Wedding Bells

Saturday the 19th November marked a special day for us Brouwer family as Raouls little sister got married to the one and only Mr Daniel Mitchell-Collins. It was a beautiful day filled with lots of love, joy and tears... mainly by the groom!! :-)

Our little man was in the bridal party as the little best man, and he sure did a great job walking his older cousin, Ahliya (3) down the aisle. On the way out of the church he even managed a wave and thumbs up to his Aunty and cousins he spotted walking out.

Here are some pictures of the wonderful day... and to the newly weds... Mr and Mrs Mitchell-Collins, we wish you a life time of love, a lifetime of happiness and we wish you Gods richest blessings and may He always guide your paths.

Connor and Raoul... they scrub up alright don't they!!

Connor and me... he was a little excited about wearing his big boy suit

The little best man himself

Walking Ahliya down the aisle. I almost thought this wouldn't happen, as he was beside himself before we left to go to church (super tired), but he pulled himself together... and didn't they get a lot of "ohhhhh's" when they walked down the aisle.

With Hannah at the front of the church... decorated in a fantastic display of roses!!

The new Mr and Mrs Daniel Mitchell-Collins

The bridal party (left to right... Luke (grooms brother) Nathan Kroeze, Daniel Coote, Daniel and Alyssa Mitchell-Collins, Hannah Coote, Robin Kroeze, Matilda Kroeze... and at the front, Ahliya Coote and Connor Brouwer.

The girls

The Brouwer siblings

The Brouwer family

Then after the photo shoot, we went the Josef Chromy winery for a Cocktail reception. The little man didn't last too long here... but was still able to enjoy a run around and some play time till he got picked up.

Bloomin' spring!

Spring has sprung and so have the flowers.

So... time to get busy in the garden???

JCS School Fair

Saturday, 3rd Sept, was the John Calvin School fair. What a magic day. The sun was out, the wind stayed away, and everyone helped raise about $19,000 for the school!! Great effort and truly another blessing. :-) Part of the tradition of our school fairs is the 'Peddlers Parade'. It was open to all ages this time, so Connor took part.

He loves all things tools so we dressed him up at a builder. I made 'Nuts 'n Bolts' for him to sell out of his tool box. Here are some photos of our (very cute) builder.

Connor the Builder


Connor and Ahliya (as Snow White selling 'Apple Treats')


Connor and his boy cousins, Mack Hidding and Bohdan Buist, both dresses as 'Cool Dudes' selling tongue painter lolly pops our of caps. :-)

Connor had a lot of fun, but in saying that was also very over it when he discovered the 'petting farm'. He spent most of the afternoon in there!!! :-)

Connor on the stairs, where he spent most of the afternoon in his own little world. :-)

Great day had by all, a few bargains bagged, but most of all, money raised for a great cause.

Stickers

One of Connor's favorite things to do at the moment is put stickers on his face (don't ask me why!)

Melbourne flight # 14

On Friday 5th August, Connor and I went for a trip to Melbourne for another check up. I'm happy to say that all went well, despite lots of tears when it came time to do the scan. The stent has settled in nicely, and there has not been any change in the pressure in his left ventricle, which means the stent is working nicely. We have another check up in 6 months in Launceston and then another visit to Melbourne in a year... all going well of course. More good news is that his weight is going up nicely. He is now over the 60th percentile, now a 'hefty 13.9kgs', which means his little ticker is not working as hard as it was, so he's able to put a little extra weight on. Doc. Lane was very impressed with him and when he asked Connor if he could listen to his heart Connor said..."oh, oh yes man, of course" and proceeded to tell the Doctor that he was using a 'stefascope'.

Before the appointment we had a few hours to kill, so I took Connor to the Aquarium. He loved the penguins. They were very cute. Worth checking in out if you're ever in Melbourne!! Here are a few happy snaps.

Connor talking to the penguins (was very cute to watch)

They might be slow on land, but boy can they swim fast!!

Small sharks and sword fish.

Some very pretty fish!!

And this is the view you have while you sit at the cafe. A massive circular tank full of coral fish. Could sit and watch for ages (if Connor let me!)

The shark tank was awesome. The glass is about 20cm thick... which they said makes the fish / sharks etc look 1/3 smaller then what they actually were!!

My favorite photo

Masquerade

On Saturday night, Hannah (sister in law) and Myself had a combined 30th Birthday party, with a Black & White Masquerade theme. Hannah and I have our birthdays a month apart, so we thought, since it's so close together, and we are so close, why not share a special party together too. So we got cooking, baking and decorating and the outcome was a great night, shared with family and close friends.

The birthday girls

Me, Sylv, Hannah and Heidi

Heidi, Inger, Steph, Sarah, Alyssa and Christie

Me and my little man, Connor. He had a mask but wasn't interested in
wearing it by this time of the night!

Alyssa (SIL) and Ahliya (Hannah's daughter, my niece)

THE Black forest cake we made together

Pretty little cupcakes (which took ages to decorate... not such a long time to eat!)

House all pretty. Complete with twinkle lights and lots of candles

We had lots of fun, great food, great company and great weather (my mother in law said to me not so long ago, that a Brouwer party has never been rained on yet. The forecast wasn't looking promising, yet come party time... no rain, no wind and actually not that cold!)

Thanks to everyone who came and made it a fun night.

bikin'

On the weekend I took Connor for his first 'bike ride' at the park. We loaded his Thomas tricycle in the back of the car along with his helmet and went to gravelly beach park. It wasn't till the moment I saw him peddle his little legs on his own, down the winding footpath, that it hit me... he is not a little baby boy anymore... he's my big boy.

In a world of his own.

He is loving riding his bike! It's a new found thing that he can do, and he does it every minute he can.

Three Junes makes a little man

It's the middle of the year... how time flys!! We have been blessed with rain, sunshine, fog, frost, snow capped mountains... and early sunsets. I do have to say, however... I much prefer later sunsets, sunshine and warmer weather, but I do love the seasons!!!! :-) Challenges of winter... staying warm, getting washing dry and trying to convince Connor to keep his jumper ON (If anyone has any tips for that one let me know!!!!)

I took some happy snaps of our little ratbag the other day... and I realised how much of a little man he is becoming... I thought I'd share a few 'June' photo's!

June 09 - 5 months old

June 10 - 16 Months

June 11 - nearly 2 and half - our little man