Hey Mikaela...

How many brothers and sisters do you want?
188 she responded as I took this photo.
Uhm, yeah, okay!
Cute as a button, here she is with the gorgeous 5week old babe, Brock.
Joshua was all but forgotten LOL!
LOVE THIS photo so much!

Hugs
Bx

The girl can ride...

Solo, which is SO VERY exciting for her. Mikaela has been having "Little League" riding lessons for a few years now, where we lead her {and the horse!}. Yesterday was her first "Junior" lesson where she rides all by herself. She was way overdue for solo riding, so she really loved it and did well. Here she is going for a trot. Mikaela always chooses the largest pony (not necessarily the fastest, though she is yet to believe me on that one) LOL !

A sneak peek of my creations for Maya Memories this month...

I am loving my MOZI mouse pad and "to-do today" pad all in one. Cute as. Well at least it makes me FEEL more organised.

Happy Monday peeps...
Bx

My BIG second grader...

I do NOT know how she is already in Second Grade, but she IS... a BIG 2nd grader.
The morning went well, she was a bit aprehensive last night, but today she was A-okay! A friend of hers was having a teary, so Mikaela was able to come to her rescue.

As I left her she had a huge grin on her face, ready and excited to start a new year.
I **LOVE** the first day of school.
Josh and I then went into Kingston, put in my memory stick to get a few photos developed. I bought some lingerie (oh-la-la), induldged in a coffee and couple of choccies. Josh slept on the couch after I fed him and I had a quiet moment or two to myself (MUCH needed)...

Now in my studio to get some work done.

I hope your day is a beautiful one.
Joy and love out...
Bx

A day in the life of...

the most gorgeous 4month old babe....
Huh, what, who, me?...

Believe it or not the stupid cat was actually purring, sheez!:

Having fun in his Chrissy gift from Auntie Cass and Uncle Matt:

ALL tuckered out:

And a quick share of a layout I did for Keep'n The Memories, I did eleven (11) layouts and a mini album, such a beautiful kit. Go check them out, great kits and a gallery full of heaps of inspiration. Helps too that Mikaela is such a cutie:

OKAY so 1month TODAY until Joshies naming ceremony, and you know what… aside from the finer details, I think I am pretty much done. It’s a BIG job.

This weekend we are off to Adelaide and have about 8 meetings in relation to the big day fast approaching. I **LOVE** that Nath is super organised like me, makes life easier, we make a beautiful team.

Life is so awesome right now. Seriously blissful. No jinx!

On other scrapping matters… Sine tells me we are on page 89 of the latest Scrapbooking Memories magazine (Vol.9, No. 9)…
I am eagerly awaiting my Maya Memories pack to get started on… my Sissey pack arrived with the yummiest stuff (as always) tho I am not sure when I will get to play.

AND the lovely DanQ sent me a package from her with the most adorable pics, and the cutest little things… I *LOVE* that super talented girl, she is fabo let me say!! Thanks Dan, you are darling heart xoxoxo!
Here is my fav-our-ite (ABSOLUTE). Mikaela, those eyes just totally hit me right in the spot. I was told today about her coming to the rescue of a child that hurt themselves at the pool (holiday program)... Yeah, I know, she is an empathetic soul, my girl:

Okely dokely…
Running out the door for pizza with the family.
ANNE MARIE - I HAVE NOT forgotten you love... I promise, soon I send you a ROCKIN' RAK oxoxoxo!

Joy to ya!
Bx

That was yesterday...

Things with Mikaela are on the improve. She has been spending time with friends that love her and make her feel good. Thursday night we were out to dinner with friends, their daughter and Mikaela adore each other, so it was a great night. Yesterday (LAST day of school for the year, 7 weeks of togetherness, yah :))... we went to the local pool and she had a ball with another friend... so all is goooood here.
Or improving :)

Life is good.
Enjoy.
Bx

Heartbreaking...

It breaks my heart when she is hurting, especially the heart and soul kinda hurt!

Mikaela has been in some trouble at school of late, with her "best" friend. Theirs is not a healthy realtionship, it is very LOVE-HATE (even co-dependant :()... and it is awful to watch.

We are in the process of setting up a more supportive environment for Mikaela at school. Your prayers for her easy transition to this change in her life would be much appreciated.

This mother/teaching job sure is a tough one, forget office politics, this is the REAL DEAL...

Bx

Christmas Decorations...

This was a class project I finished this week with Mikaela's class.
So cute.
They loved it.
All of them were so excited.
Basically I (along with a lot of help from Nath the night before... thanks hun) prepared most of the project before hand. Therefore the children just had to do the designs on the alfoil. I did the Indian Ink part for them and then they put it all together, with help from their teacher, Heather. It was a hoot. They were such fun, I had a ball. Little cuties they were, so eager and happy. My kinda morning :) Josh was awake when we arrived, then just put himself to sleep and slept the entire time :)

I got quite a few strange looks as I had indian ink all over my hands for the rest of the day (actually I just realised, I STILL do)... and it was SO worth it :)

I only have Mikaela's ornament to share due to privacy... but seriously some of the kids were SUCH artists!! Well they are ALL artists... but some of them had serious talent.

This little project is totally inspired by Celine, who came to visit and did a "Show and Tell" with them a few weeks back. I'd promised Mikaela's teacher, Heather, MONTHS ago that I would do some arts and crafts with them... who says 2 weeks from end of year is too late?? LOL !

Next year I am going to try a "Term Project"... I can't wait!

My 2008 new years resolution... to make it Christmas "time" all throughout the year :)
Love out...
Bx

She was thinking of me too...

... when I wrote my last post! I found it in her bag when she came back home. Mikaela had left a message on our answering machine, and made a note of it while at her Dads. Cute!

Peace out...
Bx

I miss her on Saturday mornings...

Even though I know I am fortunate that she spends most of her time with us, I still miss her on Saturday mornings as she spends Friday night each week with her Dad. Mikaela is such a sweet child and so very good with her little brother, totally doting and SO SO inlove. It is a beautiful thing to see. Sometimes she is a little TOO enthusiastic, but for the most part she is a delight.

Josh giggles and coos at her, and they are the sweetest to watch.

Mikaela USED to call me at 6am on a Saturday morning:
Mikaela: What are you doing?
Me: Sleeping (said smiling, because although she has called at a very early hour, I have only just given Josh his morning feed... and I think she is cute)
Mikaela: What is Josh doing?
Me: Sleeping beside me (only just moved into bed beside us, which we do sometimes at the EARLY morning feed, anywhere from 5-6 am)
Mikaela: Oh... okay, bye then!
*************************
The first time after Josh was born, I think she called around 4 times in two hours!

We always speak on Friday afternoons when she finishes school, tho she doesnt call me at 6am on Saturdays anymore. Some Saturdays she doesnt call at all until just before I collect her in the late afternoon. I guess that is a good thing, she is enjoying her time with Dad. Plus she has ballet class AND ballet rehersals, so she is busy.

And even tho its only one night, I still miss her and I think Josh does too.
Bx

Her face...

When I ask to take a photo of her!! NICE one Missy Moo!

Tho I forgive her because I am sure I could swim in those eyes of hers.

A couple of Mikaelaisms of late:
1. She tells me I am looking FIT, with conviction. I LIKE that :)
2. When she got an icecream headache recently... she called it "brain disease" instead of brain freeze.
3. I sent her to her room as she was being WAY TOO exciteable and making heaps of noise... to which she replied "yes good because I need some peace and quiet"... ah ooooo K!
4. She told me she doesn't like me to refer to myself as "Mum"... she likes to WRITE Mum because its easier :), but she likes to SAY "Mummy" oooiwwww!
5. She refers to herself as "sissie" when talking to Joshua.
6. She has not lost her love for playing with snails... it's been raining the last two days... snails galore to her delight. LOL.

She wrote me this note a few weeks ago:


Translation:
I love you Mum. You are the goodest girl in the family we want you to be but are best. You will be the good mum. I love Josh and Nathan. We will look after you. We love being in our family. You are the best Mum and maybe Nathan thinks you are the best girlfriend.
CUTE AS... she is such a delight.

Or "oh how delicious" to use the phrase of Mrs Henderson (Judi Dench), from the movie of the same name which Nath and I enjoyed last night.

Happy Friday's beautiful souls...
ENJOY your weekends.
Kiss Hug
Bx

Happy Fathers Day...

We had a beautiful day.
Three+ in the bed.
Snuggling.
Reading.
Relaxing.
Horse riding.
Friends visiting.
Not much else.

Finally I got this mini-album finished TODAY!
Its a gift for Mikaela from Nath, to give to her in the hospital when our babe arrives.
Something special, go here to take more of a look see!
I *love* getting them involved in the art of scrapping!
Of recording memories and sentiments for our family.
Creating treasures for years to come.
As do they... all I need to do is look at their faces to know that :)

Bx

Kaela's Play Date...

This past Sunday from 2-4pm, a group of six year olds came over to ours to play. It was SO much fun, even for Nath and I... we laughed SO MUCH! One of the other parents, David stayed to assist also, which was greatly appreciated.
Ingredients for successful play date:
A whold lotta PARTY FOOD!!
REAL eggs for egg and spoon race
Few pairs of old stockings to cut up and use for 3-legged racing.
A few very excited 6 year olds....

So they ate and drank until their fill.

We walked down to the local park (and football oval).
Most of the kidlets ran ahead and had to wait at each corner or road crossing.
They played on the park equipment.

Then they played some games:
* egg and spoon race
* three legged race and
* marco polo.
(HILARIOUS)!!

Drank and ate more - played more.

Another walk back to ours... and some relaxing infront of the teev for some, and courtyard games for others.

It was such a great afternoon, with lots and lots of belly laughs!
Spring is definitely in the air.
Loving this life... JOY !
Bx

Pinkie Promise...

So Thursday afternoons are swimming lessons for Mikaela, once upon a time I used to go into the pool with her after her lesson, pretty much every week. I love to swim, float... to just be in the water.
Not so much lately.
However, the trickster.... MADE me pinkie promise I would yesterday... that damn pinkie promise!!!

So I HAD to go in.... mmmmmm nice heavily pregnant woman in a swimsuit! Funnnneeee.
Sorry I dont have any photos to share. LOL! At least I wasnt in my bikini (only because it wont fit!) Hahaha.

It was hilarious - Mikalea and one of her class mates (Jessica) had me in stiches as they swam underneath me as I floated.... what was I some giant whale?? Probably :-) They were playing all kinds of imagination games, mermaids... creatures under the water. Me as a whale, wellllll its not much of a stretch.

I almost drowned as I was laughing so much. Have you ever tried to float and laugh at the same time?

Happy Friday peeps...
Bx

Cute as pie...

And as cheeky as a monkey! Happy Sunday.
Bx

My haven...

This is where I spend a great deal of my "spare" time... today all I managed to do in here was to put the blind up, check some email and collect a few things before dashing out the door...
This is my newly configured desk space with make-shift shelf... handy andy!
I try to keep it this tidy all the time, usually lasts about, oh... as long as it took to take the photo, LOL!
My supplies...

This pile of "STUFF" is awaiting a lateral filing cabinet we have on order, was hoping it would arrive before baby, but looks very unlikely. Oh well.

A few of my favourite items: This is a photo of me and Kaela when she is about 3 weeks old, ie her due date.
A great painting by Liza Paizis, I have this one and another "Autumn Angel" both are very beautiful.
Just plain cute...
And so glad to see Kaela taking after me. Lipgloss is my "if I only had one thing on me in a crisis" items, may not be practical, but its true. Cant believe this little lady here is the very same as the baby photo above!! Wowsers time flies! I SO remind me of my grandparents... already, LOL!
I had a LOT to do today, take Mum to the doctors and do some shopping, go to our health fund and medicare... basic errands to run. HOME for lunch with my gal pal Kim. Coffee with Ian, an old work colleague.... then collect Kaela from school and take her to swimming lessons.

I hope you had a good one too.
Bx

Who's this girl ?...

Some of you may recognise my EXTREMELY talented friend here.... We did a photo swap a little while ago.
I have finally overcame my fear and just got the layout done today :-)

Plus I did this one here for our 2004 album... a beautiful photo of my gorgeous friend Stel.

Go here to see more details of these layouts.

Lucky me to have such beautiful friends that is for sure. One this note, I have another project celebrating the wonderful women in my life to share very soon.

Oh and Nath's condition is Crohn's related for those interested. Not nice, but manageable... we are just happy and grateful that it is treatable!

Peace and love out...
Bx

This weeks recap...

I *LOVE* this photo of Mikaela, I took one day after school this past week when we went down to the lake and fed the ducks and swans. The scratches on her face are courtesy of our cat Paris. I was not home when it happened, it occured last weekend when I was at GreenHills.

The story I received:Nath was in his study. Kaela outside playing in the courtyard, came tearing into the house....
N. (to Kaela) whats wrong??
M. Noooooooothing

She runs directly into the bathroom and applies wet tissue paper to her bloodied face. THEN goes into see Nath to show him after she's patched herself up a bit.

I found this story SO funny... when they arrived at Green Hills to pick me up, Kaela ran towards me in excitment and all I could see were the scratches all over her face... meaning she'd been tormenting our cat.

The fact that she tried to hide it... well that just cracks me up!

Kaela has had Paris since she was about 3 years old, no amount of scratches have ever stopped her bothering the cat, and I doubt they ever will !!

Here I am at 33weeks pregnancy... all is going very nicely.
Photo was taken on Friday morning before we headed off for the day. I attended an "Artist Business Workshop" with the Australia Business Arts Foundation. It was such an amazing day, to say the course was SUPERB would be a serious understatement... it was SO informative and inspiring. I have so much information and a tonne of resourses to run with.

Not to mention the other 20 fabulous artists I had the pleasure of spending the day with... it was by far one of the best things I have done for *me* in AGES.

Check out the timetable, and if there is a course near you soon... GO GO GO!

It was a great day... Nath came to get me at the end of the day... and I am pretty sure I spoke non stop without taking a breath until we reached Mikaela's school some 20 mins later LOL!

I now have LOTS of ideas percolatting in my mind about how to use all this wonderful information, and where I am going to take it all...

This weekend has been pretty great, went to Cootamundra (about 1.5hours drive) to attend Lilly's 2nd Birthday celebrations... so cute. There were 5 pregnant women there, including myself and I felt right at home *grin* There were also about 8 kids and quite a few babies for Mikaela to practice playing big sister on. She has been SO insistent about having a brother... it was great to see her bonding with an 8mnth little girl and decide that she was rather cute and that a sister wouldn't be so bad afterall *grin* Nath was the proud father-to-be just grinning most of the day!

Then there was all the usual weekend stuff... Kaela's horseriding, fruit and veg shopping at the markets, getting creative... making mini-albums with Kaela, family time... snuggling and watching movies, chatting with girlfriends. A nice relaxing weekend. I love driving in the country-side too, so that was nice to do.

Nath has an operation tomorrow... so he has to drink all this yukky stuff. Hopefully its nothing to serious. Drs are just taking a look-see to make sure all is a-okay. I am going to be there to hold his hand and will be sure to let you know how it goes.

EDIT 7 August: Nath's operation went really well... he is like a "super recovery" type, which is fabulous! We found out the issue and he will need to be medicated for life... but it is no MAJOR biggy and we are grateful to know what it is and that we can treat it! Whoohooo! I am SO proud of my guy... so so so proud :)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.
Happy Sunday evening...
Love and Peace out.
Bx

EAJC #26, Celebrate Daughters...

Rightly SO... given that Ems just gave birth to another little daughter... this weeks challenge, set by Margie is Celebrating Daughters.

Thanks Margie, most fitting and SUCH an easy one :-)then I guess celebrating anyone you loves, loves loves... is easy, so here's mine...
I "thought" I wanted a son until she came into my life... as soon as I held her in my arms any thoughts of a son vanished. I had "his" name chosen and everything, I would refer to my unborn baby as Ethan for ages... a few months after Mikaela was born I could not, for the life of me ... remember "his" name, took some time before it came back to me LOL!

Mikaela is my dream come true.
For sure.
I am SO blessed to have such a wonderful daughter and so proud to be her Mum.
Love and Peace out...
Bx

We couldn't resist...

Weeeeeeeeeeeeks ago now, when we were in Piccadilly Circus, London... we passed a large group of artists doing portrait drawings. OF COURSE we could not resist getting one done of Mikaela. I have not photographed the entire picture, it says "Mikaela 6 years, London 18 May 2007" and of course the artists name. He was just so talented.

So many talented brilliant wonderful kind artists in our world. He was so sweet and really into his craft, you could tell by watching him how much he enjoyed what he did... and particularly drawing Mikaela.... they giggled and smiled. It was so sweet to watch. Mind you, Mikalea took it all VERY seriously, I have never seen her so quiet, calm and serious for such a long time. LOL!

I need to get a frame for it. Add that to my list of TTD!
Peace and Love out...

Mikaela's first year mini album...

We thought as well as a "baby-alive" doll (not the baby... a doll!), Mikaela may appreciate this little gift when our baby arrives. Its a mini album with 14 photos of Mikaela in her first year, basically month by month. I hope she loves it!
For more of the album... each page scanned, take a look at my portfolio HERE. SUCH a kewl new site Scrap in Style TV. I LOVE IT!! All started by the kooky talented Jeanette!!

I used my Sissey kit from the June collection. Love it!

What else?
* Loved chatting with Lusi last night...she is SO lovely!
** Delighted by this blog... as always.
*** I received the MOST STUNNING necklace made by one of my besties... I have to post that on its own, its just SO LOVELY! I am so lucky to have such talented gorgeous girlfriends. Seriously blessed!
**** Speaking of talented gorgeous girlfriends... this is the mini album that I did at our crop on Sunday, well half did. Only just finished. As usual... way too ambitious, which means I have other projects to get into. All good!
*****REALLY loving working from home... so I can get in a quick nap because my tummy is aching! {EDIT: didnt get the nap! Ha} I think the baby is having a HUGE growth spurt TODAY all at once. Hurts. 12.5 weeks to go... 12.5 weeks to go... 12.5 weeks to go... YIPEEEEEE! HUGE big perma grins going on around here now... and Nath is telling all his clients *grin* CUTE AS!! I am kinda beyond the needing to actually "tell" anyone LOL!!
Love and hugs...Bx