OMG!! A year has flown by!!!

I just had a look at my blog this evening and found that it's almost a year since I last posted. That's a worry. There's just so much happening in this house all the time that I get barely any time to myself till late evening (hence this post)

Josh is starting High School next year. He's 12 years old now and getting very tall. He graduated from Year 7 last night. It was the most fantastic night.

Shane will be in Grade 1 and I reckon his teacher will have his/her hands full. He's full on with everything he does.

Miss Tamika is nearly 18 months old. She is the most gorgeous little lady that I could ask for. If I was assured of another girl, I would have another baby in a heartbeat.

Nothing much on the scrapping front. I just don't have the time/room/inclination at the moment.

Hopefully I'll get a christmas photo of the kids this weekend or next weekend and I'll put it up and you can see how much they have grown in 12 months.

Jo.

Here's the Photo I promised.

I love this photo.


Now off to do the last minute stuff before Christmas begins in earnest.
If you are driving on our roads this Holiday Season, Please Stay Safe.

Merry Christmas!!

Jo and Family.
xxxxx

Time to Update!

Hello World, I'm still here!!

I have been so run off my feet these past few months that I never seem to have the time to update my blog (not that I think anyone reads it anyway) lol.

I'll do a bit of a family update first.

Josh has finished Grade 6 and will be Grade 7 next year. I can't believe that he is the same little boy that I sent off to preschool what seems like only a couple of years ago. He brought his report card home a couple of days before school ended and it's so positive. He has done so well this year. We are very proud of him. He got mostly B's and C's with an A in there as well.

Shane starts Prep next year. He looks so grown up in his uniforms. It'll be interesting the first day of school to see if I can keep it together till I'm out of eyeshot! I know I keep joking that I'll be doing the Happy Dance and the front gate but he's my little boy and I can't help getting a bit teary every time I think of him going to school every day.

Tamika is now 6 months old. She weighs 7.8kg and is 68cm long. I don't have a photo of her at the moment as Mum has the Christmas Photo that was taken at Orion Shopping Centre a couple of weeks ago. I'll put it up as soon as I can. She's rolling over by herself now and gets very jealous if I give another baby more attention than she's getting. I think she has the makings of a Diva myself but only time will tell!


I have decided to do something for myself this year. I am going to be an Independent Consultant for Le Reve I will be doing demonstrations in home for Le Reve. They encompass Aromatherapy, Skincare and Perfumes. The perfumes are divine to smell and so is the Aromatherapy Range. I have some oils that I burn most days and it makes the house smell lovely. My launch party is on 16th January at 2pm and I would love it if my friends would stop in for a visit. My aim is to have 6 parties in the first 3 weeks of operation so if you're interested in hosting a "Rendevous" please let me know. There are fabulous Hostess Incentives.

Anyway, must be off. It's late and there's so much wrapping still to be done.

Merry Christmas.

Jo.
xx

A Beautiful Wedding Day.

Two weeks ago my husband was best man for some very special friends of ours. He looked pretty good dressed up in a suit and tie, something I haven't seen him wear since our Wedding Day in 1998. Danny and Belinda kindly let me post these photos on my blog.




It was a little windy but still beautiful all the while. We even stayed away from home for the night even though we had little miss with us. She was very well behaved thank goodness.

Miss Tamika is 8 weeks old on Monday and finally just making it into size 000 clothes. I don't have a camera at the moment so I can't take happy snaps but I'll rectify that situation this weekend with a bit of luck.

We've been in quarantine for just over a week thanks to suspected Swine Flu. Ralph was home sick and went to the Doctor who decided that was what he had and promptly sent him home with Tamiflu ($55 for 10 tablets!) Consequently when Shane got sick on the Saturday they immediately said he had Swine Flu too and there goes another $55 PLUS the Dr fee for seeing him on the Saturday. My poor wallet has copped such a beating in the last 2 weeks because of sickness that the Dr joked yesterday that I am racking up the Frequent Flyer points at the Medical Centre/Pharmacy. If only that were true. LOL

Must be off, it's starting to get cool and the heater needs to be turned on.

Bye for now, stay well.

Jo.

School Goes Back Tomorrow!!

Yay!! Whilst I love my boys dearly, it's always a great day when it's back to school time. They get bored very easy with just me for company and because Tamika is so young, we haven't got out of the house as much as we normally do. Hopefully next holidays will be a little easier on everyone.

Tamika is growing in leaps and bounds. She's put on a kilo since birth (4 weeks ago today!) Doesn't time fly when you're having fun? If I didn't have to do the labour/birth bit, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. She's stretching her feeds out at night so I get 4-6 hours unbroken sleep some nights. It's just great.

That's it for now. Happy Back to School Day.

Jo.
xx

More Photos of the kids

Are they priceless? Tamika is 3 weeks old tomorrow (doesn't time fly?) Ralph goes back to work tomorrow after being home on holidays with us for the past 3 weeks too. I'll have to learn to get 3 kids and myself out the door by 8-8.15am of a morning for the school/daycare run. Could be interesting.

Week 1 of the School Holidays has been cruisy to say the least. Because of Ralph being home, I got to the Big W and Kmart Christmas Layby Sales. The kids are all done. I have to write it all up in my book to make sure I've covered everyone. Josh and Ralph went to see Transformers 2 on Tuesday at the movies. They really enjoyed it. I'll wait till it comes out on DVD as it's 2.5 hours long. I don't think my little girl will sit still for that long. Neither would I! They went fishing on Thursday and Josh caught his first fish. I can't post a photo yet as it's on the phone not the camera.

Poppy came to meet his little granddaughter this morning. He thinks she's gorgeous but so do we. I have to get myself into gear and make some Thank You cards. We have received the most gorgeous gifts for Tamika since she arrived.

Must go, housework is calling me.

Jo.
xx

p.s Please leave a comment.

What has this world come to?

That's right. What has this world come to when a man can't go about his daily business i.e His Job without fear of something really bad happening to him.



This photo is of a friend of my family. He and his family have been friends of ours for the best part of 30 years. On Thursday night he was minding his own business driving his truck home to his wife when he passed the KFC Outlet at Milperra in Sydney. Unbeknown to him, 6 lowlifes were busy having a shootout in the carpark of this restaurant (God only knows what the reason for the shootout was!) and he was caught by a stray bullet. His truck rolled for another 200 metres before coming to a stop. I can only hope that he did not suffer. The world is a sadder place for not having him in it.

R.I.P My Friend.
xxxx

Introducing................

Miss Tamika Joyce Hutchison.

Our little girl is finally here! She was born at 3.45pm on Monday afternoon (15/6) weighing 7 pound 3 oz. She's very small, not at all like the monster baby that we were led to believe we were going to have! I took 0000/000 size clothes with me to the hospital but they are too big for her. Looks like she is going into 00000 for a few weeks. Not something I expected I can tell you.




She spent 5 hours in the Special Care Nursery at the Mater Hospital as she inhaled/swallowed meconium at and before birth which made her quite sick. She was working very hard to breathe when she born so the decision was made straight away to whisk her away in a humidicrib to SCN. I can't speak highly enough of the Midwife that I had in the Delivery Room and also the SCN Nurses. They made us feel so much more at ease with their explanations of what was happening. We came home on Tuesday night.

Shane turned 4 today so it's been a pretty full on week for me.
I think I need a rest now.

Bye for now.

Jo.
xx

Dontcha just love the weather?

No, not really. I had to drive through torrential rain for approximately an HOUR each way to do what normally takes 25 mins to drive just to get to the hospital for my OB appointment on Wednesday. Had I not had DH with me I would have packed it in and rung the hospital and said see you next week! We persevered though (even trudging up several flights of stairs in the carpark because the bloody lifts were flooded) We were hoping that because of bub's size that the OB would say, you're here to stay and have your baby today. Of course he didn't agree with me (he's not the one who's going to push it out) but he did say that because of my age (39) and bub's size that I would not be going past my due date (19th June) I, on the other hand would be as happy as the proverbial if she made her way into the world just a little bit earlier than that. Not being able to bend over without nearly passing out and being breathless all the time is starting to take it's toll on me.

But anyway, haven't really done much in the past couple of weeks. I finished work last Wednesday (13th) so am now officially on Maternity Leave till May next year. I went to the Scrapbook City Retreat on the Anzac Day Weekend and had a ball with the ladies. Maybe next time I'll get to spend all 3 nights away from home. Oh what bliss!! I still haven't finished all of what I started that weekend but I'm sure I'll find time somewhere in the next 12 months (maybe) I have grand plans of what I would like to do but we all know that they come undone by very small demanding people. I don't care, I can't wait!!

I hope everyone is safe and well during this bizarre weather pattern that we are experiencing. The sound of rushing water in the tiny little creek that runs behind my place is not the most welcoming of sounds late at night, especially when it's the only way out of the street. My old workplace at Herston was flooded half way up the walls the other day. I don't know if they've been able to get in and take stock of the place yet. I know of several people that have lost cars etc. But then I hear from my Great Aunty in Winton that she's had no rain in God knows how long.

Cross your fingers that it doesn't get worse.

Bye for now, please leave a comment.

Jo.
xx

Hello!!

It's been quite some time since I blogged. I don't really know if anyone still checks my blog. Sorry. Life has been a bit hectic to say the least!

I found out in October that we're expecting a little surprise! Here's the proof.
I didn't believe myself at first.



Most of you already know of it but I just couldn't resist putting a picture on my blog (plus I just learnt how to use my scanner - LOL)

School Holidays at the moment so it's a little more busy than usual but I promise to be better at blogging.

Bye for now.

Jo.

I haven't blogged in such a while. Lots of things have been going on in our lives. Joshua turned 10 last week. My big boy is now double digits. It took me a few days to get used to it I must say.





Above should be a photo of him opening his presents. He got a digital camera pack from DH and myself. He got 2 DS Games from Nanny and Grandad and a DVD from Aunty Andrea. He did pretty well I think.

We seem to have ended up with a couple of extra pets over the past few weeks. We have had a bandicoot coming over every night to pinch the cats crunchies (dry food) for the past couple of months. He's getting very tame and will even let me get very close to him to get a photo. But we got a surprise last week when we found he has a girlfriend (or could be a baby)



We took Joshua and Shane to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on Saturday for Joshua's Birthday. We had an absolute ball. Josh held a snake and had his photo taken with it. He volunteered but didn't look thrilled about it! lol. Ralph and Joshua fed the lorikeets at 4pm. That's like a scene from the The Birds.






I think that's it for now.

Jo.
xx

Do you like it?

Following in the footsteps of Terri and Niss, I too, have changed my blog around. I'm not sure if I'll keep this one. I found a beautiful orange one earlier tonight but can't seem to navigate my way back. Bugger!

I can't seem to find my mojo. If anyone sees it, could you please smack it's bum and send it on home to me? I have been doing some redwork stitching that Terri made up for me to do. It's quite therapeutic. I'll post some photo's when I get a chance.

I do have one to share though. You'd think butter wouldn't melt in their mouth would you? Think again. They are currently driving me up the wall this evening.




That's it for now.

Seeya. Don't forget to leave a comment on what you think of the new layout

Important!!

If you receive an email from my hotmail address, please delete it. Some lowlife has got into my computer and deleted my contacts list and proceeded to send an email to everyone on it about how they can buy ipods, iphones and assorted crap from a dodgy site. Obviously they have nothing better to do with their time. I am sorry this has happened and I'm taking steps to prevent it.

Consequently, I am changing my email address. I will send an email to the few people whose email addresses I remember from my contact list. Leave a comment if you want the new address for me.

Other than that, have a great day.

The Chuck Bug!!

There's at least one time during every Winter that a household encounters the "Chuck Bug" It must have been our turn last week. First Joshua, then Shane, then Ralph. I was lucky and only got the tiniest dose of it (which I would wish on my worst enemy)

Consequently, life has been a bit bland in this house this week. Nothing to report, I couldn't even get any scrapping done because I just didn't have the energy nor the inclination to do any. I am really interested in having a scrap day so if anyone is interested please email me.

That's it for now.

Jo.
xx

An Update......

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I spent some time last weekend updating the blog backgrounds but not the post. Sorry about that. I seem to be running here there and everywhere at the moment and most of the time, it's not for me. Boohoo!

A couple of weeks ago, we scrapped for the day at Scrapbook City for Ronnies Hens Scrapping Day. Not everyone turned up, but we had a great time anyway. I altered a lovely big frame that I had purchased at Ikea a while back. I got it for $19 in the "as is" area because someone had broken the glass. I didn't need it anyway.

Here's the finished product. It's not the best picture because it was taken very quickly on the way out the door one morning but you get the idea.



I also made some recipe cards with a bit of bling.





Ronnies Hens Night was a week later at Bronco's Leagues Club. I only have 1 photo from the night and that's one of Ronnie and Danielle


We bought a new car on Thursday for Ralph. He loves his new car. It's a Mitsubishi Triton Dual Cab. I took it for a drive last night. It's bigger and higher than the falcon of course so it's an interesting perspective for driving. I'll post a photo when I get one. Probably today as it's such a beautiful day outside.

There's probably more to tell but I post again maybe tomorrow.

Jo.

Bras for Fiji!!

The ladies of Fiji need our help. They don't have enough money to buy bras over there and because of the humidity, they are suffering for it. Uplift Fiji is a site that gives information about sending our unused bras to this lady and she can send them on to Fiji. She is especially looking for Larger Size Bras. I am going through mine and sending some down. Why don't you do the same? I am sure it will be greatly appreciated. Worn out Bras can be used for spare parts. Keep that in mind.

That's all for now.

Jo.
xx

I'm having a Stampin' Up Party.

Yep, I'm doing it again. I am having a stampin' up party on Sunday the 24th of August at my house. A new mini catalogue is available. Jan is posting one to me this week. I can't wait. If you are interested in coming, let me know and I will give you my address. Not sure what the project is for that day yet. It'll be a surprise for you all.


Joshua's foot is doing very well. We went to the Mater for the first dressing change on Friday and the doctors all came over for a look. They are really lovely people. I have nothing but praise for the Hospital. We go back to see the Registrar on Wednesday afternoon. Josh may be able to go back to school for a couple of hours on Thursday and Friday.

Please leave a comment. I see I have visitors but I don't know who you all are.

Jo.
xx

Back from Hospital

Joshua had his operation on his foot today. We spent 8 hours all up there and most of it was waiting time for the op to happen. He has done brilliantly and I am very proud of him. His Daddy was there with him for the whole time while I came home to get Shane from Daycare. We have to go back on Friday Afternoon to get the Dr's to check it out.

That's all for now. Daddy has a headache from looking up at the TV screen all day.

Jo.
xx

I've got a banner!!

I am so happy. I've got a banner on my blog! I have wanted one for so long but don't know how to do it. Thanks to Terri, I have a banner. She kindly did one for me on Sunday Afternoon.

Not much to say at the moment. Just work, work, work! I finish today for nearly 2 weeks as Josh has his operation tomorrow afternoon. Should have seen the look on his face when I told him he couldn't have breakfast tomorrow morning. Priceless! Mummy is not going to have breaky either so he doesn't feel left out.

Back in a few days with an operation update.

Jo.
xx

Sorry I haven't been here for a while. Have had heaps to do and not much time as usual to do it. Things have been quite hectic at work and I have been doing extra hours. I'll do dot form I think.

* We finally got an appointment at the Mater Childrens Hospital for Joshua and his foot is being operated on at midday on the 16th of July. He gets nearly 2 weeks off work and so do I.

* Shane is going great guns at kindy. He has his mates to play with every day and never wants to come home.

* I am still trying to find the time to scrap. Probably when I'm off work with Josh I'll give it a good go.

* It's absolutely raining cats and dogs outside and we're supposed to move Mum and Dad tomorrow to their new house. I don't like my chances of that happening.

I'll post more during the week.