and now for the photo-heavy catch up

may was a blur and mostly spent at home recuperating, but there were doctor's visits, weekly blood tests and what seemed like twice weekly hospital visits.  in ONE short week i'd been to the hospital more times than i'd been in the entire 31 years i've lived in wellington!

our local GP is now a familiar destination, which is a big change for hubby who hadn't been to the doctor in SEVEN. YEARS.

Men.  seriously.  take better care of yourselves...

10 days after the surgery, he was now legend at our local GP practice and this student doctor was very excited to take Clive's blood pressure.  

eventually life returned to [our new] normal, and in no particular order, this is what we've been up to in the past 3 months

pink t-shirt anti-bullying zumba class

#4 daughter playing in the A netball team

juggling netball AND rowing during the winter has been a challenge for her

one that she's risen to

her school fancy dress (3 days ago)

interview day for this event where i'll be volunteering

zumba kept us sane

#3 daughter got a new weekend job

that kinda got lost in the 'late april blur'

in fact she found out she'd been offered the job while her dad was in surgery

never has our enthusiasm for something one of our daughters has achieved been so lacklustre!

mothers' day.

considering i was meant to be in sydney drooling over michael buble that weekend, our girls did well to 'throw' together this awesome basket of goodies for me

zumba.  more wonderful zumba

my first few classes back were actually quite hard because i was SO distracted and felt guilty for being away from home, but with each class i went to, it got easier to be there; and they were an absolute necessity for my mental health!

culinary studies continued and when her class was in the production kitchen, we came and ate in the restaurant.  proud mama moment, especially when the maitre d comes over and tells you what a great kid you've got

where would we be without our needy cats eh...

note paws firmly planted on my phone

 trying to type here...

there was that one time we ran out of coffee beans

that made me sad (and cranky)

french-themed high tea

 i did eventually get that mini break in sydney

and boy did i need it

i treated myself to a night in a nice hotel

this was my view

i got to catch up with family 

eat these pork buns

 and this edible work of art

oh my...

and have fun with benefit cosmetics

(which aren't available in my city)

i tried my first ever BARRE ATTACK class

it was awesome

think ballet-meets-pilates-meets-yoga

and it was tara's birthday - YAY!

 i bought these boots

back home there was a night out that included line dancing with my zumba girls

i discovered the joys of distress products and made time to scrap

our family enjoyed the benefits of 'bread week'

(#3 daughter's study)

but not NEARLY as much as we enjoyed the bread that came packed with chocolate and custard...

we won the prize for 'best sideline family support at netball'

(ok i made that up, but if there WAS an award, we totally would've won it)

my dad got to see his favourite football team in action

(westham)

there were mini celebrations along the way

(the final resolution of a stalled wound post-surgery)

more scrapbooking

milestones like getting back on his motorbike 

more high tea

this time a chocolate-themed one

rowing season started

wellington turned on a fine day for the first local regatta - yay

a 'casual' 8 kilometre row to the airport and back

#3 daughter got her restricted drivers' licence

remember when #2 daughter went to berkeley?

she left something (or someone behind)

he just left after a 2-week visit

we approve

then yesterday my baby turned 25!!!!!

this is a text i got from her this morning:

"oh god, i just realised i've moved up an age bracket!  no longer 18-24 *sad face*"

i replied:

"that's how i felt when i was no longer 40-49!!!!!"

-----

...and as if our future wasn't looking bright enough, in 2 weeks' time we will have high tea here:

stay here

then jump on this

 and go here

then here

and lots of other places too!!!

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!