Nearly here....

 

Only one more sleep!

It's nearly here.......

May your Chritmas sparkle with moments of love, laughter and goodwill.

May your year ahead be filled with contentment and joy.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone,

We'll see you soon from across the 'ditch'

xxxx

Epic week....

This week has been an epic week!

We have,
had packers arrive,
had contracts signed,
had parcels wrapped,
had presents swapped and received.

We have,
said farewells,
finished school for the year,
had our last day of preschool ever!!
had a playgroup graduation.

We have,
had girls nights out,
final sleep overs,
drunk too much,
and stayed up too late most nights.

But this week was epic not because of all this,
This week we had to deal with the death of an amazing friend.
She was true to all. Kind. Honest.  Open hearted and the most amazing friend to call your own.
Her smile was infectious and the 400 odd people who came to farewell her all thought the same.
She was brave beyond comprehension and dealt with all the hideousness that 'acute leukemia' threw at her.

I will miss you my dear dear friend, and can say with all my heart, I will never forget you. You taught me so much and I am truly grateful we had so many years of so many great memories together. Your boys will be cared for by many and know your love for them forever.........
Thank you Amanda, be at peace x

Cathartic Culling!

Only when you move do you realise just how much 'stuff'  you have!
This week has seen me doing a LOT of sorting, culling, reorganising and organising. It's crazy! Honestly, how much 'stuff' does one family of 5 need? What to take, what to leave, what to store, what is going to be used in the next 2 years, what's not......too many questions for my little head I say!

Having fun though, who new it could be so cathartic! Room by room I'm making my way through, and all that's left is the kitchen - been putting this one off, just quietly - hoping it doesn't take me ALL day!!!

Have you done a cathartic clean of late? Which room did you save till last??

Change -

                                

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly things can change. Only a few weeks ago, every thought, phone call, decision, conversation, list etc was revolving around 2 little lives that may have been joining our family. Now, within about 2 weeks, the decision has been made that our little family of 5 will relocate with Pips work to New Zealand!! Auckland here we come!

Ahhhh!

Now it seems, just like before, every conversation, phone call, list, email etc revolves around this move! There is just soooo much to do and considering we fly out Dec 28, there is just not enough time. How do people do this often? It is so intense. I mean moving is one thing, but 3 kids, a dog, 2 vehicles, a house and 5 passports is seeming a little overwhelming to say the least!

Despite all the craziness though, we are all so excited - and a little nervous!
It will give Pip the chance to really shine and show his full potential, the kids to experience an new culture/lifestyle and catch up with some cousins who live in NZ. We can do some exciting travelling and see new things and with any luck we'll get to pop over to Samoa (a little dream of ours) since we're in the neighbourhood!

So much to do, so little time!
Have you done a big move overseas? Got any good tips for me?
Done something fun in NZ you could recommend?


(image from - spit7ire.tumblr.com)

Advent Time!

Last year we had a leaf advent calender like many others I think, but this year I thought I'd do something with the ever growing pile of toilet rolls that we have here!

Here's what we came up with.......

 

We also have the little tradition of having to wait until December 1, to crack open the gingerbread house. Always so exciting the old gingerbread house covered in lollies!

 

Hope your enjoying your countdown............only 22 more sleeps!!