Hallelujah!

Today the twins slept for almost 2 hours, the wave of relief that swept over me when they dropped off to sleep is too enormous to be able to express. The afternoon and evening went well, no fighting, no biting, no tantrums and no screaming. I could not have asked for better considering G was working late tonight and I knew he wouldn't be likely to be home in time to see them before bedtime. Everything went smoothly, Joe was still being a little ratty when G came home but after G went to see him he settled down nicely to sleep and all was well by 7.45pm.

My mental health status has hit an all-time high for this week! I can't describe how much I just needed those two hours of peace. I am not going to count on it happening again tomorrow, but at least I feel a little rejuvenated.

Just Say NO

Too many things I want to blog today so will most likely forget 95% of them as I go!
It's been a few days since I blogged but have been kept fairly busy. Saturday night I went to a Quiz night up at Ab's school while G watched the kids. I went with Mum and a couple of her friends plus another mum from Ab's class and her husband, everyone else ditched us at the last minute so instead of having a full table of 10 we only had 6 of us. Not to worry though we did quite well considering we were the smallest table there. We came 8th out of 17 tables so I thought that wasn't too bad really, it was the Sports Round that killed us! We didn't have a clue!

Monday was a pretty good day, spent the morning doing some bits about the house and then at lunch G came home with my Mum so that G and I could head into town to see an Allergy Specialist about the reaction G had back in February (see here and here for details if you missed it) He had some skin prick tests done ie they covered his arms with 35 or so drops of goo ranging from cows milk, peanut, pollen, canola, lupin, shrimp etc etc and then poked him until he bled on each spot and then waited to see what happened. In short nothing very much happened but they charged us over $200 for turning him into a human pin cushion. Our next step in the investigation is to buy another pizza and see what happens when he eats it..yeah now that's something I am looking forward to..NOT!

After the appointment we headed out to North Adelaide and had dinner at a super-yummy Indian place called Beyond India, the food was truly mouth-watering and the restaurant itself has been done up quite a bit since we last went there 4 years ago. It's actually moved premises to the opposite side of the road from what it used to be and is much roomier now, the food and service was really good and we used our Entertainment Book vouchers and got 25% off so even better. We then got really decadent and popped next door into a nice cafe there and had a huge slice of rich chocolate mudcake with some type of nut through..couldn't decide whether it was hazelnut or walnut but it was extremely yummy just the same!

Only other thing going on here now is the twins have decided to say NO to daytime naps..I am not ready for this step at all. I still really feel like I need that break in the middle of the day to gear up for the afternoon rush, but Joe keeps jumping into bed with Scar and they end up playing toys which is okay for a while but then it all gets physical and argumentative and one or both ends up in tears. Of course by 5pm they are both cranky and over tired so it's going to mean some changes around here if they are truly going to give up naptime but I think I may try and fight it a bit longer and at least see if we can get naptime back..I don't like my chances after 5 days straight of missed naps. I should try to look at the bright side, now we can go out on day trips etc more and not have to make sure we are home in time for naps!

A Post About My Son's Doodle

Okay move along nothing rude to see here! I was letting Joe play around with my graphics tablet the other day and here is what he doodled!

I don't think somehow he is an artist in the making, he really doesn't have the patience unlike the girls who will both sit for ages drawing on anything, megasketchers, paper, colouring books etc. Abbey is seriously into a set of books called The Rainbow Fairies, it is all she wants to read all the time, she and her friends even play their own version of it at school and it's all I ever hear about! I am so glad her school library now has a huge range of these books as trying to keep up with Abbey reading them and actually having to buy them was costing us a fortune. She's taken to drawing the fairies a lot so here is her attempt at my Wacom tablet too.



Scar hasn't had a turn yet but will get her to do something too, she generally draws spiders or people but will see what she comes up with and post it back here when it's done.

Anyhow it's been up a rollercoaster week as I struggled with a headache/migraine for pretty much the first 3 days of the week, didn't want to watch TV, didn't want to sit at the PC and didn't want to do anything but sleep..not very do-able with twins toddlers in the house all day!
Yesterday I finally felt better and got on with some digi-bits that needed doing, the house got some much needed TLC and I even managed a quick visit from my Aunt so in all a good day!

Mostly looking forward to the weekend though the weather is due to be pretty rubbish to say the least! We have nothing too much planned. Ab has a double swiming lesson on Sunday morning and then G is due to head into work for a few hours so will be a quiet one here!

Easy Like Sunday Morning

It's been a reasonably nice weekend despite me feeling quite under the weather for most of Saturday. We popped in briefly to Harvey Norman's on Saturday and had 3 photos of the kids (the ones that are in the previous post) printed out in a 12x12 size so we could frame them for the hallway. They look amazing printed out and I can't stop looking at them, we also bought 2 frames which they gave us just over $4 each off for no real reason other than I think the girl must have felt bad that she had to order the third frame in for us as they only had 2 in stock!
I can't wait to pick the frame up during the week and get them hung on the wall. We'd been talking lately about getting new Pixi Photos or similar done but now don't feel the need which is great as last time we had some done the freebie they gave us was awful so we ended up having to spend about $200+ just to get some of the decent poses. We worked out the ones we did at home cost about $120 and are much nicer shots of the kids too! I still want to attempt a family shot though.
This morning Ab finally went back to swimming after a 4 week break due to illness and other committments, she did great and was nice to get us all out the house at a decent hour. We ended up heading to a park not far from Ab's swimming complex afterwards as we had been saying we would for ages. We played in the park for an hour or so in the gorgeous sunshine, I wish I had taken the camera but it wasn't a planned trip so was a bit unprepared. Joe had a blast on the swings I think I spent most of my time just standing there while he giggled and grinned like a maniac. Scarlett was a daredevil on the slide and Abbey took great delight in squealing her head off on the flying fox. We eventually left to head down to the shops so I could get a pair of jeans and I swear I got the bargain of the century..a new pair of jeans in Target for $17.40 and they fit perfectly..yay. Jeans shopping is something I normally despise, along with shoe shopping!
Other than that I have been busy designing and finished another kit this week, the preview is proving difficult though as I can't seem to fit everything on one page..so may need to do two previews on this one, we'll see. I'm hoping to get some scrapping done too this week, my Mum is over here on Tuesday as she hasn't been here for a week or so while she's been in Melbourne visiting my brother, I also have to take Ab for a hearing test, go to a Quiz night and G has his allergy specialist appt early next week too for his reaction that he had back in Feb!
Ah well .....off to bath the kids and make homemade pizza for tea!

Little Super Models

Well one of the few things we did on the weekend was to do a mini-photo shoot with the kids which was a lot of fun but in all honesty the twins didn't seem to want to co-operate..especially not both at the same time! I had been hoping to get a nice shot of the 3 of them but I was lucky to get two kids in any one picture let alone three. It was nice to give the camera a bit of a work out and see what we could get out of it though we still heave heaps to learn.
Anyway here are some of my fave shots that I took.....







I must say we got several stunning shots of Ab who was more than happy to play up for the camera. She's growing up fast and in my opinion..very beautiful! We didn;t get many of Scar, she started off happily enough but was more interested in playing and running off after about 5 minutes. Joe started grumpy and wouldn't even sit near the backdrop but I did manage to take quite a few of him and tried to get the backdrop in as much as possible.

The Days Go By

Again it's been nearly a week since I updated but I have been keeping busy enough.

Credits:
Flowers and papers: Shabby Spring by Jeri Ingalls
Paper tags : Retro Metro by Mommyish
Bling Fasteners : Heather's DREAM
Alpha: Sweet Sprinkles Kit by Shabby Princess
Fonts :Angelina, Adobe Caslon Pro and Gigi


This week I did the above layout as part of a Book Of Me project I am working on with some scrap friends. We had the whole month of June to do this layout based on the theme "10 things I love about me/being me" I was pretty sure it was going to take the entire month of June to think of the 10 things but luckily it didn't, and I am actually fairly happy with how this turned out.

I also started a new kit this week, not sure how it will turn out in the long run as it was only supposed to be small but it's grown somewhat and I know it doesn't feel finished so will see where that takes me.

I also had sometime out for me this week which I feel did me the world of good. My Mum came up for the day and so I decided to go get my haircut at a new hairdresser's as the last couple I have been to hacked my hair to pieces and stuffed up the colouring completely leaving me with a mish mash of blonde,red and caramel foils in chunks and stripes.
I am now one deep brown colour all over with a hint of mahogany, and the cut was one of the best I have had in a while since I stopped going to the guy who had been cutting my hair since I was 17. Having the twins made it too hard to travel all the way into the city to get my hair cut by him.
Anyhow after that I went for a wander around the local shops to look for a couple of bits and pieces, and then I treated myself to a Happy Meal at McDonalds..oh so quiet all by myself...absolute bliss!

Yesterday we took G and Joe to get their hair cut as Joe was looking quite a bit like a scarecrow, he was so good sitting in the chair having his hair done. It was as though he had done it every day of his life since birth and the lady cutting it couldn't get over how good he was. When he was finished Scarlett decided she wanted her hair cut!! She went marching over to the chair saying "Scar's turn" and so we decided to let her have hers done too despite the fact I had been going to take her next weekend to get her curls lopped off. Now to wait and see if her baby curls stay or whether they were chopped off forever.

Anyhow best go get dinner started as my Aunt and Uncle are coming for dinner tonight and I am making my signature dish of lasagne. If I cook it up this morning then I shall have all day to do nothing much else!

'Tis Monday!

Wow the weekend flew by but feel happy with what we got done around the place so that is the main thing.
Saturday we managed to finally get rid of the single bed in the storeroom/lounge room which had been there for about a year. My Mum would stay over sometimes when G was away to help with the kids but now he isn't away so much (hardly ever in fact!) and the kids are older now and I have no troubles getting them into bed by myself so it was time to get rid of it and keep de-cluttering the front room.
I have decided to sell off my Coca Cola collection too, it's just taking up space and I don't even have it out on display anymore anyhow. It needs to go to a loving home so I spent the afternoon unpacking it all, taking pics of it and re-wrapping it all again.
I did good with housework yesterday, I washed, ironed, bathed kids, put away massive piles of ironing from the last few weeks, did dishes and so today I am scrapping..well I should be..but haven't quite got the inspiration bug yet today!
You may have noticed a new little blinkie to the right which is now proudly showing off my designs, under my new name of Poppy Monkey Designs!! I was going to hold off on announcing it on my blog but most of you know anyhow and once the World Cup is out of the way I can set G to work on my new site!
Oh and for any of you that fancy a fun World Cup prediction competition check out G's site Watching Brazil It's free, it's easy and lots of fun. Just sign up and enter your tips for each game and see how you go.
Nothing much else to talk about, we have started the kids on a new bedtime routine now they are in their beds. We are trying to get all 3 of them off to bed at the same time and have Abbey help tuck the twins in now rather than the other way around. We started last night and though Scarlett tried to resist she sort of went a long with it so will see how it goes.
One last thing ..we laybyed the twins birthday presents on Saturday..how organized is that seeing as their birthday isn't until January!! We were in Target (and were child-free) and saw some scooters for 3-5 year olds, they had a Dora the Explorer design and also one with the new Disney movie "Cars" design, they also had 15% off storewide..bargain!

Feel Like A Teenager Again!

You know when you want something soooooo bad and can't wait to get it. Well I have just bought my tickets to go see Robbie Williams when he plays Australia in December, and I am beside myself with excitement. I am stoked with the seats (this rock chick is far too past it for that general admission malarky with the youngsters ;) ) we have gotten and I was so stressed about getting them, I was sure I would jinx myself and get crappy seats!
So I know this isn't huge news to most but I have adored Robbie since his/mine Take That days. I am very over him and his attitude over the last several years, you know the constant "poor misunderstood me" thing is really very boring now, and his looks are not what they used to be (I know MANY who will disagree) but I love his music, and I honestly believe he is one of the few, extremely rare, natural born entertainers in the world today, and I can't think of many off the top of my head..though Justin Hawkins from The Darkness springs to mind..but not in the same way as Robbie.
I last saw Robbie when he toured in 1997, at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, a nice small venue where I think I paid 12 pounds for my ticket, it was his first solo tour since his split with Take That and he was amazing then. In 2001, when he played Adelaide we were ironically in UK at my sisters wedding ...in 2003 he never played Adelaide..so this has been a long wait for me..and I have no doubt in my mind it will be worth every second!!

Blah

My day has just been so blah. I have had no motivation to get anything done, I couldn't scrap, couldn't design, couldn't choose an avatar, the kids were being ratbags before the day had really started and it was bloody cold all day.
I'm hoping tomorrow will be a better day.
I caught the twins this afternoon making a strange noise in their room and was horrified to go into their room and find that they had each pulled out a drawer from their brand spankin' new underbed drawers and were standing in them and jumping up and down!! I am amazed the drawers survived the experience..the twins nearly didn't!
I am feeling a bit nervous about tomorrow, can't say why just yet and it's a sorta good excitement but that's all I want to say as I don't wanna jinx myself. I'll check back in tomorrow.