Persistance....

These are the trees we had cut down a few months ago....isn't it amazing that they would grow back tiny little shoots where such a big tree one stood.... got to give it to nature...

Not much to report family wise... all is going well... getting rather cold here at night now....
I'm out of town for the next few weekends.... This Sat I head to Newcastle for my "Girl Guide" training.... when I first took over we had 4 girls which has now grown to 15 great girls and I love working with them but the whole 'training' thing is freaking me out a bit.... I'm not exactly very -gung ho- about it.... lets just hope they dont expect me to put on a skit on Sat night....
To happier things the following weekend (and a few days into the next week) I'm off to visit my mum in Coffin Bay for her 60th.... very much looking forward to that one... Shane and the kids are staying at home..... I don't know if any of you have tried to book flights lately but I'm sure it's not as simple as it used to be.... to get the cheapest deal I'm flying out of Newcastle to Melbourne to Adelaide to Port Lincoln but on the way back I'm going Port Lincoln to Adelaide to Sydney to Port Maquarie.... thats 6 flights on 4 different airlines and departing and arriving in two differnt towns.... and as of last night all but one of the flights has been amended by the airline and I'm cutting my times finer and finer each time.....



What do you think mum? something like this could be just what I need... it would also give me somewhere to store all the winter quilts I've got from Denise..



.... and of course I've done the bare minimum of scrapbooking ..... look out 2009, not far off now. This LO looked quite nice at home, but now I've seen it here it's a bit plain.... might need to fiddle a bit.

Look like us??

I finally got my little family... they are handpainted bu Gemmielou who has a shop on Etsy.... how cute are they??? she has had a bit of a backlog so I've had to wait quite a few months for them but worth it I think.... I also got Grandma and Grandpop done but they will have to wait until I get there to see them...





I've been scrapping some of my older photos this school holidays, both of these are from mid last year... I normally only scrap events , special occasions etc but these photos were both so gorgeous I just had to scrap them for no particular reason...

We went camping @ sandbar last weekend, the weather wasn't the best but with Anzac day and sports starting again soon it was our last chance.....we did heaps on the Saturday but had to pack up in the rain on Sunday which always makes the boys less than happy...



Check out Aarons shirt.... it was pretty windy up there.... he walked all the way up and back on his own...










I also forgot to mention that it was Shane and my 10th wedding aniversary while we were in Sydney.... I honestly wasn't expecting a pressy but he outdid himself and had a eternity ring made for me....how bad did I feel when I had nothing to give him...we had decided that he could have his bike jacket but he hadn't picked it out yet..... Regan and I had scoured the shops for something made of Tin but had come up empty handed..... I was forgiven...

We're back

Actually we've been back for a week but never mind. Sydney was great... Aaron did really well at all his appointments and we even managed to get Regan's reading accessed... she didn't do all that well but now we have something formal to go to the school with and see where to go from here.... the weather was.. well .. terrible, the beaches were shut from tue onwards and it rained on and off most days... I managed to get the kids to the beach one morning but that was about it...





We did also manage to fit in quite a bit of winter shopping ( I promised Regan one item from the Roxy shop - who knew kids clothes could be that expensive - but very cute I must admit) and a trip to the Power House Museum to see the Star Wars expo.... we went mid week and there weren't people walking around dressed up but it didn't seem to phase the kids, they just loved it......

Just some random shots of this week....









Regan finally learnt to climb the only tree in our front yard that will hold her weight....



Yeah I know this one is a bit busy.... i did both these LO's while in Sydney and just kept sticking more and more bits on..... still not sure if I like it ... definantly not my style...

Catch up

Ahhh... so very far behind in my scrapbooking.... this one is of Regan and her pen pal (Amy) taken last September at Royal Far West... which is where we are heading tomorrow.... where did that six months go.... Shane has a course to do in Newcastle Mon and Tue but will be joining us in Sydney from Tue night which the kids are thrilled about.... lets hope this weather holds out and the kids can get in a final hurah to summer at the beach...



Chrissy '08 ... yeah, nearly at my 2009 photo stash...



Regan was invited to the movies last weekend and begged and begged to wear the makeup that Santa got her for chrissy(of course Santa exists because you don't think mum would of bought you makeup do you?). How cute are those lips....

Oh, and Aaron played Hockey on the proper courts? pitch? ground? what ever they are called, today and they all do so much better when the ball actually gets a chance to move across the ground. He even saved a goal!!!!!! (they then hit it again and it went in but he didn't notice because he was too busy being proud of himself and no one else thought it necessary to tell him)

Till next time....

Got to love junior sport

Aaron had his first game of under 7's hockey today....... How gorgeous are this lot.... as soon as one kid got to hit the ball all 12 just went for it with sticks.... that is of course if they were paying any attention to the game at all....



...

They looked like they were getting the hang of it in these pics but ... looks can be deceiving.... of course Aaron loved playing and when it was all over went to the coach for his trophy ...... I've now explained to him that it will take all season before he gets one.



Regan came off her pushy last sun arvo and did some pretty impressive damage, if you think the chin looks bad you should see how her legs and chest have brused up over the week...... poor thing, she really skided down the gravel .... it's a wonder her father didn't hear her yelling from home.. the boys at school thought it was pretty cool though.

and of course ... last but not least , my latest LO of Aaron at his b'day party...



Till later.....

Where did those weeks go

Sorry I havn't been here for a while.... just busy doing .. things?!!?
so, in the last three weeks

Shane turned 36 and the kids made him this great cake...



Regan had a sleep over and the girls cooked Tacos for dinner then suprised us all with ice cream cakes made with sprinkles, choc drops and sour worms.... well they liked them ... sort of



We had three of our beautiful tall - but dangerous - gums cut down from the front garden....



Shane and I, Karen and Darren, Jaimie and Trish and Ray all went on a 7 hr ride from here to Tea Gardens and then back via Stroud and Glouster, what a great day.... no we didn't all fit on three bikes.... Darren and Karen had continued on by the time I remembered to take a photo...




Regan tied all her toys to her drawers??????



and I did some scrapbooking .... look I've finished september .... only 6 months behind now....

A bit late...

I'm a bit late with the photos, but it was Aarons party last weekend and he had a few friends join him at the local kids play centre..... Oh my gosh he seems so grown up when I look at pickys of him... What do you think of the cake mum?? I excelled myself this time and I must admit it was a lot easier cause Regan was sleeping over at her friends place..... does that sound bad?? Aaron got two gift cards for his b'day, (I think they must be the in thing at the moment) and Regan is so jealous, she thinks he is way too young to have them and is thinking of trading all her pocket money for lots of small ones.




Yesterday the boys put up our solar hot water system making our carbon footprint just that little bit smaller which was all fantastic until it started to rain as soon as they finished installing it..... no worries we will just hit the boost button, which was all fantastic until we got a huge thunder storm 30 min later and lost power for the rest of the night ..... theres nothing more refreshing - and eco friendly - than a cold shower....
Till later ....
Leah

WANTED

Last week a girl in Aaron's class called him stupid...when he told us that arvo we asked him who it was... it was a new girl whose name he didn't know but .... "I'll draw you a picture"... now all we need to do is find a girl in 1U that has a ponytail and wears a school uniform .??!! I so love the way that he draws, or signs, or gets objects to help us understand him... he is so beautifully Aaron..... This afternoon he was looking for a colouring in page of the 'vegi man' from the adds, I didn't get what he was after but when I returned to the kitchen he had made a face with 2 apples a bananna and a carrot.... got to love his persistance.



Check out the latest edition to the backyard..... it's Jaimies one from Nan and Pops place and the kids are just loving it, it needs a bit of a washdown a splash of paint and some new balustrades and it will be as good as new.... I'm so happy with their new play area....
Till tomorrow when I'll share pics of Aarons B'day party.

Sorry Dad..!!!

I just uploaded the photo of your card and realised I haven't called you today .... so sorry .... hope you had a great birthday.

On the subject of birthdays, my darling boy turned 7 yesterday and had just the best of days, pressy's in the morning ... cupcakes to take to school ... a trip to the shops with Nan after and then dinner with the family ... he's having a party on Sunday with his mates... love you sooo much buddy....







.. and heres that card for Dad, soooory again... and there is also one there for mum to give to her friend this birthday... i used the scraps from the Oi Oi Oi layout of Regan ... I am determined to make cards with all the leftovers I get from my LOs.... by making 8 1/2 X 11 I end up with so many offcuts...

I love the back to school....

I love the new haircuts...the shiny shoes...the excitement of new classmates... buying new stationary ...great big school bags full of yummy lunches ... covering new -non dog eared- books....



and of course those special things that end up covering the fridge.. the noticeboards ...the beds... the tables etc by the end of term...here is Aarons first piece of year 1 work -when I was on holidays I played Star Wars-....
and there is also Regans ribbons from the swimming carnival last friday .. 3rd in breaststroke ...2nd in junior freestyle relay and a dubious 3rd in freestyle... yet again she suprised me all round .. go girl go.....





And again another few shots of the local wildlife ... these two guys are living together in the water container of one of my hanging pots .... I love having them around...





Till later
Leah