Harry Potter

Well everyone seems to have Twilight Fever at the moment (especially my Mum) but for me it is all about Harry Potter!! I read all the Twilight books and did very much enjoy them (couldn't put them down) but with the Harry Potter book I have read them over and over and over!! I have lost count at the amount of times I have read these books.

I have seen the first 3 Twilight movies - and did enjoy Twilight and New Moon but when I watched Eclipse I was less than impressed. I don't know what it was but to me it was really cheesy and just wasn't really into it (sorry all you Twilight fans - and I mean you Mum as I know you are one of the only people that read my blog....and Paige...Hi Paige ha ha ha). Maybe my expectations were too high, I wont be seeing the latest Twilight movie at the movies (too expensive to go to the movies these days) I will just be waiting for my mum to buy it on Blu Ray so I can watch it on my big TV! ha ha ha See even though I wasn't a fan of the last movie I will still watch all the rest of the series (hmm I know that's a bit weird)....if only for Jacob. ha ha ha I feel a bit weird watching (and by watching I mean drooling) him though as I can remember being an adult at my work (daycare) and watching him in Sharkboy and Lavagirl with all my Preschoolers! ha ha ha


But what got me SUPER excited this week was the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2!!! WOW!! I have most of the Harry Potter series on the big screen except the first one (as I hadn't read the books then and wasn't a fan) and sadly I missed the last one at the movies when I was pregnant! I had really bad swelling at this time and was in pain when I sat for too long but I had decided that NOTHING was going to keep me from seeing this movie (boy was I wrong) and thought I would just keep my feet up on the chair when the ushers weren't looking. ha ha ha

My whole pregnancy I kept saying that I was going to the movies to watch Harry Potter as I wasn't due for another 3 weeks after it came out. My mum kept saying to me that she thought I would miss it as she had a feeling I would be in hospital with a baby when it opened....but I didn't believe her!! No way would I go 3 weeks early. Well would you believe that they admitted me into the hospital on the night of the midnight screening!! ARGHH!!! I totally missed Harry Potter - on release day when everyone was at the movies watching Harry on the big screen I was in labour (Mum its all your fault actually - you jinxed me)!! GRRR!! ha ha ha Don't get me wrong I love my baby to bits (how could you not when he is so super duper cute) but I still tell him all the time that I never got to see Harry Potter on the big screen because of him. ha ha ha I finally watched it this week and I LOVED IT!! I have been waiting very impatiently for it to be released on DVD - and it was all a bit sad pressing play and knowing it would be the last Harry Potter movie! I was blown away with how well they made the last book into the movies!

I think that after I finish the book I am reading at the moment that I am going to reread the Twilight series (as mum keeps asking me what happens in the end and I cant remember as it was that long ago that I read the book) and then I am going to do Harry Potter....again. ha ha ha And then I will start on my massive stack of new books that I have not read yet!! Lucky I love to read so much!!

Polly Scrapbook Kits!!

I have always wanted to buy scrapbook kits but none have ever really taken my fancy, until I came across Polly! Scrapbook Kits!! They are AMAZING!! I love all the products that are included in them and definitely recommend them to everyone! You get a stack of stuff in each kit and they are just so easy to create with!! Kayla (who runs the business) lovely and makes ordering kits so easy!! Head on over to The Blog or The Facebook Page (and tell them that I sent you) you wont be disappointed.....the November kit is being released, which contains lots of Christmas goodness - I'm excited!!

Scrapping

I love scrapping - I just never seem to sit down and actually do any. I definitely did NOT get any done when I was pregnant - I had pretty bad morning sickness for half of it and the plastic cases that some of my craft goodies were wrapped in used to make me throw up!! Not even joking - I had many a morning where I thought I would brave the scrap room and would come quickly running back out and throw up all over the floor in the hallway (lucky we have tiles), so I just gave up and thought when the morning sickness had subsided I would give it a go. But that was then I was trying to get all the paperwork for my job up to date so I could leave for 6 months. When I got that under control for my last few weeks at work I started to get high blood pressure and I started to retain A LOT of fluid and I couldn't sit up or stand up for long periods of time!! ARGHH!! When I finally gave up work (at 36 weeks - although I think they had my dates wrong and I was actually 38 weeks) - they were so worried at the hospital about my blood pressure that I was at the doctors or hospital almost every day and then a week and a half later they admitted me in hospital and induced me. So all up I only ended up with a week and a half off work before I was in having my baby!! I was hoping for a little more time (like at least 4 weeks) but oh well these things happen. And of course I now have even more photos of my precious boy to scrap!

So its been in the past few weeks that I have scrapbooked for the first time in I don't know how long!! Its nice when Tim will take X for a few hours on the weekend so I can sit at the table and craft (I had to give up my scraproom as it became the nursery). Now I have to scrap as much as I can before I go back to work in January!! I don't want to go back but at least I will get some money to buy new products. ha ha ha

Here are a few layouts that I have been working on!!

Finally a Family - Tim and I had been trying for many years to have a baby and we were actually just about to start fertility treatment (I had been for the first appointment to get all the tests done and was booked in with the fertility doctor) when we found out we had fallen pregnant naturally!!

We call ourselves 'Team Clarke' - even though I am not a Clarke yet - Tim has made me an honorary member!!

My gorgeous baby boy - this is one of our favourite photos taken of him (my dad took it) and Xavier was only 11 hours old - so alert!!

Check out those stats - all 5's and 3's!! It was pretty crazy!! And his head circumference was 33cm!! I think he will just have to be a little bit lucky now!!

My gorgeous boy!! This photo was when he was only a few days old and we think he is just adorable!

I love clusters at the moment (the blue lollipop is from Charm's Creations) - so have been playing around with them a little bit! And it is using my product!!

11 months to go.....

...until I become a MRS!! We were actually meant to be married in August this year, although I found out I was pregnant at the end of last year and that I was due 3 weeks before the wedding (turns out I had my baby 3 weeks earlier anyway - but oh well, Im glad we are waiting for the extra year).

Tim and I have been together for 9 and a half years!! WOW!! We met through mutual friends, when a group of us went to a concert (Australian band Jebediah) and we just kind of clicked. We got along really well and after only meeting him a couple of times I knew that I had found a best friend for life!! I cant believe how much our lives have changed and matured since we have been together. We met when I was 20 and Tim was 21 (we are only 6 months apart in age) and over the next 9.5 years we have brought a house, been overseas together (to Hawaii), shared many laughs, shed many tears, been there for better or worse and most importantly had our beautiful baby boy together!! I could not imagine my life without either of my boys, and I love both of them to bits!!

Tim is poking his tongue out in this picture, we went on a walk to Queen Mary Falls and half way through the walk is started POURING rain - and we got drenched. This photo was when it first started to rain and we thought it was funny...we were not too wet by then. You should have seen us at the end of the walk - most uncomfortable drive home EVER!! But such a fun day!

This photo was taken at my nieces 18th - she had an Alice in Wonderland theme - Tim doesn't look too happy here, I have to admit he HATES having his photo taken, so I have lots of photos of him where he inst smiling - he better start practicing for our wedding photos though!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I have ALWAYS loved Christmas (definitely think this was a character trait passed down from Mum) our house was always decorated and we made so many decorations when we were little it wasn't funny. Mum kept the paper Christmas tree angel that I made when I was in Preschool (I would have been 5)....I think I ended up with this a few years ago and plan to put it on the top of the tree every year...well until X is a bit bigger and he can make one for me!! :)

I am really looking forward to Christmas this year as I have X to share all my Christmas Spirit with, we are going to decorate the house and put up the tree, have way too many presents wrapped under it and definitely go down to one of the shopping centres for Santa photos. I am even going to go see ALL the Santas in town first and then go and pick the nicest looking Santa for our photos. Only the best for my boy!! ha ha ha I cant wait until December 1st so I can start to put up the decorations....along with my love of Christmas, my mum also passed on the character trait of believing in superstitions, and I know its bad luck to decorate for Christmas before December 1st. ha ha ha

I can remember when we were younger and used to leave out cookies and milk for Santa, without fail every year we would also leave out a tub of water and some carrots for the Reindeer's.....first thing on Christmas morning we would run to the table to check if Santa ate the cookie (only crumbs were left) then out to the verandah to check the water (always had bits of grass floating in it and nibbles taken from the carrots) and there were ALWAYS reindeer hoof prints on the wood from where they had walked across the wet grass. I want to start traditions like this with X (but mum to this day stands by the fact that it was really Rudolph and the Reindeer that made the hoof prints). ha ha ha

Yesterday Mum had a stall at a craft market so I decided to go for a drive and see her and check out all the lovely crafts. I brought a few things (although most things were for little girls, looking back though I am glad that I have a son as I would have spent WAY too much money) X got an owl for his bookshelf in his bedroom and I got an owl to hang on the wall. They are both so adorable. I also got a few other bits and pieces. After spending all of our money we went to visit my dad and have lunch with him. He was out in the veggie patch (its awesome - everytime I visit I get some fresh home grown veggies....yesterday we scored super fresh potatoes - I was there when dad dug them out and a stack of cauliflower) and X loved being outside in the fresh air and watching Poppy dig.....he got so excited at one point that he started to squeal in delight (he has never done this before) and I couldn't stop laughing!!

Two of my dads favourite hobbies over the past year or so have been gardening and photography......it used to be woodwork, although he got very sick a few years ago and spent 8 weeks in hospital and he has now lost use of his legs properly. Of course one of his favourite things to take photos of is X.....I kid you not there have been THOUSANDS of photos taken of him. Its not uncommon to take 400 or so photos in one shoot!! ha ha ha We are lucky that X loves the camera. So yesterday I decided to get some Christmas photos taken that I will use for my Christmas cards, and we do 'handmade Christmas' in my immediate family, so they will be used for presents as well!! I just had to show some of the photos as I think they are so super duper cute!! Unfortunately X decided that he didn't want to smile and his new favourite thing is so see how much of his fist he can fit in his mouth, we will probably try to get some more done this weekend so I can see if I can get some smiling ones!!!

I have been scrapbooking again lately - it feels good so I will be back soonish to post some photos, I have to take pictures of the layouts.

Christmas sure is serious business!! I love X in red so I think this Santa outfit looks super cute!!


I love these Christmas Nappies that Huggies brought out - and one of the few (almost) smiles we got!!

Xavi-deer Santa's newest reindeer!! The two Christmas Romper Suits and matching hats were brought at KMart for only $7 each set.....super bargain I thought!!