Photos with Fiona

It has been a great month or so having Chrish home as he recuperates from his recent operations, but unfortunately he is going back 'home' to Sydney tomorrow. It's very rare that we are all home together so we thought we should take the opportunity to get some nice photos taken of the whole family.

We recently got back in contact with Fiona Harding (thanks facebook!) who we grew up with as kids. We haven't seen her for a long time(probably about 15 years or so!), but it has been great catching up via facebook and each other's blogs. I LOVE checking our her photo blog. She says she is 'still learning' but her photos are incredible and I love the way she edits them on photoshop. We were really excited when Mum rang her and she said she would love to take some photos for us.

We all met at Deloraine yesterday and it was freeeeeeezing! Steph cracked me up as she is starting to become a true Tasmanian as she said 'it really was warm this week, it's only just got cold'.

Fiona was fantastic. She was very patient and so good with the kids. Harri was being Harri and burst into tears as his shoes were muddy. It was a whole group shot and the kids were starting to get a bit restless. I really wanted him to settle down so we could just get the photo done, but in true Harri style he was carrying on and kept crying 'my shoes are dirty!!!'. Fiona was great and told him to go with her as she had something special for him. Harri came back with the biggest grin on his face with a bottle of bubbles to blow.

The funniest comment from Fiona all day was 'Aaron you are a lot grumpier than you come across on Lisa's blog!'. I cracked up and told her he is always grumpy (not really - but he was just being Aaron). All day she was stirring him about the Hawks (her husband is also a big Hawks fan so she understands my pain). I think she even took a photo just for Aaron of his Hawks socks!

She started off doing some posed shots of the whole family and then individual families in different ways.



We then went across to the park and had fun just playing around together with the leaves under the trees while she got some more natural shots. We all ended up with a lot of leaves down our tops and dirt in our hair!

It is so exciting keeping an eye on her blog as more and more photos come up (already!). We are so excited to see them all and love what she has done so far. Thank you so much Fiona for such a great day and for all the beautiful photos you took! Here are just a few of the hundreds that she took. For more go and check out her blog as I know she will be putting a lot more up as she edits them.

80s Dance

Last night we held an 8os dance for the youth at church, which Sarah, Toni and I had organised. Sarah had made an awesome flyer for it, and we had been hanging out to pull out the 80s songs and clothes.

Aaron was MC for the night and was loving his mullet wig.

Kobe wasn't impressed at all with the mullet and screamed when he put it on.

Sarah and I were looking particularly hot in our hot pink tights (in our own opinions of course!).

Aaron and Sarah did a great job of DJing and MCing, while I ran the photo booth and organised supper.

Aaron had them playing a few different games throughout the night.



Everyone went to such a good effort to dress up. I have to admit that there were a number of dresses that looked exactly like my old leavers dinner dress - just in different colours! Levi and Louise looked excellent.

It was fun to have our first dance as Stake Young Women's and we were sad that Toni was too sick to come. Her baby is due this week so are hoping she feels better soon - especially before her new bub arrives.

Fun at the Pool

Today a few of us thought we would skip the gym and take the kids (who aren't at school) to Launceston Aquatic before it gets busy next week with school holidays. Harri was rubbing it into Jay that he was going while he was at school, but we promised Jay that we will be going a number of times over the holidays.

It was fun being up there with all the Mum's and kids and watching the kids faces as the bucket would dump on them over and over again.

We had a nice time just sitting around in the warm water, talking and watching the kids play.

I did go down the red tunnel slide a few times which was lots of fun - until I took Kobe down and as soon as we hit the bottom of the tunnel and came out, the big bucket dumped straight on top of us!! Kobe wasn't very impressed. He did enjoy it a lot faster this time though. Hopefully next time we go he will be ready to get in with no tears. It's all a bit overwhelming at first with all the noise and kids running around.

He had lots of plays with Jacquie while I was snapping a few photos and had a turn under the bucket. Callum was so cute giving him kisses.

I can see a lot more trips up there with the little kids. We feel really lucky to have such a great place to go summer or winter.

Newstead's Biggest Morning Tea

On Tuesday Bec hosted a 'biggest morning tea' to raise money for the Cancer Council.

Lucky I went to the gym beforehand as there was lots of yummy food. I'm sure I ate a lot more calories than I burnt off!

It was nice to catch up with everyone and also to do it for something so worthwhile (naughty Bec being so rude with Tara's biscuits she made! ;D

Kobe thought it was pretty good too!! We love the days when all the boys are at school - morning tea with the girls, meeting at the park..... what a life! :D

Grandparents

The boys LOVE it when they know that Grandma and Grandpa are coming to visit. Last Friday when Aaron and I went to the Aquatic Centre gala opening, Mum came and babysat for us and stayed the night. The boys loved waking up to Grandma asleep in the lounge room and jumped into bed with her.

Tonight I told the boys that Grandpa was coming in to bring us 'our cow'. A while ago we bought half a cow together with Eden and Steph and have been waiting for it to get nice and fat so it could go in our freezer :) The boys were excited when he arrived and Harri straight away asked 'where's Grandma!!?'. Mum is babysitting again this Friday night, so I'm sure she's getting her strength up before she comes in again!

Dad decided to join in with the boys as they had their treat before bed. Kobe looked so cute sitting up next to him having his icecream (mostly cone and a little bit of icecream - he thinks he is so good eating something just like his big brothers!).

Being The Oldest

Jay has commented to me after the last couple of family get together's, that it isn't always fun when we get together as he has no one to play with. As he is the oldest grandchild it means he is the one who has to be responsible and help out with the younger kids. The closest to his age is Noah, but since he is like a baby himself Jay feels like he is often on his own while all the little ones play together.

I often remind him of all the good things about being the oldest in the family - you get to stay up later, you get to hang out with the adults more and do 'big' people things and I also remind him that it won't like this because as they get older you won't notice that there is such an age difference. Looking back at my childhood now, I also remember thinking there were lots of little cousins who seemed a lot younger than me, but now these 'little' cousins are some of my greatest friends.

On Sunday night we had a very spur of the moment family tea. The boys were very excited to go out to Grandma and Grandpa's. The cutest thing was seeing Jay with the girls. They were sitting up at the bench while Mum was finishing off cooking tea. They all thought it would be fun to bang on the bench. Jalen decided that he would help Grandma out by getting them to be a bit quieter, and told them they were going to play a game of 'who can be the quietest'. Check out their funny faces.

Maddi was pulling some hilarious faces.

Jay loves his cousins even though they are a lot younger than he is, and is like a big brother to them. It's lovely to see how he is with them.

When we were little Mum used to ring a bell when tea was ready. I guess it was because our house was so big and we were always everywhere, that Mum got sick of yelling out to us, so she started using a bell. Jay thought it was great being the 'bell ringer' on Sunday night to let us all know that tea was ready. See Jay - there really are some privileges to being the oldest in the family!

Playing Tourist

It has been awesome having Chrish home while he recovers from his recent operations. The best thing has been to see him so well and back to his old self. It must be so strange for him to be able to eat what he wants and to be well again, especially after being sick for so long. We have been loving having him just pop in to visit and stay the night as well. On Thursday he texted to ask if he could stay for a couple of nights as he was going to be in town, and the boys were so excited.

On Friday we had all day together while Noah and Jay were at school, and Aaron was at work. I asked him what he wanted to do and he said he wouldn't mind going up to the Gorge for a look as he hadn't been up there for a number of years. We love the Gorge and loved playing tourist with him.





This is exactly the same spot where we had photos taken of my brother Daniel, who passed away. The same equipment is still there. It's amazing to think it's still the same 28 years later!


Chrish is quite the photographer and loves to get different angles!



Harri is lots of fun lately. He was loving posing for the camera.

When I told him to get a jumper on he came back with his Hawks jumper. He saw me taking photos as he walked with Chrish and yelled out 'get a photo of my Hawks top, Mum!'. I told him I had already (as I had taken probably 80 photos by then!) and he said 'no - get a photo of my Hawks jumper, Mum!' and came right up close for a pic. He had lots of fun stirring Chrish all day as he goes for the Crows.

I love this photo that Chrish took of us on the bridge.

Kobe fell asleep by the end of the walk. When Harri knew we were heading up to the Gorge he was so excited and asked if we could go swimming! I told him it was way too cold for a swim, and after he saw the pool I'm sure he wouldn't have wanted to get in anyway.

We had lots of fun playing with the timer on Chrish's camera and with my remote for my camera.

We grabbed some lunch and then went for a walk to the Seaport where Chrish hadn't been before.

I know Chrish loves living in Sydney and is happy there, but all day I was stirring him asking why he wouldn't want to move back home. If only we could find him a great job and a great girl - I'm sure he would stay then! :D