.. just another day in my size 9 shoes

Kenzie's already 1

2011-10-09T17:16:00.005+11:00

I cant believe that this little princess has just turned one. Mackenzie is such a little dolly, and she loves her aunty!!! (cause i wont give her a choice, lol).

On the last friday of September me and kids went up to Mandy's for lunch for Kenzie's birthday. Didn't think it was going to happen as me, mum and mandy had all been so sick and stuck in bed for days.

The kids had a great time playing, having yummy cupcakes and braving the pool!!! Yes, the pool, and it was absolutely freezing. But they dont care.

They spend heaps of time outside even though the weather wasn't the best, overcast and raining on and off. Mandy and I ducked up the chicken shop and when we got back there was Shanice wheeling Hunter around in the wheelbarrow, and cause he wasn't comfy Nan gave him a cushion for his little head, lol.

After lunch I found them playing "The Renovators" at the side of the house. Hunter was playing in the mud while Shanice and Connor had time challenges to paint the side of the house with paintbrushes and water. Because they were all covered in mud that's why they ended up in the pool!

Sunday was Kenzie's birthday party with all the family. WOW, she is such a spoilt and loved little princess.

Mackenzie's gorgeous cupcake cake.

Such a cute family photo with lots of birthday kisses from her big brother

Blowing the out the candle. Kenzie much preferred to try and grab it then blow:)

Hunter getting piggy backed across the pool...... oh yes, it was freezing!

Beautiful blue eyes

Connor and Kenz

Eating birthday cake

Savvy Delights retreat

2011-10-08T19:07:00.004+11:00

So it seems all I've been doing as of late is trying to catch up on everything! I do wish that I had just a bit more time in each day, I think most people feel the same way.

A few weeks back I was lucky to go along to the Savvy Delights retreat. Joh, Sami and myself had a great time as I knew we would:)

Sandra and Sarah were fantastic hosts and all the women there were so inspiring. It was also great to catch up with a number of lovely ladies that i haven't seen in yonks.

So, I set myself the normal challenge of not to procrastinate and to produce at least one layout, lol, which was easy enough to accomplish so I could go home a happy camper.

The girls had put up a stack of challenges for us to have a go at and when i got a little stuck i had a go at a couple which i loved.

It has now become a bit of a new tradition at retreat for the crazy Scrap Girls to have a photo taken in, around, behind, on a tree....... and of course, this one was no different! Sandra has told me that my copy is coming my way and i cant wait to see the evidence, lol.

So here's a bit of what i created:)

I think this one was based on a sketch challenge! But i used some the cute little embellies from Susan and Wendy from A Lil' Something .... super cute!!!

This one i had already started.... months ago.... and decided that i really should finish it!

Meeting Mackenzie....... cant believe how fast a year has gone

One of the challenges using a transparency made by Lisa Warren....... i alcohol inked all the butterflies

A bit of banner action....... I'm just in love with this Cosmo Cricket range

And lucky last layout, this one was also half started, but now finished!

LSBS retreat

2011-09-12T12:21:00.006+10:00

Back in late August i attended the LSBS annual retreat. It's so nice to actually go to a retreat, as a customer and sit on my bum and not run the show, on the other hand it's tricky to switch off from "work mode" too, lol.

This was the 4th lsbs retreat that I've gone to and they are just getting better each year. Cath totally spoils us all with oodles of goodies to wake up to each morning and Nic, well she's just Nic and she's TOPS!

Poor Joh had the pleasure of sitting next to me as well as rooming with me...... thank god for ear phone, cause i could chew her ear off with my yacking! I did however, wake up on Friday morning with an extra pillow on me....... must have started the freight train snoring at some point in the night, sorry Joh.

There was lots of laughs to be had, classes to be done, tree climbing, shopping, chatting to old and new friends, eye brow waxing, waiting for sami to wet her pants again and again..... oh and maybe a tad of scrapping!

I must admit that in 4 days i really didn't accomplish much, but i had a great time doing it.

Here is some of the highlights:

Carol Mead's class on Thursday night.

I converted mine to 8 1/2 X 11 and love it...... the flowers were so easy to make and i love the cute little bits from Tattered Inspirations

And this cute little stunner was Lauren Bell's class

Oh, i must mention too that i did Anna Painters card class that was super cute, but i gave it to my mum for her birthday (which she loved btw) before i got a chance to take a photo.

And this was the only layout that i managed to come up with all by myself, lol.

They had heaps of challenges over the weekend and this was for the Travel themed challenge.

I cant wait to make more of these. I loved the process of making the whole album from scratch.

This was Evelyn Lloyds class - Fabric Album. Evelyn knew that i only did 8 1/2 X 11 so she created a new album for me so i knew the size to cut everything. MWAH, thanks babe.

This is just some of the goodies that we arrived to on our tables

Me, Joh and Sami...... love our new shirts, thanks sami

And there always have to be a silly one

LSBS tree huggers

Cath, Me, Joh

Nic and SAmi

Sami and Nic - loving the war paint

Belle's ball performers extraordinaries

creating.... 2011 so far

2011-08-01T14:38:00.006+10:00

Sooooo..... where does one start when they have been completely AWOL from their blog for the past 6 months (well, almost 6 months).

It was a tough decision as to where the beginning was, and with so many up and downs i would be here for the next 6 months catching you all up. So the decision was pretty easy - start with some scrapping. It always makes me happy.

These are just some of my fav's that I've done so far this year:)

promise to be back more regularly

and dont judge me for my bad photographing of layouts skills, lol

quote of the week....

2011-02-09T17:06:00.001+11:00

Loving is not just looking at each other,

it's looking in the same direction.

- Antoine de Saint

blink...

2011-01-30T21:54:00.007+11:00

Where did January go????

It seems that it was Christmas yesterday! This month has been full on, we have not sat still the whole time, but yet really accomplished nothing, lol.

So here's a quick recap of some of the things we did over January

And the scariest part of January going so quickly is that tomorrow my baby girl starts high school. I'm so nervous for her.....

Connor got a paint ball gun for Christmas and spent a lot of time firing paintballs at the garage door.

I held the first Scrap Girls Mother & Daughter retreat.

Both Shanice and mum came along too with 32 other girls and we had a fabulous time. Cant wait to do it all again next year.

It was mine and Anthony's 11th wedding anniversary on the 22nd.

Anthony had to go down the farm, which was fine and I got to finally have a few days to myself after having not 5 seconds without the kids for the entire holidays.

I spent some of the looking back at our wedding photos

Whats an Australia Day without Pavlova and lamingtons?

So I made them myself:)

And because of the crazy 42 degree heat we had a spontaneous water fight at Nic's place

quote of the week.....

2011-01-04T10:30:00.001+11:00

The only way of finding the limits of the possible

is by going beyond them into the impossible.

~ Arthur C. Clarke

the quick version

2011-01-03T20:01:00.011+11:00

In photos:)

11th December 2010
Anthony and I took Connor to his first concert to see Linkin Park.
They were awesome. I am so pleased that we got to go and see them this time round. Their new music is great but it doesn't beat the old skool stuff

12th Decemeber 2010

Was Hunter's 2nd birthday party. Mandy held it at Bicentennial Park at Homebush which was just lovely. We bought Hunter a very cute 6v Buzz and Woody quad bike, cause the aunty buys the best presents!

Hunter and Sarah

My gorgeous baby niece, Mackenzie

My spunky monkey, Connor

My gorgeous girl, Shanice

Blowing out the candles with a little help from mum and dad

13th December 2010

U2 at ANZ stadium with Karen and Sabrina. Was a great night and one to be remembered for a long, long time.

18-19th December 2010

We took mum and Hunter down the farm for the weekend. Shanice finally got to test out her dirt bike and Hunter got to have his first go on a real quad bike..... and loved every minute of it!

I do believe there will be more trips down the farm with Hunter

22nd December 2010

Our annual pre-Christmas lunch at Dals.

It was great to see all the girls again cause I had missed the past 2 dinners.

My kids, Dals and Ambers girls. Missing were Mandy's kids and Mel's girls cause they had already gone home and Tanya's 2 girls cause they had another lunch to go to.

23rd December 2010

Mandy had an appointment to go to so she needed 4 able babysitters for an hour. That required me, mum, shanice and connor to be on duty!

After several pictures of them all smiling nicely, Hunter had had enough and swack, lol

24th December 2010

Was the start of a busy day. Shanice and I had the job of decorating the gingerbread house - I iced, Shanice stuck all the lollies on and what a TOPS job she did.

Later that night me and the kids went with Joh and her girls to see the Christmas Lights at Girraween. We lost the boys on the motorbikes somewhere on the freeway, but met back with them at home.

Britney was the cheif photographer of all Xmas lights:)

25th December 2010

Christmas Day is finally here. Shanice and Connor woke at 6am to rip into their presents, which they loved. Connor got helmet, body armor and gloves for the quad bike and Shanice got the Sony boom box ipod doo dah she wanted. Of course then a stack of other little bits n' pieces.

Anthony's parents and sister came over for lunch which I totally stared at cooking if i do say so myself! Everything tasted YUM and cooked to perfection and all come out of the oven all at the same time. I'm not jinxing myself so I'm not going to do it again, lol.

Christmas night me and kids headed up to mums so we could have our Christmas the following morning. Mandy had already arrived, so it was just perfect with us all together that night.

26th December 2010

More present opening......... and more excited faces.

It was a little bit rainy and overcast but that doesn't put a dampen on our Christmas water fun and Nannies house.

quote of the week.....

2010-12-14T19:22:00.000+11:00

When one door closes another door opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us.

~Alexander Graham Bell

HAPPY, HAPPY

2010-12-10T21:46:00.005+11:00

This is what Hunter says to you when it's your birthday "Happy, Happy"

Today was Hunter's 2nd birthday:)

Because the kids are already on holidays we were able to jump in the car and head over to Mandy's for a birthday lunch.

Hunter had a great time opening presents and eating cake. I do believe we sang happy birthday about 5 times to him and blew out birthday candles about 30. He was having so much fun.

Mandy had invited her bestie, Natasha with her two cherubs - Sarah & Harry, mum & Dawn, and Mandy's neighbour from upstairs, Mary.

We are having a big birthday party on Sunday at Homebush and I cant wait to see Hunters face when he opens the present from us, all those years of noisy toys from my sister and it's finally pay back time, lol.

Playing with his new toys with Connor

Being the great mum she is, Mandy made Hunter a Thomas cake for his 2nd birthday, and it turns out this a little tradition. Mandy made the same Thomas cake for Connor's 2nd Birthday

As I'm standing on the chair taking a photo of the cake I found this little person climbing up me to see what I was doing:)

HOORAY!!!!! everyone clap for me

Blowing out the candles the first time

A picture with mum and Mackenzie

Shanice and Mackenzie

Beautiful bubba girl

Eating cake..... well wrapping it up in a baby wipe, unwrapping then eating..... too cute!

scrappin time

2010-12-10T21:32:00.003+11:00

I have been scrapping a bit.... mainly my Tuesdays at Nic's.
Joh and I did head down to Scrapbooking Delights last weekend for a crop, which was great and we did a cute little Christmas layout using Bella and WOW goodies - I haven't added a piccie yet, but I'm waiting till this xmas to take one.
Joh and I also went to a class at Scraploot this week, but I havent had a chance to photograph that one yet (or add a picture or title, lol)

"Really" using new Basic Grey Curio.... love it!
Shanice was actually saying to me Really at the time I snapped it..... as in, mum do you really have to take another photo of me and I dont want to smile!

"HoHoHo" this is the layout class we did down at Scrapbooking Delights. I did change mine to a 8 1/2 X 11" though

"Crazy Eyes" using cute new Sass Count me in range.

The kids were soaked after going on the ride at Sea World, freezing too!

"Amazing just the way you are" using new Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934...... I love this range!

I know it's a sappy love song, but when I hear that part if the song I think of my beautiful girl

quote of the week

2010-12-07T14:58:00.000+11:00

Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun.

~George Scialabba

graduation day

2010-12-06T20:11:00.002+11:00

Friday the 3rd December 2010 was another huge milestone in the Sheppard-Morris household. Shanice graduated year 6.
The school put on a beautiful presentation assembly for them and all the parents and family were invited to attend with a morning tea afterwards.
The primary coordinator, Mr Lack, called all the students one by one onto to stage to receive their certificate and graduation year photo by the principal, Mr Cockrem, and then their class teachers presented them with a medallion. It was such a proud mummy moment.
I was so pleased when I looked at Joh on one side of me and Mum on the other, both had tears in their eyes, so I didn't seem so silly crying on my own.
I still cant believe that my baby girl starts high school next year.

Shanice receiving her certificate from Mr Cockrem
The school hall takes crap piccies

BFF's - Shanice and Britney

The 3 of us - me, shanice and anthonyShanice with Nan - when did my big girl get so tall

camping

2010-12-04T11:51:00.005+11:00

With summer now here we thought it would be great to hitch up the camper and go camping on the weekends. I did a little research for some national parks that allowed camper trailers and found a tops one up the central coast right on the beach. I rang Dal to see if they would be keep to bring along their camper too. And the date was set!
So, last weekend we were packed and on the road at school pick up. Freeway was clear of traffic and we arrived with heaps of light to set up. Dal & Stu arrived a little later. Once the campers were done and kids in bed it was time to crack open the lollies and vodka! Let's just say I was a bit under the weather the next morning.
Saturday was definitely a beach day. It was sunny with not a cloud in the sky and not too hot. The kids lathered themselves in suncream and i put some on my shoulders and back (forgetting my arms and face, so now you know where i got burnt). It was a little windy, but that wasn't stopping us. Birdie Beach was calling us this morning. The kids took their boggie boards and had a great time using them in the water and sliding down the sand dunes. Stu took the kids out on the surfboard and Shanice stood up on her second wave! The kids a natural..... I wonder if she'll be a goofy foot like her mother? Connor had a go to but was to busy enjoying the ride than trying to stand up. And I have it all on video
We stayed a couple of hours then went back to the campers for lunch and a rest. When it got a little cooler we drove around to Fraser Park to check out the beach there.....blue bottles! But that didn't stop the kids. this is when I cracked out the camera and went a little crazy taking photos.
Dinner time came and went and then the kids all crashed from their busy day.... and the adults weren't too far behind, lol.
Sunday morning we had to pack up early cause Connor had to be back home for a birthday party by lunch time. We had such ba great time camping with Dal, Stu and the girls, we cant wait to do it again.

Shanice hanging out the trucks window

JUMP!!!! go Connor

Connor, Abi, Makayla and Shanice

Connor - I wonder if the water was as cold as he looks

A windblown Shanice

Makayla, not as windblown

Abi, really didn't want her photo taken

Going boogie boarding

Connor almost loosing his board in the wind

Shanice, just a natural in the water

Love this pic of Makayla building sand castles

Stu giving Shanice surfing lessons

Double Digits

2010-11-30T19:31:00.005+11:00

I cant believe my baby boy, or aka Monkey Man, has turned double digits.....10!
How fast the years has slipped by.
Turning TEN in the Sheppard-Morris household is a pretty big deal, and along comes a pretty big birthday present. Shanice got a laptop for hers, and cause Connor already had my old one, he got a Sony EReader! and not a day has gone past since that I have not seen him carting it around with him. He loves it (and Ant & I both love ours too!).
He got to have a birthday party too, with 3 friends for a sleepover and then I took them to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 the next morning.
What a TOP movie.... we loved it!
We had our family birthday lunch at the Alroy, which is becoming a little tradition. It is such a great spot for the kids and the adults and is so relaxing.

I wonder what the next 10 years will bring

here are a few pics from Connor's birthday lunch

The handsome birthday boy with one of his new toys

If on for the 8 year age gap, these two could be pass as twins

It seemed like i took photos of these two (Shanice & Britney) all day cause they were being extremely cheeky for me and letting me take their photos - stupid faces, bum dancing and all

YEP, I love this face!

Impossible! I can never get just one photo of these four smiling at the same time.

And one with Hunter

And we cant forget this gorgeous girl, baby Mackenzie...... she is so perfect and slept all day

quote of the week

2010-11-30T18:56:00.002+11:00

"Be who you are and say what you feel

because those who mind don't matter

and those who matter don't mind.”

~ Dr. Seuss

quote of the week

2010-11-23T09:29:00.000+11:00

Immorality: The morality of those who are having a better time.

~H.L. Mencken

Lighting of the Christmas Tree in Martin Place

2010-11-22T21:32:00.003+11:00

Last Thursday I got the kids out of school at lunch time and headed over to Mandy's place to meet up with her and mum. We had all decided it would be lovely to take all the kids to see the Lighting of the Christmas tree in Martin Place.
My gorgeous friend Dal, takes her family every year and mentioned it to us and we thought it sounded like a great idea as we had never done it before.
Once we arrived at Mandy's we got her kids all dressed ready to go and headed into town. We parked at the Entertainment Centre cause we thought we could catch the monorail round to Pitt St which the kids would like. Well, hindsight is great. Hunter hated the monorail and screamed the entire way. I thought it was because he was in a carriage with me and my kids and not Mandy, but the return journey proved he truly doesn't like them:)
We headed up to look at the windows at David Jones which were very cute, and I remember going into town as a kids with mum and dad and seeing them, which was very nostalgic of me.
Then it was a quick trip in the lift up to the David Jones Christmas Cave, of course that just happens to be in the toy department. I knew that my two would not have their photo with Santa, but Hunter and Mackenzie were going to get theirs taken...... well that was up untill we found Santa in a cubicle! And Hunter screamed the place down (and I do believe he set the kids off in the other cubicle with another Santa, lol).... so there was no photo this year with Hunter and Santa only Mackenzie. I know have come to the conclusion that it must be the Wright gene that comes out during Santa photo times as we all seem to hate them!
As it was getting close to 5pm when we were meeting Dal, we headed up to Martin Place to grab some dinner and a spot to sit to watch the show.
We were a little early but we got a great spot right in front of the stage. I do believe we were actually on TV too, but have not seen the footage yet.
Justine Clarke was the MC for the night, which I just cant get my head around as I still see her as Rue on Home & Away, lol. But the kids know her from Playschool now. There was also Curious George and Yo Gaba Gaba and the Sydney Girls Choir. The whole show was great and then finally when it was all dark they lit the tree and then the fireworks started.
It really was a wonderful night that I shared with my family and everyone enjoyed it. I am so pleased that we went.

"Lala, this is where I'm going to wear my reindeer ears!"

And Mackenzie wearing the too

How cute is this face?

Curious George

Yo Gaba Gaba

The lord mayor of Sydney, Justine Clark and Santa

Some of the kids - a friend of Makaylahs, Shanice, Connor, Mackenzie & Nan

Hunter and Makaylah

And the tree

spitfires and blue skies

2010-11-22T13:55:00.004+11:00

On the first weekend of this month (November that is, lol) Anthony wanted to take the kids and me on a "family fun day" to Temora to see the Spitfire fly.
Personally I dont have much interest in staring at some old planes fly around in the sky, but you know we have to do these things as a family!!!:)
So we left the farm at around 8am on the Saturday morning and drove about two and half hours to Temora. Is was long but a beautiful drive. That part of the country is just gorgeous.
We arrived in time to see the first of the three planes fly. And there was plenty of time to check out the other cool planes on display in the museum. Anthony was in his element and the kids had a great time....... I just needed coffee:)

Connor with a Tiger Moth

I've forgotten the one in the front (Anthony will know) but the one in the back is a Spitfire

And I'm pretty sure this is the Spitfire getting towed out ready to fly

Oh, this is me yacking on the phone, lol

The Kittyhawke and the Spitfire doing some pretty spectacular flying

Connor was excited cause Grandpa took a few spare digi cameras for the kids to use

double didgits

2010-11-21T22:07:00.002+11:00

I can hardly start to believe that my monkey man turned 10 on Friday!
This photo I took of him on Thursday night and told him it was going to be last one of him at the age of 9.
He is growing up so fast and I am so proud of him.

I have lots to catch up on so I will be back tomorrow to fill you all in:)

these two today

2010-11-03T09:03:00.003+11:00

Today this girl goes to her Year 7 orientation.......
Next year she starts high school and it only feels like yesterday that she started kindy!
I'm so proud of my big girl

And this boy said the funniest thing to me very late last night
After coming in to me with growing pains in his knees that needed rubbing only by mum, he went back to watching tv then thought about his knees growing, came back into me and said "Mum, do I look taller"
LOL

some creating

2010-10-31T19:31:00.003+11:00

Last weekend I was away at the last Scrap Girls retreat for 2010. OMG, did I laugh, I laughed so much no noise came out! As always we had a great time.
Nic challenged me to actually scrap something so she threw some new Crate Paper at me and new Jenni Bowlin and yelled "Create!". So I did and loved what I did.

This is using the new Crate Paper's Restoration range. I really wanted to have a go making some fan flowers...... well several hours later I was really to throw them across the room, but once I figured out how to make them all stick down they turned out pretty good, if I say so myself!

Using new Jenni Bolin...... have a thing for banners at the minute! It's a fad I' know I'll grow out of quickly. It was funny when Nic and I were doing our layouts and sharing papers, our layouts started exactly the same and we weren't looking at what the other was doing

Using up some yummy left overs from MME Lost and Found. Love the sparkly glitter, but it get everywhere!

And using up left overs of Sassafras Lass Indi Girl.

4 weeks old

2010-10-31T18:15:00.006+11:00

On Wednesday we had a little person come over for a sleep over on a school night!

Hunter had the best fun hanging out with his cousins. Shanice played the mum role and Connor was playing the joker and making him laugh the whole time he was at our house.

Mandy just needed a little break from this very busy boy and the aunty just loves the kisses!

I cant believe that little Mackenzie was 4 weeks old this week and she still is so tiny.

Being the only girl on both sides of the family for so long shanice wasnt ready to let in another girl and was very anti-mackenzie since she was born, but this week shanice came around and had her first cuddle. Now she cant get enough of the cuddles and playing mum.

Hunter loves to ride GoGo's scooter

Shanice and Mackenzie

She is just so precious

week 2 of our family holiday

2010-10-30T21:00:00.002+11:00

Anthony had to work the second week of our holiday, so we spent 3 nights in Balina. the hotel we picked was fantastic, shame it poured with rain for the entire time we were there and the kids were couped up inside cause the grounds were beautiful and beach was just across the road.
But thankful for the rain I did enjoys spending Sunday watching Bathurst and was over the moon with the results!
Tuesday saw us driving via Lismore and down the inland road to Coffs.
finally the rain stopped! ant had a few stops on the way down to look at...... I'm really not sure, but there was power line and towers!
We had a free day on Wednesday so we jumped in the car and headed up towards Dorrigo. The country side was just gorgeous. We had a great pub lunch and took the kids for a walk in the national park and to check out some beautiful waterfalls.
Thursday we decided to head home a day early, but we had to go to a site visit first. Well, that was an adventure. Supposedly we were on a marked road but i dont think the overgrown vegetation knew that or the washed away road. It was starting to get a little hairy when Ant stopped and took a walk to see how far it was out, it was only 400m, but in that short distance we got the ute bogged! We took the Territory into town to try and find a 4WD with a winch to help us get out, but the local loggers pulled us out! It was certainly a fun filled morning!

Here are a few piccies from our day up at dorrigo.

One day I will get a photo of the two of them being nice to each other:)

Dorrigo Falls

And a nice (yet windy) family shot at the national park.

the count down is now on for our next holiday

sunny QLD here we come..... part 2

2010-10-18T12:50:00.004+11:00

so where was i up to.....

Tuesday - 4th October
The boys were booked in for their quad bike ride up in the hinterland, so us girls and the kids decided to spend the morning shopping in Coolangatta. Well, by the time we got ready the boys were already back! So we all went.
Down the end of the road we found the BEST shop ever, we were all in our element. And the fabulous name for the shop "That Shop". I got some great new Tuk shoes .

OMG! they are so hot

We went into Surfers for dinner that night and had a great time even though it was pouring with rain. After dinner we ended up at Old Time Photos and had a great laugh getting some gangsters and moles photos taken. It's something we'd never done before and I'm so pleased we did.
A good thing timezone is open till midnight cause we were in there next. By the end of the night the shoes were off cause I couldn't walk in them any longer.

Wednesday - 5th October
Seaworld here we come! The weather was great, not to hot and not to overcast and raining!!!
The kids had a ball, which was the aim for the day.
I do believe the best part of the day was the end when we were up at Castaway Bay. They have these pirate ship boats that go around a track in the water and you can shoot water from them and people "on land" can shoot water at the boats. The bigger kids had disappeared up onto the climbing frames, so i grabbed Zoey and took her on the boats. I knew I would get wet, but I was seriously soaked with not a dry inch left on me! I do believe the dads on land were enjoying spraying the water guns more than the kids. I laughed so much and it was TOPS!!!
Starting from the end of the day, here are the pics:)

Zoey didn't want her picture taken so she hid behind the dolphins tail

Connor, Brittney and Shanice exhausted from a great day

Soaked after the pirate boat ride..... where are their swimmer..... oh, in the bag next to me!

And here are the boats themselves with Connor, Brittney and Shanice on it

If i can insert a speech bubble it would say "Hurry up Connor, all sharks look the same!"

Every time we have been to Seaworld I have taken a photo of the kids under this Buoy, I cant wait to put all the photos next to each other and see how my monkeys have changed

I was going to lighten this picture in photoshop, but i love it the way it is. This is Connors favourite shark, the Tiger Shark, coming straight for him

They decked out the Sesame Street rides all in Halloween and Connor couldn't resist getting in amongst the graves - cheeky kid!

Thursday - 6th October

Joh and Nev had booked into get their tatts which was going to take all day, so I offered to take Brit to the movies with my kids. Anthony somehow got out of it and I ended up taking them to see Despicable Me. They loved it.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out on the roof top pool.

Friday - 7th October

I had a little moment which was to be expected on this day (Dads birthday) and wished I could have spent it with mum and mandy, but i do tend to organise holidays and forget about dates!

So, it was my turn for a tattoo. I knew exactly what I wanted and I LOVE it. Six nautical stars around my right wrist.

I got picked up after it was finished and we headed back to That Shop but the one at Burleigh to show the lovely lady there all our new ink as we talked her into getting her first one 2 days before. I got a gorgeous new handbag which is to die for and goes very well with my new shoes.

We headed back into Surfers for dinner and then it was off to the Shooting Gallery. I opted not to shoot real guns as its not my thing so i took all four kids to Timezone:) Anthony has been told his is never to get a gun cause his aim was scarily good - hours on the playstation has paid off me thinks.

So there ends our last night in sunny Queensland.

From Saturday on Joh & Nev headed back home and we were off to Ballina and Coffs cause Anthony had work and meetings to go to. What a shame, a second weeks holiday

sunny QLD here we come.... part 1

2010-10-17T22:30:00.006+11:00

Saturday - 1st October
Saw us waking at 4am and on the road by 4.15am heading to sunny Queensland, well, Coolangatta actually! We had the normal few stops on the way up and even a 1 hour break and walk around the shops for lunch at Coffs. We arrived around 2ish, so that was a pretty good run.
Joh, Nev and girls arrived some time after us which was great for the kids and good for us. We were all on the one floor so the kids had a ball running between the two apartments.

Sunday - 2nd October
What a CRAP day!!! It was absolutely pouring with rain. No swimming, No beach, so the kids were devastated. What to do..... go shopping!! And didn't we just.
We ended up at the surf shop outlets and spent a small fortune but saved an absolute bucket.
When we got home we checked the weather report for the rest of the week and they reckoned RAIN nearly all week, so our plan of attack was on the first sunny day hit the theme parks

Monday - 3rd October
And that was everyone elses thoughts too!
We opted for Dreamworld. Thank god Joh had pre-purchased our tickets cause the queue to get in was ridiculous and we just walked straight in. But that was the end of the short queues I'm afraid.
The log ride was first on the agenda..... one and a half hours later......
I started to regretting wearing jeans on this overcast day cause I was soaked! Nothing as attractive as looking like you've just wet your pants, lol.
We headed around the back of Dreamworld to the animals on our way to wiggleworld were we had lunch. I took the kids on the Big Red Car ride and while we were in the queue the boys snuck off to go on the motorbike rollercoaster..... let me just say I was just a little dirty bout them not waiting for me!
Next it was around to Nick Central were we spent the rest of the day. The kids loved it! I took Connor on the rollercoater and Avalanche (not called that anymore) and he thought they were TOPS.... I thought he'd get all scared. Shanice went on the Spongebob ride with me too.
Just before leaving at closing time we were in the shop and the lovely lady in there gave us a great bit of info about when the rides close, so me and the kids ran round to the rapid ride to quickly get in the queue before they closed, and we were lucky, we were the 3rd last boat.
And may I just say that by the end of the day my jeans had only just dried!

Me, Connor, Britney and Shanice on the rapid ride

Britney and Zoey with Dora and Diego

Woo Hoo the Big Red Car Ride - Me, Shanice, Britney, Zoey and Connor

The two biggest children on the motorbike rollercoaster - Nev and Anthony

Me, Joh and Zoey

Connor, Nev and Anthony

The girls wanted to be all grown up and go on by themselves - Shanice and Britney

In WiggleWorld - looks like something out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Hanging with the Koalas

Connor, Zoey, Britney and Shanice right after we went on the log ride

Part 2 coming soon

Welcome baby Mackenzie

2010-10-17T16:06:00.005+11:00

On Thursday 30th September I was very honoured to be at the birth of my beautiful new niece, Mackenzie.
I think I was supposed to be there to support my sister as she was being induced 2 weeks early but as her labour really started and she started to cry, so did I. And then once little Mackenzie was here I became blubbering mess for 3 days - what an emotional rollercoster it is being on the other end!
She is so perfect. Weighing a tiny 2.7kilo (5 pound 15 in the old scale) and 49cm long.
Thank you Mandy for letting me be with you to share this special moment

Mandy and bub about 2 minutes old

Proud Nan

Very proud Aunty

Connor cuddles Mackenzie almost as much as I do

And big brother Hunter meeting his new baby sister

3 faces i love

2010-09-13T18:21:00.003+10:00

Thought I would share with you piccies of 3 of the people I love the most

On Saturday we went out for a family lunch for mine and mums birthday. We went to the Alroy because not only is it a gorgeous place with yummy food but it's great for the kids.

Happy, Happy Birthday

2010-09-08T22:14:00.003+10:00

A great big HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mum today (oh and me...... which i do believe was the bestest birthday present a mum could ask for)

The spooky this about today too is.......... the date

8/9/10

LSBS retreat madness

2010-09-07T09:00:00.004+10:00

On the last weekend of August I was lucky enough to participate with the girls from LSBS at their annual scrapbooking retreat. It was tops to get away and not have to run the weekend, but it feels strange at the same time.
I love these girls to pieces and had an absolute ball as always. Let me tell you they are a naughty bunch of girls when all in the same room. And i have never laughed so much - thanks Sami!

So what happens at retreat, stays at retreat....... but here are a few pics

The group shot - thanks to Kerryn for taking this great photo

........ dont know what to say bout this group of crazy ladies (thanks to Kathy for sharing this pic of facebook)

That would be Me, Sami and Joh

I did actually get some scrapping done..... even if it was only 1 layout, lol

I just adore this photo of my lil' terrors

This was Belle's class - i stuck with those paper flowers, all 14 of them. And i dont care that it took me exactly one week to finish them because I love the end result - thanks Belle

These were the two layouts from Kerryn's class. I love how easy they were to put together and great they look.

We did another class with Sherry Mendoza, but i cant share that one as it's already wrapped for my mum for her birthday tomorrow.

I cant wait to do it all again next year:)

OMG!!!!

2010-09-03T09:26:00.001+10:00

I just booked my tickets to see

And I'm so excited it's ridiculous:)

new kitchen

2010-08-31T15:25:00.002+10:00

For quite a while now (about 2 years) Anthony and I have been throwing around the idea of moving or extending our house and build a second storey. But nothing has happened and we just cant make up our minds, so instead we opted for a new kitchen to tie us over.
It had nothing to do with the fact that tiles started falling off, pantry door is broken, drawer fronts are falling off and my light fell and smashed!
And because I'm getting a new kitchen (at the end of September) Anthony insisted he needed on too, and here it is:

rather pretty i must say and it cooks a mean barbie

month of birthdays

2010-08-23T15:30:00.004+10:00

August and September are huge birthday months here. It seems that every week there is someone in the family's special day.

Last week was Mandy's bday so we went up to mum's for a bbq lunch. Mandy & I stayed the night before with all the kids which was "fun"...... they are all so loud, lol, but cute.

Here are few piccies from our lovely day

I made yummy Raspberry & coconut cupcakes (from scratch - no packet mix for these sweet cakes)

Hunter helping mummy blow out the candles

My big girl - with a mouth full of chips

Doing a special smile for his favourite aunty

3 cheeky monkeys - dont know which one is the cheekiest

Shanice's last open day....

2010-08-22T20:46:00.004+10:00

I cant believe that this year was Shanice's last Open Day book week parade at school. Has she really been at school 7 years already?....... high school in less than 6 months!

So, I went all out this year and made the kids costumes. I think they really loved them. And Shanice really did look like Alice from Alice in Wonderland.
The day started at 12 noon when we met the kids in their classrooms. Anthony, myself and Hunter went to Shanice first and Mum & Mandy went to Connor, then we swapped.
Of course this doesn't last long as the kids are too excited to do the treasure hunt and spend all their parents (and grandparents) money at the book fair.
After lunch we then headed into the schools new gym for the parade.
The teachers always dress up in the theme and do some little dance number which is always funny. This year they did Snow White. The principal was the Prince, the deputy was a bear, the head of primary was a frog, all the class teacher were dwarfs and one of the lucky teachers was Snow white.
In keeping with tradition, Shanice had her grumpy face on, lol.
It really was a lovely day and one i wont forget...... as my big girl is growing up far too fast.

Shanice as Alice

Connor as a knight

The terrors:)

Shanice & Britney with mum

Hunter having a little lie down with Snow White - he was so adorable and all the teachers came up to me and said that you cant half tell he is Connor's cousin

creating.....

2010-08-10T18:50:00.004+10:00

for the past 3 days I have been here......

buried somewhere underneath a great big pile of fabric and patterns.

This year is Shanice's last Book Week parade so i thought i would do something a bit special for her and make here the costume that she picked. Of course, she chose her favourite character of the moment "Alice". She is obsessed with the Tim Burtons movie Alice in Wonderland.

I have enjoyed sewing the costume but I'm glad that I've finally finished.

And then i started to feel guilty about not doing something for Connor, so i was back at spotlight on Sunday buying more fabric and patterns because he wants to go as a knight. Apparently all his friends are going as knight and he was happy to go with a cardboard shield and sword, but i made him a special hooded cape. I'm hoping we can add to it for the next couple of years to get wear out of it.

But i feel so pleased with myself for making them.

And in between sewing like a crazy person I did a spot of scrapping too......

"Watching You" using Lil Robots by MME. I was testing out the glimmer screens too

"The Face" using more Lil Robots MME.

I love this face..... when you say to Hunter "Do the face" he screws up his little nose and breaths really loudly.... it's to cute

and "This Kid" using My Family by Fancy Pants

a family holiday

2010-07-29T22:01:00.006+10:00

Are you ready for photo overload???
So, for the July school holiday we are lucky enough to get 3 weeks instead of the 2 weeks public school kids get - really not sure how i think about that, is it a blessing? who knows, lol.
For the third week we packed up the entire family and headed to a gorgeous house right on the beach at Lake Cathie. And when i say the entire family I mean all of us -me, Anthony, Shanice, Connor, mum, Mandy and hunter! It was a houseful:)
We did heaps of fun things around Port Macquarie and had a great time.
I think the photos will best explain.....

The boys went Go-Kart racing...... shanice now regrets sitting on the side with me!

A token picture with mum at the end of the breakwall at Dunbogan

along the breakwall we found this boulder with a massive circle all the way through it and i couldn't resist taking a photo through it

waiting for the waves to come

the water was a gorgeous clear green. It look so inviting except it was freezing!

We took the kids to Timbertown at Wauchope.

I remember going there as a little kid.

At the lighthouse at Lighthouse Beach.

Shanice has no fear and followed Anthony right down over the cliff, needless to say I almost had heart failure.

That cheeky monkey at the park in Port

Strawberry picking

We had a great big reserve out the back of the house before the beach which was great for Frisbee throwing and soccer

babysitting

2010-07-16T13:41:00.003+10:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure to look after my beautiful nephew all day.
He had a great time playing with the kids. He just adores Shanice and Connor and they both dote on him.
After lunch I took them to Rouse Hill regional park for a big play. They had a great time running around the maze and playing with hunter in the little kids area.

I cant wait to have all day to ourselves again. He is welcome anytime:)

Shanice & Hunter with a big cheesy grin

Drinking from the big kids bottle

Say Cheesy

crafting goodness

2010-07-13T21:01:00.002+10:00

So today being Tuesday I headed off to Nicole's for our weekly Tuesday "meeting". Of course the kids were in tow, but were very well behaved as we promised them a party for lunch, aka party pie and sausage rolls:)
I was feeling very inspired today cause i finished not one but two layouts.

"The Climb" using the cute new Kaiser Up, Up & Away range..... i love the dusty looking colours

and "Quality Time" using some older October Afternoon.
I do hate photographing my layout, they seem to look so dull and flat..... note to self: learn more photo taking stuff!!!!

And here is a piccie of the very cute handbag and matching purse that i bought down in Canberra.
It is a gorgeous mustardy/yellow colour. Not everyones cup of tea, but it love it, it's so different. And the bonus is i can get my camera in there..... I'm pretty sure I'm repeating myself now.

While at the Scrap Girls retreat the other weekend, i got all the way to Richmond when i remember that i didn't pack any of my scrapping things, not even my tool tote.
the July retreat is always so busy that i knew i wasn't going to do anything anyways, but i felt inspired after seeing a picture in the magazine "Notebook" that Joh brought along. So i bought some fabric from LSBS (our online shop that comes with us and makes me spend way too much money), scrounged up some felt from Sami, sewing stuff from Nic and buttons from Stacey...... and made this cute little guy.

Well, after a fabo day scrapping and crafting and the 2 hours I've just spent on here updating all my links on my blog, i can hear the neverending pile of washing screaming my name!

neglected

2010-07-12T19:08:00.007+10:00

my poor little blog:(
for the past month we have had something on every day and it has been a complete madhouse. I don't even know where to start....... so I've decided not to reminisce, but to fill you in on what we did over the past few days.
Oh! btw, thanks Lynsey for the nudge to update my blog too:)

So last Wednesday, even though it seems a million years ago now, the four of us headed down the farm for a extra long weekend. We planned to spend a few days around the farm so Anthony could work on the shed and the kids could ride the quads and we would spend one day in Canberra to break it all up.
Connor has been a little scared of the quads up until now and this weekend we couldn't get him off them.
Friday saw us venture into Canberra. We wanted to take the kids to the War Memorial, but we all slept in, which is unusual of Anthony and the kids:) So we stopped at DFO first cause Connor needed new jeans...... no luck there, but i scored a gorgeous yellow Guess handbag and matching purse. It's all about coordinating, you know! plus I'm sucker for a nice bag. The bonus is it fit my camera in nicely, so i don't have to lug two bags everywhere.
The floor was really slippy and Anthony did his back, so we headed for a chemist and some lunch. we tried looking for this shopping centre we'd been to before but ended up somewhere completely new, but that was ok!
We realised it was 2.30pm and still jeanless, so a quick dash to Pumpkin Patch saw Connor with
some new digs! And Big W for some new books.
Cause it was rather late we took the kids to the National Museum to have a run around. They thought it was great. Shanice had been earlier in the year with school so she was telling Connor all about it..... that took up over an hour so then we thought we'd best head back to the farm for dinner.
Here are a few pics of the kids at the museum

So that leads us to Saturday........ At about 10.30am the kids headed outside. Shanice rode the golf cart around the paddock till the battery needed charging and then got on the second quad, and Connor got on the quad, with a full fuel tank of petrol and rode it till he ran out of gas and had the head lights on cause it was dark, and might i add, freezing.

They both had such a great day.

Connor

Shanice

And while i was taking photos of Connor going around and around and around Shanice stood with me chatting away.... and pulling faces.

So now we are into the middle week of the kids school holidays (3 weeks this time round). This week is another busy one with no free days and then on Saturday we are all off to Port Maquarie for a little holiday before school goes back.

And by all of us i mean - me, Anthony, Shanice, Connor, Mum, Mandy and Hunter. Now that is going to be a chaotic week!

karate grading

2010-06-14T20:06:00.002+10:00

So proud of both my kidlets..... yesterday they both went for their karate grading.
Shanice totally kicked arse and Connor was so focused on doing all his moves precisely.
They are now Orange belts :)

just some scrapping

2010-06-12T14:34:00.006+10:00

so...... its been a while
things have been just crazy here in the shepppard-morris household which is nothing unusual. and there is far too much to catch you up on, so i'm just going to share my latest scrapping that i did at the May retreat.

I love this photo.... and i'm loving this layout cause i got to use lots of yummy prima. Nic and i spent the night making heaps of different ribbon flowers and i added one to this and ive been saying for yonks that i wanted to try painting with glimmermist which i loved and painted the bird.

I love this layout too, but hating photographing layouts and it came out a little blurry

I had to buy some Studio Calico to see what all the fuss was about and to be honest i'm not a fan, but they seemed to work well this this photo

And another little addition to add to my Scrap Girls retreat album

I spent nearly most of the weekend at the may retreat trying to make a ball. It seemed easy enough in theory but after quite a number of pull aparts and some help from Anne I finally made this........

and this was only the practise run........ so i could eventually make the proper ball and came up with this

the end result isnt how i originally hoped, but i'm over it now and im moving on.

But i am pleased that i tried something a bit left of centre.

Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-12T10:36:00.003+10:00

I had a fantastic Mother's Day...... what more could i ask for with such gorgeous weather outside and 2 even more gorgeous kids.
I got woken, not too early, by my cherubs eagerly excited to open the presents that they had chosen themselves. Connor gave some soap that he chose special at the mothers day stall and shanice had taken Nan out shopping to get a very beautiful tea cup to add to my collection from herself and Connor. There was so much thought and love gone into what they chose that it makes the moment and my presents even more special.
The kids and I headed to Fagan Park for morning tea/lunch with mum, mandy and hunter. We love it there. But i have never, ever seem it so incredibly busy. The kids played in the park with Hunter, rod their scooters, played DS, ate lots of yummy nibbles and then after lunch we went for the traditional walk to the duck pond and windmill.
It really was a beautiful day.
We came home with enough time to duck to the shops to get a new printer as mine died during the week and some new jeans.
We did all this then raced home to quickly get changed and head out for dinner with anthony's family. We went to King Henry's court at penrith, although the food is ok the atmosphere is so quaint.

Welcome Wall

2010-05-04T16:13:00.005+10:00

Sunday was a pretty huge day for the Wright family.....
We all headed into Darling Harbour to watch the ceremony for the Welcome Wall at the National Maritime Museum. For mums 60th birthday a group of her close friends bought her and dad a very special present - their names on the Welcome Wall.
Here is a link to all the info - Welcome Wall
i tried to explain why the day was so important to me to the kids and Anthony but i managed to blurt out was some complete waffle. but i did say i ranked it up there with our wedding and birth of our kids.
As it turned out it was a glorious day. We enjoyed the ceremony at a small distance because sitting in the full sun was too hot, plus it gave the kids room to run around. We then headed over to the Kings Street wharf for a lovely lunch over looking the harbour.
It was such a fantastic day and one that i will hold very dear

Mum & Dad's name's are the 8th one down on the first column

all the names to date

Mum with the three grandbebe's

And the whole family

Mum, shanice & connor

hunter getting kisses from his mum

the bridge going over Darling Harbour

3 very cheeky monkeys

and just my two monkeys

Babysitting

2010-05-01T13:14:00.004+10:00

Every May at the kids school they hold a Grandparents day. The kids love and all the Grandparents really look forward to it.
So yesterday was GPD, as Connor likes to refer to it as. Mum and Mandy went along as well as Pat & Michael. So i had the pleasure of babysitting my gorgeous nephew. And i also offered to have Zoey as well so Britney's Nan could go along too.

So we had a great morning at home playing games and doing all fun stuff like blowing bubbles and chasing's and building stuff. It's been so long since I've done all that with my kids.
Zoey asked for a sprinkle sandwich for lunch and sat on the lounge to eat, but Hunter had to sit right next to her and share! It was too cute not to bring out the camera.

Some scrapping

2010-05-01T13:07:00.003+10:00

So the past week has see me doing a little bit of scrapping.... and I've also been teaching myself to crochet.
I really loved the Kaiser Gypsy Sisters range, but when i was working with it i found it quite tricky to match photos as it really is quite pink, but i still lub it!

Photo taken at a wedding we went to recently where Mandy was a bridesmaid

My gorgeous girl at the top of Mt Kosciusko

Using October Afternoon report card papers.

Just 2 more samples that i did using one of the challenge kits for the May Scrap Girls retreat. I seem to be getting through my retreat photos and i love this size too.

I miss him........

2010-04-19T22:39:00.003+10:00

It's been a week and half and i cant believe how much i miss this little boy. It's like he is one of my own.
But i am on the count down and it's only 36 more hours till i get big aunty love

last day of school holidays

2010-04-18T16:15:00.002+10:00

Today has been a completely lazy day in the sheppard-morris household. and i do believe it's been well deserved after two weeks of non-stop happenings. I'm in serious need of some time off, lol. I cant wait for my coffee with the girls tomorrow morning, Ive missed them over the Easter break.
Friday saw Anthony drive down to Melbourne to pick up his new motorbike...... not exactly sure how I'm feeling bout that. I thought he had enough toys to play with, but apparently i was wrong. Connor went with him for the drive but ended up staying at the farm instead.
Shanice and i had a lovely few days at home doing girly stuff. we watched New Moon a million times, went to pancakes for breakfast with the girls and Friday saw us scrapping away with some really good friends.
Today I've even managed to scrap a bit while watching the V8's and my new DVD Crusoe.
Here are the two layouts i did one Friday...... I love the kaiser Devonshire range, it is my favourite and i cant get enough of it

I just had to scrap this photo of Hunter.... everytime he cry's i want to cry cause it's just so sad.

The Royal Easter Show

2010-04-14T22:25:00.008+10:00

Beware of photo overload!!!! With 167 photos taken at the Easter Show, it was hard to pick just a couple.
It was a sort of last minute thing to go to the Easter Show on Sunday as Joh had gotten tickets through work. My last experience at the show was not a pleasant one, so i was really hesitant to go again, but with the tickets given to us being one expense out of the way, how could i say no.

We had a great day. The kids saw the animals, we watched the V6 utes, motor bikes and Robosaurus, bought showbags, went on rides and looked around at all the different pavilions.
It was a tops day!!!
I could rabbit on for ages, but I'd rather let the photos speak for themselves.

Zoey enjoying the utes and motorbikes

The Toyota V6 ute stunt team

3 of the 4 motor cross rider in the air - the middle Steve Mini the kids will be seeing again when rides with Nitro Circus in May

Brit & Shanice - beyond their years!!!

Robosaurus

and about to eat a car!

Shanice giggling her head off

Shanice & Britney on the swing chairs

That's Shanice looking back at me

shanice spinning around to talk to Britney

The shadow of Shanice

Connor and Zoey - 2 very cheeky monkeys

Connor took Zoey on the balloon ride

The following is my attempt to take a photo of the four kids before we went home - as you can seeing they are very willing participants - NOT!!!

just stuff.....

2010-04-10T20:44:00.003+10:00

What a waste of a day....... me and kids have done absolutely nothing. I just went to lock the front door for the night and found it was still locked up from last night, needless to say we haven't left the house at all today. But sometimes you just need "nothing" days.
I have been a little bit productive, I've almost finished the new website for Scrap Girls, just need to do the home page. And I've gotten through a tonne of paper work too.

I did find this on my travels today:

I love it!!! I'm going to put it up on my office wall as well as the canvas I'm painting from Lady Gaga the other night.

We are off to the Easter Show tomorrow. Joh got tickets through work and while the boys are off quad biking this weekend we thought we'd treat the kids.
Wish me luck!

Lady GAGA.......

2010-04-09T16:05:00.003+10:00

I was so excited to be going to see Lady Gaga, i think more excited than Shanice.
This was Shanice's first concert. We had discussed the issue of going cause Gaga is a bit controversial and there might be things in her show that might be a full on for an 11 year old. But our eyes were wide open and we knew what we were getting into.

Lady Gaga was amazing, awesome, fantastic....... etc, etc, etc. We had the best night ever.
We took along with us shanice's bff, Britney and her mum Joh. What great company.
It was fun getting up in our seats dancing cause Joh and I dance still like we did back in the day before kids, lol.
The show didn't end up starting till about 9pm and went right through till 11.30pm. We certainly got our moneys worth.

Shanice & Britney

me & Joh

Shanice & Brit dancing away

The finale - Bad Romance

Singing "Speechless" while playing a burning piano

One of the many costumes..... I should try and remember how many there actually were

Opening number

a little GOOD FRIDAY fun......

2010-04-06T19:20:00.003+10:00

It all started when i had this great idea to make dessert for our family get together on good Friday. I really need to start reading the instructions on how to make the cake before i leave it to the last minute. I didn't start making the cake till 8.30pm in Thursday night, I had to melt the chocolate and butter then let it cool before adding the flour and all that, then it needed 2 hours to make. so needless to say i was baking till around midnight.
You'd think I'd learnt my lesson, but no! I slept in and thought I'd be right to make the white chocolate frosting...... NO!!!! it needed cooling time too, so i got it all prepared so i could finish it off at Mandy's.
All the effort was well worth it. The lemon & lime white chocolate mud cake was amazing...... i don't even like cake!

It was so nice to spend the day together and watch Hunter and Shanice play, unfortunately Connor went down the farm early with Anthony.

the yummy lemon & lime white chocolate mud cake

playing in the leaves - they were covered in debris and dirt

four happy campers

Hunter doing "the face"

Having Aunty love

Gorgeous boy

and my gorgeous girl

first retreat for 2010.... 6 more to go.... woo hoo

2010-04-05T23:18:00.005+10:00

I love retreats.....
do i really need to say anymore?
So last weekend was the first Scrap Girls retreat of 2010. Needless to say we all had an awesome time. Although i only managed to scrap one layout the entire 4 days i was away, i came home exhausted, creatively inspired and ecstatically happy, which is just perfect in my eyes.
I cant wait to do it all again in May.

Hopefully this year i can get away to 2 retreats myself so i can just relax and scrap away and not be running around like a mad woman, although i do enjoy it and will probably be sitting in my chair itching to get up and organize something, lol.

Also in the plans are a very special retreat too...... cant wait to let the cat out of the bag on that one soon.

We were at full capacity at this retreat with every single bed being occupied! Makes for a fun weekend

scrapping up a storm

Getting ready to be like 5 year olds and play musical chairs! Yes, it is a contact sport.

Wait till May, we have an even better game planned

I just had to share!!!! Sami......... we love you babe

And here is my one and only layout achieved for the weekend

I'm "trying" to catch up on my Scrap Girls retreats album....... it's taking forever and i don't think I'll ever catch up, but I've done two more pages.

latest creations

2010-03-17T11:56:00.003+11:00

I didn't realise but this week I've done quite a few layouts.
2 i did last week and 3 I did yesterday while at the Good Shepherd Craft Circle - a fundraising craft day for Nic's kids school.

These 3 layouts i did yesterday using Kaiser Devonshire range - i love the colours

And these two i did last week using Cosmo Cricket Material Girl range - which is super cute

the bday party

2010-03-16T23:36:00.003+11:00

So the birthday party began on Friday night.... shanice had 3 friends over for pizza, girly movies and a sleepover and the next morning we were all headed to the movies to see Alice in Wonderland.
The girls had a great time and were all really excited to see the movie...... shame, it was a little disappointing.
We headed home afterwards for a family bbq. we had a great afternoon.
Here are few snapshots from the day.

9am Saturday morning with the sun beaming in and all the girls are still fast asleep

Shanice, Britney, Tayla & Sarah ready waiting for the movie to start

A photo reminder of our day out

Blowing out her 11th birthday candles

Just because he always sneaks into my photos...... i snuck him a handleful of choc coated tiny teddies while Mandy wasn't looking:)

Zoey..... I love this photo

Happy 11th Birthday my princess

2010-03-15T23:18:00.002+11:00

I can't believe that on Friday 12th March my gorgeous little girl turned 11. She is growing up so quickly.
Shanice was away on camp from the 10-12 so we didn't get to see her the morning of her birthday, but we definitely made up for it when she got home at 4.30pm that afternoon.
She didn't ask for anything this year, so it was really tricky for a while figuring out what she'd like. But she definitely got a huge surprise when she opened all her presents.
She got:
* Alice in Wonderland book
* so Fresh CD
* DSi bling bag/carrycase thingy
* clothes
* AND......... an ipod touch!

Spoilt much! She was over the moon and loves her Ipod touch so much that we've already had to take it off her cause we found her at 10pm last night under her covers listening to music and playing games on it! It does bring a smile to my face though.

Opening the pressies

Connor looking thrilled by watching Shanice get spoilt, lol

and we saved the best till last

Excited much?

My Daughter..... the Rev Head!

2010-03-08T13:09:00.004+11:00

Yesterday saw Anthony take Shanice out on the quad bikes.
My fear is that Shanice has NO fear! She does remind me of someone I used to know very well at her age - me!
They got really early about 6am and headed off for a few hours down at the Belanglo State Forest. And because she has no fear and is quite a speed demon she wears all the appropriate safety gear - full face helmet, gloves, shoes, body armor!
They rode around getting air and I can just imagine, creating havoc for bout 1.5 hours and the only reason they stopped is Shanice was getting blisters on her accelerator hand.
The kid rides so well Anthony is considering a manual quad for her next bike!

Quads all ready to go

Posing with body armor

Cheeky!

Token photo of Dad with his quad

On the trailer for the ride back home

And without hesitation or a word from Anthony, Shanice followed him up the ramps onto the trailer and stopped without hitting ant's quad - What a clever monkey!

Family Fun Day

2010-03-07T21:21:00.004+11:00

Every now and again our little family of four needs to re-group and go and do something fun together for a day. It was that time again and saw us going on a little adventure yesterday:)

For term 1 Connor is studying early explorers, so we thought that because Connor is such an intelligent child we would take the kids on a day trip up the Blue Mountains stopping at some known and some not so well known spots that have been made famous by Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth. Connor thought this was a fantastic idea and was so keen to walk in the early explorers footsteps. We weren't so sure about Shanice as she did it two years ago, but she surprised by enjoying telling Connor all the little tid bits she remembers too.

The very first place to begin the day is with breakfast, so we headed to Pancakes at Northmead to meet mum, Mandy & Hunter for a yummy breakie complete with pancakes, ice cream, bacon, eggs and hashbrowns. YUM!!!! What a great start to the day, getting our Hunter fix and he IS so darn cute.

Our first stop was at the tourist information place because there were a few spots that we were unsure of their location.
Next sure saw heading Liden to find Casey's repulse. Connor thought this was unreal cause it was a massive pile of rocks & boulders put their by the explorer Casey that marked the end of his failed attempt to cross the Blue Mountains. Bet you didn't know that? I learnt that too. It was a tricky little spot to find, but we did and it was right between two houses!

Next saw us searching Lawson for the Explorers Lamp monument. Well, we didn't find it! Maybe next time.

Then it was onto Wentworth Falls. We went for a little walk and i almost died walking up the million steps from the lookout. The kids ran up them but me.......... nope! Really need to get on the cross trainer every day from now on.

by now it was after lunch and kids tummys were rumbling so we headed into Leura, and couldn't find any "normal" food, so we drove onto Katoomba and got some hot chips and drinks and took them down to the park between the Three Sisters and the Scenic Railway.
The rain was coming in but it seemed to be holding off which was good cause we still had a few more stops.
The Explorers Tree was next on the agenda. Right by the side of the busy great western highway. It was interesting reading the plaque seeing as to when they actually fenced the tree off, but over time the marking have gone... or we just couldn't find them.

The last stop was Mt York. What a gorgeous spot! This is where the explorers ended their crossing before the descent....... OMG the cliffs were sheer, i bet they didn't have any rock climbing gear back in 1813!
We had a great day, and learnt a bit too. Cant wait for the next family fun day

Connor by the sign for Wentworth Falls lookout (one of the many photos i took of him besides signs, lol)

The sheer cliff faces at Wentworth Falls

Running away from the camera!

Wentworth Falls

Shanice & Connor

I cant believe my beautiful girl turns 11 this coming Friday!

At the Explorers Tree sign!

And Shanice & Connor by the tree

Woo Hoo we made it

swimming carnival & zone

2010-02-27T13:37:00.003+11:00

This week has been a pretty full on week.....
The kids had their school swimming carnival on Tuesday. They both swam really well. Shanice missed her 50m freestyle heat and so did connor which i was a little disappointed with as freestyle is their best strokes. But they both went in their breaststroke heats.
Shanice did 1.02 which put her in second for her age group and saw her qualify for zone. I was over the moon. All that hard work and training was starting to pay off.
I love Connor's enthusiasm...... he loves going in all the races and doesn't care what his results are, he just loves to give it a go. And he did so well.

So, Thursday saw me at the pool again - all day (including getting sunburnt). and just for one race, but it was a great day.
Shanice's race was on at about 11am. and i was so fired up to cheer her on, but didn't want to too much as it would psych her out. She was in Division 2 (for all the kids that came second at their school carnivals).
Well.......... i had the biggest proud mummy moment that i had to walk away so i would cry in front of everyone. SHE CAME FIRST!!!!!!! We checked her time at the end of the day and she did a 1.0077 which was 2 seconds off her best time. AND she came 5th overall, beating 4 of the division 4 girls and all the girls in her heat. We were over the moon and so, so proud.
She had to wait the rest of the day out as she had then been put into the 11 year girls relay doing the breaststroke leg. I didn't check her time, but i'm sure she swam faster again.

So, yep, I'm one very proud mum at the moment.

playing with Britney & Hunter before her race

Diving into her heat

Breaststroke leg of the 4X50m 11 year girls relay

Besides swimming this week I've been getting a bit creative, with lots of project on the go all at once. It seems i cant finish one thing before i start on another before i loose the idea.

Of course this means that everything else is suffering too, but i should be finished soon and things can get back to normal.

birdcages

2010-02-22T11:28:00.003+11:00

Scrappy Sunday saw me, Joh, Nic & Aunty Rae making these cute little birdcages.
We had so much fun making them and they turned out great.

Aunty Are, Me, Joh & Nic

And just because, here's one of the kids that behaved so well and there were no fights while we were busy creating art in the backroom - William, Connor, Caitlin & Shanice

Laura's wedding

2010-02-22T11:18:00.002+11:00

On Saturday Connor and I drove up to Bathurst to attend Laura's wedding.
It was rather long trip in the truck but I think that was because i was beginning to get a rather nasty head cold. So we had a minor detour at Katoomba so i could stock up on drugs from the chemist so i could get there in one piece. We had to leave Anthony at home because Shanice was really sick the night before and that morning.

It was a beautiful day, rather warm too.
It seemed really quite weird sitting in the church with all these "kids" that i used to baby sit when i was a teenager that are all young adults and one getting married! It made me feel a little bit old.

The ceremony was lovely although i did spend a lot of my time chasing Hunter up and down the aisles! But all in all he was very well behaved and didn't cry out for mum once as she was in the bridal party.

Congratulations to Laura and Nick and we wish you both a lifetime of happiness.

Angus & Laura

Mandy, Hunter, Mum & Connor

Hunter....... looks oh so cute all dressed up!

Valentine's Day

2010-02-19T10:28:00.002+11:00

Yesterday i rang Anthony and said that we should go to the movies. I really wanted to Valentine's Day. I wasn't sure of the reaction as it's a "girly movie" but was willing to budge and see either The Wolfman or Shutter Island just in case. But i didn't have to.
I was so looking forward to it, the shorts looked great. I thought it would be another Love Actually which we both love and i can watch it over and over again and never get sick of it.

Well.................... it was no Love Actually. It was drab even with all those stars in it. Those yanks have tried to outdo the poms and failed miserably.
And now I'm feeling very sad in my heart cause i really should have seen Shutter Island with Anthony.

2010-02-12T21:20:00.002+11:00

So the storm has finally passed after getting soaked in it . I think the rain made the kids a little more crazier then normal and they have not stopped bouncing off the walls.
I have found them singing and dancing in the lounge room to MTV karaoke

shanice and britney..... looks like they are doing their best Pulp Fiction impersonation

and connor doing his soccer run pose.

well.... it's time to try and settle them down for a movie (i think they have chosen Caroline in 3D - AGAIN), and i might just go and fold some washing, wash and dry up some dishes and then i might just scrap...... better yet i may just take a movie to bed with me.

i "heart" tuesdays

2010-02-09T19:36:00.002+11:00

Tuesdays is my most favourite day of the week

My day begins by getting up and doing all the normal shuffling before the kids go to school, but the difference is i can stay in my pj's as Joh picks the cherubs up and drops them at school.

I then go about my morning, in my pj's, having breakie and checking my emails....... then the fun begins. I toddle off to Nic's house with an array of crafting (or "ART" as we now like to call it) stash to spend the day with Nic and Aunty Rae doing all sorts of little projects.

Last week we did these cute Twidlybitz shadow boxes...... i love how they all turned out

I hate that it was my idea to write "home is where the art is" and then forgot and wrote heart instead, but i still love the end result.

Aunty Rae, Nic and me

Mine up close

this week we worked with the kaiser pina colada kit - looking good so far.

more weekend projects

2010-02-09T18:49:00.006+11:00

So here are the pic that i finally took of my other projects i did on the girls weekend away.....
starting with a cute kaiser birdhouse - i did love making this and it was so easy

next is a simple card that we set a 30 minute challenge to make

and lastly was a layout Gill did for me in our photo swap

Scrapping weekend away

2010-02-08T19:52:00.003+11:00

Last year it was decided that because Scrap Girls & the LSBS staff don't actually go away to scrap any more we would have a staff weekend away.

Nic and myself started looking around for a house to rent somewhere, but with quite a few specifications. The house had to sleep 7, have a big dining table, have a nice view or be near a beach, preferably with air conditioning, a pool and not too far from home.

We did find a few but they were ridiculously priced, eventually Nic came across this fabulous little house down in Stanwell Park that fitted all of our requirements.

So Friday was the big day. I was designated driver as i have the big ute and it has company fuel. Belle and Gill met at my house and once the ute was packed we picked up Nic and Cath followed behind on her bike. It was a really quick trip and we missed most of the rain and traffic which was great.

Meeting us at the house were Tracy and Sami.

I had organized a little kit for us to scrap with over the weekend. We each got a Kaiser Loire Valley kit with papers, embellies, stamps, bird house, stickers etc. It wasn't a range that i would have picked but i loved it by the end and still have heaps more to scrap with.

I didn't have too many high expectations with how many layouts I'd actually do but in the end I'd completed 7 layouts, a bird house and 1 card. Pretty spectacular efforts if i do say so myself.

We set little challenges too over the weekend like scrapping a layout in 45 minutes using only stuff from Caths stash, a 30 minute card challenge, scrapping someone else's photo, scraplift someone else's layout. It made the scrapping more fun and we even thought of other ideas for challenges for another weekend away.

I could have spent a week away with such a great bunch of girls. I had the most awesome time. I feel so thankful to have such great and supportive people in my life and even happier that they are scrappers too:)

Here are my layouts from the weekend. Piccies of some of the others will follow shortly :-)

challenge using only stuff from Cath's stash - still needs journaling though

A scraplift of one of Nic's layouts

A scraplift off Nic's layout who scraplifted it from Belle

normality resumes

2010-01-31T17:26:00.003+11:00

Thursday saw Shanice & Connor start back at school for another year.
I cant believe that my big girl has started year 6, her last year of primary school before venturing that big path of high school. And Connor started year 4. It just felt like yesterday was their first day of kindy.
Every year i take photos of them in the very same spot out the front of the house. I cant wait to sit down and put them altogether one day..... but at the same time i dont want to.
Connor was very excited as he got the teacher he was hoping for, Mrs Rush and Shanice was devastated :( She was hoping to get her preferd teacher that she had back in year 4, but she didnt. By the end of the day everything was fine cause she had her bestie, Britney in that same class as her. It's very dramatic at her age, lol.

So as school goes back i resume to normal programming and i can now start returning the millions of emails that i've received for Scrap Girls and get on top of all that before our first retreat of the year begins.
I'm also looking forward to friday morning coffee with the girls and Tuesdays crafting with Nic and Aunty Rae.

January 2010

2010-01-31T16:51:00.007+11:00

January has been filled with all sorts of little adventures, here's just a sneak peek:

Feeding the ducks at Nurrajingy

Baby sitting Hunter for the first time all day.
He had a ball with Aunty Kylie and his cousins

Making slushies

Going to the Pearl Beach with Nay and Hunter

Scrapping at Belle's

Dressing up with Caitlin & William

Jamberoo
where we controlled the action!!!! and had the most awesome day ever! lol

26th - 30th December 2009

2010-01-24T22:52:00.005+11:00

Anthony and I thought it would be an adventure that our kids could talk about for years to come..... climbing to the top of Mount Kosciuszko.
I remember doing it as a kid and loved it and I'm so pleased that i did and thought that my children would love the same experience.
We headed down to Jindabyne on Boxing day with the camper and we stayed at the caravan park just outside of town. We left early and no traffic at all.
Sunday the 27th was the day! We heard that weather had been bad at home but it was blue skies down in the Snowies. Well that's what we thought anyways even at the bottom of Thredbo.
But at the top of the chairlift the conditions changed. It was cloudy and miserable.
We climbed the 3km to the lookout in cloudy and rainy conditions and pretty much saw nothing. But we trudged on. Connor asked the entire 6.5km to the top how long it was and how much further, Shanice was crying most of the way up and half of the way back cause her legs hurt. All we had was panadine so we have her half a tablet and when it kicked in the smiles were back.
Can i just say we had the most horrible weather. Got to the top and saw.................. NOTHING, lol, it was a raining and cloudy. the clouds did clear for a few minutes.
Luckily we packed Anthony and the kids waterproof hiking jackets, but in my mad dash to pack everything i forgot one for me...... i was soaked and copped a mean windburn on my face and shoulders.
BUT..... looking back now we had a great time as a family. The kids said once they got back to the car they enjoyed the 13km trek and are so pleased that they did it. Me too!

Here are some of the pics i took

Happy smiling faces on the way up the chairlift, if only they knew what was to come

At the lookout..... as you can see we didn't see much

some prettiness

Every 500metres there are signs in the track to tell you how much further you still have to walk

On our way up to Thredbo we told Connor that Grandad always said "never to eat yellow snow", but connor was at a loss at the brown tinged snow!!! We did have to reassure him that is was from the dirt when the snow melted, lol

Anthony, Shanice & Connor at the top of Australia

oh yes and the token mum with the kids photo too

Anthony & Connor with the sign at the top

on the walk back down

If you look close you can see Shanice's miserable face, complete with tear streaked cheeks

Connor can still pull out the smiles when i ask

anthony and connor at the lookout for Lake Cootapatamba. A really quick shot before the clouds came over again

Shanice was so over it all

Almost back

the gorgeous highland streams - they even have fish

The next few days in Jindabyne we spent around the camper, down at the lake and we even took the kids to the movies to see Sherlock Homes.

It was great to be away, but great to come home too.

Christmas Day 2009

2010-01-24T22:29:00.004+11:00

2009 was my BEST Christmas EVER!!!!!!!
We had the most amazing day. Christmas was held at our house and we had Anthony's family over in the morning for breakfast and my family for lunch.
I was so relaxed and enjoyable. Even though the kids had me up at some ridiculous time in the morning, i do believe it was around 5.30am!
Shanice got a total surprise by getting a flat scream tv with built in dvd player for her room and Connor got his limited edition DS that he asked for. But there were more presents than you could poke a stick at

Here are a few snapshots of our day:

Connor and his DS

Shanice opening her TV

And the biggest child of them all got a Scalextrics........ he says its to share with the kids - yeah right honey!

Hunter dressed as the Christmas Elf was so excited he sat on his presents!

The aftermath...... can you spot Hunter in amongst all that mess

I wondered who Shanice looks up to!

Anthony building Hunter's new bike, with some help of course

20-24th december 2009

2010-01-24T22:02:00.006+11:00

Sunday 20th
Me & the kids headed down to Tracy's for our traditional get together on the Sunday before Christmas. We had a great day..... we always do at Miss Tracy's.

Shanice sporting her new "grumpy cow" pj's.... so fitting for miss shanice who is a grumpy bum in the mornings, just like her mum, lol

Connor and his new skater boy pj's

all 4 kids ripping into their presents

Monday 24st December

Just a plain ol' boring day at home where the kids played and had a great time.

I did spring them having a non-fighting moment on the Wii

Tuesday 22nd December

We were lucky to had a little 1 year old boy come visit us today - Hunter, oh and his mum too, Mandy!

Wednesday 23rd December

Saw us heading to King Henry's Court for dinner with Joh, Nev and Zoey.

I was in nik nak heaven!!!!!!

Plus, across the road was the Good Guys so i snuck in and picked myself up the new sunbeam cupcake maker - woo hoo!!!!

Thursday 24th December

Christmas Eve.....

We all headed over to Michelle and Marks townhouse for a bbq dinner. The kids were spoilt as they got to open one present each and had yummy ice cream sundae's for desert.

Connor digging into his ice cream

Shanice enjoying every mouthful

And my "special" husband after a few beers

19 decemeber 2009

2010-01-24T21:58:00.003+11:00

So, after a wonderful holiday and feeling totally recharged, i thought we'd better get around to putting up the Christmas tree...... finally.

12-18th december 2009

2010-01-24T21:37:00.006+11:00

On Saturday the 12th December i took the kids away on a little holiday before all the public school kids were on holidays.
We headed up to our favourite camping destination - Soldiers Point. Mum, Mandy & Hunter joined us for the week and Dallas and her two girls - Makayla & Abbie came up on Wednesday for a couple of nights.
We had a great time, mostly relaxing and hanging out at the pool.
We did venture out to the beach a few times and to the shops and on Wednesday we went to the Shark & Ray Centre. Connor had no hesitation what so ever with donning a wetsuit and jumping straight into the largest pool to hand head the Port Jackson sharks, lemon sharks and abundance of rays.

here are just a few of the 100's of photos i took during the week

our four kids - shanice, connor, makayla & abbie

Anthony playing the proud uncle with Hunter

Hunter enjoying the pool

My gorgeous girl

Connor in with the sharks & rays

feeding a baby port jackson shark

Shanice

being cheeky!

Having a blast riding her rip stick around the park

10th December 2009

2010-01-17T14:36:00.006+11:00

The day we have been looking forward to for so, so long - Hunter's first birthday

i do believe that AUNTIES give the BEST birthday presents.

We bought Hunter a sand and water table and LURVES it, so did all the other kids at the party and got totally filthy!

the gorgeous birthday boy

blowing out his candles with a little help from mum and dad

Connor, even at the age of 9 playing with all the little kids in the sand

Shanice eating birthday cake on Hunters new outdoor swinging chair

Shanice & Makayla being very cheeky

After everyone went home Hunter happily sat on the grass covered in sand eating the hose!

Pushing the little red wooden wagon that was actually mine when i was a baby - they just dont make things like they used to.

Hunter's new swinging chair that came from Pat & Michael and he loves it!

4th - 9th december 2009

2010-01-17T14:02:00.004+11:00

I'm catching up now........... this is going to be photo over load

5th December 2009
* went down to Tracy's for a linen party & stayed to scrap a while after

6th December 2009

* Anthony, me and the kids went on the search for either a new house or a new block of land to build on

* Joh, Nev and the girls came over in the afternoon for a bbq

7th December 20009

* Anthony went back to IKEA to get the wall unit i wanted for Christmas, just so i had somewhere nice to keep all my gorgeous tea cup collection

8th December 2009

* the kids second last day of school and home came the reports. I cried when i read Connor's..... he topped his year and goes to show it wasn't my pride thinking he was extremely smart but this proved it along with his outstanding NAPLAN results. The tears kept coming when i read Shanice's as she had improved so much in the past twelve months, and just tries so hard in doing her absolute best at everything.

* We all couldn't wait to see Hunter again, so we drove up to mum's for dinner.

* Hunter was starting to take a few steps this week, but as i pulled out the camera he took 4 steps towards me - i was so proud.

caption - "shanice & connor please stop squeezing me!"

hunter was very sad in the backyard when his tent rolled over

9th December 2009

* the kids last day of school

* Presentation Night

* Shanice didn't want to go (and i so dont blame her - it is rather boring) so she stayed home with Anthony, but connor and i went and so did mum, Pat, Shell & Mark.

Here is Connor with his mate Cameron, who is going to a different school nearer to his home in 2010.

And here is Connor with his teacher Mrs Donnelly. He loved her so much and was so wonderful with Connor that we all cried as we said goodbye at the end of the night.

3rd December 2009

2009-12-04T11:56:00.002+11:00

* Our tickets to see Wicked arrived. Anthony surprised me by getting box seats for our 10th wedding anniversary coming up in January
* Shanice had squads. No one else showed up so she got one on one coaching which was great.
* Connor came along to squads too and swam in the pools cause it was too hot outside.
* I finally finished the 4th twilight book, Breaking Dawn, and i loved it. The books shit all over the movies

2nd December 2009

2009-12-04T11:53:00.003+11:00

* went to watch hunter at his swimming lesson
* had coffee with Mandy
* I gave mum & Mandy the advent calendar I made them. They loved it!!!
* took the kids after school to see New Moon with Britney & Joh

1st December 2009

2009-12-01T21:58:00.003+11:00

So last week I made my December Daily Journal and in order for me to remember what I did each day I'm going to write it on my blog too.

Tuesday 1st December 2009
* I went to Nic's to create another advent calendar for mum & Mandy, but came home early cause i couldn't keep my eyes open any more.
* The kids opened their first advent calendar box which asked them to write a letter to Santa. Connor did and it's too cute - very grown up and professional - definitely a keeper.
* Shanice and Connor got their tool boxes and played out the front with some timber off cuts.
* I am in Survivor heaven with 1 hour of the new Samoa on then 3 hours of the finale of Brazilian Highlands - happy dance
* Spent an hour researching ideas for me, Nic and Aunty Rae to create, create, create next Tuesday.
* I spoke to Mandy on the phone and Hunter wanted to talk to his favourite Aunty and he blew me my first kiss..... it totally made my day

sunday, funday

2009-11-30T13:15:00.004+11:00

I was home alone for the weekend with Anthony & Connor down the farm and Shanice up at mums. So on Sunday i went for a drive to pick up Shanice.
she had a great time playing with Hunter all weekend. I couldn't help but snap a few piccies of them playing.

getting ready for a ride

woo hoo!!!!

surfing - well sort of

Hunter being very grown up! Not exactly, he was blowing bubbles in the water

Mr cheeky after blowing bubbles

My gorgeous big girl

december daily journal

2009-11-28T11:04:00.002+11:00

I love Tuesdays!!!!
That's the day i can stay in my pj's all day if i want to cause the kids get picked up in the morning and dropped home in the afternoon. But, alas i do get dressed cause Tuesdays are the days i go over to Nic's. Sometimes we just chat and sometimes we may do something crafty, it all depends. But it is never boring, especially with Aunty Rae to keep us entertained.
This week we decided to do our December Daily Journals.
Last year we bought all these cute Teresa Collins Christmas stuff and neither of us used them, so we put them to work this year. Better late than never.
I still have to do the cover - but who knows i just may leave them as they are.
so they are ready for me to take a photo journey through December 2009.

Connor's 9th birthday

2009-11-24T14:51:00.004+11:00

Last Thursday (the 19th Nov) was Connor's 9th birthday.
I cant believe my baby is 9th, next year and he'll be in double figures!!!
He was driving me crazy on the lead up to his birthday by pronouncing to me several times a day how many days till he turned 9, from the start of October, LOL. It even got down to several days before he was counting down hours, knowing that he was born at 4am and thinking is was quite acceptable to wake at that time.
Well, he lasted an hour and half after 4am.
As per usual he was spoilt rotten with his main pressie an electric nitro car so he can now race with his Dad. He got all the batteries and accessories for his car too. Good thing we thought ahead and put the batteries on charge the night before.

I sent him of to school happy as Larry with 40 mini cupcakes covered in sprinkles.
He couldn't wait to get home and race his nitro car.

As with all birthday traditions in the Sheppard-Morris household Connor got to pick the restaurant. So off we all went to the Alroy for dinner.
All the family was there are well as Joh, Nev and the girls.
Gotta love the Alroy with their great food and atmosphere and brilliant kids playground.
The kids were all so happy running around and playing. We stopped and went inside for dinner where it wasn't quite so hot, then when dinner was finished and we sang happy birthday and ate cake we went back outside for the kids to play before going home.
All Connor wanted to do was build his Lego garage when he got home but it was 9.30pm so we compromised and said he could build a smaller piece and save the garage till Friday after school.

opening pressies

Hunter enjoyed eating the left over birthday cupcakes that Connor brought home from school.

My 9 year old little monkey man

Playing his new DS game with Brittney

Shanice just wont stand still long enough for me to take a photo

Hunter played for ages on the swings

And this is Hunter's serious face OR is it the "Aunty Kylie would you stop pointing that camera in my face" look

a little scrapping

2009-11-23T11:10:00.003+11:00

Not much on the scrapping front, just been doing some of my Scrap Girls retreat albums. Here's a few from the Hunter Valley retreat back in September

Class #1 - the complementary card class.....

2009-11-22T21:25:00.002+11:00

i know it's been ages to I'm not even going to try and back track...... so moving forward.....

a few weeks back i decided i wanted to go a do a few scrapping classes, something that was different and that i didn't have to think to much about. well...... after looking around at some online stores and some local scrappy stores nothing took my fancy, they we either too expensive for what you got or just crap! i know how that sounds, really bitchy, but i didn't want to pay out money to do a class where i could create something better at home.

so i managed to con a few friends into joining me, which really wasn't too hard to do as they all thought it was a TOPS!!! idea, lol. We would create our own little classes at home, getting together once a month with a set kit and create the same project.

Today was our first "class". We wanted to start off easy so cards was on the agenda. We pinched ideas from books and magazines and from each other.

We ate yummy food and chatted about all sorts of stuff and had a great time doing something fun with friends.

Here are a few piccies of our little creations.

Cant wait till next week when we will be doing our Kaiser wooden advent calendar.

stuff & photos..... lots of photos

2009-10-25T15:36:00.008+11:00

well, the holidays are over and we are now back into swing of normality

so much happened that i'm not going to bore you as we'll be here forever.....

though i will do a picture run down of the last few days, lol

Wednesday 14th October

Me and the kids went to watch Hunter do his swimming lesson and then headed up to the chicken shop up the central coast.

I must have looked like a mad woman taking photos right outside of Ingham Chickens but it is so gorgeous on the green grass and hills.

Hunter loves it when i pull my camera out - he loves to chase me and grab the lense.

this girl - my little girl - is growing up far too fast

chasing me again - how can you resist that gorgeous smile

Thursday 15th October

After taking Connor to the doctors thinking because he cant hear me and was talking so super loud. But no middle ear infection in sight.

We headed to Belle's house up the mountains for a day of full on scrapping.

I do believe there were at least 2.5 kids per adult!

I had a few minor mishaps thanks to girls being girls but i did stay all day and got some serious layouts complete.

Friday 16th & Saturday 17th October

We headed down the farm at lunch time for the weekend.

Shanice and Anthony were looking forward to going for a hoon on the quad bikes.

And the biggest child of them all - trying so hard to get some pathetic air!

Sunday 18th October

the last day of the school holidays. we knew we'd get stuck in some nasty traffic heading home from the farm, so we decided to get up early and come home via the coast.

Bateman's Bay was our first stop and then headed up to Ulladulla, Nowra and Kiama then onto home.

It was the most stunning day and we had a great time driving and enjoying our company.

having a ice cream at the markets at Batemans Bay

lunch at Ulladulla

i scrapped.......

2009-10-05T14:56:00.004+11:00

i know, i know, i can hear the thud of you all falling off your chairs with shock!

yesterday i spent a lovely day with Trac scrapping and chatting away.

the kids all played really nicely with only minimal adult interference, lol.

i do love my days spent at Tracy's :)

you can't see it but my tree is sprayed with 2 gimmermist colours and looks great - my scanner made it come up looking brown still, but really it's green!

I attacked Tracy's scrap box and pulled out some random little bits, which goes perfectly of this crazy picture of my sister mandy.

I reckon with all the stupid "bird" poses i have of her i could create a whole album in itself.

Hunter Valley retreat

2009-10-03T15:38:00.004+10:00

I had the pleasure of hosting our very first Scrap Girls Hunter Valley retreat last weekend.
It was very small group with limit numbers of 15 ladies.
We had the most fabulous time. We started off with a little wine tour on the Friday afternoon which only saw us seeing one winery, but after we tasted such fabulous PINK champagne we really didn't need to go anywhere else.
Belle came along and cooked for us. I think we all wanted to wrap Belle up and take her home with us to be our own personal cook! Look your work Belle :)
Saturday and Sunday saw us scrapping in the cutest little barnstay. It had such amazing picturesque views.
I would definitely say YES to another Hunter Valley retreat, but maybe somewhere that wasn't so open to nature, lol.

I even got to do a little scrapping myself........ i know........ that certainly doesn't happen at retreats for me!

looking down from one of the lofts onto the 2 areas in which we scrapped away.

mmmmm..... pink champagne and cheese on the verandah

Group photo on an original Cobb & Co coach

a little bit of craziness

and lastly......... an special photo in memory of NIC!

wish you were there huney.

family day

2009-10-02T11:07:00.007+10:00

This year we were lucky and got invited to Coke's family day.
Joh had raved about how much fun it was and we couldn't wait. Of course it was the day after i flew back in from Cairns.
It was a gorgeous sunny day. We walked in there were so many rides to go one and food to eat. The kids didn't know where to start.
The Sizzler ride (know by me as the Cha Cha) was their favourite and after about the 10th time they went on it i lost count. It got to the point the men just let kids stay on instead of getting in line again.
Connor did drag me on the dodge 'em cars. Which i hate - dont know why, i just do! After that he conned John to take him on.
The kids filled themselves with endless supplies of ice cream, soft drink, fairy floss and popcorn.
By 3pm i was exhausted and was a good thing it was home time.
Cant wait for next years.

Connor and Riley racing on the Giant Slide

Shanice concentrating

Shanice took Caleb on the cups and saucers, which he thought was just TOPS!!!!

Connor & Riley on the Sizzler - AGAIN!!!

Me and Connor on the Sizzler - yep, once was enough for me

Connor on the surfboard ride - he only lasted enough for 5 photos

Ethan, Brittney and Shanice

Warm, Sunny, Gorgeous CAIRNS.........

2009-10-01T19:46:00.008+10:00

For mum's 60th birthday she didn't want a birthday party (although she got a surprise one anyways) all she wanted was for her family to go with her to Cairns.

It was a hard decision for me to make, do i go by myself and leave Anthony & the kids behind OR do i miss out and disappoint mum. About 3 weeks before the holiday i decided that i would go, by myself without the kids and without Anthony. It almost killed me!

But we couldn't afford for all 4 of us to go and it was important to spend that time with mum and mandy and bond with my gorgeous baby nephew :)

We fly up early on the Monday morning - 14th sept 09. I got to have Hunter on my knee for the take off, Mandy was busily having a little panic attack cause she hates the first part of the flight.

I'd forgotten just how gorgeous Cairns is. It was in 2000 that i was last there, for our honeymoon.

Mum had rented a house/villa one street back from the beach at Palm cove. About 100metres from the local pub and 200 metres from the beach itself. The house was only 2 bedrooms which is all we needed and it had it's own pool. Now i DONT do swimmers (togs, cossies, bathers - whatever you want to call them), but in the heat up there I might just take the plunge.

We planned a few trips for while i was up there and spent a few days just walking around Palm Cove and lazing around our pool.

So instead of me boring you with my long winded verse of events, how bout i do it in photos?

Hunter trying on his first pair of Havainas.

Tuesday - we went to Hartley's Crocodile Adventures

The place has been completely redone since we went in 2000. But Sollie the Croc, that was named after the dog he ate, was still there and that made me happy

Yes, it was my idea to put hunter in the mouth of the Croc!

we went on a little boat ride and saw a little croc feeding too

We saw another croc feeding in a big enclosure.

This photo was taken right under my feet and was not zoomed in at all. 2 male croco's having a barney.

Needless to say i moved pretty quickly around the boardwalk after i took a few shoots first.

Thursday - saw us going on the Kuranda Scenic Railway

While in Kuranda I spent a small fortune on some cute little finds. A gorgeous jewelery box, a glass dragon for Anthony, a too cute silver flower ring and some souvenirs for the kids.

We also went to the Butterfly house. It was just gorgeous inside. I wish the blue ones would have stayed still long enough for me to take a photo though.

Mum took Hunter back down to Cairns on the train while Mandy and i went on the Skyway.

I actually found out that i really dont like being that high off the ground especially when the wind picked up and started swaying the gondola!

We got out and had a look round at the 2 stops and did some stupid tourist things

Like this!

There is also one of Mandy being a bush turkey too!

Yes ....... i made her stand like that......but she still stupidly did it

Friday we went to CoffeeWorks........

I just had to stick Hunter in the with all the coffee trees to take photos.

Now i know what they look like!

Hunter on a cart with roasted coffee beans

I was in heaven in the museum part if the place........ so many teapots and coffee pots........ now i need to collect these as well as my tea cups.

What can i saw..........

Sometimes i do wonder if we have the same dna!

I had such a great time

It was exactly what i needed

09-09-09

2009-09-09T09:54:00.002+10:00

how's that for a spooky date!
well.......... yesterday was mine and mums birthday.And my gorgeous mum turned 60.
Mandy and i pulled together a surprise birthday party for her on Saturday night which was just lovely and she had a great time.
yesterday i had a great day doing nothing much at all......... a perfect day!
when the kids got home from school i decided i needed a birthday photo to mark the special occasion and i just love it!

researching......

2009-09-06T21:01:00.006+10:00

so..... for while i've been thinking of some very exciting tattoos to add to my little collection.

The biggest decision though is what next!

I know that for my 10th wedding anniversary thats coming up in January i want a tattooed wedding band, but i'm thinking of all the other possibilities....

Shanice has picked the fairy she likes and wants me to get for her. The spot has a reserved sign on it - my upper right thigh.

Pirate fairy will definitely be going down my left side.

For ages now i've wanted some sort of skull...... i know how non-feminine and morbid. But i have a little crush on skulls :) I've now decided i want a Day of the Dead skull cause they are so bright and funky.

Now dont go thinking all morbid on me, the Day of the Dead is a celebration so family and friends can get together and pray for and remember those that have past. Which i think is just lovely.....

So while i was surfing trying to find some images that i really liked for a tattoo, i came across so fabulous piccies that i just want to share.

and here it is......... I LOVE THIS SIDE PIECE ........ and this is what i want next!

so i know there have been quite a few things going on that i really need to catch up on so i will be back soon for updates on the sheppard-morris clan

Jungle Safari

2009-08-24T14:19:00.004+10:00

this was the theme for this years open day book parade.

I love going to open day, it's such a fun afternoon.

We get to spend some time with the kids in their class room and then we go on a treasure hunt

around all the Primary class rooms and then for the grand finale it's the book character parade.

I always take a big picninc lunch with some extra special treats for the kids and as always mum, grandma and mandy come too.

It was Hunters first parade and in the spirit of the day he even dressed up.

So here are a few piccies from last Thursday.

I went to Connor's classroom second and helped him make a rocket ship. I also got to play with the Smart Board that all the primary classrooms got at the start of second term.

Connor's Space project that he handed in that morning was chosen as the Star Work of the week - so i was having a proud mummy moment.

Hunter dressed up as a priate.

Shame about the stupid sun spot!

The teachers get right into the spirit of the day and dress up and do some dances.

That is Connor's teacher, Mrs Donnelly, the one closest to us.

The deputy pricipal is dressed as the bear and the head of primary is the tiger

The teachers "going on a bear hunt"

And there is Mr Cochram, the school princial, dressed in a safari outfit.

Shanice, Brittney and Zoey

As they older they dont want to dress up as much!