Jungle Safari

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!

where have i been......

well............. with this NEW me happening i've been rather busy and an awful lot has happened since i last posted.

So far so good with sorting my shit out and being more organised and going to bed earlier. let's just hope with fingers and toes crossed that i can continue being good.

Family life is a mad house and there hasn't been a moment to rest in between kids after school activities, homework, projects, birthdays and weekends away.

At the start of August i went to the LSBS retreat which was unreal. I went with Trac on the Thursday and didn't come home till sunday which was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Trac and i sat with a great bunch of ladies - Aunty Rae, Joyce, Christel, Vanilla and Shelly.

I had so much fun and actually scrapped up a storm - well as storm for me, LOL.

2 layouts and 2 and a bit mini albums. I was very chuffed with my efforts.

Thursday, Trac and i arrived a bit early to help Cath with the set up. The Owl and the Budgie were jam packed with goodies for the shop, but we were instructed to leave them near the shop and not unpack anything! So that's what we did.

Nic arrived and i spent most of my night chatting away merrily to her in the shop while helping setting up all the stock. Yep, it all got done by midnight, i think. But the more i spoke the more i put off finishing a mini album i promised to a friend over 18 months ago.

Friday morning, well it was almost afternoon before i actually got out of bed. It's like every time i go away from the kids and my house all i want to do is just sleep. So i got started on my mini album project and that became my mission for the day and YES i can happily say that i finished it (and Skye loved it - finally).

By about 7.30pm the other half of the scrappers arrived and so began the retreat - officially.

I did stay up and was the last scrapper to bed only because i was too busy chatting away to Nic, lol.

Saturday morning i missed breakfast again! But only missed a small part of the class that had started. Belle had created the most amazing gated mini album. Yes, i am still to finish it, but i will! After lunch Lisa Pate taught a different mini album class. I love the flicking ink and getting messing, my type of scrapping.

Of course, it wouldn't be an LSBS retreat with some fancy shindig on Saturday night and this years was Belle's ball. I was one of the designated paparazzi. And in between killing myself laughing i managed to take a gazillion photos. All the contestants did a wonderful job and were far too funny in their great costumes.

Sunday........ still didn't make it to breakie, but i only just missed it. i had to get up earlier as Anthony and the kids were coming around 11am to pick me up as shanice had her first karate grading....... more on that soon.

It was sad to say goodbye after such a great weekend, but my name is already on the list for next year and i am so looking forward to it already.

Nic & aunty Rae

Crazy, boss lady Cath

A very classy Miss Ali - i want those pink uggies

Well....... what do you say to this Nic "You are so hot right now"

Kathy having a great time at Belle's Ball

You should have worn the apron though Kathy!

Another "I am so hot right now" moment by Belle

As i was saying before, i had to leave cause my big girl was going to her her very first karate grading. This is too special a moment for me to miss out on.

This time we invited Nan, Nay, Hunter, Grandma and Grandpa to come along a watch too. Good thing it wasn't a big grading month!

Shanice looked so gorgeous in her gee. Poor bugger had really sore lips too and suffered the whole hour of grading without a whinge.

Hunter was very funny......when they answer the Senei the kids all yell out "hey". Well this particular Senei (who looks like that bad teenager guy in the Karate Kid-too funny), is quite loud and strict with the kids and every time he yell "hey" Hunter screamed. So i took him outside and still every time"hey" was yelled he screamed.

Shanice did fantastic. Se was the only person from their dojo grading too, so she was very brave going all by herself.

So i now have 2 yellow belts in the house. And of course now they can start sparing! Can you imagine the bruises to come!

I love this photo! i am so going to get it blown up and am putting it on the wall.

After grading we headed to the Alroy for dinner to celebrate Anthony's birthday.

So it was a perfect weekend.

introducing......

the brand new KYLIE
as from yesterday i have started on the path to a new ME!
i have been finding myself in a rut for the past few months and had no idea how to get out of it and with some help from family and friends i now have a plan - now like a rewards chart come roster, lol.

* The new Kylie gets out of bed at 7.15am every weekday morning - check! so far so good i have achieved this one and loving it. i never knew you could get so much done in the morning before school.
* The new Kylie makes sure that there is a load of washing ready to be hung out as soon as dropping the kids at school - check!
* The new Kylie is to eat breakfast and lunch - check, check! By eating these two meals i am not snacking as much in the afternoon.
* the new Kylie writes herself 3 jobs that she wants to accomplish in the day and gets them done - check! Yep, I'm a list writer and i LOVE crossing things off the list once they are done, this is my reward chart, just the sense of satisfaction of getting the things crossed off. silly i know!
* The new Kylie uses her new X-Trainer everyday - ..................................... i do have a legitimate excuse for not using it today though - Connor was home sick and i just couldn't! so there! I will definitely though tomorrow
* The new Kylie goes to bed by 10.30pm - check! OMG this is so hard for me as I'm such a night owl, but i am trying so hard to make sure i get there in time.



So in celebration of the new me i have just spent the past 2 hours doing a new blog. Still needs some fiddling, but I'm loving the freshness of it!

get ready..........

for photo overload.
These were just a few of the pictures i took while at the zoo during the school hols


The Giraffes are my favourite.
I could sit and watch and take photographs of them all day - especially with that view!

Connor, Makayla and Abby


Waiting, waiting, waiting for the seal show

Hunter and a chimp touching hands - too cute






And the reason we went to the zoo was because of this next gorgeous creature that we queued up for 30 minutes to see

the first baby elphant to be born in Australia - he was so adorable




Ocean, Shanice, Free and Connor

And before we headed home it was a round trip on the sky way......... and look what we saw playing in the mud.............

half way........

i cant believe we are half way thorough the July school holidays already. I feel like we've done so much but yet so little all at the same time.
right this very moment i am up at mums and i am listening to my kids playing nicely while Hunter is supposed to be having a little sleep but is making all sorts of cheery noises in his cot. That's right - the aunty is in charge! Mum is at work and Mandy has gone to the beautician. And I've forgotten what to do with a 7 month old baby, lol.
The reason for me being at Mum's is because tomorrow we are headed off to the zoo for the day. Hunter's very first trip and we all want to be there to enjoy it with him.

So last week was a mad capped week. We did all sorts of running around.

Monday - i had a doctors appointment so the kids went to play at Britneys while i was there. When i picked them up Britney came swimming with us and then out to Spur's for dinner.

Tuesday - we went to the movies to see Ice Age 3. The kids loved it and i struggled to keep my eyes open.

Wednesday - i took the kids to watch Hunter at his swimming lessons. We had coffee and Gloria Jeans and took one to mum while she was at work. The decided to go with Mandy as she is more fun than me, lol

Thursday - i had a sleep in and then started to prepare for the retreat on the weekend. Mum and Mandy brought the kids back home about lunch time so i met them at the Alroy for lunch and the kids had a play in the park.

Friday - the kids and Anthony left early to head down the farm for the weekend and i packed ready for the retreat.

AND what a retreat it was.............

We arrived after having a little adventure on the M7. Some of the kits we'd loaded into the trailer, of course without a lid on the box. Well the tie downs and tarp came loose and the next thing i know i am driving along at 110km and bang i see kits hitting Cath's car behind me. We all pulled over and Joh and Cath got out and walked up the M7 to try and find them. Thank god it was only one bag containing 3 class kits and not more!
Can i just say - the M7 is a scaring place to be stopped on.

We headed off again and about 20 minutes later i got a call from Sami to say she had got to Picton and realised that she had left the class samples and challenge kit samples at home! LOL. It was turning out to be a great start to the weekend.
But thank god that was it!
We finally arrived a bit later than expected and Tracy had already set up the entire scrapping room all by herself. Talk about an angel - thanks Miss Trac.
All the ladies started to arrive not long after us and they were into it. It was great to see so many familiar faces and meet lots and lots of new ones.
The room was "cozy" for lack of a more suitable work, but we managed to squeeze 52 very creative ladies in one room and had the shop in the other room which worked out very well. Having heaps of room for the shop meant more room and time to browse!
Sami did her Christmas layout class on the Friday night which everyone loved and were very easy to teach.
Friday night wasn't too late with everyone gone to bed by 3.10am:)

Saturday morning i awoke a bit late - whoops. But trac and i made a deal that i stay up with the last scrapper and get up late and she goes to bed early and gets up early! Good deal i say.
Sami was into her next class - the Masculine Layout. It was awesome. the ladies loved it that much that over the course of the weekend we saw lots and lots of the layouts appearing in different themes. It was a great technique.
Trac did her awesome mini album class in the afternoon after lunch. I walked around later on in the day and saw so many different variations of the class they were amazing. So much talent in on little room.
After dinner was our Christmas Themed dress up night. OMG!!!!! the costumes were great and some just too funny. There were a pair of elves, the bad elves from Bundeena, some sparkly wine drinking elves, a Christmas tree, a Christmas box, the 3 wise women and so many more. All the ladies put so much thought into their costumes it was great and definitely an addition that we will be keeping at our Scrap Girls retreats.

Sunday is of course the day for packing up and heading home which is always sad as we never want our scrapping weekends to end. But they have to unfortunately.
I'm so pleased that all the ladies had so much fun and i had a ball running it for them.

Now I'm looking forward to going to a retreat with LSBS in August where i can sit back and do a class or two and not have to worry about what to do next and loose my voice from all the talking and announcing that i have to do.

As you have no doubt realized if you got to the end of this long, long post, that i actually wrote it on Wednesday but am uploading on Saturday - whoops! i pressed the "save" button instead of the "publish" button. It must have been the madness of school holidays

photos will come very shortly once i download them off the camera
hope your holidays have been as fun as mine :)

off on retreat

off on another fabulous retreat with Scrap Girls.

i will be back will all the goss next week

cakes and creations

Get ready for photo overload!!!

Last weekend i had the pleasure of helping to put together the 3 Angels Scrapping's very first retreat called The Arty Farty Angel Party. I had the most fabulous time and i learnt so much!

the girls are all so lovely.

I managed to do all 3 classes AND i finished them all. I even made 2 of one of the classes - one for me and one for mum :)

here are my gorgeous little creations

Mini album all about me. taught by Deb Mullins

I loved this class. it was very involved but i stuck with and completely finished it. I love Deb's style - it's so ME!

This is a very cute card folder, complete with 3 cards, taught by Heike

i loved doing this so much that i made 2. Once i got the hang of it, they are very easy to make and such a great idea.

I loved getting into such a huge mess with this class and learning to use not only off the page stuff by glimmermist! Thanks to Mel - i love your style girlie!

Jo & Rosy are the owners of 3AS and they are the sweetest ladies you'll ever meet and i feel so lucky to have guide them on the retreat path :)

here are the group photos

So now onto the CAKES!!!!!

i have been so loving my cake decorating class and now that the course of over i cant wait to do the advanced course next term.

I learnt so much new stuff and love the way my crafts all overlap one another.

So here are some pics of the cake we decorated in class:

my roses, dusted roses, filler flowers and leaves

my "oh so cute" swag and bows

quilting

and how cute does it look :)

it's a sampler cake where we learnt and tried all different techniques.

Today Lyndell came over to help me with Brittney's birthday cake. Now for our very first attempt on our own i think we did a great job.

Create for a Cause

Create for a Cause
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When: Saturday 5th September 2009
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Time: 8.00am – 3.30pm
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a suprize is coming

All will be revealed on my secret little project VERY soon

stay tunned for the announcement

more wine & a first karate grading

what a life! two weekends away at the Hunter Valley
Well, the past weekend was our annual girls weekend away. this is the 3rd year we have gone and we just love it. I feel so very lucky to have such great girlfriends since i was 8 years old.
It was my year to drive, so on Friday night i met the girls at Berowra and finally got to have a look at Emma's brand new house, which is just stunning.
I think it was about 2am before we all finally fell asleep. there was lots of chatting to be had, as well as wine to be tasted and cheese to be sampled.
Breakfast at our resort was wonderful. there was so much food to chosen from it was ridiculous. With map in hand we headed out on our trails to tempt our taste buds - or wine buds.
I'm loving verdello's at the moment so i tried lots of them.
this year we wanted to go to wineries we hadn't been to before and we chose some really great ones. My favourite was Peterson's champagne house - OMG!!! i was in pink bubbly heaven. I love pink champagne and this was their speciality, and all the decor and things to buy were pink. Skye, Dallas and i chose to buy a magnum (1.5litres) of their Blush champagne to drink after dinner that night - YUM!!!!
I couldn't to get back to the resort so we could head over to the Blue Tongue brewery and get a tasting palette. I do love Blue Tongue beer! It was great to sit in the beer garden, even though it was freezing and just chat and laugh and people watch.
none of us could make up our minds about dinner so we ended up getting take away from the restaurant and having back at the room with lots of cheese and our champagne.
Well........ i think it went to my head a little after all those beers, lol.
There were a few tears to be shared as we remembered old times and said things about how much our friendships means to each other. But tears aside it was great fun.

Sunday i had to come back early as Connor was going for his first karate grading, so we left just after breakfast.
I drove the girls back to berowra and then headed to mums to pick up the kids. of course i got in a quick aunty cuddle too.

Connor did fantastic at karate. i was so proud of my little man.
he really loves this sport.

here are some piccies from all my weekends festivities :)

Skye, Dallas, Tanya, Loren and me

Pink bubbly heaven - Dallas, Loren, Emma & Skye all having a little taste

Skye with the magnum and Dallas with a "normal" size bottle

Peterson's Champagne House

Just a duck at Ivanhoe

Connor doing his kicking sequence


Connor and 2 of the boys from his class and Sensei Julie