Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

You guessed it....I have been so busy. Of course with baby Isabella came lots of baby sitting for me. Looking after three boys, 7, 5 and 2 for three days was quite exhausting to say the least. A lot of fun too though. But with driving to school and kinder and visiting at the hospital it kept me on my toes.
Harrison didn't want to meet his new baby sister and created havoc in the hospital. He is so strong at 2yrs old and we decided he wasn't visiting there again. When baby did come home he wouldn't have a bar of her.....he's much better now though.

So, for the next three weeks until school finishes for the Christmas holidays I will be taking Joshie to school each morning and Riley to kinder when he has morning sessions. Carolina is a bit overwhelmed with trying to get them all ready on time.

After I got home again from my house sitting and baby sitting stint I slept for two afternoons and then got really sick. My voice went, my throat went, my stomach went and I just had to nurse myself for about a week. I'm heaps better now, and have missed going to the Gym. I havn't been for two weeks now!!! I can't share my energy around to too many places at once so I had to be content to just take it easy.

Today Martin, Tambi and the kids came for lunch after Church and we put up our Christmas tree. It's so much more fun when there are children helping and getting in to the spirit of the festive season.
I have taken photos but havn't uploaded them yet....I will get to doing that.

One thing I have been really enjoying is making Christmas cards. I started off using the Basic Grey Wassail Card pack. You make eight cards from the pack and they are really basic so it only took me 1hr to make them all.
Then I made a Christmas Card list and worked out roughly how many I need to make in total. About 50 I figured so I have so far made 8 each of several different designs. Currently the last ones are waiting for one more addition and I'm finished.
I have stolen/copied/cardlifted one design from the Wassail range but the rest are bits and pieces of ideas from everywhere.
When they are finished I will take photos. One of the good things was that i used up some really ancient Christmas paper I had kept and hardly touched my new ones. Except for Figgy Pudding. I must have bought a pack last year when Basic Grey released it for Christmas...but never used it. Mainly because I havn't scrapbooked any Christmas photos for a long, long time.
And.....I just love Figgy Pudding....I think it's the nicest Christmas range Basic Grey have put out.
So...with Christmas nearly upon us I am so reminded of where I was this time last year. About to hear that my cancer was Stage 3 and a couple of days off starting my first Chemo. I remember how rotten I felt throughout the summer and the warmer weather and my clothes are a constant reminder. In fact I have at least one t-shirt I just can't wear because of it's association with my cancer.
I know in the US they have just had Thanksgiving and that is something I wish we had here. A time where we focus entirely on what we are grateful and thankful for.
I have so much.......that mere words are not sufficient to express how I feel. I am so thankful to be here for this Christmas to share this with my family, to have more time for my family, to be there for them as they were for me. I have amazing friends. Some whom I have only known for a short while, others whom I've known for many, many years. Each one of them is precious and from each one of them I learn and grow.
Last year was a horrible year, the start of this year wasn't much better....but as the year has progressed and we are in the last calendar month I understand and see where I was and where I am now....and I feel content, and I feel happy, and I feel so very, very blessed. And, yes I AM THANKFUL.