{NEW SHOES & MORE MIGUEL}

Don't you love these ... I got them as a belated birthday present from Chris. I love this style of canvas shoe, think I will wear the soles of them like I do my Levi ones. Thanks Chris, I was beginning to get New Shoe Withdrawal.

Well the last week Miguel and I have been spending the afternoons with my folks. Miguel has decided that he no longer needs his afternoon naps (try convincing me of that fact when I have a grumpy 2 year old at 4.30 in the afternoon) - So Abuelo has taken advantage of this fact and put Miguel into service. Miguel thought he had died and gone to heaven, when he was told that they were going to use the giant wheelbarrow, cement, sand and of course his ultimate favourite water.

He worked beautifully, following instructions very carefully and to the letter. "See Abuelo, I'm big now I can do this. I have a good idea plan .. when we finished this we can go watch Pooh, alright?" Little conman, he can only watch a short movie (30min) at night if he is not tired or if he has been very good that day. But you cant be mad at him when half way through he goes running into the garage and come out with a piece of foam and says 'here Abuelo, use this for your old legs. Tomorrow when you pick me up from my school, we can go to the shops and buy you new ones!' Don't you love him! Tonight he was out by 7.30pm with for him is an incredibly early night. See with every down there has to be an up!

Chris bought me the most intriguing book today called FREAKONOMICS - I cant wait to dive into this one!!

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime?These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life -- from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing -- and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives -- how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of ... well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.

{MY BIRTHDAY}

It was my BIRTHDAY yesterday ... 33 years old!! Damn were did the time go?? Well, we all had dinner at my folks place, my dad made one of his famous stews ... yummy just perfect for a very cold day. I got very spoilt .. I got 3 beautiful jerseys, very elegant with wide ribbed bottoms so that they are snug over your hips and more loose over your torso. I am loving them!!

Miguel as per usual needed no encouragement to sing happy birthday and blow out candles, in fact he encouraged us to do it 3 times over! He loved it ... but there was a damper on his day - 'mama where are the balloons? I cant be a birthday party without balloons!'

Chris got into the swing of things and bought himself a birthday gift too ... and Xbox 360, his way of getting away with this is that the whole family can play ... yip a 2 year old and me who has zero hand eye co-ordination. YIP fun for the whole family! Cheeky boy!

I have started a new blog CLEOS PHOTOGRAPHY for all my photos, especially the photos for HER SPACE : MY SPACE photos. The concept for this is to take a word, take a picture. A blog to share snapshots of everyday life with no props and no limits.Just plain old fashioned photography. This blog is for my photography .. don't expect to be blown away, it is something that i am working on at what feels like an infinitesimal pace, but i will keep going forward.

{MMMMM SUSHI ...}

YUUUUUMMMMMYYY.. tonight we are going out for sushi, gosh I love sushi, it makes me very happy. I think that perhaps I should have put sushi in my new header!

I took this funny quiz earlier ... WHAT KIND OF CAR ARE YOU ?. Well according to this i am a Mercedes SLK!! Of course I am .. like you doubted - probaby all thought id be a fiat UNO!!

It means that You appreciate the finer things in life. You have a split personality - wild or conservative, depending on your mood. Wherever you go, you like to travel first class. Luxury, style, and fun - who could ask for more?

Miguel did the funniest thing yesterday. He found a piece of plastic tubing that resembled a microphone and thought that he would give us an impromptu concert. He was great, actually fantastic (as of course only my child could be!!). He reminded me of Mick Jagger. He would strut (that is a perfect description of his performance) across the lounge with a huge amount of swagger, singing at the top of his voice ' I like to move it, move it" from he movie Madagascar. He would then stand still and throw his arm in the air doing the 'Rock On' hand gesture and yell 'IM A ROCK STAR, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!" and bow. The harder you clapped, cheered and whistled - the bigger the swagger, strut and performance!! It was the best thing ever!

So not only is my Migelito going to be a professional, top ranking Golf player, an internationally acclaimed National Geographic photographer, a litigator (because he is so good at reasoning and arguing his way out of anything), he is now going to be a rock star too! Well a mother can dream cant she!!

{MMMM}

Just had to show you this photo of Miguel tucking into a Chocolate Donut ... he is seriously enjoying this. Normaly he is very good at sharing his things including treats with others without you having to ask...but this time I had to ask and he said to me in a very down trodden tone "I suppose so' and then proceeded to give me the most minute crumb of the donut pastry!! Mind you when he had finished his donut he did offer to give me a chocolate donut kiss of his own free will - which I accepted whole heartedly!!

Today Miguel had nap time at his Abuela & Abuelos (grandma & Grandpa) house. He was quite reluctant to go to bed, even though Abuala said that he could sleep on her bed. Finally he conceded only after I agreed to join them! He said that he wanted a story and my mom got out a book to read to him. 'No Abuela, I read you a story". He proceeded to get one of her Historical romance novels of her shelf and lay in bed, rested one foot on the other legs knee and started to 'read'. He gave us a long and detailed story about everyone he knew (named them all by name) including POOH and his buddies, every animal from the movie Barnyard all going home after school in his Abuelos Jeep and how they had to all go for a nap! It was soooo cute, that my mom and I almost laughed out loud, but could not as this would offend our little literary genius!

I was very surprised (and impressed) to see how many letters of the alphabet he knew by sight without any hesitation - A,S,M,C,O,P,R,T & E!!!

When Chris put him into bed to night he was lucky enough to have edition 2 of the 'Going Home' story.

Caterers, crockery, glasses and champagne have been booked for Saturdays party. As well as a VERY yummy desert!! I just hope that every one comes - Just my luck that our home town rugby team won their semifinal game on Saturday and now the final is this coming Saturday in our home town!!

{Alpha Freebie no 7}

Hi there all - been working hard on another alpha for you ... let me know what you think of this one, as im not sure if it is a practical Alpha or not!!

Download it here

{School Update}

Well I thought that I'd give you an update on how Miguel is enjoying school. All I can say is so far so good ... In the morning I get about 5 minutes of a Oscar winning performance about how he cant go to school with the requisite two tears sliding extremely slowly out the corner of the eye, the pouty, wobbly bottom lip. But the second he is in the car he is quite happy to go. He begins to get quite excited talking about his teacher,Maria; the painting he does at school, the huge jungle gym etc .. and he is fine.

His vocabulary has changed Ive noticed in the 5 days that he has been going - it's regressed. His two new FAVOURITE word are 'huh' and 'hey'. Ooooh it grates me to hear his beautiful use of the language to now include those words, mind you when I hear what other kids pick up at school, I think that I can learn to live with those two!

Ohh ... the other day he came up with one of his best words yet !! I was trying to put him down for is afternoon nap, but he was over-excited from school. I had just told him for what felt like the 100th time to lay down and close his eyes, when he piped up with this look of pure consternation on his face and stated "but mama, it is impossible for me to close my eyes!!" Needless to say when confronted with that argument, mama caved in and Miguel when napless that day!! I think that we may have a future litigator on our hands. Gosh he is going to be busy, between professional Golf, Singing in a successful band, professional soccer and now a litigator - my busy little genius had better learn to live on naps after all !!!

Just thought Id show you the invitation that I made for our engagement party ... I will take some photos and let you know how it goes!! Im quite excited about it!!

Miguel went to school this morning .... he was semi excited, until he realised that I would not be staying. When we went in he seemed quite calm. His teacher Maria is a pro, she immediately engaged him in to putting all his supplies away and finding his bag shelf - that he did not kick up too much of a fuss when we left. But we will have to see how tomorrow goes - cant count my chickens before they hatch!!

He even took a photo of his school bag ...

My friend Michelle of Watershell Photography took this beautiful photo of Miguel, I love it because it seems to capture who Miguel is. Hopefully when she has some time she can do some family photos as we have none of the 3 of us together!!

{Beach & Freebie No 6}

Miguel and myself have been man down for a few days as we both have nasty sinus infections so when Nena, my sister offer to take myself and Miguel to the beach yesterday we jumped at the chance for a little fun in the sun. It could not have been a more perfect day for us to go - the temp was about 26 a light breeze. Miguel played in the sand. Nena got her weekly quota of exercise by playing Frisbee with my neighbour Genevieve (Gen). I love the photos I took of them - they all look so happy. Definitely feel a layout coming on.

Miguel starts school tomorrow -- I am so excited, is it normal to be this excited at the thought of some "me" time?? I just hope that he takes to it. We tried school about a year ago and it was a disaster he could not adapt and it just got worse as time went on. I really hope that he is now more ready to handle letting mamas apron strings slack a little.

A new freebie for you - I really love this one I think that it is my best yet ... but you will all have to let me know. Don't forget to send me your layout links if you use them, so that I can visit and see the wonderful work that you guys are doing!!! Get it here