Living my dream

Feels like forever

since I last blogged. But only a few days. Funny how quickly or slowly time goes when you're trying to do things. LOL.

I want to say a huge big hello to my special friend Jane in Australia. On Friday she had her third baby and wee Alice Elizabeth was welcomed to this world. Man oh man, am I jealous of how Jane births. So different to me. Jane had actually gone into work the morning of Alice's birth, got home around 11am feeling unwell, and Alice was here by 1.30pm! Talk about quick! I've got pics and she is gorgeous. Not sure when I'll get to meet her, but can't wait.

This week I went tog shopping. UGH. Any woman will know how horrible this 'event' is. It doesn't matter if you're absolutely the thinnest you've ever been. When you're standing in the changing rooms in your palest winter white skin, you are never going to look fantastic. Add a very round post baby belly and a few extra kgs and you feel positively ick. Then add a baby who screams when he sees you and you wonder if you're allowed to go out in public in this thing. LOL! Thankfully I did end up getting some, so now I'm just going to pretend to be as thin as I used to be and enjoy the sun.

Matt and Sarah had a ball choosing all their new summer clothes. Figured I might as well get them now. They are all out in the shops and sooooo cute! Can't believe that I'm buying size 5 for my 3.5 year olds. Tells you how tall they are. And Dan is even taller than them at his age! Eeeek. Bummer for Sarah is that while she's tall, she is sooooo thin, so we need everything to have those adjustable waists or they just don't fit.

Ok, a little something to show. Here is a LO which appeared in the latest SM mag. Its of my gorgeous boy Daniel. Love the close up of his hand.

Mostly Junkitz. Yep, its an older range, but oh so timeless. Love the blues for a baby boy!

And talking of magazines, I haven't shown you my work from the last UP2Scrap. No not this newest one.....you're gonna have to buy the mag for that ;), but here are two of the three LO's I did as part of an article on photo corners.....

This one titled Remember this moment is of my niece Alex. And she looks so grown up here! Couldn't believe it when I saw the photo. I love the layering on this LO. There is heaps which you just can't see in a scan. Also love the yellow. I'm so not a yellow girl, but it just seemed to work here. And the photo corners. Well, they are scotch. I've heated ultra thick utee on them to make them look like water, then placed them in the middle of the scallops for a border effect. Gotta love how the embossing worked out.

These pictures of our family are from one of those times when Andy was about to go away and I got all silly and paranoid that his plane was gonna go down (or something equally stupid! LOL). So at the last minute I threw up a sheet, and took a heap of photos. I think Andy has gotten used to me doing this and because of it we actually have a few photos of us as a family together. LOL! I guess being a little bit crazy does help sometimes??? LOL!

Talking of crazy.... have you seen the cherryArte gallery? When you click on this link, there is a slideshow to the left hand side of the main gallery and my LO is there! Oh wow! I must admit I love this LO. Its such an ugly photo (LOL), but so Andy and I, and so the time of us having had new twins. I called the LO 'A little bit of crazy'. Here it is.

Hmmmm, still missing a LO from the last Up2, but its getting rather full in this post. Serves me right for not posting for a few days. LOL.

Have a good one.

PS: Forgot to mention, Dan has his first back tooth through. On his right. But he's also got another three just there ready to come through. Poor little thing. He must be in a bit of pain, but no adverse reaction yet......

Bored?

If you've got nothing better to do (yeah right?!), then give this a try. Its American based, but still a bit of fun.

How many of me?

My biggest daycare boo boo (so far...)

Yep, I got it totally wrong yesterday! Like TOTALLY. Recently we've been trying to get M&S into an extra day at daycare each week. Because its a small daycare, its really hard and the waiting list is from a baby through to 2. In fact they aren't even taking kids unless its from birth. But they love it and I need the time. So with winter being here and people taking holidays its been working really well. I've got a list of all the extra days so I know whats what. And off the kids go for a 'lucky special' day. But for some reason yesterday I got it wrong. I thought they were going, but they weren't meant to. I even tried ringing at 8.20am, but they were on the phone. I thought, Nah, I've got it right and off we went. School bags packed, lunchboxes ready. We got there, and I had it wrong. This was the week where no one was away. There were no spare days, and especially not yesterday. How could I have got it so wrong? What would I do now? ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The kids were distraught. I mean going food shopping just doesn't compare to playing with all your friends. Sigh. So with lots of tears, I bribed them with muffins at the food shop and off we went. I guess at least we know they LOVE it there.

But its a great lesson for me. Next time I will make sure first!!!!!!!!! Although I guess after nearly two years there, its not too bad that this is my first stuff up. LOL!

So what did we do instead? We went and saw Granny and Aunty Sue x 2. Great to catch up with them! Plus in the morning we did the food shopping, and we also had a couple of picnics - one for morning tea and one for lunch. Very cool. Here's a pic.....

This is such a common sight in our house at the moment. Matt has discovered a volume switch on his voice and with the increased sound goes a really big wide mouth. LOL!

Sarah on the other hand is quite happy to sit back, smile and take everything in. Well, at least to a point. Then she's in boots and all too. LOL. They are wonderful right now.

In fact here are a couple of random conversations from this morning....

1. Driving down a Takapuna street. Matt pipes up from the back of the car....."this road has been built for hundreds of years". LOL.

2. Going past the beach, Sarah says "Look at that BEAAAAUUUUTIFUL sparkling water". Matt agrees, "wow, its beautiful, so cool".

3. Sarah calling down the hallway to Matt...."Matthew, Matthew where are you?". Matt replies: "I'm here squashing ants" HUH?????? ROFL!!!!!!!!

So have you checked out the No 8 Wired dare this fortnight? Do go check it out. It won't cost you a cent this time round cause its all about your SCRAPS! Go girls! Its so much fun, and we have got a majorly cool sponsor! cherryArte!!!!!! Yep. Thats right. cherryArte! Their stuff is so darn cute, but you've got to be in to win.

Gotta go. Later.

Yep, I'm a Technophobe

Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm not great with computers (in fact this is an understatement! LOL). I was sooooooooo proud of myself when I got this blog up and running all by myself. Now its just part of my everday life. Its amazing how something so foreign becomes natural with a little persistance.

So tonight I was proud again as I created a slideshow for the new Fiskars ambassador blog. Now I think it needs a little tweaking still, but by golly, I did it! LOL.

Speaking of Fiskars, I had my last class today for the NZ Scrapbook Mega store opening and 23 people were part of it. It was brilliant. Andrea was a huge help, and it was great to meet Ann and Penny! Hi ladies! Thanks for being such a great part of the class.

So changing the subject here are a couple of new LO's.

The first one is for the new dare which is up on No 8 Wired. The dare was set by Lesley and is such a fun one. We're not allowed to use anything but scraps. No new packets of embellishments, no full sheets of cs or pp. Just all those left over bits and pieces. Well, luckily for me I have a HUGE pile of stuff like this so relished finding papers and embellishments that matched from my modpodge of scraps. Here's the LO I did:

Its made up from Basic Grey and My minds eye (PP), and then piles of chipboard. Hmmmm, can you tell I have a fair bit? LOL.

I've used the Fiskars circle squeeze punch to cut out all those little flowers across the top half of the LO. Man was that easy or what?! Just love that punch. It also added some extra dimension and colour to the top of the LO.

I've had this photo printed off for ages. I love it, or should I say I loved those cute little shorts. I just had to make a LO one day, and well, hey, today was that day.

Hey, I got a really exciting email this morning. I submitted 3 LO's to Memory Makers "oh Baby" book. They have requested two of them. I'm absolutely stoked. One of them is a LO I created using some yummy Junkitz paper. Mmmmmm, divine. Sorry can't show you, but will as soon as I can.

My other LO is for this weeks DT work at SBO. Using the yummy July kit I created a LO all about Daniels first tantrum. Hmmmm, wonder if I could use this to bribe him when he gets older? LOL!

Hey, have you seen the latest UP2Scrap is out? You've got to check it out. Lianne has one of her LO's on the front cover and it looks fantastic. So modern. So fun.

Alrighty, gotta go. I need some sleep.

Hope you're having a great weekend.

New blog for FISKARS

Hey, check out this exciting new blog by Fiskars....

We're going to have a heap of info going on it on a regular basis with challenges, design ideas, and lots of interaction and feedback from the Fiskars ambassadors.

To start it off we're having a draw for some cool Fiskars drills. All you need to do is take a look and post a comment.

Would love to see you there!

Trina

Only people who don't steal popcorn

So some background first......Uncle Rob is Andy's brother. Hes a great guy. Full of fun and energy. A couple of times ago (maybe a month or two) the kids were eating popcorn when they saw him and uncle Rob stole some. It was like the world had collapsed. But they got over it. Whew.

The next time we saw uncle Rob we thought it would make a good joke for the kids to take the 'yukky' packets of popcorn to him and give him them. He laughed. We laughed and the world was good.

But he had also made them some pikelets.....with sprinkles! He was in the good books big time!

So tonight when Daddy came home talking to uncle Rob on the phone. He gave Matt a chance to talk to him. Matt chatted away and told him it was Daniels birthday and uncle Rob asked why he wasn't invited. Matt sat there and stammered away...."when, when, when, when.....only people that don't steal popcorn are invited"

You gotta love the way a 3 year old thinks!

Hickory Dickory Dock.....

The mouse ran up the clock....or in our case the pebble eared prune with snake whiskers and a licorice tail sat on the icing! I loved making this cake. It was so easy and believe it or not actually looks quite similar to the picture in the book. Annnnnnnd it was yummy. Sigh. There goes another day of eating bad! LOL!

  So we had an incredible weekend. It just worked. Everyone was happy. Funny that with a party on! LOL! Yep, the party was great. We kept it small this time round and it meant the pressure was off. And Dan was sooooooooo into everything. He was very happy being the birthday boy and smiled the whole weekend. He 'got it' much more than I thought he would and loved all the attention and of course his pressies. They were all different and thoughtful and he plays with all of them!

But I think the best part for everyone was the helium balloons we got. Check them out at Spotlight. They come in a box with the helium tank, 30 balloons and string to tie them. The nieces and nephews all thought they were the bees knees and so did M&S and well Dan just giggled at them the whole day trying to reach them. He would wander around with his hands high in the air, his head flung back, his mouth wide open and a big smile planted across it. Here's the end result. Yep, he did get the balloon, but lost his footing in the meantime. LOL!

Today we went to the zoo. I was trying to get some pics for something I'm doing right now but the lighting was all wrong! I should've gone this afternoon. Bother! Nevermind. I think I got one that will work? And while I was there I met Sanna (HI Sanna!). It was sooooo great to see her again and her three. And its funny how these things work cause just in the weekend Matt and Sarah were asking to see her twins. They ran around like nutters, screaming and getting lost and well it was great to see them having so much fun.

Ok, well I've GOT to get this LO done. I did one last night (watch out for it at SBO on Fri/Sat) but now need to get two more done by Wed. Eeeek. X fingers ok, its gonna be tight. LOL.

Later.

LO catch up

Ok, so here are some of my 'recent' LO's.

First up are LO's I've done from the SBO July Kit. Yummo! Lovely fun boy papers. Love em.

The first is for my June 2007 year in review page. And another double! LOL

The second one is just such a Matt game. He screws up his eyes so tight you think hes in pain, but he thinks hes hiding and we have to play the 'where's Matt game'. Too cute.

The third is my class LO for Fiskars being held at NZ Scrapbook for their grand opening of the new store in Link Drive Wairau park. We had our first lot of classes today and that ladies were great. I totally enjoyed myself. Thanks to Donna and Andrea for such great support too. Wonderful! Looking forward to Wednesday evening and next Sat for my other classes! This class is all about the Fiskars tools. The shape cutter and templates, the scrap boss (embossing) and of course their very cool hole punches/eyelet setter. We made a heck of a lot of noise today and it was fun. The class we do is using the Vineyard range of papers (this first blue/purple/green LO), but I've also attached a LO done in the Wildflower range.

Hey, I also have to say a big thank you for all your wonderful birthday wishes yesterday! Made my day! Seriously! Dan had a wonderful day. He LOVED his toys (not too many, not too big, just right for him!), he even behaved when Nat was taking his and our pictures! I can't wait to see them! We didn't stray far from home. Just down to the jetty and then across to the shell bank. But I can't wait to see them. Party is on tomorrow, so I must go get some much needed sleep.

But before I go, check out the latest Up2Scrap. Its in your shops as we speak! Lianne your LO is amazing! Love love love your front cover. Go girl!

Have a good one.

One year ago today...

I had a new baby boy in my arms. It wasn't the easiest delivery as you'll probably know. 22 hours of established labour before we had to give in and do the dreaded c-sec. But he got here. I was also in the beginning of labour for the day before that too. Getting little niggles every so often. I went to lapsit and everyone was worried my waters would break. LOL. I hadn't thought of that. Then I went to the post office and posted some stuff. I'm assuming it was scrapbooking stuff as why else would I be at the post office the day I'm going into labour? LOL! I remember them asking again how much longer and me giggling and saying well I think its gonna happen today or tomorrow. We still giggle about that now when I go in.

My family 'do' big babies. My sister gave birth to her second child at home. She was 11 pounds 8 oz. So when I had just the one baby I was expecting a 'big' one. But the whole way through my pregnancy I was reassured there were no 'big' baby issues here. And the day before I gave birth my specialist said 'it' would be around 9 pounds (this is someone who is renowed for giving accurate weights!).

I was happy we could have a natural delivery whether the baby was big or small, but this just made me more excited. Other women have big babies, why couldn't I? Unfortunately, I couldn't due to the shape of me. Somewhere, he just didn't fit. I was told after the c-sec, by my doctor, midwife and osteo that due to the shape of this or that (including Dans head) that there was just no way.

I remember my midwife, Mum and specialist all giving me the very best chance to birth Dan naturally. They even gave me sintocin in those last 2 hours to see if that would bring him out. This is not normally given to mothers who have had previous c-sections as it brings on the contractions stronger and quicker than a 'natural' birth. It can cause issues with the c-sec scar. And as it turns out, we did the c-sec just in time. Apparently, my scar was opaque as we went down to the operating theatre. Almost see-through.

I remember lying on the operating table, and Dr Wongs forehead almost touching mine cause he was trying so hard to literally drag Dan out. He said then 'its a big baby'. And all the nurses laughing cause they agreed. We soon found out he was 5kg. The whole room gasped. I didn't understand. 5kgs? Whats that? How much is that in baby speak? 10 pounds? More? My midwife smiled at me as she said no Trina, its 11pounds exactly. I think I gasped then?

Right from day 1 he was a dream baby. He still is, although he's very much his own little man. I attribute this to him being number 3. He just follows along with everything else that is happening. At lapsit he's right up there at the front, chatting to the song leader and anyone else who will listen. But he knows how to throw a great stroppy and Matt and Sarah didn't learn that until much later.

One whole year. Gone. So much has happened. So much more will happen.

One year ago today, this was us

Happy birthday my precious little man.

May you be blessed with many many more, happy birthdays.

Love you.

I could tell it was an aeroplane

even before he told me. It was an incredible drawing. With everything on it, in all the right places. I was so impressed. My chest puffed up with pride. I smiled and then smiled some more. And as he told me all about it. I could tell he had thought about this drawing. That he had had to work out where things went. And what belonged on an aeroplane. You can tell he's been to little airports huh?! With that ladder at the back! LOL!

Anyway, here it is. Matts drawing of a plane. At 3.5.

It has the tail, wings, windows and at the back a door with a ladder. So cool.

He said this about it: "Its the fastest aeroplane of all"

and...."when it blasts off, these fall off" meaning the ladder at the back.

Not just a good drawer huh?! LOL.

So its been a very busy few days. I'm preparing for a few things that are coming up and its fun, but you know, time consuming. One of them is Daniels first birthday party. Ok, ok, so its not going to be a big event. But we are still having a little party. And well, we need helium balloons etc just like M&S. Also we're having a photo shoot. We did it with the twins on their first birthday and well its a great excuse to catch up with Nat (our wedding photographer). She is an incredible lady and totally awesome photographer. Can't wait!

Talking of birthday boys....hes started to clap. He knows when he is being good. And he claps himself. Its too cute! Unfortunately, him getting into all the kitchen cupboards and pulling all the pots and pans and bowls and candles and and and out isn't so cute! Note to self. Find cupboard child restraints!

Yesterday we decided to go to Fiji. Oh yeah. We used to go every year (pre babies), and well it got too hard. This year we decided it might be worth it. Andy organised the whole thing and even booked it. Can't wait. And will give me some lovely bright sunny summery shots to scrap! LOL!

Hey, don't forget I'm going to be at NZ Scrapbook this Sat taking classes. See back a couple of posts for a sneak peek. Just pulling all the finishing touches together now. Packing up the gear etc. Can't wait. But if you're in a class be gentle ok, this is my first time with a larger group! LOL.

So did you manage to remember to stand against child abuse this lunchtime? I did. I set the alarm on my phone and the microwave so I wouldn't forget. LOL! (I need reminders like this. Can you tell I'm getting older?). I walked outside and stood there. No one else was around. Then I heard some movement and I thought yeah, I'm not the only one, but it was just one of the guys next door doing something in his car. Bugger I thought. Then I heard a garage door open and I thought, maybe? But no, it was just another guy going out to his car. Not a single other person on our small street either remembered, or knew about it, or cared. And that was what got to me today. Yes, we can do this, we can all stand wherever but  its getting worse here in NZ. Not better and its all well and good standing up and saying, not good enough, but what can we do to help? What can we do to ensure it doesn't happen again? Its got me thinking. I feel very priviledged to be a leader at Connect Cafe. To make a small difference in this crazy world. But is it enough for me? Don't know. At least its got me thinking.

Later.

For tomorrow. Wednesday.

Will you join me?

Call for Nationwide 'Stand' Against Child Abuse

This Wednesday

12:12pm for 3 minutes

Family First NZ , For the Sake of Our Children Trust and the Sensible Sentencing Trust have joined together to call on all NZ'ers to stand against child abuse this Wednesday.

They are asking NZ'ers to stop whatever they are doing - to come out onto the street, outside the office or classroom, to stop their car or truck and stand outside their vehicle - and make a symbolic 'stand' against child abuse for three minutes at 12:12pm.

The three minutes represents the three short years of little Nia's life, and the number 12 is significant as it represents the months of the year where children are abused, neglected and killed in NZ.

The three short minutes is an opportunity for each person to reflect on what each one of us can do to be part of the solution to our unacceptable rate of child abuse .

They are also requesting all radio stations to play Destiny Child's "Stand Up For Love" during these 3 minutes. This song was the Anthem for the World Children's Day 2005.

OUR CHILDREN ARE SUFFERING.
NO MORE.

You can find out more here.

Fiskars Free Workshop - "Hole lot of loving"

Come and join us (Donna, Andrea and myself) at the wonderful, fun Fiskars classes this week!

Yep, I'm taking several classes at NZ Scrapbooks brand new shop in Link Drive.

NZ Scrapbooks are having a grand opening from 9th Aug - 18th Aug. And you should see the store. Its HUGE! This shop looks absolutely amazing and Fiskars are thrilled to be joining the party by throwing free classes for YOU! Yeah!

We will be making a gorgeous single LO with the Heidi Grace Vineyard range.

If you were at SENZ you'll know just how popular Helens classes were. And how much fun we all had there! So don't miss out this time round!

The classes are running for one hour each and the times are:

Sat 11th August 11am and 12.30pm

Wed 15th August 7pm

Sat 18th August 11am.

You can make bookings by ringing the wonderful ladies at NZ Scrapbook on 9120665.

The classes are going to be run in a similar vein to SENZ, so make sure if you book, you turn up on time or your seat may be given away.

And just to tease you....heres a wee sneak peek.....

See you on Sat!

Edited to add if you're taking my class, it would be great if you could bring a 5x7 B&W photo or one that will match the blue/purple/green from the Vineyard range from Heidi Grace. If you can't don't panic. I've got that covered too! LOL.

Just like the prime minister

Yep, we had bugs here yesterday. Awful, awful bugs. But was funny to hear we were going through it with the PM yesterday. Seems she was a bit off colour too.

Started off on Sat. We had my sisters 3 over for a sleep over. M&S have been wanting this for ages, so was great. We had a lovely time hanging out playing with the play houses and tunnels, cooking marshmellows over our fire and all in the bath together! Yep, 6 of them. How on earth did we manage that? But in the night poor Kathryn got sick and we were up for a lot of it. Sunday came and went and we thought we'd gotten away with it, no bugs, then Monday night hit and we were down. Poor wee Dan was vomiting every half hour throughout the night. We put a portacot up in our room, but he just wouldn't sleep in the inbetween stages so in the end I just sat up in bed and held him and he slept on me.

I think he finally stopped around 4am and we put him back in his own bed. Which was great. But at 6am poor Andy started and then Sarah. The lethargy from this thing is worse than the vomiting! And its obviously very contagious. Somehow Matt and I managed to avoid the vomiting, but we were both incredibly tired. So the whole family spent the day in front of the tv. We've never done this before, but sometimes ya just gotta go with it.

Means I'm now a day behind on things which may not sound like much, but right now is. Eeeek. Nevermind.

So heres a quick look at the before shot. All nice and clean, fed and watered and enjoying a story before bed. Yeah. Wee Dan was wondering around rudey nudey, so not in the shot! LOL.

Also thought I'd show you a page I did for a friend Wendy who's recently been in hospital. The girls on POS decided to put together a wee album to help cheer her up in her recovery. Erica, Paula and Dawn decided to take it over to her yesterday and by all accounts it was a hit. Get well soon Wend!

Its all made from gorgeous Junkitz papers. Love those flowers! So many to choose from and cut out. Yummo! And of course love to see more beads! LOL. Seems I have another addiction. LOL!

Whoops forgot to add, I'm having a stampin up party at my place on Sat afternoon 2pm. My emails been playing up so if you haven't got one from me and expressed an interest or got my original email and are wondering more, then sing out/send me an email and we can have a chat.

Also don't forget Sat night is the SBO cybercrop. Theres gonna be some challenges, games, and lots of chatter, so come and join us. You'll have to sign up first. Go here to do that.

Have a good one.