Guess who is three today?

heh,heh...but we've been sneaky and told him its tomorrow so we can all spend the day with him... so here he is blissfully unaware...which has been rather nice for Mum enjoying spoiling him in little ways all day and enjoying his delighted reactions all to herself without the chaos that reigns on 'the day' with the present overload and the sugar rush and the hype that goes with...lol....selfish of me huh!!

On top of that we have had the most glorious weather today...thank you Mother Nature for sending that lovely warm High over us...a real treat, a taste of Summer to come and a well deserved respite from all the rain...which is supposed to settle back in for the weekend..but hey after a day like today we can handle it!

Anyway Happy Birthday Mr Bum Bum!! Roll on the fun times tomorrow and Sunday! We are having a double whammy with Dad as he is away down in the Waikato during his birthday next week hanging out with Mum and Dad and following the Rally event down there, planning dinner out at a local Indian restaurant, hopefully I shall be able to clear my blocked sinus's that have been plaguing me for the last couple of days at the same time rofl...vindaloo anyone?....Dad has also organised an extra special suprise on Sunday for our little Fireman Sam too...will post the pics as they come in lol!

Here are a few pics from last weekend....Dad and Joseph have been working on the Isuzu....
and putting all those lovely shells we collect at the beach to good use.....My layout from our 'Bossy Scrapper' challenge at Scrapbook Studio last Sunday....aww a little bum bum!

and the days go by...

we have seen the sun this week though so that is a good thing!

....even so its drumming down out there again...looks like another wet weekend in store for us....will just have to sit and watch the Olympics with everyone else I guess!! I always sort of dread the Olympics...I hate all the media buildup bullpoop...but once it gets going past all the hoopla and concentrates on the athletes and their achievements I get into it a bit more.

I helped Patrick do a little project on the Olympics tonight so have discovered lots of interesting little things like when you put the Chinese names of all the olympic mascots together it says 'Welcome to China lol! Not sure if that was quite what the teacher had in mind when she asked them to find out some facts about the Olympics but too bad, thats what Patrick wanted to write about!! He was quite taken with the little characters, possibly because they have a passing resemblence to Pokemon heh, heh...

Samuel is zooming towards his third birthday...and yay for him he will celebrate his birthday in big boy undies!! No nappies during the day now for the last two weeks....Ka Pai Samuel!! Here he is ready for take off in his airplane..note the controls, the lever, the steering wheel?!! (lol) and the seatbelt....

I was really pleased to hear Joseph mention this week that he had been trying out for parts in the play the school are performing for a local cultural festival next month. He's not usually one for volunteering to be in the spotlight in a performing role like this so I thought it was pretty cool he felt comfortable enough to try...fingers crossed he gets a wee part to play!

Jim is steadily zooming towards his birthday too...hee hee.....love it when the gap between us closes up a little!! Hope you have your big boy undies at the ready too Dad lol!!

Took this pic a few weeks back...it made me laugh because we were walking along and Joseph stopped and said take photo of us and by some sort of miracle they all stopped and willingly posed just like this! Jim had the camera...and I was muttering through clenched teeth 'hurry up and take the shot' before they move!!! No silly faces...just that darned hooded sweatshirt of Patricks which he lives in....with the hood up constantly.... but I can live with that when they are all smiling so nicely!

I spotted this little gem amongst the brick a brack at our playcentre white elephant sale we had recently...and knew instantly it was destined for my kitchen....heh, heh...the perfect apple turnover in minutes!! I'm going to try a meat pasty next....

so what have I been scrapping this week or so....

This for the latest NZ dare...to use a repeated pattern on your layout....

These for the last two Bossy Scrapper sessions at Scrapbook Studio...Sunday's at 8pm...be there or be....not there! Lots of fun and all welcome to join in!

This for the August Kiwi Jack....awww an ickle Joseph!! Adele chose a gorgeous layout by Yvette so do remember to come and check it out and be inspired to create your own layout!and finally this for Heidi's Quick fire challenge last Friday at Scrapbook Studio....yay another one to pop into Jims childhood album...another awwww moment lol!

The Scrapbook Studio DT have a blog underway with daily snippets of scrapbook musings, mini tutorials and updates and info regarding challenges etc from the forum.


and that about sums it up for now!
Have a good weekend!

Rain

I opened my eyes
And looked up at the rain,

And it dripped in my head

And flowed into my brain,

And all that I hear as I lie in my bed

Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head.

I step very softly,

I walk very slow,

I can't do a handstand

I might overflow,

So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said

I'm just not the same since there's rain in my head.

Shel Silverstein

Ok so last night the power went off at tea time...Jim had bought home a yummy frozen apple strudel for pudding...so as we were lamenting the lack of electricity and joking how we could cook it in the fire...I suddenly burst out with 'hey why don't we put it in the microwave'....yep even the kids gave me a stunned look......like the poem...I blame the rain lol!! yup its definately the rain's fault NOT the colour of my hair!!

A couple of layouts using more supplies from my Scrapbook Studio DT kit.

August tomorrow! yay...it just sounds closer to summer....new dare and new Jack go up too.

Stormy weather mean't there was a legothon at our place all weekend! Even Mum enjoyed it and mangaged to create a space ship complete with moon buggy!!

Hi world...we are still here...

...yep its still raining....although we went out for a lovely walk on Sunday and dodged the showers... you arn't supposed to dodge the puddles though...but run through them flat tack and get mud sprayed all up your back....mud guards for kids now theres a thought! We were looking for ducks to feed...couldn't find any....so the kids ate the bread instead...lucky it wasn't too stale!

...first week back at school...Patrick has gone up a class...he is very excited about that and it didn't faze him one bit...it was only his mother who had heart palpitations rofl! No longer one of the little kids!

...at least the kids winter ails have cleared up. unfortunately now its Mum and Dads turn....I went to answer the phone this morning and found I'd lost my voice..how embarrassing...hee hee...so I have no voice for the minute...although I can whisper...not very effective when you are trying to yell at the kids though....or talk on the phone.

To Scrapping...its NZ dares 50th dare...hot foot it over for a fab dare to scrap a winter themed layout using the fashion magazine spread given as inspiration...heres mine...a little dig at all those shiny 'townie' gumboots with flash patterns on them mwah ha ha!!

There is a super duper prize to be won from the gorgeous Danielle Quarmby at Qtea Kits

Here is last Sunday's Bossy Scrapper layout, thanks Janine for a good night...these are alot of fun so do come out of hiding and join us at 8pm every Sunday night at Scrapbook Studio...this week Jennifer (aka littlekiwi) will be 'The Boss'!

The Scrapbook Studio DT have fresh new things going up in the gallery for July. We were asked to create a layout and three cards using the new Imaginisce papers...very pretty and sparkly and pastel!! but cute!! Check out the gallery here and theres more to come from the Piggy Tales and Sweetwater collections...later.

its late....playcentre in the morning...some sunshine would be good....I don't fancy another session shut inside with the kids!!

Today I had a little dabble with digital scrapping! I followed the link from Sistv for www.scrapblog.com and discovered a little world where you can play with digi scrapping!! So here is my first ever attempt at a digital layout! It was great fun to sit and play and not create a humongous mess in the process!!

This weekend was all about the garden!

The cold southerly has finely gone and Saturday dawned damp but warm...so we dodged showers and got out and did some much needed weeding in the vege patch...dug up the first of our spuds (delicious too...the boys went back for 2nd and third helpings tonight lol!)

The weather even lured a rather crusty old hedgehog out for a snack and Joseph eagerly helped him stock up with a big pile of worms from the vege patch which Mr Prickles gratefully munched and crunched and slurped away on lol! disgusting...but nice to see the poor fella get a good feed before he waddled off back into the undergrowth!!
Then it was into the front garden for some tidying up...we are sticking with a tropical theme...loving lots of big leaves and foliage with the odd bright splashes of colour (well there will be come summer!) We are working on mulching all the beds with wood chip at the moment.
with the odd game of wheelbarrow the kids down the steps thrown in for a bit of light relief in between lol!
Hmmm....yes....an open window....
Peek-a-boo Bum bum....now get your gumboots on and come outside and play...

Pthwaaatththppppssspppwwp!!! yup the master of the wet Raspberry strikes again!!

Raining again so back inside for a spot of painting! Flowers of course lol!!

Sunday morning....sunshine woohoo....happy dance....

We got stuck into tidying up under the Avocado tree...creating a little bit of hard landscaping to put the picnic table on....a nice place to sit in the summer with a glass of wine!

Joseph smooths out the gravel...while Samuel gets stuck into offloading it into the barrow...

and finally after a bit of hard yakka by everybody its done!! ...Of course we had to try it out and test whether drinking wine there would be a good thing to do or not....it is....roll on Summer!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDAD

Layouts from this week...

What is your favourite sort of shopping? create a layout and link it up here to be in the draw for a scrappy RAK...


For my layout I used some of the goodies from my last Scrapbook Studio kit...American Crafts paper, Kaiser rubons, Doodlebug strips, Bazzill c/s and my cute round Pink Paislee stamp from Sistv.

'Kiwi Kids' is for the new NZ Dare...use a pipecleaner on your layout! so go and raid your kids craft box and have some fun...the girls have some great examples up...I sewed over mine to give it a kinda cute textured tufty look! Our wonderful prize sponsor this round is Shabby Chic Crafts

The next one was for something we tried last night at Scrapbook Studio called "The Bossy Scrapper"...I got the idea from Sistv and thought it would be fun to try! We completed our layouts in 1 and 1/2 hours...a miracle for me...if you want to find out what its all about check out Sunday nights thread here and if you want to join in...come along this coming Sunday night 8pm and look for "The Bossy Scrapper Round 2" thread..everybody welcome!

To infinity and beyoooooooonnnnnddd!! Samuel modeling the new must have accessory for trampolining...blue goggles!!

My layout for the July Jack....check out who it is here

So June has gone and i'm another year older!! Its all good, onwards and upwards as they say! Some of the best bits of my birthday were...

*Jim had a day off to spend with me yay!!!

*All the boys (big and small)spent a secretive evening the night before creating a very special painted birthday canvas...its very cool, and has pride of place in the window where it catches the light and reminds me everyday that it is great to be 37 years old!

*I was taken plant shopping!! my favourite sort of shopping and we found a sale and loaded our trailer with tropical plants...

*Jim took Samuel and I to lunch here where we enjoyed a platter, a melt in the mouth creme brulee and a very civilised glass of pinot gris....a bowl of pasta, ice cream and fizzy was the order of the day for the young fella and seemed to go down exceptionally well...especially when another couple arrived with a little pigtailed girl of the same age and he got to show off all of his nearly 3 yr old charms to her!! Heh, heh!!

*I was then treated to a new pair of shoes...which then went back to the shop as I realised they wern't right once I got them home (cue a bit of a hissy fit 'why do shoes never fit me right!! sort of hissy fit) did you know shoes shouldn't hurt your feet?...and they went back to the shop....but my personal shopper and chief fashion expert(Jim..sillies!) refused to give up and found me the 'perfect' pair online...available in Whangarei...so off we go the next day (luckily soccer was cancelled...LUCKY!!)roll up into the shop, the lady has them there waiting as Jim had rung earlier to make sure they had my size (he thinks of everything I tell ya!)...the only thing was...WOULD THEY BE COMFY!!...nail biting stuff...and they were! So they came home to stay. My husband is the most patient, persevering person in the world and he's all mine!!

*We had cake...chocolate gateaux and even better!!....yes it gets better....there was enough to have some for breakfast the next day too!! forgot to get a pic so thought a nice one of the empty plate and crumbs would suffice lol!!

So thank you to my lovely family for a lovely birthday...thoroughly spoilt!!