I’m refreshed. I’m recharged. I am ready to face 2017 head on….although I must admit, as I write this blog, I am sitting on the beach watching the waves roll in on a beautiful sunny day on Burleigh beach….of course I’d be feeling that way lol!

But seriously I AM ready. I don’t have any new year resolutions or a page of goals I want to achieve, but I do have a mantra for the year and it’s “get it done”! I spent too much time last year procrastinating. I was so frustrated at myself by the end of the year because being my first year, after 10 years of having babies at home, I finally had time to myself. Did I do what I wanted to do – no. Did I take my mum to the movies regularly like I said I would – not enough. Is my laundry cleaned out yet – it pains me to say NO!!! So this year is all about just getting it done!
I can’t use my ever so busy life as an excuse anymore. Who am I kidding, my life is always going to be busy. I have three kids who are busy, I work and I have a husband who works long hours – suck it up princess it’s life and it ain’t going to change. So this year instead of feeling like I’m swimming in the ocean being smashed by wave after wave, I’m going to ride each wave like I’m a pro surfer and come out each tunnel feeling accomplished. 
I’m hoping the hurdles that were jumped last year with our Mimi girl continues into this year when she starts grade 1. It’s going to be a big year for her. She has a lot going on that we are keeping an eye on, but having her settled at school was such a big weight lifted off our shoulders towards the end of last year. Our holiday has surely seen her confidence grow with socialising and having a go at challenges that she wouldn’t have accepted a year ago, so fingers crossed.

I want to embrace every part of Bailey Boo’s last year of primary school. I can’t believe my first born will be a high school student in a years time. First step is submitting his application for a placement at Brisbane State High and of course we are excited to see where he goes with his football and athletics this year. Along with new experiences and maturity means an improvement with him coping with his Tourette’s. Leaving primary school and entering the unknown world of high school is going to be a huge transition, but he’s got this!

Then there is our Sie Sie girl. This is her ‘gap’ year before she is older enough to try out for representative sport. Right now she’s good at everything. But where will her passion lean towards…watch this space! She’s so excited to be going into year 4 because year 4 sounds so old apparently lol. She’s a great kid who just faces life’s challenges head on and I’m looking forward to watching her blossom even more into her own person this year!

I’m going to have to be more organised than ever this year as I’m working 3 days – but am so looking forward to it as I love my job and the wonderful people I get to work along side with. It makes going to work so much better!!! The kids have been warned, now they are another year older and I’m working more that they will be having more chores to do…oh and my husband has be warned to lol. We’ll manage together. When everyone is doing what’s expected of them, we make a good team, but like any team it has to be worked at!

We have so much to look forward to this year. Dad’s retiring at the end of the month, so a family celebration is in order. Like usual, there will be many sporting events to place on our calendar and Kane and I are off to New Zealand in November for our great mate’s wedding. 5 nights by ourselves. We have never left the kids for more than a night since becoming parents. It’ll either go one way or another. We’ll come back more in love than it started 20 years ago (yes 20 years this October) or he’ll drive me crazy the whole time lol! We are so looking forward to it. We promised the kids we’ll check out Queenstown and if we like it we’ll take them back next time! And of course we’ve already rebooked our summer holiday at our favourite destination – Key Largo, Burleigh!

I want this year to be our best yet. I want our lives to keep progressing forward in a positive manner with lots of personal growth. I want us to be more organised and have our house sorted to it’s highest potential. We’ve discussed moving so many times, but after plans fell through last year, I take that as a sign that’s it not our time to move yet and I’m still so happy in our home. I want us to keep promoting the importance of being fit and healthy to our children and most of all I want our life to keep as calm as it can be in this ever busy twisting and turning roller coaster ride!
But the absolute most of all…I just want to ‘get it done!’
I hope 2017 is a great year for us all!

10 years of parenting and you’d think we’d have it worked out. Truth is, it doesn’t get any easier it just changes. As children grow so do their problems and when you think you’ve worked one problem out, before you know it, you’re faced with another one. The last few weeks have been trying to say the least…hell what am I talking about, most weeks are trying but the last few has seen me gain a whole new batch of grey hair and wrinkles!
When you give birth and ride out the little person years, one thing you have a lot of is control. You can control what they do (well sometimes anyway), where they go, what they eat, what they wear and most of their decisions are being made by you. This gives you a sense of security and safety that you know every little step of their being. But then suddenly they hit an age where they are making more of the decisions and your control has reduced…this is an uneasy feeling at the best of times, but something we as their parent have to accept!

Boys! They are rough, tough, active, carefree spirits. They think differently to girls and conduct themselves in a different manner. They are closed books and to try and find out any information that is possibly floating around in that head of theirs – it’s like pulling teeth! 

Our son Bailey Kane Trew, has had a very successful sporting year thus far. He had an awesome football season that saw him and his team come third in a state football carnival in Townsville and to end the season, they won their local under 10 carnival and Bay received player of the carnival. He also received the Logan Brothers Under 10 player of the year!!! He received age champ at his school athletics carnival and went on to have a very successful district athletics carnival where he placed 1st in 100m, high jump, discus and 2nd in 200m and multi event. This meant he was off to the regional athletics carnival which was held last month!

If you’re a regular follower of my blog you would know that Bailey has a moderate to severe case of Tourette’s Syndrome, accompanied with anxiety and OCD. As the end of each school term draws to a close, he becomes very tired, therefore his Tourettes has been pretty bad in the last month or so. Towards the end of last month, as each day became closer to his Met West Regional Athletics carnival, his mood, anxiety and Tourettes was worsening. Come the morning of day 1 of the 3 day carnival, you couldn’t even look at him without getting your head bitten off.

This is how it played out….

Day 1 – 100m heats and final….

We got there with plenty of time to spare, although the way Bay was carrying on in the car you’d think we were 2 hours late. The anticipation was killing him and he just wanted to be there. We couldn’t find his district team for about 10 minutes and of course they were the furtherest team away – you can imagine how stressed Bay was at this point. Once he got his competitors singlet on and checked in, he seemed a bit more relaxed. I went with him to warm up and he didn’t want to be told. I’d say one thing he’d ignore me and do his own thing. 

I kept my cool but I really wanted to get him and shake him…but what was that going to achieve. After he warmed up we went back into the arena where the 10 year olds were being called to the marshalling area. This is where the nerves really kicked in. Every time I made a sound he jumped down my throat…once he got his named marked off I stayed clear. I gave him a final kiss and wished him well and I took off like I was doing the 100m sprint! He was in heat 3 lane 5. Each race was rolled through quickly. Before I knew it he was up. I felt sick. I just wanted him to do well for his sake. I knew how bad he wanted to do well in the 100m as this is his pet event. The gun went off. He got an OK start and looked great for the first fifty metres as he was in the lead. He pulled back a bit in the second fifty and ended up coming second and automatically qualified for the final!

He wasn’t overly impressed with his performance no matter how much we told him he had done a great job. We knew the next four hours until the final was going to be long. He just couldn’t relax. He didn’t know what he wanted. He was like a cat on a hot tin roof. I thought back when he was little. If he was like this I would take him him home for a nap, I was in control of that…but this time it was out of my control. 

It finally came time to warm up. I left him to warm up with his team mates. I just wanted him to be happy and calm and that seemed to be working. Sadly the lead up to the final was painful. They were held in the marshalling area for 45mins before his race. It was cool and windy so you can imagine his muscles would have cooled down since his warm up. It was finally his turn. I kept praying he’d make the top 4 -that’s all he wanted so he would be part of the relay team. Gosh my heart stopped when the gun went off. He missed the start, faught back and caught up to the pack and gave it his all and came 6th. Still such a great effort but I knew his heart would be broken and that it was!

He was very upset and disappointed in himself. The boy he beat twice at districts came 2nd and he knew he didn’t run the race he should have. I was upset inside for him. We kept telling him how amazing he was to come this far. He was in such a soul searching state, that afternoon when we got home he asked me to take him to the hairdressers and cut off his hair…wowza!

The second day saw him do discus and high jump. He seemed a lot more relaxed than the first day. The weather was horrible – cold and rainy. Because of this the whole day was put back and they spent so much of their time waiting around. He did really well though and came 9th in discus and 7th in high jump. He accepted discus, but he was upset with his high jump performance. I told him for someone who doesn’t train in these events he did amazing to place in the top 10 of the biggest region in Queensland!!! Once again I took home a dejected boy!

I took a different approach on the morning of the third day. I really fired him up. We sang songs on channel v, even danced and I made him scream to the top of his lungs “I CAN DO IT!” He needed this as his head space after the previous two days was not good and the 200m has never been his favourite event. I knew it was going to be a great day! He was back to my happy Bay. He was calm, he was joking around and he did an amazing job. He came first in his heat, qualified second fastest and he didn’t seem nervous at all! He had nothing to lose. All I said was give it your all so you don’t go home disappointed in your performance and that he did. It was a close race but he came 3rd and made the Met West Regional Athletics Team…the tears were flowing!!

He was so proud of himself. We were so proud of him. To pull himself out of his hole and to claw his way back to victory was such an amazing thing to see. You couldn’t wipe the smile off his face for days!!! His Tourettes was so bad from all the anxiety and excitement. It was out in full force to see, but that didn’t stop him from standing proudly on that podium to collect his medal. He didn’t let his Tourettes defeat or embarrass him…our hearts were happy and sad all in one! And when he tried his Met West jacket on for the first time he said “mum I’ve been waiting to wear one of these since I was a little boy!” Bless his cotton socks! 

What an experiment. We’ve all learnt a lot from this moment. We as parents, learnt to take a backward step. Bay is of an age now where he is making more decisions for himself. We won’t ever stop encouraging, supporting and giving our advice based on experience, but we will back off if he doesn’t want to listen. Failure is learning. When he didn’t succeed on the first two days, he learnt that his attitude was apart of his problem. Once he fixed that, he was successful and only he could fix that. He’s not only dealing with the hormones of a 10 year old, he’s dealing with his neurological disorder. We can’t even begin for a second to know how that feels – one word…inspirational!!!  

So the time has come. For the next 2 days, our boy will compete in the State Athletics Carnival. He automatically qualified for the 200m and upon receiving all the nominations, he has also been nominated for the 100m and we just found out on the weekend he’s got the call up for the relay team – this has excited him the most!! 

Thank you to everyone who always supports our family and everything we do….it really takes a village to raise a child and we are apart of one big special village!

Good luck Boo…we are so proud of you no matter what!!!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,500 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

This year marks 5 years since we took a big plunge and went on our first overseas trip to the States with two kids under 4….call us crazy but we’ve decided it’s time to do it all over again but this time we’re a party of 5!

I still remember our trip like it was yesterday. Every stop, every purchase bought, every monument found…all precious memories. The kids (who were 3 and a half and 18 months old) were amazing, way better than we ever imagined they’d be. Of course there were some hurdles and we learnt many what not to dos along the way, but all in all we had the best holiday and it certainly didn’t put us off travelling overseas with the kids again.

Memories from our trip 5 years ago…LA, Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Pittsburgh, Washington, New York!

I expect that it may be a bit more challenging with 3 kids in toe, but the advantage this time is that Bailey and Sienna are a lot older and Mia will be the same age Bailey was on our first trip (she does worry me the most though:/). Like us, the kids are super excited. Bailey has the best understanding of what’s happening and where we are going. He still remembers our last trip quite vividly. Sienna only can relate to going to Disneyland so that’s what excites her and Mia…I know she will ask us every 10 minutes are we there yet!!!

There was one thing missing when we travelled last time though and that was having someone to experience it with. When we returned, we spent many a time reminiscing with family about things we did and saw and wished they had been there with us. Well this time that wish will be granted. We’d hoped our next trip to the States would include all my family, but due to work commitments, only my sister and her family will be joining us and we are so thrilled for that! The kids can’t wait to share this experience with their cousins!

Our biggest challenge so far has been our itinerary. We know that this will be our last trip to the States for a very long time, we want to get it right! After weeks of discussions and tossing around many ideas, this is what we’ve decided:

* a week in LA (3 day pass to Disneyland, Universal studios, day trip to San Diego)

* road trip to Vegas for 2 nights

* 5 nights in New York

* 2 nights in San Fransisco

*4 nights in Lake Tahoe (we’ll be there for a white Christmas)

*2 nights in Santa Monica

Originally we were going to spend a few nights in Hawaii on the way home, but we’ve decided to plan a separate trip there in the near future!

Our official departure date is December 6th and we arrive home just in time to celebrate the new year!
There is no turning back now. Flights and accommodation are booked and most importantly my long service leave has been approved – yay!!!

The count down is on….8 months to go!!!!! There is still a lot to organise and think about. I haven’t done my to do list yet. I’ll do that with 6 months to go and then plod through it one job at a time. Last time we we booked and planned our trip in 4 months. I figure if I was ready for that and this time round we are ‘experienced travellers’ I have nothing to stress about….I’ll leave that up to my mother lol!

I shall keep you posted with several updates on the planning and organising of our trip!!

My favourite photo with Mickey Mouse…so exciting to be going back again!!!!!

We are so very lucky to be able to have a couple of good summer holidays each year. As you would have seen, we spent a relaxing two weeks at Burleigh over the school holidays at our favourite getaway…Key Largo Family Holiday Resort. The kids call it ‘our coast’. Every year in February, mum and dad have their annual beach holiday at Palm Beach. They stay at Princess Palm Resort…the kids call it ‘Nanny and Poppy’s’ coast!

When we go on our annual Burleigh holiday, mum and dad always come and stay for a couple of night with us, so we do the same when they go away. We’ve been staying with them at Princess Palm for the past 6 summers now and we can never get enough! It’s a beautiful place to stay. It’s right on the beach and there is so much for the kids to do you never have to drive at all!!! Between the beach, pool, tennis court, mini putt putt, Currumbin Creek and playgrounds, the kids have an absolute ball!

First year we stayed…Bailey was almost 3 and Sienna was 7 months old!

2nd year….

I was heavily pregnant with Mia on the 3rd year and couldn’t find a photo of the 5 of us…I know can you believe it lol!

Our 4th year and Mia’s first holiday at Palm Beach:)

Our 5th year….

This year marked our 6th summer:)

Over the past 6 summers we’ve watched our babies grow and evolve…and these photos clearly indicate a change in EVERYONE lol! We’ve had a blast and we all look forward to February each year so we can go to ‘Nanny and Poppy’s’ coast lol!

These are the memories we created at ‘Nanny and Poppy’s’ coast this year…

I highly recommend Princess Palm for anyone who wants to be metres away from several activities and have so many things at close proximity. We are already counting down the sleeps until we return!

Thank you mum and dad for always making us feel so welcome…love you guys to bits!!! Xoxoxox!!!

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, probably the longest I’ve gone without blogging since I started almost two years ago! But after you read this post, you’ll realise why!

6 weeks of bliss! No school lunches, uniforms, homework, drop offs and pick ups. No major deadlines or routines. Freedoms to come and go as we please and the flexibility to do what we want when we want…that’s right school holidays!!!!

As I write this blog, it saddens me that it’s all about to come to a sudden hault. Lay ins will become a thing of the past, soon we will be in the full swing of things where each day rolls into the next of rushing, stressing and beating my head up against a brick wall because we will be juggling 12 balls instead of 3! But then I keep thinking…10 weeks and we get to relax all over again:)

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed these school holidays. I love every holiday with my babies and I will admit it’s not the best school holidays we’ve had, but it came close to perfect!

The first week leading up to Christmas was always going to feel as busy as a school term, as so much preparation needed to be done in the way of present buying, wrapping and cooking, that by Christmas Day, I was so glad it was here and usually I’m always bummed that it’s over, but this year I wasn’t. I think that had a lot to do with the fact that we were setting off on a two week holiday to Burleigh!!!!!

Our annual beach holiday was awesome. Holidays, beach, relaxing, family time…all things that equal bliss to me. Each day we literally got up, exercised, ate, swam at the beach, then the pool, ate, had a rest and then repeated it all over again. We went fishing a few times and enjoyed our nightly soccer matches, walks along the beach and even the odd night swim. The kids call it their second home.

Where we stay – Keylargo Family Apartments, is such an awesome place for families. Because it’s not a high rise unit block, all the units face the common area that overlooks the pool and barbecue areas. Each day the kids would meet new friends and we would meet new people to talk to…I highly recommend anyone with small children to check it out!

Going home after our holiday hurt big time lol. The time went to fast and we could have easy done another week, but all good things come to an end eventually and some people had to go back to work…my husband was one of them;( The kids and I have spent the last couple of weeks swimming at mum and dads, playing with their cousins, spending their Christmas vouchers at Build a Bear, using their Dreamworld and Whitewater World passes and enjoying playing with their new Christmas presents at home!

This is what we got up to over the past 6 weeks…

I love looking back at the memories that we’ve created these school holidays – they will always be cherished. With the new year starting with numerous hurdles, it hasn’t stopped us from having fun and laughing together – together we pull through the harder days and come out the other side smiling! I’ll miss my babies when they return to school…they are amazing to be around!

Tomorrow marks the start of another school year for me and my babies. I start the year off teaching prep/year 1 Special Ed, Bailey is going into year 3 and Sienna year 1! Mia is at home with mum and I for another year…I just filled out her preschool enrollment forms for next year…sob sob;(

Thank you to my wonderful family and friends who contributed to an awesome summer holiday! I wish everyone a great successful school year. I have quite a few friends whose children start prep tomorrow…good luck guys!!

Goodbye holidays…see you in 10 weeks!

1st January 2014. A new year, new beginnings, new start! There’s something always so refreshing about the start of a new year. It’s like the weight of the previous year that were wearing us down, have been lifted and a lighter feeling is now being felt. It’s the first day of a new year cycle, where we can dream new dreams and wish for new things. It’s the time now to plan ahead on what you want to or not want to happen. It’s all ours for the taking…the world is our oyster….we just need to grab onto it tightly and live, love, laugh and learn like there is no tomorrow!

As I reflect on 2013, I believe I could sum it up as a ‘tragic’ year. So many families endured several tragedies which left people heart-broken and helpless. There were some horrendously sad times that we personally went through and during these times you realise who and what matters most in your life.

When 2013 rolled over I never imagined it would be the last year that my nana would see. I never imagined having to say goodbye to the women who I cherished the most other than my mother. I never imagined nor will I ever forget how much it hurt to say goodbye. It’s a time in my life that has really rocked me and my family, but it’s also shown us how our close family bond is something extraordinary, that was first created by my wonderful nana and grandad and will continue on through each generation.

But while we were suffering, so many other people…friends and family were suffering as well. I witnessed some courageous moments from family and friends in 2013, which makes me so proud to have them in my life. So if there is anything I learnt in 2013, it is: no matter what you are going through, there is always someone else worse off and be grateful for what you have, don’t dwell on what you don’t have!

Amongst all the heartache, my party of 5 created some memorable moments. We celebrated many wonderful birthdays together, we watched Sienna grow from a shy insecure prep student to a bright and happy girl who beams with confidence now. We watched Bailey score an abundance of tries and tackles at footy and enjoyed the many milestones of Mia’s year as a 2-year-old, especially being toilet trained!!! As a family we went on many outings to our favourite places and enjoyed a financially secure year with Kane’s job being a huge success. This meant only seeing him on average for an hour a day, but we make the most of our weekends and I appreciate everything he does so I only have to teach a couple of days a week and be home with the kids for the rest of the time…thank you babe!

We spent many occasions with family and friends, laughing, eating loads of delicious treats and realising in each other’s company. We are so blessed for the wonderful people in our lives and appreciate each and every one of them.

These years are surely flying by though. I can’t believe my babies will be 8, 6 and 3 this year….and we’ll be 34!!! But I must say, after all those years of babies, we are really starting to get to a comfortable point with the age of our children and are really enjoying the variety ‘older’ children bring. I actually think I can bring myself to say our family is complete!!!!

New year resolutions??
I’m going to be bold and say I don’t have any. I will continue each day to be the best I can be in every feather of my cap. That cap consists of: a mother, wife, daughter, sister, granddaughter, teacher, cousin, friend, work colleague. No matter what year it is, I will continue to improve on each of these roles. I will continue living a ‘balanced’ life with my healthy eating and exercise as this gives me the best chance of keeping on top of my heart condition! But most importantly I will cherish each day as it comes. I will love each day and laugh as much as I can. I will keep on keeping and do what needs to be done. I will not get bogged down by anyone or anything and I will remember to stop and smell the roses as those roses are the most beautiful creations I’ll ever make! No matter what year it is, I just want to be happy!

I am ready to tackle another year…but not until I’ve finished enjoying my holiday with my party of 5!!

Thank you to each and everyone of you who have read my blogs and supported me through my life in 2013. I really appreciate the time you’ve taken to read about my adventures and look forward to sharing my new adventures of 2014! I wish you all a happy new year. I hope it’s full of good health, love, laughter and joy – for ALL of us….here’s to new beginnings!
Xoxoxoxo

Another year of Christmas has been had. Another lot of catch ups, present giving and receiving , card making, baking and relishing in the fun and joy that Christmas brings! Christmas this year came round so quickly and what feels within a blink of an eye, it’s all over for another year!

It took a while for me to really get into the spirit of Christmas this year! It’s taken so long to pick ourselves up after nana passing away, knowing that this would be the first year to celebrate Christmas without her was a very hard pill to swallow. But thankfully my 3 beautiful children’s infectious excitement over Christmas was enough to lift my spirit. Once we turned our house into Christmas and the calendar turned over to December 1st, this is how we celebrated Christmas….

The kid’s school Christmas concert kicked started the festive season off this year. It was Sienna’s first one, she was so adorable and sang her little heart out and with it being only a couple of days after Bay broke his arm, I was so proud of his efforts during his performance!

Each year we take a trip into the city to see the big Christmas tree and Santaland at Myer. Because we went so early in December, we missed out on the street parade and the light show at city hall…apparently it was amazing, so a bit of a bummer we missed out, but we had the best time with what we did!

Like most kids, our kids love looking at Christmas lights. Now that we so our own house, we don’t drive around as much as we did, but we still managed a few trips around the place, including the south side 4KQ winner, which was spectacular!!!!

Each Christmas we try and catch up with as many of our close friends as we can! Between Christmas parties for work and family and friends catch ups, we have to start back in November just to fit everyone in! We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends and an amazing family to celebrate Christmas with!

A family tradition has started with our annual Santa photo…we have all been getting in the photo as Mia hasn’t wanted to sit on Santa’s lap! I’m so proud of her this year though…she gave him plenty of high 5s, a cuddle and told him “Merry Christmas Santa!”

Each Christmas I do a lot of baking and making….

I made my mum, grandad and sisters a canvas with photos of nana on her last Christmas Day last year. These canvases can be brought out each Christmas now to remember our beautiful lady!

It was done later than normal, but this was my Christmas card photo I sent out to 40 of our closest family and friends this year!

When you are a prep student at Runcorn Heights State School, you get to be involved in an end of year play called ‘The Christmas Story’. Sienna is the fourth member of the family to perform this play and she played a camel and did such a fantastic job! It’s always such a lovely way to celebrate the wonderful year prep has been and how far my baby girl has come:)!

Every year my sister comes home from melbounre for Christmas, we always get a photo done with all the grandchildren with Santa! It proves to be a little challenging than it use to be as the eldest grandchild is 13 now and he’s told us 15 is his cut off lol!

One thing my children love more than ever at Christmas time, is wearing all of their Christmas clothes nanny either made or bought for them! From December 1st, they don’t wear anything else:) I really love how my children embrace the spirit of Christmas and I hope this continues for a very long time!

As I’m almost finished typing up 2013’s Christmas blog, I’m still in amazement at how fast it’s come and gone and to be honest, it doesn’t even feel like we’ve had Christmas Day! As I sit on the balcony of my holiday unit, I feel like I should be dashing to the shops or baking another batch of cupcakes, but nope it’s all done and dusted for another year!

Christmas Day was bitter sweet this year. Sweet to see the absolute joy and happiness on the faces of our children, but bitter celebrating Christmas without nana;( We were woken extremely early this year by Bay who was busting to go to the toilet at 4am!!! Consequently he was too over excited to go back to sleep but had to wait until the last child woke just before 6! It was all steam ahead from there!

Like we’ve done for many years now, we had breakfast with Kane’s family at our house and lunch with my family at mum and dad’s house…so much food…so many presents…so much fun!!

Christmas Day at mum and dad’s is always great…food, swim, lots of laughter!

This year, facing Christmas without nana for the first time was hard. It was a sad feeling which left a void in the air. I felt so much for my mum and grandad. I miss nana so much it hurts, but on those ‘first’ special occasions, I miss her even more. I was so blessed to spend over 30 Christmas days with one of the greatest women I’ve ever known. Nana taught us so much about Christmas…especially how to put on a great one! Forever she will be remembered for her fruit salad, lattice biscuits, roasts and other desserts…forever she will be remembered for spoiling us on Christmas Day!! This year, we all gathered out to the cemetery to lay flowers and wish nana a merry Christmas. An added bonus was seeing her new headstone for the first time, which thank you to my wonderful mother looks amazing!

There were still plenty of smiles on Christmas Day though. Nana would have wanted that. She always had a smile on her face right to the end. If nana could smile through her ordeal then we will always be able to!

Of course the day had to end in drama!!!! Bay’s waterproof cast protector came loose and got his cast saturated!!!! A trip to the Mater Children’s was needed for it to be recasted!!!! This arm!!!!

Poor bugger!!! Fingers crossed it comes off permanently tomorrow!!!

My favourite day of the year though…(apart from my birthday and Christmas) is Boxing Day!!! We always back up and go to mum and dad’s for breakfast and enjoy the whole day eating leftovers and swimming! No rush, no where to be, no present sorting, just fun and laughter without any stress!

So there you have it! This is how we’ve embraced the spirit of Christmas this year! I hope all my followers both family, friends and regulars, had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a safe and happy new year!!

Between me as a teacher and having two children who go to school, I can officially say we made it through another school year…it’s time to PaRtY!!!!!!!

School is out for another year!!!!

What a year it’s been, both professionally and as a school mum! I’ve had a massive year at work with my prep special ed kids and my own children have had big years as well, especially with my daughter starting prep! And even with everything we’ve been through, the one thing that remained consistent was school!

As I reflect back over the year, for my grade two son, he has become so mature and responsible. He is an active learner and a great mathematician! He reads for understanding and enjoyment and puts so much effort into any task that is asked of him. He is kind, he is friendly, he has taken each day of school in his stride and is adored by everyone!

Then there is my preppie daughter. Well where do I start!!! She has gone from a child clinging to my leg screaming “don’t leave me mummy!!!” To a happy, confident and smart girl who is ready to tackle the challenges of year one. She has improved with her confidence in her ability to read and has found a love of writing. She loves maths and her quick wit is as sharp as ever!! She is funny and friendly and is adored by everyone as well!

Last day of prep…am so proud of how far Sienna has come!!

When I walked up the path to pick up the kids for the last time this year, I felt happy that we were about to embark on 6 weeks school holidays together, but sad that another year of their school life was complete! I can’t believe I’ll have a grade 3 and grade 1 child next year!! I love the prep year too, so saying goodbye to Sienna’s amazing teacher and teacher aide was hard, thankfully I still have one more prep year left with Mia in two years time!!

Last pick up day for the year!

This week has been a wonderful week of celebrations. It started on Tuesday when Sienna’s prep class performed ‘A Christmas Story’ play. It was beautiful. It was so well rehearsed that all the children did a magnificent job and had so much fun. All the kids were given presents and folios to end the concert and the parents were given a gift as well! The day was finished with a shared morning tea! A great end to a brilliant year!!

Sienna played a camel and did a great job! She sang with a smile on her face the whole time!

The kids got their report cards yesterday and I was so proud of their achievements. All of their hard work, our persistence with homework and the dedication of their wonderful teachers sure has paid off!!

The final celebration today was for Bay. His class put together a slide show, celebrating the fantastic things they’ve done this year….

Bailey is lucky to have had three brilliant teachers so far and a lovely group of children who he can call his friends!

Now that the school year is finished for us all, we have so much to look forward to! The next couple of weeks will be spent enjoying the lead up to Christmas Day and then after that we are off on our much-needed 10 day holiday to Burleigh!

But I must end my post by saying I wouldn’t be able to make it through any school year without the help from my beautiful mother. Mum not only babysits Mia while I work my two days, she helps with school drop offs and pick ups and I appreciate she does more than words can say!!

Thank you nanny!!

Happy holidays to all my fellow teachers, school mums and friends!!!

What better way to start our holiday with dinner and dessert out and looking at Christmas lights!!!