~Taska's Formal & The After Party~

Yesterday was a very busy day here getting Taska ready for her Year 12 Formal. The day started off going and having eyebrows waxed, eyelashes tinted, last minute items to buy & a trip to the hairdresser to have hair curled and styled.  

Later in the arvo a friend arrived round and applied make up to both Taska and Georgina at our home then came the mad rush to get dressed and have photos taken out the front veranda.

So off they went to Coffs RSL for dinner, speeches and dancing the rest of the night away. They arrived home just before 11pm to get changed and head out the door again to the *After Party*.

So when Taska arrived home this morning I asked her how it all went. For her the Formal was a bit of a let down. Normally Year 12's are very close as it is their final year at school but this year they seemed to be very divided, but she did enjoy the after party. Tonight she is going over to Georgina's for yet another after party....

I hope she really enjoys this weekend because then its STUDY TIME......

Have a great weekend everyone...

~The Final Assembly~

                                    
                                                      ~Danny, Taska, Sam, Iesha~

Today we attended our daughter Taska Rose's Year 12 Farewell Assembly & I really cannot describe the pride I felt (plus the welling up of my eyes) as she walked onto the stage to recieve her portfollio not to mention when the teachers formed a guard of honour as Year 12 of 2010 walked out of the hall for their last ever assembly. The next time they will walk into the hall will be in about 3 weeks time when their HSC exams begin.....

~Taska & her Aunty Cheryl~

Today my Darlin' & I witnessed the end of 12 years of Taska's schooling & it was great for me to see a lot of the mum's I had met on the first day Taska started school attending the last.......

                                                  ~Taska & Crabby, always best mates~


So for me today was bitter sweet, the pride I felt mixed with a bit of sadness to realise my beautiful little girl is now a young lady with the world at her feet........

                                                                ~Georgina & Taska~


It was also great to see & cuddle a lot of Taska's friends we hadn't seen for a few years, girls who used to sleep over when they were younger & just do the things little girls do before boyfriends come on the scene.... boy how things change when the interest in boys begin.....

It has been a busy week with Year 12 providing morning tea for the teachers on Monday, a slave auction on Tuesday, the final assembly today & tomorrow the BIG one...... the Year 12 Formal. Tomorrow I am spending the day with my gorgeous girl getting her ready for her big night, hair, nails, makeup & last minute buying all to be done before Taska & Georgina leave from here tomorrow night. I know tomorrow night the tears certainly will be flowing. Photos will be posted on Friday.

We love you gorgeous girl & are so proud of you. xxx

~Our Little Man Is Home~

He went, he enjoyed, he survived & he returned....... YES................

            

Very tired & with heaps of washing........

We really missed him......

Have a great weekend everyone.

~My little Man Is Growing Up~.......

Today Dylan our youngest has gone off on his first over night excursion to Port Macquarie with all the Year 4's at his school. He did not want to go on this trip in fact he came up with so many excuses some of them even surprised me that they could have originated from a nine year old mind. His main reason for not wanting to go was that he would miss us & I have to admit there was one moment there where I nearly caved gave in & told him he didn't have to go but he does need gain his independence as next year his school excursion is down to the Snow for 5 days & if he didn't go on this one it would make it so much harder to get him to go next year......

~My cheeky boy outside the school waiting for the bus~

So this morning we were all up at 6.15 which by the way is far too early for me I am NOT a morning person

& at the school by 7.15 which is just around the corner waiting for the two buses to arrive a 7.30. As soon as we got there Dylan was off playing with his mates & was not impressed when I called him over to have his photo taken. The kids were getting a bit restless by the time 7.30 came & went & still no buses in sight, it turned out they thought departure time was 8am. After the kayos of getting bags & kids loaded up they were off, all with big smiles on their faces & me, well a few tears welling up in my eyes, my baby is growing up.....

~Just visible through the bus window~

I know he is going to have a great time, time will go so fast for them as they have so much crammed in to the two days they are away & before they know it they will be back home at 4pm tomorrow & I can just imagine Dylan saying how great it was, how it went too fast & that he didn't want to come home, oh well....

Above is the mark Dylan received for a project he did last month, I am sooooo proud to see he got an *A*

Wishing you all a great day......

~*And The Earth Shook*~

UPDATE.....

Since I wrote this post there has been 563 quakes in Christchurch...

I was woken this morning at 6.30 by a phone call from my Mum, believe me I know when I receive a call this early the news can not be good. I immediately thought of my Dad (thankfully he is fine) I did not however expect the reason for the call........  Christchurch my beautiful home City was hit by a 7.4 earthquake at 4.35am this morning the worst earthquake in over 80 years. I turned my TV on & was horrified at what I was watching, it looked like a bomb had hit. My Brother & Sister in law luckily didn't have too much damage to their home, my Sister however has lost everything. I managed to ring her a while ago, she is naturally a mess, in tears as she told me she had lost all the china that was once our Grandma's, she just kept saying *It's all gone Lyn, all I had left of Grandma is gone*..... I told her they were alive & that is all that matters, she said Bruce (her hubby) thought they were going to die. They are still getting

after shocks, the first was 7.1 they are now down to 5. people over there have said the noise of the quake
was deafening, some saying it sounded like freight trains others like jets. Roads have opened up one where a car was swallowed a metre deep into the hole. Christchurch has so many beautiful old Gothic style Heritage buildings so many that have now been damaged, even our stunning Christchurch Cathedral has damage. Flooding has occurred in quite a few suburbs, there is no water, electricity & sewage pipes have broken. To say this is heart wrenching form me is putting it mildly, I cried when I saw the damage, I cried my eyes out talking to my sister all I wanted to do was give her a big cuddle & tell her in the end it would be alright.
Luckily there have been no deaths, a man is critical after a chimney fell on him, amazing really after all the devastation.  Kiwi's are use to earthquakes, we are taught in school what to do when one hits but I don't think anything could have prepared them for this one, it was always presumed our Capital City Wellington would cop the *big one* it is well over due, even Nelson where my Mum & Dad live is over due for one, not Christchurch. I remember as a child a rather big one but nothing like this one, I can only imagine how terrified they were. A state of emergency has been declared, tomorrow they are expecting rain.
I ask you to say I pray today for everyone in my Home City, but especially for my beautiful sister Sue......