Walking the "Green Mile"

and for those of you who are Stephen King fans, that's not the green mile I'm referring to...

Bruce and I took the boys for an "Outside Day", to combat the effect of too much TV and computer, and we ended up at Springbrook, which has to be mine and Bruce's favourite place...where we hope to retire to in a million years after we win the lotto. It wasn't really the best day for bushwalking, as it rained on and off, but we managed to get to the bottom of Purling Brook Falls, plus complete a circuit of the Waringa Pool track without drowning.

And it was SO worth the walk...everything was green and lush, and the only sounds were bell birds and cicadas. My idea of heaven. The boys enjoyed the day, although Sebi was a little disappointed not to spot any yowies...Springbrook is noted for them, apparantly. They had a ball getting even wetter than they already were by walking behind the falls and standing in the spray, while I took photos and several tourists asked my husband if I was with some sort of mental health day release program (and you thought I couldn't speak German....I recognise "look at the crazy woman" when I hear it, no matter what language it's in!!)

All in all , one of those perfect days that started as nothing special and ended the best way possible...on the couch... with my family.....together.

New Lives...

Two new lives have entered my family in the last week.....my sister is a doting mother to a beautiful daughter, and my niece Cherie has also brought a beautiful little girl into the world.
I found myself looking at my boys baby photos today, and thinking back to those first few days when everything was new and special, and of all the promises I made to them and to myself.
I haven't kept them all....but I've really tried with the important ones....
You can always come to me when you're in trouble.
I may not like what you're doing, but I'll always love you.
Talk to me...I'll always listen and I'll try to understand.
I will never let the day end without saying I love you. (even if you're not there to hear it)

To Ingrid and Cherie....hoping that motherhood brings you all the rewards it brings me every day. xox

Introducing.....

Jessica Jean Boyd, daughter to Ingid & Dean.

7lb,4oz. 11.52 pm December 25th 2007

ANNOUNCING

The birth of Jessica Jean Boyd, daughter to Ingrid and Dean, 7lb 4oz born by C section at Townsville Hospital, 11.52 pm December 25th, 2007. Pictures to follow later.

D DAY!!

as in DELIVERY DAY!! Ingrid has just rung to say she's in the early stages of labour,,,,her timing is impeccable as usual, lol. I have managed to transfer to an earlier flight that leaves this evening, so I'm hoping to arrive in Townsville before the baby does. I'll probably be away for 4-6 days depending on how things go...stay tuned for updates!!

Hope Santa brings you all something extra special. Peace & Joy to you and yours.

December Scrapjack!!

Here it is...my jack for December....i appologise for the appalling photo, but the light was NOT co operating, and the transparancy kept reflecting and Ingrid rang to say the baby's head has dropped and I panicked and this is the result. Ho Ho Ho!!!

Something fishy goin' on....

Here's my layout for Sara's sketch challenge at Mystical Scrapbooks....you may need to wear dark glasses. I've had these pix of Sebi and Zac for months, waiting for the right "thing" to come along. Better late than never, lol.

This is me!!

As part of the "I Dare You" challenge on Mystical Scrapbooks, I had to scrap myself in a layout with a positive message....

The journalling reads "I am kind, I am, friendly, I am talented, I am caring, I am beautiful, I am wife, I am mother, I am woman, I am complete, I am happy. "

Whew!!

PUBLISHED!!!

For those of you who heard the screams this afternoon, don't panic!! After getting the good news from Karen at Mystical Scrapbooks, I checked my email and found this!!!

Thnak you for submitting your page to Scrapbooking Memories. Your layout is lovely and we would be thrilled to consider HARRY POTTER for our FINAL ENCORE GALLERY.

The final Encore gallery is compiled of pages that are non-theme specific but demonstrate a fabulous balance of design principles and new ideas............

I am so excited....I have achieved both the goals I set myself for 2007!! (With very little time to spare, I admit).

But credit where credit's due....I wouldn't have done either if Renee hadn't given me the kick up the ass I so desperately needed, as well as taking time out of her life to photograph my layouts when my own camera wasn't co-operating. She is a never ending source of support and inspiration to me, and listens to me whinge without complaint....that's true friendship!! Thanks Nay, you're the best!! xoxo

My Christmas Present !!

Santa sent me an early present via the net today....I have been asked to join the Mystical Scrapbooks Design Team, I am totally stoked!! The shop is great and forum has a LOT of stuff going on... and all the members are very friendly and love to chat...it'll certainly keep me on my toes, lol. The last few weeks I have been too busy with family & associated disasters to do much scrapping, but I did put a lot of time into my application, and I'm thrilled that it has paid off.....with help from Renee, who came to the rescue when my camera decided to misbehave, and spent a whole morning photographing my entries from every possible angle!! Thanks Nay, love you xox. Mokey Fraggle must be looking over my shoulder!! Cheers!!!!

123 challenge

I'm actually on a bit of a roll at the moment...three pages in a week...that's gotta be some kinda record for this time of year, lol. This is my take on the 123 challenge....I am now the proud possessor of 5 Christmas Layouts!!!!! Hooray for me!!!

This one used all my fave Chrissy paper...Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket, and some KF paper from years ago that I rediscovered and fell in love with.

The journalling reads "No matter how grown up you think you are, no matter how grungy you dress...you can't hide what's inside" So true...just look at that face!!!

Ticket to ride.....

Well I finally bowed to the inevitable and booked my ticket to Townsville...I get there on the 27th, two days past Ingrids due date. It's the best arrangement I can make, letting me have Christmas with my boys, hopefully getting to Ingrid before she delivers, and maybe even making it home for Sebi's birthday on the 2nd of January. I realise that the last one is pushing it a bit, but that would be my IDEAL scenario....actually the ideal would be for me to get off the plane to a message saying 'your sister's in the labour ward, go straight to the hospital'.
I guess we just wait and see.....watch this space for updates.

Where does the time go??

This is a revamp of a photo that Bruce took of Sebi and I when he was three. We had this absolute bond, partly the result of my carrying him in a sling for the first 12 months of his life.

I loved having him so close to me, and he was always happiest tucked up next to my heart.

The bond is still there, although it shows in different ways....one thing that hasn't changed (yet) is the nightly cuddles. The thumb sucking has stopped, and it's more of a TV watching experience than a spiritual one, but the bond is as strong as ever. A mother knows.

Angels with Attitude....

Hee hee....this is an entry for the Mystical Scrapbooks photography challenge. As I am not a digital scrapper, it never occurred to me that cutting out a photo and adding it to a different background without using your trimmer is digital scrapping (D'oh). Well, I entered it as a photo, so I'm hoping that the fact that I'm an idiot won't be held against me. And I just LOVE the end result...you won't get much of a Silent Night with these two angels. xox

I Promise to try

not to end a day in anger

to laugh more and stress less

to be grateful every day

not to judge others

to enjoy the good times and deal with the bad

to use my talents

to be more patient

to watch one reality series from start to finish so I can see what all the fuss is about

Hail Saint Anthony

It's my own fault and I really can't blame anyone else. I am the stupid person who took my boys Christmas shopping at Christmas. If I had any brains at all (read "none"), I would take them Christmas shopping in September....or March....or any of those other stupid months where nothing happens and B1 and B2 (boy one and boy two) spend their time whining "we're bored!!!!" But no, I have to do it the hard way. Me and Saint Anthony. He's the patron saint of car parks. He 's the guy that you pray to after you've done seventeen laps of the three story car park at Carindale and B1 is hanging out of the back window moaning "if you don't stop the car I'm going to be sick, seriously" (as opposed to being sick without giving a damn??) Who knows? Anyway, to cut an ugly story short, we found a car park, did the shopping, rescued the princess, defeated the flying monkeys, saved the world and made it home in time for Ben 10.

Saint Anthony, you're my kind of guy xox.

The end of it all.....

All I can say is Thank God school is over for the year!! The boys and I have decided to start the holidays a couple of days early, cos we are all SO over school....Kit had graduation last night, recieved his year seven certificate and an award for his Memory Book, and as far as he's concerned the school year ended as soon as we got in the car, lol. So we will be sleeping in and Christmas shopping over today and tomorrow, as well as getting ready for visitors....yes, Mick and Juls are finally on their way down to Briz, bringing my third son with them. Kit is counting the minutes till Matt arrives (hopefully on Tuesday), and I am hoping that I get to spend some time with Mick Juls and Abi before I have to up stakes and count contractions with Ingrid.
I'm seriously considering cramming my butt into the scanner and duplicating myself, so I can be everywhere at once....just what the world needs, lol.

Can you believe it??? I actually scrapped something....don't die of shock!!

This was a DT call for Mystical Scrapbooks...they wanted "mystical and magical"

so I based this on the Mirror of Erised from Harry Potter.

I used some gorgeous Rusty Pickle paper, and mounted it on foam core to give the "mirror" some depth, then covered the top with a trasparancy and hand doodled the edges....MAGIC!!

M.I.A

I love my camera....we have a unique and wonderful relationship, and it does what I ask it to, unlike my children or my husband. I sometimes think that the reason I put up with said husband and children is so that my camera continues to feel needed and loved. So you can imagine how I felt when i went to photograph my latest layout and discovered that someone had REMOVED MY CAMERA!!! All that was left was a naked tripod, devoid of any picture taking possibility. After calmly racing upstairs and threatening my nearest and dearest with sudden instant and immediate death, DH announced that he had "borrowed " it to take some pix of his latest DIY efforts in the garage. Which is where i found my baby, sitting in a pile of sawdust, with the lenscap OFF and the batteries flat. Some people have no respect. However, revenge will be sweet, as I am planning on "borrowing" DH's rechargeable mouse and leaving it somewhere he'll never find it. (probably on top of the washing machine).

Cosmo Gallery Pickup

Feeling pretty pleased with myself, the Cosmo Cricket Gallery have picked up all three of my Christmas Layouts on their Be Good Gallery. Here are the links:
http://www.qbaroo.com/cosmocricket/galleryitem.cfm?galleryitemoid=300&galleryitemname=Angel&author=Kjirsten%20Hartwell
http://www.qbaroo.com/cosmocricket/galleryitem.cfm?galleryitemoid=299&galleryitemname=Watch%20Out&author=Kjirsten%20Hartwell
http://www.qbaroo.com/cosmocricket/galleryitem.cfm?galleryitemoid=298&galleryitemname=Don't%20Santa&author=Kjirsten%20Hartwell
It 's been such a long time since I've managed to get any scrcapping done, but with the end of school in sight, I'm hoping to grab a few extra hours in the day and catch up with the pile of photos on my desk!!

Fighting Back

Once again we are off to the hospital....Kit's medication is still fighting back, so we need to see the specialist. He is not happy ATM, I don't know wether it's becuase he is still coming off the old meds or wether he hasn't been taking the new regime long enough for it to have it's full effect. I hate to see my child stressed and unhappy, it breaks my heart. He has dealt with such a lot so far, so this is just a crappy way to end the year. I'm hoping that the specialist will have some encouragement for us, but if this is not the way to go, then we go back to the beginning and try again. At least there are no limits on the number of fresh starts you get in life. Kit, you are my Pride and Joy.

Winding down

We are in the home stretch folks!! Only two weeks to go and then everyone gets to kick back for a while. Kit is back at school today...he seems to finally be getting a grip on his medication but it's been hard going. We had a week where he was so tired he could barely lift his head, but hopefully the worst is over now.
Today the boys gave Mrs o'Shea her Christmas present. We should be giving her a gold medal...Tania has been Kit's support system for the last seven years and has done a brilliant job. She has always looked out for him, and let me know what's been happening at school, and has seen him through some tough stages. Kit is going to miss her very much next year, but she won't have time to miss him, because she still has Sebi under her wing. I think that teacher aides are a highly undervalued resource and they deserve a lot more recognition...they are truly "quiet achievers" who put in hours of patient effort with our kids, and very rarely get any credit for the end result. So this one's for you Tania...you're a credit to your profession!!!

Sunday Stuff

It's very quiet here for a change....but it is only early. I am full of ideas today...have got to get my rear in gear and take some pix....there's a fantastic photographic challenge on the LSBS cybercrop that i'm dying to have a crack at, plus some other challenges as well. Yesterday had the grandparents over for dinner on the new deck, it was great... i can see us living out there this summer!!!
We have church this morning, then the rest of the day I'm locking myself in my scrap room and getting some work done. Kit seems to be getting used to the new meds, although it's taking longer than we expected. He had a day at the high school on Friday and LOVED it....did a cooking class, and met some of the kids who will be in the unit with him next year. Sebi had his bowling birthday party yesterday...was a great success (very loud) will post some pix later. Luck hugs xox kjirsten