DIB DIB, DOB DOB

Last year Chey and my niece Taylah started going to Scouts on a Tuesday night. They have both really enjoyed being a part of this group and we have done a couple of fun things now...including our first family camping trip....that was interesting to say the least. Not sure how into it I am....but its good for Chey.

Chey and Taylah stayed at underwater world up the coast, sleeping in the tunnel with the sharks swimming above them! I didn't think she would survive the night...but she proved me wrong. Tay on the other hand is a tough nut...so I didn't have any worries about her!

This year they marched in the Anzac parade and really enjoyed it, although it was as stinking hot day and they didn't have any shade to sit under, so it was a bit much!

Not a great photo....but the girls are there marching! Tay took it very seriously.

My checky nephew Aidan

JAPAN


It has been a while since our holiday to Japan, but we had such a great time and it was so awesome for Chey. Chey just embraced the culture and learn't a few cool words and enjoyed dining on noodles everynight! Occasionally we succumbed to eating McDonalds - i was well in truely over noodles and meat by the time we came home, I cooked a roast the first night we were home with LOTS of veges! Even Chey happily ate her vegies.

I was impressed with how well my girl managed to keep up with everyone on all the walking we did and late nights. Although we didn't have as many late nights as the others.

Chey of coure was the centre of attention everywhere we went. Strange how in Australia, we don't even look twice at a foreigner walking down the street, but in Osaka, we certainly turned some heads....well...Chey did more than anyone else. We always knew that would be the case, but honestly, Chey was given so many toys and lollies and ice creams from strangers - even given ice cream before her dinner was served! Didn't Chey just think that was awesome!

Here a a few pics of our holiday....

Banging a gong in Nara

This was at dinner for the bride & groom whose wedding the people we were travelling with, were there to attend. Seriously, Chey and I tried to hide up the back and blend in with the crowd since we were just hangerons....but alis....it was only a matter of minutes before Chey was presented with this cat from these guys (who are the family of the bride)! I'm not sure who has a bigger smile, the cat or Chey? These guys went out and bought this for Chey after they met us that night - it would have only been minutes after we arrived as well.

And this is the bag of lollies the Aunty whose restaurant it was we were dining at bought for Chey. I came back form the loo to find Chey all coated up and ready to walk out the door with these strangers who wanted to take her across the road to buy lollies! If this was Australia, I would not have let her go, but the Japanese are so respectful and just wanted to lavish her with gifts. Chey of course was not about to say no!

She also received a mini mouse and mickey mouse toy from some other family members as well as ice creams literally thrown down her throat. I think the entire family ended up sitting up the back of the restaurant with us....so much for blending in!

Here are Matt, Carrie & Chey hanging out in Hiroshima. We visited the Atomic Bomb Dome Meseum this day. We took the bullet train from Osaka to Hiroshima - took about an hour in travel time. Was really sad but interesting.

Look what the Easter Bunny left on the end of our bed....

There certainly isn't a shortage of
Easter eggs in our house at Easter time...I have to admit though...chocolate does tastes better when it is an Easter Egg.

Here is Isabella, Cheyenne and Annaliese holding up their bunnies - i think Bella's lasted less than a few minutes before it was all gone! Nothing like chocolate for breakfast (a favorite of mine i have to say!!)

Chey with her chocolate stash

Chey and Scarlett

No longer able to tick the under 30's box.....it is a very sad day.....

Jen is the first of my girlfriends to turn 30 this year and i must say, we are all struggling just a little bit to come to terms with no longer being in our 20's

Happy Birthday Babe

The day started with some girlie fun.....facials and getting our hair done before the big surprise.....

Lunch at the Piney

Jen arriving at her 'surprise' party.....coming out of the lift to see 65 people waiting for her - enough to scare anyone!!

It's hard being a kid sometimes....Chey spent most of the afternoon hiding under the table (there were supposed to be some other kids there who didn't turn up, so Chey was not a happy camper).

I know....I know.... I am a terrible blogger! I honestly do try, but every time i think, right tonight i am going to post something, then i take a look at all you other great bloggers and my ideas don't seem so great anymore.....some people are just too creative :) but seriously I love reading about everyone elses lives.....they all seem so much more interesting!

2009 has been a busy year for us. Chey started back at Camp Hill School. This was a very exciting time for Chey as she has now moved up the ranks in school - Camp Hill is split into two sections - Infants (being prep to grade 2) and primary (being grade 3-7).

Cheyenne now gets to go to the 'big school' and we are officially allowed to do 'Stop, drop & go'!! Woohoo! We have been waiting 3 years for this day!! Until now, i have always had to walk Chey to her class room and wait until 8.50am before i could leave her in the class room.

While this is fantastic in the sense that you got to know all the other mums and dads in her class it also put alot of pressure on working mums and dads who had to get to work by 9am!! Impossible!

I have to say, it is a little sad though, I am missing the moring catch up with the mums and knowing who is who in the zoo.....also.....my baby is growing up - soon she will be making me drop her off down the street so i don't embarrass her:(

Here she is looking beautiful in her school uniform.

In January we caught up with my lovely school friends. It was the first time we had all been together in about 4 years since Nikki & Paul have been away travelling for that time. I think we had grown considerably in size with the addition of a few more small people.....

here we are enjoying a nice lunch at Cath & Grants beautiful new place.

Febuary saw us camping at a Big 4, Forest Glenn camping grounds up the coast with our good friends the Taylors & Austins. It was Miss Isabella's 7th birthday and what better way to celebrate turning the big 7 than camping in the great out doors....ok well it wasn't like we were in the bush or anything....but we certainly had our fair share of bugs to deal with!!

The children enjoying some lovely camp food (red rooster)

Hanging out in the tent Chey and I got for Christmas

The gorgeous Miss ScarlettMacey

A couple of weeks ago we said goodbye to my parents who embarked on the first part of their travels. Mum and Colin retired at the end of last year which was very exciting for them. They plan to spend the next few years travelling around Australia in a caravan. Before they head off around Australia though, they have gone home to NZ to travel down the south island and across to the north where they will spend the next couple of months catching up with family and friends.

This will be the longest we have been away from my mum ever, so we will miss them very much!

Chey continues to be a blessing to me. She is growing so much and i am so proud of her. Chey just loves school and has some lovely friends - i am constantly told what a delight she is to teach and parents often stop me in the play ground to tell me what a beautiful daughter i have....of course i have to agree with them!

I am working, with the help of my good friend Jen, to get my salon up and running from home. Chey and I will be going to Japan in May for a holiday (we are very excited about this!!) then when we get home, i plan to start taking clients....so stay tuned....

Long lost brother

For all of you who say Face book is a waste of time.... i totally agree! But turns out it does have some benefits! While looking through my brother Dave's profile the other day, i noticed he had joined a group called "I went to Kapati College" which was the college i went to for a year before i moved to Brisbane. I decided to join this group too, purely becuase i was courious to see if i knew any of the people. Turns out i did! I found my step brother Brad, who i haven't seen in 5 years!

After Brad accepted me as his 'friend' on face book, he sent me a message saying he would be in Brisbane for a short stay that Friday and so we agreeded to meet up for a drink. Brad works for the air line Emerites and is based in Dubai.

Alot happens in 5 years, so it took a bit of catching up on both our parts, but it was nice to share in some older memories of when we were kids! Seems like such a long time ago!

I look forward to the next time he is in town - Chey didn't get to see him this time and the only time she has met him was when she was almost 2yrs old!!

Only 5 Sleeps to go!

The count down is on! Only 5 sleeps till Jen and Tony tie the knot!! It seems like it has been a long time coming, but April 19 is almost on our doorstep! I personally am getting very excited!

Two weekends ago on the 5th April we had Jen's hen's party - rather than doing the usual hen's style party, we decided to dress up and go to High Tea @ Joseph Alexanders in Milton.

After a few "get to know Jen" party games and more than one champaign, those that were keen moved on to the story bridge hotel where we continued the celebrations until much later that night.

Jen will kill me for blogging this photo - but i think it shows how much fun we were having :)

Here is Julia trying to act like a 'lady'.

All in all, we had a great afternoon/night. The high tea was a great opportunity for us to get to know each other and also for those who weren't able to "party" on, to enjoy in some of the fun. The rest of the night was lots of fun too.... we took the balloons you can see in the photo above with us to the story bridge and when asked if we were there for a party or hen's night, Jen promptly told them we all just got divorced and were out to celebrate :)

If we have half as much fun at the wedding as we had at the hen's party, it will be a great day!! Good luck Jen, i know you will be a beautiful bride and i am looking forward to sharing in your day, even if i am the nominated bridesmaid who get's to hold your dress up when you need a 'rest' stop :) Love you heaps!

2008

2008 has already proved to be an eventful year for us, Chey started grade 2 at the beginning of the year and quickly made some new friends, we have been enjoying getting to know some new familes and I have been making some nice friends with some of the mothers which is always nice.

Chey continues to make me a proud mother as she flies through school and continues to get excellent remarks from past and present teachers - of couse, this pleases Chey no end - she has always been the type of child who would much rather do the right thing than do anything that might land her in trouble - lets just pray this behaviour continues throughout her teenage years :) Of cousre, she is very strong willed and determined (don't know where she gets that from!!?) so it is often a battle of the wills in our house hold!

Work for me has been busy, we had our company conference in the Yarra Valley at the start of Feb. This was a great time for us to get to know some of the newer people in the company from the other states and of course a time to have a few drinks and let our hair down.... being in the Yarra Valley were were a little limited as to places to go, but we certainly had a blast.

The conference went for 2 days finishing on the Saturday afternoon so Carrie, Matt and I decided to take the opportunity to stay on in Melbourne and catch up with one of my good friends Vincie and also some of Matt's mates.

As luck would have it, one of Matt's good friends was having a "house leaving" party on the Sat night so we didn't have to look any further for things to do.

After the party, which was a lot of fun, we headed back to the hotel to get some much needed sleep (we didn't get alot at the conference) before waking to a beautiful day Sunday where Vince showed us a few of the sights in ST Kilda - in all the times i have been to Melbourne, i have never ventured out of the city so it was nice to see a bit more of Melbourne and relax on the beach.


The boys enjoying a hug from the "Summer Huggin" bus located on ST Kilda beach

WELCOME TO THE WORLD ALEXANDER JOHNSEN

Just over a month ago, my school friend Cath and her husband Grant welcomed into the world their second child, Alexander Johnsen. What a beautiful boy he is! Amelie his big sister just loves her new toy and i am sure they are going to grow up to be great friends.

Big sister Amelie and Chey enjoying a cuddle with Alex.

EMMA'S PREGNANT!

Another of my good school friends, Em, is pregnant. This is a photo of all of our school friends (minus Nikki, who is living in London) together for Em's baby shower, from left to right is Cath, me, Bek, Jen (holding baby Alex) Em and Lisa. We worked out this day that we have been friends for over ten years!

Check out these amazing cupcakes! Cheyenne's very talented aunty Kell Kell made these especially for the baby shower.

I have to admit, i am a little behind with my blogging as yesterday around 4.45pm Em gave birth to her beautiful daughter Ruby Miah, 3.48 kg, 54 cm! CONGRATULATIONS EMMA AND MATT

We look forward to meeting Ruby.