought into my gift as someone a little older might have.  she also 'outed' herself prior to me receiving my gift meaning it wasn't a secret to me.

my GIFTEE was easy to buy for and she LOVED her gift, but she wasn't particularly active in the group we had going which was meant to enable everyone to 'stalk' their secret santa (with a view to buying their favourite things)

i guess i was hoping for a 'perfect fit' for my secret santa and we'd become great pals
probably a bit of a stretch, but the whole thing was a fun experience nonetheless and i'll certainly sign up for it again this year

my package ready to head to its destination across the sea!

my friend Christine, who is a CAKE GENIUS and who apparently loves to make lots of work for herself :P put on a movie night for The Hunger Games

details people.  DETAILS...

then it was christmas and i only had 3 children here
that was kinda tough, especially on christmas eve when i only put out THREE pillowcases instead of the usual 4...


anyway, christmas happened
my parents were here and i took my mum to a party i was going to
(she's wearing my clothes!)


i got sooooooo spoilt at christmas
this is just MY stash!
there's a gold iPhone in that pile somewhere too!!!


hard to believe less than 5 years ago these two hated each other!
well, maybe not hated, but they did not get on AT ALL!!!


summer happened


but allow me to back up 3 weeks

mikaela and i went to australia

to see our respective besties

it was very sunny and warm


and i also learnt how to hula hoop

this i enjoyed very much
(you might be able to tell from my expression)

i'd be so good at poker
...said no-one ever...


did you know the 2nd monday of every march is COMMONWEALTH DAY?

no.  me neither,
the commonwealth (just in case you're wondering), are all the pink countries on the map
we're the ones that have Queen Elizabeth II as our Queen

anyhoo - Mikaela and fellow Ranger Nicole (senior girl scouts) got to be flag bearers!
Mikaela held the Maltese Flag

the church service was actually pretty cool


my friend christine taught us how to play SWISH

i prefer to call it FULL CONTACT SOLITAIRE
we loved it!
as a competitive card playing family, we embraced this new game with gusto

mr scrappy did some home improvement (in preparation for the new driveway)


here is the new driveway


and then it was new year's eve!



stay tuned for part deux!

2 comments:

cat said...

Oh. I love posts like these! The nest is getting emptier my friend. Love all the news and of course, we are a commonwealth country too- those who used to have the Queen but by agreement not any more are also part. ( I love the little fact that we do not have ambassadors in each others countries by High comissioners)

mandyb said...

ohhhhhhhh yes another great post...and weeeeeeeee i can see me...and all my bridal shower/pinterest work!!!
was such a great afternoon!!