Talk about busy and BIG achievements

Far out, time just gets away from us here at the moment...but we have had some exciting stuff happen since I last posted.

Renee has been working hard toward her Australian Scout Medallion, she finishes Scouts in less than two weeks, sadly, she will turn 15 and then be too old. I know she will miss it, particularly her Scout Leader, Griz, they are great mates and I know they will continue to be so.

Back to her Medallion, yes she achieved it!!!! We are all so proud of her. It was lots of hard work and the last few weeks have been fairly stressful to say the least, with getting it all finished, but she got there in the end. She is the first Scout in her Group to achieve her Green Cord and the Medallion. Here are some pics of her getting her cord, very proud moment.

Renee with her leaders above, from left to right, Skip....Renee...Griz. These guys have been awesome leaders. Below is her troop that she took away for her Scout Medallion Camp. She had to plan everything, buy the food, book the venue, organise equipment. The camp was last weekend and it rained the whole time, they even had hail. I tell ya, it's something about Renee and camps, she tends to bring the bad weather.!!!!

Her Medallion will be presented to her by the Govenor some time in September or October a very big occassion.....how cool, eh!

Still on Renee, I tell you, our life has been revolved around her at the moment, I guess her being the oldest, it tends to happen, poor Aaron, his turn will come. Renee managed to secure her first job, yeeha!!! She is so excited, her first day today. She is working as a party host at our local ten bowling centre, she started this morning at about 10.30am. I have just come back from up there, because Rod dropped her off this morning with no money, I figured she would be looking for a drink or food right about now, so had to go up and give her some money. She looks tired, and she said she was tired, but at the end of the day the $11 an hour, will be the reward, not bad money for a nearly 15 year old. Her Scout leaders wife, helped out with that one, gave me a text the other afternoon and said for Renee to come up with her Resume, she was there bowling with her daughter at the time and noticed the sign that said they were looking to recruit. We left and within about 5 minutes of being home, she was phoned and asked to come to an interview the next afternoon. You couldn't wipe the smile of her face, her own money, how awesome.

I have had a Birthday, celebrated quietly, a whole 38 years. Dad kept saying he didn't think I was that old, I just don't think he wanted to believe it, because it made him feel old LOL. To me it's just a number.

Anyway that's my news for this time, have a great week or month, whatever it may be before I get back onto this again.

Cya
Leanne
xxx

Kayak trek....very exhausting

Well the Kayak trek was hard work. Weather was very ordinary...wind and rain and got cold. Dad and I were the land crew, so we had the easy job. We met up with them each night and camped out with them, was lots of fun...although I hate the outdoor toileting, girls really aren't made for outdoor living like that! LOL.

Due to the weather the kids didn't make it to Morgan which was the intention, they instead got to Cadell, all up they paddled about 52kms, which is a fair effort given the conditions. At the end of each day they would set up their tents, then pull out their little trangia's (camp oven's) and cook their meals, by the end of the weekend they were exhausted and very sore, blisters and muscle aches being the main complaints.

They also had to go through Lock 2 I was a little worried about that, but they made it through fine, they lock master was lovely and made sure that he let the water out fairly slowly so as to not swirl up the water too much for them.

We got home Sunday night at about 8.30pm and I think that I am still getting over it.

So here are a few pics from the weekend.

I'm on Holidays.....just for a week!

Yay for a short break.....I have been so busy, which has made me so darn tired.....but I have the next couple of days off, yippeee.

Renee has a kayaking camp this weekend, so we are busy getting ready for that, she will be doing 60 kms over three days, rather her than me, although the scenery will be gorgeous. They are travelling from Waikerie to Morgan. As with all hikes or treks that she does, she has to cart her own gear in the Kayak, set up camp each night and cook her own meal, sounds like fun!



Dad and I will be the land crew, so we don't get out of it, LOL. We will be camping with them overnight.....they do have two leaders rowing with them. Rod and Aaron will have the weekend off, Rod just having had shoulder surgery, so doesn't really deem him useful for the weekend, hence dad coming instead. So think of us this weekend, starting at dawn Friday morning with Dawn Service for Anzac day, then off to Waikerie we drive.



On a side note, I got creative last night and made this for mum for Mother's Day. The pics are of her five grandchildren....I loved doing this, was so much fun. Only thing is I can't keep anything a secret, so when she drove around today, I just had to give it to her LOL. Oh well I did get her something else.

I found the Easter Bunny......

Ok, so Easter has been and gone.....However, I was looking through some of my pics tonight and came across this one, and I just had to add it to my blog, LOL. This is my Dad, we were at Taeqwondo one night and he decided to throw the Bunny Ears on, what a dag!!!

Kids have started school holidays as of Friday last week, thank heavens to some point. It will give Renee a break from her Science teacher, they seem to have a major difference of opinion and the two week break may be a good thing. She had an excellent report ( 4 A's and 2 B's) and still managed an "A" for Science, but we will be keeping a close eye on the whole personality clash thing. Argh teens....although I have to agree with some of the issues that Renee is having, threatening to reduce percentages to give her a lower grade, is just not on in my opinion, and I do totally understand that Renee can be vocal in her opinions, however if the child is doing what she needs to do and getting the percentage that she needs to get for her "A" then I dont think threatening to take it away from her is appropriate, simply because you have a problem with the child. Oh man I didn't realise it bothered me quite so much still....it obviously does for the whinge that I have just had. I did ring the school and discuss the issues with the year level manager, so we will just wait and see what happens now.

Still on Renee......how is that no matter how many times you can say something to your teen, it appears to fall on deaf ears, LOL.

Renee, can you pick up your clothes and put them in the wash?

Renee can you tidy up your room and put your clothes in the wash?

Renee can you hang the clothes up that you have tried on for 10 minutes and clean up your room?

These are just some of the questions that are asked on a regular basis. This morning I am doing the washing and just when I have loaded up and started the machine, madam decides that she is going to bring out her washing, a whole darn load of it, honestly she has a machine full and I have a big washing machine!. I start hanging her stuff on the line and find tops that I haven't even see her wear....trying to explain to her, that something she has tried on for 10 minutes is not dirty, but simply needs to be hung again, is major drama LOL, I suggested to her that during her two week holidays, she may like to do the ironing, man the look I got from that was like I had asked her to cut her right arm off!!!!

All in all though she is a good kid and we are getting on relatively well at the moment, not too many major arguements, thank heavens, I think I may have finally worked her out!

Aaron, well he is just plodding along, he has hormones raging through his little body, drives us crazy at times. He grunts at us now, when we ask him to do something, and if he isnt grunting he moans LOL. Having said that though it is fairly short lived, thank heavens and he tends to move on fairly quickly, boys are so different to girls, she would scream at us for hours LOL, what am I saying, she still can at times.!

So thats me, thanks for listening to my moans, really haven't had a lot going on in our lives of late, but thought I had better put something up here, to keep you all interested...

And just when I think my kids are hard work.....Renee just now, this minute, randomly said

"I Love You, MUM'

and Aaron, quickly followed suit, LOL, not to be outdone..

Kids, they can be hard work, but where would be without them LOL

Have a great week everyone.

Leanne

xxx

Some Cards....

I have been so quiet on here of late, just getting on with life. We have had sickness in the house. Aaron has had a cough for a week, and just can't seem to shake it, and I have had some viral thing, it has kept me off work for a few days, but am feeling a whole lot better today, so back to work tomorrow.

I went to my first Stampin Up party last weekend, at Patty's, had a blast, mum came too. So now mum has booked a party, can't wait. A whole new world awaits me in stamping, some of them are so beautiful.

I also made my first cards this last week. The first one being for a baby boy. The pattern for the torn teddy, I got from the "Scrapheap" site. I love these little guys and they are so easy to make.

I have also made some Thank You cards for a couple of Renee's teachers. Quick and easy but I thought that I would share it. The photo on the front of the card was taken when the teachers took the girls to Kelly Clarkson concert a few weeks back. They had an amazing time, they even glammed it up and were lucky enough to be in a corporate box, totally awesome.

Thanks for stopping by...

Further to my previous post....How cute are these!

We took Bunny Ears around to Donna last night for Caitlin, mum found the cutest fluffiest ones! Donna was left with instructions to take some Easter pics, so she did, and here are the results. I love them all! Good job with the camera Donna.

Happy Easter everyone....

We have had a great weekend, albeit short notice. The kids and I went to Taeqwondo Wednesday where Dad and a friend, Angie, were discussing going camping overnight. The next thing we know Dad and Renee were leaving Thursday night to stake out a spot and the rest of us would meet them on Friday morning.

For minimal planning though we had a hoot of a time, the weather was perfect and the camp site great, just a small car drive to toilets which is my one must have luxury when camping, I can live without the shower for a couple of days.

We got home yesterday at about midday, spent the next three hours unpacking and washing everything, yuck I hate that job, and now have a mountain of washing to get through today.

So here are some pics....

Scrapping like mad.......

It has been so darn hot this weekend. Renee went away on a camp Kyacking, poor kid, too hot, but she did have a good time. We picked her up at about 5pm tonight.

So whilst she was away, I sat in my little scrap room, right under the air conditioner and did some serious scrapping.

Firstly I had thought that I had better get into Donna's pregnancy album again, seems as the baby has now been born........so this is the layout for 20 weeks. Still have a few more to go on this, but I will get there!

Then did three more pages for Caitlin's album, I am on a roll at the moment, although it does help when I have such a cute little subject to scrap with. I totally adore the last pic of her, looks like she is almost smiling. She is starting to get a little chunky now, so cute at nearly four weeks.

Have a great week everyone

Leanne

xxxx

My first "Caitlin" page

Baby Caitlin is four days old here, just hanging out with her dad!

The drought has finally broken this is my first page for months, LOL

I went to Clipsal, totally AWESOME!!!!

OMG how much fun did I have yesterday. Celina had bought tickets for herself and John and the boys to go to Clipsal as a Christmas present. Unfortunately John was unable to go as it turned out, due to work. Celina asked Dad to come with her which in the end he declined, saying he was too old, LOL, so I got to go instead. I wasn't sure initially if I would enjoy it, but man it was awesome.

As kids we would go to the drags and then later as a teenager and into my early twenties, I would regularly go to the Speedway, so I guess it's in the blood. And I tell you from the minute I heard those cars and then the first smell of the hot rubber tyres, my heart was racing, it was totally awesome, took me back about 20 years or more.

Celina was a total crack up, every time I turned around, I saw her goofy little hat and those great big Ford hands, she was a total scream. Even funnier considering that we were right in the middle of a million Holden supporters, LOL. The boys loved it. I'm definately going again, the kids want to come next year, so we will be working on that.

My heart goes out to the family of Ashley Cooper, the driver that died today, so terribly sad, a family man, a brother, a son, so devasting. A brutal reminder of how dangerous the sport is.