Revisiting an old layout...because Patrick has passed another of lifes wee milestones today...he can now ride his bike without training wheels....A real triumph because it wasn't an easy one for him....

He loved the little bike in this layout but soon outgrew it and progressed onto the bigger bike he has now, he just never seemed comfortable on this one though..being bigger and heavier I think the training wheels didn't give him as much stability and he became very cautious and much less keen on biking, especially when we moved here and there is only a metal driveway to bike on, which makes the going that much harder with training wheels...all the fun had gone out of it for him.

Every now and then we would suggest he try with out the training wheels and he tried a couple of times and it would usually end in tantrums and tears...fear is a yukky feeling...

Dad had done a wonderful job teaching Joseph but Patrick just wasn't having any of it so it seemed I needed to give it a whirl...which I had been hoping I wouldn't have to as I was just as afraid of letting him fall as he was of falling!!Suck it up girl!! So armed with the promise of being able to choose a new bell when he succeeded and a trip to the warehouse to buy a special diary and some dinosaur stickers to record his daily bike lesson progress we were all set to practice a little bit every day. Patrick suprised me by reminding me all this week after school...Mum...its time for my bike lesson....

Here are his diary entries...

Sunday 7th Sept...today I learnt to put my foot down (which we found is an easier way to stop instead of careering wildly into the fence!)

Monday 8th Sept...Remember to sit straight and steer (rocking the handlebars from side to side as you pedal in a panic does not help you to go in a straight line!)

Tuesday 9th Sept...I am strong! (Mum's little mantra to help convince him that he can hold the bike up and control the wild beast!)

Wednesday 10th Sept...no lesson.

Thursday 11th Sept...I am a Champion!!! (You sure are matey!!)

Yep 3 lessons and today Superman was flying once again!! I couldn't believe it as I was flapping along beside him in my gummies, holding the seat...all of a sudden I just felt him take over and balance the bike and he was away! I knew it would just click eventually, but was expecting it to take a little longer....Warning!!You may want to turn the sound down or better still... off!!...I have a bad case of loudmotheritis!

Joseph was great, cheering him on all the way...and proudly said 'Hey P! you'll be able to come to the bike ramp with me and Dad now!'....seeing a little wave of terror creep back over Patrick's face I was quick to add...yep but I think we need to practice a bit more first lol! One step at a time hey kiddo! So proud of you for conquering your fear and look forward to you being happy and laughing on your bike like you used to be!

Here are a few more pics from the weekend...

A little fathers day help for Dad...

Sowing seeds for the vege patch...

The current crop, can't get fresher than this!...Jamie Oliver's leek and chickpea soup here we come....

Speaking of 'Fresh' thats the photography word prompt #5 at Scrapbook Studio...go here to add your 'Fresh' pics and if you scrap them as well you will be in the draw for a fun Spring RAK from me!

Oh and just look at these babies fresh out of the oven yesterday!! A small blonde person, whom I shan't name, kept sneaking them and we were finding half eaten ones all over the house! They are caramel apple cupcakes by the way...a good way to use up those slightly bruised apples that bounce their way to school and then bounce their way home again in the kids lunch boxes lol!

Jim and I have also been baking our own bread this week...for no particular reason except its a nice thing to do and its yummier than bought! The kids are a bit suspicious of the yeasty flavour but are slowly coming to the party, eating it toasted or slathered in choc spread or both lol!

oh and look...sadly no we havn't got chickens...yet...maybe this summer....but we have been busy sharing the many Avacado's on our tree and were lucky enough to recieve these farm fresh eggs in exchange yesterday and today our neighbour also returned the love and gave us a lamb roast!...shhh don't tell Rosie and Poppy...

So feeling rather like the 'Good Life' couple at the moment!

...although it does have its ups and downs...planted 12 lovely strawberry plants yesterday only to have the goats get into the vege patch and scoff the lot this afternoon lol! lucky for them I was on to much of a high from Patricks cycling success to be too upset....otherwise goat ragout may have been on the menu for tonight!!

The Bossy Scrapper is still going strong on Sunday nights at 8pm in the chat room...so if you would like to liven up your evening with some chatting and scrapping...do come and join us! This was my layout for last weeks Bossy Scrapper #10...

Have a good weekend everybody,

Ka kite!

Ok move over rally cars, its time to get the scrapping show on board again! ...by the way Jim it has been noted that you are a paparazzi extraordinaire and that dude! the date stamp on your camera is whack!! lol.


Ahhhhhh...there we go, a nice layout.... that feels much better heh, heh! If you want to see what else I and the rest of the Scrapbook Studio DT have been up to recently check out our Design Team Blog for lots of fun projects, muses, ideas and layouts and updates on the forum happenings...


..... ooh even better a nice pic of the kidlet reading his birthday books from the Bulls Toomey's...thanks gang! My favourite is the tree one...but without a doubt the kids favourite is the goldfish one...because it says Poo. Several times. Even funnier when its a Goldfish saying 'Poo to you' to a funny little dog. Mum rather likes it too...alot...especially when it produces great guffaws and belly laughs from the boys.

In fact the small boys in our house say the word Poo alot at the moment for some reason...it is deftly swapped for any word at random during any conversation and the person who says it then doubles over in convulsive laughter...and the giggles being highly contagious as we all know usually rapidly infects any small person standing in the vicinity...which tends to leave the grown up standing there in bewilderment until said grown up wanders off to see if they can find another grown up for some saner company or maybe even to talk to the dog or goats. Dogs and goats cannot say 'poo' you see so you are quite safe from 'poo' conversations in the company of dogs and goats. only goldfish can. apparently. and kids.

Oh and by the way no Samuel is not reading heh, heh...just pointing! But he has connected to the fact that the black squiggles are letters which make words and when Mum says the words of the story she is looking at the black squiggles and so he likes to point at them in case I lose my place.

Our Samuel is really into all manner of games at the moment...except he has his own set of rules for each game.

Beetle...flick the spinner but if you don't land on something you need..just stick something on anyway..the object is to build the beetle as fast as you can so you can play pretend games with the beetles afterwards...with Mum....




Connect Four....put the counters in as fast as you can...the first one to use up all their counters is the winner....when you win...you punch the air with both fists at the same time and say 'yay I win'!

Buckeroo...first insist on playing this wretched game..... watch Mum mutter under her breath cause the silly donkey will only stay down if you hold your tongue right and have pressed it down a jillion times until you are about to give up and have to tell your expectant 3 year old that it won't work...then by some miracle it sticks and the game is on...pile things on quickly, but stop midway to pretend to play the little guitar...laugh and run away when the obstinate beast now refuses to Buck despite having everything piled on his back!!! aggghhhh!! Funnily enough Mum is not laughing but muttering under her breath again!

Now you might remember Joseph was trying out for parts in a cultural performance the school is attending...they are going to be performing the Maori legend 'Rata and the Totara Tree'...happily Joseph was given the part of one of the creatures that helps resurrect the Totara...they were allowed to choose what sort of creature they wanted to be and they have to sort their own costumes...Joseph is deciding between either a grasshopper or a weta...Mum is deciding whether to panic now or wait til closer to the time....rofl!!

Now if you are up for Scrapping type challenges this September be sure to check out the new

Kiwi Jack

The Nz dare...to scrap a weird photo...

The Scrapbook Studio September Sketch...I played around with the elements on Scrapblog to create this months sketch....if you want to give this one a go have some fun with it..you can interpret the elements in your own way and feel free to add in more photos if you wish!

have a good one all...might even blog again this weekend if we do something worth taking pictures of lol!

Meek