Isn’t she beautiful?
My wee great niece Harmony! She’s a wee darling, such a Mullen baby, she takes after our side of the family, right down to the big brown eyes and rather obvious ears lol. She even has the birthmark on the back of her head that all our babies have been born with for 4 generations! She is such a happy, content wee girl. She has a giggle that comes all the way from her toes. Just a wee enchantress!
It was, well, a weekend…Spending time with my S.I.L’s is great but my brothers drive me nuts. But that’s the joys of families right? It was good to see the kids
, Tayla is almost 15 and every time I see her she just gets prettier and more mature. And Marlon is a fab dad, he adores both his girls and their Mum too, its so good to see, he’s very young to have a family but he is handling it well and still managing to capture some of his teen years before they all disappear, he is only 17 after all, I couldn’t imagine either of my boys handling nearly as well as Marlon does, I am so proud of him.
On the way home we stopped in to see my cousin Shelly who lives on the other side of Nelson. She’s got a bit on her plate at the moment, Her dad is very sick and her Mum isn’t very well either (she has RA too) so Shelly is more than a little worried about them both. and to top it off Shelly’s birth mother turned up out of the blue, she has never met her before and doesn’t know if she should tell her parents now she has. poor thing!
Its strange, Shelly was adopted, her father was married to my aunty and they divorced year long before I was born but Uncle George has always been a huge part of our lives, he remarried and they has one child and adopted Shelly, who strangely enough looks a lot like me lol, we have been taken for sisters heaps of times lol. how weird is that?
well that was my weekend, we got home Sunday evening, Steve stayed home by himself for the first time and he cooked us a beautiful roast dinner! how good is he?
it was so good to get home, as much as it was good to get away for the weekend I do like my own bed and travelling is not great for the ol pain level!
anyway have a great Tuesday all…time for me to get moving, slowly…
hugz
V xx
What’s been going on
this week has been…well kinda weird really…last week as you may have read on an earlier post, Katie was sick, well this week it was Mum’s turn, then Steve’s and finally me and Dad’s…talk about share the joy lol. I only seem to have a mild dose of this cold but it hit poor Mum pretty hard, she was down for a few days and even went to the doctor voluntarily which has to be a first. We are all on the mend and that’s the main thing.
I have to share a few photos I have taken this week…first what I made this 
afternoon, finished just before dinner (home made fish and chips, with the yummiest fresh fish!) Katie loves it, which as just as well since I made it for her lol.
This project has only been six months in the making lol…it was a round to it sort of thing, I had the wooden K sitting in my “must do” box for ages and kept thinking I should do something with it…finally today I pulled it out and turned it around for a while, then finally just grabbed some paint and some funky pattern paper and got to work, making it up as I went along lol, and this is what came out in the finish…and Katie tells me its bweatiful!
now two more photos of miss madam from the last few days…she makes me laugh so much
. the other night she decided to make a bed in the bottom of the hall cupboard, don’t ask me why, she was in there looking for one of her games and for reasons known only to her, she climbed into the bottom and decided that was her new cubby hole. when I went to get her for bed she informed me that she was sleeping there. so I got pillow and blanket off the shelf and gave them to her, then shut the door (at her instructions of course) thinking that she would last about 2 seconds in the dark….fat chance, she has no fear of the dark or enclosed spaces, it wasn’t until I suggested there maybe a mouse in there that she started to look a bit doubtful…then she starts calling to the supposed mouse “mousey, its me Katie, come down and sleep in my bed wev me” It took a wee while to convince her that her own bed would be better, in the end it was the offer to read a few stories that made her willing give up her cupboard bed, after I pointed out that I couldn’t read her nightly stories while she was in the cupboard because it was to dark in there for me to see! lol. then before she went to sleep she asked if the mousey would be alright without her! There was no mouse…lest not that I know of lol…our darling puddy cat is far to efficient for that lol
And this photo was taken about half an hour ago, while Steve was off doing the dishes Katie decided to play Xbox live with her cousins in Aussie lol, her beloved Tatty (Tori) was online and she wanted to talk to him lol. She has been known to do this occasionally. Steve plays Xbox live with his friends and cousins most nights and Katie loves to “help” him. Tonight she snuck in and put on the headset and grabbed the control and started talking to Tori (who just happened to be offline at that time) “Tatty, it me Katie, come play at my house pease” lol Its so funny, Tori lived with us for a while about 2 years ago before he went back to Aussie, Katie was only about 18 months but she remembers her Tatty. She must have an amazing memory, and a mother who points him out in a photo so she doesn’t forget. She’s a lucky girl to have so many big cousins, 11 in all, ranging in age from 14 to 26 and 2 (almost 3) 2nd cousins close to her age.
Yes Katie is most often the subject of my photos, mainly because she’s so funny and Steve moans if I take his photo to often lol.
I have decided to branch out away from Scrapbooking a little, I want to try my hand at a few sewing projects, I want to have a go at making some of these
and a few of these, for Katie and my nieces
and a few of these
and one of these
for me, the owls for my bed and the strap for my camera. for some unknown reason winter always makes me what to branch out with my crafty stuff lol. I also want to have a go at quilting and knitting, neither of which I have tried before. So watch this space lol….I can but try these things
have a fab Friday night all…we are off to Blenheim tomorrow to see 2 of my big bro’s and sis in laws and baby Harmony who is now 6 months old and I still haven’t seen. Yay, I finally get to see the baby! watch out for pics next week 
night night all
hugz
V xx
Happy B’day my baby boy
This rather tall young man, my baby boy, turned 17 today. Omg where did that go, seems like only yesterday I was dealing with this screaming horrid baby (yes he honestly was the worst of my babies, he had colic for almost the first year of his life, and a scream that could, and constantly did, wake the neighbours, we even had the cops around a few times when the neighbours thought we were beating him lol) he has since made up for that terrible beginning to be the best behaved of my 3 babies and most definitely the easiest teenager so far. he really is an amazing boy, easy going, well behaved, doesn’t smoke, barely drinks, doesn’t go to parties and run around in cars, doesn’t even play his music loudly. any given weekend will find him helping out around home or at a mates place playing Xbox. what more could a mother want? he’s not perfect but damn near lol.
For his birthday Katie and I brought him a laptop backpack, he’s been asking for one for ages and a game of pictureka, which Steve and I played before dinner tonight, he cheats outrageously but then so did I lol….its half the fun of it, trying the cheat each other without getting caught…we are both so obvious that it ends up being a joke between us.
He is always fun to be with, we enjoy each others company and talk about all sorts, even read the same sort of books. how many mums can say that about their teenage sons?
though I don’t think his grandmother is to impressed with him at the moment, since she suddenly realised the other day that he is head and shoulders taller than her now lol…looks like he will reach that 6’4 predicated when he was a kid.
well besides Steve’s birthday there has been a bit going on around here. I haven’t blogged in a while, the main reason being I haven’t been well enough to hold my head up much less do anything else. My darling doctor thought it would be fun to play with my painkillers, and since my back has been giving me hell without let up he decided it would be a good idea to send me for an x-ray and put me on some serious painkillers, namely morphine..yah…if you have ever been on that stuff you will know the effect it can have.,..quite simply it can make you a little bit out of your head, away in lala land lol…so that’s how the weekend and first few days of the week went…or flew should I say. then on Tuesday I went back for another visit to said doctor and he has cut back on those, thank heavens and put me on something that is between codeine which is no longer effective, and morphine which is a little to effective. and finally, I am coming out of the fog and regaining my senses lol, even if I am now on so many pills I rattle when I walk lol…and since I am not doing that to well he has also instructed me to use crutches whenever I walk…I am starting to not like this man lol…he really is lovely but a girl could go off him in a big way! so now I am being dragged around by a pair of damn crutches but at least I am getting around and not a moment to soon since Katie has picked up one of those mysterious bugs that kids get and has been unwell for the last few days, though she is getting better now, I can tell, she’s getting bossy again lol.
anyway that’s enough babble for one night…I am off to cuddle up with a good book and listen to the rain…its pouring down here, I really like the sound of the rain at night, must be a left over from living in Greymouth all those years.
night night all, I will leave you with this ever so cute photo of Katie giving Steve a birthday kiss
, how sweet is that?
sweet dreams
hugz
V xx
8 Albums
Look at this….
all but one of these albums are Katie’s…I have just started album number 8 for her…and she’s only 3 and a half. The very top on is Steve & Jodi’s and is almost full. Steve and I estimated that I have done about 140 layouts of Katie in the last 3 1/2 years. Not that she minds, she loves looking through the albums of herself! She was going from album to album when I pulled them out this afternoon and going “there’s me” at every layout lol. She did surprise me when she came across a layout of her and Jodi and she knew who he was straight away. He hasn’t been home in over a year but she doesn’t forget. She knows who her big brother is she talks to him every week when we call him and loves the photos that I have framed in my room. She was still a baby when he left so he is in for a bit of a shock when he comes home in September for a holiday. I am so looking forward to him coming home, and he’s bringing his girlfriend Tracey, that makes 3 Tracey’s in our family now lol, my sister Tracy, S.I.L Tracey and now daughter I.L Tracey lol.
I did a layout for the Scrappin Patch Queen’s Birthday challenge that Heidi set, centred on our princess or princes. And of course mine was all about….you guessed it…my DD Katie…and my other favourite wee girl Taliyah. The layout is still awaiting approval since I only just uploaded it but check out the Scrappin Patch gallery later to see it…it sort of took on a life of its own and strayed so far from plan its not funny…isn’t it weird how some layouts do that, you have a picture in your head about how you want it to look but when it is finished it looks nothing like the picture in your head?
I had this great idea of a layout for the challenge Beverley set:
Option one: Is to do a layout and include ephemera on it.
Option two: Is to do a layout and include a drawing or note from your child/grandchild/godchild or any special child in your life
I was planning on doing option two. I have a very special letter sent to me by my eldest nephew when he first started school, 21 years ago! and wouldn’t you know it…I cant find it anywhere, I have kept it in an old photo album all these years and just because I want it now of course I can’t track it down. I put the album away somewhere safe!! isn’t that just always the way?
Anyway the challenge ends at midnight tonight so I cant see me getting it done unless the album turns up out of the blue in the next few hours…but when I do find it I will do the layout anyway. I have the photo of 5 year old Nephew and 26 year old nephew, I was 14 when he was born and I remember tell my S.I.L that he looked like ET lol…just the sort of thing a new mum wants to hear about her new born babe lol…she eventually forgave me…after all…I was only 14, with all the sensitivity of your average 14 year old lol.
anyway Time to get Miss 3 into her PJ’s, for reasons known only to herself she is running around with no pants on….this girl hates wearing pants…hope she grows out of that before she starts school lol.
have a good night all.
hugz
V xx
