Probably pretty close LOL!! Life is the usual - a hectic, non-stop merry-go-round - but it's not really much of an excuse. Lots has happened since my last post, mainly because it's been almost four months (REALLY?? Oops!). I am now working full-timeat a new job, which has been a hard adjustment - it's been almost 10 years since I've worked a five-day week. And it hasn't only been an adjustment for me, but also for David and the boys - because I start work at 7am David has to get the boys up and ready and off to school, while I'm doing the after-school run. I must admit the last 5 weeks have been great, being school holidays I've been spoilt and haven't had to do anything of that - *sigh*, one more week....
Liam won a school award the last week of school - his name is now on the Mallet Family Shield forever, as he got the highest score of all the Grade3s, 5s and 7s in the school for the Grade level tests! He looked so little up there on stage with all the big Grade 7s. The boys also got their classes for next year and for the first time neither is in a composite class, and Harry has a male teacher, which I think will be good for him. But it is also hard to believe that I have a Grade 3 and a Grade 4 in the house, suppose I'd better go pick up their school books this week (yet another thing to add to my ever expanding list!)
Christmas was very laid-back and quiet - just what we all needed. Kashmir came up from Brisbane and we all went camping at Cania Gorge, along with the Phillipses, the Russells, and after Christmas, the Hutchinsons. The boys got spoilt - they got DS Lites, which was the ultimate Christmas presents. And they came in handy - Wade and Jonee had one each as well so sometimes it was so quiet you forgot the kids were there! It was great not having anything we had to do, and being out of mobile range too. We did some scrapping, some bushwalking, some bird-feeding,some GuitarHero world-touring and a lot of swimming and eating - lots of fun. There were a couple of 40+ degree days which were NOT so much fun, but overall it was a good time. Unfortunately we weren't as impressed with the cleanliness of the Caravan Park as the pools got progressively dirtier (especially with the temperatures and the numbers staying) and the amenities blocks weren't as well kept as they should have been and a number of the group came home with a gastric bug! We have all let Big4 know we are not happy.
Back home David and the boys (including Kashmir) had another 2 weeks of holidays, not that they were able to do much as all three kids had the gastric bug, and Kashmir was sick almost up to when he went back to Brisbane on Friday! Not a great holiday for him by any means. They did go and see a movie "Bedtime Stories", and we did manage a couple of swims at Helen and Craigs place as well as more "crazier than crazy" Tennis which was fun.
This weekend has been quiet and "lazy" ahead of David going back to work - the boys are going back to the ISA this week while we parents are at work. They do (reluctantly) enjoy themselves - playing indoor cricket and netball, as well as swimming, beach volleyball and watching movies. Of course though, they'd rather be at home doing their own thing.
As for scrapping - well, after the rush and brainstrain of entering Scrapbooking Memories masters competition (by the way, I didn't make the cut LOL!!) I had NO desire/ability to scrap!! That plus the new job meant I was not even looking at my scrapping table, but our trip down to see Heidi Swapp put paid to that. The woman is amazing, and lovely and a true inspiration. How she does what she does, and has the outlook on life that she does with everything in her life astounds me She showed us some new stuff, and some new ways of using old stuff - and I came back inspired. Yep, just in time for the Christmas rush, and camping LOL! Well, I finally got into my scrapping, and with the help of some gorgeous photos from Ali that she took when we were away I've managed to do 8 layouts in the last 3 days, and I'm even happy with all of them! Can't show many of them, because 6 of them are for DT stuff for Embellished, but I'll leave you with the two I can show you "Way too Early", featuring Kashmir and his hatred of being out of bed before midday, and "Smile, boys" which documents the difficulty in getting Harry and Wade in particular to look at the camera and smile at the same time.
In the meantime, I hope the 3 or so people that read this had a wonderful Christmas, and a great start to 2009. I still can't believe we're over halfway through January already - is this year going to race along like the last? For those who are scrapping, Embellished have a great new competition starting soon called the "Week to Week Extravaganza", with a great prize pack at the end of every month, so why not have a lookie? There is also a great new blog here with inspiration, free classes and ideas.
So, go and have a good one, and I'll be back on here again soon (I promise LOL - New Years resolution!)











































