The post dedicated to gingerbread houses...

OK, so I have a thing for photos. I apologise in advance for the photo overload, but I guess if you're reading my blog you're probably interested in my life, so I guess I then retract my apology...

So this Christmas seems to have been the Christmas of the gingerbread houses. I bought a couple of house kits from IKEA at the end of last year after Christmas with the idea that I could make them this year with the kids (I of course checked their use-by dates! LOL). But then I was invited to the church's gingerbread house making afternoon. I couldn't turn that opportunity down! I did one a few years ago when we were at Ryde and it was soooo much fun! So off I went and made a house there with all the prettiness of cool lollies and cellophane and curling ribbon and friendly friends to make it with.

But what to do with the 2 kits I had left over?

Why, let the kids go mental of course!

So one day we had Alyssa and Stella (and their mum Rachael) coming over, so we planned to have a gingerbread house making day! We stocked up on lollies like M&Ms and Skittles and licorice allsorts and snakes, etc... I made heaps of royal icing, and away we went!

I haven't included the photos of Rachael and her kids cause even though she said it was fine to put them on Facebook, putting them out there on a blog is a different thing, so better to be safe than sorry! So you'll have to put up with photos of my kids instead! :D

The icing was a big hit - it got eaten straight out of the zip-loc bag piping bags...

Phillip was an expert at creating big enormous piles of icing all over the place...
Elizabeth and Phillip's creation...
Alyssa, Stella and Rachael's creation (Rachael did a good job of making it look a bit more organised than my kids' one!)...
And of course the eating part! We ate it after breakfast on Christmas morning after cherry and white chocolate pancakes...
I can see you... :D
How is it still standing???
And of course, my masterpiece! I am quite proud of this in the end. I think it looked great!

The pretty wrapping (which made sure the kids didn't pick bits off it while it was on display!)...
And all unwrapped and ready to eat...
Butter wouldn't melt in their mouths of course... ;D

Matt enjoyed pulling it apart too. It tasted pretty yum!
It took a bit, but it did fall down eventually...
And all that was left was put in a bowl to eat over the next few days...So, yes - that's the end of the post dedicated to gingerbread houses.

I'll be back in the next few days with the post dedicated to Christmas lights, and then the post dedicated to Christmas Day. Of course you are all waiting with bated breath for those posts, aren't you??? hehehehe

December Already???

Wow - was that the whole year? Really? How on earth did it pass so quickly? Is it really December? We celebrated Phillip's borthday yesterday, so I guess it MUST be December! LOL

Well, I'll bore you all with a few photos from the last couple of months...

Did some digi scrapping

In July we went to the Powerhouse Museum for the day. We took my little brother Ryan along too. It was such a great day - lots of hands-on play and learning fun. I've just finished a digi LO on it and figured I probably should share it straight away before I forget to (like all the other LOs I've done lately - I'll update with them soon enough! LOL)

It's of Elizabeth trying SO hard to climb the spider-web looking climbing thing they have in the playground. She was getting so frustrated that she couldn't climb as high as the older kids. But she stuck at it and did pretty well in the end (before she got scared of being so high and asked for help to get down! LOL).

I used a sketch from "stuck? sketches" to do this one. I almost never take photos in landscape, so I had to adapt the sketch to fit my photos. I love that about sketches - you don't need to be THAT exact! :D

Have a great weekend!

Our new house!

Well, we're getting to be pretty settled in the new place now. We've still got bits and pieces to find a new home for, and the decorating section seems to have been forgotten for a bit (note to self, a pile of photo frames on the shelves is NOT decoration!), but we're pretty set with most things. For some reason one single shelf in one of our bookshelves hasn't been put in yet. Not 100% sure why, but it's not urgent I guess, so we haven't done it yet! How slack are we??? LOL

My scrap area has been condensed onto only the computer desk, but I've taken advantage of space under the desk for some plastic drawers which are already full of STUFF! Boy, do we have a lot of STUFF!!!!

Anyway, we're loving the new house. In fine weather the kids spend almost all day outside, and when it's raining the TV reception is so much better the kids can watch ABC2 (with a whole lot of kids' programmes) whenever they want! Plus when Matt and I want the main living area to ourselves, the kids have their own rooms to play in. Elizabeth doesn't need to keep her small toys in the dining area, because she has her own desk, and she can play with her stuff whenever she wants!

So, basically, we love our new house!

Oh, and you'll have to wait for some photos (of the house, of the kids, of my scrapping and crocheting, everything)- the computer's having a little hissy fit and I can't really do photos on this laptop I've borrowed off my mum!

We're moving...

We're moving on Saturday! The owner of this place put the rent up, and while some people may be willing to pay $300 a week for a 2 bedroom townhouse with an un-useable backyard, we aren't. We'd prefer to pay $300 a week for a 3 bedroom house...

So last Saturday we had a garage sale. It was actually kind-of fun, even though it started raining in the afternoon which sent us scurrying for cover!

Our rather wet sign out the front - I reckon it just sets the scene for the whole garage sale... LOL

Where we ended up - under cover with water coming through and everything a little soggy!

Bellie getting all rugged up. It was COLD!
My funny man... He seriously needs a haircut (and a shave)! LOL
The kids trying to drum up some business by pointing people in the right direction!
So now we're packing and gradually driving ourselves crazy with the amount that needs to be done!

Wish us luck!

Happy Good Friday

Is "Happy" Good Friday the right words? It seems strange to me to be saying "happy" when it's all about Jesus dying today. Ah well, it's the only words I can think of, so Happy Good Friday everyone!

I like Good Friday. It's a day when almost everything is shut so almost everyone has a day off (I feel sorry for those in essential jobs that can't take the day off - sorry to rub it in!). It's also a day to remember the great sacrifice Jesus made for us all those years ago.

I'm sorry I'm such a bad bad blogger. I don't get on here very often, do I? I can't promise that's going to change - I'm always going to be a bad blogger I reckon! Ah well. Good thing this blog is for me, and not for anyone else! If you happen to read it - good for you, but I blog because it's interesting to me.

My sister's gotten into blogging now though, and my mum has a new blog for all her recipes and food stuff. And they're GOOD bloggers! They actually have posts more often than once every 3 months...

Go visit my mum HERE and my sister HERE and let them know how good you think they are for blogging frequently :D

Well, I seemed to forget February, so I'll just jump straight into march. I might go back and update February some other time...

We had a blue-tongued visitor in the front driveway. Phillip was absolutely fascinated...
The kids are absolutely obsessed with brushing their teeth. It's their favourite routine of the day!

We went out the day after Matt's birthday and had a yummy lunch at The Entrance. Yummy Cold Rock icecream for dessert led to a need for the bubblers. Neither Phillip nor Elizabeth had ever used bubblers before. It was quite funny watching them try!
Matt's birthday cake was one of those new Michel's Patisserie (sp??) ones. They're nice and small - perfect for a small family. Just enough for 2 nights of cakey goodness!
Phillip did a good job of falling on his head and getting an enormous bump! Silly kid now knows not to chase balloons around on the concrete driveway...

I've been scrapping a tiny bit too (I seriously need to clean my scrap area so that can change from "tiny"). These were the cards I made for the March card swap at Scrapchat. Sadly Australia Post lost them in the mail, so I'm in the process of making another lot to send to people individually. Grrrrr..
A layout using paper I printed myself using my new Vintage Elegance kit over on Tanyah's Scrap N Craft With T blog...
A LO for a class I did with the awesomely talented Chelle on how to create spiral flowers. It's Elizabeth and our neighbour Ava - they are such good friends!
A digi one I've done for a CC challenge at Scrapchat - it's meant to be "whimsical", but I'm not 100% sure I really achieved that! LOL
And one of my kids and Tanyah's kids from earlier in the year having fun drawing with chalk (it's all it seems we do here! LOL)

My baby is back...

No, Elizabeth and Phillip didn't go anywhere, my baby is my computer. After almost 3 months, too many phone calls, one cock up after another, I finally have my computer back. Sadly it is minus it's harddrive. Just about every single thing I have done for the last 2 years has gone. It has run away, never to return. There is one final, last-ditch chance of getting something off it. It relys on them being able to get their hands on an identical model harddrive and transferring parts between them to *hopefully* get something working. Learn from my story - BACK EVERYTHING UP!

My Year So Far In Pictures:

New Year's Eve: It wasn't us who set off the fireworks in their backyard - Honest!

And they did the traditional thing of covering poor Judith's front yard with the leftover streamers from the party poppers...

First week in January: Tan and her family come for a visit. Even though we threw furniture at them (don't ask - it was a long and slightly scary story), they seemed to enjoy themselves! We had heaps of fun having the over for a visit too!

Most of January: We spend out lives out the front on the driveway... Playing with bubbles, drawing with chalk and doing water painting, and playing with the neighbour's kids. Lilli particularly loves playing with Ava. She calls her her best friend!

Oh, and I MADE Elizabeth this purple dress! Very proud of myself!

11th January: Finally took the Christmas decorations down. The tree came down very early, but all the other stuff just stayed up for a while...

15th January: Photo shoot with Bellie. Sarah just wanted to go somewhere and I stripped her child off while they were here and took some photos...

23rd January: Charlie finally decided to make an entrance after keeping everyone in suspence for most of January! Poor Cath had to have a ceasarean because he was taking his sweet time with it!

26th January (Australia Day): I cleaned the bathroom which caused bubbles to come up through the floor in the bathroom. The kids LOVED it!We had a yummy BBQ for lunch (wow - WAY too much food! I learnt from my mum to seriously over-cater...) and spent the day out the front playing with bubbles with Ava. TWO bubble machines certainly make a whole lot of bubbles! Elizabeth certainly looks patriotic enough, shame about the lack of enthusiasm...

And that's pretty much January 2010 for the Abel family in a nutshell. Hope your year is going well!

And on this very sad and reflective day, the anniversary of the horrible Victorian fires this year, I hope we can all spend a little time today looking back and remembering...