Hurrah, sorry blogger for calling you stupid!! These are all photos of Gregory when we lived in Quilpie, Far South Western Queensland. I am slowly working my way through his baby photos.. he is 7 and 8 months old here so I have a few more to do yet!

In the last week or so I have been a very busy little bunny... what have I been up to?? Read On!!!

On Friday 27 July, I helped organise a scrapbooking fundraiser for my friend Maria's nephew. Josh has severe autism and his mother is trying to raise enough money so that she can take him to USA for the Sonrise Programme. It works miracles for some of these kids.

We were so excited to realise that we had raised $1500 towards his trip!!

We played lots of games, had a yummy dinner and did a little bit of scrapping. Susy has posted some photos on the scrap'n'patch blog, if you want to see what we got up to!!http://scrapnpatch.blogspot.com/

On Wednesday 1 August it was the 100th birthday celebrations for World Scouting. So what did I decide to do??....... Organise the scout and Cubs to have a joint evening with all the parents and brothers and sisters invited too!! I'm glad I did it but it was a lot of work and all too often when you are a volunteer you don't get the thanks you deserve. I know I did a b@#$%y good job so that's what matters most!

Today I reclaimed my vege patch from Gregory's digging to China episode!! It is now all neatly set out with garden beds covered in shredded paper and hay mulch. Will take a piccy tomorrow if it isn't raining??

This week I have to get organised and start some serious planning for the homeschool camp that is being held here at the World Heritage Naracoorte Caves! It is on in 7 weeks... eek better get onto that!!

Anyway the bangers need their mash so had better tootle off and see to the feeding of the men!!!

I've been scrapping

Woohoo for me!! I spent most of yesterday scrapbooking photos of Gregory as a baby. Really enjoyed my day.

Stupid blogger won't upload my photos so I'll try again later!!

Book Club Part 2

Well that WAS interesting! There was only 4 of us! The lady who invited me, myself and two other ladies. One of the other ladies is definitely a high school English? teacher! The second is a highly intelligent very well read lady who doesn't own a tv or have internet! Shall have to see how this book club thing pans out. I have a book about scared children translated from Italian to read this month! EEK!!
Anyway off to beddie byes now...

Book Club

Off to my first ever Book Club meeting.. bit nervous! Will let you all know how I went.
Have just finished webchatting to family in Qld... so cool! Got to see little nephew and niece who are growing up so fast! Hope to do it more??
Will be back after book club...

A couple of photos from last week

The lights of Melbourne, some of the kids at The Great Wall of China Exbibit and Daniel being "king for a minute" at Kryal Castle.

What an awesome week!

Last week was a simple awesome week! Thanks Dora and Sharee and kids!!! On Monday morning the boys and I took off for Melbourne. A little bit nervous about driving into the close to city suburbs to find the house we were staying in. But found it ok and we were all so excited to see each other. There was 3 Mums and 9 kids all in the house!! The teenagers had their own living area downstairs, so they loved that, while the other kids got the upstairs area.

On Tuesday, we hopped on a train and headed to the City! Gregory went off with a group of about 15 teenagers. They went to Parliament, the University, played Lazer Tag and jumped on and off trams all over the city. Gregory's quote, "That was awesome, Mum, when are we doing it again!' Looks like trips to Melbourne will happen more often!
Daniel and I went with several other Mums and younger children for a yummy hot chocolate/coffee as it was freezing! The we went to see the Pixar Animation Exhibit in Federation Square. It was great.. we vowed to get out or pastels etc when we got home. Very inspiring!

On Wednesday, we headed into the city again to go to the Museum. There was an extra exhibit of The Great Wall of China with extra activities for the kids. Brilliant! Afterwards we trooped off to Southbank for coffee ( for the Mums) and boost juices and hot chocolates for the kids. Home again on the train. Sat up way too late chatting and playing games!

Thursday was farewell to our friends and on the road home. We had to go to Highpoint Shopping Centre so that Gregory could look at the book shops and Daniel wanted to go to Build-A-Bear for his birthday. Daniel is now the proud adoptive parent of Dennis the Koala, complete with his board shorts, backpack and pyjamas for bedtime. He was named after the train station we used while in Melbourne! Gregory found two more books to add to his library and off we headed for home. On the way we stopped off at Kryal Castle and discovered we have to go back there to see all the Medieval re-enactments they have! Also popped into the Devil's Kitchen which is like a huge hole in the ground surrounded by square blocks of rocks! Bit hard to explain!

Friday was a quiet day for the boys but I spent the day selling raffle tickets for a fundraiser I'm involved in, raising funds to help a friend's nephew travel to USA for an intensive week long therapy session for his autism. Did a bit of housework.

Saturday after lunch we jumped in the car to go to Adelaide. Went for a walk to Glenelg and took the tram into the city to find some dinner - yummy Italian!

Sunday - buffet breakfast at the motel - yum! Then off to the Farmer's Markets again yum! Drove out to the Port Adelaide markets - not enough time there will have to go again. Andrew dropped boys and I off at Cirque Du Soleil. If you haven't been to this ... it is so worth it!! The performance was simply amazing. They way some of the trapeze artists fling themselves around in the air!!! Then it was home again!

Monday, Tuesday, Today - back to reality!! Housework, housework, housework!! And to top it all off I have the weirdest thing happening with my ears! I can only half hear things, they feel a little blocked up and there is this faint humming sound??? Of course, here you cannot get into the doctor of your choice for up to 3 months - could be dead by then!! Have an appointment with some doctor I haven't seen before for late tomorrow!

Will try to upload some photos later.

What homeschooling looks like

I walked around the house last night and took some photos. The boys were in the kitchen playing with fire!! I found piles of books of many genre, hand-made plasticine critters, lego mania in Dan's room, a desk piled high with papers in Greg's room and later Greg interacting with other homeschooled teenagers online. What a busy house we are!!