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.

The finished work.....

I just love this photo of Ella even though it's a bit fuzzy and dark. I found it again the other day and thought it would great with these MME paper I had. Love the Heidi Swapp bling words too, I've had them for ages and used a couple on the weekend. How funny is this photo of Hudson??? I love it, it's of him winking, hence the title, lol.
I had fun with a bit of doodling on this layout, had to tell myself to stop rather Kirsty had to tell me to stop, lol.
This is a photo of my Mum and her sister, my Auntie Joan that was taken earlier this year at my Mum's 70th Birthday party, I think it's a great one of the two of them. I used the Crate Paper tags and paper for this layout. This is a scrap lift of a layout in the very talented Ali Edwards book, A Designers Eye. I hadn't planned on doing this layout at all, I had the photos with me to finish off the mini book from the Convention. I decided to use the B&W ones for the book so had these spare as well as the papers which I had just thrown in in case I needed them. Glad I did.
And lastly, a layout using the gorgeous Basic Grey range, Phoebe. It took me ages to get this right but I'm quite happy with it now. You can't tell but the circles and birds are raised by using pop dots so it has a bit of dimension to it.

What a Fabulous Weekend!!!

I had an absolutely awesome time away on my scrapping weekend. The company was wonderful, the cottage very cute and the weather surprisingly mild. I was expecting to really feel the cold but it was very pleasant and the house had a coonara fire so we all kept very toasty warm. I flew down Friday morning and we headed up to the house Friday afternoon via a Scrapbook shop for last minute supplies of course, lol. We found the house up the end of a very hilly, narrow dirt lane and unpacked our gear, popped into Healesville for a few bits and then got back to start scrapping. I managed to complete one layout with the second nearly finished too, I was very happy with that.

We met another lovely friend of Sharon's, Tracey on Sat morning in Healesville and then took ourselves out for a very yummy breakfast. Then after a quick scrounge in the local op shop (got some really cute buttons) we started our scrapping day, only stopping for a late lunch, to say goodbye to Tracey and then for dinner. I finished off my layout from the night before, completed 2 more and then started the last one which I finished on Sunday. I would of liked to have done more but I am a very slow scrapper so that wasn't too bad really, we all could of stayed and kept scrapping for much longer. It was so wonderful to be able to sit uninterrupted and scrap away with the lovely, funny & talented company of Sharon, Steph & Kirst. These women were so much fun to go away with and totally inspiring as well, I had an absolute blast with you ladies!!!!!
Thankyou so much Sharon & Andrew for one of the best Birthday presents ever, it was exactly what I needed and I had the best time ever. It was fabulous to see you again and to have a cuddle with Max & Jemima, we miss you all so much.

So here's a few photos from the weekend:

The girls outside our very cute little cottage.

Steph & Kirsty hard at it.

The five of us on Saturday just before Tracey went home.
The view or lack of on Sunday morning. It was one of those very foggy mornings that turn into a beautiful sunny day :)

It is just so beautiful up that way, I love it.

Funny photo of Sharon

Everybodies work for you to see.

We went out for lunch in Healesville on the way home to a fabulous wineries cellar door called Giant Steps where we had the BEST pizzas I have ever eaten, they were so delicious and so was the wine. If you're up that way make sure you call in and check it out, it's a fab place and it was a totally wonderful way to finish off a fabulous weekend.

I haven't had a chance to take photos of the layouts I finished, hopefully I'll get to that tomorrow so I'll share with you all then :)

Off to bed now, sleep well all xx

WOOHOOO!!!!!! Doin the happy dance!

I'm off for a few days of scrapping bliss! The wonderful Sharon (and Andrew too) have shouted me a flight south for the weekend for my up coming Birthday and she has also organised a scrapping weekend with the gorgeous and fabulous Kirsty and Steph. We're going to be staying at this very cute cottage, I can't wait! I'm going to miss the kids terribly & Col of course, I haven't ever been away from Hudson and have only left Ella for a few days when she was 10 months old and we came up here to find a house to live in. I must admit though I am looking forward to waking up on my own and then just rolling over and going back to sleep, lol.

I had planned on doing my next art journal card before I went but haven't got to it so that will be on the list of projects to do on the weekend. I shall share what I manage to do with you next week. :)

Have a great weekend xx.