yayyyyyeee wwooooh! this morning I realised we'd made it!...we'd got to the point where all the boys can amuse themselves for a bit on a weekend morning so mum and dad can have that extra half hour...or so heh,heh....sleeping in!

What a mile stone! Patrick looooves 'the upside down show' with Shane and David so he is happy in front of the box (well actually I love this show too and have been known to get up and watch with P lol!), Samuel is usually busy raiding the pantry for anything edible...although luckily his favourite thing to munch is cereal like cheerios or honey pops so I make sure they are within reach, Joseph is a bit like a talking clock wandering in to announce the time every so often and if we are lucky he is usually keen to show off his big boy skills and will make us some toast in bed!

Now that the fencing is finished we are turning our attention to the garden, and first things first the vege patch....I got a beautiful book from the library on french style gardens and so this is my vision... minus ye olde stone building in the background! lol!

Yep so after ditching the idea of raising a few sheep or whatever for the freezer in the paddocks...cause we didn't think we would be able to bear to see them donked and then dished up for dinner (and I grew up on a farm rof!) we are going to put one of our paddocks to use growing veges instead...I don't tend to get so emotionally attached to a carrot or a row of peas for some reason lol! The boys are super excited and we have spent the afternoon sowing up a heap of seeds in trays...

If you are playing along with Jack Me Up...this is the last week for Roo's layout, the deadline is Saturday 4th August and the deadline for the NZ Dares everyday moments dare with some wonderful Fisker cutting doodackies to be won is this Wednesday...so go on, go on, go on....get scrapping!

Bert my friend, your visiting days are numbered!! Heh, heh, heh!!Bugger!!

The new improved fence will not only be for the dogs benefit either...as Samuel demonstrates his limbo abilities on the old one pre-adjustments! Jim has now nailed palings in the gaps.
All we need now boys is some leaves and twigs to cover the hole and we'll have our very own Bert booby trap!
Joseph and I did some scrapping together Sunday afternoon (nevermind the fence, Dads got it all under control!) He's definately got the freestyle thing happening here, Amber Skolnick would be proud of you mate!
My layout for a 'use pattern paper only' challenge at SIStv. Samuel's nickname was bestowed on him one day by Joseph and it stuck...it sounds even better with a silly french accent 'Monsieur le bum-bum' lol! Nevermind matey you could have been called 'Scone' or 'Mounga cave woman' like I was rofl....loooove big brothers!!

Ok so I'm pretty glad to see the back of that week!

Although I must say there were a couple of highs amongst the lows of having the whole family succumb to evil tummy bugs....like Joseph making friends at his new school already, having some sunny weather to lighten the spirits, watching the kids and dogs enjoying all the space!!! , Patrick so excited to have his first morning 4yr old visit to school...roll on November he can't wait! Having some lovely snail mail...a fab lava lamp for the boys from Jenny (thank you again, still can't believe it arrived in one piece!!) and Friday choc buttons for the boys from Nana...

Our mission this weekend is to fence the front garden so our ever so friendly Bert cannot go visiting neighbours when our backs are turned....The council have a dogtrap set up on the pub property down the road as there has been lots of problems with straying dogs here...yep, wednesday morning I let Bert out for his morning wee, turned my back for 2 minutes and he had vanished! Called and called and wandered down the drive in my dressing gown and Jims slippers for a bit until I decided it wasn't really a good look for me and returned to don clothes before heading out in the direction of the pub where the night before we had a drink after an evening stroll with the dogs and Bert and Harry had been introduced to the publicans dogs...so I knew, being the social hound that he is, he had headed back there to say good morning...next minute a white van is coming down the drive with Bert in the front seat...its Ray the publican...Bert was in the dog trap and Ray had sprung him for us...luckily....the council charge $5o0 to get out of doggy jail...on account of the kiwis and all....so Bert, my nerves can't take it....we are fencing you in!!

Its birthday time at NZdares one year old....and Fiskars are sponsering some fabbo cutting out doodackies...not just one but three sets....so get over there and whip up a layout on an everyday moment in your life and you might just be a winner! And...if you have time between dare layouts and Jack Me Up layouts.... heh, heh....please take the time to reply to the NZdares questionnaire too!

My Everyday Moments layout is all about the noise and wrestling matches that are a daily part of our household at the moment...The quote in the middle is from Story people and those words 'luscious chaos' just fit the bill for these pics....I am trying to imagine those three small boys as large lanky teenagers wrestling on the floor...rofl!

Have a great weekend all...

The new Jack Me Up is posted...hee hee can't wait til she finds out!! Great choice Rae, thanks for jacking this one... we've all had much fun with it!

The Bam Pop paper was just made for this photo of Patrick!

After the storm...the sun is shining!

Great to have the boys out burning up some energy! For anyone wondering, the little district of Ohaeawai where we are, is high and dry and suffered very little damage over the last few days that I know of...and after watching all those whose houses were flooded we feel very lucky with our choice to lived in this particular spot!!

The only tornado left is called Samuel, who yesterday tipped out a whole pack of 100's and 1000's onto the kitchen floor and today tipped a 3l bottle of juice over and left it emptying until I discovered it 5 minutes later...too late lol!

There is a great new dare happening over at NZdares....I am still in the thinking process for this one...but I have do have a plan lol!!

And don't forget the new Jack Me Up goes up this weekend....so no excuses for not scrapping, lots of challenges around to get the creative mojo cracking!! Also it was brought to my attention that wordpress bloggers couldn't leave comments but thats all fixed now, so comment away everybody!! you are all welcome honest lol!!


And finally a big shout out to Michelle from our Jack Me Up team who made it on the catwalk over at SIStv
yay!!!! you go girl!!

We are here, we've done it!!

All settled in at Ohaeawai...officially Northlanders now!!

The move itself couldn't have been smoother, the last week was quite emotionally charged though, which is stressful enough, I really really do not like goodbyes...but hey who does!

Most of the stuff is out of boxes and the boys had a great time making a bonfire and burning them out in the paddocks yesterday (or 'the fields' as they like to call them lol...must be the Pom coming out in them!)Definately going to need that new dryer as the boys are little mud magnets at the moment, especially as there is a lovely mound of dirt for them to slide down in one of the paddocks....I have to keep pinching myself to remind myself that I actually live here now and we are not just on holiday and will be going 'home' in a couple of weeks lol! Saturday the sun came out at last and we thought bugger the unpacking, threw everyone and everydog into the car and took off to find the sea...we ended up eating 'the best EVA' fish and chips in Opononi before doing some exploring...



The house is great despite needing a good clean (grr!)it has a lovely feel, very warm and so much space we can't quite believe it! DIY man is already talking about how we could fit an extra bedroom in between the master bedroom and the lounge lol! In fact some things are tooo spacious like the wardrobe in the MB which is big enough to hold 10 peoples clothes not just 2...the only problem is it needs doors (an unfinished project)but where do you find such enormous doors....not quite sure what the previous owners had in mind with this one....and maybe neither did they seeing as they didn't finish it rofl!! DIY man thinks he will have to downsize this baby!! Having to get used to the luxery of a dishwasher...found myself washing the dishes at lunchtime before I remembered I should just be stacking them in for the wash that night...and then ran around like a silly chook that evening when Joseph and I decided to make cookies looking for my mixing bowl....doh it was neatly packed in the dishwasher waiting to be washed...hmmm lol!