KSK challenges!

the DT have been busy preparing some great weekend challenges! POP on over and have some fun ..and you can even win a $50 voucher!!!!

My challenge is inspired by Ali Edwards - I love the everyday type snapshot stuff and as her book comes out tomorrow I was feeling very Ali inspired! It is on its way to KSK now so I will have a copy soon!

I have set myself a challenge to get at LEAST one page done each day f the holidays PLUS my reports started - someone hold me to it PLEASE!

it is 27 degrees here so I am off for a swim!!!!

Hope Carl does well tonight...enjoy IDOL !!!!

holidays are here!!!!

WOW a pretty good term finally ended yesterday! two weeks of happy holidays

in typical Max fashion he is sick so resting him over the next few days so he gets better for the 2 weeks ahead.

planning on lots of spring cleaning, shoppping, swimming and resting.

here is my latest page. I tried to use the sunlight to SHOW all the glittery bits off but it is hard to tell still.

Happy!

1.3 K.G for ME!!!! yep one week on weight watchers and I am a happy camper! I also have something else to obsess over and it gets my fertility issues off my mind!!!!!!! I want to loose 10% of my body weight before Christmas - so I am IN THE ZONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to my coolest, bestest and hippest scrapping buddy Alison for yesterday! I had a great night on Sunday dancing with you in front of Australian idol. GOTTA do it again!!!! and your DD is a TRUE water baby! my pool was about 17 degrees and she swam in it!!!!! So she holds my record!

Week 11 has been mad at school! Kids just went mental today - 2 suspensions and lots of fights (and that is just the staff) - just kidding! I think week 11 should be illegal - after such a great term this week has shown it is too much to cope with !!! SO HAPPY holidays are here in 2 teaching days!!!!

How much do i love this spunky guy???? So much! even though he woke me up at 12 and screamed until 1am - bloody eye teeth

What a difference

What a difference 10 months make!!!! Yes it WAS a long time, but is finally 99% complete with just the pavers needing some sealer and some more lighting!!!!

SO now the pool is ready where is the GOOD weather!!!! BOO HISS 16 degree September days!!!!!

Both shots are facing the back fence but as lots of land had to be cut out as he had a sloping block the end result is a higher area at the back of the pool. the shots from last April just had NO landscaping or paving done!
He JUST wishes he could jump in!!!! He even blows bubbles from the edge

Will get some better photos with my wider lens ASAP!!!! only had the 50mm on and max refused to come inside just to get a lens!

IDOL night!

Idol show tip - take a pregnant woman!

We were the third group in the line but the lovely man offered Stef to come up the front and not be crushed by the KEEN crowd behind us (100s of people ready to push and shove)! So we got the BEST seats look how close I was to CARL!!!!!!!

we were in the third row to the left of Kyle (5 seats away!) I waved to him and and waved back! He threw choccies at us and promised us a photo but at the end of the night he stormed off in anger at the performers as soon as it ended! I ran around to the stage door BUT was asked to KEEP MOVING!!!!!!!

All day everyone told me HOW bad the SHOW was - YES it may not have rocked at home but being there was awesome. It was so hard to watch all those harsh comments and being live i think it was about 100 times better! AND Andrew G and James were SOOOOO Much fun! they really liked Narrelle - excuse the photos I was laughing so hard i nearly wet my pants.

they both sat on her lap and crawled over me in the process!

MOre of the gorgeous carl!!!

and at the end of the night we got Daniel and Carl's attention and they waved and chatted with us! I really like these two after last night, they were happy to chat BUT the mean mean man would not let me closer to them or them off the stage!

what a great night with the girls!!!!! thnaks Di and Sharron for inviting us!

look for me in the audience TONIGHT

YES i am OFF to see Australian idol LIVE!!!!!
Sadly NO cameras in the studio.
I am scared for Carl as it is ROCK night and I hope he can ROCK it out!!!!

I had a great time at a wedding last night (no pics YET!!!) but the bride was stunning and my work mates and I had a great time! Good to catch up with some x-BPS teachers also!

will post ASAP to tell you what it is like LIVE!!!!

Monday MEANS IDOL

Ok I like him ALOT!!!! I never got him in the THREE IDOL sweeps I am in BUT last night this guy really impressd me!!! Sadly Holly did go and that is OK.
How do you put music on this blog as I keep popping over to IDOL to listen to his amazing version of Waltzing Matilda
http://www.australianidol.com.au/carl-riseley-fan-club.html

On the sweep update
School - Marty (really what are my chances of the jackpot???)
KSK - Daniel (hairy man - might make the top 6)
IDOL girlfriends - Mark (fingers crossed he comes 2nd toCarl for he $40 prize)

CAN'T WAIT until next Sunday!!! ROCK night so my $40 Mark might do alright!!!

the HOWLETTS holidayed at happy hallidays

WOW our first holiday in a long time!!! LONG before max was born!

My great friend Tina gave me the tip and a GREAT tip it was! This park has the niceest cabins and it is FANTASTIC for little kiddies!!! max was soooooooo HAPPY! COME on this place had an indoor soft play centre right near the BBQ area, it is SOOOO family friendly!

Even though the weather was wet at times we still managed to make it down to the sand for a play. We also went to Timbertown and did some fantastic shopping! I got Max the cutest shirts and Darren got some really nice clothes too!

YES max was fascinated by the puddles.

I thought it was SOOO funny that max LOVED the fact that the microwave was at HIS level!!! HE PRETEND cooked everything!!!! I just loved watching him on the beach. He just wanted to RUN into that water. Shame it was a 18 degreee day

The pool at hallidays was SENSATIONAL too! Max was so keen to get in but the weather NEVER went into the 20s (sadly). WHY did we have 2 weeks of sensational weather an then when i go away it is BAD??????

Well in 8 hours I will be back to a HARD week! Parent teacher interviews!!! YEs I have to really tell it HOW it is with a few! Even though my class has come SOOOO far there are a few that i seriously STRESS about. the ones that DO NOTHING!!!!! the ones that by year 2 have really poor number skills and can't add 2 numbers together to save their lives! This class has SOOOO much potential I have worked hard to improve their writing and number strategies but I can take them SOOOO much further.

But tomorrow I have to sit there and remember this beautiful bunch of kids NO MATTER how much they struggle have ISSUES! they see domestic violence, they have parents in goal, they dONT eat breatfast and they worry about things I never had to worry about. I want to break the cycle for them i PUSH them and I QUESTION them in HOPE that one day they will go to uni or Tafe and be who they want to be!!!! I even tell them THEY CAN be who they want to be...........gee i hope it SINKS in!!!!

so please make sure you tell your kids they can be who they want to be....as believe me there are kids out there in homes that are never told this.

APEC holiday

We just got home from a NICE 4 days up Forster/Hallidays point. It was soooooo nice! I am in the process of uploading 400 photos!!! Camera has frozen 3 times

I got home to a nice surprise - a layout on the KSK portal. I love these photos so much. The journaling reads

This was one of those days that I did not want to end. We arrived home at about 4.30pm to finally find water in our pool. You and I sat in the shallow end and played. I loved watching you walk along the bottom, something you won’t do again for many years. As the sun set, I carried a very upset boy back inside. You were so sad you had to leave.
Only 141 days until the next swimming season.

will be back to show and tell about our fantastic holiday!!!