The Last weekend of the Year...

I may have been given a very elaborate early birthday gift from my adorable family.....

So all manner of pics were taken over the weekend....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...Family vintage hanging in my kitchen

...the colour in the garden

... the flower wearing teen

...a cheeky moment with the little guy.

...the little guy being a good host to the little girl cousins who came to stay

... the "watch me spin the ball on my finger" moment 

...little ones trying to keep up

...snapping the many friends we have visiting our garden

I would like to say I took all these....but......I can see it was a gift that will be welcoming shared.......

One Day left of this Year...I wonder what you have planned......

It is a little special in our house....or maybe I am biased.

Happy New Year.....See you next year


Joining in with Em

A reason

 Yesterday I posted my final photos of two of our beautiful kids.....

I joined in Jodi's challenge to photograph them once a week all year long.....

So 52 weeks x 2 kids = 104 photos

I have decided to go again next year..with their permission....

But I think one of the big reasons I will tackle it again is that each week for a day or so I have all THREE of  our beautiful children in the one screenshot.......

I know , I know, but it is a tough time of the year to be without one of them......so much time has gone....we wish she was here......here with the others.....here to take photographs of how beautiful she would be getting.......

52/52 The Final Photos

 

My 52 weeks Project

Joining in with Jodi's Project 

This is the last photo for the year....I have loved doing this and love the record I have of the kids ....they have given me permission to keep going next year....woohoo. 

Thanks Jodi for hosting this cool project. 

Things I am Loving...

The last of our elf adventures for the season ( boy 24 days can be a long time for creativity like this.)

  

I love that my family indulged me with the wearing of matching Pj's again....

 

what's not to love about a husband that can fix the most delicious seafood spread....

I  love that we had very happy children with their gifts that had taken us so long to decide on...

I love that we went with the gifts that will draw us outside...

I loved our time spent with extended family...

I love desert and it was my duty this year......

 

I love that we had such mild weather that made it so pleasant to be outdoors....

and I love that my Frangipani decided to flower on Christmas day....

So much more to love.....family, beautiful gifts, sleep ins, book reading, memories tucked away of another Christmas come and gone....

Only thing to do now is embrace the arrival of 2014!!!

Joining in with Meghan 

Merry Christmas

The seafood is bought and semi prepared...

The matching Christmas PJ's are out...

Everything is wrapped....

The excitement is building....

We just have church to get to and some milk and cookies to put out for Santa...

and we are ready..... 

 

Merry Christmas from us to you

May it be filled with peace and all things that bring you joy

For us, remembering the gift of the season

and 

Especially remembering those we miss the most

Thank to all who stopped by and said hello...or even just popped in and stayed quiet.....it has been, for me another fun year of tracking our family and meeting some very neat people along the way.

Weekend Snippets

 

 

 

 

 

A well overdue hair cut for the little guy with a touch of Christmas....

Some crafting by the teen....she did a great job.

Some very last minute sewing to add to a gift.

Preparing a gift for a family member

The teen had a productive last textiles class at school

A sunset that was too good to miss with my sweet

Ahhh the best bit of summer, being on the ocean edge when the sun goes down.

Joining in with Em 

51/52

 

My 52 weeks Project

Joining in with Jodi's Project 

One week to go! 

Things I am Loving

This week I am Loving.....

Elf adventures..... 

 A really lovely Christmas dinner with my small group from church....

My secret Santa gift from someone who must know me well...

The thoughtfulness of my teen to make a gift for a school friend leaving....

Big parcels that arrive from friends far away...and then caving in to open them with our friends on the phone listening to the squeals of delight.....

 Late night shadows that appear.....

A beautiful gift from a friend...who has got to know me well and the colours I love....

Watching the teen sew up a storm with this batch of scrunchies for her friends...who knew hair scrunchies were back in fashion....

  
This dance clip....gotta celebrate people who love doing what they do....

                        

and love this beautiful haunting rendition .
 

                           

 Joining in with Meghan     

 

Thursday Thankful List.

* Air conditioning during a heat wave.

* The most beautiful still balmy night for singing Christmas carols.

*Hanging with my sisters and their kids.

* Being serenaded by the talents of my husband.

* Gift vouchers to spend on books for myself.

* Selling unwanted furniture for cash quickly.

* Secret Santa gifts that really say who you are.

* A reward day for the teen at school.

* A lovely Christmas dinner with my small group from church.

* A new haircut that feels great.

* The last present purchased.

* Watching the teen craft up a storm for her friends.

* Snuggles from a little guy who is not feeling great.

* All being on holidays now.

* A cool weather forecast predicted for Christmas Day.

#235 The cool evening breeze.

You can see my other lists here.

Last day of school

Tomorrow is the last day of the school year for us......and with it comes....

....finally the opportunity to take the teacher her gift we so lovingly made...

....the bag full of books and papers that have accumulated in the desk arriving home.

...the pencil case full of blunt and small pencils along with the dried up textas accompanying the books and papers.

...the anticipation of which teacher will you get next year and which of the friends will be in the class.

...the sadness of saying goodbye to this years teacher.

...coming to terms with no more children in the junior end of the school.

...the excitement of no more lunches to pack for the next 7 weeks.

...the longing for the relaxed routines.

...the realisation that Christmas is less than a week away.

Everyone is very tired in our home....so bring on the holidays and the festivities of the season.

Happy end of the school year  to you all.

Weekend Snippets...

This weekend...

One of the big events on our Church's calender is "The Christmas Carols in the Park" for our surrounding community

The park being our front lawn of our campus....We are in the middle of a heat wave and so yesterday was a stinker.....(37 degrees in the shade)

None the less ..the festivities went on and was a beautiful night.

One of my jobs is to co-ordinate all the kids from church to open the night with the band singing Rudolph and Jingle Bells.....I actually don't have to do all that much....I have a fairly enthusiastic bunch...just pop a Santa hat on them and away they go....

Who doesn't like being on the stage???

I then can sit back ( well helping to keep an eye on all the little ones in our extended family) ....and enjoy the sounds of my talented hubby and his musical team as they lead us in our host of carols.

Santa of course makes an appearance and all is well.....I still can't believe that we have just ticked that event off the calender for the year.....

9 more sleeps I am told!

Joining in with Em