They are on their way....

A few years ago I gave my mum a decorated box filled with handmade cards for christmas with the promise that I will fill it up as a gift each year......soooo were are now three years down the track and after much begging and even a e-mail I have completed some new ones for her...

Birthday

Thanks

and some for her Red Hatter friends

there are some others as well I just didn't get a chance to take a pic of them all.

Also included is a decorated box and some divider cards for another project I talked her into doing...

I appologise because I can't remember where the original idea came from but it works like this:

you get 365 index cards and each day fill in one line - be it a quote, a thought, something you did etc
then the following year you do the same
imagine how interesting it will be to look back over the years, seeing what you do the same or different over time.

(and yes I'm getting mum to do it because 1. it is something that she can pass on - a record of the everyday so everyone can get a glimpse of her life. and 2. because I don't have the patience for that sort of thing and would give up after day 6)

Talking of time....... going along with my word of the year SIMPLIFY.... I have decided to simplify my life by getting the kids to do the housework.... giving the kids some responsibility around the house, we have started a chore list, if they do all their jobs for the week, they tick them off and they get money.... works for everyone involved but I don't think they are taking my chart all that seriously.....

If you want to print off your own copy I got it from Gennifers Blog, you can customise it for your own family but that was a bit hard so I wrote on it and laminated them so the kids can use whiteboard markers....

And to finish off today a pic of dads new pup instead of mine......

His name is Archie and this is how dad gets him to the beach for their walks....
No more explination required....

Lets catch up...

How cute are these printable monograms - found it a bit late for valentines day but fun none the less... I think I'll print out a small copy to frame..

Regan has been stressing out a bit 'cause of all the extra homework etc she is getting in Yr 6 (yes I am well aware it only gets worse) and has had a meltdown or two lately. We are working on her taking things one at a time... she has a habit of looking at everything she has to achieve in the week and then getting overwhelmed instead of picking one thing at a time, completing it and starting on the next....

sooo... while looking through pinterest the other day I found these calm jars.

How beautiful are they???? It involves some glitter glue (quite a lot actually) mixed with hot water, then you put it in a jar, fill with water and add more fine glitter. The glitter glue makes the water thick so once you shake it up it takes quite a few minutes for it all to settle and theory has it, by then you should of calmed down.
The kids loved them and have put them in their special corners of their rooms..... and yes the purple one is for me...... apparently sometimes I could use a bit of calm time too.

Then kids have been making the most of what sunny days we have and getting in the pool.... this will be the last year we will have to put up one of these little guys 'cause we finally got the extension on the home loan approved and the inground pool will be coming this winter .... yeahhhh!!! we are all sooooo excited.

and when the pool doesn't quite cut it we head to the beach.... another beautiful day at Blackhead.

The storms are still rolling in most afternoons, it's really quite amazing, we can watch them heading up the road and over us...

I've been getting some scrapping done lately (baby steps) and here are the kids 2011 monthly pics.....

and a course we will finish of with a pic of the boys.... Talos has been going to puppy school with Shane but embarrased himself last week by trying to eat the other dogs..... he is so not the agressive type at home but Shane says he gets really nervous and scared around the others....apparently everyone came in this week and sat at the other end of the room.....and Talos wasn't allowed off his lead during free play..... I wonder if you can fail puppy school....

Cake Pops...

Very cute looking cakes on a stick that are all the rage at the moment... I saw them on Elsies blog the other day so decided to give them a try

My top seven tips for making Cake Pops.....

1. enthusiasm does not equal ability

2. don't start making them at 6:30 at night

3. make sure you send the family out of the kitchen, there will definantly be mess and most probably swearing

4. think about it.... are those golf ball sizes gloops of cake really going to be able to balance on a tiny stick when coated in chocolate

5. check out the photos - they are close ups you dope, not just big cake pops

6. research it first there are some great sites (including the woman who started it all) with some great tips that I found - ahhh if I knew thursday what I know today!

and...

7. don't worry what they end up looking like, kids will eat anything coated in chocolate....

Sooooo to stop the suspense...... here are my cake pops

Basically my balls were too big, sticks too small and choc too thick

and how they should/could look....

pics from Bakerella

Not to be detered however, I will be trying this again armed with all the knowledge I now have, a disposable table cloth for the kitchen bench and supplies from here

Stay tuned...

PS: They taste great

PPS: Bigger is (mostly) better, there is no such thing as too much cake...

Ohh and I guess we should go into why I was making them

AARON TURNED 10 ON FRI!!!!!!

so a countdown in photos is required

Ten

Nine

Eight

Seven

Six

Five

Four

Three

Two

One

And thats where my digital photography started..... I don't have any baby pics on the computer so instead heres my all time fav...

Happy Birthday buddy....we love you!

It's Raining Again....

actually not right now but it has been for the last week and is meant to start again anytime now....

Regan had a friend over on Fri night and we went for a look at the all too familiar flooded riverbank.... my heart goes out to all those who have their personnal lives and belongings effected by yet more rain.

Regan has got her swimming carnival on Wed and since she hasn't swam in a 50 mtr pool since last carnival we decided to head to the aquatic club yesterday....

She's such a graceful thing my daughter.....

once shes in and going it gets a lot better....

We (or actually they) spent sometime trying to master getting to the end of this thing as well, I embarrased Regan by having a go at some older kids that kept pushing in at the front of the line.... the attendant wasn't doing anything about it and there were some smaller kids that were in line forever while these kids went through time and time again... needless to say I had to walk out after Regan so they didn't realise that I was her mother....

One of out chooks still insists on laying in the vegi patch instead of the laying boxes and all last week we kept finding broken shells and no eggs......

Could have something to do with this guy...

he got all the way up the tree and searched through all the hollows before heading back down to the forrest.... the cockatoos were definantly not happy with him...

And check out DT, the towels were meant to keep them in the bathroom while we cleaned their tank (they are still small enough to get under the fridge etc) he got to the top, had a bit of a scout around and then somersaulted off to escape his pen... those shells are tough things..

Thanks for popping in....

And then they were gone....

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