Amazing Volcano Explorer Weekend Part 1

Preparation 

A while ago on a weekend in Auckland the kids and I and a friend were wasting a bit of time and we ended up up both One Tree Hill and Mt Eden. It was late at night so we didn't get much of a chance to explore. I suggested to Riley that it would be cool if we could have a whole weekend exploring the Auckland Volcanoes. He LOVED the idea so the Volcano Explorer Weekend idea was born. I decided to organise it all as a Birthday weekend for Riley.
So I spend AGES planning the weekend. I found out about where we could go, made a Volcano Explorer Journal, made an explorer pack and got my Mum to sew an explorer uniform.
The Friday before the weekend we headed down to Auckland in the afternoon and once there presented Riley with his Volcano Explorer Pack.

In the pack was:
- Camera                                               
- Pencil Case with Pencils & Pens  
- First Aid Kit                                         
- Magnifying Glasses
- Rope                                                  
- Compass
- Torch                                                 
- Water Canteen
- Head Lamp                                          
- Measuring Tape
- Sketch Journal                                     
- Binoculars
- Tongs (for hot rock collecting)

And in the pack was the Journal I made. 
I bought a regular journal which had a leather look cover. I then covered it with embellishments and spray painted the whole thing. After the paint was dry (I did a couple of coats) I gave the letters a light sand so they looked a bit worn and then I sprayed it with varnish.

On the inside I put maps and photos of the volcanoes we were visiting with decorated pages for photos & journalling. These are just a few pages from the journal.

The Explorer Uniform was sewn by my Mum. We found some cool patches at Arthur's Emporium to sew on the pockets of his shirt. I had some iron on tape which I stamped his name on.
The pith helmet is Jason's from when he was a US Marine

So my little Volcano Explorer was all ready and super excited to start his awesome adventure in the morning!!

Tune in tomorrow for Part 2 of our adventure!

Happy Belated 8th Birthday Riley!!!!

My first born turned 8 last month. 8 seems sooooo much older than 7. I can't believe that 8 years have gone by so quickly!

He was so little when he was born. 6lbs 8oz, my wee little guy. He has taught me so much over the last 8 years.

- Never be off your guard with a naked baby boy otherwise you will get peed on

- The very first time you get called Mum by your child is a moment you will NEVER forget

- You don't truly know what tired means until you become a Mother

- Even though you are a qualified Early Childhood Teacher and have worked with children and babies for 10 years it still doesn't prepare you for your own - and you DO NOT know anything everything

- Hugs from your kids are the BEST thing ever

- You will get just as much frustration from your children as you will receive joy

- Kids never cease to amaze you

He has also been through so much over the last 8 years. 

- moving house 5 times

- Getting stitches in his eyebrow

- Breaking his wrist twice

- Gaining a baby sister

- Losing his Dad

- Moving schools

- Losing His Great-Grandma

Despite all the not so great stuff that has happened he has turned into such a great little guy. He isn't perfect, we have our issues but he is sweet and loving and my favourite boy in the whole wide world!

I love you to the Moon and Back my beautiful son xxxxx

Tomorrow I will tell you all about what we did for Riley's Birthday! 

Things I'm Loving

I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something that you can be thankful for... no matter how simple it is.

Little Girls Birthdays


Seeing it through .. until the end.

I am NOT loving that my camera is broken but I am Loving that I am very close to perhaps becoming a home owner for the first time!! That's all I will say for now!

Linking Up with Paisley Jade

Belated Happy Birthday to Abbey!!!

On Tuesday my baby girl turned 4 years old!! Where did the last four years go??!!??

I can remember the day she was born like it was yesterday....

**WARNING** If you don't like birth Stories you might want to scroll down to the pictures without reading anymore **WARNING**

We knew Abbey was going to be a girl before she was born. My pregnancy was pretty straight forward. I did have to go for an extra scan at 32 weeks due to a low lying placenta but the Scan results seemed fine so no one worried anymore about it. On 26th July 2007, which was my due date, I was at home with Riley and went to the loo thinking I needed to pee but instead I just gushed a heap of blood. Having not had anything like this with Riley's birth I gave my midwife a call a little concerned. She said it could possibly be just my waters breaking and some blood in there. But just to be sure take myself off to the hospital. We were living in Gulf Harbour and the hospital was a good 30-40min Drive from us depending upon traffic. So I called Jase's work and told them to tell him I was on my way. I then called my work (Riley's Kindercare) to let them know Riley was coming in (my friend Shannon was going to be taking care of Riley and she was working that day) Then I chucked Riley in the car and started driving to Jase's work. About 1/2 way there the contractions started. And they started pretty intense. Jase was waiting on the side of the road and he took over the driving. We arrived at Kindercare and didn't even have to get out the car!! About 1/2 a dozen women ran out of the building and collected Riley and his stuff! Then off to the hospital we went. By the time we got to the hospital I was bleeding quite heavily. Jase found me a wheel chair and raced into the maternity ward. They gave me an internal exam, put the baby monitor on my tummy and within 15mins had decided Baby needed to come out NOW. So off to the emergency cesarean room we went and I was knocked out. The next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery room with my midwife standing there with a Polaroid photo of Abbey. She was born at 4.07pm. She was not too well and Jason had accompanied her to the Special Care Baby Unit. She took quite some time (6mins) to breathe on her own and she needed a blood transfusion. It seems what had happened was I had had an undetected case of Placenta Previa. Placenta previa is a complication of pregnancy in which the placenta grows in the lowest part of the womb and covers all or part of the opening to the cervix. Basically when I went into labour my placenta ruptured causing the bleeding also cutting off Abbey's blood flow etc. I found out much later that we are very lucky to not have lost Abbey. Because Abbey was stressing she pooed in the womb and her poor little tummy was filled with poo and blood so not only did she need a blood transfusion (when I first saw her she looked very grey) but her little tummy needed to be drained as well. She spent the first night in the SCBU and the next morning I got to hold and feed my beautiful girl for the first time!!

**WARNING OVER**

Although a rough start it sure didn't stop Abbey from anything! She seemed to have her feet on fast forward most of the time and had FAR more injuries than Riley ever did!!! {see injuries HERE, HERE AND HERE} But she was such a breeze of a baby and toddler and so precious to boot!!

Abbey is such a girly girl, she loves her ponies, and dollies and has still got her manky 'Bear' from when she was first born. She is sweet and has a cute little squeaky voice. But she is also tough and can stick up for herself. She is a little social butterfly and LOVES going to Kindy.

My Mistress Abbey she makes me laugh, roll my eyes and shake my head everyday! She says and does and wears the funniest things. She has so much of Jason's quirky sense of humour and personality it is heartwarming. She is adorable and hilarious and I love it!

Birth Day


First Birthday


Second Birthday


Third Birthday


Fourth Birthday


Happy Birthday my big 4yr old! Mummy is loving watching you grow into a beautiful little lady and Daddy has his arms wrapped around you from heaven xxxx

Happy Birthday to me

Last week it was my Birthday. I don't have an issue with age .. I turned 34. This year was the first time I am older than Jase, kinda a weird feeling. But considering all things I had a really cool Birthday.

On my actual Birthday I had a few visitors. Leonie, Nadia and my Nana & Grandad came around. I got a TON of orange presents! I can't even begin to name them all! But there was some awesome orange stuff I tell ya! And my Mum cooked me Dinner and made a Birthday cake.



Leonie also gave me a Birthday cupcake ... the kids ended up eating that one!



And on the Weekend I decided to throw myself a Birthday Party. The last Party I had for me was my 21st Birthday so it was about time! Of course the theme was .... you guessed it ORANGE! Here are a few of my favourite pics of the night ....






I have to say a HUGE thanks to Danielle who did most of the food, Taryn who did most of the cleaning up, Andrew who was the best sing star partner and Grant who manned the fire! Also Nicola who came up from Christchurch as a surprise was pretty darn awesome too!

So all in all a pretty awesome Birthday!

Better Late than Never

Jason and I decided when Riley was still cooking in my belly that we were not going to throw a Birthday party for our kids every year. We decided it was expensive and we were only going to throw a big party on significant ages. What we came up with was 1 ... 5 ... 10 ... 13 ... 16 ... 18 ... 21 ... achievable. In between we would still celebrate but just a cake, and perhaps do what my Mum & Dad did which was let us have one friend around for dinner or to do something special.

Anyway I am kinda procrastinating from the point of this blog post ...

The last BIG Birthday was Riley's 5th and since we don't do parties every year when we do we go ALL out. You may remember the blog post about his Robot Birthday HERE. Well in March this year Riley turned 6, so I have been 'making' a Birthday album for Riley for the last year! Today I pulled it out, dusted it off and FINALLY finished it!

I used THIS Kasiercraft wooden album and lots of Gloss Mod Podge and it turned out a little like this ....







I used cardstock, corrugated card, sequins, bling, Tim Holtz Sprockets and some little tool embellishments. I like how it turned out and so does Riley so YAY! Thank goodness it is finally finished!

Family Events Update

Well what have I missed that has happened??

Well We got the Amazing photos back from Jason's Birthday. It was so awesome to see the amazing pics. Thanks soooo much Angela for the AWESOME job!!



Abbey had a Wheel-a-thon with her Kindergarten. They were raising money for Christchurch so the theme was Black & Red! We decorated up her bike and she had a blast riding around with all her friends!



And of course Riley's 6th Birthday! I made him a Rocket cake with sparkler candles. He got Lego, a marble run, a slinky dog and a trip to the movies for his birthday! He had a great day and so did the rest of us!!



There are a few things happening around Whangarei this weekend, weather permitting! So fingers crossed we get lots more cool pics to blog about then!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RILEY JAY!

6 Years ago tomorrow at 4.20pm, after a 2hour and 20minute labour, on a Saturday afternoon I became a Mummy for the first time!

Birth Day

Little Riley Jay was born weighing 6pounds 8ounces. He was the Apple of His Mummy and Daddy's eyes!! It was such a joy to watch him grow.

First Birthday

Second Birthday

Third Birthday

Fourth Birthday

Fifth Birthday

This year will be Riley's first Birthday without his Daddy, so as happy as an occasion it should be we will also be struggling through another First without Jase.

But ...

Happy Birthday my sweet boy. I hope you reach for the stars and have all your dreams come true xxxx

ROBOT BIRTHDAY BLAST!

We had such an awesome time at the Birthday Party yesterday, what fun! Riley was so excited and everything was awesome .. I was busy running around so the camera which is usually in my hands was forgotten by Jase, not as many pics of what happened as I'd like but it's ok ... here are a few pics of the day .....









Awesome Day :)

TGIF

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY! >>> That means not having to walk Riley to daycare tomorrow morning ... not having to walk and get him in the mid-day heat and that is awesome!! Sadly hubby is working this weekend so no big weekend plans.

I am however looking forward to catching up on my shows with My Sky tonight ... my most favourite being Ace Of Cakes have you seen this show? I LOVE IT!
I have two dreams, they could possibly both happen but they involve having money ...
Dream #1 ... owning my own Scrapbooking Shop
Dream #2 ... running a party planner business

I want to learn how to make amazing cakes like they do at Charm City Cakes. That would ROCK!

Speaking of Parties and Cakes ... Riley will be 5 next month! OMG I know! Where have the last 5 years gone?? When Riley was in my tum tum Jase and I talked about birthdays and how we were going to be horribly mean and not throw a party for our children every year, only the special ones so 1-5-10-13-16-21. Which means this is Rileys first Birthday party since his 1st (hehe) I LOVE hosting parties and I try go all out (those who have been to our Annual Halloween Parties know what I'm talking about look HERE HERE HERE and HERE) Riley has chosen a Robot theme .. I am excited! Its a challenge but gonna be OH So FUN! I have been madly researching EVERYTHING Robot Party related!
So watch this space for LOTS of roboty goodness coming soon!!!

Fun Filled Sunday

Today is Jase's birthday ... I spent most of Friday making his birthday cake. He is a HUGE Tennesse Titians fan and since the superbowl is on tomorrow I thought I'd link it in to his birthday ...
I found a picture of the titans football helmet and printed it out as big as I could. I used that for the template for the shape of the cake, as well as the titans logo. I found a recipe for fondant icing and made the logo out of that, the rest of the cake was iced with butter cream icing. Here are the pics ...






Today for Jase's birthday we decided to do something fun for the day. We packed up the picnic bag and headed out to Parakai Springs Aquatic Park. The kids had a blast! Jase and I enjoyed ourselves too! Here a a couple of my fav pics of the day ...






*Red the Crap UPDATE*
Red the Crab has been found in a few different places over the last few days ... In my underwear drawer, on the top of the coke bottle in the fridge, hanging off my bedside lamp and now he is missing again!! I will try to remember to take a photo when I find him next!

I haven't done any crafting for a while (unless you count the birthday cake) but I do plan to make up for that this week! I have lots of things planned!! So .... Watch this Space!