Sunday, February 22, 2009

Week 8 & 9 :)

It's been a busy fortnight in our household with so signs of slowing down for a while... and I'm sure a lot of you with children back at school are finding the same thing!! I've finally finished Week 8 & Week 9 but unfortunately when I went to print my photos the machines had just been turned off so I'm going to put the photos under the layouts so you can still see them :)

Week 8: Make Time
Like everyone these days, my life seems to get busy without too much trouble... and when we get busy we often put things aside thinking that we'll catch up later. But sometimes we need to put in a little effort and actually 'make time' for the people in our lives.
I've got a cousin in Taupo (a mere hour away) that I hadn't seen for almost 2 YEARS!!! So when I was in Taupo last weekend I made some time to catch up with him... in fact to illustrate the point of how long it's been I text him to say I was in town and he sent back a text saying 'Shell who??' We've both decided to keep in better touch from now on :)

The journaling reads: Last weekend while I was in Taupo I FINALLY made time to visit Fearnley. We had so much to catch up on!!!

It was great to see him again... and Luke has grown up a LOT! He's in Year 7 now and is definitely a young MAN rather than a BOY!

We chatted for ages and then stayed for dinner and chatting until MIDNIGHT! It made me realise that although I get caught up in my own life and my girls, I need to MAKE time for the other important people in my life... because their lives are full and busy too!

A positive outcome of catching up again was realising that family bonds can be very STRONG!

We had a great night with lots of laughs, a few tears and plenty of catching up!

Making time for the people and things that really MATTER is a bit of an effort at times... but the benefits are awesome!!!

And here's the photo that's going on my page... it was taken in 2004! Our kids have grown up so quickly!!!

Week 9: Change of Heart

Have you ever decided you really did or didn't like something or someone and then changed your mind later? I have definitely done that!!! Yesterday I got to be on the receiving end of someone changing their minds... and it was GREAT!

The journaling reads: A few short weeks ago 'Mr Smiley' wasn't smiling at all! EVERY time I even LOOKED at him he cried! It was a horrible experience that I didn't want to repeat... and with his 1st birthday looming I was feeling a bit worried!

But it seems that my wee nephew as had a change of heart... and Auntie isn't so bad after all!

After a tentative beginning there were a few smiles coming my way and I was feeling quite happy.

After him mid-day nap Reece decided that Auntie was alright after all... he even let me pick him up!

Once the ice was broken we had a great time... he's really ticklish and has the cutest giggle! After a while he came and sat on my lap and THEN we had some lovely LONG cuddles!

I was a very happy Auntie! Sometimes having a change of heart/mind can bring about really positive results! Love ya babe!!! xx

I still haven't decided which photo I'm going to use on my layout yet... but here's my favourites :)

Yep I'm a bit shocked!! LOL

Yesterday was a really awesome day... and I'm one very, very happy Auntie :)

Thanks for visiting everyone and I hope you're still enjoying the prompts... looking forward to seeing what you all come up with :) Have a great week!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Week 7: Happy

Hi everyone :)

Two years ago I went to see the movie 'The Pursuit of Happyness' with one of my girlfriends and I found it to be a really powerful movie. I was totally amazed at how he (Chris Gardner) kept going in spite of everything that happened... and at the end of the movie there wasn't a dry eye in the theatre. It also gave me a new impression of Will Smith... totally LOVE his acting now!

If you haven't seen the movie then I highly recommend it... and it's suitable for everyone (only ONE swear word in the whole movie and it was totally in context!!!) I got the girls to watch it and they totally loved it as well... which brings me to this weeks prompt... HAPPY!

Last year wasn't an overly happy one in our household... everything seemed to be REALLY HARD WORK! We started the year off fine but it kind of just spiraled down out of control... this year feels completely different and I wanted to capture the feeling so here's my layout:

The journaling reads:

A couple of days ago I realised how HAPPY I am! I've had happy DAYS during the past year but right now I'm feeling really HAPPY... ALL THE TIME!

It's almost as if I needed to go through some rough times to fully appreciate what happiness FEELS like!

I'm having the BEST time at work! I find myself smiling a LOT! All the hard work Ash and I have put in is really paying off. It's such a GREAT feeling to be loving teaching again!

I'm happy at home too! The girls are happy, settled and enjoying being back at school. They are growing into independent young women with dreams and goals of their own.

I'm finally able to say that I'm happy being SINGLE! I feel like I can just be myself again.

It feels like my life is really getting on track... things are WORKING out fine. Right now anything feels POSSIBLE and I'm enjoying my life in a whole new way.

True happiness is a FANTASTIC feeling!!!

School really is going well... we've just had the best week! This year is a bit different too because Ash and I are team teaching.

We've got 54 kids between us and we're teaching them together. It's going really well because we're similar enough to have consistency but different enough that the kids are getting a really varied and interesting learning programme.

Ash is really good at maths, science and P.E. so he's taking the lead with those things while I'm taking the lead with reading, writing and art :) It's working out great... and the kids are really enjoying having both a male and female teacher... we've managed to get a great balance this year!

So now it's your turn... what makes you happy?

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Weeks 5 & 6

Hi everyone :)

Yes it's a 'double whammy' this week since I didn't get last weeks prompt up in time! Let's get straight into it!!!

Week 5: Too Long!

If you're a proscrastinator (like me) then you are probably used to putting things off in the hope that you might not even need to do them anymore... but sometimes we also put off the things we actually want to do! And sometimes that can lead to unhappy times :(

This is exactly what happened to me last weekend and it was a really good reminder to myself of what really is important to me.

The journaling reads: Sometimes I 'put off' things that I REALLY want to do because life gets busy! Most of the time I can 'catch up'... but last weekend I found out that it's possible to leave things for TOO LONG!

I decided to spend the long weekend with my sister and her family and on the way there we worked out that we hadn't seen each other for 5 MONTHS!

I was SO looking forward to some 'Auntie' time! When we arrived, Aidan and Leila came rushing up to see me and we had huge cuddles.

When Reece woke up has was a bit 'grizzly' so I just waited... BUT he didn't KNOW who I was! Last time I saw him I gave him of cuddles but now I was a STRANGER!

My beautiful nephew smiles and laughs all the time but he spent the whole weekend CRYING whenever I even looked at him!

From now on I'm going to 'make time' to see him so that he will SMILE for 'Auntie'.

It really was a shock to realise that Reece had no idea who I was... and I felt horrible that he was so unhappy because we were there. I've never been in this situation before because I've always been around the kids while they've been babies but this past year has been different.

Are you 'putting off' things you really want to do as well???

Week 6: Hats

Tomorrow it's back to school for me! We had our teacher-only days on Thursday and Friday and it was a bit of a reality check after so much time away from 'work'. A few of us in the staff room where discussing the various 'hats' we wear during a school day and it made me think about the different hats we wear in our everyday lives.

Terri Hatcher talks about 'hat wearing' in her book too... it seems to be a universal thing!


The journaling reads: Tomorrow another school year will begin and it made me realise how many 'hats' I wear.

On any given day we all wear different hats... and I think women tend to wear more than anyone! Counting up all the hats can be quite daunting!!!

Let's see:
  • Mother
  • Teacher
  • Business Owner
  • Sister
  • Daughter
  • Friend
  • Chef
  • Homeowner
  • Ms 'Fix it'
  • Accountant

The list goes ON and ON!

It's no wonder that we spend so much time every day running from one activity to another!

It's all a big balancing act!

One thing I'm sure about this year is that I want to wear my SHELL hat more often! The benefits are huge!!! Not just for me but for everyone around me too!

I think a lot of my problems start when I try wearing too many hats at the same time. There is definitely a difference between multi-tasking and taking on too much! How is your hat wearing going???

I'll be back next Sunday with another update so until then have a great week! And if you're a mum with kids heading back to school... ENJOY!!!