moment by moment

And then they were gone....

2012-01-30T16:14:00.001+11:00

but of course not before I made these ... one of my favourite things about the holidays is no lunch boxes to prepare.

Like all the other weeks of the holidays the last one flowed along with nothing major to report....
We had a great day on Mon, we headed out to Forster for some shopping (I soooo miss K-Mart) and then a swim at the beach pool... I had never been there before - it was huge...

finishing off the day with this movie

you just cant beat a bit of 'the Rock" in a kids movie....

My package of We R albums came through the week ... aren't they beautiful. I ended up getting them from Stuff 4 Scrapbooking in the States as I could'nt find any 81/2 x 11 in OZ.

this of course inspired me to scrap something so I headed out to Tuncurry with Leisa and the girls from Scrapsidaisy for a day of chatting, eating and a little scrapping.... I managed to finish this LO and start 2 others..

Funny story about the green hair - it was still there on Sat and Regan was starting to panic so we had to dye it back to brown again.... i'm hoping the brown won't wash out and I have to keep re dying it until the green grows out .... lesson learnt - stick to red....

Talos survived his op and is really thriving, we think that 'whatever it was' must of been hurting him a bit as he has been very hard to keep the food up to lately.... he is - as I type - getting his check up done and being seen for a limp he has now aquired - heres hoping he isnt another Toddy dog when it comes to vet bills....

Thanks for stopping by
Leah

Back to work....

2012-01-18T20:56:00.000+11:00

I headed back to work yesterday but not to rush into it I had today off....

Spent the last week of my holidays - watching the kids as they had their last ride on the bike before the 'big bad truck' came and took it away...

and going to the Australian Reptile park.... it was a long drive there and back (3hrs each way) but well worth it

we saw Atomic Betty eat a goat and this guy Elvis do some tricks..

the kids actually enjoyed the reptile show ... not quite sure what was going on when I took this shot...

and we fell in love with this wise old lady....

- we've spent a few arvos chasing the boy up and down the street on his pushy..... his balance is still a major issue but we have taken off the last training wheel and he's not to bad on the straights....he is even giving the scooter a go....

Talos turns 6 month old on the 26th.... he is sooo big but still such a puppy with lots of enthusiasm and very little co-ordination

he is also one of the most lazy animals I have ever known... he sits all the time ... even when eating and drinking .... this is him having his brecky...

I'm off to the vet with him tomorrow ... he has this thing

on his tongue and we are getting it cut out - bit scared putting him under when he's so young but it seems to be growing so best we get it sorted...

I haven't done any LO's recently 'cause I haven't printed off my pics but I have been getting some cards done for mum... will take some photos for next time..

Till Later..

Simplify..

2012-01-09T10:24:00.003+11:00

My word for this year is

I'm not sure whether is a lack of time management at home or just the fact that there is too much to do.... either way its time to simplify and get back to enjoying the little things....

on that note - i have decided not to do shuttercal this year, I love to go back and check out our life in pics but it is a great relief to know the world wont end if I miss a day and that I wont have to spend the time downloading....
instead I think i will share some of my instagram pics on this blog.

I went and saw this at the movies last night

probably nothing fantastic for most but i am a sucker for these movies that share in so many different lives... i very much enjoyed it.

Just been hanging at home this week and loving getting up at 8:30/9 with nothing pressing to do....
went to the beach on thur, it was such a great day with perfect weather and waves...

It's been pretty hot around here, so much so that even the bees had to get out for a bit of fresh air...

on our theme of simplifying we have realised that we only have limited time left to hang with the kids (they are 9 and 11) Ten years seems like a long time but by golly the last 10 tore by pretty quick.... anyway Shane has decided to sell his beloved bike so we can put the money towards a pool and he has one less thing to try to cram into our weekends. (he didn't have much time to get cold feet - it sold in less that 24 hours)

as you've probably noticed Talos likes to grab Koda around the neck so we have started putting euky bear rub (like vicks) on his neck to stop it...check out Talos' tongue.... not happy.

and my LO for this post is the yearly kids chrissy page....

Tilll later

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T18:13:00.000+11:00

(my pics never work this well)

and a belated christmas to all!!!

To be fair this pic of Shane was taken the night before New Years Eve (he peaked a bit early) after a day with his brother, father, nephew and brother-in-law but it seemed very fitting for the occasion. To be truthful we went to the local 9pm fireworks and were all tucked up in bed before 11.

No resolutions for me this year, just hoping for a lot of well used family time...

Chrissy morning was a very early start (we went back to bed for a hour or so mid morning) filled with wrapping paper, coffee, boxes, fun and wanted gifts....

Regan and I were spoilt by grandma and received these beautiful necklaces by Lisa Leonard , something we can treasure for ever.

and Aaron just loves his new tank... Shanes pretty fond of it as well...

We then went out for the traditional photo (not overly impressed by this years but the family only give me so many chances) and off to Jaimies for Chrissy lunch...

so... going backwards .... before chrissy
we spent Christmas Eve at the riverbank before checking out the lights around town...

we spun the honey off the frames - we got 18kg from one box... yummmmmm

I bleached a strip of Regans hair blond before dying it bright green (last year it was red and done by a hairdresser)

and I put bunny in for a well deserved wash ...... I came out a bit later to find this....

she just couldn't wait until he was dry for a hug and a slosh...

and of course I better finish up with a LO (im on fire)

and a pic of the dogs..

Till next time...

The build up

2011-12-19T12:02:00.001+11:00

It's been a pretty slow week building up to the school holidays, getting things done around the house, waiting on last minute parcels etc.

Regan went for a sleepover fri night but decided not to come home till Sun evening.... she was sunburnt and very very tired...

Aaron finally got his Ghi for karate and wore it with pride to the last lesson of the year... he wasnt able to go last week as they were grading... Regan got her second stripe - yeah to her although she was hoping to move up to a blue belt...

We ran the still on the weekend - guess what the workmates are getting for Chrissy...

Talos is getting bigger and bigger.... and oh so gorgeous - he is going to be the most beautifully natured dog...

He is now quite capable of standing over Koda...

And spends most of his day with his mouth around Kodas neck...It looks uncomfortable but Koda only puts up with it so long....They are the best of buddies

and another LO over and done with.... Regan surfing at Manly...

I'm off now to take the Chrissy pics of the kids - better late than never

Till later....

Have you ever

2011-12-12T10:53:00.001+11:00

had a time where you look at yourself and think OMG... My time was thur at the kids presentation. I, like the other mums had to skip out on work for a few hours to attend and as I was sitting on the kids bench seats waiting for the classes to be called I was joined by three mums, a lawyer, a medical receptionist and a cafe owner. As I put my legs up on the bench in front of me I noticed that out of my faded, slightly big for me cargo shorts came a pair of white hairy legs (how had I not shaved this week) looking further down I came across a pair of purple and blue striped explorer socks and work boots with a large spash of batter on them. Now overly conscious about my appearance I remembered that my eyebrows really need a go over and that hair appoint that was booked in for the following weekend was probably a week or two to late (the messy ponytail wasn't fooling anyone). This of course is all on top of the sweet smell of hamburgers and fried food. Dear me girl - get your act together....

Talking of presentations, the kids did well, they have both had a great year this year... Regan had put herself up for school captain but unfortunantly didn't make it to the committee, she was disapointed but did so well to make it to the top ten (there are 65 kids in her year)..... I am so proud that she is one of those girls that will try out for anything, but unfortunantly she also takes things personally when she doesn't get in... After a few small tears when she got home she stated that she might go for sports captain..... my golly girl will you never learn....I often describe her as the girl that puts herself down for the 100 mtr butterfly and then gets dissapointed when she doesn't win even though she only goes to the pool about 5 times a year. Although she often gets upset I think this is a great part of her personality and it will do her good as the years go by.... you never get anywhere by sitting up the back.....

The Chrissy tree is finally decorated... Aaron made us put it up on the 1st but Regan has things on until last Sun which is when we decorated it.

This is my snow globe for 2011 - must admit this is my favourite so far...

My tattoo has healed up and I love it although a lot of people are asking if it is real...

Check it out... Ive been scrapping - I even have another one on my bench at the moment...

Guess whos got one week of school left...then I think a week of sleep...

Till next time.

Another one down...

2011-12-03T08:52:00.001+11:00

I have been trying for a while now to get a new job.... my hours where i am are fantastic but there has been a change in the ownership and staff and I think its about time I left.... and lets face it, there comes a certain age when you just don't want to be flipping hamburgers. sooooo... in the last few months I have put in 8 appplications - some of them up to 3 pages long once i answered all questions - with only two interviews, the last of which was yesterday and still no luck. I have tried admin - which is actually what I am trained for, Teachers Aide - also qualified, and yesterdays was for a school canteen - highly qualified.... I realise that I am lucky to have a job and am able to take these rejections without it effecting the family budget, I can only imagine how frustrating it is for all those unemployed out there... anyway another one is in the mail yesterday arvo so fingers crossed...

-days like this don't help to keep me motivated to stay where I am -

On the other hand Aaron had a great day at school on Wed... He came home with "good news"..
His friend Daniel had been away for two days and Aaron finds it hard to go up to the other boys in his class at lunch times so mainly hangs with a few of the girls... anyway at first lunch he was sitting on his own when one of the boys came up and asked him to sit with the group......ohhhhhhhh.... i so love Jordan at the moment. Aaron said he "listened to the boys lots and even said some things, not much" The point is that these kids like him and are very happy to include him all he has to do is join in. I am so proud of my little man at the moment he and Daniel both played cricket with the other boys in the class on Thur after Aaron got up the courage to ask if they could.

if anyone else out there has a kid with anxiety this is a great read with real life situations in it..

We have finally got rid of the old lounge out of the family room and replaced it with this...

it has made the room a bit bare but i think with a dispay shelf and picture it will be quite a nice space...

over the chrissy holidays Im going to try to make something like this for the wall. I found it here and it is made up from paint chips... I'll let you know how I go.

In other news Regan won a colouring in comp at school getting a $5 voucher from the canteen....

and we put up the tree on Dec 1 at Aarons strict instructions but haven't been able to decorate it yet as Regan hasn't been home since....

Till next time..

The week or two that was

2011-11-20T13:26:00.000+11:00

We had a great week last week in Sydney as Aaron was back at Royal Far West again (everything went really well). Shane only stayed with us till Tue as he had to come home and look after the pup. We managed to fit in a bit of everything and I even started my Chrissy shopping... Don't you find it amazing that some people (mum) are so easy to buy for and others (mum-in-law) are so hard?!!?

sooo... I got a new tattoo (Ill post propper pics when it stops peeling), we ate way too much icecream (phishfood was my fav), drank lots of coffee and spent time at the beach...

on Thur night the kids and I went into the city on the ferry.... it was raining.... to check out the chrissy windows at David Jones... the city has changed so much since I was last there, it's all looking very up market..... i even found out the full words to the 12 Days of Christmas.

Regan had a couple of surf lessons with the guys from Manly Surf School (they were great) she had good times and not so good times and was determined not to let her Dad help get her and that huge board back over the waves... she spent a good deal of time getting pumbled and at one stage got up and said
"I thought it would be more glamourous than this"

but overall she had a ball......

and moments like this made it all worth while....

Before Sydney we were down at Kangaroo Valley for Marks 40th... it was great to catch up with everyone... some we hadn't seen for 9 years.....

Mark tried the rope swing to start of his early morning swim.... you should of seen the look on his face when he realised how shallow the water was..... they never grow up..

And in other news......
Regan had her school camp week before where she made it to the top of a rather large climbing wall - a feat not managed before.....

I had my hair died red....

and what is a post lately without a pic or two of the boys...

they are now sleeping together but at the rate that Talos is growing it wont last long...

Till later

Halloween?

2011-11-02T21:24:00.002+11:00

Halloweens not really done here but this year Regan dressed up for a party at Girl Guides....

and then joined up with her brother and the kids next door for a quick lap of the people we know in our area on Halloween night..... I was quite suprised that everyone they visited had lollies ready although only a few groups of kids ventured out.....

Last week Yr 5 at the kids school had to organise a day for charity with all sorts of stalls.... Regan dobbed me in for her cake stall.... all I can say is lucky Shane was working away that night ... he just doesn't understand how I can get the kitchen in such a state.....

After batch of toffees then batch of lamingtons etc etc we ended up with 72 toffees ( made in a small muffin pan with half a paddlepop stick put in just before they set) and ...

32 lamingtons....

the girls did really well and made $121 dollars for charity....

More pics of the dogs of course ... how cute are these two...

can you see it???? Talos has a heart on his arse...

It took about 30 goes to get these shots .. it's very hard to get behind a pup that wants to play and the camera keep focusing on the grass because his fur is so fluffy...

and lastly, I have scrapped again.... these are pics of the girls over for Regans b'day back in Jul

Till next time....

A bit of re-arranging

2011-10-24T14:51:00.000+11:00

We spent yesterday moving the yellow lounge from here.....

and then getting the purple ones from here...

and here...

and putting them here...

it gives us a bit more space and opens up the room heaps ....... lucky we were happy with it 'cause there was no way Shane was putting it all back....

only problem is now we have an empty room with a large unneeded lounge in it......

In other news the little fellow is growing - especially his ears and front legs...

he has had his first bath...

and has finally won over Koda..... they are now best buddies....

Till next time...

Welcome Talos

2011-10-15T19:55:00.002+11:00

Named after the Greek Titan Talos - a massive giant made of bronze that was given to Europe by Zeus to protect her and the isle of Crete...

Now I know what your saying - 'wasn't the last post about the loss of Todd, out with the old and in with the new'......it wasn't like that at all.. We have had our name down for a long hair, male, straight back german shepherd since we looked after Haydes but after Todd died Koda ( the coolie) was very lonely and bored.... We rang the breader and said we would take any puppy, boy, girl, long or short so she bumped us up a bit and offered us this cutey.. She thinks he will be a semi long coat like his gorgeous dad Simba (below)

School holidays are all over and we didn't get to do much with the kids this time so it was nice to take the drive to Wisemans Ferry to pick him up.... we went via Galston George driving past both of my grandarents old houses and bringing back quite a few good memories...

The shop where i work finally sold just before the holidays (hense no time off with the kids) Its sad to see the old bosses go, we also lost most of the staff - its only Carly and I left to train a new boss as well as 4 new staff - happy days are coming.......

Not to sure about the new clientele either

Shane and Regan have been hitting the gardens and they are looking so much better for it.....

The gardens that is not the family members...

The birds and bees certainly agree with me...

I am slowly - very slowly - getting into those old pics and scrapping them, no time frame decided on when I will be finished...... sometime this decade..

Till later ....

R.I.P Toddy Dog 1997 - 2011

2011-09-25T21:20:00.006+10:00

The flag was at half mast at the Yea household over the weekend as we remembered our fallen comrade.

Toddy has been Shane and my companion since he was 1 - years before we were married or had kids. We loved him dearly but unfortunately it was time and we had to put him down on Fri arvo. Shane bought him home and we buried him under his fav tree (below).

We have all loved his company over the last 13 years .....he was quite the disruptive pup which provoked us to getting Bark Busters in, after which he was the most beautiful, loving and wonderfully natured companion. We have called him the million dollar dog for a long time now because for a RSPCA rescue dog he has sure cost us some serious money at the vets.... He has been:

stabbed,
attacked by other dogs,
run over,
operated on for foreign objects in his intestines,
stuck in the eye by a black boy spike,
treated for snake bites and ticks,
medicated after putting his back out by hitting a shed,
operated on to remove cancerous lumps,
and well medicated to help with his arthritis,
but finally it was old age and a disease called geriatric vestibular ( affecting his balance and coordination) that got the better of him.

(when going through the photos i found some of him each year for three years wearing one of these buckets - it got to the point I could tell that he was actually embarrassed by them)

He had recovered mostly from the vestibular but he wasn't like he should be, often falling and tripping on his own feet, he was still happy but just going through the motions - he got up, went to his favourite blackboy and slept there until it was time for dinner ..... he wanted to run and play with Koda but couldn't quite be bothered and was still happy to see us when we came home, enough to wag his tail but not enough to bother getting up.

You were a truly fantastic dog, pet, friend, and companion
We love you buddy.....

My last post including netball - i promise...

2011-09-19T14:07:00.004+10:00

So we have our weekends back...... oh what to do???
The kids have had their presentations over the last two weekends. Aaron received a medalian for Hockey and Regans team won the U11 age group..... go girls!!!

finally she's jumping...

and since netball season was over we went and got Regans ears done again (she had them when she was 5 but let them close up)forgetting that she had a gala day in Newcastle the next day with school...oooops.... She had to leave at 5am so I taped them up and hoped for the best.. luckily they let her play and her mixed team ended up winning 7 out of 10 games....

On the way home on Sun we thought we might buy a lamp for Regans bed - forgetting how little space we actually had for the base we picked up one that looked to us like its stem was close to the edge of the base....

After a bit of swearing ... some major modification....

and a bit of squeezing...

here it is..... looks good eh...

I've done it again

2011-09-07T16:42:00.009+10:00

Busy, busy, busy.....I've been doing two jobs lately which I thought i could handle no probs but apparently I'm not super mum and other things have gone to the wayside. My second job finished on Tue and I'm feeling sooo relieved.... back to normality..

So again, in short...

There has been more netball - the U11 development team went to Port a couple of Sundays ago and came 2nd in 1st division - well done girls!!!

Aaron performed with his class in drama competition in which they won best play.... He was a limerick knight -for those of you that know aaron and how he speaks (he has dyspraxia) you will understand why it took me two days to work out what he was.

Shane and I popped down to Sydney so he could get some more work done on his tattoo and I spotted this cute thong heart...

The kids sung at the Rememberance Day ceremony

And went to the school disco dressed as Zac Power and Nancy Drew...

Check out Aaron showing the whole school his moves..

I managed to fill the house, not to mention the shed and garage with forms and boxes

The birds have been hanging around in the front garden....it must be spring

Talking of birds I took this photo of a Kookaburra - check him out - he's pooping, what are the chances??? Maybe I should send it to national geographic?

Shane 'pruned' the fruit trees.... leaving me two leaves on each tree...

The tickets are starting to accumilate to the end of winter sport functions...Ahhhhh to have out weekends back.

and I managed to do yet another scrap page.... at this rate (1 every 6 weeks) I should work through my photos by about, uh, 2025. This one is the monthly scrap challange over at Scrapsidaisy....I found it a bit hard as there were lots of flowers and i'm not known for florally LO's.

My life seems to be getting back on track and more organised so I should see you again soon.
Leah
PS: saying that our new boss starts on Tue?!!?

Six weeks!!!

2011-08-09T12:50:00.012+10:00

How did that happen, we've had a bit going on since my last post so in summary: (going from now to then)

It's been all about netball - with gala days and training sessions with the Swifts..

The above pic is of the schools mixed team...... soooo much fun watching the boys playing netball, they're all arms and speed, it frustrated Regan no end that they weren't playing like the girls..

And a little about hockey...

Regan had a birthday... apparently being 11 she is now a tween. No party but some friends over....

Regan went to Layla's PJ party at the Bowling Alley and came home looking gorgeous...

We repainted our bedroom...
From this

To this....

I had a birthday -

photo thanks to Aaron....

Mum and Dad were here for the whole school holidays... it was great to have them here to look after the kids but I didn't get much time off work so couldn't spend as much time with them as I would of liked.

We all spent the first weekend of the holidays camping at Point Plumer

And I did one... yes only one scrapbook page.

Thanks for sticking around to the end
Leah

It's been a bit wet around here....

2011-06-19T22:08:00.003+10:00

Even the young fella had to play Hockey in the rain on the long weekend.....

We sent Regan on a Girl Guide camp to a property in Waughope (sorry I know thats not how it is spelt) for the long weekend.... the girls did so well in the horrible conditions ... we spent all day Sat waiting for the phone call to say they were coming home but it didn't come till Sun night when they were evacuated.... they had to leave camp by foot and all their tents/ stretchers etc are still up there.... It was quite the adventure - 16 girls in tents cooking over open fires with pit toilets and only one bath.... they can now deal with anything....

While she was away we tried to surprise her by turning her bedroom from this...

to this......
we had told her she was going to get her room redone for her birthday but this was the only opportunity we would have to do it as a surprise

The colours are (I think) brilliant - Taubmans Kanimbla Blue for most of the walls and Sea Isle for the alcove around her bed.... she also got a new desk and bed in a gloss white .... very grown up...

and as for the latest on the dogs....

how could you not forgive this face.....

We had rung Steve last week and told him that we couldn't look after him as we were worried he would transfer his guinea pig obsession to the chooks ..... but after behaving himself sooo well all week and after much persuasion on mine and the kids part Shane has relented (it wasn't very hard - he's just as soft as me)and we made a last minute call to see if it wasn't too late to keep looking after him... He has promised to keep getting on with Koda and not to eat any other member of the family....

Say bye to Hades

2011-06-18T17:05:00.002+10:00

I'll leave it up to your imagination......

Say Hi to Hades

2011-06-05T21:58:00.004+10:00

What a good looking guy eh.... yes he is the latest edition to our clan, a beautiful, rather large pure bred (our first ever non mutt) German Shepard called Hades.... Hades being the Greek God of Death and he being so named because of his black face... He did belong to a mate of ours (he has also appeared here before) but unfortunately they have to move to the coast and can no longer look after him....

He is fitting in quite well so far ... Toddy knows he is the boss so isn't really bothered by him however Koda has a bit of small dog syndrome happening and is trying to show Hades who's in charge..... at the moment I think he might win... he is smaller and younger but as menacing as he looks Hades just wants someone to play with...

Other than that we have had a great week here in not so sunny Taree

- both Regans and Aarons choirs won their age group at the Eisteddfod and therefore they got to go in the major concert
- Regan was chosen (one of only four in the school) for a gifted and talented drama day being held in Wingham tomorrow
- Aaron was mentioned in the paper for great defence in last weeks Hockey day, and
- Regans photo was in the same paper for the choir

Aaron is getting better on the motorbike, his balance is nearly there and Shane is finding it harder and harder to keep up with him as he tears around the backyard.

How cute is my daughter, caught her last weekend catching up on her reading under 'her' tree in the backyard.... as gorgeous as it looks it didn't last long ... she's not one to stick to an activity for very long without getting bored.

and last but not least it was mum's b'day last week - or was that the week before.... anyway I sent her this card ... it's one I copied from one Kim Watson published in Creating Keepsakes.... but why wouldn't I, it's soooo cute...

Speeches, mud and love

2011-05-16T22:11:00.006+10:00

Regan and some of her friends entered the Taree Eisteddfod for Public Speaking on Sat... so very proud... she worked on her speech for weeks and did very well achieving a encouragement award ... it was all so close with only four points separating her from 1st place..

Mark and his boys popped in on Wed night on their way back home from Brissy, Their pop has given them this old Torana (god I hope that was what it was - sorry if I got the model/make wrong) and they were on a bit of a boys road trip - Great to see them all again....

Check out the muddy sink hole the kids managed to find down the back .... hours of entertainment with a good old mud fight...

I suppose it's way too late now but happy mothers day to all..... we had a great doing nothing day at home....

So which one do you think?

We think we've decided on the bottom one all round and then top right for the alcove around the bedhead..... Denise picked up these materials for her new quilt.... nice. There is a green and lemon set to go in there too.

and yeah I've finished off the LO for Aarons b'day

Til later Leah

Has it been that long again..

2011-05-08T21:22:00.004+10:00

I seem to be forever updating this thing.... one day I will catch up and stay there....

Soooo here we go...

The kids marched for Anzac day again this year.... so much to be thankful for.

Of course Easter was thrown in there as well, and this year we decided to dye our own eggs... how cute did they end up?

and on Easter Sunday we headed off to Sydney to see the Titans V Parramatta (both the kids teams so there was going to be tears either way) The Titans were winning all game, right up to the last 26 seconds when Parra converted a try to win.... the crowd was ecstatic - apparently it has been a long time between wins.

He's not actually cheering with them, he has his fingers in his ears.
Can you pick the odd one out?

Shane has spent countless hours in his shed turning it from this...

to this.... not a bad effort I think...

He even let me have the left over peg board ..... will now be finding lots of things to hang.... (for those of you that are looking at this picture and saying to yourself that you thought that the no walls or flooring thing was only temporary over two years ago .... I'm hearing you ... no point rushing into things... right?)

Check out what I found while playing around in my shed.... an unfinished project from 2007 that I had totally forgotten about... all my diary notes are still there along with the photos - guess I'll be trying to finish this in my spare time...

We finished off our holidays with a game of backyard cricket ...... pity we couldn't get rid of the obstacles....

Till next time......

Not all nail artists are the same....

2011-04-23T13:08:00.005+10:00

Regan got her nails painted by one of the cheap nail studios for chrissy and they did a fantastic job of these little trees so we thought we might go back for some easter designs. Unfortunantly the girls we used last time were closed so we went to the other studio.... and the result....

not quite as impressive.....

It has been raining here for god knows how long now and the backyard is full of these very large mushrooms....

Guess who finally got her gee/ ghi/ gi .... not sure how to spell it but none the less she is very proud of it...

We let the turtles out on the weekend while Shane cleaned the tank... Mac spent the whole time trying desperately to get outside ( I will have to build a cage for them outside, they are still pretty small and I'm scared a kookaburra will swoop and get them.)

While DT was happy just playing ball.

The kids also got into some puffy painting which I found on Susans blog here. Heaps of fun with a few basic ingredients.

and Ive completed some pages....

Have a great easter...

First Term

2011-04-16T14:40:00.006+10:00

I truely dont think it matters what school you go to, it's the teachers that make all the difference... Last year Aaron he had a few incidents with one of his mates which led to me requesting they be in different classes.... Of course due to one thing or another this didn't happen so I found myself going to his teacher on day two (just what she wanted i'm sure)...but wow, she has been great. I explained how although Aaron is very popular in class his 'physical difficulties' make him wary of joining the other kids on the playing field which leaves him and this other boy always together in the undercover area.
She has boosted his confidence 10 fold - due to her he is now playing cricket on the back field with a large group of boys... picking different people to be his buddies ... interacting with all the kids in his class and ... sticking up for himself where this other boy is concerned.. I am so very grateful to Mrs Young.
Not only has she looked at our social issues and tried her hardest to solve them but she is also doing so when it comes to Aarons speech....For the last few years I've been told all the great things the school was going to do for him, none of which have been forthcoming but this year at his IEP meeting (I went in all ready for a fight to get his funding actually used for his benifit) she had already spoken to his speech therapist, organised one on one time with a aide and was ready to speak to me about how much she is able to pick him up on his words in the classroom environment.
Term One has been sooooo rewarding for Aaron..

And as for Regan....... same deal goes, she has had a really popular teacher for the last two years but one that obviously wasn't a good fit with her. This year she has yet another male teacher that is ' firm but fair' (her words) and she is going along at full speed, she has gone from remedial spelling to the top group, is in the middle group of maths and has been scoring 10/10 for some of her speeches. She is happy with her friends, is able to speak up and let certain girls know when they are being 'bitchy' and hasn't come home upset once this year.
She also scored 10/10 for the Nazi report I mentioned in the last post after he asked her if she had got her info off the internet... Shane had to dig her drafts out of the trash so she could prove to him that it was all her own work.( not that her asked for proof, it was mainly for my benifit)

It is Naplan year for both of them this year and although I'm really not worried about the results both kids are very keen to try their hardest and Regan is ready to improve on her scores from yr three... It is very nice to have two kids interested in and happy to go to school.

Check out the latest modification to our outdoor area... We were sitting down the other weekend having a drink when it occurred to us that we have to bob up and down a bit to see out the backyard... no sooner was it said that Shane was armed with a jigsaw and cutting into our slats..... must admit makes for a excellent view.

Till later

Completely and utterly all by herself

2011-03-29T22:49:00.006+11:00

Yes thats right, normally I can't help myself and I have to help Regan with her homework, you know offer suggestions, maybe change a few words around or steer her down a different track but not this time. She had to write a page - not using any books - on what she knows about Hitler after she had been to a talk by a survivor of the hollocaust. And she came up with this all written out on Sun morning while I was having a sleep in. I'm sooo very proud, it's well written, truthful and it flows... .Yeah to Regan.

Sat was the start of the Netball season and we were straight into it with canteen duty at 8:30 on day one..... Regan is playing defence this year which is just right for her... she gives it her best in the circle but she is a tad too short... WD is just right...

Aaron even had a go on the motorbike on Sunday - these photos were taken before he managed to come off the quad and string himself up on the side fence ... we own 4 1/2 acres.. I have no idea what possesses him to ride so close the the fence.
Anyway he gave the motorbike a crack and was doing pretty well, unfortunantly with Aarons low tone etc comes a lack of balance as you can see in the last pic... slowly but surely

PS: Grandpop...since you did such a great job with Regan we've decided to let you teach Aaron on his pushy when you get here next...

We're doing up the patio at the moment and picked up this cute fire pot at Bunnings for $4 - got you one two Mum, let me know if you want more...

And of course last but not least ... I've been scrapping...

Regan in the van last Nov...

and the kids month by month 2010

Till later
Leah

This week, last week and the week before

2011-03-14T14:13:00.008+11:00

We spent a fantastic weekend in Armidale with the Moodies

We watched this incredible transformation...

Regan spent a lot of time in the front yard ... reading with Tara from next door..

and doing her homework...

We extracted lots of honey.....

Aaron had his b'day party at the pool....

and I did a couple of scrapbook pages...

and that was about it...
Thanks for stopping by....

Birthday Boy!!

2011-02-14T13:04:00.005+11:00

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

How quickly time goes.
Happy ninth b'day buddy....

Back to routine....

2011-02-09T21:19:00.005+11:00

Well sort of... the kids are back at school and the work routine is back to normal... just waiting now to find out what days the kids activities are on, this year Aaron is sticking to Hockey and Dance while Regan is doing Netball and Guides again but swaping Drama for Karate......

As with everywhere, it was bloody hot here last week.... Aaron was having trouble sleeping.....

and we even had to bring Toddy inside.... he hates being in the house but he doesn't cope well with the heat anymore and I thought we might loose him .....he sat there all day Saturday looking out but knew what was good for him and didn't try to leave..

and what happens when your aircon refuses to work?????....

the new one is on its way....

We took Koda to the beach for the first time last weekend.... check out that tongue.... He has always had trouble with water, wont be washed without a struggle and is scared of the hose.... the beach is no exception... he didn't mind being wet once he got in there but there was no way he was getting wet on his own.... baby steps I suppose...

The solar pannels are on and were connected on Mon - just two days after the last reading.... it's going to be very interesting to see what our bill will be and exactly how long it will take to pay for itself.... even though there seems to be pannels everywhere you cant see any of them from the street...

how beautiful are these.... I bought them at Shop Handmade while I was in Canberra (they are made by Brenda, check out her fantastic handmade stuff here) one was for me and the other a gift to go with the Thanks card in the last post but I'm having trouble saying bye to one.... when I decide which one I like best I'll post the other off...

and lastly.. mum wanted an unconventional wedding card for some friends getting married soon... I later added their initials above the 'true'...

Till later...

Happy Australia Day!!!!!

2011-01-27T21:12:00.009+11:00

(for yesterday)

We spent ours down at the river with my bosses and a few of their friends, despite the hot day it was really pleasant under the trees .... unfortunantly Shane had to work so it was just me and the kids ..... it was their first time swimming in the river and their first on the donuts ..... they had a ball.

now I've got to add speed boat to my list of wants...

Love the war paint ..... nothing like a waterfight on a hot day...

We got the turtles out last weekend for a bit of a wander around... DT hasn't been out on the tiles before and was a bit skittish, but very cute.... the've grown up quite a bit but still seem pretty tiny when you see them on the floor...

It's my neices b'day next month so I've made her a card from me and one from mum ...

This one is for one of my friends I stayed with over our Chrissy holidays..

Till later...

We Made It!

2011-01-18T18:13:00.014+11:00

Three weeks and 6000 km later we're back home and totally in love with our van.
( go get a cuppa, it's a long post)

Day 1
Left Taree on the way to Dubbo very slowly and carefully and, thankfully against the traffic....

Day 2
Dubbo Zoo ... highly recomend it, we stayed all day and had a ball...

a few of our favourites...

Day 3
The first of our long stretches of nothing ....

through Cobar and our first night on the side of the road ... 122 Km outside of Broken Hill...

Day 4
Spent the morning site seeing in Broken Hill then off to a whole lot of nothing again...

Hot all the way through SA, we hit 45 deg in Port Agusta and this was taken in Whyalla , stinking hot and no way possible to sleep in the van... we made the decision to have some dinner and head on through to Coffin Bay.... Shane drove for 12hours straight and we got to mum and dad just after 11pm

Day 5 - 11
Grandma and Grandpops place.... where there was lots of fishing, beaches, pippi hunting and boating...

The eyepatch is a long story ... suffice to say Aaron shouldn't throw wet sand and then rub his eyes... it's made from toilet paper and a ocky strap...

Aarons showing us the baby fish that was still in the flatheads mouth ... lovely

we also had lots of fairy gardens, sand dune climbing and kite flying.....

Thanks heaps for a great week...

Day 12 and 13
Back from Coffin Bay to Canberra via Hay .... nothing there to see...

a bit of false advertising - there was no way any of the trees were big enough to offer shade...

The Murray is looking beautiful and very full...

The first of our two nights on the side of the road, the other one was spent behind a gravel dump (for lack of anywhere else to stay) it, again, was stinking hot and I ended up sleeping on the floor of the van with a wet towel over me... Aaron faired worse however he must of slept up against the fly wire and got bitten (through it) hundreds of times by the huge amount of mossies that terrorised us all night....

Day 14 - 16

In Canberra ... Spent the first night at an old friends place ( we arrived early and couldn't get into the caravan park) and then the next two at the Park...
Shelly and her girls joined us at the Museum, then over the next couple of days we hit the War Memorial, Parliament House, The Mint and Questacon... all of which were fantastic... It's been years since I've been to the Memorial, it really is a must, could of spent a whole day there...

We spent our last night as Shelly and Andrews dinner guests ... Regan and Katelyn have known each other since birth but only see each other every few years, all four kids got on great together...

Day 17 - 19
Headed over to Batemans Bay to catch up with Oves at work then up to Basin View for a couple of relaxing days with old friends that we don't see anywhere often enough...

as you can see we had to do a few modifications to shoehorn the old girl in.... I honestly thought a few more beers would of been injested before they took the tin snips to the guttering but obviously not....

Swimming at Hymes beach, a bit overcast but the water was just perfect...

I managed to get in a quick trip to Berry and Coolangatta winery (where Shane and I were married) before we headed home .....
I must say that the scenery between Nowra and Woolongong is the best you'll ever find, I remember passing it while on the Ship and thinking the same from the sea....
Maybe we should move again?

Day 20

Home to very happy dogs and very long grass.....uhhhhhhhh

AND OF COURSE BEFORE ALL THAT WAS CHRISTMAS

I'm a bit over typing and the pics speak for themselves.... needless to say we had yet another great Yea family Chrissy...

Thanks for sticking around till the end......

Christmas is apon us..

2010-12-20T15:06:00.012+11:00

so just incase I don't get back again before we head off

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL....

Check out my gorgeous chrissy elf...
and this little guy is Jeff... the latest edition to our hutch

Last mon/tue Shane and I went to Sydney with Jamie and Trish to see U2... words cannot explain how incredible it was ... the sound... the stage .... the atmosphere... The mobile phone pic dosent do it justice but check out the size of the stage and screen.

Did a bit of chrissy shopping before the concert and headed over to manly on Tue so Shane could get the next installment on his arm.... all looking a bit sore and bruised here...

and not to be left out I decided to get one too... not quite to Shanes standard but definently enough for me ... anyone who says they don't hurt are lying!!?! How Shane can sit there for 4 hours while Ryan 'cut' into him is beyond me.... I have a new respect for all those heavily tattooed people out there....

I managed to get today off ... so while I've cleaned the kids have spent the day doing science experiments ... lots of water, string, pepper, cans and washing detergent has been sacrificed today....

Slowly catching up on the scrapbooking ... only about 30 layouts to go ... oh and that won't include all the chrissy and holiday shots I'm about to take ... oh well...

Seeing Red

2010-12-12T20:56:00.010+11:00

We decided that Regan could have these red foils put in as a bit of Chrissy Cheer and doesn't she love them.... so very grown up ... never fear her father has made it clear that when it's time for school next year they will be changed back to brown.

We took the van on its maiden voyage last weekend... all went well... nothing fell off... we even got our first ever wave from another caravan (made us all laugh)... didn't we feel the part... it was very funny checking out the line up we managed to get behind us on the single lane highways.....

We went to Hat Head... the weather wasn't great, but it didn't rain and we all got to swim both days...

Till later

So very proud

2010-12-10T20:25:00.007+11:00

Check out that smile ..... Aaron got his teachers award (everyone gets one) for giving 110% each and every day... and ... received the Encouragement Award for the class.....Well done buddy ... For those that know Aaron you know that this is a huge achievement.

Regan did great as well (pitty my photos weren't so good).. her teachers award was for always asking questions (funny that) in a polite and courteous way.... My boss and I both have kids at the same school so as soon as Regans class was over I headed back to work so she could come and watch her son in year 6 .... however by doing this I missed her getting the Library Award (only 4 given out in the school)..... yes an award for both of them... go kids .....

Yes I'm aware it's December and although I'm not quite organised with the new wreath or the cards I have managed to get the kids to do their Santa letters... and for Christmas this year we want.....

Back soon...

Teachers Pressys

2010-12-06T21:30:00.008+11:00

Did much better with the teachers pressies this year (really needed to redeem myself after last years efforts). Am absolutely loving here at the moment....

bought these for Aarons teachers...
(it has a cute apple stamp under it)

and these for Regans.....

This for Nan...

and this for me....

and yes something for you to grandma but you'll have to wait till Chrissy to see what it is.....

Long Flat Pub Run

2010-12-02T19:40:00.010+11:00

What a great weekend....

two days away with good friends and lots of fun ... over 600 bikes, two bands, heaps of campers and just a few drinks....the guys thought I was a bit weird taking pics from the back of the bike, but how cool do they look?

Do you remember Tommy??? He was the tiny little Joey we rescued last chrissy..

Well he's all grown up now and making friends throughout the neighbourhood... he loves to come over just on dusk and tease Koda by bouncing around on the other side of the fence..

My beekeepers are multiplying .... apparently you need to 'restock your queens' - who would of known - so this is Shane and Ray looking throught the boxes trying to find the one queen in a swarm... yep ... it took a few hours ...

and how sad is this ... only one layout to show you ... I think im averaging about one a month ... time is just flying by at the moment best I start to get organised.

Thanks for popping by
Leah

Ta Daa......

2010-11-15T12:23:00.011+11:00

She's finished and ready to go...... Heading to Cresent Head next weekend for the maiden voyage.

Pretty impressive concidering it started off like this...

My gosh, i've even managed to finish a LO.....

How cute is this, Koda's reminder notice from the vets..

The Wedding

2010-11-04T15:00:00.014+11:00

Jaimie (my brother in law) and Trish got married on the weekend in a small ceremony at Wingham. We had nice weather (which is a plus at the moment) and a really good time.....

Allan, Shane and Jaimie - all brothers ....... Trish, Donna, Noelene - all sisters.

The happy couple...

All the grandkids - mine in front, the three girls to the left are Jaimies, the two at the back are Karens (Shanes sister) and the other two belong to Allan...

The girls...

The boys....

Mine....

Shane and Aaron

Shane and Me

My favourite photo of the day...

Shane the next morning....

as a wedding pressy I made all the invites, placesettings, thankyous etc...

The official pics come back in a couple of weeks, because it was such a small wedding - just both familys - the photographer was nice enough to take family potraits of us all and a pic of the whole Yea family ..... can't wait to check them out....

Till later

Birds and Bees

2010-10-25T21:55:00.012+11:00

I don't know what these guys were looking for but for about an hour they and a few of their friends were hanging around in my front hedge, they didn't even seem to care that I was there and definently weren't leaving when I came out.

.... Shane had his first big check of the bees last weekend... we now have two hives as the first one swarmed and we collected the swarm for a new hive.... not long now until we can get (and share) our own yummy honey.

Going backwards

2010-10-12T22:06:00.017+11:00

Feeling a little like I'm doing this post backwards, sooo we shall start before the holidays and then end up now .... (I don't think that makes sense but anyway...)

We spent the week before the school holidays at Royal Far West.... Aaron did sooooo well, his physio was non committal as usual but his OT was mightily impressed by his improvement and is hoping to discharge him next time .... the kids were both given reading assessments and we met a great speech therapist.... the pead wants him to see a psych about what she believes might be a slight anxiety disorder ... but we already were thinking along those lines .... so in all ... four days well spent and hopefully only one more trip down.
While we were there though, of course the kids spent every morning at the beach ... it was three surfers in wetsuits and our two kids ... feeling no cold at all.

We did a bit of wedding outfit shopping and Shane got the outline to the bottom half of his sleeve tattooed. I'd still like to get one myself but judging by this it's not something we can both afford to be doing...

After returning from RFW on the Thur we packed Regan off again on another Girl guide camp.... I had to have her in Port Maquarie by 6:30 sun morning and I didn't pick her up until Wed arvo... They went inland of Coffs Harbour and had a ball - apparently not missing us one bit ... wish I took a pic of her on return - not looking so chipper anymore ... she slept in until 8:30 Thur morning and trust me that's a record for her...

The rest of the holidays went along as normal .... I didn't have much time off work because of the week in Syd so the kids did a bit of a rotation between Nans and Vacation Care... I did manage to get last Thur off and low and behold it wasn't a bad day so I threw the kids and their best mates in the car and went to Saltwater ... I'm not overly keen on taking other peoples kids to the beach so we went to the lagoon ... it was great ... water was beautiful and not to deep ... we ended up staying for about 4 hours and I even managed to return all children with no sunburn ....not too bad considering I had my two whities and two redheads..

Shane managed to tape up the van and change it from grotty old white...

to grey undercoat....

and then to speckled?????

Not really aloud to talk about that much ... he had a bit of an issue with his paint gun and needed to bring in the heavy artillery, he had to borrow the huge compressor from Dads ... anyway its all fixed now and looking mighty dapper (can't say the same for Shane's shed - there is paint splattered from the ceiling, down the roller doors and all over the floor - you can imagine the language) ... when it finally gets released into the sunlight and gets it's new stickers I'll take another pic..

And that's about it.... back to normal this week with everyone back to work and school ... only 9 more weeks till the next holidays ....

Not finding much time at the moment to get into the craft room ... it really needs a good clean before I try to produce anything but through the mess I've done these in the last couple of weeks....

I even found Aarons school photos and realised I hadn't scraped them yet..

Till later...

Introducing this years u10 Runners Up

2010-09-18T20:57:00.017+10:00

In close huddle before the game .....

They played a gallant game against a team that had them if not in ability, definently in size....

All the girls played soooo well it was a credit to them and the coach....
Well done CJ Netstars.

Life has been travelling along as normal ..... here's a few shots of the past week..

How busy are these guys ... 20 ducklings and counting

It was science week again and the kids got into the spirit..

Shane cleaned out the bees for the first time so he could put all the proper stuff in the boxes( I'm sure there are technical terms for that) The kids loved the taste of real honey .... can't wait for the first clean batch....

I bought this poster not long ago from one of the designers at canberra handmade market and had it framed...... love the easy to follow rules to live by...

He scored .!!!....

2010-08-31T21:52:00.007+10:00

and of course i didn't get a photo....

Well hockey season is over again for another year ... and it seemed another year would go past without Aaron reaching that all important milestone of scoring ... but .....for the last game of the round robin gala day their game didn't seem to have a field so we decided to play on a spare full field ( the game is so much better when they can spread out) ..... Aaron got close on a few occasions and finally he scored!!!!! .... our side went wild, i'm not sure what the other side thought but this was a really big deal for Aaron and his own confidence in his ability ... it's been hard for him to keep up with the pack although he is getting better game by game and this was just the icing on the cake ....
Go Aaron Go.

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging around with dad in the garden and feeling pretty good with himself.

The latest weekly challenge over at Scrapsidaisy was 'a List' be it likes, dislikes,places you've been, things you do ... anything really so I chose to do a LO on the things I get soo very sick of saying...
here 'tis..

and finally, i've managed to do a LO for Regans 10th b'day ...

Till later....

In point form....

2010-08-17T21:55:00.015+10:00

It's been a while since I've blogged.... so, in point form....

these guys came to our place .... I assume on their way to somewhere else.

but Shane decided that we should keep them (yes I'm aware its not normal for the average family to have bee keeping 'stuff'... but there is nothing normal about the Yea family). After some very amusing ( on my part) bee catching (on Shanes part) and only a few stings they are now happily living in the backyard and hopefully making lots of yummy honey..

Regan and her team had their Taree and districts gala day ....

in which they came second to Hallidays Point.

Well done girls

The weekend before I packed her off for a very cold sleep over at the Zoo with 1200 other Girl Guides ... they had to catch the train down and carry all their own gear.. they returned at 9:30pm the following day very very tired girls...

she had an amazing time which she will remember forever. (She took some great pics on her camera and if I can ever get them from there to my computer I will share them with you)

Still on Regan... the two of us spend National Tree Day planting trees on the riverband ... a very pleasant day.

Fun in the backyard....

and yes I even managed to fit in some scrapbooking ... last weeks challange at Scrapsidaisy ... given by Julieann was a sports theme so I revisited Aarons pics at the Titans game....

Till later...

My beautiful girl is 10!!!

2010-07-26T13:59:00.019+10:00

How did she get from this....

To this ....

She had a great birthday and party .....17 of her closest ......I'm glad we only do this every few years. I took her to see this....

on her actual b'day, she has seen the other two but this was the first one in a cinema .... she felt very grown up.......

Like always I did the cake .... and like always it wasn't as easy as i anticipated.....

to start with I had to cook the cakes in the caravan because my oven is allergic to them.....

so far so good until I realised I will need much more blue icing.....

but hey check it out.....

I had to get Shane to help me roll it out cause I didn't have the upper body strength for that much icing.... I measured the cake up across and down and told Shane I needed a 42cm circle .... that he achieved .....I have no idea how .... but it was when he was lifting it onto the cake that we realised that you can't cover a cylinder with a circle ....... I hate decorating cakes!!!!...... so a circle for the top and a rectangle for around the sides .... lots of beautiful coloured spot and balls and it was done... (please ignore all the other mess in the kitchen ... i get a bit carried away when it comes to parties)
The colours were great ( to match her invites and party favours) and achieved with gel dies.... Tip 1. don't try to colour ready to roll icing with cheap colouring ... it wont work...

till next time...

I'm 40!!!!

2010-07-18T14:38:00.011+10:00

well 40 and two days.....
no great epiphanies however , life is progressing along like always....

Thanks mum... these are the beads I decided on...

Thanks Denise ... love my new quilt .... now I really need to get some new pillow slips ......

and thanks me .... this is my new bag I picked up

Here....

Yep Shane and I nicked down to Melbourne for a few days early last week .... had an absolute ball ..... really enjoyed the city ..... did some great shopping .... everything I wanted (I went down with a list) and no rubbish I didn't..... and ate the most incredible food including these....

It took us hours to find the shop .... very small and right at the end of the city .... but was very worthwhile .... even the price tag didn't worry us ......absolutely beautiful even had Shane talking like he was a judge on Masterchef.....

Also got some diamond earrings from the family.... might post a pic later ..... all in all very spoilt and appreciative .... what a great way to turn 40.....

Can you believe it???

2010-07-02T16:43:00.020+10:00

My darling daughter returned from her sports carnival with a third ribbon .... yeah!!! for anyone who knows Regan you know that she is not the most athletic.(check out the photos at Forster further on) She tries extra hard at all she does and was much disappointed when she realised that this year she would be running in the non competitive races (this came about after last year when the whole school waited patiently for her to finish the 800 mtr).... anyway ..... this year she managed to miss her scheduled race - no I don't know how - and ended up running in a bit of a combined ages and skills race towards the end of the 100mtrs ... and she came THIRD ...love her work...

The weather here - like everywhere has been freezing - Wed was the biggest frost I've seen since moving to Taree... this little guy was trying to stay out of the cold on the windowsill of the shed ... he later ended up under my car..

The kids had a pupil free day on Mon and I managed to score a day off as well so we headed down to Forster to do a bit of shopping, picnic lunch and to see this....

We all really enjoyed it. It was on at home but only in 3D and I wasn't sure if we could sit through a whole movie with those glasses on .... anyone else tried it with small kids???

My athlete...

We got Regan a new stamp album while there and now nearly a week later I still have stamps in little containers all over my house.... I think they're multiplying

Let there be more light....
I'm on a bit of a run now, this room needed a bit more furniture so we purchased this table and lamp...

story about the lamp.... told Shane I was going to get a shade for an old base we had at home but fell in love with this one .... bought it .... put it behind my seat in the car and drove to parent teacher interviews ..... met Shane there and he drove home ... he got in the car and immediately shoved his chair back!!!! Crack .... forgot to tell him I'd bought it let alone had it behind the seat .... we managed to get most the bends out of it and put it up .... Shane says 'I don't know if I like it' .... too late now it's not as if I can return it ...........

Guess who's ten ... well not yet but the invites are out... Blue, Green, Purple and polka dots are the theme ..
and I've even done some scrapbooking for Scrapsidaisy .... this one is last weeks challenge over at the forum .... never to late to join in ..

and these two are from this months design team goodies .... I found the colours really hard to work with but am pretty happy with the results.

Bye for now..

Let there be light...

2010-06-21T17:31:00.009+10:00

Shane spent Sun putting in a new light over the dining table.... I'm very much liking it .... we had moved the table a few months ago but it wasn't untill about two weeks ago when Shane and I sat in the kids seats that we realised that they ate in shaddows every night (the down light sits behind them)so we decided that we needed one over the table..... it has three globes all at 60w so is sending out soo much light at the moment that our neighbour commented on it.... maybe some 40w globes are called for.....

Talking about neighbours ... this is Tommy... if you remember around Chrissy we rescued a baby joey that Sue across the road was going to look after.... well 6 months later he's all grown up... he still lives with Sue but is free to roam around the neighbourhood and often heads over here when he notices Shane in the shed ... he comes when you call him but is not fond of being patted and when Sue turns on her porch light he heads back home ..... verrrry cute.

and these guys have just moved into the back paddock ... the kids are enjoying it but its costing me a fortune in apples ....

Weather is weird at the moment one day in full winter gear and the next we're in T-shirts....

A fair bit of scrapbooking going on at the moment but only a few to share ..... Last weeks challange over at the Scrapsidaisy was butterflys and flowers and this is what I came up with.... had been wanting to use this paper for ever but still not sure if I did it well ... anyway go over to the gallery and check out what the other girls came up with....

and just another quick card useing my favourite Kaiser paper for my bosses mum who is in hospital at the moment ...

Till Later...

5..4..3..2..1

2010-05-31T15:43:00.012+10:00

This weeks challange over at Scrapsidaisy is a 5.4.3.2.1... 5 buttons, 4 stars, 3 pp, 2 photos, and 1 ribbon.... I had fun coming up with this one of our good friends the Moody's.

A very wet Saturday here followed by the most beautiful winters Sunday last weekend, all sport was cancelled except of course the hockey... Aaron didn't have to play because he was meant to be on the grass fields but I had to go for canteen duty. Those poor kids on the astro turf.... some seemed to be having heaps of fun but for those that wern't enjoying it ..... they really wern't enjoying it!!

And while we were away the Cockatoos came in and did this to one of my orange trees.... which came off pretty good compared to my poor capsicum plant.... better be getting that netting up.

The kids spent a pretty quiet weekend at home... Regan is trying for the longest finger knitting strand and stayed in her PJ's all day Sunday.... Aaron managed to get dressed Sunday because he had to go out on the Play Station and fight superheros .... and as everyone knows you can't fight superheros in your Jamis....

For this months design team Leisa gave me a couple of the new Kaiser papers to play with ... I couldn't of matched the Anzac day photos up better if I tried, and the other is an old photo of Aaron I've had scrapped but sitting in my tray because it just wasn't right... anyway I teared it apart and reused it on this LO... much better.

and last but not least, the card I made for mums b'day.... her friend was with her this year when she opened it and thought it very strange that I didn't attach the written on paper inside the card. She had to then explain that I never do and that she reuses the cards (no point them sitting around gathering dust).... mental note for mum .. don't give that card to Helen!!

Still scared .....

2010-05-17T21:42:00.019+10:00

I was pulled over by one of these on Sat on the way back from Hockey... now I know I wasn't going really fast but yes maybe a few KM over the limit..... all I could think of is god dam Shane is not going to be happy if I come home with a speeding fine.... anyway ... he gave me a strange look ... asked if the car was registered in my name (please let my new buzz box not be stolen) then where had I come from... and then he asked me
" Do you have anyone in your boot?"
What!!!! He actually looked a bit embarrassed and didn't bother checking but had been told my car had been seen loading up with teenagers...
Never the less he sent me on my way and didn't even say anything about my speed.... I don't understand how "the young people of today" -(how old do I sound?) have no respect for the police - they still send shivers down my spine while I wonder what it is I've done wrong.

Did you realise that you could train your tongue??? Regan has been practicing ever since she realised that Aaron could twist his upside down... and now she too can do it.... Aaron not to be outdone has informed her that he can turn his both to the left and the right which she just can't seem to master....
Keep practicing sweetie!!

Regan entered her first eisteddfod last week with her drama group and we are all just tickled pink with how well she did - especially her.
As a group they performed in the Dance Drama section with a piece from Cats - for this they came second..... and then they split into smaller groups to compete in the unscripted drama where they are given a topic, then 5 min to come up with a 2 min play....
Her group came 1st and I think she is still on cloud nine about it... It is great to see her achieve in something she loves and to find that thing that she is really good at.

We had a great mothers day at the football in Newcastle... Aaron, all dressed in his Titans gear seemed dwarfed in a sea of blue and red.. you've got to give it to the Knights supporters they are very vocal...... He had the best time.. the hat was thrown on the ground in disgust a few times and the popcorn in the ear was to drown out the roars of the crowd but it was a close game that the Titans ended up winning making him leave a very happy man.

Now on to the scrapbooking. The weekly challenges are still running over at Scrapsidaisy...
This week wasn't a sketch but instead a herritage page.... and here is the very first one I've ever done ... how beautiful are my Mum and Gran, Regan actually thought the bride was me, anyone who knows us will know that we look very alike...

and last weeks was a sketch which I used to scrap this years school photos....
Why don't you give them a go ... you'll find them here.

and mum needed a few cards to hand out so I made her these....

Till later..

Weekly challenge and....

2010-05-04T21:35:00.013+10:00

Here's my take on this weeks challange over at Scrapsidaisy .... I turned it into a double and finally scrapped the Luna Park pics.....

These next couple are from last months design team pack (available at the shop)... and I got to use my new cuttlebug alphabets....

The kids marched for Anzac day again this year ... Regan for the Guides and Aaron with school .... it was a great morning with a good turnout and the rain held off until just before the end of the National Anthem ... which would of been fine but the guides always help to pack up the chairs at the end of the ceremony so.... it was three very wet people returning home.... I'm always a bit emotional during the march but this year was worse than normal .... I had a lovely lady next to me telling all the marchers how proud she was of them ... I swear each time she said it I had to reach for another tissue... I too am very proud of all our service personnel both past and present.

The weekend was full of normal things... hockey ... netball... friends etc . Shane is still going with the van ... not long now until he can start putting things back in again ...

These guys are just getting cuter and cuter ... we have turned on the heat lamp again in the colder weather and they love to back their little butts up to the heat and dry themselves out ..

Shanes been away all week ... the kids and I had monday off so we hung out in town ... checked out Regans new bike ... played 10 pin (Regan won... did you know it was possible to bounce the ball off the bumpers a total of 4 times and still get a strike!)and tried to take some pics for Nan for mothers day....

Till later ....

Weekly Challenge

2010-04-26T08:02:00.006+10:00

Check out the weekly challenge over at the Scrapsidaisy forum... There will be a new one there every Friday to get your scrapping mojo going for the weekend.... Here's my take on it...

You wouldn't believe it ....

2010-04-20T16:20:00.002+10:00

Guess who just came home missing another tooth?
Guess who managed to arrive home with said tooth?
Guess who's mum insisted on a photo because she had just been blogging about his last tooth?
Guess who obliged his mother and walked over to the shade for said photo?
And guess what happened?

Yes he dropped the tooth in the grass
No we couldn't find it
Yes I did exactly the same as yesterday (that drawer has never been so useful)
No he didn't notice it was a front tooth

And yes all is good in the Yea household tonight.....

Forever backdating

2010-04-20T14:33:00.002+10:00

I'm not doing a very good job at keeping this blog up to date, for the last couple of posts I seem to be telling you what I did last weekend or the one before that..... I apologise for that but I actually have some up to date news today ....

Aaron lost one of his teeth at school yesterday and then he actually lost it ... search as we might it was not to be found .. I am not a sentimental person, I don't have my wedding cards or those given to me at the birth of my kids, I have no teenage memory box or childs first curl, but what I do have to my surprise is a few loose teeth at the bottom of my undies drawer.... so to advert the inevitable panic I was able to grab an old one from my stash (not a true match, but he didn't seem to notice) and pretend that I found it in the bottom of his bag...
All was well in the Yea household last night..

Now of course on to the events of late.... Our great friends the Moodys came down to spend a glorious, relaxing weekend with us ..... all the kids get on well as do the adults... We spent many hours at the riverbank as well as giving their kids their first ride on a motorbike. I really liked this picture so had it blown up quite large and sent it off to them ..... hope they like it.

How glorious is this sunset.... one day I will learn how to properly use my camera in the manual mode so I can get better photos when something like this presents itself... Maybe a new years resolution ... don't laugh it will be here before you know it..

And as for scrapbooking ....

(sorry about the horrible photo)

and lots of little bugs made for a embellishment swap over at the Scrapsidaisy forum

Happy (belated) Easter ......

2010-04-05T22:01:00.015+10:00

We had a great long weekend filled with down time, caravan maintenance, family and chocolate.... hope yours was good as well.....

If you can't quite tell from the photo Regans hat is a giant papier mache Easter egg which actually looked remarkably real and Aaron has gone with the ever so popular paper ears ( this year all the hats had to be made from recycled goods)

Aaron was very much into Easter this year and even decided to write his own Easter story ....... (hole was the only word he needed help spelling)

We also spent some time on the bikes and Aaron got on the motorbike for the very first time .... two days running ...

nothing like a pair of girly socks on a motorbike ... you've still got to look good..

and to top off a great weekend there's nothing like a few blackened marshmallows by a bonfire ..

and now into the files of the weird things my kids can do ......
Aaron can turn his tongue all the way around both left and right ....

and to Regans great delight ,.;... she can do this ...

how delightful are they ..... this is how they felt after Shane and I wouldn't let them go on the rides at the Powerboats last weekend....

These are the girls I work with ... the new bosses have taken the van off the road so it was Amanda's last day on (unfortunately) Apr 1st .... as much as she annoyed us all with her demands for this and that (due to her short timespan in the shop to reload and get back out on the road) she will be sorely missed. ..

And as for scrapbooking .... The following Lo is one I've done for this months design team at Scrapsidaisy ..... I'm not normally a pastel girl but the new Easter papers really suited this photo ( which was taken in a car with a mobile phone)

and going to my backlog of photos I've finished my first LO of our newest members .... Mack and Dark Turtle .....

and a card I made for my Niece whos b'day I was a tad late for....

Till next time....

Catch Up......

2010-03-22T15:52:00.010+11:00

Regan is all grown up.... this is a picky of her coming home from her maiden voyage around the block on her bike ..alone.. It's a couple of weeks old now and weve only had a couple of minor scares .... mainly to do with the fact that she has no sence of time and tends to stay out way longer than I think is necessary .... and a few days ago she went out on her brothers bike and managed to come off because she had got her shoelace tied up in the chain.... luckily a friend of mine saw her on the side of the road and untangled the mess before sending her home... I have a 45min timeframe on her before I start looking and since she came off only 5 min away from home she might of been waiting a while....

The boys toys

Weekend before last we were meant to go up to Dorigo on the bikes and meet up with Shanes brother and his mates from Gooniwindi ...they rang the Thur to tell us that it had flooded near them and that they couldn't get the bikes off their properties.... but we set off regardless ... it was a little overcast when we left ..... raining at Kranback ...... and absolutely pouring at Gloucester ( so much so that the rain was hurting my legs) ..... we rang friends in Armidale who said it was sleeting and the pub in Dorigo who let us know that it had been raining there for three days ... we had lunch and a drink at the pub .... debated staying there for the weekend and then much to our discuss we decided to turn back home and send the following to the Goondiwindi clan (all of which ride Harleys and Triumphs)

Last Wed was our P&F AGM and for many reasons not worth listing here I resigned as president after two years .... it was a hard decision but definantly the right one .... anyway the school staff sent me these on friday....
how very nice of them....

The new little car "Mini Mit" has been delegated to the kids and I and now I only seem to get into the Pajero on the weekend .... so anyway the kids have decided that they will wash it for pocket money..... and as you can imagine...

They wouldn't let us help so I think they'll have to wash it every weekend and hopefully by the end of each month all bits of it would of been cleaned at least once.

And for the scrapbooking....

My folks were here at chrissy and I finally got around to scrapping the photos... sorry grandpop but I couldn't fit your 'grand' on the title....

and the Chrissy LO's just keep coming.... this is one I did for the March Challange over at the Scrapsidaisy Forum...

Till next time...

A photo a day???

2010-03-06T15:43:00.013+11:00

For years I've been watching others do their 365 day projects and they always seemed just that little to hard to commit to ... but this year I have decided to join in ..... so, I have decided to take a photo a day and enter it into a calendar over at shuttercal ... you can follow my pics over at the sidebar ....
this was day 1

Next time I might lash out and buy them a milk each .....

Now on the scrapbooking front...

The following are a couple of LO's and a card that I made from all the goodies in this months design team pack from Scrapsidaisy ... I really had fun with this lot and am very much liking the PEACE LO of Regan ... (how beautiful is my girl)....

and a card I made for Rhi at work ... poor girl just turned 21 and she is working with a bunch of 30+ women ..... she seems to be enjoying herself though and very much appreciated the Pandora bracelet we gave her ... now I bet she's wishing we'd hold up on all the motherly advise and all would be well .....

Of course it was Aarons B'day last month and I finally got around to doing his LO .... you would think that being a scrapper for so long I would make sure to take lots of great photos on such a monumental day but alas events happened before I noticed and these were the only decent photos I have ..... bring on birthday no. 9...

Those of you that know us know that Aaron has his 'ways' ... being very flexable is one of them ... he can do all sorts of weird things like touch the inside of his forearm with his thumb and can also sit like this .....
still makes me shiver sometimes ....

Till later ...

(Mum and Dad) I.O.U

2010-02-21T18:38:00.010+11:00

Shane and I thought that we would take a leaf out of Matt's book .....

.... and we bought you a new Lancer today.....

We have finally succumbed to the fact that we can no longer live with only one car ... Shane sometimes needs to leave work before the boys ... or it's a pain in the butt for them to pick him up ... the kids are getting older and seem to need to go to four different places at once ... and we hate the idea of the beautiful new Pajero sitting in the heat of my dirt carpark all day ... so in true Shane style off to Sydney we went today and picked up this little '98 Lancer with only 78000 Km on it.... Thanks guys we appreciate the loan....

Our other big news for the last week (and should of probably got top billing) was that Aaron turned 8.... yes 8.... how on earth did that happen ....
No party this year but plenty of cake and dinner at the local pizza restaurant....

I also took two of his mates for icecream and a play at the riverbank

and all on his own, he has decided to learn to ride without his training wheels ... his balance is a bit off and his legs started to hurt quite quickly but if we give him time I'm sure he will want to go for another try soon...

Regan had her swimming carnival as well....

I love her attitude towards sport and anything competitive ... she's very much like her mum "jack of all trades .... master of none" ... she entered competitive in all strokes (except butterfly) and came last in all races ..... she would of liked to of done better but was just happy to be giving it a go .....lots of her friends didn't attempt any races at all and those that did were mostly swim squad kids ... once she realised that the last time she actually swam 50mtrs was last years carnival she felt much better....now I've just got to work out when we can fit swim squad in!!???

PS: for all those of you that aren't my parents we didn't really take their money its just an inhouse joke.

Thanks for stopping by
Leah

Play

2010-02-07T22:16:00.002+11:00

Don't you just love it when they play nicely together all day....

Whats in a word.....

2010-02-06T13:51:00.006+11:00

Ali E is doing her word of the year again so I got a little bit inspired and thought I'd pick one myself..... I did a little bit of cheating and checked out some others words and I must admit they are all quite thought out and inspirational ..... how about these...
Intention
Possibility
Story
Journey
Hope
Calm (this one I could use)
Vitality
Nurture
Reach
and the list goes on... however none of these seemed quite me... I was going to rip of a well known sports brand and go with

Just Do It

until Regan pointed out that that was in fact three words (smarty pants) so after more deliberation I came up with....

I have a terrible habit of putting off little things till later .... till tomorrow ..... till next Tue ....... or I might make a list of all the things I have to do and put it up for perusal later .... and in the end all those 'little things' that would only take a moment to do are put off until the very last moment .... you know the type of jobs I'm talking about

making that acceptance phone call

filling in those forms from school

getting to all those non washing things that have been in the bottom of the basket for months

putting all my stuff on EBay

finding a home for the kids 2009 school books

So there you go .... my word for 2010 is NOW

Just Do It NOW

PS: (did you notice that I had put off making this post till Feb LOL)

PPS: if you are interested you can find beautiful "one word" necklaces here .... Lisa is the lady who designed my chrissy pressy necklace..

Just Scrapping

2010-02-02T21:29:00.006+11:00

I picked up my new design team kit from Scrapsidaisy last week and am finding this one just as challanging as the last.... so I suppose I should show you what I did with last months one.....

these two are both now available from Scrapsidaisy as kits....

and this one was just for fun out of the leftovers

last but not least a card I made for one of my workmates who lost her mother last week.....

be back soon with some family news....

Apologies are due

2010-01-24T12:52:00.011+11:00

A few posts back I showed my hesitation on whether we would have any fresh vegis this year ... so here it is... I apologise to Shane for my lack of belief that he would get the time or the inclination to start up the patch again.... I would like to report that we are already eating our own lettuce, tomatoes, spinach and cucumbers..... yum.

Why is it up to Shane I hear you ask? as much as I love to enjoy our gardens and vegis the thought of hanging out, planting, digging etc really holds no interest to me at all ... the closest I've ever come to gardening (besides picking out the plants for Shane to slave over) is the occasional trim of the front hedge....

And here it is .......

the cubby all painted and finished ... even adorned with pirate and flower stickers - there's not much out there non gender wise..... I'm not sure how long they will last as they are actually indoor decals and probably won't enjoy the heat or morning dew...

the kids did well doing one coat each and painting the doors and windows but when it came to the fiddly stuff poor Shane was left there all alone.....

Now lets just see if they play in it...

Just thought I'd share another photo of the boys, they're getting more adventurous and are even starting to hang out together...

The following page was done at the Scrapsidaisy Round up last weekend and was a class held by Debbie Kingston.... how clever and patient is she....the ripped border took a lot of time and measuring but I think the overall effect is great .... not sure when I'll try it again ?.??

The following two pages are the kids calender shots for 09 ... aren't they gorgeous .... they are actually both done on the same cardstock ... not sure how the photos (taken one after another) managed to be so different colour wise..

Till later...

Check out our new family additions

2010-01-15T18:11:00.014+11:00

This guy is Regans and is a Maquarie...

and this is Aarons Krefft...

Now Aaron and I are big Dr Seuss fans so when we decided to get turtles I was really hoping for a Yertle and a Mack ..... but of course nothing to do with the kids ever turns out the way I want so ..... drum roll pse...... pse welcome SHELLY ( I know not real original but it gets worse) and DARK TURTLE ( and no we are not allowed to call him Darky or DT for short ... we even tried for Darth Turtle with a bit of a Star Wars theme but were knocked back). Aaron has a habit of calling things by their description not a name hense ... bear, stick, blacky, happy, the list goes on..... god only knows what he will call his kids.....

To get the turtles we had to travel to Sydney so we decided to stay the night ... we stayed at the Vibe hotel Kirribilli just a few minutes walk to Luna Park and the beauty of Sydney harbour.... We spent Wed at the park and to my amazement there was nothing the kids wouldn't get on...... Aaron just managed to reach the over 130cm cut off so was legal for all the fun......by the end of the day Shane and I were rock, paper, sissoring to see who would have to get on with them as although they thought they were fine we were still a bit worried about how they would cope....

That's them in car no. 2

and on the pirate ship

I'm not a big ride person myself and am truely dreading the next visit to the QLD theme parks..

In other news ..... we managed to paint the cubby house the other day ... the kids picked their own colours and had two walls each... we have bought some purple paint for the trim but haven't had a dry day to paint them yet...
I will share the end result when finished

And on the scrapping front.....

I was lucky enough to be picked to spend the next six months on the Scrapsidaisy design team ..... i've picked up my goodies and have done a few pages to be shown at the Round Up this weekend .... I'll show you later.....

This one is for the Jan Challange over at the forum and I have now officially started on those chrissy photos....I'll be getting rid of some more at Debbie's class tomorrow.

Till then..

Christmas Day and beyond

2010-01-02T21:00:00.020+11:00

Chrissy started as usual at some ungodly hour in a hase of laughter and wrapping paper followed by some well earned coffee and all the family over for brunch / lunch / arvo tea. My folks were here this year which bought the total up to 17 people..... A very relaxing and fulfilling day....

everyone recieved all they wanted plus more...

loveing my necklace made by Lisa Leonard whose link is on my sidebar if your interested...

The kids got a turtle tank ... minus the turtles at the moment as we have to do a trip to Sydney to pick some out ... Santa left a nice note however to explain the situation....

and I even managed to get everyone to smile and pose for my yearly (can't hope for more than one a year) family portrait...

Becides the Chrissy stuff Shane, Dad and I went to see this.....

and really enjoyed it ... will wait until it comes out on video for the kids to watch it .... Aaron still gets a bit emotional when goodies die....

Shanes been working hard on getting the van up and running.... he spent two days under it rust converting and painting so is now spending some well earned time on his feet....

Chech out what we found in our front yard..... this poor little joey was on his own the other morning and not too happy about it.... luckily for us the lady across the road is able to look after them so the kids will be able to go and visit it as it grows....

your probably over the photos by now so I'll leave you with one of the kids and my folks .... they left today after three great weeks ... the kids will miss them so much.....it's just such a pitty their last week was full of so much rain.... believe it or not (for those locals) we actually got out and swam at Crowdy yesterday ... the rain didn't get there until well after lunch.

Oh and just a few more ... haven't been scrapping lately but I did manage to do these few cards for mum to take back home with her......

Yeah I am aware I've missed the whole begining of Dec but of course that will be covered in my Dec journal (there was a project that started off well and with all good intentions) I'm only a few days from completion so i will post it soon...

Till then

So this is Christmas....

2009-12-08T21:30:00.010+11:00

The tree's up, the pressys are nearly all bought, the kids are being good and the decorations are all around......

I bought this a couple of days ago.....I try to get one new display thingy each year... how cute is the ho ho ho......

the good ole Fisher and Price raindeers and santa are always a hit however they all seemed to grow a bit of extra fur while in storage this last year...... best I be giving them all a bath....

so.. we went from this...

to this ... not a bad mornings work ... however Shane was in charge of the music and we ended up decorating to the lovely tunes of 'Creed' ... not exactly Jingle Bells but at least he hung around inside.....

as for what we've been doing .... the kids are still at school but we spent last weekend ....

at the markets.....

at Black Head beach pool....

making sand castles at Saltwater....

and participating in Santa lookalike contests....( this is quite a laugh .... we got all the kids to paint beards on the face with vasaline then they had to dunk their face in a bucket full of cottonballs to see who could collect the most and have the best looking beard)

oh and look whos got a new good looking haircut....

should be back soon with the first couple of pages from my dec journal....

Guess who's back in a bucket

2009-12-02T21:14:00.011+11:00

Poor old Toddy dog has been back in the vets again getting more cancer cut out of his groin.... if you have a look you can see the cornsack stitches near his leg ..... he soooo hates having the bucket on and definitely hasn't enjoyed it in this hot weather.

So very proud ..... Regan got her first Pricipals award last week for 'encouraging others to care about the sea turtle'.... her and two friends are right into sea turtles at the moment and decided to run a raffle to raise money so that the school can sponsor one each year.... they spent many lunch hours at their desk selling tickets and raised a bit of money .... not quite enough for a whole years sponsorships but very close .... I think we will have to chip in....

Did a bit of a chrissy photoshoot yesterday for the chrissy cards I am endeavouring to make..... two of my favourites..

and I've finished the pre made pages for my dec journal.....
pages 21-25

I'm quite proud actually ... I bought a few embellishments for this project but all the cardstock and papers were in my stash .... it just shows you never to throw out all those little bits.

Till later..

Pages 11 - 20

2009-11-27T21:20:00.011+11:00

Nearly finished .... I might include Boxing Day and a couple of spares...
Shane's away at a Rally at Long Flat (near Wauchope) this weekend so I'm planning a couple of relaxing days finishing this project up and maybe watching a few movies while tackling the ever increasing pile of ironing I have spreading throughout the laundry.....