My poor wee boy!

Sorry for the following disjointed blog, I am going to blame it on lack of sleep! Isaac is very sick! He has a raging temp which we don't seem to be able to break. Right now he is actually sleeping on the couch, not me, so I can get a few moments to myself. I took him to the Dr on Tuesday and he said he had a chest infection and gave him an anti bot. But he hasn't got any better. I have had him sleeping with me for 3 nights now. Yesterday he didn't want me to put him down at all, he wouldn't even go to Daddy! Last night he seemed to be hallucinating. He would wake up start screaming and put his hands out in front of him "Lion, lion, lion" It took almost an hour to calm him down. He just did the same thing a few mins ago, this time saying "cat, cat, cat" but not as hysterically. I took him back to the Dr today. He said he isn't any worse and that the high temp is what is causing him all the problems and then prescribed ibuprophen. I hope he starts getting better soon, I hate seeing him so sick. I start to worry, especially because of the fears drummed into us about preemies and colds.

We had a lovely weekend with Steves sister Jane and wee Olivia. Though they were both tired and needing rest and relaxation. I hope that Jane felt a little relaxed after staying with 2 little boys. Olivia had a bit of a cold and wasn't feeding or sleeping well. By Sunday evening Jane phoned after hours and they said to bring her in. This little 12 week old was diagnosed with a chest infection and an ear infection. Poor wee thing, it is so hard to know with babies.

I went out to dinner and to the movies with my sister on Sunday evening. It was nice to get out without the boys! We went to see 'I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry' it was funny and there were deffinately some laught out loud moments, but it wasn't one I would rave about.

Now for this weeks scrapbook essentials layout. I am very happy with this one, I love how it turned out. Though my sister will testify that I had to tell myself to stop with the doodling and stitching LOL. The website has been experiencing problems. Couldn't get on at all yesterday (not that Isaac would let me anyway) and today it is touch and go. Next week we have to do a double, ARGH!!!



My sisters husband came home from hospital yesterday after 2 and a half months. She said he tires easily. He is so lucky really, he will be close to 100% in a years time. For those that are new to my blog my BIL was in a head on collision back in June. He broke his collar bone, elbow, hip and both ankles. He has pins and plates in all of those joints.

so until next time, when I have some more totally inthralling news, have a wonderful week.

I got a spot prize!

Wow, what a shock I got this morning when I saw that I got a spot prize in the Ultimate scrapper comp. So entering this has been so worth while! I have got some layouts done that I would never have done otherwise plus I am going to get a little something in the post, YAY. The standard of layouts in this comp is so high and I am so impressed with what people can come up with in such a short amount of time while being pushed out of there 'normal' scrapping.

And just a cute photo of Isaac. Tobyn stuck this bow to Isaacs head and Isaac left it there for ages!

Latest Ultimate scrapper layout

So here is the latest creation for the Scrapbookessentials ultimate scrapper comp. As I said earlier the challenge this week was to use NO photos, yep, none, nada, zilch! I really struggled with this one. It took me ages to come up with an idea and when it did I thought it was going to work. My original idea was inspired by a piece of fabric I saw, it was different shades of blue circles on a white background. So I thought, ooh, blue circles on white, big words in the middle, journalling around the edge, telling the boys my hopes and dreams for them. I told Steve my inspired idea and he said "I don't generally like your layouts on white backgrounds, I know you do, but..." so I pulled out my layouts on white backgrounds and he liked 4 out of 6...go figure. Anyway I listened to him and decided to not use a white background and it didn't work! I wish I had stayed with my idea. On Sunday I ended up with a very sore back and had to give up working on it. On Monday I could hardly move and I wasn't going to be scrapping that day, especially as Steve had taken a few hours off to look after Isaac and get Tobyn to and from school and swimming. So I had to do the layout on Tuesday, and get it finished while it was still light so I could photograph it. I made a few balls ups e.g, the pale green rings are covering up some hideous yellow paint, which you can kind of see which now I think gives it a great grungy look. But I didn't have time to start again. I think my biggest thing with it is that it is incredibly different to anything that I have ever done before. The ladies in the comp are so sweet, I have had nothing but positive comments about that and I thank you all, it sure does make a girl feel good!

Meeting Olivia and 2 layouts

Today we went down to Paraparaumu and got to meet little Olivia. What a darling little girl. But poor Jane is tired. Olivia has got reflux and colic. Unfortunately I think all the cousins didn't help the littlest cousin to be settled, of course she wanted to be a part if the 'party'. I remember those 1st few weeks all to clearly! I remember coming home from the States when Isaac was 6 weeks old adjusted age. We had major issues with temporary accommodation. Isaac was not easy to breast feed and I had an unfortunate experience of the landlord walking in unannounced. I had a wonderful nurse who said don't stress about b'feeding, he has got 4 months so if you want to go to the bottle do it. Jane is doing an awesome job, I only wish I could be of more help for her.

Tobyn was smitten with her but a little nervous to hold her. He doesn't remember Isaac being that small and to think when he held Isaac for the 1st time he was only around 3lbs! Steve loved meeting his niece and I don't think he wanted to hand her back when she was upset and her Mum wanted her! Must be something about the little girl snuggles?

OK onto some layouts. This 1st one is my entry into the http://scrapbookessentials.co.nz comp. I love this, it turned out just the way I wanted. I imagined it very feminine with lots of flowers, though I thought about putting some bling on it and maybe I still will.

This weeks challenge is to have no photos :0 I find this one very hard. One of the reasons I scrapbook is because I love taking photos. But I have come up with an idea that also means I get to leave a legacy for my boys which is another reason why I scrapbook.

This next layout is for the b&w + a colour photo monthly challenge at http://scrapbookoutletnz.co.nz again I am really happy with this layout! But I need to work on long titles, I just don't seem to get it right. I see others do titles with lots of words and they look great, definitely something to work on.

Have a lovely rest of the weekend and 'til nest time ttfn.

Oh and to all my 'anonymous' visitors, thanks for visiting! I would love to know who you are and if you have a blog of your own. I am sure that I can't have got over 1000 hits from my Mum and a couple 3 other regulars LOL!

I bet my time

Its me Tobyn >>>>>>I bet my time on the elliptical trainer #:O)<<<<<<. I am so happy. It was hard but it was worth it. I am trying to beat dad. bye.

Bubbly- Colbie Caillat

I have heard this song a few times but when I heard it this morning I knew I just loved it. It is so nice to have a song around that has NO bad words and it is totally positive. Gonna have to use this on a layout of Steve!

Some fun stuff

How's this for a fun thing to do. I wonder you can actually get one some where, ooh but I have an idea!



We had a wonderful day on Saturday with Steve's sister Clare and her family, Bryan, Hannah and Adam. We don't get to see them as often as we should and they only live an hour away. Not enough days in the week. It wasn't a particularly nice day weather wise so the day was spent playing with the cars, playing board games and sardines. Lots and lots of giggles playing sardines. For those that don't know, sardines is a hide and seek game, one person hides and everyone else has to find them, when you find them you have to hide with them, last person there is in next. Our place has quite a few cupboards and spaces for hiding so it is becoming the thing to do in our place, fun, fun, fun!

This weeks layouts are up at http://scrapbookessentials.co.nz I am very happy with my layout this week. Even Steve loves it and he is VERY honest! My plan for the next 5 is to have the idea before Sunday and then spend Sunday afternoon working on it, this way I have a couple of days up my sleeve if it doesn't go to plan. Fortunately Steve is in agreement with my plan, kind of revolves around him looking after the boys for a couple of hours. I'll be back later to load my layout for you to see.

When the hubby's away the wife can play

With her craft stuff!

I have had a pretty busy week scrapping, well busy for me! As I said earlier I have entered the Ultimate Champion at http://scrapbookessentials.co.nz/ there are some amazingly talented competitors and I don't expect to get any prizes, I just love the challenges and it makes me think about my scrapping a little bit differently. So last week I completed the warm up challenge. If you click on the link you should be able to read the journalling, if not and you want to read it leave me a comment and I will put it in here. I really enjoyed this challenge! I got Isaac and Tobyn to help by painting the background. I love the colours it is so bright and fun.




The first official challenge required us to make 2 of our own embellishments. It took me a couple of day to think of what to do and one morning it just popped into my head. SO I knew I was going to make some clay hearts and to a layout about Steve and I. I made the hearts that night but it then took me a few days to actually have the inspiration to do the layout It was a challenge just to find a photo of Steve and I, the most recent one was taken 4 years ago, so I decided to go with our 'engagement' photo. I am pleased with how it came out, though again it pales in comparison to some of the other ladies work.





So far each of my layouts has a little bit done my my kids. Tobyn made the heart in the middle of the layout. So now onto the next challenge.







On Saturday evening I joined the other ladies at http://scrapbookoutletnz.co.nz/ for the crop. It was a lot of fun and I have never scrapped as fast as I did that night!

I made these cards in 1 hour! And I love them. The challenge was to use one piece of patterned paper on a b'day card and a wedding card.




Then we had a scavenger hunt. And Jenny and I won, doodoodoodoo! Jenny and I worked hard on a hunt previously om SBO and Jenny got the final answers and kindly shared the monthly kit and add on with me. This time we did it completely on our own steam but sent our e-mails at the same time, and I won a voucher to use at the store YAY.





The design team also set challenges to gradually do over the next week. The first one was due on Dunday evening. We were challenged to scrap about a name, could be it's meaning, nick names, etc I chose to list the other names we had for Tobyn. I did this layout in a couple of hours. I don't like scrapping so fast, I don't have enough time to really think about it, get the placement right etc. I do like the layout and I am glad I have done it. Tobyn found it very interesting too and wanted to know why we chose Tobyn not Jacob. So there is another layout to do!



Steve turned 40 on Tuesday! We went out for dinner with his parents and that was very nice. I gave him a handmade vouvher to buy a piece of artwork. I was going to get him a multi CD player but he went and bought himslef an 80GB iPod while he was away so there goes the need for a multi CD player! He said he is looking forward to going shopping for some artwork. Tobyn decided he wanted to get him a game. WHen we went looking he was looking more at games he would like to begin with, in the end he chose up-words and it is a great game for us all to play.



We are having a party but it isn't going to be until later in Sept. We are just too big procrastinators! But when it happens it is going to be alot of fun!!!



I have got the builder just arriving to fix the hole in the garage that is due to the dryer vent not being put in right and causing moisture that we didn't notice until the dark mould started showing through, grrrrrr! So better go talk to him, ciao for now

Player of the Day!!!

Finally after 14 weeks of hockey Tobyn gave the game his full effort and he was rewarded!
Steve is the coach of T's hockey team and with him being away things haven't gone quite as smoothly as he would have liked. Mind you if he had done the organising prior to leaving a bit better...? Last week the Dad that Steve had spoken too didn't realise he was it? Go figure. But he coached and was a great coach, and they drew and had a pretty great game. This week was a totally different story! Our team was playing the team that our really good friend coaches. I thought that would be OK and he would be understanding knowing that Steve was away. The game was at 10am and at 9.55 there were only 4 team members! It is 7 aside hockey so obviously that wasn't going to work. The other coach was happy to wait until 5 past and he also said that his daughter could play for our team if we needed. I thought that was very understanding. Fortunately we did end up with 6 players, but this meant that all the kids would have to play the WHOLE game, 20 mins/half. Normally they have 3 subs so we knew they were going to be exhausted. The first half they did great, backed each other, ran and even scored a goal. It was so wonderful to see T get in there and tackle and hit the ball and RUN! Half time came around and I said to the other coach that we were appreciative of R playing for us but we were still short, 2 players hadn't turned up. He said we couldn't use R again. So I suggested we play 6 aside and he said well the rules are.....Now I am all for rules at the right age group, these kids are 8,9 and 10, they just want to play, well at least our team do. Of course they all want to win but come on a little give and take. Anyway, our guys played 6 on 7 and they were troopers, they got whipped but they should take heart in the fact that they played, they all played a WHOLE game and they were a great TEAM! A couple of the Mums said that they wanted to give T the POD trophy and I said totally up to you, of course he would be thrilled and he hasn't received it yet. When they announced he was POD his face was priceless, he was so chuffed! And so was his Mum.

Of course I didn't have the camera so O took this photo after we got home. What a mission to get a photo, he hates having his photo taken and won't smile, so this was the best of about 40 photos. But at least I have the photo and there is a story behind that too.

Angel vs devil?

Look at this little man



I turned my back for a few seconds and he had his hands in the ashes bucket and a mouthful of ashes. I couldn't help but laugh and had to grab the camera! And before you all get up in arms, it was a bucketful of COLD ashes, had been there for a couple of days. Surprisingly he didn't gag and just carried on with his business playing. When I tried to clean him up he had a tantrum!

This is something I have to get used to with him, so totally the opposite of Tobyn.

And isn't this scene just heart warming? He just adores Apollo and he is such a laid back easy going kid and this position sums him up well.



I am looking forward to the weekend for a few reasons. First and most important Steve comes home, YAY. Secondly, we are going to the stage show Cats. Wish us luck though because we are taking Isaac. I think it will be enough exciting stuffgoing on to keep him interested and he loves music and dance, so fingers crossed. Thirdly I am going to drop in on the cyber crop at Scrapbook outlet and work on a couple of challenge layouts.

I hope you all have a great weekend, ttfn

The final Oz update

Pleased to get this finished it is like a monkey on my back. I want to get the info down because it will be good to look back on when my forgetful brain won't work properly! Plus, Mum, I know you are enjoying seeing the photos!

Tobyn is heavily into anything medievil right now. So when Steve saw that there was a medievil weekend on in the Sunshine coast while we were there it was a perfect thing to do. We weren't 100% sure of all the details but thought why not go have a look. So we packed a lunch and off we went. When we arrived it was so awesome to see people right into the spirit and Tobyn LOVED it! All day Tobyn was hanging out to have a go at archery. So the last thing we did was find the archery range. Tobyn found it pretty hard being so small and not having a lot of strength but he enjoyed it. Unfortunately they closed shortly after we paid and had to be away at a parade in 10mins so Tobyn was rushed through and didn't really get the attention he needed, but none the less he has a wonderful memory. An amazing unexpected day.


We spent one day just driving into the mountain area. We had alovely lunch in a cute little cafe and a lovely scenic drive looking at the glass house mountains. We stopped at a park forest area and looked around. It was getting dark and cold by this point so we didn't spend as long as we could have here. While we were waiting for grandad and Grandma Isaac did a little exploring and found a mini rock wall. My litte explorer didn't take long to give it a go and try and scale the wall, and he did it. Woah, Tobyn was never that adventurous!



I love this photo of Isaac on Grandads shoulders. Look at that cheeky grin, that sums him up really, very cute but full of mischief!




A photo of Tobyn at the beach just because I love it. This was one of those photos where he tried to not have a photo taken!



Tobyn held Steve Irwin in high adoration for a long time. When he died Tobyn was devastated and that was about the time we decided we would take him to Oz and Australia Zoo. Of course he would have liked to go with Steve Irwin still alive. So hwe made it and what an awesome Zoo! The keepers are so passionate, as Steve was. They know what they are talking about and are so passionate about saving wildlife. You get so up close to so many animals. Tobyn loved seeing all the crocs and especially ones Steve talks about on his shows. We were also lucky to get to see Terri and Bob, Steves father. They were taking possesion of a new truck that was donated and they were being filmed for the news. All in all another great day!




And finally we moved on, to Brisbane. We wanted to get a taste of the big city. We only had 2 nights but it was enough to get a feel for it. I would like to go back and spend more time in the big city I think there is a lot to see and do. The first night we walked around and over to the South Bank, which we thought would be awesome, but sadly mistaken it was very rundown and grubby.

People spotting was interesting! I was surprised at how dowdy most of the people were. Not much colour, pretty scruffy, a lot of people smoking and ALOT of people in general.

The final day in Oz we walked and walked and walked. We thought we'll just go over there and maybe there will be a playground. We did finally find a playground but I think we had been walking for a good 2 hours. The boys had a blast in the playground though. Yet again Isaac showing how much he wants to be like his big brother trying things he shouldn't even want to try yet.

We had dinner in a cute little authentic Irish pub. Lovely stodgy Irish food, mmm.

And then we came home. We were ready to come home! I think that it goes to show that we got the relaxation we needed to and were ready to get back to the comfort of home even if we knew it was going to be considerably colder.

It was great to get home to a clean well looked after house, thanks Fee you did a great job housesitting for us!

Whitewater world and more

We went to Dreamworld and Whitewater world again without Grandad and Grandma they had had enough of the theme parks by this stage. The weather had warmed up enough for the boys to not get too cold at the water park. Steve has been hanging out to go to a water park for so long!!! And they had a ball. I let Isaac had a quick go in the wiggles beach and he loved that too. He even went down a small water slide on his own and seemed to enjoy it. He absolutely loves the water so he was inhis element here. Check out this gorgeous photo of Tobyn and Isaac at the end of a slide.



Isaac and I left Steve and Tobyn to do there thing in the water park. I had hoped Isaac would sleep but he had other plans! Steve and Tobyn had an absolute blast. They went on everything except 2 because Tobyn was too short. Isn't it amusing that when he has his shoes on he is tall enough but without he isn't I would've thought they should adjust for that, go figure.

So moving on from all the themeparks we had done enough of that. We picked up rental cars and were more flexible. Steve, Tobyn, Isaac and I visited my Aunt and her family. It was so nice to see them again after 7 years. 2 of my cousins now have children though we only got to meet Tamika. It was awesome to see my boys get on so well with her. Tamika is 4 and Isaac ADORED her, he started saying her name shortly after we arrived and he would then go around saying 'Mika, Mika, Mika' he still says it now when he sees her photo. We wished that we could have spent more time with them but with Steves parents there as well we didn't feel like we could go back again.

We then moved onto the Sunshine Coast. We stayed in a nice apartment in Caloundra but if I were to go back again I think I would stay in Mooloolaba, the beach there was more interesting and there was alot more going on. We really enjoyed climbing on the rocks and walking on the 'squeaky' sand.

Isaac absolutely loved the sand and didn't want to leave. I love these 2 photos of him enjoying the sand and Steve potato sacking him away.





I love this photo of Isaac and I but



Look what happened a couple of seconds later, he threw sand over me and got it down my front and Steve managed to snap it LOL.



And Tobyn got to do this bouncing bungy thing something he has been dying to for ages! He loved it. He struggled to keep the momentum up but every time the guy gave him a boost and he flew into the air he had a HUGE grin!!!



OK I am going to publish this and then do the last Oz instalment then I can carry on with normal blogger activity.

3rd instalment on the Oz trip.

Movieworld yippee, a ton of fun had by all! When Tobyn was 2 and we went to movieworld his favourite character was Porky Pig, or ponky pig as he called him. This time he was one of Isaacs faves! Tobyn loved Scooby and the Gang.

But Isaacs all time fave was DONKEY and the Shrek characters. Whenever he would see donkey he would go, Donkey, donkey, donkey, very cute.



Tobyn bought himself some candy floss and gave some to Isaac, darn it, now Isaac loves candy floss too!!!




Movieworld is a great place to watch grown adults try and squish into child size rides and have a load of fun. Check out Grandad squished into the train, and it looks like Steve is having a lot more fun than Isaac!




And Grandad thouroughly enjoyed meeting Marilyn!



Gotta go tuck my big boy into bed back later with the next installment and I will try and make it the last installment!

Got the scrapping mojo!

So I have been scrapping quite a bit since I have been back from Oz, I am not sure if I am inspired or just that I have a little more time. Why do I have more time? Because I have had a 9 year old at home for the past 3 days and I can't go anywhere! So that means I get my housework out of the way early while the boys watch blue clues. I get Tobyn doing homework before lunch and play with Isaac. We all have lunch I get Isaac to bed, Tobyn does some exercise and then has some time on the computer at which time I SCRAP!!! It has been so wonderful. Here is some of my work for you to puruse. I am happy with how my scrapping is going at the moment. I am trying to have a go at new things, I have even signed up for a challenge at scrapbook essentials. I don't expect to get anything, but it will be good for the inspiration and getting 7 layouts done over 7 weeks! I gave myself a goal at the beginning of the year that I would get 52 lo's done this year, so far I have done 23, not halfway but getting there!

This layout of Tobyn I LOVE. I used junkitz which is gorgeous. I wanted to keep it very simple to highlight the photo of Tobyn which I also love, even though he isn't looking at the camera.




The next layout uses a photo I took as my 'homework' when i did Mandis photography class at scrapbook outlet. I have had the photo printed since then which was back in May. Finally I had the inspiration to put it on a layout! It is kind of feminine/christmassy colours but I love it.



This lovely girly layout is the first girly layout I have done that isn't about me!!! It was so nice to use pinks and purples! My Aunt gave me this lovely photo of my cousins daughter and I knew I had to scrap it straight away. We met her while in Oz but more on that later!



I hope you have enjoyed looking and I thank you for visiting, I love having visitors, must be my inner actress I really do like the attention LOL

Bowling and Wildlife on the Gold Coast

This was so much fun. Glow in the Dark bowling. On the day that Steve's parents were arriving we wanted to do something that just took the morning. We got the bus into Surfers and had a 'ball' LOL The shoes, ball and pins all glowed, Isaac thought it was hilarious.




Was there anything that could surpass the excitement of Tobyn getting to pat a tiger cub? Not really but we did do some other exciting things while on the Gold Coast. Steve's parents arrived on the Saturday and we had the rest of the holiday with them. It was nice to have them there if not a little challenging to cope with our differences. The day after they arrived we went to Currumbin animal sanctuary. This outing would have to rate right up near the top of our highlights! When we were in Oz 7 years ago this was one of our faves then too. 7 years later it has only improved. They had an awesome kids playground, Tobyn and Isaac would've spent the whole day in there!

As with last time the parakeets at the beginning of the day was awesome. Check out these 2 pics. Isaac was so amazing with all the animals! He didn't get frightened and was more than happy to touch them and have them come up to him!






Tobyn got to hold a baby croc and a snake. He was so chuffed just look at that face. Tobyn is not good at showing emotions but with these experiences it was hard for him not to!



Then the kangaroos! Isaac was in heaven, he absolutely loved it. He wanted to touch them all and feed them all. One of the volunteers came up to us in awe of how he was. She said that most children his size are frightened because the kangaroos are bigger than them. As for his older brother, he didn't want to feed them from his hand, he put the feed on the ground. Yep that is my OCD 9 year old, can't stand getting his hands dirty!







And the next photo is just for fun. I love that Steve and Tobyn had so much fun playing the fools!