The Week That Was

It's been a week since I updated, I kept meaning to but have just been busy, side-tracked or just plain not in the mood. This poor blog must feel so un-loved.

Well I have started *the* album which I agreed to do, 3 layouts of the 20 needed are pretty much done but will need some tweaking and finishing off but I figure if I get all the basics on the page most everything else will fall in place eventually.

My new kit is finished, I just need to do some zipping, file naming and make a preview for it so keep an eye out here for it hopefully within this next week.

Last week on Feb 21st I became a Great Aunt with the birth of a great-nephew! He lives in the UK so he'll be a big kid by the time we get to see him I suspect but we saw photos of him today for the first time and he is simply perfect. A stunning head of thick dark hair, and so terribly handsome...funnily enough it didn't make me clucky for another baby..but it *really* made me miss all of our family in the UK!

Nothing much else happening, though my Nana is quite ill at the moment, possibly another stroke but no-one seems sure yet until test results are in. She's 89 years old so she's had a fair old life. She suffers from dementia and Alzheimers so hasn't really known who I am, or the kids, or even her own kids are for quite sometime. It's awful watching her deteriorate so slowly, she used to be quite a funny old duck and quite a giggle when I was younger.

So as you can see not much happening here, Joe seems to have a sniffle at the moment but nothing too major (thus far) and he still managed to smack Scarlett in the face so hard with the corner of a book that her nose has a big bloodied scratch mark across it!

My Auntie is coming up tomorrow morning and I can't wait as she's bringing a photo album from when I was little with a picture of me and my Dad in it that she said is gorgeous. I love seeing pics of Dad. Last week my Mum showed me some pics she brought back from my Auntie in UK of my Dad when he was a baby and also around the 7-8 year old mark. The resemblance to Joe is amazing. There were also some great pics of my other Nana, who passed away about 18 months ago as a young girl, and with my grandfather when they were just a young couple of 17 years old or thereabouts. Can't wait to get scanning them!!

It's Official...I'm INSANE!

Many have suspected it for some time, but now I know it's true. Yesterday I agreed to do a full 6x6 album of 20 layouts in just 7 weeks. What was I thinking? Apart from the fact my house already looks like a bomb hit it, and the fact that I have two 2 year olds to chase after all day everyday, I have a 7 year old with an attitude bigger than Paris Hilton's bank account and I am in the midst of designing my new kit (which by the way is coming along beautifully and I am so excited by it!!)..where am I going to find the time (not to mention Mojo) to actually do this album? I sense a few late night-ers coming up! Though if I can't get my scanner back in action soon I'll have a great excuse not to do it!
Apart from scrapping there's not much else happening. We've had a big breakthrough with Joe the last couple of days as he has finally decided to start walking to and from school again and we've had no hissy fits about it, though I am pretty careful when Ab says goodbye to not let Joe hear and we just let her head into her classroom without stopping at all!
Oh and we got rid of a baby gate today ..yay! Am sick of tripping over it and the twins can just push it over and walk right through anyhow so we are testing how things go without it.

One of my fave designers (no I am not sucking up I just adore her style) released her new kit yesterday at the DSH Store
Check it out, it's just GORGEOUS..it's Katef's "Fly Me To The Moon" kit and I just love the colours and theme of it! Fab work Kate!

Whistle While You Work

Seems everytime I get stuck with my scrapping Mojo of late I end up putting on music to get me going again. It's working really well and from having no clue what my new kit would be on Friday morning, to today having 8 papers and 2 elements underway I'd say I am on a roll.
So here's my Top 10 Tunes to Scrap to (in no particular order)

1. Crazy Chick - Charlotte Church
2. Push the Button - Sugababes
3. Ugly - Sugababes
4. Beer For My Horses - Toby Keith/Willie Nelson
5. My Town - Montgomery Gentry
6. Save The Last Dance For Me - Michael Buble
7. We Used To Be Friends - the Dandy Warhols
8. If You Ever Stop Loving Me -Montgomery Gentry
9. Party For Two - Shania Twain/ Billy Currington
10. Me and Charlie Talking - Miranda Lambert

It's been a quiet enough weekend for various reasons but mostly we were too knackered to do much! On Thursday night our gorgeous boy cat decided to go missing and search though we did through the neighbourhood we could not find a trace of him, so we didn't get much sleep that night but he came home safely on Friday morning as though nothing ever happened!

Friday night S&J came over for drinks and nibblies and we chatted until well into the night, was a good laugh and preparations are now underway for a big curry dinner party to celebrate G's birthday in April..yum!

"Sweet Little Miss" Kit by JoMadeThis! - Available Now!!






Yay! My first kit as a designer is now officially instore at Digital Scrapbook Haven

I am so excited, and of course very proud. Above is a peek at some of the pieces included in the kit. It's a page of Scarlett, who was largely my inspiration for this kit, she's so sweet and girlie!
Any and all feedback welcomed!

Time to get rolling on my next kit now!

Testosterone Overload

I have come to the conclusion that little girls have just as much testosterone coursing through their bodies as boys do, the major difference being that eventually the girlie hormones kick in and the testosterone is put in it's place by the female hormones and thus little girls become big girls and boys remain well...little boys.
The reason for this biology lesson? Abbey brought home a whoopee cushion from school today. Apparently she got to choose a prize as she had accumulated enough points to get something, and while other kids chose bubbles mixtures and coloured pencils, my daughter chose the whoopee cushion. All 3 kids are now in fits of laughter in the other room as various fart-like noises get louder and more vulgar, and strangely enough I think the girls are laughing harder than Joe..who actually is a boy!
All I can say is wait until Dad gets home and then we'll see who the biggest kid is.

Mental note: Check behind pillows and under quilt before getting in bed tonight!

Zoolander !

No real reason for posting this picture, I just like it. Joe was in a fun mood and looked cute all snuggled up in his towel. Of course I am completely biased but I think he's a pretty handsome young man! He's become quite a lot of fun recently and is really into wrestling with his sisters (whether they want to or not!), he loves his trucks, cars, planes and trains, loves to run around and be loud, and really loves the Wiggles at the moment. He is such a good natured fellow, very cheeky and even when he gets upset he usually snaps out of it fairly fast.

You Know You Make Me Wanna SHOUT!

Well yesterday morning we picked my Mum up from the airport as she had been away for 13 weeks overseas....today I am ready to take her back to the damn airport and stick her on any plane going any where!
She is the worlds most frustrating woman, and I actually had to yell at her today, in front of my Aunt and Uncle, to make her stop undermining my parenting skills with the kids. She said "Oh sorry" and then immediately continued doing it. I physically had to leave the room and calm down before I lost it completely. I could go on about this woman but I need to go to bed soon and I won't sleep if I get all worked up about it now...I've even had to send G out to get me a stiff drink to calm me down....okay well actually it's a McD's strawberry milkshake but I don't drink alcohol so that's the next best thing for me.

We did end up getting the kids new shoes yesterday, as suspected all kids have gone up a full size so that was a big plus to the weekend. G and I even left the kids with my mother and "nipped" to the shops for 2 hours and had a nice long un-interrupted lunch together, the first one in a loooooong time where we didn't have a toddler hanging off the table repeating "mummy,mummy,mummy" over and over and over.

I confess despite my mother being here tonight I did have some fun with the twins going mad singing and dancing with the Wiggles while I played a card game with Ab. We should have more time like that together..it was so nice.

Blah Blah Blah


Well it's the end of the week and all I can say is Thank Goodness! It's been a tough week with the twins (read Joe) getting used to Ab being back at school, but I think we have it mostly sorted. He still refuses to walk to school though and still refuses to use the single stroller! Scar on the other hand completely refuses to go in a stroller at all so she is walking everyday, which I actually don't mind too much as it helps tire her out and plus she is really good at it. She never stops, complains or decides she doesn't want to go any further..she just plods along beside me and holds my hand the whole way without fuss.
She has however discovered the fine art of tantrum throwing. She's like a little wildcat when she gets upset, she screams, bites, throws things and gets completely hysterical. Of course when she isn't being that way she is the sweetest, most angelic, chatty little girl you could imagine! Talk about personality issues!

Most exciting is that my digital kit will soon be up for sale and as soon as it is..I will be posting here to let you know how to get it so stay tuned! I am pretty pleased with how it turned out!

Busy weekend ahead, my mother is back from her overseas trip so we are off to the airport in the morning to collect her, we also have to get new shoes for the kids as they have all had growth spurts recently and their shoes are a bit snug to say the least.
I did save us one weekend job by doing something I *swore* I would never never do. I cut the kids hair...eeek! Actually it turned out okay, I just took a bit off the sides and back of Joe and only did Scar's fringe, and there is no way that I will cut Ab's, it's too thick for me to handle but at least I have bought us some time and we can wait a week or two to get hers done.
Sunday is another busy one as Mum is coming for dinner, G is off to watch Adelaide United play and Ab has swimming too. She's really starting to get the hang of this swimming lark now and letting go of both her instructor and not trying to hold on to a wall at the same time. It's taken a year but it's been worth it to watch her now her water confidence is growing.

Last but not least a huge congrats to Skipper on the birth of her baby boy!! I am so excited for her and can't wait to meet him!

If You Can't Beat 'Em....Give In!


Yesterday the twins were very happy to walk all the way to school in the afternoon and back again, good as gold, no tantrums, no screaming and no stopping half way through.
This afternoon didn't go as planned, we were running a few minutes late due to a phone call and then I rushed to wake the twins up from their nap.

Joe decided he didn't want to walk today
Scarlett decided she did
Joe decided to insist on going in the stroller
Mummy decided she would use the single stroller
Joe decided he didn't want the single stroller only the double stroller
Mummy decided to give up and took a double stroller with one child in it and one walking beside it. *sigh*

A New Week Begins

Well it's Monday. It was a bit of a slow weekend with G still not being up to doing too much but it was nice enough anyway. He's doing much better now and we are just awaiting an appointment with the Allergy Specialist to see what he suggests, and G is back at work now so we will just take things one day at a time.

I have more or less finished designing my first kit that will go into the store at DSH. I just have to do some final tweaking and a preview image (yikes) before I zip up the files. I really need a Designer name so if anyone has some great suggestions now is the time to leave a comment and let me know!! I also need to find a name for my kit, I have one I am thinking of right now so that may work. I am just itching to get this kit loaded up to the store so I can start on something new, perhaps even some scrap pages of my own!

Ab is back at school today, her first day in Yr 2. She seemed happy enough when I left her at school and probably happy to be back amongst her friends after being cooped up with the twins for so many weeks. Joe and Scar seem to be coping well without her so far which in turn makes my life much easier!

Scary Stuff!

Wow, this week we had one of those wakeup calls about how fast something can happen and completely turn your life upside down (at least temporarily)

Tuesday night Scarlett was really restless with her sleep, Gareth had gone to bed early with a bad headache and so it was me getting up to Scar that night, which I didn't mind. It was just one of those nights and I didn't sleep well!
Wednesday was busy with my Auntie over for the morning and then a DSH chat and I just felt tired and wanted takeaway for tea which Gareth was happy to pick up...bless him!

We ate at 6.30pm, and at 7.30pm I went into the study to ask Gareth for some help getting kids to bed and noticed he had a couple of mozzie bite marks in one area just under his armpit and he commented he thought it was itchy there. We put the kids to bed and G went back on the PC while I watched TV, but he came in about 8.20 and his arms were now both covered in what looked giant mozzie bites and they were spreading fast. Making a looong story short by 10.30pm these "bites" had spread the length of both arms, down his torso, stomach and starting up his neck and down his legs. The original "bites" were all merged into one huge lump..so enough was enough and he took himself off down to the hospital. They gave him an anti-histamine (assuming it was hives) and told him to wait an hour...45 minutes into that hour he went to stand up and his blood pressure crashed, he ended up having adrenalin and an ECG to stabilise him. He stayed overnight (but in his state didn't get to ring me so I was at home freaking out as to where he was until I rang the ER at 5.15am) He arrived home at 8.20am and so much of his rash was gone, it was just unbelievable. He went to sleep but by midday it was all starting up again and so I had our family GP come in and see him, he was prescribed medication and that seems to have done the trick for now, but the Dr says he suffered an anaphylactic reaction which can be life-threatening so we need to find the trigger and it is a possibility he will have to carry around with him an adrenalin shot, we will know more once we see an allergy specialist.

We were lucky as throughout the ordeal, DH never actually felt sick and kept his sense of humour and even allowed me to take photos, now I just have to convince him to let me scrap them..or show them here on my blog!