The Big Day has arrived.

My sweet little 'almost 3yr old' boy has started his first day at 3yr old kinder today. He was so excited and has been for days now. As soon as we arrived and he saw all the kids, he just couldn't stop smiling. We went in and he chose a peg to hang his bag on. Luckily for him, he got 'the' coolest peg. It had a picture of a drum set on it which is right up his alley.

Daniel had to go and pick up something for his car so he took a bit more time off work and came with us. Coban thought that was pretty special! I am due to pick him up in half an hour and i can't wait to hear all about it. I am sure that he is having a great time. He didn't care that we were leaving him there. Just said 'Bye' hurriedly and turned back to his play dough lol.

Here is a picture of my big boy this morning:

He wasn't very co-operative hence the frown.

I will pop back in later and update on how his day went.

3 Things...

I was just reading Flick's blog and she had done this so i thought i'd steal the idea. :)

Three Things That Scare Me
1. Driving into the water and drowning.
2. Spiders
3. Something happening to my Son or husband

Three People That Make Me Laugh
1. Hamish (from Hamish & Andy)
2. Coban
3. Dave Hughes

Three Things I Love
1. Digi-Scrapbooking
2. Chocolate Eclairs
3. My camera

Three Things I Don't Like
1. Irresponsible people
2. People driving whilst talking on their mobile phones.
3. Kevin Rudd

Three Things On My Desk
1. A brand spankin' new printer/scanner/copier.
2. Stack of scrapbooking mags
3. Lots of discs of photos/ digi kits etc.

Three Things I should be doing right now
1. The dishes
2. Checking to see why Coban's so quiet
3. Cleaning up puzzle pieces off the lounge room floor.

Three Things I Want to Do Before I Die
1 Live a happy and fulfilled life.
2. Live in the country again.
3. Become a digi designer.

Three Things I Can Do Well
1. Digi Scrap
2. Produce cute kids lol
3. Drive

Three Ways To Describe My Personality
1. Organised
2. Happy
3. Loyal

Three Things I Can't Do
1 Drive a manual.
2. draw
3. Make myself eat enough fruit.

Three Of My Absolute Favourite Foods
1. Lasagne
2. Taco's
3. Pizza

Three Things I'd Like To Improve
1. Flattening my tummy
2. The amount of housework i do.
3. My saving

Three Beverages I Drink Daily
1. Cordial
2. Coffee
3. Milo

Three Shows I Watched When I Was A Kid
1. The Jetsons
2. Neighbours
3. Astro Boy

{H}

{H}


{Hamish}

This was my favourite boys name when i was pregnant with Miranda & Claudia. If Miranda had of been a boy like we were told, she would most likely have been a Hamish. Daniel still had to make up his mind but i'm sure he would have agreed at the time lol.


{Housekeeper}

Thanks to my MIL, I have had a housekeeper once a fortnight for the past few months. The cleaner comes every Tuesday for 2 hours and the house smells so fresh once she leaves. She pretty much cleans all the floors, bathroom, and toilet. Which is basically all i need her to do. I then just have all the other daily tidy ups to do which doesn't seem so bad. Unfortunately the rates have just gone up as soon as i start to pay for it myself which is typical lol. For under $50 a fortnight, my house can be sparkling clean and i can have a bit more time to play with my kids. :)


{Hospital}

I have been in hospitals so many times since having children that i am not afraid or worried about being there. As a child, i had my appendix out and also broke my wrist so each of those times i was in hospital. I was looked after so well that i can remember having such a great time there lol. I even got an award for being such a great patient PMSL. I then had to have visits at the hospital during my pregnancies which were mostly positive. The second pregnancy didn't eventuate past 12 weeks so the trip to the hospital for my 13 week ultrasound was unpleasant. But i was again looked after so well that i did feel comforted. After this there were many different things that were happening to my body which needed to be watched but i fell pregnant again with the girls and all was good again. I hope to not have to go back to the hospital any time soon though lol.

Park pics.

The kids and I went to the park with Dannii and her 3 girls during the week and we both managed to get lots of photos. It was a great day for photos as it was overcast. Here are some of my favourites. Dannii has some on her blog too if you want to have a look.


Chloe & Coban sharing a hug.



Coban & Chloe with Gemma in the background.



Coban sitting in the little train tunnel.



The beautiful Ashca.



And the equally as beautiful Gemma.

I have been having such a great time with my camera lately. I don't pretend to know that much about it but I have been practising like mad so that i get more 'good' shots than 'bad'. LOL
I think i am winning. I have no doubt that professional photographers will be able to pick my photos to bits but i am happy with them and that is all i care about.

Coban's toilet training is still going well. He is not comfortable going to other people's toilets though. Is this normal???? It is very frustrating for me but i guess it is a very new thing and it would be scary. He will be starting kinder next week so i hope he will use their toilets lol. I might pack lots of undies and pants just in case.

Miranda & Claudia are going well. They are starting to sleep MUCH better during the day lately. I am so pleased as it means that they are not grumpy and i am able to get things done around the house. Which is what i should be doing right now. ;)

My new Epson Multi Function Centre should arrive in the next few days!! I am very excited about it as i have been wanting to scan in so many photos lately but the scanner we have here has decided to stop working. And also our printer carked it too so we were in need of new ones and this one happened to be on special.

I have a question for all you paper scrappers out there...

Do you use a 'scorer' tool to put creases in your CS or just a metal ruler? I am going to be attempting an Exploding Box Album soon and am not sure if i should buy one of these tools or just a good old plain metal ruler.

Anyway, please leave me a message if you are reading this as i'd like to know who actually reads my dribble. :)

Happy Australia Day!

,

Today is Australia Day and my fave Aussie Designer, Kaye Winiecki, is having a sale to celebrate. Come on over to Pickleberrypop and fill up your cart with some fabulous goodies!!
How cool is this ad btw??? Makes me hungry just looking at it lol.

Just cause i can, here is a new LO:


Credits can be found HERE.

I will be back soon with some photos from our trip to the park with Dannii and her girls. :)

Knock Knock...

Coban has started getting into Knock Knock jokes lately. He has such a ball repeating the same old jokes all day long lol. But it is very cute so i put up with it. Daniel taught him a new one the other night and now that is his absolute favourite. Here it is if you want to listen...

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=TfKrCkh4m8E&feature=user

And if you can't understand him, here is the joke:

Knock Knock
Who's There?
I'm Up
I'm Up Who?
I know you are (Or just laugh a lot which is what Coban does.)

On to E, F & G!!

{E}

{Easter}

Love it!! I'm such a massive chocoholic so a day dedicated to eating chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner is right up my alley lol. I am a Cadbury snob though. In particular, the 1kg Cadbury Egg! My Mum would buy me one of these each Easter so it became a tradition that i would get one. Once i started living with Daniel, it became his responsibility to get one for me lol. And every year except last year, i have had one of these not-quite-big-enough eggs. Daniel was too late last year so the very few 1kg eggs that were produced, were quickly snapped up and i missed out. :( Needless to say, i will be pushing him out the door to get me one as soon as i see them in the shops lol. Gee, i sound like a horrible person don't i?? :)

{Ear piercings}

I had my ears pierced when i was a baby so i obviously don't remember getting them done. But i did go and get an extra hole in my left ear and then one up the top of my left ear. So i have/had 3 earrings in my left and only 1 in my right. That was part of my teenage 'too cool for school' stage lol. I only wear 1 pair now though. I think the other 2 holes are probably closed over by now. I also used to work in a pharmacy and looked after the beauty section so i would have to do ear piercings all the time. It never bothered me but i would get sick of people sooking up about it. I don't think it hurts that much so i can't understand why some people carry on like it's so painful lol. I can understand children getting freaked out but adults???? Come on now... I have also had to do babies and that's so hard to do. I hate inflicting pain on babies. :(

{Enemies}

Yep, i have some. :)


{F}

{Friends}

I have always had a pretty big group of friends at school. I was always fairly popular and was part of the 'cool' group lol. But since leaving school, I have really only had a close few friends that i know i can always count on. I think a few great friends are much better than a lot of so-so friends IYKWIM. Melissa is my bestest friend ever!! Her and I met when we were both working at the pharmacy back in 2000 i think. We can go weeks (sometimes longer) without speaking to each other and neither of us are worried about that. It is a very easy going friendship and we both know that the other is there whenever we need. I love her to bits!!! We were even pregnant at the same time with her daughter being born about 3 weeks earlier than Coban. And our birthdays are only 1 week apart too.

I also think of my EB scrapping girls as great friends even though i have never met a lot of them IRL. They all know how much i love them and value their friendships so i won't go into it all again lol. MWAH!!!

{Fancy Dress}

I am a sucker for a fancy dress party. I don't care what the theme is, i will get my thinking cap on and try to think of something very diiferent. I am already thinking about the theme for my 30th which is still 3 years away lol. I am hoping Daniel has a fancy dress theme for his 30th in June.

{Ford}

As mentioned in the 'C' category, I love cars. And Fords to be precise!!! I have always love Fords since i can remember and thankfully so does Daniel. I own a Ford Falcon S which has sports suspension, sports seats etc and is very cool looking IMO. I would LOVE to own an XR6 Turbo or even more so, a GT-P!! How hot would i look driving one of those with 3 kids in the back seat ???? PMSL.

{G}

{Games}

Or more specifically, board games. I have always loved spending a night in with friends, having a few drinks and playing all sorts of board games. I am a very big fan of Pictionary and Scattergories and am usually pretty good at Trivial Pursuit. On our honeymoon, Daniel & I spent hours playing old board games like Greed and Stock Market so i decided to buy those games off eBay. I think we have only played them a couple of times since then lol. But i really want my kids to have heaps of games to choose from so every time i see one on special somewhere i get it lol.

{Godchildren}

Daniel & I have 2 god children. My niece Takira and a friends DS, Thomas. We don't get to see either of them very much but hopefully we are fulfilling our duties so far and giving them positive influences.

{Gardening}

I am hopeless at gardening. When i decide that it's time to weed, i usually rip up plants too. And i don't water the garden at all so lots of plants have died in my care. We were given a Ginkgo Biloba plant as a gift for Coban when he was born and thankfully that is still alive. I hope it survives and grows well as it was such a lovely gift to receive.

Man, G was a hard letter for me lol. I better go now. I have spent way too long sitting here trying to think of what to write about.

Quick pics and a LO.

I was going to come in here and do some more of my Encyclopedia but TBH, I am too knackered to concentrate. I have dealt with whinging kids all day long and now i have a headache so i think i'll go and try to finish the LO i started today. I will leave you with these photos from yesterday though. Dannii came over to help me out with some tips for settling the girls. Thanks so much sweetie. I had a great time with you and i know Coban loved your company too. He was telling Daniel all about the day and kept talking about Chloe even though she wasn't there lol.



Coban with the bubbles that Dannii bought for him. It didn't take long for it to become empty lol.


Having a swing.


My little dribbler, Claudia.


Miranda deep in thought.


And lastly, a LO. All about our breastfeeding journey so far.

Late night.

I stayed up way too late last night and now i'm paying for it. :( Miranda & Claudia decided that they would wake up 2 hours after i went to sleep so after a failed attempt at settling them both, i gave in and fed them. They are thankfully still asleep at the moment so it's given me a chance to have a coffee. But boy am i tired.

The reason for my late night was nothing too exciting i'm afraid. I was scrapping that's all. I just couldn't bring myself to go to bed until i had finished the layout that i was working on lol. So without further ado, here is my latest LO:



I used Kaye Winiecki's 'Missy Moo' kit which is available at Pickleberrypop. I really love this kit. It was so much fun to use and i got to step outside my comfort zone and create a layout that is so not my usual style.
Credits can be found HERE.


And i forgot to post this layout the other day. I am enjoying doing Christmas layouts this year because i have so many gorgeous kits and stuff to use. I actually scraplifted a layout in For Keeps Issue 60 2007. It was by Nikala O'Brien called 'No Matter What Happens'. I am sure she won't be reading my blog but on the very 'off' chance, thank you Nikala.


Credits can be found HERE.

Off to make some yummy Chocolate Filled French Toast this morning for brunch. I can't wait. Yummm......

Toilet Training- Day 4

I am so very proud of my big boy. He is onto Day 4 of his toilet training and he has been doing a fabulous job. He started taking himself off to the toilet by himself yesterday even doing #2's. He is really taking it in his stride and i am so glad. I was really dreading starting the TT'ing especially with the girls here now too. But so far, Coban has been brilliant. He has a little star chart that he fills in each time he goes to the toilet and i think that has really encouraged him. I am hoping that it continues this way and that he will be completely toilet trained by the time he starts 3yr old kinder on the 31st January.

Speaking of kinder, Coban gets to start going 2 and a bit months before he actually turns 3. I think he will be fine though. It is only a fairly small group of 14 kids max and i was told that a lot of the kids are actually the younger side of 3 anyway. I am really looking forward to it because i will be able to go out and do things that normally i would dread with all 3 kids. Plus it's only 2 hours, twice a week so it's not a really long time but it will be just enough for him to learn what he needs.

Back to the Encyclopedia of Me now....

{C}

{Claudia}

Claudia Kaitlin born August 16 2007 @ 3.26am. She arrived 19 minutes after her twin sister Miranda due to the fact she was breech and had to be turned before delivery. There was no way she was waiting around to come out by CS and the Dr knew it lol. She weighed 2.3kg and was just beautiful!! Still is obviously lol. She needed to stay in the SCN due to her weight and to learn to breastfeed properly. 16 days later and both girls were home with us.

Claudia is the spitting image of me as a baby and people tell me that she looks a lot like Coban did too. Now at almost 5 months, she is very alert and loves to watch her big brother. She gives smiles but only when deserved lol. Although she will smile as soon as you go into her room, especially when she is supposed to still be asleep.


{Cigarettes}

Even though i always said i would never smoke cigarettes, I succumbed to the whole 'cool group' mentality and started smoking in Year 8. I decided to quit on May 31st 2003 as i planned on getting pregnant the following year. I had the occasional one for a while after i quit but now the thought of it repulses me. I don't have any urge whatsoever to light up again thankfully!! I think i ended up smoking for 8 years altogether.


{Cars}

I am a bit of a rev head!! I LOVE watching the V8 Supercars and Daniel & I even took Coban one year to the Adelaide Clipsal 500. It was a fabulous 3 days!!! I so want to go to Bathurst but i will wait and see how it goes because i believe they are trying to make it much more family friendly. Daniel said that years ago it was no place for a woman and he would never take me but if it gets better i might be in with a chance lol.



{D}


{Daniel}

Daniel & I met in 1999 at a party. I was 18 and was back at school trying to do year 11 which I didn't end up finishing lol. I gave him my number and he called me a few days later. I was going to the pub with my Mum so he met us there and then afterwards he came back to my place. I was very naughty and let him stay the night. My Mum was not happy at all!!! The next day she told me that she was very disappointed lol. Oh well, lucky i ended up marrying him.

I don't think he would like me to go into too much detail about him but i can say that he is a Service Manager for a prestige automotive company. He gets to wear suits to work and he looks pretty darn hot if i do say so myself lol. That's probably why the few women he works with and deals with at work, try to chat him up and ask him out all the time. Ah, to be the wife of a stud PMSL.


{DigiScrapping}

Yes I am digi Scrapper. I LOVE it!! I never ever thought of myself as creative at all. I have had a few FAILED attempts at sewing and that was about it until i stumbled across the Scrapbooking threads on the Essential Baby website. I was sucked right in when i saw the talent in there. I was totally gobsmacked. The only scrapbooking i had ever seen before then was very basic Creative Memories stuff with photos cut into shapes etc and that really wasn't my thing at all.

The cost of paper scrapping was way too much for me so i investigated Digital scrapbooking. Once i started, i was hooked!! I have been on 7 Creative Teams within the 2.5yrs that i have been scrapping and have had numerous Layouts accepted into a couple of the Aussie scrapbook Mags. I have also formed some really great friendships through it all. The girls from EB would have to be the ones i consider my closest friends and a lot of them i have never met IRL before.


{Daredevil}

Well i really am not a daredevil but i have done tandem skydiving. It was something that i had wanted to do for ages and i finally got the chance to do it when i was about 20yrs old. I did it with a few other girls that i worked with and it was a really great experience. It was not quite as scary as i imagined it to be.

And finally, a new LO:

A to Z...

As promised, here is the start of my A to Z encyclopedia of Me.

{A}

{Appliances}

If you looked in my kitchen cupboards, you would probably describe me as a bit of an appliance junkie. I own SO many appliances and some of them hardly ever get used. Like my ice cream maker, fairy floss maker & electric wok But on the most part, i do use them and they really do make my life easier. I couldn't imagine cooking rice on the stove lol.

{Appendix}

I had my appendix taken out when i was about 8yrs old. I had the day off school as i had a really sore tummy. Mum had to work so she took me to my grandmothers for the day. I think i ate lemonade icy poles and drank flat lemonade all day long lol. By the time Mum came to pick me up, i was in so much pain. I couldn't even move my legs to get out of the car once we arrived home. Mum drove me straight to the hospital and after waiting hours in Emergency, i was finally taken into surgery and the little blighter was ripped out! Unfortunately i do have a scar but it doesn't really bother me too much anymore.

{Aussie Rules Football}

I do love my footy. I know i should be a little ashamed to admit this but i am an avid Carlton Blues supporter. My Mum and I used to go to the footy most weeks to watch our boys play but work got in the way of that after a couple of years and we haven't been together for years. I have taken Coban a couple of times but Daniel made sure that he barracked for the Demons. I hope my girls follow their Mummy's footsteps lol.








{B}

{Books}

I love to read. I have always loved VC Andrews books and have almost all of them. I have recently been introduced to Jodi Picoult & Anita Shreve by my Mum. When i was working, I would read every day and night but since having kids, I hardly get much of a chance. I have just started to get back into it now. I am currently reading 'A Wedding in December' by Anita Shreve but i am only half way through the second chapter so i can't say if it's any good. Mum did say it was good so i guess it will be lol. I am also a bit of a sucker for chick lit too. I really love a book that makes you think but sometimes a good trashy girly novel is just what the doctor ordered. I have never read a Mills & Boon book though lol.

{Birthday}

My birthday is on the 11th May. I was born in 1981 so this coming birthday i will be turning 27. :O I'm not fussed about getting older. I am very content with myself and my life and each year i feel as though i have achieved so much more than the last. So bring on the birthdays i say!! I love to host parties too. Just ask Daniel. It's his 30th birthday in June and since his last birthday, i've been asking him what he wants to do for the big bash lol. Theme parties are SO me! I am not big on the 70's/80's themed parties but i do enjoy dressing up and the more creative the theme the better IMO. For my 21st, I had a masquerade party. It was such a great night and i loved that everyone made an effort to wear a mask; even Daniel lol.

{Bonnie}

Bonnie was my very first pony. Her & I were a pretty good team and we would have been even better had i not outgrown her so quickly. We used to enter Gymkhana's and country shows together and i loved it!! I loved the lead up to these events the most. I used to have to go and get Bonnie from the paddock and walk her back to our house (we lived in town and the paddock was a couple of minutes walk from home). Then the fun began!! I would wash her and brush her so she was squeaky clean. Then i'd plait her mane and tail and put her rug on so she wouldn't get too dirty. Then up early the next morning to get ready to go to wherever we were going. Those were the days!! Anyway, Bonnie was a grey Welsh Mountain pony and was only 12 something hh from memory. So not a very big girl but perfect for a beginner.

I Love Baby Smell!!!

I just went in to give Claudia her dummy and i could smell that beautiful baby smell. Man, that has to be the absolute best smell in the whole world!!

I didn't actually come here to post about that but just thought you might like to know lol. I did however come to post my new LO. I have struggled to finish this LO off since before Xmas. It just never looked quite right. It ended up looking completely different to what i had planned but i like it much better.


Credits can be found HERE.


I will be starting my A-Z Encyclopedia of Me soon too. So keep your eyes peeled for some really riveting stuff lol.

Never again!!!

We made it back from our camping trip...but only just. It was SO darn hot, I thought i was going to die. And no, i'm not exaggerating. We were camping along the Murray River, East (??) of Echuca. We had a pretty good camping spot with no-one else close by which was nice. Plus there weren't too many boats going past all the time so that was another bonus. Anyway, we arrived on the Thursday after Xmas and it was already pretty hot. Come Saturday and I was well and truly over the heat!! I was told that it reached 45 degrees in the shade. We managed to keep the kids cool-ish and in good spirits but it took so much energy to do this and to make sure that they weren't over heating, that Daniel & I were absolutely buggered! So we decided to go back to a friend's place in Echuca for the rest of our trip. We headed there on Sunday.

The next few days were wonderful!! Such great company and so relaxing. All the kids were perfectly behaved and got along so well. We spent New Years Eve there and it was such a great time. I don't remember having such a wonderful New Years in a long time. It was only a small affair but the company made the night just perfect! I only had 2 glasses of red wine and spent the rest of the night drinking lemonade. But i laughed so hard all night, anyone would have thought i was pissed lol. Unfortunately i don't have any pics of the night after the kids went to bed. Too scared i'd drop my camera into the spa lol.

So i think camping in extreme heat is out from now on. It was a little ambitious of us to think that we'd be ok but we were really looking forward to getting out of the house that i don't think we really thought it out too well. Oh well!

While we were camping, both Miranda & Claudia decided that they preferred to be on their tummies. So just to stress me out, they slept this way each night. I was constantly checking them to make sure that they were still breathing lol. Coban decided to cut a hole in the fly screen on the tent that we borrowed from my FIL too. Daniel was with him when it happened and he was ropeable!! Coban had to go and lay down in the tent. Thankfully my FIL wasn't angry about it. We just need to get it fixed which shouldn't be too hard.

I took heaps of photos while we were away so i will show some of my faves:


The view from our camp spot.


Mr Koala who decided to set up camp in a big tree right near our tent.


Coban & Daniel watching the others fishing and playing in the water.


My cute boy.


And my all time fave photo. Miranda (right) and Claudia cooling off in a big tub of river water. They loved this so much!!!

Another Year Over!!

I was so excited about Christmas last year (well i am every year actually lol) and once Boxing Day came and went, i felt a little flat. I just wish it went for longer. I put so much effort into it this time around and everything was made so much more difficult with 3 kids to take to the shops eek.
Anyway we all had a lovely time, but as usual, wish that we didn't have to rush around to head to different places. Miranda & Claudia didn't like it much. They spent the whole time we were in Geelong crying and then on Boxing Day at my MIL's, they cried for most of that day. So it ended up being a very exhausting time but it was great to catch up with family. And getting to see Coban's face when he was opening his presents was just magical.



Coban didn't get too much from Santa this year which was good because everyone else in the family usually spoil him rotten. He did get the one thing that he asked Santa for though, a Keyboard!! Just like Jeff from the Wiggles lol. He couldn't quite believe it!!



My Mum & Step Dad bought the kids a swing set and that was apparently Coban's very favourite present ever!! He had such a great time on Xmas Day swinging with Pop and his new Elmo teddy. Santa gave the girls a baby swing to attach to the swing set too so they will be able to swing in it before long.


{Coban running to check out his new swing set}


{Swinging with Pop}

We had a bbq lunch at our place which was very relaxing. It was just us plus my Mum, Step Dad and MIL. I made salads, Daniel cooked the bbq and our Mum's bought desserts- Baked Cheesecake, pavlova & lemon meringue pie. Mmmmm.... Although i ran out of time to organise too much for the table decorations etc, i think the table looked pretty good albeit, simple.
Gold, white & red were the colours of the day lol.

Here are some other random pics from the day:


{This was technically Xmas Eve. Just after Santa arrived}


{Claudia with her present from Coban}


{Miranda with her present from Coban}


{My Mum, Me & Claudia}

Daniel bought me a new 50mm lens for my camera for Xmas and just before i sat down to eat lunch on Xmas Day, I dropped it and broke it. I was so furious with myself and felt like a complete idiot. But thankfully yesterday, Daniel fixed it for me. I am so relieved to not have to buy a new one.

I also got a book on dSLR photography which has been a really great read. I have learnt SO much. Plus i got a Dymo LetraTag Labeller so i can label all my Tupperware in the pantry plus whatever else i need lol. I got a gift voucher for my LSS, Myer voucher, an awesome Anolon knife block set (that was for both Daniel and I lol), groovy new coffee mug from Mum which says 'Yummy Mummy', it is very cute and a big black decorative vase thing. I did pretty well and am wrapt with my gifts.

Daniel was thrilled with the new CD player i got him for Xmas. It went straight in the 4WD and we got to test it out over the New Year break. He got lots of stuff for his 4wd from other people too so he is set.

We just got back from a camping trip up on the Murray River and it was SO SO hot. I will update the old blog tomorrow about that. I think i have rambled on enough so far today lol.