Create...

This is my final entry for the Scrapboxx design team competition. For our final round we had to use this quote: "Living is no laughing matter: You must live with great seriousness..... I mean, however and wherever we are, we must live as if we will never die" . And we were forbidden to use any photos!!! But anything else could be used. So... That's it. Now I have long nervous wait until Wednesday. LOL!

So in the meantime, I thought I'd try out in the Scrapper of Oz competition over at Scrapz Biz. Here is my round 1 entry:

We have to create a scene, use the colours of the rainbow, show movement and journal something inspirational or a dream for yourself or someone. I've recycled quite a bit of stuff in this layout too. :)

That's it on the scrapping front for the moment. But before I leave, I just wanted to share this photo I found of Liam (our very nearly 7yo)!

Does he remind you of anyone???

Thanks for stopping by.

Brothers...a different combo...

With Liam at school, Ethan is now relishing the part of playing "big" brother! And he is taking the role quite seriously. Ethan knows exactly what Cameron wants and or needs. That's what "big" brothers do! They are intuitive to their "little" brother's needs! But don't get me wrong... E loves being a "younger" brother too! He is no longer a "little" brother.... but a big boy in the middle! tee hee....

However, Ethan still gets extremely excited when he sees both Tahlia and Liam walk in the door after getting off the bus. He greets them as if they have been gone for more than a year. I suppose it must feel like that when there is only Mummy and a baby to share the day with... (Hhhmmm.)

In other news, Cam is studying his surroundings and learning that his little arms and legs can actually create movement. Especially under the play gym.

He also wants to eat and sit up, but we are still restricting these movements until he is just that little bit older. Babies shouldn't be sitting up by 14 weeks of age!!!

I'm a finalist!!!...

What an amazing, nail-biting few weeks I've had!! The ScrapBoxx design team challenge has kept me on my toes. But not only that, I've really enjoyed scrapping the challenges and tweaking them for my albums...

Here are my entries so far.

Round 1 - "Sleep" . We had to describe a favourite place. Mine was watching Cameron sleep.

Approx 30 layouts entered and half were cut to go into the next round. 1 wildcard entry.

Journaling: "My favourite place right now, is watching you sleep. At seven weeks you are struggling to settle at night or during the day."

Round 2 - "A &L" . In this Round we had to scrap a photo of ourselves and include the phrase, "When I was little..." My journaling was a little bit whimsical on this layout, remembering what my cousin and I used to play together. Down to 16 entries. Cut by half again. Leaderboard introduced...I am No. 1!!!!

Round 3 - "Today". We needed to use two 4" x 6" photos (my photos were a collage...2 photos printed onto a 4"x6" photo sheet, and still qualified!), a transparency (the black frame) - something I've never used before, NO flowers what-so-ever and a stamping technique (the 2 cream journaling blocks beneath the photos). We also had to finish this sentence. "Today..."

Hidden journaling says: "Today, the 28th September, 2009, your blue eyes shine!" However, this Round held some controversy! Some participants bent the rules or overlooked something, in the pressure of achieving something magical for the competition. Graciously, no one was eliminated and Round 3 started again... Leaderboard - No. 2 with 0.01 points between 1st and 2nd! Can you see my fingernail chewing dilemma? hee hee...

Round 3b - "Inspire". Basically, what you see on this layout is exactly what ingredients were required, except for the butterfly. I had to throw that in since I've used a butterfly on every layout entered so far... :) We needed at least seven buttons, three wallet sized photos, stitching and use the phrase "This inspires me..." We also had to demonstrate a masking technique (my title - second time using this. 1st time on my lo for Round 1!).

So now we are down to the wire... Five of us remain in the competition. Four incredibly talented and widely published ladies. And then there's me! I am overwhelmed and thrilled all at the same time. I am genuinely surprised to be here but so very glad I am! Bring on the finals!! And best of luck to all those involved. xx

Journal It...

My "Random Memory" layout is up over at Journal It. This challenge is self explanatory...

All you have to do is journal something that's well, random! Get on over there and take part.

My journaling is about these two boys and the wonderful bond they have as brothers. Big brother, always guiding. Little brother, always trusting... They have a great friendship at this age and I want them to remember it as they get older and become more independent.

Thanks for visiting.

I've been jacked!!!

I was just going through my usual (long) list of blogs I love to read and discovered this! The amazingly talented Lisa, has jacked my layout over at Aussie Scrapjack!

I am blown away! Thank-you so much Lisa, for thinking my work is worthy enough to be jacked! :)

Aaahhh! Snakes everywhere...

Part 2

Our littlest camper was amazing. He loves being outdoors and watching everything moving...the leaves in the trees, ....the birds flying about, ....the kids playing nearby. He was a dream to have with us. And it helped that all that fresh air helped him, well.... sleep like a baby! He slept through both nights. I wish I could have done the same thing. I kept waking to check on him because he was so quiet! LOL!!!

The kids had a great time riding their bikes on the BMX tracks and around the campsite in general. Liam finally built up the courage to actually start riding his bike for the first time since Tahlia fell from hers on our very first camping trip.

But it wasn't long before they wanted to go down to the creek again. As it was our last day, we complied with one exception. We were going to go to the other waterhole this time and hopefully we wouldn't see any snakes there.... We were sooo wrong! As we started to walk towards the water, Liz calmly watched a Brown snake cross her path. We hadn't even left camp yet! Let's drive instead, shall we!

At the creek, the boats became a big hit. The kids loved them and there was practically no current to wash them down stream, although many of the kids struggled to use the oars and go in the direction they wanted!!! LOL!!

It was at this point, when the kids were waiting their turn to ride in the boats, that we started to stir up the wildlife. One lot of children in the boats had gotten stuck near the river bank. Mark walked along a submerged log (yes, I know, "idiot!") to push them further toward the middle of the waterhole. A lizard had jumped into the river to get away from the kids. We were all so jumpy at this point, everyone was yelling out, "SNAKE!!"

Sorry. False alarm. Moving on. However, that log Mark was walking along, suddenly produced bubbles... Now it could have been some air being released from the pressure of him walking on it, or it could have been the snake that surfaced, about 1m away from Tahlia.

NOT a false alarm! KIDS!!!! Get out of the water NOW!!! But even as the snake got to the other side of the creek, we realised most of the kids were far enough away from harm anyway. Like I said, we were jumpy! LOL!! Still, we weren't taking chances.

It was time to go and pack up. But before we even got out of the water, we saw a second snake swim across the creek. Yes. It was definitely time to pack up and head home...

Now I don't want to put anyone off camping. Please Sheree, go and buy that tent and take the kids exploring. We really love it. Even with the wildlife thrown in. It is a great experience. Things were just a little bit more visible this time around, and sometimes that is what is needed to show you can't become complacent when out and about..... :)

Thanks for visiting.

Aaahhh! Snakes everywhere...

Part 1...

That's right! We are back once more from camping, having experience the wildlife in more definite close quarters!!

We love going camping. We really do. It is a great experience for the kids to get outside and explore. But this trip... I have to say has opened their eyes to the wildlife around them. Mostly the snakes. *shudder!*

We only had to drive about 30 minutes from our house, to get to our campsite. A beautiful scenic trip to our local hinterland. We drove into our designated campsite and were immediately approached by the campers next door.

Now we know that some people can be friendly but coming to greet your new neighbour before we even got out of the car seemed a bit odd. Even to us! However, all was revealed when after he introduced himself gave us this warning...

"Just wanted to let you know that we've seen three Brown snakes go through your campsite today. One was about 3m long but the others were just babies. Only about a metre and a half long." (What the ?...) "Just wanted to let you know because it looks like you got little kids running around." *deep breath!* Oh boy!!!!

We thanked him for his warning and rounded up the kids to let them know. I'm really not sure if it sunk in for them, how dangerous these snakes are. They soon found out what snakes can do.

After a nervous night with a torch firmly facing the ground everywhere we went in the dark, we started to relax... until the next morning.

We were sitting outside our camper eating breakfast when I looked up after seeing from the corner of my eye, something fall from the trees surrounding our site. I really didn't think anything of it...at that point...until our new neighbour calls out.

"Hey guys! Come and have a look at this!"

At this point I am going to insert a warning. A python had fallen from the trees with it's prey. A poor unsuspecting possum was about to be consumed by a hungry snake. Please skip this photo if you do not want to see. (Sorry - but I also know there are people interested and this is the natural order of things in the bush.)

This unfortunately is not the end of this snake story. The possum had a baby. It had been thrown from the pouch when they fell from the tree. Nobody saw it, because we were all entranced by the snake, except Jaden. One of the kids in our group. Liz, Jaden's mum, rescued the poor little thing and managed to find a wildlife rescuer in the local area who could save it. Yay! And "Lucky" does have a fantastic chance at survival now.

I believe this experience was a good thing for the kids to see. It really brought home the danger and awareness of snakes in our area.

(Ethan with the snake in background).

After all this, we waited for some friends to arrive before going down to the creek for a relaxing cool down.

It wasn't too long before we saw another snake that was too close for comfort. We were all having fun and sitting in the shade of the trees. The problem was, the wildlife *aka snakes!* were seeking shelter too! While taking photos and watching the kids in the water, we were blissfully unaware of the smallish tree python climbing the tree our friend Cindy was resting against. Mark gently let her know it was there but it wasn't until she saw my face, that Cindy registered that our prankster, was NOT joking!! I think we all left the creek and went back to our campsite after that! LOL!!

Please stay tuned... Part 2 tomorrow.