Where do the days go

Cant believe we are nearly into February already. Its only 20 days till Liam will be 5. He has enjoyed being at kindy again and Steven and I have enjoyed our time together. We went over and did a bit of shopping which is so much easier with one child. Steven had a bit of a tantrum in at the warehosue though and Im so glad i still sit him in the trolley because Im sure he would have run away or attacked the stuff on the shelves if he wasnt in trolley. And his tshirt that he has on today suits him so much when he haivng a tantrum it reads 'DON'T MESS WITH THE KID', lol gotta love it. So Steven got himself another exercise book and while im here blogging her is at the table starting his new book of mazes. He said he is doing it for Liam and whne he is finished he will wrap it up for Liams birthday, but jsut between you and me I dont think he will be able to part with it,lol.

Well Wormy the tadpole has back legs growing now, Liam is very excited about this. Liam said he is a kissing tadpole and I got this lovely photo of Liam doing kissing lips back to Wormy,lol

Before & After

This was yesterdays layout that I did. I like the end result but I was back and forward yesterday changing it and then going off to do something else then I would go back to it and change it again, it wasnt until last night that I decide that this is how I wanted it. I hate it when a layout takes so long for me to like it, I love the ones where you see your photos and you just know what you want to do with them, maybe I just have too much stuff to choose from. Also a photo of the boys and their new kitten their dad got them for at his place. A week ago kevin got them a couple of tadpoles for here, which Liam especially has taking a real interest to them and is waiting for it to turn into a frog. Sadly one of the tadpoles died which Liam was a bit sad about, Steven not so sad his comment when I told then that one tadpole had died was 'maybe it got sick and died cause it didnt like living here'. I guess thats one way to look at it. So we just have the one tadpole now and hopefully it will make it to the frog stage for Liam. But now the boys are asking me to get them a kitten here, but Im not much of a animal person, I had cats before kids. I hate all the cat hair every where, the cost of worming and fleaing them, the cost of food, and then cost of vets bills, something I dont really need, so they will just have to love their tadpole.

It took longer than I thought it would to paint around all the edges of the lettering with brown

This is Kitty, first they wanted to call him mum, but Kevin convinced them to change it so Kitty it is.

Steven has now moved in from the lines of books everwhere to piles of books everywhere

Something to think about

If a man wants you, nothing can keep him away.
If he doesn't want you, nothing can make him stay.
Stop making excuses for a man and his behaviour.
Allow your intuition (or spirit) to save you from heartache.

Stop trying to change yourself for a relationship that's not meant to be. Slower is better. Never live your life for a man before you find what makes you truly happy.

If a relationship ends because the man was not treating you as you deserve then heck no, you can't "be friends".
A friend wouldn't mistreat a friend.
Don't settle.

If you feel like he is stringing you along, then he probably is. Don't stay because you think "it will get better".

You'll be mad at yourself a year later for staying when things are not better.
The only person you can control in a relationship is you.

Avoid men who've got a bunch of children by a bunch of different woman.
He didn't marry them when he got them pregnant, why would he treat you any differently?

Always have your own set of friends separate from his.
Maintain boundaries in how a guy treats you. If something bothers you, speak up.

Never let a man know everything.*He will use it against you later.

You cannot change a man's behaviour.*Change comes from within.

Don't EVER make him feel he is more important than you are....even if he has more education or in a better job.

Do not make him into a quasi-god.
He is a man, nothing more nothing less.
Never let a man define who you are.
Never borrow someone else man.
If he cheated with you, he'll cheat on you.

A man will only treat you the way you ALLOW him to treat you.
All men are NOT dogs.

You should not be the one doing all the bending....compromise is two way street.

You need time to heal between relationships...there is nothing cute about baggage...deal with your issues before pursuing a new relationship.

You should never look for someone to COMPLETE you.... a relationship consists of two WHOLE individuals....look for someone complimentary.....not supplementary.

Dating is fun...even if he doesn't turn out to be Mr Right.
Make him miss you sometimes....when a man always know where you are, and you're always readily available to him - he takes it for granted.

Never move into his mothers house. Never co-sign for a man.
Don't fully commit to a man who doesn't give you everything that you need.*Keep him in your radar but get to know others.

Scared of being alone is what makes a lot of woman stay in relationships that are abusive or hurtful: Dr Phil

You should know that you're the best thing that could ever happen to anyone and if a man mistreats you, he'll miss out on a good thing. If he was attracted to you in the first place, just know that he's not the only one. They're all watching you, so you have a lot of choices. Make the right one.

Ladies take care of your own hearts.....

Share this with other women and men(just so they know).....

january Sketch Challenge

Okay this is first time i have done the sketch challenge

Back to kindy

Well I must say it is nice to have some sort of routine again. Back to kindy this week for Liam, Steven has enjoyed it also. Today Steven and I stayed for the day as there was only 12 kindy kids there so it was nice and quiet and Steven was happy to stay. They had a sprinkler out today which all the kids enjoyed. Steven loves the water, Liam not so keen and was pretty much just going around it getting only his arm wet,lol. So I gave my camera to one of the teachers and then went over to Liam go him by his hand and ran through the water with him,lol. He was some what shocked, but went into the water a bit more after than but not right through it.



then there was some sand and water play



And of course Liams favourite the swings





So all in all it has been a good day other than its so hot and muggy. Now to enjoy the long weekend

Slide Show

Okay here is it some photos of the boys when they stay with my mum and dads house for the night. I just love the photos of Steven and Liam and their cousin Lucy and mum was trying to get a photo of all 3 of them smiling, it didnt help that Steven didnt want a photo in the first place, but its funny seeing him go form grumpy to a happy smiling boy,lol. Hopefully I have loads the slide show right and it will work

I have added a place where each week I will add a new quote that I have collected over the last few years since starting scrapbooking. I have a book of quotes and poems that I have gathered from the internet and scrapbooking magazines and thought I would share them with everyone.

Kindy

What can I say kindy has been the best thing for both my boys. When I had Steven I always wanted to be a stay at home mum, and I couldn't understand those mum who sent their kids of to kindy, play centre or daycare. I wanted to be there 24/7 to teach all i could to him. And then along came Liam and then the diagnose of autism for Steven. I think it was about here where I thought to myself that Steven needed more than just me. He needed to learn to interact with other kids....well really he needed to learn to live in our world and not his own little world. And I dont go into his autism much online because I don't know who reads this, but kindy went up and beyond what I expected them to do for him. And it was kindy that i feel opened Steven up so much, but it wasn't easy but it was well worth all the effort. And so when it was time for Steven to leave kindy I did a handmade album for the head teacher and a star album for his ESW. And then I thought great it be so nice to have a typical child go through kindy and not have endless IP meetings. But it wasn't until Liam started kindy that we noticed how much of an affect having an older brother with autism was on Liam. And so another child with an ESW more IP meetings. Liam's biggest problem was that he would only interact with adults, and i remember for the first term he was at kindy and i would ask him who did you play with today and his reply was always the teachers. Now Liam has made a few friends at kindy, but is still very shy.....but then i think he was going to be shy anyway just like his mum,lol. And I'm very interested to see if Liam will play with Steven at school or make his own friends

Star Album

Change of plan the little book I was doing for Liams kindy teacher Im now going to give to his ESW. And today I have been working on a star album for his teacher. Still a bit more to do but I do have a month before it needs to be finished. As you can see Im really enjoying cutting out photos, never really done it before. But its new and fun to do and I think it looks great in this little album.

Butterfly Wings

Okay now that I see this layout this morning I really didnt like it so have made a few little changes. I have another picture cut out that I might add on the pattern paper but not sure yet. The photos have foam tape under the wings but you cant really see that in the photos, I have taken some photos to try and show it. Liams arms and body are stuck down with normal tape and then his wings are foam tape to give it a flying affect I guess, I like it anyway.

Inspiration

OKay its not finshed yet I want to add some writing somewhere,probably printed out on the computer. But I really do love this page. At the end of term 4 I did the dress up washing for kindy, and Liam who has been at kindy for over a year now has never used the dress ups while at kindy. But once they were at home he loved it and these butterfly wings were his favourite. And there were orange, blue, yellow, red and green butterfly wings but Liam loved the pink ones. Oh and again I ran out of letters so will have to get another set to finish of the word butterfly...grrr such a hassle.

Shopping

Hi my name is Alison and Im a shopaholic. Okay I know i said I was going to make use of what scrapbooking stuff i already have but i just couldnt help myself and saw this pack of paper and it just jumped into my hands,lol. The boys have gone to my mums for the night and then tomorrow once their dad is home from work she drops them off there so i have two whole nights to myself. So with this new pack of paper i feel inspired to get creating. I took some photos down to get developed so i will try and remember to pick them up tomrrow. Hopefully i will have some photos to show you later on

Steven's sign

Okay not what I had in mind when I first started and I think my writing is what I dont like. I have never liked my own writing and when I first started scrapbooking I use to always use my own hand writing but then I started using the computer alot more.



Yesterday we had friends over and the kids were playing hide and seek. They were hiding the boys wardrobe and found the boys collection of animal books that I got a few years ago and had put away cause I was tired of Steven using them as lines and not reading them. Anyway Steven has found them and this is why I put them away. At the moment he loves maps so in every book he finds the map pages and then put it in the line. This is not so bad cause he is learning where the different animals live. But the line of books all over the house just drives me insane.

Motivation has reached me

I was sorting Stevens room out today and found some paper where he had written some signs on them. One was 'Keep Out' and he had put it at his doorway. So I thought I would make him a sign to hand on his door handle. And so I have started one side with keep out on it. Still a bit to do but hey its fun and of the page. Hope he iwll like it and not rip it up in 10 seconds flat. Hopefully i will have some photos tomrrow

Motivation?

Im not sure if its 100% what I wanted or expected it to be, but this is what I have done today. Not sure if I like the hearts there either, they are yet to be stuck down.

Not much motivation here today

Well i have been in my scrapbooking area trying to get motivated to create something wonderful but its just not happening today. Its just very simple, I cant think of how to make things have that wow factor today. But here are a few photos anyway. So ladies who scrapbook give me ideas on how you get the creative cap thinking PLEASE


This is a little book Im working on for Liams kindy teacher when he leaves kindy, all the photos in it will be of his time at kindy. I did a handmade album for her of Steven but that was really specail as Steven grew so much and really came out of his own world in the time he was at kindy.

I will add writing to each page, just have to think about what I want to say

Bring on School

Okay I love having the boys at home but I can't wait for school to start again. I really do think even though Steven struggles with some areas of school he just loves that routine that school gives him-every day same thing same time. And he is doing things at home and its so hard to tell if he is just being naughty or if its just part of his lack of understanding and he doesnt really understand that he shouldnt do the things he does. At 7 years a typical child would understand and I find it so hard to know where his autism stops and him being naughty starts. And after yesterday it was such a bad day I was so glad to send the boys of to their fathers for the night. Big sigh of freedom, a chance to be normal and break away from Stevens routines. I must say most of the routines have just become a part of life, things like Steven has to leave the house first and get out of the car first, we just let that happen so he doesnt have a major tantrum, and on Sunday he has to eat breakfast using the thomas spoon the rest of the week it doesnt matter what spoon he uses. But the ones like bedtime routine is to have dinner play for a little while bath, teeth, story and then sleep. So if he has bath in middle of day he thinks he needs to go to bed after that, and it takes a bit of convincing him that its not bed time yet. And if we go to the warehosue he likes to get a new books (like what he has done his mazes in in the post before this) and he knows what book it is and if its not there then hes not happy and he wont settle for anything else, but you know these are the routines that I really need to break becasue in the big world things arent alwasy going to be right for him and he just has to learn to deal with it. And omg the stares I have got when at the warehouse and his book isnt there, Steven screaming blue murder and the looks, its good think looks cant kill. When he was younger I would run from a shop and hide pretty much the shame of everyone looking at me and my screaming child that I couldnt control, now I just ignore them, I know Im not hurting him that he is just upset that he has got what he wanted and expected to get.

Okay sorry I do go on a bit, anyway today is a new day and Im hoping to get some scrapbooking done before the boys are home this afternoon. Recharge my batteries for the next week. On a bright note Liam starts back at kindy again in 11 days, but whos counting. I must say it will be nice to spend some one on one time with Steven as I dont normally get that with him. Okay off to hang washing then get some scrapbooking done, have a great weekend everyone

Bits and Pieces

What a hot muggy day its been, I want the rain back. Well was getting the car window fixed today but they got sent the wrong part so now it will be tomrrow afternoon, what a pain. Steven has been very busy drawing some mazes, and they have so much detail to them.

This is my favourite one which is a puzzle piece maze, very creative


The boys love the new ice cream cones I got them. Its motivation to eat their dinner and they they get a ice cream and get to choose what colour cone they want....best thing it worked they both ate all their dinner tonight no fuss at all.....AMAZING!!

latest layout very simple

I love it, so affective

Steven

This boy is going to eat me out of house and home.....I cant believe how much he eats in the morning. This morning it was 10 weet-bix, yes 10. I am amazed. I got some photos of him because i have noticed the last few posts have been all bout Liam so here is Steven. My little rugrat...Last night while he was having bath and i should have realised he was up to something cause he went quiet and shut the bathroom door. Anyway went in to tell him it was time to get out and there he was in the bath along with ALL the facecloths and hand towels in the bath with him. Today I can laugh abiut it yesterday not so much since I had finally got aorund to folding the mountain of washing and put them away. How it is that he has bath and then thinks 'oh I might get all the facecloths and hand twoels and out them in bath with me'. So im off to the warehouse this afternoon when they are at their dads to get some locks for the bathroom cupboards. I think maybe part of it is that he now doesnt take all his clothes out of his draws so he thought this is the next best thing, that or he wants to see how much washing his mum can do every day,lol.

Last night I got myself motivated and did some more sorting in my scrapping space, not sure that it looks better but at least there is a space to put a 12x12 paper to work on. What I really need to do is get rid of the stuff Im not going to use, but then I think well I might use it one day. Im my own worst enemy really. I have a good friend in Auckland that I have in the last month posted two pizza box filled with scrapbooking bits and pieces paper and other stuff, but I sitll seem to have lots of stuff here. My favourite things at the moment are chipboard letters and arrows painted. The layout of Steven I have since got another set of the right letters and put the r on the end of water, I just havent taken a photo of it completely finished yet.

New look for Liam

Well Im finally going to let go of my baby Liam. He is off to school next month, and unlike his brother Steven who has for as long as I can remember had his hair cut with the hair cutters, Liam has never had his that short. His appointment is at 3.30, here is a before photo and I will post an after photo this afternoon. He will look so grown up.



Wow I cant believe how grown up he is looking, I reckon he looks at least a year older now and his head looks somewhat naked

Review of 2007

I got this from Vickis blog

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?
Drive.....yip I have had my learners licence for years but never did the next step and last year I finally took that step and now have my restrited. Next step is full licence Im jsut not keen on payin the money for that.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn’t make any resolutions last year, but each year I do tell my self I will eat better and drink less coke.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes my sister gave birth to my first nephew, Cody Tony Watson, his photo is further down on my blog

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No

5. What states/countries did you visit?
America-New Hampshire and Canada-Toronto

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
Love

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
September 17

8. What is your biggest achievement of the year?
Finally getting my licence

9. What was your biggest failure?


10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No

11. What was the best thing you bought?
All the scrapbooking goodies I got when overseas

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Someone not worth mentioning

14. Where did most of your money go?
Kids activities, scrapbooking and rent, car

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Driving,lol

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
Not sure

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier-and its feels great
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner-need to put on more weight
c) richer or poorer? Much the same

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
More time with my friends instead of shutting them out when I needed them

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Stressing bout the small stuff and time on the computer

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Christmas morning at home with the boys then out to my mums for the rest of the day with the rest of the family

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
No but 2008 is looking good

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Hells Kitchen and the F Word

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Yes

24. What was the best book you read?
Have been reading a couple of good books on Autism which have had some great ideas very helpful.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Not sure

26. What did you want and get?
Ummm......

27. What did you want and not get?
Better digital camera

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
I never get to the movies, always jsut wait for them to come out on dvds

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
My birthday dinner at mum and I was 29. The big 30 this year

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Well I dont really follow fashion just what I like and whats comfortable. Although this year Im planning on wearing less of my comfortable baggy clothes

32. What kept you sane?
Friends, the computer and scrapbooking

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Britney Spears

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Anti-smacking

35. Who did you miss?
My gran who passed away just over a year ago now, she was great support for me and Steven and I miss having that

36. Who was the best new person you met?
No one in 2007, but 2008 is a new year for that

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
Life is short and you need to enjoy every moment of it. Trust your gut feeling and dont let anyone get in the way of what you believe and trust.

Life in 2008

Well I must say that the start of this year has just been great. After the last 6 months of 2007 I was so ready to just move on and start a new year. And it seems that it has been just what I needed. You know that feeling you have when something is new and its all very exciting and you just dont want things to stop feeling like that, thats how I feel and it feels great. Its been some time since I have felt like this. The past is truley left in the past now and Im so ready for 2008, this is my year its going to be great. Meeting new people, my baby Liam (well I guess at nearly 5 hes not really a baby is he) is off to school, a new teacher for Steven at school and a new happy me. All these things are new challenges in our life and I cant wait for them to happen. Im really going to miss having Liam at home with me and at the end of next month he will be off to school. Im sure he is more than ready for school, me I not so ready. It doesnt seem that long ago that he was a new born baby in my arms. Steven....well after being at school for 2 years this year gets a new teacher. Im looking forward to having a new teacher for him but it also has new challenges. But this year I thought before school starts I will write a bit of background information about Steven and his autism for his teacher so that hopefully it will help her to understand him and his needs better, heres hoping anyway. So what will I do with myself once I have no kids at home? I would like to find a part time job but not straight away, I want liam to get settled into school first. I want to get heaps more scrapbooking done and hopefully catch up with all my photos, although I really dont think that will ever happen. And finally me....this year Im living day to day, not stressing as much about the small stuff. Love...lets hope that happens and will last, happiness...enjoy each day, make the most of what I have and just have fun.

Quotes are great at them moment, they seem to just describe life so well at the moment and I have started a book to write my favourite ones in them to use for scrapbooking. So I will finish of with a few of my favourite ones

* To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage.
* A child reminds us that playtime is an essential part of our daily routine.
* I've got all my life to live, I've got all my love to give - I will survive.
* Knowledge of what is possible is the beginning of happiness.

I wish everyone a happy 2008. Im off now to get some more scrapbooking done.
Look what just arrived in the mail today, Im so excited this is a very new album for me to get creative with(so much for the use what I have and stop buying new stuff plan). I got the idea form Ali Edwards website andI am going to use this the same way she did for a xmas album. If you click her webiste link on my blog and have a look, it looks like a fun album to do and I cant wait to get started

More scrapbooking

Very simply layout but I just love it. Its using papers mum gave me 6 months ago, I have to use more of what I have rather than going out to buy more stuff. So I have gone and bought some more containers for all my scrapbooking stuff so that things are stored better and I can see what I have got and start using it. But lets face it it's not going to stop me from buy more stuff is it, but hopefully it will make me use more stuff

Liams new friend

OKay not the worlds best photo because of the light form the window behind him, but i jsut had to take a photo of him with the cabbage patch doll in her pram next to him eating lunch. I think her name is Carla but not 100% sure i cant remember

Happy New Year

Well the last few days child free have been very quiet and i have got lots of scrapbooking done, but its great to have the boys home again. I did some cleaning while they were away and found my old cabbage patch doll that i had when i was their age, so i put that onliams bed to see if he notice it and he did and then asked fo rht epramout and took her for a walk around the house. he even said that she wanted to watch him have his bath so she sat in the pram while he had his bath. I found stevens visuals for his draws again and glued them on this time so he stops pulling all his clothes out of his draws, and it worked, i was getting tired of having to refold all his clothes every morning. So a new year and its going to be better than the last.