This is me...naturally

2009-03-01T01:29:00.000-08:00

Wow, how fast does a month go?? I can't believe I haven't blogged for that long until I ran into a friend last night who kinda gave me a shove (thanks for that ;)). To say we have been busy is a total understatement! We had Harrison's 8th birthday on the 11th. He had a party at Zone 3 - 9 boys running around shooting each other with laser guns - YAY!! He had an amazing day! We then had a swimming carnival 4 days after his birthday which was a bugger cause he had to swim against 8 year olds, and although he did well, some of these boys were HUGE. But he did PB's with every race and we are very proud of him, he is doing really well! He is now swimming with the Dolphin squad one day a week, Marlin squad (stroke correction) one day a week and then Club championships were on Friday night, so swim club has now finished until September *wipes brow - thank God!!* He also had a block of swimming lessons through school. Understandably he was exhausted at the end. We have now signed up for soccer. Alistair is coach of Harrison's team and I am manager of Ethan's. Say goodbye to our Saturday's now until September. I wouldn't have it any other way. I think it's important for the kids to be involved with sport.

The other thing we did in Feb was go away with friends to Hastings Point Big4 Caravan Park. OMG!! It was awesome and I can't wait till we get to go back again! Above is a pic of the slides into one of the pools. The other pools were for toddlers and younger kids.

This is the enclosed playground that was across from our 4.5* cabin. On the left of that was a maze mania sort of enclosed area for kids under 12 - supervised on weekends and holidays and on the right is a play centre for the kids (and adults) with table tennis, pin ball machines, pool tables etc. It was great cause they have security cameras in there and it is linked to our tv sets in our cabins, so we could sit in the air con playing Uno and watch the kids on tv LOL!!

This was the balcony of our cabin. Build in BBQ and sink and table and chairs, fantastic!!

This is Harrison ready to swim at the carnival. He's in the blue hat...

2009-02-04T19:35:00.000-08:00

My gorgeous friend Tanya has given me this challenge. You need to load the 4th photo from the 4th file in your picture folder and explain a bit about it.

This photo was taken at the Animal Farm we went to last year with Ethan's Kindy. This dog (can't remember her name) was able to bark songs. It was very cute and I just had to take a pic of it.

So now it is my turn to pass it on. Here is all you need to do:Go to the 4th file or folder in your photos and open it up. Go to the 4th photo and post it with this information and 5 new blogging friends!!Here are the 5 ladies that I nominate for this challenge!

Jane http://www.janeettiajones.blogspot.com/

Lisa http://www.livelovecreation.blogspot.com/

Vita http://www.vita.typepad.com/

Brenda http://mydaymyscrapbookingmylife.blogspot.com/

Kat http://www.kathleenglossop.blogspot.com/

2009-02-02T18:27:00.000-08:00

I've seen this around the blogs a bit lately, so thought I'd add my experience about my first child

1. Were you married at the time? Yes

2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? Very excited

3. How old were you? 24

4. How did you find out? I did a pregnancy test at home. The line was very faint so I thought it was negative (and I had some spotting, so thought I couldn't be pregnant, I was getting my period). Then I realised it wasn't my period so went to the doctor and this time the line on the pregnancy test was very bright!

5. Who did you tell first? Hubby of course :)

6. Did you want to find out the sex? I hate surprises, but we decided not to find out.

8. Did you deliver late or on time? Exactly on the due date.

9. Did you have morning sickness? I just felt hung over all day long - like the headache without the party!

10. What did you crave? I craved chocolate milkshakes and foccaccias from Bakers Delight with the mushrooms on top. Also Mexican food.

11. Who/what irritated you the most? Looking back, I wish I knew more about breast feeding. I was told it was natural and easy - well, I DON'T THINK SO!!

12. What was your first child's sex? Boy

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout pregnancy? I did not own a set of scales and I told my ob from the beginning that I wasn't standing on scales unless I started to look really unhealthy :)

14. Did you have any complications during pregnancy? No

15. Where did you give birth? Private hospital.

16. How many hours were you in labor? From the first 'show' to delivery it was 8 hours

17. Who drove you to the hospital? My hubby drove me - it was approx 6.30am on a Sunday morning.

18. Who watched? My hubby, a midwife and the obstetrician were there (although being the weekend it was another ob)

19. Was it natural or c-section? Totally natural.

20. Did you take medication to ease the pain? No pain killers what so ever!

21. How much did your child weigh? 8lbs 6oz

22. Did your child have any complications? He had to have suction because of meconian (sp?)

23. Why did you choose his name? My hubby wanted Ethan, but I just couldn't do it, didn't like it. So, I won in the end and said I wanted to name him Harrison. Obviously I lost out second time around though LOL

24. How old is your first born today? He is 8 next week. How time flies...

Dreamworld

2009-01-26T02:25:00.000-08:00

Harrison and Ethan were pretty timid when it came to going on the rides. But when their dad took them on the rollercoaster in Nickelodeon, they were hooked. They went on this ride a couple of times!

I would say the best part of Kaleb's day would have been in the ball area at Nickolodeon. He loved to walk around and pick up all of the balls. At one stage he was helping a teenage boy to pack one of the blasters. It was very cute.

Ethan wasn't too sure about going on the Log Ride, but once he'd done it, all was good. We lined up for about 1 hour ARGH!!!

My two big boys...

Mini Family Trip January 2009

2009-01-26T02:02:00.000-08:00

We decided to take some time away from home and work for a few days before the kids went back to school and routine. We spent one night with friends in Toowoomba and then we headed to the Gold Coast for two nights. Here Ali and the kids were playing beach cricket at Main Beach.

This is Kaleb in Queens Park in Toowoomba, having a great time on the playground.

Melissa took the kids over to the fence to feed Goldie some home grown carrots. Kaleb still talks about Goldie, the horse, and she says 'neigh' Very cute LOL

2009-01-01T21:15:00.000-08:00

This is the Danelle Box that I have started. It is 12 little albums inside a box - just gorgeous and it's going to be about me! Well, that will be difficult, but I'm looking forward to working on it more. The papers I have used are Sakura Park, Kaisercraft!

This is the inside cover of the box

This is the front cover of the box.

This is a card I have made for a special friend this month. It started as a challenge at The Scrapbook Establishment, to make our own lollipop flowers, and I have done this with cardstock and then inked the circles and distressed the edges and voila, you have a flower. It's only my first one, so I think I can get better as I go.

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-01T21:09:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years and here's cheers to 2009! I don't have any resolutions - I try not to make any because I never seem to keep them. I would still like to keep fit and it would be a bonus if I could lose another say, 5kg. I don't think that's too hard a goal to start with!

Our New Years eve party was pretty big, still recovering actually LOL. I only drank 2 bottles of champagne, but it was the shooters that got me. And of course I had some partners in crime, and I'm happy to say they were all feeling a little under the weather yesterday aswell.

I'm excited about Ethan starting Prep (YAY full time schooling), Ethan starting soccer for his first year (let me tell you, he is very excited about that) and Harrison will be starting Year 3. Kaleb also starts day care one day a week and will also still spend a day at his cousins house and another day with his Nanna and Poppy, while I go to work.

Have a great year everyone!! xx

RIP Romeo

2008-12-28T19:30:00.000-08:00

Two days before Christmas my mum found our dog of 11 years beside her car. She thought at first he was sleeping, however, he had died in his sleep. I thank God he died in his sleep and we didn't have to make any decisions or take him to the vet. We knew he hadn't been well, but he had been on anti biotics and he seemed to be getting a little better. Well, he knew his time was up and he died peacefully at home. I'm so grateful for that! I'm also grateful none of the kids found him, that would have been devestating! We called Ali to come home because he is a big dog. He took the two older boys down to say good bye to Romy, to see that he was at peace and no longer in any pain. They were really sad and we had bought tickets on line to go to the movies. I decided we would still do that, to try and make them smile. Poor Kaleb still walks around saying 'woof woof'. I find that really sad, but Scott and Chrissie bought a new puppy 'Sparky' at the beginning of the month, so Í'm hoping he is looking for him. So RIP Romeo, you were a fantastic, loyal dog and we all loved you.

On a happier note, it's happy birthday to my little brother Scott today - so HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! We had cake this morning and then I offered to mind their little boy so they could go out together. What a nice sis I am LOL

Only 2 more sleeps to the party of the year - our NEW YEARS EVE party - bring it on!!!!!

2008-12-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

Brooke and Ethan in the pool with new toys on Christmas Day.

My Prince Kaleb and I

Superboy Harrison and I

My 4 gorgeous boys

Kaleb with Daddy.

We had a great Christmas Day. The kids were over the moon when they found out there were DS's under the Christmas Tree. Kaleb was happy with whatever he got and was happy to break the plastic toys very quickly. We had a lovely bacon and egg breakfast with my mum and dad and then we had our traditional hot Christmas lunch at around 2pm with mum, dad, Scott, Chrissie and Kaz (with their kids). We had turkey and ham, and roast veges, gravy - yum, yum, ,yum. Then for dessert we had Margaret's home made Christmas cake with custard, brandy butter or ice cream. YUMMO!! Between the 3 girls, we drank 8 (yes eight OMG) bottles of champers. Naughty indeeeeeedddd!!!!! We spent heaps of time in the pool and even managed to watch Mamma Mia (another gift I received :).

I hope everyone had a magical day aswell xx

2008-12-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

December 27th

2008-12-28T18:44:00.000-08:00

I was soooooo excited when I opened my present from my hubby and he had bought me a new lense for my SLR camera!! I was then shattered when we couldn't get it to work, the firmware wouldn't upload, so I took the camera and the lense back on Saturday and the man fixed it all up for me. We went down the beach in the afternoon to get some yabbies for fishing the next day, and these are the shots I took down there. I love, love, love my new lense, OMG the zoom is amazing and the crispness and quality of the pics are fantastic (for a novice photographer like me). I haven't edited any of these pics.

I was sitting about 50m away when I took this pic of this gorgeous specimen of a man heheheee

Ethan and Will pumping for yabbies

All the boys...

Tis the season to be jolly falalalalalalalala

2008-12-28T18:05:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning, the tree was finally brimming with presents LOL The kids had been complaining that Nanna and Pop's tree had more pressies than ours. They were definately impressed on Christmas morning.

I was bored a couple of nights before Christmas as Ali was working at the Carols in Cotton Tree, so I made this LOVE album for my brother to give his new wife Chrissie on Christmas Day. She loved it (phew!)

This is a pic of our kids with Amelia's boys. Six boys together, it sure is BUSY LOL We had our Christmas get together a week or so before Christmas because they were heading to Adelaide for Christmas.

Heidi Swapp class

2008-12-14T15:10:00.000-08:00

Here is a sneak peak of one of the calendar pages we did at Heidi Swapp on Saturday.

Heidi Swapp Create 08

2008-12-14T14:06:00.000-08:00

So, the day had finally come. I was going to meet Heidi Swapp and 5 other girls I had met online at Scrapbook Shelf. I was really excited about this! Here is a sneak peak at one of the calendar pages we did. It was all so fast paced, but it was amazing and I learnt so many wonderful techniques, mainly inking and using Heidi's masks.
This is Heidi Swapp, an American scrapbooker who is such an inspiration and very, very talented! Plus she has 5 children - I don't know how she does it! Now, she isn't this tall, I have leant down so I was the same height as her LOL. Isn't she gorgeous! And she wasn't well - lots of coughing spasms. I hope she feels better for her Melbourne class on Tuesday.
Here I am with Heidi, Brendy and Tanya. It was so nice to meet these girls as well for the first time. Such a fun day!

Sunday the 30th November, 2008

2008-12-01T02:24:00.000-08:00

We had our woodfire pizza oven installed late last week and we had some friends over on Sunday night to try it out. It was a bit of a competition between the boys and girls with toppings on the pizzas. Of course the girls' pizza's were the best LOL We had a bit of trouble getting this pizza into the oven, but hey, we got there eventually and it was totally delish!!

Al's new toy!!

We put our Christmas tree up. It was Kaleb's turn to put the star on the tree and of course he needed a little bit of help from dad. I love watching the kids' faces when they pull out the decorations for the tree and then they see the lights turn on - love Christmas!!

Scott and Christine's Wedding

2008-11-17T00:06:00.000-08:00

So, the day has finally been and gone!! Yesterday my brother Scott married Christine in a cermony at our house with family and close friends. Anyone living in Qld will know that there was a severe storm here last night - we were very lucky, but as you can see in the beach photos - which by the way I haven't had time yet to edit, so these photos are all in their rawness. The sky looking towards Brisbane was amazing, the colours were so blue!! Anyway, we were lucky enough to have the ceremony, pics at the beach and then dinner. Then the rain started, no one got wet though, so that was a blessing, but we had to move inside our house for the cutting of the cake, the speeches and the bridal waltz.

It was a lovely wedding and although it rained, it was a beautiful occassion. Welcome Christine into our family, I know you love my brother very much and I wish you every happiness together! I really hope you like the photos - here are a few that were taken - my very good friend Yvette helped me out at the ceremony and then came to the beach aswell - mwah to you Yvette, you are a treasure. Thanks also to my friend Nicole who wore the wedding dress 10 years ago and didn't want it anymore, so kindly offered it to Christine. Thanks also to my friend Hannah who did our hair - you are a champion - broken foot and all :) Thanks also to Kaz who did a great job with the video camera, and a special thanks to my gorgeous husband who did a wonderful job as MC, host and Best Man, oh, and my baby boys who were all page boys - you all looked AMAZING and were soooooo well behaved.

Sorry the photos are in the wrong order, I just wanted to show you a few!!

Scott and Christine's Wedding

2008-11-16T22:36:00.000-08:00

My DH Alistair and I

The Bridal party

My brother Scott's side of the family

Christine's side of the family

My family

Scott and Christine with their baby Joshua

After the signing of the registry

Arriving

The boys!!

My boys

Music Festival 2008

2008-10-20T02:37:00.000-07:00

Amelia and I at the music festival listening to The Whitlams. Absolutely awesome weekend!!!
Ali and I taking a quick break...
Sunday afternoon in the park listening to The Whitlams and then Darryl Braithwaite.

September Happenings

2008-10-12T03:21:00.000-07:00

Wow, well I know September is long gone now - sorry, I've been a little slack!! It was a pretty big month for us. Ali decided to surprise me for our wedding anniversary and took me abseiling and rock climbing. I was freaking out at first, but when I was doing it, it was amazing!! Not so sure that I enjoyed the rock climbing, but abseiling was fun!
Here I go!!
This was at the bottom of the cliff - I had a bit of trouble climbing up lol
A friend turned 30 and we were invited to dress up from 1978. I wore Ali's mums dress that she wore in the 70's and Ali has on his dad's shirt - freaky!! He dressed up as Starsky and a mate was Hutch. Love the wig baby lol
Going backwards a bit here - we had father's day down at the beach. It was quite cold, but it was sunny, so that made it ok. Here are my gorgeous boys mwah!! xx

I hope everyone is well!! Remember if you drop by to leave a comment - ta Kxx

Scrapping September 2008

2008-10-12T03:15:00.000-07:00

This was my LO for Brendy's sketch challenge over at Scrapbook Shelf. Such a cute pic of Kaleb!
This was my LO for Becky Fleck's Recipe Challenge at Scrapbook Shelf.
This was my card using a photo for the card challenge at Scrapbook Shelf.

Ethan turns 5

2008-08-25T03:49:00.000-07:00

It started out a quiet morning as the boys didn't wake up until 7am. Not that I am complaining, but it is a little unusual and considering there was a birthday in the house, it's generally a little more chaotic LOL We bought Ethan a skateboard for his birthday. I was a bit nervous and of course he had his first scuffle that morning, grazed his arm - that will teach him to wear all the protective gear. Being a Thursday, I decided to have a play at the park with some of his kindy friends. There were about 20 kids that came with their mums (and dads) which was really nice to be able to catch up with everyone. It was also good that the older siblings were in school, so Ethan felt like one of the big boys, if you know what I mean.
Here are some of the kids on top of the train in the park. They all had a lovely time. I didn't have time to make the cake, so I ordered it from the local bakery. It was sooooo much better than what I could do anyway.
and Ethan was sooooo happy with the soccerball candles (note his Socceroos shirt)
Ethan with his mate Harry who is 3 days younger than him. His mum and I spent 2 nights together in hospital and we each have 3 boys. Such a special bond!
This is the cake Ethan's Grandma made for after dinner. We had all the family over for tacos. This cake had to opened with a hammer and inside was full of lollies and treasures. The kids thought it was wonderful (as did the adults). Again, note, I got out of cooking the cake - totally HATE cooking LOL Anyway, all in all, Ethan had a wonderful birthday!! It's so exciting to be 5!!!

Slice of Life Competition

2008-08-25T03:36:00.000-07:00

Over at Scrapbook Shelf, Trudi had organised a 5 week challenge. It is a competition to win a Slice of Life from Making Memories. We have finished 5 challenges now, and it has been awesome, having to think outside the square and celebrate everyday moments and acheivements. Above is challenge 1.
Challenge 2 we couldn't use a photo. That was a little difficult, but I enjoyed it all the same.
Challenge 3 we had to use the title I am Creative or I am an Artist - well I'm definately not an artist, so I went with being creative. I'm really happy with this LO!! Not something I would do off my own back.
Challenge 4 we had to use an imperfect photo and then stamp imperfectly onto the page. This photo was taken on Xmas day 2004, so it is Ethan - bit scary cause it looks exactly like Kaleb right now. I loved being able to finally use his blurry pic. I had scrapped some pics of Ethan and Scott in the pool doing the same thing last Xmas, so I will put the 2 LO's together.

The final challenge was to create an album about my everyday life. It had to be at least 5-6 pages. I have used Crate Paper pp's and I really am happy with this album. It's sad to all be over, but we will find out who the winner of the Slice of Life is on Friday night after the fun and games of the Friday Night Frenzy.

2008-07-21T03:44:00.000-07:00

The Eiger Chalet, Perisher Blue
Gorgeous views
View of Front Valley
Sunrise at Perisher
The four of us. For those of you that didn't know, we left Kaleb with my mum and dad.

2008-07-21T03:37:00.000-07:00

Ethan and Mitchell in ski school, helping each other stay on their skis - they really became good friends.
Here they are going up the T bar together.
Love my new beanie :)
Kerry, Katie, Woodo and Alistair
Good friends with good cocktails :)

2008-07-21T03:30:00.000-07:00

We took Ethan and Mitchell (Katie and Anthony's son) to Tube Town one afternoon. It was so much fun. Here we are going up.
Here we are going down.
Such an achievement - I skiied over to Blue Cow - and back
Copperhead Road track on the way back from Blue Cow - quite a tricky run, I had two falls.
Here is Ethan skiing by himself on the 4th day

2008-07-21T03:23:00.000-07:00

Here I am with my ski gear on - felt like an eskimo some days - no wonder I live in Qld LOL
Harrison lost his front tooth while we were away. His skiing was fantastic, the explorers kids club took them all over the mountain - he has seen much more than I have.
Here's Ethie in the snow - too cute!
The cocktail brothers - too funny - they were drinking Nutty Irishmen, Toblerones and Cowgirls - hmmmm bit strange huh :)

Ski Trip July 2008

2008-07-21T02:54:00.000-07:00

Our trip started on Saturday the 12th July. We flew to Canberra and met up with Katie and Anthony from Adelaide. We picked up our hire cars for the week and headed into Questacon. That night our family stayed with my friend (and bridesmaid many moons ago) Michelle (pictured). It was so nice to catch up - we even got to go out to the movies while Ali stayed home and minded the 5 kids.
Here is Harrison and Ethan at Bullocks Flat waiting for us to unload our luggage and get on the ski tube to Perisher. There was a lot of snow around so it was looking to be good coverage up the hill.
We stayed at the Eiger Chalet for 5 nights - breakfast and dinner provided yum!! Here is a pic of Katie and I when we arrived.
Ethan was booked into Junior Ski School for the 5 days from 8.30am til 12.45pm - lunch included. On the first day he had trouble skiing down from the magic carpet, but by day 4 he was skiing all by himself.
Kate and Woodo - cute couple!

Haymans Electrical Ball

2008-06-24T04:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we headed off to Brisbane on Saturday around lunchtime, after soccer. We stopped in at Chermside and had a bite to eat before we headed into the city. Haymans put us up at The Sofitel - just gorgeous. We took our bags upstairs and then came back down and had a hot chocolate in the bar area.
Here we are ready to head to the ball. I wore a chiffon black dress by Events that I bought at the DFO for $29.50 - very proud of that purchase. Ali wore a suit he also bought from the DFO at a reduced price. His shirt was mauve as was his tie and I was so surprised to see that it was the 'in' colour for men!!
Here is Ash - he is our store Manager, the one who asked us along. The theme for the ball was Little Black Number and this is what Ash wore. He is as bald as a badger but there were black feather boas decorating the tables so of course they ended up on people's heads. It was very funny.
This is Ali and Adam - no, they've never met before, but you wouldn't know it lol How much does Adam look like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. I couldn't help calling him that.
Had to get the self portrait in later in the night - in fact I went around our 2 tables and took photos with everyone - I have NO idea why??? There were approx 500 people at the ball, the band consisted of 5 guys singing and other on instruments, the alcohol flowed freely all night and we landed in bed at 2.30am. Great night - thanks Ash xx

2008-06-08T00:37:00.000-07:00

Wowzer, it has been a little while since I last posted - geez I have been a bit slack, or is that a bit busy??? Anyway, I wanted to post these pics of the boys Ali took them in our front yard against the block/rendered wall in the late afternoon. Great silhouettes I reckon! The top one is Ethan and the bottom one is Harrison.
Here is a pic of Harrison with his Grandma. They came over for dinner and Harrison was happy to have his pic taken, Ethan wasn't so obliging.
My nephew Joshua (red hair) celebrated his first birthday at the beginning of May. He had such a great day down at the park. He is such a cutie!
Here is Joshua pulling such a cute face - don't you just want to give him a big cuddle (well, maybe after the birthday cake is wiped away LOL)
I haven't taken a lot of pictures lately. I still have a couple to download from Harrison's sharing day at school and him in his super student cape (yes, we are soooo proud!!)
Only 5 weeks until we hit the snow fields. Ski season opened yesterday and there has been NO snowfall - all manmade so far. They are predicting a great snow season, so fingers crossed it will be all good. Can't wait to see our friends Katie and Anthony and their kids - it's been a while and we always have such a good time together.

I hope everyone is well. Take care xx

It's getting colder - eeeewwwww

2008-04-29T04:58:00.000-07:00

Here are my three precious boys - taken a couple of weeks ago. How cute are they!! It's getting colder all of a sudden. We had the most gorgeous weather over the long weekend for Anzac Day. Spent Sunday at the beach with summer clothes on, and then today I was wearing jeans and a long sleeved top. I can't work it out! Anyway, not much to report at the moment. I am trying to finish off my challenges for The Scrapbook Establishment cybercrop, but I haven't had a lot of spare time. At least I have till the weekend to finish. Anyway, till then, I hope you are all having a great week. xx

Girls Weekend in Sydney

2008-04-15T01:53:00.000-07:00

So, I'm not so sure where I should start. My journey began on Friday - mum and dad were taking me to the airport and Chrissie was minding all the boys (God help her!!). We decided to stop at the DFO for a few hours and OMG!!! I shopped till I dropped. So many bargains! My flight was at 4.30pm and I arrived in Newcastle at 5.45pm. Lisa and Jaimee were there to greet me and I don't think I'd been this nervous for a very long time. They noticed I was tall, I just noticed how they looked exactly how I thought they would.

I drove with Lisa to Sandy's house where we had a delish dinner (thanks girls) and a few drinkies. I felt like I had known these girls forever. We chatted like we were the best of friends, I spoke to Janey for the first time on the phone and we spoke about our exciting weekend ahead.

Saturday morning the 4 of us drove to Cronulla about 2.5hrs away. Sandy was our driver and her very competent sat nav directed us straight to the hotel (under the harbour bridge and all lol). We had a delicious lunch down by the ocean and then waited for the others to turn up. Annette was picking up Vita from the airport and then Jane and Marcela arrived a little later. Wow, I was amongst these absolutely amazing women and I was in awe at how gorgeous and wonderful they all were! There was a lot of chit chat and a bit more chit chat.

Saturday night we headed across the road for Greek food - YUM! The dessert was to die for! We were rather tame actually, and headed back to the hotel at around 10pm.

Sunday we had a scrumptious brekky in the Cronulla mall in a cafe and then headed into the city. Sandy and her sat nav (we really do need to give that thing a name lol) got us directly to the Opera House car park. We then wandered around for a couple of hours taking lots of pics and looking at markets. A freak storm hit around lunchtime which was just incredible. Vita, Sandy and I got soaking wet but thankfully we found the others and were able to catch a train into the airport. It was so quick and hassle free, it all turned out fine!

So, in a nutshell, I have made friends for life!! I can't wait till we are able to do it again - it was one of the best weekends ever! We ate, we drank, we laughed, we cried - that makes an amazing weekend I reckon!

Thanks to Vita for some of the pics below. I love the one of me taken on Saturday night! Very cool.

2008-04-15T01:39:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Al

2008-03-24T04:16:00.000-07:00

Here is my husband with a part of the present his parents got him. It starts out really small and then when you open the packet, it is full size. Well, I was laughing so hard at what it says - "I'm not bald, just getting more head" and look at the picture at the bottom of the shirt. His poor mum and dad had absolutely no idea what they had bought him!!!
Well, last night we had some friends over for a seafood feast (delicious) and our friends Matt and Amelia bought him this wig. So, with the wig and the shirt, it made for a hilarious night!! Yes, there were a few sore heads today. There is NO way he is ever wearing that shirt outside of the house - HOW EMBARRASSING!!!
This is Al's mate Mat with my wig that I wore to a fancy dress on New Years Eve. Oh dear, scary thought hey. Anyway, it was a fantastic night, laughed so hard my sides hurt. Happy Birthday honey, hope you had a great day, and don't get any ideas now that you have that shirt!!!

Easter Weekend 2008

2008-03-24T03:43:00.000-07:00

There were heaps of kite surfers out taking advantage of the beautiful weather and light winds. They really were quite pretty in the sky with the mountains as a backdrop.
Sheesh, I'm hopeless aren't I. Lucky no one important is reading this (haha) I always forget to change the pics to around. Oh well, this is Kaleb at the Easter Hat parade last Thursday. He is wearing Bridget's bunny ears. He certainly doesn't look 'dainty' to me. In his hand is a juggling ball that Ethan had made at Kindy the day before. I'm hoping he doesn't stick his teeth through the balloon exterior as it is filled with sand!!! LOL
Here is Ethan my little bunny boy at Harrison's Easter Hat parade, wearing the bunny mask he made at Kindy. What a gorgeous face haha
Here is Harrison at the school Easter Hat parade. They made their own hats to put over their caps - they did an Easter Rap, so of course it was very important to wear the cap on the side.

Layouts

2008-03-13T04:22:00.000-07:00

I entered this into the TSE Feb Page Challenge. It had to be about something that makes your heart flutter, something you love. Well, I wrote that I love how we can be so goofy and have so much fun together. I also won a $15 gift voucher to the store and I have a Jane Jones original heading my way too!! Now that is very exciting and definately worth entering the competitions!!
This is one of my fav pics of the boys together. Taken on Christmas morning 2007, I entered this layout into the 123 January Challenge. The criteria was to use red, felt and incorporate the title into the journalling. It was the first time I had entered into one of there challenges. I have entered this into the March 123 Challenge. The criteria was use orange, black and white, use ribbon and use a one word title. I really like this pic of my brother and I.

TFL xx

Kaleb turns 1

2008-03-13T04:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry, my photos are a bit out of order, I bought a new camera on Friday (YAY!!) a Panasonic Lumix, so I had 2 cameras going on the day. I love this photo of Ethan in the tree. He is such a gorgeous boy!!
This was the morning of Kaleb's birthday, in our bedroom, filled with balloons. His presents from us were a Fisher Price vaccum cleaner (gotta teach them young lol) and a Pooh Bear that sings lullabies and his face lights up. It is soooo cute!!
This is by far the best family photo taken on the day! It sure is hard trying to get 5 people to look the same way at the same time. Oh well, I love this one anyway.
This is Kaleb giving his cousin Josh a kiss goodbye. So cute!! Josh will be one in May, it's so nice for them to be so close.

Kaleb turns 1

2008-03-13T03:44:00.000-07:00

We had Kaleb's first birthday party in the park near the beach. It was a beautiful day, a little bit windy, but nothing like we've had the last few weeks. It started off a pretty crappy day, as I was up to him 6 times during the night with his teething :( I then took the older boys to swimming lessons, let Ali get some organising for the party done, and took Kaleb down to mum's for his morning sleep. Well, we must've overstimulated him with the presents and all the balloons cause he knew something was happening and there was no way he was going to have a sleep. The party was 10.30am (trying to work around sleeps) and at 10.30am I called mum and he still hadn't gone to sleep so I told them to bring him down and we'd worry about sleep later. We had approx 40 people there (incl kids) and we had a bbq lunch. Very scrumptious home made chicken rissoles (thanks Margaret) and we had a couple of salads. All very yummy!!!
Considering how tired he was, he behaved really well!! I had his cake made by the local bakery - fresh cream of course lol.. It is a Thomas the Tank Engine motif on it. Geez, I think he liked it...
His first piece of cake - no doubt he'll have a sweet tooth, just like his mum, his dad, and his brothers.

Straddie Trip

2008-03-03T02:45:00.000-08:00

These kids are the best of friends!! They played so well together.
Here are two of my boys, at Main Beach
I did a series of these pics of Kaleb and Ali - love the smiles from Kaleb
This effect looked so cool!! This is at Cylinder Beach
Oops, sorry this pic is on its side - what a cheeky little monkey Kaleb is!

Straddie Trip

2008-03-03T02:26:00.000-08:00

We headed over to Stradbroke Island with another family. We took 2 of our 4wds so that we could all go onto the beach. This is Harrison dune surfing at Main Beach.
I love this pic of Ali jumping down the sandhills. The lighting was perfect to look like his silouette.
Kaleb had a great time too - checking out the pippis
This is my good friend Yvette. Our kids get along really well, and us adults get along really well too LOL
This was stacks on mum/Kerry - lucky me NOT!!

Harrison turns 7

2008-02-12T02:54:00.000-08:00

Well it's hard to believe my baby is now a big 7 year old!!! We had a family dinner on Sunday night and on Monday he wanted to have a swim with Ruby and Jake, two school friends. He was very spoilt and had a fabulous day.

First Day of School 2008 - 29th January

2008-02-12T02:40:00.000-08:00

Here's my gorgeous boys ready for their first day of Kindergarten and Grade 2. Aren't they cute - well except for Ethan's face, looked a real treat for first day!! He decided to dive into a shallow concrete pool and he came off second best.

TSE February Cybercrop

2008-02-12T02:25:00.000-08:00

I participated in all of the challenges for The Scrapbook Establishment's February cybercrop. I even won the Trivia game. Thankfully the theme was lurvvvve, movies and music and Trudi and I obviously have similar interests cause I usually suck at trivia. Thanks Trudi! Anyway, the above layout had to have the symbol of love on it, a photo of two or more people and heartfelt journalling. This is of my mum and dad - they are truly inspirational!!

This Layout had to have at least one rub on, a torn photo and use paint without using a paintbrush. I painted the & and around the outside of the pp circle using a baby cotton bud.

Another challenge was to make a card. It had to have swirls or flourishes, have a heartfelt message and the use of felt. I will give this to my hubby for Valentine's Day aaahhhh

Yay, I won a prize. This is my Today Journal that I created. The challenge was to use a notebook or journal, use flowers and use the colour red. I have admired the shabby look of notebooks and decided to give it a try. Well it paid off, the owner of TSE, Annette has given me a prize - thanks A!!

Our trip to Cairns

2008-01-23T02:38:00.000-08:00

We went to Cairns on the 16th Jan and came home on the 21st. It was soooo hot up there, I came home with heat exhaustion - stomach cramps and almost passing out. I put it down to lack of water and feeding Kaleb quite a lot. I think that will be my last visit to Cairns in summer lol
The best part of the trip for me was going to Sugar World. There are 4 large water slides and then a few play pools for the kids. Don't be fooled by this pic of HG. By the end of the day he was sliding down the Flying Fox on his own (it even scared the crapper out of me). Anyway, it was the only day I didn't have cramps and nausea as I felt cool and had a great time with my kids as well as our neice and nephew.

This is Kaleb at Sugar World. He is such a water baby - he thinks he can do just about anything - love him to bits mwah xx

Ethan wasn't too keen on the slides. I took him down once and then once more for good measure but he still wasn't sure, so he was then happy to play in the smaller pools!

One of the days we went into Cairns and along the waterfront they have this massive fountain/playground. It is fantastic. We took our kids and Mikayla and they had a fab time. Also went into Cairns central and had some sushi for lunch - yummy!!

Nathan and Mikayla had just come back from an around the world trip with their parents (lucky ducks) and here are a few of the hats they bought along the way. The kids all got along so well, it's nice to have cousins - pity they live so far away, but I guess it makes it more fun when we all catch up.

Investment

2008-01-22T14:20:00.000-08:00

Here is a pic of the kitchen of the house we have bought as an investment. My brother and his family will be moving in after settlement early Feb. We are very excited to be getting into the property market on an investment level and hope this will be the start of things to come for us. Ali took this pic when they were doing the building inspection, so hopefully I will be able to get some more when we get the keys. Yippee!!!

Look What I did!!

2008-01-09T03:26:00.000-08:00

I was mucking around with Picasa2 and came up with this cool collage of Kaleb! I am trying to come up with ideas for his first birthday/naming day invitations, so I'm hoping this might work. Fingers crossed.

Boogie Boarding at the Beach

2008-01-09T02:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we took the kids to Kings Beach for a swim and a ride on Harrison's boogie board he got for Christmas from Scott. Harrison was a natural catching the waves in!
So was Ethan!
Kaleb decided to give it a go too lol

Kaleb was happy playing in the sand with a little friend he made - Emma. Turns out her birthday is the day before Kaleb's so her mum and I reckon they were kindred spirits, drawn to each other. It was very cute!!

My latest LO's

2008-01-04T01:40:00.000-08:00

We took this photo ourselves, of ourselves. It's a bit of a 'thing' we do when we are together and there is a camera around. In fact, most of the pics we have together we have taken. The pic was taken at my brothers engagement party in Nov 2006, so I was 5 months pregnant with Kaleb. I finished the LO today. Just love this pp.

Yes, a bit embarrassing, but I am wearing jocks on the outside of my jeans. It was Ethan's superhero party and I decided to go as 'Super Mum'. Oh well, it was fun!

I finished this LO a little while ago, but I really love the shapes, the colours and the stamping. This is my nephew Joshua, born in May. He is a darling!

I did this LO today. Thought I'd better get into the kids albums and get some important milestones scrapped! I LOVE this photo of Harrison holding his new baby brother the day we got out of hospital. It is so precious, and it shows how much he loves him. Priceless to me!

Wild Weather

2008-01-03T19:38:00.000-08:00

Since before Christmas we have been having the WORST weather I can ever remember at this time of year! Anyway, on Sunday we got out to have a bit of a looksie at what the damage was to our beaches. Very high seas and a lot of wind. When we were out, this was about the best the weather had been for days, and after this day the weather got worse again. This was Kings and Shelly Beach.

New Years Eve 2007

2008-01-02T21:12:00.001-08:00

We went to Nicole's 40th birthday party on New Years Eve. We had to dress up as something starting with a N, I, C, O, L or E. Ali went as Norman Gunston and I was Nicole the netballer. We had such a fun night, and although I drove and it was rainy, I was so glad I didn't have a hangover the next day!

Happy New Year Everyone. I hope you have a fabulous 2008!!!

Christmas Morning

2008-01-02T21:03:00.000-08:00

I'm loving this pic of my boys on Christmas morning. They were so excited that Santa had left them a sack full of presents! Harrison was the first one to wake up and then Ethan. It was a sleep in for Kaleb - I guess he wasn't as into it, yet Santa did leave him a few pressies in his sack.

We had a fantastic day with Al's parents, my parents, my brother, Chrissie and Joshua and my friend Kaz with her daughter Brooke. The weather was a bit yuk, but the kids still swam in the pool and had a fab day!

2008-01-02T20:51:00.000-08:00

This was the mess the reindeer left of the wormy apples. They even left the plate in the garden - messy things lol

Christmas Eve 2007

2008-01-02T20:42:00.000-08:00

Harrison found some great recipes for Santa and the reindeer on claus.com

This was the wormy apples we made for the reindeer - apples, peanut butter and sour worm lollies on top.

Ethan had the task of cooking for Santa and he came up with a can of coke and a caramello koala.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

2007-12-19T15:51:00.000-08:00

Well, only 5 more sleeps. The boys are so very excited. We have had 2 parties at our home in the last 5 days, so we are all a bit weary and I would love to have a bit more rest (Baby K has other ideas though!)

Ethan had his Christmas Party at Day Care last week. Santa was there to give them all a pressie and the kids sang songs for him. This is his last Christmas there as he moves onto Kindergarten next year.

2007-12-01T19:22:00.000-08:00

HO HO HO!!!! Merry Christmas everyone. It is our family tradition to put our Christmas tree and decorations up on the first weekend in December. Well, yesterday was the 1st of December, so we put our brand new Christmas tree up with lots of beautiful red and gold baubles and of course all of the sentimental ornaments that we have collected over the last 6 years since Harrison was born. Alistair's parents and my parents came over and we had a fun afternoon. Kaleb as usual was wanting to get into everything. He broke my beautiful musical snow dome yesterday and this morning when I wasn't looking he pulled a bauble off the tree and of course it smashed into a thousand pieces. Hence, we had to move the baubles even further up the tree!

The MOvember MOtley Crew

2007-12-01T19:11:00.000-08:00

Here they are, the boys at work. It was great to see everyone involved in Movember! We had customers donate money, so that was fantastic and all the boys had fun with it. I think most of them have all been shaved off now, so until next MOvember...

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-11-29T02:58:00.001-08:00

My Christmas Tree Countdown

2007-11-29T02:14:00.000-08:00

I so love this tree! I used K & Co patterned papers and K & Co stickers. The flowers are MM and the numbers are MM stickers. I made the star on top myself. The kids are loving changing the days over each morning. I'm really proud of this OTP project!

Movember

2007-11-29T02:07:00.000-08:00

Here is a pic of my gorgeous hubby Ali. He is growing the mo for Movember. All the guys at work are also growing it to raise much needed funds for mens health. He is going to get a group photo tomorrow at work, so when I have the pics I will show.

He can't wait for tomorrow night to shave it all off! Me either - it's been really weird!!

Kaleb's first swim in our pool

2007-11-29T00:57:00.000-08:00

Well, he wasn't too sure at first, didn't like the thought of not being in my arms. I think it was a security thing! No doubt after a few weeks he will be loving it. He kept leaning forward in this baby seat. We put Joshua (my nephew who is 8 weeks younger) in it and he leant back and nearly went to sleep. So funny!! Another water baby in the making? I think so!

Christmas Photo Shoot 2007

2007-11-29T00:37:00.000-08:00

Well, this is always a bit stressful, but a lot of fun!! This is one of the photos that DIDN'T make it to the cards, but I love it anyway. Ali is behind Kaleb under a white sheet making sure he doesn't fall backwards. Ethan didn't want to have his picture taken, but thankfully we persuaded him to have one with his brothers, but of course, it ended up being about 50 snapshots that I took. This will be Kaleb's first Christmas and our first as a 'complete' family. It will be heaps of fun!! Gee, I love Christmas!! and I love these 3 boys!!

Teddies in Blanket Biscuits

2007-11-29T00:29:00.000-08:00

I wanted to show you the biscuits I decorated for a friend's 4th "pink" birthday party. They were a hit with the kids and the birthday girl loved them!! They were so easy to do. Arrowroot biscuits, then tiny teddies, then icing over the top for blankets and then decorate with what ever you want. I'm not that good in the kitchen, so it doesn't take much for me to be proud of what I've done lol!!!

Is it November already??

2007-11-01T01:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I can't believe it's already the 1st of November. Not long now until Christmas is upon us. I'm very excited - I love Christmas and of course this will be Kaleb's first, so that is pretty special.

Week ending 17 August 2007

2007-08-17T04:20:00.000-07:00

Well, what a week it has been. The boys went to the Ekka on Tuesday with their grandparents. They had a fab time. The numbers were down this year - everyone has been scared away because of the flu epidemic. That made for a good day. Of course they were feral when they got home and Wednesday was a public holiday, so they fought all day!!
I started back at work on Monday. Mum and dad are looking after Kaleb. So far, so good. I've been working til around 1.30pm because I miss him too much and there is still lots to do at home.
Ethan's birthday party is on Sunday at Moffat Beach. Forcast is for rain all weekend. Backup plan is to have the party at home. I will set up the garage and organise games. Should be fun - superhero party, I'm going as "Super MUM".
Anyway, not much else to report, so,bye for now.
Kerry