I'll be back...promise

Life has been INSANE.  We battled 2 bouts of gastro and then went on holidays.  Ever since we've been back, it has been go, go, go and then we have been getting ready to celebrate Bella's first birthday!  I look at the calendar and note that it is nearly the end of school term and I realise that I have about 2 months worth of pictures to catch up on!!

But I promise, I will update very soon.  Stay with me!!

March 11 - 31

Ugh.  Sorry for the break in transmission.  Lots going on this month, mainly concerning sickies.  We had gastro go through the household twice, the second time much worse and afflicting everyone but me.

11/3/11

Biddy is allergic to bandaids, so she has to wear the sensitive ones.  She got a mozzie bite on her face that she couldn't leave alone so I put one of the special bandaids on it.  Made it worse.  HEAPS worse.

12/3/11

 Starting to crawl

13/11/11

14/3/11

 I took the kids bowling today in an effort to amuse them.  Worked for Tom, but Biddy lost interest after about 5 frames.

15/3/11

 Mark and the kids

16/3/11

MISS

17/3/11

 Feeding the giraffe!

18/3/11

 Tom made a spider at school and then when he got home, he wanted to make a web for it to sit on.  Lucky mum has plenty of craft things at his disposal!

19/3/11

MISS

20/3/11

 We went to a friend's birthday party today (young Will).  Note Biddy 'helping' to blow out the candles.

21/3/11

 A sample card I made.

22/3/11

MISS

23/3/11

I have started watching Greys Anatomy from the beginning on Austar and Mark suffers through it.  However, he is absolutely in love with Sara Ramirez who plays Callie Torres.  So much so, her took her picture off the telly!  Sigh.....

24/3/11

 Tom's school schedule

25/3/11

MISS

26/3/11

 Bella sat on her own for the first time today!

27/3/11

MISS

28/3/11

 Tom's first school sports.  He is in blue team.  Look at him looking longingly at the trophies on offer!

29/3/11

MISS - coping with gastro at this point in time.

30/3/11

 This was the start of the gastro infection #2.  Both kids succumbed as did MArk for the second time.  Also poor little Bella came down with it too.  This pic is of the two kids on the couch feeling very ordinary for themselves.

31/3/11

Bella in the bath.  Check out the lashes!!

1 - 10 March

A busy month this month, with Mark's birthday, a craft show and running my Stampin' Up! business.

1/3/11

These were the flowers that Mark gave me for my birthday. I LOVE flowers, but of course, they are so expensive, so I only get them usually for my birthday.

2/3/11

Mark in bed still stricken with gastro.

3/3/11

MISS

4/3/11

Awwwww, how cute. The tongue thing is a recent discovery of hers!

5/3/11

This was my Stampin' Up! stand at the Picture to Page scrapbook and papercraft show that was held in Geelong. It took a lot of work to get ready for this but I met some lovely people and picked up a few orders and possible leads.

6/3/11

MISS

7/3/11

Mark finally got around to putting up a blackboard in the kids cubby house (that they got for Christmas). This is them christening it.

8/3/11

Sometimes the baby playpen comes in handy for more than just keeping the baby confined. This day, Biddy was being VERY naughty, so Mark put her in there as punishment. She screamed her head off!

9/3/11

Mark's birthday. He is 43 today. The kids put the candles on the cake and used EVERY one that I had (23). The cake was almost on fire!!

10/3/11

This is the promo picture for my March class "True Friend".

20 - 28 February

Still playing a bit of catch up....here is the rest of February.

20/2/11

These are chipboard letters that I have been colouring ready to mount on a scrapbook layout for the Picture to Page craft show in early March

21/2/11

MISS

22/2/11

This is the state of my desk as I am creating stuff for the craft show.

23 & 24/2/11

MISSES

25/2/11

Today was St Mary's welcome mass and the preps and their grade 6 buddies played a special role. The grade 6's blessed their little charges by laying their hands on their shoulders. It was surprisingly moving, although I can cry at the drop of a hat these days! Apparently, at the end of the year, the roles are reversed and the preps bless the grade 6's for their journey into secondary school. Awwwwwwwww. This is Tom with his buddy Scott. Scott also has Eric as another charge (so he has his hands full!)

26/2/11

This is one of the last remaining incandescent globes we have in the house. This one is in one of the bedrooms and is on dimmer.

27/2/11

Mark being jumped on by the kids. Looks impressed!

28/2/11

MY BIRTHDAY. Not the best of birthday's as Tom was sick during the night and spent the day at home. Mark then came down with gastro and spent my day in bed (in fact, it will take him to the end of the week to recover and a stint in hospital). But mum made me dinner and a cake and the kids sang "Happy Birthday". So I'm 41 now.

1 - 19 February

OMG....it is nearly the end of February (my birthday on 28th!) and I haven't loaded any pics on here. Well strap yourselves in for a whole lot of Feb pics.

1/2/11

MISS (oops..great start to the month)

2/2/11

Tom's first day of school. All shiny, bright and new! Wonder how long it will last for?

3/2/11

Biddy and Tom. Supposed to be getting ready for bed!

4/2/11

A big week of firsts for our family. Biddy went to 3yo kinder for the first time. She has been going to daycare for the past 18mths at the same venue, but this time, she'll be in the 'BIG' kids area and be able to play on the 'BIG' playground stuff!

5/2/11

MISS

6/2/11

Biddy on Gilbert. Gilby (as he is also known) is Libby's Clydesdale. This pic was taken at the Colac Showgrounds at the Heritage Festival. Biddy saw Gilby and made a bee line for him. Luckily we are related to Libby in order for Biddy to get a ride! Look how small she looks on him. She loves it!

7/2/11

These are the brand new runners that Tom has for school. Once a week, the kids are allowed to go to school in sports clothes. His day is Monday. And sports is known as "Blue Earth" and is a lot more wholistic than just playing footy/netball/running etc...

8/2/11

MISS

9/2/11

This new iPhone has been the cause of many arguments between Mark and I. The gist of the fights have been that he purchased one without my knowing and I don't think he needs one (seeing as he has the model before) and he does think he needs one.

10/2/11

My cousin Emma came to the farm to spend a week doing some milkings to earn some money before uni starts up again. She has rock star status in our house. Mark and I cease to exist in the kids lives when she is around.

11/2/11

First time for Bella in the Jolly Jumper!

12/2/11

Biscuit making with Nanny.

13/2/11

Little Red Riding Hood.

14/2/11

Tom's first day going to school on the bus. Yes, there were tears from me as my little boy passed another milestone in not needing me. I was not anxious about him catching the bus per se to school, it is just that he has the change buses. Once in the morning and once at night. At 2 different locations. And he had not had a dry run of it before. Gulp. We arranged a boy on the bus that is grade 6 at St Mary's to look out for him and be his bus buddy. But yes, I followed the bus in to the exchange and then to school (unbeknowns to Tom) and in the afternoon, I went to the exchange and made sure he got on the bus again. He was fine. I was a mess!!

15/2/11

The two girls playing happily. When one child is taken out of the equation, the other 2 play happily. Sometimes I truly believe that 2's company, 3's a crowd.

16/2/11

Bella's first shoes. Can you really call them shoes when they are not walking? I got these for $10 when I bought Tom's school shoes, but when I got home, I saw that they were marked down from $40. NO WAY would I have paid $40 for size 2 sandles for a child that is not walking yet. But they are a bit cute and they didn't break my bank.

17/2/11

We attended a prep family BBQ night tonight and I am pleased to say that my garlic potatoes went down a treat. This lasagna dish was full and this is all that was left.

18/2/11

We have the playpen in the lounge room, not to keep Bella in, but the other kids out.

19/2/11

I have been asked to have a stand at the Picture to Page craft show in Geelong on March 5 & 6. I have done a few scrapbook pages for the display. This is one, using some new stuff from the SU! mini catty. It also suffices as my scrapbook page for the month of Feb for this blog!

17 - 31 January

OK. I think I am starting to get the hang of importing, editing and exporting pictures. It really is another world when you come from PCs to Macs!

Here is a big entry to catch up all of Jan. As you will note, I have already got a couple of misses. If I find that they are on another camera or phone, I will come back and upload. But for the moment, I will simply record the date of no photo as a "MISS".

17/1/11

Guess where we went today?! Mum and I left the 2 older kids with Mark and headed down to IKEA to get some storage stuff for the kids rooms and my office.

18/1/11

MISS

19/1/11

This is one of the units set up that was purchased at IKEA. This one is in Biddy's room.

20/1/11

Tom went and specifically changed his tshirt so he would match in with his sisters for a photo. I think Mark took about a dozen and only ONE picture we got them all looking at the camera smiling. But this one makes me laugh. Check out Bella's expression!

21/1/11

Tom needed to visit the audiologist in Warrnambool today as a revisit. Mum and I took the opportunity of being near a Bunnings to pick up some plants. I have decided to replant some areas of the gardens around the house. This is my stash of new plants.

22/1/11

The Butlers arrived today for a few days seeing as they had a flying visit over New Years. THis is Bernie with Tom (godmum and godson).

23/1/11

MISS

24/1/11

Take advantage of labour while you have it! Whilst the Butlers were here, we got to work clearing out a couple of the raised vegie beds and planting them out with some of the plants I purchased at Bunnings a few days earlier.

25/1/11

MISS

26/1/11

Banana mini muffins. Good way to use up blerk bananas and also to start Bella on finger food.....

27/1/11

Bella's first attempt at finger food. Loved it, but made a god awful mess! I thought she had eaten it all, but when I got her out of the high chair, I found most if it down the sides and under her bum!

28/1/11

Tom's school clothes...washed, ironed and ready for school (*sob*).

29/1/11

Mark at the BBQ.

30/1/11

He will KILL me if he sees this! Mark put a water trough in the backyard for the kids to swim in. The weather has been so hot the past few days that even he have taken refuge in it. Mark put on of those green plastic chairs in it to lounge back on. He reckons all he needed was a stubbie and he'd be right!

31/1/11

To round out January.....part of our dinner tonight. in fact, salad has formed the basis of most of our dinners lately given that the weather has been hot and humid.