Blessed

I am blessed to have such a beautiful family. Enjoyed a lovely walk down to the lake this afternoon with Dave and the girls - to feed te black swans and ducks. We stopped on the way back at a playground to play - I just love watching them all, makes me feel so happy!

Layouts Layouts Layouts

I did do a little scrappin on the weekend. Michelle sat at her laptop and played WOW while I sat and did some scrappin, and we chatted as we went (apparently you don't have to concentrate too much to play WOW!) So here are my efforts from the weekend. They are all Jinky Art photos, which I have been meaning to scrap for a while, just been a little bit afarid that I couldn't do the photos justice. I decided to keep the designs really simple. I used the new Basic Grey collection packs I got from work - Boxer, Sultry and Sugared, plus some embellishments such as patterned brads, chipboard stickers and buttons which I bought to co-ordinate.

Easter Weekend

We had a great weekend. Mark and Michelle, our friends from Sydney, came for the Easter weekend. All the kids had fun together, and I think the older two were in Console Heaven. We also saw Horton Hears a Ho, which was a pretty good kids movie. The kids did lots of playing outside, visits to the Park, easter egg hunts, and a fun Easter BBQ on Sunday night.

Here are some happy snaps from the weekend:

This is apparently the latest hair style:


Liam and Jasmin ran around together all weekend:


Eliza took a liking to the second eldest son - Joshua:


The third son - Shaun:


Jasmin and a bowl of easter eggs collected on the easter egg hunt:


All the kids enjoying a drink (of soft drink of course):



Some Pics from the BBQ:

Weekend

Had a great weekend. We took the kids to the Sky Fire - (the fireworks ) on Saturday night. Got there early - had a bit to eat, Eli ran around and got dirty in dirt, as she does, and generally relaxed in good company with friends. So great to catch up on such a lovely evening. A couple of pics:

Don't they look cute - sitting in their deck chairs relaxing and snacking:

Jas - took this photo of us - she could barely hold up the camera (it's a bit heavy!):

Aren't they cute - Jas and Mikaela getting some quality play time in!

Little James - he was most impressed with the fluro bands - pretty good for helping locate the girls in the dark (and going to the port-a-loo which had no light!)

The stunning fireworks display:




Then a lovely day of scrappin with my sis's and my friend Bek. Great to catch up with Hellie who I don't get to see that often, and due to the Chicken Pox, I hadn't seen Fiona in a while either! Bek was glowing, as she does, must be a post baby thing, and Josh her little boy is a cute as a button. Got to also meet some nice Bloggin friends of Bek. Here are a selection of layouts:

These two layouts took me the longest to do, and use new Jenni Bowlin products, some paint and some Queen and Co jewels:




The next two layouts use some new CherryArte papers, and some older Scenic route and Heidi Swapp Chipboard:


This layout uses some of the Queen and Co Felt Fusion, which I have not used before, it was really easy to peel the back off and stick the felt ribbon to the layout:


I have been meaning to do this layout for a while. It is a caricature of my sis-in-law Julie and Jasmin (when she was almost two), at the Civic Video conference we went to on Hamilton Island:

Love the vibrant colours in the new CherryArte papers. I have been struggling with a title for this one, but perhaps I will leave it without a title. Love getting the pics from the theme parks now - as I scrap them as opposed to leaving them to gather dust in a draw somewhere!


These were actually done either the night before or the night after the Memory Bugs crop:

Love the new Hero Arts arrow stamp I got, this LO also uses new CherryArte papers and rub-ons:




Some more felt fusion on this layout -

Beach Layouts

Looking forward to doing some scrapbooking at a Memory Bugs Scrap Day on Sunday with my sis's and my super talented friend Bek (can't wait to see what the girls will work on, find it so inspiring to work with others!). Have been trying to prepare some layouts to do on the day. Have designed about 12 so think that should be enough. Got into the mood last night by doing 4 layouts on some day trips we did to Surf Beach near Bateman's Bay during January. Had some great days with family and friends, packed a picnic lunch and just generally hung out at the beach with the kids, splashing in the waves, digging holes in the sand, and building sand castles. The kids really love burying themselves in the sand. I would love to do some more trips to the beach this year, perhaps a day trip at Easter (hopefully the weather will hold out).

Here are the layouts:

On these two layouts I used just some Bazill Cardstock, some L'il Davis Paint, and I challenged myself to use some old stickers. The letters for "beach" are Queen and CO, and the black letter stickers are Cherryarte. I love challenging myself to use older products, that I would normally just look-over without a second thought, the left-overs I didn't use I added to Jasmin's Craft Box (she is building up quite the collection, and loves to scrapbook).



These next two layouts use SEI cardstock -they bring out a range of cardstocks for each new paper line - I just love the different colours they bring out. I coordinated with a new CherryArte paper, and used a circle punch to cut the red circles from another new Cherryarte paper. Used some new beach rubons from Love You More (an Aussie Designer), and used a new HeroArts 2008 stamp for the date and other details.

Christenings Weddings Discos Hospitals and Baby Showers

A busy couple of weekends. Last weekend I was a big girl and went all by myself to Adelaide to attend Bek and Nath's Sons Baby Naming Ceremony - and it turned out to be a wedding as well. Such a big surprise. I cried like a baby through the whole thing. Have a couple of pictures of the baby naming, and a pic of a winery in the Adelaide Hills that I drove past in my little hire car, but as I only had my portable digital camera, I could not get any good pictures of the wedding itself. I will have to get some from my friend Kylie:


Godparents and Sister:

Friday was Jasmin's first disco for the year. She was so excited about it. It was a PJ's disco, so we got dressed in our jim jams early and she kept asking every 15 minutes whether it was time to go. She also got me to spray some red glitter spray in her hair as well. So we went to the disco, had our sausage sandwich and drink and headed on into the disco. The music was soooo loud that Jasmin clung to my leg and refused to let go, saying her tummy hurt and could she go home yet. So we stayed a whole 5 minutes and then went home. I was disappointed for her, it was a bit overwhelming for her
(she did actually go to the disco when she was in preschool - perhaps the music was louder this time round). So Dave and I have decided to buy a disco ball and have some practise discos at home before the next one.

Meanwhile Daddy and Eliza were home playing:

Visited Dad in Hospital on Saturday. He had an operation on his postrate and is now recovering from the operation. I was a little shocked at how much weight he has lost and how pale he was, but he assures me that he is on the road to recovery. Waiting on blood test results and some biopsy results, so I guess we will know a bit more soon.

Also went to a baby shower on the weekend, Dave took the girls to the mall while I went to the shower. Yes, a bit dangerous, David and two girls shopping, potential to do a lot of damage on the card! All good though, only 2 balloons, 2 pairs of shoes, and a lolly treat for each of the girls.

Sunday was the normal Bub-o-cino, swimming lessons, and a lovely afternoon BBQ with the next door neighbours.