I love these photos of Nate, he was sitting in the pram, (which is probably some of the last photos in it) we have now bought a stroller and he is just so independant, thank goodness for Coles at Riverlink, they have little kids trolleys, he runs around and puts heaps of things in it, but just wants to run around, so the confines of the big trolley are too restrictive too apparently.

When dad and mum moved to their new house, they kindly left Nate and I in charge of this one, I also inherited some old orchids of dad's, he said just throw them out, but with some TLC they have turned into such beautiful plants when they flower, Nate helps me water them about 2 times a week and at the moment they all look beautiful. These two are my favourites. The red plant is so amazing in full bloom, and the orchid just cheers you up with its bright fushia colours, I have to repot them all soon so that is a big job. Spent all yesterday springcleaning the kitchen and lounge rooms, walls and on top of cupboards. Feel so good it is all done for Christmas here at my place.

The Christmas tree

Putting up the Christmas tree was so much fun, Aunty Jan came down we shared a bottle of emery sauvignon blanc and put on the christmas tunes. This is a wonderful tradition we have made for ourselves.

The wedding

Good friend Tracy Firth took this gorgeous photo of our family minus Stanley the other poodle, what a great photo of us, Nate has chocolate milk around his mouth which is very normal and it was just a random "quick come here" type of shot and you know I love these the best, so mum and dad are getting one for Christmas too. I will miss my friend when she relocates to Melbourne to be with her in-laws and mum and dad but thank goodness for the internet and cheap phone calls I say. Nate has really made a great little friend with Zoe (Tracy's daughter) and she even told her mum she was going to marry Nate which was so funny, I told Tracy I only have to pay for the drinks so she had the bigger amount to spend. Then we started to encourage them to elope as this was even a cheaper wedding option. This conversation happenned after we were driving back from Indooroopilly in November '09 and we had the best time.

18 October 2009

This is Nate at his Christening, he was having so much fun, drawing under the pews, climbing them and then when the procedure started, he didn't want to participate at all, but the day was so wonderful, I feel so much more relieved his has had this big day. Just puts my mind at ease. He looked so gorgeous in his little suit. I was so proud of him.

Feed the man Soup

In this layout Nate is eating the soup I made, I always tell him it is hot but of course he always has to check for himself, this occassion was no exception, but capturing this photo is precious to tell this story, priceless actually.

This look

I just love this look, wow could not have taken a more Nate Turramun shot if I'd tried, you can be so coy and cute and handsome and then in the blink of an eye can change into a boisterous, rough, loud BOY. I just love your little quirks, you have a mainly fun loving personality, but boy you love the attention, when Aunty Jan came down last night you just kept saying Jan Jan Jan louder and louder to get her attention, but in the end we had to subdue you with a DDD (DVD) as we weren't getting any of our card making and scrapping done. You are now 2 years and 9 months old, growing so very fast, and such a gorgeous little man, you are my best friend.

Dinnertime

Why is it that I can almost bet that I am going to need to change your clothes after dinner, lunch, actually any meal for that matter, I love it when you are at the table for tea - all clean, nice fresh pj's and then dinner is served and well there goes that. lol. I love being a MUM. I love this layout, just so bright and cheery, just like the smile you give me every morning when I wake up next to you. I love you bubba.

Holiday Antics

I love our days away with Col and Jan, they are just the best friends, this particular trip we went to Caloundra and enjoyed some shopping and had lunch in a gorgeous coffee shop and Nate and I got up to our usual antics in the back. We fall asleep every trip on the way home, so nice to sit in the back and let someone else drive. Great times and great memories.

I love this face

This is the layout that gave an accurate portrayal of dinnertimes for a while with my baby, he uses utensils very well now, and sits on his own chair, cannot believe how fast he is growing, but the mess is indescribable. But I love every minute and lets face it, gives me lovely memories to scrap. The photos date back to about Dec 08 so just before he was 2.

Christmas Ideas

I think someone mentioned that there is 18 weeks until Christmas, so time to get creative and think of some ideas, I will definately be doing more of these diaries, they were a hit, I also decorated calendars as well. Gee I hope my mojo stays a bit more consistant for me to finish them. Not going to leave it to long to get started. I have got all Nate's pressies so just have to get my family.

Freedom

I just love this shot of Nate, he probably won't when he gets older, lol, each Saturday we go to Jodie's house at Walloon and Nate and Cooper have a great time with each other, they are only 6 days apart in age, watching them develop thear friendship has been so interesting with both boys having the opposite personalities. This particular arvo we let them run around with no nappies on. They both ran crazy, They were free.

Best Friends forever

Kat has these headings from My Minds Eye and they really suit my layouts at the moment, I like them sometimes as a change to using chipboard alphas, I really am enjoying scrapping at the moment and actually liking what I accomplish also, seems for me with a little organisation can actually successfully finish a layout a night or about 4/5 a week which is a total record since it used to take me ages to work out just the papers, but now I get papers together beforehand and although there is not a photo in mind at this stage, it doesn't take long to find one in the 3 full shoeboxes full.

Little Ghangis Khan

He looked so cute dressed up, lucky it was winter though because it was almost too hot to even wear it for the short time he did, he certainly stole the show for best dressed 2 1/2yr old from a very biassed mum, I couldn't stop taking photos of him, he didn't seem to mind though, I cannot wait for the photos to be developed so I can create some layouts of him, I cannot believe I look at this boy hundreds of times a day and cannot believe the love I have for him, I am just besotted. He is my best friend. Hence the layout "Best Friends Forever".

Mud and mess

With all the rain we have had here the backyard gets to be a bit messy and muddy, well this attracts Nate like bees to a honey pot, I literally had 4 changes of clothes on him in a 3 hour period, because he just couldn't stay out of it, so I am trying to keep him upstairs and having fun here until it dries up, I made this layout using reminisce paper, I love the bright colours and the stickers are too. Nate has a cold at the moment so downstairs and out in the mud is out of the questions, so the wiggles and maisy mouse are playing regularly. We had a sunny day today and I say please give us a few good days like this.

Nate and his monies

I bought Nate a money box from our bank, and he has so much fun adding money to it, I told him that once the monies were in there, they couldn't come out and this has worked so far, he actually in these photos got into my wallet and took out a $5 note and $14 in $1 & $2 coins and added them straight to his monies box, he just has no idea about it and it makes me laugh, he gets just as excited about a 5c coin that he does about a $2 coin. Wow I love these naive times and although I want him to continue to learn and grow, really wish these times right now could stay longer, he has just started watching dvd's and his talking is coming on strong and I just hope it doesn't go too quick.

Me and Uncle Col

I have been finding on nights when I have limited enthusiasm I just get out every embellishment (they are in 3 baskets) and just put the photos down and just add anything that I like, the page seems to come together quite quickly for me, there doesn't seem to be any particular colour scheme or limitations on anything I do this way and well, I love busy layouts as well as the opposite extreme the neat & tidy.

Always a bookworm

This is a dedication to Nate's fondness for reading ever since he was little, I am learning so much about what is important for me to tell Nate in my scrapbooking about himself - most of my inspiration has been coming from Simple scrapbooks magazine, I do like Creating Keepsakes also, Nate and I created the background by colouring our hand outlines and he just did a bit of a scribble for me, I really love this page, I hope he does when he is older too.

Simple Pleasures

I only had these small photos on hand of Nate asleep on the lounge, so I scraplifted a layout from Simple Magazines - (Wendy Smedley) bit dissappointed that they are going out of print though, buying as many old copies as I can, I love it. I didn't use much for this one, used some rub-ons around the photo of nate, a ScapFX chipboard heading from Kat at The Scrappin Kats and some of poor Aunty Jan's tape measure Nate cut up last time she was down here.

Nate has always been a reader, loves 1,000,000 books (well that is what it seems like) each night read to him, this one day last summer I found him on his mini lounge reading a 50c book from lifeline called (counting cows) and he looked so intrigued by each sentence, he is such a great little actor, I often think he will end up like a Sally on Home and Away. (Well a great job, good money and no stress, I would think) I used Bo Bunny cardstock, Scenic Route pp and Bella have this cute pp out at the moment with all these coloured tape measures on, looks cute. A friend of mine - Amy Brown from The scrappin Kats gave me the idea to put a rub-on on to cardstock and cut it out, I 3d'd it and I just love it, also Amy sent me the gorgeous blue and red square brads in a mystery RAK also, my style amazes me all the time, I do the simplest of layouts and then do a busy, multi-coloured one, hard to define my style......

Windows Live Hotmail

Windows Live Hotmail Jodie sent me this photo of the boys whilst they were feeding the mini ponies next door to her, we are saving up our bread now and will probably start buying carrots although it is not a standard on our shopping order. Jodie has a gorgeous property, not too big, just a great size, she has a poddy cow, 2 mini horses, a baby gosling, and all sorts of chickens, wonderful we don't need to go to the animal nursery anymore as we see them every Saturday.

I love these photos of my escapee, a little too big to get under the gate these days (thank goodness) I actually stamped onto acetate and then painted underneath it to get the see through effect, and used my bird paper from Basic Grey, copied around a chipboard tree in PP that I got from Kat at The Scrappin Kats and then decided to journal inside it, then used my Pink Paislee alpha stickers. I cherish these memories, hard to believe he is already too big to escape, where has my fun gone.

The Smartie Game

We were at Sizzler for Uncle Craig's 39th birthday and he would reach for a smartie and go to put it in Nate's mouth then detour it into his own mouth and Nate was so cute he would look surprised, put his arms out and say "Gone", a fun game, Nate clapped his hands when a smartie made it to his mouth. He loves his Uncle Craig, used alot of scraps for this layout, the butterfly is a cutout from some Urban Lilly paper, some Basic Grey and MM paper also, concertina'd it, was happy with the result, got the design for the layout from my Simple scrapbooks magazine but am so dissappointed they are ceasing publication. That is my absolute favourite mag.

Well he loves to play dress ups, he is so cute, has a thing for hats, have about 10 pics of different things he puts on his head like a hat, this time one wasn't enough, although this time he is spidey, has to have the boots on also, I love everything about Nate at two, he is growing up just so fast and I treasure every moment, he is the best company ever and now he is saying mum all the time it is soooo gorgeous, It's 6.38am easter Sunday morning and the easter bunny has just been here and left him some eggs and some treasures, I have the camera by the bed so I can record his face when he sees his basket full and the Little People construction site beside it, when he went to bed we checked it with a torch and it was empty!!!These are the best times of my life, I love my little man. Oh, so many photos, so many layouts to complete, although I can feel the mojo starting to return, planned out two of Kat's sketches last night and was actually happy with what I did, finished off one of the Kit's also with those gorgeous Sassafrass Lass papers, had so much hand stitching on it, I just love doing it, but it takes soooo long. Playing around with my stamp of Tilda and the rabbit, it will be great for the easter layout, Jodie came over yesterday and Tracy came over on Wednesday and no scrapping was achieved either day, I have just been a little slack but with what I achieved last night combined with Jan coming over tonight and I just finished looking at the Gallery at The Kats I feel some Mojo returning. Gee the Design Team there is awesome and with Kel doing the cards now, suppose it inspires me to no end, it's raining here great day for scrapping too, better go an creep back to bed and wait for my bubba to awake and catch the expression. Hope you all have a fantastic Easter and Josey, sorry I didn't come down to Sydney this break, but I am so looking forward to coming when I have just a bit more notice, the spontanaity is all gone and I have Nate and 2 poodles to thank for that.

This is my favourite kind of page, 8.5" x 12", fits into the normal sleeves you buy at woolies and then just slips into my ringbinder as is, where you see black around the circles is actually hand stitching, so this took me hours to complete but I loved doing it, stitching is one of my favourite things to do on a layout, not sure why as I cannot sew to save myself, Nate is so amazing with his antics, so there will never be a shortage of crazy layouts in this house, I used Kat's new Gold Hero Arts Embossing powder on the letters, love love embossing, so much fun also, thank you so much Tracy for sharing with me the gorgeous ways I can use my powders.