A fun-packed Weekend!

It was a busy but very fun weekend. We went to Mum and Dad's yesterday! the boys were so excited about going, they couldn't wait to get out of the door. So cute. We had all had fun there. Florian enjoyed playing on Dad's new toy - a Wacom tablet! He even drew me a flower! (I'll post it when I am downstairs)The boys were all over the place, you could see where exactly they had been, as they left a trail of destruction whereever they went! The weather was gorgeous so they were able to make their mess outside in the sandpit most of the time.
Then in the evening it was Zoe's Birthday Party - she had two on the same day - poor Ramona! In the afternoon she had a "Pirate Party" with her friends from school, and in the evening, the family and friends came for a big delicious Barbecue!
Ramona did a re-run of the treasure hunt for the boys and Zoe's second cousin. It was so cute, the boys thoroughly enjoyed it. They balanced along logs, looked for arrows on the floor, and made a lot of noise to frighten other treasure hunters away. And where had the treasure been hidden - in Zoe's garden!
We had decided beforehand that this time, we weren't going to get up and go at 7pm like we normally do, we waited for the "meltdown", which came around 9.30pm. Which was really late for the boys.
They slept all the way home in the car, and they even had a tiny bit of a lay in in the morning! 8am they woke! Not bad! Richard would have slept longer, but Robert didn't agree with that, and pestered him til he got up and played with him!

We then went out to meet some friends at the local zoo. It was their yearly summer party there. So lots of fun things to do. The boys got to use a REAL digger! They would have had two goes on it, but after queuing directly after we got there. They changed their minds. But on the way out they did want a go, and they thoroughly enjoyed it, maybe next year, boys!

After that we went home and the boys played Playdoh in the garden! That was the best idea ever I think. I don't think it will be a rainy day thing anymore. More like a garden thing now. The mess, which is biodegradeable, stayed in the garden, and didn't get trodden into any carpets or anything! Great idea boys!

We then had to take Florian to the station, as again the car park is closed, this time a circus has come to town and is using it! I never did like the circus - so annoying, we were all looking forward to a complete weekend! Maybe next week!
OK, One more challenge to complete for BTST, I have left it quite late haven't I, oops!

Well, here it is, this is my Quickpage (minus pictures and journalling of course) It is also my entry for the Picture Perfect Challenge at DSO. The journalling reads:

What do these two
have in common?!
The cat - Sunny - beloved pet!
Sid the slowworm!
Sunny brought us a present and left it in the lounge for me to find!
Of course not expecting it, I screamed, which in turn frightened the boys!
So Sunny that day was in the doghouse!

Credits:
Mr. Mister a BTST Collab Kit

Bye 4 now

A day of waiting

Yep, first and foremost I was waiting for Florian to come home. But this morning, when I got back from finally getting the nappies! the ones I found to tide us over seem a bit smaller than the ones Richard usually has, so it's good to have him back in bigger nappies and not leaking so much! Anyhow, when I got back, it was a bit like a re-run of yesterday, only this time I saw the chimney sweep coming down the road and going into next-doors. So instead of going in and dyeing my hair and having a shower, which was originally my plan, I waited for the chimney sweep. I cleared him a path to the chimneys, and waited, and waited, and waited... I saw him around 9.30am, and he finally got here at 11.15am, So I still have my grey roots. Maybe tomorrow, Mum can help me out, when we go visiting - what do you think Mum!

We picked Florian up at the station this evening, the boys were excited and took him straight in the garden for some fun and games, and I took a break, infact, I had a LOT of break tonight. Florian not only played with them, but got them ready for bed, whilst I had that much needed shower. All I had to do, was go in and kiss them good night. that made such a welcome change, for all of us I think!

all's quiet now, they wanted to sleep quickly, so we can go to Nanna's quicker! bless them.

Oh, I did the Desktop Challenge at BTST this morning and I used one of Liz's new Kits called Crushin' - wow what a fun kit, but see for yourself in this layout.
It's from last weekend, the boys and their cousins.

Credits:

Crushin' by Sweet Digi Scraps
Template by IkeaGoddess

Now for some more scrapping, whilst Florian works his muscles in the gym!
Bye 4 now

One of them days...

do you know the ones, where you get stuck in a rut and can't seem to pick yourself out of it. It started off sort of OK, I say sort of, cause I had an email from my friend Leigh, and she is feeling very under the weather - get well soon from here - and we haven't been able to chat. I quite missed that last night. I made a layout with her wordart freebie, perhaps that will cheer her up and make her get better soon.

It was for the Photo Op challenge at DSO, where the challenge was to "work on" a photo and then scrap it! this is a photo we did a while back, trying to make it look like a photo of Florian's grandmother. It's Robert looking out of the window dreaming.

Credits:
Paper from Not your Ordinary Boy Papers by Sweet Digi Scraps at Been There Scrapped That
Swirl from Splish Splash by BrokenJar Creations at Do It Digi
Stars from I Believe 4 Boys by KimB Designs at DSO
Wordart by Leigh (tricertifiedx2)

I then took BOTH of the boys (yep Robert is feeling much better) to Kindergarden, from there i was going shopping (would you believe it, we are out of nappies!), our Aldi have some Men's jeans on offer and I that and nappies was why I was going. Well, I got out to the car and one of the neighbours cycled past - it was the neighbour that orders the oil for the village (get a great deal that way!). That reminded me, that they had phoned yesterday to say they were coming this morning - so no shopping for me! Instead it was back home to wait for them. I was pleasantly surprised, when I saw the oil tank outside at 9.15am thinking I could get to shopping. Then about 3 neighbours stopped to talk to the oil guy and the next thing I know he left for up the road. Obviously the other neighbours had convinced him to change his route and I was no longer next on his list. I finally got my oil at 3pm!!! That is when the trouble with my nerves began!
As I was closing everything up, after the delivery, I noticed that a very important piece of our heating system, was no longer hanging on the wall properly, in fact it looked as if any second now it was going to drop off! I immediately phoned the heating people, who said, yes they would come and put it right, but NO not this week! AGH!!!! BAng it hit me, that although pretty selfsufficient when Florian is away for the week, this sort of thing, I could not fix, and that I really, really miss him! I tried to prop a ladder underneath this very heavy boiler thing, but it wouldn't go, then I thought I would build a tower of crates under it, and thought again, cause if it did crash down, then I would be clearing up glass too. So after getting myself back under control again, I did a good thing, and marched myself off to my neighbour Willi! HE IS GREAT! He's retired and always has said, if I need him just to knock. Well, I knocked, he came with his tools, and started to fix it back to the wall. The kids by the way, I had sat in front of their new Bob the Builder DVD. Whilst in the heating room with Willi, I hear a man's voice calling - Robert had let someone in (note to self: must talk to the kids about that!), the man found us, and it turns out it was THE boss of the heating company I had called, who decided that this damsel in distress needed help. So I then had not only Willi fixing it, but the firm too! And all of this within 30 minutes of my phone call for help! NOT BAD!
They fixed the big heavy bottle boiler thingy, back to the wall, but when it fell, it managed to break, it now needs replacing, so the heating firm will be back next week to fix that!
After that although it all turned out OK in the end, I have been feeling like I was kicked in the stomach, I so miss Florian, BUT looking on the bright side of things, he'll be home tomorrow! And we have a fun-packed weekend ahead of us, so I promise after getting this off my chest here I will cheer up, and enjoy my peaceful evening!
OK all seems to be quiet up here now, so I am off to downstairs for some scrapping relaxing, and to post my layout where I used Leigh's Wordart.
Bye 4 now

Happy Birthday Zoe!

Credits
Pirate Punk Freebie by Ziggle Designs

It's Zoe's birthday (my niece) today, she is 6 (and really in to pirates, hence the layout!). Doesn't time fly! She had a little birthday get together this afternoon with just her grandparents, and at the weekend we are all going for a big party, and by then I am sure Robert will be fine again.
He was actually fine all day today, but I kept him home from Kindergarden, but tomorrow he is going back. The antibiotics are working fine.

Apart from all three of us, having a dose of Arnica (for bruises) it was a pretty uneventful day. Robert fell off of his tractor backwards and bumped his head hard on the floor, he has quite a lump there now. Richard fell off of his bobby car, whilst trying to use a plank of wood as a ramp. Robert screamed for me "Mummy it's an emergency!" And as I went running I fell onto my knees! Oops. Hurts to kneel now, but other than that we are all fine!

Our neighbour (the ones with the rabbits) popped over this afternoon, they are quite interested in our house, so I gave her a guided tour, mmh, that would be good if they did want it, as we could probably work something out with them about moving in, so that we could find a place first! But I won't get my hopes up, she did think it sounded pretty expensive!

The boys have had me in and out to their room tonight, a fly is bothering them. I haven't managed to find it yet, but I am hoping it flew to the light, when I turned the lights in there off and left the door open.
Bye 4 now

Doctor's and other things!

Well, Robert unfortunately was still burning up this morning and still complaining of a headache, so once Richard was at Kindergarden, it was off to the doctors again! Again Robert has an acute tonsillitis, every thing is swollen and icky! Poor thing, no wonder he wasn't feeling well. We now have antibiotics for him, which will hopefully clear things up in no time and, once he is better we have to go to an Ear-Nose-And-Throat specialist to have his tonsils checked, as maybe they need to come out! Oh dear! Fingers crossed it is not another trip to hospital for us!

This afternoon he was feeling a little better and insisted we go out into the garden where he had a tiny bit of ice cream, and they both had little races on the bikes and bobby cars! Whilst I watched over them.
And that was our day today really.
I got my two Anniversary cards finished last night for my cousin's and a friends anniversary. I'll post them here as soon as I get downstairs again. Might be a while, the boys are refusing to fall asleep, not really sure what Richard's problem is, hopefully he is not going to come down with it too!

Here are the cards I sent by email today, the first is my cousin and his wife! I used the Kit "Heartfelt" by Carolyn Kite, which I was RAKed with a little while ago. Just love that sparkling heart!

Credits:
Heartlight by Carolyn Kite at Scrap'n'Tag

And these are friends of my parents. I used the quickpage I made for the June (I think it was June) Quickpage Challenge at BTST, only I flipped it!

Credits:
Unconditional Collab from the Designers at BTST

Bye 4 now

Uhoh!

I have just put Robert to bed with a fever and a headache! I hope that by the morning it will have all gone, but the way he "crashed" this afternoon, I somehow doubt it. At lunch I thought he was just being awkward when he wouldn't eat his dinner, but apparently not! He didn't have any tea either, he just wanted to go to bed. Even willingly missed out on a story, and he normally ALWAYS wants his story!
Richard is a different story, at teatime he was too busy fiddling with his lego bricks, which I kept telling him to put down, and I was too busy with screaming Robert to pay much attention to Richard, so he got away with it. And didn't eat a single bite, I asked him if he was sure about it, and he said he was. WRONG! Once in bed for 3 minutes or so, he called me back in "Mummy, I forgot to eat my tea, need it!" I would normally have been hard on him and not got him back up, but as Robert had actually managed to get to sleep straight away, I did not need Richard waking him up again, because he was hungry. So Richard and I went back downstairs for him to finish, well, start actually on his tea! Monster!

Other than that, I took Florian to the station this morning for him to go back to work. He saw the doctor that operated once in Augsburg, and he was very pleased with his knee. He is even allowed to go without the crutches now!
This afternoon they came and took down the scaffolding, that was before Robert "crashed" so they were both at the windows watching all the goings on. Unfortunately much to their disappointment, the lorry didn't use its crane this time.

I am going to be busy scrapping tonight, we have two wedding anniversaries and one birthday this week, and I want to make them all a layout/card! So,
Bye 4 now

A lovely weekend

Yesterday whilst Florian went to see his cousins up north, the kids and I went down to see my parents, who were looking after Zoe and Mia for the day. The kids hadn't seen oneanother since our holiday together, and it was so cute to see how pleased they were to be together again.
We all went to the indoor playground in the afternoon. And Zoe, who is now at that age, where girls love looking after the little ones, so she looked after Richard all afternoon at the playground, and so Mum and I had a very relaxing afternoon, just watching them have fun!
In the evening Mum and Dad took us to a restaurant, and we all had chicken and chips. yummy! Robert only stopped eating cause we ran out of food for him! Goodness only knows where he was putting it.

and today we played at home all day, until Florian got back from his outing to the "cousin reunion", then the boys got a bit overexcited to see Daddy and one of his cousins! But they sort of behaved themselves were just a bit giggly and wouldn't talk properly.

they are now both tucked up in bed and will hopefully sleep better than last night, where at 4am they had an argument about who had what juice in bed... Just what I needed!

I have another layout to show today, this one was for the "Mix my Scrapbook Challenge" at Been There Scrapped that. this month we had to use 5 staples, one patterned and one plain paper, a string thing and cardboard, and as much glitter as we could take. And this is what I came up with. the boys splashing around in the paddling pool. I used Wendy's great new Kit "Splish Splash" available at Do It Digi (see sidebar for link).

Credits:
Splish Splash by BrokenJar Creations at Do it Digi
Staples from A Thing of Beauty by BrokenJar at Do it Digi
Cardboard Alpha by Ptitesouris

I got another challenge done tonight, this is for the ABC Challenge at BTST. J is for JUMP! And boy can Richard jump, there is no stopping him now! I used Michelle Herron's new kit "Seth" for this layout!

Credits:
Seth by Michelle Herron
Alpha by Tracy King

Bye 4 now

It was great!

My girl's night out was great! There was three of us, and we did a lot of talking, giggling and enjoying the food. And the food was DELICIOUS! I think I mentioned it was a Chinese Buffet, well, I certainly got my money's worth last night. I think I went back 6 times, but it was just sooo good, and I had had very little to eat all day, knowing that I would be tucking in there.
The boys were good for Florian, so we all had a great evening.

Yesterday we finally decided on a printer and ordered it online from Amazon, that was about 3pm yesterday afternoon, this morning at 11am the postman brought it! Not even 24 hours later. And that without paying extra for overnight delivery! The books we ordered did not arrive with the printer, but that didn't bother us. We now are the proud owners of a Canon Pixma IP4500 if that means anything to anyone. Very smart, one of the positive aspects of it, is that it closes up completely, meaning that the boys won't be hiding marbles and other things in it. You see, when we uninstalled the old printer, I was carrying it and out fell a marble! Grrrr!

I promise a couple of layouts not so long ago, and here they are.
This first one is for the Template Challenge at DSO. And I used Liz's great kit "Round the Track". It is pictures from our day out to Thomas Land. The boys still talk about it, and tell me that they had a ride on Percy, not Thomas, but that next time we go, they want to go on Thomas! It's so cute

Credits:
Round the Track by Sweet Digi Scraps at Been There Scrapped That

And this one is for the Scraplift Challenge at DSO and the Word challenge at Been there Scrapped That. These pictures are a bit older, but still cute. It is Richard's first ride on a merry-go-round. These were taken at Center parcs, where we will be going again soon. I used Wendy's great kit "One for the Boys".

Credits:
One for the Boys by BrokenJar Creations at Do it Digi

And I will hopefully be back later with another layout.

And here it is, I used Liz's new kit "Never Done" a great kit for those housework pictures!
this is Robert hanging out his washing sometime last summer. He still enjoys helping Mummy with the washing, only lately I haven't taken any photos!

Credits:
Never Done by Sweet Digi Scraps

Off to bed now, maybe I'll show you some more of the kit tomorrow!

Bye 4 now

Early post...

because I am going out tonight!!! Yippee! Girl's night out today, normally I get asked but have to miss out, cause Florian is away, but today I can go. We are off to a Chinese restaurant, where they do two types of buffet, the normal Chinese buffet, and a Mongolian buffet. Ooh, I am sooooo hungry and really looking forward to it.
But I wanted to let you know where I was, and post quickly before I go off with my friends from the village.

Oh and Dinphy - I know all about thousands of pictures we have taken 30.000 pictures in 3 years, and I am approx. 10.000 pictures behind! Oops, so I will be busy for months cataloguing these whilst taking new ones! Never mind, it really is worth it in the end, cause with that many pictures I would never find anything if I didn't and people in our family quite enjoy that I can find things so quickly now! So I will plod along slowly and surely!

OK, time to get the boys into the bath.
Back tomorrow
Bye 4 now

Just an ordinary day..

in our household. Well sort of, on an ordinary day, Florian would have been at work and not home with us. But seeing as he had a huge lay in this morning, the morning at least was pretty normal. Got the boys to Kindergarden, did the shopping, got back started another load of washing, did the ironing, fed the cat, rabbits and chickens, put out the rubbish, unloaded and loaded the dishwasher, and then stopped for a break, before it was time to get the boys back from Kindergarden.

This afternoon the boys and Florian went in the garden, and I stayed indoors cataloguing our photos. I realised last night, when I was looking for a particular photo, that I am VERY behind on the cataloguing of the pictures, so I really wanted to do some catching up. I am now in June of last year, oh dear, I had better try and keep myself very busy doing that in between working on some challenges and layouts! It will take a while though, because I do put a lot of thought into the keywords and I have a LOT of keywords, so there is hardly a photo with less than 4 keywords!

So what am I doing still writing my blog, when I could be "keywording"! I have a couple of new layouts I want to post, but as usual they are downstairs, so you will have to wait til later for them!
Bye 4 now

Rainy Day today

which kept us in most of the day. Florian and I ventured to MediaMarkt, which is a computer and electrical stuff store. We need a new cartridge for our printer and as they are soooo expensive, we thought it might be a better idea to buy a new printer (cheaper actually). Once there we realised that we need to do a little bit more research as to which one will really be cheaper in the long run. So Florian is now working that all out downstairs for us, whilst I look after the boys up here.
And that was really the most exciting part of the day. The afternoon was spent with the boys arguing over the toys and us shouting at them, I think it must be the weather, full moon was on Saturday so that can't be it!
Oh, we did have a couple of webcam chats with Mum and Zoe and Mia, and then with a friend in England. The boys enjoyed that.

And guess what, I have remembered something that I have been meaning to post about for at least a fortnight now.
I recieved another award! Yep, Jan (intensemagicscraps) think I am a Wylde Woman! Thanks Jan, I truly appreciate the award and send it right back to you, as you too fit all the necessary criteria!


The Purpose of the Award: To send love and acknowledgment to women who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy.
The rules are :
1. You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it’s up to you. Make sure you link to their site in your post.
2. Link back to this blogsite so Tammy can go visit all these wonderful women we’ve given it to.

Now to think of who to pass this on to.

First and foremost this goes to my Mum, who doesn't actually have a blog, but she reads this one every night, and I would like her to know that she "brightens my every day", "still teaches me new things" and I know "she lives her life fully and with generosity and joy" - Love you Mum!

but I do know a few I would like to pass it on to, who have blogs and to those reasons listed above, I add the following
1) Leigh (I know she got it from Jan too, but she deserves it twice at least) - for being a great online friend
2) Dinphy - for all the lovely comments she posts on my blog and how she manages to cheer me up, when the kids are really getting to me!
3) Liz - for all sorts of things, but for letting me be a big part of the Been There Scrapped That Team, Thanks
4) Melothria - for putting her trust in me and making me part of the DAC Circle of Trust
5) Michelle - for showing me that no matter how hard life hits, you can get up and keep going! Great to see you back to scrapping again, Michelle.

There you go girls, enjoy!

All is quiet here now, after a bit of a fuss about "who sleeps where" (they have now decided to turn themselves around in their beds again, grrr.) Wish me luck
Bye 4 now

Just another manic monday...!

Kids were off to Kindergarden OK this morning, then the fun started. Got the washing on, then I took "hop-a-long" (oh, that would be Florian, my husband) to the doctors to have the stitches out. The doctor told him in no uncertain terms that going back to work tomorrow, would NOT be a good idea, and that he MUST stay home at LEAST for the rest of this week. I am not at all disappointed about that. It's nice having him home, even if it is more work, he can't do that much with his crutches. that said, he is upstairs now, working on our taxes, at least as he said, he didn't fall on his head! Just the carrying and fetching is impossible, I'm not sure, how he got the peanuts when I was upstairs yesterday! hihi!

This afternoon after the boys nap, it was off to physiotherapy for him, unfortunately she didn't have any morning appointments left for this week. So we all have to go along (two more times), luckily she has a few good toys there so the boys behaved themselves.
After that we went home and played in the garden. Well, the boys played and I felt like a complete idiot trying to round up our chicken! Steve McQueen we call it, cause he insists on making "great escapes". Today she nearly ended up as chicken noodle soup. She was in our neighbours garden, and everytime I tried to get her to go under the fence, along came No.1 son and frightened her away. Grrrr.
I got her in the end, when I went to our neighbours garden and the silly chicken got herself stuck between two trees. I really had to push and pull to get her out, I swear someone has got a camera on me...

now it is time to relax, so I will hopefully get some scrapping done tonight, and be back later with some layouts.
Bye 4 now

Time to relax

I couldn't believe it this morning, I was fully expecting the boys to still be up with the birds this morning even though they had had a very late night - BUT they weren't! I first saw them at 8.30am this morning! It was so nice of them. It was funny too, because last night, Richard was not very cooperative putting his pyjamas on, so I left him in the days T-Shirt. Well this morning both Robert and Richard thought that that was NOT on, so at 8.30am instead of getting Richard dressed I had to put his pyjamas on properly!

We spent a pretty non eventful day today. The most exciting part, was probably when I caught two of our escaping chickens, and Florian clipped their wings. Only we got it wrong, we did both wings, which made it even and off they went again. But they are sorted now, at least I hope so, it gets embarrassing when the neighbours keep knocking to let you know your chicken is on the loose!

Oh, we had our first own tomatoes today, and ooh they are DELICIOUS, the flavour just explodes in your mouth. Even Robert looked pleasantly shocked when he bit into his!

Don't forget we are still looking for some new fun people to join the BTST Creative Team, don't be shy and drop us a line (details see down below!)

Bye 4 now

Busy two days!

wow, where did yesterday and today get to. I am only just going to manage to post today, its nearly tomorrow, and I have only just got home!
We went to visit friends today and we had a great day, with WAY too much food (I still feel full to burst), a couple of bumps and bruises and LOTS of fun!
Food: a barbecue a la Torsten. He does a great barbecue, he did mixed veg on it, with steak, grilled piemento (peppers) and a delicious salad. The kids got sausages, and Florian had his first tofu sausages. And that was lunch, then for tea, Torsten barbecued, scallops with seaweed - sounds quite gross, but it was DELICIOUS, and then we had scampi in garlic oil, plums wrapped in bacon and some more of the delicious peppers.
Can you believe that Torsten thought this was "not making too much fuss" - it was great and made such a change, but it was certainly making a fuss over us, but we loved it!
Bumps and bruises: 3 for Richard, leg, arm and elbow - three crashes with a bobby car going down hill.
1 for Robert also going down hill on a bobby car, only Robert crashed into a wall, and braked with his cheek. That really is a big blue/black bruise, which will hurt for a few days yet! Poor babies!

the boys were great considering we didn't leave there until after 9pm and they are normally in bed by 7pm! On our way home we watched an almost eclipse of the moon. It was really great to watch, and for once there wasn't a cloud in the sky!

And where was I yesterday - well yesterday at "blogging time" I was eating pizza with Florian and watching Die Hard 4.0, its been a while since I have watched a film and not been scrapping at the same time. And then I simply forgot, sorry. But that gave you all a chance to check out Been there Scrapped that's CT call! So exciting.
OK, time for bed now - good night! (Sorry for the chaotic posting, but I probably should have already been in bed!)

A Quickpage and a CT Call for BTST

First of all here is the big announcement I promised yesterday. Been there Scrapped That is looking for new Site CT Members to join us! Isn't that exciting? Well, I am excited to say the least.
Here is what we are looking for:

And just incase you cannot read the jpg, here is the text:

Want to create for great designers like Sweet Digi Scraps, Colie's Corner, ScrapShana, Scraps by Jenn, ChristineScraps and FlutterExpressions?
Then apply to ctcall@beentherescrappedthat.com with a short bio, how long you have been scrapping and a link to your best gallery. Can't wait to hear from you!!
Requirements:
1 LO per month by assigned designer
3 other layouts per month with a product of your choice from the BTST shoppe
Upload to 3 galleries including BTST Gallery
Be active in the Forum and comment in the Gallery
Participate in the monthly challenges when possible
2 CTM Enablings at DST a month with BTST designer product
Respond to ISO's at DST when possible with BTST designer product.

Please place CT Call in the subject line of your e-mail application. And also include any CT's you are currently on and any other information you would like us to know about in the email.

Come check out the site at www.beentherescrappedthat.com take a look around, introduce yourself, stay a while and have some fun with us.

We will accept applications for the call until 31st August. All applicants will recieve a reply mail within 2 weeks of the end of the call, if not sooner.

We are looking forward to hearing from YOU!!!

So what else is new...oh yes, I remember I have a little quickpage for you. My kit Ruby Tuesday was sat all alone on the laptop, so I thought I would get it out, dust it off and make something to give away - a quickpage. Here it is:

Download here

If you like the quickpage, you may like the kit too, it's still available on my blog, click on the image to go directly to the page with the links.


Well, that is all for this morning, I will be back this evening for my usual update. CU then, maybe!
Oh and I LOVE comments, so leave some love if you download. And I look forward to browsing your galleries when you apply to join us at Been there Scrapped That

Florian's home safe and sound!

Florian was let out of hospital this morning, all be it on crutches, but what was I expecting, he has just had a major knee operation! He had packed his things in a rucksack, so he was able to catch a train and come home to stay with us. The boys were excited about picking him up, and at home they had something exciting to show Daddy.
Because this morning they came to put up the scaffolding for the painters who are scheduled to come next week. It was really exciting this morning for them as a lorry pulled up outside and then using a CRANE started unloading on to our garden. It was difficult to get them to Kindergarden. But the promise of seeing the scaffolding when they got home worked!
I picked them up at lunchtime and they couldn't get home quick enough to see it all! Luckily there were no ladders, so I didn't have to stop them from climbing it.

This afternoon we played in the garden, well the boys played, Florian and I chatted. the boys were making mudpies and cooking as they called it. It was so cute, I think for a whole hour they talked to one another non stop! All about the different ingredients in their pies! It was so cute to watch and listen to.

that's all for now, I will be back in the morning with a Quick Page for you all, AND with a

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

which as Leigh put it, we are coordinating with our overseas partner! ;) CU then!

Do we have the new Beckhams??

Guess where we went today! Yep, the boys have started football (for my American visitors - soccer). The village we live in has a great football club, and the kids start early, well 4 really. But Richard was not going to be told to sit down and watch his brother play, so I let him join in, waiting for them to send him back to me... but they didn't! In fact in the break, they asked who the little one belonged too. I owned up, apologising for letting him join in, and they said, NO, let him, he is better than some of the big boys! and that at 2,5 years old!! Wayhey, that made Mummy grow a few centimetres!

Florian was operated on on his knee today, and all went very well, the doctor did say, the operation was just in time, it was worse inside than it had looked on the scan, and that had they not operated, in 4 weeks it would have gone completely beyond repair. So that was good news too!

OK, its really late and I am really on my way to bed, but wanted to share that. I have been so busy on the phone and chatting to Leigh, and extracting some stuff for a possible new kit, that I forgot to blog.... oops. I'll be earlier tomorrow, promise
goodnight

Wet, wet, wet

no not the Scottish pop group, but my boys after having fun splashing in the puddle opposite our house! From scorching hot last week the weather has gone the total opposite, and now it is much too cool and wet for August. I don't think we get any "normal" days anymore, we only seem to do extremes! Oh well, we made the most of a bad day this afternoon. Got out the wellies and off we went. I really should have got the water proof trousers out too, cause after only two big jumps in the puddle Robert had soaked himself. That didn't stop him though, the carried on splashing til the puddle was no more! At one point Robert came over and said "Mummy, I think I've got wet feet", well, wet feet doesn't do it justice! His feet were both sat in their own little puddles in his shoes! We had to empty the wellies. And then wring out his socks! They were so so wet, but having a great time. I was too, as all the neighbours with kids had joined us, so we had a good natter whilst the kids splashed! And then it was in to give the kids a bath, so that they don't catch a cold!

This morning my cousin's wedding book arrived, so this afternoon (before all the splashing) we popped to the post office! It turned out very nice (if I do say so myself) a couple of the pictures have printed up a bit on the dark side, but it doesn't spoil the book, its probably just me being over critical!

I got a couple of layouts done one at lunchtime and one last night, so I will definitely be back later to post those.

This first one is Robert on his new bike.

Credits:
One for the boys by BrokenJar Creations

This is for the ABC challenge at BTST, I got pictures of the boys using water pistols to paint the wood.

Credits:
Paper from Not Your Ordinary Boy Paper Pack by Sweet Digi Scraps
Alpha - Paint Spill Alpha by Sweet Digi Scraps
Screws - Mr Fix It by Sweet Digi Scraps

And this is the boys taking down Richard's cot!

Credits:
Alpha - Paint Spill Alpha by Sweet Digi Scraps
Screws - Mr Fix It by Sweet Digi Scraps

Bye 4 now

Busy Day

Yep, I was really busy today (housework mainly, so I won't bore you with the details!) That was at least until the boys came home from Kindergarden. Then we spent the afternoon in the garden, and about 5.30pm we wandered over to were our blueberry festival is going on and I treated the boys to a sausage and chips. Which they thoroughly enjoyed. I had a steak, and the cook is definitely in love (as they say in Germany), it was just toooooo salty for me, so I only ate half of it. It could possibly have been done on purpose, so that people get up a good thirst, but it wasn't for me!
The boys thought the band there was great, they played the first few chords and Richard said "Its like Keith Urban!" I wish it had been, it was German oompah music, but the first few chords were just practise ones and did have a more rock and roll feeling to it!
The boys then did some dancing to the music - outside of the tent, it was too loud for them near the stage.
Now they are all tucked up in bed and will hopefully sleep soundly til the morning. Whilst I go and do some more challenges I think today!
Bye 4 now

Heidelbeerfest (Blueberry Festival)

Today was the annual blueberry festival parade! We invited some friends over to go and see it with us and we had agreat time. To start with it looked very much, like we might get rained on - we even had the boys umbrellas with us, but it held off! the parade is short but very sweet. We have a blueberry King and Queen and their following, and Blueberry child prince and princess (I always thought Robert or Richard would be that one day, but it looks like we will be moving way before they are old enough!), then there are the carnival clubs and their dancers in the parade. And all the areas of the village have a float in the parade, oh and not to forget our Big Band.
After the parade, we all follow it, down to the festival grounds, where we get our traditional blueberry cake. This year again, we bought it there and took it back to our garden to eat, it was much too full there and we couldn't get a seat, so we had it in comfort in our back garden!
Very delicious! And lots of blue tongues (just a little as we had the blueberry cake version with cheese cake underneath, and not too many of the blueberries)

We had to take Florian to the station again this evening, this weekend the car park is actually open again, but he is being operated on his knee this week, and then it will be better if I pick him up at the station rather than he drive himself home!

All is quiet here, they are enjoying the jungle stickers they get if they are good boys so much, that they really do go straight to sleep. Although today probably also had something to do with the fact, that there was no nap for Richard, and they are simply worn out!

OK, I have been busy again this evening - whilst watching "You've got Mail" (so sweet!). Here is a layout of Mia, on the monkey bars at the playground. I used a new kit by Lioness3 Legacies called Grungy Girl.

Credits:
Grungy Girl by Lioness3 Legacies at DigiScrapMall

And this one is for the colour challenge at DSO. I swear Kim must have borrowed my CDs of pictures for her colour swatch, and dinphy too, cause she made a baby boy kit with the colour swatch! I did NOT change anything on the picture!

Credits:
Sweet Baby Boy by Dinphy

Bye 4 now

Knights and a playground!

This afternoon we decided to go to a Knight's festival (not really sure what it would be called in English). The posters in town advertising it, looked very promising. I even checked their internet domain, looked like there would be a lot going on, and I thought the kids would enjoy it. So after Richard's nap, off we went. When we got there, it was in the middle of nowhere and there weren't many cars on the car park. Not a promising sign. Well we got out and there really were only those that were "working" there there I think. They had a bit of music going and were barbecuing sausages (Bratwurst) but that was all. NOTHING at all for the kids. I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but definitely more than we got. Luckily it was free, so after walking up the hill a bit and finding a couple of horses, some archery and someone on a quad, we left. The boys after declaring "Mummy, there is a horse!""There's two horses" had had enough of that!
We decided to go to a playground with them. A good decision. Oh before getting there, we stopped at the shops for Robert to spend his pennies. Our neighbour bought some eggs off of us this morning and as we weren't taking the money, Robert had it (to share with Richard). So at the shops the pair of them, were allowed to choose some sweeties, it was so cute to watch them decide what they were going to have.
In the end they had a strip of lollypops and some smiley faces (like gummibears).
Then it was off to the playground for some swinging and climbing.
I think we wore them out. All seems to be quiet here now. So I am off downstairs some old colleagues had just stopped by, as I was on my way upstairs to put the kids to bed. They probably think I am hiding from them by now!

Now for a couple more layouts. This one I did yesterday evening, using a kit by Linda Cumberland, she is new at DigitalArts Cafe, and this kit called Logan's Day is so cute. Would you believe that these two layouts were made using the same kit! Very versatile!

This is Richard in the garden last week. So that they could dig with their Bob the Builder toys I actually dug over some of the weeds, to give them a bit more dirt!

Credits:
Logan's Day by Linda Cumberland at DAC

And this is a layout for the lyrics challenge at DigitalArts Cafe, the challenge was to scrap your favourite song from childhood. Well, all I could think of was "Yummy, yummy, yummy" (by The Ohio Express - i looked that up on Google!). We used to have a cassette of our favourites songs, and it was a right mixture of pop hits and childrens music, but this one was a favourite. I did use a picture of Richard though and not me. This is Richard at the age of about 1 (I think).

Credits:
Logan's Day by Linda Cumberland at DAC

Bye 4 now

An expensive day!

Yep, today we got to go and pick our car up that was in for repairs and MOT - ouch it hurt! But had we not had the work done, it wouldn't have passed the MOT, and we would have needed a new car, so we took a deep breath and handed over some plastic - that's not real money anyways!

I picked Florian up from the station this morning, he has the day off, and before we went and got the big shock at the garage, we went into town and finally ordered a new pair of glasses for me! Not too long after having been to the eye-doctor! (it was at the end of May, oops). There we did get a pleasant surprise!!! I was expecting to have to pay around 250 Euros altogether for new frames and the lenses, and when he said it would be 67 Euros, it was such a pleasant surprise. I had told him that it was only really an emergency pair as I wear contact lenses, and he then didn't even try to sell me the all singing all dancing lenses! I can definitely recommend this shop, oh and the frames were free!!! Shame we didn't carry on that spree at the garage!

The boys were pleased to have Daddy home again, and even more pleased that we BOTH picked them up at Kindergarden. They were so excited.
In the afternoon Florian had an appointment at the bank to find out if they will finance a house for us, when we move to the south of Germany, if we rent this house out. And yes they will!! Now all we have to do is find someone who wants to rent a BIG house with a BIG garden - oh and look after the chickens! We'll see!
We also phoned up one of the firms that had been to give us a quote on having the back of the house painted the order. They'll be in touch next week, with a date for that. So we were on quite a spending spree today.
Unfortunately we didn't really get outside today, it has rained on and off all day long. Which is a shame, cause tonight our village festival starts, and that is not so much fun in the rain. Well, we aren't going to night anyways so maybe by Sunday when we go all will be better.

I did a couple of CT layouts yesterday. Michelle Herron has an AMAZING new Kit soon to be released, its called Baby Drew and is just gorgeous. I did this layout of Robert, when he wasn't even 24 hours old. I managed to combine CT work with a challenge again, this one is for the "Say it with Music" Challenge at BTST.

Credits:

Baby Drew by Michelle Herron

And this one is for BrokenJar Creations (Wendy). I used Wendy's Kit Serene Summer for this layout. I just love this photo that Dad took at Zoe's First Day at School Celebration of Lee (my brother) and Mum. They both look so proud and happy.

Credits:
Serene Summer by BrokenJar Creations

Oh, and you should definitely pop over to Dinphy's Blog today, she has just released her DSO Colour Challenge Kit and it is just too cute! I love it, Dinphy!
Right the boys are quiet, we didn't wear them out outside, but we had them doing all sort of jumping indoors and they are all nice and asleep now! I hope they can keep it up now!
I'm off downstairs, a) to update this with the layouts and b) to do some more..
Bye 4 now

News and other things...

Well, in case you were wondering what I forgot yesterday - and I still can't believe I forgot it, since I am soooooo excited about it!

I MADE A NEW CT!
Yep, I am now proudly scrapping for BrokenJar Creations at Do It Digi. She has some great kits out, and although it's only been a week, I know she is going to be great to work for. I actually have already posted my first Layout with her kit - Zoe's First School Day was done with this kit! It is a great kit to work with.



Unfortunately Phillsboo has terminated her CT, it was fun while it lasted, but things move on. Phillsboo has told me she is thinking of retiring. Should she change her mind I am sure she will find another great CT.

I also now belong to DigitalArts Cafe's Circle of Trust, which means although they no longer have a site CT, I still get to proudly scrap for them. Thanks Melo for your trust, I truely appreciate it.
I have a great new blinkie to go with it too.

I think that was all my news from the scrapbooking world. Now to family life.

I tried a new approach to bed time tonight. I got the boys their tea 3/4 of an hour earlier than usual, and THEN let them run wild in the garden. And do you know what, I think it may have worked. They were a) much easier to put to bed, and b) have not been playing up, fingers crossed! I will try this approach again!
The boys went off to kindergarden with no problem this morning and I got to do a LOT of housework this morning, well mainly ironing, but it was a LOT! This afternoon seemed to fly by today, without us doing much, we were in the garden for a little while then it came over really black and started rumbling, so it was back indoors, and then it seemed it was time for my early tea!
And now all is quiet here it is time to go downstairs and start working for all those people I proudly scrap for!
Bye 4 now

Cars and guests

Well, the boys are both back in Kindergarden now, and although Richard kept telling me on the way to Kindergarden that he didn't want to go, he didn't cry today!
I dropped them off in a bit of a hurry as Florian's car had to go in to the workshop today to be serviced and M.O.T.ed. I drop it off there and then they take me back home. And tomorrow they will come and pick me up again so I can get the car back! Unfortunately the car did not pass the MOT and will have to have a few not unimportant jobs done to it, e.g. the back brakes! Mm a good idea that! Something is wrong with the exhaust and something else with the steering - the guy did tell me on the phone, but I can't remember what it was now. oops, as long as they do!

At lunchtime my parents came for the day. They picked the boys up from Kindergarden, they were both really pleased that Nanna and Pop had come, but they did ask "where's Mummy?" if I had been there, I would have been ignored!

We spent a bit of time in the garden, where Dad SUCCESSFULLY tried to wear them out, by deliberately throwing the ball past them down the slope, so that they had to run and get it again all the time! It was so cute - I wonder how long we can fool them with that game, cause it really worked. They have been quiet tonight since 7.20pm!!! Unbelievable - and I do believe that it is safe to mention it now!

I have a feeling that I have forgotten something, but I will probably be back later tonight with a layout or so, so if I remember I will post then!

I have remembered what I had forgotten, but I am going to save it now for tomorrow!!!

But I do have another layout. I made a layout for the boys! I had great fun adding to the farmyard fun here!

Credits:
Barnyard Banter and Add-on by ScrapShana at BTST

Bye 4 now

Chicken's run!!!

First of all, Robert got better and better throughout the day, and this evening you wouldn't know that he was all full of fever yesterday - infact I forgot to take his temperature when he went to bed, but he did not feel too hot at all!
He did stay home from Kindergarden today but tomorrow he is looking forward to going back! And Richard is looking forward to that too. He did not like going on his own this morning, and in all the time he has been there, today he was the most clingy. Poor thing!

We missed Zoe's first day at school party (its a BIG thing starting school in Germany) as Robert was ill, but I did make her a card, which Mum took with them.

Credits:
Mystery Mega from Scrap Orchard
Wordart by Elegant Wordart (altered)

This afternoon I took the computer with me in the garden to be there when Leigh got up, she was expecting a hurricane to hit them this morning (my afternoon) and I wanted to know her safe. And she is, the hurricane changed course during the night! Thank goodness, although I think I was worrying most, having no experience with hurricanes!
Anyways whilst in the garden, Robert let the chickens out again and they now having explored our garden completely three of them made for neighbours garden, and do you think we could round them up! It took 4 adults and 3 kids to round them up and get them back in their run!! I am sure mum was right and someone is watching with a video camera on us!

I got some of the pictures from Mum and Dad of Zoe's first school day, and found the perfect quote at the BTST Scrapper Say What Challenge ("Most of what you learn in the first four years of elementary school will be valid all your life." ~L.M. Boyd). I also lifted one of KimB's Designs layouts for the DSO blog challenge.

Credits:
A Thing of Beauty by BrokenJar Creations

Bye 4 now

Summer flu and chickens!

OK, I spent most of the night with Robert and Richard last night. Robert couldn't sleep cause he was too hot, and he woke Richard who then too couldn't get back to sleep. Robert would have loved to come in "mummy's bed", but had I done that, I would have had two boys in bed with me and no room left for me - plus all the arguing over who gets to share Mummy's pillow! So between 2.30 and 3.30am I was in and out of their bedroom!
I have to add, Robert really was hot 39.8°C (103.5°F). So this morning we went off to the doctors, she checked him there for scarlet fever, but thankfully, that is not what he has got, he just has an annoying summer flu. We have some medicine for it, and hopefully in a couple of days he will be feeling better. At this moment I think he is feeling better, cause again they are not settling down to sleep! grrr....

Richard went to Kindergarden on his own this morning. He looked a bit sad as I waved bye-bye. And apparently it took him quite some time after I had gone to stop crying poor thing. In fact the first thing he told me was "I stopped crying, Mummy" - oops. After 3 weeks at home with Mummy it is going to take some getting used to being back there again. And to start it off without Robert did not help!

I let the boys play on the terrace this afternoon, I didn't want Robert doing any running if I could avoid it. Well they were in and out, and they haven't yet mastered the art of shutting the fly door. But as today the flies aren't so bad, I didn't mind too much.
Well, at one point they were both back indoors with me, about to do a jigsaw, when I turned and looked into the hall, I must have seen some movement. Well, I had a HUGE surprise, there in the door way stood Henny and Penny - two of our new chickens! They had cheekily walked right in! We then had to chase them back out again, one found her way out easily but the other cheeky chicken, went into the kitchen and hid from me, Robert and Richard under the kitchen table. Very hard to get her out from there, especially with the help of Robert and Richard who only really succeeded in chasing her back under, when I managed to get her a little way to the kitchen door!
then there was more clucking and whilst I left the boys in the kitchen I went to see, what it was all about, and there were the other 4 chickens on their way to my lounge!! AGH. Brainwave then, once they were outside, I got the boys to guard the door from the terrace and tackled Henny in the kitchen on my own. Worked a treat. I caught her and took her back outside.!
Hilarious!
Now, guess what the first thing I did, when I saw the chickens - yep, grabbed the camera! So watch this space, I feel a layout coming on - possibly my first with quite a bit of journalling on it. We'll see! Well, here it is! My first real journalling layout!

The journalling reads:
This afternoon we were sat in the lounge enjoying "Bob the Builder", when out of the corner of my eye I caught a movement! Imagine my surprise when I turned to see two of our chickens walking in as if they owned the place! (Of course my first instinct was to grab the camera!)

Credits:
Barnyard Banter and Add-on by ScrapShana at BTST

That wasn't the end of the chicken stories, a little while later the boys from next door rang the door bell. Henny or Penny not quite sure which (Henny I think) was out the front of the house walking along the path. The neighbours boys had tried to catch her and failed, so they rang for help.
This time I locked the chickens back up in their run! So much for letting them roam the garden! (we hoped they would solve our fly problem!)

Enough giggling for now. Time to scrap it!
Bye 4 now

Where did today go?

Not really sure! Florian and the boys let me have a bit of a lay in, after a break from sleep between 6.30am and 7.30am (where I tried to let Florian have a lay in). But at 7.30am Robert was in kissing Daddy awake telling him to get up - and he did, and they let me sleep! It was great - thanks guys! Especially as I didn't sleep to well. I was bitten on my elbow yesterday by a horsefly - vicious little insects they are - at 5.30 I was up trying to cool my elbow down and stop the itching! A very cold flannel eventually did the trick!

The rest of the day just sort of disappeared. Robert was really weird at lunchtime. He refused to eat or to talk to us, just sat there with tears trickling down his cheeks. He wouldn't tell us what the matter was. We thought it was because he had been told off for not sharing, what we call "sugar cheese" (in reality parmesan for on spaghetti). Well come later in the afternoon, it was obvious what the problem was, a soring fever again! He is now dosed up with calpol and asleep in bed (he went at 6.30pm!) Hopefully he'll be better in the morning. He was so looking forward to seeing his friends at Kindergarden again.

Florian is at this moment on his way back to work (still no parking at the station so we have to drive him Sunday night, but it should all be back to normal, next weekend!)

Oh and the photo book is finished. Good job I had it checked though, I had forgotten 3 photos of the guests - oops!
OK, all is quiet up here now, so I am off to start on Augusts other challenges!

Didn't get started on the challenges after all, I decided to make a page for Mum instead! this is Mum's beautiful garden, the wordart is the one of the one's that I really wanted from the challenge. There was another in the pack that I want to use too, but I need a different sort of picture, might have to take it first!

Credits:
Typhanie by Kawouette at Been there Scrapped That
Wordart by Joy Kuoha of Kuoha Designs Ink!

Bye 4 now

Weekend Fun

First things first, Florian fixed the upstairs computer (that sounds posh doesn't it - but its an old one now and acts more like a server and I get to surf the net, whilst waiting for the kids to settle). It was just a case of too much dust - oops! Now that it has been cleaned it is working fine again - hopefully for a little while yet!
We decided to barbecue for dinner, which the boys were very excited about. As I made them more pasta salad - yummy! We started out eating it in the garden but this time we didn't have to go and hide from the rain, this time it was the wasps. having been stung twice now, Robert gets slightly (underexagerating (is that a word, and is that how you spell it??!!)) panicked! So this time we moved our picnic into the utility room - that was a first. Barbecue amongst the washing machine, dryer and cats dinner! the boys thought it was great fun, and at least there we weren't pestered too much by insects! I do need to do the washing though soon to get the bbq smell out of the room!
In the afternoon I got stuck on the computer, whilst the boys and Florian were in the garden mowing and playing. I was having great fun completing my cousins wedding book! And I am so pleased with the results. I now just have to wait to hear how many copies I have to get printed, and I am having one page checked by my Aunt and Uncle as to whether I have all the guests on it! When I first did it I had actually managed to forget my Mum and Dad -OOPS! Sorry Mum!

All is quiet here now, so I am off downstairs in a bit (still chatting to Leigh at the minute - Hi Leigh!)

I got my first layout for the August Challenges at Been There Scrapped That done. This one is for the Layout Snatch Up Challenge and is a lift of tsavoie's "sisters"

Credits:
Being a Boy by Phillsboo at DigitalArts Cafe
Alpha by Ptitesouris

Bye 4 now

Did you miss me?

I missed blogging! what went wrong - well, Florian jinxed the computer when on the phone to me in the afternoon. You see, he said - "have you turned the computer off upstairs lately?" Erm, no but I'll do it today. Well, when I went upstairs to put the boys to bed, the computer was off. According to Robert - Lucas had turned it off, but I think he was making it up, as then it was no Lucas touched here, and Richard there (Richard was in bed at the time, that Lucas and Robert was upstairs!). Well, I went to turn it on, and NOTHING! Yep NOTHING! And today still NOTHING.
In the meantime Florian is home and he thinks it is probably the power supply, so a-shopping-we-will-go! That will be cheaper than a new desktop. Although Media Markt have a 0% finance thing on so if we do have a bigger problem...
Once downstairs, I forgot all about blogging, I was busy working on my cousins wedding book - way too many pictures to choose from - but I now have a deadline! The printing company (www.fotobuch.de) have an offer on 22% off of orders placed by next Thursday. Well, that is too good an offer to miss, so I am very busy.

I did take a break to enter one last challenge in July the Ad Challenge at DSO. I really wanted the WordArt posting bonus (you'll see why, once I get it!).
I found it a tough challenge, as the Ad said nothing to me, until I remembered Liz's Take Me Away Kit, which went well with the old maps on the ad! And seeing Liz's kit that did inspire me!

this is Robert and me on a ride at Thomas Land, a great pic to make look old! Journalling reads:
There is no cure like travel, to help you unravel, the worries of living today. When the poor brain is cracking, there's nothing like packing, a suitcase and sailing away!

Credits:
Take me Away by Sweet Digi Scraps

OK, time to get busy again on that wedding book!
Bye 4 now