Just a quick one...

This is the first LO I have done for ages!!! I have been so busy at work I couldn't scrap at home, my brain was too full :( I used my markers to make the 'fire' on the letters, I like how they came out :)

Finally finished our Advent Calander...

...only a few days late. The kids have been eating the lollies anyway. It is the Kaisercraft Advent Calender with mostly Kaiser Xmas papers. The reindeer & sleigh I made from the Paper Doll Cricut cartridge & ended up being a bit fragile hence the transparency infront of them so no one can touch them.Do you like Santa's boots? They were more tricky than I thought to find. They are actually from a Halloween decoration from the $2 shop.

U2 rock!!!!!!

It as been a really busy month, so busy I didn't have time to blog! Where to start.......think this post will not be in chronological order, sorry. Also very high in photos & video :)

Do you like my hickie? Thursday was finally THE day!!! The first Auckland U2 concert!!!! I had the kids all sorted, but got a call from school at lunch time saying Nicola was sick....NOOO!!!! my lovely bosses wife looked after her until my mum could get there. Scott, Pete & I queued from 2:30 pm, we had GA tickets, but the first 3000 (ish) people through the gate get into the INNER CIRCLE!!! This is the area Scott got into last time, but I didn't. The hickie is how the security knows you are one of the chosen few ;-P They only let us into the stadium at 4:30. Anyway while we were waiting we saw my brother, his wife & her family getting the grand tour around the set. Michael's wife's brother is a roadie for U2. He came & found us & upgraded us to the RED ZONE. I was 1 person back from the barrier to the walkway. It was amazing!!! I could have touched them (except for the security guards who would have removed your arms if you tried) These photos were taken on my little cannon so you can see how close we were. The set list for Thurs night is here. We were on our feet basically from 2:30pm till 12:30am so we had very sore feet (not that i am complaining) It was soooo awesome. Scott & I sang & danced until the end! The stage was amazing, the screen went up & down, very cool. So what do you do the night after the best concert ever? Take the kids of course!!!!! They were so excited. Nicola & I had a nap in the afternoon so that we would be able to stay awake. You should have seen the look on her face when they walked on the stage - joy, adoration, elation- it was amazing. There were quite a few kids there. We got the cheap seats behind the stage cos we weren't sure how the kids would cope, it was VERY loud. So we figured we saw it the night before so if they wanted to go home we would. Daniel made it to "Crazy" before he fell asleep, how do you fall asleep at a rock concert? It was the 14th song, about 10:45 so not bad. He still really enjoyed it (he was dancing on the inside) & had a great time :) The full set list is here, it was not exactly the same as Thursday night.
Nicola made it to the first encore before deciding she was tired & wanted to go home, that was about 11pm. Here is a video I took of Nicola dancing during Vertigo. She was so amazing. All the people around us we watching her instead of the show. Unfortunately she did change a bit when I got the camera out, but you can still see how much she was enjoying it. She wants to be Bono when she grows up, hehe.

In other news.....

Both the kids were in the Howick Santa Parade on Saturday morning. Nicola with Pippins & Daniel with Cubs. They both had a great time :) I was asked to walk with them, but said no cos I don't think I could, hehe. Then on Sunday we had lunch with my Cousin Emma & her man from Perth. It was nice to see them again :)

Now going back in time....
I have finally finished one of my advent calender for my friend, which is good cos she will need it on Wednesday. I haven't finished mine yet, but I am working on it.

Nicola had a friends party to go to a few weeks ago, so we decided to make her present. this is Her first OTF project. She painted & chose paper, I glued it all together & then she decorated it.

No-labour weekend

What a glorious long weekend we have had! Beautiful weather :)

It started well with dinner at the mall with our friends. Then the daddy's took all four kids home & the 'mummys' went shopping!!!! & then to the movies. We saw "Life as we know it" with Katherine Heigl. It was sooooooo funny.

On Saturday Scott took Daniel & a friend to the Armageddon expo, Daniel was very excited. The 'girls' we to see 'Despicable me' & then went to Pumpkin Patch :) Nicola was so cute, she was posing in front of the mirrors in each outfit & basically chose everything herself. Mum deiced she needed shorts under the dress she chose tho cos it was so short (even tho it was a size 7) so off to Farmers we went. She was a perfect angel, the only thing is she wouldn't let me look at anything for me ;P

On Sunday Scott went fishing with a mate. Nicola & I did some tidying & sorting in her room, clothes, books etc. & I did heaps of washing, it was perfect weather for it. Then Nicola went to my brothers with nana & papa to look after her cousins while they were busy building a deck. I painted some more scrapbooking shelves.

Today Nicola went back to my brothers, she loves her cousins & being the 'big' one. We have had a nice mix of working & relaxing, it has been good.

House update.....we failed our final last friday cos the extreior wasn't painted, which was annoying cos the builder told us not to paint it!!! So Scott spent last weekend painting in the rain & we passed our final on Tuesday!!!!! The valuer has been so it is all looking good & we might finally be finished with builders. We still need to get all the rubbish out of the front lawn & plant grass, but hey, the end is in sight :)

Trademe rocks :)

But first things first...

House update. Bathroom is finished & looks really nice, just some minor paint touch ups needed to be done now.

We did the Trellis fence last weekend, so thought we were pretty much done. However we failed our final inspection because the exterior wasn't painted!! The builder told us not to paint so that the inspector could see all the sealant. So guess what we did this weekend?Picked up the shelf I bought off trademe for $1 from out west, it is perfect for my paint & stuff. I also got these awesome bins to put my ribbons & flowers in. So pretty i was just looking at them & feeling inspired last night, but i can't see my desk yet. So I am going to do some more sorting & tidying now.....

boxes?

The kids had been doing really well sharing a room during the renovations, but it was starting to get to everyone. So we moved Daniel into his new room last weekend, put his bunkbed back up, etc; the funny thing is he hasn't slept in his bed once! Scott got a new toy & Daniel has been playing & sleeping in the box ever since! Not to feel left out of anything Nicola had to have a box too. Tonight is their 4th night in a row.......

In other news...we have finished the wardrobe system & it is installed, yippe!! No more getting half dressed upstairs & half downstairs. We haven't seen the builder for a few days, but we think that is because he hasn't got the new iron for our carport roof yet. Scott has taken a few more days off to finish the ensuite, then we need to do some work outside. So we are almost done :)

busy bees....

Since I last blogged we have been very busy, to busy to blog infact.
I had the weekend off at Megan's Scrapbooking retreat which was awesome!! It was so lovely to have some time out with friends. I did about 5 LO's that all need journalling. Louise's class was great, I am thinking of giving it to mum & dad for Xmas as I did a LO of them. Lianne's class was cool too, learnt a new technique which shall be used over & over again :) I unpacked into the new study, sort of, it is all stacked in the corner so I can't show yet.

While I was away Scott wallpapered our bedroom & half of the wardrobe; & he tiled half the ensuite floor. He also finished painting all the skirtings & architraves. I don't think he slept at all!
We finished wallpapering downstairs last night & it looks good.

They FINALLY laid our drivway on Monday. Our lovely neighbour was home for the day & took photos for me.

Today the carpet arrived! He finished the bedroom, hall & wardrobe, but not the stairs. He is coming back tomorrow to do them. Scott & I are so excited we just finished moving our bed down there. we are going to sleep in our new room tonight!More drama, but I don't feel like talking about it right now. Night all xx

one room complete!

This is the study/laundry on Sunday. Builders finished, it's our turn now! The cost of vinyl for the floor was astronomical & the stupid guy was having a fit about the ramp, I would think it was easy in lino, but no. So we decided to do it ourselves with that laminate floating floor, it was heaps cheaper!
Here it is all finished on Tuesday with the laundry tub installed.

And what is that? Wallpaper???? Isn't it awesome!!!!

We stayed up until 1am Wednesday morning finishing it, but it looks fantastic! Even put my new desk up in it on Wed afternoon, woohoo!!! What's that through the window? The builders starting on the carport! The driveway was supposed to be laid today but the weather was to crappy :(

crisis number 3 & 4

......sigh......I hate building! I know what you are thinking, why are you in the building industry if you hate building? Because I love drawing houses, but actually making them real is a nightmare! So the latest is.....

Crisis Number 3: The inspector came to look at the retaining wall post (this is dude #3 on our job) & he decided he didn't like some of the stuff that has been signed off by dude #1. So he is making us redo it! Can they do that? they both work for the same place! Apparently they can :( Dude #3 explained & I agree with him, so why was it signed off by dude #1 a few weeks ago? And who is gonna pay for the drain layer to come back & replace the cesspit?

Crisis number 4: The builder promised he would have the interior finished by last Wednesday, that was moved to yesterday, but I looked at it & thought that there is not enough hours in the day to do everything, but they kept saying they would do it. So Scott has taken Monday & Tuesday off work to do the painting & flooring, but guess what? they haven't finished! Scott is really mad. We have the paint & flooring ready to go, but the builders are still down there.

...sigh...

We have plaster

The rain was a bit of a pain today, but they still managed to get the concrete into the retaining wall holes. The inside is coming along nicely, only 3 days behind schedule. The carpet is booked for next Tuesday & this weekend we have to paint the ceilings, skirting, architraves, ensuite walls, doors, lay the tiles in the ensuite, lay the timber floor in the laundry & foyer & wallpaper. So we wont be seeing much of the kids or our beds for the next few days...

My little white boy :)

Tonight Daniel's school Kapa Haka (Maori) group performed at the Howick Maori Spring Festival. This is the first stage of making him Maori, hehe.He really enjoys it as you can see, I think it is hilarious, but also think it is great. Kids these days are so much more confident than we ever were. No way I would have volunteered to do that at 10. (this is my fav pic) I dunno why they are so different, but think it is great. He also has a wonderful reading voice. He was reading all the information signs at Kelly Tarltons to us in the weekend. He put such expression into his voice, reads so confidently & doesn't loose his place like I used to.

I am so proud of him. He is already more than I ever was. I wonder what he shall achieve in life. I can't wait to see.

It was Daniel's last game of hockey last weekend & prize giving. His Team got the 8 a side Team of the year for our club :) Very cool :)

What do we have here......

Yes that is Gib Board & a WINDOW!!!! It is finally looking like rooms. & what's this???? an internal door????? So exciting! Nothing has happened outside of a few days because of the weather, but hopefully tomorrow it will be all go again.

We have a Ranchslider!

It is difficult to take a photo of a ranchslider, so here is one of the digger through the ranchslider. The rest of our driveway was ripped up today & lowered, now the base of the existing green retaining wall is showing so they are gonna have to fix that too. They passed the preline inspection this morning so we have some new gib board up! It is very exicting having a newdouble glazed ranchslider, it is definately quieter & warmer than the garage door.At school tonight Daniel did a performance in his Kapa Haka group. It was really good seeing him up on stage & he really enjoys it.

1 step forward, 2 steps back....

....well it's more like 2 steps forward, 1 step back. Failed our pre-lining inspection this morning. The inspector is making us cut out panels of building paper & fix between each existing nog & stud to keep the insulation out of the cavity. So why did they not ask for that when it was in for consent? I must say I was surprised at how easily we got consent, but it would have been easier to do changes then rather than now. So the builders have pulled all the insulation back out of the walls......

Did someone say insulation?

Sorry I can't hear you! hehe. It is quieter & warmer already & we don't even have windows yet. Isn't it pretty? Personally I would have preferred pink, but this was cheaper so yellow is fine with me. The front lawn a mud bath but we passed our drainage inspection today, yay! Our private drainage was not actually hooked up to the public line so they had to fix that too. In other news....Nicola has lost 2 bottom teeth (need another pic of the other one missing too). And my cousin Amye in Oz, got married over the weekend in a beautiful Burgundy dress.

Man with digger....

Yay our horrible driveway is being ripped up!!!!! It was really interesting watching him using the laws of physics to break the concrete, well I thought so. See where the old garage door is lying down, that is our new courtyard where the spa is being moved to. Man with digger now scraping earth off for new carport & driveway. we found a garden gnome in the dirt. Also my hateful mound of dirt is finally gone along with the last of the Camellia's.

concrete!!!!!!!!

Yay!!! The concrete was laid today!!!!
So here it is waiting for the concrete guys to arrive at 7:30am!!! Yes 7:30!!! So I was up & dressed so we could watch. They still hadn't arrived when we left for school & work.

But they arrived just after we got home so we could still watch. The kids just about died when they saw the fake tarantilas on the side of the concrete truck, they thought they were real, hehe. This is the first barrow load of concrete!!!!

Nicola, the builder & I watched the concrete men at work. It was quiet amazing how acurate they were & how level & smooth it was. Unskilled labour - my ass!

Almost finished, but they ran out of concrete so they hand mixed the extra barrow, or 2, that they needed.
Then they came back at 7:30pm to do another smooth thingy (& remove cats foot prints) Dunno how we are gonna keep the cat off it tonight......

I did some scrapping!!

Are you as excited as I am? Prima & Making Memories paper, Prima Vines, handmade roses from the Kaiser blog, handmade dahlias from Kaiser blog, ribbon, Heidi Grace rubons, bling, diamond dust, glitter, dimensional magic, silk flowers from the warhorse (I am so classy) .......the list goes on. It was fun learning how to make the flowers :)

Day 4

Plumber has been!!!!! We had to move the plumbing wastes from the upstairs bathroom to the other wall so we could cut out our new door. before.......

After......We came home yesterday from school/work to a house full of dust. It was hanging in the air & every surface is covered in it. The reason for the dust? our new study/laundry door was being cut out. Before.......

After......Hiccup number 1........There is supposed to be a 50mm step between the new & old floors (like in this pic of bedroom doorway) However as pic above, there is no step in laundry/study door. This is cos the original garage slab is not flat :( So the builder & I have been trying to figure out what we can do. The council wanted us to rip the whole floor out & relay it!!!!!!! We are already over budget!!!! That would add at least $5k & put us back at least a week. So we have a solution, it in not ideal, but is ok. We are going to have 50mm step/ramp up into new laundry. This will keep everyone happy & not cost us any more.