Bond - James Bond!!!

Yep, we got to go to the cinema this afternoon! The boys didn't go to Kindergarden today, instead we all drove down to my parents for the day. We even got to see Mia and my SIL there too. After lunch all together, we left the boys with Mum and Dad and went off to Frankfurt to the English Cinema to see "The Quantum Solace". It's been a while since we last went to the cinema, and considering we used to go every week, we sometimes get serious withdrawal symptoms. It felt great to be there again. And we really enjoyed the James Bond film. I don't think I have seen so many different chases in one film before, not an area they didn't cover. There were chases in a car, on foot across roof tops, on a motor bike, on boats and in the air! But it was fun!
Mum and Dad said the boys behaved themselves, and they had glued us a very pretty picture, they had cut and stamped it. So cute!
We were quite late back, so I scrapped before I blogged tonight.
Wendy from BrokenJar Creations, has just opened her own store and this is her latest kit in it
Carefree (image linked to the new store!)


And here are two layouts I have made with it:
This is Mum with Mia and Zoe at our place the other day.

Credits:
Carefree by BrokenJar Creations
Wordart by Jamie Dell Scraps

And this is Richard cuddling his teddy whilst watching TV (probably Madagascar) The quote reads: Teddy bears don't need hearts as they are already stuffed with Love!

Credits.
Carefree by BrokenJar Creations
Wordart by Valerie Ostrom Designs

Bye 4 now

Dentist and other things..

I am a very big and brave girl! My pride is hurt, but oh well, 39 years without a filling is good going too, but I was aiming for 40!! Missed it by 8 months!
Yep, my broken tooth, really was broken and it had broken because it had caries inside of it! How did that happen?! Dentist couldn't really tell me either. But he did x-ray all my teeth just to make sure there were no more surprises in store for me. And the other teeth are all fine! Uff!
I think I needed a bigger filling than he expected, either that or he just didn't bother to tell me just how long it was going to take. It took 40 minutes! My jaw still aches! It's all very tender now, and I am a bit frightened to chew on it, but I hope that by tomorrow everything will be back to normal, as it is a bit tiring only chewing on one side. Can you tell, I am not used to problems with my teeth!!!
And I also decided that I am not a big fan of fillings, the noise of that drill is HORRIBLE! So I am hoping that I can go another 39 years at least without hearing it again!!!

Enough about the dentist, although to be honest that was the most exciting thing of the day. The boys are their usual full moon selves, arguing over anything and everything. The best one of the day was the argument over the empty kitchen roll roll!!!! I actually had two of them, one each, but, NO, Robert wanted both and had a full temper tantrum, for which I sent him to his room! And Richard had one, because I did something that he had wanted to do himself, can't remember what it was now it was so trivial, but he didn't think so, he threw his juice across the room and threw himself down on the floor screaming. I just stepped over him and carried on with what I was doing!
So with all of that, I am glad they are now in bed!!!

I got some layouts done these past evenings, I will try and remember to post them in just a bit.
well here they are!
This first one is for the Template Challenge at Been There Scrapped That. I used a kit from BrokenJar Creations. She has a workshop at her Forum called the ABC Workshop, where you get a kit per letter per week. You can still sign up, and as you can see, the D kit is beautiful!

Credits:

D Kit by BrokenJar Creations at Do it Digi
Template by Colie's Corner at Been There Scrapped That

And I have also had the pleasure of playing with Melothria's new Kit "Fall Swirl" available at DigitalArts Cafe.
This first one is a photo Dad took of Mia the other day. Whilst I was scrapping it, the song kept circling in my head, so I thought, why not use it, I think it works well.

Credits:
Fall Swirl by Melothria at DigitalArts Cafe

And this is the same kit, the colours went so well, with this photo, so I scrapped it, I have to say here though that I DID win one game! (out of 4!)

Credits:
Fall Swirl by Melothria

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

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

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

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

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

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