Crazy time of year!

I know that my life is pretty much out of control all year round with all the activities that my kids do and the extra things I seem to take on but this time of year always tests me to the maxx! Right now I'm trying to get all of the Christmas shopping done, prepare for the girls' dance concert, collect money to buy presents for dancing teachers, prepare for Emily's year 6 graduation, psych myself up for flying ant national championships and goodness knows what else! On top of that we are about to see things happen with the house construction, I've had a sick child home all week, I'm at week 5 of a 6 week weight loss challenge at the gym... and I wonder why I'm stressed???

So let me take a breath and I'll update a bit.



Back on the 9th of November my gorgeous little niece, Niamh celebrated her 4th birthday. We had a little party for her and she thoroughly loved being the princess for the day.



We have lots more birthdays coming up over the next few weeks so yay - lots of photo opportunities including little Isla's 1st birthday!

Dancing takes up a lot of our time all year round but this time of the year is particularly hectic. This year my girls are doing a total of 9 dances between them so I thank God every day that our dance school makes costumes so easy for us. The only sewing we have to do is to attach elastic to hats/headpieces, attach some shoulder straps to ensure correct fit and a couple of costumes needed hemming to ensure correct length... all the main sewing, sparkly bits and all the difficult stuff is done for us and you've gotta love that ♥♥♥ . We have had costume inspections for almost all of them now, I have all the shoes that we need so just a few more lessons and it will be concert time - woohoo! I've also once again taken on the task of collecting donations from families to buy presents for the dance teachers. This is a huge job as we have over 230 families in the dance school and people get terribly upset if they are not asked to contribute... I am spending a LOT of extra time there at the moment!

I sort of just realised yesterday that in a little over 2 weeks we will be sitting at the Graduation Mass for our big girl and suddenly I got a little sad. Not sad because she will be leaving that school because she is so looking forward to the challenges of high school but more so because she is growing up way too fast. They have Mass on Monday 7th and a graduation dinner & disco on the Thursday night... stay tuned for photos!

We finally got the call this week to say that the building of our new house will be starting next week. We are so excited about this as it feels like forever since we signed those first papers. We were a little unfortunate with our pre-start as the lady who we had to work with didn't really do the best job she could have so there have been a few minor problems. Thankfully the 'problems' haven't cost us anything more than a little time but as she is 'no longer with the company' our files have been moved on to someone more competent and have become a priority for construction! In the meantime we have replaced our side fence that was 'stolen' by the demolition company. The poor lady next door did not like having her back yard exposed to the world so I'm sure she is very relieved to have a shiny new fence in place. We also had the back fence replaced at our current house. Our ratbag of a dog was getting out by jumping the back fence and was annoying the neighbours so fixing that was a must. It wasn't a cheap exercise but it looks so much better now!

Well there is so much happening here that I could go on all day but I've probably bored you silly already and frankly this isn't getting my housework done. I've taken a quiet day to catch up on some washing while the rest of the family is out sailing so I really must make an effort to get it done.

Until next time take care and enjoy the lead up to the silly season.

Kim ♥

Fiskars Fun

Have you checked out this Fiskars blog this month? We are having a great time and the challenge is so much fun! Lianne has posted a 'menu' for you to choose from, you email your choices to Lianne and she will send you the criteria to make your layout.

So far I have had two servings and am hoping to get at least another done by the end of the month.



This first one required me to:
create a 6 x 12" LO
Using red, black & white colours
Flowers & felt
3 different patterned papers.
Plain cardstock is an optional extra

My second layout turned out like this:



The instructions were:

create an 8 1/2 x 11" LO
Using pink, orange & aqua colours
Fabric & buttons
2 different patterned papers
Plain cardstock is an optional extra

You still have a few days left to get your orders in!

Fiskars are also having a special pre-Xmas competition with the most fabulous of prizes. Check it out here!

Kim ♥

Remembrance Day [11-11-09]

Lest We Forget

They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

we will remember them...

Lest We Forget...

How long till Christmas???

I just can't believe how this year is flying by! How can it already be the last week of October and only a mere 63 days until Christmas? I am still waiting for life to settle down a bit but the truth is that there is NO chance of that happening until at least January...

So blogger of the year I'll never be awarded... perhaps I could run for slackest blogger of the year?? As usual so much has happened since my last appearance here that I would never be able to update it all so I think I might give you a quick rundown in dot points...

Taylah had her ballet exam on Tuesday so woohoo that is it for dance exams this year! Emily didn't do an exam this year as they are doing grade 6 over two years. Apparently there is a lot to learn in grade 6 and the guideline is that they have two lessons per week. Unfortunately the dance school (and us for that matter) can't fit another lesson into each week so they will spread the work over two years and do the exam this time next year. Taylah seems happy with how she went and I guess we will find out the results in a few weeks time. Now is the downhill run to the end of year concert.

Earlier this month I spent an awesome weekend at Boyanup with a fantastic bunch of ladies for the Scrapboxx Retreat. I finished every layout that I started and was really impressed. Thanks so much Sheree and Evana for the gorgeous class layouts which I really must take photos of and upload!

The school holidays came and went very quickly as they always seem to do. Haydn and Emily sailed for the whole first week but they really learned a lot and seemed to enjoy the (day) camp. We did a little bit of catching up with friends, shopping and managed one movie but the two weeks went way too fast!

Sailing season is now in full swing. We still have Haydn and Kane sailing Equalizer but we now have two flying ants to watch in the afternoons as Emily is sailing with Alicia on Viper. The girls are off to an awesome start with a first (on handicap) in last week's race! Emily is still sailing Flash (the minnow) in the mornings and now Taylah has her own minnow called Purple Haze which she is sailing. It is full on right now but the kids are loving it!

I've been reasonably good for a few weeks, getting to the gym when I can and watching what I eat but now I've stepped it up a notch and joined a 6 week challenge at the gym. We need to exercise 5 times per week (at least 3 in the gym), follow a recommended eating plan and commit to being weighed & measured once a week. So far I've done really well having lost 1.3kg in the first week! I'd love to be looking and feeling better by the time summer really starts!

Marnie and I have started the dreaded Christmas shopping! Last week we made a pact to have all the shopping done by the time the kids finish school which is also when her 12 weeks of daycare finishes so it is essential that we achieve this goal! We've been out two Fridays in a row now and have done a fair bit for the extended families but I really need to find out from Tom's family what is happening this year and who we are buying for. With lots of birthdays between now and then it is certainly a crazy time of the year!

Last week Miss Emily went on her year 6 camp and had an absolute ball! They went to Waroona and did all sorts of confidence boosting, team building and awesome fun activities. She came home totally exhausted and covered in mud... you should have seen the clothes that she wore for the mud fight - I actually threw them in the bin after two washes, three days in napisan and a good deal of scrubbing... that mud wasn't coming out at all!

Speaking of Emily, I can't believe that she will be graduating from primary school in a matter of weeks. Emily is really looking forward to going to high school next year and I think she is well and truly ready for it. She loves school and is really excited about trying new things next year. Oh I just remembered that I have a surprise for her that I forgot to tell her about - I picked up a gorgeous dress for her graduation today, I just hope she loves it as much as I do and that it fits her!

Now I can't remember where we were up to on the house when I last posted but the demolition is now 100% complete. The trees are gone, as is the driveway and this week we have organised to have the side fence replaced ready for the builders to start. We are getting a little frustrated now as we are still waiting on the final plans for the house but they are due any day. I hope next time I update we will have some progress to report on.

So as you see that is a glimpse into what my life consists of lately. Nothing overly exciting but added together there is hardly a minute of downtime or so it seems.

To finish off I have a few scrapping layouts that I did a couple of weeks ago and haven't shared with anyone yet.

This first one is little Kurtis enjoying his cake at his first birthday party...



This next one is the demolition process as we cleared the old house from our block to prepare for the new house...



And finally this one was just using up some old photos from earlier in the year when the kids sailed for a few days at Nedlands to compete in an interschool sailing event...



I think that is about enough for tonight. We have an extra little body in the house in the form of Taylah's friend so I need to chase some kids towards their beds ready for another busy Saturday.

Have a great weekend

Kim ♥

Ooops...

Hey I'm back again and yes it has been more than a whole month since I blogged but I guess I was tricking about having a quieter life for a while... I should give up all hope of that happening I think. I did spend nearly two weeks of the last month in bed sick with a virus which then progressed to pharyngitis (or the tonsillitis you get when you don't have tonsils LOL). Thanks to the wonders of antibiotics I am now back to 100%.

Since my last post lots has happened so I'll just run through it as quickly as I can in no particular order...

I'll start with yesterday, Sunday 27th September... what a fantastic day! It was the opening day of the sailing season for 09/10. We had to be there for 11.30am and drank pretty much non-stop until we left at 7pm last night! It was a big day but lots of fun and dare I say it, I think I am actually looking forward to this season! When we got there the champagne was already flowing and as we were 'invited guests' it was all free. The opening ceremony was short and sweet then we all headed down to the end of the jetty to watch the annual sail past and 'blessing of the fleet'. All the juniors from the training camp joined up with all the other yachts and it truly is quite a sight!






After the sail past we enjoyed LOTS of yummy finger food and more free drinks and eventually we moved back to the bar to catch up with friends for lots of laughs and ... a few more drinks! It was a great day, made all the better for the fact that we had NO KIDS with us! Haydn and Emily were at Westsail, the sailing camp over at the yacht club's annexe and Taylah went out for the day with my family - thanks Rodney & Dana!

The kids are now on school holidays and I'm looking forward to some quiet time this week. The sailing camp goes until Thursday so it is just Taylah and I at home. I guess we should plan to do something in the second week of the holidays or the kids will feel like they've only done sailing... hmmm what to do???

Last weekend we celebrated Kurtis' first birthday with a party which was great fun. I got some gorgeous photos of some of the kids but the big ones managed to elude me that day - I didn't get a single photo of any of the eldest kids from each family - no Haydn, Oliver, Lachlan or Caitlin! These are just a couple of cute ones that I did get and the rest will be appearing on scrapbook layouts very soon!

Kurtis the birthday boy:




Isla who wasn't very well but still managed to be super cute:


Blake who was being so cooperative for photos - this kid is too cute!:


Grace:


Yes just before the photos you did read that correctly - I have started scrapbooking again! I haven't done much yet but you can't rush these things. I've done a few layouts for the Fiskars Blog and a couple of others. I must say that I'm loving it again and am really looking forward to the Scrapboxx Retreat in less than two weeks time!










In the past month netball season finished too. Both teams did really well but our big girls finished the season runner up for the 12A division, quite an achievement especially given that half of the girls they played throughout the season were 'head and shoulders' taller than our whole team! Emily came a long way this season, having never played a game of netball in her life prior to this season so I am so proud of her!

Progress has also finally begun on our new house! We were so excited this week to see the excavator on the property and to watch the old house disappear in a matter of hours!






Well I guess I could go on for days with all the little things that have happened this past month but that would just bore you to death so I'll finish up here. I'm planning on scrapping some more today so will be back SOON to share. Have a great week and take care.

Kim ♥

And another one gone...

Weekend that is!! Where are the weeks going this year? I can't believe that we are now heading in to the last week of August!

Although I am starting to panic about the end of the year approaching so rapidly I must admit that I am glad the past few weeks are now behind us. This is such a chaotic time of year with dance exams, the performing arts festival for school, along with everything else... the next month is somewhat more relaxed...

Since I last posted here my other super clever girl brought home another gold medal for her jazz exam and along with it an outstanding grade of 92.5% - woohoo Taylah, I am so proud of you! We are now just awaiting tap results...

Friday night the girls danced in the Catholic School's Performing Arts Festival at the Perth Convention Centre. They danced superbly, looked sensational and really did the school and us proud. Don't they look stunning?




Saturday morning I had to drag a couple of very tired girls out of bed to get Taylah to her last netball game of the season. They had a fantastic season, played really well as a team and I am very pleased to say that Taylah has picked the game up really well in her first season (the other girls have already played together for a couple of years). Saturday afternoon Emily had her last netball game of the season too and woohoo they now have to play finals next week! As far as I know her team finished 2nd on the ladder - a fantastic effort girls!

This morning we got up and organised to be at church for 9.30am. Taylah's friends were making their first Holy Communions today so we went to celebrate with them. Emma and Morgan looked absolutely beautiful!




After church we had another special occasion to celebrate. My gorgeous little niece, Grace turned one on Friday and had her party at lunch time today. The poor little chicken wasn't all that happy today as she has a broken collar bone from falling off a chair on Friday. She did enjoy eating her cake and chocolate frogs however and I got LOTS of stunning photos of all the kids...
I'll leave you with just a few of the photos I took today. I'm totally exhausted and still need to get school uniforms ironed before I can get to bed tonight.







Have a great week!

Kim ♥

Dinner

I just made the yummiest dinner tonight and thought I should share it around... It was so quick and easy to make and my three kids all loved it. To make it a complete winner it is reasonably low in fat and also low in artificial additives - woohoo!



The recipe came from this website.

Ingredients:

1 x 420g can Campbell's Condensed Cream of Pumpkin Soup
2 tbsp red curry paste
400ml coconut milk
500g skinless chicken breast fillet, cut into strips
150g green beans
1 cup frozen peas

Method:

In a large saucepan or wok add soup and curry paste, mix well. Place over medium heat, add coconut milk and stir, using a whisk or fork, until smooth and well combined.
Add meat, beans and peas. Simmer for 8-10 minutes until meat and vegetables are cooked through. Serve with rice.