Living my dream

GOOD NEWS

No, make that GREAT news. Dog was found yesterday morning, after another search! I was actually starting to feel sick. I had put the tv on for them and caught a glimpse of Sarah clutching another teddy and heard her whimper 'dog' and it all got a bit much for this softy. I HAD to find dog. So I went upstairs which is an unusal place for dog as this is Andy's and my bedroom and the kids don't really go up here. But with Andy and his bad back, they had obviously been playing up there. Anyway, I do one of those quick glances, and see a lump in Daniels old basinette (yep, we're slack and its still up!) and keep looking when my brain triggers, there was a lump. That shouldn't be there. Go check it out. Thank goodness for that! There was dog. All nicely tucked up having a lovely sleep. Normally this Mummy would take a photo. Ensure the moment was saved for a LO one day, but NO. I was far too excited. I GRABBED dog and RAN downstairs. You should've seen the look on Sarahs face. Just so beautiful. Dog is home. Thank goodness! (thanks for all your good wishes!)

So today is my beautiful twins birthday. Wow, 3 years old. Around this time 3 years ago I was recovering from a traumatic birth experience, c-sec and trying to learn how to breastfeed. I'm getting teary thinking about it. I remember how lucky we are to even have them, and especially Matt after this experience. Jeez. Life turns out good huh?!

So here is a pic of them at one day old and what Andy and I created last night for their daycare morning tea.

Missing - one dog

Disaster strikes the McClune household as Sarahs dog couldn't be found yesterday for her afternoon sleep. It was still missing after many searches when she went to bed last night. This dog is her special toy and she drags it around the house with her all day. Every time she gets upset its the first thing she grabs and every sleep its beside her. I'm starting to get worried. Its never been missing for so long before. We have searched EVERYWHERE. A reward will be offered for its safe return! LOL. I never had a special toy so I love that she does and I really really don't want it to stop just yet. Doggie please come back!

Christmas

I can't believe it. Its not even December and the Xmas parades and shows are already in full force! They even started over East way with Santas being 'woken up' etc. The hype seems to start earlier every year!

So anyway, I'm one of the Xmas freaks who LOVE LOVE LOVE Xmas and everything about it. Even the crowded shopping. I mean really this is just one of those times when you know its Xmas. The songs are being blasted over the mall loudspeakers, the decorations are up, everyone is pushing and shoving (ok, so maybe I don't like THAT bit), but I love the feel.

So yesterday we did our first official Xmas thing. We went to Christmas Wonderland in Birkenhead. You go in and its a big warehouse type environment which has been totally transformed by the hundreds and hundreds of decorated Xmas trees. They call it a 'magical Xmas tree trail' and that's exactly what it is. Each tree has its own 'theme' and its really hot due to all the Xmas lights. Its stunning, spectacular, and something to be seen! The kids were totally awed and to be honest a little overwhelmed, but they still loved it. I just loved seeing their little faces go from excitement to awe to surprise to desire to laughter. A real feel good time for me as well as them. For a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids) it cost $20 so in MHO well worth it. And you get a pass which means you can keep coming back that same day if you want. If you get a chance GO SEE IT. You can see it here: 33 Rawene Road, Birkenhead Nov 23-25 and Nov 30 - Dec 2, 12 noon til midnight (and no I don't have anything to do with it, LOL! Just love it!).

Life, where are you at?

You know I just went to check on the kids before going to bed and found them lying asleep in the middle of the floor blocking the doorway. Matt was lying on his back with Sarah's head on his tummy. It was one of those gooey Mummy moments. I raced upstairs to get Andy and the camera and by the time I came back down they had moved. Bummer. But it will be in my memory now.

During the week, I go for walks. Its great cause my walks incorporate beaches, a golf course, a park, all sorts. Its lovely. Yesterday when I was walking along I happened to glance at the footpath and there was some painted journalling. It said: Why are you holding back.

I've been thinking about it ever since. Its been thought provoking. Why are YOU holding back?

Ok, so onto some other stuff. When I was reading Jules blog, she had a link to Donna's blog cause they were looking at why they started scrapbooking and Jules put her first LO up. Mines a simple story. My MIL and I were talking and she told me about a cool shop I might like as I loved photography and putting my photos in albums. So I went along and was flabergasted at all the amazing paper and 'stuff' that you could decorate your pages with. WOW! So I booked into a class right then and there and this is it. My first LO, my first class. Cor, things have changed a bit since then huh?! LOL.

I will be forever grateful to Val for pointing out that shop to me. I bet she and Andy had no idea what that conversation would do for me. It has totally changed my life, for the better. Thank you Val.

Which brings me to my next thought. Recently I was going back through my albums. I was looking for something. But in doing so I got to take a walk down memory lane. Not only at the different styles that I've gone through in my Scrapbooking growth, but also the stories I've told. And I felt good. It reiterated again to me how important it is for me to get these stories down on paper. I came away with renewed enthusiasm (not that it was waning! LOL) for what its all about. For the joy I gain from creating, for the joy I get from telling a story, for the joy it brings when my children go through the pages and say 'me Mummy me'. It has got to be one of the most satisfying hobbies anyone could ever have. If you haven't tried it, give it a go. You'll be surprised at how addictive it is.

Which brings me to another thought. My twins turn 3 next week and we are having a party. Its the first party where they are inviting their own friends from daycare. So I made some invites. They were dead simple and very easy but so far I've had really lovely comments from the daycare Mums. They all asked where I'd got them done. I said 'me'. It was kinda nice. So anyway, here's a glimpse of what they look like. Obvious details have been erased. I printed the photo onto CS (which I had altered with some photoshop brushes), then using eyelet brads (what's their real name?) I attached the wording to the picture. Simple, but really effective.

which brings me to yet another thought.....what games do three year olds play???? Its going to be a very simple, easy party, but I think we should have 'something' organised. Any ideas would be gratefully received.

Ok, its after my bed time. LOL! Actually for me its EARLY! But I'm getting up early to do some weights. Yep, more time exercising, less time sitting on the computer. Sigh, but its GOTTA be done! And besides I'm actually enjoying it. LOL.

Smiles.

November Up2Scrap

Is out! Yeha. It looks fantastic (and not just cause the new ET has been announced). Honestly, it looks brilliant. It has loads of amazing articles in it (check out Yolandes Christmas delights). Some cool new ideas like Lara's gumboot and Sue's doll and well, I loved seeing what the ET did for their winning entries. Also loving all the Aussie submissions. Go you Aussie girls!!!! If you wanna see all of this, then go run to your local shop and grab a copy asap (and this is serious, when I went to get a copy last week I got the LAST one!!!!).

And here is part three of my ET entry (not shown in the mag). For this one, we had to complete a double with 6 or more photos on it. I used 15!

Other big news for us today. Dan rolled over.....the other way! LOL. Again, I left the room for 2 seconds, he was on his back and when I came in he was on his tummy. That means he can now go front to back and back to front. Oh dear. Next thing you know I'll leave the room and he'll follow me. LOL. Mental note, put up the gates on our stairs!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, got a million and 2 things to do. Hope you're all well.

Trina

Busy day

This is one of the reasons you shouldn't let hubby's go BBQ shopping by themselves....

Hmmmmm?! LOL. Actually I shouldn't be so mean. We had talked about a budget and I figured I've spent so much on scrap stuff over the last couple of years, that I would leave that up to his discretion. Well this is still not quite put together and it takes up the whole kitchen! In fact we no longer need a kitchen. LOL. All I did was go out to a scrap get together and I came home to find this. LOL.

Talking of scrapping. I had a ball catching up with the Puke ladies yesterday. I took Dan with me as he just doesn't like bottles. And he behaved himself very well, until the end when he proved Mum to be a liar. LOL. Don't you love it when you say something like 'oh he never cries' then they get their knickers in a twist about something and won't stop?! LOL. Anyway, he wasn't thhhhhaaaaat bad (and thankfully only at the end), but did continue having problems after I got home too. Was worried he was coming down with something as hes not usually like this, but he's slept the whole night through as usual so must've just been one of those days?

Must admit I didn't get much done except laugh! I swear I was really trying to get my journalling done! I've been working on the same project for ages and needed to get it finished. Hmmmmm. LOL. I sat next to Karen and she has got the coolest box full of goodies. Especially the handles her DH has made for all her stamps. Way cool! Caught up with Michelle and how her pregnancy is going and of course got to talk for real to all the other girls, instead of just emails.

At home Andy was holding down the fort with Sam here as well. Sam's a little bit younger than our two, but they love him visiting and I'm pretty sure he loves coming here after not wanting to leave last night. LOL.

With such a big BBQ, we had the perfect toy for them and sure enough they played with it constantly. Wonder how long its gonna stay in the lounge? Its HUGE!

Last photo. Dan and I. Just before he went to bed. Shocking lighting. But the one with a dimmed flash was all pink. GOTTA get that white balance sorted. Its driving me nuts!!!!!!

Hi Paula!!!!!!!!!!!

I bet you didn't believe me when I said I'd do this?! Maybe this will bring you out of your shell?! LOL. Paula is a lovely lady I know through one of the LSS (local scrap shop). We've met many times and always have a great chat. So when I popped in yesterday to the LSS for those essential items (you know, the adhesives and knife blades) she told me how she reads my blog. Hmmmm, said I, but I didn't know that, you've never left a comment?! So this is my sneeky way of outing her. LOL. HIIIIII!

Also wanted to send a big hi and congrats to Erica Glover. She was recently announced as one of the new FK Elite team members. On top of her amazing talent with all those crafty items, she is a darn nice lady too. I've been very lucky to get to know her a bit as we've gone through that 'motherhood' thing around the same time. So big congrats Erica. This is so well deserved and I can't wait to see your work in FK. I know this is a bit late, but congrats to you, and the other ladies too: Susan Doyle, Sarah van Wijck, and Juanita Walker. What a great team. Can't wait to hear who the DT is when (?) they make that announcement.

Sarahs toilet training has been going well. She has only had three 'accidents' and two of them happened Tues morning. The other yesterday morning. So I think we're pretty much there. She certainly knows when she wants to go. Although the latest is telling me she needs to go to get out of eating dinner. Sigh. LOL. What am I gonna do about that? I don't want to discourage her from telling me, but I don't want to be racing off to the loo every time she doesn't want to do something? ARGH!

And just for fun here's a pic from Sunday morning, gotta love the French. What a civilised time for the rugby! Yeah. (Can someone tell me how to fix the white balance on my camera? I've done what they say and it still comes out yellow????)

Ohhhhhh, and to everyone going down to scrapcamp......HAVE A GREAT TIME. Green with jealousy.

Just got this link

Basic Grey newsletter

WTG Jaimie and Julie

Toilet Training

At the end of the month my two older children turn 3 and I am finally starting to toilet train. I have been putting it off and putting it off with every excuse under the sun, mainly cause there are two of them and I just thought it was going to be a nightmare. LOL.

So when I got M&S up from their 'afternoon sleep' (yeah right) on Monday and Sarah had taken off her nappy and put on her bikini bottoms and refused to put her nappy back on, I realised that we really DID need to do something about it. Sooooooo, she didn't get another nappy until sleep time.

Mon night I raced across to the big red shed and brought: 12 pairs of knickers, a dolly, some stickers and juice. Whew, all ready.

First thing yesterday she asks to wear her knickers again (this is after a major meltdown Mon night when we tell her they have to be washed). However she now has so many pairs to choose from and ends up with a different pair! So I 'wake up' dolly and we take off her nappy, put her on the toilet and she goes wees (thank goodness for syringes and kids that are too intent on whats going on to realise Mum is tricking them). Then we put her little knickers on and give her a sticker on Sarahs chart. Well. That was just beautiful and Sarah promptly does exactly the same thing. And boy do the stickers work a treat! I give them both lots of juice (they normally don't have it so this makes them drink lots thus go to the toilet lots. You see there are methods to my madness! LOL). So we stay at home all day and teach Sarah how to use the toilet and after 2 accidents early in the piece Sarah uses the toilet successfully 9 times. Some are prompted by me some are her asking. I am so PROUD of her! (And me. I didn't loose it, and was encouraging without being over the top). She was ready and in hindsight so was I.

Today of course is daycare so they will be able to encourage and teach her more and hopefully by the weekend she'll be toilet trained. Wow.

Then its Matts turn. He was very interested in proceedings. I realised at the point when his head was stuck down the toilet watching her wees that really he didn't need to be around, and tried to just spend time with Sarah, but of course with all the special attention she was getting he got a bit miffed, so will be good when we do him. He's always been about 6 weeks behind Sarah in all the big 'milestones' but we'll just play this one by ear.

So here are a couple of shots of what we got up to yesterday instead of going out and doing the normal stuff.....

I forgot to add that under that pile of cushions and toys is Matthew! You can just see his hand holding the green frog by Sarahs elbow. This is the latest game. Throw as many toys down the laundry shute as possible and look up as its happening. Thankfully we have now restrained them to 'soft' things. It was getting dangerous. They absolutely adored playing this yesterday with their cousins.

Oh, btw, last night I cooked a roast for 8 for dinner. It was so hot yesterday, what was I thinking???????????? But it was soooo yummy and so easy. This is only my second one in years (Andy traditionally does them) and I decided I really like this way of cooking. Little bit of prep time, then in the oven. Awesome.

Have a good one, and wish us luck that the easiness continues. Later.

Mondayitis

Mondays are actually a good day. We get lots of 'things' done. You know like the ironing, the food shopping, washing and stuff. Its great to do it all now and start the week off without having to worry about it later.

I quite like food shopping. We've been going to the same shop for years now and all the ladies that work there know us. When I had Dan, and Andy took the kids instead of me, they knew I'd had my baby, and when I took Dan on his first food shopping expedition they all came running to check him out. Even today I got stopped twice talking to the lovely staff there (and that doesn't include all the 'hellos' and 'waves' as we trundle along). Maybe I chat too much? Who knows? But its nice and the kids love it.

My post today is really for me. I have a terrible memory so this is a good place to write things down for posterity. LOL. So this is to remind myself about some cool stuff that Dan is doing. One thing is how he is ticklish.... man, all it takes is for someone to take off or put on a t'shirt and he's giggling away. He obviously loves this feeling as he just giggles and giggles. He'll also do this if you tickle his chest. He must be really sensitive around that area? Its beautiful.

He also loves it when we go to pick him up first thing in the morning. 9 times out of 10 hes already awake, and as soon as he sees us his face lights up with the biggest grin and he starts shaking. His arms go and his legs and you can tell he's just soooooo excited to see us again (I figure he realises he's gonna be fed soon. LOL).

He has also started to wriggle around the room. Both when hes on his tummy and his back. When hes on his tummy he just goes around in circles, but when he's on his back he uses his legs to push himself along until he bumps into something, then he whimpers. I don't think he knows what a proper cry is?! LOL. Surely he's too little for this????

Also on the scrapping front, I was excited to see I'd made it through to the next round for the Scrapboxx DT call. I still have to pinch myself when I see my LO up there. Wow. So thrilled. There were originally around 94 people who entered, now its down to 13. Wow. The brief this time sounds great. Maria is going to send us one of their monthly kits. Can't wait. This was my LO.

Catch ya later.

What is it with Auckland drivers?

I mean seriously?

What makes us all so darn impatient? Why is our time more important than someone elses? What makes us drive so quickly, that it puts other peoples lives at risk? When was it suddenly ok to drive through red lights and good not to indicate?

Who changed the road rules without telling me????

You see a couple of weeks ago my sister (Hi Von) asked me if I wanted to do a duathlon with her and a friend or two. I was so excited. I haven't done any events for what feels like forever and it gives me something to aim towards. So last Friday I got on my bike for the first time. It felt GOOD. And when I got home I said to Andy I only 'nearly got hit' about 2 times, but they weren't serious. LOL. How sad is that when you nearly get hit twice and think its been a good ride???????????

So today with Abby here for half a day I was all excited again. I'd walked yesterday and the day before and today was my bike day. So off I went. When not more than 15 minutes into my cycle, a great big brand new shiny black Range Rover decides to pull directly in front of me without indicating. I wasn't doing anything wrong. In fact in that traffic, was being very careful. Yet, he decided not to look, and I was literally an inch from being knocked off my bike. I SCREAMED and managed to swerve around him, goodness knows how? I still don't know how I managed not to go over his bonnet? And when I looked back to wave my arm at him he was giving me the finger. HUH?! Whats with that?!

I mean this was the closest I've come to being knocked off my bike since I actually was in 1999. I was so angry. The road is for EVERYONE.

So to that horrible man in the black range rover - you scared me. You could have left 3 children motherless. Look next time.

And to the nice man who was getting out of his car at the dairy and saw me and shut his door again. Thank you.

To the nice person who waited as I went around the road works that left the road narrow. Thank you.

And to everyone else out there driving away, please look. Its scary being a cyclist on the Auckland roads nowadays.

Ok, gripe over. Down off my soapbox. If you got this far, its much nicer.

Today is Dan's 3 month anniversary and another bear photo was taken.....

At the risk of sounding cliched.........I can't believe how quickly this time has gone and how much he has grown and developed?!!!!!

Yesterday while we were out he rolled over three times. I was so the proud Mum! He's also now trying from his back to his front, but not quite getting there. He flicks all the bottom half over, but his head is just too big and heavy. LOL. He'll get it soon enough.

And while trapsing the shops today we went into a wonderful Xmas shop. You know the ones, where they only sell the most gorgeous Xmas ornaments? Yep, well, we start walking around and oooooing and ahhhing over all the pretty colours when Sarah pipes up with 'This is where Santa lives'. What a sweetie. Mum and I nearly start crying in the shop it was so cute.

And on the scrapping front, last night I finished a page which used some Chatterbox papers. Yay. I was discussing CBX papers with Lucy and realised I had a heap of them. I love them so keep buying them, but then never get round to using them. So I finally did.

Heres the end result. The journalling is very private so is hidden under Sarah's photo and there are additional private photos under the family photo. This LO is about my miscarriage last year. It feels good to have it all documented.

Cause the teddy is so big and fluffy, its made everything skew funny. IRL its all perfectly straight and matching.

Til then.

A conversation with a (nearly) 3 year old

Dropping the kids at daycare this morning......

Sarah: Mummy its a bit dark

Me: Yeah, its cause the clouds are covering the sun. Can you see all the clouds?

S: But I like the sun, I want the sun.

M: Sorry sweetie, we can't control the weather.

S: Maybe we can get an airplane ....pause.... Lets look for superman. He can blow the clouds away.

Don't you just love the innocence of children??? Just made my heart melt. But what a clever girl for thinking about how she could make the sun come back! Jeepers, while being a mother is challenging its little conversations like this that make it all worthwhile.

What a day

Wow, so glad this day is coming to an end. It has been BUUUUUSSSSSSSY! But good. So here are a couple of photos of what we got up to this afternoon.

Here are my homemade felt sea creatures to go with the song 'slippery fish' which the kids LOVE. The sing it at lapsit and there is a felt board there where the octopus eats the slippery fish, and the tuna fish eats the octopus etc etc. As you can tell I'm not the best artist out there (OMG, can you even tell what they are?! LOL), but my kids and Andy love them and Matt has been happily singing and making the creatures eat each other all afternoon. Sigh.

I also want to show you some cool pics taken yesterday afternoon. I decided that as per usual we just don't have enough family photos. Yeah right?! LOL. So I set up a shoot and got these two. They are not my 'favourites' but they are kinda cool (especially the one of us being 'crazy'. LOL!!!!) So anyway, you get to have a sneak peek before the favs go on a LO sometime.

And last photo.....heres another LO I did yesterday.

Also just wanted to say a BIG hi to all those people who read my blog but aren't scrappers (ok, to all of you scrappers too! LOL). You know who you are. There is a heap of good news for some of you at the moment, so big smiles at ya. I love knowing you're out there even if you don't leave a message, hint hint..... Big hugs to you all and have a great night.

Two new LO's

Ok, so here are a couple of new LO's. This first one was my contribution to the worldwide dare. The dare was to:

a) cover your page (start with Bazill and totally cover it)

b) Theme - childhood memories/dreams

c) Splash some paint on

d) Put your title on the photo

It was a really fun LO to compile. But for the first time in ages, I had trouble using paint. So I ended up making a wee booklet with my journalling in it (under the smaller photo) and this had the paint on it. I printed my journalling onto a transparency, painted the back of one side. Then stuck the two sides together.

The journalling reads:

It was around this age that people started to ask what I'd like to do when I grew up. I had lots of ideas and they constantly changed. But I distinctly remember wanting to be an astronaut. You see it was around the time of the space shuttles first launch and astronauts were special. They did something which few other people did, and boy was it exciting. I remember dreaming of what it would be like to float in the air or eat 'frozen meals'. I imagined looking back on the world from way up high and the parade when I arrived back home. It was a big dream for a little girl.

Years later I realise that even though I never became that famous astronaut the ability to dream, and the desire to exceed stayed with me and allowed me to achieve goals that perhaps I might not have otherwise.

And as Andy has just so kindly reminded me, I DID achieve part of that original goal....I eat plenty of frozen meals these days.

Do go check out our Kiwi Dare site (No 8 Wired) and also the other countries - Australia, UK, USA. Then give it a go. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

And you know a cool thing about this LO, is that it was picked up today for the Basic Grey online gallery.

My other LO was one done last night just for fun. Love that shaped Bazill.

Friday the 3rd of November is HERE

Ok, for those of you who have been patiently waiting......the big news is.....here. And here. And here. And here. Go check it out.

Today I took some pics of my darlings....here they are. Even though it was a set up 'photo shoot' this is typically how we will catch them, any time, anywhere, them just hanging out.

And wee Dan the man was a hero today. His rolling is not a two hit wonder. He rolled again today. Twice. From his tummy to his back both sides. What a legend.