This has been our view for 5 maybe 6 times in the last few weeks, to be honest I have lost count now, but it is disgusting!! The dust comes inside, I have swept up that much red dirt inside lately, I really am very much right over it!!! The house has been an eerie orange colour inside, and I would much prefer the 40 degree + days to these ones... Hoping with fingers crossed that there is no more. Have been here for 4 years and NEVER seen it like this, although the weather patterns all over the place are very strange!! Anyway, while I feel for those on the East Coast... I think we win!! LOL!!

My beautiful big girl all ready for her 1st day of transition to school, naughty me hadn't picked up her school uniform yet, so this is what she wore for her first day. Mia seems to like school so far, but think she might have problems grasping that she is there ALL day, as she has said to me about coming home after lunch and then going back, but I told her she is there all day. She kind of looked at me quizzically (sp) but am hoping that she will be fine. The teacher is a beautiful lady who has reassured us that if they are upset that she will call us straight away. I am not a over protective Mum by any means, but it IS reassuring to know that if she really is sad and needs to come home she can! I can't really believe that she is 5 and off to school. I have mixed feelings, I guess. Mainly disbelief that it feels like it happened so fast!!!! Mia is just so beautiful, she seems to have really calmed down in her behaivour, not that she was ever a terrible child, but we are communicating so well... I have tried to improve my parenting skills, there is a lot to be said for patience!! She is a caring friend, loves to play with her Barbies, loves to help me cook, and i try to involve her in that, even if it is just stirring the veggies in the pot before I put them on the stove. Things take longer in the kitchen, but I would love for her to love cooking! She is away at the moment with her grandparents, it will have been a week tommorow (5.10.09) To say it has been peaceful is an understatement, but I am really missing her, and I think Lexi is too. But it is good for her to have one on one attention from her Grandparents... And apparently she has been a very good girl... LOVE HER!!! 3 sleeps and she's home!! Can't wait!!

3 weeks ago we had a really nice Saturday, and Brenton had the pool all ready so he and Mia went in, Mia said it wasn't so cold, but I wasn't about to find out! I love it that Mia and Brenton have thier time together in the pool. Lots of squeeling, splashing, jumping in and just all round good fun! So, swimming season has officially been opened at our house..

Mia and Lexi a few weeks ago, I just love Lexi's face here, she pulls it when Mia is too close or holding her too tight etc etc... VERY FUNNY!!

Another one of a few weeks ago, Lexi fell asleep like this in her cot... Mia and I quietly watched and giggled at her, her legs look quite chumpy in this photo... I took the photos, as you do, and then moved her, luckily she stayed asleep. Lexi NEVER stays under the covers anymore, I have a sleeping bag suit thingy for her which I have been putting on every night as she gets too cold otherwise... her hands are still freezing when she wakes up in the morning... bless her, she is a wriggle pot in bed!

I don't often pop the girls in the bath together, Probably as Mia gets so absolutely dirty in our backyard! I usually put Lexi in the laundry trough for a quick wash, but lately have popped Lexi in with Mia a couple of times, they both love it!! Lou Lou looks so different with her hair slicked down!

Last weekend we had a party for Brenton's 40th!! We had a dress up party which he wasn't too keen about to start with, it was My friend Kylie and I's idea. Let's make it memorable, was the thought! In the end it turned out fabulous, almost everyone dressed up! I loved dressing up in my costume, I am such a dag in my everyday life, but I just loved dressing up!! I played up for the camera at EVERY opportunity! My Dad was/is a professional photographer and took lots of fab photos for us! I gave the peace sign and a pout in almost every photo I was in! I was bought up in front of the camera, so I don't mind posing! I just loved the fact that I just was so not like my normal self! We made yummo Illusion type cocktails, and I made my own pineapple sorbet to put in them! I had a ball. Stayed up the latest I had for soooo long. 3am!! The birthday boy was in bed about 1, think all the drinkies had caught up with him! I laughed and laughed this night, and yes, it is memorable!!

Lexi eating her 1st Ginger Snap biscuit, what a hit! I love these photos... Dirty little fingers... YUM!

Lexi loves the Jolly Jumper! Love the hair flapping as she's jumping!

A couple of weeks ago I recieved this lovely canvas from the lovely Kate Mason, it's for Lexi but I am thinking that we can share!! LOL!! It is exquisite and also is one of the 1st that she made. A special gift from an ultra special person to me! I have it sitting on top of my scrap shelf, so I can see it all the time... Don't think it will be making it to Lexi's room any time soon!
As well as the canvas, we were gifted two of her gorgeous prints that she did to raise money for Heartkids S.A. I went to purhcase one for Lexi only to be told that I couldn't as other people had wanted to buy us one! Just knowing that made my day, BUT when the canvas arrived, so did TWO of Kate's gorgeous prints, one for Lexi and one for Mia! I was so surprised, so thankyou Lucy from the bottom of my heart!!! You have shown us so much kindness and generosity and it astounds me. I know we *know* each other on line but I long for the day when I can give you a hug in person to thankyou for all you have done! You are always on my mind, I am a slacker with the communication but I know you come here, so thankyou!! xxxxxx

Finally catching up with CJ's, this one isn't late, or so I thought, I didn't feel like i had it that long, but was given the hurry up!! LOL!!! Time goes by so quickly!! It is Skye's CJ and the theme is 'words that changed your life' And these words did that's for sure!

Sweet lil bubba yawn is inspired by Melissa Corbet, saw a LO with rounded corners on her blof and thought, haven't done that for a while! I was going to scraplift it totally but whenever I think I am going to scraplift it never looks the same, so anyway, thaks Melis for the inspiration!

And then I thought I'd have a play with paint, and not really in love with this LO, just did not turn out the way I thought it would. They never do for me. I wish I could get it together a bit more with my scrapping! Anyway, like I have said time and time before, it is how it is!!

And finally a CJ entry, for Christine's CJ, I threw it together as you can tell, but it's me! The topic was procrastination, a topic I am more than familiar with!! I put off everything!! Not to scrap, or do something that I really want to do, just because I just always think, I'll do it tommorow!! Hence, why my bathrooms need a mop right now, and there is washing in the tub to be folded and put away and why there is a pile of papers etc... on both my dining table AND the kitchen bench!!! Oh well, there's always tommorow!! LOL!!!!!!

Thanks for popping in if you do, and leave me a msg if you do... not in the need for loving but it's nice to know if I have any visitors anymore! I write for me, but would love to know if YOU read my absolute dribble!!

And that's enough dribbling!!

xxxxxxx

And yet another month has gone by without a post! Sorry to anyone interested in my world! Above is a photo of Mia helping her Daddy get some squid ready for tea, it was delicious too by the way! Mia still loves helping in the kitchen, my next LO that I have planned is about her in the kitchen! I'm back into scrapping but more about that later!

Sweet sisters, love this pic!!

On Thursday 27th of Aug I held a Heartkids Cuppa for a Cause morning tea at my house. Thank goodness Mum and Dad were here and for my fab friends Tatum and Danni for all of their help, it was so appreciated and we raised about $580 on the day and then with Lucy's generous donation and a donation from my cousin in Adelaide we ended up with just under $700. I was so pleased... I made a poster of Lexi's journey in life, with photos and a brief description of each pic. I had it laminated so will keep it always! I also had photos of Lexi and her heartkid boyfriend George in frames on the table for people to see! I met a few new faces, and really hope that everyone liked thier coffee, cakes, and other yummo delicacies! I felt emotional all morning, not sure why, I just was!! I wrote a piece for one of the local papers, although they edited it to shreds, I am still grateful they put it in for me... I am the Heartkids S.A. contact for here, so wanted to raise awareness, if God Forbid anyone find themselves in our situation they hopefully may remember me and I can be of some support to them, as Kate was to me... Without her to vent to I really don't know how I would have gotten through. I would have but she was a HUGE crutch for me... Love you always Kate, always a special person to me!

Tatum (L), Justine and I!

Tired Mumma and Bubba after it was over!

It was also Mia's 5ht birthday on the 28th of August, my photos are a bit muddled up here, but here is Lexi and her Daddy having a little relax time in the afternoon of Mia's party which was on the 29th!

Silly Mumma posing on Mia's birthday, trying to encourage her to pose for my Dad in her beautiful new dress that a friend of our family made especially for her, but she wouldn't come to the party on that one, although don't mind this pic of me!! LOL!!

Mia and her Birthday present stash, she was totally spoilt! By the time there are presents from Granparents, Aunties and Uncles, and Great Aunties and friends of the family aswell! And yet, tdoay she is still bored. I can't wait for school to start, she won't be bored once she starts school, or maybe she will!

Mia in the beautiful dress custom made for her by a friend of the family! This was the best of the photos, she was NOT keen for photos, and was being silly for her Poppy for some reason!

Mia had a party with 4 other little girlies, but I won't put any of thier photos up, don't think I should really! But they had a ball, here is Mia at the food table. The girls were very excited about the party food and basically sat down straight away for a big feast!!
And they put it away too!! LOL!!!!!

My Dad, (Poppy) took this photo of Mia and I've put it up as I just love it!!

And finally, I have been getting back into scrapping again, which I'm happy about. I had no motivation at all, but am feeling really inspired after doing Tatum's Workshop last Saturday, I had never done a class/workshop before, and for me, I have a lot to learn about new things, and ways to use things so it was a real treat! This is a LO I finished last night, and I really don't mind it!

A few weeks ago on a Friday night I went to Tatum's for a little scrap session, it has been a long time since we had gotten together to scrap, and I started this one. Mainly I talked and drank wine, but it was great to watch Tatum in action, loved it! And the conversation too!! I think I finished this one about 2 weeks after I started!!

This was the 2nd LO in the workshop, it was great to try different things, like doodling which I NEVER have done and to see how you put things altogether!
I love the finished result!

And because I am a bit back to front with things the 'you are our little star' was the first LO we started, and I love how it turned out too! Again, it made me think about where things can go and to maybe step outside my little square of how I scrap!

And then, this one I did the other night. I used the 3D Kindyglitz that we got in out kits at Tatum's and the line around the cloud was not meant to be smudged AT ALL, but me being me, it was impossible to not smudge it, so once I had, I went smudging all around the clouds! FUN!

Well, I hope this hasn't been too long winded for you if you happen to visit!!! Now that I'm all inspired about scrapping again and feel like hitting the dining table every night with my scrap stash, there might be more to see!!!
xxxx

!

So I've been AWOL from my blog for a while, I've still been checking out cyber land but haven't been joining in... I want to get back into CCG and the challenges on Embellished! I need a weekly diary to keep up with whats happening and when it's happening... The weeks just are flying by for me! I have scrapped a pitiful amount of LO's this year (12, I just counted) and I can't believe it! I have the will but most nights by the time I get the kids settled I just want to go to bed. I'm not much of a night owl so that doesn't help either! Anyway, I've scrapped three lately, the above one is of my little nephew Ethan, he is 13 days younger than Lexi and just such a little cutie!

This LO called Such Sweet Sisters is a scraplift of Celeste Vermeend's LO, Mama's Little Model which was in SC Vol11 No6, page78. I just loved her LO and I wanted to have a range of photos from a little photo session I had with the girls last week. I had a brainwave last week that I would just start scraplifting LO's that I like, but have since realised that while I might look to other people's work for inspiration, I don't think it's the way I want to go. I am a simple scrapper and I just have to accept that. I have no aspirations to be published, not at all interested in that, but I DO want to have great albums for my girls. I think too much about it all, just have to sit and scrap at night and get into it! I do like the way this one turned out though...

This LO was a quick one I did last night, I had printed out this big photo and wanted something to convey how I feel about these two. I am always striving as a Mum and just want to be the best for them that I can be. I'm not perfect and know I'm never going to be... but I love these two little cherubs so much!!

And now for some random photos of our lives! Above is Lexi and her boyfriend George, LOL!! He was born on the same day as Lexi and had the same heart conditions as her which is pretty rare, so we've been told. They had thier operations a day apart and went through recovery together in Melbourne and shared a room back in Adelaide, where we all really got quite close. They family live in W.A. but his Aunty lives here in the same town as us so we got to see them a few weeks back. It's so special to have this family in our lives, we share a bond now that can't be explained. I just love his Mum, we keep in contact every few weeks, and can relate to each other on so many levels... We couldn't wait to get them together for a photo shoot! We took some of them together on thier discharge day and boy, they have changed alot since then. George is my special little boy!!! And always will be. Maybe our next trip away we will have to go to W.A. to see them!!

Mia last Sunday at the playground near our house. (which means it has taken me a week to get back to finish this post) Her hair is a tangled mess, it took me sooooo long to comb out after she had her shower... A few tears from her having it all combed out. I was a slacko on the weekend and hardly combed it besides the fact she needs a trim pretty badly.

Miss Lexi Loo last Sunday aswell, she is plumping right up now since starting on solids, which she loves... she loves Mummas home made vegies and concoctions out of the Annabel Karmel books that I have inherited/bought. I love the feeling of feeding her what I've made, and knowing what I have put in there. She rarely turns food down, eating 3 meals a day plus a yoghurt if she is seeming to want more. Mia is my problem child, she won't eat a proper breakfast, doesn't help that she won't drink milk, I have taken to telling her that our bodies are like cars, we have to feed our bodies with the right fuel to help us grow well. And that if she wants to be healthy she needs to put healthy food in to make her body work well. Anyway..... she is growing but I can tell sometimes by the way she behaves that she needs some vitals in her....

THe girlies and I last Sunday too, not loving the angle of my nose, but it was the best of a bad bunch! I made it B&W to hopefully make me look abit better!! LOL!!

Did you ever have paper dolls as a child, the next door neighbours little girl had some so that was all Mia could talk about! $4.95 for a little book at the newsagent with two dolls and a heap of clothes. It kept her amused for days, I think she got her moneys worth!

These biscuits we made out of the old Green and Gold cookbook, I have my Mum's that her precious Aunty gave to her in 1962. We used the Egg Biscuit recipe, and they were yum! We decorated with egg white icing so it would set hard, Mia still loves her cooking with her Mumma, this week we made sausage rolls, they were yummo and she gets to help me which she loves. And she actually eats them. I put heaps of veg in as it makes me think that she is getting some kind of nutrients!

Lexi in a cute little hat that my sweet Aunty made for her. I just love it!!! She has also crochered a flower that matches. My cousin had a little girl 6 weeks before us, and I saw her in a ultra cute hat in some photos and loved it so Aunty made us one! Special!


Well, I am about to lie down on my couch and have a veg and read some old issues of Creating Keepsakes. Brenton is off to a bucks show tonight so am cooking myself a BIG FAT chicken stirfry, going to watch THE BEST on the cooking channel and then scrap once my little chickens are in snoozy land! Lexi slept from 8 last night until 6.30 this morning, I didn't know myself this morning, not woken in the night! Hope it's a sign of things to come, but I seriously doubt it!

Thanks for visiting if you do!!

Well, we have been in Darwin, the girls and I. Brenton went to Cairns at the same time for a Wedding which I knew would be a raucous reunion for him and all of his mates. So off we went to Darwin, 3 months since we booked the tickets and I can't believe it has come and gone. My friend who lives there is like a sister to me so we went and stayed with her and her family. It was a lovely break from my reality. We went out to the markets, (Parap, Palmerston and Mindil Beach) and didn't really do much else. We did go to another friend from schools' place at Humpty Doo, which was fabulous. We had a BBQ and Mia went swimming in thier pool and it was just lovely to catch up with the people who I am close with and have been close with when I was younger!
While we were there, Territory Day was celebrated, which means FIREWORKS!! I was abit excited, I love them and was hoping to get some good photos. Lexi wasn't too fussed by them but Mia was so she stayed inside with the tele on VERY LOUD! We had the fireworks in the above photo x 2 plus also about half again! It was great fun! Fireworks were going off all over the place. We just let them off in the street where my friend lives, it is a pity that some people don't do the right thing... it's the same with so many things, people will always be divided over these things.

I was determined to get a photo of Mia on Mindil Beach with the sunset, it was packed out and the kids were almost over being there... But I took a fair few which I really like! And we left before the sun went down, would have like a few photos of the sun half down, but I had Lexi strapped to me, and we were warm and Mia was tired! But I am glad that we got these sunset photos as the sun sets over land in these parts...

here are my entries for a CJ journal I'm involved in, this one is about your pregnancy and birth experiences. I just have't been around much to scrap and I am behind with this one, but have really enjoyed the process so far. I have my journalling to do on the births of the girls.. but that won't take me long to do.


Brenton (DH) is in hospital for the second night now, he came home from work in pain Friday lunchtime and could hardly walk. At first the Dr thought he had gout and gave him some tablets to take on Friday, but by Sat lunch time it was a lot worse, I sort of knew that he would be admitted to hospital, as his ankle had blown right up and was sooo red. I was looking for a red line up his leg but thankfully it was just in the one place. So now he is on IV fluids and two lots of IV anti-biotics every few hours. I hope he has improved tommorow, I really want him home. It was a novelty last night, but now just want him better and home. Let's see what tommorow brings.

I discovered a little tooth popping through in Lexi's bottom gum this morning, I knew that they were on thier way as her gum definition had changed and she has been a bit unsettled. Not crying or anything, but not sleeping much during the day in the last few days, and also waking up for a comfort drink a half hour after she had gome down for the night and also up twice last night for drinks... Anyway, she is coping very well with it and if that is all that she has to put up with, well I'm happy. My little bubba is growing up and it makes me sad. I don't want her to NOT grow up, but it happens so quickly. She is also being offered 3 solid meals a day, she doesn't always want them, she seems to prefer really pureed baby food, nothing with any texture at all... but the good thing is that I weighed her at the hospital while I was there with Brenton and she has put on over 300g in 2 weeks.. Which she hasn't done for a long time. So that is a good thing for her.

Mia is a button pusher at the moment, she is testing me. I am not patient enough with her and I know it. I have been reading some books so that I can learn how to handle myself better with her but sometimes I also think her ears are painted on. I sometimes wonder who is worse though, her or me!! I'm a parenting work in progress... ever evolving.
But Mia is a beautiful little girl, she loves me to lay down with her at night before she goes to sleep and have talks. And they are really special, and I find out all sorts of things that go on in her head that I wouldn't find out in the conversations of everyday. And it is a special time for us. I am making more of an effort to do this with her more often, days fly past but I think if we have a special connecting time it will be good for us. Mia must love me as she told me tonight that I was her favourite, I said that I know she loves us both the same...
She loves to draw, scrapbook, colour in, play with her barbies (and the barbies have some serious conversations let me tell you) paint, ride her bike around the backyard, watch movies, listen to music and play her DS. She is bored easily and sometimes gets in a mood where she wants me to produce 'something new to play with' magically... I love her to death...

We ordered some furtniture from IKEA during the week, and I can't wait to get it.. Bit excited about that one, been in the pipeline for so long, am so pleased that we are finally getting our tele cabinet thingy and the expedit to store scrapbooking stash in... Yippee... Although if you have any tips on sorting and storing your stash, please share.



Well, that's enough rambling I think, don't you!
xxx