Declan received his first ever school report this week. I am very pleased to say that it was fantastic. He got all C’s which is a good result. Things have changed a little since we were at school and a C means that Declan is at the level expected for his age. His school has a saying “Celebrate the C!”. Considering this time last year we were told he would not be ready for school its an amazing result.  Steve and I feel that we definitely made the right decision.  All other teachers comments were wonderful and we are just so proud   He is soooo ready for holidays and keeps asking how many sleeps until he can stay home. I think the first few days of the holidays are going to be pretty quiet.

Dad came around on Sunday and despite all the rain helped me with some long overdue pruning in the garden. We got soaked but luckily it wasnt too cold.  Declan was our little helper for the day. He did a great job moving all the branches for us.

My garden is looking a little naked at the moment but come spring its going to look fantastic!. Thanks Dad.

Earlier in the week Matilda, Riley and myself spent the afternoon at the local park. Matilda is just so in love with the swings at the moment.

These two have such a close relationship as they get to spend all day together. Riley can still be a bit rough with Matilda but luckily she is a tough little cookie and can take it!.

On the walking front, she took 4 steps on Saturday night!!!!!!. Has only take a few since but now I know walking is just around the corner. She can also climb on both the boys beds and the couch. Atleast she knows to climb down backwards so is pretty safe but now there is a whole new world within her reach.

I forgot to mention that Declan received his 2nd award at Auskick a couple of weeks ago.  I am glad that he is enjoying football so much.  I think its all he does as school now at playtime.  He is a star!!!!!

And this picture is just to show how my baby is no longer a baby. Her hair is starting to get a little curl at the ends, soooo cute.

Enjoy the rest of term 2. Hope to catch up with most of you over the next 2 weeks

Take Care

Helen xxxxx

We set a new record….

for this house anyway. Matilda had a temp last night of 41.1  AAAGH!. It seemed to hit her suddenly as we were having tea. Steve was still at work so I filled her up with panadol and gave it 15 minutes to work or the kiddies and I were going to make a trip to the local hospital. Luckily it kicked in and she perked up again. It was a long night of broken sleep but she seems alot better today. PHEW.  Declan will often get a temp over 40 so 41.1 didnt freak me out that much but I was much happier when it came down, as was Matilda.

Have a good day

Helen xxxxx

How do I……….

take a straight photo of one of my scrapping pages?. I never measure anything so they are not perfect but they are never as bad as they look when I take a photo either?????

Anyway….

I got to spend another Saturday night at Mornington scrapping so I am all inspired again. Here are the pages I completed over the weekend.

Another christmas one!. Love Rileys face in this pic, he was just about to scream. Look how little the boys are

Declan riding his bike like a “big boy”

Riley during a rare quiet moment haha.

Helen xxxxx

 

Cheeky Monkey

This is what I have to face everyday. This little monkey is getting so cheeky. I think she is really going to be a handful.

She is almost 14 months now. She is still making no attempt to walk but can now climb onto Rileys bed as well as the coffee table. She can say a few more words now such as “all gone”, “shoe”, “poo” (yesterday she told me when she had done #2’s!), “bikkie” and ”butch” though her favourite is still “Riley”.  She has an amazing little temper on her but so far I have worked out how to get around that one. She loves having a bath, loves to get outside with the boys and has started playing cars with them, complete with noises!.

As you can probably tell she really loves her food! There is not much she wont eat and is really good with fruit and vegetables (for now).  Lets hope she doesnt turn fussy on me.

Trying to get a nice picture of the three of them is very difficult. There is always one of them pulling a funny face or with a finger up their nose!.

Steve has been busy at work and I have been busy around the house. Last week I even managed to clean my WHOLE HOUSE. Not all on the one day but all chores were done at some point during the week. That is a huge thing for me  

This week has so far been slow, maybe because I am looking forward to the weekend. Cant wait for the school holidays and some time to relax. Looking forward to having a couple of days where I dont have to go out at all. Hope to catch up with some of you as well.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Will try and make the next post a little more “exciting”.

Helen xxxxx

PS just wanted to add a quote before I go. This came from the mouth of my darling 3 year old this morning. My day was good until this……… “MUM I dont like your singing!”.  Here I was thinking that I sounded pretty good   (joke joyce). I was having fun singing and thats the main thing isnt it. 

As promised.

Here is the layout I finished last night. Its a “just because” page, just because its a sweet photo.

the lace flowers are actually from left over material from my wedding dress!.  It was not cheap lace so may as well put it to use. I was actually saving it for a page I plan to do about my wedding dress but there is still enough for that which reminds me…. Mum I need a picture of you in your wedding dress for that.

Just got back from Auskick, it was cold and wet but Declan enjoyed himself.  Was not so keen on putting him in my car all muddy but I will get over that soon enough

Bye for now.

Helen xxxxx

Again….

Well another week down, another week filled with sad news, another passing….when will it end?.

All I hope for is that the 2nd half of this year is a HUGE improvement on the first.

Here is a little reminder that the world can still be a beautiful place, even with all this sadness.

This is always the first of my camellia bushes to flower. Its the one that my late beagle Josh is helping along to provide such stunning flowers. He always was impatient!.

Helen xxxxx

mmmm cupcakes…..

Last weekend the boys and I whipped up this little beauties, choc/orange cupcakes.  As you can probably tell the boys were in charge of the decorating. 

They did go down a treat and lets just say that not many survived long enough to get into the cake tin.

Glad to say we had nearly 20mm of rain today. It was much appreciated.  The gardens were due for some water.  It was mighty cold as well. Seemed to spend all day dodging showers and not very successfully I might add. Finally managed to get a clothes line up under my pergola (thanks Stevie xxx) so atleast I can try and catch up on some washing. Even when its not raining the washing seems to get damp from the cold before it has a chance to dry. 

Riley has had another up and down week.  This is how he spends a large portion of his day….

Seriously… this child is driving me round the bend.  These tantrums are usually over NOTHING and I mean NOTHING.  Sometimes its because I didnt reverse the car into a car parking space??? because I turned left when driving and he wanted to go right??? because “some people are going to the shops are we’re not”???, because I said no he cant have lollies straight after breakfast???…. you get my drift.  I think this one was because I told him to stop sitting on his sister.  He is making everyday that little more challenging at the moment.  Dont get me wrong, I adore this child and he is so loving when he is in a good mood. Here he is not 2 minutes earlier (love those freckles).

This is what happens when Matilda misses her afternoon nap. Usually when she gets tired she gets the grizzles and lets you know its time for bed but this day there was no warning.  One minute she was playing and the next….

She was so cute, it was a shame to wake her for her dinner. 

Finally got the scrapping supplies out and finished the page I started last week. Will share soon (need daylight to take picture of it   )  I used some interesting material on this one.

Have a happy, safe and enjoyable weekend.

Helen xxxxx

Photo a Day

Here are the pictures for May.  I must admit the camera was not out every single day this month. Trying to get back on track for June.

Pop over and visit the Kiddies Kreations blog. Finally an update!

Helen xxxxx

Pizza and Scrapping

Last night the boys of the house were in charge of dinner, homemade pizza’s. They end up costing more than the ones from the local pizza shop but they are nicer and a lot more fun!.

I also managed to get another page done. There suddenly seems to be an urgency to record all the details I want to. These memories are way to precious to forget.

Just realised how bad the photo of it is.  Sorry.  How cute are the Crafty Matters embelishments made by my lovely friend Jane? (Check them out in my sidebar). The title is pretty cool too. They are some Heidi Swapp letters I picked up at Crop 4 Kids earlier in the year.  They were at their “trash and treasure” stall for only a few dollars. Most of you will know that I dont scrap with the latest products, aslong as its cheap and I like it, thats all that matters

Hope to get more done tonight (Sorry Steve)

Helen xxxxx

I’m back

Well here we are, back from our little ‘break’.   Here is an update on some of the happier times we have had recently 

On May 25th Steve and I celebrated our 11th Wedding Anniversary (and 16 years together as a couple).

Despite how “serious” (and how young) we all look in this picture our wedding day was one big party!.

We celebrated in style this year, he went riding and I stayed home!. We did enjoy a lovely dinner together that night, with the 3 children.  Neither of us are the romantic type.

I did get my early birthday present…………. its a new car!!!!.  A Toyota Kluger 

Now I really feel like I belong in Berwick!.  I always said I would never ever buy a 4WD but as we wanted a 7 seater but not a mini bus we didnt have much choice. I must admit she does look pretty nice sitting in the driveway and she is a dream to drive. A big step up from my old Commodore Wagon. 

Mum and I took Declan and Riley to their 2nd game of Footy. Again Collingwood put on a good show, thrashing West Coast by 100 points.   We received free tickets as part of our Auskick membership which was a bonus. The boys actually watched the game this time and were getting pretty excited every time Collingwood got a goal.

 

My birtday was postponed for a couple of days so we headed around to mum and dads for a lovely dinner last Sunday.  As you can see, I had plenty of help with the candles on my cake!.

I was spoilt with some lovely pressies from friends and family. It was a nice pick me up at the end of a tough week.

I did manage to scrap 1 page. Hoping to do a little more tonight.

Miss Matilda is still as cheeky as ever. She had her needles today (finally!). She was very very brave. Still no sign that she is going to walk anytime soon.

Riley is proving to be more and more of a handful lately. I hope his behaviour improves soon. The other morning he was driving me nuts saying he couldnt put his socks on (which he can) and that he needed help. How can someone not put socks on their feet but manage to get them on their hands so easily ?.mmmmm.

He keeps my days “interesting” I suppose!

Declan is still loving school. He lost his $50 school jacket this week but it reappeared today YIPPEEE!. One of his friends had taken it home in error. His reading is going really well. All 3 children love reading a book together before bed

Here is a funny little story about show and tell this week. His teacher has requested that their show and tell reflect the letter they are learning, which this week is the letter J.  We were struggling to find something for him to take. Steve suggested he talk about the missing school jacket…. but that was not as interesting as Declans suggestion….. JOCKS!!!. Yes, he wanted to take a pair of Jocks to school for show and tell. I did manage to talk him out of that one and we decided on his Lunar Jim toy. Can you imagine his poor teachers face when he stood up in front of his class with jocks in hand. (Yes I know , will have to scrap that one!). 

A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JANE (for yesterday). It was great to catch up even if it was only for a short while in between Kinder drop off and pick up.

If you made it this far, well done.

Will try to update Kiddies Kreations blog shortly aswell. Miss Matilda even has a couple of pieces to contribute.

Enjoy your long weekend and take care.

Helen xxxxx