Happy 3rd Anniversary to Us!

Yep, today is our anniversary again. In Germany you get 2 Anniversaries a year, one for the Civil Service and one for the Church Wedding. We really only "celebrate" our Church Wedding one, and that was today 3 years ago!
A beautiful day, but I won't bore you with my Memories!

Mum and Dad had a surprise in store for us this morning. Mum had got in touch with Leigh and she had made a card for us from them. Thanks so much Leigh, it was such a great surprise. I haven't chatted to her yet, but when I do, I will ask if its OK, if I post it here (I am pretty sure it will be though!)
And here is the layout I got in the morning!

Credits:
My little Sweetheart add-on by Flutter Expressions (available on her blog)

I made a card for Florian, and this is it (I tried to find something to match my flowers and colour scheme), I tried out that new craze "laser cutting" on this photo, the reactions were mixed. Mum couldn't read it, cause she was trying to read the yellow (the words are in the grass!), and Florian who was looking on his blackberry had to zoom right in to see it! but it was fun to learn. Hummie has a tutorial video on her blog, if you fancy trying it too.

Credits:
Spring's Coming by Ladiesue.blogspot.com

Now, about why I am late blogging - well I decided that I would blog downstairs so I could put my layout on straight away,....yes, well... I got downstairs and the computer was sooooo hot, that I decided, before it fried itself I would give it a break. So I turned it all off, put it in the downstairs toilet (the coolest place in the house), balanced it on the sink so that it got cool air from all sides and then left it there for over an hour! It worked, its all nice and cool now, and doesn't seem to be overheating again! At least I hope not!

it was another day in the garden today, too hot to do anything else, at least we have shade and can hide from the direct sunlight. The boys and I had fun. I let the chickens out today to try and get them to eat all the annoying flies. At first the boys ignored them, but then decided that it would be a good idea to chase the chickens, so both the boys and the chickens got a work out today! Probably be scrambled eggs from the chickens tomorrow.

Bye 4 now

Oh what a night!

No not the boys this time, at 3.30am I was stood in our back garden trying to make as much noise as possible without waking the neighbours in an attempt to save our rabbits!
I was rudely awakened shortly before then from very unrabbity squeals and a lot of banging, I immediately thought "fox", so I put my shoes on and run downstairs, once down there however I wasn't quite so brave. I didn't dare go too close to the cage, so I just kept making noises that I know frightens a cat away, and hoped it helped.
Once back in bed I still heard the banging around, and couldn't get back to sleep, dreading the sight that might meet me in the morning. I even had visions of a fox trapped in the cage with the dead or half dead bunny! And started wondering whether the forester would come out to me, or whether our neighbour the hunter would come and shoot it for me! Well, when the kids woke me at 6am, I checked from the bathroom window, and both rabbits were alive and well! What a relief, I did check the cages and there had definitely been something there that had frightened them, Treacle's cage looked a bit more out of shape than usual, and Miffy's bit of wood holding the roof in place was a bit torn up. Hopefully the fox will have decided that he can't get at these two and go and pick on someone his own size!

Weatherwise it was a VERY sticky day, unfortunately it rained all afternoon, which on its own would have been OK as we could have gone and played out in it, but no - it was thundering as well, so we stayed in reading and doing jigsaws.

Right now to go and sort my boys out again! Still not settling well at bed time, but it is getting shorter every night, so I just have to be grateful for the little things!

Here are a couple of CT layouts I did tonight. Flutter Expressions has a new kit out at Been There Scrapped That called "My little Sweetheart", it went well, with pictures of Zoe and Mia as bridesmaids at Heather's wedding.

Here is Zoe, giving us "The Look", The journalling reads "Trip to England - 1000 Euro, Bridesmaid's dress - 40 Euro, This Look before throwing petals - Priceless"

Credits:
My Little Sweetheart by Flutter Expressions
Free Add-on from her blog

here is Mia being her cheeky self!

Credits:
My Little Sweetheart by Flutter Expressions

Bye 4 now

First day of the last week without kindergarden!

Can you tell I am slowly counting them down now! Today was a good day though, the boys were good all day - not so good as I am typing this, I can hear them playing up in their bedroom, and am trying hard to ignore them. I don't want to get cross today. Especially as I haven't really had to shout at them today.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous today, and we spent most of the day in the garden. I did all my washing and got it dry on the washing line as opposed to in the dryer. And then in the afternoon I got myself a comfy chair out and sat in the shade and watched the kids play. They had there water roadway out, and then they decided to make mudpies on the slide! I haven't dared look at the state of the slide yet, but it kept them out of mischief for ages.

We have had proof that next door's rabbit did get taken by a fox or another hunter. Sunny (our cat) found a part of it, and was in the process of bringing it home to show us, when luckily another neighbour shouted at him to make him drop it! Thank goodness, not something I want the boys to see - actually not something I wanted to see either. I have cleared it all away, so Julian, won't have to see any of that!

Well, the kids are still shouting and giggling, I will give them another 5 minutes and then I will go and find out what it is all about!
I have two layouts to post later, so watch this space!

Ok, here goes, finally finished all the BTST challenges. this one is for the Jumpstart Challenge, where the template was supplied.

Credits:
Strawberry Mint Chip by Heather Manning and Robyn Gough at Digiscrapping.net
Wordart by Elegant wordart

and this one is for the Snap It Challenge, it was about the Rule of Thirds this month. This is a shot of Robert and Dad on the beach searching for crabs. Last year they found lots, this year not one, much to Robert's disappointment!

Credits:
Unda-da-sea by KimB's Designs

Thats all for today, time for bed now!

Good Night

a sad morning..

Not quite sure where to start today. We woke up to some terrible news about the rabbits. Our visitors were actually up before us, and had been to see the baby bunnies. Unfortunately some time during the night, a fox and been to see them too, and he took all of them. Mummy and the bunnies. So sad. The poor things never had a chance. I now have to somehow tell the neighbours 6 year old, when he comes back off of holiday. I did find the grandparents phone number and called them to try and get in touch with the holiday makers before they come home to an empty cage. But the grandfather reckons we shouldn't tell them until the last day of their holiday. But I am not 100% sure he is even going to do that. I hope he does, cause the first thing the little boy is sure to do, is run to see if his rabbit has had the bunnies...
Oh dear. My boys took it really well, then again it isn't their rabbit. But Robert was very matter of fact about it. Telling me "the rabbits are in the foxes tummy, Mummy! Can the fox get in here?" "No, Darling", "That's good Mummy, we don't want him in here do we!?, Mummy when Julian comes home, he'll have to get a new rabbit won't he Mummy?!" and so on...

Other than that bad news we had a nice day. Our visitors went cycling this morning, we didn't join them for a majority of reasons, one - Robert hasn't driven very far on his bike yet, a tour that length was not for him, two - Richard hasn't got a bike or bike seat, but most importantly, neither Florian or I have a bike that works! Mine hasn't seen daylight in over 5 years. So we gave that a miss, but we did join them for lunch at their halfway mark. Which was great. After lunch we found a playground for the kids. And then it was time to say good-bye, as after their ride it was straight back home for them.

The boys are so knackered, that putting them to bed today was easy, they didn't even need extra juice! Richard missed his midday nap for the third day running and was actually asking to go to bed all afternoon, but of course we didn't get home til about 3pm, so it was too late.
Tomorrow he can nap! Who knows maybe they will even have a lay in tomorrow!
We don't have to go shopping our neighbour gave us some zucchini from his garden. The other day I asked if he had some growing could he show Robert them, as Robert wanted to know how they grow. Well they are now ready for picking so he showed Robert and Richard them and gave them one each for dinner! Oh and a cucumber too, as they were ripe too. We have already finished the cucumber -mmmh delicious.
Bye 4 now

A great day at the theme park!

We had a great day out today. I think we got to the park at around 11am and we didn't leave til 5pm! It was great fun. The weather was beautiful (could have been a bit cooler, but I'm not really complaining), the boys were so excited by it all. First they went on the bouncy mound thing, then there was a slide that was like a real aeroplane. And then it was time for a go on the "little Train" (only for kids under 8). What next, oh I know lunch! The boys were not really interested in that, so luckily we only got them a plate of chips (french fries for my American friends), of which they both left over half. And after that, it was time to try out the highlight of the park, the toboggan run! First the boys watched with me, as Daddy and our friends tried it out. Then Robert decided if Daddy promised to brake, he would go too. So it was just Richard and me watching. Richard however had decided he wanted a turn with Daddy too, and did NOT want to wait for him to finish his round with Robert!. But he had too!
He did get his turn though and both of them LOVED it! I can't say how many times Daddy had to go up and down with them, but it was a lot!
I watched the bags and took photos. I am not one for that sort of thing, and was quite happy doing what I was doing (actually I was really enjoying not having to watch the kids! just the world go by!)
Once home we got the BBQ going and had steak, sausages and salads. We were just about to tuck in, when the heavens opened. Thunder and rain - VERY heavy rain! But luckily we have our barn, so as soon as it started we just lifted the table and chairs into there! And carried on in the barn.
I have renamed our neighbours rabbit to "Madame" as she is a right Madame! I still haven't really seen her look after her bunnies and today we got home and all three were laying in the grass, and Mummy bunny was as far away as she could possibly get, without escaping! that said, they all looked fed and clean, so maybe she is doing something right.
However it was me that saved them from the thunderstorm and who put them back in the hutch! They are getting to look a bit cuter now, the fur is starting to show!
OK, the boys are quiet (they were an hour late to bed though!), so I am off downstairs back to our guests
BYe 4 now

Daddy's home! Long weekend!

Florian came home this morning to be with us, a long weekend! Yippee! We have visitors staying with us too this weekend. They arrived this afternoon - we were going to go to the amusement park as soon as they got here, but have opted to make a day of it, tomorrow instead. Giving us and the kids more time there. (www.erlebnispark-steinau.de if you want to know where we are heading).
Instead we spent the afternoon in the garden. Which was great too. Our friends popped to the bakers and bought some delicious cakes and we watched the kids, not too difficult as they were busy eating their ice-cream on the picnic blanket!
I took our guests to see our baby bunnies and one of them was lying in the grass outside of the hutch and run - I have absolutely NOT a CLUE as to how it got there. But I do hope it survives. I have put it back in with his brothers and/or sisters and am now hoping for the best. Miss Minnie does not seem to be a very loving Mum to me. I have been checking on the internet for clues as to whether her behaviour is OK, and apparently it is. In the wild the Mums only feed the bunnies once every 24 hours and only at night, and then during the day, they leave them all alone in the burrow, whilst they go out and about! OK, so I am hoping that all will be well. Especially as again this morning I found her flirting with our rabbits! Another thing I learnt on the internet is, that 3 days after birth the female can again mate, so perhaps that is what she is after - some more hanky panky! Good job our rabbits haven't dug anymore tunnels, otherwise in 4 weeks time there would be even more bunnies!
I daren't write about the boys tonight, as last time I did it woke them up, but let's just say it is 7.20pm and I am already thinking about rejoining the guests!!!!!! Shh, though I didn't say it out loud!
Bye 4 now

shhh, don't wake them...

yep 7.43pm and all is quiet (I think!) When we were out shopping this morning they wanted some felt tip pens. I bought them, but told them they wouldn't get them til tomorrow and then only if they were good boys at bed time!
So everytime I have had to go in (juice and weewees) I have reminded them of the pens and it seems to be working! Fingers crossed.
richard had his checkup this morning at 7.45am! I had to get them up to get there on time. That' s always the way isn't it, on the days where we don't have to be anywhere they are up at the crack of dawn. And today, where it would have been good had they been up early, they sleep in, and I have to wake them....! Typical!
Anyways the check up was over and done with in 10 minutes (and everything was OK) so we got a really early start for the shopping! Nothing exciting just groceries - be glad when the boys are back at Kindergarden. Its hard to concentrate, when you have to shepard them around the shop too!
We spent the afternoon in the garden again, the boys had all their Bob the Builder vehicles out too, and were digging in a mole hill! So cute!

Oh, and the bunny rabbits from next door are hopefully coming on OK, so far the Mum has escaped into our garden and visited the proud Daddys twice! (as in every morning since the birth) This morning I caught her and put her in with her babies, who immediately started feeding, so hopefully she won't neglect them! Well, not if I can help it! I want to see what they look like with fur. And find out whether they will have floppy ears (Mummy) or upright ears (Daddy)?
Well, since posting all is quiet (I spoke too soon) I shouted through the door twice and had to check once (I thought I heard scuffling noises as if they weren't in bed, but they were). But - no I won't say it again - fingers crossed.
Bye 4 now (I'll be back later with a layout)

And here I am, the boys were quiet after my last post, so we are slowly getting there! Slowly!
and as promised the layouts I did today, both for challenges at Been There Scrapped That.
This first one is a collection of shots from our holiday to England, for the ABC challenge (we are up to H now)

Credits:
Not Your Ordinary Girl Frames by Sweet Digi Scraps
Paper from Candy Girl by Sweet Digi Scraps

And this layout is for the Pimp your Desktop Challenge, the pictures are from our holiday to Centre parks in December last year but I wanted some pool pictures to go with the kit.

Credits

Summer Splash Freebie by Christine Scraps

off to bed now, Good Night!

A LOOOOOONNNNNGGGG Day

without TV! Yep, the kids blew it last night! They finally settled at around 8.45pm! That is nearly 2 hours (!) after I put them to bed. Even the threat of no TV did not make them stop fooling around, as I had hoped it would, and the way they are going now, it looks like there will be no TV tomorrow too! It wasn't quite as difficult as I had thought it would be, but it did make my day a lot longer.
I can hear them in there again now, and they are getting noisier and noisier. I have already got to the threat of no TV after cancelling a surprise I had planned for the morning, I thought that as threats got me nowhere yesterday I would try the treat approach. It wasn't going to be anything that special, just a Brezel from the bakers after the trip to the doctors, but ... they just blew that one, so now I am back on the no TV threat.
I wonder what would happen if I just let them get on with it? would they fall asleep quicker? Am I winding them up by going in and shouting at them? I am nearly at my wits end!
I want to thank Dinphy for yesterdays comments, it really helped me and cheered me up! thanks!

But this morning I got an even bigger surprise from Dinphy,


yep, I have got another award! Yippee!
This also reminded me, that in the past week or two I got two other awards, one from Laura and one from Melothria, both I know from Digital Arts Cafe and who in turn have great blogs!


I am going to pass on passing it along this time though, I had trouble coming up with 5 people to award last time so this time I will just say thank you very, very much. I love the thought, that you are out there, reading what I get up to! And I enjoy having you here! Thanks so much!

I did another layout last night, but it is downstairs on the computer, so I will add it here as soon as the boys quieten down! (just to let you know, they had their last chance, and now it is another day of no tv!! BOTHER!) by the way, I tried ignoring them, but Richard ended up screaming and calling me - Robert had poked his head and pinched his dummy! AGHH!!!!

OK, I'm off to work on the wedding photo book for my cousin and maybe get a little bit of scrapping done.
Bye 4 now

UPDATE: 8:06 and all is quiet!! Could be in luck here! Fingers crossed!

UPDATE: 11.30pm and all is quiet and has been since the last post! Uff!

And as promised I am back with the layout I did last night and a new one I did tonight!
Here is last nights. I used Michelle Herron's Whimsical Hearts (a freebie on her blog). This is a photo Florian got at the wedding. I just love it, and I thought it went well in the heart.

Credits:

Whimsical Hearts by Michelle Herron
Flowers from I believe by Bunny Cates and KimB's Designs

And this one is a FUN one. The Word challenge at BTST this month is to use the word "free", I wanted to do something completely different and this is what I came up with! I like it! It's also for the Font challenge at DSO, together they work well, don't you think!

Credits:
July Girl Grab Bag by Sweet Digi Scraps

Oh, and I did get 8 pages of the wedding book done too, so once the boys were finally asleep, it has been a good night. Plus Mel Gibson is on TV right now, so some "eye candy" too! (that is a fun expression too!)
Bye 4 now

New Arrivals!

Yep, Treacle or is it Miffy? is now a Daddy!!! Our neighbour's rabbit Minnie has had 3 babies! Of course this had to happen now, when our neighbours are on holiday and I am looking after her! I went over this morning to give her her food, and there was fur everywhere. I had a little chat with her and asked if she was moulting - of course she didn't answer. Then I opened her hutch to a nest full of fur. So cute. Then as I was looking the fur was sort of moving - so I moved it and to my amazement found 3 baby rabbits. It was a cute moment, just a shame that baby rabbits that are only a matter of hours old are not cute. They are really quite ugly, no fur and all wrinkly!
Our neighbours unfortunately forgot to leave their mobile phone number, so they don't know about the additions to their family yet. But I am documenting it well. Here is a quick layout I threw together for you all to see. I may yet add some journalling but here it is so you can meet our new neighbours!

Credits:
Triple Frames by Michelle Herron (a freebie on her blog)
Paper from Juliana by Michelle Herron
Wordart by Elegant Wordart
Date Stamp by Sweet Digi Scraps

This again is taking me forever to write, only the threat of no TV all day tomorrow has made them shut up (my boys that is!), when will bedtime return to normal? Did we really want them in the same room together?
There is a good side to it (or at least there was the past two nights) they are sleeping through the night. Hardly surprising though when I think at how late they are actually getting to sleep. I just heard one of them then, going "shh, shh" so they are still awake! Now I hear talking, which I am trying hard to ignore, cause I use those TV breaks to cook in peace - so I might regret my threat in a minute!

OK, have to go and sort them out, they are getting louder and louder, so I cannot ignore it any longer!
Bye 4 now

I'm late blogging...

cause the boys have been playing up this bedtime! I thought that after a couple of nights in the same room they would have gotten used to it, but no today was the worst of all. I told Florian on the phone and he couldn't stop laughing! I however am British and "AM NOT AMUSED!" (as Queen Victoria once put it!) See what you think. I was in and out like a yoyo. Once I found both of them sat under Robert's bed, seeing if the stars are shining apparently, then Robert needs a weewee (OK, that's allowed), then I find Richard in Roberts bed (with pillow and teddies), next its Robert in Richards bed (again including teddies), next Richard had a smelly nappy, then they both want more to drink, then Richard knocks the Winnie the Pooh painting onto the floor, then Robert needs another weewee, then I find Richard almost on the windowsill looking out of the window. And then I lost my top (still got a hoarse voice). I think I actually frightened them to sleep, I was that cross with them. I have to come up with something tomorrow, as that was NOT amusing to me at the time! (however reading back over it, it is sort of funny - maybe next week!)
OK, I have let off steam now, back to the rest of the day, which apart from the weather (someone forgot to tell it it is July not November!). I got a lot of jobs done and the boys played nicely together. This morning we went for a walk, they thought it was great as we went to the woods (well only really a little tiny bit). They recited "We're going on a bear hunt" in the woods. So cute!

I have done a few layouts over the last few days which I never got around to posting here so, here they are.
First up are two I made using Liz's new Grab bag at Been there Scrapped That, if you've got girls, you need to go and get it, its a great deal.
This first is Mia on the beach in England.

Credits:

July Girl Grab Bag by Sweet digi Scraps
Template by Teriann Hanks (DSO)
Wordart by Elegant Wordart (reads Life brings us Simple Pleasures everyday, it is up to us to make them into wonderful memories)

and this one is Zoe proudly striding to get her certificate on her last day at Kindergarden. I am quite proud of myself here as I blurred the background so that her stride shows better! And what do you think of my friend Leigh's Wordart?! Great isn't it, it's still up on her blog, so pop on over!

Credits:
July Girl Grab Bag by Sweet Digi Scraps
Wordart by Leigh S. (tricertifiedx2)

for the next one I used Val Gouveia's - Little Boy Kit again available too at Been There Scrapped That
This was for the "Mix my Scrapbook Challenge" at Been There Scrapped That. We had to use the word "mix", 3 papers, 1 ribbon, 3 Stars, 1 frame and at least 1 button. I foudn it difficult. Mum helped me with the word "mix", and we then let the boys "pick'N'mix" their own sweeties, so I could get some pictures for the layout! Talk about scrapping taking over! Anyway here is the layout!

Credits:
Little Boy Kit by Val Gouveia
Star from Wise Guy BTST Collab Kit
Ribbon from Cool like that by Colie's Corner

OK I think that's all for today
Bye 4 now

yippee another layout to show!

Yep, I have permission to show you the other layout that I found in the gallery at Been There Scrapped That!

This one is from Benita, who is a German living in Holland. A bit like me really (English living in Germany!).Credits:

Layout by Benita
Wordart by Zauberbaumfee (it reads: True Friendship is a slow-growing plant)
Ruby Tuesday by KayJay

I love the look of that cat, he reminds me of our first cat "Chilli", who went missing 3 years ago. Benita wrote that these photos are of her daughter who is a bit of a "catgirl" as any cat will come when she calls. That is cute! I love how she has used lots of frames to tell the story, and my Mum will be flattered to see her orchid featured so well here. Thanks Benita for using my kit and making my day! And if any of my readers want to make Benita's day, click on the picture to go to her gallery where you can leave her some love!

Now about the rest of my day, not a lot to tell really, we had a lovely afternoon here at home with friends. The boys played nicely with their daughter, so it was quite relaxing for all of us. Florian has had to leave again on the Sunday for work as the car park is still closed, bother!
I have just bathed the boys and put them to bed, so far normality has not returned to the bed time routine, I have been in and out of the bedroom in the last half hour, they just cannot settle easily yet. Being in the same room is still too much of a novelty. But soon it won't be...I hope!
Bye 4 now

Big Boy Bed!! and ANOTHER layout with my kit!

Yep, Richard now has his own big boy bed! And it is in the same room as Robert, so you can probably imagine that this post is going to take a lot longer than usual, as I have to keep going and telling them to stay in their own beds and to stop talking! (been 6 times already!)
But I think once the excitement is over it will be good for them both. On holiday, when they have shared a room it has always worked really well!
I took a few pictures, whilst we were building it all up, I will add them to the post later, when I have got them off of the camera!

The other exciting thing that happened today was when I checked the gallery at Been there Scrapped That this morning, I saw TWO layouts with my Kit!! Wow, I was so excited. I have permission to show one of them here (still hoping that I get permission for the other one!).
This one was created by ScrapShana, one of the designers at BTST (awesome kits, check out her shop here).
I have been in awe of her beautiful layouts since she came to BTST, and now she has made a layout using my kit, you can imagine how I felt! Wow!!!

Credits:
Ruby Tuesday by KayJay
Leaves from La Bella Natura by ScrapShana

I just love it all! Don't you!?! If you do, stop on by her gallery and leave her some love (the picture is linked to there!).

Finally all has gone quiet in the boys room, wish me luck for the rest of the night! (And that they don't get up together at the crack of dawn!)
Bye 4 now

Another layout with my kit!!

I am so excited, I was browsing the DSO Gallery this morning and I found this (well it jumped out at me actually!)

Credits:
Layout by Karen (girabotdot)
Ruby Tuesday by KayJay (still get a giggle writing that!)

I just had to write and ask if I could post it on my blog, and she said she would be honoured. Karen, it is me that is honoured! It's a great layout, I love the look of that house (in Claremore, OK), and even if I say so myself I think my papers do it justice. Great way of journalling too. I love it.
Karen has only recently started digi-scrapping and has now ventured into entering some challenges - so are you addicted like the rest of us, yet?!
By the way her layout is linked to her gallery, so do pop by and leave her some love! She would really appreciate that (but don't we all?!)

Speaking of challenges, I got a layout done for the ABC Challenge at Been There Scrapped That.
It's Robert and Richard go-karting at a farm, come zoo, come playground in England. They had a great time, and it was Richards first time that he could actually reach the pedals!

Credits
little boy kit by Val Gouveia at Been there Scrapped that

Now about our family life. Richard had to go to the doctors for his check up this morning and the doctor was very pleased with him. It is all looking OK, well as OK as it can after only being operated on yesterday! Richard is only really in pain, when changing his nappy, so that is good news. and I am really really careful!
Mum stayed the night and looked after Robert again, whilst Richard and I were at the doctors, which was a HUGE help. We took Mum to the station this afternoon and waved as she went by, we got a bit wet as the boys insisted on waving to more than just Nanna's train, and it then started raining! Never mind.
Soon after that we had to go to another station to pick Florian up! So more trains for the boys!
As you can see, quite uneventful today.
Oh, just remembered something, do you remember about my rabbit and my neighbours rabbit escaping and having a bit of hanky panky in the bushes! Well, the neighbours rabbit is now busy building a nest!!!! Watch this space!!!
This morning the possible future father went to visit his love! Only he should have been locked in his hutch, so I was out in the garden at just after 7am chasing a rabbit - can you imagine the picture! Well the boys were up at the bathroom window laughing and giggling as I chased the rabbit - who is not in my good books today! Shame no one got a picture really, as in the end I threw myself at the rabbit to get him, he is quite speedy!
OK, bye 4 now

Richard's OP and a layout with my new kit!!

I'll start off with the layout, and then those of you who might be a bit squeamish can click the last paragraph away (not that I will be getting that detailed).
Dinphy, my scrapping and designing friend in Holland, downloaded my kit "Ruby Tuesday" and has now made a layout using it! It is soooo beautiful. And I can't begin to put into words, what it feels like to see your kit being used by someone else!

I have linked the picture to Dinphy's Gallery at DSO so you can pop on over and leave her some love there. Thank you Dinphy for this - I LOVE IT!!!

Credits:
Ruby Tuesday by KayJay (hihi)

I may have mentioned before that I love Dinphy's Kits, and she too has an entry in the DSO July Colour Challenge, which I picked up! And here is the layout I made using Dinphy's Kit "Old Love"
It is little old me as a bridesmaid at my uncle's wedding. Apparently I never went in the church, the organ started up as we were supposed to go in and frightened me. So I am only on pictures outside! But it looks like I finally cheered up!

Credits:
Old Love by Dinphy

OK for those of you not interested in my son's operation, you can scroll down or pop on over and visit Dinphy now. Don't forget to leave her some love if you download!

Now I have to let some of you know how Richards operation went. The poor little thing is doing fine. He took it really well, considering. The actual operation took only about 20minutes. But he decided to really sleep off the anaesthetic (is that how you spell that?!) And took over 45 minutes to wake up! He hasn't done much walking since then, he says it hurts his willy too much, which I can believe. But it doesn't look to bad considering..
He however had a BIG shock when we took the dressing off. Which we had to do in the bath, he looked down and started screaming. When he finally calmed himself down, he said to me under sobs "My willies broken!" and started sobbing hard again. I felt really mean, but it IS for the best! It had to be done!
He's fallen straight to sleep now, so far without the painkiller the doctor gave me, so we'll see how the night goes. Wish him luck!
Bye 4 now

Nanna's here!

Oh the boys were so excited, we were a bit early at the station to pick Nanna up, so we sat by the tracks and watched various trains go by whilst behind us the diggers were hard at work building the new route for the trains! The boys loved it, then the train with Nanna on it came, and it got the biggest wave, and then they both ran to Nanna and threw themselves into her arms. Soooo cute!
My Mum has come to help me out tomorrow, as Richard is going for his operation, fingers crossed all goes well. My Dad is coming up too, to help me with the driving as I have to have two people with to take him home again. One to drive and one to sit in the back with him. So Dad will be driving. More tomorrow about how it goes.
the rest of the day was uneventful, I finished making my jam this morning, whilst the boys run wild outside. This was a first, normally I don't let them out there on their own, but today I made them promise to stay one side of the house, and lo and behold, they did as they were told (why oh why don't they always do that!!!)! It was good, so maybe we will try it again sometime soon!

OK, I'm off to sit and chat with Mum downstairs.
For those of you here for my Kit, it's in the post below! Wow, I can't believe how many have downloaded it, I am OVER THE MOON! It's so great. And then the many comments! Thank you so much for all your kind words! You all make my day!
Bye 4 now

Ruby Tuesday - my second kit

Yep my second kit! That is my big surprise! I decided to have another go at the colour challenge at DSO, and have been working on this for a while now. But today is the day I decided to release it - hence the name "Ruby Tuesday".
I am quite proud of myself actually, my favourite bits being the frame (which is based on a frame I have on my shelf) and the petal frame (petals from the flowers Silvia (phillsboo) brought me), and the flowers (all from Mum's or my garden).

I used some Commercial Use bits on this kit, but there is still a bit of original stuff from me in there.
I would first like to credit the great designers who have allowed commercial use of their designs
1) Sweet Digi Scraps (www.beentherescrappedthat.com)
2) Melothria (www.digitalarts-cafe.com)
3) KimB Designs (http://kimbsdesigns.blogspot.com)
4) Becky Kress (www.elementalscraps.com)
5) Kirsty Smith (freebie not sure where from, her TOU didn't say)
6) Adelina (www.digitalarts-cafe.com)
7) Pillowgirl (http://pillowgirlscraps.blogspot.com)
8) Atomic Cupcake (www.atomiccupcake.com)
9) ribbon ???

And I apologise if I forgot anyone. Using commercial use stuff was all new to me, and I had great help from the Scrapgirls tutorial that I got for my Birthday (Secrets revealed).

OK, but all of that was not what you came to find out, but hey these girls need to be plugged, they have GREAT stuff for designers out there. Even beginning ones like me!

OK, now to whet your whistle, here is a layout I made using my new kit, it is another heritage photo and is my other grandparents wedding photo!

Credits

Ruby Tuesday by KayJay (that's me!!)

OK, you've got this far, here is what you have been looking for

I proudly present my second kit - Ruby Tuesday:

It is quite large so I had to split it into 3 downloads!
Download Papers 1
Download Papers 2
Download Elements

PLEASE no hot-linking, if you like my work, send your friends to my blog, where they can find other freebies (QPs, my first kit!)
And
I LOVE comments, and would love to read what you think of this my second attempt.

Oh, and I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to see the kit in use, so do drop me a line if you make a layout with it, and I will stop by your gallery and leave you LOTS and LOTS of love!

Bye 4 now, I will be back this evening, with my daily update.

OK, I'm back! Day 2 of the Kindergarden holidays is over and that too wasn't too bad. They both ate most of their dinner today (hamburgers filled with Feta cheese) and more or less behaved themselves. This afternoon we had a neighbours daughter around to play, so that made it a bit easier on me. In that time I got all the animals fed, plants watered and washing hang out (mustn't forget to get that in, when I have finished here!)
Oh, and whilst the kids (plus neighbours girl) were having tea, I made some jam with the red currants we picked yesterday. I have made one batch of redcurrant and apple. And I have strained the juice of one batch and will make jelly out of it, once it has cooled down. According to the sugar it has to be cold before you start again!

Other than that I keep popping back to my blog to see the number creeping up and up and am enjoying all your comments, do keep them coming!
Bye 4 now

I forgot to blog!!

Oops! We were back later than expected from a birthday party today, and the kids went straight to sleep, so I wasn't sat at the computer upstairs, and when I came downstairs I got into a programme on TV and totally forgot to blog!
I had a good day today, I only had to get up once last night (3.30am) and then I got to sleep til 7.30am! Not bad really!
Luckily Robert did wake me up, because at 8.30am someone was banging on the door! Richards bed was delivered. I still had my nightie on, but thankfully it wasn't a short short one! (some of my T-shirts have shrunk) so my bum was hidden under that, but I really was not a pretty sight. But I'll never see the guy again, so who cares!
We went in the garden in the morning and the boys and I had great fun picking all the red currants!
Unfortunately Richard got stung by a wasp - annoying little creatures they are. So I rubbed it down with Onion (in case you didn't know, Onion or Lemon for a wasp sting, and Bi-carbonated Soda for bee stings!), and then put some cream for stings on it. And he was fine again, as long as every so often I kissed it better!
once we had emptied the bush we came back in and then the boys were kept busy for nearly an hour pulling the berries off the stalks and putting them in a separate dish! So cute.
Tomorrow we will be making jam together! I hope that is a good move and not only a sticky mess!
This afternoon it was a 5th birthday party, the boys had a great time playing and I had a great time chatting! We stayed for tea too, then home and straight to bed for the boys, which brings us in a full circle!

I have a couple of layouts to share, these are using Michelle Herron and Lioness3 Legacies other Collab Kit - Amber Waves.
this was a challenge for me, as it is a 4th July Kit, and we don't celebrate it here. But I made it work for me too!
This is Richard thinking about sliding!

Credits

Amber waves by Michelle Herron and Lioness3 Legacies

And this is me and Richard on one of the rides at Thomas Land. I used this for the "Say it with Music" Challenge at BTST

Credits

Amber waves by Michelle Herron and Lioness3 Legacies

Bye 4 now
and check back here tomorrow for a BIG surprise!

I had a great evening last night, although I can feel it every step of the way. You probably think I ended up dancing the night away - NOPE!
I followed the instructions on the restaurants website to get there. BAD mistake! They had a link to google maps and I got the route off of that, and ended up on the WRONG SIDE of the river!!!
I was exactly opposite the restaurant with just the river between me and my friends. Only I didn't know it at the time. I had gone totally relying on my printout, and had no map with me. I managed to get my friends on the mobile and they had a map, and there was a foot bridge nearby so I walked that way. Unfortunately I had new shoes on, which would have been fine from the car to the restaurant, but not the way I took. So I now have two huge blisters on the souls of my feet - ouch! On one I put a second skin plaster (Compeed) and on the other I didn't the one with the plaster feels much better, still hurts but not as much. Oh well, Sabine one of my friends luckily drove me back to the car, she doesn't know quite how big of a favour she did me, as I did not complain about my feet there!
It was a lovely evening together, lots of laughs and such. And we have already set the date and place for the next get-together! Oh and I didn't drink the cocktail I had planned that was double the price of a normal one, so I had a "Baby Heinz", which was Cherry, Banane, Pineapple Juice with Coconut cream -very delicious!

Today we carried on sorting out Roberts room ready for Richards new bed, and this afternoon we visited friends who have just recently moved. Very nice place, the boys had fun playing with their daughters toys, she chose to torment her baby sister rather than play with the boys (she's 3,5) maybe next time. Then we took Florian to the station.

Mum and Dad got home from England today, record time I think 8,5 hours, then they don't have "baby bladders" travelling with them and don't need quite as many "wee-wee" stops!
Bye 4 now

I'm leaving them...

on their own with Florian for the evening! Yep in 10 minutes time I am off to meet up with my friends. For a Mexican meal! I can't wait.
Again the boys refused to eat there dinner, anyone would think I couldn't cook - I know, Mum, we could debate that, but I am not THAT bad, I can use a packet mix and get it to taste OK. But no the boys are just not eating! Grrrr!
This afternoon we started making room in Robert's room for Richard's new bed, we have had the confirmation and it is on its way, should be here sometime next week. Maybe when they are sharing a room they won't get me up so often - here's hoping!
Anyhow, want to see, what I am going to have tonight?
This will be my first drink - its orange, mango, pineapple and lemon juice with Grenadine and vanilla ice cream - yummy!

and I think I will be having this as it has it all! Good job I am feeling hungry. Don't know what my men will be having, that's up to Florian!

OK, have to go now if I want to get there on time!
Bye 4 now

Florian's home!!

And we are all rather excited about it! He walked in, and once Pocoyo had finished (yep he lost out to the TV this afternoon!), the kids were all over him, so I made the most of it, and let them be! So nice to have a break this week! After they had built "swimming ships" (Richard), "a wall" (Robert), "a lion" (Florian) ,they went into the garden and I had a chat with Leigh (more about that further down my post) and made tea for us all in peace! Wow, what a change that makes. Unfortunately Daddy being home didn't mean they ate any better!
It was the last day of Kindergarden today, which means 3 weeks of the boys - I will have to come up with some fun things to do, otherwise we might all go insane, within days! No, I love them to bits really, just need some sleep!!!! (again, I was up to them both!)

Now about my chat with Leigh - she has made me my very own Logo Watermark for my photos! She did three versions and I had a very hard time choosing, and I may mix and match until I finally decide, but for today, these photos have the version on that I liked best!
These are photos of our outing to a nearby farm (on our holiday still), they had pedal go-karts for the kids to go on and they even had one, where Richard could reach the pedals. He was great there. We got there and he couldn't really do it, we had to keep rescuing him out of the hay, as he couldn't pedal and steer at the same time, and pedalling was all new to him too! Well after 15 minutes he had it all worked out, and off he went, no stopping him! So cute! And Robert, well, Robert he just had a BALL! And so did Florian and I!





I also got a couple of new layouts to show you, Michelle Herron has joined forces for this one with Lioness3 Legacies and they have come up with a fun doodley Kit called Lexi Doodles (available at ScrappinFreeStyle)

I used it for the "Scrapper Say What" Challenge at Been there Scrapped That, where there are lots of ice-cream related quotes. I chose the one that had "scream" in it, as I have heard my two doing a lot of that this week!

Credits:
lexi doodles by Michelle Herron and Lioness3 Legacies

And then I spotted these photos of my nieces and made this layout for them!

Credits:
lexi doodles by Michelle Herron and Lioness3 Legacies

Bye for now

I'm wondering...

now, whether I got a good night's sleep, cause I just slept right through the calling?! Cause last night, they were at it again, OK, but it didn't start til 5am so I suppose its and improvement. And Robert is forgiven, as he was coughing so bad, that he got a nose bleed. So I am pleased he called me for that one, otherwise he would have scared the living daylights out of me, had he been covered in blood when I got him up!
Today again they were little monsters. I made something new for dinner today, I thought a change would be nice. So I made Tortellini with cheese sauce then baked in the oven. It was delicious - but Robert and Richard don't know that, because they never touched it even. Richard did push his once across his plate determining that there was no pasta in there and that he "don't like it"! Robert never even bothered to get his spoon and fork dirty, he just folded his arms and screamed! Anyone would think I was trying to poison them!
Well, tough for them, I really enjoyed it and will be making it again - am I a glutton for punishment?!
Robert was really testing how far he could go today, after refusing to eat it was rest time -so up to his room it was. I went up later to put the clean washing away and found a big mess on his floor. I told him he could come down, once he had cleaned it up (it was a jigsaw mat that he had built up yesterday and was now in the process of sorting it into colours). Well he came down about 10minutes later. I asked "did you tidy up your mat?" Robert "Yes", Me " did you put it back in the box?" Robert "Yes" Me "OK, then you can watch TV whilst I get Richard up!"
Mmh, can you guess what is coming.... I got up there and the mess was still there. After getting Richard dressed I called Robert upstairs (over the baby phone) he ignored me. Now I really am about to boil over, I went and got him. And explained about telling "porkie pies" (rhyming slang for lies), and that I was cross. then I left him to it. When he came down the next time and said he was done, I trusted that he was (he was). then we went in the garden.
His next naughty thing was to slide down the slide whilst Richard was still at the bottom, bumping both his feet into the small of poor Richards back. Something he knows he mustn't do, I told him off the first time, and explained again that he has to wait for Richard to move.
Richard however had no intention of moving, so Robert did it again, only this time faster and harder. Well, he ended up sat in the cold utility room on the bottom step - thinking over what he had done.
And as if that wasn't enough, after tea, I decided that although I had sworn I wouldn't until Daddy came home, I gave them a bath. (Last time they flooded the bathroom almost!) So whilst I was sorting out pyjamas and nappies and such for when they were finished, they were on their own in there. Now they know exactly where they can tip water and where not, but I came back into the bathroom, and there was Robert tipping a bottle of bathwater onto the "wrong" side of the bath and watching it trickle down onto the floor.
I had him out of there in a flash, screaming non stop, he thought he would be going back in, but no, dirty or not, I towelled him down and dressed him in his pyjamas. Hopefully he will have got the message now. he screamed all the while "I want to go back in the bath" until I got Richard out and dressed.
So all in all it was quite a day! How many more years before they stop testing their limits?!
Oh, well they are in bed now, and I can relax!
Bye 4 now

A much better day!!

And the best thing about it, the SUN woke me up this morning at 7.30am!!!! Yippee! BOTH kids slept all through the night! I couldn't believe it when I checked my watch! I felt so much better for it, now if only they would do it again and again and again, until it became a habit!
Everything is so much easier when you are not yawning all the time!
They were still a bit naughty this afternoon, but that too is so much easier to take, when you have slept better!
So yesterday I promised a bit more about our holiday. The main event was my cousin's wedding! And it was a great one. The weather was a bit iffy leading up to the big day, but on the day, the sun came out right when we needed it. I was the official photographer, and slightly nervous, but I got some great shots if I do say so myself. When I left to go to the brides house in the morning, I was checking I had got everything. And said something like "leave the laptop on, so that I can empty the card if need be" Florian said "you'll never take 1019 pictures (that's what the 4GB card holds)" Well, I tried my hardest and took 1234 pictures of the day! Now in hindsight, that might have been a mistake, as I am also making the happy couple a wedding album. and now I have the daunting task of sorting through them and picking the best! I also have most of the other guests pictures, so in all I have about 2.500 pictures of the wedding! HELP!!! Even choosing a few to show here is going to be difficult.
But here goes
Here is the church, where the wedding service was, I sneaked there before I went to the brides home, and got it with out any people in the shot.


Here is the Bride putting on the finishing touches. She looked so radiant and beautiful.


and here she is! Stunning!

and of course the happy couple

And here the most difficult shot to get, the complete wedding party, as quite a few tried to hide under the tree, but I spotted them all, that's when it is good to be bossy! It's not quite everyone, my Dad is going to "photoshop" me into the picture! I got all dressed up again on Sunday, and stood in the empty courtyard, whilst Florian hang out of the window and got a shot of me!

And on the subject of wedding's I got Melothria's new Wedding Kit "Just Married" and scrapped a few of the wedding photo's with it.
Here is the kit:
and here are my layouts, 2 of my cousin's wedding and one of my grandparents wedding.
Heather and Joe - Sealed with a Kiss!

Credits:
Just Married by Melothria at DAC

2 pics from before the wedding and one where they all were together!

Credits:
Just Married by Melothria at DAC

Here are my grandparents on their Wedding Day, and when Mum and Dad get back home from their holiday, I will be adding the date to the layout!

Credits:
Just Married by Melothria at DAC

That's all for today, wish me luck for tonight
Bye 4 now

Having a bad day today!

Not my usual happy self today, again not much sleep, but I should be used to that by now, but then the kids started playing up from the word go. They were really good boys on holiday, but now they have me on my own again, they try all sorts of things!
First disaster was after breakfast when I went to give them both some cough mixture for their coughs. Robert showed Richard how to take it nicely, but Richard instantly put his hands up to his mouth saying "don't like it" and "NOOOOO", well as his cough is quite bad, I refused to listen, and when I did get it in he spat it all back out again, I tried twice more and the same result, then I went and found a different cough mixture (different smell, different colour) again he spat it out again. I gave up in tears, he was too, and Robert was cuddling us both. Sounds cute now, at the time, I was just so frustrated. He went to Kindergarden without medicine. I have phoned the chemist and they do a cough mixture suppository, so that is what it will be tomorrow for Richard - he won't like that either, but tough!!!
Lunchtime it was Robert's turn to be stubborn, he decided that he didn't like what I had cooked for lunch and was not going to eat it. I can be stubborn too, especially when I know he actually likes this meal!!! So he sat there for over an hour, whimpering. He never did eat it, but he didn't have any sweeties or TV this afternoon. Teatime the same thing again, first he's complaining his tummy hurts cause he is sooooo hungry, and then he only eats the meat, cheese, tomatoes and crisps, not touching the bread -GRRRRR!
And inbetween mealtimes they refused to play "nicely", and threw their toys across the lounge and stuff like that. Is it a full moon again already? Whatever it is, i would like my good boys back! (And some sleep!)
OK, I feel a little better now, having got that off my chest - thanks for lending me your ear to bend! (Already bent my sister-in-laws, my husbands and my Mums!)

On a different note, why not pop on over to Leigh's blog, she has some new Wordart up for grabs. I won't be using it today, but when I am friends again with my boys it will certainly come in handy!

that's all for tonight, I am a bit late blogging (too many trips to the boys since they have been in bed!), so I will show more holiday pics tomorrow.
Bye 4 now

Everyday life has us again

Yep, the kids went off to Kindergarden this morning - under protest - but when I picked them up, they were full of what they had done and so on, so it can't have been as bad as they made out!
I pottered around this morning tidying up here and there I am slightly sleep deprived today, again the kids had me running in circles all night! I hope I get that problem sorted out soon or I am going to need a huge supply of matchsticks to keep my eyes open!
I am trying the bribery approach, Robert even knows which book he will be getting, let's hope he gets it! Richard however I am not sure he knows what I mean! But enough complaining.
How about some more about our holiday! I've done the beach, and Thomas Land, I am saving the wedding for last, so how about a few pics of where we stayed and what we could do there!

This is the cottages where we stayed, built 1600 something they are beautiful old cottages!



right opposite is the Golf course that belongs to the owners and which guests can use free of charge,

And out the back there is a trampoline for the kids, look at Richard I never knew he could jump THAT high!
And if you have stuck with me this long, here are two layouts I did during my "lunch break"! Both pictures taken during our holidays.
I used Flutter Expressions new kit Bold and Dirty, she is a new designer at Been There Scrapped That, and her kit was perfect for both of these photos!



this first one is my Dad and Robert and Richard on their way back from their long walk to see the sea (the tide was out!). This is not only for CTing but also for the sketch challenge at SFS and for the Picture Perfect Challenge at DSO.

Credits:
Bold and Dirty by Flutter Expressions

and this one is our latest family photo. I took a break from being a photographer at the wedding and handed the camera over, so that Mum could take this great shot of us! Don't mind Robert, he hasn't got a gammy leg, he is just pretending to be a ballet dancer, and showing off!

Credits:
Bold and Dirty by Flutter Expressions

Bye for now