Tuesday, April 3, 2012

March celebrations...

Once again we had a very busy month of March celebrating birthdays and anniversaries.
Anya could celebrate her 3rd birthday on the 7th, then on the 11th Dad and Mum could remember 35 years of marriage and Marcel turned 21! We all went to their house that Sunday to enjoy coffee and cake together...

Marcel with his nieces - Anya, Naomi, Courtney and Olivia
(Chanel must've been hiding somewhere)

a fancy wakeboarding cake courtesy of Renee :-)

Then on the 13th Olivia turned 6 and had a few of the girls in her class over after school for a party.
Hooray for Olivia!

the birthday girl with her butterfly cake

playing pass-the-parcel

and pin the tail on the donkey

one spoilt girl!

On Saturday the 17th we had a BBQ dinner party with friends and family to celebrate Dad and Mum's 35th wedding anniversary. It was a perfect autumn's evening for it - no wind and not too hot or cold. The company was lovely and the food delicious.

Renee and Ingrid put together a photo board displaying
some memories over the past years

check out my trendy Mum and Dad!
not sure who the lady with the long hair is...

Oom Michael, Dad, Annette and Damon

Devon was quite obsessed with this chair all night

enjoying each others company in
Paul and Ingrid's beautiful gardens


the men cooking up a storm

Then on Monday the 19th we could celebrate our 7th anniversary and Devon's 3rd birthday!
he got a drill set and lawn mower and the trampoline was a present
for both their birthdays

a front end loader from Opa and Oma

a toy bin, golf clubs and colouring book from Anya and Damon

gardening stuff from Nanna, Pop and Rosie

hip hip hooray for Devon
Don't you love his shirt? Viv painted it for his birthday

and a close up of his cake - I had some fun using my new piping kit

and the birthday boy with all his presents

for dinner we got takeaway and went down to the park to eat it
They have a cool flying fox there which we had fun on...

On the 23rd Renee turned 18 and Courtney turned 6 so the following Saturday we went to Rockingham foreshore for a get together
sisters with the birthday girl - Charlene had to work
We also got told that morning the very special news that Paul and Ingrid are expecting
a baby in October! So there's actually 3 pregnant women on this photo :-)

and the men: Rod, Paul, Marcel, Justin and Damon


and just a picture of the little bag I sewed for Courtney's birthday

At the Park...

Here's some photos I took of Olivia playing at the park down the road the other day.







It's Monday
It's raining - YAY!!!
Olivia is sleeping - YAY to that too
I chopped all my hair off on Saturday...eeek!
Daylight saving is finished! It was dark at 7pm last night; weird!
It's wintry...I love it, I might head for my bed too. Olivia was awake at 5 this morning, snoozed for a bit till 6, didn't take her Dad's advice on going back to sleep, so got to go in bed with Mum till it was a sane time to get up (only b/c her Mum was sick of listening to her whinge and whine). So I'm feeling a bit sleepy...
Anyway, here's some pics from Saturday night. The van der Veen tribe had a BBQ at Paul and Heidi's place for Renee's b'day. (They might be put on one per day b/c the connection is soooo slow.)

The boys looking at Dad and Mum's Melbourne photos

the Girly Whirlys -- Heidi, Charlene, me, Annette, Renee and Ingrid

checking out some funny video clips

Akaroa

Akaroa
This is the awesome view you get as you drive down into Akaroa, a little town about 1.5 hous from Christchurch

On the beach at Long Bay, Akaroa

A shop with character

Morning tea in Timaru

Christchurch

Christchurch
Our 'Kozy Kiwi' - accomodation while in Christchurch

Rod, Kathryn and Rose on the cool blow up trampoline thing

Sunday night BBQ at the caravan park where we all stayed: Darryl, Rose, Rod and Glenn

Travelling...

Travelling...
more beautiful scenery

Mt Cook - NZ's highest mountain


river near Lake Wanaka

Cadbury's Chocolate Factory!!!

Aren't I strong!

Christchurch Botanical Gardens

all a bit bleary eyed at 5am @ the airport

sunrise above the clouds - beautiful!

Zachary

mmm, Olivia gets to lick the beater!

Tastes good Mum!


my little gardener

A busy bee