The Little things...

happy and sad....

I was talking with the kids in the car today how I was happy and Sad today.  They seemed to think you couldn't be both of these at the same time but I beg to differ.

It was the boys last day of school today....a bit sad because they are leaving this school.  It has been such a lovely nurturing school...so sad to be leaving....but life is taking us in a different direction so its time to move on.  I can't believe my little twins will be in Grade 2...just unbelievable....I have no babies left..........ahhhhhhhhhhhh.....

now the happy news - well the super dooper ultra excited amazing and unbelievable happy news - I am a teacher!!!  I got a job.....yay!!!  I was beginning to worry there....I had applied for so many jobs and wasn't getting anywhere....I so wanted a job secured before Christmas so I could enjoy the season....and now I do.   I was interviewed yesterday and told I would know within one week the results...well I got in the car, was driving home and stewing over how badly I thought the interview went and my phone rang and it was the principal offering me the job....how cool was that...no agonising wait for a whole week.....I'll be teaching a mix of Years 8 9 and 10 Humanities subjects.   Very excited....And I thank my Father in Heaven for blessing me and my family with this.

now Summer Holidays are officially on for us now....no more rushing to school in the mornings for 6 weeks...yay!  Looking forward to doing some fun Christmas stuff with the boys this coming week....enjoy the season everyone.....

its that time of year again....

can you believe it...as my boys tell me its only one month to go.....been feeling a little 'blah' of late so today we put the Christmas tree up...that always lifts my spirits.  It usually goes up on Dec 1st in this house but I figured a few days early wont hurt and the tree up tells me its that special season again and always lifts my spirits....Christmas makes me think about all the blessings I have and I love that.....so heres to a special  month coming.

Oh just watched the Australian Idol Finale...wow....what a night.  I've never watch Idol before this season, but Ive become a little hooked on it this time around...the whole thing tonight was Brilliant...and YAY Damien won...what a gorgeous voice....

so back to my personal reality...been very busy applying for jobs...still nothing yet....Oh I hope something comes soon....its such an exhausting process...I'm sure you will hear when I do finally get that teaching job...I'll be screaming it from the rooftop! 

the boys are just loving basketball....they are so excited to play each week....and they are winning most of their games....its great for us as a whole family...it gets us all up bright and early every Saturday morning and we spend the morning watching each others games...lots of fun...

anyway just a little update....enjoy this special season....tomorrow night we will be sitting down - writing the Santa letters, planning special family things we want to do....a good excuse to just get real close and bond as a family...how blessed!

camp fun...

what a fun 4 days we have just had...camping as a family with a few other families at a friends property just near Mansfield in Victoria.  It was great to be with other families so the kids always had someone to play with.  The boys had the best time and as Caleb was going to bed tonight he sleepily said "I wish we were still camping."  The weather was perfect and we had so many activities to do.  We swam in the dam, went on horses, had campfires, the 4 wheeled motorbike was the biggest hit!  People did target shooting, went hiking...just lots of fun activities, good friends and some wonderful memories....a really great family holiday......but I'm eager to crawl into my own bed now.....

Im done....

with University that is...I'm finished...it feels like only yesterday that I was saying I was going back to Uni and now I'm all done....how fast this year has gone.  I'm so glad I went back and did my Education qualifications...Ive just loved it....now the tricky part comes...finding a job for next year...not looking forward to the process at all.....would be nice if you were just handed a job hey?  Anyway I'm so happy I'm done and that I can now move on to the next phase...life is never dull is it?

things are always happening around the Matthews home.  The boys are loving basketball...but I had no idea how much time it would take out of our families schedule - 2 nights a week training...games Saturday morning....but the boys are soooo happy to be playing and being part of a team....it's so nice to see them excited.  The twins won their game this Saturday just gone and they were Over the moon!  Here they are in their uniforms that are so big I'm sure they will still fit when they are 16!

My Samuel decided to cut his own hair the other day....both sides looked like this.....he did a very similar thing when he was 5...you would think once would be enough for a child...but NO he's done it again at 9 years old...so he ended up with a very short buzz cut to try and hide his hair cutting attempts.

so now I'm not at Uni each day I'm filling my time this week with scrapbooking for a deadline by the end of this week....plus tackling the mess in this house that Ive let accumulate over the last few weeks while things were a little crazy.  We are also off camping this weekend...hmmmm.....thats always interesting...

Oh and I'm watching TV - I'm not normally a TV watcher...but I'm enjoying this chance to just veg a bit at nights....ER is back on so I'm happy...Survivor always is a must in this house....and I have never watched Australian Idol ever before and I'm watching that....I know....I don't know what has come over me! 

and hey I might now have some more time to write in this blog more often.

see ya.

I have 3 bulls in my house...

Samuel started Basketball this week...he has been wanting to play for so long, so I booked him in for this season.  The twins and I went to watch his first practice this week.  And I left having signed the twins up to play too...they are sooo excited...they will be in Under 8s.  Mind you I think a basketball is bigger than my Caleb....not sure how he will even lift the thing!  So here is Samuel after his first match yesterday ...that they won...he's with one of his good buddies.  The twins will get their uniform next week.....so it looks like my Saturday mornings will be filled up now.

Now a BIG thank you to all those who have given their congrats on my SM news...I really appreciate it...thank you.

Memory Trends is on in a couple of days.  heres a sneak of the 2 Blue Cardigan ranges coming out.  First is Anthology....based on words and text...blues, reds, purples....and then there is Treasures...a baby range...these pages are from the catalogue...not able to see much detail...sorry.

A busy week this week...only 3 weeks to go till the end of Uni so lots of assignments due.   I went to my nieces Year 12 Valedictory dinner on Friday.  wow that brought back memories...of what was 16 years ago now...just scary to think about how quickly time goes...well I wanted to get some scrapping done today so thats it for now. Daph.

spilling the beans....

I can share my exciting news......scrapping news of course.....

I'm on the Scrapbooking Memories Creative Team for 2007. 

YAY!!  I will be writing a monthly column and doing other fun stuff.....I'm very excited about it....got some big shoes to fill though so I hope people will like my stuff.

This was very exciting news for me.  You see I'm a scrapper that needs a deadline to get me going....if I don't have scrapbooking I HAVE to do I tend to do other things....I'm busy and so can very easily fill in my time.....this year has been a year of alot less HAVE to's when it comes to scrapbooking than any year in the last 6 years or so.....so as a result I have hardly scrapped at all.  So when I got the call I was super excited....I LOVE being forced to scrap....can't say no to that.

So my first stuff will be in early next Year, Feb I think.

thanks for letting me share my news.

party time

well it was the party yesterday.....talk about excitement....I'm sick as a dog but had to soldier on...the twins were so excited about the day and had a wonderful time.  Lots of friends, games and food....and presents....having not had a birthday party before, so really only having had presents from mum and dad in the past the HUGE pile of presents was just the BEST thing in the eyes of these little boys.....

Samuel took this picture...thank goodness....running around all day dealing with 20 kids I didn't have a minute to take a photo but thank goodness I have sisters, nieces and sons that know the importance of taking photos so just pick up the camera and start shooting.

so today will be a day at home....Ive got one week off Uni with a mountain of work to do and I feel like I just want to sleep in bed all day...I think my body is finally telling me to REST!

Hey if you are in Melbourne...don't forget to book in to come to the Dylan Huntung Scrap day....I know soooo much effort has been put in to make this an amazing day.....you will have a great day...plus its going towards a special cause...nothing could be better...being able to scrap the day away and be helping someone at the same time.

busy...busy...busy

yep thats me...busy...busy.....but its all good...I couldn't stand not being busy....

anyway I have finished up at Huntingtower....loved that school and my time there.....just didn't want to stop....I find teaching rounds really hard because you put so much effort and heart into it all and then - bang - its over - you leave and thats it....no closure on things - you just finish......anyway no time to dwell...I'm busy..busy...can you believe Ive only got 5 weeks of Uni left and then I'm all done!!!!  Ive got lots of assignments to do and Ive also just started to apply for jobs...so the yucky task of writing resumes, letters and all that stuff....I wish they just handed you a job at the end of all this...how much easier would that be?

my babies have just turned 7 - unbelievable.....7.....it just doesn't seem real.....plus they are still so small so when you tell anyone they are 7 they don't believe you...we are having a party next week during school holidays......its their first real big party (I know - horrid mum I am!)  so they are super excited........Ive done no scrapping lately but these 2 layouts were just in SM last month and I did these when they had both just turned 6 so fitting to share I think.

I'm itching to scrap...got a couple of assignments to get done plus some exciting scrapping news recently that I cant share right now....but its got me all excited again to scrap.....soon.....in a months time I will have LOTS of scrapping time...yay!

anyway I must get to bed.....and stop this rambling......

yes I am alive....

OK I'm here.....alive and kicking...thanks to those who have emailed and posted to get me to update my blog....yes it is neglected....sorry.

well I've just about finished the 4th week of a 5 week teaching round.  I'm at Huntingtower School and loving it....just loving it....this school is such a good school!  I can say that because I went to this school in High School.  Its great now seeing it from the other side, from a teachers perspective....I really love this school....and once again I'm getting all wrapped up in my teaching and will feel rather sad when its all over in just over a weeks time.  Then it will be back to Uni to get all my assignments finished off and then I'll be all done by late October...woohooooo.....how fast has this year gone???....and the yuck part of trying to find a job is ahead of me now....the part of this whole thing I'm not looking forward to at all.....

so apart from my teaching not much else has been happening...definitely no scrapbooking....but I cant wait to get back to it....I'm putting up with a much messier house than I like...so its rather sad to say I'm looking forward to giving it a big clean.

my funny little fella lost his first tooth last week....BOY was he excited!....and thats an understatement...jumping for joy best describes his reaction to his tooth coming out...poor Little Caleb hasn't lost one and there is no sign of one budging any time soon...so there has been a bit of twin jealousy happening there....

And I also must give this worthy cause a plug.  If you are in Melbourne PLEASE come to the fund raising crop for Dylan Hartung.  Go to the BLOG to find out more about this courageous boy and the amazing crop with fantastic prizes and goodies and stuff....Jody is organising an amazing day...come along!

so thats it for now...bed time...I'll catch up end of next week when teachings done.

Daph

Craft Fair

well Ive just spent 4 days teaching at the Craft Fair in the city for Scrapbooking Memories.  The drive in each day was a nightmare...the days were long...but I LOVED it...I sooooo love teaching...all the prep work, all the effort finally becomes worth it when you are standing in front of a bunch of ladies who "get"  what you are talking about and appreciate it.  You get the nicest comments from people...good for a girls ego too!   It was a fun 4 days.  Clair from SM is just adorable and it was great working with Renata.  I also got to meet for the first time fellow master Trish Reed.  Heres a pic of us all...end of the last day so I'm looking rather horrid......but at least they all squatted down for me so it gives the impression I'm the same height as them all rather than 2 feet shorter (well maybe not that much but shorter none the less!)

So I'm back at Uni now for one more week then off for 5 weeks of teaching...looking forward to it...just want it to start....

look at these handsome young men.......

Samuel has always wanted a suit for Church.  I have never been able to afford them for the boys.  The other day I was in Myer and came across them selling out the children's suits for $20 a piece....I was so excited....and so were the boys...you should have seen them...they thought they were the best looking fellas on Earth walking in to Church last week.....and I think they are anyway!