My Boys

Some photos of my boys out and about last week.

My 5 boys at Mt Annan Lakeside

Kit: Bits of Yesterday - Bekeah Designs

Sean, Tristan and Storm at the park

Kit: Softness of Spring - Nath Designs

New Kit from NutkinTailz Designs

Lesley from Nutkin Tailz Designs has a gorgeous new kit being released this weekend at Digital Craft Cottage called Remembrance of Times Past. It is fabulous for all those past generations photos or to create a vintage feel page. Here are a few pages I created with this kit.

Daniel, Brett and Jordan all at about the same age.

My Grandma and I.

Mark, Brett and Shane

My First Award

I have just received my first award woohoo! Thanks from the bottom of my heart to Linda at Belle 15's Hideaway for giving me this award.

Now its my turn to choose 7 blogs to pass it along too.

Nonna's Haven - Vickie

Rainbow's End - Julie

Alicia's Designs - Alicia

Dances With Wolves Place - Des

Honey Designs and Ideas - Asal

Jezebel Ro Designs - Jezzy

Scrap'it by Breeza - Brianna

Spring is on its way

August is wattle month. Every year around this time these beautiful trees are awash in glorious golden blooms. It reminds me spring is on its way and that after the gloom and darkness of winter, we have something to look forward to again.

Awesome New Twilight Kit

Honey Designs has an awesome new freebie Twilight inspired kit called Waiting for New Moon. Here are a few pages I created using this awesome kit.

Tristan's 4th Birthday

Yesterday was my son Tristan's 4th birthday. Like any 4 year old he was excited all day wanting to get his presents and eat his cake, which he helped me make. Here are a few pics from the day.

Brotherly bond

Of all my boys Daniel and Tristan would have to be the closest. Tristan even calls Daniel "my Daniel" and get very upset when I say he is my Daniel too LOL. This picture was taken last week on Daniel's 13th birthday. The page was created using a kit called Cherished Love by Carena Designs.

New Kit from NutkinTailz Designs

Lesley from NutkinTailz Designs has a new kit for sale at Digital Craft Cottage called Sunburnt Country.

It is one of the best Aussie themed kits I have seen, which is so fantastic for any Aussie layouts especially but can be used for so many things. Here are a few layouts I made with this kit.

New Moon - the Movie

I can't wait for this movie to come out in November. Every time I see new pics or snippets from the movie just makes me think this movie is going to be so worth the looooong wait. These are some posters I found searching the net on this much awaited movie.

The Volturi

Healthy and Yummy lunch box treat for the kids

Everyone wants their kids to eat healthy, but we all know most of them love junk food. I don't know about anyone else, but I find all the packaged and processed school snack foods to be very expensive and full of preservatives and other things that really aren't good for our kids.

A while ago I found this recipe to make your own muesli bars, it is really easy and even if you have fussy kids, like I do, they really love them. It is an inexpensive snack to add to their lunch boxes and its healthy. It is extremely easy to make, you can even get the kids to help, which most kids love and you are spending time with them and it can also be used as a learning time, with measuring etc.

From Daniel's Birthday

A few pics from Daniel's 13th Birthday.

We had a nice quiet family night.

Daniel with Brett on the day he was born.

Now and then

Daniel's Birthday

Today is my eldest son's birthday. He is leaving the world of childhood and entering into teenagehood. In the modern world, many societies failed to have specific rituals for this rite of passage, which is sad because it is something to be celebrated. As part of the Rite of Passage for Daniel I have chosen to use the Goddess Macha, the Celtic Goddess of Initiations. She was also seen as a war Goddess and cured the wounded (which Daniel has certainly been this year). Thank you to my friend Sassy for passing on this blessing of Macha. As she pointed out the words totally suited Daniel, especially in regards to his Karate, which anyone who knows Daniel, knows karate is his life. So this is a page I made using that blessing. Will be back later to post more photos of Daniel's birthday celebration.

2009 AKKA National Championships

Yesterday, Saturday 8th August saw the Australian Kyokushin Non Contact Karate Championships being held. My eldest son competed in the Male 10 -12 year age division. This was his fight tournament back after a major cut on his foot had him totally incapacitated for about a month in June. We of course hoped he would do well. He just wanted to get out there, try his best and test his foot under those conditions. Well he did us and himself proud. His division the biggest with over 40 entrants, which meant 4 knock out rounds, semi finals then finals. Daniel made it all the way to the semi finals, only to be beaten by the eventual gold medalist. So that earned Daniel a bronze medal and 3 place overall in Australia for his age. He was so happy and we are so proud of his achievements. And to top the day off, Daniel's girlfriend also received a bronze medal in her age division. Congratulations to you both on your awesome achievements. All the hard work and dedication to your training has paid off.

Daniel with his medal

Daniel and Kimberly happy with their results.

Latest Creation

I purchased this kit last week and this is the first page I have created with it. I saw this picture and thought it just needed to be scrapped. Kit: Blueberry Night by Kimla Designs.

AKKA Nationals this weekend

Determination breeds strength

My eldest son has been doing karate for about 3 years now and it is his life. In June he had a major setback with cutting open the bottom of his foot, so had a lot of time off to recover and heal. He has recently returned to training and last Friday helped with grading of lower ranked students. This is an honour extended to high grades, not only to help out the instructors, but also gives them some responsibility and gets them prepared for when they start teaching or open their own dojo. The photo in the scrap below, is of Daniel and the only adult to grade that night in the last fight of the night.

It is this strength and determination that I hope will carry him through the National championships on the weekend. I made this page using Oriental Pearl by Symphonie.

Our New Zen Garden

Seeing as today was Imbolc we decided to make a start on what is to become a Japanese inspired section of our garden. We began by making the centre point which is our Buddha statue. We then surrounded this with pebbles and planted Japanese Box plants to eventually grow into a hedge at the front. Of course over time we will add to this section, but here is the finished product of today's efforts.

Page created using the kit Oriental Pearl by Symphonie Designs.

Imbolc Blessings To You

For those in the Southern Hemisphere we are welcoming Imbolc today and the blessing of Brigid and the awaking of Mother Earth with the sprouting of new beginnings and life. I hope all the plans and seeds you plant at this time come into fruition in the coming turning of the year.