12/12/12…..

Posted on December 12, 2012 by natalietrew

Today is a very special day! 12/12/12….what a significant date! Today marks the last day that includes a date with consecutive numbers that we will ever see in our life time again! Because of this I want to reflect on what I’ve done today…..

Being a Wednesday it’s always my down day after working my two days on Monday and Tuesday. The girls and I always drop Bailey off in the drop off zone at school and then come straight home and potter. I’d already tidied up around the house first thing when I woke up, because today’s task was to do all my baking for the kid’s teacher’s gifts, and that I did. In fact I baked 36 cupcakes, a batch of choc chip cookies and two batches of tim tam balls! All I have to do now is ice the cupcakes tomorrow and gift bag them all – I have 5 to do in total!

Today is also a significant day in my life, as it is the last day at home with just me and my gals! Tomorrow is technically the last day but we go to the shops on Thursdays so today is our last day to hang at home! We’ve shared many laughs today. The girls are so funny together and individually. They’ve enjoyed licking the bowls of the cupcake mixture and the beaters too. They are my taste testers and never once have I had a bad review 🙂 We played outside for a little while and once Mia went down for her nap, Sienna and I had a lovely lunch together….I’m really going to miss my lunch date next year:( I even managed an hour to myself while both girls napped at the same time!

In the afternoon we went and picked Bailey up from school and captured yet another significant moment. Today marks the last day my son and my two nephews will be at the same school together as Sebby is off to high school next year!

Another fantastic moment of the day was reading my son’s report card. It brought a tear to my eye to see all As for effort and all high or very highs with one sound for SOSE. Bailey has had lots of issues with his ears again this year, so to see how well he has done at school makes me one proud mumma!
He also received a reward for his level 1 behaviour….now to consistently apply this to home lol!

The rest of the afternoon was bliss:)…we ate popcorn and mangoes for afternoon tea and then went for a bike ride to the park. The kids had a wonderful time enjoying all their favourite things! Bailey kicking his footy, Sienna practising finally being able to swing herself on the swing and Mia going down her favourite slide! I even managed to get my Christmas card photo so I can finally start making my Christmas cards!

I did have a scare though I thought for 10 minutes that I’d lost my mobile at the park…eeeek! In that moment I was feeling awful, terrible – how can a mobile phone cause such grief if lost lol! My phone isn’t just a phone though it’s my life. My camera, my blogging, it’s all done from my phone…thank goodness I found it in my clothes cupboard….I know I’ve lost it completely lol!

All in all 12/12/12 was a great day filled with lots of lovely moments and milestones! It ended just as great as we were able to spend an hour with Kane when he got home at 6.30 having dinner, dessert and looking at our Christmas lights!

Let the Festive Season Begin!

Posted on November 30, 2012 by natalietrew

This weekend officially marks the beginning of the festive season! Whether it’s celebrating with friends or family, it always involves lots of laughter, eating, love, giving and receiving!

Each week from now I will post a blog that is related to something that we traditionally do at christmas time. We are in love with this time of year and the excitement that it brings our children! We started preparing for christmas two weeks ago now when we got out all our lights out and started decorating the front of the house. So far we up to about 2000 lights with the finishing touches happening this weekend!

There is something so endearing about this time of year. Between Santa, reindeers, holly, red and green, stars, bells and snow flakes, it’s a wonderful time to decorate, celebrate and appreciate out family and friends! Now that we have children we have started many ‘Trew Christmas Traditions’ that we intend on continuing for many years to come!

Enjoy the festive season and I look forward to sharing with you our Christmas joy during the month of December!

Me & My Gals…..

Posted on November 28, 2012 by natalietrew

It’s been almost two years since we welcomed a second daughter into our family. Almost two years of being a party of 5 and almost two years since Bailey started school, therefore almost two years since its been just me and my gals at home!

We’ve had so much fun together! It’s been such a precious time watching Sienna nurture and love her baby sister. The time spent watching my daughters form their beautiful sisterly bond, has been captured and enjoyed over and over again. They laugh at each other, help each other to do things, they play nicely, they annoy each other, but one thing is for sure they look out for each other each and everyday!

The realisation that Sienna starts prep next year is really starting to hit home and as of this week, there is only three weeks left of the school year, which means only three weeks left of just me and my gals at home! Mia is going to be lost without her big sister. Her big sister is her one person who no matter what, will drop everything when Mia says “Sie Sie play!” Sienna can be half asleep and she will still drag herself outside to make her little sister happy! It will certainly take some time to get use to!

For me, I will miss the laughter! The girls laughing at each other and with each other is like music to my ears! So often their laughter will stop me in my tracks and I will just sit and watch and laugh with them! Mia is the funniest little person I know….who will be there to share in her antics now!? Sienna is such a proud big sister and always gets excited when Mia learns to do something new….Mia’s biggest fan is starting a new phase and the time they’ve spent together over the past two years will be so very different now!

But like anything, we don’t have a choice and we have to move on with the change! I don’t particularly like change though!!!!!! Like I said, it will be hard at first, Mia and I will feel like there is a piece to our puzzle missing, but we’ll get use to it…it was exactly the same when Bailey started prep! We are so happy for our Sie Sie girl and know that she is going to have a blast at school!

So in the next three weeks I plan on enjoying my time with just me and my gals – I will embrace it and all the greatness that it brings!

A Day to Remember!

Posted on October 9, 2012 by natalietrew

8 years ago today I married my best friend, my lover and the man that would one day become the father of my children! We had been together for 7 years and like most females, I’d been dreaming about this day since I was a little girl and what a beautiful day to always remember on this date!

I still remember that day like it was yesterday. The butterflies in my stomach as I approached my soon to be husband, my beautiful dress and how I felt like a princess and the happiness that filled my heart as I married my prince, my one true love!

It was a beautiful hot sunny day that day and like true wedding style, we had a few dramas leading up to the big day, but the actual day couldn’t have been any better! In front of 150 family and friends, Kane and I declared our love for one another in a traditional style church wedding…our children have since been christened there:)

Once the nuptials were completed, we headed over to the Roma Street Parklands, where our photographer captured some beautiful moments that we will cherish forever!

Having a large bridal party that consisted of siblings and friends, paved way to have loads of fun…many laughs were shared that day as well as tears of joy (mostly by Tash lol)!

Our reception was at the Paloma located at Sunnybank. We chose somewhere that would cater to the volume of people and central to where everyone was traveling from. Between having a delicious array of food, beverages and dance floor to kick off our shoes, the reception was our party to celebrate our love and unity and of course what better way than the groom doing a strip tease to the ‘Grease’ remix song lol!

We had been engaged for 18 months, which allowed plenty of time to organise the wedding day of our dreams…but like anything we had a budget to stick towards and although we could have had less people at a more extravagant venue, we chose to have the people we cherished the most. The day was all about us and the fact that we were two people becoming one. It was pink, girly, bright, florally which is all things me and the boys wore plain but handsome suits which is all things Kane! I still to this day love what I created (with the help of my one and only mumma) and to me our wedding day will always be the best!

To me getting married is more than a piece of paper, I take it seriously and the vowels we declared in front of our friends and family are ones our relationship faces everyday….”in sickness and in health, from richer to poorer, through good times and bad, till death do us part!”

I love you Kane Trew…happy 8 year wedding anniversary! Thank you for the times we have shared thus far. I’m so proud of what we have created and love you and our babies more than life itself:) And what better way to spend it than with my party of 5!

60 Years Ago An Angel Was Born!

Posted on September 16, 2012 by natalietrew

Yesterday marked another special occasion for our family….it was my dear Mother’s 60th birthday! We’ve had many celebrations this year where mum was the driving force behind the preparations, but this time it was our turn to take the wheel from mum and for her to take a back seat! Mum wanted something quiet and simple we wanted something super! Mum wanted it at a park with very little preparation, but how could we do that when she has created something awesome for everyone else in the past! So we did exactly what mum told us not to do!

We had it at my sister’s house where 70 of her closest family and friends came dressed wearing something purple – mum’s favourite colour! Her best friend since primary school was able to make it down from Cairns and of course my sister and her family came up from Melbourne. Mum was able to bond again with work mates from the past and relish in the love, fun and laughter that each of her family members have brought to her from the past and present!

We wanted the day to just be about the women we call mum. She is one of a kind. She is loving and loyal. She is selfless and always goes above and beyond! She puts everyone before herself. She is a true angel and without her, our lives would not be the same. Carol, Caz, Boof – is not only a wonderful person, she is the best mum, the most devoted nanny and a caring daughter, sister, aunty, cousin and friend. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting my mum or having her as a part of your life, you are richer for doing so!

After a month of preparations of invites, menus, photos, cake planning, decoration deciding and the like, the day was a huge success. Mum was thoroughly surprised, appreciative and had the best time. It was so nice to see mum enjoying herself with her loved ones and being waited on rather than the other way round! We are wrecked today, but it was so worth it to see the joy and happiness on my Mother’s face! I promised my children that the crazy lady they’ve been living with this week has left the building lol!

Memories from the party…..
Cake I made!
Colour theme – purple and yellow!
My favourite photo of mum we had blown up and placed throughout the party!

Family photos…..

Things I made…..

I also made fried rice and a Mexican dip and I created a slide show of 250 photos of 60 years of memories mum can now look back on. My sister Pete roasted all the meats and made a number of beautiful salads and my sister Michelle made some lovely desserts and helped me with the decorations! Between the three of us and the help of dad I think we pulled off a party that made mum proud!

Happy 60th birthday mum:) I know you had a wonderful day….here’s to many many more years of love, laughter and happiness!

60 years ago a true angel was born and I feel blessed everyday that this women is not only my mum, but my best friend!

My Dad…My Hero!

Posted on September 2, 2012 by natalietrew

Right from the moment I was born my dad was there to love and protect me:)

In light of father’s day I thought I’d write about a special man in my life….that man being my dad! I really have been blessed in life with not only a beautiful mother who is my best friend, but I have the best dad in the world to! He is my hero. He is my safe person. He is the father who will drop everything to help us out. He is strict, but has always had our best interests at heart!

Growing up we saw a lot more of mum as dad worked long hours, but when he was home we felt content and happy that our party of five were altogether! Dad has always made us laugh (and cry at times lol) and he has always been our number one fan! Having three daughters must of been tough on the poor guy, all those hormones geez lol! But dad never once made us feel like he was missing out by not having a son and supported our sporting choices and career paths and would always offer help and support where needed. Dad taught us to fish, swim, catch waves, drive a car and was the one we went to when mum said no! We would always help him in the yard, be the loudest cheer squad on the sideline when he coached footy and enjoyed a day at work with him in the truck!

It’s funny when you become an adult your relationship changes with your father. A mother and daughter’s relationship evolves as you get older but a father daughter’s changes – for the better I think! Now I’m a mum and dad is my children’s poppy, a new level of respect is earnt! I’ll always be his little girl or should I say ‘spud’ as he called me when I was little, but now I’m a women with children of course things are going to change! I still have a great relationship with my dad and my own kids adore their poppy! I’d be lost without him. He still checks up on us and makes sure our cars are looked after, our yard is in ship shape and is always there when a helping hand is needed.

My dad will always be someone I look up to!

Our children adore their Poppy!

My two favourite men…I’m so grateful they are great mates!

Mums are such special people to have in a child’s life, but it’s just as important to have a dad too. Dads teach us different things to mums and being a male, they usually see things in a different perspective! I’m so proud to have a dad like mine and no matter how old I am, he will always be my hero! And now it’s beautiful seeing my own children have the same feelings about their dad and my husband reciprocating the same love for his chicken, shnooky and darling!

Happy father’s day to my dad, husband and grandad and to all the wonderful dads out there!

The Touch of a Word!

Posted on August 29, 2012 by natalietrew

I love decorating! We’ve been in our house for almost 10 years now and decorating our home never gets old. I’m currently redecorating the kid’s toy room, hopefully it’s only a couple of weeks away from finishing, so keep a look out for my toy room reveal blog! Anyway the point of this blog is to express my new found love of decorative words! It’s amazing how something so simple, rather plain and so reasonably priced can add a new dimension to a room!

I have three decorative words currently scattered throughout the house and they are:

My ‘home’ word resides in the kid’s new toy room. It fits perfectly in a room where the kid’s can play and feel happy, safe and secure in their home! My second word ‘family’ has recently been repositioned and now lives in our lounge room which is the perfect place as we spend a lot of time as a family chilling in this room. My final word ‘love’ occupies our bedroom. Along with photos of our children and ourselves on our wedding day which depicts all the love that we have shared and do share!

I think walking into a room with these words present really adds meaning to a room and symbolises what the room is all about:

I’m on a mission now to find the word ‘laugh’! I think this would finish off my house of words and balance it out nicely! The meaning behind all of this would be….Through ‘love’ and ‘laughter’ we have created a beautiful ‘home’ for our precious ‘family’….something so powerful can be summed up simply with a touch of a word and in this case decorative ones!

These words were purchased at Choice Kuraby for $7.99!

80 Blessed Years!

Posted on August 19, 2012 by natalietrew

80 years ago today a beautiful lady was born into this world, and blessed this world is to have her! This lady is my dear nana Gloria! In her 80 years of life so far, she has experienced many great loves which have formed her family, but has also faced tragedies with the loss of a child, grandchild and parent. She has always been a devoted wife, mother and grandmother who would give you the jumper off her back or her last dollar if she had too!

Yesterday we celebrated nana’s 80th birthday just how she likes…being surrounded by family! My wonderful mother did a fabulous job organising such a fantastic day for everyone to enjoy! It was so lovely having most of nana’s grandchildren and great grandchildren present for such a huge milestone. And of course in true style we were able to capture many cherished moments…..

Nana and grandad with their children!

Nana and grandad with their grandchildren!

Nana and grandad with their great grandchildren!

My party of 5 with our dear Nana!

Nana’s cake I made for her:)

Aerial shot of the cake!

Mum put together a collection of things that my very talented nana made over the years…some of it is almost 40 years old!!!!

Nana and I….my fondest childhood memories included nana a lot!

As I was having a lovely chit chat with nan this arvo, it reminded me of all the wonderful girly chit chats we’ve had over the years! It makes me so upset at the thought of how Parkinson’s Disease has taken over my precious nana’s body and once where she was an active vibrant women who was very intelligent, now struggles with the day to day normal living of life. But in true Gloria form she never complains and always has time to give you a smile. As I kissed her soft forehead this arvo, I told her that she was the best and that she wasn’t going anywhere that we couldn’t survive without her….she replied with a beautiful smile and said “someone would replace me”, I replied with “never!” Because Gloria Holpen, the lady known to many of us as Nana Holpen, is simply irreplaceable!!!!

Happy 80th birthday Nana….I’m so glad you’ve had a wonderful weekend of celebrations!!!!!

18 Months Ago…….

Posted on August 17, 2012 by natalietrew

Exactly 18 months ago a beautiful little chubby baby girl was placed in my arms. She was our miracle, a true angel who literally saved my life! We’ve had many ups and downs with our Mia bear, from silent reflux, a turned eye, glue ear, chronic middle ear infections to croup! But despite all of this, she is growing into a funny, affectionate, playful little lady who we absolutely adore the ground she walks on!

It blows me away how fast time has gone and that my youngest born is already 18 months old! This age can be so trying at times and for our spirited child as we call her, a lot of the time lol, but it’s also a beautiful age. They are still so pure and innocent with really not a care in the world! They laugh at themselves and don’t care what they look like or wear. All they want is your undivided attention and affection and they are as happy as a pig in mud!

Mia has never been a fan of the camera, which is sad really because she is the most adorable thing and has a smile that makes your heart melt! But the photos I do capture of her, really depict the little lady she is becoming!

The Funny Mia:

The Adventurous Mia:

The Serious Mia:

The Cheeky Mia:

The Affectionate Mia:

The Cranky Mia:

The Peaceful Mia:

The Mischievous Mia:

The Drifter Mia:

The Adorable Mia:

These photos really depict a day in the life of our little Miss Mia (aka Mimi). She displays each and every one of these emotions on a daily basis, which makes the day very interesting for us! She really has left her baby days behind her and is in full steam toddler mode. Her talking is so cute and new words are added to her collection of vocab everyday….my favourite “ove you!” She is just one of the kids now and what they do she must do or at least have a go! She really lights up our lives and just like 18 months ago, at the end of the day she still needs to borrow her head on my chest to feel happy, warm, loved and comforted!

Mia Natalie Trew….18 months today!

Knowing When You’re Complete!

Posted on August 2, 2012 by natalietrew

I love this time of my life! In the past 10 years I’ve married my true love, bought a house that we’ve turned into a home and produced three of the most adorable babies we could have ever wished for! All while going through many ups and downs which is called LIFE! We’ve come to the crossroads of the reproductive part of our life when a decision needs to be made….are we complete yet?

For some people that question is very easy to answer, most people know while they are pregnant with a baby that it will be their last, but for me I always knew letting go of having any more babies wouldn’t be an easy decision. I feel like this has come upon me so quickly! It only feels like yesterday I was trying on my wedding dress and wearing it like a princess, now it’s three kids later and only feels like I’ve blinked my eyes shut for a second. For years I dreamt of the day I’d become a mum for the first time and I’ve absolutely loved every waking moment (maybe not every lol) and a part of me wishes this part of my life would just stand still for a little while. Call me crazy but I could cry at the thought of never carrying another baby inside, feeling it kick for the first time, watching my belly grow, giving birth and experiencing the moments after that, breastfeeding, being the only one who can provide a source of food, snuggling and bonding with a newborn….yep definitely brings tears to my eyes!

But then I look at the three little blessings we have and take in consideration my heart condition and I know that it is time to say we are complete! Ideally if I didn’t have a heart condition I’d love to have just one more, but like my husband says I say that every time lol! Four would be a nice even number. With Sienna at school next year and Mia home for another three years, it would be nice to have two older ones and two little ones, but that isn’t going to be the case for us. Most days I’m completely at peace with this decision, but a teeny tiny part of me will always wish we had of. I knew from the minute my first born was placed in my arms that being a mum was the job I was meant to do and from that moment I have embraced each day and captured all the wonderful moments that I’ve been able to cherish while staying at home with each of them!

What has helped make this decision and allowed me to be at peace with it?
Well Mia for starters lol! I love this little bear more than life itself, but man she is full on lol! I often say if she was my first I probably would have only had one lol! But I seriously look at things realistically. Our house is just big enough for the five of us so another child would mean a bigger house and car for that matter and along with that comes an added expense! Two out of three of our children will be in school next year and before long they all will be. It’s nice to go out now and watch the three of our children have fun together. Mia still has a day sleep but we manage around that and she is getting to an age where she copes with whatever we do! And the most obvious reason is my heart. Mia was a blessing for us, so I’m very much at peace with the three angels I have and being healthy for them.

So with all of this said my mind is now adjusting to moving forward. We have so much to look forward to and as the kids grow older and start playing sport and being involved in extra curricular activities at school, we will be busier than ever! Before Mia was born, I always saw a third child sitting next to Bailey and Sienna. Now when I see my three cherubs sitting together I see a complete picture and that my friends is why I know my family is complete!

My Party of 5

Tag Archives: family

12/12/12…..

Let the Festive Season Begin!

Me & My Gals…..

A Day to Remember!

60 Years Ago An Angel Was Born!

My Dad…My Hero!

The Touch of a Word!

80 Blessed Years!

18 Months Ago…….

Knowing When You’re Complete!

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