Stax has happened since the last update!

Be warned!!! This is a really long post. But probably made up mostly of photos.

On Thursday 30th October Bailey's kinda group decided to have a dress up day for Halloween. Bailey does not do the dressing up thing unless it's as his 'Superdog' costume, which he made up himself. The costume is Micayla's mouse costume but Bailey pretends to be a dog in it. We found a superdog picture on the internet. Can you believe that, this is something Bailey made up in his own head and we could still find a picture on the internet for a Superdog. The Superman next to him is his friend Corbin, brother to Micayla's friend Bellanna, who went to Kinda with Micayla.

When we were getting packed to go to Moama for Cup Weekend Bailey hopped in the esky with Monty. Usually he locks Monty in there by himself, but decided to hide in there with him this time. Poor Monty! He puts up with so much from Bailey.

Micayla is really getting good on the skies now. She's such a natural and she's so excited that after her second attempt on the bigger double skies, she managed to go outside the wake. Before we know it she'll be on one ski.

She's even more confident on the kneeboard. She came in saying she'd done a 360 while out behind the boat. This is her in the middle of a 360 after she returned to shore and let go of the rope. She looks so good out there. (David and Laura; wait till you see her this Christmas, you won't believe your eyes, you'll see a MASSIVE difference).

I managed to get her to 'strike a pose' without looking 'dicky' for a change. I love this messy windblown photo of her.

Adrian watching on while driving the boat.

This is the 2nd of November. Micayla's 8th Birthday. You can see by the photo what she got.

I scrapped this box for her to keep her games and DS in. This was a box given to her a long time ago and she's been nagging me to scrap it for her. So I did it for her birthday.

And then I made a matching card. Using AED hot set powder and glitter and the 'dress' stamp is also from AED. I also stamped this using the hotset powder and glitter.

That morning we took the kids out to the State Forest at Five Mile Boat Ramp for the kids to ride their motorbikes. Micayla is handling the new CRF80 really well. We just kept it in the one gear for her. We mainly wanted to her to get the feel of riding the bigger bike and being able to start and stop it without it falling on her. It's so much heavier for her and it's hard for her to reach the ground. She got the hang of stopping and leaning to one side to get one foot on the ground. Once she's confident with that, we'll teach her how to change gears. She has to learn how to manage the clutch, which is a big step for her. But we know she will be able to get the hang of it pretty quickly. She's good at picking things up and is determined to make it work.

Bailey on the other hand, doesn't want people to see he can't do something so is not so keen to try. But with a little persuasion it doesn't take much for him to have a go. He is good too, he just doesn't realise it and is worried people will laugh at him if he stuffs up. He likes to make sure he can do something before he lets other people see him do it. The kind of person that will practise something before letting others see him do it.

After lunch we sang Micayla Happy Birthday with all her friends in the annexe. We were going to do it outside but we couldn't keep the candles lit. No where really to do it in the annexe except on the bench that keeps all out stuff and water barrel on it. As you can see in the photo. Not an ideal place for an ideal shot.

This is just a photo of Bailey I took and liked. He's chewing on a piece of wood he found on the ground. eeewww!!!

He's very independent these days and does everything for himself. After walking back up from the river, his feet were very dirty. So he decided to climb onto the bench and wash his feet in the 'sink' that sits under our water barrel.

After dinner, Adrian decided to relax and play Micayla's DS.

That night the kids all sat in our van for a movie night. They watched 'Nims Island' on the laptop with lollies and pop corn and made a mess all over the 'cinema' floor. Thanks Jenny for giving us that DVD, the kids all enjoyed it.

On the Monday we managed to get Bailey out on the skies. He's waterskied before, but wasn't so keen this time around. He's worried about falling off, cause 'he doesn't like that bit'. It was also colder and windier, which doesn't make it very inviting to get into the water. I chose not to ski that day because of the weather. Got to be hot for me. At least Saturday was a nice hot day for me to ski.

He fell off the first time, that's why he's crying so much here.

He was happy enough while he was up.....

Then he fell off, wanted in the boat and was cold.

And now being kept warm by Daddy and giving me cheek.

Once he was warm and happy again he went bug hunting and found a ladybug.

He was talking quietly to it in this shot.

Then Brandon found one too.

From then on he kept it in a cup. We were encouraging him to let it go because it would die in the cup. He assured me it wouldn't because it had a big hole at the top and he gave it leaves to eat. Well later it did die, but he said he was just sleeping. He got busy playing chasy with the kids and the cup was lying on the ground on it's side, so I got rid of the ladybug, so we didn't have to go through the whole burriel thing. He was devastated. We told him that it woke up and because he'd left it lying on the side he got out. We said he had to go home to his mum and dad for dinner, and that you would want to come home to us if someone was keeping you locked up. He understood and went back to playing. The things you do as parents LOL. The next day he went on a hunt for millipeades and had half a cup full. EEEEWWWW!!!!! Boys??????????

It was Tuesday 4th, (Cup Day) and the day we were leaving to go home. It was also Bailey's 5th birthday.

His presents were a Thomas the Tank wooden track rollercoaster set and a Lighting McQueen boom Box.

This is the card I made him.

Cup day is a really crappy day to have a birthday because it is spent packing up the campsite in the morning and then stuck sitting in a car for 4 hours driving home. Then when we get home its all about unpacking and cleaning up. Because Micayla had a cake with all her friends we wanted to do the same for Bailey. We went to KFC for lunch as we always do as a group. I'd bought a cake to have at KFC after we'd eaten. But they were renovating KFC and you could only go through the drive through. It was all too hectic and we would be waiting for ever, not to mention we didn't trust KFC to get 3 orders from the 1 car right, so we abandoned that idea. We knew that once we got in our cars we would end up stopping at different places that suited the individual families, so we gave Bailey his birthday cake on the side of the road before making our way home. Again we couldn't keep the candles lit with the wind so we only lit 1 candle. Bailey was happy though. He loved everyone singing happy birthday. We all had a piece of the yummy white chocolate mud cake, but Bailey had about 4. At least that kept them satisfied (a little bit) for another half hour till we got to Rochester, where we could stop for something to eat.

Back at home the next day Bailey was having a ball playing with his new Thomas tracks; added to his old tracks.

Now this week has been a busy week, decorating their birthday cakes for their combined party at the Dandenong Rollerskating Rink on Saturday, before everyone heads back to our place for a night of partying. Any excuse!!!! I feel a bit lost, because I'm all organised and not stressed, running around like an idiot. I've got nothing else to do but update my blog. I guess I needed to get this out the way though because there will be more to share next week after the party. I'll share the cakes then too.

Until next week. Thanks for making it this far.

Bailey's a Big Help!!!

Bailey helped me make his birthday cake today. This was his favourite part.... after the cake was in the oven.



As a result of having his head in the bowl, it was all in his hair.



And all over him.....


I haven't had anytime this week to do any scrapping except for their birthday cards on Monday.

I went to the Girls Night In Crop at Artypants last Friday night and spent the whole night working on a gift for Micayla's birthday. Can't share that until next week after we've given her presents to her. I'll share the cards then too.

For those that don't know Micayla and Bailey's birthdays are 2 days apart so I've been very very busy organising that.

Probably be a little while before I can post anything else but will be back with lots in a couple of weeks. So much happening, there will be lots of pictures snapped but no time to blog them.

Latest Stuff

Hi again!

Got a couple of things to share about the kids and quite a bit of scrapping stuff at the end.

Basketball

Micayla attended a basketball clinic for a few weeks to see if she liked it. She loved it! I'd love for her to play basketball and I would love to be able to coach her team, but she has a choice to make. She can't do swimming and gymnastics. Something has to give and swimming lessons are not negotiable. She loves her gymnastics too much to give that up so she said she'll wait to swimming lessons are finished and then she'll take up basketball.

Here's a photo of her getting a goal. She managed to get 3 goals on this day.








Have a close look at Micayla's grumpy face. She was having a bit of an argument with the boy in front of her. She said he was being mean and she was telling him off.

Check out the Gear!!!

As said in previous posts we've joined the Frankston motorbike club. It's is a criteria of riding that they must wear the proper riding gear. Given that Micayla has a bigger bike we felt it was time anyway to get her safer riding gear. Bailey still has to get a jersey and boots. Don't they look so gorgeous in their gear. How tiny and cute does Bailey look.

PB Race Night

On Sunday night we took Micayla along to her first PB race night at Kings Swim Centre. She's in the higher levels at swimming now and can now participate in these race nights. I had no idea how much fun they'd be. Wasn't that fussed about going, but thought it would be a great help to strengthen Micayla's strokes and they're only once a month and some of her friends would be there. Being her first night she wasn't sure what to do, but she has the hang of it now and it's a great preperation for school swimming carnivals (can't wait to watch her in them). She has now recorded her times for 25 metre freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke. So her aim now is to beat her own time. After they've raced to record their times they have a fun relay race. Micayla's team won the relay. It was so exciting and fun to watch and lots of screaming from swimmers and parents. Can't wait for the next one. If any friends or family would like to come along and watch and cheer for Micayla, the next one is on 16th November at 4.30pm (it's a Sunday) She gets a ribbon for beating her pb and being her first one she was given her first ribbon on Sunday.

Now for some Scrapbooking

Paperific was held on the weekend at the showgrounds. I spent Saturday with Steph helping on the Alison Ellis Designs (AED) stand doing make and takes. They have some new papers out and these are the layouts below that I did for her to have on display on the stand. She has the new Christmas range out and also a sea scene and one for the boys, a space them. I have yet to do some layouts using these last 2 paper ranges but there is a card below using some of the space paper.

You can't see the full title but on the chipboard circle it says "There's magic in".... Believing.








This is a paper pinecone I made using AED papers, which was also displayed on the stand. I am also running a class on how to make this at Artypants during November. Check instore for dates and times and get yourself booked in. Think how great these hand made pinecones would look decorating your house this christmas.




I am also running classes on how to make these gorgeous gift boxes for Christmas. These classes are also being held in November. They look so gorgeous but you won't believe how fast and simple they are to put together.





This is the layout I did for the Artypants Monthly challenge. This one is still running. You have until the end of October to get this completed and get your layout into the store for judging. The pack is only $10. You can only put a layout together using just what's in the kit, you can however use your own paints, inks, stamps, pens. The winner will get the next months kit for free.



This months forum challenge is a sketch for a double layout. This is the sample layout I have finally put together. Better late than never. Guess I better go and put it up in the forum.



These are some birthday cards I've done recently. The first one was for my Mother. Her birthday was on Tuesday. Happy Birthday Mum!!!



This one hasn't been posted yet. So Rohan if you're on here before your birthday, GET OFF!!! Don't look any further till after Friday. So Happy Birthday for Friday Rohan. I won't say how old you are on here, just that you're 7 years older than me. LOL



This was a card I did back in September for Deegan using the AED Space papers.

School Holiday Fun

The second week of the school holidays, after the Grand Final Party was out the way, was very busy for us.

On the Wednesday we had Jaeda come over for a play. She spent the whole day with us and I took them for a ride on their bikes to the lake at Berwick Springs to feed the ducks. They rode and I ran. The feeding the ducks part was over very quickly. I think they threw in bread slices whole, they went through them so quick.

These photos were taken on my phone so they're not very good quality.



After they fed the ducks they went over to play in the park before riding home again. I had to push all the kids up the hill on the ride back. I ran while pushing Bailey and Micayla together and then ran back down the hill to push Jaeda up again.





Jaeda is under Micayla and Bailey if you can see that.

On the Thursday I picked up Paige and took her and Micayla to Artypants to do one of the kids classes. I then dropped the kids off to their Oma and Opa's for a sleepover because Adrian and I went into the AMTEL Awards at the Hilton (it's an awards night for the engineering industry). Iscar was the Gold sponsor for the evening. It was a black tie affair so of course I had to get a new dress. Apart from the boring awards the rest of the night was fun thanks to Tammy, one of the girls from the Sydney office. Thank god Tammy was there to party with is all I can say. If not for her the night would have been pretty boring, with the boys off doing their networking. Although we had Marty Fields as our MC and he was pretty funny. But some of his jokes I had already read on email. We didn't get to bed until 3am and I suffered a wee bit of a hangover the next morning, which was not good considering what was install for me for the rest of the day/night. I had visitors in and out all day after I picked up the kids, but at least I just got to sit around. But..........

I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to let Micayla have 3 of her friends over for a sleepover. From about 4pm, 3 screaming girls invaded my house plus Micayla. Not real good on a hangover let me tell you. I let them burn up some energy before I settled them down to some quiet play. I gave them all a mask each and some paints, glitters, stars etc and let them go for it. Including Bailey. Bailey was loving it, doing what the girls were doing and he did a pretty good job of it too.

Here they all are making their masks.



now wearing them....


Then Bailey wanted a shot with Monty in it too, but Monty was not really co-operating.


They also did a vote on which mask was the winner and Sarah won. Then they put on a parade around the house wearing their masks.


with Bailey in the lead.

We then had dinner of fish and chips, and put them all in front of a DVD after getting their beds ready. After they finished watching the DVD they were put to bed, but of course, 4 girls in one room together, were not going to sleep in a hurry.

Kealy and Paige were picked up Saturday morning and we kept Sarah with us and took her home at about 5pm that night when we all went to Marty and Julies for Pizza, including Scott and Tania and Erwin and Kerrie. Then Sunday was a rest day before going back to school the next day. YAY!!! for that!!!

I'll leave you now with some scrapping stuff I've been doing. These are class samples for classes coming up in November at Artypants.

Christmas Gift Boxes





Paper Pinecone



I have been doing layouts for AED (Alison Ellis Designs) with their latest Christmas paper. I can't share atm. They are releasing the paper this weekend at Paperific, so I'll come back after the weekend with those layouts. I also have another layout I did for the Artypants monthly instore competition, but it's still on my camera and I can't be bothered getting it off right now, cause I'm about to go to bed to watch All Saints. So I'll come back later with that layout to share too.

Thanks for making it all the way to the end. Until next time...........

Sharing Time Again!!!

I did these layouts for this months Artypants Monthly Kit what seems like ages ago now. I finally have the OK to share.




These two layouts I did as single layouts because one is the first day of kinda and the one in uniform should be his first day but didn't have the uniform until about 3 weeks into kinda, so I made them to match because they'll be next to each other in the album.





This one is my favourite and the instructions for the step by step to this one is in the packaging of the kit and will be put up onto the Artypants forum shortly.

I made this skull and crossbone album for Bailey.




I was inspired by an ad in a magazine for this layout. I actually had a hard time thinking this was finished with so much empty space. This is definately not normally something I'd do. Just thought I'd challenge myself.



I've also been doing class samples for Artypants but the photos are still on my phone. When I load them to the pc then I'll share them too. Can't be bothered right now. Got to get to the ironing. I know..... boring!!!

I'll leave you now with a slideshow of the photos I took of Sharelle's baby, Peyton.