Builder's Dog

Our next door neighbour currently has some major work going on at his house. One of the builders has a dog named Dutch.

Jayden has taken to this dog (like he does with most dogs) and uses every available opportunity to go play with him. He throws him balls, rolls around with him on the lawn and also just sits or lies with him, patting him for absolutely ages. He's even (with consent of the builder) taken him out for walks.

Now Dutch will quite casually walk around our house (and in if we have the door open), looking for Jayden and when he can't find him, he goes and sits (for hours) out the front on the steps waiting for him to come home. It's so cute and obviously, the desire to spend time together is a mutual one.

Oh to have a property suitable for Jayden to have a dog of his own!

Museum Trip

I went on Taryn's school trip to the museum. They were working on WWI information. The museum provided staff to show artifacts and provide a huge amount of information. They also had 2 staff members put on a little drama for us and it was really well done. I captured quite a few shots, but here are some of my favourites.

Old fashioned dog tags.
The inscription in the World at War section.
A map showing the proportion of men sent to war from each country. New Zealand sent the highest amount per male population - 1 in 5!

How Many???

Jayden asked for some marshmallows and I said ok. He asked how many he could have and I said (knowing that we have those giant pudding shaped ones) as many as you can fit in your mouth, thinking he get in about 3, possibly 4 at a push. My mistake, he can fit in 7!

Night time Visit

Last night Vienna came to visit. She had decided that home and sleep were not something she wanted and that she would much rather go be social, Luckily her mum was quite ok with this plan and brought her over for a visit after dinner.

We just hung out for a while talking, (until Mike kicked us downstairs so he could watch his movie) then headed downstairs to the studio and chilled. Miss Wendy brought goodies - a yummy butterfly stamp that was excess to her requirements and perfect for mine and a box of precut squares that we used during the kids camp, also excess to her requirements, but perfect for future camps. Vienna and I strummed the Ukulele a bit (till she tried to eat it).

Then it was time to change into the nightie and catch a couple of cute pics before hitting the road for home and hopefully - for Miss Wendy's sake - for a good night's sleep. It was an nice unexpected night time visit. You are welcome any time, day or night!

Taryn's Cricket Prizegiving

On Monday the 19th, we went to Taryn's Cricket Prize giving at Takapuna District Cricket Club. I was hoping that she would get a certificate/award for something, as I felt she had played quite well for her first season.

She came home with:

• Team certificate for performing with distinction
• Batting certificate for scoring 25+ runs in an innings (she was 27 not out)
• Bowling certificate for capturing 3+ wickets in an innings (she had 3 wickets for 2 runs)
• Fielding certificate for best fielder - 7 catches & 3 run out assists

Plus:

• Fielding cup for best overall fielder in the U12 hardball grade (which also came with a certificate).

We were very proud of her. Unfortunately I wasn't in a very good position for taking photos at the actual prize giving, hence the additional first photo that was taken at home to capture her cup and certificates all together.

Ahh, that's better!

As I said at the end of my previous post, something good has got to come along now to balance this all out. I didn't get to buy a lotto ticket, but when we went to Taryn's cricket prize giving on Monday (see separate post on how she did), they were running a raffle. Wasn't sure I even had any money, but finally found $5 in coins in my bag, so bought 3 tickets for $5 and came home with this:

I will now make the effort to go and buy the lotto ticket as well!

Bugger, Bugger and Bugger!!!

I came home from ScrapCamp totally exhausted. It was a great week that started with the kids camp and then followed straight into ScrapCamp, which as always, was another great weekend (hugely extended weekend this time) away. Spending time with such fun loving, easy going ladies is always a pleasure. There were loads of laughs during camp and despite having so many other things to do, I managed to get 3 double layouts and 2 single layouts completed, so I was very happy with that.

Unfortunately, I pulled my sciatic nerve at camp and by the last day, it was really giving me trouble. After cleaning up, packing up and coming home, I was destined for a very early night. The next morning was agony with my nerve not responding to any pain killers. Another earlyish night followed. Tuesday was my wedding anniversary (14th) and Mike woke me with gentle kisses saying "happy anniversary", then headed off to work. I went back to sleep, but was woken shortly thereafter with a call from Mike to come and collect him from A&E. He had slipped at a job while carrying in the weed eater and broken his hand.

By now, I was limping with sciatic nerve pain and he was in pain with his broken hand sitting uncomfortable in a cast. Our plan had been to take the kids (and my nephew Matt who was staying with us) to Rainbows end, but that was just totally out now. The kids and I went out to the movies instead while Mike rested at home.

Wednesday morning we all went out to Mike's job to do what we could. I tried weed eating and a bit of mowing. Was pretty useless and in huge pain, as no doubt Mike was as well. I came home and cried. Wednesday afternoon I went and did a camp check out and the camp was in an unbelievable state, especially given how we had cleaned it at the start and end of our camp. I gave them an hour to clean up and went back, but there was really no difference and so in the end (as the next group was due to arrive 30 minutes later), I just had to kick them out and clean the camp myself, as I couldn't get a cleaner in at such short notice. So, Taryn, Jayden and I cleaned the camp, sweeping and mopping floors, cleaning the toilets, the urinal, the stove, microwaves and cleaning out the fridge which had beer and broken beer bottle glass in it. More agony and more tears, but at least there was a pay off for the work, as I made them pay the cleaning fee before they left.

So that was my week of crap (poor kids with it being their last week of school holidays) and as it has now been three things, I hope we are done for a while. We do still have however 4-6 weeks to get through before Mike's hand is mended enough for him to be back working by himself, but I'm sure we'll get through that. We've already had the help of his brother for the past 2 days - bless him, so hopefully that's the worst part over.

I'm thinking I should buy a lotto ticket now, as surely there has got to be somethings good come along soon to balance this all out - isn't that how it works? I hope so.

Layouts from ScrapCamp

Here are some of my layouts, along with the whiteboard of layouts from April ScrapCamp.

ScrapCamp Campers

ScrapCamp runs from Thursday night, through to Sunday afternoon usually, with Wednesday often used to set up. This time, as Wendy and I held a kids camp on the Monday/Tuesday, it was just as easy to stay up there and just keep going, so we did.

We also had a bigger than usual 'Regular Customer' camp. Normally we have a maximum of 8, but this time we extended that to 10. It was great.

The lovely ladies at camp - From left: Gypsy, Glenna, Tania S (Queen T), Me, Tania G, Judy, Dianne, Lisa and Sylvia. This photo was taken by Carol who came up for a visit and a Ukulele lesson.

Carrie and Vienna's Walk

I took Vienna for a walk in her pram whilst at ScrapCamp. We stopped and checked out the BBQ, water tank, junior confidence course and then at the end of the ground, saw these cut little family of quails. The photo didn't come out too good and by the time I reset the camera, they had disappeared back into the bush.

We headed back to camp, stopping on the way for a quick photo shoot while she was once again smiling away.

The Queen's Birthday

Tania (Queen T) celebrated her birthday during ScrapCamp.

Scrapbooking Baby

You can never start them too young I say!

New Friends

We had 2 babies at camp one night and when they were both awake, they were introduced. They seemed to find each other quite fascinating. I captured these photos of Aiko and Vienna as they were being introduced. I love how Aiko reached out to gently touch Vienna's hand in the second photo, but my favourite is the last one, where I zoomed in a little on those tiny hands and fingers. Cute!

Cocoa Castles

After the kids from the kids camp had left, Jayden asked for a hot chocolate. Despite being told to wait, Jayden decided he would get down the large bag of drinking chocolate himself. Of course he promptly dropped the whole bag, which split open and poured out onto the floor. A huge cloud of chocolate dust filled the air and you could taste the chocolate as you walked past. He was sent to bed - without his hot chocolate. Taryn then took the opportunity to grab a couple of marshmallows and make cocoa castles!

Kids Camp

Wendy and I ran a Kids School Holiday camp April 5-6. It was loads of fun - hard work and totally exhausting with 20 kids between us, but everyone seemed to have a good time. We played games, had a sing-a-long, toasted marshmallows on the fire, baked and iced biscuits, did a scavenger hunt, made handmade books, had a BBQ lunch and went through the confidence course.

What a great group of children we had. All very well behaved and most had wonderful manners. A good (yet tiring) start to camp week. Photos are uploaded to the kids camp blog: www.cazkidscamps.blogspot.com

Super Cute...

Is how I mostly describe this wee girl. Whenever I see her, she always has a smile for me and I can usually get some pretty gorgeous shots. This one was taken during kids camp. Doesn't she just melt your heart?

Cute Easter Treats

These cute Easter treats arrived at our house just before Easter, courtesy of Miss Wendy. The kids got Straight into theirs, but Mike said they were just too cute to eat. I ate mine when I got home from camp (and what a bonus to get another one at camp. lol), Mike's is still sitting here, but I'm sure he will get onto it soon. Thanks Miss Wendy - they were super yum, especially the homemade chocolate mints.