The layout I was talking about in the last post

Generation Gap

Originally uploaded by spgettie

So here it is, easier to post from flickr than on wordpress sometimes!

Another WOO HOO…I just got an e-mail from friends in Hong Kong. They have had a baby girl, a little early although Peter didn’t say how early. Katerina was born on April 28th. From the photos she is pretty early because she is in an incubater and has a naso gastric tube, she looks to be a similar size to what Tobyn was, aroun 4-5lb. And very cute. And mum and Dad look very proud!

And I have some other news that isn’t so good but it has to wait until I can get hold of Steve. So Steve if you read this please ring me ASAP!

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Woo hoot Wednesday

Goodnight

Originally uploaded by spgettie

 

 

Here we are again, it is Wednesday and thanks to Janine this is the day we do woo hoo’s.

A woo hoot out to Daddy, goodnight from the boys! We have been busy but Isaac is starting to notice Daddy is not here, mainly because bedtime is a little different.

WOOW HOO – Tobyn did his run this morning and did it in 7min25s…how is that Dad? Tomorrow he will do 2 laps.

WOO HOO – We went to the movies today and saw ‘Horton Hears a Who’ everyone enjoyed it from the 2 year old to the 10 year old.

WOO HOO – I have 2 layouts in the SBO ezine, YAY me!!!

WOO HOO – This is my first layout from scrap camp that I am going to show you, the others will come over time. I don’t LOVE this layout. I was feeling overwhelmed at Jo Burney sitting next to me and was afraid of what she would think of my work. But I got over it by my next layout and completed another 4 that i loved. With this one I just think the colour is just not quite right and doesn’t ‘POP’ anyway, I am glad to have the event scrapped. I do like it I don’t LOVE it! Well there was going to be a photo here but wordpress isn’t playing ball, see new post for the pic.

And last but not least

WOO HOO – I got my hair done yesterday. Now it is a woohoo to feel good about fresh colour and cut, but, yes there is a bit on woo hoo Wednesday….it cost $180. I decided to try somewhere new after my hairdresser moved away. I thought it would be cheaper, but no, grrrrrr.

 

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What a fantastic weekend!

My creation

Originally uploaded by spgettie

WOW, I had such an amazing weekend at scrap camp! Adele and I arrived at just after 5.30pm Thursday and got home around 3.30pm Sunday. That is the longest I have been away from my boys since Isaac arrived. Apparently the boys didn’t really miss me, sob, sob. They also had a fantasitc weekend!
So the low down on scrap camp. Jenny E does an AMAZING job! We stayed in a fabulous camp. Everyone had their own room and shared a bathroom betweent 2. We arrived and were shown to our places where an amazing bag of goodies awaited us. We got papers, embellishments, fiskars finger knives, which are wonderful to use, chocolate and more. I was lucky enough to be seated next to the amazingly talented Jo Burney! Inititally this made me freeze a little and I was scared to do anything in case it looked really stupid. So my first layout is the one I like the least! I will load this tomorrow, forgot to take a photo today. After that I relaxed and created 4 more layouts that I love and am considering submitting to a mag somewhere. I also created another 3 layouts but was unable to finsih any of them because I didn’t have all the right things I needed.
The food was so nice! Every morning Jenny made porridge, delsih. We had nacho’s, butter chicken, sausage hotpot, wraps, quiche and lovely desserts. We were thoroughly spoilt! Unfortunately Jenny has come to the end of an era and won’t be organising anymore camps. I am a little dissapointed that I only got to this last one. I know there are other camps out there so next year I will try another one.

Today was another day of scrapping. I had planned the tween day but sue to my lack of advertising only one came along. But that was OK her younger brother stayed and played with Tobyn as well and they both made a scrap book page as well. It was fun to talk Sophie through how to do a page and to see how her page came together. In the mosaic the top right layout is Sophies, she is 12. She is my young friend that made the card for the fiskars challenge and won. She is going to do some amazing scrap booking! I love her page, there is so much to look at on it!
The bottom left page is her 9 year old brother Thomas’ and the one ont he bottom right is Tobyn’s. Tobyn and Thomas had very little help. Tney were very determined about how they wanted there page to look. And I think they did a good job. Although, Tobyn didn’t really think much about his page like he normally does!
The photo of Isaac was taken this morning. He didn’t last long doing my vacuuming! But he did look cute and oh so grown up!
Righto I think that is my lot for tonight. Back tomorrow with at least one layout photo.
Oh and if you don’t already get the SBO newsletter sign up! I have 2 layouts coming out in the ezine which should be sent out in the next couple of days!

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The photos I couldn’t get in the other post

My creation

Originally uploaded by spgettie

1 – the layout Louise created for me

2- Tobyn’s layout he created today

3&4 – eating cup cakes.

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Woo Hoo Wednesday

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Originally uploaded by spgettie

Wednesday again already? WOW!

So here I am joining in on Janine’s woohoo Wednesday.

• We are having fantastic holidays so far! Yesterday we went to Debbie’s and the boys made cupcakes. Debbie’s little boy Camden and Isaac are buddies and Tobyn wasn’t even worried about them all being younger than him he was so wonderful and such the big brother. The kids enjoyed making the cupcakes and then decorating them, or in Isaac and Camden’s case eatting the lollies as soon as they put them on the cupcake.
• Today we have spent the whole day creating. Well should I say Tobyn and his friend A spent the day creating. Tobyn and A have been friends since they were babies. She loves creating and wanted to come around and make some cards. So she made 4 cards, 2 of them thanks to the fantastc kids book Janine loaned me. A also made the butterfly chapstick and a fold out display book. Both of them made a scrapbook page each. And they did a fantastic job! Tobyn knew exactly what he wanted to do! We bought the paper in Christchurch. He decided he wanted to add some lift the flaps and put dinosaur facts under them. I have a photo of the layout but wordpress is being a pain!
• I am off for the whole weekend to Scrapcamp! Woohoo a whole weekend scrap booking. And sleeping in! I am not organised at all, guess what I will be doing tomorrow afternoon.
• I got a layout created by Louise in the post yesterday. It is gorgeous and it is so cool to see her work in the ‘flesh’
• Ivy’s birthday party in the morning. Isaac’s 2nd invite to a party and the 2nd girl party….hmm, think I  might need to watch this one woth the girls, LOL.
• All 3 of my boys have had haircuts and they all look very cute! Tobyn wants gel in his hair now “not too much mum; I want it like the guy in the bar on Shortland Street.” I am going to have to watch Shortland Street closer to see what his hair is like!
• And like Janine I am getting my hair done next week. Though I wish I had been able to get it done before scrapcamp. I think I might have to wear a hat all weekend.

 

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An AWESOME weekend!

IMG_9771_edited-1

Originally uploaded by spgettie

This photo was taken last weekend and I had forgotten about it until I got some other photos off my camera. I love this photo it shows Isaac’s intensity when looking at new things. He takes it all in!

Now to the weekend…I had so much fun. Now some of my ‘imaginary friends’ are REAL! Yes I have met 3 lovely SE forum and bloggy friends. Kelly, Beverley and Janine. Thanks Kelly for organising this wonderful all day crop, my very first major crop. Check out there blogs for some cool photos. We had to get up pretty early to make the drive down to Wellington. Steve and the boys accompanied me and then spent the day with Steve’s sister and her family. It was a perfect day for spending inside scrapping! And I was lucky enough to sit right by a wondow with the sun streaming through on and off. I managed to get two layouts close to being finished.The first one is for the SE sketch challenge.

The nest one for SBO’s weekend challenges. This is a scraplift of one of Donna Mueli’s layouts. Sorry girls not my creation really!

The boys arrived to pick me up and as they came in I heard Beverley say “they are real” that really made me giggle! We travelled back stopping in Paraparaumu at Cobb ‘n’ Co there. Arriving home around 9pm, a very long day for the boys.

Sunday was spent b’day present shopping, house cleaning, crop unpacking and layout finishing, and cooking dinner for our very dear friends. We had Tobyn’s godparents and Fee and Chris joing us for tea. I had planned a lovely casserole but got it in too late so we ended up having nacho’s. I think the boys enjoyed the nacho’s more than they would have the casserole, so it is casserole tonight!

The McKey’s joined in with playing singstar and buzz. I think Tobyn liked having Aunty Robyn and Uncle Alan play buzz because he didn’t come last! Oh the scrifices you make for your god child, LOL.

It was so cool to catch up with them again! They live here in town but we have not touched base for ages, life gets in the way and then I procrastinate and don’t get around to inviting people over. Must make more of an effort!!!

Today is the 1st day of the school holidays. We have had a visit from my sister and her two boys and have things planned all week. I also have to get things ready fro scrap camp this weekend and make sure everything is up to date at home for the boys. Not that Steve won’t cope if I don’t. But I do need to make sure the washing is up to date because Tobyn already keeps asking where some clean undies are (must get him some more) and Steve is off overseas on Monday so I need to make sure his stuff is ready to go. So a busy week ahead.

And one more layout. I have been working on this one for a couple of weeks now, just finsihed it yesterday. I loved the way ot was looking before I put the photo on but then there was too much white and so I covered with the journalling. It looks kind of strange, but OK, it will look good in my BOM. I now have 6 layouts for my book of me, now I need an album to put them in.. I have been making them 81/2 x 11,

OK off to spend some quality time with the boys TTFN

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Woo Hoo Wednesday

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Originally uploaded by spgettie

So Janine has declared this woo hoo Wednesday and asked others to blog their woo hoo’s for today. So here goes Janine.

• WOO HOO Sophie! See that card? That was made by my 12 year old friend for the fiskars Youth week challenge. And she won!!! There was a sketch to follow and I told Sophie about it. She has never done a challenge like this and said do I have to do the sketch exactly. I said to take inspiration from it and use your artistic flare, and that she did! When I called her this morning and told her she won she said “Oh wow I have never won ANYTHING, I am so excited!”
• Woo hoo, I had my friend Adele and her twin girls plus my sister visit for morning tea today. Adele and I got to covet my sisters scrap booking purchases from her recent trip to Oz. Gorgeous MM animal crackers and Basic Grey dinosaur stuff.
• Woo hoo, today was sunny and I got some washing dry!
• Woo hoo, I got the grocery shopping done and we have decent food in the house again.

I think that’ll do for now.

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Baking and sleepovers.

I did some baking on Friday! For some this isn’t unusual, for me it is! I am NOT a baker, b ut after baking these delicious banana and chocolate muffins I think I might start a Friday tradition.

Tobyn had a very social weekend. He had a friend come after school on Friday and then we took the friend with us to our Family fun Friday at Church. On Saturday Tobyn had 2 friends come to go to the stock cars and stay the night. They slept in the family room on camp stretchers. Tobyn requested home made pizzas for tea so I thought we could all make our own mini pizzas, This went down really well. I gave them all a challenge to see who could toss their pizza dough the highest. Trouble is put 3 confident boys and one competitive Dad together and they all hit the ceiling, and it is a high ceiling!!! They had a late night, but were awake at 6am, I had to go into them and ask them to be quiet and not wake Isaac up! They really were very good. Then on Sunday he ended up going to another friends house for the afternoon. Oh to have a social life like that.

We had some sad news on the weekend, our friends Mum lost her battle with cancer last week. The funeral was today and it was a perfect tribute to her. Her 4 children all did a eulogy and they were all so different and unique. Her youngest son has a masters in music from Cambridge Uni and played a wonderful piece on the cello. All the children are amazingly musical. It was obvious today that they owe a lot of their success to Jennifer. She encourage them as childrne and teenagers and I know at times they resented her for it but as they became adults they respected her and loved her for her passion! I oftne think being too tough on the boys is wrong but I wonder if being strong and passionate will help them in the furture. Jennifer and Bob have raised 4 amazing children. I have some wonderful memories of time with Jennifer. She was always so welcoming to us even after Norm had left and moved to Wellington, then Auckland and now living in England. I did find it a little hard being so close to my dad’s funeral.

I have 2 deffinates for my tween day, and I also have a few interested. YAY. I will be better planned and get more advertsing out for the next school holidays. My young friend Sophie made her card for the fiskars challenge. She did an amazing job! Once they have shown them on the fiskars blog I will put it up here for you all to marvel at.

OK I think that is all for now, I have been creating but I don’t have anything finsihed yet to show, maybe tomorrow? I am off to watch a program about gifted children…a scray thought to have a child so highly intelligent!

 

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Twice in one week, WAHOO.

And the reason is because I have another layout to share. This one is for SBO’s monthly challenge. This month it is to use a photo more than 20 years old. Well that was the easy part LOL. I got the idea for the layout from the fiskars BOM prompts. I think I will print out a whole lot more things that happened in 1968 and put it on the back of the layout.

 

I am so proud of little Isaac! He has had 2 nights of eatting all his veges! He has never beena fruit and vege kid but I have always put the veges on his plate. 2 nights ago he decided he was a crocodile and he ate ALL his veges, broccoli, carrots, beans! And I thought it might be a one off but then the next night he did it again and this time with different veges. GO ISAAC.

Some other cute Isaac things too:

He is really into imaginative play. The planes fly in the air, the cars crash, the guns shoot and people die (where did he get that one from?) Saying Yeehaw when playing with horses. Mummy and Isaac animals cuddle in bed!

He is very stubborn, saying no Mama I do it!!!!!  And no not like that, like this!!!!!

His language is just taking off and he likes to have ‘conversations’. Only trouble is sometimes they don’t make any sense LOL.

He has decided he likes art and goes straight for the paint at playgroup. The boys had the crayons and stickers this afternoon and made ‘pictures’ I love it.

One afternoon he helped himself into the fridge, got out the container with the luncheon meat in it. I heard him do it and then got sidetracked. When I got out to the living room there was an empty container on the floor. I asked him where the stuff inside was he said “what”

where is the food that was in the container?

 “In my tummy!”

 what about the plastic wrap?

“In my tummy”

Ooh nice that’ll be a nice nappy for Mummy to clean. Then he said in the rubbish, so I looked in  the bin and sure enough my tidy little kiwi had put the plastic wrap in the rubbish.

He has also got a lot of talk about me, mine, you, yours, I love, my favourite etc. Apparently my favourite colour is pink! Well according to Isaac, but actually my favourite colour is purple.

I am just loving watching him grow and learn, but I know that with all this groing and learning I am loosing my baby and that is sad! But it has to happen, that is what being a parent is about. Raising our kids to be great adults and I hope I do a good job. And you will have noticed I do have my doubts at times!

On another subject. I have a young scrapbooking prodigy keen on learning. I guided her to the youth challenge on the fiskars blog and she is going to have a go. *Hi Sophie, waving madly* She is very artistic and I can’t wait to have her around and have a play with the papers and see what she comes up with. After talking with her initially I have come up with an idea….I am thinking of running a day for tweens at my house in the holidays. I was going to do it these holidays but I am running out of time. I have a banner for flyers, what do you think?

OK off to watch Criminal Minds ttfn.

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70th b’day and weekly update.

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Originally uploaded by spgettie

Firstly I wanted to thank you all for your support last week. Things have improved hugely since my last post. Tobyn is a LOT more motivated. I think the teacher’s realised that Steve and I are there to do the best for our child in conjunction with them. We are doing a scoring system. Tobyn has to get an average of 9/10 for the week to be able to play the playstation on the weekend. He got that last week and is on target this week. He is enthusiastic, motivated and polite. He is looking at the teachers and speaking up. I am so proud of him for rising to the challenge. I am proud of Steve and I for dealing with the issue in a positive way. I was so worried that we were failing as parents. The special needs comment still bugs me. I wonder if the teacher didn’t know how I would react and needed to let me know she thought it was very serious? There is another mother in the school that looks a lot like me and ever since she arrived people mixed me up with her. She is loud, brash, negative and her children are very rude and disruptive. I wonder if the teacher thought I might be like her and not willing to work as a team. The other teacher in Tobyn’s class commented that they were a bit concerned with Steve going to camp, again I wondered if this was a stereotyping because of how this womans kids are when she is around, that is they are a lot worse. Anyway things are going well so hindsight really doesn’t matter.

I had a pretty busy, fun weekend. On Friday night I went to Kelly R’s crop. There were about 20 odd people there, way more than I expected. I have never been to a crop like that and I was awestruck. It was great to be with like minded people but I didn’t know what to do LOL. I had the photo and stuck that down put a couple of strips of paper and a little doodling and got stuck. The following layout is the result, I just finished it today. If you can imagine this layout with just the photo, the scolloped paper down the left hand side and the strip of green paper down the left and the jounalling block. Pretty boring!

On Saturday we went to Paraparoumu for MIL 70th. She didn’t want a big party like she had organised when FIL turned 70. So it was just the family, MIL and FIL, 3 children and 2 of their partners and the 5 grandchildren. We had lunch at Paul’s at Lyndale. A very nice lunch. We returned to their house had a quiet afternoon chatting. Ann wanted a photo with all the grandchildren, not an easy task with children ranging from 9mths to 9yrs. Olivia, the youngest is just adorable. Olivia and her parents live in Auckland so we don’t get to see them very mucg. Tobyn was absolutely smitten with her! He wanted to hold her any chance he got. I think Isaac was a little jealous! After seeing Tobyn with her i could imagine him having a career working with children. I don’t think he would agree, but then you never know. He has always said he wants his own children and I think he will make a great Dad!

The next layout is for the SE fortnightly sketch. I so CANNOT do sketches! But I do find they are great if I want to do a quick layout and have no other inspiration. After I had stuck the ribbon down I noticed it is a little crooked!

Have you noticed I have got a black, red and blue thing going on with my layouts at the moment? LOL. I think it is justr because of the papers I have that I can grab quickly!

OK I think that is enough waffling for now, I have some cute Isaac things to highlight in another post.

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