I'm dying!

Or at least thats how I feel! Anna came down with a horrible flu on Sunday night and by the end of Monday Zach had it (but not as bad) and yesterday it hit me .... {sob sob}. I feel like I have been hit by a truck. EVERY muscle and joint in my body is aching, my nose won't stop running (but its only the left side .... ?) My head is soooo cloudy and I keep forgetting things - oh sorry thats just normal LOL! - I just want to go to bed and sleep. Unfortunately all four kids are still up so thats not going to happen in the near future. I spent most of the day on the couch cuddling with either Mitch, Zach or Anna and watching a cartoons to keep everyone happy .... a bit of a no no I know but it was the only way I was going to be able to lay down as my body just didn't want to function.

On a better note at least this time Anna has been ill for 3 days and it is showing no signs of spreading to her chest. Yippee! No hospital this time! I am sooo over spending time in the hospital everytime she gets something, things are looking up.

On the home front, we were really looking forward to having a sale! Unfortunately the 'happy' couple have since decided to split, so there will be no home buying for them. We have dropped the house by another $4000 to. We have a moving date now ...... August 16th! So close now! I am starting to worry that I won't have everything packed up in time. I honestly don't know how I am going to pack and look after these four. Thankfully we have had a few offers of help so I think I will take them up on it. Its the only way.

Alright, want to get these bubs to bed. Might be back later if my stamina rises .... hehehe.

Take care everyone!

This ones for you Mum!

Been having a little more fun playing with photos, these are actually all shot in RAW so I'm getting a bit of experience with that setting too.

These pics I'm putting up for my Mum. Hi Mum! Enjoy!

(These have a 'Sweet Cupcake' Action applied as well as a 'quick edge burn'. As they are 'saved for the web' they are a bit unclear but I'll send you the originals too)

What have I learnt?? Edited...

Well I have looked around Pioneer Woman's site a bit and read over some of her tut's regarding photography and photoshop. I decided I would have a go at shooting on manual with my little baby: The Canon 400D. I've had a bit of a play in the past but really have tended to stay with the Auto setting, but that doesn't always give the best shots either. So I played with ISO setting and pretty much everything else a bit to see what she could do. The bad part is that I was shooting inside in terrible light but I also had my ISO speed up to high when I got the best expressions from our little truckie training. Below is a SOOC (Straight out of Camera) shot....


Its not to bad but I found that it did look quite grainy and also a bit dull and dark (not to bad for my first go). So I thought I would have try out some of Pioneer Woman's tips and see what I could do with it.

Firstly I added an action or two (I won't go into detail as I'm still learning and really don't know what I'm talking about ... lol!). Then just played with the curves and levels a bit. After that I added a burnt edge action and this is the result ..... (oh I also cropped it tighter)

I also had to add a bit of blur as the grainy-ness (is that a word?) was really showing through. Not to bad for a first try. Although inbetween hanging out washing, feeding, changing and playing with our twin bubs , organising two 4 year olds and doing the dishes - it has taken me pretty much all day! lol!

I thought I would try a bit of a different effect on this one as well. A slightly vintage effect I think it was - see I really don't know what I'm talking about! Or I guess you could just call it a wash out.


Before I go and do the school pick up - see I started this post at 10am and its now 3:10pm! - I thought I would just show you one more. Here is the SOOC....

And here is my edit. Think it looks any better?


On this one I ran a vintage action and an edge burn action then just played with the curves and levels again to get the desired result. I also did a bit of a crop on this one too. It really brightened up the photo. I couldn't really go colour on this one as it was another were the ISO setting was to high and it was really dark. When I brightened it up in colour it became extremely grainy and looked wrong. Anyone out there a whizz at Photoshop and have any tips for me? I'd love to hear them!

Better ran, Ashlee won't pick herself from school nor will the milk and bread walk home from the shop on thier own .. lol.

Take care!Just adding one more pic - ?? Now that I look at it, I actually look really goofy! LOL!!!!

LOOK what I found!

Are you into Photography, Photoshop or maybe cooking or home renovation and decoration? Or do you just like reading a great blog with lots of humor?

While doing my usual evening blog hopping I happened across an absolutely amazing blog/website!

ThePioneerWoman.com

(Please do ask me where I found it, I read so many blogs last night that I really lost track.) Anyway, my personal opinion is that this is one of the most amazing websites I have ever come across. It has (almost) everything I need! I say almost because it lacks just one thing, scrapbooking .... lol! The photography on this site is just stunning. I love the photos from the ranch and the gorgeous shots of the kids (among others). Also if a shot just needs that little bit tweaking, she has a whizz at Photoshop, Lightroom, CS3 (please correct me if I'm wrong) that gives you tuts on how to 'fix' em'! Here are a couple of shots that I LOVE!

Aren't they stunning?!! (Well the photos on here don't them justice!)

Her excellent give aways - generous! Her posts about the 'ranch' house they are 'doing up'. Well to be honest they are just 'doing it up', they have basically gutted it and started again but it looks - WOW! Can I live there??!!

I WANT THIS KITCHEN!!

Or you can just pop over to her Confessions and have a little read and sometimes a chuckle.

Oh did I mention she cooks too! Look at these little numbers....

Ok, I'm not showing you anymore - head on over to her site and check it out, you WILL NOT regret it!

Take care everyone!

What have we been up to ..... ?

The most exciting thing would have been Mitchell's 4th birthday! I can't believe its been 4 years since we brought this little man into the world. He has grown and changed so much!

So (since we weren't actually home for his birthday) .....

Our little man!

We spent the weekend in our soon to be new home of Bombala and celebrated with some family there. It was soooooo cold though! We brought Mitchell a new trampoline for his birthday, you know those round ones with the nets around. Its huge! He loves it and spent the entire weekend on it (and wondered why he had sore legs! lol!). I ended up having to go inside and take Zach and Anna with me, when I say it was cold I mean their hands went purple cold! Not one of things I am looking forward to. He did get a few nice things for his birthday. Nanny brought him a Fisher Price Digital Arts & Craft Studio. It pretty cool although the kids have spent a fair bit of time on it and I am yet to have a go ... hehehe. Along with a log truck (just like Daddy's!) and some new clothes, all of which went down very well. Uncle Matt got him some new computer games - educational ones thankfully and Uncle Dan and Auntie Melissa came to Bombala to visit us and they gave him a Tonka Cement Mixer (The big metal ones). This adds to his collection of 4 already. Tonka's great though, definately something we will be able to pass down to Zach when he gets older. When we got home I had a few little things here still to give him, a car carrier truck, a mini cooking set (which he LOVES! Only $10 from Aldi) and a couple of little Bob take along things. Over all he has had a great birthday. And for those of you that want to see photos - there is none :( Stupid me left the camera at home and my phone doesn't take real good photos. We are having a birthday party here on August 2nd so we will definately have photos then. Make sure you check back because we having a 'Safari Party'! Really looking forward to seeing how it turns out. We are in the process of the planning at the moment. Here is a sample of the invite we sent out..

Here is Mitchell (and Ashlee) using his new cooking set to make mini scones

Other news...Anna is now offically into EVERYTHING! She can pull to stand! I had yet to baby proof some things and of course they are the first things she got into but nothing was dangerous and I'm sure she had a lot of fun with the wipes on the coffee table and the photo frames from the TV unit. Now this I do have photos of!!

(You should be able to click on the storyboard images to see them larger)

Isn't she so cute! We now have 2 bottom teeth and 2 top teeth too! (Top teeth are front left and side left - IYKWIM) They are growing so fast. Here are a couple of extra cute piccies of Zachy too just cause I love him :)

And an extra one of Anna showing off her new skill...

Pointing!

Also notice my little try at story boards??? What do you think?

Something else I want to mention and can't believe I let pass by with out a mention!
July 14th 2007 was a very special day for us here in this household. It was the day that we were finally able to bring our little Zachary and Anna home from the hospital after almost 50 days! They weighed in at a grand total of: Zachary - 5lb 13oz and Anna - 5lb 7oz on discharge.

This past July 14th was one beautiful year since then. I still have to pinch myself some days just thinking about the fact that we have happy and healthy twins! They really are such a joy as all our children are and we just feel so blessed to have them.


How much have they grown! I still get really clucky over these photos....

Best be off now, school pick up soon and as its so cold outside (and lovely and warm inside) I need to get these kids rugged up to venture out. We are also dropping by some of Mitchell's little friends to drop off their invitations.

Take care everyone!

PLEEEAASSSEE....

keep your fingers crossed!!! We had some lovely people through the house today and our agent seems to think it went REALLY well! He is hoping to come back to us with an offer very soon. So please keep your fingers crossed that something comes of this as I am sooooo over having complete strangers looking through my house!

Busy busy and some EXCITING news!

Well, blogging has been slipping again. Things are getting busy around here. The house is still forsale but we have had a few people through since I last posted. No offers yet though {insert sad face here}. We now have our block of land on the market as well. We have been considering selling it for a while now and figure we really should reluctantly let it go while it can still fetch a bit of money.

Our move is getting closer and closer. I'm really starting to dread the whole thing, I hate packing boxes! Also with 2 little ones that go through a few clothes and other things everyday - what do you pack?! What do you leave out?! What do you do with the stuff you have 'left out' once everything else is packed? Not to mention the amount of 'stuff' we seem to have accumulated in the last 5 years! Were does it all come from?!

Luckily it seems I may have found one solution to a problem I have had....what to do with all this 'baby' stuff that I have and the twins no longer need or use. For example: one cot, a carseat, 2 rockers, HEAPS of baby clothes sizing from 00000 up to about 0 in both boys and girls colours, cot mobile, a TOMY sound and lights, a cradle and a lot more. At Twins playgroup on Monday a young couple came that are currently 30 weeks pregnant with twins (well dah! lol) and are really interested in buying a lot of this stuff off me as they really weren't planning on having a baby right now let alone two! So fingers crossed she takes it all, if she buys most of it I might just chuck the rest in for free. Less stuff to move in the end - did I tell you that the removalist company (well two) quoted us between $1700 and $2,200 to move us!!!!!!!

Now for the exciting news ........ Anna is crawling!!!!! She looks soooo cute and is just so proud of herself. May be not so exciting for you but to me - I thought it would never happen. They are almost 14 months old.

On another topic. I entered a competition over at DigiDiva Designs to win this cute little kit...

Well guess what! ...... I won! So I am just waiting for them to approve the coupon over at Gotta Pixel and then I can starting scrapping with it. I feel so chuffed, I RARELY win anything lol! If you like this kit you can grab it here.

I haven't done a lot of scrapping lately but I did complete one today...

{The Great Escape}

Journalling says: "No matter what we did you would always end up like this
in the cot you shared with your twin brother Zachary.
I think you were after your own space and just trying to ESCAPE!

Credits: Mostly
'Silver Rocket Scraps' Spunky Girl kit
Yellow paper - 'Silver Rocket Scraps' Sunshine Day paper
Pink paper - 'Natalie Bird' Simple Papers
Designs by Nikki - Clear Alpha
as well as SugarPlum Hybrid Journalling Strip, AKD Pins & Straps

and I entered this one in a scraplift challange over at Pickleberrypop

{Sleeping Beauty}

Credits:
Stitching - Raspberry Rd Designs Flower girl kit
Alpha - Pretty n' Worn ~ Dizzy Blonde Scraps
Font - Eight Fifteen
Everything else from Tropi-girly ~ Haunted Pixels

(except the adorable sleeping beauty......she's my creation LOL!)

As for the nappies.....I have sewn and snapped Zach's nappy. He has worn it and it is in the wash. It works beautifully and looks and feels so nice! I must remember to take a photo as soon as it is dry. Anna's nappy is sewn. I just have to finishing overlocking the egde of the insert and put the snaps on and its ready to go. Hopefully in the next day or so as I have a LARGE box of nappies here that I have to take a photo of and list forsale over at Essential Baby first. They really need to go, I have to many!

Better go now.....and remember to make sure you leave a comment and say hi!

Take care!

I can wish

I visit Belinda's blog ~ Renovate + Decorate ~ regularly. She is such an inspiration! Her house is stunning and on top of that she is a writer and web editor for Real Living Magazine as well as taking care of 2 children. Her posts recently have really caught my eye as she has just last month delivered a healthy baby girl and a lot of her posts have been children orientated. Go and take at look at some of her beautiful pictures. ** I WILL one day have a house like that! ** Maybe when the kids move out ... LOL!

Anyway, this brings me to the reason for this post.....recently she posted some photos of items that are for sale on the Real Livings shop ~ RealShopping ~ I fell in love. Although most of the prices are a little out of my price range I'm sure I can justify a few little things here and there to give my house the WOW factor.

A couple of things that I would to incorporate into my decorating in the new house are...

This stunning 'Seatulip' Cushion Cover

This colourful 'Strossel' Cushion Cover

I quite like this little print 'Pink Fireline' Artwork

And the kids clothes!!! ....

These ADORABLE little 'Oobi' 1950's Party dresses ~
They would be perfect for my little girl ..... dreaming again.

Also loving this cute little 'Nika & Mink' Rose Quartz Bracelet

Ok, so its REALLY late now and I MUST get to bed. So be sure to take a look at Belinda's Blog and also her other blog Mini Meez! May be even check out Real Living too.

I'll leave you with a recent Layout. This one is especially for my brother, Dan and his new wife (and my new sister-in-law ~ yippee!) Melissa. It took a few years but Dan's persistance paid off at last when he finally married the woman of his dreams!

{ At Last }

Night Night everyone ....

I want to see yours!

I read a lot of blogs - yes I'm a blog addict! I love finding new blogs to add to Bloglines so if you happen by here and you have a blog LEAVE ME A MESSAGE and include you blog address (and maybe a hello) so I can come and have a look! Please ... LOL!

Yes, I still sew.....

I just haven't had enough time to pull out the sewing machine! But ...... look at what I have had time to 'whip' up!



Two 'Dot Minky' AI2 nappies all ready to sew up for Zach and Anna. I was going to make them AIO's but since we have had some terrible weather lately and my really sick of having nappies hanging around all the time I decided to make them AI2 as I have a few of them (my favourite being Zada's!) and they always dry really quick.


One with pink inner for my little girl and one with blue inner for Zach.


And LUSH Bamboo fleece already to sew up and snap for snap-in inserts!
(Dot minky & fleece from Spotlight, Bamboo fleece from ummmm...The bamboo fabric store. PUL that I used to make it a little more water proof is from Fairy Fabrics.)

Yes I said SNAP! I got myself a SNAP PRESS!! (and HEAPS of different coloured snaps)
(Snap press from Snaps Australia)

This purchase has made me even more determined to finish the nappies so I can use my new little toy...LOL! I have had some offers to use other peoples and I did really appreciate this but I never seem to have the time to get out and do it. The snap press was a big purchase in my book but the good news is that it is useful for more than just nappies...more on that later.

So check back for the finish product and some actions shots! I'm heading to the machine now - oh and wish me luck! LOL!