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!

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!

It’s Christmas eve and I’m sitting here watching the end of a favourite Christmas movie "Home Alone", the to-do list has been all crossed off, the festive food is in the fridge, the pressies are wrapped under the tree and I have a nice box of chocolates beside me. What better time to wish each and every one of my loyal blog readers a fantastic and merry Christmas tomorrow. May your day be filled with family, friends, good food, fun and laughter. May you look inside your heart and find something really nice that you can do for a friend or family member tomorrow just to say "I care".

Christmas starts in our family with a midnight Christmas eve carols service at the beautiful stone church at the end of my family’s street. We don’t go to church in our family normally but this service is special. Every year I sit there in the peaceful candlelit church and think how blessed I am to be me. I find it to be the perfect start to Christmas day. It reminds us of the reason for the season and is the perfect time to reflect and centre yourself on what’s important.

Tomorrow we shall start the day with breakfast in bed, lot’s of cuddles with Grace and some pressies for her. Throughout the day we will share the festivities with family and friends and just have a relaxing day. Hopefully the weather will be better than forecast as we decided on a simple BBQ lunch with everyone bringing something. Thank you to everyone who suggested ideas for us, we have taken bits and pieces from the ideas.

Before I buzz off I must share this great little story a friend of mine shared with me. Perfect for us scrapbookers!

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Twas the night before Christmas, I’m glued to the tree. I’m wondering what Santa brought just for me.Could it be cardstock or chipboard or lace? Or a Cricut, I said with a smile on my face.

And that’s when I heard him,"Hi Santa," I said

"You know…good little girls should be in their beds"

"I know I should Santa, and now I’ve got caught. But I was just so excited to see what you brought"

"Well let’s take a look in this room where you work." He shook his head quickly, right and left with a jerk. I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear.

"You’ve got enough crap, I’ll see you next year!"

I saw this list of Christmas questions on Hannah’s blog and thought I would borrow it

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper and loads of cellophane for all the home baking parcels.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Our artificial tree gets dragged out every year but we did try a real one last year and the remains of it are still sitting out in the garden. I hope to invest in a really nice artificial one in the sales maybe.

3. When do you put up the tree? As early as I can possibly get away with, this year I was slack and it didn’t go up until the 5 December.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually after Christmas holidays are over, so about mid January.

5. Do you like eggnog? I’ve never had it but I suspect it wouldn’t be on my must have list.

6. Favourite gift received as a child? I can’t remember a specific gift, we were very lucky kids and got so many lovely gifts. My best ever gift as an adult is the old style Kenwood mixer Mum bought me a few years ago.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My Granddad, he has EVERYTHING and anything he ever wants he goes and buys it.

8. Easiest person to buy for? My MIL, she seems to be happy with most gifts.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? No, but I would love to get one. I remember as a child we had a cardboard one and every year it got a little more shabby but it was part of the charm.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Definitely mail, I love receiving them in the post and trying to figure out who’s handwriting it is before I open them.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? An out of date box of Ginger beer from a family friend.

12. Favourite Christmas Movie? I LOVE all Christmas movies but I have to watch Home Alone each year.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I usually write a list and start beginning of December.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I’m sure I have re-gifted a box of chocolates before at the last minute.

15. Favourite thing to eat at Christmas? My Nana’s sherry soaked Trifle, which my sister now makes. She however is not as heavy handed with the sherry.

16. Lights on the tree? Absolutely, and they need to flash. I accidentally put non flashers on my tree this year and its not the same!

17. Favourite Christmas song? So many to choose from…can I get back to you hehe

18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? Always stay in Christchurch for Christmas then away for a bit of a break somewhere.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Most of them.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? There’s a star on our tree.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Christmas morning, I never understood opening on Christmas eve.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Family members that get all stressed about Christmas.

23. What theme or colour are you using? My tree is a jumble of Christmas colours, and there seems to be loads of gingerbread men and houses collecting on it.

24. Favourite for Christmas dinner? Turkey, Mum’s apricot stuffing, new seasons peas, carrots and potatoes with my Nana’s bread square gravy. With trifle, Christmas Pudding, brandy sauce, raspberry’s and jelly. Not all at once though. ;p

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A good nights sleep and to burn my maternity bras and get some nice ones! hehe But I would be most happy if everyone in our family could just relax and enjoy the Christmas spirit.

This Christmas my family want to do a more laid back and less stress Christmas lunch, we have so much going on and no body wants to make it to hard. I was hoping you might share your Christmas day food ideas so we could come up with a menu that works well for us.

I look forward to some yummy ideas coming my way!

Thanks Rochelle

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/

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!

Well I’m a bit bored so thought I might as well catch up on a blog entry. We had a nice long weekend here in Canterbury. A hectic week in the Christchurch social calendar. I did miss seeing all of the lovely outfits and hats at Cup day but wasn’t to worried that I didn’t get to go.

Friday was my Nana’s birthday and we spent the afternoon at her place. Even though she has Alzheimer’s it was nice that she was able to partake in the celebrations. She always loves seeing her great granddaughters too.

Here are some yummy Lemon & Passionfruit cream cheese cupcakes I made in place of a birthday cake, they were simply delish.

The cuzzies in there little dresses. Vicki she now fits the dress and it look so cute!

Then on Saturday it was so hot, 31C at 6pm so the weather man said! We pottered about home, cleaned the garage out and just tried to keep cool. I let Grace explore the garden under a bush in the shade.

Her first time on the lawn.

I also got a bit carried away with the camera and took heaps of pictures of Grace playing. Great to scrapbook one day! hehe

How’s everyone going with the Jessica Sprague course? I must admit I haven’t got very far at all. I can’t believe how much printing needs to be done and my printer doesn’t seem to give the best quality.