Getting ready for Scouts...Joseph's age group are the Kea's.

In the end the wet weather mean't they had to have their campfire gathering indoors, but he came home with his face shining and full of stories so it by all accounts it was all good! He is very proud of his scarf and woggle so there was minor panic in the ranks when he couldn't find it the next morning...he had taken it off when he got home and left it on the couch...after much searching, and turning the couch upside down and inside out...we thought of the next possibility...BERT!! and yep sure enough there it was squirrelled away under the bed...should have looked there first before getting all hot and bothered lol!!...ah well...next time!

Patrick has decided he is going to be an author when he grows up and has written his first book all about dogs!!

Joseph takes after his Uncle Anton and loves baking...his choc chip cookies are pretty darn good too and they disappear fast!!!...he's also progressed to cooking himself up beans on toast with a fried egg on top for brekkie...one thing is certain when my boys leave home they are going to be able to fend for themselves! I can't stand it when I hear of grown lads who have no idea how to cook or use the washing machine...to all my future daughters-in-laws you can thank me later rofl!!

I love American Crafts papers and products and was so happy to get some in my Scrapbook Studio DT kit recently...the little chipboard piggies are sooo cute and in the same pack you also get elephants, speech bubbles and jigsaw pieces...good value!

The So You Think You Can Scrap competition is bombing along...the girls creativity with Lianne's style blew us all away...judging is so so hard....and I always have a list of favourites as long as my arm which is torture trying to whittle down to the top three....this week the contestants are scrapping up a storm in Heidi's style...good luck everybody and have fun with it!

The new dare is up and you need to bust out those stamps...I really need to organise my clear stamps better, they are tumbled all together in a plastic container and I saw a very cool idea recently using DVD covers to hold them....they stick nicely to the inside...must try...

Oh and the prize for this dare is sponsored by Stampin Up...they have a fantastic prize pack up for grabs so have fun stamping and be in to win!

No Soccer in the Far North this weekend...too wet...so we have been keeping occupied playing chuckit chicken, last card, battleships and listening to music. The kids have been loving this CD by Fatcat and Fishface called Dogbreath lots of fun to leap about the kitchen to singing at the top of our voices!

I came across these guys last week and love their music... Julia and Angus Stone have some of their stuff linkied up in the sidebar....Just a boy and Babylon are both really good.

Dad and Joseph are rugging up and heading off this evening to their first big Scout campfire in Whanga's...celebrating one hundred years of scouting in NZ. Joseph is really enjoying Kea's and was invested a couple of weeks back so has his t-shirt now and the woggle or toggle or whatever you call it that hold his Kea scarf in place....havn't got a pic yet...maybe tonight.

Yesterday was assembly at school...Patricks teacher had asked if Joseph and Patrick would give a little piano recital...they suprised me by being very keen even though they knew it mean't getting up in front of the whole school and so we practised all week and both of them made me very proud, as despite being nervous, they kept their cool and played their pieces beautifully!

I love that they have the confidence to do this...I would always avoid being under the spotlight if I could...I remember being asked to play (with other piano students) at an end of school thing and said no...keeping this info quiet from Mum and Dad...heh, heh...and they were rather suprised (or knowing what I was like maybe not) when I didn't give a little performance with the others....well I explained afterwards the teacher asked if I wanted to...and I didn't want to so i said no which I thought was fair enough!

Ka Kite and have a good weekend everybody!!

Meek

Scrappy stuff first up....My layout for this week's NZ dare ...it was Vicky's turn and the dare was to take a picture with you and someone else in it doing something you do every day..morning tea time...so yes that is why there was a pic on the blog with me in it a few days back heh, heh! It was a challenging dare to think about how I was going to get the pic I wanted, and in the end it was a complete fluke..yay for the self timer button....but I'm glad I persevered as I love the shot....and they wouldn't be dares if they weren't a challenge so hope you all give this one a go too!!

We are in week 3 into the So You Think You Can Scrap competition at Scrapbook Studio....the gallery is brim full of gorgeous layouts and the girls have been scrapping their butts off each week creating some stunning layouts! The aim of the competiton is to encourage you to try new things with your scrapping and its been great to see everyone rise to the challenge...cracks me up to see everyone having a bit of a freak out at the beginning of each challenge and then by the end they are really proud of what they have come up with...keep it up ladies you are doing GREAT!!

Only 2 more soccer games to go!! how quickly did that soccer season go by! Very exciting game yesterday...both teams were evenly matched and it ended in a 7-7 draw...Joseph scored one of the goals which is always a great boost for the confidence...not sure if they'll be playing soccer next year though...as they've been learning to play hockey during school and they've both asked if they can play it next year!! Well I'm all for it being a hockey player from way back and good to try different things...but we'll see wait and see what they feel next year...maybe they'll be into rugby by then lol!!

Here is a little joke that Patrick made up...it cracked me up...I don't know why it just tickles my funny bone imagining it...for ages now he has been trying to get the concept of what makes a good joke and we've been suffering for ages under a barrage of alot of very unfunny made up 'jokes' lol!! Joseph went through this stage too...where you don't know whether it is best to pretend to laugh just to make them feel good or not!!

Anway Patrick's joke of the day....

Q: What is green and red and white?

A: Peter Pan jumping from cloud to cloud with his butt on fire!

Thought Granddad might like to share that one with the fella's at Golf ha ha!!

Still here,
doing our thing,
enjoying the sunshine and birdsong whilst enjoying a morning milo,
Samuel dreaming up mischief,
Mum in scrapbooking la-la land,
Bert wondering if there will be any more homemade afghan bikkie crumbs forthcoming....
Big boys at school,
Dad away in Auckland for a few days doing a course for work..

The little manderin tree is loaded...nearly ready..still a bit sharp, need to sweeten up a little longer in the sunshine before we let the boys loose on it!

CHEEEESSSEEEE!!

Just having a little play learning how to attach a video clip...i had no clue you could do this until I saw you had done it Pop!

Anway we managed to dodge the showers yesterday and found some sunshine on Paihia beach! Just a snippet as I ran out of space on the camera...shall do better next time!

Yeehhaaaaa!!!

Bert rather worried Patrick was disappearing in the sand so threw himself into digging his feet out!

Hope everyone is having a good 'Queenies' birthday weekend...sun is shining here up North and we are all happily chilling out at home.

The new Kiwi Jack is up....I couldn't resist using these pics of 'the girls' when they were woolly little babies....although they are known as 'the two fat ladies now' rofl!

Hope to get out the fabric I bought down in Cambridge tomorrow and have a play sewing...watch this space...

Jim and the kids say...HI.

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...