We returned last night from a week down south spent with my parents.
I wanted to see what images would look like taken from the car (and no, I wasn't driving at the time!).
My parents live a couple of hours from the snowfields so we took the kids for the day.
I have had quite a busy couple of weeks and have once again neglected my blog, well pretty much the internet in general! 
One of the biggest events was that my youngest turned 5!
There are times where I feel all that time that has passed, and other moments when I wonder where has the time gone, but each day I love her a little more and am amazed by her.
Just cupcakes on the day as the Ninja Turtle Chocolate Mud Cake was to be had at her Ten Pin Bowling party (just like her brother had). It was only a small group of friends but a big lot of fun was had! Soon after my Hubby celebrated the 20th anniversary of his 21st birthday. And we are now in School Holidays.
I have been doing some art, mostly in some books for an Artist Book Round Robin I am in. I have also been doing some more faces. 
This little snippet / sneak peak is for the Artistic Journey Monthly Mixed Media Challenge, (entries close at the end of the month).
This was my first attempted at a mouth opened, OK it is only slightly opened but it is a start and I am rather pleased with it.
Little steps forward, certainly better than going backwards!
Breakfast in Bed. Flowers. Presents. Hugs. Two Beautiful Kids. Perfect.
and for afternoon tea......mmmmm...... chocolate cake.
Just a quiet day at home since the kids have been sick this week.
Happy Mother's Day to all the mums
Look how fabulous the weather was today. We have had quite a bit of rain these past few weeks so it was really nice today to see the sun in all it's glory. Having spent most of the school holidays indoors we decided to get out of the house and go to the Kirribilli markets (right near the harbour).
It was nice wandering around looking at old and new stuff to buy. We did find some treasures...
my son come home with a Pokemon video,
my Daughter got a fabulous Green bag/case,
I got a beautiful wooden box, some old but in very good condition book binding needles, and the bargain of the day were a load of wonderful brown buttons for $2!
and Hubby, well he was just happy to see the rest of us happy!
...and afterwards was a trip to my fav book shop at McMahons Point. As usual 'we' spent a bit there but I just can't resist books, and Helen just has such a wonderful selection.
to the soccer season....
In the first game of the 'competition' last week my daughter got the 'Player of The Week' trophey.
This week she scored her first goal!
It is amazing to watch them play and already in only three weeks you can see how each player is developing.
I have been mad enough to say that I would help one of the dad's coach her team...really, I thought, how hard could it be, they're under six and half the team are preschoolers?!! Well, I can honestly say that whilst I am still on this side of forty my body certainly reminds me that I am not as young as I think I am!
My son is playing soccer again this year and as he is in the under 7A team his games are tougher. He was hanging back a little but is now getting into the thick of it. It is almost heartbreaking the amount of times he just misses on scoring a goal.
Both my monkeys are playing like champs and I am so proud of them both.
The soccer season (also known as football depending where in the world you live) is about to start. My daughter, who is not five for a few months yet, decided she wanted to play this year (her big brother played last year and is playing again this year). So, we registered her to play for the school she will go to next year, which is the one her brother is at, and is playing in the Under 6D team with some other preschoolers and some kindergarten children. They are playing Small Sided Games which is to build up skill and enjoyment of the game with the emphasis on having fun.
Today, the school had a warm up match at the school grounds as next week is when the official local 'competition' commences. The team had their first training session this week and this was the first time the team has played together. Here she is kicking the ball in.....
Yes, they were like a swarm of bees following the ball. Yes, they wanted to touch the ball with their hands. Yes, they sometimes forgot which end of the small field their goal was at. YES, they were all really adorable.... and most importantly..... YES, they had fun!
I can't believe it has been as long as it has since I last posted. Where does the time go?! I have actually had a bit of a social life, even though most of it has been through my children! The first special event was attending the wedding of my hubby's cousin. They held their ceremony and reception at The Bather's Pavillion at Balmoral. It was really lovely...and the food was delicious! The photo to the left is the top of the cake, isn't it georgeous.
Another event we attended was my sons' soccer/football presentation. Each player in the club was awarded a trophy and five special and specific trophies were also handed out. My son's team won one of these - a Premiership Award for their outstanding win on their Gala day (the combined scores of all the round robin games for the morning was something like 40 to 1!!). I am a very proud mum. I was also really delighted with how well his team played throughout the season and am glad to have met the other parents who were great people too.
The most special and important event recently was my son's 6th birthday. As this is his first year at school we agreed to a birthday party at home. He wanted a chocolate cake with either Star Wars or Ninja Turtles, a jumping castle and a pinata (that you hit not pull the string!). In the end we ended up having 28 children, including my two. The weather was beautiful and warm, and on the whole the children were all great.
After all the orgainising and two hours of a yard full of children I was tired and needed a few days to recover!!
Needless to say I have not really had time for much art. I'd love to say that I will create something soon but with the school holidays only a few days a way I don't think that will be a reality!
Whilst I was away I was tagged by Marie to list 7 random things about myself, here they are......
1. I love wearing stripey/colourful socks with toes in them
2. If my voice was good enough for others to listen to, I would (possibly!) have become a rock singer.
3. The only band I will buy a CD of without having heard even a note of is Bon Jovi.
4. Since pregnancy my sense of smell has changed and I get headaches from a lot of perfumes and highly scented products. (so I hate walking through the cosmetic area of a department stores where they constantly shove scents at you!)
5. I am actually quite a shy person, who finds it difficult to meet people and make conversation.
6. My choice of an alcoholic drink is still Southern Comfort & Coke (I never threw up on it like some others who can no longer even stand the smell of it!)....although since being influenced, ooops I mean meeting, Megan I do also like Caprioskas.
7. I love getting presents!
I tag you.
This is the view I had sitting on my bed upstairs in England. It is the backgarden of my parents-in-law. It is such a great garden, I know the children will miss it too. There is actually more garden behind the trees at the back (it has a vege patch and a small grass area that the kids LOVED to go to). The path to it is 'hidden' by the way the trees are planted.
Whilst this picture is lovely and sunny we did not have great weather whilst we were there. I have been to England a few times (1996, 1998, 2000 & 2004) and this has been the worst weather yet!...but we don't go for the weather, we go to see family and friends.
My In-laws live in a really pretty village south of London in West Sussex. I was amazed, and disappointed, to discover that the three antique shops in the village have now gone - closed because of eBay, but they still had the lovely gift shops and the 5 pubs! We spent time with family and visiting various local attractions, 
including Pooh Corner & Pooh Sticks Bridge at Hartfield - and we did play 'Pooh Sticks'. We often went and picked our own Strawberries & Raspberries at a farm near by. The kids loved it, my son now likes strawberries! Freshly picked are always tasty but I think the ones we pick in the UK are tastier again.
We went to Cornwall for a week, staying in a large house as my brother-in-law and his family, and some of his wife's family came as well so there were 13 of us! We stayed in a place call Tregoodwell right next to Camelford. (The biggest town
nearby was Wadebridge).
In Cornwall we went to the Eden Project and Tintagel (the legendary birth place of King Arthur). We did a day trip drive going to Land's End (the western most point of England), through St Ives & Penzance. We 
had to stop for an immediate toilet break and came to Porthlaven (a fishing village), because it was not a set destination it was one of those pleasant finds. We then stopped at Truro for dinner and found a great restuarant called 'chantek'.
If you are ever in Camelford there is a GREAT restuarant I would recommend called Raval's, the food was delicious, service was great and the place itself was really inviting. 
The day we arrived in England my beautiful daughter turned four.
Whilst we were in Cornwall my Hubby turned 40 and to celebrate we all went to Fifteen Cornwall for lunch. It was a really great experience and the food was fantastic. After lunch we got changed and went for a walk along the beach. It was the first time we had seen some sun in a while. It was low tide
and there were quite a few pools of water left along the shore. Whilst it was still cold it didn't stop the kids putting their feet in, so we then took off their shoes! I think this only encouraged them more, before we knew it they were in up to their necks! Oh to be a child, it was great.
We also went to London for a few days, again catching up with family & friends and also to do a bit of shopping. The kids loved catching the tube but I think the highlight for them was the visit to Hamleys, a toy shop with SEVEN levels!, and yes they did come home loaded up with new toys.
The children travelled really well, especially on the way back as we travelled straight thru, including the fact that my son had a stomach bug and threw up at Heathrow airport and when we got on the plane, and we had a three hour delay in Bangkok due to some engine failure. I could not have asked them to have behaved any better than they did, and both of them slept during both legs of the journey. I am lucky to have such cheeky angels.
