May 26, 2013

• Sunday 26th May

   

   

   

  Woke to a lovely morning - clear skies and calm seas.
  Just perfect for a day out.
  Shoshannah was up early and had a plate of sushi ready to take with us.

  It was a bit of a mission but the girls and I managed to get ourselves ready and out the door around 10:30am.
  Still in recovery from our week in town

  We called in and picked up Marah and headed over the hill to Sandra's.

  

  Sandra & Liz had invited us all to a Baby Shower for Marah.

  Shoshannah & Mahalia got loose with my camera, hence the wonderful artistic shots I have to use here today

  

  

  Loved the nappy cake Sandra had made - or as Mahalia said in American, 'Cool diaper cake'

  

  As Marah & Phoebe haven't had much opportunity to meet the locals since they arrived in the area it was a time of 'meet and greet' over a cuppa when we first arrived.
  There was a great group of local ladies there.
  Sandra - and cuz it was held at their home Phil was there for some of the time.
  Jude, Jenna & 4yr old Zaria, Georgie & her friend and their 2 wee boys all came from over near French Pass - that is over an hours drive away.
  Liz came from Te Towaka and filled her car with Sythe, Caroline & Sandra along the way.
  Jo came from over the hill.
  Sue picked up Phoebe.
  And I brought Marah, Shoshannah & Mahalia.
  So we were 16 ladies in all.
  The weather forecast precluded some others from coming unfortunately.

   

  I was outside talking to Georgie, watching Harrison explore the garden - he was just deciding if he could manage to drop down over the edge to play with the cheeky wekas.....

  

  when Shoshannah came out with my phone.
  She was looking a little upset and said that someone was wanting to talk to Dad.
  So I took the call and had to break the news to yet another person that Tim has died.
  It is damned hard because you have to steel yourself to tell them the bad news and then to cope with their distress and know what to say etc.

   

  When I got back inside the creative teams had gotten to work.
  They had to use baby items - nappies, bibs, wraps and loo paper - to create wearable art.

  

  

  Mahalia, Jo and Caroline were the team models.
  The result was a tie so they all got prizes

  

   

  There was much squishing and kissing of the wee-est baby onsite - 12 week old little poppet with the mushiest of cheeks that Sandra couldn't resist

  

   

  There was a delicious array of food platters on the bench so we queued up and filled our lunch plates

  

  We had a couple of quizzes to do throughout the day as well.
  One was to name the baby photos that some of us had brought along.
  That was fun - cuz I already knew 5 of them so had a head start

  The other was a list of names - the letters were all scrambled and we had to work out the names.
  It was jolly difficult actually!
  Some applied themselves to the task more diligently than others.

  

  

  

  Dessert was delicious

  

  

  

   

  It was lovely to sit out in the sun and socialise.
  Some sat at the tables and others reclined on the deck steps

  

  Lovely shot of the beautiful mother to be.

  

  My pensive darling.

  

  

  

  

  My two lovely extra special daughters

  

  When we were all quite replete we were called in to play the $2 Shop game.
  A favourite game of our very loved friend and district nurse Peggy, who is sadly no longer with us.
  But the game is played on in her memory.
  Basic rules are -
  Everyone brings a wrapped gift from the $2 shop.
  They are piled in the centre of the circle.
  Dice are thrown randomly around the circle - we had three die going
  Throw a 6 and take a gift.
  Once all the gifts are taken then you can start stealing gifts from each other.
  Loads of fun.

  

  Harrison was right into the game - claiming the die and taste testing them before he could be persuaded to throw them again

  

   

  Then it was time for 'The Shower'.
  Marah was given the choice of opening gifts then and there or taking them home to open.
  She said, 'I didn't know there was going to be presents!' and opted to open them now.

  Sandra submerged her with all the gifts and she had a ball opening them all.

  

  

  There were 4 gorgeous pairs of cosy wee boots so we have all decided it must be a girl as it has a good start to it's wardrobe already

   

  Most of the ladies had to leave mid arvo so there was just me and the girls and Jo left.

  We sat and talked a bit longer over another cuppa.
  The girls had fun taking more photos.

  

  

   

  I really love this one.

  

  And this one is so specially true with Sandra in the background - her home exudes love.

  

  One last photo before we leave.

  

  It was a really lovely day.
  Thanks so much Liz & Sandra for all you did to make it happen.
  Marah said she felt so loved

  The day had turned quite cold and windy.
  Shoshannah had a mission to open the gate at the top of the hill cuz the wind was so strong.

  The afternoon sun setting was beautiful.
  Just loved the light through the clouds and the wind playing on the sea

  

  We dropped Marah and all her gifts off.
  She was so excited and had to show Anson everything and tell him all about it when we got there.

   

  When we got back I was so incredibly tired that I pretty much just went straight to bed.
  I was feeling really drained.
  It had been a day of very mixed emotions for me.
  Loved being with all our friends but also was struggling to hold back tears a lot of the time.

  The girls found their own dinner as non of us were very hungry.
  I grabbed an emergency Weight Watchers frozen meal and zapped that.
  Took it to bed with a cup of licorice tea and a slice of Liz's lovely banana cake.
  Sat and ate that while watching a wee bit of 'Frasier'.
  I was startled out of my dozing state sometime after 7pm by a phone call.
  Hopped out of bed to answer it then went straight back to sleep.
  First time I have been in bed and asleep at that time in forever!

   

   

   

  • 4:20 pm
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