Sunday, March 3, 2013

9/52



The kids favourite thing to do when Uncle Jamie is home (he works FIFO) is to go out on his boat. Benji has really started to get the hang of it, and loves everything about being on the water, he even "holds" the boat when it's in the shallows.


A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Familyx12; February 2013

We only just scraped in, and got this photo 5 days before the end of the month! It's not that we didn't do things all together, and could have had a photo taken....we just got lazy!

Anyway, here's the photo...as usual Benji is in Daddy's arms, and Lily in mine:

We went to a free outdoor concert at Scarborough Beach and Eskimo Joe (a local Western Australian band) were the headline act. It was an awesome evening and even the kids had fun, although Benji piked halfway through Eskimo Joe's set, and truth-be-told, I'm pretty Lily's favourite part were the fireworks at the end...but the adults had a good night!

I think by now, it almost goes without saying...this photo will be making an appearance in my Project Life album (in week 8).

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Project Life 2013 - Week Eight

I can't believe we are already at the end of February, this year just seems to be flying by! 
But, on the plus side it means that I am just under two weeks away from my weekend away on the Sunshine Coast, and finally I will get to meet a very special lady, who has become one of my closest and best friends!

Main Spread, without Extra Inserts

We actually had a really quiet week at home, and didn't really do anything at all. Thankfully we had a busy weekend, or I wouldn't have had enough photos to even fill one side of the spread!
But in the end I managed to fill both sides of the spread, I also got to do something I have never done before, and filled one entire side of the spread with just one event, I really like the look, and will definitely be doing it again...and it wouldn't be one of my layouts without an extra insert!

Main Spread, with Extra Insert

The first side of the insert is our February Family Photo. Our faces aren't that dark in real life, the layout just photographed dark.

Close up of the Left Hand Side of the layout


The family photo was taken at a free event that we went to for  the end of summer. One of the councils about an hour away, put on a free concert and Eskimo Joe was the main act. It was a pretty awesome night, which was topped off with some fireworks at the end.
This is the event which I dedicated the entire right hand side of the spread to:

Back of the Insert

We spent Sunday afternoon up in East Fremantle fishing on the river. We didn't catch anything [apart from a couple of Blowies (Torquigener pleurogramma)], but the kids didn't care, they just wanted to go fishing and catching anything was a bonus!

Linking up with Jessica



Sunday, February 24, 2013

8/52



A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013

Not the best photo, but it's hard to get a photo of two kids, who just want to play! But, I love what this photo symbolises...these two play so well together, and Lily really does look out for him, when the big kids come she can often be heard telling them "be careful of my little brother".

Thursday, February 21, 2013

30 Before 30: #10 Do a Fun Run/Walk for Charity

One of the (personal) challenges I was most looking forward to, was #10. I first heard about The Color Run while I was blog-hopping one night and I kept seeing photos of all the fun that some of my American friends were having. When one of my friends posted on her facebook back in November 2012 that her and her daughters were doing it, I straight away asked if I could join in with them, and then booked my spot.

I patiently waited while the other states had their turn, and then finally on Sunday February 17, 2013 it was Perth's turn! We had been in the midst of a heatwave (temperatures the week previous had been in the high 30's and low 40's!), thankfully Mother Nature played nice, and we had a beautiful day with a maximum of about 26.

As is customary with any big event, the kids decided to muck around the night before, and not go to bed until really late (Lily finally went at 10:30pm [after watching How to Train Your Dragon] and Benji decided to fall asleep on the couch at 5:00pm and woke up at 8pm ready to play. He finally went down just after Midnight!)

I was picked up bright and early by Christine and her girls and we made the drive into the City, (Ian and the kids came in a little bit later), we didn't have too much trouble finding a car park - probably because we parked about 2km away...lucky it was a downhill walk!

After buying some brightly coloured knee-high socks (so I matched the others), we were ready to join the start chute, but first I conned some nice strangers into taking our photo.


We weren't in a hurry to get to the start line, and as a result we ended up being in the last wave of people to start the "run". I say run, in the loosest sense of the word, it wasn't a timed event, and the main aim of the day was to just have fun. We walked most of the 5km, and it seemed that most other people were walking too.

Not long after we crossed the start line, I happened to spot Ian and the kids along the edge of the course, so I ran the little bit towards the kids, so that Lily would be proud of me (she kept wondering how I was going to win the race if I wasn't going to run)!


I didn't get any photos from within the colour stations, mainly because I didn't want to pull my phone out and risk getting the dust all over it, or worse still behind the lens or battery. But, Christine had a disposable camera which we used during the race, so hopefully there are some good ones on that.

Every kilometre or so, there was a different coloured station - 1km was blue, 2km was pink, 3km was orange and 4km was yellow. Throughout the course there was also guys (and girls) with spray packs spraying us with paint (mostly green, but every now and then, I saw someone with a purple pack).

We took our time and enjoyed the beautiful day and scenery, and in some of the colour stations we hung around a bit making sure we got covered with lots of paint, and all up it took us just under an hour to walk the 5km.

We picked up a stray at the end, and Lily walked the last few hundred metres (from the finish line) to the water and paint packet stations.


Getting the extra paint packets at the end was also a lot of fun, and meant that we could get a really good covering with paint colours that weren't included in the actual course.
Lily was getting into the action too, and by the end of the day she was as dirty as the rest of us!

Hands in everyone!

By the end of the day, we were all covered in almost all the colours of the rainbow!

All in all, it was a fantastic day and I had so much fun! 
I CAN.NOT.WAIT for next year! Ian and the kids want to join in too! I'm not sure how they will go walking the 5km, more than likely they will have to take turns in the pram.

If The Color Run comes to a city near you, I definitely recommend joining the fun!!

As a side note, I still have a faint blue colour all over one side of my face and ear, and a little bit of orange in the other ear. 

You can see my entire 30-Before-30 List HERE

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Project Life 2013 - Week Seven

This was a HUGE week in our house, as Lily started Year One. Most Western Australian children started back on Monday February 4, 2013, but because Lily was on holidays overseas at the time, she didn't start until the following Monday. It was also a week of getting back into routine (like me having to get up early in the mornings too!), Benji started back with his activities, and I had a huge week and weekend.

All this meant that I am back to my old ways, and ended up needing to add in three inserts

Main Spread, without Extra Inserts

Main Spread, with Extra Inserts

I included the customary first day of school photo - I love looking back, and comparing how much the kids have changed during the year.

The two bottom photos on the left hand side are of the lovely ladies who attended the first two meetings of the Get Real Scrapbooking group that I am co-running with Mandy down at Made With Memories in Rockingham, WA. I figured I wouldn't be a very good Project Lifer if I didn't include a couple of photos!

The dates are up for the March groups, so if you want to book in, ring the store on: (08) 9591 3188

Something I should also mention about the photos from the Project Life group, is that the text on them is my handwriting in a font. Normally I hate my handwriting, but there's something extra awesome about having it made into a font and using it to type with!

Back of Insert One & Insert Two

Even though Benji isn't actually school aged, I still take a photo of him when I take Lily's...it's good practice for when he starts school!
Insert Two is a snap of our beautiful city from the South Perth foreshore.

Back of Insert Two & Insert Three

On Sunday I particiapted in The Color Run (there will be a blog post up on Thursday) and since I knew that I was going to want to include things in my PL album, I made sure that I got a 'before' and 'after' photo, the change is pretty impressive!
I also kept my bib number, unfortunately most of the powdered paint blew straight off the bib, but I still wanted to include it.

Back of Insert Three

On the back of the bib I made a collage of some of my favourite photos from the day. I printed the photo as a 5x7, but I ended up trimming it a little bit so it would fit entirely between the holes on the bib.

Linking up with Jessica



Sunday, February 17, 2013

7/52



A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013.

The rest of WA children went back to school last week (04/02/13), but Lily got an extra week off and only started school this week (11/02/13). There were a few tears from both the kids, Lily because she missed Daddy, and Benji because he missed Lily.

Linking up with Jodi



Sunday, February 10, 2013

6/52



A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013

What better way to cool down on a 35 degree day, than to have a little play in a clam shell pool. Thanks to my sister who snapped this photo of the kids!

Linking up with Jodi




Thursday, February 7, 2013

How to be a Book Nerd #1

I thought that it might be a fun little series to blog about all the things that make me a (proud) book nerd! If you too, would like to become a book nerd, then all you have to do is follow the steps that I will outline in the coming weeks/months.

Book to Movie Adaptations

Read the book first, and then pick apart the movie...with an in depth and detailed discussion (with your fellow movie-goer) about all the ways in which the book was better.

We all know that the books are usually better than the film adaptation, yet I can't help myself and HAVE to read the book first. Last year I watched a few book to movie adaptations, and the only film that I thought was better than the book was The Help. I did enjoy the book, but I found the pacing in the first half a little slow (it picked up in the second half, but I had to read 150 pages or so before I really started enjoying the book).

Having said that, there are so many book to movie adaptations coming out in 2013, that I am looking forward to! Some I have yet to read the book (I usually like to wait until a couple weeks before I see the movie to read the book, that way it is still fresh in my mind), and others I have already read (but in some cases it was a couple of years ago, so I may re-read the book before seeing the movie).


2013 (and some 2014) Book to Movie Adaptations I'm looking forward to include:

Silver Linings Playbook, based on the novel by Matthew Quick 02/13
Safe Haven, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks 02/13
Admission, based on the novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz 03/13 (it stars Paul Rudd, what can I say!)
The Host, based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer 03/13
The Great Gatsby, based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald 05/13
City of Bones, based on the novel by Cassandra Clare 08/13
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, based on the novel by Suzanne Collins 11/13

Rumoured
The Maze Runner, based on the novel by James Dashner 2013
Uglies, based on the novel by Scott Westerfeld 2013/2014?
Beautiful Disaster, based on the novel by Jamie McGuire
Divergent, based on the novel by Veronica Roth 2014
Delirium, based on the novel by Lauren Oliver 2014
The Night Circus, based on the novel by Erin Morgenstern (not sure how true this one is, but HERE is the link to the IMDB page)

And I just read in the paper today that The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is being made into a file, starring Geoffrey Rush. Really excited for that one!

This is not a comprehensive list, and more than likely does not include all the movies I would want to see,  but it is a list that I quickly put to together.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

5/52



On Thursday (31/01) I did one of the toughest things a mother can do...I watched my almost 6 year old daughter leave to go on holidays with her grandparents (my parents), I almost managed to not cry in front of her, but as soon as she started walking towards those blue doors, I was gone!

Benji was just really excited to be allowed to be running around at 4:30am.
Lily is holding a postcard on which I wrote a letter on for her to take away.

This is what I ended up like (it's not a very good photo because I stole borrowed it off my Mum's facbeook:


Linking up with Jodi

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Familyx12; January 2013

As today is the last of the month, I thought now was as good a time as any, to share our January family photo.

This photo was taken right at the beginning of the month (January 4, in fact) at the T20 cricket match between the Perth Scorchers (our team) and Sydney Thunder.


I'm really looking forward to capturing (at least) another 11 family photos this year.



Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Project Life 2013 - Weeks One, Two & Three

I blogged about Week Four yesterday, you can see that post >>HERE<<

As I mentioned in the post yesterday, I have been pretty slack with blogging my latest weekly layouts, but there was a reason behind it. I kinda took a break for a couple of weeks. I had just finished all of 2012, and I wanted a chance to appreciate the enormity of the task that was, completing Project Life 2012, and not rush straight into 2013.

Anyway, I'm back with the first three weeks of the new year to share.

Week One
Main Spread, without extra inserts

This week was only a short week, as I started it on the Tuesday (January 1), instead of Monday's like I normally do.

I have a confession to make, those photos of the new carpet in Benji's room, are actually from week two, and I've only just now noticed that I put them in the wrong week!

Main Spread, with extra Inserts

I added a couple of inserts this week, one was the front page of The West Australian (WA's newspaper) from January 1st. Front pages of newspapers from around the world, can be found here.

Back of Insert One & Insert Two
Lily and her friend Hayley at Hayley's sixth birthday party, and our January family photo.

Back of Insert Two

Grid collage of some extra photos from the cricket.

Week Two
Main Spread, without extra Inserts

It was really hot in Perth this week, so we spent a lot of time around the house, or at friends houses for play dates.

Main Spread, with extra Insert
LOVE this photo of Benji!

Back of Insert
Benji in his favourite orange hard-hat...love this photo of him too!

Week Three
Main Spread, without extra Inserts
A lot of "extra" stuff added this week...I went to the movies twice (once with the kids, and once kiddie free with Ian), and Lily went to a disco at the Fairies Shop.

Main Spread, with Extra Inserts
This photo of Lily in her fairy dress was too cute not to include in the album (it was originally an Instagram photo that I blew up to 6x6).

Back of Insert
Another Instagram photo that I just *had* to add. Lily and Benji were playing with makeup (why is it that kids always want to put on the hideously bright/hard to wash off colours?) and Lily put a lilttle bit of eyeshadow on him, but Benj decided that it wasn't enough and added more...much more!

The photo of the kids and I in the top left corner on the right hand spread, is actually a flip up pocket, it's the first time I have ever used a flip pocket on a top photo (normally I use them down the bottom).
Sorry for the glare on the bottom photo!

That's it! Now I am all caught up in blogging my Project Life layouts...back to weekly posts from now on!

I will be linking up with Jessica