So EXCITED!!!!!!

Tomorrow I'm heading off to Maleny to stay at Wattle Gully Retreat for a weekend with the girls - Ruth, Gayle, Megan, Kath, Sharon, Kirsty and Anita. I cannot wait!!!!! Well I have been waitng nearly 5 months for this to come around so I'm really excited and looking forward to heading up there tomorrow. We are going for a craft/scrapping weekend to get away and scrap to our hearts content or to just put our feet up and relax. I'm nearly organised, just a bit of cooking to do, pack the scrapbook supplies into the suitcase properly and find a few clothes to take with me. I've even planned a few layouts, my aim is to well and truly beat the total of 5 layouts I did on my last weekend away, I'm such a slow scrapper but this time I'm a bit more organised and have managed to plan my layouts a bit more.

I haven't been to Maleny yet but hear it is really beautiful, will let you know next week when I get back. We're going to have lunch in Maleny tomorrow on our way to the farmhouse we're staying in and then get ourselves set up and organised and scrap, scrap, scrap!!! I'm sure there's going to be lots of laughter, drinking, eating and not much sleep over the weekend - I can't wait!!!

Shall share the finished products next week with you :)

And lastly a layout I did for the Scrapbook Princess using some of the Love Elsie range and a lot of bling. The photo doesn't show it properly but the dots in the chipboard ovals are all bling.

Happy Birthday Blog!

Wow I can't believe I've been doing this blog for just over 12 months, where does the time go? In the last 12 months I've done 65 posts, just over one a week so that's not too bad I reckon. Although I do wonder at times why I am doing it, my Mother has no idea how to get it up even after I have told her how many, many times *rolls eyes* and I think the only family member that checks it regularly is Sharon, the main reasons I started it. Still I think it will be a lovely thing for us too look back on and see where we have been. I know there are a few people that check in regularly but if you stop by please leave a comment so I know I'm not rattling on totally to myself!!
xxx

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads out there

I hope you've all had a wonderful relaxing day with your loved ones. We've had a very lazy but lovely day. The kids woke at the usual time just after 6am so I got up with them and we let Col sleep until 9 when we woke him with his stash of pressies and breakfast in bed. The kids thought it was really exciting opening pressies in bed and then having breakie there, they wanted to have theirs there too.

Ella & Hudson gave him the obligatory socks and jocks (which Col needed), a children's story book called "My Amazing Dad", a deep fryer that Col has been wanting for ages and a little book I made which was full of photos of Col and he kids. I think he was pretty happy with it all :).

We had a lazy morning and then packed up a picnic and went down to a local park where we fed the ducks, kicked the soccer ball around, played on the playground and ate heaps - a very lovely pleasant way to spend the day.

And of course here's a few photos for you :)

Huddy looks like Chad Morgan in this photo with his hat on sideways, lol.

Where have the last 2 years gone?????

I can't believe it's 2 years since Hudson was born but it is. It was his 2nd Birthday today and he's not my baby anymore but a real little boy - a rough and tumble, cuddly, loving, thug of a boy!!!



Sadly we had a very quiet day today due to both Hudson and Ella being sick again (just not our year this year) but we did have a lovely little celebration with our friends on Sunday. It's our gorgeous friends Erin's 4th Birthday on Friday so we had a joint celebration for them both and thank goodness the weather turned and it stopped raining on Saturday and was a beautiful sunny day on Sunday. Hudson was a very spoilt boy and got lots of fabulous presents which he is having heaps of fun exploring. He also got quite a few presents in the mail which was very exciting for him, opening the parcel and then the present - a double present, lol.




We had a little family party tonight with fairy bread, cheerios (little boys/sausages), homemade sausage rolls and Birthday cake for tea. Not a gourmet dinner by any standard but Hudson and Ella both thought it was pretty great. They were both so excited about making the cake this afternoon, decorating it and then blowing out the candles (we did it 5 times, lol) for neither of them to actually eat any of the cake. It was a really lovely low key night.

Funny!!!

Saw this on another blog, it tickled my fancy.

Very funny & clever Mum!!!

they survived......

the curls that is.

Huddy had his hair cut last weekend and I was really worried that his curls would all disappear. Not that he had a lot cut off but it is a lot shorter than it was - don't think I could do a top knot now, lol. in fact the curls have come back with a vengeance, I think the weight of his hair was pulling them down.

Very happy Mummy here, I love my boys curls.

Before


and After

excuse the grubby face in the last shots, Huddy had been eating one of his favourite meals, marinated chicken wings.

Some pics....

Just thought I would share some of my latest layouts. I've been doing a few as part of the Design Team for the Scrapbook Princess and had heaps of fun working with things I proabably wouldn't normally pick myself. It's great to challenge yourself and think in a different way, fun too!!













And these are a few I did a little while ago but haven't shown you :)

M.I.A.

Wow what a bad blogger I've been. I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I last blogged - bad, bad, bad!!!!

I do have some sort of excuse, probably not the best of excuses but an excuse none the less. We have been the house of illness, take your pick from conjunctivitis, tonsillitis, respiratory tract infection, sinusitis, flu, gastro and might as well throw in a case of constipation as well. You name it we've had it, thank god Margie was here as there is no way I could've coped being sick and looking after both sick kids as well, she was a lifesaver. We also spent 6 days down on the gold Coast as well so that's the reasons I haven't been here, motivation is still coming back I'm afraid.


So what's happening with us otherwise??? Here's just a quick update and a few photos to share with you.


Ella & Huddy have started playing together a lot more and it's so gorgeous to see them having fun together. I suppose it has a lot to do with Hudson being nearly 2 and a lot more interested in what Ella is doing. He still doesn't have the attention span so it doesn't last long but that will change before we know it I'm sure. They love to have tickle fests and I just adore the giggling that comes from them both when they do, so cute.


We had to laugh the other day when we heard Hudson yelling out "help, help, stuck" and came into the playroom to find him like this, lol.

We have loved having Margie here to stay with us and the kids have used her story telling skills to great use. It's so lovely to see this every night, they are going to miss her terribly when she goes home next Monday ( and so will we!!!)

Ella's drawing skills are coming along in leaps and bounds, I took this photo of her drawing of Col the other day as I was so impressed, I was so excited to see an actual face with eyes, nose, cheeks and mouth actually in the head space and not all over the place as she has been doing, lol. I love this stage, watching them get their drawing skills together.

Hudson's hair is getting longer and longer and he is actually going to the hairdresser on Saturday for a hair cut not just a trim, I'm praying he doesn't lose all his beautiful curls. I've been wanting to put his hair up in a top knot for ages and ages but Col wouldn't let me. He couldn't stop me when he was at work though. Isn't he a pretty boy! Huddy actually quite liked it and wore it for the whole day like this, much to Col's disgust, especially when I took him to the airport to pick up Murphy & Merrick. Huddy hasn't let me put it up again though, I think Col may have had words with him, lol.

As I said we spent 6 days down on the Gold Coast at an apartment Margie booked through timeshare. I wasn't sure about going seeing we were all still recovering from our illnesses but it was really the best thing for us all. We had a wonderful time and it was really, really relaxing, no housework, washing, jobs staring at me every day!!! The weather was beautiful, lovely sunny days and about 25 degrees everyday - perfect. The kids had fun in the spa and down at the beach and park and we had a couple of lovely lunches with friends catching up.

This was the view from our apartment, it was in Labrador up on the north side of the Broadwater.

Col cooked a seafood extravaganza one night at Murphy's request and it was DELICIOUS!!!! He outdid himself, we had crayfish, prawns, scallops and oysters and not one bit was left over. I had to take a photos we were all so impressed.

And finally a photo of the kids in the spa with Murphy, it looks like it was taken a night time but it was actually at about 5.00pm just before sunset, and Murphy does have bathers on, you just can't see her bikini top, lol.

So that's it really, in short form anyway, I promise to try and be a bit more diligent and update a lot more regularly.

Love to all xxx

Our Baby is 3 !!!!

Today is Ella's 3rd Birthday, our baby is a little girl now , sob, sob. I can't believe three years ago I was in Hospital in Vic having my first baby, it seems like yesterday and so much has happened between then and now!!!

Ella has had a fabulous day and has crashed into bed a very happy little girl. We had a small party on Sunday when I made her her special cake, her first request was an Elephant cake which I refused reminding her that was what she had last year, then she asked for a Giraffe cake which she also had last year so she then settled on a Butterfly cake. She had a lovely time and has been so excited about her big day. Col's Mum arrived on Saturday too which is wonderful, it's lovely that she is here for Ella's birthday helping her to celebrate and spoiling her rotten.

She had another cake at our regular park get together, a donut cake (ring tin) as Ella called it, decorated in smarties by her and Huddy. The kids all loved it and Ella had a wonderful time.

Ella was very spoilt and got some gorgeous presents. She is full on into the imaginative play at the moment so we got her a toy kitchen and a great set of food to go with it. She also got some lovely books, clothes,cd's, jewellery, games and some fabulous cooking things as well.

Here she is checking out her stash:

Opening some of her presents.Helping Daddy put the kitchen together.Showing off some of the cooking outfit she got, it came with a mini rolling pin, spatula, wooden spoon and cutters, very cute indeed. :)Today on her actual Birthday we went to a little fun day with some lovely friends, they had a concert, jumping castle and face painting. Ella wanted to be a tiger again but they didn't have tiger faces in their repertoire so she came home as a cat, very apt seeing she has spent a great deal of time lately pretending to be a cat lately.

Tonight we went to a hotel on the North side at Everton Park that I had read had a great kids play area so off we went to check it out. The review was right, the play area was fabulous and Ella & Huddy had an absolute ball playing in there. They were so good seeing as we didn't get there until 6.30pm (bloody traffic!!) and they didn't eat until after 7, an hour later than they usually do. The playground definitely made up for the wait for dinner though and we will be going back again, probably when it's a bit warmer though, it was very chilly out there tonight.

Having a Fabulous week......

My Mum and Dad arrived here on Monday night, just in time for my Birthday and it's absolutely fabulous having them here. The kids are loving it and ask first thing in the morning "Where's Nana and Poppy?" and then proceed to harrass them for the rest of the day. It's been nearly 2 years since they were here last (when Huddy was born) so it's been a long time. We've seen them quite a lotdown south, they just haven't been able to make it up here with Mum being so unwell for the last few years. Thankfully she's on the mend now though. We don't have very exciting plans for them while they are here but are just enjoying being able to spend each day together.

It was my Birthday on Tuesday and I had a wonderful day!! We had our regular park catchup where Megan bought along a fabulously delicious flourless chocolate cake and they all sang Happy Birthday to me. Col took half the day off and so we went out for lunch to Sirromet Winery for a really beautiful lunch. The weather was magnificent and the view there is lovely. The kids all had a great time playing together in the kids area while we all had a lovely wine or two. It was a wonderful lunch with wonderful family and friends and I was spoilt rotten. There are no photos though as I forgot my camera which I was very cross about.

Some more exciting news I got this week is that I've been chosen to be part of the Design Team at my local Scrapbooking shop, The Scrapbook Princess, Yahoo!!!! I'm really excited and still a bit surprised that I was chosen but I can't wait to get started. My lovely friend Gayle was also chosen so I'm sure we will have a lot of fun together :). The very talented and gorgeous Briohny is a Design Team member there already and I'm hoping that some of her talent will rub off on me.