The Year so Far

Well obviously we've missed more than a year but I figure if I get this year up to date, I am more likely to keep updating from there. I just mentioned to Phil (DH) that I had found my blog and that I was going to update it. He thinks it's "just another Facebook", so I told him it's like our very own facebook...all about our family and no one else's dribble about games they have played or people who have upset them! I don't know what we all did before Facebook (hmm...wonder if my introduction to Facebook was about the same time I "lost" my blog??? That would explain it...lol)
Okay, so a quick recap.....
January: School holidays. Early January Dad took the boat out to O'Briens at the end of Cape Le Grande Beach. We drove out and then walked/swam/got ferried around there. It's like having your own secluded beach in the middle of nowhere! When we got back to the main beach late in the afternoon, there would have been 60 4-wheels drives there, yet we had O'Brien's to ourselves. Amazing!

This is an Australia day challenge lo I completed using these photos.

 We spent most of January at the beach. For my birthday we went to the Kelp Beds. Close enough to town but far enough there aren't too many people or motorbikes. Always a bit of surf for the kids but gentle enough for the little ones. Got a few cute photos of my boys. And then made them into a lo for a Kaisersketch challenge.

Caits even made me a birthday cake but we didn't get a photo. Was very yummy though and a bit special to have a triple choc mud cake at the beach!

We also had the 2nd "Payne family" Annual Food Fight. We held the first one one Mother's Day last year. Since then our kids and some other friends who missed out have been wanting to do it again. This year we included the Wards who were moving the next week, and who are like family to us. We used all the out of date food in our pantries and leftovers. We learnt some things from last year (like taking the shampoo to the beach for after so the kids don't have to spend 3 days int he shower trying to wash out dried egg/flour/spaghetti/cat food mixtures!)
It is very messy but so much fun. It's almost too scary keeping my camera out with all the baked beans and flour flying around, so I took a couple hundred quick photos then packed the camera away and joined in! Last year I missed out on the fun but got heaps of photos. This year I did both.

I did a photo shoot for a friend In January. I'm no photographer but I'm lucky enough to have a good camera (well it was until it fell off the tripod at Xmas! Still waiting to see how good it is now!) plus I know what I like in a photo so I'm happy to play around and try to get some nice photos. I think they turned out ok....

It certainly helps that they are all good looking and were dressed co-ordinated!

I did this lo afterwards for the Kaisercraft Sketch Challenge in February. I just love it and was so happy with it and then I WON the sketch challenge for February with it!!! A lovely $25 pack from KC was my prize so I chose one of the brand new ranges...Devonshire.

We finished January with  a trip to Perth for Callum's 12th Birthday and to take Caitlyn back to school. We went to the Great Escape last year for Callum's birthday and all the kids wanted to go back again. They have trampolines, mini golf, high ropes, water slides, icecream, kids rides and if that's not enough you can step outside onto the beach and come and go as you please!

You'll notice I'm not in the photos. Nothing unusual, I'm always BEHIND the camera. Phil did manage to sneak one photo of me this time though...

About a week or so before this I went to the pool and ended up with an inner ear infection which turned to Larynthitis (an infection in the inner labryinth of the brain!) I was a bit dizzy at first but by the time we got to Perth I was pretty much not able to do anything without feeling really sick and dizzy. I got through the morning at the Great Escape 9soem sort of "Mother's willpower", then as soon as we ate and played a bit, I crashed out on the lawn outside and couldn't get up! The rest of the holiday was the same, I went downhill pretty quick from here.

We drove home and I went to the doctor and he booked me on a flight back to Perth for an MRI! I was so sick, I couldn't be upright with vomiting and I couldn't lay down because the room was spinning constantly (in the opposite direction to my brain!) I described it as having severe morning sickness on a boat in the middle of a very big swelly ocean, after drinking champagne in the hot sun all day! YUK!

The MRI showed I had Neuritis but luckily the the floaty bits in my brain hadn't joined to form a tumour. I was so sick I almost wished they had so they could cut it out and I would feel better! As it was, there was nothing I could take or do to improve. A couple of months later I am almost back to normal, bar a constant ringing in my right ear and limited hearing in that ear. Also, if it's dark and I can't see, I stumble and fall a lot. No guarantees if I will ever get my hearing back to normal or my balance, but the good news is, it's very unlikely I'll ever get it again. (Well not severely..maybe little "lapses"!)

Phew..think that's enough for one post. I'll be back to get February updated..soon! (Definitely not in 2 years!!) :)