NO CHICOS...baby!!

Okay, so we learnt the hard way but it's probably not such a bad thing. My good friend took Jack to the local Footy today and returned him home when she was worried about him being extremely hot, itchy and coughing persistently. Good thing she did as he was having an anaphylactic reaction. After having the reaction during his Peanut Challenge at the Women's & Children's last week we recognised the cough straight away. Because we only live minutes from the hospital I raced him up there. We gave him Zyrtec and Ventolin via the Nebuliser which calmed things down, but we were oh so close to needing to use the Epipen. If we hadn't been so close to the hospital and the on call Doctor hadn't come so quickly it would have been used without a doubt. We finally worked out that the Chicos in his bag of mixed lollies were the culprit, containing Full Cream Milk Powder (thank goodness for Google!) We were surprised as we really didn't think he would react like that to such a small amount of cow's milk. So on one hand it's a little disappointing and on the other we feel thankful that we now know and that nothing too bad happened inthe process. Colourful mixed lollies from now on only!! The stupid thing is Strawberries & Cream and Milk Bottles contain no milk products, go figure!
I have stressed to my friend that she did a great job and please don't let it put her off of taking Jack. Right from the start I have never wanted to wrap Jack up in cotton wool. I want him to do as many things as possible. Today just makes everyone realise how important his Action Plan and Epipens are and that it's not a big deal to use them if needed. But he did scare me a bit today, the little bugger....I really do love him to bits.

Gemmy's finger painting session...very serious business!

For those of you who know Gem well, you'd know she doesn't mind a bit of painting...she can also get very carried away, with no encouragement whatsover from Mum of course!

She has been nagging us for AGES to get the finger paints out that she was given from Aunty Polly at Christmas. This afternoon Jack went to Footy with Naishy so I thought it was a great time to get them out so she didn't feel left out. These are a few shots I took. I love how serious she is about what she is doing, such concentration on her face...except that little smirk when the paint went on her belly for Gem's famous belly painting. She actually started out quite neat and wanted a brush for the paint, then in went the finger, followed by hands, feet, arms and finally the belly! You go girl...

Jack off to school....Mum didn't even cry??

I just had to include the pic of Jack having to stop and kill a few locusts before we could get going...such a typical boy thing to do!! I just love it...

We're into the second week now. A new era....and it's taking a bit of adjusting on every one's behalf. Jack is unbelievably tired when he comes home and Gem is hanging out to play on the trampoline (which they generally spend half their waking hours on). Jack is busy telling us about his day, showing us his reader etc and poor Gem is completely put out. When he finally gets around to playing, they usually start fighting.....never mind, I'm sure it will sort itself out.

On the upside, Gem and I are spending some really nice time together. I was worried how it would be with just the two of us, since Jack and her played so well all day but I am really enjoying it. Living only 2 houses from the Primary School definitely has it's advantages. Gem is making a name for herself with a new dress up outfit, bike or pram with dolls that accompany us on our 2-3 walks over to the school each day.

The challenge is feeling comfortable with Jack being safe (because of his allergies to Peanuts and Cows Milk). But the anxiety is slowly easing with the staff being really cooperative. With Jack being at Child Care and Kindy for so long now, we were so used to the way things were. Another reason why living so close to the school is great, since I have already gotten home twice and realised I had left the Epipens at the Front Office.

I really expected that I would cry...I had a lump in my throat that morning and held a few tears back when I said he might bring a reader home but I was happy to leave him. I know he is ready for it and knowing he is in good hands helps. (His teacher has taught Grant's brother, myself and my brother!!) They are also doing a topic on dinosaurs this term so he is in his element. Having 2 three day weeks to begin with is also helping. When he is going full time I think I am really going to miss having him around....Jxx

A Fresh Start

With life becoming increasingly busy and the kids still going so through so many unreal milestones, I've decided to have a crack at blogging again. I'm hoping it may relieve some scrapping guilt, because I simply cannot keep up with the number of ideas/stories my mind seems to come up with and the sheer number of photos I continue to take! Usually this is replaced with blogging guilt but I am going to keep up the 'something is better than nothing' affirmations and see how I go...Jxx

Mum's entry for Lime Tart competition

As Mum doesn't have a blog I am uploading this unreal LO she has done of my Great, Great Grandfather & Grandmother on their wedding day. The criteria was black, white and one other colour. I love the result. Check out the comp here - winner is picked by random and there is a December Full Tart Kit worth $59.95!!

by Leanne Kroschel

Very slack....

A friend asked me on the weekend to see some of my layouts, which is great because it has motivated me to update my blog! It's pretty hard to fit 5 months of scrapping in 1 post but I'll give it ago. It's been a busy few months....been scrapping a lot more 12x12's and have really been loving the space to play and create. Mum and I also went to the Creative Edge classes in September in Adelaide, will post pics of our creations soon. Jxx

I made the flowers in the LO below. The butterfly comes from some material I found at our local sewing shop that I fell in love with.

This was for a pink, red and yellow challenge on The Boxx . I had been wanting to scrap these photos for AGES.

My Hanson Bay layout was a challenge to scrap holiday photos on The Boxx.

This was one of the first 12x12's I had done in a long time.

The next few are layouts done for the Scraptherapy Make Believe Masters Comp.

I mananged to win the round with this Layout:
I also had a crack at becoming a Design Team member on the Boxx, I was lucky enought to get through a few rounds, here are my entries :

Well, that's it for now - I know there are so many more that I haven't put up.....I really want to concentrate on some more of my Library of Memories for a few week and Christmas Cards. Jxx

So much for backing off...

I have nearly done a page a day since my last post! A couple 12x12's which I haven't done in AGES and I really enjoyed. Finally scrapped Gem's 2nd Bday from Jan...will post in the next few days when I get around to photographing. Here are the 8.5 x 11's:
this one below is for the ColorCombos Galore challenge this week: