where do i start .....

its tuesday ... my computer is running so slow its making me want to cry! i am not very patient i guess!

lots to update on ... our dog is still in the hospital! its still day by day ... but i am confident she will come back home to us. We have been visiting her every day ... so can't wait to bring her home again soon. i am hoping by the end of this week ....

our black and white dinner party was SO fun. i was so busy on sat pulling it all together, Jane organised these fantastic balloons ... which made it look awesome! and the food came together nicely (except for the desert ... i overcooked it ever so slightly) still was yum tho! It was a late night, didn't get to bed till 1am ... and paid the price for that the next morning!

we had an emergency visit to the hospital with gianna on sunday morning when she coped a deep gash in her head! luckilye she was super brave and the hospital were awesome ... it was really not a major at all. We did run into our good friends there, and more of our friends ended up there also ... i guess one of those days!

The girls have their Sports Day yesterday and today, Katya got 7th in the long distance, and Emra 2nd. Then Emra won her heat, then 2nd in the semi-final to go thru to the "grand final" this afternoon. Katya has her sprints this morning ..... so much fun for them! I got some great photos yesterday - however might have to upload them tomorrow when our internet hours renew as its taking so so so long (its painful!)

Deck of Me - week 32 the prompt this week is "quiet"! i found this quiet easy to do ... as honestly over the past year i have been finding myself relishing "quiet" time whenever i can get it. I guess i'm getting old .... i have always loved having music playing all the time ... but some days now, when the house is quiet, and gianna is alseep or no one is here ... the peace and quiet is just GOLDEN!

this week we have a public holiday tomorrow for Exhibition Day, and the girls have thurs off school too. My parents arrive on thurs to stay for a week .... so its all go! (will post all my pics tomorrow)

hard week ....

life is tough sometimes! our dog is sick ... really sick! she is in the pet hospital and had to have a blood transfusion! I have been really emotional this week about it ... and i realise that i take for granted that she is around ALL the time, and is constant company! We are staying positive about it ... and praying alot that she will recover! I took the girls to visit her after school today ... they are ok, its good for them to realise we have to go thru this in life sometimes!

On a cheerier note, one of my friends who is just about to get into scrapbooking came over, and i showed her how to alter a clock! i did one for my father for his birthday! so that was fun!

i am glad its friday ....

i love fridays.

gary and i are going on a date night tonight ... and then tomorrow night we have a dinner party going on! of course i am breaking my neck trying to do my black and white theme ... honestly! the things i do! will take pics to post (of course!)

ok ... time to get the kids some dinner! enjoy your weekend! and keep my doggie in your prayers!

bridge to brisbane ...

i will be honest ... i am still tired after running in the 12km bridge to brisbane fun run on sunday morning! check out the crowd .... 30 000 people! it was pretty wikid ... such a cool thing to be apart of - even tho all the way up and then down the bridge i was totally dodging people .... i guess you have to expect that! I was happy with the run ... i couldn't have run any faster, i was totally spent by the end of it! luckily i paced off this girl and that took my mind off things for a while ... and she was doing a pretty good pace, so that pushed me along a bit! there is a 10km run coming up in Sept so i think i might look at doing that ... it was a good feeling to finish, and it certainly makes you train with purpose having events to look forward to! then i can start building up to some longer ones!

my legs are pretty stiff ... so i am going have a good stretch after i finish this post! then go to bed ... and try and wake up "refreshed" tomorrow ... as i have been draggin myself around today!

I guess yesterday thru a spanner in the works with Yani being rushed to the vet. Our golden retreiver didn't seem herself ... and i happen to notice she had blood in her eye ... after spending about 2 hours at the vet, then taking her for a scan .... they have confirmed she has an immunity disease which is attacking her blood. I am so thankful i picked it up ... as it would have been fatal! we have to manage it for now with medication ... she has another blood test on friday ... it may take 6 - 8 mths for her to get on top of it. Poor dear ... i feel so bad for her - she is such a lovely dog!

i have just finished doing invites for gianna's mermaid party in 2 weeks time ... its going to be so cute! she is super excited .... and even more special is that my parents will be here! i am so looking forward to it!

This weeks Deck of Me Challenge (#31) is No Regrets ....

i used a windsurfining photo for this card, as when we were younger we were competitive windsurfers ... our dream was to race, especially in maui, hawaii! when we moved to australia we were still going to do it .. .then gary sort of fell into the business we have now ... its a long story, but the short end is ... we decided not to keep travelling with it, and grew the business. A tiny part of me wonders just how far i could have gone, and how much fun it would have been ... but 99% of me is so SUPER glad we did stay here as we have a fabulous lifestyle which we wouldn't have if we hadn't had made the decision! so ... there are No Regrets for me! i love my life!

happiness ....

you know today has been a happy kinda day for me! i have not done much ... maybe that is why! i mean i did a few things, like get the washing out, clean up the kitchen, cook dinner ... usual stuff, but apart from that it was pretty much .... enjoy! It was a stunning day here in Brisbane .... seriously gorgeous - 28 degrees! It made me want summer to come back!

I had to take katya to the doctor today, she has the flu again and its gone to her chest ... i had a funny thing happen, i have to tell you cause it is pretty funny ... i rang a couple of doctors and they were both full up, so i was looking thru the phone book trying to get the number of a medical centre that i have been to before, so i dial the number and kindly ask the lady who answered if i could get an appointment for my daughter, she asked me if i'd been there before ... and i said no, but my other daughter had. then she asked me the name of the "deceased" and said "what did you say?????" she repeated what she had said .... "oh i'm sorry ... i've called the wrong number" hello, in my hast i had picked the wrong number and dialled the cemetry! i must say ... even as i was telling a freind this afternoon and she was totally bursting out laughing so hard .... it did make me feel blessed that i didn't need to be calling that place! holy smokes ... how funny!

you know ... i did actually do something pretty great ... i vacummed out my car! i will get total brownie points from gary - cause he hates a messy car! while i was doing this ... i could hear yani (our golden retriever dog) eating her dog food ... this was like 12.30 ... i told gianna not to feed yani! she proceeded in telling me that it was "just lunch time mum" ... so cute! it made me smile for a long time! she didn't get it that yani didn't eat lunch!

so i am happy ... i went for a run again tonight, ready for my fun run on sunday ... i always get on a high after a run! i guess the endorphins kick in! gary is getting us a movie to watch and Cold Rock ... so so so yum! and my fav flavour ... mint choc chip with a peppermint freddo mushed in! sensational ... i am so looking forward to it!

I have been a bit creative this week too ... that makes me happy! Last night my homework for heidi's class came thru ... i always love the art challenge, and i do it the night it comes thru! i just love having the calender page completed to use for the whole month ... this month is about "smiling" this photo makes me smile. these girls love to be together ... that makes me so happy!

i did add a bling heart later on ... you will see it in the close up photo.

AUTOMATIC friends ....

i haven't done any challenges for ages (apart from the deck of me ... which are little cards) so i am overdue to just have some "fun" scrapbooking .... the house was quiet ... and i couldn't resist. this photo my friend angela gave me last week was sitting on my desk ... it was taken on my birthday ...

so this is for the One Little Word challenge ... this week is "automatic".

thanks girls ... it was fun!

catch up ...

ok ... i have a bit to share here ... firstly and overdue - photos from the totally awesome Gwen Concert on Sat night. Oh my ... she is amazing! I new it would be good ... but it was so so so much better than i ever thought. That girl is on fire! seriously she is in GREAT shape ... and an inspiration (needless to say i've just done a quick pilates session ... and my tummy muscles are not very strong ... hmmmmm - mental note to self, do pilates more than once a year to get a Gwen stomach! lol) bearing in mind these were take off my phone, so excuse the quality! her outfits were totally cool .. and the dancing - spectacular! She is one cool chick! there were 4 ofus ... and we had such a blast! it was a great night - loads of fun!

am still living the dream listening to her albums non-stop!

sunday morning we met friends for breaky at Jam (i have been there for breaky 3 weeks in a row - hello!) does this tell you that the food is really really good ... it would! that is the tip ... food is very high on my radar!

then we went to a School open day/carnival to do the school tour (we are preparing for katya to go to highschool - so casing them all out now) it was fun .. and the school was great! the girls loved the carnival - of course!

Poor katya came down sick yesterday, so has been off school ... we have had a really bad winter with sickness in brisbane this year. I'm not sure if its as bad in other parts of the country or australisia ... but they are nasty, mean bugs!

yesterday when i was hanging out the washing there was a bit of a lizard show down in the back yard ... this guy won! gianna thought it was fascinating ....

we had our freestyle designs card making class today. had a few new faces which was great. both kathy and i are really enjoying it ....

gary has been wanting to trim the large trees down the side of our pool for ages ... so on the weekend he did just that. he totally nearly freaked me out a few times, moving this huge trestle i thought he was going to land in the pool (which i would like to add is like ice water) anyway ... it lets in heaps more sunlight to the kitchen and also gives a great view of the horizon. He has a new toy now ... a chipper ... he had it going this afternoon! boys and their toys! the trees used to touch the top of this photo ... so quite a difference!

this is our dinner tonight .... look how cute a cottage pie can be if you put it in a pink heart shaped dish ....

ok ... and finally, i have just finished my deck of me card for this week ... week 30! holy smokes this year is flying by!

the prompt this week is: count your blessings!

so i couldn't fit all my blessings on such a small card ... i do have many, many, many blessings ... and these are really in no particular order ... they are just some of the major ones!

Going to see Gwen ...
so tonight i'm off to see Gwen in concert ... she is totally going to rock! its going to be great!
I've had a pretty laid back kinda week really ... have gotten back into my running which is great, and did a weights work out with gary on wed, was feeling it still yesterday ... guess i worked the right bits! he he! i actually entered the Bridge to Brisbane yesterday (finally ... sort of last minute) so that is next sunday ... i am doing the 12km run, should be fun.
i haven't been too creative this week ... have made some cards for Freestyle Designs and finished Lea's circle journal. hopefully next post i'll have something fun to share.
alrighty .. gotta wrap a birthday gift for Emra to take to a "disco" party then go see gary play hockey ... before glamming up to see Gwen ... will give full details of the concert tomorrow! I can't wait!

monday night ....

the start of a new week ... and its been a good one! i got out for a run ... its been a while, so just took it easy and enjoyed the sunshine. i love that rush of endorphins when you finish ... its so good! it obviously launched me into the loads of washing that needed doing, and the cleaning up of our house ... also vacumming ... busy but productive. I even had our dinner on by 2pm .... well ahead of myself there! it makes such a difference at the end of the night if i think ahead tho, and i enjoy the afternoon so much more.

so a quick re-cap of the weekend. it was F U N!

I had organised this Lingerie party ... actually its called Intimo and its very beautiful stuff. cut a long story short, i said i would host a party ... so i turned it into a "high tea" which is a fancy afternoon tea with gorgeous little danty food ...

so i had about 15 girls come over, and we tried on lingerie and ate delicious food ... it was fun! gary took the girls out for the afternoon - so it was just the ladies. i have included a photo of the food ... and then my girls in heaven when they got home .... :-)

gary went to the V8 supercars on sunday for the day ... so the girls and i went for breakfast to a local cafe called Jam. their food is really really good. we went to the markets and got our veges for the week, in the afternoon we went to the Skate Rink and the girls went rollerblading .. they had the BEST time. they just love it.

i have just finished my deck of me card for this week ... week 29 ~ "define perfection"

so perfection to me could be the fact that my house is clean (right now) or that there is silence (right now) but my main definition of perfection is our little family ... the loves of my life ... they make life perfect. i could have nothing else in this life ... but if we are together i am happy!

i used making memories paper, and charm, heidi swapp stamps

anyone following our card making classes, we have started a blog, its here at freestyle designs and we'll be updating it with sneak peaks of upcoming classes.

creating....

so i had to share, have just finished this LO ... i have just scrapbooked for the sake of it, in ages. and i have had these photos sitting on my desk since the school holidays! so i just love how this turned out and the colours ... esp caused i was spray painting again (lol) i haven't used this dotty mask before .. its funky! so now i look at it .... its not really a "winter" theme with my bright yellow and pink combo ... oh well! its fun!

so this week has been super busy!

Our elderly neighbour died earlier in the week and we had the funeral yesterday. always reminds me to ENJOY each day ... and how precious life is.

Katya had her grade 3 ballet exam today ... i was so proud of her ... she loves the exams, maybe being put to the test, having to work hard for it. So we'll have to wait for a couple of months before finding out the results (they go off to england) this photo is getting her hair done ... she has gone to sleep in it tonight, hoping to keep it like this for as long as she can! :-)

little ballerina

today gianna tried ballet for the first time ... honestly, too cute for words! having two older sisters ... who love their dancing, and practise alot - she has had plenty of practise. I was delighted watching her, it was terribly sweet.

its been a busy few days ... i think life in general is busy when you have 3 kids and trying to manage them all - and myself! he he! and the house ... and the husband!

i picked up my canvas' i had printed of the girls ... i love them so much. sorry the picture is not so clear, but they are on our wall as you come up our main staircase!

I have almost finished Leah's circle journal ... i love how its turning out. i have put a sneak peak (don't want to spoil it for the others in the group! wink)

I managed to get to swimming this morning ... its been a while (after getting sick) and although the pool was 26 degrees it could have been a little warmer! i did love being back in the pool ... i really love swimming, the sensation of being in the water ... its awesome!

i am tired now tho ... i guess that's what happens when you are not fit. I didn't feel too bad at the time, but i'm fading now, and its only 7.30pm - sad!

yesterday Kathy and I took our first card making class. We are called Freestyle Designs, and will have our own blog soon ...

it went really well, and we have learnt alot already .... so looking forward to the next one in a fortnights time!

ok ..... dinner is ready! bye for now ....

busy house ....

the weekend shot by again. I am pleased that i got a few things done today! I have been trying to stay focused and keep in front of my house work ... i feel so much better when i do.

i had one of my best friends from melbourne stay this weekend with her 3 girls. .. so 6 girls ripping around the house, its been fun! our girls adore each other ... its sweet! We had an engagement party to go to on sat night ... it was totally out of our comfort zone ... we seriously ONLY new the bride and groom to be ... but it was fun to meet some new people! we got Cold Rock ice-cream on the way home ... so so so good. my favourite is mint chip with peppermint freddo mushed in .. so so so devine!

Seriously gary is so good .. he had the girls on sunday morning so Suz and I went for breaky at Nundah. seriuosly yum breakfast and just nice being able to chill and chat ... i loved it.

He took the girls rock climbing too ... he's such a great dad! i am chatting online to my sis in scotland right now ... and i'm struggling to multi task ... so i'll leave you with my Deck of Me card for this week! the prompt is: Goal for this week ...

So after considering this ... as i always have a zillion goals each week, but my main goal and focus is making some more quality time for each of the girls. as life gets busier ... i want to maintain close connections with each of them ... so i am trying a little harder right now!

i altered this clock too .. came out cute!

end of the week ...

so this week has gone pretty fast ... i have been meaning to blog, and look at that ... now its friday! the girls went back to school ... so maybe the whole routine thing has made life busy again! i am glad its friday ... i love the anticipation of the weekend, the girls have tuckshop at school so the morning isn't so rushed ... its great.

I have had a fun day today .. some of the mum's from school went for coffee straight after drop off ... so that was fun, good to catch up and have a chat. Then one of my girlfriends who lives over the other side of town, came over and we caught up. We haven't seen each other for ages ... way too long, i really enjoy her company and i realise we must catch up more often. I was lucky that gary was home, so Gianna went for her sleep and we went for lunch at Chermside ... went to Wagamama ... this great japanese noodle bar! such yum food! then a brouse around the shops (which i never do) so nice to see the fashion and enjoy some girl shopping time (not that i bought anything - except an engagement present) i was so so so good. I did LOVE everything in French Connection ... could have just gone crazy if the budget police wasn't on my case! he he!

i had a sweet surprise yesterday, one of my best friends gave me a "friendship" gift ... i was so surprised ... i guess cause i wasn't expecting it! I just love crockery with writing on it ... and this cool bowl has a chocolate cake recipe on it ... i love it!

i finally finished my magnet board too ... this was a project heidi gave us in the Y2R class back in May ... hello, i know .... has taken a while to get it done! but its so cool ... i just have to decorate my magnets now ... this is for my scrapbook room!

i have finished this weeks project which is a fun mini book ... i was intending on scrapbooking each day of the last week of the holidays, then heidi gave us this weeks project for Y2R which was a mini book ... so that sort of killed two birds with one stone! LOL!

enjoy your weekend!

end of the holidays ....

how did that happen? that the holidays are over already? even tho we were sick for half of last week .... it still went fast. I must say it was pretty relaxing (forced due to sickness) to hang at home last week! the girls are all heaps better now, i am still fighting my way back to good health again ... i seemed to have taken a bit of a hit this time, and even tho i am feeling alot better my voice has cracked up and i sound REALLY bad! story time tonight was tough ... lol!

we have done some fun activities over the holidays, the most recent was making bad tags ... they turned out really cute! (pictured above)

Emra lost her first tooth on dad's birthday ... so cute, she was so excited. of course then the tooth fairy had to come and leave a trail of fairy dust which caused even more excitement! There have been many games of Shrek Operation going on ... its been so fun! Emra is the funniest - she totally jumps every time the buzzer goes off!

I have just finished my Deck of Me card for this week. The prompt this time is to use junk mail ... so the "winter" word came from some junk mail we recieved. i used a heidi swapp ghost snowflake ... i know we don't have snow here in Qld ... but they are just so cute. so sorry about misleading ya!
ok time for sleeping ....

friday night ....

the rest of our week has been pretty quiet after we all came down with colds! oh well .. forced rest! it has been quite nice just vegeing out around here. I stayed in my pj's all day yesterday ....

i still have taken photos each day ... but am a bit behind on the scrapbooking - will catch up and do each day this week - a good reminder of our holidays.

so nothing too exciting to report. I did get the washing out, and folded today ... so i am all caught up on that ...

i did do our Y2R art challenge for July ... it came out so well - i love it! this months theme is FUN! (pictured)

this month's design team for Craftonline is up here. i did this clock .... and a few other things!

holiday fun .... (edited to add my deck of me card)

these photos were taken yesterday ... yes people! it is winter here in QLD ... and my kids were swimming at the beach ... hello! the water was freezing ... but it was a stunning day! my friend is staying up the coast for the holidays so we went up to Caloundra (our favourite place to be) for the day! it was completely spontaneous ... i loved that so much. we had fish n chips for lunch ... it was great! thanks Lindar!

today we got out pretty early again, ended up heading out early ... went to Southbank and had

a hot chocolate and baby chino's with the girls, it was such a stunning morning and so nice down there. they played at the park before we met Kathy and her kids and went to the museum! It was great ... the girls loved it. I am going to try and scrapbook each day of the holidays this week ... so stay tuned!

time to enjoy a relaxing afternoon ...

so its now later .....

kids are in bed, i have just devoured some caramel slice which i made tonight ... so so so bad, cause now it will just tempt me forever! its so good too! one of my best friends is coming tomorrow from melbourne, and its our thing to have caramel slice ... i know she'll be happy!

so i have done my Deck of Me card ... week 26. The prompt this week is Daughters! I have 3 ... i am so lucky! they are great girls ... and i amazes me just how quickly they are growing up. Its such a privilage to be a mother, i think we forget that sometimes .... i guess God thinks i'm up for the job! :-) We take this photo of all of them in bed together, it started when Emra was born ... so its been going for a few years now ... i wonder if they'll still let me take it when they are adults!

I also have done my first page of Day 1 of this weeks holidays .... i loved how it turned out! such a fun day at the beach! will get cracking on todays one now .... i'm on a roll! A sugar high ... he he!