Another busy weekend...

How crazy/busy is life at the moment....and we still have about 14 weeks until the baby is born! I can only imagine at this stage how hectic it is about to become. What, with four children to chase after, a hubby and one affectionate (slightly-insane-still-in his-puppy-stage) Labrador.

But back to the weekend... Happy Birthday Great-Grandma! Mark's Grandmother celebrated her birthday in style... She went with family to spend a few days on the Sunshine Coast. We were invited to go up and spend the day with her on Saturday (her actual birthday) along with Mark's brother and his family. Seven kids in all....ranging in age from 8 years to 4 weeks! Just wait until number eight comes along! It will make for an interesting Christmas to say the least!!! Lol!

Anyway, we had a lovely Saturday and the kids had a great time playing in the resort's pool and at the beach.

The beach was surprisingly clean too, considering this was part of the area affected by the recent oil spill.

Sunday was taken up with Mark's work/social BBQ and Friday prequelled with the kids' hockey season starting up. I feel really tired after not really being home at all on the weekend. Next week is going to be even crazier though, we are going t try our hand at camping....again! Wish us luck! Trust me, after last time, we might need it! Lol!! Thanks for visiting.

Celebrate...

Today marks an anniversary (or two)!! Firstly, Mark and I have been together for 15 years now. We started dating not long after we met at university and this year will also mark our 10 year wedding anniversary (not until July!).

And secondly, today I have been blogging, somewhat consistently, for One year! Yay! Lol! Not bad really, considering I only started doing this for family and friends who live very long distances away from us.

So I thought that I would celebrate by sharing some scrappy stuff... After all, that is really what my little blog has turned into! Lol!

The journaling is a bit hard to read but says: "It's the DARE DEVIL in you, that keeps me short of breath". Funnily enough, I had completed this one before we took a trip to the Emergency Dept last week!

And this lo was completed for the weekly challenge at Scrapboxx. We had to incorporate a piece of material, 3 pattered papers and 2 small photos. I had some fun with this and it got me motivated to join back in with the challenges over there!

Thanks for looking.

Quietly going about..

It has been rather quiet here of late. Just hanging out at home, trying to maintain some peace between the squabbling tribes! That being said, there have been some peaceful moments...

...just makin' stuff...

...reaching for new heights...

...taking time to smell the flowers...

...practising new skills, with a great helper...

...and generally relaxing...

A Riddle...

What do Mark's shoulders and our gravel driveway have in common?.....

Well... The complete answer is, "a trip to the emergency room". It is also the distance Ethan fell from and then landed head first into the ground. He is one very lucky little boy. Apart from a few grazes where the rocks cut into his skull, (and one very frazzled mother!) he came out of the whole experience rather unscathed.

We raced up to the ER, blood everywhere, after dropping the other kids off at our neighbours house, only to have to sit around for several hours so he could be observed. This observation time included Ethan wanting to climb, jump, race and generally play in the waiting room before a doctor was available to check him over. Clearly it looked like this boy didn't JUST have a head injury occur!

This little monkey didn't want to sit still... Lucky for us it wasn't an over-crowded, busy room, filled with sick and impatient people.

The consultant couldn't believe he fell from a six foot height only to have a few grazes and no damage to his neck or spinal cord! I can only say, that "drama" must be attracted to us! But we are very fortunate to have a little boy who only has a slight headache this morning, and not something entirely worse. We are blessed.

Happy Birthday...

... Barbie! Yes, that's right! Barbie (officially) turns 50 today. And she doesn't look half bad! Lol! So here is a blast from MY past...

On a recent trip home I discovered this old gem! Isn't she amazing! Even more so, the fact that she still has her original "Barbie and the Rockers' " clothing, ear-rings and gem-less ring! I didn't take a lot with me from the Eighties, and I only remember, somewhat tragically, "Fergie" bows, fluro colours and rah-rah skirts. But... can I put most of the blame for that on my mother's shoulders? (sorry Mum). After all, I was only in Primary School during this decade....

So enjoy the cake Barbie, and I hope you bring as much joy and imagination to my little girl's life as you brought to mine.

Flowers...

Yesterday, Mark brought me home flowers... for no other reason than to make me happy. *sigh* Tulips are my absolute favourite too!

Sometimes...

...we all need to chill out and take a nap on the couch!

Create...

Phew! I'm finally up-to-date with scrapping those portrait style photos that come with the kids school pics. You know the ones... The individual sittings they have taken along side their class photos... Anyway, instead of letting them float around the house and possibly end up being lost or destroyed by accident, I wanted to scrap them and the details from that particular year at school. Who their friends were, the name of their teacher, and what their favourite activity was at school.

This one includes a little hand written note from Tahlia's Grade One teacher. It is a special memory that she shares about her special lunch dates with Tahlia...

Behind the photo is where I keep all the information including a list of best friends and favourite things she was a part of at school in that year.

These photos also show the amazing amount of growth she has gone through in the past three years... (Too quickly if you ask me!...) We might do a different hair style this year, but she did ask for two plaits and ribbons the last time!

And of course Liam started school last year as well.

I included a little booklet on his page. In it I wrote a series of questions such as, "what was your teacher's name?", "what was your favourite book?", "who did you play with?" and "how did you travel to school?". He gave me the answers and I wrote them they way he spoke.

I'm really glad I managed to get up-to-date before Ethan starts school in 2011!