On the fifth day of Christmas ...

... a sleep-in, no rushing around this morning ... aahhhhh bliss!

Today was a lazy day at home, enjoying a gorgeous 27 degrees (that was until the cold front hit about 4pm - opps).

We did venture into town later in the day with a visit to Santa's Grotto at CadburyWorld. Finn was more than happy to have his photo taken with Santa, but Emma didn't want to at all - so she had a photo taken with the Christmas Fairy instead! Very cute!

On the fourth day of Christmas ...

... was the official school breakup service and leaving ceremony for the Year 8 class.

No more kindy (ever), no more school for 6 1/2 weeks, am grateful that I have a job where I can spend the summer holidays with the kids, and just enjoy them and have some fun getting out and about. Gets better each year as they are older now and able to do a bit more.

On the third day of Christmas ...

... we saw Santa - the real one according to Emma! Apparently he came from his Santa photos especially to Kindy this morning - too cute! She was so excited to see him, yet burst into tears when we went to get her Christmas star and hat from him. So no photo of her sitting nicely on his knee ...
And this was our final day at Kindy - so sad after a 4 year association with these teachers ... almost a few tears from me ... :(

Tonight was Finn's school production, themed 'Christmas around the World' - a great night and awesome singing by the children. The Year 8 kids essentially wrote the whole thing themselves which is fantastic!

One day of school left then the holidays can begin :)

On the second day of Christmas ...

... we had a birthday leaving celebration at Kindy for Emma!
Yip my baby has grown up and is heading off to school (in the New Year). So today we did the whole playdough cake, '5' hat, sing the favourite song and review of the kindy scrapbook.

Tonight we helped with the Foodbank can drive - kids rode in the fire engine ahead, and we collected cans round a part of Mosgiel - filling 3/4's of a trailer. Many community groups helped out so we completed a full sweep of Mosgiel.

On the first day of Christmas ...

... our parents (DH & I) gave to us (Emma & Finn) one bouncy round trampoline!

I know it is early to be getting presents but unfortunately can't take this with us for the holidays so decided to give it to the kids early. They are loving it already, it's quite a low one so haven't worried about the nets round it - also think this gives them a bit of a false sense of safety, so would prefer they know not to be silly on it or else they will get hurt. Have been getting some cool photos of them jumping on it!

Thinking of doing a mini album, hence the above title, on the 12 days of Christmas (starting today with the 12th day being Christmas day), thought this was a bit easier than doing a daily December album - with still doing my Project 365 I thought this would be way to much work when combined with everything else going on this month!


Yesterday we had an early party for Emma's 5th birthday. So with 4 girls complete with wings we ventured off to the Butterfly House at the Otago Museum. Here are a few pics of the adventure ...

Have a busy week ahead, Emma's birthday at Kindy, Christmas party at Kindy, School production and helping with the Foodbank Can drive round the streets of Mosgiel. Whew - think I will need a break by next weekend!

Going to the Farm

As promised here is some pics of my latest creation ... a mini book for Emma about a recent trip to the 'farm'. This farm is actually the camp that is just out of Mosgiel where Scrap Camp was held earlier this year. John, the manager of the camp, is also one of the kindy teachers. We headed there on a bus and got to see the animals he has there - 3 lambs, 4 hens, 3 cows, 2 goats, 3 cows, 2 pigs and 1 dog. This was great especially for the kids that have never seen some of these animals up close before.
The minibook was created with the new papers from October Afternoon 'Farm Fresh' which suited the farm photos perfectly!
The photos of pigs and goats - I put it together for Emma like a storybook - so she can read the journalling herself ...

And the back ...

Speaking of October Afternoon, I have seen the new papers and with an upcoming 5 year old in our house they will be perfect for the 'off to school' pages for her album!

Now off to make invites to a certain early birthday party - theme 'butterflies/princess/fairies' - will post a peek at these once I have finished.

Hello again

... life doesn't seem to be slowing down at all, now on the run to the end of the year (no I'm not running - that would require too much energy - LOL!)
We have been busy (as per usual) over the last month, so here is a few pics to show what we have been up to ...
... Marty and his new toy ...
... Finn in training to be a Black Cap ...

... my $5 bargain at our school fair ...

... and this gorgeous girl came to stay from Melbourne for a few days ...

On scrapping front I have purchased a couple of albums lately so have been getting all my layouts in order and filed properly. Feels great to finally have these in a proper albums instead of just piled up in a file box. Got a couple of mini albums in progress at the moment and a few layouts with some of the above photos - might surprise you all with another post later in the week with some of these projects ...

Go Holden!

Yes I know a long time between posts ... honestly I do not know where this year is going ... it's going to be Christmas in no time at this rate!
I have managed a wee bit of scrapping recently, and in honour of todays great sporting event across the Tasman here is one of my creations from last month ...
... my attempt at taking a pic of the V8's at Qualifying day at Sandown in Melbourne when I was there recently. Man they go fast ... hence the funny take on this for the layout! Love that Scenic Route paper - might have to try and source a few more pieces of that now that company is sadly no more.
School holidays are over, has been a funny couple of weeks. The kids spent some time in Alex and I managed to get quite a lot of work done during that time, so was nice to have a couple of days off with them this week. Unfortunately our big day out in town had to be cancelled because of a sick boy - don't think he would have been welcome at Cadburyworld carrying his sick bowl with him! So needless to say I had two very upset kids on Friday, but the promise of a few treats over the weekend seemed to go down ok.
Can't believe this will be Emma's last term at kindy - not sure where the last 4 1/2 years has gone - she has just grown up too quick! But she is very ready for school, and is looking forward to her school visits at the end of next month.

And another month has passed ...

Is it just me or is this year going fast? Have been pretty much all go since I got home from my holiday - rugby/school/kindy/work - the days seem to all blend into one at times! So this past weekend with no commitments we decided to head away to Central for a bit of fun in the snow. We stayed with the in-laws in Alex and on Saturday we headed through to Cardrona. Winter/Spring conditions made for some beautiful scenery ... an orchard of icicles after a morning of frost fighting with sprinklers ...
... blossom encased in ice ... This is the view from the behind the Snow Farm carpark looking back over towards the Cardrona skifield ...

And this was us enjoying a few hours of fun sliding down hills on sleds ...

And yes I had a go too ... with a bit of a push - LOL!

Have a great week :)

I'm back ...

... so did you miss me? LOL!
I had a great break away in Melbourne, such a beautiful and funky city ...
... this little chick to play with ...

... a very cool little shop, with yummy treats ...

... a bit of V8 speed on practice day at Sandown ...

... and an overweigh suitcase on the way home - opps!

Also danced on down at the P!NK Funhouse concert - such an amazing singer, and the opening act was none other than kiwi band Evermore! Whew - am now home for a rest!!

In scrappy news I haven't achieved much since I got back but do have a pile of photos to print, a list of layouts 'to do', and ideas of scrapping projects. I didn't find much 'new' product in Oz, we are very lucky here in NZ to have a lot of the latest stuff and with the exchange rate at the mo is actually more expensive to buy over there. I visited Kaisercraft in Geelong while over there, was great to see all their products in one place but again we now have access to all of this stuff now here.

Lastly, I do have a new layout to share, this is one I did as Guest Designer for SBO for the latest ezine ...

Hope you all have a great week :)