around here...

Happenings around here have been dominated this weekend by SNAKES...we have had 3 very close to the house...one in the carport, one on the back verandah near the pool and one near the laundry door...small dugites (they are a highly venomous snake found here in Western Australia)...they have all been dispatched...the third one the dog had in it's mouth but was not bitten...obviously there is a nest quite close to the house.... I'm hoping all the siblings have gone far far away....we haven't been out side much since...

Other than that...I did a bit of scrap booking (see post below)...and had a night out with my mum's group on Sunday night...Evangeline went to a birthday party on Saturday...and to a friend's house while I was out on Sunday night...and Morganne practised her walking...so she is now taking lots of steps and mostly walking rather than crawling now...though she will still plop down and crawl a bit...She can reach the bench to get things...I am trying to get her interested in milk and she has finally drunk some...half a cup tonight...admittedly it did have a little Chocolate Quik in it...but she has totally refused both formula and milk up until now...And I myself NEVER drink straight milk...haven't since I was very young as the thought of it makes me sick...so maybe she is the same...but E and Ben do...so I figure she might get used to it...I am going to be away from home for the retreat in March and in hospital with Evangeline in April...so I want her to be able to have something other than water at bedtime and so on....but weaning has not been going well...and I do not want to force her to stop until she is ready...or unless she is getting towards two!

She is getting pretty good with a spoon these days too...especially if it is something like mashed potato...
Evangeline made her own afternoon tea today using her Pippi Longstockings tea set...and then washed up!
Other than that I am trying to get E to go to sleep earlier...she is often awake until 8.30 pm...in bed but awake...we have a good bedtime routine and she is in bed by 7 - 7.30...but then struggles to go to sleep...I am trying quiet music...and hoping things will improve as I do not feel she is getting enough sleep...

Mum came for tea Monday night and Sharon came for lunch today and brought CD of photos of Morganne's first birthday...shall get on and do a layout this week I think...

And that is about it for now! Lissy

it's been some time....

It's been some time since I last scrapped...I did the pages for Kim Archer's fabulous Life Snippets class the other day and then on the weekend decided to get stuck in and do a few pages using the photos I had printed out from months ago...such as Morganne at eleven months...she is now nearly fifteen months old...and Evangeline last April...and I had a lot of fun...most were pretty quick pages...

This is how I generally create a layout....
1. pick the photos and print at pretty random sizes depending on how many there are...
2. pick some papers that work well with the photo...(in my opinion that is and often not even working with the colours in the photos but the papers that look right with the photos)
3. create a background..often with some stitching involved...
4. put the photos on...
5. add a title and journalling...
6. and if I feel like it add some embellishments...

This all usually done pretty quickly and with not too much thought...sometimes I have to "fix" up mistakes but usually it works...I find the more I think about it the less I get done and the less creative I am ...so I generally just start slapping it all together...

So here are my pages...I apologise in advance for the bad pics of them... This one has one of the clear pockets on it over the journalling containing some of Morganne's hair at eleven months...

Anyway I hope you had a fun and creative weekend too...I shall post more about our weekend and week soon - it involved a few SNAKES! Lissy

a phone call...

A phone call was the highlight of the week...lol...not that we have had a bad week...but it was the first phone call we have had from Ben in about 2 and a half weeks...the reception was not good but it was nice to hear his voice...he is now in Australia again having crossed the Indian Ocean...So now he will be able to check out the blog and see what we have been up to...

The girls have been playing together in E's room a lot...so cute to see...E gets a bit grumpy when M messes up the game...lol...but mostly it goes pretty well...And worn out!
A usual busy week this week and I really have not taken many photos...we even went to Whiteman Park after school one day so Evangeline and her friends could ride their bikes and Morganne could crawl around on the lawn and I had no camera with me...amazing...lol...E went off with Shauna and Lara to the park for a play and tea one night too...

I had a lovely lunch at Taylor Studios in Middle Swan on Thursday with my friend Jen as it is her birthday today...Happy Birthday Jen! E had a sleep over at mum's last night so it is just Morganne and I at home...so quiet...we had lovely cuddles and chats in bed this morning...

Yesterday I found a snake near the car port....a small dugite again...each year since we have been here I have found a dugite near the house at this time of year...all only about a foot long...but still very off putting...

Evangeline can now independently write her whole name...she used to give up at Eva or have to copy it...but now she is very proud she can do it all herself!And she is doing great work with numbers...Both our girls are fruit lovers so the are happily tucking into all the seasonal fruit at the moment...peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums...even figs...and of course always watermelon, mangoes and grapes...Morganne is toddling...8 - 10 steps at a time...Pretty wobbly which is so cute and then she decides it is faster to crawl...She also loves to open and close the gate!And she is loving the tool bench...putting screws in and out of holes and containers...she can olso just reach the kitchen bench and has pulled some stuff off...so now I am keeping everything from the edge...
I have done a couple of pages for my 2009 Life Snippets Album...I'm a huge fan of Kim Archer and love to do her classes...they are good value and I love her style...it is all about using what you have and having fun with your scrap booking...I find I just relax and grab scraps and slap stuff down when doing a layout...and usually love the results...it is a great class for recording the year..and using some of those photos to remember each month and which you would not probably use to do a whole page...I will still scrap other pages and do some mini albums but it is nice that a snap shot of the year is so easily created...You can still join in if you want to check out her site...here is my cover page so far...and the month of January...I am doing mostly 8.5x11 but you can do 12x12...
And great news this week is our friend's little baby Charlotte is off life support, out of ICU onto a normal ward and getting lots of cuddles from her parents! Looks like she is doing very well...a long way to go but making fabulous progress! GO Charlotte!
E will be home soon and we are off to a birthday party...I hope you are enjoying your weekend...And I have to go as Morganne is getting into everything! Lissy

valentine's and hard labour...

Happy Valentine's all...not much happening around here...but I did tuck a card I made in Ben's bag before he left...and Saturday night we girls went off to Shauna's for tea as she is husband less for a few days too...we baby sat some friend's kids too so they could have a night out...the four kids all played well...dress ups, colouring and so on...Morganne went to sleep in the pram and we after tea we all watched Alvin & the Chipmunks...lol...

Ben's parents are off over east with their camper trailer for a few weeks...heading to Tasmania...they stopped in on the way on Saturday to say good bye to the girls...We are all a bit tired and grumpy around here...me included...lol...the dull and dreary kind of weather yesterday doesn't help...but today was a different story....a case of hard labour...

I got up and ironed for two hours as the pile was getting ridiculous, then cleaned for two hours as I wanted to get the floors done and then spent 3 hours out in the garden doing a huge clean up! Mum was here to help and she always helps me get huge amounts done in the garden....so a very productive day...Morganne is as pleased as punch with herself now on the ride ons....Our girls love each other so much...here they are giving each other cuddles and kisses in Morganne's cot this morning...I should be cleaning my studio now...or something productive like that but I am not...though I have made some alphabet cards for E...and I might just go and watch TV...I don't do that often...Morganne loves croissants...so does Evangeline...me too..lol...pity they are not a healthy option!I hope you have had a great weekend - Lissy

the turnip...

Isn't she the cutest turnip! Evangeline did a great job today in "The Enormous Turnip" at school...And she had to thank everyone for coming...Grandma, Ike, Ace, Diana and Penne were also there to watch her!

Evangeline has had a busy week too with her best friend Eden coming over to play...And meeting baby Sebastian (my friend Penne's little nephew who is just 3 weeks old)...Ike had a sleep over last night so they have been busy playing all day...they all got in Morganne's cot after her nap today! Yesterday Morganne and I went to Alli's for morning tea and had a rather divine piece of rosemary and lemon cake she made from a recipe from Olio Bello...scrumptious it was...

Ben is about 7 days away from Australia...so still out in the middle of the Indian Ocean somewhere...they have had some rough weather...

Tonight we (that is Diana, myself and the girls and Shauna and Lara) went off to a local park in Bayswater for a family festival...the girls had a ball...animals to pat, music to dance to, face painting...a nice small event perfect for kids...but I took a camera with no card in it....lol...oh well....here is our very tired puppy before bed time!I hope you have had a great week and have an even better weekend....Lissy

14 months...

So Morganne has hit the 14 month mark and is powering along...She is such a little character...She is almost walking...in that she will stand a lot and take 6-8 steps and then usually plops down and crawls...she has worked out how to get on and ride the "ride ones"...She likes to feed people with a spoon when she gets the chance...Morganne is very vocal and is always chatting and busy playing...she has 7 teeth...and I shall have to get her weighed and measured! Her favourite food at the moment is mashed potato and grapes...and she loves bananas too...She is so cute and we love her to bits...Lissy