Living my dream

Christmas

Yep, its been and gone. Now its AFTER Xmas. Whew!

Here's a couple of shots from our day.

And one of our new lounge with most of the family

And wanna see the new office. Yeah, good for a laugh huh?! LOL.

FK Awards for excellence

My entry turned up a week ago as the last mail at my old house. Pretty cool. LOL. But the best part was two of the entries were missing, so you'll have to look out for them being published sometime (one is going to be in FK issue 51). Here are my other entries:

Oh and hey, its XMAS EVE! Merry Christmas everyone. We're off to Andy's family today. Bit of a tradition. You see he is the youngest of 6, so to try and organise everyone for Xmas day itself is a bit of a mission. So we get together on Xmas eve day and have our Xmas. Its a blast! I love it and so do the kids and well its a great way to make Xmas last even longer! LOL.

Have a very merry and safe Christmas everyone!

Firsts all round

Well Dan's growing up some more. Today he slept on his tummy for the first time (rolled himself over) and he got his first tooth (after several weeks of dribbling and a couple of griping mornings).

And so are the twins. They had their first daycare concert. Only thing is they didn't take part. LOL. They seem to like just sitting and watching. I don't know why they won't participate, but hey, Andy and I both turned up to watch everyone elses kids. LOL!

So heres Dans tooth - yes, it is there! And him sleeping on his tum. No pics of the twins at their concert cause it would just be all the other kids.

I think I've finished at the shops now. Whew. Only took several hours this arvo, but now done. I bet I'll end up going again tomorrow? But hey, I don't 'have' to.

And as I sign off, there are fireworks happening over the city. Cool!

Thanks

Vonny my sister is incredibly kind and generous. She has 3 young children as well, but is always offering to look after our three, or babysit or help out when things get tough for me. She is incredibly supportive and the first person I ring when I 'hit the wall'. Poor Von. I have lost count of the number of times I have rung her and she's picked up the phone to hear sobbing. And last night she came through for us again. You see with the move happening so unexpectedly and in such a short time frame we hadn't done any Xmas shopping. So after already having our kids all day Friday and half of Sat, she came and babysat last night so Andy and I could do our Xmas shopping. And we did it. We came home with bags of stuff and we couldn't have done it without you Von. THANK YOU.

And I managed to take this pic two nights ago as the sun was setting. Gorgeous. Can't wait to find my tripod (yep its here SOMEWHERE!) to take a pic when its night time and all the lights are on.

Changes

Bye bye old house.....

Well we finally made it. The move is done.

Not without its stresses, as happens with most moving days (and a few more).

It feels good to be set up. Now we just need to unpack the heap of boxes in the sleep out. Even after last weeks garage sale I didn't realise just how much STUFF we have!

So Friday. It was going relatively smoothly until 1pm when we still hadn't heard from our lawyers. We had asked for an early settlement so we could get the keys to our new house early. We got a call an hour later saying that the purchasers hadn't even signed their loan docs yet and their lawyer couldn't get hold of them. So of course alarm bells start ringing and I burst into tears. The thing is you have to sign your docs, send them to the bank, then the bank sends the money. Its not a straight forward process. So after much chasing and negotiating with our sellers we were allowed the keys to our new place even though we didn't own it.

The buyers of our house finally settled at 4.55pm, so we had to wait the weekend to settle on our new place, luckily we had very cool sellers and didn't get charged penalties. And as of yesterday morning its all ours. Whew.

Then our movers didn't turn up. And didn't turn up and didn't turn up. At 7.40pm they arrived. I couldn't believe it. Neither could they. They were told our job was a 1 bed apartment. Yeah right. Try a 4 bed plus office, 3 story house! They were not impressed. And hadn't eaten since 11am. So I ordered pizzas and got them fed. We all know what happens when you run out of fuel and they were dealing with my possessions!

So at 11pm we finally got the first load to the house and started unloading. By 1am we had gone back to the house for the second load and unloaded that too. We were in.

We had a huge amount of help from my sister Vonny who looked after the kids all day and night, Aer her hubby who helped lift and move all night and Abby who helped pack and set up all night. Wow. Thanks guys!

On the Sat we unpacked all the kids stuff and did their room and I must admit it looks pretty good. Was stoked with how it turned out. I think they liked it too. Having your Thomas train set in your bedroom is pretty cool!

We found and brought our cat Toast around easily, but Pud was another matter. We couldn't find him. I finally did yesterday morning when I went for a walk and deliberately went past the old house. There he was sitting up on the fence. So I brought him home with me. Yep, grabbed him and walked real fast. I decided to stop at Julies just around the corner to see if she had a cat box but at 7am she wasn't there?! So I came home. All the people walking must've thought I was stealing him or something. Must've looked really funny! Anyway, we got him home and shut the house up. But forgot about the louvers in the shower. Later when I hadn't seen him for a while I realised our mistake, but it was too late. And I'm now stressed again as I can't find him! Wish us luck.

Its been a big weekend.

Then the computer and the telly wouldn't work. I was without email/internet for 3/4 days! Man! LOL. Actually I couldn't believe just how much I didn't miss it.

Then last night I found out I didn't make it through to the next round of the Scrapboxx DT call. And I've gotta admit I was gutted. I really wanted this. And as I haven't entered much lately I'd forgotten the sting when you don't make it. And yes, I know that its not personal or anything like that. But reality is I wasn't good enough.

On the good side of it though, I do know someone who did make it through and I just wanna say you go girl! You know who you are and your work is stunning. So, so pleased for you and can't wait to see what you do in the next and final round.

So anyway, here is my entry from round 5......

Later today we've got friends arriving from England. Will be great to catch up with them. This morning I've got the plumber coming (can't live without a waste disposal!) and the cat door man. Plus all the usual, so its another big one.

Kids are calling. Gotta dash.

Later.

Moving day

Its nearly here. An hour left and it'll be the last day at our home. Its been a good home and we're going to miss it. Alot of good things have happened here. I've cried tonight. And I imagine I will lots tomorrow. But as I keep thinking....the good times have happened not because of the home we live in, but because of the people who are my family. My husband Andy and my children, Matt, Sarah and Daniel. They are coming with me, I am going with them. We will be together. And thats what matters. So I look forward to the new house. The new memories we will create and the joy we will continue to have as a family.

Check out what we've been living in lately. And its getting worse by the minute. LOL.

But hey, just to make this move thing more interesting, guess who was in bed sick yesterday with bugs. Yep, ME! You gotta laugh right?!

Bugs

No, not the creepy crawly kind. Even though I HATE spiders and stuff I think I could handle them better right now! These are the nasty wake up at 11pm with child covered in vomit kind. My poor babies. Sarah had it on Sat night and then Matt last night. My tummy seems to be fine.....so far.

Just what we need when we're trying to pack up a house.

This is one of those things we'll look back on in years to come and laugh about.....right?

I'm tired.

Monday. All day.

Ok, so you've seen the pics, now heres some bits of info on what makes Dan himself right now: He rolls over in the middle of the night, gets stuck and cries until I roll him back over, he dribbles like you wouldn't believe, he giggles, laughs, smiles and talks ALOT, he loves being 'dropped' (you know where you put him in the air, then 'drop' him down to your face), he loves to see whats going on in the house, he loves cuddles, he will sleep anywhere.

And here's a couple more shots of the property:

This is the view from the little seat half way down the path at the back of the property. You can see the harbour bridge on the right and the sky tower and further round on the left (not in pic).

 

And this is looking back at the house. Its got a huge backyard which was one of the main reasons we brought it. One of the first things we need to do is fence and trim back some of the trees, but its got so much potential. Over to the right we're thinking we might have to put in a sandpit and/or fort like at Nic's place (Nic does Paul need any extra work?! LOL). And we definitely need to put in a vege garden. Oh, and one day we'd like to rennovate the house, but for now, its great. I can't believe we're moving and its only a few days away. Wow.

4 Months old today

And you know what that means - I get to bore you with another shot of Dan and his 12 month bear.

So here they are:

Yes, my boy sucks his thumb!

And yes, he's VERY handsome!

And yes, he has huge, yummy, chubby cheeks!

And yes, I'm so lucky to have 3 such incredible children.

So much to do, so little time

So much has happened lately and I can't believe how much we've packed into this week. Wow! Instead of a holiday we have:

We've brought and sold a house.

Had the twins birthday party.

Been to their music Xmas party.

Been to the Zoo and Kelly Tarltons

Organised all our stuff into things we're keeping and things we're not keeping.

Organised a garage sale.

Made a trillion phone calls.

Packed, packed and packed some more.

The kids are doing ok. Sarah has become very unsettled and not herself. You can tell somethings worrying her and I'm working on the move being that thing. I'm hoping she'll settle right into the new house and get back to her normal self. I've tried to find some books on moving, but no luck. So instead I got the ones on emotions. Sad, scared, angry, happy. Hoping one of these will help her work through whats going on. Can you tell I'm a paranoid Mum?! LOL. Just want my girl to feel good.

So its up tomorrow at sparrows fart to put up signs (carefully created by moi) and make some money (or should I say, get rid of junk!) at our garage sale. Then its more packing.

And as promised heres a pic of our new place. I'll add more gradually over the next few posts so you get a feel for it. This is my fav. It reminds me so much of my childhood and walking down the track at Grandmas place to the sea at the bottom of her neighbours garden.

This is the last part of the track before you turn and face the mangroves/sea/city.

Later.

Birthday Parties

Every year I say never again, then by the next year I've forgotten how hard it was and how nervous I get and we do it all over again. LOL. Ah well, I figure its only one day a year and creates great memories for the kids, so a bit of discomfort for Andy and I doesn't matter.

So yesterday for 2 hours we had approx 19 children here, with their parents. Oh my goodness! How on earth did it get that big?! In preparing Andy kept saying to me its going to be small right, its going to be small? I kept assuring him it would be. Whooops! Funny thing is there were meant to be more people, but with Xmas and all some people couldn't come. WHEW!

And it was the first year we had THEIR friends here. We invited 4 of the friends from daycare that they have become friends with. One of them in particular is very special to them. Emma. And today they wore her presents around all day. Check it out....

Bob the builder and Snow white. Gorgeous.

And I had to make them each a cake. After careful deliberation over the birthday cake books Sarah chose a fairy house, no a whale, no hang on last time a....PENGUIN

And Matt chose and stuck to his original choice, a .......TRAIN!!!!!!!

The kids were all so well behaved and really had a good time. In fact so good we didn't even get time to do any of the activities we had organised. Sigh. But we did let them have fun decorating their own cupcakes. FANTASTIC. Lots of mess, lots of sugar. Brilliant. LOL.

And for the first time ever I didn't get enough photos. LOL. But hey, thats ok. We had a great time actually enjoying and taking part in the day and got a couple of goodies so that's all that matters.

Ok, gotta dash. Not much time on the 'puter as we get ready to move. So will be back when I can.

Trina.

PS: Must be the time of year for cakes. Check out Nic and Ruths blogs. They've been busy too! Glad I could be of inspiration to ya!

Its finally happened

We got confirmation on Thurs that our house has sold. Its unconditional and we're moving. I still can't believe it. The spooky thing is we got confirmation an offer we have since made on a new house was accepted yesterday as well. Wow. After a year of trying to sell our house and looking at others, we've gone and sold and brought in a week without even trying.

So here is the story and its kinda spooky how it all came to pass....

We went for a walk on a Sunday 2 weeks ago. We went a different route to normal and saw a house for sale. It seemed to have everything we wanted. Old house in need of rennovation, big amount of land, sea views (and in this case access to the sea from the bottom of the garden) so we rung the agent and made a time to see it. I looked it up on the web and discovered it had gone to Auction 2 weeks earlier and hadn't sold. All good for us. So I saw it on the Monday.

The next day I got a call from one of the people at the agency we had been using to sell our house. She asked if she could bring some purchasers through. I am a bit tired of the whole thing, so asked how serious they were? Then said, well its not in show home condition right now, but ok.

The following day they came through and put in an offer.

While this is nice and good, but we weren't getting too excited, as this has happened before. We know our house is a nice one, but due to 'leaky building' people have been scared off by how its been built. Anyway, the builder did his inspection. Came up with a couple of minor issues, we had them fixed the next day and the day after that, it was unconditional. WOW!

So behind the scenes of this going on, we've found this other house and are quite taken with it. We put in an offer and after some tough negotiating we found out yesterday its been accepted. We've got a couple of conditions in there to ensure its all ok, and we'll go unconditional next week.

Now comes the big news. We have to move on the 15th Dec.

So we have two weeks to organise all this and we're meant to be on holiday for one week of it. I can see the holiday being shortened or not happening at all. I was planning on getting those movers in who do it all for you, but after finding out the price, we won't be doing that.

So the new house is well, SMALL! Its 3 bedrooms (and a sleepout with its own toilet/shower), and OLD. But has a huge big yard which slopes down through a bush path of beautiful pohutakawas, cabbage trees, etc (it even has fruit trees!) to Shoal Bay. Yep, there are mangroves there, its not like we're buying on Takapuna beach! LOL. But we will be able to launch our kayaks there and well, I just have visions of our kids and all their cousins playing down there for hours every summer. Stuff I used to do 'in the old days' from my grandmas house. And yep, its gonna be interesting going from this beautiful 'new' home to one which is really old. But its clean and tidy and well maintained and one day, (a long way off) we'll rennovate, add, and build our 'dream home'.

To be honest I'm still a bit awestruck by whats happened and how its happened. This whole year I've kept saying to my sister, there is a reason for us not selling, there has to be, why is it taking so long. And I was right. If we had sold earlier, we wouldn't be going to live in this amazing playground for our kids. I'm too impatient and we would have brought elsewhere.

So, that's our exciting news. On top of this I've been stressed with other things. Kids birthday, one party and one morning tea at daycare, finishing off my first Up2Scrap brief and getting my scrapboxx dt entry done and sent before we go away, getting my hair coloured (first time in 4 months, it so needs it!) and general life stuff.

So our holiday up North we were meant to go on next week and I've been craving since well before Dan was born has to be reconsidered. There just aren't enough hours in the day. Nevermind.

Well, if you've got through all that. Well done. And as soon as I go back to the new house I'll take some pics and show you. Bring on Friday when we will know if our self imposed conditions have been met.

PS: Has anyone else seen the clips on TV from Greys Anatomy? Are these teasers for the new season or am I going mad? Are they coming back? Soon? Someone put me out of my misery! PLEASE!