Lots of Layouts!

Look what I found in the galleries! Benita and Dinphy have worked wonders with my Design It Entry - Indian Summer! they have created some beautiful layouts with it, and made my day!! Thanks so so much!

This first one is Benita and her sister back in the autumn of 1964. I love it all, the alpha works well with the autumn picture.


And this one too is from Benita, its her grandparents.
Another great layout!

This is Benita's granddaughter on her first day at school, she looks so proud of herself, the red goes great here! Love it - of course!


And this last one is from Dinphy, she used bits from the Add-on and the kit. And I think she found the perfect picture for it too. Love the climbing frame in the right orange and all the leaves there too! Great layout.


Thank you so much, Dinphy, Benita - you really have made my week again!

The boys went back to kindergarden this morning, not too happy about it! But they enjoyed it once there. We had a postcard for both of their groups, which we wrote together this morning to give to the kindergarden teachers. - I know, you are supposed to post them, but this way worked much better, gave them a reason for going this morning!
It was such a rainy day this afternoon, that we had to spend it indoors, and after the last week at Center Parcs, it was boring for the boys, and they showed that by misbehaving!
They are late to bed today, despite saying they were tired at 5pm - we had a power cut at 6pm, which I had to deal with first. At first I thought it was the whole village, but when I phoned the neighbour from my mobile, he answered - oops! Seeing as he had electricity and I didn't he came round and helped me find the source of the problem.
It seems it is the dryer - argh!!! Oh well, all is working again now - except the dryer. Luckily all the important washing is dried! The bedding will have to dry the old-fashioned way and take that bit longer!

After struggling with the designing last night, I changed my colour scheme and theme this morning and it is all coming along nicely at last, I was beginning to think I wasn't going to get anything done in time! So I will be busy with that this evening.
I think the voting has finished for this week at DAC, but you can always try if you haven't yet voted. I came joint second!! :)
Bye 4 now

we're home - and a freebie!

We are back from our holiday, but more about that at the end of the post.
this is for those here for the freebie!

I have a small add-on to my entry to the Design It Contest at DigitalArts Cafe - Indian Summer.

If you like this,

YOU WILL LOVE THIS!
And guess what it is a freebie too! Only you have to go to DigitalArts Cafe first to get it.

First
- You have to register at DigitalArts cafe.
...That's free.
Second
- Make five posts in the forum section.
...Easy; introduce yourself, and say 'hi' to four others... Or play some games.
Third
- Go to the 'secret forum'.
...In the top section, you find two important threads; 'Downloads' and 'Poll'.

To get the Add-On, you only have to CLICK HERE!
but any votes would be greatly appreciated!

Now about that holiday. We were only a couple of hours from home at Center Parcs - Hochsauerland. And we had a GREAT time! The boys now need a week to get over all the excitement, they were so exhausted, that at 6pm tonight they ASKED to go to bed! Wow! And by 7pm they were sound asleep!
Watch this space for some layouts with some of the photos! Might be a while yet, I have to design the last entry for the contest! And I am only just starting! oops!
Bye 4 now

Design It Week 4 - Indian Summer

Here is what I have been waiting to post, my latest entry to the Design It Contest! I am again pleased with it. The colour swatch, was given and the theme. So an Indian summer it was!


And here is one of the quickpages in use! I have also used this one for the Scrapper Say What Challenge at Been There Scrapped That. the journalling reads: "No Spring nor Summer Beauty hath such grace
As I have seen in one Autumnal face."
- John Donne

This is a picture of Richard taken yesterday on our way to the swimming pool, or was it the playground?!
we are still all having a GREAT time. The boys are having a "fun overload" today we went bowling in the morning, so cute, will have some great pages scrapped soon! And this afternoon, it was time for more swimming. Today there was no stopping either of them, the baby pool was totally out! Never went near it today. Richard kept Pop and Daddy busy going up and down the "tunnel slide" and Robert was in the waves, on the blow up slide (in the middle of the pool!) and then Richard convinced Robert to join them on the slides, from then it was up and down for all of them.
I got a go in the pool on my own, and they have a "wild water canal" and I went round and round that 3 times I think, it was great fun!
after all that today, we are all knackered tonight. Robert was even too tired to eat his tea! I hope he doesn't get hungry in the middle of the night!

Oh and last night - Florian and I had a game of pool (billiards) and guess what, I won a game! I couldn't believe it! I actually won two games, but one was only cause Florian potted the black too soon!
Dad and Florian are out now having another game of pool, and Mum and I are just about to have a nice slice of melon! Yummy
Bye 4 now

More fun!

Mum and Dad have come to stay the weekend, and the boys are over the moon. they showed Nanna and Pop all around the swimming pool, and Richard who yesterday didn't want to leave the baby pool, today did it all, the waves, the bubbles, and LOTS and LOTS of slides! So cute!
This afternoon, Dad and Florian took the boys to the playground on their bikes, and Mum and I managed to get the internet to work and get my last entry to the DAC Design It contest uploaded! Yippee!
And tonight, another yippee, Florian and I are going out, whilst Mum and Dad babysit the kids! So I will sign off now!
Bye, don't forget to check DigitalArts Cafe tomorrow for my new kit!

Having a GREAT time!

We are doing a LOT of swimming and we only get Robert out of the water, when he starts shivering! He loves it all, the waves, the bubbles, the slides, you name it he loves it! He is even trying to swim now! It looks so cute, not good for my nerves, I am so used to holding him, when he tells me to let go, it is difficult! So I let Florian go with him most of the time, and stay with the easy one - Richard!
Richard loves the water, but NOT the waves! He does not want to go in that pool, so Richard and I spend most of our time in the nice and warm baby pool! He was a bit braver today and went on some of the different slides, I think tomorrow there will be no stopping him!

What else have we been up to...erm mostly swimming, but we have been on various playgrounds, fed some ducks, chased some ducks! the boys have been on a train ride (more than once) we are like I said having a great time!

My kit for the next round at DAC is finished, but I am having trouble uploading it, so wish me luck!
Bye 4 now

More Special Delivery layouts!!

We're having a great fun packed family week, no time for any more now, but I will update you all again soon,
but I really wanted to share these two layouts from Dinphy with you...

They are soooo cute!

Dinphy, I LOVE them, thanks so much!

The links and poll are still up at DAC, check the post below, to see how to get my kit "Special Delivery"
Bye 4 now

More layouts with my "Special Delivery"

Just a quick post tonight, with Florian on holiday, we are trying to make the most of it, so hopefully the boys will agree and let me go downstairs quickly!

Dinphy has made the most beautiful layouts with my latest kit, I just have to show them off here!
But first another shameless plug.
You can still get this kit and vote over at DAC

that is it all together, but I have a preview of the papers and quickpage separately here

First
- You have to register at DigitalArts cafe.
...That's free.
Second
- Make five posts in the forum section.
...Easy; introduce yourself, and say 'hi' to four others... Or play some games.
Third
- Go to the 'secret forum'.
...In the top section, you find two important threads; 'Downloads' and 'Poll'.

And here is what Dinphy has done with it:

I am so in awe of these, incredible extractions and colouring and element placement, I could go on and on, but you get the idea!
Thank you so much Dinphy!

come back tomorrow, dinphy made some more, but I am spreading them out a bit!!!
And please stop by DAC and check out the other kits - all I can say is I am glad I am not voting (well I did for me!!, but if I really had to choose!) So you can be sure, you will get some great freebies over there this week!
Bye 4 now

A lovely day!

Today was a good day! The boys let us sort of have a bit of a lay in, they were up at their usual bright and early time of 7am, but they played nicely-ish so that we didn't actually "get up" until 9am! Lovely!
Florian met with our neighbours at 11am to discuss whether or not they are interested in renting our house... we still have to agree on a price, but they are very interested so fingers crossed for us. I would know "our" house is in safe hands if they moved in, and we could concentrate on finding something down south with Florian!
And as Florian is on holiday for the next week, we then celebrated by going out for dinner! To the boys favourite restaurant, if you remember its the one where he fell in the water outside the door back in April! The boys had sausage and chips (they ate it nearly all up!), I had Schnitzel with mushrooms and chips and Florian had a Vegetarian feast (I would say!).
Then we went to the playground. It was lovely and sunny when we got their a sort of Golden October day, only its still September, but then the rain came over, so our stay there was cut short. From there we went to the bakers, and wow, they had things with wheels back again! They obviously realised that people really had stopped coming cause the things weren't there! The boys loved it, and went round and round and round on scooters! they had more to eat - a Brezel each! Don't know where they are putting it all, it probably means that any day now, their trousers are going to be much too short for them!
It was a lovely day!

And this morning I found a lovely surprise waiting for me at Digital Arts Cafe - and now I am going to surprise Benita, cause cheekily this time I haven't pm'ed her first about the layout, but I know she won't mind if I post it here!
I just love seeing my kit in action! I am already (well nearly already) started on my new kit an autumn themed one, and haven't had time to play with my kit, but I will try to if I get a creative block when designing!
Anyhow here is Benita's layout of her daughter and son. It was the first time her daughter held her baby brother. Such a cute photo to have!
I love how perfectly the heart fits around the two of them! Thank you for the surprise Benita!


OK, I'm getting hungry now, haven't had tea yet as Florian and I didn't want to share the last two rolls with the boys - mean parents aren't we! But after all the Brezel they had today, they didn't need anymore!
Bye 4 now

Special Delivery - A new Kit and Add-on!

Before I get to my daily update, let me plug away - again!
It's week 3 at DigitalArts Cafe and my entry is up for grabs again over there. This week we had a specific theme "babies" but no colour swatch.
I wanted something pretty neutral, that people could use for cards or such, if they weren't sure, what the baby was going to be, and wanted to get the card ready!
Anyhow, this is what it looks like!

that is it all together, but I have a preview of the papers and quickpage separately here


I'm pleased with the finished results, it could be a bit adventurous with the colours, not the traditional white, pink or blue, but guess what, of the 6 remaining contestants, I am not the only one with this colour swatch! So funny.

Anyways, how do you get my kit and the other 5 entries, Dinphy wrote it really well on her blog this week, so I am going to try copying and pasting!

First
- You have to register at DigitalArts cafe.
...That's free.
Second
- Make five posts in the forum section.
...Easy; introduce yourself, and say 'hi' to four others... Or play some games.
Third
- Go to the 'secret forum'.
...In the top section, you find two important threads; 'Downloads' and 'Poll'.

I am sure you will enjoy it over there, it is a great community!

I also have a little add on for you. It has 3 patterned and 3 solid papers, two ribbon flowers, two safety pins, and a complete tiny bead alpha, possible for on the safety pins!
I hope you like it!

Download Add-On here

D
OK, I can hear the kids playing up in the kitchen, I will go and help Florian supervise them, and I'll be back once they are in bed, to do my daily update!

Well, I am back, bit later than planned, but I was sort of hoping something exciting would happen, cause today was very uneventful really. I have done all of next weeks washing already and ironed it! Just got to put it away now! Florian went out in the garden with the boys, whilst I went and got some shopping. They "moved" Treacle (our other rabbit) into Miffy's old hutch (he has definitely gone for good, we have decided!). I think Treacle likes his new hutch, he was in it straight away and he looked so cosy. We have moved it closer to the house, so it might even be slightly less chilly there too.
Oh, remember the chicken who finally had eggs that were going to hatch, well not anymore they aren't she decided to give up!! Bother! I was quite looking forward to seeing some baby chicks. But she just isn't sitting on them anymore! So I have removed them from the nest completely! Maybe in the spring!
and that was our day in a nutshell!
Bye 4 now

Out partying!

That's where I have been! My brother celebrated his 37th birthday today, and we all went and helped him! The kids and I actually left here after kindergarden, and spent the afternoon at my parent's. Florian who had been on a course finished there quite early and joined us there. It was great. Florian and Dad took the boys out on their bicycles (I had taken them with us) to the park, whilst Mum and I went into town and bought up Zeeman (do you know it Dinphy?! I think it is Dutch) the best place to get really cheap stickers and silly little toys to keep the boys happy! I got some great stickers from the Disney film "Cars" for richard, who insisted this morning that he wanted "nappy pants" (trainer pants) so he now needs his own Potty Training chart, and these stickers are glittery with cars on them, I am sure they will help him take to the toilet/potty! We'll see!
The party was good, the boys lasted until 9pm which was good, as the party didn't start til their bedtime (7pm). At nine Richard found me and said "my tired, I want to go home now!" So cute, so pyjamas on and off we went!

Now Dinphy asked yesterday about all the cars I listed, well, I actually took a picture of them all, here it is,Actually, not everything is on this photo, Robert was driving the go-kart at the time (or trying to) and Richard was still getting the lorry that is really meant for only pushing out! and one of the bobby cars was behind me (no picture of that!)!


The thing is as we do have the storage space for all these things, when ever anyone's kids grow out of a toy with wheels, we get them! GREAT for the boys! Not so great for me, when they get everything out at once!
Oh and here is an older layout of mine, to show just where our storage space is! You may now understand, why we are finding it hard to move from here - our home!

Credits:
Sundrenched by Sweet Digi Scraps (BTST)
Template by Teriann Hanks (DSO)
alpha by Wenchd Grafix

That is all ours, the barn is joined to the house and BIG and full of not only toys with wheels, but all sorts of things (junk too), I'm dreading packing it all up!
OK, bedtime now! Good night!

A MUCH better day today!

I woke up determined not to have a repeat of yesterday, and it seemed that the aliens had left and my kids were home again! Wow, they were much better not only this morning but all day! We even had tea without them being told 50.000 times to sit still and eat properly! Amazing!
I dropped them off to Kindergarden and went to a different shopping centre where there is also a shoe shop, and there at Aldi, they still had an electric toothbrush! Yippee! So I only went one day without! I also got Florian some new wellie boots and a long sleeved T-shirt (reduced) And for those of you who don't know - Aldi is the grocery store, but they have some GREAT offers every week. And today I got three of them!
Then I braved the shoe shop, and actually bought a pair, not that I had much choice if I wanted my feet to stay dry! I think they are OK, they didn't feel, like they would give me blisters, so here's hoping!
This afternoon we went out the front with EVERYTHING that the boys own that has wheels and can be driven! Even the push around lorry. Richard tried sitting in that, but kept tipping out! They rode bicycles, scooter bikes, bobby cars, the go-kart (much to big for them, but they didn't care!), the scooter, the tractor, its trailer. You name it, if we had it, it was out on the road at least once today! I opened the boot of our car, and sat in there watching them. I don't trust them enough, to actually turn my back on them. But today there wasn't many cars out and about, so it was a bit more relaxed.
So I feel much better than yesterday, and tonight, I am going to be busy working on some challenges, I have loads to complete still, I have been so busy having fun designing, that the challenges got neglected, but now I can get to them as my kit is almost finished, just a quickpage to design to go with it!
So tomorrow, I will hopefully have plenty of layouts to show off.
And I will be back in a minute with some from Dinphy and Benita using my first two contest kits!

This one is from Dinphy, she used my Tots Rule - OK Kit and add-on. I love it! Those stamps are great, and the pictures and journalling are so cute. I think my Mum wishes the boys would be that careful, when watering the plants for her!


And this one is from Benita, it's her grand-daughter, she's a cutie too. And the painting pictures go great with the colour swatch! I love it!


Benita also did a layout with my ByGone Days. This is her Mum, when she was 15.

Can you even begin to imagine, how great it feels to see something you created to be used, actually BEING used. It is amazing! Thank you so much, Dinphy and Benita, you made my day, week and month! Thanks!

Bye 4 now

a bad day

you know the sort, where you just want to crawl back into bed and not get up til tomorrow...
It started out with the usual arguing and not doing as they were told. They were up quite early so I did have them in Kindergarden early. Then our electric toothbrush has packed up! Great! Looked out of the bathroom window and saw that Miffy (our rabbit) had escaped. I took the kids to kindergarden first and then when I came home went to do my early morning sport with the rabbit. Uhoh, lots of fur in the cage and no Miffy anywhere. It looks like the fox had our rabbit this time! He was normally safe, but obviously yesterday when I fed him I had forgotten to put the extra wood on top of the wire mesh, and the fox must have just jumped onto it, fallen into the run and helped himself....poor bunny!
It then carried on like that virtually all day, my clothes line (one of the whirly types) wouldn't go up, and I so had wanted to hang the towels out to dry in the sunshine (yep, we did at least have a bit of that today!) I got in touch with the manufacturers and it actually has a 3 year guarantee, so at least a bit of good news, they will send someone around to collect it, then repair or replace it!
Then Mum phoned, I have gotten another speeding fine! Agh, that was the final straw then, I really did just want to crawl into bed and make all the bad stuff go away! But of course I couldn't.
So I carried on, to find out that my shoes have a hole in. For any other woman, they may rejoice at the thought of shoe shopping - me - I HATE IT! And because I hate it, I am a ONE pair of shoes woman, so now I HAVE to go shoe shopping, grrrr!
At lunch time the boys were great though, they both ate all of their broccoli lunch, and Richard went off to sleep, after he had a bit of a sing song. However when he woke up, he, the bedclothes, the bed and his big teddy were soaking wet! Never seen such a full nappy! So an extra load of washing.
And then the boys proceeded to ignore anything and everything I said all afternoon. I am knackered. And hoping that that was it now. A nice relaxing evening is all I want now. Wish me luck (and thanks for letting me get it off my chest, it makes it seem a whole lot better now it is out there!)
Bye 4 now

Murphy's law!

Remember my broken dishwasher?! Well, this afternoon the guy came to repair it, and... yep you guessed it - it repaired itself! At least I was able to show the guy that it wasn't working. But once he had "released" it from under the kitchen work top, taken its sides and top off, it decided to work again! GRRRR! Don't get me wrong it is great that it is working again - took me 30 minutes to do the washing up last night! - but the guy was here for just over 2 hours!!!! He was very thorough whilst checking it over, but he had nothing to fix! Oh well, his 2 hours work was still a lot cheaper than a new dishwasher!
And Dinphy, I feel so sorry for you, the dishwasher packing up at Xmas, aarrghhh! A nightmare! I had forgotten just how much a time saver it is, at least now it is fully appreciated again, and I already have something to fill it with!

Well, with the guy being here, I didn't get into the garden with the boys, but they got out there, they went whilst I was in "guarding" the house! They spent most of their time, collecting the cut grass from the front lawn and bringing it round to the back, to create their own unique lucky dip. They hid the apples in the grass cuttings and then searched around in it for the apples. Cute!

Now, Dinphy wrote such kind words on her blog for me, I am going to return the compliments! Dinphy, as you probably know makes GREAT kits for the colour challenge at DSO, which I use for my entry to the colour challenge. And today is the day, she has posted it! And it is beautiful. You should see the great papers she has made - I love them! And the elements are great too!
So if you are looking for a great autumn kit, pop on over and say hi!
I'm off to play with it now! (and work on my next entry, its a bigger kit this time, so I have to get my skates on!)
Oh, and there is still a bit of time left to vote at DAC, see below for instructions on how!
Bye 4 now

Brrrr - it's cold!

What ever happened to summer - on Thursday we were sat out in the garden with the kids playing with water, and today we didn't even venture outside it was so miserable out! I hope it gets better again, cause I am not enjoying this. The boys were so unruly today, but then that could be to do with the moon!
I had another trip to the doctors again this morning. They now both have just a cold, but their ears are looking a little bit red, so they have to have nose drops to clear the passage ways and hope that infection doesn't set in! Fingers crossed. Having said that, Robert didn't have his drops tonight, as he had a nose bleed just before I was going to do it, and I didn't want to aggrevate his nose anymore!
The boys spent most of the afternoon getting playdoh all over the kitchen! That wasn't really their intention (at least I hope not) but it happened. Luckily Robert loves sweeping up, so he cleared his own mess up today!
I spent the afternoon it seems on the phone. One of the calls was to Bauknecht - our dishwasher is not working - catastrophe! The only thing they could do for me would have been to send someone out to look at it, just the sending and looking would have cost 100(!) Euros, so I said no thank you. I then phoned a local electrical place and their "come and look" only costs 40 Euros, so they are hopefully coming tomorrow. So now, when I go downstairs, I have to do the dishes by hand! That will keep me busy!
so bye 4 now
If you haven't voted, please do! See post below for details!

Tots Rule - OK! Add on

and a shameless plug to get you to go over to DigitalArts Cafe and vote for me!

Here first of all, is my entry to this week's round of the Design It Contest at Digital Arts Cafe.
The colour swatch was given this week, and it just shouted "Kids" at me, and this is what I came up with.


Now if you like this, then you need to go over to DigitalArts Cafe to get to the download links.
It is a bit more complicated as you have to register and post 5 times to "unlock" the secret forum where the download links are hidden. Please don't let that put you off, as there are some great kits over there to get too.

So if you still have to register and post this is the link for you Digital Arts Cafe Registration
If you already have 5 posts here is the link to the Secret Forum
And to vote click here (again you need to have access to the Secret Forum)

Do you need some inspiration?
here is a layout Dinphy did using my kit. It is so fun to see it in action. I love what she did with it!

And here are a couple that I did using it


And for all of those of you who have read this far, I have put together the bits that were not allowed in the kit (numbers again!).

Have fun with it, and I would love to see any layouts you make with it!

*** Link expired ***

I'll be back later with my daily update!

here I am back with my update. Well, I have a car full of apples! Yep, we were apple picking in the garden today, considering my car is full of apples, why do the trees look as though we haven't even started! The boys thoroughly enjoyed helping and I got some great pictures to scrap! They look so cute on them!
Robert seemed fine then, but tonight he is running a temperature again, so tomorrow it is another trip to the doctors, probably before I go to the apple juice making place! we'll see, what they say when I phone.
The next challenge for DigitalArts Cafe is up, so I now have to come up with a colour swatch for a baby theme. Watch this space!
bye 4 now

Tots Rule - OK! (DAC Design It Entry!)

An early post this morning to let everyone know that my 4th ever kit "Tots Rule - OK!" Is available at DigitalArts Cafe for download.
And the voting is open too! So if you do pop over, leave a little click for me in the voting area, it is MUCH appreciated!

I had GREAT fun making this kit. It is handdrawn by ME!! (Yep, that is a surprise for those that know me well - BUT the only thing I can draw are matchstick men, so for once that was a plus!) I am also particularly proud of the ribbon plait. I was playing with some ribbons I had and made a plait took a photo. And then the difficult part. Managed to separate it into a layer for each ribbon colour, which lets me recolour it however I want! I am quite proud of myself there!
But you probably now want to know just what I am talking about...
Here it is...

Click here to Download and Vote at the Digital Arts Cafe Forum

The same rules apply as with the first entry, to be able to see, download and vote for any of the entrys you have to have left 5 posts in the forum (gallery posts do NOT count). If you already did this for ByGone Days, then you will have instant access to the Secret Forum. If not, then you will need to register, and post 5 times. It is an easy forum to post at as there is always something going on, and everyone is so friendly. The easiest way is to introduce yourself in the Welcome area, and then maybe say hi to 4 other people! Once you reach 5 posts (visible under your user name) the Secret Forum will be unlocked!
There are 6 other great entries to be downloaded there too. Although no one was eliminated it seems that 3 others have dropped out. That's a shame, as one of them I really liked.

Thanks for your support. And I will be back tonight with news on the family. Robert and Richard are looking better this morning, we'll see how the day progresses!

Well, Richard - if he ever was ill is all better today! He ate all his dinner and tea up today, plus biscuits and sweeties, nothing wrong with his tummy today! Robert has had his ups and downs. At lunch and tea time, he was feeling all cold, even had a nap after lunch - very unusual! But then we spent all afternoon in the garden, making it all "pretty". We picked up loads and loads of fallen apples, and then Florian mowed the lawn. He did a lot of weeding and general tidying up too. The boys had a great time, NOT helping us, just bossing us around. And in between giving their orders as to which apples we had to pick up next, they argued over who rode the tractor! No sign of feeling ill there!

Florian got us a DVD out for TV tonight, we are going to be watching "Bad Boys II" no idea what it will be like, we'll see.
Now I've finished my update, how about now popping over to DAC to vote for me!?
Bye 4 now

Not according to the plan!

Well, today did not go according to plan at all, which was a shame! It was a rough night last night, aside from the usual late night wee-wees, I had to keep getting up to Robert who out of the blue had a really high temperature! Great! This morning though he was acting totally normal and was nearly cooled right down. So both of them went off to Kindergarden.
when I picked them both up however. Robert was burning up again. I took his temperature and it was 39.5°C (103,1°F). I managed to get hold of our doctor, and we went straight there. It seems Robert has a tummy bug (it was all bloated and hurt), so we have something to make him feel a bit better, but not too strong, so that we are not hiding any symptoms.
We spent the afternoon at home, instead of going to the Kindergarden Barbecue, which we were all so looking forward to! It was such a shame, cause I know they had been practicing a song to sing to us all, and I would have loved to have seen and heard it all!
Now they are both tucked up in bed, both with a temperature, but not too bad (38,2°C/100,76°C), but as they have been doing nothing all afternoon, they despite everything have too much energy! Lots of chatting going on in there at the moment.

On a brighter note, my entry for the contest is at DAC and should be posted there sometime later on tonight, can't wait to see what the others have done with the colour palette. I'll be back over the weekend with a little add-on to go with what I have done - at least that is the plan, we'll see if the boys let me do anything!

Oh and if you could say a little prayer for my friend who is facing IKE (the hurricane), that would be great, I am a bit worried for her and her family, so any little will help.
Bye 4 now

Late again!

Gosh this designing stuff is addictive! I forgot to blog again! But its OK now, I have just about finished my next entry for the contest! I am really pleased with the result, I can't wait to see, what sort of reception this kit will get. But that is about all I can say until it is posted at DAC on Saturday!
Now what else did I do today. This afternoon a friend came round with her kids. Lisa, my god-daughter is really getting around now, pulls herself up all the time. She is very attached to her Mum so she didn't come and play with me, but she'll get past that stage soon, I'm sure! the boys played really nicely together, first they got out all the toys with wheels, and drove them all around the garden. then they sat themselves in the flower bed, that Florian had cleared of weeds, and got all the diggers and tractors out, and dug and dug and dug! So cute. No pics though, too busy chatting and catching up!
And that in a nutshell, was my day!
Bye 4 now

A Surprise Visit

I spent the morning doing lots and lots of washing, so not very exciting, then just before lunch, Mum phoned, did I need an urgent delivery of Coco Pops (on offer in their local shop!), erm...Dad had just picked up their new car, and they decided to come and visit me and the boys in it for their very first trip in it! Yippee!!!
They got here just after Richard's snooze, the boys were so excited to see them (and the new car!)
After Mum and Dad's cup of tea, there was no stopping the boys they took Nanna and Pop straight out in the garden, showed them the painted back of the house, the chicken hatching the eggs and of course, how good they can ride their bicycles! So cute! We stayed out cycling til tea time. then after we had eaten Mum and Dad had to go home again. It was a lovely afternoon. thanks for the visit Mum!

since then I have been working on my next entry for the Design Contest, and totally forgot to post my update.

I did get a layout done last night for the Say it with Music Challenge at Been there Scrapped that, I love this silly picture of the boys!

Credits:
Round the Track by Sweet Digi Scraps

Bye 4 now

Half a day off!!

Yep, the kids were at Kindergarden till 3pm today instead of noon! I did enjoy the peace and quiet, not so sure the kids enjoyed the extra hours at Kindergarden. Apparently they didn't eat there dinners, managed to get it all over themselves rather than in their stomachs. Then proceeded to scream and cry during lunch. Robert apparently "wanted Mummy"! I think it must have quite upset him as he as already had one nightmare tonight. He woke up all sweaty and screaming "I want Mummy"! Poor thing! However I am more thinking along the lines "I should do it more often", than "I shouldn't do it again"!
I had my "MOT" this morning and I am all healthy! So good news there! Sometimes this appointment takes forever (too many patients), which is why I booked the boys in to kindergarden for the day. But today I was in and out of the doctors in 20minutes!!! Unbelievable! Great though, I was really able to enjoy my "alone time". First off I browsed the book store, found some great books, but I had forgotten the book voucher we have, so I will have to go back again soon. I have been reading books by Tess Gerritsen, and in our German book store they actually have the next part of the series there in English!!!
this afternoon the boys were out on their bikes again, I watched over them with our neighbour, and had a good natter! It was a lovely afternoon out, and great fun to be in the fresh air.
This evening I have been working on my Second Kit for the DAC contest today, and it is coming on nicely - I think! Now though I want to work on a challenge, not sure which one though yet! We'll see!
Bye 4 now

PS: If you haven't voted yet there are still a few hours left to do so! (See post below for details!)

Layouts and a Quickpage (and my usual update)

I'm going to start this post with a shameless plug for my entry to the Digital Arts Cafe Design It contest. I have been in the lead, but the other contestants are slowly creeping up on me! So I could do with a couple more votes, if you have the time.
You just have to go to www.digitalarts-cafe.com/forum, then click "register" to the right of the page underneath the birthday party ad, then once you have registered, you will still not be able to see the kits or the voting poll, for that you have to "unlock" the "secret forum" by posting in the forum you can see, 5 times. (just introduce yourself, and welcome 4 more people, or find the games section and join in) The Secret Forum is then automatically unlocked and you can see all entries in one thread, and there is a special thread for voting! OK, let me show you what you would be getting and how you can use it!

Click here to go to the DAC Forum to get the kit (read instructions above)

here a couple of layouts I made using my entry
This one is my Mum, when she was just a little girl, isn't she cute!


and this one is one of our wedding photos.


And then using the bits that - cause of numbers - didn't make it into the kit, I have this layout of my Dad as a little boy, isn't he cute too! Love those curls! This is the actual picture that my Nanna sent Pop during the war. A well travelled picture!


I have made this layout into a Quickpage to share with you. I hope you enjoy it.

Download QP here

And now to today's events. The boys were not much better than yesterday, but I won't bore you with all the details today, i did get rather loud, when Robert started hitting Richard, I'm not even sure, why he did it, but it was NOT good.
On a brighter note, our chicken that is trying to hatch a stone egg, now has two real eggs to hatch, I asked our neighbour with the cockerel and hens, if he would let me have a couple of eggs for her, I felt so sorry for her on the nest all day every day, and nothing to show for it, so now with a bit of luck, we'll have baby chicks around soon! That will make some cute layouts!

Bye 4 now

What an afternoon!

Well, what I had planned and was actually looking forward to, turned into a small disaster! Well, it felt like that at the time. Last week, I saw that the dance school was having an open day, and as Robert so loves dancing and can really move with the beat (a great little mover!) and Richard too, I phoned up, to find out at what age they start there. And hey great they do a "Hip Hop Mini" course for 4-5 year olds, and yes its no problem to take Richard along to classes. So I registered Robert for the open day test course (for want of the proper word!) I didn't tell the kids about it in the week, so that if something got in the way, they wouldn't be disappointed.
When I told them this morning, they were really excited about it, and couldn't wait to go after lunch. That excitement got lost somewhere between here and there. As we walked in the room, where we were warmly welcomed, they hid behind my legs. So I sat down on the floor with them and all the other kids.
The dance teacher was great, she really worked with the kids - all but ours, cause ours were still hiding on my lap, they couldn't get close enough to me. And all the while there was music on, Robert was tapping his feet. But nothing I could say or do (YES I even joined in!) would make them get up and join in. After about 35 minutes of the 45 minute lesson, they finally loosened up, to then start no, not joining in but disrupting the lesson, and finding it hilarious! I was livid, and the more I tried to quieten them down, the worse they got. We managed to get to the end of the lesson just, without any of the other kids falling over mine crawling between there legs. Little monsters!
This behaviour then carried on until bedtime. Aliens must have been again! I checked the moon its not that!
So tonight i am going to find some pics of them being cute and cheer myself up that way!
Sorry, about this rant, I just had to get it off my chest!

OK, here's Richard being cute! The boys are loving every minute out on their bikes! Richard is so pleased that Robert now lets him keep this scooter bike! And just look at him go!

Credits:
Serene Summer by BrokenJar Creations at Do It Digi

Oh and incase you're wondering, the mouse enjoyed his Nutella last night, he got the first bit on toast actually off the mouse trap without any damage. but when I smeared the nutella directly on it.... My bread is now safe!

Oh and if you haven't yet got my kit and voted, there is still time. Check the last post for details. And for those of you who have been! thanks sooo sooo much!
bye 4 now

ByGone Days Quickpage

Please take a moment to read this. I have decided to enter the Design It Contest at DigitalArts Cafe and as of today the contestants kits are in the forum waiting for votes and downloads!
The quickpage today coordinates with the kit, however it is made with bits and pieces that didn't make it to the final kit, not because they weren't good enough, but because, papers and elements were limited! Anyhow if you like the quickpage i am SURE you will like the kit. So why not pop on over to DigitalArts Cafe and get it. Once there you will have to register at the forum (free of course) and to reach the "Secret Forum" with the downloads, you do have to have posted 5 times in the forum, not too difficult, introduce yourselves in the welcome area, maybe say hi to four other members or go and have look around, always somewhere to comment. Easiest in the Games section. It really is a fun and friendly place, who knows you may even find a new home!
There is a lot more going on at the Cafe at the moment, as we are celebrating its First Birthday, so you should easily reach 5 posts, and then you can get not only this


but also 14 other kits, with a heritage theme. (As far as I know there are 15 contestants)
I would truly appreciate you votes, if you like this! Thanks!
Links have expired, BUT the kit is now bigger and better and in my store

Click here to go shopping!

And here is the promised Quickpage for you. If you leave a comment on my blog, I will definitely pop over and visit you and leave you some love too, but I do find it a compliment to watch the numbers go up as you download. But Thank you really does go a long way!

Download link

I hope you enjoy this, and I will be back this evening to update all my friends and family with today's exciting stories (probably cycling related, if I know my boys!)

Well, here I am back for my daily update! And although there was plenty of cycling today, the best story is a mouse story. I have known now for a while that there is a mouse in our utility room (messed on my iron), we have a cat, and Sunny ignores it. Well, after lunch Florian was throwing something in the rubbish in the kitchen, and it seems this time Sunny has lost his catch in the kitchen! A mouse jumped out of the rubbish bin as Florian opened the door! And he didn't scream! I don't mind mice, but that would have made me jump, not Florian, he just calmly turned to me in the lounge and said "we have a mouse in the kitchen". We (Florian, Robert and I) then tried to find the little monster. No luck! So we now have a mousetrap set, the little mouse is going to dine on Nutella (chocolate spread) on toast today, hopefully. As he had tried to get into my loaf of bread earlier!
Other than the mouse chase, the boys have been out cycling twice, once with Florian and once with me, Florian was on his way to join us, but it started raining so we came in again!
And of course I have been stalking DigitalArts Cafe! To see how my kit is being recieved. Well, I have the most comments on the preview, but unfortunately it is not on comments that we are being judged but on the votes that a posted in the Secret Forum, so far I am leading, but only by 2 votes, so if you have the time, do post 5 times in the forum (gallery posts don't count) and open the Secret forum. where you'll find the download links and the voting thread!
Bye 4 now

L O T S of cycling today!

You would never have guessed, would you!?! The boys got up this morning and would have gone out cycling in their pyjamas if I had let them. With the promise of lots of cycling after Richard's snooze this afternoon, I managed to convince them to get dressed and go to Kindergarden. But it didn't work this afternoon, Richard was too excited about cycling to go to sleep. So come 3pm, after trying for over an hour to get Richard to sleep, we were outside with both Richard's scooter bike and Robert's bike, cycling up and down the road, and up and down the hill! The weather was a LOT better than yesterday, so we had a GREAT time. All the neighbours came out and joined us, and we all sat chatting and shouting "CAR" (or "AUTO") every so often. Just after 4.30pm we had to leave the fun to go and pick up Daddy, but after 1,5 hours of non stop cycling I don't think the boys were too upset.
Once back home with Daddy, it was back to the bikes for more cycling! They must be soooo knackered now, they should sleep well!

Oh, this morning I was very, very brave! Yep, I finally plucked up the courage to try my hand at dyeing (how do you spell that!?!) my hair myself. After one scary hair dyeing experience when I was about 20, I have never tried again (at that time my hair came out in a handful!) So I was a bit worried about it this morning, but the grey was getting to be so prominent. Mum got me a dye that only takes 10 minutes to work. Which was great as all in all (including clearing up the mess I made after me) I took an hour! The colour is a lot darker than before, but it looks good, and most important - no longer grey. The boys didn't comment, so it can't look to extraordinary, otherwise they would be the first to say!

The other exciting thing I did today, was to send off the link for my entry to the Design It Competition at DigitalArts Cafe. The links for all the kits go up sometime tonight, and then the voting begins. Wish me luck, or better still register at the Forum and vote for me!

OK, I'm off to relax now. Scrapping tonight, so who knows I may come back with a layout or so tonight
Bye 4 now

One very proud Mummy!

Yep, that's me today! I arranged with a neighbour and her daughters that today we would meet up in the road for cycle practice! Since we took Robert's stabilisers off of his bicycle he has been refusing to even try to ride it. He admires it, but wouldn't try riding it! I haven't forced it, but the other Mum and I thought if we got our kids together, they might get the idea from one another. Well,...
We got outside and Robert was wobbling all over the place, whilst I bent down and tried to steady him by holding the handle bars. That didn't work too well, then I held on to the back of the saddle, that was a little better, but Robert then insisted he wanted to hold hands! That wasn't going to work at all, and we were still in front of our house! Richard on his little scooter bike was already half way down the road and nearly there. So to speed us up a bit, I told Robert to scoot his bike, like he used to on his scooter bike and like Richard was doing. That said, off he scooted. By the time we got to our friends house, he was really speedy, Sabine even said, "was he riding it properly", I said no. I WAS WRONG!
He realised when scooting, that the balance thing was the same, lifted his feet off the ground put them on the pedals and that was it, there was NO stopping him! Wow, it was so fun to watch. I didn't have to do anything. He just "got" it! He was driving in circles, doing an 8 shape, driving up and down the curb, and all this with no problem whatsoever! A NATURAL!


Unfortunately after only 30 minutes it started to rain, and neither Robert or Richard could understand, why we had to take cover and why they couldn't carry on cycling. In the end we left Sabine's to go back to our barn for some cycling in there. But that wasn't what they wanted either! We went indoors had some sweeties and then when it had brightened up again, we were back out again, and the fun continued. This time Robert started cycling up a little hill there and speeding down. Unfortunately braking with the tips of his shoes, I told him that that was not a good idea, and he came straight over "show me how to brake, Mummy", So I did, and then he practiced it coming down the hill! Wonderful, he learnt to cycle and brake and all in one afternoon and all on his own! I am so proud of him, and he is of himself too.
I did take a few pictures, so watch this space! And expect more cycling tales in the future, cause I think that is going to be all he wants to do from now on in!

And here is what I forgot to post yesterday, I used a new kit called Bubblegum available at DigitalArts Cafe. Nice bright colours for this great pic from Zoe's Birthday Party.

Credits:
Bubblegum by Phillsboo at DAC

Bye 4 now

A non-blogworthy day!

Again, nothing exciting to tell you about today really, more ironing this morning (there must be a nest of washing somewhere!), and this afternoon as it was raining, we didn't get to go out so instead the kids tormented one another indoors. The funny thing was I had my cousins Mother-in-law - that sounds a bit funny, I'll say friend instead on on Skype, she could see and hear us, but couldn't get her webcam to work. So the boys didn't really know what Mummy was doing and were up to all there usual tricks, but she was watching! She saw the whole punch up, progress, it reminded her of why she only had one!
Oh, I remember an anecdote about Richard at the park yesterday, it was cute, so I will write it on here and then we won't forget it. He was playing in the sandpit and came over to me with a little jelly mold full of sand and said, "Look Mummy, I've got KUCHEN" (German for cake), I said, "ooh, yes darling that's a nice CAKE", Richard "No, it's not, it's KUCHEN". I then explained "Mummy says CAKE, Daddy says KUCHEN. That said off he went.
He later came back over, when my friend was there too, again with a jelly mold full of sand and said "Look Mummy, Mummy says CAKE, Daddy says KUCHEN" then off he went again. My friend just creased up! It was sooo cute!
I got that layout done last night, as always once I am downstairs I will post it here!
Bye 4 now

I'm late..

so sorry! the kids were as good as gold this evening so no excuse really! Too busy having designing ideas, I suppose. Oh well, I have nearly finished and then I will be back on track!
So what did we get up to today, the morning I spent ironing all that washing I did yesterday - boring, so no more about that. Richard decided that he wasn't going to have a nap today, he let me lay him down, but then in the space of an hour had me up there with him 4 times (I won't go into details here), so at 2.30pm I got him up, it wouldn't have been a good idea if he had then fallen asleep!
This afternoon we went to a playground with friends. It is part of a beer garden, so we had an ice cream there too - no, no beer! the boys had a great time, they have a huge sand pit there, with all the sand toys you can imagine. Then they have a go-kart, scooter, 3 bobby cars and a motor cycle, then there is the wooden climbing frame with slide. Oh and not to forget the child size garden furniture. They LOVED it there! And it was great for me to have a chat with my friend, whose boys are the same ages as mine. I hate to say this, but it was also great to see that her kids have the same behaviour as mine - i.e. fighting over the same toys, treading on oneanother, the next minute hugging, and the favourite - not listening to whatever Mummy is telling you to do! Kids, they are all the same really!

OK, back to scrapping, want to do a layout now, not sure I will post it today though!
Bye 4 now

Nothing exciting today!

Just a normal day today, nothing exciting whatsoever. Both kids at Kindergarden, washing and housework this morning.
Lunch, both kids ate it all up, and had an extra helping. (They love their zucchini!) And in the afternoon we had a water pistol fight in the garden. The weather wasn't that brilliant, but it was warm enough for a bit of water fun!
And that really was it!

Oh but on the digital scrapbooking front there is a bit of exciting news. For one Digital Arts Cafe is celebrating its first birthday. Lots going on over there, so you might want to go and check it out.
AND they are holding a Designer Contest, and you'll never guess who put her name down for it! Yep- Me! I am viewing this as a learning experience, and I am sure to have fun.
My first assignment is a heritage kit using 6 colours, with 3 patterned papers, two solid papers (or was it the other way round - better check that before I submit my entry!), 10 elements (that seems a LOT to me, as they must all be different and not just recoloured!).
Well, so far I have my colour swatch sorted, and that is it, I am full of ideas, but haven't had a chance to sit and work on it. Hopefully tonight!
There are 14 fellow contestants, so in the near future there will be some great kits to download at DAC. You will however have to be registered in the forum and have a minimum of 5 posts to see the links. But that is easily done, there is a great fun and games forum where you can easily get to 5 posts! It would be great if you did, cause I could use some cheering on. I'll let you know when its posted, got to get it out of my head first!

OK, all's quiet up here, time to get busy!
Bye 4 now