Halo from Bali!!

I just thought i should blog to let you all know that we arrived in Bali safe and sound. :)
We got to Melbourne airport at about 7.20am yesterday morning and when checking in, we found out the stupid airline didn't have the girls listed on the system. We finally got through and were allocated the seats with baby bassinette's and extra leg room which was fabulous! We weren't sitting with any one else from our group but it was all fine. We went and had breaky and I got my yummy Hudson's Caramel coffee. We continued through and bought some alcohol as there is apparently a shortage of spirits. So then on to Custom... I can't even tell you how petrified i was that something was going to go wrong lol. But all was fine and we were taking the walk towards the Departure Lounge. Gate 11 we boarded at. :)

I was terrified that my girls were going to cry and carry on the whole time but i was shocked and amazed when they were complete angels!!! They only just fitted into the bassinette's and spent hours laying in there looking around and then sleeping. Coban was also perfect!! So the 6hr plane trip was actually quite bearable. Did i mention how much i love my kids?? :) Of course a dose of Polaramine was needed but OMG that stuff is incredible.


Claudia fast asleep in her bassinette on the plane.


And Miranda. Sorry for the blurry pics.

Now the airport in Bali is something else!!!! Again i was petrified that something was going to go wrong and then when we were standing in the line to get our passports stamped, one of the official people came and asked us to follow him. Off we went into a little room full of cigarette smoke and i was sure this was the end for us lol. Obviously we hadn't done anything wrong but i kept thinking that someone must have stashed something in our bags. But no, they were just letting us sit down on the couch while it was all getting processed.

We spent the day today doing a bit of shopping (although we didn't actually buy anything), swimming in the pool and eating out. We get breakfast cooked for us each morning in our villa and tomorrow we are getting Xmas lunch cooked here as well. Most of the shops will be open here too so i think we'll get a bit of shopping done. We haven't yet headed to the beach but i think we'll go there soon. And i think we'll spend Boxing Day doing some shopping in Kuta.


If you look carefully, you can see my reflection in the window. :) Just after a swim in the pool. That's about as close as a pic as you will see of me in my bathers. :)

I got to enjoy a 1hr massage today as well as a pedicure. All in the comfort of our own villa. Each was less than $30 so i think i'll get a few more done before we come home.

I think i should end this post here now as it is getting late and i need some beauty sleep for Santa lol. Merry Christmas to you all and i hope Santa is very good to you all. Stay safe!!

Kinder Xmas Party

Coban had his Xmas party for kinder today. It was probably the last time we will see any of the kids or teachers again which is a bit sad as it was a really great group. Coban loved the kids and the teachers. He gave the teachers their presents and said' Thanks for being a great teacher.' Awww...I did prompt him earlier but i didn't think he would actully say it. What a boy!


He was a little hesitant to go up to Santa but after watching the other kids, he went up there like a big brave boy. He wouldn't look at me when i took his photo though lol.


Outside playing. :)



Miranda enjoying a Gingerbread man and watching all the big kids.



Claudia eating her Gingerbread man. :) Both girls were sitting up on the kids chairs beautifully watching the action.






I also recieved this Butterfly award from Tiff for having a cool blog. Thanks gorgeous!!! I think your blog is pretty cool too. :)

I still have so much to do before we leave on our trip. Not big things but lots of little things that i keep forgetting about when have the time to do them lol. I still have a little while to get it all done so no stress here!!

A little more baking.

After a lovely morning with my ABA group, i had to come home and make some goodies for Coban's kinder Xmas party which is tomorrow. I made some chcolate truffles for his teachers to go with the Post It Note Holders. And i also made some little Mice cakes for all the kids to share. Originally i thought they were meringue ones therefore thinking that they would take no time at all to make. I was wrong!! They are little patty pan type cakes which were very easy to make but just took me hours to cook and decorate. They turned out pretty well though and even tasted yummy!





I also found out today that a guy i went to school with passed away a couple of years ago. It is very upsetting news to me as he was my big love in Primary school and early high school. RIP Campbell!!!!

Making & Baking

I thought it was about time i posted some photos of the Xmas frame & Pegs I made a week or so ago. The pegs took ages because i decided to do so many of them and i had to wait for the paint to dry before sticking things on them. And Coban was supposed to be helping but decided after a few minutes that it really wasn't his thing lol.



And the frame was just something i decided to make when i was going through all the photo frames that i had stored under the landing. This frame was the odd one out and i probably wouldn't have used it if i hadn't have made this lol.




These are the little Post It Note Holders i made for Coban's kinder teachers.
I have to make some Chocolate Truffles now and that's them all done. I am also making some little Meringue Mice for his Kinder Xmas party on Wednesday. They are SO cute. I'll be sure to pop a photo up when i've finished making them tomorrow.


And lastly, i made this little Muesli Slice today and OMG it is DELICIOUS!! I thought i'd add the recipe for anyone interested. It is reasonably healthy and so easy to make. All my kids love it too which is a huge bonus.


Muesli Slice

Preparation time 20 mins
Cooking time 30 mins
Makes 12 pieces

1 1/2 cups toasted muesli
1 cup wholemeal plain flour, sifted
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shredded coconut
100g butter
2tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp golden syrup
1/2 tsp bi carb soda
1 Tbsp boiling water
1 egg, beaten
Icing Sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 180c. Line the base and sides of a 28x18cm lamington tin with baking paper. Put muesli, flour, sugar and coconut in a bowl and stir until combined.
2. Heat butter, vanilla and golden syrup in a pan over a medium heat until butter has melted. Dissolve bicarb in boiling water and add to vanilla mixture. Stir until foaming and add to dry ingredients, along with the beaten egg. Stir mixture until well combined.
3. Spoon into prepared tin, smooth the top and bake for 20-25 minutes or until firm to touch and golden in colour. Cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
4. To serve, cut into squares or fingers and dust with icing sugar.

Excellent Service!!

This post is for all you gorgeous women out there that can never find a nice pair of bathers to suit their 'real' body shape. I had come to terms with the fact that i was never again going to be able to wear bikinis but i was quietly feeling ill thinking about how hideous i would look in an old fashioned one piece pair of bathers. Until......I came across this website: http://www.suerice.com.au/index.asp.
Styles for every shape and lots of fashionable types too. I ordered a pair online Monday night and they were shipped Express Post and arrived on my doorstep this morning (Wednesday). They fit perfectly and i actually feel quite sexy in them lol. They emailled me to let me know that they received my order and then again to say that they had been shipped. They even sent a brochure outlining the correct way to try them on which was fabulous!!! So i highly recommend them to anyone looking for bathers. The prices are not cheap but i believe it's worth it!!

Some More Christmas Crafts

Perhaps a little ambitious of me, but i thought that Coban & I could get stuck into some other Christmas craft since the Hand Wreath was such a huge hit. We decided to tackle these cute little peg Santa's, Reindeer & Snowmen. Coban was very keen to paint but as a typical 3yr old, he was a bit too heavy handed with the paint so i did most of the painting. Well actually, i did most of everything lol. He started to get a bit bored after a bit and went off to do other stuff so i finished them all off. Now i certainly am no painter but i think they are pretty cute. I'm not sure yet whether i will use them to hang Christmas cards (let's face it, i haven't sent any out so will most likely not get many myself lol), hang them on the Christmas tree or put magnets on the back and put some on the fridge. Since i have stopped myself from sticking things on the fridge, i think the magnet idea is out lol. I made six of each so i think i'll stick them on the tree. ;)


I also went through the box of photo frames so i could start to organise my photo wall and i came across this frame that will just not fit in with the rest, so i turned him into a Christmas decoration. :)


I am off now to see what bargains i can find on eBay. :)

5 years...

It doesn't feel like all that long ago but looking at the photos, Daniel & I look so young lol. Him more so than me. ;) Unfortunately these are the best shots we have form our wedding which is a bit of a sore point for me. :(

We are dropping the kids off at MIL's tonight and then heading out to dinner. I'm looking forward to the lovely bottle of Moet & Chandon and the sleep in!!! Woo Hoo!

We are about to put up our Xmas tree now so i must go... Bye.

Come Celebrate!!!

Make sure to pop on over to Elemental Scraps tomorrow for the Grand Re-Opening celebrations. There will be many exciting things happening including a big sale, lots of fun chllenges and the opportunity to win lots of great prizes, including your wishlist!!





I will be hosting the Mixed Bag challenge tomorrow and then on Wednesday i will be hosting a Follow The Leader challenge. I'd love to see you all over there. :)

Sheesh 3 posts in one day!

Here are the pics of our new house. I cheated and just used the photos from the online sale ad lol.

Woo Hoo!!

Thanks Tiff. You told me to sub my 100% Boy LO to SM and they picked it up today!! So big hugs to you my dear. And congratulations on your Gigglepot LO getting accepted too. :D

Well Hello There.

I am sorry that it has taken me so long to get back on here and post. As most of you know, all 3 of my kids got sick just before we moved house and then just after the move, Daniel & I were struck down too. Then we had dramas with our internet not being connected in a timely manner and THEN i stupidly spilled coffee on my laptop and stuffed it. It's all fixed now though so no need to keep crying about it lol.

The house is great!! Lots of things we'd love to do but we will just wait and do them at another time. Thankfully we have so much land that the possibilities really are endless. At least for the things that we would want to do. I say 'so much land' but really compared to someone living in Cummins, our property is pretty small lol. We have 1200sqm for anyone interested.

We have split system heating and cooling but i don't think the heating is really that good. We end up using our wood combustion heater all the time. Much less expensive and a nicer feel IMO. The house is tri-level with the lounge, dining, kitchen and laundry on the bottom level, bathroom, toilet and 1 bedroom on the entrance level and the other 2 bedrooms upstairs. The house is made of Cedar and is unusual looking but just perfect for us. I love being able to wake up with the curtain open in my room and see and hear all the birds and the sunshine.

The house is not equipped with an abundance of storage space (besides the kitchen) so we are having to go to Ikea to get ideas. It is not something i would complain about lol.

In other news, there's only 4 weeks until we go to Bali!! I am getting very excited about it but also getting a little nervous about the plane trip. My girls haven't been themselves for a while and i am scared that they will hate the 6 hr flight and be PITA's. I sure hope not cause i want my morning champagne in the Airport bar lol. My first trip overseas deserves an early morning champers i think.

I have been getting a fair bit of scrapping done which has been great. I actually really like them all too which i am very happy about. I also managed to get the mini album i started at the retreat finished and i made a small one on Coban too. Although i need to get some new alpas as the stupid Vinyl Thickers i used were useless lol. I haven't yet taken photos of the albums so i will just post the LO's.




















I'll end this post now as i have a million and one things to do include having a coffee. I'll pop back in soon with some house pics and mini album pics.

Why's It So Hard?

OMFG!! I don't understand how it can possibly be so bloody hard to disconnect my phone line. I have been on the phone to Optus for what feels like all morning now and i have gotten nowhere!! I think i have told the girl on the other end about 6 times why i want to disconnect but she keeps asking me the same bloody thing. And then i get transferred all over the place to different departments and each time i have to give the same details... FFS people! Just disconnect my bloody phone line so i can get on with my day.

Sorry about that little rant.


We had open houses here over the weekend so i made sure that the house was spotless and i have been trying to keep it that way this morning. So far so good. I have the girls in bed and Coban watching Humphrey so the place is super quiet at the moment. I think it may be time for a coffee.

Flashback..

I never ever get to browse vids on YouTube but today i was looking for some music to listen to and i decided that i needed to hear some Smashing Pumpkins. I felt like a teenager again listening to one of my old time favourite bands. I absolutely adored Billy Corgan when i was 15. Anyway, i thought i'd post a couple of my favourite SP songs here for anyone that's interested. I'd love to hear what bands/music you all loved while growing up. Why not blog a YouTube vid for me to watch? ;)

My clever kiddies.

Grand Final Day 2008, my clever little girl Miranda, decided that walking was her preferred mode of transport lol. She took her first proper steps on the 6th Sept but on the 27th, she became a lot more steady on her feet and walked around for ages. She still hasn't quite got it down pat but she walks a fair bit and she is very chuffed when she does it. :)

The same day, my cleverest big boy learnt how to write his name on the chalkboard. I wrote it and then he copied it. Daniel & I were so proud lol.


During the week, i took Coban & the girls to see Fireman Sam at the local shopping centre. Coban was pretty excited about it right up until he actually had to go up and give Fireman Sam a cuddle. He was a bit surprised to see that Fireman Sam was so big and soft. I think the softness freaked him out a bit lol. So i didn't end up getting a great photo of them but there is this one...



I have managed to get another couple of LO's done this week too. I seem to be scrapping really quickly lately which is a real surprise to me. It used to take me 2 days to finish a LO most of the time lol. Both of these LO's are CT LO's for ES.

Layouts, Photos and life...

Well i am still alive in case you were wondering lol. A fair bit has been happening round here and i just ahven't had the desire to sit down and type about it all. Plus i was doing too many LO's and couldn't bring myself to sit here for ages uploading them all. ;)

There is only 4 weeks to go until we move into our new house!! There is still so much to do here but i have packed quite a bit of stuff already so we're well on our way. I need to get Daniel out into the garage this weekend to sort it all out. We have heaps of stuff here that belong to one of Daniel's friends who is overseas atm and i really need to get rid of it all. There is NO WAY it is all coming with us. I have made it perfectly clear that i won't be cluttering my new house with this stuff. So hopefully Daniel will speak to his friend asap and get him to organise somehwere else for it all to go.

I found out from my Dad this week that my Grandma has broken her hip. I haven't heard anything else apart from the fact that she had an operation on it. She has osteoporosis so i'm not sure how that affects it but i'm sure it can't be good. I hope to hear from Dad soon to find out exactly what's going on. I feel terrible because i have been lazy and not writing to her for ages. And i mean like since the girls were born. :( I sent her & Grandpa some photos back with Dad last time he came down but that's been it. Daniel has suggested that we go over and spend a weekend with them soon. I know they would love to see the kids; especially Grandma.


Last weekend we had a photo shoot with Dannii from Kipindi Photography and it was a really great day. We got some unreal shots and i couldn't be happier with the results! Here are a few of my faves.



Thanks so much Dannii. We all had a great time with you last weekend and the photos are stunning. I really appreciate your time and effort and i now have so many fabulous photos to scrap. *mwah*

And i will leave you now with the heap of LO's that i haven't shown in here yet. But be warned, there are LOTS....




































These last 2 LO's are in the latest issue of SM. They don't look quite as nice in the mag. The colours are a bit off but you get that. The last LO accompanies my Click & Crop article and i also designed the free paper and alpha set. I was really worried that the paper wouldn't look very good IRL but it has turned out pretty well i think. I'm not too fussed on the alphas but i went with what they wanted.

I've run out of time so i'll leave it there.