End of the Holidays & a Proud Mum

I am such a proud mumma at the moment. My big boy has finally completed his degree. After too many years, he finally has a Bachelor of Information Technology, majoring in Software Engineering, and is looking for a full time job in the field (if anyone out there knows of any jobs going) I am so proud of him. He got his finally results last Friday, and gained two High Distinctions, and two Credits - what a way to finish. Good on you Pete, I am so proud of the way you stuck with it, even though at times, with working long hours it all seemed too hard. I hope you are proud of your achievements also.

I'll apologise now for the very long post this week, not a lot of news, just loads of photos, but memories that I want to record. The past week has all been about Family and enjoying our time together. Family picnics, learning to knit, pressies, catching up with friends, parents and grandparents.

My baby is learning to drive - this seems so strange to me as it really only seems like yesterday that we bought her home from hospital. Chloe is learning to drive the Troupe. All our kids learnt to drive this mean machine. The Driving school says that if she can manage this beast she can manage anything.

Steve says she is doing fine - I am yet to take her out. Usually Steve starts them off and when they are feeling pretty confident, then I have taken the kids out at night to do the night driving.

Sarah has been learning to knit recently, so thought it was time to teach Chloe also. We spent most nights knitting. I have managed to knit two scarves now (probably a little too long) and Chloe is also working on knitting a scrarf for herself.

On Wednesday, we got to catch up with my friend Barb and had lunch with her. After lunch

Chloe and Sarah went and had their hairs done. Chloe got foils, and a cut, where Sarah just had her hair cut. They did the hairdressing thing together whilst my friend Barb and I went and also had a pamper and got a pedicure. We both ended up with lovely pink toes.

It was such a fun girlie afternoon, and I feel blessed constantly by her friendship. I just love to catch up with her.

Steve has spoilt us rotten. Chloe has been madly saving all year for her own laptop computer. As we are in the market for a new desktop, Steve thought he would check prices out whilst we were in Brissie. Well we managed to get Chloe's computer, such a really good deal, that Steve ended up going back and getting me my very own laptop ( Seriously thinking that Digital Scrapbooking was taking up too much memory on his laptop). Anyway it was a lovely surprise and I just love my new toy. Chloe didn't really know for sure that she was going to get her computer either until she woke up Thursday morning and found it at the bottom of her bed. Christmas in July. A few snaphots of her opening her pressie and setting it all up.

Wednesday night we also got to catch up with our good friends Ian and Kathy and had dinner at their place. We had a wonderful evening with them, although for the first time, it was just the four of us. Normally we have all our kids around. We are just entering a different era of our life and friendship now. We have been so blessed by their friendship and love and we always love catching up with them.

On Thursday Pete took us to Wellington Point for a picnic lunch. This is where he came to celebrate his birthday alone, so we decided to go back and make a few special memories. It is a beautiful area and I so loved seeing Pete and Chloe clowing around as if they were young kids again.

Had to take a photo of the SAD tree too - this is the tree that Pete sat in to have his birthday lunch. Made me feel sad that we couldn't have been down there with him on the day. I also got to take a few photos of Sarah and Colin and these are a couple of my favourites.

We left Brissie Friday morning to head up to the Sunshine Coast to catch up with my Mum and Dad overnight. We dropped in to catch up with the Cliffords on our way north. Unfortunately we missed Mark. but we had a great time visiting with Sal and the kids. The girls had a ball with Chloe, getting her to give them a makeover like she had done to their Mum, and they had a ball doing her hair. Mitchell was content to sit on Steve's knee and build Lego. Managed to do a bit of a photoshoot before we left, so have some photos of our visit to share with you also.

We got to my Mum and Dad's about Lunch time, and went out for lunch and coffee with them. It was so good to see them and spend some time with them. Not nearly enough.

On Saturday we headed through to Bundy to catch up with Steve's folks. Chloe kept herself amused watching "One Tree Hill" on

the drive up. Just couldn't resist taking a couple of photos during the drive. Just had to take a photo of the one tree hill just outside of Childers. This spot on the highway has always been known to us as "One tree Hill" every since I was a young child, because that is precisely what it is - one tree stuck on a hill on a straight stretch of road near Childers.

We arrived at Steve's parents place around lunch time also. it was also good to spend some time with them too as we really haven't seen family much at all this year.

Whilst in Bundy we decided to pay a visit to Steve's Nana. She is about to turn 94 in the next couple of weeks. She is one of the most amazing woman I have ever met. She is such a strong and talented lady and I really admire her. Although she has been quite sick this year, she still manages to get out and play 18 holes of golf on a very regular basis, although she admitted to us that she doesn't walk the 18 holes anymore, they have given her a golf buggy to drive around the course. Nana lost her husband to an accident when he was quite young, and has raised four boys pretty much single handedly. Her son Mel is intellectually impaired and she has been his total caregiver for the 70 years of

his life. She has sewned the finest wedding dresses and baby dresses, but then on the other hand, managed to build extenstions to her house when she was in her 70's. She still retains a wonderful sense of humor too. It was lovely to catch up with her and get a few photos.

We left Bundy early Sunday morning as we needed to be home by lunch time, as Steve had to be at the airport again by 4pm to fly back to Brissie for a CAD seminar he is attending for the next few days. It was a bit of a drama as he had accidently deleted the email containing his flight reservations. The airways were no help as they couldn't reveal the information over the phone. Anyway we managed to get to the airport and get him on the plane just in the nick of time.

My sister Jude also arrived yesterday afternoon - she is here until Steve arrives home. my nephew Zac needs to see the Orthodonist so it has been great having her in to visit again.

Couldn't resist taking these photos. This is the view that greeted me from my kitchen window when I got home. Just beautiful and definately worth taking a photo of.

I don't think I am going to get much scrapbooking done this week either as my work with USQ is going to be full on over the next couple of weeks with the start of semester, which means lots of phone calls, and then the Orientation evening.

Sorry for such a long post - but I really want to document these photos for my own records. It is weeks like this past one that make you realize just how blessed I really am and I have so many things that I am both thankful and grateful for this week.

I am so thankful for

1. The love of my family

2. Amazing kids, and wonderful parents.

3. A loving and generous husband

4. Beauty all around me.

5 Wonderful Friends.