Welcome 2011

We went up to a friends bach for New Years at Snells Beach. They had a black Labrador puppy staying & Nicola got over her fear of dogs so much that now she wants one! They had lots of fun taking him for walks etc. This is a pic taken on Scott new iphone of the 2 kids playing on their own island, hehe. We also saw other frinds of ours that live up there. They took the kids kayaking & sailing. Nicola even said she enjoyed the 'bumpy bits' (waves, as the wind picked up alot.) She was pretty good at kayaking to. Daniel showed us what he learnt at Cubs kayaking the other week. I got burnt :( the first time I can remember ever getting burnt. We ate & drank to much & spent alot of time just lazing around the house :)

I was thinking about doing the 365 scrapping challenge. It is to take a pic a day for a year. See pic number 1 above for yesterday.Just took pic of sunburn for today will upload later ......

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 :)