Fun with Isabella

I really enjoyed making this layout. I think it's because I took the time to put in a bit more effort. It's still a bit crooked as a whole photograph......I'll keep working on that.
The papers are a mixture of Basic Grey and Imaginesce. The title is from a cricut cartridge called Storybook and the large swirl is also a cricut cartridge called Home Accents. Just loving both of those because they have all the fance birds, butterflies, swirls etc.
Isabella is not always an easy baby and has managed to wrap her parents around her little finger (like most girls!!)drops the bottom lip...and she's off!

Layouts of Isabella - grandaughter #4 - grandchild #11

Two layouts I have done of our newest little grandaughter, Isabella. She is 6weeks old in these photos. A gorgeous delicate little one.

Isabella seems to have the colouring of Colins Father's side of the family. Her hair is a darkish auburn colour and her skin is very pale. The pale skin is very rare in any of our children or grandchildren but especially with Carolina being Argentinian. Isabella's brothers all have golden olive skin...but this little girl is going to be different. A cute little doll.

I have lost my 'great' place for photographing layouts and am just trying out new spots. The problem is when I place the layout higher than me the photograph doesn't come out balanced in size. Oh well, you get the idea, right??

Proud of You Monty

Here we are....ready for Monty's baptism. Love your sweet and kind look Monty, although he doesn't look too involved in this photo below with me.....but he was having some problems with his eyes...very bloodshot and sore so I guess we can forgive him for the bored look.

Monty's Dad, Gareth flew down from Queensland to baptise him. Monty is so much like Gareth to look at. I love this photo of the two of them together.

Mother and Son.....Monty and our Sara. Such a proud Mum on this special day. I must say that Monty looks a lot chirpier than in the photo with me!!! Favourtism!

The baptism service was so lovely. Lots of family participating and a great feeling of 'togetherness' with some having come from Qld and NSW to be there for Lamont. He was pretty nervous....but as he did for Isaac....Joshua (cousin)_ assured everyone that "He's allright" after the actual baptism was performed.......and he was!!!!

Adjustments and some fun times too

It has been busy, busy here over the past couple of weeks. The normal school holiday busyness with grandchildren having sleepovers and scrapbooking or playing at the park activities.

Colin being home has created more busyiness.....I can't seem to find a routine. Now this is kind of good but kind of bad as well. All of a sudden there isn't any set days or time of the day to do things and I am finding that although it's been relaxing I now think the time has come to put my foot down a little more. Both with myself and with Colin.
We have been having meetings with our financial planner which takes up plenty of time for the actual meetings as well as our preparation for them. All of a sudden we are really faced with what we want out of life...especially financially. And if we are in a position to achieve that now, or if some more hard work has to be put in. It sure makes us look at what we can do without and what we can't. I guess that in comparison to a lot of people we don't expect too much which works in our favour at the moment.

We've been to the movies a couple of times. Saw 7 pounds with Will Smith. Fortunately I was prepared for the main theme because all the advertising doesn't go anywhere near what the story is about. Very confronting and emotional and thought provoking....and Will Smith played his role super, super good.
Also saw Bedtime Stories and Bolt with the grandchildren.

Currently, thanks to my girls, I am engrossed in Army Wives. Andrea bought the first series straight from the US....and now they have 'fed' me the 2nd Series on my memory stick. It's such a cool show. I also get Private Practise and Greys Anatomy and Brothers and Sisters and One Tree Hill from them so we are right up to date with the US. Technology is such an amazing thing!!!
The problem is.......I stay awake way too late at night watching these shows and then I am more tired than I need to be. It's fun though!

I have been scrapbooking a little bit. I've done one lovely page of baby Isabella....it's now in a frame hanging on the wall with the rest of the 'little people'. I've nearly finished a 2nd page of her.
However...today I did something I havn't done for 18months. I went to a scrapbook class. A few weeks ago I went to The Scrapbook Scene in East Burwood and had a little browse around. I've known Janet, the owner, for many years when she was a customer at my LSS. It was nice to catch up and have a browse around. I was impressed with one of the classes on offer and I booked in. So, that's what I did today......and it was great! I love the 'interactive layout' that I made, the teacher and other ladies there were all happy and friendly and I felt I have at last found a new place to enjoy a class or two in a relaxed and nice environment.

My sister, Marianne and her husband Lionel came and stayed with us last week. It was so nice to see them both again. It's been a long time...way too long actually. We had Monty's baptism on Saturday so they came too, of course. Then organised a family pot luck dinner for Sunday and we went out for dinner with just the four of us on Monday.....and I havn't laughed so much in ages. We just had so much fun together. After our dinner out we came home and played Balderdash....a board game we all love. This ended up in more laughter and craziness and it was so good for us all.
Family is just the best........close, extended, immediate....they're all irreplaceable!!!

Not to start we planned......

Thank you friends for your comments on my blog. I wish you a great 2009 for yourselves and your families.
Alison thank you for wanting to catch up with my layouts, I will post some soon. The birthday ones were pretty basic but I have some papers already spread over my desk to start baby girl ones for Isabella.

Well 2009 hasn't started quite like we hoped. Colin was retrenched this week. After working at the same company for 17yrs. So it's been an emotional kind of upheaval on top of which it was done the day after his birthday. So here we have been planning fun birthday things for him but at work they had been planning something a little different.
It's a good time to reflect on what he wants to do now. At least the drive from home to Altona each day can be deleted from his life. He has just turned 61 and so kind of looking at retirement in 4yrs or so (yikes!!), however he is now considering maybe part time work or something totally different.
I'm OK with whatever he decides. He has worked so hard all our married life and it's his time to plan what he wants to do now.
So, we're going to go for Chinese New Year at the end of the month to have another crack at a good new start to the year!!!!!

I've had a lovely week up until Colin came home with the news. Went to the beach for the first time in umpteen years, with the girls and the grandchildren. I got some great photos!! And no, I did not wear bathers!!! I did get horribly burn on the back of my neck/shoulders. I had no idea that when you've had chemo you have to always watch being in the sun because your skin cells have been damaged. So, I'm hoping there's no lasting further damage from the sunburn.

Sahnie came for another sleepover. It is so much fun to wake up with her....we sleep in our spare bed. Having autism she is such a quant unique little one and such a pleasure to spend time with. Andrea is a fantastic Mum for Sahnie and I admire her so much being a single Mum with three children. It sure isn't easy and she is now fully engrossed in learning everything she can about autism. And of course giving us, her family, a lot more insight into how Sahnie processes her environment. It's also confronting for her as she gets glimpses of the future. It's great that we are such a close family and can give heaps of support.

Tonight Monty and Romane are coming for a sleepover...that's going to keep us on our toes. Monty is 8 now and he is getting baptised next saturday. His Dad is coming down from Queensland and it will be an extra special day for Monty.

My sister, Marianne and her hubby Lionel are coming to visit at the end of the week, for a few days. I havn't seen them for over 4yrs now so am very excited.

And one last thing......I always catch up with Heidi Swapp's blog and am amazed that for such a very busy, busy person she blogs as much and often as she does. I love reading her adventures and thoughts.

Off to have breakfast and then go to Church.

My Word for 2009

I love the idea Ali Edwards has of choosing a word for each year. A word that means something to you...a word that can encourage and stretch you.
Last year my word was BALANCE.....as I was having chemo and getting sick from that as well as septicemia I really needed to find BALANCE in my days so that even though I was dealing with all of that negative stuff I could still find something in each day that was positive. Learning to BALANCE what I could and couldn't do was really important. As the months passed and my treatment stopped I then was able to BALANCE other things in my life. I needed to determine what to cast off from 'before' and what I wanted to introduce whilst still keeping a healthy BALANCE. It really worked having this word.......!!

This year my word is FOCUS! I chose FOCUS because that's what I want to do. To FOCUS on spending my time better (less computer games!), to FOCUS on service to others, to FOCUS on appreciating more, to FOCUS on positive relationships, to FOCUS on my scrapbooking from a different perspective than I used to. To FOCUS on my faith and how much I have been blessed and the powerful of Jesus Christ in my life.
In fact there is heaps to FOCUS on.......and that's what I love about this word a year idea.

I have actually scrapbooked two double layouts in the past week. Both grandchildren birthday ones. They are simple, they are bright and they are done!!! I found 19 birthdays in total that I hadn't scrapbooked....found pattern papers for them.....set them aside for when I have some time......and now i just grab a set and get started.
One thing I realise is that I just cannot possibly keep up with all the latest 'stuff'. I have so much to use and I am not allowing myself to buy anymore. I now have enough cartridges for my cricut to cover all my needs. I have two alphabets and other dies for my cuttlebug.....and I can't possibly justify even considering the MM Slice or more embellishments etc.
Adhesives and Cardstock is all I am allowed to buy!!!!!
Because......apart from the continual cost (which is not really good considering the downturn in our finances ie: supperanuation) I want and need to simplify my layouts and remember that Scrapbooking is about the photos and the story and to keep it Simple.
Even though it's tempting to add heaps of 'stuff' to every page often it just really detracts from the two main elements.

We had a great New Years Eve. Went to Martin and Tambi's with our family all there plus a few extras. It was a cold night though.......remembering the 40+ of the previour year.
We had a lot of fun....but then some other people arrived and it all got a bit awkward and it just went a bit flat. But that's life and it was OK.

Yesterday we went as a family to The Zoo. It was a beautiful day......the weather was just perfect. There were heaps of people there so it was hard for us all to stay as one group. I think we ended up splitting in to about 4 by the end.
We watched the Lions being fed.......they only eat 5 times a week!! Once they ate their food, one of them (they are four males all from the same litter) still had his and he was really flaunting it. This started a few fights and their roaring and aggression to eachother was very scary. We have a friend, Curtis, who actually works with the Lions but he was on holidays. He told us he will take us in to a closer area next time.....not sure if I want to get closer!!!!!

So our great day was fantastic.......and then we lost Harrison!!!!!!!! He's only 2 and in such a crowd how could we find him??? Everyone was frantic and ran in all directions calling him...I went to an exit and asked people to look outside, Daniel went to ask for an announcement over the PA system, Andrea gathered all the other 10 children because they were all running off to look for him, Carolina was in a panic as you can imagine.
After about 10mts, Tambi's sister Krystal called us on our mobiles...she had found him!!!!!! What an answer to prayers!!! It is such a scary feeling to loose a child in such a vast area. Every scenario goes through your head......and you don't know where to start.
So....from now on....little strong-willed and energetic Harrison needs to be tied to an Adult!!!!!

I have just applied for my Working With Children card as I am now working with 10 and 11yr olds at Church. I am teaching their Primary class on Sundays and today was the first day and it was so much fun. They are a great age and I can see we are going to have some good times together.

I have rambled enough....it's time to go and watch the news.