What a week

Yay its Friday finally. The boys have gone off to their dads for the night and I had plans to scrapbook but dont know if I can be bothered now, might just blob on the sofa I think. Steven started the week at school being some what stubbonr refusing to do any work. So had talk with teacher and on Tuesday he has his work form the day that he didnt do and had to do it at home. So it was time for some tough love, we got home and Liam went into my room to watch tv(which they get to do for an hour when they get home from school) and Steven was told no tv till he did his work. Teacher said to get him to do as much as I could ge thim to do but if it was jsut the first question then thats fine. And so the battle begins with Steven not wanting to do the work his reasons being, he didnt have time to do it, he cant remember what to write and then the best for last he didnt want to do it,LOL. Nice try Steven but didnt work, so then he trying to play some games and ask if he could use the computer. Anyway after about 30 minutes of screaming going to his room slaming doors and then finally jsut coming out of his room and sitting down and doing the work it was all done. I must admit this was not fun but th result fo it was good. Wednesday after school I went and talked with his teacher again to see how his day went, she said he did all work that was asked of him and once he did some work he got to read one of the I spy books(which is one of his addictions at the moment)or he could draw a maze he got this time for bout 5 mintues then he had to move on and do enxt lot of work. So we think the having to do extra homework was not fun for him and he had finally decided to work at school. Since Wednesday he has been doing really well at school.

Liam......such a keen learner and so much easier to do homework with. His teacher is really happy with his learning and how keen he is with his spelling and maths. He had today of as he had viist to the dental nurse and had to have his mouth numbed as he had a hole, he was very brave and did so well but sadly he now has fat lip, I think he may have bitten it and now it not looking very nice but went to the chemist and got some cream to put on it.

My take on the fortnightly sketch challenge over at SE.

A weekend of scrapbooking

Today seems to just go on and on. The boys have been really good playing nicely together today. At the moment they are on the sofa looking at the I Spy books trying to find each object first. yesterday I was in Hamilton at my cousins 21st birthday so I didn't get alot of scrapbooking done during the day but had a bit of a late night and finished the rest of my Friday night challenge done for SE, which was to do an of the page project.
Liams mini coaster album, all the pages together.

I really like the end result with the edges sanded and just using a cut out photo and foam tape under the top part of the photo just to give it a bit of a 3D look.



The other of the page project that I have been working on is a tin each for the boys. The idea came from an autism newsletter that I got via email. The basic idea was from ways to cope with your autistic child(but of course the idea is great for any child) and it was something to make you smile on the hard days. So it was that when ever your child said a new word or said something funny write it down on a piece of paper and put it in a shoe box, then when things are really bad or your having a bad day then you can sit down with the shoe box and read all the funny/good things you have written about your child. So I thought I don't really want a shoe box and had these tins from some Maya Road stuff I had got, so I painted them up and put the boys names on them and then made some small cards with a bit of doodling on them inked the edges and put some in each of their tins. When ever the boys say something funny or just something I want to remember I can get their tins out and write it down. I went through my diary as there were a few things in there that I had written down. I hope it all makes sense.


We went over tot he warehouse this morning and I found this box which was less than half price and thought it would be perfect for all my foam stamps to go into, not too sure if I really like the butterflies but it will do for now.


Steven lost a tooth yesterday while he was at his Dad's. I asked Steven if it came out while he was eating he said no I wiggle and wiggle it and it just popped out, LOL.

Steven and school

Had a talk with Steven's teacher this morning as he has not been bringing any homework home for over a week now. So had a good long talk with her and it seems that Steven has become very stubborn at school. He has been refusing to do any work in his exercise books and will only do drawings when giving a piece of newsprint to work on. Even when he gets his two days of teacher aide time he won't do his work. I know he can do it and it annoys me that he is so stubborn and just flat out refuses to do anything. Once he has it in his head that he is not going to do something it is very hard to make him change his mind. So his teacher is going to send some work home with him tonight for his homework if he doesn't get it done in class today. She said she hasn't done this yet because she knows I have enough to deal at home with him at the moment, which I thought was nice of her but I would like to get Steven into doing his work and so if it means a bit more after school work then that is what he will have to do. Both his teacher and I agree that he has alot of knowledge and understanding of things up there in his head its just a matter of getting him to use it and put it on paper or telling use what he knows. Another thing I noticed about Steven when we drive to school in the mornings he is a real chatter box at home and in the car but as soon as we get through those school gates he stops talking, he will only nod or shake his head or give you a smile but he wont talk.....funny I thought.

Stevens latest addiction is I Spy books. Which is great to use as a motivator for him but yesterday I went to the local library and got a couple of these books out for him and he went to bed quite late last night because he wanted to read them but I told him they will still be here in the morning and he can read them when he gets up. So today started at 4am when Steven thought it was a good idea to get up and read the I spy books. I also had Liam climb into my bed at some stage during the night and he gave me a hell of a fright when I rolled over to find him in my bed,LOL. I thought I had gotten him out of this habit of getting into my bed but I guess not. Might have to work on that although its a bit hard if he climbs into my bed and I not notice till the morning. Maybe I need to give his a reward chart for sleeping in his own bed.

A couple of layouts that I started yesterday. I really love how this one turned out the colours and the simple layout. The hearts are not stuck down yet as I quite like the raw chipboard but wonder if red would look better, so I have this layout on my desk waiting for me to decide what I think would look best. I was also going to add some journalling but again I think I prefer the layout as it is.

Okay first the l moved and I didn't notice it till after I had uploaded the photo. I love both of these photos. And when they are together it shows how much Liam really has grown during his time at kindy. I'm yet to add journalling but need more ink for the printer before I can do that. This layout is scraplift from a magazine and when I started doing it I really liked it but I not too sure now, maybe once there is some journalling on it I will like it more. The 1 and words at, and are from the grungeboard that I got the other day. I would like to get some more of this maybe some of the swirls or alphabet, but I notice SE has run out of the swirls of it already.


The finished dolls house with carpet and lino. The teachers loved it and now are thinking they will have to get some new dolls as the other ones look really old now they have a flash new house to live in,LOL. Liam asked me why we were taking own doll house back to kindy,LOL.....I told him it wasn't our doll house and that I was just making it look nicer for the kindy kids. Sorry its not a very good photo.


Right I think I need 30 minutes nap on the sofa and then get started on some baking and more scrapbooking

Life is...

Life is an opportunity, benefit it
Life is beauty, admire it
Life is bliss, taste it
Life is a dream, realize it
Life is a challenge, meet it
Life is a duty, complete it
Life is a game, play it
Life is a promise, fulfull it
Life is a sorrow, overcome it
Life is a song, sing it
Life is a struggle, accept it
Life is a tragedy, confront it
Life is an adventure, dare it
Life is luck, make it
Life is too precious, do not destroy it
Life is life, fight for it

Fortnightly Challenge

Here is my take on the fortnightly challenge over at SE, really enjoyed doing this one, its another sketch that I will use again.

Fun Sunday

This week since were we much better we made it out to mum today. The boys had so much fun and were very busy. The boys went for a walk on the farm with grandad and found a slide.....well a rock/dirt slide. But the boys had fun so that was the main thing.




After that it was back home again and Steven wanted to go for a walk to collect some More acorns which he collects some of most days on the way home from school. So of we went Steven with his container for the acorns. He found a few that looked like they had little hats on which he thought were very cool. When we got home he wanted to name them all and write their name on each one, but I managed to convince him to just draw a face on each one so he sat there for about 10 minutes drawing lots of different faces.

Liam sat and went over his alphabet card saying all the sounds for each letter

After all that walking and running the boys are worn out and went to sleep straight away tonight.....YAY, WELL DONE GRANDAD!!

Here is my take for the Friday night challenge over at SE. The challenge was to use:
at least 3 journalling spots
paint
a complementary colour scheme

And look what I got in the mail yesterday, I cant wait to have a play and get some more scrapbooking done so I can use these

Finished

Now I have a few pillows and blankets and a few wall hanging for the top two rooms that I would like to make for this then there is the carpet which Im getting on Monday. Monday after school the boys and i will take it to kindy and Liam can see his teachers again and they can tell me what they think of the new improved house...I do hope they will like it.

The house has a room, you just have to imagine it has some lovely carpet down. im hoping ot get this hosue done by Friday night so that this weekend I can get back into doing some scrapbooking. There are a couple of challenges over at SE that I didnt get done in time but I still want to get them done and a couple more BOM pages to get done. And then I have 4 'thinking of you' cards to make as well. Monday Im going into town with a friend and we are going to choose some carpet for the doll house. Then on Tuesday or maybe even Monday afternoon I will take the doll house back to kindy for them. I stopped of there today to get some more bits for the hosue and they were saying they are going to have it as a surprise for the kids and hide it and see if they can guess what it is. I said they wont recongise it as their doll house cause its so different now but hopefully they will lvoe it and play with it alot more. Im also attempting to make some pillows and blankets for the bed and sofa.

I popped into kindy this morning and told them what I had done with he house so far, I think they were expecting me to sand it back and then give a new coat of paint but how boring is that. So I have two rooms painted just got a bit of decorating in them to do. I have added better photos of the roof

Good to be back to school tomorrow, Liam has been home for 6 days now and Steven 5 so I think they are ready to get back into work again, and even if their not I am. Got a busy day tomorrow with an Autism support group meeting then shopping and then all the little jobs that take up time and make the day fly by.

Update

I hope everyone had a great easter. I had plans on doing this doll house over the easter break and visiting my mum with the boys for the day and some scrapbooking but did none of that. Liam on Wednesday night was up most of the night vomitting and it seems there is a bug going around when we went to the doctors. So he had Thursday of school then the boys went to their dads on Friday night and Saturday I was told Steven was up with what Liam had and spent a good part of the day sleeping then come Saturday afternoon I wasnt feeling all that great. So Liam kindly shared his bug with us all and today I have only just got out of bed this morning feeling human again.

Both the boys havent really had any of their easter eggs with not feeling that great


So since the boys have had the house to themselves since Saturday afternoon as you can imagine there was a bit of a mess to clean. So with that and the washing out of the way I have had a little bit of time to do some more on this doll house.
This is the before phots, sorry its not a very good one.

The new chimmney

The new roof, not sure how well you can see but the roof is corrugated card that I have painted white, am yet to give it a final coat of paint not sure what colour yet, maybe a redish colour?

Im really happy wiht the results so far and look forward to working on the inside of the hosue in the next day or so.

We have got the kindy's doll house at home at the moment. They have asked me if I would like to give it new life for them...and I have lots of little ideas and its fun being a new project since i think I have done as much scrapbooking in the last 3 weeks as i have in the last 3months,LOL. The boys think its great as they both loved the doll house during their time at kindy. But Steven found the furniture to be the best bit, but he not play with it in the house. he has been sitting for nearly an hour now just stacking it then breaking it and stacking it again.


Liam didnt go to school today, his first day off. He has vomitting bug, hoping its only a 24hour thing and he is at the tail end of it now. He had big sleep today and went to sleep pretty fast tonight. Hopefully he will be feeling better tomorrow. Well I havent done any scrapbooking for a few days since now I have the doll house as new project. Anyway thats all form me just a small catch up...might have some doll house pictures over the next few days. hope everyone has a great easter weekend

Liam and Tiny's camping afternoon

Being camp week at school and Steven was camping over night at school tonight(which hes now not staying for the night we pick him up at 7.30pm)and Liam really wanted to camp at school too. So I thought he could have his own little camping sleep over at home. I had one of the boys pop up tent out ready for him when he got home. So he got his pillow and blanket and hippo(which goes everywhere but to school with him these days)and had his afternoon tea in the tent.

Tiny wanted to join him in the tent

Liam wasnt too impressed with that idea,LOL


Another day another layout...its good to see the pile of photos slowly get smaller as the weeks pass. Im yet to add the title Kindy Friends, but I need to find the right lettering for it.

Saturdays scrapbooking

This is what I got up to while the boys were away, in between the standard house work that needed to be done and watching a bit of tv and doing some baking and the internet. I thought a heart would be a nice change from the standard circle I have been doing.

I really enjoyed doing this layout, it was from one of Becky Higgins sketches. I love the sanded edges on two of the photos and the middle strip of paper.

WELL DONE LIAM

School assembly yesterday and Liam got a certificate for merit for being a clever counting mathematician - to 100!, his teacher said he also can recognise number up to 1000. He was so funny he's a bit like his mum and goes shy when standing up in front of people and I don't think he really wanted to be up there, but he got up and held his certificate up along with the other kids who got them. Well done Liam, I'm so proud of you.

I really don't know whats up with him and his grin, might have to work on a better one I think,LOL

And just for a change another circle layout,LOL. This is Steven with his certificate he got end of last year, I'm only now finally getting around to scrap booking it.

Beacuse the swimming was a school event there were lots of other teachers around to watch the kids that werent in the pool. Also on the two days that Liams class has weeking during the week they usually have another class swimming at the same time so Liams teacher gets in the pool with him and thew other teacher watches the kids that are not swimming as well as helping out with the swimming lesson. I had offered to go up during Liams swimming time to get in the pool wiht him so that he could get use to the water soonier rather than later, but I was told I would only make it worse for him. But I do think its great that she gets in the pool with him, but I also belive if his first experience wasnt as bad as it was that he would be alot better bout it all and be in the pool by himself.

Swimming Day at school

Was a bit concerned bout how Liam would go with the swimming day at school Monday just gone. But his teacher was really good and she held him in the water and didnt put him in to far(infact I dont think his togs got very wet at all). Liam reminded me of a baby monkey the way he was hanging on to his teacher for dare life to make sure he didnt go into the water,LOL.

Steven on the other hand loves the water, not keen to put his face under the water and squeezed his eyes shut so water not get in them, but other wise he loves it.


I think Im over scrapbooking at the moment have done so much in the last few weeks that Im not getting the flow of things at the moment so might have a few days off from it ready to do the Friday night challenge this week over at SE.

Liam has been doing so well at school but I think its all catching up to him as hes been a bit grumpy and easily gets upset over this last week. Plus for the last two night he has been really late at going to sleep, last night it was about 10.30pm when he finally went to sleep. Hopefully tonight after a nice bubble bath and story he will go to sleep earlier than last night. Im so glad he is doing well at school and he was so ready for it.

Steven is doing okay, I have been told by his teacher 'he's really stubborn', LOL no never hehe. I dont know weather you call him stubborn or if he jsut knows what he wants and doesnt want. I say he is very stubborn and if he doesnt want to do something he wont do it and its very hard to change his mind. He's the same at school and most of the time he doesnt want to write his story and he jsut sits there and Im sure he jsut switches of and not listen to anyone. So now they are working on him drawing a picture and he will then tell his teacher/teacher aide what the picture is about and then they try and get him to write that down, but I think once he clues on that they are still gettting him to write he will stop doing that too.....STUBBORN I tell you

This is his picture he drew, its one of the computer games he plays and is somewhat addicted to at the moment

Book of Me Challenges

These are a couple of my pages for the Book of Me Challenge over at SE. The first one was to do a page including a letter. So I thought I would do these letters I have had sitting in a box from my brother Tony.

Next is one that we were to write bout our 10 greatest joys, so this is what I came up with, I really like the end result. The 3 hearts in a row were done by using mine, Steven and then Liams finger prints.

Friday Night Challenge

Here is my take on the Friday night challenge this week. It was tricky having to use a photo of yourself, but its done and will be put into the book of me album I have started for some of the other challenges that I will be doing over on SE. So Firday night challenge was to use photo of your self and six single words that describe your life so far - but you are not allowed to elaborate or explain why you have chosen those words. My words are a bit hard to read they are:Meaningful, Emotional, Amazing, Challenging, Beautiful, Cherished

I know its the same layout,LOL...I did really enjoy doing the circle layout. This one is for Liam's kindy teacher to do journalling on. When Steven left I did a layout for his teachers to journal so I thought I should do the same for Liam, better late than never ah.

Liam has been so into spelling words out in the bathroom with the foam bath letters we have in there, and interested in what words he has learnt at school already so I found these word magnetics for him and stuck them onto the fridge. He has really enjoyed them and makes sentences and put the words he knows on one side and ones he doesnt on the other side. Its so good to see him so keen to learn and just showing an interest in school.

Never ending sorting stuff out

Spend a bit of time sorting my scrapbooking area out again, I was running out of room to scrapbook,LOL. So I sorted things out a bit, put things away where they belong and names some of the draws so things can be found easy for me and for a friend who comes and scrapbooks here on the odd Friday night. With all the cleaning I found a few projects that I have started but not finished yet. Some only have a little bit more to be done on them and then they will be finished. So I have to finish the Basicgrey lunch pail tin, the chipboard coaster books that I started one of Steven which is nearly finished only a few more pages and then I need to get started on the square one I have for Liam. A couple of photos of my neice Lucy that Im doing layouts for mum and my brother and the small albums for the boys that I have a few pages to catch up on

I did this layout last nigth. I have been on the SE website looking at their old challenges adn doing them just for more differnet ways to get some photos done and out of the way.

My take on the Friday night challenge. This one really got me and it seemed to take me forever with the end result looking very simple, but I like it.