Busy creating

Well not really creating alot but have been finishing a few things of which is always nice. The main one i have been working on is this teachers survival kit for Stevens teacher. So here is photo of all the bits for the kit in their little bag with their tags that I made up(what a mission but i think it looks great)

This is the poem/list of items in the kit(if you click on photo it should make it big enough to be able to read it)

On Sunday i went to a friends house who was having a Paperbag album class. I have seen these albums but never tried making one myself...but once stared it was so easy to do and the end result is just stunning(maybe mine not as stunning as the ones that were shown for examples)so this is my one I made. if anyone knows where to get brown paper bags from please let me know. the need to be thick ones with the fold up bottom to them not the thin ones you can get for kids lunches. The S is tied to the string and moves. Other people at the class just stuck their letter to the front of the album but i wanted something different.

The tabs pull out and there is another space to put either more photos or hidden journalling.

IM BACK

I's been about 3 weeks since my computer decided to die...lucky it was just the motherboard that was fried and not the hard drive. I was stressing there for a bit that i had lost 3years worth of photos that have not been saved to disk.......but they were okay and i have got some Cd's to back them up and will get more tomorrow so over the next few days i will be busy sorting photos onto CD. My brother gave me the use of his computer over that time while mine was getting sorted and then he came in yesterday and got mine up and running for me. So here I am...i do have a few photos to share but want to get photos and journalling for some layouts i have done finished. I have been reading every ones blogs but while on my brothers computer it wouldn't let me post comments for some reason.

Anyway enjoying today's lovely weather and was up nice and early this morning and managed to get a couple loads of washing done through the dishes into dishwasher and got them done(didn't do them last night cause i had INTERNET lol which i have not had computer or Internet since last Thursday...yes the Internet is an addiction just like scrapbooking).

Liam got sent home about 5 worksheets of maths to do for home work over this week....he only has to do one pages per night, but once he started he didn't want to stop, he really enjoys his maths. He surprised me a bit with how well he can do it and alot of the problems he just writes the answer down no problem at all. So he ended up doing nearly 3 pages of the 5 last night....and then you have Steven who would never do more homework than he needs too,LOL. Steven is back to bringing his school work home to do as he is refusing to do it at school. Its just story writing which he hates doing. Mondays they have to write about what they did in the weekend...I personally think for Steven he hates doing story writing because he knows what he did in the weekend so why would he need to write about it. And he sits there and he says i don't know what to write and you give him ideas and he says he not want to write that. And then when he does write something he makes the sentence as short as he can. One sentence was 'I got a Ben 10 book'. I said to him to write i got a Ben 10 book because.....(he got it for doing good homework last week), he replies with i already know that. So i have tried to explain to him that who ever is reading his story doesn't know that and you need to write it down so they know why you got that book. He can be so frustrating because I know he can do it he has written a whole page about his weekend before, hes just soooooo stubborn sometimes and flat out refuses to do the work. But then i think how frustrating our world must seem to him and he does do his best and he is doing well in all other areas at school so that's great.

Not sure if there are any fans of the programme House of Tiny Tearaways out there but i really enjoy this programme as Tanya has some really good ideas on it. This week there is a autistic boy on it with a younger brother and I'm hoping it might have some good ideas. With Steven most games/toys are played with in a totally different way that they are meant to be used, and so Steven will often want to line things up or play his rules and then you have Liam who wants to play with cars and crash them not just line them up and then you have two boys angry at each other cause they both have different ideas about hoe to play with things. The family in the house this week seem to have the same problem so hopefully there will be some good ideas today. More often than not i will say to Liam just let Steven do it the way he wants, but that's hardly fair on Liam is it?

Anyway off to do some more scrapbooking, hope everyone has the lovely warm sunny weather like we have here today.

This is from Hannah's blog

Where is your cell phone? On the dining room table

Where is your significant other? Waiting for me to find them...lol, no significant other at the moment

Your hair color? boring brown

Your mother? I appreciate and love very much

Your father? Great fun loving family man

Your favorite thing? lots of favorite things but i guess sleep-ins would be near the top of the list

Your dream last night? dream who has time to dream, my head hits the pillow and I'm out like a light till the boys wake up

Your dream/goal? to continue to live a life filled with happiness, creating endless memories for and with my family

The room you’re in? The lounge

Your hobby? Scrapbooking

Your fear? That something bad will happen to my boys

Where do you want to be in 6 years? Same place i am now but older

Where were you last night? home

What you’re not? I'm not messy

One of your wish-list items?A new camera

Where you grew up? Tuakau and Port Waikato

The last thing you did? Rearrange my bedroom to fit in scrapbooking counter/desk unit(fingers cross that it fits in the space i have made)

What are you wearing? Jeans, t-shirt and long sleeve top.

Your TV? is behind me on tv2 waiting for house of tiny tearaways to come on

Your pet? Had two cats summer and sass before i had kids but re homed them when we were expecting Steven. Then had kitten Tiny for Liam but sadly she had to be re homed as well because Steven just couldn't cope with her, frog called wormy

Your computer? Is in pieces at my brothers house till he can get a new motherboard for it

Your mood? Very tired at the moment, 4am wake ups for months on end is not good

Missing someone? Family and friends i don't see often

Your car? Nissan Pulsar and gets me from A to B and back again

Something you’re not wearing? Slippers...which means the days are getting warmer cause i get cold feet and wear slippers for over half the year.

Favorite store? I actually really like the warehouse at the moment they have everything there and great prices

Your summer? looking forward to some sun and warmer days

Love someone? Family and friends

Your favorite color? red

When is the last time you laughed? today

Last time you cried? yesterday when watching tiny house of tearaways, which has a special needs child on there at the moment and the mothers words of how he child is little now and people will accept her but as she gets older her behaviour will not be accepted as much, and how she didn't wish this life for her child....hit home a bit for me

As Hannah wrote... Passing this on...

To ALL the blogs I read - I wouldn’t read them if I didn’t love them!

Whoo Hoot Wednesday

Well my big plus this week was getting the use of my brothers computer for a bit till he gets my one sorted. On Saturday my computer just died, I was so annoyed as i use my computer all the time not just for the Internet but i use word alot for journalling for scrapbooking. But yesterday my brother stopped of with his hard drive so that i could have computer access...YAY for lovely kind younger brothers.

The boys school had pet day on Saturday and both got a certificate for one of the work they did. Will post some pictures when i get my computer back.

I have been and read every ones blogs and wow there were a few to read after four days without reading them...but for some reason I cant post a comments on every ones blogs on this computer...so just wanted to let you all know that I'm still around and reading what you are all up.

With this great weather the boys and i have been walking home from school everyday, although while playing tag after school with some friends Steven fell over so was a bit upset but otherwise the boys get 10minutes to play before we walk home and they both seem happy with that. When we are organised(which at the moment isn't often) we walk in the mornings too.

Whoo hoot Wednesday

haven't done this for awhile so here is my list for this week
*The start of term 4.....YAY.

*Steven being extra happy this afternoon after school. he cam racing up to me with a certificate for taking part in the Dog "Do's" and "Don'ts" programme. Last year he didn't go anywhere near the dogs having a huge fear of them(or any animal that moves for that matter, he can get just as upset by a fly in his room as he can a dog...I believe its because he has no control over then and doesn't know what they are going to do next as with any living animal and he hates to not know whats going to happen next) anyway he was so happy and read out what was written on the certificate and showed mew the little booklet they good about the do's and don'ts of dogs...Well Done Steven.

*I have been getting back into scrapbooking and enjoying it again.

*Gotta be happy with this lovely weather we have been having and being able to put washing on the line instead of the airing rack.

*Steven might not be need to see his speech language therapist much longer, she sees him at school and I'm told is quite impressed with how well he is doing.

*Walking to school to save on the gas, and I have been enjoying the walks, this morning the kids pretty much ran to school, I don't know where they get all of their energy from.

*Sorting out Liam and his swimming problems at school. School start swimming this term and Liam is very stressed about it and has huge fear about getting in the pool. So have arrange for me to be there and get in the pool with him but if he not keen to get it then that is fine and I have been told they wont push him to get in, but he is still to get changed into his togs with the rest of the class which I'm happy for him to do so that when he is ready to get in he will be all set. Also will get a school pool key over the Xmas holidays and go up there everyday or second day and get him into the pool a bit.

More bits and pieces

When I got out of the shower yesterday morning this is what the boys were up to, I'm not sure why but Steven is loving lying across the top of the sofa at the moment I'm sure he must think hes a cat,LOL.

I picked up my latest Creating Keepsakes September magazine yesterday and always I sit down at night while watching TV flipping through the pages looking for new inspiration. There are a few layouts I really liked and will have to scraplift at some stage and one that I did last night and this is my end result - I have since taken the star away as I decided I didn't really like it there.

A big thank you to the lovely Mrs Frizz...the boys checked the mail in the morning and just before lunch(its there addiction at the moment to keep checking the letterbox just in case the mail lady comes back to put stuff in our letterbox,LOL) anyway no mail then when I went out last night I noticed a bit of an envelope sticking out of the letter box, so I'm thinking the mail lady must have slept in,LOL...anyway this is what I got from Mrs Frizz so a huge thank you it was a very nice surprise.

So I have been rearranging my scrapbooking stuff again and sorting through getting rid of stuff when i came across one or two kaisercraft beyond the page items.....putting them together like this makes them look like a mini addiction on top of my scrapbooking addiction. But I'm sure its not just me who has this addiction.

When I saw the gingerbread men I fell in love with them and have got a few of them and I'm going to make(probably not this year but maybe for next Xmas)gift tags for my nieces and nephews and then every other year they can hang them on their Xmas tree.

Feeling Great......

..and even managed to get a bit of scrapbooking done. The first two pages are for a me album I'm doing for Steven. Love the cosmo cricket get happy papers, they are so bright and fun. I haven't got much done on it but managed to get the second page with the photos done last night once the boys were in bed sleeping.

I just love all his funny faces he makes...such a happy boy full of character and sooo much energy.

Okay so i got this idea from Hannah's blog and I thought it was really cool so I thought since Stevens teacher this year has been his best teacher yet(and it will be very sad if he doesn't have her again next year)I would make her a survival kit. So this is what i have come up with so far. This box was from a breakfast set I got form the warehouse and i have just covered with paper and then put a coat of modge podge on it. Very simple but i really like the colours and end results.

this is on the inside of the lid......love this quote, used it in a mini album i made for Stevens kindy teacher when he left kindy

Well it was nice to see the sun out today although it was still cold and windy. Would have been good to get washing dried though but i couldnt be bothered have had so much washing this week i wanted a day off from it. Right im off to see if i can get motivated to get some more scrapbooking done, have a great evening all and keep warm....it seems to be cold tonight even though with each night we are getting closer to summer but it doesnt seem to be warming up any.

Catch up

Most of my posts these days seem to have that title catch up.....Since Sunday afternoon i have been in bed sick. The boys have been fantastic and entertaining themselves with games and tv while letting me rest, I would get up to do meals and then go back to bed. Felling a bit better today but still not 100%. Hopefully tomorrow I will be feeling alot better and hopefully the boys wont get it.

Anyway with this horrible wet and windy weather its feeling a bit like winter again, but we had great weather for Stevens little birthday afternoon tea so that was great. So before school finished a letter from school saying the following came home

Dear Alison

Each year we get tickets given to the Annual Ten Pin Bowling Party, hosted by Epilepsy Foundation of N.Z.
We give these tickets to children and their families who may have faced adversity, or who need to go that extra mile to gain success in reaching their potential in learning.
I am pleased to select your child as a worthy recipient this year. We hope you and the family will enjoy celebrating with your child and that the date of the 4 October in the school holidays is convenient.

At first cause there was just 3 tickets i thought can i handle this by myself with both the boys and do i really want to go alone....party normally =balloons, lots of noise and people.....balloons, lots of noise and people = grumpy moody Steven,LOL. And the morning of the party i told Steven and Liam where we were going( I try not to tell new things to Steven too far ahead of time as it gives him too much time to get stressed about it) and we went online and I showed him some photos but he just kept saying I don't understand mum....so we went along and first thing was the clown standing at the door handing out balloons, but we manage to get in without too much fuss, they had sausages in bread and fizzy drinks for everyone and face painting and more clowns inside giving out lollies and more balloons but both the boys hid behind me when a clown got to close. BUT once Steven had his eyes set on the bowling balls he was happy with a smile going from ear to ear. And he had so much fun after waiting for nearly an hour for our turn he was so good and then he just wanted to get up there and roll the ball he not care too much if he hit the pins or not he just wanted the ball to be rolling,LOL. But in the end we all had a great day and I'm SO glad i braved the day by myself and had so much fun with my boys.



And just because I'm a mum and mums like to talk about when their kids do well I thoguth I would show the certificates both the boys got on the last day of school....well done boys I'm so proud of you both.

And I think I spy and wheres wally have moved in...this is all the goodies Steven got for his birthday and wow they just keep coming. he really loves the wheres wally stuff at the moment and we have found some great bargains on trade me...YAY for trade me.

Right I might go and crawl back into bed again...hopefully tomorrow I will have a bit of energy to do some scrapbooking.

My baby is 8 today

Well I guess hes not really my baby anymore since hes 8. The years have gone by so fast and I have been through alot more than i ever thought I would have to get through, but I wouldn't change the last 8years for the world.

Today started at 5.30...yip that's right Steven was up at 5.30 asking if i had any presents for him,LOL. then once all the presents were opened he then played every game he got read every book he got and did a puzzle or word search in every book he got....he got lots of Wheres wally books and a Wheres Wally poster and lots of I Spy books which he has taken with him tonight to his dads house. So we had a very small afternoon tea to celebrate Stevens 8 years and now I'm about ready to fall into bed...but not before i do a bit of scrapbooking...so here are a few of my favourite photos of Steven.

Feel like shopping?

So if anyone is interested in looking at a new website or/and spending some money go and have a look here at Artfullcrafts They have speicals on at the moment with the launch of their new website. Lots of great products at great prices.

IM on a creative roll....

well a very simple layout creative roll but hey it gets those photos that have been arund for a while done and ones where you have lots of them done and out of the way ready for the next lot.
Sorry its not a very good photo of the rooster hunt layout.....this was a scraplift from one of my recent mags....I really likethe white paper as a background for a nice change.

Really love the way this one turned out.

there comes a point.......

There come a point in your life when you realize
who matters,
who never did,
who won't anymore...
and who always will.
So don't worry about people from your past,
theres a reason why they didn't make it to your future.

Bits and pieces, catch up

What a lovely day nice to finally get some fine weather...nearly warm enough to get the 3/4pants and skirts out but not quite yet.

So Steven had last Friday of school, his teacher was away Thursday and Friday and after Thursday with a reliever which he has never had before and a male teacher too he was so stressed out and unhappy so I decided to keep him at home. We did some of his reading and he did some writing as well. I also noticed that when he wears his hooded tops he loves wear the hoods(he went through a stage of not liking anything on his head at all) but notice his right ear sticking out...Steven is deaf in his left ear so i figure this is why that ear is covered up and his right ear sticking out so he can still hear things,lol. And the photo is Steven and his groupings of coloured jacks he calls them. They belong with a set of straws that you connect up and make different things and Steven loves the connectors.

Layout i have done just because...not a challenge or sketch just one that i did to get another page done. Quite like how it came out

Okay so the story behind farm fun is that I really do hate this layout, it needs something else but I'm not sure what. So this is how the layout started and then i didn't like it and ripped the photos of it to start over again, but then i didn't like where that was going so for now the photos are back on this layout but I really don't like it and will re do it again at some stage, but thought I would share anyway...maybe someone has some ideas of what i can do to it

Also I got this little bundle of goodies in the post the other day from Vicki....a just cos envelope so a big thank you Vicki its nice getting that sort of mail and im really loving the swirls well I love the whole lot might have to invest in a machine like yours and have a play around(oneday,LOL).

We cannot live with broken hearts. In time we have to accept these things have happened to us. To stay with the past will only bring you into turmoil.

Day on the farm

So not alot has been happening other than my sister keeps asking me to up date my blog it's been a week I have been told, so here are some photos of the boys when we went out to visit my parents on Saturday.
I just love this photo of Steven with the lovely background and love that Steven is waving.

Then he is on the move again and ready to jump and move onto the next great adventure on the farm.

This photo of grandad Steven took which I thought he did a pretty good job as all of grandad is in the photo and its not blurred.

So the guys went for a walk on the back of the farm to find the roosters that a friend let go out there...so they took water and food for them...Liam wasn't too sure about them.

Steven seemed to enjoy them.

Next adventure was this slide that grandad created for them...Liam didn't go down it and to be honest i didn't blame him....Steven loved it.

Another Steven taken photo of grandad and Liam.

Scary...I recommend that mums not watch their kids go down home made slide on dirt hills.

But Steven had a great time and that's what matters.

And this is Master Liam who without me know climbed onto my bed with his blanket and went to sleep...Maybe I should give him my double bed and i have his single bed then he wont be able to climb into my bed,LOL.

Not alot of scrapbooking being done at the moment and i have decide that I'm going to give challenges a miss for a little while and get back into scrapbooking for me and not for challenges. i do enjoy the challenges and they are fun but im finding I just need to do scrapbooking when i want to with my own deadline, be it a day or a week to get a layout done...scrapbooking for fun.

Updated:I thoguth I would add that the photography is all done by Grandad and Steven....arent they great at taking scrapbooking photos for me lots of different angles and great shots, in total I think I have about 50 photos from our visit to the farm so lots of photos to scrapbook. I only took the terrible dark photo of liam sleeping in my bed,LOL.

My Boys

I haven't really got much to say but wanted to share these photos of the boys that i got over the weekend...love the one of Steven on the lazy boy, this is his cheeky sort of smile he give at the moment when asked to smile for the camera. And the one of the boys was Steven being silly but it was nice to capture them together and happy.

WELL DONE STEVEN

One very proud mum here and one proud boy of himself too....

YAY its Friday, boys have gone to their dads early today. We are getting back into the habit of walking to and from school which is good the boys enjoy walking as do but I need more motivation than what they do and it only has to be a bit cold to put me off walking. Have a friend coming over for a scrapbooking night tonight...will be good to have a scrapbook catch up as we haven't had one for some time now.

Steven seems to be more on track again at school and doing his work with the help of the computer....love his teacher at the moment and she does such a great job with finding ways to get him to do his work when he is stubborn and doesnt want to do anything. I also think Steven was happy to have Liam back at school today, Liam not so happy to be back after having 3 days off already I'm sure he would have happily stayed home for the rest of the week. I gave Steven on of the Wheres wally books yesterday because he is doing well at school and doing his homework not just at home but at his dads house as well which is great. YAY for the sun to be shining, got some washing dried on the line which is always nice...goodbye winter, hello spring.

PS. Just to edit yesterdays post...being a mum i just automatically thing all females are mums which is not true...so I edit to all women need to treat themselves...thank you every one for all your lovely comments they mean alot to me.

Im Back.....

So I haven't been around much....there has been alot happening and alot not that great and I don't want this blog to be negative so decided to just not post. But I'm feeling better today, had our monthly Autism meeting which was great. I get such a great feeling being in a room full of mothers\grandparents/support people who understand what its like living with autism as part of your daily life. Every time i go along with this list of things in my head that I want to talk about and mention the good and the bad just to get it of my chest and hopefully get some answers as to how to get help to get through the bad parts....but then i start talking and then next thing you know the tears come flowing out, LOL.....and i say hardly any of what i wanted to say...but its good to know I'm with others that are understanding....and when I'm tired and feeling down I'm more emotional and tears come more often, here's hoping for more talking at the next meeting. I found this book-Making Peace With Autism of trade me so have got stuck into reading this and really enjoying it.

With Stevens birthday just around the corner I have been on the hunt for some presents for him and found these Wheres Wally books.

Cant remember if i have posted about the wheres wally puzzle I got of trade me(I love trade me so much such a great place to find bargins) ski slopes wheres wally now lives on our coffee table. And I must say Steven is getter faster and faster at putting this together but doesn't want it put away completely.

And when i got back from my autism meeting nothing like a parcel sitting on the front door step to give me a lift and look what was inside.....

A treat for me from me...as mothers we are allowed to treat ourselves ah????LOL...good glad you all say YES.
And to finish off a couple of layout that I have done...this first one i did just for the sake of creating a layout for Stevens album...it wasn't a challenge or sketch it was done just because I wanted to,LOL. Since doing this layout Steven has lost another tooth, just last night he was mucking around at bed time and said to me'I just need to do something in the bathroom okay mum' so off he went and I could see him looking in the mirror wiggling his tooth madly trying to get it out....about 10 minutes later he comes our and says'look my tooth just popped out' followed with'im so glad I will get another $2'. So the tooth fairy did come but between Steven going to sleep and the tooth fairy going to get the tooth the tooth is yet to be found as Steven took it out of the bag and has misplaced it somewhere( I hope he didn't swallow it or anything like that).

This was a challenge for over at the Sketch Book...I really do love how this layout came together. The challenge was to use pattern paper with dots/circles and to use circle embellishments. And what better photos to use than the ones of Steven spinning the wheels on this bath toys, one of his many addictions.

Had good talk with Steven teacher and he is doing so well at school, and she did some maths worksheets with him the other day and is quite amazed at what he is doing. he loves his times tables but is also great at most maths and is adding BIG numbers together in his head and giving answers...he really does amaze me some days. Liam has been off school all of this week and today on the way to school Steven just started to cry and when i asked him what was wrong he said he missed playing with Liam at school...aww he so sweet. Liam will be back at school tomorrow so it will be interesting to see if they play together or not. So there we are all updated.....see you all again in a few weeks, just kidding I will try and get back into blogging more often again and also commenting on every ones blogs.

Whoo Hoot Wednesday

Another Wednesday rolls around.....the week seems to have gone quite fast and yet some days very slow. Thank you to everyone for their loving comments and thoughts for my friend and her family. Well my list is small this week and much the same as last week and I'm very very grateful for close friends who have endless support and of course for family.

Yesterday was not a good day and Steven ended up staying over night at his carer support persons place again. Not sure what is going on with him at the moment but things aren't good. He was good for her and we all got the time out we needed and today is another day....I didn't see him at school this morning as I normally will go and say hello to him when he stay away for the night, but I'm hoping he had a good day at school. He is back to his not doing any school work during school time and no homework and its so frustrating know that he is more than able to do it but he wont tell me or his teacher whats upsetting him and why he wont do it. on the plus side he is one of the top students for his times tables and that's great(he will be out smarting his mother in no time,LOL) and we have managed to get him to take care of all his belongings after school and pack away in his bag(as I type this I feel like I have typed it before so if I'm repeating myself I'm sorry...I may have already said this in an earlier post). As far as the school work goes i feel like we take one step forwards and then two steps back....very frustrating.

YAY for Liam who is happy for me to be leaving him at school by himself before the bell goes.....what a mission this has been and trying to encourage him to go and play with his friends. After a couple of weeks of tears most mornings when the bell went and i said i was going home now as long as he get to show me around his class, give me hug and kiss he's happy....YAY

Also big Congratulations to Janine and the birth of moo2 on the 8-8-08....now hows that for an easy birth date to remember. Big hugs to you and your family Janine