Packed!

The kids and I are packed ready for our trip to NZ. Michael reckons he is packing today!!! We got our full itinerary on the week end, so helped to know what to pack for the glacier walk and swim with dolphins. This time next week we'll be out on the harbour cruise and getting ready to swim with dolphins. Hope the water isn't too cold!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

On behalf of my family and I, I would love to wish you all a very merry and safe Christmas full of laughter, love and happiness! I hope Santa finds you! May love and kindness fill your days in 2011! Merry Christmas and best of wishes always!

My Children

My children's school recently held a musical. Each class performed several dances to music/songs from different movies. Megan's Yr 5 class performed to Shrek, and as you can see in the photos Megan had the role of Princess Fiona. Ben's Yr 3 class performed to Cat in the Hat, and Ben was Thing 2. Both children performed extremely well. We were so proud of them. A number of people have commented to me about how Megan really shines on stage. And, it is true! She just has the moves and rhythm and loves being on stage. Music/dancing/drama/performing are her thing! Did I tell you that she earned First Class Honours in her piano exam earlier this year???
Ben (Thing 2) worked so well with his mate (Thing 1) they had so much fun on stage! They loved it, and earned an award from their teacher for their motivation and participation.

Megan is a blondie so we put an 8 wash red dye through her hair for the Fiona part as we couldn't find a wig she was happy with. Most of the colour is out but there is some persistent red in the sun bleached front bits! Luckily for Ben we found a blue curly wig!!!!!

Latest Challenge

I loved the sketch for December at Crafty Sketches. Here is my layout for this great sketch:
Love Your Sparkle

I rarely use orange on my layouts (no reason really), but as Megan is wearing an orange glittery hat and black shirt (looks blue in the photo), I decided to go with a black/orange colour combo. I love the result.

I am currently designing the January sketch for Crafty Sketches. Why not head over to Crafty Sketches and check out the great challenges and the beautiful range of entries.

Crafty Sketches

Head on over to Crafty Sketches to check out the new sketch for November. All of the CT have done quite different and beautiful layouts. Here is my layout for Kylie's gorgeous sketch. The photo is of one of my granddaughters playing happily in the sand pit. I love the photo, because the sand is so white it looks like she is playing in the snow.

This time in 4 weeks my children will be finished school for the year. We have a very busy few weeks left with a trivia night this coming Friday (to raise money for the Yr6/7 study trip to Canberra next year), the school musical the following week ( Ben is Thing 2 as his class is doing Cat in the Hat, and Megan is Fiona as Yr 5 are doing Shrek), and the following week is the school swimming carnival. Also in there somewhere is a trip to Brisbane with Lea to celebrate the 40th birthday of a school friend, and a staff social at the races.

Oh!!!!! Our big news!!!! We have been invited to a wedding in Greymouth, South Is, New Zealand in early January. So, after much humming and hahing, we have decided to make it into the family holiday for the year. We are staying in NZ for 10 days, and doing a swimming with dolphins tour, the Trans Alpine train trip and a tour of Franz Joseph glacier. We are in the process of applying for passports. We are all really looking forward to it!!!!!!!

Crafty Sketches

The new sketch by Kylie will be up at Crafty Sketches in a few days time. There are a couple of days left to get your layout in for this month's sketch challenge.

I loved doing my CT layout for November's sketch, can't wait to show you next week. Millie is doing a great job managing Crafty Sketches! Well done Millie!!!

Scrap With V are now on their blog, and closing down the forum shortly. Head on over there and check out all the action! All the best Ness and ladies! Will see you at the blog when I can!

I'm Back!

Well, it is drawing near the end of the semester so I have a smidge more free time!

Last week end I went to a retreat in Mackay. My sisters came along too, and I met lots of new people. There were 36 people at the retreat, so it was busy. Michelle, Sandra and Thea all ran great classes on making clay embies, OTP item and quilling. It was great to learn new skills, I especially enjoyed the clay class. Very inspiring! Thanks ladies!

Only about 4 and a half weeks until the kids finish school for the year! This year has raced past soooooo quickly! Megan will be in Yr 6 and Ben in Yr 4 next year. It is hard to comprehend how fast they grow up sometimes! Ben is loving swimming at the moment! Megan is enjoying it, but is looking forward to hopefully doing dancing lessons next year. We'll have to see about that yet, as it is over in Emerald.