Happy Easter

If you missed my last post, I am behind and trying to catch up.  These photos are from our Easter party in April.  In New Zealand, we have several days off for Easter.  We have Good Friday - this is a public holiday and nearly all of the shops are closed.  We have Easter Sunday - again nearly all of the shops are closed.  Monday is also a public holiday (Easter Monday), but most of the shops are open on this day.  So basically we have Friday to Monday off.

On Good Friday we decided to get some of our friends and their children over to have an Easter party.  Yes, the children got lots of chocolate and lollies.  Don't worry, on Sunday we made sure they learned what the real meaning of Easter is.

Abby and Friends

Craft Time

(I love handprint crafts.  Each year you can go back and see just how much bigger the children have grown.)

Morning Tea Time

Easter baskets and bunnies to take home

Getting ready for the egg hunt

Enjoying the spoils

The Dads

It was such a fun morning together with friends.  The weather was perfect and we had a wonderful time together.  Thanks to Silvana for the photos.



My poor, sad blog

When I started this blog, I had very good intentions of updating it regularly. If you have been following my blog, you know this has not happened. I forget and forget to post and then wonder where should I start and why have I left it for so long.  There are lots of reasons why I put it off.  The biggest reason is that it is winter.  Yes, you read that right, it is winter here.  The room our computer is in is so cold.  Like most homes in New Zealand we heat only one room.  The room the computer is in is not the room that we heat.  Most days you can see your breathe in the room all day long.  I don't like to type when my fingers feel like they are so cold they are going to fall off.

I could also blame sickness.  This winter has been extremely hard for our family.  We seem to be continually passing bugs back and forth.  We just seem to be getting over everything and then one of us gets sick and starts the cycle all over again.

I could blame being busy for the reason I don't get around to blogging.  Since I last posted in March we have had an Easter party, an ANZAC service, a youth rally, a big bus blowout, and a Bible revival.  That added together with everyday things really makes for a lack of time in the blogging world.

Putting all of those excuses aside, here are some photos of things that have been going on since my last post in March.  These are all from April.  There will be more (hopefully) in the days to come.  If you don't like seeing lots of pictures of Abby, then you may want to quit now.  If you do (Mom) then continue on at your own risk!

One of our favourite places to visit: Virginia Lake.

A hand-me-down dress from a friend.  Doesn't she look so cute!

ANZAC service at church (ANZAC day is our memorial day.  It is held on the 25th of April every year.  On the Sunday closest we have a special service at church.  On the actual day there is a ceremony at dawn (5:30am) at the local war memorial.  Abby and I didn't make it this year.  We were sick and our beds were so warm and snug. Maybe next year.)

Coming up next: Easter party at our house (if I can find the CD of pictures!)

40 Years

Today I would like to wish a Happy 40th Anniversary to two of my favourite people:  My Dad and Mom.

Hope you two have a wonderful day together.  I love you so much and appreciate all you have done and continue to do for us.

It's My Birthday!

Yup!  Tuesday was my birthday.  Quite an expensive month for my husband since my daughter and I have birthdays 3 days apart. :)

I really was spoiled on my birthday.  My husband had actually been giving me a gift each day since last Thursday.  Here they are:

On Thursday I got a chocolate Easter egg.  Friday I got the heart mug.  On Saturday he gave me the mini heart shaped cake tin.  On Sunday I got the little hoop earings.  On Monday I got a really sweet card (I'm not telling what that said!).  Finally, on Tuesday he gave me the necklace.  You can't see it well, but it's really pretty.  It has seven silver rings on the chain and every other one has some pink stones on it.  My mother-in-law came over on that night with some spending money for me.  She then stayed to babysit so my husband could take me out for a yummy meal. 

I also got a present sent from my parents and my sister.  This is the purse my Mom & Dad sent {I know you helped pick it out, Dad! :) }

It's actually two purses in one.  The flower cover comes off and you can slip this denim one on.  The beaded pretty thingy on the side is from my sister.  I feel so posh with this purse! :)

I had a wonderful birthday.  I've also received some really sweet e-mails.  Some from people I haven't seen or heard from since I finished college. 

Here's a photo of the three of us from Saturday night.  We got to go out for a meal to help celebrate our song leader's 50th Birthday.  They even made sure there was a balloon on the table for Abby since it was her birthday, too.  I love her smile in this photo.

Thank you to everyone who made my day special!

No Shamrocks at Our House!

We don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day around here (not that I have anything against you if you do).  Why not?  Number one, we're not Irish and number two, it's Abby's birthday!  So instead of your typical green shamrock decorations around the house we have purple "twinkle stars" decorating our home.

The photo in the frame is actually the invitation.

 The Birthday girl!  She is smiling :)

The "cake."  Abby is gluten intolerent so it's so much easier to do some gluten free cupcakes and some regular cupcakes than it is to do two whole cakes!

 

Is it time to eat? 

Why are all these people singing to me? 

Blow hard!

Eating with friends. 

How do I eat this thing?

Not the best photo of Abby, but she loved this mini guitar.  Now she can play duets with Daddy!  Thanks, Archers, for this gift!

Looking at her book from Grandma and Papa.  Have you seen those recordable books from Hallmark?  This is the third one Abby has received from Grandma and Papa.  She loves having Grandma read her a story!

Look at all this mess!

Let's make it rain paper!

Thank you to all of our friends and family for making Abby's day special.  She has loved all the cards and gifts.  She has been so excited to check the mail each day and see if there are any more cards with her name on them!  Oh, and she has loved all the stickers that she's gotten in her cards.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Abby, we love you!