Hey peeps….

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you! I really was hoping to get to this post earlier than this, but boom the time is going by SO quickly! School holidays sure keep me busy…yep I feed the troops, then clean-up,…..two hours pass… I feed the troops, then clean -up… then repeat that pattern several times a day and vroom the day is GONE! I admit I might get to have a dip in the pool in there amongst all that…oh and a smidge of time on Pinterest fits in there too, but hey you get the picture…. the poor old Blog-o just gets neglected once again!

Seriously though as much as i love ya, it has been great to have a blogging break and to get inspired for the New year too. Besides, i am sure you are doing far more enjoyable things over the summer holidays than blog surfing! You are probably out at the beach, or sitting by the pool drinking MaiTai’s …. or if you are on the other side of the continent, snuggled up in front of the fire devouring a book…whichever it is, you surely haven’t missed lil ol’ me.

Okay, so I confess to not being a huge big New Year celebrator. I don’t tend to set resolutions, but rather do set some goals. I think that can be healthy as long as they are realistic.

The other thing about a New year is that I tend to be a little reflective about the year gone….WOW what a year we have just had…. yes it is starting to wear us a little thin, and we have gone into the new year rather weary, but have a read and i think you will see why….

2011 in bullet point reflection…..

JAN :

• We experience camping as a family for the first time…yep that means surviving a category 1 cyclone the very first night in our new camper….scary & very WET!
• Got a tan and read several books on holiday
• Finished watching season 3 & 4 of House on Dvd
• Packed up the rental and moved to another rental…only the owners hadn’t quite moved out yet! we had to endure all their items in the family room for over a week
• Kids went back to school
• I started to waddle
• We watch in horror as half of Queensland floods and many are sadly killed

• Cyclone Yasi hits….a very nasty category 5 cyclone! Freaks us and family half to death
• No power for a week, and all the trees are down
• Throw out the freezer contents
• Kids back off school
• Rod’s is crazy busy fixing all the damaged and dirty pools from the cyclone
• We are running two business’
• I am still puzzled by invoicing…ah bookkeeping becomes the bane of my existance
• Feeling homesick for Perth, and wondering what in the world we were thinking about moving to the tropics!

MARCH:

• Rod starts a new job, and I’m running the pool business with the help of our employee
• Nellie visits from Perth
• Elijah celebrates a birthday
• Ivan & Jo immigrate from Canada
• I drive into a steel column at the Shopping centre carpark….DOH!~
• Still feeling homesick

APRIL:

• Ivan & Jo move in with us for 5 weeks
• Our gorgeous Niece Teleah was born
• In- laws visit for a week
• School holidays / Easter break
• Finally getting used to white gloss tiles (MEANING: i have now got accustomed to permanently having Mr. Miele, or Mrs. Enjo in either hand!!)
• Quick 4 day trip to Perth to cure said Homesickness
• Crying buckets because my dear friend Lou is re-diagnosed with cancer
• Discover every public toilet in all of Cairns due to pregnancy

MAY:

• Really waddling now
• Ivan & Jo move out
• Get nursery set up
• Parent teacher interviews
• Rod shoots to Perth for surprise for his best mate’s 40th Birthday
• Sleepless nights - many!
• My mum arrives…
• Lost 4 kg’s instantly!
• Josiah is born last day and the last hour of MAY!….hence losing the 4kg’s!

JUNE:

• Lots of sleepless nights
• Rod’s best mate and cousin visit from Perth for 4 days
• IN-Laws are in town for a month
• Mum leaves
• Rod goes to Sydney for work conference
• Sell the pool business and train new owners all the paperwork paloova…
• We all fall in love with Mr.Jo
• Im loving this new mother gig, and thinking I could do this again
• Slap myself silly for thinking the above mentioned silliness!
• Finally get the car fixed for the shopping centre pregnancy dingle

JULY:

• Umm more sleepless nights, dirty nappies, smiles and goo-gaa’s from the little man
• Wearing jackets and jeans and thinking this is very strange for the tropics!
• Rod goes to Townsville for another conference
• Earthworks start on the block and we are very chuffed that we got all the approvals and it started!
• Mr. Jo starts to smile, and our hearts melt some more
• Join a Mother Group…..first ever, and meet some lovely ladies, that help me not be homesick
• Nice cuppa’s with the mother’s group ladies, as we exchange, baby talk….which was a BIG adjustment for me after almost 6 years!
• Mali’s celebrates a birthday
• Secretly planning and making invites, games, decorations for Monnie’s Kitchen Tea and Hen’s night in Perth

AUGUST:

• Surprise visit to Perth on my own to spring my bestie on her birthday, AND spring Monnie at her Kitchen tea
• Spent a day at Chemo with my dear friend Lou (special times)
• Celebrated our anniversary
• Turned another year wiser
• Rod goes to school camp with Elijah, and I get a nasty bout of gastro, and a bladder infection
• Busily booking hotels, car hire, flights etc… for our impending trip to the US
• Contemplated a diet…haha
• Elijah starts speech therapy
• Planning Hen’s night for future sis-in-law Kate, in the USA
• House gets steel poles and deep holes to concrete them into

SEPTEMBER:

• Fly to Perth for Monnie’s wedding
• ENJOY the fabulous wedding and being Bridesmaid for the most gorgeous Bride!!!
• Fly home to Cairns and have school holidays and 12 days to have everything sorted for our trip to USA.
• Fly to the USA….with all 7 of us!
• House has floor joists, and subframe…

OCTOBER:

• Bryn & Kate’s Wedding Day… gosh, the best day ever, and so very special to be a part of the bridal party along with Mali & Jaye…
• Travelling around US with Bryn & Kate
• Sad, sad, sad and very tearful goodbyes
• Fly home on Tiarne’s Birthday
• More parent teacher interviews…
• House has a roof and wall frames

NOVEMBER:

• Getting some sleep at last, as Mr.Jo sleeps through the night
• Last term of school, busy, busy, busy
• Book week i have to find 4 costumes…..seriously??!!
• School production - Tiarne was Narrator, and another 3 sets of costumes!!!
• Awards night - Tiarne topped her year 6 class, & Mali got the Christian Character award
• Janaya has a birthday
• Rod has a birthday
• Rod scoots to Perth for his parents 40th Wedding anniversary
• Contemplate Christmas cards….?
• The house has gyprock on the walls, and some lights and fans up. Ceilings are in!
• Mr Jo sits up!

DECEMBER:

• School Summer Holidays begin! yay!
• Start at a new Bootcamp… LOVE! (well maybe not the 5:30am get-ups, but still amazing trainer!)
• Rental property we are in goes on the market for sale….hello home opens!
• Inkspirations Challenges closes down:(
• Muscle up a smidgen of Christmas cheer…
• Scramble together a few Christmas cards…
• House now has windows, and bi-folds, and the tiling is on the way
• Mum & Dad arrive to spend Christmas and New years with us….

Phew….i have still got ya, or did you get lost back up there at Mr Jo being born??

Yes it sure was a lot to fit into one year, and these are just all the big events, it doesn’t include the mundane like laundry, groceries, meal planning/making, paying bills, dropping off, picking up… yadda, yadda! In a nutshell it has been one crazy year! Having said that, i am still amazed at God’s continual care, and provision in ALL THINGS! He is so good, sooo very good to us that i am truly humbled.

So what is in store for the new year? umm whilst we desperately want to be saying, it will be much quieter, for the time being we are still FLAT OUT with the house building. My poor hubby is up at the house at all the odd hours, working full time by day, and tiling, laying timber floors, and painting by night! Even i have been whipping out the old daggy painting clothes and getting my fingernails dirty! We have a little ways to go yet, but we do have a move in date, which is the 20th of Feb, and then it will be onto the outside, like the retaining walls, the pool, fences and the driveway etc… I hate to whinge about it, but it is actually wearing us both quite thin… but everyone that has told me they have built a house, says that it will all be worth it in the long run…. so just trusting that it will and that we will survive in the meantime.

THEN….onto much brighter and fun things! I am really hoping to dig out the sewing machine this year, as there are just too many darn cute things on Pinterest that i am just dying to sew! Then do some more work on learning all there is to know about Photoshop…. And i really want to start teaching my kids to cook, some dinner meals. There will be all the fun adventures with our little man Mr Jo as he learns to walk and talk. As for the blog-o, it is on it’s way to being updated, which i am excited about, and hopefully once we have moved into the house, i will have much more time to stamp and share the things in my life that i love! Really excited about that.

So many many good things to look forward too, which is a real blessing! We sure live a joyfull yet FULL life!

So with all that I wanted to just share with you a couple of photos… some of the house, Tiarne’s graduation and of course the little man and how he has grown SO much since the last photos i shared with you!

Okay so first up we have Tiarne all beautifully dressed for her Year 6 Graduation! I can hardly believe she is off to High School this year!!! She is excited but a little nervous…

Mr Jo, at 6months old…..

Mr Curly Tops!

He sure is the Little Brother….of 4!

one serious little cutie pops!

Okay so next up are a few shots of the house…. It isn’t finished like i said, and there is no point me showing you photos of a tiled floor in the bathroom, so have kept it pretty brief

The front of the house as of today…. We still need to add the front porch and paint the contrasting panels on the front of the house and the garage doors underneath the house, and the stairs up to the front door, and the deck lining.. the list goes on and on!

Now this is the view from my front door, and the pool area…

Inside the main living area, which goes out through the bi-fold doors to the deck area…

and this is the view from the centre section of the deck….

So that is just a few photos. I promise to share more when they are far more exciting… like the kitchen is in, and the timber floors are down etc…. but at least you get a bit of an idea of where we are at as far as progress goes!

Okay my darling peeps, this post has taken me a long time, and i am sure a long time for you to have read as well! It feels good to get you all up to date though on what and where we are all. I really appreciate you faithful readers out there, especially when i just haven’t had the opportunity to stamp, and share as much as i have done in the past. Let’s hope that in the months ahead that will all change!

Enjoy your weekend!

WHAT? …i hear ya say!

Yup that just about sums up my life at the moment!

Do you ever feel as though your life is on a HUGE Rollercoaster ride and you are desperatley wanting to get off? Not that i want out of my life….certainly not, rather that is is ZOOMING by at lightning speed and you just can’t seem to slow it down. I think if i shared all that had been going on lately i would completely and utterly make you dizzy! I am so thankful for God’s grace and strength that is getting me there, a little bit further each day! I can appreciate that you would be really dissapointed with my lack of posts of late…. believe me it isn’t because of a lack of interest, but purely a lack of time! Babies, building, weddings, travelling, is all taking up so much of my time at the moment. BUT i am hoping that in about 4 weeks time things will have settled down considerably and there might just be some time for crafting again!

So last week i had a sale….some of you snapped up some bargains! It was great to off load some of my well loved stamps and find them a new home! I do have a few sets left on the list, so check it out… i would still love to hear from you.

Now onto the winner of my hamper….I numbered each purchaser, and then pulled a number using Random.org and the lucky winner is…….drum roll please!

ANNE EDWARDS!

Big Congratulations Anne. I will have your parcel into the post by tomorrow!

Now onto more exciting news….Recently i shared with you that i was heading back to Perth for my dear friend Monique’s Wedding Day and that i had the honour of being her Bridesmaid! Well that is where i have been this past week…..A whirlwind week back in Perth with my Mr. Jo too. Hubby arrived the night before the wedding so it was lovely to have him there as well. Monique and Frank had a LOVELY day! The sun was shining, the Bride looked amazing, and there was lots of fun to be had by the bridal party too.

I thought i’d share some of the photos of the day for you to see how lovely it was….

Here we are just after the Wedding Ceremony….

And with our dear friend Louise Ryan…

The Bride & Groom…

true love…..

snuggling up with the other Bridesmaids trying to get warm…

At the reception….

With my hubby Rod…

All four of us together….

As you can see it was a truly beautiful and special day!

Well it is now only 8 days until we leave for the USA for my brother’s wedding! I have an obscene “to-do” list to get through between now and then, but i am starting to get excited for the big day! I will be sure to share lots of photos of our trip with you all, and will keep you posted.

Thanks peeps, and i will see you all again tomorrow for the next challenge….

Howdy!~ 

Okay who is up for a bargain……..I know you all love a bargain, and I have bargains for you today!

Before we moved house again in January I had packed up pile of my retired stamps, and excess SU product I had, with the hopes of selling them before we moved but I sadly ran out of time and just had to pack them into boxes and bring them to the next house. I really don’t want to do that AGAIN, when we move into the new house we are building……so hence the sale of some loved items i am happy to part with.

I now have them priced and ready to sell……

So I have a big list of things for sale for you all with a special bonus as well!

Stamp sets for sale:

Playful petals     $25

Whimsical words     $15

Baroque     $15

Cheers to you     $15

Tart & Tangy     $10

Ocean Commotion     $15

Hoppy for you     $20

Long fellow (acrylic)    $20

Framed with love     $30

Great Friend     $15

Every moment     $20

Think happy thoughts   $15

Good Neighbourhood $15

Here are the deets about the sale:

• If you are unsure what each stamp set is, as some are from previous catalog, you can view them and their samples at this link over at Splitcoaststampers (just look under the set alphabetically) http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/su
• All products are 30-50% off original prices…..BARGAIN!
• It is a first in first served basis…..so get in quick.
• I will ship the items as soon as payment is made, either by Direct Deposit, or Cash.
• You are welcome to bundle items together if you have more than one, and I will work out the postage for you.
• The postage will be at your expense.
• Yes I will post items Internationally (I will calculate the cost for you)
• To purchase any of these items, just contact me at rmbyl@optusnet.com.au, and I will arrange payment and shipping with you directly.

And here is the extra BONUS for you all. I have put together a bundle of fun goodies which will go to one person who orders any product from me from this sale! The sale will run from today until Saturday 10th September and i will draw the winner on Monday 12th September

Here is the bundle you could win just by ordering one sale item!

• Bold Bright Brads
• Sherbert Designer buttons
• Funky four stamp set
• Puddle jumper - Lucy stamp
• So Saffron striped ribbon
• Baja Blue Striped ribbon
• PTI Vintage button jar
• Basic grey stitched buttons x 2
• Basic grey 6 x 6 Olivia Designer paper pad

Hey there,

Well I was pleasantly surprised by the lovely Kris McIntosh recently when she passed on this lovely Stylish Blogger Award! Thanks so much Kris!

Now i have to share 10 short things about myself….. Well most of you know me pretty well, so this might not be all that very interesting! LOL!

1. We are expecting a baby at the end of May….number 5!

2. We know what we are having but have kept it under lock and key

3. I am studying part time at James Cook University, a Bachelor of Nursing

4. I dream of being a Midwife

5. I read a book a week (usually)

6. I am allergic to coffee

7. I got married at 20

8. I have a fear of the ocean

9. I believe chocolate is staple to survive

10. I have conquered my Diet Coke addiction….YAY!

Okay now to pass this on…..well I am going to pick all the delightful ladies on my DT…..they totally ROCK!

Thanks again Kris for your award, much appreciated!

Hey peeps,

Me here…how are you all going? Another week zooming by for ya?

Today I have a very special creation to share, and one that is very close to my heart….

This is our baby!

Yes we are expecting a little bundle at the end of May. I have kept it all a bit hush, until I got used to the idea, but seeing as I am 25 weeks now, I thought I better let you all know! It is going to be a very BIG change for us seeing as our youngest is now over 5. Hubby and the kids are so excited about this new little person and i am sure it will be smothered with lots of love! I have had a rough time with being extremely unwell to start with, and ended up in hospital for a few days, just to get some fluids back in my system. So thankful for the medication I could receive to help me keep my food down. It is all a part of the adventure I suppose! So adding a pregnancy to what has already been a HUGE year, will help you understand why I haven’t stamped or blogged as much as normal! Hopefully that will not be how it is all year, but we will have to see!

So that is my very special creation to share with you all……I promise there will be something crafty later today for you all….