March Twenty-Ten

An afternoon with the girls at WICKED the musical.

A nice day at the Camden show.

Mark's 41st birthday dinner, Byron's Christening, Nathan's 4th birthday, Tyler's 3rd birthday

A tupperware party, a scrap night and a 'just because' meant 3 very late nights....girls stuff, lots of laughs and a few glasses.

A new Principal for BPS.

A lovely lunch and catch up with 5 high school girlfriends.

Preschool Easter concert and egg hunt. Sadly term 1 of preschool came to an end, Max very happy and settled. He loves his 'best buds' Raph and Nathan

Loving keeping up with my photo-a-day challenge, sadly not keeping up with the album I am keeping them in.

2 swims this month in our pool after finally fixing the 2nd filter problem the solar heating broke.....a very sad pool season comes to an end :(

Flynn's first giggle made us all smile.

Scissors Paper Smock Kits

I have finished my three layouts for the next kit at Scissors Paper Smock. I am dropping them off to the shop tomorrow so they should be on sale just in time for Easter. Another 3 pages for under $25. With the terrible weather they have forcast this Easter long Weekend I am thinking it might be a great chance to scrap LOTS!!!!!

Scissors Paper Smock at Suite 3/403 Hume Highway at Liverpool 9821 4888.

the Camden Show

We had to get up way before the sun to drive Darren to the airport so when we got home we decided to go down and enjoy the Camden show and boy I am glad we did.

the beginning.

Max won a Pirate telescope on the clowns.

I won a BATMAN by throwing 3 rubber balls into a bucket....as soon as I handed over the $10 Max thought Batman was his. The pressure was on to make 2 out of the 4 balls stay in the bucket...lucky I learnt by watching that they bounce and a soft throw was the way to win.Max loved looking at the chickens and it took a long time to work up the nerve to touch one and pick one up.

He loved riding the tea cups and cars.

It was soooo hot the jumping Castle burnt his feet. (36 degrees).

We bought a TOY STORY show bag.

Max wanted to go on the giant slide and walked all the way to the top. I followed him and right at the top he changed his mind, as it was tooo hard to get back down, I just threw him on my lap and he screamed all the way down.

We drank nice cold icey drinks.

We loved looking at the horses and cows.

We ended up leaving and going to eat in the aircon at Camden McDonald's...it was soooo hot.

I wanted to quickly look at the patchwork shop in Camden but Max threw himself on the ground and begged me to go home. He napped for 2 hours that afternoon and then went to swimming lessons.

the end..........."I'm tired, can we go home, where is the car????"

As we left I said to myself that we would definitely go down again next year on the Friday as it was not busy and a great day out. Then it dawned on me Max might be in school next year. WOW that made me sad that next year little excursions together like this would not be as easy and mean more crowds.....well maybe one day off school with mum each term would be ok!!!! ;)

Jon and Kate plus Eight

Yep i am a reality TV junkie and since we have had Foxtel Jon and Kate plus Eight has been a MUST see for me. I have quickly watched the past 5 seasons and tonight I finally saw the last episode. I was soooo sad to see them part. They are such a gorgeous group of kids. I loved Alexis (soooo much so if Flynn was a girl I may have used that name). Hopefully one day we will see how life turned out for the eight and Jon and Kate!!!

PROOF I am a mother

PROOF I am a mother of a 4 year old and a 12 week old

I have stretch marks all over my belly.

I am 20kg over my healthy weight range, I am wearing maternity clothes and I attend weight watchers.

I can smell baby vomit on my shoulder, in fact most clothes have a vomit stain or are soaking to get the vomit stain out.

Everyday I make a Vegemite sandwich, walk over toys, wash, throw my hair into a ponytail and eat on the run.

I say "pack that away now you are finished with it" 32 times a day.

My 7 hours of sleep is broken with 50 minutes of feeding at about 4am.

My feet are in need of a pedicure, my shoulders are in need of a massage and my legs are in need of a wax.

I watch kids TV instead of what I want.

I am always getting Max into bed late and battling with his "but just 2 more minutes".

I have a 'to do' list that is 34m long.

I am looking on ebay for power ranger toys and rescue heroes.

I have approx. between 40 to 60 minutes of adult conversation each day.

I am on the preschool committee. I am organising Fundraising and book club.

My first LO for Flynn's 8.5 x 11 album.

happy

happy that I have LOST 5.4kg in 6 weeks of weight watchers.

happy Max is loving every moment of preschool and he has 2 fantastic teachers

happy Flynn is a great baby and even though he still wakes at 4am I can cope

happy with the layout i did the other day

the journaling reads - One September morning you called out to Me "I love you my sweet Darling". We now say it all the time to each other. You even know that is you say it with a cute face and pout your lips it helps you win brownie points with me.

very very happy with shots from my new camera (Canon 7D)

this Saturday

Scissors, Paper, Smock are hosting a make-and-take this Saturday from 10 to 12. Not only do you get to try Glimmermist (which I LOVE) you learn how to make this stunning flower. I was going to go in but I forgot all about my day out with the girls at WICKED....now how could I forget about that???? I bought cute shoes today for it....now to find the outfit.

The kits are also for sale.....be quick, they are selling fast.....$25 for 3 layouts is GREAT. I am starting to work on the next kit now

February twenty-ten

1. Max started back at preschool. He loved it but was exhausted at the end of each day. He made Buzz wings and they got Hermit crabs. Everyday was exciting. Max, Raphael and Nathan quickly became great friends.

2. A fun day at Charlotte's and Felicity's naming day at the Scarborough Hotel.

3. A green pool, a broken filter and lots of dollars spent.

4. Lots of rain, sun, hot nights, humidity at 99%, the hottest summer in 4 years.

5. I started weight watchers and lost 2.8kg in 3 weeks...lots more to go. I also began decluttering the house.
6. Flynn smiled for the first time. He is so cute and becoming chubbier (5.02kg 19/2). He is such a good baby 95% of the time.

7.Flynn and Max got their needles.

8.BBQs and relaxing drinks with friends.

9.Darren went through some terrible times, personally and professionally. High stress levels, i love him for everything he does even more xxxx

10. Max caught up with Callum who he missed so much. I too went into school a few times to catch up with those that I missed.

hey Rel

what I meant to say today was........

thank you for being there from the beginning. You (with a few others) have been on my roller coaster fertility ride. Each week you supported me, if I needed a reality check, you gave it to me. You kept my mind off it and helped me.

You supported me on the IVF days at work and kept my mind off it, we laughed, we talked and we hoped. When I called balling my eyes out you covered for me and made my day better. You were there the day I got the news that my first cycle had worked, you truely believed as you had the pram pandora charm ready to give to me....I am thankful everyday I see that charm as I know it could still be in your hand bag.

You have helped me with Max...a true friend, great advice from a brilliant mum. Thanks for your support while I was in hospital...Max STILL talks about that day Lava girl xxxx

It would be an honour to have you in our lives and Flynn's life.....he would be the luckiest kid if you were his God mother.

love ya the longest time....so glad BPS brought us together.

and P.S my heart is still beating from that night in the wardrobe when you said you were going for that job...remember it is a package deal if you ever do go for a job...me, you and Ally xxxxx

Motherhood

thanks Jen, this made me happier today. You, like most of us out there, are a fantastic mother...cheers to all of us xxxxx

My Little Preschooler

Loved this months colour combo challenge at Savvy. I love these colours and the photo of Max at his first day of Preschool this year went so well.

kits at Scissors Paper Smock

I am very happy to have been asked to design some pages for Loretta and Melinda at Scissors, Paper, Smock at Liverpool. 9821 4888

This is the first kit for sale and I must say it ROCKS. I got 3 pages with lots left over for only $25. I am looking forward to working with more of their kits.

Cleaning

Narelle I have our photo of the day with the quote

i DO love a clean and tidy house, dont get me wrong!!!! there is just much more that I love to do than housework, like scrapbook, watch TV, swim, talk son the phone, even exercise lol!!!

i have been watching lots of cleanaholics and Perfect Housewife on FOX and it makes me think i really need to get stuck into parts of this house while I am not working. i have decided I will do an area a week and give it my all. This week is toys......I have enough little people to start a new country and cars and trucks to run a transport company so I will be sorting and culling. i like all the toys of the same theme/brand in the one box. It makes pack away easier.

So I am commiting to ONE cleaning project a week. I need to write a list as there is soooo much I need to do before I go back in July.......come on lucky numbers hit me, then I can get a cleaner and the tax paperwork i have to do wont seem so HUGE!!!!

conversations with Max

warning toilet humour!!!!

Max was sitting on the toilet in the laundry and I was doing some washing. All of a sudden I hear a massive and very loud "pop off", the most wind I have heard come from Max. He looked at me in shock and said

"Mum I think there is a gun in my poo".

tonight.....
Max - Mum please lay down with me in my bed
Me - ok, just for a few minutes
Max - alright lets lay
Max - I love you mum
Me- I love you too sweetheart
Max - nothing's going to stop us now hey mum!
Me - no nothing will ever stop us.

I need to make a book to jot these down in.

January twenty-ten

WOW 31 days flew past, lets not hope every month goes like this.

1. We settled Flynn in to his new home.
2. Max enjoyed a 10 day swimming program.
3. No swimming for me due to my stitches from Child birth
4. Watching the Australian open.
5. HOT and humid nights.
6. Catch ups with friends.
7. Donna's birthday.
8. 2 phones dropped into the swimming pool.
9. A relaxing Australia day at home with family and a few friends to celebrate Max's 4th birthday.
10. Started to scrapbook again.

Layouts

A bit of a summer theme happening here.
I am very happy with this layout as it came together quite quickly and I used lots of OLDER papers from my stash that I thought I may never use.
Credit to Alison for the great photo.

Off to iron and then eat a yummy bake dinner cooked by Darren. YUM

tired!!!

Self inflicted.......up to 2am at a girlfriends house. We had a lovely dinner, chatted, looked at the MY SCHOOL website and chatted more. Dragging 2 kids home at that hour was surprisingly easy and it gave Max the chance to sleep without a nappy, and since we had success I am big boy night nappy FREE!!!! YAY

The MY SCHOOL webiste was very interesting. The data for BPS made me proud as it reflected the socio economic area and when you COMPARED it to richer type areas we really did very well. Our kids face some terrible things or life is not always stable and to do what they did in a "one off test" is fantastic.

have a great weekend, I am off for a Nanna nap (Yawn)!!!

Here is a layout I finished 2 days ago, Max's favourite thing - the water sprays!!!

a new routine

Today i would have gone back to school. Instead of walking into school at 8.00 I woke up at 8.15 after a 5am feed and some protest about sleeping in the cot (it was soooo hot last night)!!!!

Last night when I was texting Rel and missing her and BPS like crazy I was soooo sad, I even got teary/guilty again about being sad about school when all I wanted for 22 months was another baby and mat leave.

I went in today and packed up my maths room, I handed the keys in and walked out (after some good belly laughs) feeling alot more at ease and ready to cherish all this time off....which will FLY by.

I am excited preschool starts next Tuesday for Max and he and I will enjoy the break!!!! MAN I have sooo much planned for next week, hair appointment, scrapping, pedicure, cleaning, exercise, RELAXING....did I mention FREEDOM.....roll on when it is Monday Tuesday Wednesday I SAY!!!!

This is my time to be a full time mum, to enjoy the days I have with Flynn and with Max before he starts school next year.

here is a photo just because he is cute!!!!!

WOW 4 years old

4 years ago I was scrapping. Darren was out and i had eaten a massive serving of pasta and chocolate (not together). At 1.15am I went POP just as I rolled into bed.

4 years on and here he is today

strong willed

Happy

Funny

Charming

at times naughty

determined

switched on

chatty

a great imagination

playful

.......... and most importantly

all ours and gorgeous

I think in 5 years time I am in for some trouble

Happy Australia day to ALL xxxxx

and she scraps!!!!

for the first time since July.......oh how I missed it

this layout is a copy of MY layout....it was LOST on the way back from photographing and was in scrapbooking memories way back in early 2008 (v9 n9). So I copied it as I adored it sooooo much and hated it being LOST somewhere out there

this LO is for the sketch challenge over at scrapbook savvy

oh it feels great to scrap again. AND i have 2 cool NEW tools the Martha Stewart LOOPY punch which I adore AND a scrapbooking Singer sewing machine. Scrapbooking was ruining my $900 Janome. So I went to the sewing machine shop in Liverpool and spoke to join who has been there since I did year 7 textiles and he sold me a gorgeous machine for $125......he has good ones for scrapping from $50 and as my Janome cost $250 to service it is well worth it.

off to scrap more....still WAITING for project life to arrive