Autism Awareness Day

Did you know that one in every 100 New Zealand Children has an autism spectrum disorder?In order to raise awareness of this issue, Autism New Zealand is holding Multicoloured Mayhem Day on 2nd April this year.
When Steven started mainstream school there were 4 kids at his school that had ASD(Autism Spectrum Disorder). For a small country school of a couple of hundreds students that was more than enough ASD students for the school, now he is into his 4th year at school and there are two students with ASD. This year is the first year that the school has done anything for Autism awareness and I think its fantastic. Lets get the word of autism out there so that people understand that when a child is screaming in the middle of the supermarket it doesn't mean that that child is naughty or the parent has no control over their child, let us understand that that child may have ASD and cant cope with the flickering of the lights or the noise of the beep for every item being scanned, lets understand that these child find it VERY hard to cope and understand our world. Take time on this day to think about those affected by autism, the child and the families.

Thanks to the help from Louise Williams the Franklin ASD Support group now have a website. So if you have the time go and check it out, I have added link on the sidebar for the website.

Another layout

using the Paper Pesto monthly kit, other than the butterfly and thread for stitching everything else is from the kit. I really like how this page has come together. The chipboard butterfly had crackle paint which I love the affect of once it has dried. I'm loving hand stitching at the moment and did a bit on the machine for this layout as well.



The boys are away with their dad for two nights again this weekend and while I do enjoy having that extra night I do miss them when they are not here and I miss our Sunday mornings at home not having to get up and go anywhere. But since he is off to America for a month I am making the most of the breaks I get before he goes away and they don't have their Friday nights with their dad......Steven finds the extra night a bit hard to deal with in that its a change from whats normal but he loves his time away and I love when they come home and give me big hugs and tell me they love and missed me.

Liam is doing REALLY, REALLY WELL at school and had a test yesterday(and if you know the name of the test let me know I was told but I cant for the life of me remember-it was maths reading and spelling all that sort of stuff to see what level he is at)and the teacher who took the test told me I should be very proud of Liam as hes a very smart young man. In many ways hes too smart for his own good,LOL.....His class teacher has also said to me in the past that he is very good at his maths and spelling. he is one of the youngest in his class and he does do really well for himself, he does however need to remember when he needs help to ask his teacher for help which he wont do and even at home if he is stuck with something he tends to sit and just wait for me to notice he needs help or he will continue and get him self annoyed and frustrated because he cant work it out himself instead of just asking for me to help him. I do think its good to a point that he wants to do things himself and work things out but he needs to learn that there is a point where he needs to ask for help and that its okay to need to ask for help. So I'm very proud of Liam and I think its great that he is doing so well and above his age level in most areas.

Steven is also doing really well at school and is now getting into doing most of his school work. After weeks of Steven not writing his homework into his book or even doing his homework I suggest to his teacher that letting Steven type it on computer and print it out might help and encourage him to do his work. So Monday he let Steven type his homework list out and print it off and glue it into his book and Steven did it no fuss, YAY....so through out the week Steven has had more computer time to do some of his work, like story writing which Steven totally hates but with the use of computer he is happy to type you a whole book, lol. And for years now I have asked the school for Steven to have more use of the computer to do his work because at the end of the day he is not a typical child and you need to try different things with him to encourage him to do his work. he is still doing story writing but he is typing instead of writing BUT to me its the same as he still needs to think about what he wants to type and hey at the end of the day if it means he will actually do his work instead of flat out refusing to do any work all day then let him use the computer I say. So YAY for his teacher willing to give this a try and see that it works for Steven. Looks like another great year for Steven at school.

Well thats all from me for now Im off to scrapbook my next few nights/day away,lol....have a good weekend everyone and hope we still have this lovely sunny weather for a few more days.

Another layout

Another layout using the kit from Paper Pesto, not the best photos of Liam but I loved the big smile and had to scrapbook them even used a flower on a boys layout which I don't do unless I'm in the photo as well. Other than the chipboard that Liam's name is on all the rest is from the monthly kit.

Im Back......

Not much to share that is worth share so will make this post a post of my layout i have been creating over the last couple of weeks. These first three photos are using the monthly kit I got from Paper Pesto this is the only the second kit i have ever bought and I challenged myself to doing at least one layout using only what was in the kit. The lettering I coloured to suit the layout with one of my pens the paper i screwed up then sanded and inked it, the thread through the buttons is the only thing that didn't come in the kit. Love the end result and love the cute papers that came in this kit. More creating with it to be done.




These are some other pages that I have done over the last few weeks. Most are scraplifts or from my page maps book. There are two that I still need to do the journalling for but other wise they are all my quick and easy simple style, and I have found no matter how hard i try to add more i always end up with simple so have decide that just the way i scrapbook no point in changing what works ah. Have also started having Monday as my scrapbooking day with a couple of friends who come over for the day and we scrapbook our day away







Will try and make it back here again in the next few days with some photos of my 365 project. hope your all having a great weekend and enjoying the warm sunny weather while its still here.

Happy 6th Birthday Liam

I cant believe that we are at years 6 already, you are growing so fast changing from my little baby boy to a very handsome young man.....I love you lots and look forward to the years ahead of us.

Every Woman Should Have.......

MAYA ANGELOU'S'

BEST POEM EVER

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .
enough
money within her control to move out
and rent a place of her own,
even if she never wants to or needs to..

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .
something
perfect to wear if the employer,
or date of her dreams
wants to see her in an hour...

A WOMAN SHOULD
HAVE .
a youth she's content to leave behind....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .
a past juicy
enough that she's looking forward to
retelling it in her
old age....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .
a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .
one friend who
always makes her laugh.. and one who lets her cry...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
a good piece
of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her
family...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .
eight
matching plates, wine glasses with stems,
and a recipe for
a meal,
that will make her guests feel honored...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
a feeling of
control over her destiny..

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD
KNOW...
how to fall in love without losing herself..

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
how to quit
a job,
break up with a lover,
and confront a friend
without;
ruining the friendship...

EVERY WOMAN
SHOULD KNOW...
when to try harder... and WHEN TO WALK
AWAY...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
that she can't change the length of her calves,
the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents..

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
that her
childhood may not have been perfect...but it's over.....

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
what she
would and wouldn't do for love or more...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
how to live
alone... even if she doesn't like it...

EVERY
WOMAN SHOULD KNOW..
whom she can trust,
whom she can't,
and why she shouldn't take it personally...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
where to
go...
be it to her best friend's kitchen table..
or a
charming Inn in the woods....
when her soul needs
soothing...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW..
What she can and can't accomplish in a day...
a
month...and a year...

First layout

I honestly cant remember if this was my very first layout but it was one of the first layouts I ever did. I remember Steven was at home with his dad and I spent the day around at Tanya's place with Liam-he was about 8-9 months old at the time. Tanya and I spent the day scrapbooking. When I started I taught myself then I held a creative memories class at my place. So that's why even thought my first page there is colour and its not the white background like what creative memories teaches.

Another earlier page of mine which is the white background of Liam's first xmas.

Now these are the pages I do. This one I love with all the cutting out and I went through a stage of cutting out swirls and vines etc.....*note to self to finish this layout off*

And this one is one that I finished last night.....loving this one too and I wish all my layouts I could look at them and say there is nothing I would change about them...but I guess they cant be perfect all the time. Might have to display this one in my scrapbooking room for a little while before it gets hidden in an album.


So school is back tomorrow and while Liam is sort of looking forward to it, Steven is trying everything to get out of it. Yesterday he had a little sore on his foot and said oh well looks like I cant go to school if I cant walk....nice try buddy but you are so going to school kicking and screaming if need be. I do feel for him because I know and understand that first day of school is very unsettling for him and there are lots of new changes he has to get use to, but sadly this is just the part of life he HAS to learn to live with and deal with. But I have talked to the school today and they have organised a teacher aid to be with him all day tomorrow, so at least I can drop him off and know that if he is too unsettle there is someone there to help him and calm him down(fingers crossed).

Goodies

These goodies arrived yesterday from Kate at CraftyTart YAY...so I have put all the week of photos in and all the photos up to Wednesday are in there. Off to get some ink next week so I can print out the journalling cards I have done, but still not 100% sure how I'm doing the jounrlalling so no rush for that as long as I keep up to date with it. I feel like I'm getting somewhere with this now that its all in the pages and starting to look like something.

All about Steven

Steven has been a bit funny today and very moody with moods changing without any warning at all. Had his bag packed for his over night stay at carer support house and his yellow hippo(who by the way is called piggy...and do you know how hard it is to remember to call a hippo piggy, I have been growled more than once by Steven). Anyway piggy was sitting on top of his bag as piggy has to go everywhere that Steven goes at the moment. Steven was piggy sitting there by himself and picked him up to take over to sofa to watch TV with him. A few minutes later Steven said that piggy said he wants to watch Steven jump on the tramp, so Steven got this chair for piggy so he could watch him,LOL too cute. So for those of you who have read the book A Friend Like Henry....well our book would be A Friend Like Piggy. For awhile Steven even stopped talking in the afternoons and would only talk to/with piggy it was quite frustrating and I was thinking i might have to get rid of piggy but he has started talking to me again so all is good as long as i remember his name is piggy and not hippo.

Stevens other focus at the moment is the caterpillars and how much they are eating and how big they are getting when they change and waiting for the butterflies to come. I just love this photo of him lying down on the deck watching the caterpillar eat, he said 'its eating lots of food cause he wants to be a beautiful butterfly'. I'm hoping when the butterfly does come out it will be when the boys are home and not at school, or when I'm home at least so I can get photos for them.

WARNING..nail less toe picture follows.....

....LOL, just thought I would give you a warning in case you have sat down to check your blog lines with nice cuppa tea and cake, cause this picture probably put you off eating anything. Anyway while away at his dads Liam's toe nail has finally come of which is great. After months of taping his toe during school time and then at night its good to finally be rid of it. The look of the toe now isn't all that nice I must say but alt least now the new nail has room to grow.

Oh would you look at this mess.....this is the state of the sleep out at the moment. Not good is it although there is a small trail through the middle so you can(believe it or not) get in there. When we moved just over 3 years ago we moved from a big 4 bedroom house, large laundry area, lounge and separate dining area, double garage and nice size section into this small 3 bedroom(well I would say more 2 bedrooms plus an office because the bathroom is bigger than Steven's room, sad ah) house with lounge/kitchen/dining area in total the size of just the lounge at the old house but this place has a sleep out. So anything that didn't fit in the house went straight to the sleep out and there are still boxes there that haven't been unpacked. So how badly do we need all this stuff if it can be in a box for years on end and I don't miss it? Well I have decided that trade me is my friend,LOL and I have managed to have a good fun at the moment with selling stuff on there. So my mission(should I accept it.....LOL) is when the boys go back to school I'm going to get down into that sleep out and get it sorted. At the moment i have a box for trade me items that are listed and a huge box that I need to sort through what I will list and what I will just give away. I have now got some draws down there and I will move all the trade me stuff into these. There are extra toys for the boys that are just too big for the house like the play shopping kitchen you can see in the photo and this will stay in sleep out as the plan is to get the place sorted and set up as extra play area for the boys. I'm guessing this will take a good couple of days but in the long run it will be well worth it and I'm sure the boys will enjoy an extra play area.

Photos

Liam told me he had made breakfast....thoughts of the kitchen being a bombsite went through my head. But what he really meant was that he got the breakfast stuff out ready for me to make the breakfast. It was very nice of him or it was his way of saying can you get out of bed I'm hungry,LOL.

And look what arrived in the post today. I decided that I would be cheaper (and easier) to get all the weeks of for the 365 project printed as photos rather than use my ink and paper. So now I have photos all ready, journalling is up to date on the computer waiting for me to get ink next week and then print them off. So once the pages arrive I will be all set to put everything into them. So tonight I sat down and corner rounded all my photos for the 365 project including the week of ones.......and I have decided there are far to many corners,LOL

Photo shoot at the Exelby's......

......or circus I'm not sure which, lol. For this 365 project there is the front and back page which will just be the 6 photo slot and title page and end page so i thought I would get some nice photos of the boys and I....well easier said than done. Steven at the moment if you ask him to smile for a photo he runs and hides, so i thought oh well lets just make him look like he's happy and having fun. So i handed the camera over to Liam and managed to get hold of Steven and then counted to 3 and pulled his hands away form his face. But as you can see i have no control of his eyes which in most of the photos were closed but that's Steven and this is a record of who we are now ah so it will do. And then at the end of the year i will take more photos of us to add to the back page. I'm really looking forward to getting my pages and being able to put photos and journalling into them rather than having a pile of photos and notes. Anyway I'm off to bed, will be back tomorrow with some photos of a brown bag album I have made.

Its too hot

I cant stand it being so hot. We have all the windows and doors open today just need a nice breeze to go through the house. We will definitely be going for a swim this afternoon.

For those of you doing the 365 project if you visit Becky's blog she has put a link for free download for some of the designs from the kit. So I have already download these and have been busy working on some journalling for the days that have gone by already. Really looking forward to getting the page protectors so I can get the photos and journalling cards put in, then I will feel like I'm getting somewhere with it. So hopefully by the start of next month I will have some layouts to show. A few questions for those of you who are doing this. On your journalling cards are you putting the date and the day of the week in this or just the date? If you are adding the day of the week what are you using for this? Or are you adding your journalling on the computer(like me cause i hate my handwriting and for some day there is a bit of writing I want to add but wont fit it all if I hand write it) and so just adding the date at the top or bottom of your journalling? I have also made a folder on the computer for 365 photos and journalling. And since I either get my photos developed at the chemist or online I will just once a week or fortnight get photos developed, so by having this folder it will be easier to find the photos. As I put the photos into the folder I also name them with the date and day so that when i get then back it will be printed on the back and easy to put them into the page protectors.

So yesterday I have took a couple of photos and not sure which one I will use, but might have to have a play around in photo shop and make two photos the size of one....might see what I can come up with.

Now there is nothing like starting the day with some happy mail....a big thank you to Mandy for the goodies that arrived in my letter box this morning. Liam went and checked the mail and he comes back with package saying "we get mail".....both boys were keen to see what was inside only to say "oh more scrapbooking stuff" once I had opened it,LOL.


And for today's photo I got this one of Steven giving Liam a hug, not often this happens. They were asking each other questions about their new numbers up computer game and Liam got all of his questions right and Steven was so happy with him and gave Liam a hug. Although by the look on Liam's face hes not too excited about this.

todays photo

Okay so I know this is a very boring photo, but this challenge is about day to day life. So what is this photo of well this is 18months worth of legal aid and lawyer letters(plus there is probably just as many in email form which I like better as no trees have to die to get them,LOL....gotta see the funny side of things otherwise life becomes boring and too depressing). So I thought I would add this into this album because this is apart of my life at the moment...and maybe one day soon I will have a photo of the last letter from my lawyer(I cant wait for that day,LOL).

Todays photo

Liam had an appointment at the super clinic for his 6 monthly eye test. His eye is still a bit lazy in that it wont focus on things as they get closer to his face, but as far as his sight goes its great so he has been discharged now. So now I only have to go up every 6 months for Stevens hearing test which is on the 22nd of this month. So i thought i would carry the cmera around with me just in case i wanted to snap a photo of something while im out. So I got a photo of the superclinic building and Liam in the back seat of the car, worried because every time we go they patch his eye again for testing the sight in each eye and he really hates the patching. I dont blame him really for a year he had to have his good eye patched for 4 hours per day to get the bad eye working, but all the effort paid of and his he has great vision in his eye again as before the patching he could hardly see a metre infront of him. I was quite shocked and felt really bad as for a few months before the eye testing they do at kindy he said his eyes were sick and i didnt believe him and thought he was just trying to get some pamol(he loves pamol and most nights he has a sore leg or sore something but it was always at bed time). So sure enough he really did have a sick eye and i felt soo bad for not thinking about his sight.

I love summer

but it was so hot and muggy today and so now I'm looking forward to winter. Summer there is only so many clothes you can take off before you scare people, at least with winter you can always put on another layer,LOL. So after a long hot day the boys and i headed up to the school pool for a swim. I decide to get a key this year so that i can get Liam in the water without having a class full of kids in the pool with him. Already i can see he has gain alot of confidence and is walking around by himself and putting his face under a little bit at a time(I know alot of kids are way beyond these stages but for Liam they are HUGE). We were up at the pool for over an hour and it was so nice, lovely and warm might have to get myself some sunglasses though cause the sun on the water was not so nice. So here is today's picture for my 365 album....Liam crashes after long day big swim and then home for bath and then into bed over an hour after his normal bed time and within 5 minutes he was asleep.

Mum and Tanya

Don't fall over in shock about me posting for the 3rd time in one week will you,LOL.

Well as normal every morning has a routine of getting up turning computer on while that starts up I get the boys and myself breakfast, after breakfast I check my emails. This morning there was a lovely surprise email there for me my old pen pal Jennifer. My first letter I got from her was in 1990 and I still have all the letters which i kept together in a box that I decorated. We wrote to each other for over ten years then started emailing. November 2003 was the last email I got from Jennifer until today. Its so wonderful to be in touch with her again and I look forward to catching up with her about the last few years.


So I have decided that I'm going to do the 365 album this year-thanks MandyB and I have been taking some photos that will fit into the first few days that ihave missed and have a journal to write down notes and bits and pieces so that things are ready for when my protector pages are ready-thanks Kate at CraftyTart so here is one of my photos for this. In the middle of term 4 at school Liam stubbed his toe. He showed me and told me it was sore but he didn't cry and that was that. A week later I noticed the nail was black and not looking that great so took him to the doctors and he had an infection and we were told that the nail would most likely fall off. So it went really black and then it seem to be fine and healing okay. A few days ago however the nail has started to come off and now our nightly routine includes putting this dressing on it so that the nail doesn't get hooked on his sheet and ripped off. Now I'm being nice and just showing the bandaged toe and not bare tow with nail coming off.

Right I'm off now to sit down with a plate of pudding and read through some of these letters from Jennifer. have a good night everyone

Photos

Okay so i know Xmas has come and go and happened last year but here are a few photos from our Xmas day out at my mums place.

Once Steven got this book which is a bit like wheres wally and you have to search for things on each page he was happy to sit by himself for a while.

And Liam who is so good at posing for photos now, lol the joys of having a scrapbooking mum.

The the kids went of with grandad to the beach.

Then once back and with mud and wet clothes the kids all stripped off to their underwear and played under the sprinkler for a little while.


A few days after Xmas we were off to Tauranga for my Grandads 80th birthday. Was a long trip for the kids but they were really good and I took some words search and maze books for the boys to do on the way down and home which kept them happy.
So this is me(Im on the left with the black and white sleeve top) with my sister Tanya and younger brother Phillip and the birthday boy Grandad.

Grandad and his great grandchildren (minus his oldest granddaughter Courtney who was away on holiday).

Lovely photo of my two boys and their cousins Jacqueline and Lucy.

I just love this photo and the big smile Steven can give, he is such a happy boy.

And after a long day we went home and all the kids slept for a big part of the way home.