The first challenge is up for SO YOU THINK YOU CAN SCRAP!! heh, heh, heh!!! CHECK IT OUT HERE!!

KATE NASH - PUMPKIN SOUP (this is a linky, cause I havn't worked out how to embed it in my post....yet lol!)

Just discovered this girl (thanks to Lalalee)love her voice, love her songs and cute videos!! You can check out more of her stuff on You Tube....ahem and please dont' ask me what rock I've been living under if she's been around for ages....I am about to hit my 37th birthday ya know, it takes us old ladies time to catch up ya know mwah ha ha!!

Well we are hunkering down for winter here...got the fire going now in the evenings...trying to entice the kids to eat my yummy soups....so far they take a sip and thats it...but hey at least I've educated them now not to spit it out and declare that 'ITS DISGUSTING!!!' Heh,heh!! Oh and rather miffed that Patricks teacher made them vege soup last week, there topic for the term is food, and I laughed when he told me and asked 'well did you eat it?' and he said YES!! Apparently Mrs Ritchie had said they HAD to...so funny, I then threatened to invite Mrs Ritchie for tea every time I dished up soup...should have seen his face!

The vege garden is going great guns now...it sure loved the leaf mulch, sheep pellets and compost we fed it a few months back! We've got leeks, spinach, carrots, broccolli, radish, lettuces, sweetpeas, nastursiums and potatoes all looking healthy and growing well...considering the summers dismal efforts i am well pleased!!

oh and lookie here....somebody has been sneakily using the camera to take pics of his friends the little einsteins lol!!

The So You Think You Can Scrap comp at Scrapbook Studio is revving up for the first challenge this Friday!! Wow we have had an amazing response to it...thanks ladies for taking part...cant' wait!!

Megan's new forum has been a huge success...huge kudos to her for bringing all NZ scrapbookers together in one place! check it out HERE if you havn't already.

Feeding the ducks with Nana and Grandad at the park in Cambridge (man there were HEAPS!! obviously they know that it is duck shooting season and head for the nearest urban park, they're not silly!!....which can't be said for those unfortunate hunters sitting, freezing their bits off in a damp cold maimai of a foggy morning rofl!). Lovely to see some Autumn colour as we don't get much here in the North....will add some more pics tomorrow....I wore myself out making the fantastic new blog banner up there so I'm heading to bed...heh, heh.


Edited to add more pics......
A beautiful sunshiney Cambridge day!

Look at how big these two rascals are getting! They had a great time at Rainbows end on the way down, there favourite bit was the arcade where you bought tokens and played different types of games which gave you tickets at the end depending on how well you did...you then got to trade your tickets in on toys at the counter...they really enjoyed the whole process, counting up the tickets, and working out what they could buy for that amount of tickets...we came away with a wonderful booty of rubbishy plastic toys...the best one was the wind up false teeth which we presented to Granddad in case he might need them some time soon rofl!! We did our bit on the kiddy rides at the Cadbury Land area but I could see that next time we go they will be well ready for some of the bigger rides like the log flume and the go karts etc....we walked around and looked at the big swinging pirate ship and the new roller coaster, their eyes bugging out with glee!

Our little fireman Sam...every single day there is some sort of fireman role play...the little plastic one he got for Christmas is on its last legs with bits lovingly pulled off and the wheels enthusiastically squashed down so they don't turn anymore, the siren dosn't work anymore, but he still loves it. The ride on firetruck loaded with the belt off my dressing gown for a hose and with a serious crack in the seat that has been worn smooth by small bums still gets raced up and down the house to various emergencies followed in hot pursuit by Tom the helicopter pilot (Mum) who has to whirl a piece of plastic piping above his (her)head when flying the helicopter. Playcentre is a favourite as the play fort has a fire engine incorporated into it and any time we go to a playground the first thing he flies down is the pole...in fact many things are turned into firemen poles...the washing line pole, the leg of the coffee table, the shade cloth pole (owwee splinters!)

Jim sporting his winter goatee!

Here is Mum and Dads Beautiful new house, currently having a new garden landscaped with ponds and all! They has even joined the blogging world From the Horses mouth so we can keep uptodate with life in Cambridge!

A bit horse riding action across the road at the training track every morning makes for a great atmosphere!

Its a great home stay I tell ya, gorgeous rooms and we got bacon and eggs for breakfast and delicious roast dinner, a little waiter who runs around swatting the flies and they even have a baby sitting service! 5-star **** recommend to all! heh, heh, heh!!

Ok this is purely a scrappy post to tout, shout and pout? (well it rhymes so what the heck lol!!) all about the FABULOUS competition we have put together over at Scrapbook Studio

CHECK OUT THE DETAILS HERE!!

(and for the family who don't give a two hoots *gasp* about scrapbooking.... pics of us hanging out with Nana and Grandad in Cambridge coming soon....as soon as I remember to get Jim to download the pics off his work camera lol!)

Happy weekend all....sun shining here, the boys had a great soccer match, Joseph scored a fantastic goal, Patrick was a wee tiger tackling and had a great run dribbling the ball up the field and kicking into the centre....there were lots of enthusiastic parents giving encouragement from the sideline which was nice to see....rather showed up the oppositions coach who sounded cross 90% of the time...forgot here happy pills this morning I think...poor kids being on her team!!

Check out this fella....

Yesterday Samuel came out from his room like this and announced very seriously that he was the Dad and I was the Mum (oh yay...I always get to be the Mum!!!!) He then did a wonderful job looking after the baby, wiping her bum, putting her to bed, took us for a drive in the car to the beach and the 'big town' making sure we both put our seat belts on first, pushed the baby in the stroller.... what a great Dad!! Just a little old fashioned in that he insisted I had to follow him around everywhere lol!! and not quite sure where our income was coming from either as neither of us had to go to work heh, heh...maybe we were lotto winners!

Have been enjoying doing some 6x12 layouts recently, they are so quick and fun to whip up!

The So Happy one is for the new dare that went up last night...Trina has created a great sketch to follow....be creative, have fun and interpret it in your own way!

Well winter is nearly upon us and at Scrapbook Studio we have been turning the old brain cell cogs and and have come up with a super fun idea to keep everyone busy and happy scrapping during the dreary season... its going to be fun, fun, fun so watch this space for more details soon!!!

Using up more old supplies...yay it feels gooooddd da da da da da!!!

SEI paper...I lined the stripes with pen, a mm metal plaque, an old tag, and some ancient stickers too!

Heidi has got a quick-fire challenge happening over at Scrapbook Studio so if you are in the need for some scrapping fun click the link....

The Kiwi Jack for May is up...a wonderful layout by fellow Scrapbook Studio-ite Louise Williams....give it a go....heres what I did using some of the April Astro boy kit from Scrapbook Studio...love me some robots!! and my little P when he was very little...only I have been told now that I am never to call him P at school or on the soccer field sidlines or when we are out....waaahhhh....being told off by your five your old smarts!

Not sure whats on the cards this weekend...although it is NSD (National Scrapbooking Day) which means a whole lot of fun challenges happening around the cyber scrapbooking world....I've already got my name down for one at SiStv

which means me getting up at around 6 am to scrap heh, heh....its ok I'll just sit and scrap in bed...jim won't mind I'm sure!

Hello.

Heh, heh, isn't he cute....and a bit of fun for the kids (and me!) to put together one rainy day! There are lots of different ones to choose from and they are free to down load here cute wee site!

I found the link here at Elles studio the etsy shop is sponsoring the prize for nz dares this round...

Some scrapping over the last couple of weeks...

This one for the NZ dares to use numbers on your layout...I have a little book of quotes from the books written by Paulo Coelho...which I have been loving at the moment and this one especially which reminds me to find 'the magic moments' amongst the 1001 every day things! Its a bit of a hard case picture but it tells me that we are who we are and we can still have fun and do cool things even if we are having a bad hair day or a bad mood day...whatevah!! ....lol..

I have been reading again....whole books at a time....and not just bedtime story's for the boys! I have joined the reading club forum at SiStv...and its good motivation, so many people have recommended the author Jodi Picoult and finally I know why... just finished up her novel My Sisters Keeper the other night...will be scouring the library shelves for more! Hmmm although I have a huge hard copy of Bryce Courtneys The Persimmon Tree to tackle first though...

I am also reading The Spiderwick Chronicles to the boys, we finished the first two books in two nights lol!! and are waiting impatiently for the next three to come into the library. Dad took them to see it at the movies too last weekend while Samuel and I hit the shops in Whangarei lol! Well we started by going into a 2nd hand book shop first....fatal....before I knew it the phone was ringing...movie was out and I hadn't even bought the new jeans I was after!!

Anyway books are my thing at the moment...so I came up with this little 'Book lovers companion' with my Scrapbook Studio DT kit for April...

Go here to my Sistv gallery to view

(I nearly choked on my milo this morning when I saw both of these made the catwalk on SiS this week!! Thank you Gigi and Becca you made my day!)

The new Kiwi Jack is going up today....Beverley has chosen a really fun layout i know you will like!

The holidays are going well...a bit of argy bargy between the boys at times but they would be pretty abnormal if they didn't don't ya think....I say trying to convince myself this is the case even though it drives me completely batty at times!!

I find it so cool that they Joseph and Patrick have their own friends they go round to or invite here....Patrick and his little friend are so cute, ringing each other up!!

Today we went for a blat on the beach at Matauri Bay....you know a hoon, a run, a get rid of the cobwebs....not a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich! We had egg sandwiches. lol. Anyway it was SOOO warm, the breeze, the sea and all three boys plus Bert went in for a dip!

Doing the hulaballoola cause Mum said we had too as we looked like tin soldiers all lined up with our arms by oursides complete with fake smile! Samuel didn't move a muscle, contrary wee sod lol!

Look at wee Harry dog...enjoying his day at the beach...in the dark! (Harry is blind for those who don't know lol!) and dosn't let it bother him one bit! Bert is his seeing eye dog...white...I pretend I'm going in with my big brothers.... then I spin around and race the waves in....

and then I pretend I'm going in....

Warning, mad dog having fun....coming through!

Catch of the day!

Whoa look out Patricks caught an egg sandwich!

Happy boys! Happy day!

Oh and just in case i have a secret stalker i *need* more alphabet stickers and holy moly just look at the cool schtuff in here

Isn't funny how some things just crack you up for no real reason....this t-shirt of mine does...just tickles my funny bone....
Hey look at us zipping along! we're on broadband, things move a bit faster so blogging should be a little less time consuming these days...especially as I like adding lots of pics!

It was a busy couple of weeks leading up to the end of term, pet day was a winner, great day, lots of happy kids and an interesting array of pets despite the no dog rule... the boys came up with some great entries .... Joseph caught some crickets and made them a little habitat in a container which earned him 2nd place in the creepy crawlies section...they are not in the pic as he had already let them go, but you can see the wee info sheet he made to go with them.

Patrick was unsuccessful in his attempts to catch crickets and we came up empty handed after spending a good half hour searching the bushes and under rocks for anything else suitable....apparently snails were dumb so the ones I triumphantly discovered were happily left to go on their slimy way. He is quite interested in fish so I helped him create his own fish tank with a cut up drink bottle and some bits of card and a few stones and shells....no prize for this but he scored a highly commended on the fish he made out of recycled items! Both boys helped each create a fabulous pair of giraffes made from veges and won third place for their efforts!

The school disco was a success too...although I felt rather creaky and old as I muttered how dreadful I thought the music was rofl!! Lots of gangster type rap type stuff eeek! Didn't seem to worry the kids though and the DJ was free so can't complain!

Soccer in Russell last week mean't an exciting trip across the water in the fast ferry taxi...I'm sure the guy steering the boat did a few extra little swerves and stuff for the kids benefit, yay him! Both kids and parents agreed this was a very cool way to get to soccer...and the Russell games will be looked forward too! No soccer now until after the school holidays...aww man just when we were getting into it!

Tried out our hand shears on the sheep last weekend too...spot who went first....yep the one who looks like a fluffy white cloud heh, heh...Rosie has been feeling a million bucks all week with her flash new do...Poppy's turn this afternoon!

The double decker kitchen table tent...entertainment on a rainy day....

Our favourite cookie of the moment...Chocolate Crinkles.

I found this super cute apron pattern when we were in Welly last month....just need to find some super cute fabric to make some up now!! I love the apple and pear they've used in the pattern pic....will have to keep my eyes peeled and do some searching...I looove the fabrics available at Scrapbook Studio but am keeping that in mind for a tote bag...for these little cuties i'm thinking something retro or some Japanese kawaii type fabric, will have to search the net and the second hand clothing shops too I reckon I might come up with something cooollll! Baking cookies will be so much more fun wearing one of these!

The latest NZdare is a cracker, SJ has chosen a great ad for inspiration...hope on over and check it out....complete a layout and be in to win a fab prize from TSS in Nelson. I came up with this for it...

It feels like Autumn....daylight saving is over, the sun is more mellow, warm breezes.....and the first soccer match of the season!! Yayyyy the boys were both excited to get on the field in their new red and black kit....

Hooray to the boys being on the same team, no dashing to different venues and they have a great little team and managed a win with almost everyone scoring a goal and getting lots of ball play....I like the fact that their are girls on the team too! !

I have a little challenge running at Scrapbook Studio.... Take Stock and dust off those old supplies and use them up! I found lots of slide mounts lurking in a drawer....and decided to use up/cut up some random 'dud' photos and compiled a fun little mini....also used a metal rimmed tag, a vellum definition and some cheesy old white rubon words,....I'm going to delve deeper into my dinosaur stash and create a layout next...watch this space lol!

This weekend we also....

planted pongas'....but had a minor malfunction when Jims spade hit the phone line and sliced it in two...'whats that dear?' did you say 'CRAP' rofl!! The stupido peeps who installed the phone line hadn't buried it deep enough....it was waiting to happen!

Samuel in his hot tub...who needs a bath aye! Pity its a bit small for my butt lol!

Poor Patrick stubbed his toe and so recuperated doing 'mazes'....his favourite thing...the tea-towel is so he dosn't have to see the blood lol....guess he's not going to be a docter or a vet then heh, heh!

Yep its definately Autumn...munching on Feijoas!

Full time job collecting bamboo leaves for the girls!

There is a couple more days to get your NZdare layout in....scrap a childhood memory....I combined mine with the very cute shorething Imaginisce goodies I got for my DT kit from Scrapbook Studio

I also created this sunny little layout using the kit....the colours are a bit off due to bad lighting but I wanted to show off all the cute little rubons, and tape and journalling boxes etc...etc..that come with this range! and I still have loads left!!....including that cute wee penguin stamp....keep a look out for more soon!

and not forgetting the Kiwi Jack Me Up....is starring the a layout by the lovely Trina McClune this month....we have also decided the winner each month will choose a following Jack...which is half the fun seeing as we are not a prize based blog...so if you want to Jack Up a scrapper you admire enter a link to your Jack in the comments and you will go into the draw!