If The Shoe Fits

I know, I know....**added more at the end**

I have a blog but I don't update it. Believe me, it is at the back of my mind to update my blog whenever I sit down in front of my computer (which happens pretty often...lol).

Again, I don't know where to start. I will just start with Tuesday because we took mum to Tesselar Tulip Festival in the Dandenongs. Abby and I went last year but it was on the last day so most of the tulips had wilted. I was given a free ticket but I couldn't find it anywhere!! See last year's post on it here. This year's spring is so much cooler and we had so much more rain. Tuesday's weather was the best weather we had in weeks.

Most of the tulips are in full bloom. The colours were gorgeous. Abby's favourite were the yellow ones so that's why she was photographed with those the most. Mum and Abby went on the horse carriage ride. I bought Abby some tulips in a pot (yellow ones...lol) and she's in charge of watering them every morning:)

Here are some photos. I'm feeling a bit sad as I look at them because just a few days ago I discovered when I reformatted my entire PC drive I had forgotten to copy the entire 2006 folder over to the external hard drive.  Fortunately, I did back-up my photos in DVDs but only up to Sept 2006 when we got the external hard drive. I lost the Tesselar Tulip Festival photos, some family photos and Abby's in the garden which I absolutely love, our Gold Coast holiday (boohooohooo....) and Christmas!!!! From now on, I'm going to back up onto DVDs and external drive end of every month. I cannot risk losing any more photos, not even one month!

Since Mum got here, we'd made a few trips to Spotlight. Yesterday, Colin received a speeding infringing notice. It was around Bayswater area so I was the one driving and it was on the way back from Spotlight! I was driving 76km/hr at a 70km/hr zone, a$135 fine:( So back to what we went to Spotlight for. Mum's crocheting a blanket for Abby. I bought some yarn too and I knitted 2 hats. I'm thinking of selling them on etsy though Abby had claimed the colourful one for herself. I'm making a few more because I have too much left over yarn.

Excuse the doll. The hat is a baby size one. No, I did not knit the doll...lol.

 **I haven't finish this post yet. I was on the way out and I hit the save button thinking it would safe it as a draft!

I did get Abby to pick a winner for the magazine and a small RAK from the last post. Thanks for all the comments. The winner is...

OK...maybe you can't see it from the picture unless you enlarge it...it's Susan J and I had emailed Susan for her address:) Abby wanted to pick more names out but I don't have any more magazines to give out...lol. Maybe another day:)

A couple posts back I asked for new subjects that I can practice my photography on. Lisette contacted me and offered her kids. I met up with her and her kids last week and they were some of the nicest people I've ever met. The kids were polite and very friendly. Thank you, Lisette, Rebecca, Ruben and Renee for the practice session:) Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and hope you are happy with the pictures. Here are some of my favourites.




That's it from me. Thanks everyone for dropping by. I haven't been really blog surfing lately so I have so much to catch up on with everyone!

uhmm...

I can't think of a title for this post. Sorry, I think I promised to post some pics from Abby's kinder farm excursion but I decided not to since there are some other kids in there too.

Good news...I did manage to do some scrapping. I scrapped some dt layouts as well as my last dt layouts for Bumble Bee Crafts. I decided to resign from Bumble Bee Crafts and I'm no longer on HMITM challenge group because I wanted to reduce my dt commitments and concentrate on my photography and the 2 other dt commitments I have left. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with both of them because it challenges me to use whatever scrapbooking products that were assigned to me. 

Here are some of the new layouts I can show.


Recently published layouts



My first layouts (and it's a double page layout which is rare for me...lol) published in Memory Makers special issue.

I was sent 2 copies of this magazine when I got my layout back. Leave a comment on this post and I (maybe Abby will enjoy doing that)  will randomly draw a name out on Sunday (Australia time) to send one of the magazine to and maybe a little RAK:)

I think that's probably it for me. My mum is here for a visit from New Zealand and Abby and I are really enjoying her company. We went for a walk yesterday and I managed to get some cool shots. She's turned into quite a poser lately....lol.

I know...

what the titles of my post entries should be..."SORRY"! Maybe I should stop apologizing all together...lol. I'm really bad. I haven't been scrapping either. Tomorrow night I will definitely do some scrapping. That's it. It's on here. ! I have a date with my trimmer and glue tomorrow night.

What's been happening?  I will just start with things I can remember.

Yesterday we went on a farm excursion with Abby's kinder. It was just a small education farm with some chooks, cows and lots of sheep. Abby won't touch the chooks (I wouldn't either but I did encourage her to...lol). She loved the sheep though and kept stroking their hair/wool/fur???? The farmer saw my big honking camera and she got Abby to hold the lamb and asked some of the other kids to stand aside a bit. I need to upload those photos and I will update this tomorrow with photos.
She wouldn't stop talking about the cow's dung too...lol.

We spent the weekend in Geelong. It was our first time there and it was beautiful. We walked around the pier, went on the Carousel and Abby played on the beach. I love the wooden sculptures they have all around the bay area. We ate way too much in the weekend too. I think I'm still feeling a bit full...lol.

 

Jane, Chloe and Luke came over last week too. I think the kids had a ball and it was great catching up with Jane.  We took heaps of photos and I love these ones of Luke and Abby.

I think that's enough photos for one post or Typepad might decide to kick me off...lol. Thank you for all the lovely comments from the previous post. I really appreciate all of them.

Hello:)

Yes, I've been neglecting my blog again. Not sure if anyone still visits here...lol.

Spring is here in Melbourne. The weather was just gorgeous yesterday so we headed out to Brighton Beach (our first time). The minute our feet touched the sand, Abby started to collect seashells...lol. I didn't really get much photos of her till the end when she was already tired and flustered. The beach huts are so colourful! I can't wait to go back again:)

Abby and I had a great time catching up with some friends over the past week. On Friday before last, we caught up with Ruey, Mich and Vita and all the kids minus Jeromel at Ruey's. We had a great time. Thanks, Ruey for the nice lunch too.  Vita gave me a birthday present that included this cute owl pouch that is just perfect for my lens. Thank you, Vita. I love it.

Last Wednesday, we caught up with Em, Sofi and Clair with the kids at Maccas. We were there for 4 hours! Clair and the kids had to leave a bit earlier. We had a great time and I think the kids did too:) They were running like headless chooks the entire time. They also ate everything there - lunch, babycino and soft serve cones!!!

Have you checked out Fancy Pants Designs new website and blog? The website link is on my sidebar and the blog link is here.  There are challenges being held at the Fancy Pants blog every now so just check it out. You have to be in it to win it:)

No new layouts to share. Here are some that were in the mags lately.

Abby is a bit under the weather. She's got a bit of a cough and runny nose. I might have to keep her from kinder tomorrow. She's a bit sad about that and kept telling me she's well already. The girl loves going to kinder so much!

You asked for it:)

Thank you so much everyone for your kind comments on my photos and for offering your family to be my practice subjects. I might take you up on those offers some day soon:)

Took this one today in the garden after we came back from shopping. She wanted to play dress-up and I saw the perfect opportunity for a photo shoot...lol. We will be going out later this evening and I want to see if I can find a yellow or gold parasol to match this chinese costume I bought from our China trip last year. This costume is not going to fit her for long. They told me this is for 7-9 year olds...yeh right!

I got to say I love shopping with my little girl (OK, big to her but still little me). I always tell her where we are going and what we are getting so she can remind me...lol. She's a great companion most of the time and she never throw tantrums whenever I don't get what she wants. I do get her stuff  but not everytime. I have to remember not to spoil her.

Lately, she really likes to drink babycinno. Everytime I ask her what she wants for lunch if we are out, she would say "Babycinno and....(whatever else)". Most places don't charge for babycinnos when you order coffee anyways. So today, we were out hunting for a picnic basket (which we couldn't find because it's summer stock!), I asked her what she wanted for lunch. She said, "Babycinno and Krispy Kreme". She might have said doughnut, you know, any doughnut,  I can't remember but I wanted Krispy Kreme...lol. I said, "That's not very healthy lunch, darling" and she replied with "Just today, Mummy, just for today." How can I say no to that...LOL.

Since I'm talking about drinks, I might as well talk about her drinking habits (just for my record).
Ever since she was a baby, she never liked drinking water and never drank more than one sip. It is not for my lack of trying. I tried and tried and finally gave in and gave her diluted juice. It's better to drink half diluted juice rather than not drinking anything at all, right? It's not just any juice. It has to be a certain brand and no pulp at all. Yap, our biggest problem is when we travel overseas. Lately, she has totally gone off juices and just want water!!! You don't know how happy that makes me. I always think water is the best. She's a strange one, this girl of mine. She doesn't drink soft drinks (coke etc.). No cordial. None of those pop juices with the disney characters on them.

That's it from me. We have a few playdates this week and next. Hoping for sunshine:) I have to stop proscrastinating. I have quite a few scrapbooking projects to do!!!

Anyone tired...

of seeing Abby's photos on my blog yet? I obviously need some new practice subjects...LOL. If you are near me (East or South East Melbourne) let me know if you are interested in having your kids' photos taken and to be my guinea pig. Abby would appreciate the break from my camera...LOL.

Meanwhile,  more photos of Abby coming...lol.

Abby had been playing with the left over soil we bought for the garden so I bought her a set of Dora gardening tools. Yes, these people think of everything under the sun to make $...LOL. Can you see her painted nails? She's girly but she doesn't mind getting dirt on her and in her fingernails.

She's still loving her drawing easel.


Yes, that is a Dora art smock! If they have a Dora easel, that will probably be a Dora easel but they didn't . I'm sure they will come up with one pretty soon!!!

So, you know Abby is into Dora now. She's into Peppa Pig lately too. If you are not familiar with Peppa Pig, it's on ABC Kids channel in Australia and it's a family of 4 pigs that snorts a lot and rolls on the floor when they laugh. The episodes are short and toddlers and preschoolers can relate to the themes like jumping puddles and birthday parties.

Colin bought Abby this Bratz battery operated toothbrush and (it was on sale...lol) because her old Disney princess one was wearing out. He was really excited about showing it to her the next morning.

This is their conversation.

C: Abby, look what Daddy bought you.
A: But Abby "don't"(doesn't) like Bratz. It's for big big girls only.

To her, she's a BIG girl but not a BIG BIG girl yet...lol.

Finally, some layouts to share. This is for HMITM challenge this week. The challenge is to do the title and/or journaling on the photo and use 4 patterned papers and 7 flowers. I used pretty old paper on here...lol.

Another one I did a while back for Fancy Pants Designs. I played with glitter for this one for the chipboard letters...actual glitter, not Kindy Glitz. It was messy. I had glitter everywhere for days.

Thanks for dropping by:)

Beautiful Day

Thank you so much for all the lovely birthday wishes and your comments on our family photos. I'm just happy we have some decent family photos. I can never find any one to take family photos for us and when I do ask people to take a snapshot for us, it's usually no more than 1 and we all look a bit posed and awkward. With the self-timer, we had fun and the photos turned out exactly the way I envisioned them in my head;)

It was a beautiful sunny day today with a fresh light breeze. Tuesdays are my usual house cleaning day. I did a load of washing, vacuumed, cleaned both bathrooms and the bath, cleaned the windows(but forgot the dirtiest one looking out of the kitchen and hung the washing out. A nice and clean house makes me very happy. We had chocolate pancakes with sliced bananas for lunch. Yummy!

We even had time for some photos out in the garden.

Thanks for dropping by my blog and for your comments. I really do appreciate every one of them even though I can't reply to all of them.

Birthday!

I had the best birthday today and I will have a better one tomorrow...lol. Bet you are confused. My real birthday is tomorrow but we celebrate today because we are usually more relaxed on Saturdays. I don't have anything to complain about...kekeke.

Woke up this morning and we went to Box Hill for a rice porridge brekky and to pick up my cake. Then, it's back home for some photos and eating the cake. I've been meaning to take family photos for a while.

I love how it all turned out. They were all taken on Manual setting on a tripod!

She loved lying down across us like this.

This one cracks me up! I should have gotten her to cover her eyes with her hands too!

Check out Abby's expression. She started to blow even before I was ready! I nearly didn't have a birthday song...LOL.

Colin bought me a bath set (he must think I smell or something). Just kidding, dear! Then, we went to Doncaster to do some more clothes shopping for me and we had TGIF for dinner there. Overall, a great day. Very very happy:)

This layout is for this week's HMITM challenge. It's Joy's birthday tomorrow and it's actually the same day as mine as she is in the US...lol. So, the challenge is 8/4/1975 - 8 attachments, 4 photos. 1 colour, 9 buttons, 7 patterned papers and 5 ribbons/fabric. I think the hardest part was the 1 colour for me!

The photos for this layout were taken in January. If you look closely Abby was still drinking her night time milk in her bottle. Yes, she was way too old to be still using her bottle for milk. It was partly my fault. She drinks milk really fast in her bottle so I couldn't be bothered getting her to swap to a cup for night time. The other reason was this is the last "baby" part that I was reluctant to let go of. When Colin went to Sydney for work in June, she told me after her bath that she wanted her milk in a cup and she said "big girls don't drink milk from bottles, mummy. they use a cup!". I didn't know what to say! I was proud that she was the one that initiated the change but on the other hand, I was feeling sad that my little girl is growing up too fast! Everyday, she tells me she is a big girl and wants to grow up faster by "eating and sleeping properly"(her words). I want to keep her little forever!!!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Don't mess around with her...

but then she ruined her cool image by doing a face like this...

love these new aviator sunnies i got her. wrong outfit but i will probably dress her up in her rock chick shirt when the weather's better and take more photos...lol.

em and christian dropped by today for a chat and play and we went to the mullum mullum reserve for a walk. took some photos there too but none of them turned out good at all! must have messed up the settings in my camera. we wanted the feed the ducks but it was sunny but very windy so the ducks were on the edges of the creek at the other end. only one came to the bridge but wasn't too interested to eat.

that's it from me. bed time for me. colin is working all night in the city tonight. we are having people coming over at 7am to build a carport.

good night:)

hi there....

See...not that long between posts this time...lol. Thanks for all the comments on the last entry. I haven't been getting around to visiting a lot of blogs. Will do that soon.

We bought Abby a drawing easel last week. We had been wanting to get her one for the longest time because  she loves the easel at kinder and it is usually the first thing she heads for when we get there. It was already the last day of toy sale at Big W and Kmart and we rushed out one hour before closing time to look for one! The only ones left were Spiderman and Shrek at Kmart and they were all sold out of Disney Princesses ones at BigW too. Abby was really upset (crying but not throwing tantrum) when we left without buying her one. She's usually ok with us not buying her toys when we are at the toystore but we (meaning i) made the mistake of talking about buying her one so much during the day that it built up her expectation. Colin had to promise her to get her one the next day when Target toy sale starts.

We looked at the catalog and saw one for $20 and another one that was around 3x more expensive. He said he was going to get the cheaper one but he came back with the expensive one! Abby was already in bed and we had something on the next day so we waited till the weekend to surprise her with it. She loved it and had been painting or drawing on the chalk board everyday since then:) So far, she knows how to write A and B. Trying to teach her to write more letters of the alphabet. She already knows how to read them.

She has brushes but she always end up finger painting!

More photos from the weekend.

A favourite from a while back:

Colin had been working really hard till pretty late every night. He went to work slightly later in the morning last week and every time Abby sees him still around when she woke up, this is what she says.

A: "Daddy not working today?" or "How come Daddy not gone to work yet?"
C: "Daddy is going to stay at home and play with Abby today."
A: "No...Daddy must go to work!"
C: "Can't Daddy stay at home?"
A:"No! Must go to work so we have money to buy books, toys...etc. etc."

Too cheeky.

I was tagged by Deborah to write 7 things about yourself and tag 7 other people. Thanks, Deborah. I think I might have done this before and a lot of you might have too so if you haven't, consider yourself tagged:)

Since I can't remember what I wrote last time, I will just write about my sleeping habits:)

1. I have a cup of camomile tea and a little snack before bed every night.
2. I have to wear bed socks to bed. It doesn't matter if it's winter or in the middle of summer, I just have to have something on my feet. If it gets too warm, I will just kick them off during the night.
3. I have to lie on my right side before I fall asleep. I think it is just because I would be facing the opposite side to Colin because I can't sleep facing someone.
4. I have to hug a pillow/cushion when I'm sleeping.
5. I don't snore but I grind my teeth.
6. In the winter, my head is always hidden under the doona/duvet (Abby does this too).
7. I go to bed too late...trying hard to change that!

I don't know if I ever mentioned here that the mad people we had as neighbours previously moved out. The current neighbours are pretty normal except their dogs are bored silly at home all day (never seen them walk the dogs ever) and bark non-stop during the day and sometimes at night. They discovered that there are dogs too behind and next to them so they bark at those dogs and then we have an orchestra of dogs barking. That's fine during the day (well, not really when I want Abby to have her nap) but they did it during the night for 1 hour or more. We told the neighbours about it (they said they couldn't hear because they slept too well!!!) and it was because the other dogs started first but then since then they had kept their dogs inside during the night and we had had peaceful sleep till the neighbour's car and garage door wake us up  in the morning when they go to work. That's what happen when all our rooms are just right next to their driveway. They have this "near" vintage car (2 near vintage cars infact) that they have to start the ignition a couple of times and warm up for quite a while before driving away. Then they have to slam the garage door and close the gate and stop the dogs from running out of the gate. Right after they leave, the dogs would go to the fence and start their barking at their canine friends. Happens every morning except Sunday mornings.  Maybe we should just move to the countryside where we don't have neighbours...LOL.

Some more DT layouts.

That's it from me, take care everyone and have a good week next week. One more week till my birthday....ooooh, I'm looking forward to getting one year older....NOT!!!