Lady GAGA.......

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......

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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