Stamping Up!!

So it's sunday afternoon, and I'm feeling much better! I went to bed early on Friday night after handing in all my programs (not quite finished, but as close as I was going to get in such a short period of time), and slept solidly for about 11 hours - the first time in ages that I've had a chance to do that, and actually been able to! I took Kelsey to dancing on Saturday morning, which she loved - I think the couple of weeks off was really good for her. I did a little bit of shopping (got some aDORAble swimmers for Tay for her birthday, she's a little Dora mad at the moment!) and some shirts that are really nice, reduced to $10 each - bargain! Did some scrapping last night, but nothing really finished, so I'll upload some pics when I get them done, and went to Gill's today for a SU demo with the lovely Jayne Mercer (what a stamping legend she is!) Ordered another set of SU stamps ... too cute!

In other news, my Aunty, who is getting married soon, has set a date - on my birthday! So I'm thinking pretty seriously of going over there (she's in Perth) ... probably flying over on Thursday night, and coming home on Sunday. It'll be my first time on a plane - how did I make it to almost 32 without going on a plane, you ask? I don't know. So I'm looking forward to that.

Ok, off to get some housework done, and get organised for work tomorrow - take care, everyone!

I can sleep next week!

Ok, people, this is going to be a long bitch session about work ... just skip it if you like, it's just a vent, and I really do love what I do ... just not right at this minute!!

Far out, people who think that teaching is a cushy job with wonderful holidays are just flat out daft. Here's my week in a nutshell. Extra lesson on monday, which would normally be fine (well not really, but anyway ...) except that it was with a particularly horrid class. The problem with this? I also had them for the lesson before. So that's 2 hours of hell, and just to make it better (notice the sarcasm) not ONE of them was away that day. Of course! 2 hours of stress and tension with a full class of behaviourally challenged students. Great! So to top that off, I've got an entire years worth of programs to write, for classes I don't even teach, due on friday. Complete with outcomes, work samples, etc etc ... yeah, sure, no problem! I can sleep next week maybe. So that's ok, it should all be ok shouldn't it? Well it would be, except for something I am rapidly discovering about myself ... I CAN'T SAY NO!! So today, after rushing from one class to another, then making a coffee that I think is still sitting on my desk, a colleague asks me if I would mind doing a presentation at a staff meeting tomorrow, as she won't be able to do it - sure, no problem, I say! This is in spite of the fact that I was kind of hoping to skip out on the staff meeting and get another program written, so I could maybe sleep tonight ... that's ok, I can sleep next week!
And to top it off, for the last couple of weeks I've been trying to get the unit folders to go with the units organised, only to find out today, after not one, not 2, but FOUR of them are finished, that my Dept. Head has decided that they don't need to be handed in, so no-one else is doing them - that would have been nice to know! So bring on holidays, when the biggest perk is that I get to stay home and do programming and planning without trying to fit it around going to classes. Today was officially hump day - the halfway point of the term, so five weeks and 2 days to go, woo hoo.

Ok, off to program ... hopefully a nicer post, maybe with some scrapping, next time!

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to high school we go ...

So it's official - well, more official than it was before, really. We got the letter on Wednesday telling us that Kieran was accepted to the high school we were hoping for. It's public, but out-of-area for us, so we had to fill out heaps of forms to get approval to enrol him there, and they approved it ... yay! Except that with the letter came the enrollment forms, and the uniform price list, and the dates for the orientation sessions, and all of a sudden the whole "high school" thing is not so much of a distant thought anymore, but a sudden looming reality, and I don't know that I'm really ready to deal with my little man going to high school just yet! It's not as much to do with the fact that I'm getting older (thanks Kel!) as it has to do with the fact that he's getting older ... so the high school thing, combined with the other tell-tale signs of maturity (secretive phone calls to girls, (well one really!!) all of a sudden caring about the hair cut, being fussy about what the label on the clothes is when he never has before, and oh, did I mention the time spent on the phone?!?) are making me realise all of a sudden that he's not a little kid any more, and I'm kind of unsure how I feel about that. Off to scrap some more baby pics of him, I think ... lol.

A quick Monday night share ...

My aunty and her Significant Other are getting married! About time, Aunty Ruth! lol They are looking at getting hitched sometime over the christmas hols,which is when we were thinking about going over for a visit (they live in WA) so that's sounding all exciting!!

Here's a lo I did for the LittleScrapbookShop cybercrop on the weekend - I'm SOOO loving this one! Tayla is such a poser, and you just have to get the camera out and she's off. This was her "superhero" afternoon - gotta love the versatility of a teatowel, it was a baby blanket a few minutes later, then a bullfighters cape. She LOVED being a superhero though -and I love these pics! Fabric totally inspired by Jen Hall ... who else?

Ok, bedtime for me - off on a Geography field trip tomorrow, doesn't that sound like fun??? lol Night all!

Lip-gloss, anyone?

I spent yesterday scrapping with friends (more about that later) and called in on the way to get a few things, including a new lip-gloss. I get really dry lips, especially when I have playground duty at school in the wind, so it's kind of an essential. I got home after my big day out, and put it up- not in the loungeroom in plain sight, but in the hidey-hole in my bedhead. So this afternoon, I heard Dennis asking Tayla what she was doing ... I smelt a very strong strawberry scent. Sure enough, Tayla had not only found my lip balm, but eaten almost all of it. Yes, I said EATEN. How bizarre is that? I'm going to hide the rest of my makeup, I think ...

I spent all day yesterday scrapping at the lovely Cath's house, with the equally lovely Nicole and Shelee. What a great day - good snacks, good scrapping supplies, and great fun. I finished 3 lo's, and got another one almost finished. Definitely planning another one of these soon!! I'll upload some pics later.

I have a pretty busy week coming up - Geography excursion on Tuesday, full days at work every other day, physi competition for the girls on Saturday plus a stamping workshop to go to with the lovely Aunty Tracey if I get home in time, then we are booked in for a photo session on Sunday. Tayla's childcare centre runs a fundraiser where you get some awesome sepia photos (there are some in my slideshow above from the last session) so I need to find some clothes for the kids to wear before then. So what am I doing to night? Preparing for the excursion, marking assignments, getting clothes ready? No, I'm scrapping - finishing the challenges for LittleScrapbookShop's cybercrop, and doing the Friday and Sunday challenges too if I get time. I've gotten some beautiful pics printed, thanks to Rachel Richter, who provided a photo imaging pack (which I won) to the Breast Cancer Foundation raffle that Ngaire Bartlam was running, so thanks Ngaire and Rachel!

That's it from me tonight- I'll try and post some pics in the next couple of days, and update with some more news from everyone else. Take care!!

It's fun to stay at the YMCA!!

Tayla had her first Gymnastics class of many today - and boy, does she love it! She hasn't stopped talking about it all afternoon, and Dennis said her face just glowed the moment they stepped in the room and she saw all the equipment. She said that swinging on the rope into the foam block pit was her favourite - she's a natural, really, the little monkey. That's one of the sad things about me working full-time and Daddy staying home - he gets to experience all those fun special moments. And does he think to take the camera? NO!! I tell you, how can I scrap something without pictures? I'll pack it in her gym bag next week, I think. lol

Nothing much else to report - those of you waiting patiently (or not-so-patiently, as the case may be) for my ATC's, all but the rainbow ones are on their way, so keep an eye on your mailboxes, ladies! I was on a roll last night. Work sucked today, hopefully it won't suck so badly tomorrow and I won't walk out thinking of quitting. Well, not really, but it was getting close.
Oh, here's a lo I did on the weekend - don't you love old daggy pics of yourself? lol. This is Dennis and I not long after we first met ... I LOVE this Wild Asparagus paper, I'm going to get myself some more. I could almost frame it just the way it is! I'm on a mission to get through some older pics, but thankfully there aren't many more of them like this - mostly the kids. Phew!

Sunday, busy sunday!!

Wow, how on earth do we manange to cram so much into a weekend? Kieran has his birthday party yesterday, so after rushing around taking Kelsey to ballet and jazz in the morning, and dropping her back to Nanna's for the afternoon, it was off to the movies, with 8 12 year olds - what were we thinking? My god, Kieran has friends who talk as much as he does - I didn't know it was possible. His friend Remi (whose party he went to last weekend) came along too - what a sweetheart she is. They sat together in the movies, and talked and giggled, and then spent an hour on the phone today - the end result of all this is, my little boy now has a girlfriend. And a very nice one too!!
The movie was great, by the way - Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest. Quite funny, definitely setting up for the 3rd movie which I'm assuming will follow.

In other news, I've been scrapping up a storm - challenges for LSBS, DT work, and basically lots of pics that I've been wanting to scrap for ages. I've done about 6 lo's this weekend I think - some of them need a few finishing touches, which is what I'm planning on doing tonight, as well as some overdue ATC's (I'm getting to them, I promise, Judy!! Don't yell at me!!) Speaking of which, I'd better get working on them - right after I chase these girls off to bed, little toads! Cya later, everyone, I'll share some pics next time!

Some random musings on being a mother of a Man in the making ...

Some of you will remember that my son turned twelve a couple of weeks ago, and I've noticed all of a sudden how grown up he is. Maybe it's the sudden realisation that he's not a little boy anymore, and that in less than 6 months time he'll be in high school - one of those students that I teach, how's that possible!! He still drives me mental at home, but what kid doesn't every so often?
The thing I'm most proud of, I guess, is that he is growing up into such a great guy. He went to a birthday party last weekend, and it was all girls and him, the little chick magnet. But the thing that struck me was how well the girls all spoke of him, and how well he treated them, especially when he thought that I wasn't around. He's funny, and smart, and respectful, and generous, and I'm really proud that he's so well adjusted. I'm just a little sad that he's getting so grown up all of a sudden, as it means that he's a little less reliant on mummy ... but that's what parenting is about, I guess, isn't it? Thanks to Vita for my latest favourite quote, on that note -
"The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children". Elaine Heffner
I'm glad that my work of art is turning into such a masterpiece!

My main focus when I've been scrapping in the past week or so has been my not-so-little boy, and reflecting back on his life thus far. Here are a couple of lo's I've done in that vein... This lo is using Reminisce papers, from the LittleScrapbook Shop's monthly kit (GREAT job on the kits, cath!)

This is the hidden journalling from the above lo ... just some reflections on how alike my little boy still is to this pic, with his cheeky grin and smiling eyes.

This one is for a Wacky Wednesday challenge - using white, and no pp. I love it - can't stop looking at it, really! Gotta love primas.

Ok, that's it from me for now - off to scrap. Cya later all, don't forget to hug your kids, and cherish each moment. (Gee, that was a bit soppy, wasn't it?? lol)