family canvas ....

we've had a very laid back kinda day ... really great, just what we need. the kids swam in the pool, i spent some time photographing them .... i really enjoy it.

I started this large canvas which I've had for ages. I wanted to do a bit of a family canvas with everyone involved, it is taking a lot longer than I anticipated ... but that is ok. Its starting to take shape, i ran out of some colours so need to re-stock tomorrow. the girls loved painting their bit .... Katya and I had such a good time together painting away.

She really opens up just doing things with me, i need to be more aware of it and make more time for it .... she helped me cook dinner too, she's a great helper.

just chilling out ....

oh i am so enjoying the relax ... after the busyness of December. Its so nice not to have a schedule and do have fun with the kids. Just playing and enjoying the day .... not worrying about the time.

We had a date night last night, and went to the movies and saw Night at the Museum. It was great, i really enjoyed it ... so well thought out.

I did a couple of LO's yesterday, I haven't scrapbooked a large 12 x 12 page for ages, as i've been doing my advent album. I had these photos on my desk.

Its funny, i hardly know what day of the week it is .... so strange, as i always know where I am! the airhockey table is a big hit, i have pulled a muscle in my arm from aggressive play - LOL! I did beat Gary yesterday too ... must have caught him off-guard as he is better than me! was happy to take the victory tho!

advent album roundoff ....

its been raining here today in Brisvegas .... really good for us to see the rain, we so need it. I took the girls to see Charlotte's Web at the movies, it was really sad and I was crying at the end ... i couldn't control myself - sad hey! The weather has made for a very vege out kinda day ... am totally happy about that - so need to chill after the past few weeks.

Am in organising mode for the Melbourne adventure tho ... cool!

Just a roundoff of my advent album .... I am so happy with my finished album, its sweet. The album is a small 20cm x 20cm - a great size.

We went for dinner tonight at my sisters place, she is living in the Valley in this inner city apartment - so cool for her stage of life. I would have loved it at her age. She made us pizzas - really yum!

I want to be creative, but I am just too tired ... its been one of those days today, I haven't woken up properly! So I think I'll go read my book in bed & listen to the rain on the roof ~ don't you love that!

boxing day ~

hope Christmas Day was wonderful for everyone, we had a great day ... such a fun day - a long day! I was really tired by last night, and admit I was in bed at like 10pm .... just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer! Its so much fun seeing the excitement on the faces of your children .... they just really love Christmas, its just so cool.
We went to the outdoor Christmas mass at our church on Christmas eve, they have a "live" crib with animals - a donkey, goats, and real camels that the wise men ride in on ... so cool. Gary and I were Mary and Joseph two years ago when Gianna was a baby - she of course was the baby Jesus. I will include a photo .. it was a funny experience. Its a huge mass and there would have been more than 1000 people there. The girls just loved it. Our church won a prize in the christmas lights competition .. they were in the paper.

Christmas morning we had breakfast here with Sheridan and Steve. We had Bills hotcakes - with all the trimmings and a big fruit platter ~ semi-healthy (knowing what lunch would be - LOL!) before heading up to Bribie to spend a family lunch with my aunty and the gang. They have a new house on the canal up there so it was very nice hanging out there. We had great food of course. I was on desert and did chocolate brownies with ice-cream and fudge sauce ... it was very delicious. We headed back for dinner here with friends ... and a game of Cranium (if you haven't played its really great fun)

Today we have rain in Qld, which is fabulous. I was half wanting to just hang at home and relax as I'm still tired after the couple of weeks I've had and a big day yesterday, however ... its my 3rd year now that I've hit the Boxing Day sale ... and I decided to head to the city today. So glad I did as it is so cool in there and the selection of things is so much better. I love to go to the Christmas shop and get a few decorations as they are 50% off ... got a few little cute statues etc. Also found this sweet ice-cream dishes for the girls, they each have a colour ... cute! Gary got an early birthday present ... mainly because I couldn't get the thing out of the car by myself ... hello! So we have been playing air-hockey all afternoon ... good fun! go that competitive spirit!

ok .. its more relaxing for me ... yay!

getting organised ....

this was festive dinner last night with our friends Heath and Elisa. They are great fun ... we always have a laugh!

its been a festive, and busy kinda day! We had some good friends for breaky today - a festive celebration. The girls helped set up the table with the christmas table cloth and all the decorations - they are loving it. We had crackers - the works. It was great .... they are both in the police force, and bought the kids this really cool speed "radar" for christmas - so they can clock their speeds on the driveway - classic!

We hung the hammock Gary got for his birthday last year ... hello! Nearly a year later .... its so cool, and I was intending on getting in there this afternoon with a magazine ... however I got on this cleaning frenzy (I think the house has been a bit of a bomb site for a few weeks with all that has been going on I needed to get rid of all the christmas wrapping, ribbons and etc that is everywhere! I am happy tho, as I feel like we are living in organised surroundings again ... YAY! We had Christmas drinks with other friends this afternoon - so it really has been a very social couple of weeks. I love that tho, I love being around people, i think that is what life is all about.

We have a tradition on Christmas Eve ~ we have breakfast together with friends and this year its at our place. I love this, we do presents and have this gorgeouse breaky and its our own little tradition .... so I am already on my way with getting organised. I am going to cook Bill's Hotcakes, I even made the delicious butter up that goes on top ... yum! I was going to make a pinyada, however time has not permitted ... the intention was there!!!!

Its actually quiet late, but I don't seem to be very tired ... i am going to clean up my desk its really really bad ....

advent update ....

as promised the latest pages -

a few people have asked me where I get the photos from I use - to be honest, I have used things from all over the place. I have used ads from magazines, flyers .... just whatever takes my fancy. Its fun using stuff that just shows up unannounced!

makes scrapbooking more fun!

its late, I'm tired .... time for bed!

catching up ....

oh my goodness - this week has been a whirlwind!!!!! I have a love/hate relationship with this time of the year - I love the festivities and catching up with people, the good food and fun times ... however, I don't like the lack and time and the crazy/busyness that goes with it ....

anyways ... its nearly Christmas, and its starting to feel like Christmas as i got a few presents yesterday ... so so so cool! I love getting Christmas decorations, and have recieved some really wonderful ones over the years, I might share a few with you tomorrow (when I have my camera battery re-charged - hello!) This decoration is so so so gorgeous, from one of my friends who is a bad shopping influence (chuckle) on her bag it says " only one shopping day till tomorrow" too cute.

I have made a few gifts for friends too, will share a few recent ones ....

I have been enjoying the festive creations. I must confess that they are ideas I have seen somewhere else tho .... sorry, no original ones!!!!!

The Ribbon Christmas Tree I saw last year on Fiona and Kim's blogs and loved the idea. So I did my one with green and blue.

ok, so I'm really behind with my advent album ... so I'll go do some now, will post again later with the updates. Hope you are all enjoying the festive season, my girls are so excited its nearly Christmas!

P.S. Had such a cool desert out with friends last night .... great company, great food ... what more does a girl want!!!!! (I would put photos of my cool gifts, but my camera is flat .... grrrrrrr!)

gingerbread houses = mess!

i seriously don't know where today has gone .... I am tired! Its been a majorly productive day, with heaps crossed off my to-do list. All my Christmas shopping is done (except for 1 present - and that is under control)

We made gingerbread houses (from scratch - comment needed to be made so you realise why they look a bit dodgy!!!!!!) On Sunday we iced them, WELL .... there was icing from one end of my kitchen to the other .... blimey! We were all eating it, it was full on ... a big sugar rush! LOL!

The tree idea I stoll from Melissa's blog, she did buy her kit - but I thought the idea was cute, so its supposed to be a christmas tree (in case you were wondering LOL)

i saw this idea in the donna hay mag last year and thought it was cute ... and yes it is cute isn't it. Of course they lasted like 5 mins!

I had an interesting weekend to say the least ... I am too tired to tell the whole story now, to cut it short I got severe conjunctivitis in my left eye, it was just really bad that I ended up at hospital on Fri night ... anyway, its all good now and I don't look like an ogre anymore ... lucky we had a quiet weekend on the social front - phew!

ok, i know i'm missing out some stuff .. i am too tired, and off to bed .. here is todays advent page. nighty night!

check this out .....there is a storm about to hit Brisbane very soon, its dark and I can hear thunder. Its been really hot all day .... so thought one was coming. This is like my fav website .... its a radar that shows the storms - Gary calls me a storm chaser, i do love the weather tho, its fascinating! so I am quickly posting before i go watch the storm .... cool! the kids hate it ...they are so loud

I've had a really productive day, got all my washing caught up (finally - its been bad all week) got christmas presents organised to post, cleaned up the spare room (was a disaster since after the girls dance concert) - so i do feel quiet satisfied! Today the advent calender was (pictured) so we went to Chermside for sushi (I think Gianna may be allergic to soy sauce tho, as she had a rash after eating it = yikes, will have to get that checked out)

Robbie was wikid last night. He really can pull the crowd, I have to go read melissa's blog now and see her run down of the night. It was spectacular with fireworks and all sorts of fun things going on. There was a vote on weather you liked Neighbours or Home and Away better, a mexican wave ... very very cool. We had a ball, and I thought I wasn't going to be able to speak today as I screamed so much, the atmosphere was electric - they crowd really just went off!

couple more pages from my album too:

ok, have to fly ... storm getting closer. have a great weekend

I would blog but .....
I'm off to see Robbie ... YAHOO!

page 13 ...

an early blog for me today, but I am out to dinner tonight with some friends ... so have just finished todays page. Its been a busy day (even tho I started off slowly - was still in my pjs at 10.45am - i love the hols) got all my cards posted - yay! and it felt so good to do that. Had to pick up a few other things ... was so so so busy at the mall, just insane actually - took me ages before I could get a carpark! I remember why I don't like shopping in Dec now! LOL!

ok .. will keep moving, have got about 5 loads of washing to fold, before a friend brings her kids for a swim and I go for a run (later) ... gotta fit in as much as I can - ha!

p.s. todays page has to do with the advent calender we have going ...ok i will photograph it quickly now so you get what I'm on about (hang on) ..... ok, i'm back - this is the idea, i used film cases and each day there is a new little note of what we do for that day. Yesterdays one was to give a toy away to charity.

advent album update ....

didn't make it to blog last night, too tired! Had a challenging Monday to say the least ... without going into details - I managed to rise above it and didn't right the whole of my monday off. A friend of mine reminded me that you only get ONE monday a week, so it would be a shame for it to be an unhappy one! I loved those words ... each day we should feel like that, like the day is so precious there is no time for not enjoying it.

Here are the past few days of my album - i really am into doing this project. I feel on a creative roll - i love it when that happens. Am going to have to finish my christmas cards now, have to finish them off and get the overseas ones in the mail for tomorrow - yikes. Time is getting away.

will post my advent calender tomorrow ... its so cute, i love it. I have to get these cards done now ... till then - cherio!

sunday night ...

i love the weekends. And I love the holidays ....

A friend of mine, helped me source these letters - i have been wanting to do this in our room for a while - these things all take time. So she dropped them off today and I painted them straight away and put them up tonight. I love it ... it looks perfect.

we did our family photo today ... used the timer on my camera (hilarious) and even tho it was last minute and I forgot to put lippy on - it will do the trick to pop in our christmas cards

some more advent album pages too ...

have just realised while scanning these in that I need to change my brad to #8 (ops put #9)

we saw Santa today too! The girls were so excited, Gianna felt so at home she took her shoes off - funny! I am taking Emra and Gianna to see the Wiggles tomorrow .... big morning coming up! better get some energy up for that! :-)