I've been very slack where the blog is concerned, there just hasn't been enough hours in the day to get to it unfortunately. We have been insanely busy and are all feeling completely worn out but unbelievably excited abut Christmas.

There's a lot happening in the Fletcher household at the minute, some very exciting things coming up as well as a lot of work that needs to be done. Stay tuned for more news of this :)
I thought I was very organised having done most of my Christmas shopping for family in Victoria when I was there in October but fell in a huge heap when I got back - constant sickness will do that! Anyway we are now all organised, the presents are wrapped, the chocolate pav is in the oven, the prawns are peeled and ready to be devoured and the kids are sooooo very excited about the big fat man in red coming tonight!!!!

We would like to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and hope that tomorrow is filled with laughter and joy and that your New Year is full of wonderful and exciting adventures!!

Merry Christmas!!!

123 Challenge December is......

1. A Christmas tree somewhere on the page
2. A big splash of paint.
3. Lots of bling......pearls, rhinestones, glitter, anything sparkly.

Now there is NO WAY you CAN'T ALL do this one!!! Come along and join in!

How cute is this....

Scrapware have a new blog and this gorgeous new little Birdhouse. Go check it out. They have a giveaway at them moment too.

Warning Photo Overload!!!

Just thought I would share a few of the hundreds of photos I took while we were away. We're back home now and I unfortunately have been suffering the last few days from conjunctivitis, and an ear, throat and sinus infection! So this is just going to be a photo share, still not feeling great and don't have the energy to write loads which I'm sure your all glad about, lol.


Dad got the famous 'Fergie' going and the kids had a blast going for rides on it with Dad.





We spent a few hours down the beach when we were at Col's Mums, the one thing the kids were really looking forward to funnily enough. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great and it was a very grey and overcast day when we were there, that didn't seem to bother Ella and Huddy too much though.

We really miss only being 5 minutes from the beach.

Huddy picking up "Jelly Blobbers" (jellyfish as named by Nana) and throwing them back into the water, he had a ball doing this and it kept him occupied for ages.

It was Max's 5th Birthday while we there, can't believe it's been 5 years since he arrived in our lives! He had a party at a fab play centre with a great monster cake made by Sharon.

The Play Center was mainly all big slides.

Ella and Max are both really into letters and words at the moment so they had a great time with Nana spelling out everyons names - including all the cats we have between us, lol.

Ella's playdough cake creation, she was very proud of it and wanted to bring it home with us.

A fabulous morning out at a great community built park not far from Sharon and Andrews.

The kids had a ball climbing this.

Well that's it, back to the couch for me I think. Will be back soon!

November 123 Challenge....

1 . Lace
2. Pics of scary faces... we have just had halloween so this should be easy
3. Monochromatic color scheme


Looking forward to seeing some SCARY layouts ladies!!!

** Scary faces is your own interpretation.... doesn't have to be Halloween related!!!
HAVE FUN!!!

So talented.....

A while ago a girlfriend introduced me to this amazing couple who met on flickr from opposites sides of the world and then fell in love, such a sweet romantic story. Rosie and Aaron have now started a blog as well so I thought I would post about it, they are definitely worth a look.



I love their photos and the amazing photoshopping they do.



Do yourself a favour and GO check them out...................

Quick update.

Just thought I should do a quick update.

The kids and I flew down to Melbourne on Tuesday and after a quick lunch with Andrew, Sharon, Max and Mima we headed up to my Mum and Dads house in Charlton.

We have been having a lovely time, it's very relaxing here and Ella and Huddy are loving being with their Nana and Poppy. The thing they were looking forward to the most (besides seeing Nana & Poppy of course) was going for a ride on Poppy's tractor! Unfortunately that hasn't happened yet as the tractor wouldn't start, needless to say the kids were really disappointed but Dad did get it started late today so it's on the agenda for first thing in the morning. Cross your fingers that the old Massey Ferguson, more endearingly known as Fergie, starts tomorrow for us, lol.


I love coming to my parents house, it's relaxing, cool in Summer (cold in winter though), has a lovely garden and is a beautiful old home filled with lots of memories from my childhood, not that I grew up here but my mother is a true hoarder and there are lots of little things around the house that remind me of my childhood.

Hudson has been following my Dad around like for the last few days, concerned about where he is when ever he can't see him and pestering him for rides on the tractor or for a push on the swing. Poor Dad has spent quite a bit of time the last few days pushing him or Ella on the swing on their back verandah - bliss for me though, lol!

Tomorrow is a big day for Charlton, it's the Charlton Agriculture Show, an annual event that the whole town comes out for. Mum has been busy doing her bit to support the town and show by entering some floral arrangements. I'll try to remember to take a photo of them tomorrow, she's done a great job considering they are in the middle of a drought and she has had a lot of plants die and the garden definitely isn't up to standard. I'll let you know how she goes, lol. I have very fond memories of the Wycheproof show and entering numerous things, quite often getting a prize too. I'm looking forward to tomorrow as are the kids, Ella's keen for the animals and Huddy the rides. They are even having fireworks tomorrow night, hopefully the kids will last as I'm sure they would love it, it won't be up to the standards of NYE or Riverfest but I'm sure the kids will think they are spectacular none the less.

We are off down to Rye on Tuesday, really looking forward to catching up with some friends down there. The last few times we've been 'home' either I or the kids were sick so unable to catch up with anyone. I've organised a lunch with some girlfriends, a dinner with some other girlfriends and a another lunch with friends so that should be heaps of fun. Other than that we will be just spending time with Col's family and chilling out. We then head to Andrew and Sharon's house for the rest of our stay. This is a huge highlight in Ella and Huddys eyes as not only will they get to play with Max and Mima but it is also Max's 5th Birthday while we are there and he is having a party - the absolutely most exciting thing that could happen according to them, lol!!!!

So there you are, a quick update on our whereabouts, well not so quick but that's what happens when there is nothing on tv, no scrapping to be done and the housework isn't calling.

Ahhhh holidays, bliss!!!!!!!

xx

More yumminess!!!!!

Oh my I am definitely getting myself some of this - the new Sassafras Lass Christmas range, Life at the Pole. They just now how to do it don't they, the epitome of cuteness. Loving it!!!!

Loving this!!!

Just saw the new range from Websters pages and I must say I love it! So pretty.

And they are having a giveaway too, go here to check it out :)

October 123 Criteria is.........

It's a little different this month as Charmane and Karlene loved all the suggestions put up....

Use THREE of the following criteria on your layout:
1 Hand-stitching
2 Use the colour purple somewhere on the layout
3 garden theme!
4 an animal somewhere... there's loads of cute animal embellies at the moment like birds, owls, bugs, butterfly or create your own

if you want to use all of the criteria - EVEN BETTER!!!

THE NEXT 123 Cybercrop WILL BE HELD ON Monday 13th of October starting at 7:30pm - MORE details coming soon!

Fab Family Day!

It was a gorgeous day in Brissy yesterday so we decided to take the kids down to the beach. Now there aren't a lot of choice for beaches in Brisbane itself, there are mostly mud flats but there is one really lovely but very busy spot not that far from us - Wellington Point. So we headed down there and the kids had a ball, they had their first swim (well paddle really) and made their first sand castle for the season. It was lovely. The playground there has been redone and Ella and Huddy had a great time playing on it as well as climbing all over the huge root system from the magnificent Moreton Bay Figs there.




Of course I had to take my camera with us to have a bit of a practice, lol.

Huddy loves to kiss and cuddle, I dread the day where he'll be too embarrassed to kiss us in public, I hope he never stops doing this.

We were going to just get take away from the Cafe there but they were so busy we ended up going to the restaurant and having a lovely lunch with a nice glass of wine - pure Sunday bliss!!!!!

Ella and Col decided to swap sunnies.

Of course Hudson had to be in on it too.

This kids got attitude!!!!

When we got home Ella insited on going in the pool for a swim, there was no way I was getting in, the water was freezing. She had a lovely time paddling around although she did admit to be 'freeeeeeezzing' when she got out, lol.

It's not so scary after all!

Last Saturday Kath, Anita and I did a photography course up at Mount Tambourine with a fabulous company called Bluedog. It is run by two extremely talented and lovely people, Nick and Danielle Lancaster who have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to photography and who really made it all sound so simple. I got heaps out of the day and came away having learnt heaps about my own camera as well as Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO. I highly recommend them to anyone wanting to get to know their camera better as well as demystifying the lingo that goes with a camera.

I thought I would share a couple of photos (straight out of the camera) that I took on the day, not brilliant ones by any means but just shows you some of the cool things we did........

like freezing water


















and slow shutter speed nighttime photos














closeups with a blurred background

and landscapes with a long depth of field.

On Sunday Col took Hudson for a 'boys' day out to the 'Festival of Speed at Tweed' so Ella and I had a lovely girly day together. We went for a picnic down to a lovely park on the river - Colmslie Park and of course I had to take my camera with us for a bit of a play. Ella wasn't really into co-operating much (what's new) but I did manage to take a couple of photos like these ones of my girl :)