Our little girl turned one a few weeks back in the midst of the chaos, we had to postpone her party for a few weeks so we could catch our breath and I’m so glad we did. It was a lovely warm Sunday afternoon, we invited all of our family and friends around and it was a great celebration.

I wanted to share some photos but no really great photos as I was to busy being host to snap any, so got some off Mum hehe

Here are a few from her actual birthday when family popped in.

Cousin Maddi helping to open presents.

Grace in the cool tunnel her Auntie bought for her.

I went with a ladybug theme for the party.

Here  was the cake that I made.

Our wee princess in her fairy dress and wings

One of Grace’s birthday presents. Maddi figured loved pushing Grace around the back yard and Grace was happy to be the passenger!

Just another quick post with they layout I have just done while Grace had her afternoon nap. I used the fortnightly sketch over at Sketchbook.

and a way of getting around Grace waking from her nap before I finish my layout… she is happily playing with bits and pieces from my scrappy supplies… but NOT my scissors! lol

Well better tidy up my mess, but I am happy to say that thanks to your support my creativeness is back!

It’s 6am and I’ve been lying in bed for the past hour or so with my mind whizzing with lot’s of different thoughts. Everything from my loss of creative mojo, how I will handle looking after my sister’s daughter two mornings a week when she goes back to work, why Grace won’t sleep through the night and what we should do about it, which swimming lessons should I enrol her for, what food shall I make for my sister’s BBQ on Saturday. You know, just the usual thoughts at 6am! lol

So where better to have a rant than here on my blog. So tune out now if you’re not keen to hear a load of Jibber jabber! hehe

Firstly I had a thought about my creativeness. I really does annoy me that I can’t seem to get it sorted! Anyhow I think the problem lies in the fact that I keep trying to come up with the greatest layouts  with the coolest of products. Looking at everyone’s 1st layouts I realise that none of us got into scrapbooking to simply showcase the many lovely products out there. We got into this addictive past time because we wanted to tell the story of ourselves and families. I need to get back to just telling the story of our life for Grace. Plainly and simply I need to capture the moments of Grace’s life and not care about what pretty paper or flower I use… Sounds simple I know but I only just remembered it! lol It’s so easy to get caught by the great new ideas and product that keeps coming out.  So that’s my plan from here on in, just capture the moments and record my beautiful daughter in action.

The other thing that has been really on my mind is the fact that Grace won’t sleep though the night. She was doing well there for awhile, (7 hour stretch’s are a good night for her) but now she is back to waking twice a night and I’m getting tired of it. She doesn’t take long to feed and get back to sleep but I know she should be able to sleep through by now. She never has , EVER! I have read several books and they all say let them cry it out with varied degrees of invention. When I have tried letting her cry, she is still crying it out 1 hour later, so I give up. Maybe I just need to persevere. The thing that puzzles me is, that during the day she sleeps fine with no hassle. I just put her in bed and she sleeps without any fuss. She also goes down easily at bed time too, it’s just the middle of the night where we hit speed bumps! I was wondering what you did with your children, were you lucky enough to get good night sleepers? or were you in my boat. Would love to hear any ideas.

Onto another topic completely, here are some photos I took of Nessa and Maddi in the weekend. I had a play with Picasa and came up with these. What a cutie-pie!

Anyhoo thanks for listening to ramblings, I do appreciate me loyal readers. I should probably go and make some breakfast, I’m sure Craig would appreciate a coffee in bed. It’s a rarity that I be up before him! Now I just have to figure out the darn coffee machine!?!

So I hope everyone is having a good week… I decided to update my blog as I have a spare moment. I don’t really have much to say or write about but that doesn’t matter hehe

So what’s been happening in Rochelle’s world you may ask? Well today I helped my sister and family move into their new home (it’s just round the corner!). It’s a nice old villa and gives them heaps more space with little Maddi growing so fast everyday. I helped by looking after Maddi for them, while they got on with the heavy lifting. Looking after two babies at once is hard work, made even harder when you are in a house that has been packed up! lol I saw on the news tonight some poor lady in the USA has just had 8 babies and wants to breast feed them all! Bloody heck!! I don’t know how they will cope with that. It’s more like a litter than a family ;p

Last week here in Christchurch we had several hot days so we headed to Craig’s parent’s place for early evening swims. We weren’t sure how Grace would go with it, she loves the paddling pool but it’s cooler in the big pool. She loved it though and it was so much fun having a swim with her. Of course the camera was out so here are a few photos.

I’ve been having trouble finding the motivation to scrapbook any of the millions of photos I have of Grace. I really must get back into it, what inspires you when you have a creative blank??

I’m getting a little inspired about all the great new papers are products that I’ve been seeing everywhere from the winter CHA…mmmm… makes winter seem more appealing! Being stuck inside with loads of scrapping to do Bliss!

Well I should got clear up my scrap space so I can get started on something, maybe some cards?!?

Take care!

I created this little mini album for Craig’s Mum’s Birthday with photos of Grace. The colours haven’t shown up so well unfortunately but the pink paint I used has a shimmer to it.  I have also added a photo of the card I gave her to match the gift.

Well like some of you, I have let the holiday mode slip into my blogging routine… I have had this post open for several days just sitting here with a title waiting to be written. Thought I better make a start on it! lol

I hope everyone has had a nice break and for those of you still on holiday, good on you!

We had a lovely relaxing break but are now back in the swing of it. Mind you, with being a Mum the work never really ends does it!?! hehe

We spent Boxing day at my sister’s, catching up with Dad and having a sunny BBQ lunch. Was a lovely day just to chill after the nice but chaotic Christmas day. As I said in my last post, I was lucky enough to receive a camera for Christmas so I have taken oodles of photos (can’t wait to get some time to scrap them) over the past few weeks.

Then we were lucky enough to spend several lovely days at Moana (Lake Brunner) on the West Coast where family have a holiday home. My friend Jess came and stayed with us too which was nice. We had stunning weather, which doesn’t always happen on the West Coast (especially when they hear we are heading over!). Unfortunately we had to cut out holiday short as Grace just would not settle there, she woke heaps at night so we decided to come home. Funnily enough she was back to normal the first night back! lol

New Year’s Eve was uneventful for us which was great, in past years there have been dramas that we would rather not have. This year Craig and I stayed home and watched “Sound of Music” :p lol

During our holiday break we had several more BBQ’s and the girls enjoyed there paddling pool on some of the hot days.

We started Grace on solids on Boxing day and she has been going great guns since, it has helped a bit with her night sleeping too. Finally some 7 hour stretch’s! Just had to take this photo of her covered in carrot! lol

Grace caught up on her email! LOL :p Craig was so proud!

We had friends over for a lovely dinner… and I just wanted to share this lovely photo I took of Dad with Grace.

I think that almost covers our holidays… phew now to try and scrap the photos! Hope you are all busy creating? I’m working on a mini album present that I will photograph ASAP and share.

Take Care!

Well it’s that time again… catch up time! We had a nice weekend, it was pretty good weather and we just enjoyed ourselves. We attended a friends birthday BBQ on Saturday for the afternoon. Grace was fantastic, she was just content playing with her toys, looking around and taking in the party.It’s great that she is getting older enough to be up for a bit longer.

On Sunday we headed to Halswell Quarry Park for Christmas carols, we joined heaps of family’s with picnics enjoy the festivities. It was a lovely sunny afternoon but very windy. They had the boys brigade band to accompany the singing, which was good. Here’s some pictures.

I finally got the Christmas tree and decorations put up. I hate getting it all out and putting it together, but hanging the decorations is fun. I enjoyed unpacking the special little things that have been given to me over the years. I also decided that I seem to have a gingerbread man/house theme going on. Anything to do with baking suits me! hehe Craig liked the tree but had one complaint "No candy canes!?", so I shall have to go shopping for some. Grace likes the colours but was not keen on my singing Snowman ( he’s under the tree in the pic), i turned him on and she got freaked out and started crying.

Lastly here’s a picture of some Christmas cards I made with my Cuttlebug. A very simple design but I think they are pretty cool! Check out this website if you enjoy card making, it’s got loads of brilliant ideas and techniques! I know how much we all like finding new ways to use our Cuttlebug and dies.

 http://www.heartprints.net/

Well I missed last week as the week flew by before I realised it was over so here goes for this week.

1. Woo Hoot to my friend Megan who has FINALLY *wink* got her blog up and running. She is new to this blogging thing so why don’t you pop over and check out her blog. I’m sure she will be a regular blogger as she has always given me heaps when I don’t keep mine up to date! hehe

Check it out here  http://studiomcreations.wordpress.com/

2. My cute as daughter… she really is a funny little munchkin sometimes.

3. Having a lovely BBQ lunch with friends and family on Sunday, it was great to catch up with everyone. Oh and yummy food helps too! hehe

4. Getting myself sorted in regards to Christmas. It really has crept up on me this year. I hope to get the tree up on Friday and have enjoyed checking out the pics of some your Christmas tree pictures. Shall post mine when it’s done.

That’s about it for me, hope you all have a good rest of the week!

So I’ve been baking… I got inspired when i read Melissa Goodsell’s blog. She often inspires me and this time was no different. She wrote a post about baking bread using this book about baking bread in less than five minutes a day. I got it out from the local library and it’s a good read.

I haven’t used the recipe out of there yet but yesterday I baked a loaf the old fashioned way with all the kneading etc.I though I would share some before and after photos, I’m very proud and am going to try rolls for a bbq we are having on Sunday.

Was very yummy with lashings of strawberry jam! :p

Thought I would share some pictures of these beautiful photos I got for our wedding anniversary. Anyone who reads my blog will know about my LOVE of peony roses so I was very lucky when Mum bought me this lovely big bunch on Monday. Then I got these lovely roses and gerberas from Craig as a gift. I love the cream ones with pale pink edges, they are gorgeous.

Lastly but not least another photo of our cheeky wee daughter, she is getting SO chatty and cute at the moment. Constantly chattering away to herself and anyone that will listen! hehe

Well a little birdie told me that I haven’t been updating my blog enough so here I am with another update 

Firstly I must start with a big "LOVE YOU" to my fantastic husband whom makes my life much easier everyday! I love the support he gives me and how he helps out with Grace. Today is our 2nd Wedding anniversary but we have been together almost nine years!

So to celebrate we left Grace with her Grandparents for the day on Saturday and headed to Hanmer Springs to spend some time together. It was lovely to have some time alone without thinking about nappy’s, feeds and naps etc. We were glad to get back to her by evening though

We stopped for a bagel and coffee on the way, popped into the library where I found some mags for the trip. We arrived Hanmer around lunch time so grabbed a bite and hit the pools. We spent several hours just relaxing and soaking in the atmosphere. A must visit if you are ever in the area! Every time I go they have added something new to the complex. We had a wander around Hanmer, had some dinner then drove home to collect Grace. It is something I think we will be trying to fit in a bit more regularly. The good news too was that Grace was good for Nana and Granddad and they enjoyed having her.

I just crashed yesterday as we have been having a few bad nights sleeps with Grace. She is still waking more times than I would like. I ended up with a headache and feeling ick yesterday so just blobbed all day long. It was just what I needed as today I feel much better.

In other news I got some time out on Thursday to create  with some friends and this is what I came up with in the 3 hours.

Craig’s wedding anniversary card

A cute layout of grace

and this card for Craig’s Nana.

Well I better sign off, I can hear Grace waking. We are visiting an Aged Concern Outing group that I was involved with before I had her and the elderly ladies are all keen to meet her. Enjoy your afternoon!