Who would have thought....

Who would have thought I'd have two handsome boys? Who are angels when they get their hair cut, sitting still, looking straight ahead and loving the praise from the hairdresser. THEN.. she started something, she put gel in their hair! Well, they were on cloud nine and it took a while to come down. Did they think they were something? They skipped out the door "wow Mum that was fun at the hairdressers" ran out of the car to show Daddy and posed for this pic. Now we drive past the hairdressers almost everytime we go out and I hear it all again...

Who would have thought Harry would love have taken to Kindy like a duck to water? He loves it and is most disappointed on Thurs/Fri when he doesn't go. He is so excited for March 4th to come around where he starts 5 full mornings and he's talking about school lots too. Where have those years gone?????

Kindy has a Mums craft time out once a month and I did this layout amongst cups of tea and laughing.

Who would have thought a knife would be soooo exciting? "Look Mum its my knife..its beautiful" Needless to say he's learning to use it and Jake thinks he can too!

Who would have thought they could coordinate road works? I peeped out my kitchen window and saw this it was so cute. Jakey would bike up the "road " Harry was making, until he had to "wait for the roadworks" before he could continue! Harry remains industrious (rocks, water, gardens, wood piles) and Jake just casually joins in. So happy to see them starting to make up "games" with rules and a plan.

Unfortunately it often includes water ("so my stones will grow into rocks Mum" - Thanks Dad for tampering with his science experiment!!!!) which means washing ++ but they are having fun.

Check out the sweeping bend.

Who would have thought we would be here and settling in? Seems like such a long time ago I almost let go of the thought of ever returning home. But I believe this is where we are meant to be. Work is improving (I'm not COMPLETELY useless as I felt in the first few shifts). I start in ED on Monday and I am looking forward to the challenge, to learning and expanding my knowledge. I got our first paycheck in 4.5 months today. We now have our block of land so we can start planning what we will do with it. We have people coming around for quotes to fix up a few things needing done to our place. I've started to get out and about meeting other Mums and kids. No great (new) relationships yet but they take time and I've met a few Mums that seem nice. We have started back at church for the first time in 8 years and feel that we have found a church where we need to be for now.

So slowly life is sorting itself out. Good things take time and I guess it will always be a work in progress, but we have started. Life is good.

Love always

Mel xoxox

Project 12

Hi all, this is just to put it out there so I complete the challenge. You may see I've put a new link on my blog to Project 12. I can't work out how to get it to go to the right post on the blog but basically its a double page a month. You are given a sketch and complete it related to each month. You are meant to then upload it by the 20th of the month(I'll just be happy to complete it for my albums.)

I thought it was a great way of recording the important and quirky things each month. So I'm off to prepare the page.

xo

Better late than never....

For those that don't already know, for my Grandparents (kids great grandparents) birthdays and Christmas' I give them Scrap layouts. I mean they really don't need anything and they don't have enough room for more photo frames in their house - so I started an album a few years ago. This way they get an update/record twice a year. They love it and it sits under their coffee table proudly.

This Christmas however, with the move and travel I simply didn't have time to fulfill my usual. SO they got a box of chocolates with an IOU. Cheeky but I have finished them last night. So here are the final two to add to their pressie.

All my latest photos of Jakey are plagued with THIS SMILE. Its when he says CHEESE. Can't seem to get a nice one much at all. So I guess this one records this time in his life!

This one records Harry as he is today. Always keen to try anything. You should have seen him today - aaagh - I had to pop into work so I dropped the boys and Dad off at the park. When I got back "watch me Mum" as he flew down the flying fox jerking SO high at the end and flying almost all the way back. My heart skipped a beat as he cackled away! He really seems to love the adrenaline - all those rides at Disney, Legoland and Seaworld must have wet his appetite. What do the teenage years bring????

Enjoying back in my scrap room recording the memories. Now that they are done for Nana & Grandad best get onto some for me.

Hope all is well with you.

Love Mel xo

Beach Bums, Cheese Rollers and returning to our roots......

I can't say much has come out of my scrap space lately. In fact I'm still trying to finish a couple for my grandparents from Christmas. This is one of them. Just a few Disney highlights put down on paper. We've spent this weekend exploring Southland. I'm still trying to find my birthday pressie and thought Winton (and its lovely gift shops) might be the place. But no THE thing (yet to be decided) wasn't there. Is it any wonder Phil hates trying to get me a present when I can't even find it? But Winton was gorgeous 32 degrees (only 1/2 hr from Invers). We relished the little country town atmosphere and Jollie Lollie icecreams. Yummy!

Then we drove to Riverton and enjoyed the beach. Thought the boys might have put their toes in but off they took. Loving it and the water was even surprisingly warm. Look at the delight in Harry's face. Love to watch him play.

As for Master Jake he loved the muddy sand and took great joy in throwing it at us.

Then today we went out to Waikaka Valley to the New Zealand Cheese Rolling Championships!!! So funny. Look closely and you will see a white ball out in front they are chasing it down a steep hill (and falling lots) aim is to be the first to get the cheese.

The boys took great joy on the jeeps. Everytime they went over a bump the laughter was LOUD and you couldn't help but laugh too.

The other reason why Waikaka is so great as it feel like home. It is full of rolling hills and green pastures. So serene and peaceful. Also it is where my roots are. My grandparents lived there when they were first married (60 yrs ago) and my Dad was bought up there. I never lived there but it feels like home. So it was truely fantastic to take Nana and Grandad out there and explore the old "homelands" with them. Its now in ruins, most of it gone and there is a big bees nest, but I love it. The boys just loved checking it out too.

They loved climbing about on this tree.

The old fireplace.

Out back boys. Gotta love them. xo

This one in particular I reckon is kind of sexy.

In other exciting news our block of land settled on Friday. So this little 5 acres is ours. No idea what we will do with it in the short term - to lease, farm, Christmas trees...watch this space. But once it is fenced (hopefully this month) we will be forced to decide. In the meantime we shouldn't have to buy firewood in a long time, those trees are quite overgrown and in need of a good prune. In a few years time we hope to build our new home here. So as always we are planning and drawing our ideas. The boys are quite excited about "their farm". I am excited to have some room to move and establish something again perhaps a little more me in style. Let the rustic scouting begin....

So we are slowly establishing ourselves and life is slowing down to a more manageable pace. I have started work casually but will start my job in Emergency on 22nd of this month. Looking forward to the challenge I have alot to learn. Boys are well and Kindy is going great. Seems like he has just always has gone.

Hope all is well in your lives. xo