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!!!

Comments

[ANA]

j'adore votre blog!!!!

de trés belles photos

amicalement

ana

[Laura Shreve]

You have such fabulous photos & your layouts just rock!!

Laura

[Michelle]

Finally an update! :D

Fun to read those random things about you.. :D

So sorry to hear about the noisy neighbours dogs!

Love the layouts of Abby!

Hope you update again soon!

[lisa garay]

your stuff is so inspiring, shirlz!
have a wonderful week!!!
-xo-

[Clair]

LOVE that b&w photo of Abby, just beautiful. And great LO's. our dog sometimes barks at night and we feel SO bad about it, we always get up to try to shut him up. I couldn't sleep if i knew he was barking and keeping the neighbors awake. How selfish, glad they are now keeping them inside.

[Anniek]

Love your photos of Abby! She looks really cute. She has a very nice daddy too, buying her that expensive easle!
Love your layouts too, esp. the one where she plays doctor.
You know, I always wear socks in bed too! Can't sleep with cold feet, and I always seem to have cold feet ... Do you have special bed socks?
I always hide my head under the duvet, summer and winter, and my son does the same!
When's your birthday? I'll send you an E-card.

[dawn]

Hiya hun... know what you mean to getting around and blogging LOL... we need more hours in our day LOL... great little artist in the making you have there :D Hope you are OK :D

[Jill Geraghty-Groves]

Oh shirlz your photography is just amazing! I just could look at it all day!
Layouts are dang good too!
xxJillGG

[Alex L]

Hi Shirlz,

Thankful that I am still able to read your blog thru company's network.

Great photos and lovely Abby. Hope to see you all soon, but don't know when that will be.

Heaps of potential for Abby. Artist eh... would be first in the family.

love
ko

[Cheryl]

Haha! We both got those crazy neighbors. Love the photos you took of Abby and the layouts!

[dawn]

Hey Shirlz!

So nice to see you updating your blog!
N HAPPY BIRTHDAY LADY!

[Sofi]

Abby is such a cutie, and I love the photos of her. I love how you have captured her in the photos. Hope she enjoys the easel.

I love both your layouts too, especially the doctor one! Too cute!

I know what you mean about crazy neighbours LOL! Hope the dogs stop barking soon :)

[laura vegas]

love the picture of abby at her easel ... she's going to be such the artist! love the layouts ... so fun and colorful!

ok, i thought i was the only one who has to wear socks to bed ... even in the summer. lol! and i also sleep hugging a pillow ... every night i bring up our old squishy one from downstairs.

so you traded crazy neighbors for different crazy neighbors?!?! lol! it's always something, isn't it? that's why i need ... to go live in the country where noone can bug me! lol!

[slammie]

she is just precious!!!

[Susan (smiles1965) from Scrapboxx]

I'm sure Abby will enjoy her new easel a lot and learn to be more and more creative with it. She is so clever already being able to read and write somethings, well done.

Great photos here as always and I love these new layouts too. I see you have used some of the new Queen and Co supplies on these layouts.

I bought myself some of their large brads recently too, they are adorable aren't they. I also bought some of their new plastic shaped buttons which I can't wait to use.

I hope Colin isn't getting too tired working so many long hours. My husband leaves early and is never usually home before 8pm either gggrrrr. It's not fair is it.

Loved reading your info about how you sleep. I too wear socks to bed, really thick warm ones during the winter. Like you, I also hide right under the doona in winter to keep warm.

In fact it's been so cold here lately I've even worn my beanie to bed some nights. I can't stand being cold.

Sorry your having so many dramas with those dogs, how annoying for you. We have dogs in our street too but thankfully they don't bark too much. Maybe you need to buy yourselves some ear plugs.....lol

Have a great week and take care of yourself xxoo

[Nancy]

Abby is such a cutie.. and so funny.. hehehehe!! And just like her mommy she's becoming a real artist!!! Love the cute pictures (you're really an awesmome photographer girlie) and love your DT layouts!! Love it it all! XOXO

[Nancy]

Abby is such a cutie.. and so funny.. hehehehe!! And just like her mommy she's becoming a real artist!!! Love the cute pictures (you're really an awesmome photographer girlie) and love your DT layouts!! Love it it all! XOXO