Graemes Mexican Party

Hola! Way back in May we celebrated Graeme's 30th Birthday at Mexico with friends and whānau.

Graemes birthday has been the event of the year for us. We love celebrating things, we love our people, and we love birthdays. So, we've been planning for these celebrations for a year, putting aside money each week for the last year so when the time came, we could do what our hearts desired.

After much humming and haa'ing, we decided on having our party out and about, and catered for. It was more expensive than doing ourselves, but it took all of the stress out and meant we could invite who ever and didn't need to be worried for a "wet weather option". I also hired a friend to make the cake! Best decision of the year. It was amazing!

It took months to find a venue, after a whole lot of emails, and venue visits at various locations around the city and still not finding any where suitable. I mused to myself "it would be amazing to have a party with mexican fried chicken handed around", and so I email Mexico and we were in! They ticked all of the boxes and were fantastic hosts! 

We ended up having 65 friends and whānau. Even though we don't see many of these people very often they all hold dear places in our hearts and it was so great to have them.

I have only included a few photos in the post, but we are making up a photo book so we have picture of everyone! Lighting was hard, and most were taken with polaroids, so our photos aren't the greatest!

Our kids came for the first hour, then Nannie took them back to her house where a family friend babysat them while they slept. They were so excited to be at their Daddies party! And it was great having them there!! Also, Aunty Izy came from Australia to join in the celebrations!

The birthday boy! I surprise him by secretly handing out little badges with his face on them with a golden sparkly crown. See if you can spot them in the photos. He turned around and realised everyone was wearing them! So great. There were also some larger faces stuck on the walls. Graeme is our Party King, so it seemed fitting to have his face everywhere.

I strung up a few banners and decorations when we arrived but Mexico in Christchurch is so bright and fun, it really didn't need much. The decor is ace, as is the music. The atmosphere was perfect!

We also played pinata, which was a bit of a fail! Graeme ended up whacking his friend Joe over the head (not surprising, since Joe was standing next to it saying "hit me!") but the string holding it up didn't hold so we ended up ripping it open with our hands! Still good though.

I said a speech for Graeme, and then it was backed up with a Māori waiata (song), as is custom when honoring someone.

During the week we had secret practises for Purea Nei, a beautiful waiata. Jared was on guitar leading it, and started after my speech. 

Graeme said he was looking around taking in the song and then started to realise that everyone was singing, even people who didn't know Māori waitata, and then he started to realise how special it was and that everyone must have learnt it for him! 

Well, they did! 65 people, singing a song most of them didn't know for their friend who they were honoring. It doesn't get much more special than that! 

You can watch and pretend you were there with the video below::

Most of all, Graeme had a great night! He felt loved, celebrated and honored! 

Friends and Whānau, thank you for partying with us and being in our lives! 

xxx

(ps, Blog post on our birthday holiday here (yes, the celebrations seemed to continue for a whole month!)

Summer Road Trips 2016

The summer of 2016 - The greatest one yet!

This summer has been filled with family, friends, barbecues, treats, lots of kilometres on the speedo, togs, sandy bottoms and sunscreen.

Can it get any better?

We actually weren't planning on going any where this summer but made a little plan a few days out from New Years to go visiting around the South Island. 

We went to Westport, Mapua, and Akaroa (over 1000km) within 9 days, only spending a few days at each destination. Just enough time to settle in and see everything we wanted to see and spend time with each of the kids grandparents.

For some of our trip we were out of data or out of range, and truly this was the best part. We read books, played games (learnt backgammon!) and did cross words. It was so nice to see my husband relaxing while we were out of touch with the world.

The girls have three sets of wonderful Grandparents that they are truly blessed by. It was great to holiday with them at each destination and have some fun together.

So, those nine days really did feel like a whole summers worth of time. And now we're back to reality; Kindy drop offs and lunches made, meal plans and washing and all the fun stuff that comes with running a home and family.

Blessed!

Plane Watching

Extra days off work, simple delights.

27 Birthday

This years birthday is perhaps my best ever!

It started a week out, with what I like to call "birthday week". Usually this is only a ceremonial title, but this year was marked by aiming to do three things each day that built me up body and soul. I'd had a rough few weeks with sickness and stress, so I wanted to take care of my self.

The three things I aimed to do each day were:

• Read my bible
• Exercise (walking to Kindy, or the 30 day shred workout video)
• Sew

These are three things that I usually want to do daily, but some how they get bumped off the priority list fairly easily and end up being a rare occurrence. 

Prioritising them in to my daily activities changed my whole week! I had less time for other things, but they gave me fresh starts and energy to get through each day with strength! Each I found were just as important as the others, and I thoroughly enjoyed the change of pace in my life.

Imagine life if I continued in this fashion...

Throughout my birthday week I also:

• Celebrated with friends. They put on a lovely lunch for me and I was treated to gifts, flowers and cake.

• Received breakfast in bed and a surprise present from the hubby.

• Danced for an hour to Taylor Swift with my 4 year old who has developed some awesome new dance moves!

• Had a backyard full of friends come over for a BBQ 
• Celebrated with a day off from work with the rest of Canterbury for our Anniversary and Show Day!
• Worshiped in Church

• Visited the beach: Played in play grounds, drank coffee, ate ice-creams and built sandcastles.
• Visited my Sister who is here from London, and also had other family come to stay.
• Celebrated with an extra day off (4 day weekend!) with the husband and went on adventures (a post on that soon)

It was a great, fulfilling week. And now that we are back to "regular life" I have lessons to be learnt to include my body and soul into my daily priorities also. 

Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! It certainly was a very happy one :)

On Trying To Fly

Running up to me:

Camilla (in tears): "Mama! Why can't I fly!??!!? I tried to fly and it didn't work"

An hour later you danced with your daddy under the sparkling stars and glowing fairy lights in our lounge. He spun you around and held your hands as you danced you around the room together. You were the happiest I think I have ever seen you.

Girl, you can fly, you just don't know it yet.

Anniversary 6

Yeeha! 6 years! Thanks for growing with me xxx

 Now :: Back Then

I've tried to write this post a million times to fill it up with words. But I feel like today I don't have many. You know my love.

Thank you for all the touch, time, gifts, words and service over the last year xx

READ MORE Anniversaries::
Anniversary 2
Anniversary 3
Anniversary 4
Anniversary 5

Raj and Amy Get Married!

Oh my Goodness! I haven't shown you any photos or details of the best few weeks of my year!!

In March my big Sis and her handsome beau travelled from London where they have lived for 7(?) years to get married in front of their friends and family in Akaroa. 

Since Amy was planning her dream wedding across the other side of the world I ended up (joyfully) doing a few of the details from this side of the globe to make life easier for her. It was a huge event, one that took a lot of planning and I can't quite believe how much they managed just on emails and phone calls! 

I'm quite proud of what I was able to achieve and absolutely loved doing the decorations for the wedding! 

Here are some beautiful photos from the big day...

My most beautiful, stunning sister in her wedding gown!

The three nieces wore indian choli's which Amy and Raj bought when they were in India over the new years and walked down the aisle with Amy and Dad. They were adorable!

Nanny Kim went with us and played Nanny for all the girls, they loved her and had a great time once they were through with their flower girl roles.

My new brother, Raj! 

Oh hello MrMoo! Graeme was given the honour of officiating their marriage!

This wedding was on such an absolutely beautiful day heading into Autumn. It was set at a lodge on the hillside looking down into Akaroa habour! We couldn't have asked for a better day.

My siblings, with Nana and Mum

The reception was in a big room with a massive fireplace and long tressle tables. Amy and Raj didn't have a wedding party, and sat with the guests at the tables. 

We filled the beams with white bunting, fairy lights, and on the tables; jars of garden flowers, candles, burlap and river stones as place settings with the guests name beautifully inked on by my friend Rosita. On the mantle piece they displayed photos of their grandparents on their wedding days.

Phew, it was such a big day and such a rush! I was rushing around everywhere pulling things together at the last minute, but it was so much fun and I really enjoyed it all! It felt like a privilege to be involved in their wedding and it was a beautiful, flawless day! 

They hired a band to play the night out, and at the end of the night it was Amy, Raj, Graeme and Myself. In typical Amy fashion, she danced to every single song and had to be sent home so we could lock up!

Happy Marriage Raj & Amy, we love you both x