Reflecting on the year gone

As the year comes to an end, I decided to take a look at what has happened and how I can improve 2007.....

I have had many family dramas this year but I am still very thankful that I have 3 gorgeous kids even though they don't still all live at home and I have the most wonderful husband who means the world to me. And I know that he loves me and that as every day goes by our love only strengthens.

I did suffer the loss of our unborn baby and even though I try every day to control my feelings about this it is still raw inside. After 3 long years of trying it just felt like our lives would finally be complete and in an instant this is taken away. We can only hope that 2007 will bring us our wishes and bring pure joy to our household.

Charlene has finally become an adult, wow where has the time gone. How do they grow up so quickly and how you forget about the precious times you had with them when they were younger. But she has started a new life with her boyfriend, something that everyone has to do sometime in your life but I just didn't expect to come around so soon. I just wish her all the best and hope she finds her happy feet!

I can only hope that Matthew can find his way back on track and turn his life around. We have done everything to help him but now it is his turn to realise he needs help and seek it. I look at this beautiful photo beside my desk of when he was 2 and just cant believe that he was the most adorable little boy full of laughter and now it is so much sadness, what and how did things go so terribly wrong...

My little boy Jamie is changing and growing every day, I cant believe I have lost my little boy... He will become a teenager in a weeks time, wow I still remember clearly of him being a newborn and needing my every moment and care. Now he is just so independent, this is one thing that takes me back because I thought he would need my help forever...

I have met heaps of new friends and definitely strengthened old friendships, thank you all for a wonderful year full of so many great times and memories that last a life time. I even was able to form new communications with lost friends and so glad we have found each other again. I am blessed to have so many friends that care.... and so lucky to have you in my life and can definitely call you FRIENDS for life..

This year seen me have to quit my job from Darwalla, I was not the biggest fan of the job but I had formed some friendships there and that is the most hardest thing about leaving. But I still communicate with them and this is how I know that they were real friends... I have got a new job just cleaning once a week and love the people that I work for they are definitely the world best bosses!

I have made plenty of new on-line friends since joining Scrapbook City and still have old friendships at OSS. This year I am determined to take my scrapping to another level and maybe put myself back out there and maybe apply to some design teams and start submitting my layouts to mags again. I was loving the idea of not having no commitments to a design team but now that I am not working and life is getting back to normal I will definitely have more time on my hands...

Sadly we did have a terrible lose of a loved one, Aleisha to a terrible car accident and I think about how this affects Lynette and her family all the time. But just remember they are never forgotten just now they are that special angel we will always have in our hearts....

Even though we have to have losses in our life we also have births, and one especially this year that has touched my heart more than others is little BAILEY.. I love his little visits and get so much joy when he is in the house!

I started my blog back in April and wasn't really certain where I wanted it to go, I was more set on making this just something private for me to remember the most important things happening in my life. I kept it a secret for many of months and even deleted posts because I thought my thoughts were too harsh on myself. But when friends were interested in reading it and have left me wonderful comments, it made me realise that my life is important and if people want to share a little part of it I am happy that they come to visit and read a little about my LIFE!

So I could say I have had a good year with some minor set backs but this has made me more determined to make 2007 my year. A year for my family.... So to everyone out there I wish you all the best for 2007 as well and hope you have the perfect year that I am looking for too....

Look who is sitting UP.....

Look how cute he is, Bailey is 6 months old today and has been sitting up for a couple of weeks now. He is still a bit wobbley but I was sitting there just in case he started to topple over.
We gave him his Christmas Present and I think it was bigger than him, he just loved the paper and wanted to eat it.




These are just a few photos I took, aren't they just gorgeous, I cant wait to scrap them, I have so many new photos to work with now and cant wait to go get them printed later in the week.

Look who came to visit...

Oh how cute is she, Hope brought Zoey to visit today to get her Christmas Presents and I cant believe how much she has grown. I have not seen her in sooooo long, I think just before her 1st Birthday. She is now about 15 months and she is just an adorable little doll... She is so cute and was a little angel and had me wrapped around her little finger. She loved the Christmas tree and loved all the decorations, she is not allowed to touch her tree at home but I allowed her to touch and feel the decorations...

But look at her here, this is just so adorable. There was NO way I was going to tell her she could not touch my tree....

She loved to open the presents and was quite gentle in the unwrapping...

She loved this little car with the little people that sing and make noises when you put them in the seat.

Hope hadn't got a santa photo this year so we tried to put this hat on her head to try and get some cute photos but she wasn't too co-operative and this was the best photo I could get.






And how adorable are these photos, Zoey took me to the fridge and wanted something to eat, she did struggle to get the door open and she went straight for the fruit drawer. I did cut up a piece of nectarine for her and she ate it all....
It was a brilliant day and she even was blowing us kisses goodbye, oh how sweet and I never had the camera on me... Next time I will remember....

Christmas Day Celebrations

Well Christmas Day is here and what a busy day we had in store! I woke at 2 am in the morning and realised I hadn't put the Santa presents under the tree, so off I crept through the house making sure not to make no noise. So I didn't even get a photo this year of the Christmas tree with all its presents under...lucky I had taken one a few days earlier with presents under.

Jamie snuck into our room at 5.45 and said Santa had been, but not before he woke Matthew up first. Which did not go down too well at all, but yes Matthew had spent the night with us which was good to have him home for Christmas. I told Jamie that he could go and and open his Santa presents, he was excited with what Santa had given him and went off to play for awhile with them while we waited for Andrew tp wake up. The moment he heard Andrew he was onto him straight away about opening the presents, he was ready to see what else he had under the tree.
Every year it is a tradition that some-one hands out the presents, so this year since it was only Jamie Andrew and Me as Matthew was sleeping, we decided that Jamie could try and do it. He was so cute and recognised the names and said who the presents were from, but every time he found one of his he would open the present before he got another one..

This is Jamie getting the presents from under the tree, he was the perfect little helper....

Check these photos out of Jamie concentrating on reading the little cards.

How cute was this, Jamie made Andrew close his eyes because the present was ripped a little bit and he would be able to see what he was getting...

This was one of many photos of Jamie opening presents. He was so excited even at the little things, he is such an easy person to please and loved every parcel that he unwrapped.

Than it was off to Charlene's for breakfast, what a great morning it was. The food was all prepared and ready to eat, she had bacon, eggs, hash browns, pancakes and fresh fruit. It was so lovely to actually go to some-ones house and not have to prepare anything or even clean up...It was the best part of Christmas day...

The best photo of the day was to be able to take a photo of my 3 kids together and Charlene even got Tonka to be looking as well. This is my favourite photo.

After we left Charlene's we headed to Andrew's mum and had lunch there, as usual had to help with all the preparing and cleaning up. Was a lovely hot roast lunch with all the trimmings. The kids enjoyed playing on the PlayStation with some guitar game and then played buzz a quiz game on the PS2 and that was funny. So it was a rush out of there and off to Mum's, Jamie and Andrew headed straight for the pool to have a swim and ME it was straight to the kitchen to start the cooking. Mum had prepared all the vegetables and I had to put the BBQ on and get the roasts started. We cooked a leg of pork a leg of lamb 2 chickens and a turkey fillet. It took quite a few hours but enough time to open presents have a few drinks, nibblies and chatting. It was a great day but very tiring, I came home packed Jamie's bags to go to his Nanna's for a few days than straight in the bath for a relaxing bubble bath with all my new bath products.... Than it was not long before my head hit that pillow that I was sound a sleep.
Another Christmas down and now time to unwind before the new year...

Merry Christmas

Just want to wish everyone that has visited my blog a safe and MERRY CHRISTMAS and hope you all have a wondeful day celebrating with your family and friends. Please take care if you are travelling on the roads today or especially tomorrow in the boxing day traffic.
Thank you to everyone that has left lovely comments on my blog through out the year it is greatly appreciated, I dont know why I kept my blog a secret for so long.
From my Family to yours Merry Christmas...
Love Brenda

Christmas Eve at the Beach

Charlene and Steve were going to the beach for the day to take Tonka for a swim and rang us up to come along too. We thought it would be a great idea, the sun was shining and was a perfect day to be out and about. The moment we got to the coast you could feel the difference in the temperature, it was so much cooler and the air so much fresher.
We went to the park and had prawns and got some fish and chips from the snack shop for the kids. The boys played cricket and Charlene and I took Jamie down to the beach for a swim. I just stood at the edge and took photos,

This is Jamie and Charlene racing each other to the water....

Love this photo of Jamie, you can tell he is having an awesome time...

This is my favourite photo, Jamie just walking on the beach.

This is Charlene and Jamie having fun playing in the water, they both love the beach.

It was a great day and nice to unwind from the hectic week tackling the shops...

On-line Class

Last night I did another on-line class at Scrapbook City this time it was the lovely Sara that held the 'Radiate' class. Sara created 2 layouts a 12x12 boy page and a 8x11.5 girl page which was great, I used the new Pink Martini PP and rub-ons. These PP are real bright and I loved them the moment I saw them. The classes are only $15 and you can purchase a kit or gather your own PP's if you wish. The classes have clear instructions and great photos and Sara was at hand to ask any questions. So if you are thinking of doing an on-line class you should go check them out here! I did a layout for my nieces 18Th birthday album, she wanted bright and funky colours so I thought this would be perfect for her. I made a few minor changes but love what I did, was going to sew like Sara did but got lazy and decided the doodling was enough. I never had doodled before I started the challenges and doing these on-line classes and love the look of it. It is not too much and this is what I like, and do you believe check out the handwriting, yep you see it is my handwriting. I cant believe it, I was only talking the other day to the girls how I have never handwritten on any of my layouts. I think I definitely got this from you Sara this time....
So this is my layout.....

Get together with FRIENDS

I had a wonderful time yesterday with our yearly get together with the Local OSS girls. I was great to meet Sally she was the only one that I hadn't met yet. Of course there was way too much food and Pansy brought more than her share of wonderful sweets. I tried to be really good but there was so much lovely handmade food, the sausage rolls Jaki made were just divine, Maria made her little cute puddings and Glennie had a plate of beautiful fruit with this cream and something dip oh it was just delicious I think I nearly ate the whole platter.. The kids did enjoy the marshmallows and dipping them into chocolate themselves. We did get a lovely surprise from Tracey she was able to take sometime off and enjoy sometime with us.
Thank you Jaki for your handmade Chrissy card and little decoration to hang on MY Christmas tree and Thank you for the chocolates too Pansy. I hope all you ladies had a great morning cause I sure did, Jamie did go to stay with his nanna and he of course was a little angel.

This is the Chrissy card I got from Jaki and her little hanging decoration (THANK YOU again) and also in the mail yesterday I got this beautiful handmade card from Sam, thank you I love it and so much work has gone into these... thanks for one they are special....

Afterwards I went and caught up with Nikki and we went to lunch and did exchange our Christmas gifts... She gave me the Designing With 2007 calendar, this is just so awesome something I liked but would never had bought myself.... Thank you Nikki I love it.... and I did give her a PINK of course AMM Urban Chic Tote-ally cool TOTE, she has been wanting one of these for ages and I finally found one....

This is the calendar if you haven't seen one before.

Ok on the Chrissy shopping front, well I am getting there. Have to find something else for Charlene and Matthew, have bought Charlene a few things but have to take them back because next minute I find out she has already bought them!!! She is hard enough to buy for and she keeps going out and getting everything for Stephen to buy her for Christmas. Am going to go to the Hyperdome first thing in morning and take back a shirt I bought from the HOLDEN shop, cant believe I picked up the wrong size. I was in such a hurry and thought I had an XL but there was actually a 3 in front of the XL so this is definitely way too big for my hubby....

I think now Mum's shopping is now all complete, just have to go do the grocery shopping early Saturday morning I think. I am sure it will be an awful day to tackle the shops but if I go early and get a park I think we can get out of there before it gets too busy.

Oh I forgot this is my photo of the day, the mini quiches I made for our little get together!

Christmas Shopping

Wow I am so exhausted after a big day of shopping, arrived at the shops at 8 this morning. Yep early to get a good park had a cappuccino and raisin bread for breaky first up, than had to get a wheelchair for my Aunty to sit in. Thank goodness they had one available cause it made things so much easier getting around the shops with her. I was very patient and managed to get everything they both wanted, mum even got to sneak in a few new outfits and bits and pieces in too. I am normally very stressed about taking them both out but this year I was heaps more relaxed and patient. I think because I use to have to do it normally on my only day off work and I hated spending my only day fighting my way around the damn shops!!!
I have been taking photos everyday for my daily challenge but just been so busy to upload them and seem to get days behind so just don't do it! But my photo of the day today is my cooking ingredients, me getting ready to make my mini quiches for tomorrows get together with the local girls from OSS.. Looking forward to catching up with some ladies I have not seen in months..

Term 2 Week 10

This weeks challenge was to chose one of Aleisha's sketches. I chose no 4, but her photo was landscape and I only had portrait photos. I chose the adorable photo of Bailey reading his little book, this is my favourite photo and I love it to bits. The layout is called "little book worm" how cute is that title! The hard option was to make the layout as bumpy lumpy as possible, well I tried and put some patterned paper on chipboard and I have included sewing as the feature instead of where Aleisha had PP Paisley. So not sure if it is lumpy bumpy but I tried. About a year ago lumpy bumpy would have not been a problem for me but now I seem to find it hard to keep adding stuff to my page, do I sound weird!


Scrapbook City is still down and now I am having withdrawls, I also managed to make a couple of Christmas cards today.
Went to visit Katrina today as well, it was good to catch up for a bit. Did not stay long as I was on my way to work, but hopefully when she has holidays in January we will be able to get together and scrap.
Well I am off to go and try and finish a few pages that I started ages ago, while I am in the scrapping mood. Andrew is cooking dinner tonight so I am going to sneak back in my scrap room!

Accordian Album

I bought this accordian album in a box and altered it for my boss for Christmas. I asked her for some photos of her grand-daughter, and I picked a few of the best ones and this is what I created.

This is the box it sits in, I also altered that. I just wish I had checked the photos out before I wrapped the pressie up, not too clear of a photo.

This is the front cover.

These are the inside pages.

Weekend Update

Have done plenty of scrapping the last few days, due to Scrapbook City being off line. I managed to finally get the clipboards finished for the teachers and I have made another special clipboard for a very close friend for Christmas. Cant show you yet as I have to send it Monday and she reads my blog. I finally finished the accordion album in a box for my boss, and I am happy with it. At first when I started it weeks ago, I was thinking I should have done something else. So today I just completely changed it all together and am happy with how it turned out. Will upload later tomorrow when there is better light.
Andrew and I went to my Christmas work get together, and had an awesome night. We went to Wanganui Gardens in our own function room. The courtyard outside was just beautiful, took some photos with my phone camera but I don't think it saved anywhere. We had plenty of scrumptious food and drinks all night and our own DJ. I did take photos of the wonderful desserts, just wish I could figure out the phone to see if they are there!!!!!
Have completed my homework this week, but I will upload this tomorrow too.

Chrissy Present

Today I went out to lunch with Maria and Nikki, we went to Lone Star it was nice except for my salad. Firstly the lettuce had brown blotches everywhere on top than I moved the top pieces and it was worse on the bottom. OK I was dealing with that quite well than I put a piece of tomato in my mouth and oh that was it. Mushy over ripe tomatoes that I reckon had been sitting in the fridge for a few days, disgusting and when the lady came over I told her to take it away it was uneatable and feral, yes I called it FERAL! Everyone had a good laugh.
I got a lovely little pressie from Maria for Chrissy, she had been to France and bought me back a miniature perfume, I cant say the name it is in french. A beautiful little blue daily planner for my handbag and she made an adorable crystal beaded angel, just perfect, I love it to pieces. And of course she makes her own Chrissy cards too. So thank you Maria for a great day and especially my pressie...

Teachers Presents

I had a busy day yesterday making clipboards for teachers, yeh you know me leaving it till the last minute to do them when I have known for weeks I want to make the teachers something special this year instead of buying gifts. Have never made clipboards before so that is why I took so long, but thank you Nikki for your help and at least she had a template to cut around the clips on top which made things easier.

These are 2 smaller clipboards I made for the teacher aides, one as a calendar and one as a phone message board. Do love how they both turned out.

This one is for Mrs Brown, Jamie's teacher he has had her for 2 years now and he absolutely loves her. She might not be impressed with the photo, it wasnt the best one of her but I think she has the real teacher look here LOL, and I really like it because it shows they have a great fun bond with each other, but it was the best one of Jamie. I hope she likes it...

These are all the gifts together, I also bought Mrs Brown another gift and I have given Wayne the bus driver and the assistant presents too. Jamie has had Wayne as a bus driver also for 2 years and he loves him to pieced too, well Jamie loves everyone I think...

I also make cards this morning at 5 am, yep 5. Jamie wanted to take the presents to school and give them to the teachers himself, so I said yes not even thinking that I had not taken photos of the cards. Damn I cant believe I did that, so these were the 2 I only have photo's of. These are Mrs Browns cards and she loved everything and was crying when she read the card. This is what I wrote inside

I bet you've tied a million shoes
and dried a million tears
and given out a million hugs,
as a teacher, through the years.
In my child's life, the role you've played
has been a priceless part
and you must know the special place
you hold in my child's heart.

SO the third photo was my photo of the day, have been trying every day to do this but sometimes it is late and MY camera is shit in the dark. Tried taking a photo of the Christmas tree with its lights on and it looked like it was possessed.....
Have been working on my challenge too this week, this is the last one for the term and than a break for a bit, but I want to make sure I do some scrapping while the break is on. I just have to find a last minute embellishment for my page which means heading to the shops to have look, they better still have what I want!

Swimming Lessons

Jamie has been going to swimming lessons through the school this term and they had awards day and Jamie got an award for most improved swimmer and all the kids got different awards on what they have achieved with there swimming. I cant believe how much more confident Jamie has gotten in the water, he is like a little dolphin. They throw things on the bottom of the pool and the kids have to dive and retrieve these things, Jamie was so good at this and loved to dive in the water. I have a couple of awesome photos of him swimming, he looks so cute I love them!!

First On-line Class

OK today I did my first on-line class at Scrapbook City, it was fun and the instructions were easy to follow and everyone had NO troubles keeping up, there were also plenty of photos along the way. Congratulations Alicia on a successful class... I have finished my layout and am very happy with it, I did a few minor changes though. So here is my layout to share!


I forgot to add this the other day, a photo of my desk I took as I was preparing for my on-line class.As I don't have the computer in my scrap room I had to move things to my computer desk. I had crap everywhere, it was not much room for me as I take up so much room, but I did make do and I finished the layout back in my scrapping room when the class was finished...

I've Been Tagged

Oh I did not read at the bottom of Alicia's post and didn't realise I had also been tagged... so better late than never...
I've been tagged by Alicia

1. NAME: Brenda
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My middle name was my grandmothers.
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Oh actually its been awhile...
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? NO!!!!
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Leg Ham
6. KIDS? 3, Charlene 18, Matthew 16 and Jamie 12
7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Definitely...
8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Started one when Jamie was born now I just blog.
9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? A little bit
10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Would love to
12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Sultana Bran
13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Yep.
14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG PHYSICALLY OR MENTALLY? Mentally
15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Chocolate
16. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? What they are wearing.
17. RED OR PINK? I like both, but pink first.
18. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My weight.
19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My Dad.
20. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Yes please.
21. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING? Denim 3/4 pants, no shoes.
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Orange.
23. FAVORITE SMELL? Baby after a bath...
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Nikki.
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes have met her IRL but have gotten to know her better over the net...
26. FAVORITE DRINK? Zero
27. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH? Rugby League
28. HAIR COLOR? Brown
29. EYE COLOR? Hazel.
30. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No
31. FAVORITE FOOD? Oysters, seafood in general really.
32. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? Hhappy endings!
33. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Santa Claus 3.
34. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Blue and White Blouse.
35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer
36. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs
37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Pavlova
38. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Not sure
39. MOST LIKELY NOT TO RESPOND? Not sure.
40. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? Scrapbooking Memories.
41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Just the mouse!
42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST ON TV LAST NIGHT? Did not watch any TV.
43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Laughter.
44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Rolling Stones
45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Whitsundays.
46. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? No I dont think so.
47. WHEN WERE YOU BORN? 1971
48. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Brisbane
49. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WITH THE REST OF YOUR LIFE? Anything as long as I am happy and have Andrew to share it with!

Ok so I tag Maria and Sam J....

4KQ Christmas Party

Well we had a big day today at the 4KQ Christmas Party for Children with disability's, Charlene came with us to help. Jamie had a great day, with plenty of rides, games, Santa, presents and definitely plenty of food. Jamie enjoyed sitting by the stage looking and listening to the performances, there were plenty of celebrities also. This is a fantastic day for these children to relax and enjoy themselves around the same kind of kids. Very special day spent with great volunteers and so many people get behind this and involved to make this a special day for these children.
As usual I had the camera on hand and took plenty of photos and will share some highlights of the day, plenty of photos did not work out and I don't know why but I am over this camera!!!

Ok this is the first photo of Jamie all excited waiting in line to go in this morning.

This is a little ambulance with a driving stimulator in it and when the kids drive it is like they are dodging through traffic. Jamie absolutely loved this...

Now check this out, I thought this was awesome and I actually got this on camera, you can see the ball travelling in the air as Jamie threw it at the target.

Than look the ball hit the target and the bloke fell in the water, Jamie had 3 throws and actually dunked the man 2 times. He was very proud of himself and his mother was also very proud.

They had clowns there and the man got Jamie to open his mouth up as wide as the clown!

Wouldn't be a day without animals, they had a little farm and Jamie enjoyed feeding the animals.

Jamie had a ride on these quad bikes and got to talk to some-one on the two way and he thought this was just awesome to hear someone on the other end.

This was Jamie's favourite ride the Tea Cup, he loved it when it spun around. I got plenty of photos but only a few where you cant see another child in the photo...

And lastly mummy's highlight of the day was to meet MUTTO, from Australian Idol. He is even more gorgeous IRL.