bakedbeans and sausages at 1am

Out of control, sleep deprived, spoilt rotten and cold defines how the boys and me are feeling. We have arrived at Mum's and Christmas day seems such a long time ago. We had a wonderful family day with Granny and Grandad and Uncle Myles. We feasted on bruchette, crossants, hotcakes and fruit until our puku's were ready to burst. The wrapping paper was pulled off in all directions and then all the boys went out to fly the new aeroplane kite. Unfortunately there was a lack of wind!
Where do I start to retell the very long and hideous flight. Flying across the world is not a pleasant thing to do at any time let alone on your own with 2 boys. It could have been worse though. So here are the high's and low's of the last 3 days( will leave it to you to sort them out)

• Upgraded to premium economy and sitting in very large comfy seats from Auckland to Sydney.
• Nearly missing our connection at Sydney and getting hot, flustered and red!
• Keiran having big loud and horrid night terrors on both long flights.
• The boys falling asleep just as we landed in Sydney and Seoul
• Keiran and Oli both falling asleep and staying asleep for 3 hours on the 10 hour flight
• Not having any children's meals ordered for the 1st 2 flights and curry being the adult meals
• having a whole row of seats to just us!!
• Thomas the Tank Engine on the in flight entertainment
• Boys sleeping through the night til 5am at the hotel in Soeul
• -2 in Seoul and being very cold
• eating sausages and beans here in UK at 1am
• spoilt rotten kids
• many many toys
• did I mention being cold
• did I mention no sleep

Sorry no photos haven't had time to work out how to upload here yet but will have lots to share soon

happy hot summer hols to those back home. miss ya already

Oh on the scrapping front, I managed to get a couple of pages etc.... done before I left and have brought my Emily F mini book over to complete so hopefully I will be able to upload from here and get at least one point. Mum bought me some lovely K and co papers and some other gorgeous bits to add to my stash!! Mmmm looking forward to browsing the UK LSS's

Ok gonna try getting these boys back to their beds and hopefully get some kip myself

night xx

Now I remember!

I was going to add some of my latest pages. Back in Oct I was invited to be guest designer for SBO. After a couple of hiccups, I received my pizza box and I have finally finished some pages. I love the page "Caught", the Kit colours are stunning and the Crate paper is so easy to work with. "So very lucky" is a more simple page for me but I wanted the photo to be the focus and to reflect how simply stunning NZ is. I have some more pages, using the Oct Kit, to photo and post but will just have to wait for now."The Land of imagination" is my take on Mou Saha style. She is very arty and has an amazing talent at using penwork. I really enjoyed using paint on the page and have realised that I should do it more often. I enjoyed doing the doodles and unusual journalling and will now try to find a way of incorporating it into my L.O's in my own way.
So I think that is it.. but wait did I tell you Oli had a wee accident on Tuesday and ended up in A&E with concussion? A little incident involving a puddle and not very water friendly croc shoes. No lasting damage and the huge egg on the back of his head has now almost gone! Amazing how quickly kids heal.
Keiran is just Keiran, strong willed temper throwing, giggly gorgeous Keiran. What else can I say?
good night, sleep tight and hope the bedbugs don't bite xx

Xmas Cheer!

Xmas cheer! Indeed. Although I have had a blast at Puni I am rather glad the year is over and I can enjoy some family time. I didn't realise how exhausted I was until today. I just want to curl up in a ball and sleep but hey that is not what a mother gets to do. But anyway a big cheer from me because now I can mooch around for a week and not get out of my PJ's until I want to!!!!

So where do I start with news?? In fact I have so many little stories I am going to list away and share some gorgeous pics of us.
1. I came 2nd in the scrapbox comp and my lovely friend Tracy came 1st but really we see it as 1st equal so what great news!!!!!
2. I came 1st in the scrappin'patch Starts in your Eyes Round 2. Wow wow wow i just can't believe it!!!!! Go and have a look at the gallery Here.
3. Only 8 sleeps til we fly to see my Mum in the UK!!
4. Oli now can swim without any aids and loves to dive into the pool. HE IS A FISH
5. I got Justin a new apple mac for Xmas and boy does this computer rock!!!!


6. I am becoming a stampin' up demonstrator so if you want product come and see me!!!!!!!
7. School has finished!!!!
8. Oli starts school in the new year.
9. The tree is up and most my pressies are wrapped.
10. This is a biggie!!!!!!! I am the most proud mummy out. I didn't realise what it feels to be so very proud and boy is it awonderful feeling. Oliver sung a solo at his Xmas concert. He sung Sanat got stuck up the Chimney. He did such a fab job. Wow I really did not know that my little boy has such confidence and I am so chuffed. He is a little super star.

So I probably have so much more to say but right now I just cannot think of anything else. Oh a big congratulations to TracyL and the other wonderful scrappers who won a place on the Scrappin'patch design team.

Here are just a few pics of the Xmas fun we are having. Check out Oli's plate at his Xmas party . I was amazed to see that out of all the lollies, cakes, chocolate and all the sugary things this was what he chose!

Merry Xmas to you all. Have happy, safe and joyful holidays. I hope to blog while I am away and share some of the fun we have in cold cold England.xxxxxxLol

I did it!!!!

It's a yahoo night for me. I have finally managed to get my slideshow going and I came 1st in the scrapbox comp!!!!! ( well I actually came 1st equal with TracyL but I am pretty chuffed with myself) Tracy and I are good mates and I think it is so cool that we both share the 1st place together. Our work is quite different and it is great to see that both of us are up there.

It has taken all night to get my slideshow working and I cannot tell you what I did differently. I used the picassa program and this time after many attempts it found my pics, so yey.
On that note it is bedtime.
Will be back to tell you who got picked to get the prize me or Tracy-doesn't really matter now. Did really well and that has made me pleased with myself
night all
xxxxx

how is it done?

does anyone have any idea how to put this slide show in my sidebar not as acomment? I have tried adding a gadget but it just wont find my photos on flikr or photobucket!!! I am lost. i really don't want it there as a comment all big and ugly. So comment away and givew me some help please!!!!!! OK so am off to bed I am shattered what a weekend. What with reports and Justin's work do and girly day out I have had it. So no scrapping til early hours this qweek. I am gonna get sleep. Still have a whitwith1 L.O to do and my SBO guest designer ones so must find some time. Not to mention my scrapping patch comp entry!!! Oh well sleep is far more important. Any new pages can be seen in that big and quite ugly slide show so go have a peek. see yas later xxxxx

my layout slideshow

more of our ups and downs

I totally forgot to tell you about our fantastic day out at Thomas. This year Keiran was old enough to enjoy it, although the train whistle was little scary. We toddled over the road on a very warm Sunday afternoon at the beginning of the month. Our lovely friends Tracy, Robin and Aurelia joined us and we enjoyed a fun packed afternoon of train watching, pottery painting and of course the very yummy sausage (topped with the special station pickle and onions!!) Oli and Aurelia had a wonderful time together and many a time did we catch them holding hands.

Very quick post but promise to come back soon

Ok, I know I haven't been here for a while but I promise I have been so very busy. I have been writing reports, which is where I should be now!!!! I have been sick, had a sick DH and kids and in amongst all that visited dear friends down in Napier.

I am entered into a few competitons and very proud to say that I am currently coming first along side my dear friend Tracy, at Scrapbox. Go to their site at scrapboxnz.com and see my work and that of many talented NZ scrappers. I am also in the running for a making memories SLICE. Which I so very much want but not sure I will have enough entries into the SBO competition. So many talented ladies have got into the Christmas spirit and are producing lovely Xmas items. I am trying but I have to say OTP projects are not really my thing. Very out of the square for me but giving it ago.This one came 2nd in the 1st week at scrapbox.
And this one also came 2nd in the 2nd week. Am loving having my name up on the list of winners. Can you see my big smile? The xmas page was my wish list entry for SBO. I think I have already had my dose of sparkles this year though.

Last of all I am entered into the stars in their eyes comp at Scrappingpatch. I have to say I am very impressed with their service and my little parcel arrived safe and sound very quickly. I am now drooling over lots of new papers and bits n pieces. Spent too much money but don't tell Justin.

As for the boys- well Keiran is being a pest and being put in time out quite regularly for hitting. He is just at that testing age and boy is he testing my patience. Oli has just got back from a little holiday down South with Granny and Grandad. I think they saw every park in the area of Wanganui and toilets too??!! It seems that they had much fun and lots of late nights.
So so much for a quick post. I will leave now with a couple of pics of the boys in Napier. Did I mention it was in the high 20's and we had a fab time down at the beach. So if I'm not back for a little while, don't worry i haven't dropped off the edge of the world, got locked in the toilet at school or anything else horrid I am just a very very busy scrapping Mum!!!

latest layouts

just a quick entry to let you know I have been scrapping and here are my latest 2. I am trying out some new styles so bare with me.
xxxxxxx

out on the tiles

Thank you Tracy for such a fun night on Friday. I had a ball and even got some L.O's on the go!!! My energy levels had dropped but now I'm back and scrappin' hard. We scrapped chatted, chatted some more, laughed, sung and went to bed very very late. It is always great to make new friends. My funniest part of the eve was coming home to find this................




He really is so cute. Looks like we have a sleep walker on our hands. He made no noise and Justin was not aware of his new bed.

Anyway I was the boss tonight on bossy scrapper and completely forgot until 10 mins before it started so my winging teaching skills came into play. We had fun and hopefully the girls will get some sort of L.O that looks half decent. I am loving mine already.

My first SENZ L.O is almost done and have to say I am not sure. Tried something new to me and stuck it down before I could change my mind. I will post soon. right am off to bed.
Love to all xxxxxx

oh so tired, yep I'm back at work

mMMMM well I always find week 1 back to work after school hols hard and I know it will get better but boy I find this Mummy/teacher thing hard work.

I have reports and testing to sort out this term and it means doing even more work in the eves so I'm not getting much scrapping done and I'm not getting to bed early. Oh except last night!!I even amazed myself and went to bed at 9.30pm because my eyes were not playing the game and kept shutting on me.

I miss scrapping and feel very frustrated at the moment. I really wanted to enter a design team call but had no time to sort out old pages or do some new ones. It closes in 3 days so there is a chance but I think being on a design team might just be too much at the moment. I also wanted to get the bossy scrapper page from last week finished and to do this weeks one let alone the other challenges I have on my list. I am awaiting my guest design team pack from scrapbook outlet, so am very excited.

Keiran has moved to big boy bed which is proving to be harder than with Oli but I expected that!!! he has slept throught the night for the first time in 4 nights so I think he is getting used to it but getting him in it is a mission. He eventually gives in but at about 8.30pm; far too late for my liking.

Oli is back at kindy and enjoying being back with his mates. Some have moved onto school so he is making some new friends. I am so pleased that he has made new friends and even being invited on play dates. He is coping withthe change of routine this term and going to a variety of peoples houses. He is becoming far more able to cope with change and he is far more settled at Kindy. I haven't heard of any melt downs for awhile. YEY!!
I have found some new photos. The ones of Keiran are of him playing trains; as he does all the time now. He got up and built this big long track all by himself. Here are some L.O's I haven't shown you yet. (I don't think anyway) using my guest design team papers.

None of Oli at the moment sorry Mum!! I will sneek in and get a sleeping Keiran in his bed very soon. daddy takes Oli to fathers night at Kindy tomorrow but I'm sur ethey will be far to busy building an aeroplane on the woodwork table to take photos.

Oh, posted off my embellishments for the teal swap on whitewith1 today. Was going to add a sneak peek but forgot and now the posty has them so you will have to keep an eye out on the blog. Mine have been glitzed to the max! Lots of pearlex powder, twinkling H2O's and Kindy Glitz. Had a big play with my cuttlebug too. Love that machine but I think it is not working properly, the dies are not cutting right the way through ARGGGGHHHH.

Anyway Justin is nagging me, it is 10.30pm and I still have school work.
laters xx love n hugs to ya all

must have been too busy

So I up loaded my photos, from the weekend, to the computer and I am so disapointed. They are not so good. I took some very quick ones as we were driving, listening in classes etc.... and they are all fuzzy!!! ooooops. I forgot to take my camera to the PJ party and well the ones of me I just hate. So anyway here are a few of my favs. I just love the one of the beer I had on our last day;siting in the wonderful Wellington sun. Just look at the view through it. I wish I had been more snap happy and I wish I didn't give a stuff about being so over weight.( I might like photos of myself then) But I am!!! I hate being fat but the more down I get the more I eat. Sucks ha! I'm sure many of you can understand this one. I have to say I do enjoy comfort food and right now I eat far too much of it. I am hoping that summer sun will bring me a new lease of life and I will eat salads and walk and exercise far more. I did so well after having keiran and now I just feel disapointment with myself. These amazing trees are some of the fascinating art to be seen in Wellington. I didn't make it too the lovely cupcake shop and I didn't get to see the coastal parts of the city which would have been good but there are many more opportunities i am sure.
SENZ heads back to Auckland next yr so it won't be a weekend away but I will have make sure I book into a few classes etc..... At least a few more of the local girls will be able to go.

Right off to bed as I only have 5 mins before 11pm. I am so tired thank goodness it is the weekend ( for me anyway). Lol TFL xx

I know it's Thursday already

A quick insight into the weekend. Mad mad mad. Thanks to the wonderful LADIES!!!!!! I met, for a wonderful weekend of laughter. Not much scrapping happened but lots of laughs and meeting new friends. Will post some pics later but had to come and say what a fun relaxing weekend I had. Sure did miss my boys but also realised it was a long over due break. All Mums should get some kid free ME time, it does wonders!!!!!!

I participated in a class with Lusi Austin and I started a wonderful album that will be for Oli. It will contain 12 letters telling him all about his first year of school. Lusi was an inspiration and gave many words that I will ponder over for along time(not scrapping related) ((I will share more about this later)). I also started another album using gorgeous cosmo cricket papers. I had to use a needle and thread which is not a regular occcurence; most of you will know!!!

So any way yep will go again and will booking my next weekend away very soon. Not sure Justin will let me go so very soon as his weekend sounded very busy and fun packed but I have already noticed it was a well worth bonding time for him and the boys.

TEAL IS THE COLOUR

How exciting whitewith1 have started a embellie swop and this time the colour is teal (my fav colour of all time). I wasn't going to join in because I am so busy with school, kids, guest designer L.O's, money to spend .......but the colour teal just got me. Imagine a whole heap of teal goodies arriving in the post. It will be like Xmas!!! So go check out the blog, follow my link under my blog list and sign up for the swop!!!! My latest L.O for the blog is orange with stamping. I wa salittl eunsure to start with but enjoyed it in the end and love my page. Justin thinks it is a wee bit girly and keeps reminding me that Keiran is a boy but hey it's a baby page and flowers are allowed.

Did I mention guest designer and shopping? Wow what a fun packed month I have had. I was guest designer for scrapbook studio last month. i got some lovely papers and bits from the team. Go check out their gallery for cool inspiration. I did a couple of pages and a card for my dear friend Sarah in Plymouth. It will be on it's way to ya Luv xx Follow the link. I then received a great email to say I was aRAK winner, then another to say I had won $20 voucher from them as I was the Sept sketch winner. So needless to say I will be out shopping and buying myself some lovely new pattern papers. Then to top it all off I just saw on the scrapbookoutletnz forum that I was the lucky winner of the October guest designer!!! Wow yet another yummy package will be arriving for me to drool over and pour my creativeness into.

I funny thing happened today. Well actually a few. I have been brousing and chatting to friends on scrapbookoutlet and decided that I really must upload some L.O's and get logged into the gallery. I failed miserably at this and ended up being put on the naughty chair and banned from the gallery. I just couldn't get it right. Ok so was sorted out by lovely Andrea and I up loaded a few L.O's to show off. When I pressed go, there I popped up right in the middle of the design team files!!!! Well how embarrasing!! Little old dizzy's pages sitting amongst the very clever design team and their lovely pages. I had a few hours of fame and pretending before the computer man fixed it and put me back in my right place amongst all the other members. Oh they must be having a good giggle at me or should I say with me!!! ha ha I was laughing.

Oli has been back to the dentist today and had the all ok with his black tooth. He has been very good at brushing it and it seems to have come back to life and now looks quite white. No lasting damage we think so I am so relieved.

We caught up with our friends Jude, Cheyenne and Kiowa today. Poor Jude has tonsilitis and was not herself but Oli and Cheyenne had a ball together. You'd have thought they hadn't seen each other for months-oh they hadn't!!! Great to see them and hope poor Jude is better soon xx
Must get to bed, am past my 11pm deadline againxx It is now 11.55pm(I know the clock on here is wrong)
Ps. Yep got PJ's, have new jeans to wear so must be ready to go to SENZ only 2 more sleeps how exciting!!!!!!!

bling bling bling

No not kaiser or any other put on a L.O. but one you put on your finger. Justin decided it was time he put aring on my finger that meant forever( if being married wasn't forever enough). So here it is my beautiful platinum bling that goes so well with the other 2.

Count down to SENZ. Must go buy some PJ's for the party and decide what i am gonna take, I only have 9 days til we go!!!! ahhggg it has just sunk in though that i leave my litle baby( who is really no longer a baby) behind. First time away from me. I know big boy will be fine( oh and Oliver) hee hee. Sure the boys will be triple trouble while I'm having fun in the big smoke.

No Oli/Keiran news just same old same old. No more accidents and touch wood we have zapped the bugs although daylight saving has buggered (am I allowed to write that) up our clocks and boys go to bed far too late at mo.
xx

ERO- at last they have gone!!

Well, school will be back to normal tomorrow with ERO gone. They didn't come anywhere near me which was quite strange; but all good in my eyes. I am now onto my last term with them which will be quite sad. I have had an awesome time at Puni but I guess next year will mean being a Mum there; not a teacher.

I have had a the most horrible cough this week and very little sleep. Keiran as usual has something to with that!!! He has 2 ear infections this. Not again I hear you all say. Yep a very sickly household. Hooray for school holidays and lots of rest.

Take a look at Keiran's fat lip. Good one eh? He fell twice hitting it both times and making it grow twice as big. I don't do blood too well and boy did it bleed. Sugar! The best found solution for bleeding mouths. Thanks to a friend who gave me that advice. It tastes good, stops them screaming and seams to stop the bleeding too. Not sur ewhat the dentist would say mind.

Oli has had a great week withthe Kindy disco being a great hit. He danced away the night. The car show was little tiring the next day though.
keiran's talking so much more and the word train makes every little phrase he says. So cute.

I had so much fun meeting some of my online scrapping friends. Didn't achieve much scrapping but had a ball. I laughed and chatted Saturday away.

Ok off now to do dinner and get the family ready for the night xxxx

OMG

Well tonight will be the last time I walk out of the bathroom when the boys are bathing. I know very naughty but just went to do something very quickly and you guessed it! About 2 secs after I left keiran and Oli had a tiff and Keiran ended under the water. No damage done, just a heart flutter for Mum and a big warning!!!!!!!

Really finding it hard to use my guest designer RAK. just want my L.O's to be perfect and so I'm struggling. Quite girly flower paper that I love so maybe it will be used on a me page??!! could almost be used for a me baby photo; who knows, watch this space.

It's Kindy disco tomorrow night and boy are us girls gonna hit the floor and shake our stuff. Probably the last time we can, before the boys tell us we are embarrasing. I had the hair cut trip today and all of us look slightly more respectable. I took a sideways glance in the huuuuge mirror and yep that was the last pineapple fritter I eat ever!!!!! Not sure a small elephant will look good strutting her stuff. Might just have to sneak down the shops and find something to wear.(shhhh don't tell DH)

Ok gonna make a resolution and try to get to bed before 11pm each night. So on that note, goodnight, sweet dreams and catch ya soon.xxLol
Ps. here is my last week L.O for the Olympics. Just love this pic of Oli. Must do a Keiran page next.

thank you my stalkers

just to start I must say Hi and thanks to those who are stalking me here. I have made some wonderful new friends through scrap booking and have to admit to being computer hooked. I love that I have online mates and share such a cool hobby with lovely ladies out there. I always thought chat rooms, blogs etc... were for people who have nothing better to do. Now I know they are for people who love to chat and find time for being with others- blow the washing if you can chat to friends and have fun!!

This week has been yet another busy one with the normal Hicks routines. I went back to work on Thurs feeling slightly more human. The head is now attached and my throat not so croaky. The kids at school have their production this week so I am having a quiet teaching week. We have lots of end of term jobs to tie up and a class room to decorate and make it look like a working room rather than the furniture dumping room before ERO arrive next week. HELP!!!!

The boys both seem to be coming down with yet another bug. keiran has cheeks like little red apples and poor kid coughed his way through the night. Oli has slept all weekend. Not eaten much and been quite flushed looking. Oh please I really can't take any more days off work.

So here are this weeks pages. I have completed a sketch challenge which was thrown together and I also want to do another which will take a little more thought. The Monet garden pictures have really bugged me as I wanted to make them special but they were hard to scrap. I rather like this page that was this weeks Bossy scrapper. Each Sunday night I am hooked to a chat room. Having fun with fellow scrappers and one being the bossy lady. She gives us our instructions on how to build the page. How we interpret them is up to us. Amazing to see how we all come up with such different L.O's. Thanks Danice for this one!!!

Isn't it great that spring has finally arrived. Look at these gorgeous blooms that have opened up in the garden. Oli found a dandelion clock today and had fun blowing it. I love this time of year in Nz, and have done since the year we arrived here. The warmth of the sun is lovely and the colours around are just stunning. The blue skies still make me stop in my tracks. Somehow we just don't get those back home in England. Oli had fun at a friend's feeding their lamb bubblegum.