Warren & Suzanne's Wedding || Part 1 {Ceremony}

Suzanne and I have known each other since roughly the time my family joined the homeschool group (13 or so years ago!!). We've done sports, Bible study, and celebrated birthdays together. It was wonderful to celebrate her wedding with her back in February! 

Congrats Warren & Suzanne -- wish you two a long and happy marriage :)

{Photos in this post by Mum; editing by me}

: : Wedding card I made : :

: : and Mum's : :

: : Wedding party : :

: : Groomsmen : :

: : Bridesmaids : :
{(Left to right) Georga, Leisa, Esther, Ruth}

: : Signing the registry : :

During the signing, a friend played River Flows in You. That piece should be mandatory repertoire for every pianist! ;)

New Year Gifts

All of us except Laura had presents to give this year!

Paul Frank purse!

haha seriously random expression here but it was actually really cute. She was really excited about these hairclips and was moving her hand up and down pointing at them.

New helicopter for Bryce. (Verbal user manual from Jarrod lol)

Lolz love the pose!

yeah, and this one. haha

Chocolate is always on our gift lists lol

Tea set from the cousins!

Diana has wanted rings for ages so she was really excited that I got her pack!

Hair accessories are always good!

Cute!!

Classic Danielle

Cowboy hats and all things western are gaining popularity around here!

Might need to work on being more photogenic :P This is about the best photo of me from New Years Day

My gifts :)

In Memory of Yesterday's Date . . .

11/12/13

I know I'm a day late, but I kinda wanted to post with yesterday's date in case I ever look back through my old posts, since the date was cool . . . :P And since this is the last year (for a long time) that we'll get this pattern. 

I do have some other cool ideas for posts, but time is limited so I'm not sure exactly when I'll get to them. Sorry :( You can always drop me a comment though to help motivate me :P haha

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Oh yeah, loved this one too: :P

Operation Christmas Child

A skirt I made to go in a box.
I almost wanted to keep it for one of my sisters!

Back in October (OCC's national collection month), my dad came with my friend Becks and me (and a few other home-schoolers) to volunteer at Operation Christmas Child for a few hours one Saturday.

Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan's Purse, provides underprivelaged children aged 2-14yrs with a shoebox containing various gifts for Christmas. Some of the impact stories are very moving!

My boxes all packed up!

I figured since we were going to the warehouse anyway, we should take the boxes I was filling, rather than having to drop them somewhere else. So on the Friday we went from one shop to another, buying the rest of the fillers I needed; I ended up spending most of the day working on the boxes! 

Becks and me

We left home around 9am Saturday morning, so we could be at the (OCC) warehouse in Henderson by 10 o'clock. We spent the next few hours unpacking boxes, checking the contents for anything that wasn't supposed to be in them, making sure (as best we could) that there was something from each of the listed categories, removing unnecessary packaging, and filling (from stocks they have there) any that didn't have enough 'stuff' in them. 

2 o'clock came all too soon and we left since we didn't want to be home too late. We stopped in at The Coffee Club for afternoon tea before dropping Becks home. :)

Afternoon tea...

And I won't mention what the house looked like when we got back...suffice it to say my mum and siblings were in the midst of a massive cleanup/out, which involved taking everything out from under the beds in the girls room...!

Visitors for dinner

Note: I'm unsure of the actual date I wrote this...
~~~~~~~~~
 We invited the de Boer family to come to our place for dinner tonight, the 5th of May.



Most of the day was filled with the usual ‘Saturday things’: cleaning, vacuuming, washing, ironing. And I actually managed to bake(!), I made 5 Star Chocolate Chip Cookies and a couple of chocolate cakes. Later on Mum put the roast on, Danielle made a self-saucing chocolate pudding for dessert, and Dad organised seating for everyone. (Yes, our family alone fills our table, when extended, so we pulled in the table from outside for the little ones to sit at.)


They arrived, and after some conversation, we all sat down to enjoy our meal. One table seemed to express their enjoyment more vocally than the other!


The dessert mix hadn’t looked quite right while being made, and it didn’t look nearly cooked when it had five minutes to go. So, Mum decided to use plan B – tinned fruit, ice cream, and the red velvet cake Anne Roos had brought.


After dessert had been consumed, my siblings brought out their certificate albums and various history projects to show Amie (Dieuwe’s girlfriend). Dad brought out drinks (go Coca-Cola! Lol), and Mum reminded me to take some photos for my blog (how could I forget?!).


All to soon, goodbyes were said, our guests left, and bath time began for my siblings (Think: Noise and chaos! Haha) More housework (dishes and folding) was done, and finally it is now bed time...G’night! =)


PS: I’m kinda tired now, so hopefully this piece isn’t entirely void of sense! :P

Happy Birthday to Me

Just 'cos I'm soooooooo cool(!)...I'm gonna wish myself a happy birthday:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

Yay I'm sweet sixteen now ;)

Talk about random people these days...lol! :P

Church Picnic at Cornwall Park



Left to right: Maria (2), Mum, Mrs. Smith & Keith,
Mrs. Campbell, Mrs. de Boer

My dad organised a church picnic/BBQ at Cornwall Park for lunch on ANZAC Day.
Only a few of us went - the Smiths, de Bruins, de Boers, Mrs. Campbell, and us.
Personally I found it a bit cold (when isn't NZ cold tho!?) but the sun was nice!! lol

So yeah we had food (hehe the best part!), walked with the little ones to the hill you can see in the center of the photo on the left a few times, talked(!), later Mrs. Campbell, the de Boers, de Bruins, my dad, Monique, and Bryce left. Mr. Smith went to his car to prepare for the service that night, and took Amelia with him because she was really tired! The remainder of us went for a walk around One Tree Hill.

Dieuwe de Boer and his girlfriend Amie,
with my lil' sis Laura



Ok so my hair looks like the wind's been at it,
but otherwise I kinda like this photo!



Anne Roos and me



Anne Roos's dog Teasle



Amelia and Diana



Walking

Botanical Gardens Visit



Diana (6), Bryce (4), Amy (8), and Joanna (5)

On Good Friday, while my Dad and Mr. Sonneveld were away on a father/son camp with Jarrod and Samuel, we invited the rest of the Sonnevelds to go for a walk at the Botanical Gardens with us. I'm not sure when I last went, but I know it was a LONG time ago!

yeah..Ruth and Es pushed the stroller..
thanks btw =)

It was a beautiful (and fairly warm) day, we had an awesome time hanging out...and taking pics...oh and afternoon tea is always good too...!! lol

Nice pic Essie, you could just about be a photographer!

Essie and me...

Another one of Essie's awesome pics!



Diana and Joanna



Essie and Me



Ruth and Me



Ruth, Essie, and me...oops I think the sun was too bright!



Essie, me, Ruth & Laura out the front of the visitor centre

Sorry, just HAD to post this!!!



And this...=D