2016

I spent the day a few months ago making collages from 2016 and then decided I wasn't going to post anymore. Then yesterday found me looking at my blog again and decided, why not. So after sending this morning making collages again... here it is.... 2016

January, my birthday. Kris and the family came down so it was extra special. Tori finally got to go on the Sydney Skycoaster at Wet'n'Wild with dad and last minute she decided to change school and went to Kingswood Park Primary school for her last year in Primary. There was also a new addition to our family, the beautiful Miss Georgia xx

February was a quiet month. Tori was loving the shorter distance to school which meant she got to walk to school and ride her scooter. It also found us at our first home game of the footy season. Also Happy birthday to Ashlee xx We also got a new addition to the family, the wonderful Miss Raven :)

March had a few school activities for Tori with Dunking Day and Easter Hat Parade. We also spent easter at Mullaley and Tori was very happy the Easter Bunny found her there. We went across to see everyone at Dubbo and got to meet the beautiful Miss Raven

 April found us checking out the new Panthers Academy. Tori was stoked to be asked to be Georgia's Godmother and Brent her Godfather. We also went to watch a new TV show called Cannonball being filmed. Tori won a pass to Unreal Minigolf for telling a joke during one of the breaks.

 May was Mothers Day. Had a wonderful time with a surprise delivery from Kris & Adi and Ashlee took me to Jenolan Caves and lunch on the way home as lots of other goodies from Brooke, Brent and Tori xx Tori represented her school in Basketball. We went to the Medieval Fayre at Blacktown and Tori got to meet her favourite player Jamie Soward when we went to Meet the Players Day.

June, my nan, Marcie Power, celebrated her 100th birthday. What a milestone!! We celebrated the weekend before with loads of family coming in. We also went and visited her on her actual birthday during the week. Georgia also had her baptism and it was wonderful getting all the family together. We also went to a cake show and took a drive out to Warragamba Dam with Brooke, Matt and Georgia :) Was also Kris' birthday xx

 

 July was a quiet month. We celebrated Brooke's birthday and just had loads of fun hanging out

 

August was another relatively quiet month. Tori represented her school in Soccer and also fractured the bone on the side of her hand. Can't forget the other baby, she got new wheels, lol

September was a bit busier. Tori and I went on a school excursion to Sydney University. Tori and Brent both celebrated their birthdays and Tori had a Mad Hatter Party. Fathers Day found Kym being extra spoilt. We had breakfast at the Colonial with Ash, Brent and partners then lunch at Werrington Lakes with Brooke & family then Tori and I took him to the football :)

 October found Kym in the local paper after a home game. Tori had her Book Week parade at school where she also performed her dance routine with the rest of the group. Wet'n'Wild has reopened and Tori was very excited to see all the new dinosaurs and we also got to see the kids riding their bikes a fair bit.

 November. The big event was Kym turning 50. We managed to surprise him when a few unexpected guests were waiting for us when we got to dinner :) We also took him to dinner at Panthers during the week for his actual birthday. Tori went away on a school camp and we went to see the Top Fuelers at the Drags

 Decemeber. Always our busiest month. Tori and I went on a class excursion on a harbour cruise and we also took Georgia to her first RSL Xmas Party. Tori Graduated Year Six and had lots of things going on. We also went back to Brooke & Matts for Xmas dinner as it was Georgias first and her first Santa Photo wasn't a success lol. To wind up the year we continued the tradition and headed to Julie's to see in  2017.

All in all 2016 was another great year in the life of my family. A lot of ups and downs but in the end there's noone else I want to go on this journey of life with.

2015

I made these collages months ago and then I wasn't going to bother posting and now the end of 2016 is here I thought I may as well as it's a great way for me to look back and after so many years would be a shame to stop it now. So here we go...

January found me another year older and having my birthday lunch at Brooke's work with some of my nearest and dearest. Tori was back to Orchard Hills for school and we were cooling off when ever we could

February was Ashlee's birthday, Tori won a ribbon at her swimming carnival and we went to Wellington Japanese Gardens and Caves

The worst part of March was Ashlee ending up in Intensive Care when he came off his motorbike :( . But luckily we had fun times too like Tori's Crazy Hair Day at school, Football, the drags and Brent went to Walking with Dinosaurs with work and took Tori along :)

April was happy times. Finally got to see our munchkins and we met up with them at Easter at Grandmas :) Tori also had her Easter Hat parade at school.

May found us going to vivid and the Medieval Fayre again and having a great time with friends and family

June found us going to both the Australian and Powerhouse Museums. We also went with Brooke and Matt to the Glow Worm tunnel and participated in the Colour Me Rad run. We also went and checked out "Summer Bay"and then they tried to kill me by walking to the lookout, lol P.S Happy Birthday Kris :)

July was a HUGE month besides it being Brooke's birthday we found out she was having a baby and Tori and I got to go along and see her for the first time. Tori won Best Dressed at her school Book Fair, we went to unreal Mini Golf and went to Medlow Bath to check out the snow with Brooke and Matt

August was quiet. We Took Tori to the Science Night at Kingswood High and she won a Silver Award at school as well as being very excited to meet Adam (and his wife Lisa) from House Rules

September is our big birthday month with both Brent and Tori having birthdays. Brent's was extra special as he turned 21. We also found out that "Sunny"was a girl and we were very lucky that my friend Suzy let us stay at her van down the coast for a week :)

I think October is one of Tori's favourite months.  we had a hot spell and went to the river with Matt & Brooke a few times. Met up with Nat and co at Oktoberfest. Tori went on her school camp to Canberra and she also participated in Public Speaking Championships with school. B ut her fave time of year has to be trick or treating on Halloween :)

November found Tori deciding to cut off all her hair, enjoying the Meet the Players Breakfast and getting another overhaul at the dentists. Highlight of the month would have to be Brooke's baby shower. Happy birthday to Kym :)

December found us with all the usual end of year activities for school. We helped Matt & Brooke celebrate their first xmas lunch thrown at their house and got to spend NYE with Julie and the family.

2015 was full of ups and downs as usual and some downs could have broken us but in the end I am in awe of this fabulous bunch of people that surround me and am very blessed to have them in my life.

Family Update

I'm updating my craft blog all the time and yesterday I looked across and noticed it had been MONTHS since I was on here sp I thought I better update. No, I'm not going to post TONS of photos just a STACK of collages..lol

Still in 2010..

We managed to have a wonderful family dinner with EVERYONE whilst the in-laws were visiting. These are the small blassings I am grateful for..

I also managed to get photos of the FAB FIVE as well as the new additions to our family :0)

Then we jump to 2011 and January found a few family memories..

We had Mum and Dad, and Natalie, Scott and Annalise over to help me celebrate my birthday.. Then I managed to win a family pass to Unreal Mini Golf and Natalie and Annalise came along with us for lots of fun and laughter.. Australia Day found us celebrating with Dean and Josie at their house.Was wonderful to have ALL the family there. The next day I had to drop Brent up the coast for work so Tori and I took the opportunity to go  to the Entrance. She had a ball swimming in the surf and the waterpark as well as watching the pelicans getting fed..

February was a fairly quiet month but I did manage to go out for a Girls Night Out with some of the fab mums I've made friends with from Tori's school, as well as Cathy's baby shower and Clawdia had 2 kittens.

March was busy again but two of the highlights were..

Natalie's 30th birthday at Mum & Dad's. I managed to get away for the weekend with the wonderful friends I made through Playvan, Kerrie and Francis (Thanks to Kerrie for providing her van :0)

It's times like these I reflect back and think my life's not sooo bad. I'm extremely grateful that I've managed to spend so much time with family and friends...

Here's to the rest of my wonderful life, thanks for dropping by :0)

Updates

well what has happened since my last update???

LOADS but here's just a few tidbits...

Brooke has graduated from Year 12 and Tori and I went to the ballet

Halloween.. we celebrated our first Halloween where we actually had trick or treaters coming to the door and Tori could trick or treat around our own neighbours... the joys of living in suburbia again, lol

Canberra Getaway

We managed to get away to Canberra for a few days and had a BLAST visiting the Dinosaur Museum, the National Mint, Questacon and the War Memorial (where we spent 7 hours and Brent could have stayed 7 more..lol)

Close Call

Had a bit of a scare here yesterday, was sitting watching TV and could smell smoke for a while, which isn't a strange thing down here and Tori ran in and said "Fire Mummy" to which I calmly replied "yeah I know" until she put out her hand and said "Come look" and yes there was a fire in the paddock next door to us. The winds were EXTREMLY high and blowing towards our house so I was a "little" panicked..until I noticed it already burnt through the fence and was getting close to the driveway..and the neighbours house..I ran down to see if they had anymore hoses but they were sorted as a passerby had stopped to help so I ran back to our house to ring 000 and get our hose out... Long story short 5 firetrucks later the fire was out and everyone/thing was safe..I got some photos but only after everything was settling down...I felt a bit funny last night but I think it was a combination smoke inhalation, ODing on my ventalin and shock...So Spring is here and the bushfire season is up and running with predictions it will be worse than last year :0(

I'd LOVE to cut the 5 acre paddock right next to our house but don't feel like doing it with the push mower..lol

Our 20th Wedding Anniversary

Hard to believe but yesterday was our 20th Wedding Anniversary...

The day started off well with 20 red roses being delivered to my door (though Tori was wondering why there was a strange man on the doorstep giving me flowers...lol

then Kym came home early from work and told me that I had to get dressed as we had to be in the city at 6.30...this jewellery was waiting for me when I went to get dressed..

then off we drove in to the city (with still no idea what was in store for me)...before we got out of the car I gave Kym his present from me. He wanted to see ACDC in concert so I brought him a DVD of a concert...with tickets to their Australian concert inside!!!

We ended up going to Sydney Tower Restuarant, what a view from the revolving restaurant!!!

All in all a great nite, I think this is only the 3rd time we have been out for our anniversary and it was a wonderful surprise that he organised all this for us....

Was a great nite, thanks Bo...

My Baby Boy is FIFTEEN!!!!

WHOA!!!!! I need to slow things down a bit here...lol

Happy Birthday Brent!!!

Tori is FIVE!!!

Hard to believe it but my baby turned FIVE yesterday!!

She had a MOSTLY wonderful day and was on cloud nine from the moment she woke up. She got a pretty bracelet from Brooke, then Daddy rang her from Wollongong, she then got to open her presents from us and Ash.

Da rang her and then it was off to Preschool (where she had her first cake)

She had a pleasant surprise when she got home from school and found these balloons waiting for her...

She is LOVING Ash at the moment as he made all her cakes today. These were two yummy mudcakes he made, a big one for all the family and a little one just for Tori... she is also looking forward to having a cake at Playgroup tomorrow and Daddy bringing an icecream cake home with him on Friday!!!

Nan also rang for her birthday and she is OVER THE MOON that Grandma and Nan n Pop Christiansen sent her money and keeps checking it's still in her wallet..lol

Onto the only sad part of the day, just after she had her cake, she went into the bathroom to wash her face and slipped and hit her head on the edge of the bath...I think she had the HUGEST egg I have ever felt on the back of her head and it was a sad end to a fab day. The good news is that today she still has a bump on her head but nowhere near as scary and the first thing she said when she woke up is... "I'm still 5"!!!!!...lol

Brooke's Broke

Well 3 of her toes are..lol

Saturday night she was mucking around with Tori and kicked the door...after seeing they were bleeding and sitting at a funny angle I rushed her off to the Drs and none were open so with dread we headed up to the emergency ward. We arrived about 6.30pm and when the nurse saw her foot she thought she thought maybe there was a dislocation and we were added to the "fasttrack" pile. 8.30 she got x-rayed, about 11.30 I was told there was still 6 people in front of her, at 12 we were told most of the Drs go home, at about 3.30 we were taken in to be looked at and she was finally put in a temporary cast at 4.30am!!!

Apparently after 12 there is no fastrack and we went into a pile of 40 instead of 6...but there were people waiting 6, 7 or 8 hours just to be xrayed. There was a 3 year old girl vomiting blood who was told 10 hours..thankfully it wasn't that long, people started giving up and going home around 1 or 2..when we got in we were told there was a guy who got hit by a train and just the bone dr alone spent 6 hours working on him and thats why they were so far behind..so maybe we were "lucky" it was ONLY 10 hours!!!

Anyway, yesterday we took her to the local doctor to get her full cast on. The first one had no support around the toes and the nurse had the nerve to get the s***s when I pointed out..her toes are broken, they need support...DUH!!! so off that one came and she put another one on. We were home for about an hour and noticed a crack around her ankle, rang the Dr and she said to come in tomorrow. Apparently, she wants us to complain to the Director so the nurse can get fired..but Brooke doesn't want that to happen!! Long story short, I have to go there today so I can get the referral letter from the hospital and Im going to take her to yet another Drs to get yet another cast!!!! as it has to be on 6-8 weeks and I don't think this one will last that long (it has cracked all the way around and the two halves move seperately!!)

Anyway, enough complaining..Brooke had 2 days off and wanted to go to school today..they have exams soon and she doesn't want to miss anything important..

Time for a Family Update

Whats been happening in the Wonderful (?) World of Christiansen???

Kristopher turned 22 and we got to spend the day with him, Kate and Maddison (isn't she GORGEOUS...lol)
Kris and Kate are expecting another baby but are sadly no longer together
Ashlee has been working away in Woolongong with Kym for the last 3 weeks and is off for his 2nd Navy interview next week to become a Marine Technician
that's him jumping on the new trampoline and NO he's crack's not out on display, just looks like it...lol
Brooke celebrated her 17th birthday
Brent got a promotion at Cadets and is now a Lance Corporal
He also participated in services for Long Tan last weekend (for Vietnam Veterans Day)
Tori is LOVING preschool and having LOTS of fun with her new friends
We got a new kitten which we named Tilly (the poor thing is still waiting for the novelty to wear off with Tori so she can get 5 minutes peace ;0)
We had a hot air balloon land in the paddock next door

Apart from that it's just the same old, same old...

Hope this finds you and yours well and happy, thanks for dropping by :0)

Dean and Josie's Wedding

Yesterday was our nephew Dean's wedding to Josie. It was in the beautiful setting of Berowa Waters and was a GORGEOUS ceremony. I especially loved the part where Dean and Josie's daughters said their own "vows" to each other and when Dean sang to Josie. I wish them all a lifetime of love and happiness.