milestones galore

Life has been so hectic round here. Sophie turned 5 last week and celebrated with a family birthday, a lovely party at her kindy and a trip to Rainbows End. She loved all the attention and ofcourse her presents which included a kids camera a new 'big girl' scooter, a cup-cake maker and lots more., Here she is blowing out her candles on her 'puffy' cake.

Benjamin has been racing through the milestones. He is crawling around commando style very efficiently, he has started solids - a little late because of his allergies and eczema - and loathes all lumps and tastes other than 'milky and bland'. He holds up his arms to be picked up and says 'mumma'. Just a few days ago he pulled himself up to standing on the toybox and stood there with this enormous grin of triumph on his face. Each milestone is met with a mixture of pride and sadnessfrom me - I love to watch his pride in his achievements but so don't want my last baby to grow up too quickly.

Anyway, above are a few LOs that I have put together to commemorate some of these magical moments. The first two were done for NZ Scrapbook using the gorgeous 7 gypsies papers and embellishments. I can't believe how tiny Benji was snuggled in Sophies arms at a few days old!!

Driving tests and Birthdays

We have been busy round here (so whats new!). Its birthday season and 4 of our kids have birthdays within a month. Chris turned 19 on Wednesday - makes me feel so old. He's not much younger than I was when I had him!! We went to Daikoku with family and friends to celebrate. As always we had a blast and the food was excellent. Chris wanted mainly cash for his birthday but we got him some small pressies too. The main one was a fress shirt from Barkers which he wore on the night and looked gorgeous in.

Natalie is 13 today. My little girl is a teenager. She has been thoroughly spoiled with a trip to Wellington for the wearable arts show, then today she and I are going to see to Mama Mia. She doesn;t know yet so it will be a real surprise.

Jaime is now on a FULL licence. He passed his driving test at Orewa last Tuesday. He is so pleased! So now he has his 'new' white corolla and a full licence. What more can an almost 17 year old want?

I have been doing some LOs for NZ Scrapbook. A lot of them feature my dad since we have not seen him for 5 yeqars and I am really grateful to have him nearby and in my childrens lives again. seeing them together brings tars to my eyes

On a not so good note poor little benji has been really sick. he came down with a croup virus and then developped bronchiolitis. I got very little sleep for a few nights and we almost ended up in the Starship. Luckily he is now fully recovered and I did the LO 'Under the Weather' to remind me not to take his good health and happy smiles for granted!

Yikes - He's 7 months old!!

I know I've said it before and its a cliche but where does the time go to? Benji is officially in the second half of his first year. At the weekend we elebrated fathers day by going to the same restaurant (the Indian Summer) where we told the family that I was expecting Benji exactly a year ago. I remember every detail of that evening as though it were yesterday. I remember thinking that this time next year we would have a baby with us sleeping in a car seat under the table - and thats exactly what it was like - apart from the sleeping in carseat bit. Benji had a ball being passed from person to person around the table. He got very vocal towards the end of the evening but fortunately the other people in the restaurant were baby lovers and thought that he was cute!

Benji has been giving me lots to scrap about. He is now sitting by himself - albeit a bit wobbly, and we found his first tiny teeth peeping through his gums a few days ago so his days of gummy grins are numbered. I have completed a few pages of him and his grandpa. I feel so blessed to have dad in our loves again. there was a time when I wondered if dad would ever get to meet his tinyest grandson. The two of them are so good for each other. Benji adores grandpa and dad seems to be comforted by holding Ben. On Sunday we all went to watch Natalie dance at her last Corelli concert and I got some priceless photos of the three generations together.

Rasberry designs, 6mth old babies and snowfun!

I have been busy designing with the gorgeous products that I have been sent by Rasberry. I am loving all their stuff! It is so easy to work with and can be used for a wide range of themes. Here are a few LOs that I have recently done using the 'Starburst" "petite" and "vintage" ranges.

On a personal note my elderly dad arrived in NZ to live two weeks ago. this was a huge deal for us all. My kids had not seen him for almost 5 years. Sophie was a tiny baby when we last were together and ofcourse dad had never met Benji. When we met him at the airport I was shocked at how old and frail dad had become. he was in a wheel chair and his breathing has deteriorated to the extent that he can no longer walk across a room without being out of breath. This is the same guy who was playing soccer in the garden with my boys 5 years ago. He has also deteriorated mentally. he is very confused and at times forgets that he is in NZ and thinks that we are visiting him in the UK. We are currently getting him settled into Lady Allum retirement village. we are hoping that he will manage in his own little cottage (he is still fiercely independent) but it is looking more like he will be needing daily care in the very near future. It breaks my heart to see him this way. My dad has always been my rock - such a strong man and even though I didn't see him often I knew that he was there for me if I ever needed him. I love my dad. I am grateful that he has this opportunity to spend quality time with his grandchildren and get to know Benji and I am happy that he is with us in NZ.

Benji is 6 months old and almost sitting. I took some cute photos of him balancing yesterday!

Sophie went to snow planet with her kindy group last Friday. It was the highlight of her month!! She loved the snow and had an absolute blast. Luckiky daddy was able to take time off work to go with her. he hjad a blast too!!

Benjis 5 months old already

Almost half a year!! I can't believe how fast the time flies but i also can't imagine being without him now. He really has slotted into our family and brought us all so much happiness and joy. I have done a few LOs starring Benji this week. I'm keeping a weekly diary for him - bit like project 365 but toned down to project 52 (ie I scrap a photo a week of him onto a 8 x 8 album and write a little about whaty he has done that week) I think it will be cool to look back on how he has gradually changed over a year. Week to week the photos don't seem to change much but when I look at the first weeks photo and the last one I just scrapped (week 22) I can't believe its the same baby!!

Above are the 12 x 12 LOs that I have done this week. we took the kids to Westwave last Sunday and Benji had his first swim. He really seemed to enjoy splashing around in the warm water and sucking the splashes from his little fists. Totally adorable. i planned to scrap the photos with the gorgeous new Kaiser papers, but the pool looked green on my photos not blue and they just didn't match. I didn't want to convert them to black and white because the colour really set the atmosphere of the steamy pools so I took a quick trip to NZ Scrapbooks (any excuse) and found these gorgeous papers (and a few more items that i just 'had' to have lol).

I made the little calico art patch on the middle LO a while ago and have been waiting for the right lo to use it on. It is really easy to make these cute patches. Basically you cut a square of calico, fray the edges then decorate with paint, sticker, rub-ons etc then coat it all with modge-podge to seal it. Really fun and cool.

Kaiser craft design team LOs

I got some delicious Kaisercraft product to play with for my design team challenge from NZ scrapbooks this month (thanks ladies). here are the LOs that I made. I really had fun with the paper piercings :)

Playing with paintables

Here are a couple of LOs that I did using Prima Paintable papers and watercolour pencils. I really love the soft backgroung effect that this technique gives. The first LO uses a very special photo to me because it is the first that I managed to take of all 6 of my children together. Sohies smile (more of a grimace really) is so typical of her right now!! I have to photograph when she is not lookin to get a natural looking expression.