A Little Bit Of Christmas

It was feeling a little bit like Christmas in our house on Christmas Eve, I hope all my family and friends had a great Christmas. Brian and I went out for Christmas lunch to the Centrepoint down in Caloundra, it was a buffet and there was so much food it was hard to believe no frills in table setting etc however the food made up for it. We had to be there for 1.00pm it was not crowded and or noisey which we were kind of dreading. Brian loved the seafood buffet while I enjoyed the Traditional and the Asian buffet. There was every kind of Christmas dessert you could imagine. I have to admit we had no dinner last night. Well folks that is Christmas over for another year take care stay safe and have an even Happier New Year - see you all again in 2013. xxxxxx

The Bright Spark

Final day of work and the awards were given out - so I have been called somethings in my time but this - hahahahahaha and a couple of bottles of wine to boot.

Early family Christmas lunch

December 16th saw Brian and I meet up with his girls and the grandkids for an early Christmas lunch. His younger daughter Caroline and her daughter Alesha 13yr live north in Gladstone and they came down for 4days. So what better time to get together for Christmas lunch with older daughter Victoria her kids Olivia 12yr and Jamie 6yr along with their dad. We had a great lunch and it is not very often we manage to get the kids altogether and to have a photo and all be it a nice one taken with grandad is really special.

Jelly Beans called

I had a wonderful visit from Noriel and Lou on Sunday 9th December, it was fantastic. Noriel and I played on the computer with Noriel showing me some digital stuff as I cann't wait to get my teeth into this big time, with that in mind as I will be able to do it while away in the caravan next year. The boys watched the golf on TV - funny that as last time we caught up was when we were staying in a caravan park at Ballarat and yep Noriel and I sat outside under the awning dodging the odd shower of rain, and sharing some Christmas food while the lads sat inside the van - YES they sat inside watching the gold on TV hahahaha - well timed guys. At 1.00pm the lads said when are we having lunch, so off we headed to the good old coffee club down on the Caloundra Esplanade for a lovely light lunch and a drink before heading home for more puter stuff,golf and pizza for tea. Thanks Noriel Brian and I only just drank that little bottle of Brown Brother's Muscato - yum yum yum yum yum, thanks for coming and spending some time with us.



Then on Wednesday 12 December another Jellybeaner came to visit by chance as we were due to go and catch up with Ann and Mick at their accoms up at Maleny, however Brian was really unwell that day and just could not gather the strength to get in the car and go visit. So Mick rang and I suggested they come here instead, which they did then Mick said to Brian we are taking Chris out for lunch. I managed to navigate us to the Caloundra RSL where we had a lovely lunch and a good old natter I was not allowed to pay for lunch however demanded that I get coffee and cake Mick had no choice. Once again thank you Ann and Mick for taking the time to come and say hi, Brian really enjoyed seeing you both and was just sorry he was not well enough to join us for lunch - next time hoepfully.

Sorry no photos:

Craft Group get together

December 8th saw a group of us gather at my friend Keryn's place for a pre Christmas get together. Keryn is a "Stampin Up" demonstrator and she does regular classes during the week, I try to go on some Monday's as I don't work on a Monday. We all took a plate of nibbles and as you can see there was a good turnout and we had a great time. The reason we had it early was Keryn and her husband Graham and her family yep all 9 of them total were heading away on a crusie on the 15th December. Thanks Keryn for such great fun,laughter,chatter eating eating eating.

Stunning Sunset's at Caloundra

Wednesday Decemeber 5 - 2012
It was such a beautiful day very very hot and when I arrived home from work I said to Brian I think we will pack up tea and head to the beach at Caloundra - well actually the Esplanade, the sunsets were simply stunning as was our dinner and my company.

What else when in Queensland

But to dine Alfresco - December 2nd 2012

Weekend with family

November 23-25 saw us head off to Brisbane South side to catch up with family and for me a craft time with Belinda. Brian and I booked a motel and I worked until midday before we headed down the Bruce H/Way toward Brissy South hopeing to avoid any H/Way delays etc - which we did. Kyle is my dad's 1st great grandson and we have a great relationship with his mum and stepdad, infact Belinda wanted us to have a craft weekend. Brian has been pretty unwell lately and having our own space and accomadation was the best thing, however a whole weekend was just too much for him and he was pleased to be heading home early on the Sunday, not before we have a great family BBQ. Belinda showed me how to make a box from chippy and using Tim Holtz metal legs it turned out great lid and all, it is not quiet finished yet as I have still to make the small album that fits inside the box - photos to follow when finished which I am currently working on. I have 2 UFOs being worked on at this current time all will be revealed once finished. Photos show the Tunnel cards that Belinda and I made, they look amazing and the bottom photo is my gorgeous great nephew Kyle he such an amazing, well rounded and polite young man. My dad did get to meet Kyle and dad would be so proud of him. The 5th photo shows me making the lid of my box - as I said photos to come. We had a wonderful time and it is always so special spending time with Belinda her hubby Adam, Kyle, Natalie and Jono.

Birthday Boy

November the 5th is not only "Guy Fawkes" day it is also Brian's birthday. We had planned nothing however he was very spoilt as you can see.
This lovely gift was sent to him by his daughter up in Gladstone, and the balloon lasted until almost Christmas.
Happy Birthday to my wonderul man - you are so special and loved so much by all the girls and grandchildren - however I love you the most xxx

Wedding Anniversary

November the 1st was Brian and my 26th Wedding Anniversary. I had to work and I had no idea that Brian had been down and booked a table at the Caloundra RSL for dinner that evening. I decided I would send him some flowers this year as we have had a bit of an up and down year with his health and thought this would be a nice way to show him how much I love him. I sent a nice floral arrangement of Alstromeria, Day Lily and some native flax and tucked into the arrangement was a bottle of bubbly. I recieved a beautiful bunch of Red Roses. We arrived at the RSL to find our table was taken over by some old fellow and we never had the heart to ask him to move as he was busily tucking into his dinner, it worked to our advantage as they moved us to the fine dinning area and that was way better as you were waited on - only having to leave your seat to head to the loo - hahahaha. We had a great night and another wedding anniversary down.

Family Heritage

October 6th 2012

A number of years ago I managed to locate a very special family member by going through the Brisbane ph directory and coming across the little fellows grandad was just fantastic. Kyle is my nephews son ( he has nothing to do with him, my brothers grandson (grandfather has never met him) and my father's eldest Great Grandson - whom my dad met and spent time with him. Brian and I lived on the Gold Coast at the time and we arranged to meet Kyle and then when my dad came over for a visit in 2006 we again arranged for them to meet - it was so great - as this was one of my dads wishes to meet Kyle and his family. Now Kyle and his family are in contact all the time with us, we have had Kyle come and stay (he is now 14yr old) and we are going down to Brisbane in November to spend a weekend with them. Kyle's mum is a scrapbooker hahahahaha and she is doing a scrapbook for Kyle for Christmas and has asked me to do a double page for his album and I have done just that. I have done one page solely on my parents - their wedding day and the other page on Kyle and my dad his great grandad. I have added hidden journalling on tags that are tucked behind the photos. I also have done a montage of all different photos and have written on the back of the card what,who and when they were taken. I hope this is what Belinda was looking for, I think it has come up rather well.

The 2 photos below the coloured ones are the various photos that will be on the backs of the double page layout.

The one thing Belinda did ask was that somewhere on the page I had to add that these pages were done by me so I did it on the journal tag that you can see poking out from the wording "We are family" the other tag is tucked in behind the photo of my mum and dad coming out of the church.

Bo Bunny

Saturday 22nd September I went off to another Bo Bunny class at the LSS, this time it was the "Olivia" range of papers and embellishments. This was a card class and we made 8 cards - they are very nice although the  photo's dont really do the cards justice. It was a nice group of ladies and they are always up for a laugh which adds to the fun. I have booked in for another couple of classes, I think they are Christmas Card classes.

Dreaded teeth time

Tuesday 25th September

Well the day had arrived for Rory to go into hospital to have his teeth done. He has a fear of needles and the school dentist made it worse for him so he was booked in to have his teeth done at the hospital dental clinic. He was to have a general so he would know nothing about it, he was fine other than the fact that his tummy hurt due no eating allowed and or drinking - kids eh so he hid under the chair and grumbled my tummy is sore. He went in with Yasmine and there were no hassles the job was done and no pain and or suffering. Good boy Rory.

Photo below tells the story of a boy who just wants to sleep
 

Flying back to Brisbane

Wednesday 12th September

Sees Brian and I return home to Brisbane and farwell to our darling family.I hate the goodbye's - when we arrived home last night Rory's Rugby League coach had come around with his certificate and medal for the end of season games - Rory was so excited (see photo below).School for Rory and work for Yasmine and Adam, Brian and I went with Rory this morning to say goodbye as we would be gone when he arrived home. We dropped Yasmine at work and had her car for the morning, we didn't go anywhere other than to the Hornby Mall and back again. We did the house for Yasmine and washing and got the wood in for her to light the fire when she arrived home. We were meeting Sonya - Adam's sister at Yasmine's work at 1.00pm and she was then taking us to the airport as Yasmine did not need to take time off work and or take Rory out of school. The time arrived for us to leave and drop Yasmine's car off, Sonya had arrived and it was the dreaded time I hate - those bloody good -byes. I assured Yasmine I will return one day and I promised her that, just that at present the time is not right, we still want to travel and see more of this huge big country and with tears in our eyes we left her waving good - bye. As I type this it tears me up so on that note I will finish this part of the trip here and say we had a wonderful time and NZ will always be home - just now we call Australia home and we are proud and happy to be here.

This photo below was the last photo I took and show a very proud little boy displaying his certificate and medal - well done Rory xxxx

Last day Christchurch

Tuesday 11th September

This was our last day in Christchurch and we had Yasmine's car so decided to go into the city and take some photos. In the evening we went to Brian's neice's house (this house has been Red Zoned and is to be demolished it is only 5yr old) for a BBQ tea, by the time we arrived at Catherine's it was freezing and I mean freezing cold, raining and just awful. Wayno had to cook the BBQ in the garage while we all sat inside, Catherine had the heatpump whirring away on 25c for us so we were nice and cozy. All Brian's family came, sister Rosie, brother Terry his wife Patricia was in bed with some bug. Brian's nephew Brian and his wife Anna also came as were Catherine and Wayne and their 3 kiddies, the twins Fynn and Bailey 8yr and Matilda 6yr. We left to head back to Yasmine's around 9.00pm to actually arrive back there where I parked the car, she went out a bit later to ensure old mother had locked it to say come and have a look - I was shocked thinking what had I done!!!!!! however it was all good it was SNOWING, we were leaving tomorrow to head home.