Just doing a bit of blog-hopping and found Karen had a few links to some blog candy giveaways!! So of course I couldn't resist sharing...

Jessica Arcs is giving away a copy of her gorgeous mini album book - Outstanding Mini Albums... and Kim has some gorgeous goodies in time for Valentines Day...

Check out their blogs - I adore the cards Kim makes with the Magnolia stamp range, and Jessica has some pretty cool mini book and Circle Journal ideas on her blog! Enjoy!

Biff & Chay's Wedding

Isn't Chay's dress just amazing!!!!!!!!! I luuuuuurved it, and the bridesmaids looks stunning in shorter white dresses! Absolutely stunning!

Wow is all I can say!!! We had the most fantastic time celebrating my cuz Biff & Chay's wedding at Mooloolaba! The setting was like a scene from a fairytale. The gorgeous Chay was led through the enchanted woods on her father's arm with little fairy's and princesses leading the way. Just gorgeous. The groom looked very dappar in his grey suit (complete with slip-ons!!). How cool!

We had an absolute hoot the entire time!

The cocktail reception was in a beautiful restaurant - 4th floor on the Esplanade at Mooloolaba, and luckily only a short walk from our unit... as my feet couldn't handle any more walking in those high heels... Dana had the right idea and changed to flats after the ceremony. (Note to self for next wedding, follow little sisters advice!!)

We enjoyed some quality conversation (and drinks) with my little sis Dana and her other half, Alan before she heads o/s for a year, next week! We'll miss ya sis!

Chay is such a gorgeous person, and it really shone through in her speech!! Even though we had only met once before the wedding, Biff couldn't have found a more special person to spend the rest of his life with. Thanks for the laughs and giggles with the speeches and photos!!! The whole day was really gorgeous and will live on in my memory as one of the best weddings we've ever been to! Thanks for inviting us to share your special day with you!

Mind you, we missed our little munchies back at home, who were enjoying spending some quality time with Grandma! Thanks heaps Jenny for doing such an awesome job at babysitting the munchkins!

Mum's 60th Party + Kingaroy weekend

We had a lovely weekend in Kingaroy to celebrate Mum's 60th & Dad's 58th birthdays. The location at The Carollee's Beer Garden was just gorgeous and Mum had a great night with her friends and family. I had fun catching up with people we hadn't seen for some time too. A great night all in all.

I also attempted my first chocolate mud cake (recipe from Exclusively Food). It turned out divine and lots of people commented how nice it looked & tasted. YAY!! I will definitely be making that recipe again. Dana and I decorated it on Saturday afternoon and the roses really set it off!

Gramps took the kids for a ride on one of his many motorbikes, and they just loved it.

Aiden's been asking for a motorbike of his own for a while now! :) Daddy keeps telling him he has to first learn to ride a pushbike for balance, then a go kart for getting the hang of starting and stopping and then he can get a motorbike. Sounds like a long road ahead for a 3-year old!! LOL!

Al got to do a bit of dirt bike riding with my brother too, so he was happy as a pig in mud (so to speak!)

The kids really love going to Kingaroy and running wild with my brother's kids and spending time with Mum & Dad.

Oh, and here's Erin's new "cheesey" grin for the camera!! Gotta love it, hey!!

And here's the end result of our big weekend - Dana & Erin sleeping soundly on the lounge.

Madagascar

It was supposed to be a lovely morning out at the Madagascar show with playgroup this morning and instead I think I had the worst parenting experience --- I lost Aiden in the huge crowd of people there! I know they say you shouldn't panic in situations like that, but I swear I was near hyperventilating! One moment he was there, the next he wasn't. It all happened in the blink of an eye!

So I dumped Erin with Kylie and ran around madly in search of my lost little boy. OMG it was just terrible. Thankfully, a couple of minutes later (after scouring the entire crowd), I spotted one of the lovely ladies from Garden City carrying him. Tears pouring down his chubby little cheeks. I can't explain the relief I felt seeing him. I thought I'd lost him forever! Phew... what an experience. Needless to say, he didn't wander very far from my side for the rest of the show, which by the way was fantastic!!

Thanks Kylie for helping with Erin and for calming me down!! LOL! I sure did need it!

Some photos of the show... the kids loved it!

All the hard work has paid off!

Al worked hard to get the cubby finished yesterday, and to see the kids playing in it happily today made it all worthwhile. Just the staining to finish off now, but the kids don't mind. We've moved their little stove and sink over as well as a table and chairs, and they had so much fun cooking us some lunch today :)

Al also moved the train track upstairs to the wooden floor, as it kept falling apart on the carpet. The kids both seem to enjoy playing trains now, so I might actually be able to snatch some scrapping time while they're occupied!

I made some pizza scrolls for lunch today, and although Aiden was too tired to eat lunch, Erin devoured about 3 of them! Al didn't mind them either. They're a recipe that my friend gave me. Very delicious and easy to make too! Thanks Kylie!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!!

I can hardly believe it, but Mum turns 60 today, and she doesn't look a day older than 30. I might be a bit biased, but she is doing great in my eyes. She's trying to give up smoking and is doing fantastic! Here's a special little card I made for her.

They dropped around today for lunch on their way down South for the weekend. What a lovely surprise! I didn't get any photos though, they're all on her camera :( I'll have to update when she gets back!

Love you Mum xoxo - I hope you have a fabulous weekend away!

Busy December

Last year we decided to spend every second Christmas at home so the kids can have a taste of both my family's traditional European Christmas and also of our Aussie Christmas anticipating Santa's arrival the night before. Up until this year, I had never actually experienced a proper Australian Christmas myself. Although I dearly missed being a part of my parents traditional Christmas Eve celebrations, it was actually nice not to have the stress of driving on Christmas Day.

We did get to Kingaroy on Boxing Day though, and had a nice relaxing time with all the family then, so all wasn't lost! Dana set up a round robbin tennis tournament, so that was a bit of fun, and then Dad, Dana, Al & I went for a pushie ride around the block to work off that Christmas Turkey!!

We celebrated Christmas Dinner with Al's family, and the kids had a great time tearing around the paddock.

We also had the Daycare Christmas Concert mid December. The kids loved showing us all their artwork and both loved performing, especially Aiden, who was a little stage shy last year, so that was really great to see!

The kids had a great time at the park in West End at our Playgroup Christmas break-up too! It was nice and relaxing and we actually got some really nice pics of us together as a family (although a little late for our Christmas card).

We also took the kids to see the Wiggles a couple of weeks back, which the kids really enjoyed. It was so much fun watching their little faces light up when they saw the Wiggles. We were lucky to get Hot Potato seats, so got some great photos and videos... shhhh....

We decided to brave Al's work Christmas party at Wet & Wild this year for the kids, and we all had such a great day. Even though we didn't get to go on many rides, it was worth it for the kids. They loved being in the water all day, and they even got to meet Santa!

Now that I've written it all down, I realise how busy December actually was this year! It did all end with a nice relaxing Christmas though! Phew!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

May you all find joy and happiness in everything you do!

I've been rather slack this year, and thanks Mel for reminding me to update in here... Life has been really hectic the last 6 months with starting work for a design company 3 days and still continuing on the side with my business for friends, family and my existing clients. Of course I took on another couple of jobs, which made for an even busier schedule. Coming up to Christmas is always a busy time in the design realm, so it has been nice to finally stop, relax and get stuck into some quality family time. The kids have really loved being home and getting out and about with both of us, however Al has had to go into work quite a few times over his so-called break. It really hasn't been too bad though.

We've been camping, visited the rellies in Brisbane and Kingaroy over Christmas, enjoyed having friends around for New Years' celebrations, fishing with Al's parents and of course building the below-mentioned cubby :) The kids have had a ball. Maybe we'll get to relax in the next few days :)

Here are some pics of the kids first fishing trip with Grandma & Grandpa!