Living my dream

Saturday Sketch day

With such a rainy day it was perfect to be inside scrapping. Unless of course you have 3 young children. LOL.

Anyway, I managed to get a card done for a friend of mine who's recently had a baby. Huge congrats Andrea.

 

I also went for a quick visit today to see Andrea and have a cuddle with the gorgeous Luca. Wow, I forget how tiny babies are. Mine are so big now.

I used some old Basic Grey scraps, Making Memories journal page and some alpha stamps. Was very quick and easy.

I also managed to put together a quick sketch for Fiskars....

 

Yesterday, the kids had their first swimming sports at school. Man oh man was it wonderful or what?! I had to hold myself back from screaming out encouragement at them. It wasn't the done thing. LOL!

Here are a couple of my favourite photos. The one of Matt is out of focus, but just shows him in his true colours. In fact both photos show both of them in their true colours. Love it.

 

 

Later.

I seem to be on a blog go slow

A bit unusual for me, but hey, a change is as good as a holiday right?

As happens from time to time I've kinda been thinking recently about why I blog? What makes me write what I do? etc etc.

And there are kinda two lines of thought running around my head. The main one for me is about recording things. I have a terrible memory. And I mean terrible! So I often forget things that I've sworn I'll remember! LOL. So blogging helps me remember where the brain forgets (I'd love to say its nappy brain, but its been going on a lot longer than that! LOL). And thats good for the ole scrapping when I go to do the journaling for a particular picture and go 'oh oh, I've forgotten! LOL.

The other is of course the scrapping side. The connection to friends, the opportunity to share the work I create and hopefully, maybe inspire a couple of people along the way.

Unfortunately that side seems to be slipping along the wayside at the moment cause alot of the stuff I create can't be shown......just yet. And I seem to be getting a little lazy in the evenings, watching alot more telly than is normal for me. LOL!

So anyway, while I'm on 'go slow', thought I'd share the latest creation I made for the ANZ Fiskars blog - Feb prompts.

I used a lovely paper from the new Kimberley Poloson range and the prompt was on 'your garden'. I do a lot of 'general' gardening LO's, so decided to get a bit more specific on this one. And its really different to what I normally do, but I think its still effective.

  

And on that note I'm gonna go make a cup of tea and finish off a LO that's sitting on my desk. Its just not coming together quite as I thought, but I'm sure it'll be fine once its finished. Cross fingers.

Later. 

So excited

Today we went across to the neighbours to use their pool again. We've been there probably 2-3 times a week since they came home. They are really generous and love sharing the pool with the kids. We of course love it right back!

Well today I had one of those 'wow, my kids are growing up and I'm so darn proud' moments.

For some time now Sarah has been doing a little bit of swimming without her floaties (water wings). First she would jump in and swim to me. Then she would do a bit more around the edges of the pool. She then discovered how she could dive down and swim between my legs popping up again on the other side. Now that was cool! But she would always put one of her floaties back on when she got tired.

Today for the whole time she was in the pool, she swam without her floaties. She was really swimming. Like around, up and down. All over the place. She was treading water. The whole works.

Then Matt asked to go in without his floaties and did the same thing. Not for as long, but he could swim too.

These two are little fish. It was amazing.

Andy and I sat on some deck chairs, having a wee bevy enjoying the sun and our children and just grinned. It was one of those moments when my heart literally swelled. You know when you feel so darn proud that it feels like your heart is going to pop out of your chest? yeah, that feeling.

So I just had to get it down on paper (well you know! LOL) so I wouldn't forget that time, that moment, when they grew up just a little bit more.

Later.

Oooooooops

Its Sunday today, that means it was Saturday yesterday. That means I forgot something. LOL. But hey, we were having too much fun to be on the computer. That counts right?!

Here is my sketch for yesterday as designed for the Fiskars blog.....

 

And just cause I can, I flipped it around to give an idea of how you can do this too and complete a totally different looking LO....

 

Yesterday I went for a walk. It was a deviation from my 'usual' walk and took me around the inner harbour on a board walk. There were lots of lovely trees by the footpath and I couldn't believe how many cicada's were in those trees. The noise of them was literally deafening. And for someone who's not particularly happy about having those little critters too close, it was a learning experience....ie how to not panic and start imagining them all swarming on me. Jeepers Trina! LOL!

I also went to Symphony under the Stars last night with a good friend Debbie. Not sure if I've mentioned Debbie here, but she also has boy/girl twins. About 6 months younger than Matt and Sarah, but here's the twist. Her twins are also called Matthew and Sarah. We both have a lot of fun with it and we call the boys M&M's and the girls SoS's. Not really sure how that came about, but hey, its fun.

Anyway, here's a couple of pics from last night.

 

 

We giggled our way through the show. Like the time the drunk guy walked past us for the 5th time, so close to his friends it wasn't funny and we directed him to them. When he got there, he was just estatic and was yelling at us and pointing...'thank you, thank you'. Too funny.

Or the time the new couple (on their second date) in front of us got seperated and were talking on cellphones to find each other - just 15m apart.

Or how we got asked over 12 times (we stopped counting at 12) whether we'd like to donate. We did on the first time (or Debbie did, I forgot my wallet! Duh!). Kinda got over it by about the 6th time. LOL! But hey, it was for a jolly good cause, so its all good. And at least one of the lovely volunteers took a photo for us! Thanks!!!

It was a lovely peaceful evening. Lots of joy. Lots of fun. I haven't done this for AGES and must do it again next year. Maybe even with the kids.

Have a good Sunday.

T

Catch up

I've been head down, bum up this week working on lots of different things. Its been great. And I've really enjoyed it. Yesterday I actually got two, yes two LO's done! That is unheard of for me. It usually takes me at least a day to get one done. But hey, I'm not complaining! In fact quite the opposite. Now I just have to remember how I did it. LOL!

Talking of LO's. Have you been checking out the Fiskars blog? This month we have lots of different prompts to help kick start your scrapping. Different ideas you may not have thought about, or have but couldn't be bothered. Like my one below.

I've had this photo in my 'photo stash' for a good 6 months now. I loved that it is one of my whole family. But I have never got around to scrapping it. Its one of those ones that "I'll do tomorrow", then tomorrow never came. Until last Sat. LOL!

 

The prompt is 'Family'. Check out Andy holding Daniel. Yep, just 8 weeks old. Its amazing to look back on!

So as I mentioned earlier, I've had a crazy week. Monday was Andy's birthday. Dan and I decided to go in and have lunch with him and it was sooooo cool. We went to a little Japanese restaurant just around the corner from Andy's work (I LOVE their beef teryiaki!) and we were a little concerned about what would happen with Dan, but also wanted him to experience new foods. He had sushi for the first time and loved it. It was exciting and lovely to spend time together just the three of us. Don't know if we've ever done that?!

When Dan and I picked the up the kids from school we made Andy some cakes. First a chocolate log - McClune family tradition. And this year, we got it right FIRST time! Much better than last years effort - three times!!!!!! But I also wanted to make a cake the kids could decorate. So we made a heap of little cupcakes then we layered them and poured icing over them, then decorated them with smarties, tiny marshmellows and sprinkles. It was a lot of fun, but I was also ready to tear out my hair by the end of it with all the kids 'helpfulness'. LOL!

 

Ok, so a bit of overkill, but the kids and Andy loved it. Especially the decorating bit! LOL. Yeah. Totally decorated by the kids and the kids only!

So a very belated birthday to my amazing hubby! He knows how much I love him, so I don't need to get all mushy here. ;)

And on that note I'm gonna head off. Today is raining so its the first day with raincoats for the kids short walk to school. Normally I wouldn't mind, but I don't think we've got a buggy raincoat???? Might have to get Dan to walk. Eeeeeek. LOL! Wish me luck.

Later.

PS: Forgot to add I haven't had a chance to reply to some previous comments on my blog. I'm gonna delete them from my inbox. And start fresh. Sorry guys. But I have read every single one of them, and so appreciate them! Thanks!

Saturday Sketch Day and a realisation

Here's a look at this weeks sketch inspiration as designed for the ANZ Fiskars blog.

 

I actually thought about this sketch, this morning as I printed off two photos of this size. I sat there going, how am I going to put them together so they fit/work. This is what I came up with. Now we'll just have to see how it pans out onto an actual LO. 

I sat watching telly last night. I was a bit tired. LOL. And I realised that I really missed the kids this week. With M&S at school every day, I got to see them much less. I thought it might give me a bit of time (which it did and I was grateful for), but I really missed them heaps. With next week's school days being extended by an hour (they were doing 2pm finishes), that time is going to be even less. We're going to have to make the most of the time we do have. What's that saying about quality, not quantity?

But on the upside, I've had way more time with Daniel, just the two of us. And that has been really lovely. We've never really had that. And I've never had just one child. Wow its nice! Plus we are doing some of the things that the kids and I did at his age. Stuff like going for walks and talking about the colours of the cars, or the dogs/planes/trucks we see. Or pushing him and him alone on the swings. He's even been talking more. Yay! And something that made my heart sing today. He was singing songs and sang "I love my Mummy". Big sigh.

So with the new comes old, with the sad comes joy. Life always has its curves, twists and turns. But there is always a silver lining. Always. We just might not see it immediately.

Have a great Saturday!

What a day!

As I sit here with a glass of wine I mull over the day. Boy its been fun. Actually its been a huge day for all of us.

I spent the morning proofing photos, working out what I would like to print etc. It seemed to take forever. But I now have quite a few new photos that will hopefully inspire me.

After that, I went out and brought a plastic drain. When I got home I dug the path for the drain to follow. It took me over an hour. I have a sore back and shoulders. LOL!

I then started to close up the house to go pick up the photos and we have a window which is particularly 'sticky'. It takes a jolly good slam to close it properly. So after 2 tries, I gave it a really good pull only for it to end up at my feet. Sigh. Sarah broke a window last week. Dan's broken one and now I've broken one. Out of our whole family, the one who we think 'would' have, hasn't. I wonder how much longer it will be?

I went for a walk to destress and it was nice, but I nearly got blown away. LOL! Its really windy out there.  But nice to be a bit cooler. Who else could believe yesterday was the hottest day in Auckland since (I think) 1868. It was 32.4 degrees. HOT! Thankfully we went next door and had a swim at the neighbours. Nice.

The kids arrived home with lots of news too. They both had special awards from school. Matt had a 'busy bee' award for his news items. He took his chess pieces and told everyone the names of each piece! OMG!!!! LOL. Plus he took his stacking cups, and showed everyone how they work. Apparently it went over very well.

Sarah brought home Kipper. Kipper is a little soft toy dog and given to children who 'make great choices' throughout the day. They are allowed to keep it overnight and take it back the next day. But Sarah gets to keep Kipper all weekend! She came running in to show me today and was so excited. Then realised she couldn't have Kipper in her bed as Doggie (her very special toy) mightn't like it. So she 'introduced' them and decided it best not to cuddle Kipper. LOL! Love it.

  

Hey, is anyone else a 'McClouds Daughters' fan? I taped it last night (so as not to put Andy through torture) and watched it today. It was the very last episode ever and was so disappointing it wasn't funny. They tried to fit too much into the two hours and then had silly posed scenes which just annoyed me. Sigh. Nevermind. 

Am loving tonights line up. Americas next top model, rove then project runway. If I make it that far. I think my eyes might just take a little rest before then. LOL!

Later.

Bad Mummy confession

Today as we were coming up the path from feeding the ducks, I heard Daniel scream out. A real pain scream. Not the normal, 'come oooooonnnnnn Mum'. I raced to him asking what was wrong, but he just clung to me and said nothing. So I picked him up and carried on to the house getting ready to hang out the washing.

I went inside the sleep out and I heard the same scream from Daniel on the stairs outside. I raced out and he was grabbing at his shoulder. I suddenly thought, there must be something in there. My first thought was a white tail, but they don't tend to hurt immediately? So I grabbed his shirt and there was a wasp inside it. He'd been stung twice. Poor little mite. The sting itself was still in the second bite, so I grabbed it out and put some cold water over both stings.

I felt terrible. If I'd put 2&2 together earlier we could have avoided the second sting. Gee I felt awful. Also a little confused. I wonder why the wasp didn't sting more when I picked Dan up. Surely we might have crushed it a bit then?  

I was worried how many stings a little 2 year old could take so rang my sis Vonny who assured me he'd be fine but to put some vinegar on it. Whew. Thanks Von. That's what we did and while there is a little rash there now, he's right as rain.

Its the first time any of our children have been stung, so now we have to wait for the next sting for Daniel to see if he'll be allergic. With both my Mum and Andy's Dad being allergic, I can see it may be a problem. But hopefully we won't have to find out.

So on the other hand, here's some cute little sayings that I've got over the last couple of days.....

Sarah: (watching her Dad pick tomatoes), we should sell them for $1.

Me: Should we? Who to? Where?

Sarah: We should make a stall outside our gate.

Dad: And how many will we sell for $1?

Sarah: Ummmmmmmmm, 3.

-------------------------

Me to Sarah yesterday: How was school today?

Sarah: I liked it

Me: (thinking - yay! thank goodness): So you loved it huh?

Sarah: Nooooooo Mum, I LIKED it.

(BTW, she now likes the following at school: computers, writing and swimming! Yeha!)

------------------------

Me: Love you Daniel.

Dan: Love you Daddy.

(What the?! Its become a little joke now that he looks at me with a grin, and says he loves Daddy. Sigh).

------------------------

Me: you're my little boy Dan.

Dan: No me big boy.

Me: yeah, you're my big boy toddler.

Dan: Big boy toddler. Grin.

------------------------

And while I'm sitting here in the muggy Auckland heat. I have friends in Australia both in Queensland going through floods with half their home covered in water, and others with their cars packed ready to flee should the fires get too close to home.

I have sat at home gobsmacked at the enormity of both extremes within one country. There have been many stories coming out of just extreme sadness and I hope that its over for now and no one else gets hurt or worse.

Hang in there guys. We're thinking of ya.

This long, sunny weekend meant...

• Fishing

• Birthday Parties (3 people, 2 parties)

• Food shopping

• Swimming

• Reading books

• Working

• Feeding ducks

• Digging up potatoes

• Watching the sun set and the lights in the city glitter

• Scrapping

• Cooking

• Ironing the kids uniforms - gotta hang them up straight away next time!

• Loads and loads of washing fluttering in the sea breezes

• Chilling out with the family. Lots.

• Being grateful.

Hope you had a good one too!

Saturday Sketch Day

Well I've had a lovely long holiday from doing sketches, but am back now. Today I've created one for Fiskars:

 

As usual I've kept my sketch quite simple allowing you room to add more embellishments to make it your own, or leave it as is and create a great LO just like that.

I also wanted to show you a LO I created for No 8 Wired.

 

Yep, the dares are back for 2009 and off to start with a goodie. In fact one that really challenged me. There was a lot I learnt last year. Much of it stuff I couldn't share online :)

But I finally settled on this. Its something that I've struggled with for a long time. All my life in fact, but last year it hit home, if I'm not true to myself, no one else will be. It doesn't mean being selfish, or nasty. Just listening to my heart, recognising what is going on and then choosing what to do with that information. It was and still is a big lesson and something I still find hard to do. But when I do, it proves to me over and over how right it is.

Anyway, enough with the deep and meaningful. LOL.

Its a beautiful day outside and we're gonna make the most of it with some swimming next door. Have a good one!

T

You have got to try this!!!!!

Yesterday I got an email from Lynda with the following receipe.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE- for one

4  tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa  
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3  tablespoons (or less) chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla  extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug,  and mix well.  Add the egg and mix thoroughly.  
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.  
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000  watts.
 
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!  
 
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate.  Sprinkle with icing sugar if desired.
EAT!  Easily serves four for great desert.  
 
And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?  
Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!     

So today after a huge clean up in the kids playroom, I decided I 'deserved' a little treat. LOL! When have I ever needed an excuse???

And this is what it looked like half way through.....

 

It was FANTASTIC.

But I have a couple of hints.

If you're using the quantities above, use a small bowl, not a mug!

If you are happy to be a pig (like me), use the quantities above, if not, then halve them and use a mug.

Enjoy.

First day of school, Prima and some shares

Thanks so much to everyone for your wellwishes yesterday.

M&S had a wonderful day. Filled with energy and enthusiasm. They came out tired, but happy. Both of them. Whew.

Even though Sarah said she didn't like her day. She very clearly told us of several times she did this or that, that she really enjoyed. With Matt is was a given that the whole day was lovely, and in asking him what he thought of school (probably a bit too general in my wording! LOL), he looked sideways with a goopy grin on his face and said "It was LOOOOVVVVEEEEELLLLLLYYYYY" (in a big sigh).

This morning was great. They finally had their 'make you up' box back from the earlier drawing incident and they spent the morning getting ready then colouring in. We walked to school with Linn and Daniel and showed Linn all around and left once the bell went. Today I didn't even get a kiss. LOL. They were far too excited getting to the mat. What a fantastic start!

So for me there have been recurring thoughts running around my head the last 24 hours:

1. I'm a school Mum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. I'm so proud of my kids

3. I'M A SCHOOL MUM!

Ok, as NZ's self declared number one Prima fan, I've been keeping an eye on the Prima blog. Wondering who their design team for 2009 would be. I was gobsmacked this morning seeing the sheer BEAUTY of the LO's that I saw as an introduction to the team. WOWWWWEEEEEEE! In fact words, don't do them justice. Totally and utterly drop dead gorgous. Seriously, if you want to get inspired, look no further than this post. I was especially thrilled to see Janine Koczwara as part of the team. Janine is a lovely Aussie lady who is part of the FK Creative Paper elite team this year. WTG Janine.

Can't wait to see what they come up with this year.

Two days ago as part of the 'last day before school' I took Matt and Sarah out on a 'Mummy date' (Dan was at daycare). It was a lovely morning, but I managed to sneak into Borders and get issue 74 of FK Creative Paper. I knew I had some gift boxes in it, but it hadn't turned up in my mail box. I figured as issue 75 was now out I'd probably missed out on issue 74, and quietly hoped it wouldn't be waiting for me in my mailbox when we all got home! Thankfully it wasn't.....that is until the next day. LOL.

But anyway, I was thrilled to see my gift boxes and the way FK had photographed them. They looked really great (even if I do say so myself). FK had found some gorgeous tea cups that were the perfect colour to match and well it all just looked so professional. Thanks FK for doing such a great job!

This was page 1/2 (excuse my scanning of it!). It was spread over 4 pages.

I had a double feel good factor about seeing these little boxes there as they papers I used are Fiskars Heidi Grace ones.

Here are some closer looks...

 

 

 

 

And they look so so so much better on a white backing! Note to self, get a white sheet or something to use.

Later.

Its here

Our twins are 5 and today started the next part of their adventure called life. Right now, they are at school. And I'm not sure if I'm proud or not to say that I didn't cry. I nearly started to as we crossed the pedestrian crossing and I said good morning to one of the teachers. I thought to myself. Wow, this is really happening. There are hundreds of other kids all starting today. Parents, children everywhere. But I got talking to another Mum and hid behind my glasses for a few minutes and the tears that welled, went away.

All morning we'd had tears from Sarah. She was just so darn nervous. But like me its the anticipation that gets to her. Builds inside of her. Nerves clambering to get out. Tears are the easiest most obvious way to release all that nervous energy.

Matt was just so excited. But for once in a relatively calm way. He knew he was going to school. He was looking forward to it. But it was with a certain resolution that this is the way it should be.

 

Oh dear, notice Matt's shoes. I had forgotten to buy them shoes/sandals for school! They are both meant to have black sandals. Sigh. Bad Mummy. That will be our outing this afternoon.

As we walked them to school. Sarah still had tears and Andy ran back and got some hanky's.

I am so totally proud of them both. Can't you tell?

 

When we got to school we found their classroom. Hung up their bags and hats, then went into the classroom. I love the kids classroom. Its so bright. Full of interesting things to look at, learn from. I love that their teacher plays the piano so they will get music as part of their day. And we weren't there long before the bell rang. Matt and Sarah immediately knew what to do and raced for the mat. I had to ask for a kiss calling them back. Both of them sitting with straight backs, arms folded.

See, once it was actually happening, Sarah was fine. She just needed to do, not wait. Hmmmmm, anyone who knows me, knows this is how I work too. LOL.

 

See this table. That's where Matt and Sarah sit. They are the two blue bags.

Andy and I were home by 9.05am.

I can't wait to pick them up later and hear all about their day.

Whew. Its done.

T

2 more sleeps

And then one of the kids biggest changes in life will happen. They start school.

Matt is brimming with excitement. Just bursting at the seams to be part of school. He tells everyone who will listen about how his teacher has the same name as his middle name. And how it was 'only two sleeps til he started school'. Very cool.

Sarah is still in denial. She is still saying "I'm not going to school". But its getting a little easier, and tonight I even had a "when I go to sc...., I mean when I never go to school". So I think the excitement is starting to affect her too.

They are both very eager to show off their uniform to anyone who will watch.

You know its a delightful time for them and me. A time of change. A time of excitement. A time of uncertainty. A time of newness. I think they're going to cope really well. But come next week we'll know for sure.

So in preparation, today we tried a new receipe for lunch that was in the Foodtown magazine and recommended for school lunches. The kids have now named it spaghetti cakes. It was like a quiche, but with pasta type (not canned tomato sauce type) spaghetti as well.

They all LOVED them. And they can be frozen, so would be great, just like they said for lunches.

 

 

As you can see they really were well received. LOL.

Ok, a LO is calling my name. Must go finish it off. Have a good one.

Love summer

Love summer, love sunflowers, love the bright yellow. Makes me smile.

Thought I'd remind you that Kiwidares will be back THIS Friday. And as usual its a great dare. Something I had to think long and hard about. But have got a LO half way finished, sitting on my table, so stay tuned and all will be revealed on Friday.

SBO also has their new ezine out. You can check it out at this link. I was lucky enough to be asked to use some MME papers and created a couple of things. Gotta say I LOVE the texture of the MME papers. So thick. Really great quality. Plus bonus, the papers themselves are gorgeous. Here's what I created.....

 

 

Aren't those hearts with wings just sooooo cute?

I can smell pancakes cooking. Gotta go. Have a good one.