who’s watching the tour de france??

if you get a chance- tune in to sbs at 6pm for hightlights from last night- they were in the italian alps, and the scenery was amazing- how those guys have the nerve to zoom down at 80km plus down a mountain is beyond me- one poor guy ended up going over the side- ooops.

tonight at 9.30 is the 2nd day in the mountains and is apparently even tougher than todays race- cant wait!

cadel evans is in 3rd place at the moment after holding the yellow jersey for about 4 days i think- so tune in and send some vibes, so we can see an aussie win!!

Luke had a kinder pool ‘party’ yesterday. He looooooooved it. They got to play lots of games, jump in the pool, dive for treasure, and just have fun, fun.fun. At the moment we have gumnut from kinder staying with us- heres a pic of the 2 of them together……..

have a great day- and dont forget to watch the Tour

j

1st though i have to say it was bl**dy freezing today- the wind chill factor wasnt good- dont think the brass monkeys would have been happy iykwim

anyways, here are most of the LOs from the retreat (i still have to add a few dates)- you can click on them to see them larger if you wish

bin truck- the kids (luke in particular) love the bin truck coming past- this was obviously summer, as its pitch black atm (comes past round 6.45am)

Luke playing with a fave puzzle at the inlaws- i love the light in their backroom, i took the knitting photos in there too- hooked on 1.5×2inch photos too

this is a sort of companion to the one above- pop helping luke (btw-pop has been obscured for internet viewing- he’s a little shy)

a layout about the dino exhibition at the museum- had to record that quote- ive included a bookmark from the museum

this is about chloe learning to tie a bow-those green vinyl letters have moved- i think i need to glue them down with something a bit stronger

and 2 6×12’s- technically theyre 6x about 11.5- i didnt realise that i wasnt using a full piece of c/s till it was too late. Want to do random photos in this size- its fun

this one is chloe at the museum- note the chloe made flower- my favourite (oh and the fiskars water threading punch on this, and the layout above- sigh- i want one-i borrowed Lou’s)

and a photo of Luke taken at mornington- using a crafty matters tile (cute)

ive got a 4pge layout and a mini book also, but theyre not quite completed yet

and thought i would show this- from my pre blog days- it is one of my favourite early photos of Luke- such a cutie already, with big blue eyes- awww (although a lot less hair)

thats it

tfl

j

the youngest member of the family turned 4 yesterday!!

here he is unwrapping some pressies first thing in the morning- and ,no, things arent so tough in the fitchett household that we had to use newspaper to wrap them up- we just realised at 9pm the night before we had no wrapping paper LOL

we had the usual family mob come help celebrate and enjoy afternoon tea- here is the boy blowing out his candles- im helping……..

and here is the cake- there is a bit of a renaissance for lightening mcqueen with Luke, so we went and chose a cake topper- soooo easy!!

he got lots of boy stuff- thomas trains, lightening mcqueen and transformers- he was in heaven….

He also had happy birthday sung to him at kinder the other day, but the photo is too blurry to show- here he is painting- doesnt do this too often, he much prefers playing with cars, but when im there he will give it a go!

and this is so funny!!

all aboard the Lukie train…

we have a bit of a battle getting Luke to ride/walk to school, until the other day he thought he would be a train driver- and chloe and i were the carraiges- we had to stop at the ’station’ and wait for him to pick us up, then he blew the whistle (whoo whoooo) and we were off hehehe

(he worked out if he shuffled along, the lunch box in his backpack moved up and down and made a noise like a train travelling on tracks)

He has such an amazing imagination at the moment, and his brain works at a gazziolion miles an hour, which is generally very funny to watch- although its exhausting too

have a great sunday

j

NEW STUFF!!!

okay, there are alot of people sick of me talking about the new stuff coming soon…………..LOL

so here it is

full details over at Crafty Matters- hope you like them

cheers

jane

i shlouldnt be playing on the computer tonight- but i just had to record this-

chloe started ballet tonight

havent seen her quite this happy in awhile- she even posed for 45 (lol) photos

heres one

the leotard is one either my sister or myself wore for RAD exams back in the 70’s, and the shoes are probably 30 years old too- good to see theyre getting a new lease of life. e actually has a hot pink leotard, crossover and skirt that co ordinates, but she preferred this get up.

Chloes main reason for wanting to start ballet is social-3 of her friends go, so we will play it by ear and see how it goes. She did really well tonight- better than i expected for her 1st time, and she was flitting around the house afterwards, practising her routines.

here are a few from the weekend

actually this is the pile at the end of the weekend

this one was already started before the weekend, but finished during- so im counting it as one of the LOs from the weekend-(i need to go back and re write over some of the journalling- my pen ran out and i swapped to a new one, so its looking dodgy atm)

looove the MM paper-

and more MM paper- i was rapt those big letters matched so well with the paper- and for Ruey- can you see the brayered paper- its the red and cream cuttlebugged bit sticking out under the journalled part. Ruey showed us a great technique of applying ink to a cuttlebug emboss plate and then running it through the machine, the ink registers on the flat part of the paper, and the raised parts stay the original colour-

these are the 12×12 LOs -the rest are a4, plus a couple of 6×12s and a mini book- need to scan/photograph them still - stay tuned

Im obviously still a little tired and not thinking properly- this morning Luke and i rocked up to the swimming lesson at 9.40 (because i thought the lesson was at 10 ) to be told we were late-doh- its always been 9.30, apart from the very first week of term one, so im not really sure what i was thinking hehehe

i also noticed today that the preppies all seem to have grown in the last 2 weeks- they no longer look like innocent babies theyre fully fledged school kids now who know the drill- including Chloe- in fact she put her school pants on and theyre looking a little shorter than the last time she wore them (and they havent shrunk in the wash!)

i need to do another europe 88 update too- by this time 20 years ago we were back home- so im a tad behind…. we will see how the week pans out

night night

j

im back from my weekend away-had a wonderful time, did heaps of scrapping,and got to catch up with lots of people

it is so nice to see how much enjoyment comes out of cutting and pasting for so many- wonderful to see all those pics of loved ones being preserved for the future-

Its nice to be home the kids and Al missed me, and have been so lovely tonight- no doubt back to normal tomorrow LOL
i have LOTS of finished layouts to put on the blog for show and tell, but not tonight

im off to bed to have a good sleep- stayed up way too late for someone my age, and i need a catch up

thanks to everyone i shared the weekend with- i had a great time

j

im heading off to a retreat this weekend-yay!

im all packed and ready to go- picking up helen s on the way, fo 2 days of simply scrapbooking

cant wait!

the week has been busy again with swimming every morning. and my nephews here. they have been a great help entertaining the kids and helping out in general. swimming has gone well again, apart from what appears to be the regular second day jitters, Chloe has really improved, and i think the 10 days of swimming at school last term has helped her too.

gotta go count down the hours till i leave hehehe-will have some scrapping too show next week- i hope!

cheers

jane

like a lizard drinking………………….. as they say!!

this week we have..

-had a scrapping day with the Fitchett cousins- i actually got more done than anyone else for a change, after a little bit of scrapping and cuttlebugging, the nintendo ds was more fun for the girls LOL

-went to the pub with Ruey and Vita, and came to my place to do a little cuttlebugging and trampoline jumping -well the kids did the jumping- and alot of the cuttlebugging too. We think the pub may have read our blogs after the shocking food we had there for our birthday lung hehehe- the menu has changed completely and on the whole, much nicer- actually, i dont think it was the reveiws on our blog that got them into gear LOL- i think someone has been watching gordon ramsay- much smaller menu, fresher food- even the kids meal had vegies- luke wasnt happy about that!

-spent wednesday at home- our ONLY day to ourselves for the holidays, it was very nice, not to be ready to go somewhere at a certain time- cleaned chloes room

- spent the morning at home thursday, then went to my friend lindas house to help with some finishing touches- more later.

- friday- went to the museum- with ALOT of other people- uggh- it was busy. we met up with the matters boys, my dad and the thomson boys, and wandered around looking at the different exhibits- the fave is the 3d room - stayed there for ages. we had lunch and then dad and the thomson boys headed to imax, and we headed to the dinosaur exhibit- luke decided to throw a tanti as he wanted to stay at the playground- grrr- thankfully he was happy again quick enough .

the kids had a wander around the exibit, and were more interested in the live animals than the bones i have to say- and thankfully they had a live animal show we went and watched- which was the highlight for them- make sure you see it, if you go to the exhibit (and by the way- this exhibit is an extra $20 for 1 adult and 2 kids if youre not a member) anyways, they had a chameleon and a baby alligator, and at the end of the show, all the kids had to line up to get a pat of the alligator- luke and rileys fave part of the day by far. We were at the back of the line, and one of the last groups there, so they got to see the chameleon up close and personal - then luke and riley both asked the girls doing the show- shoosh me (lukes version of excuse me) when are you going to show us the dinosaurs- cute!we travelled to and from the museaum on eastlink- and i know its the long way round km wise- but we were at smith st fiztroy in 30minutes- and i loved going into town on the eastern freeway- reminded me of going to work in town oh, so many years ago.

so that brings us to saturday and the wedding of the year, Some of you have met my friend Linda- well after 2 almost wedding dates, it was 3rd time lucky for her and her partner Dan to tie the knot.

Chloe and i toddled off at just before 11am to take some photos before they left for a private ceremony, and we ended up helping lindas girls and linda get dressed and out the door. Chloe i think was desperately jealous of lindas girls and wants Al and I to have another wedding so she can get dressed up too. She tied the girls shoes up ,a dn was very proud of her efforts.

we spent the afternoon at home, then Al and i got into our best outfits, took the kids to their cousins for a sleep over and headed to the reception.

here are a few pics- sorry, non of the brida and groom- theyre both dentists, so i cant show you their faces- LOL0 just kidding, though i dont know if they want to be on the blog, so i will ask em first

the venue was great- a very beautifully decorated, intimate room- perfect for this wedding (anybody know if that wallpaper is a Florence Broadhurst design ??)

me and my very very good bud, Anna- she look a million gazziolian bucks !!

the flowers were AMAZING! perfect for a july wedding

the bonbonierre - Linda made soy candles (scented creme brulee- they smell delish!) and i made the tags. I drew a very quick sketch of an idea i had, and them Linda wouldnt let me tweak it- scanned it into ps, and gave it a red background and printed it out on photopaper and made a tag- they looked great as a group.

the other project i made for them was around 80 luggage tags (thankgoodness for fiskars templates sarah) - and stamped a little flourish on the corner. The guests wrote messages on the tags and hung them on the tree. Linda is making a book to put them into when she returns from her honeymoon- im going to join her to put all the tags i had my guests write at our wedding 7 yrs ago, into a book too LOL

looove this one - awwww………

and the final photo- the girls shoes- tied by miss chloe :):):

thats it for me - got to brace myself for this week- swimming lessons, cousins staying- birthday party, maybe another scrap afternoon, and i have to get ready for a scrapping retreat next weekend- eek

not to mention some very exciting crafty matters new embellishments i ive been working on- cant wait to show them

PLEASE EXCUSE THE TYPOS AND THE SPELLING-:P -

see ya

J

eastlink is finally open!!

so, like 3/4 of melbourne we thought we would do a test run

im giving it a big thumbs up-(although im not sure how each end will cope during peak hour) we got from rutherford rd in seaford to springvale rd doncaster(donvale?) in 37 minutes- something that would normally take at least 45 minutes or more- and that was travelling at an average 80kms an hour, and for about 10minutes we were only doing 40kms as we approached the tunnel (we are probably on of the cars in the pic below)

we were lucky that we started out at 1pm, as the traffic on the way back was sooo much heavier

as i said - a big thumbs up from me- more than happy to pay the toll if it gets us to our destination quicker, and far less stressed- it saves us going through something like 40 sets of traffic lights .

i took my camera with me, so i will upload some of the road art when i can….. school holidays have just started, so we are busy busy busy

Its also 5 days to my friend Lindas wedding, (some of you met her at our birthday) and ive got a few small projects to help her out with this week - will do a show and tell next week. Linda, anna, our friend robyn and i went to a fantastic (although very noisy) indian resturaunt in patterson lakes on saturday night for a pre wedding dinner- great food ! and hilariously there were 3 other mums from lukes kinder group dining at the same time- we were all giving each other a wave across the tables…

that reminds me- luke went to his first disco friday night- he loved it- well for an hour- at least- he was ready to go home after that.

better go get ready for a scrappin day with the cousins…………

oh- btw- waving to Matisse’s mum, who met Linda at a play centre on Saturday, and reads my blog- HI !!