School is Over....for good!

When I started putting the above collage together I was amazed at the changes in Jay over the last 12 years. There were quite a few medical problems that almost stopped him starting school in 2002, but he did and now 12 years on he has grown into such an amazing young man.

Its a strange feeling knowing that we no longer have school children, and I will admit that yes throughout the day there were tears and more when he walked across that stage to collect his certificate!

We are super proud of all he achieved not just this year but over his whole school life and look forward to seeing how the rest of his life unfolds.

Thanks for stopping by
Lis :)

Academic awards Night 2014

Jay had told me that he didn't think he was getting any awards this year, so was a huge surprise when the invitation arrived to attend.
This was going to be the last time we attended, so I has a happy mummy moment when both his brothers and their partners came to watch.

So in his last year of school he made us super proud parents by receiving two awards. First I. Class award for Information Technology and Technology student of the year.

We are both so proud of how hard Jay worked this year putting everything into all his subjects to achieve great results.


Thanks for stopping by
Lis :)

The end of an era.

The year is drawing to a close, exams are all done and the last of the assignment's all handed in. The excitement starts to build as your school life is nearing the end.
The last 12 years of your life hasn't been easy, lots of ups and downs, with hard work and disappointments along with the good times and the accolades.

The year 12 formal is time to let your hair down and celebrate that your time at school has come to an end.
Last Friday was the time for my baby boy Jayden, the last of my boys at school, the last formal to get ready for. Yes I was a little emotional!
 

 Jay on the other hand was super cool and calm, picked his outfit out well ahead of time and on the day seemed pretty chilled about the whole event.
He has learnt something from his older brothers....just go with it and let mum take whatever photos she wants hahaha.

 Both he and his date Kirstin looked amazing, so grownup from the little  year olds that played soccer together all those years ago.

This year due to the G20 the venue was changed to Dreamworld, and I must say that I think it was the perfect spot to hold it.
Everyone looked amazing, the girls all so beautiful and the boys very smart, although I did notice a few pulling at ties and wanting to take jackets of.

All reports on his arrival home was that a great time was had by all, good food, and great company and the perfect way to end the last year of your school life.

Thanks for stopping by
Lis :)

A trip down memory lane

Do the words Donkey Kong or Space Invaders bring back memories for you ? I remember back to my teenage years  when almost every place your went had some sort of arcade machine, either a standing one or a sit down one. There were many more games than the ones I mentioned above and they were everywhere!

 

My super talented boy, Jayden as part of his year 12 assignment made his very own arcade machine! I thought it was funny how with all the technology available today and the games you can play that the basic arcade machine interested him enough to want his own!

 

I watched over the weeks as  bit by bit and trip after trip to the local hardware his project start to come together. There was some nervous moments waiting for the courier to deliver the all important boards and cables for inside, but in  the end it all came together really well.

We are really proud of you Jay for your determination and effort to complete this project, well done mate! Look forward to reliving my childhood and playing some games!

Thanks for stopping by
Lis :)

Back to school

The start of  a new year means the start of a new school year as well. Shopping for  new uniforms, shoes, books, stationery, lunch boxes and backpacks fill the weeks prior to that start date.

That last week of January (1st week of  February) my Facebook feed, Instagram and blog feeds were full of back to school photos. Some starting at school for the very first time, some starting at new schools or starting high school.

This year we had a sort of first day too, it was our last ever first day of school! My youngest son, Jayden headed of for his first day of year 12, his last year of school!
The year will be filled with lots of lasts, swimming carnival, athletics carnival, cross country, classes, exams, assembly, then he will have his formal and graduation.

I am filled with mixed emotions , to be the mum of children who have all finished school is a pretty surreal feeling. It's something you just dream about when you are sending your 5 yr olds of to school for the first time.

I think that come graduation time in November I might be a lot more emotional than I was with the two older boys.

Hoping for a great year for him and that he achieves everything he set out to!

Thanks for stopping by

Lis :)

Princess for a day

There are two days in a girls life (usually) that she gets to dress up and be a princess for the day. One of those is her year 12 formal.
I was asked by a dear friend if I would take some photos of Tiarnah (also my sons gf) on her big day. I was more than happy to go along and spend the day capturing all the special moments, especially as her mum wasnt able to be there.
 

I tried to capture everything I could to make Christine feel like she was there as well as give Tiarnah shots she could look back at and remember.
 

 It was a different kind of feeling for me, having had two already graduate and have their formals, but being boys the day their day was so different.

 I followed along with Tiarnah whilst she had her hair done, a head full of curls topped of with a beautiful tiara. Then back to her sisters place where Alicia presented her with a surprise gift from her mum. A beautiful glittery clutch to match her shoes! The look on her face was priceless!!

Alicia did a great job of her makeup and then it was time to get dressed. The gorgeous purple strapless dress with glittery flower, bracelet and earrings were the finishing touches to a beautiful princess!

 Then it was time to head outside and take some photos, she was joined by a friend and the two of them were just awesome. They didnt have a problem with anything I asked them to do, posing and having some fun with it all.

 
Their ride arrived, an amazing classic car(dont ask me what it was hahaha) organised by Christine. The driver was great letting us take all the photos we wanted to.

It wasnt surprising that I ended up with a whole heap of photos that were stunning, it was hard to choose what to share with you here.

Thank you Tiarnah, Alicia, Christine for allowing me to be part of this special day, I hope that I have created some special memories for you to look back on in years to come.


Thanks for stopping by
Lis :)

2012 - What a year

 This year as I sit and type out my year in review post unlike other years I dont feel like this year has flown by. The year has been pretty action packed with alot going on in all our lives. There were some sad things that were hard to get through and there were alot of great things that made us all happy and proud.
Creative wise I had a productive year, branching out with a few different things this year, trying my hand at more mixed media and painting and taking my crochet to a new level.

 

 Football season got under way with  all the boys involved in some way. Jayden did the junior umpirinig course and spent the year umpiring the Puma junior teams as well as helping out with our senior group anyway they needed him. Dan started with Under 18's as well as filling in for quite a few reserve games and even a couple of senior games, he ended the year with the Senior clubman award. Josh helped out with runner and water duties until his come back part way into the season. His knee held up well and he had a pretty good season.

Josh started playing with basketball team which really helped with his jumping. John once again helped out with visiting Melbourne teams with AFL games at both the Gabba and Metricon as well as taking part in the Pan Pacific Masters Games again, this year a few different sports to last year and even getting to meet a few "celebrities". Dan had a great year with school sport making it to regionals for both cross country as well as Athletics and various other school sports earning him the coveted Senior school sports award.

Dan competed in his first marathon, running in the Bridge to Brisbane and getting a pretty good time for his first effort.

 Family wise was a little up and down, Josh had his first car accident and whilst we were so grateful he didnt get hurt his car wasnt so lucky. Dan switched jobs from the deli at Coles to nightfill and got alot more hours, making him alot happier with a bigger paycheck! Dan also had his first trip to hospital with a suspected spleen injury courtesy of football. Ended up being ok and after a couple of precautionary days in hospital and a couple of weeks rest he was back into it.
We sadly mourned the death of one of Josh's mates as well as an Aunty and a couple of close family friends.
On a brighter note we welcomed the beautiful Ashleigh into our family, her and Josh are a gogeous couple.

Once the footy season finished and we had our weekends back and time to do things we hung out alot in the yard the boys making good use of the pool with some really warm days. A few family trips out and about with lots of photo taking especially with Johns new lens he got for his camera.
Josh and I flew to Tassie to help dad celebrate his 75th Birthday and had a rushed few days catching up with everyone.
Daniel graduated from school with a flurry of awards nights, formals and valedictorian ceremony.
Christmas was celebrated at home again with the family and we plan on doing the same for tonight.
Seeing in the new year at home with family and a few close friends.

I hope that your year was memorable and that 2013 is just as memorable.
So Happy New Year, have a safe and fabulous night!

Lis :)

School years come to an end..

 After arriving back from my trip to Tassie, the events kept comming firstly on the Wednesday night with the School Academic awards. This is the first year that this event has been done as a seperate event, it had in the past been held with Graduation - which really didnt work all that well.
Whilst my boys have always done alright in most of their subjects awards havent really been a part of their academic history.
This year however Daniel was super excited to be awarded with the 2012 Sporting achiever award. This award is the highest sporting award the school gives out and he wanted it so badly. Josh had received the same award 2 years ago which only made Daniel want it even more.

 























He also received the 2012 Sporting allrounder award. The huge smile says it all, sport is definately a field where he excels. We are so proud of you Daniel.

 The next day we were back at the school again, this time for the 2012 graduation ceremony. There were alot of very excited students, some amazing speeches, brilliant performances and even some tears. The new school captains for next year were announced - Congrats to Nathan Murcott - and then the year 12 students were presented with their certificates.
 

 Every student was also presented with a flower that they were to give to one person who had made a difference in their life.

 Standing waiting for the rest of the Graduates to be given their certificate with the vice principal and Anna, his year coordinator, sports teacher and probably the teacher who he had the most admiration for.

Yes, I did have a little teary moment when my boy walked up and handed me the flower. Josh had joked that I wouldnt get it that Dan would give it to Anna lol but my boy did indeed give it to his mum!

Mum even got a great big cuddle from her big boy, in front of everyone too. I loved that he wasnt worried about hugging me infront of all his friends.


 So after 12 years of pushing himself to achieve all that he could my boy is now headed of into the real world to make his mark, we wish you all the luck in the world Dan.

Thanks for stopping by
Lis :) 

The night of nights

November 9th 2012, one of the best nights of the year for Dan and his fellow year 12 students. Earlier in the day we had the sports breakfast, which I posted about Here. Students (in year 12) were not required at school after the awards , Dan being the great kid he is stayed around to help clean up and put everything back to where it should be then headed of for a haircut and the gym.
He was so relaxed all day and even when it was 15 minutes before he had to leave to meet up at his friends place, he was still sitting on his laptop lol
The boys all took a little bit of coaxing to get into posing mode, but I think we got some fantastic shots in the end. All the boys looked awesome and really just wanted to get in the limo and on their way.

Here are just a few of the many photos I took.

The lady in the picture with Dan at the bottom of the collage is Anna Aldridge, his sports teacher and in his words "the best teacher at the school". She is really lovely and has been a fantastic coordinator and teacher for the last 6 years!

Thanks for stopping by
Lis :)

Sports Awards

November this year has been one event filled month, with my #2 son Daniel graduating its been one school event after another.

The Shailer Park High Sports awards are traditionaly done at a breakfast, this year the breakfast was held at the school with their very own resatuarant Sapphires catering. The food was fabulous!!

This year (as in the past) picked up quite a few awards, so proud of his athletic abilities.

His first award was for the Volleyball Gold Coast finals.

  Age champion cross country, he won his age group in the school cross country as well as making it across the line first out of all senior boys, he also made it to both district and regionals for this event!

Making it to the Regional athletics for 1500m. This was the first time that he placed at districts and made it to the regionals!


  Age champion Atheltics, placing either 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the majority of his events on the day!

The big one and the last award of the morning, the one he so badly wanted ( his bog brother won the same award 2 years prior) was the School Sports Allrounder. This award is give to the year 12 student who excels in a variety of sports over the entire year.

Dan was thrilled (despite the look in the photo lol) to get this one and we were so proud of him!

A grup shot of all his awards, would of got one with him holding them but there were too many for him to hold all at once hahaha

 So proud of all the effort he put into his sports this year, he really makes us super proud parents!!

Thanks for stopping by
Lis :)

Regionals

Distance running is Dan's specialty, 1500m being his favourite. Five years  of comming in the top 2 at school athletics and making it through to District competition. The next step had always aluded him, he so badly wanted to make it to the Regional competition. This year was his last chance (being that he graduates in a couple of months) and he trained and made sure he was as prepared as he could be.
All the work paid off, he came 2nd at District level and was heading to Regionals for the first time.

The school have a policy of only transporting students to events if there are over a certain number attending. So Dan and I headed of to the coast and after getting a little lost with a wrong turn, finally made it to Southport athletics centre. I dropped Dan at the ground and went to find somewhere to park - no easy task when you are right beside the university andgold coast hospital. I found a park and after a big walk made it back in plenty of time for his race.

There was a squad of 16 boys from districts all over the south coast, they lined up all eager to start the 3 1/2 lap race. Dan was doing really well in the first couple of laps, up in the lead group. He ended up finishing in 9th spot and even though he was disappointed in his time, I was so proud of him.

He has one more sporting related achievement he so badly wants to achieve before he graduates and thats the Senior sports allrounder ( Josh won the award in his final year). He thinks that he has done enough throught the year to have a good chance. Will be keeping fingers crossed for him!

Thanks for stopping by
Lis :)