I have been quiet around blog-land the past week because I have been spending lots of time with my family and preparing to bode farewell to my brother, Luke. As most of you know, we are originally from Australia and my brother has decided to move back there with his wife. Hooray for them, but sadly this means we won’t likely see him for a long time for multiple reasons (i.e. 2 young kids on that long flight is just not going to happen any time soon).
Both Ethan and Ainsley love their Uncle Luke and the realization that they probably won’t get to see him again until they are in high school is so hard to deal with. He is going to miss their childhoods, so I came up with a simple way to keep him up to date on his only niece and nephew.
I am definitely not a scrapbooker, but I did the best I could 🙂
We simply purchased him a nice leather bound album and the kids helped me color in the cover:
We wrote a nice note on the inside:
The kids did some “artwork”:
Basically, my plan is to send Luke monthly/bi-monthly updates with pictures, drawings from the kids, and letters. Uncle Luke can then slide the updates into the pockets. By the time the kids are older, I bet they will be writing him really funny letters that he will cherish forever.
We will miss you Uncle Luke!!!
We had a family reunion of sorts at my Mum’s house to say goodbye to my brother AND to also wish my Grandmother a Happy 85th Birthday! Wow!
(that’s me in the white shirt:)
Uncle Luke and Ainsley:
Ainsley “helping” Great-Grandmom blow out the birthday candles:
My mum and my brother:
Great-Grandmom and Ainsley:
One of the only recent pictures of me and Garrett!
It was so great to see family!
During Uncle Luke’s visit, we decided to take a trip to my FAVORITE (insert gag here) place,
Chuck E Cheese (we brought along lots of hand sanitizer, lol)
Awww.
Be safe on your travels, Luke!!!
Hayley
Hayley Crouse is a wife, mother and multifaceted designer. Her love of sewing, crafting, cooking and interior design infuses her daily life and naturally spills over into her online presence. She pushes the envelope of her creativity and hopes that others will be inspired to do the same. She currently authors the Welcome to the Mouse House Blog, is the pattern designer behind Mouse House Creations and is a collaborative designer with Willow & Co. Patterns.
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Sweet gift. So hard to say goodbye!!!!
My husband is Australian, and we lived there for over 7 years. We moved to the USA early last year. Both of our boys were born there, and are dual citizens. 😉
We don’t expect to visit there anytime soon, either, but my FIL and his wife are coming in September for a visit. 🙂
Oh, I was going to say, we did make the trip from AUS to the USA several times with small children. It is challenging, but can be done. Ha