Spaghetti and Meatballs

Ok, here is one recipe I HAVE to post, because I have lost my recipe book that has it, and I've also misplaced the copy my mum gave me, so I'm going to write it from HER page that she saved. It truly is THE best spaghetti and meatballs I've ever had, and my kids lap them up, and always ask for more meatballs! Tasty!!!!!

Ingredients (serves 4):

Sauce:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 small brown onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 tbsp tomato paste

400g can diced or crushed tomatoes

2 cups beef stock

300g dried spaghetti pasta

Parmesan cheese, finely grated, and small basil leaves, to serve (optional)

Meatballs:

500g premium beef mince

1 small brown onion, grated

1 carrot, peeled and finely grated

1/4 cup flat-leaf (continental) parsley, finely chopped

3/4 cup fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs

125g feta cheese, finely crumbled

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup plain flour

1) Make meatballs:

Combine mince, onion, carrot, parsley, breadcrumbs, feta, egg and salt and pepper in bowl. Mix well. Using clean hands, roll heaped tablespoons of mixture into balls. Roll formed balls in the plain flour to coat well.

2)

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a non-stick frypan over medium-high heat. Cook meatballs, in batches, for 2 minutes, or until browned. Transfer to a plate. Wash and dry frying pan.

3)

Add remaining oil to pan and heat over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until onion is soft. Add tomato paste. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

4)

Add tomatoes and stock to pan. Bring to the boil. Reduce head to medium-low. Simmer for 15 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly. Add meatballs to pan. Spoon over sauce to coat. Cover. Cook for 15 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.

5)

Meanwhile, cook spaghetti in a large saucepan of boiling salted water, following packet directions, until tender. Drain. Arrange spaghetti in warm serving bowls. Spoon over meatballs and sauce. Top with parmesan and basil leaves (optional).

ENJOY!!! Wonderful served with hot crusty garlic bread. Any leftovers can be used to make yummy meatball subs!

Let me know if you try this, and its a great way to get one or two veggies into the kids without them knowing (although I don't have too much problem with my kids eating veggies!). I PROMISE that you won't regret making it. Fiddly making the meatballs, but totally worth the effort!!

New layouts :)

Ok, I found out I can post the layouts with the new kit!! So here they are! They are made with a kit called "Happy" by MellowButterfly (aka Michelle Batton), which will be available at the end of the week at www.mellowbutterfly.com. It was really fun to work with, and I love the patterned papers!

This layout I called "Happiness is". It's a picture I took of my mum and dad on my dad's 70th :) I love how it turned out!

And this one I titled (obviously!) "Sand Pit Fun".... its of my Booster girl playing in the sandpit :) Love that alpha! It's called "Tag! You're it!" also by MellowButterfly!

That's it for now! A short and sweet post! Love ya's!!

Where does the weekend go??

Seriously, it feels like it was only JUST friday afternoon, and here we are at 9.32pm on sunday night! Back to the school routine for another 5 days!

Not a great deal going on. Sophie had a dose of conjunctivitis which she kindly shared with Becky and I. Ughhh.. and I'm taking the drops very sparingly because they seem to upset my tummy :( Yes, I know.. eyedrops upsetting my tummy? Well I have found that they travel through my sinuses and run down the back of my throat (gag!) and they end up in my tummy and I get bad pains all day :( So today has been tummy pains and a headache that just wouldn't go away! Fun fun!

What else... oh... we're HOPING to be able to buy tickets to see Pink!!! Tickets go on sale this friday (31st), so we may not have the money this fortnight (BOO-HOO).. I tell ya, if I had the tendencies, she'd be the one I'd switch sides for.. hahaha.. *cough*... She's touring in June of next year, and if her tickets are around the same price as last years, then they are a very decent price! But its still having that $$ there to actually buy the tickets. Darnit LOL I've heard her concerts are really REALLY worth seeing. And of course, Keith has the hots for her big time, so he'd LOVE to see her in concert. He has his laptop desktop background with Pink pictures.. he changes the picture every few days HAHAHA... But yeah, we'll see how the almighty $$ goes and go from there. Hopefully she'll announce more concert dates like she did last year.

Hayden is still awake.. might be for another hour or two because, despite our best efforts to stop it happening, he fell asleep on the lounge at 3pm and slept until 4.30pm. Ughh.. always on a school night. Friday night and saturday night he went to bed around 8-9pm.. normal time! But yeah, not tonight. And tonight I am actually tired enough to go to bed right now! Always the way LMAO

I have some more layouts done. Two are done with a new kit from the designer I'm CT for (Mellow Butterfly aka Michelle Batton). But I'm still not sure if I can post previews and the layouts yet :) As soon as I know, they'll be going up here! It's a really cute kit, and was really easy and fun to use!

Interest rates are dropping!! WOOT!! So far they have dropped a total of just over 1.25% and are expected to drop a further 1-2% over the next few months.. I cant begin to explain how much easier it will be! With the current drops (total of just over 1%), our repayments have dropped $60 a fortnight so far.. so with a further 1-2%.. wow!! It's not a HUGE difference, but when you are struggling, every cent makes a difference! I just wish they would start dropping the price of fuel! And groceries! LOL But now I think I'm just wishful thinking ;)

But that's about it for now. Not a heck of a lot happening. I'll update again when I find out when I can post these new layouts :D Ciao for now!!

The Birthday Girl!

Ok, here are the promised pictures of the Boosters 4th birthday! Lots of photos so hold on tight, and enjoy the show :D

Birthday Eve

Well, technically, it is now my little Becka Bleweeze's 4th birthday, but I haven't gone to bed yet, so its still not until she wakes up hehehe

So, here is the last look at my girl before she is no longer 3!!

I really can't believe she is 4 already! It honestly only seems like a few months ago that she was this tiny itty-bitty baby in my arms, all fresh and new. Wow. The year after next, she starts school. NO WAY!! I can't really believe it. But how different our lives have been since she entered out world. Such a livewire, with a spunky personality and with beautiful manners to boot. She can't make me any more prouder than I already am to be her mum. Love you Becka Bleweeze! I will add birthday pics tomorrow or the day after :)

AND, in other birthday news, my dad turned 70 on October 14th! What a fantastic milestone. In 2001, he suffered from very bad peritonitis and was lucky to have lived through that. Then at the beginning of January 2007, he suffered two strokes within a 3 day time frame. That was devistating to all of us, and we are so so lucky that he made it through that as well! We love you dad, and we are sure lucky to have you as our dad :) XOXO

CHRISTMAS!!! It's only 10 weeks away (as the lovely announcer at Big W kindly reminded me of when I was doing birthday shopping for B). OMG! I love christmas, but I hate the leadup. The panic, the stress... oh lord lol I'm fairly sure christmas will be ok this year (thanks to a very generous government!!), but by the time I'm able to do the shopping, I know most things will be almost impossible to find :( I hate that. I swear every year that I am going to start doing the christmas shopping in June-July, but do I ever do it? No.. my biggest fear of shopping that early is that my kids taste in toys will change. You know how it goes. One minute it may be Dora, the next its Fifi and the Flowertots.. and then lo and behold, it changes yet again! So yeah, it does make it harder to start early, but by golly, I'm going to definitely try next year. I hate the stress of it all!

But anyway, I guess I better head to bed and get some kind of sleep before the birthday girl rushes in at sparrows fart and wakes me up with excited yells about it being her birthday LOL God love her, I can't wait :) Tomorrow morning is cake baking and gift wrapping (no, I still have not got the wrapping paper!!), and then a little later will be decorating the cake!

So I will update tomorrow or tuesday with lots of piccies :D Ciao!

Lotsa happenings!

Lachie got his school picture back yesterday!! Here's my handsome boy

Aint he just the cutest darn thing? Can't believe he's 10 already... they surely do grow too fast!

And tomorrow, I'm getting Becky and Hayden haircuts! So be on the lookout for pictures of them with their new hairdo's! Warning.. Becky is getting a much shorter cut. She is adamant! It will probably be a cute little just-above-the-shoulders cut! I'm terrified of doing it, but I think she needs a good cut. She's only really had trims since she was born, so she's got alot of dry baby hair there, and when you wash her hair.. it looks like straw!

Sophie won a lollipop in school today LOL In drama they had to do a fashion parade with whatever costumes were in the drama wardrobe, so she dressed up as a grumpy old man. The deputy principal was a guest judge at the "fashion parade", and Sophie got honourable mention from her over her performance! I wish I had video'd her telling me about it LOL She did this little old man action of waving a closed fist near her head and it looked hilarious! I really need to get some pictures of that girl!

Oh, and while I remember.

Rebecca wants her hair cut. She wants it just like daddy.. I don't think so hunny.. even though you say you want to look like a boy. Not in this lifetime LOL

Just a few beautiful pics of my kids to share

And you'll probably see them on layouts eventually. But I can't help but share them. I can't seem to get Sophie to let me take her pic, so I will try and get some of her soon and post those.

Venting ahead...just to warn you all.

I need to get all this out, so bare with me. It was bound to all just rise to the surface, it was just a matter of when.

Lachie. It all stems back to my poor little troubled boy. And his poor troubled mum and dad. I'm trying my best to do everything to get him on the right track with his Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Auditory Processing Disorder. And just awaiting an appointment for his evaluation by the educational psychologist. It's a battle every.single.day to get him to do the things he needs to do. Brushing his teeth, putting clean socks on (yes, he would wear the same pair for a month if we didn't badger him about it). Trying to encourage him to answer in a way that WE understand what he means.

So it comes down to feeling alone. I know there are many parents out there having the same issues. But I truly do feel all alone. While Keith listens to everything I tell him about Lachie's appointments, he never goes to any of them, and he never researches anything about ADHD or APD. Now with the possibility of Dyslexia on top of it, it really does at times feel like one huge burden on my shoulders alone.

I'm tired of people thinking that he is just a spoilt little kid who gets his own way. I'm tired of the way people talk to him like he's a pain in the ass. I'm tired of defending my boy when he is such a wonderful sweet loving child. No, he doesn't like to share. What 10yo boy does. But he loves his family, he loves his siblings with all his heart. I sit here sometimes and cry, wondering how he must perceive life with everyone looking down on him so often. Yes, I am at fault too. I never denied that at all. I do yell at him too often. I really try hard not to. Sometimes its just the way it goes. The frustration is something I just can't describe. It's like this. You have a team. Everyone is supposed to input on that team. But you are the one being loaded up with all of the assignments and homework, and you have to come up with all the answers and compute it all in your head, while the rest of the team sits back and watches you do their share of the work. I understand that Keith works. But honestly, his appointments are only every 6 months, with the rare appointment in between. How hard could it be to take one day off every 6 months and share in this. Take some of the load off my shoulders.

I just need a break. I was just talking to my sister Sue on MSN and I said that to her. And that prompted this post. Because I really feel like I am about to break down in a big way. But I can't. Lachie needs at least one person working with him. And that is me. His mum. His rock. His constant in life that will ALWAYS be there for him. Such a handsome little boy, but oh so troubled.

Today I had to speak to his teacher about his doc apt over the holiday and hand in the assignment he was given extra time to do. I told her how we had even tried bribing to get him to do his work/assignments, and how it had only worked one or two times. She then said "Well, I don't know if I would think he has a genuine attention disorder then, because if he could finish it with a bribe, then he CAN do it." This is the same teacher who ALL year has told me that something just isn't right, that its not normal for a child his age to have such a lack of attention and concentration. And now all of a sudden she thinks that he doesn't have the problem? I'm lost. The one person who seemed to understand me and be on my side now seems like she is backtracking and saying something different now.

I worry about his schooling. I worry how he is going to function in adult life. I hope his communication opens up and enables him long lasting friendships and relationships. That he doesn't feel like he is a failure all his life. And the only way for that to happen is for other people to listen, cooperate and most of all, UNDERSTAND! I am getting quite upset at the fact that when I need to talk about it, its like an annoyance. I know that nobody (as far as I know) that reads my blog feels that way, but there are people in my every day life that just seem to want to brush it under the carpet or make other excuses for it. That is just how I feel. Maybe its just because I'm feeling so alone on it. How do I get through this without losing my mind? How do I get my boy to do the things he needs to do without repeating myself 50 times in a 5 minute time frame.

I feel so boxed in at home. I've lost all motivation to do educational things with my two little ones. I should be reading to them, drawing with them (which i do, just not often enough). I should be building blocks with them and playing dollies and cars and all the things that little people like to do. But just can't find the imagination in me to do it. And that makes me feel like a failure.

Keith and I haven't had time to ourselves since his work Christmas party almost 1 year ago. No one seems to want to mind the kids just for a few hours just so Keith and I can go catch a movie or go out to dinner. It makes me sad. He works his butt off bringing in the money, I work my butt off raising the kids and keeping house.. one night is all I'd want, every couple of months, just so Keith and I can keep in touch with who we are. Yes, we are parents, but we are also lost in that as well. We don't have time for each other and it really does reflect on how we treat each other and the kids. The only person who ever offered, and always said yes if I asked, bless her beautiful heart, is my sister Sue. And I thank her for the times she was able to do that for us. I really do.

I don't know where else I am going with this, but I had to get a lot out, and I hope I didn't repeat myself too much with things. My shoulders don't feel so weighed down, my heart doesn't feel so heavy now that I have written it down and got it out. I needed that. And if you got this far, THANK YOU, you are a true friend and I love you for it xoxo.

Long time, no blog!

It's been nearly a MONTH since I last blogged.. eeek.. but here I am, with the promise I made to myself still (mostly) intact of blogging regularly!

So, what's the go in the Barlow/Druery household? We've had a busy-ish month. Nothing amazingly exciting. Doctor appointments for the kids, school holidays and scrapping.

We will start with Lachie's latest appointments. He saw his paediatrician two weeks ago, and he had mentioned at the previous appointment a month earlier that he was concerned about Lachie's growth (or lack of) and wanted me to bring in his baby book with his growth records in it. Luckily I still have it, and took that in. He said that while he wouldn't expect Lachie to be tall (I am only 5' 2" and Keith is an average 5' 9"), he is still quite small for his age and ordered a blood test to rule out thyroid or celiac issues. He also wanted an xray to check his bone maturity to see if there was an issue there. So back to the paediatrician yesterday (Talk about bleeding us dry moneywise! But what can you do??). All of his blood tests came back perfect, so nothing to worry about there. The bone maturity xray came back in his favour!! He is 10 years old, with the bone age of a 9 year old! So he actually has wonderful bone maturity, and that is also a GOOD thing, because it will give him extra time to grow! Dr Brown said that he will probably hit puberty a little later than most boys, but that is where the extra growth will come into play. So, he's not going to be a giant, but he should grow to a good average height! I mean, his height doesn't bother us one little bit. But in "general", it will make it easier for him in the long run, without the teasing about how little he is. I'm just waiting for that big spurt he's going to have soon. I just know he'll shoot up :) So then I also mentioned a concern I have had after doing some reading up about his ADHD and Auditory Processing Disorder and finding that a common link to these two disorders is Dyslexia! And then after reading up about that, ALOT of the symptoms are so him its not funny. His paediatrician can't diagnose dyslexia. He has to be evaluated by an Educational Psychologist. It's going to be expensive to get done, but there is no price on my childs wellbeing and education! If getting a positive diagnosis on dyslexia gets him where he needs to be, I don't care what we have to spend to get him there. They often say a mothers gut instinct never fails.. and I believe it. I suspected the ADHD well before he was diagnosed officially with it. It was just waiting to get all the testing done and being referred to the paediatrician. He's on a new medication, which I'm not sure is working for him. We're going to give it another month and if it is showing no overly positive signs of working, then we will trial another medication. There is one rare side effect of the next medication that I'm not keen on at all. It IS rare, but can happen (obviously), and that is negative, dark thoughts. His paediatrician has said that if we do try him on this med, and he shows ANY sign of negative thoughts, he is to be stopped on it immediately. This doctor is wonderful and really takes the time to listen and talk things through.

I have to help Lachie get his school project finished in time for school on monday. He has to do a project on an Australian Bushranger, and has total free creative license to do what he wants with the project! He has decided he wants to do a Bushranger Boardgame, and have spaces that say things like "Caught robbing a bank in "so and so".. move back 3 spaces" and "Evaded police.. move forward 2 spaces". In the middle will be a stack of "Fact Cards", and when someone lands on a fact card spot, they get to pick up a card and learn an interesting fact on the bushranger. HOPEFULLY it will turn out the way we have it in our minds. It's just working out how to decorate the board and put it all together to look awesome. And I need to put some crackers up Lachie's bum to get him motivated to help!

In scrappy news, I'm now a part of Mellow Butterfly's CT (Michelle Batton)! I'm only very new, and it is a little daunting, because everyone else seems to know each other quite well. I'm sure I'll get to know them well over time, but darn sometimes my shyness gets in the way!

SO I can now reveal one of the layouts I have done using Mellow Butterfly products! I have one more, but that one has to wait until tomorrow :)

This layout was made with Michelle Batton's portion of the Autumn Harvest Collab (Part 2) available exclusively at FaithSisters.com .. it also consists of elements from Autumn Whisper by Pineapple Plantation Designs.

I have also done a few more personal layouts as well.

This is probably one of my absolute favourites at the moment. Its of my youngest daughter at 7 months old. The kit used is "Happy" by Ziggle Designs at Scrap Orchard. It was alot of fun to work with! The template is by Designs By Sine, also at Scrap Orchard :)

This is ANOTHER of my all time favourites at the moment. It was a template challenge done at Scrap Orchard (where else?? LOL) and the template is again by Designs by Sine. The kit I used for this layout was "Boy oh Boy".. a collab kit by Polka Dot Plum and Matahati Designs, found (AGAIN!!).. at Scrap Orchard. The journalling tab is a blog freebie from Lindsay Jane Designs.

Again, using "Boy oh Boy", is this layout of my youngest, who decided that sitting on the dog would be a fun thing to do.. Jaffa had other thoughts on that idea, and promptly tipped him off her back LOL He wasn't hurt, and if you looked at the layout closer, you can actually see he is laughing! The wordart is from Elegant Wordart by Bethany.

So there you go, I think that has me all caught up at the moment. I will be back tomorrow to show off my other layout with Mellow Butterfly products!

Please, quarantine us!

Ok, so its monday afternoon and we made it through a busy weekend. Keith took Sophie and Lachie to the football on friday night (a very last minute decision!) and the Bronco's won, which made it totally worth that last minute decision lol... saturday he was going to go fishing, but the weather was still very windy, and the guy he was going with was sick with flu, so they called it off. And yesterday we were supposed to go to Keiths brothers for a fathers day BBQ, but none of us ended up going because of the conjunctivitis/cold/flu epidemic that is washing all over this house.

So Becky, Hayden and I are taking drops for the pink eye. Lachie fell sick on saturday afternoon and spent all day yesterday on the couch, and for those who know him, he IS sick when he doesn't move from the one spot all day! He stayed home from school today and is again on the lounge sniffling, and watching a movie. Then yesterday Hayden started with this real horrid cough.. it may be croup, but it sounded worse than that! He came in to our room at 11pm last night and because I was worried and his cough sounded so horrible, I just popped him right into our bed and we fell asleep for a while. Then he woke me up with this horrible croaky crying, and when I touched his forehead he was burning up real bad. So I took off his socks, as well as his long sleeve shirt and left him in a very light cotton all in one. Gave him some Nurofen and tried to go back to sleep.. nope, he wasn't having any of that. So I ended up sitting up with him from 12.30am to just after 4am. He is still coughing and veryyyy croaky today, but his cough has broken, so it looks like he's on the other side of cold mountain :)

In other news, I got myself a 500GB EHD for $124.. BARGAIN! My computer is now running alot smoother, and I haven't even transferred everything yet! I also got myself PSE6 (YIPPEEEE!!!) but I'm having a bit of a time trying to learn how to use it lol I'm such a PSP girl, but I want the results PSE can give. So it will be time and alot of learning and tutorials :)

THEN!!! On saturday, Keith, the kids and myself went shopping with a few ideas in mind. We had talked about getting a new big TV, but the prices were a bit much. Then we went to the Good Guys and found our TV. OMG... seriously, its heaven on a stick! A 42 inch plasma.. at a rock bottom awesomely insane price! Mum and dad are in the process of saving to get themselves a new TV as theirs went kaput a week or so ago, and we've sold them on this one! We've lent them our "old" TV until they get their new one, because they were watching everything on a tiny little tv, and it was hurting dad's eyes. They very much appreciated us letting them use ours!

So now I just have to get some motivation up to scrap some pages.. I'm ITCHING to do some more layouts, but I just either have no inspiration, or I have no time. I might try tonight if everyone lets me have an hour or two to myself. Probably after the little ones go to bed!

So hopefully my next post will be about my new super dooper PSE6 layouts! LOL

Random rambles...

So I went to the docs yesterday, and I have bronchitis which I am now taking antibiotics for. The two little ones developed mild conjunctivitis, so got drops for them. And low and behold, I wake up at 2am this morning with one of my eyes glued almost shut... ughhh... so I'm taking the drops now too. And OMG, its awful! I can taste the drops at the back of my nose.. its like the liquid is going from my eyes and dripping into the back of my nose.. it tastes disgusting and I'm gagging every now and then at the taste of it LOL Ah, the joys of being a mum and catching what your kids get ;) That's ok, they like to share lol

We're supposed to be getting a pretty big storm today, with lots of rain and wind. It's already windy, and it started raining this morning walking out the front door to take Lachie to school. We need the rain! And it will be a good test of how well putting the gravel down on the driveway worked at stopping the mudpit that usually happens when we get a good amount of rain.

Lachie is having school photos done today. You have to return the form and money on the day of photos or they don't get photos at all. So I had to quickly run to the supermarket this morning before I dropped him off at school to get the cash out to pay for them. They better be good! $36!!! But if they are anything like last years, I will be well and truly satisfied :) I will have to scan one when I get them back! He really does take a nice school picture :D

Keiths got an almost full weekend ahead. Friday night he wants to go to the Broncos game. Its their last homegame and he hasn't been to one game all season. Then saturday, the guy two doors up has asked if he wants to go out fishing that afternoon/evening. And sunday we are supposed to be going to his brothers in the afternoon for a BBQ for fathers day. I won't be going to his brothers, with me and the kids having conjunctivitis. I wouldn't want to pass it on to their kids. So I've told him, he can do two out of the three things, because I am NOT going to spend three afternoon/evenings alone with all these kids! LOL So he can either do football/fishing, fishing/BBQ or football/BBQ LOL choices choices.. he told me he couldn't just choose two, and I told him that hey, 2 outta 3 aint bad ;) So I dunno. He may not even end up going fishing if the weather stays like this. Although saturday is still three days away. But still, you just never know. I would love to go fishing too, but have noone to watch the kids for 4-5 hours. Oh well.. we'll go out one weekend through the day when we can take the kids with us :) It's a bit more hectic and we can't fully put all our attention on fishing, but the kids love going out on the boat, and they've been cooped up in this house for long enough and deserve a day out!

On other news, I'm just days away from getting myself an External Harddrive for my computer! It's getting quite bogged down with graphics and photos and games and music, so once I clear that out, it should run alot smoother and faster. I also want to get my proper antivirus back, because I'm suspecting AVG isn't catching absolutely everything, even though they say it will. AND, I am hoping I can stretch it to buy myself Photoshop Elements 6... People rave about it, and it does sound (eventually!) easier to use than Paint Shop Pro. I will have to check out the price and see how much its going for. I think PSE7 has just been released very recently, so they will have hopefully reduced the price of PSE6 by a good amount. We'll just have to wait and see :)

I also have to remind myself that I need to take our two DVD players back to The Good Guys to get replaced. Ok, I only paid $50 each for them back in April, but we've had them just over 4 months and both of them have malfunctioned with the exact same error message. So back to the store it is, and they better replace them, or I want a full refund. My kids thrive on being able to watch their DVD's and its driving them crazy without a working DVD player in the house! Thankfully we have a VCR to fall back on, but its just not the same for them. None of the recent movies are on VCR, and they are dying to watch Ratatouille! So maybe over the weekend I will go take them back and then while I'm out price the EHD's and PSE6 :)

That's about it for my random rambles. I haven't managed any more layouts since my blue tongued lizard layout, so will hopefully find an hour or two to play around today. The kids will be staying inside all day with the weather as rotten as it is!

With that, I'll log off with this...

Random Thought of the Day: Can't they make eyedrops taste like strawberry??

Spring has Sprung!

I just wish it would show here and we'd all stop being sick with colds! I'm halfway through my 4th cold in just over a month and I am well and truly OVER it. I'm off to the docs tomorrow and hopefully will get some antibiotics to get rid of this icky chest infection that doesn't want to budge! My sinus is clogged too, and I just want to be able to smell and taste things properly! I also need to get my ears checked out too because I think one of them has a nasty buildup of old wax. TMI, I know LOL But that's me!

So I have applied recently to two Creative Team calls. I heard back from one today which was the second one I applied for, and unfortunately didn't make the team, but she was very graceful with saying no, and for that, I'm very appreciative! I'm yet to hear from the first designer I did an application with, and to be honest, I don't think I'm going to get a reply. I know I didn't make it. But it would be nice to get a definite no in writing. Such is life! I'm not worried at all. If I make a CT, great! But if I don't, I'm still going to have a blast scrapping anyway :) I don't need to be on a team to enjoy what I'm doing!

Speaking of scrapping, I have a few more layouts that I have done recently. I've been in a bit of a dive lately with coming up with layouts, but every now and then it works out lol

I did this for a challenge at Scrap Orchard. It was a wordart challenge, and I had alot of fun with this one. I luckily had Ellie Lash's kit "Lickety Split" and it worked perfectly with the wordart! The only thing I was missing was icecream.. so I went and bought the kids some icecream and cones, and then went snap happy taking pics of them eating them LOL

Honestly, I can't remember if this one was done for a challenge or not, but I used some wordart I found on Bethany's site. Her link is on the right hand side ;) I'd taken some pics of my son playing at the end of the driveway after Keith washed our car. A couple of hours later, checked Bethany's site, and that was her wordart freebie of the day! How coincidental! I just couldn't resist making this layout.

This is one I decided to do at the last minute one night. I'm quite pleased with this one, and it really reflects my thoughts at that very moment. It was made using the collab kit "Summer Lovin" by Ellie Lash and Pineapple Plantation Designs. Great kit with work with for lots of different themes.

And this was a challenge I completed today at Scrap Orchard called "Applecart Challenge".. you are given a free minikit (you have to be registered and logged in to nab it), and then you have to use every single piece of the kit in your layout. I decided to use one of Sines templates (and this one is a freebie on her blog!). The photos are of a blue tongued lizard that my dog nearly had for lunch yesterday. We rescued it and later released it in the gully in our backyard. He was so big and fat and healthy! Though he was missing the bottom half of one of his back legs, but it didn't seem to be bothering him!. How weird that the blue of his tongue and the green of the grass match the colours of the kit! I'm really happy with how this one turned out :D

Not a great deal else has been happening. Keiths pay didn't go in today so he didn't go to work because he didn't have enough fuel to get there and back. Lachie stayed home because I didn't have enough fuel to get him to and from school, and Sophie stayed home because she missed the bus.. AGAIN! Honestly, that bus driver needs to be more organised and get to the bus stop at a regular time, instead of at least half hour differences in times each day. One day Sophie left at 7.55am to walk to the end of our street (not that far!) and the bus had already been. The next day, she was still waiting at the bus stop at 8.30am as I drove past to take Lachie to school, and the bus turned up just at that time. Its ridiculous. She is missing more days than I like because of missing the bus, and with the cost of fuel the way it is, I can't afford to be driving her to school because of that. I need to get onto the bus company and complain. She has also put a job application for a fast food store that will be opening near her school soon. If she gets through to an interview, it will be this friday, but so far she hasn't heard anything. I really hope she gets something soon because she is desperate to get a part time job and earn her own money. Poor honey. She's just getting so down about being rejected time after time. I keep telling her that the right job will come along at the right time :) She just needs to be a little more confident in herself!
Oh another note, we were watching "Bridge to Terabithia" today and Becky was absolutely enthralled with it. I'm about to give a spoiler if you haven't seen the movie and wish to, so skip if you don't want to know!... anyway, the storyline ends up with the little girl dying and her friend is beside himself after losing his best friend. About 5 minutes later Becky turns to me most upset and said "I'm killed mummy".. I said "No you aren't honey, you are just fine".. to wish she replied "No mummy, I am KILLED!" and burst into tears. I told her to come give me big cuddles, but she buried herself face down into the couch and started sobbing. I picked her up (she protested so much to that), but I just grabbed her and held her on my lap and comforted her. She sobbed for a solid 10 minutes and it brought tears to my eyes as I realise that my little 3yo angel may finally understand the impact of death. I honestly didn't think it would affect her like that (because they don't actually show the girl die), otherwise I would never have let her watch it (Sue, you can attest to the fact that I don't let my kids watch things that will disturb or upset them!). 3 just seems too young to have any realisation of what death means. But she has a very intelligent little mind, this one.. just like her big sister. She understands far too much for her age, but its not something that I can avoid either. She just soaks in anything and everything around her. I love her so much :)
Anyway, I've rambled enough! Its SPRING! It's already starting to warm up, and we've moved from being rugged up, to wearing shorts and short-sleeved tops. The electric blanket hasn't been on for about a week now, and there have been a couple of days where we've had a fan or two going through the day. They are predicting a big storm season for us this summer, so I think we need to spend time cleaning up the yard, because they are saying they will be BIG. WOOT! Bring it on! As long as we don't lose our house (TOUCH WOOD!), I'll be sitting on my back verandah watching everything :)

Where does time go??

Honestly, it doesn't feel like it has been 9 days since my last post. It feels like it was only a few days ago! Never mind! With all of these kids to keep up with, time flies lol

So I wanted to show off some photos I took today of my three youngest showing off the gorgeous gifts they received from my sister Sue, who is currently in Banff, living it up and enjoying life :) These are the awesome gifts she sent them!

This is Hayden showing off the gorgeous shirt Aunty Sue sent as a late birthday present.. he loves it!

Hamming it up for the camera... can you tell I take heaps of him and he's totally comfortable showing off? LOL

Becky decided to give him a hug, so I took a picture.. how cute are these two?? I'm totally loving how close they are!

This is Becky showing off her Tinkerbell nail set that Aunty Sue sent "Just because".. she didn't want Becky feeling left out and wondering why Lachlan and Hayden got a present but not her. Isn't she just the best aunty there is?

I got her to hold it a little closer to the camera so you could see it better.. it has two clear nail varnishes, a tinkerbell nail file and some little stickers!

And lastly, the birthday boy wearing his gift, a fantastic bearprint shirt from Banff, Canada. He loves that his aunty sue sent it all the way from the other side of the world.

And one more becuase I wanted him to SMILE in the photo LOL

Well that's about it for the moment. I have a few more layouts to post, but I need to leave that for either tomorrow or early in the week, because right now I have to get two little children out of the bath, dry and dress them, and then make hot dogs for dinner!

A better night tonight!

Yes, she went to bed quite well tonight. Apart from the time she started crying. When we asked what was wrong, she said "I hurt myself". I asked her how she hurt herself "I hurt myself by singing!"... ok.. wtf? hahaha... so I said "You'll be fine honey.. go to sleep now :)" to which I got back from her "But I hurt myself very badly mum!" LOL She milks it for all she's got huh! So I went in and gave her a kiss to make it better, and she fell asleep about 10 minutes later without another peep! We think she's having bad dreams, because she came in to us again last night. I let her sleep with us for about an hour before I got sandwiched between her and Keith and couldn't move! So I woke Keith up and asked him to put her back to bed (because I couldn't move! LOL). So he got up, put her back to bed and I hear a little voice over the baby monitor say "Thank you daddy".. awww.. see?? She IS a sweet little thing! I think she was just WAYYY overtired last night.

So yesterday I had a headache that literally lasted from the moment I woke up to when I got to bed. Panadol took the edge off but didn't take it away. Not sure what was up with that! And then today I've quickly come down with my second cold in a month. YAY... not! Becky and Hayden came down with it first, so I'll blame them for snotting all over me ;)..

It's nearly the weekend... a step closer to Fresh Fruit Friday.. I can't wait to see what the designers release this week! Hopefully I will have a little bit of spare change to get myself something.. I haven't been able to treat myself for a few weeks now, and its driving me insane LOL There are some things there that I'm dying to get, but they will have to wait :)

No scrapping today. I might try tonight, but not sure if my head is going to cooperate with this cold. I think as soon as Hayden is asleep (god knows when that is going to be, after he fell asleep on my bed this afternoon for an hour!), I'll be going straight to bed myself. I hate being sick!

Next week is a busy week for us. Tuesday is Lachie's 10th birthday (OMG!), and then the day after, Keith gets his tax done, and Sophie has a Panic! At the Disco concert to go to (which i have to drive the other side of town to get her there!). Lachie is also supposed to have a paediatricians appt that day, but I'm going to postpone it, because I just don't know where I'm going to find the extra $130 for the visit. Ughhh.. but he really needs to go, because this will be the second time I've had to delay his visit. We'll see how things go.

That's about it from me. I'm going to go browse the Orchard for a bit and then try and get Hayden to bed.. toodle-pip!!

Oh dear, where did my sweet girl go??

I should start off by saying that yes, Becky IS still a sweet little thing who melts my heart every single day. Tonight tested that! She had a rough night last night, and ended up in bed with us for around half an hour because she got scared "by a ghost". After half an hour, she decided she wanted to go back to her bed, so all was good. Apparently she then woke up when Keith was getting ready to leave for work at 4.30am. She must have gone back to sleep after he left, because she was asleep when I got up at 7am. She didn't end up waking up until around 9am.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, she was sitting at the table this evening around 7.30pm and her eyes were literally red rimmed from being so tired. So we gave her until 7.45pm and then told her it was bedtime. Well, did the dramatics start! She threw a mini tantrum and begged us to let her stay up and watch Toy Story 2. We told her no, it was time for bed. The next HOUR (!!!) consisted of screaming fits and she wound herself up so much that she couldn't talk between sobs. At one stage when she asked if she could watch some TV and Keith said no, she actually lashed out and tried to grab at his face!! It stunned both Keith and I, and she got a stern talking to and told to settle down and that it was time for bed. She wasn't having any of it. Lachie went to bed at 8.30pm (his usual bedtime) and as soon as he walked into their bedroom, she started yelling "MUMMMMM.. Lachlan won't be quiettttt".. I let her do that twice before I went in and told her to stop it and go to sleep. I walked away and she started up at Lachie again. In the end I had to go in and pop her on the bottom because her behaviour was getting totally out of hand at that point. She finally went to sleep at 9.15pm. 1 1/2 hours after we initially put her to bed. She honestly was so wound up, and we didn't want to cave and bring her out because that was just going to reward the tantrum. Oh lord, she really is a livewire this one. I love her more than anything, but her tantrums really are starting to get the better of me lately! I don't know what to do with it all. Maybe I need parenting classes??? *SIGH*
Anyway, enough about that. Its been quite a while since I have posted, and I want to add some of my recent layouts to show off. I think I'm definitely getting better, little by little. I'm by no means talented at it, but I'm happy with what I'm accomplishing, 3 months into it :)

Here goes....
This one is one of my total favourites. One afternoon we were all downstairs playing, and Becky was jumping on the trampoline. She had some static going on, so I grabbed the camera and took some pictures of her hair raising fun. I honestly couldn't stop laughing, and don't know how I managed to get these photos LOL

I decided to do a simple but hopefully effective layout of Jaffa. I really like how it turned out!

This one was a spur of the moment layout that I did last night that reflected my feelings at that very moment about being 35. The journalling basically says how I'm dreading all the wrinkles that are happening so suddenly these days, but that I'm now realising that with each new line, it means I've had one more chance to laugh and smile with my 4 kids :) I like how it turned out :)

This was for a wordart challenge, and as soon as I read the wordart, I knew what I was going to be doing with it. It really is amazing when you put Sophies, Becky's and my photos together when we were at the same age.

And lastly, this was for the Applecart Challenge at Scrap Orchard.. I am really very happy with how it came together, and I'm so in love with the pictures of Becky brushing her teeth..

So that's it for the time being. I think I've exhausted myself with my novel about Becky and her meltdown! I'll be back soon with more of life and scrapping, because there is ALWAYS something going on at the Orchard :D

Just trying something out here :)

Trying to see if I can link my photobucket pics to here :) Here goes!



FINGERS CROSSED!!

Make It Snappy!!!

So we had a TOTALLY rocking day in the Orchard today. They did their first ever speed scrap and it was SO MUCH FUN! What happens with a speed scrap is they give you so many instructions in the first hour (eg. how many papers to use, how many elements etc), then in the second hour, you have to finalise your layout and post it! This is what I came up with:

It was so much fun being limited on time.. it was very challenging, but exhilirating at the same time! Then they had a TreeHouse chat after where they played games and gave out some WAY cool prizes! Everyone that participated got some awesome freebies from Ziggle Designs, Pineapple Plantation Designs and Polka Dot Plum! They say they are going to do another one soon... can't wait!!

In the meantime, here are a couple more layouts that I have done... both for challenges :)

This one was for Wordart Wednesday #7... Bethany just rocks at wordart, and it can be really inspirational in coming up with a layout.. The journalling reads "Our day at the park ended in tears because you insisted on taking your shoes off and you got prickles in your feet".. my poor honey, she cried. I just thought the photo was appropriate for the wordart :) Also the kit I used was Dulcet by Ellie Lash :)

And I apologise.. this one wasn't for a challenge.. I'd just purchased Kami's "No Prince Required" (Ziggle Designs) kit and was dying to do a layout with it. I came up with this gorgeous, yet hilarious photo of my 3yo daughter when she was 18 months old. This photo was actually taken in a food court at a shopping centre when I was about 37 weeks pregnant with our youngest! Honestly, that was her way of saying "SHHH"... she'd put her finger up her nose and go "SHHHHHHH" LOL What a ham!

There are a few more challenges going on in the Orchard, and I'll put up those layouts once I've done them :)

Giving away my 2yo.. free to a good home! ;)

Seriously, his broken sleep habits are driving me crazy! Last night I got to bed at 11.30pm, only to have him wake me up at 1am by climbing over us in bed. By 1.30am it was very clear that he just wasn't going to go back to sleep, so I got up with him and waited for him to go back to sleep.. and waited.. and waited.. the little stinker ended up not falling back to sleep until 5.30am! So I jumped at the chance to grab a nap. Sophie and Lachie ended up with a bonus day off school because I slept until nearly 9am, which is when said rascal decided it was time to get up for the day.

So then today, he fell asleep on my lap at 2.30pm. I tried EVERYTHING to stop him from falling asleep.. but he went so fast I couldn't do anything about it! He slept until 5.30pm... EEEEK... after dinner Keith told me to have a sleep, because we knew he was going to be up until all hours of the night. So I did. I got a good 2 hours on the lounge, got up at 9.30pm, Keith went to bed, and here I am at 12.30am with him still full of energy. This is really driving me up the wall! BUT! I'd prefer to stay up with him than have him waking me up every 15 minutes by climbing all over me in bed.

1) I'm lucky I got that sleep!

2) He's VERY lucky I love him so much!

I just told him he'd have to go to bed soon.. and his answer was "No no no no".. if you could only hear the way he says no.. it cracks me up! He's a funny cute little guy.

Tell me, how can you stay mad at someone with a face like this??

How can you beat this??

This picture is of my sassy little 3yo daughter Rebecca. I wanted to share a conversation I had with her a few nights ago. All I could do in the end was shake my head and shut up LOL

It started out with Becky asking for something and I told her no.. and it followed like this:

Becky: Its not fair

Me: No, life isn't fair honey

Becky: Yes it is

Me: But you just said it wasn't fair

Becky: But you said it isn't so it is!

Me: Oh Becky, you're a cheeky girl

Becky: No, you're cheeky mummy!!
Me: I wish you wouldn't argue back...

Becky: Well you're arguing back with me!!

At that point I had to just walk away.. how can you beat a 3 year old with that kind of quick wit? There was something in the middle of that conversation, but for the moment I am drawing a blank trying to remember what it was she said. When I think of it, I will edit it! When Keith got home from work I told him of the little chat I had with her, and he cracked up laughing! We've both agreed that she is a quick witted, VERY intelligent 3 year old.. we're going to have our hands full with her!