Will be back shortly... Promise...

Russell is moving things around the study which has meant that my computer has moved into Joshua's room... Now there is no WiFi card in the computer... This means that I have to wait for the card to come from down south. Hopefully it will not be too long...

So much to tell... So much to share. Can't wait to show you the piccies. :)

Cheers Damaris

Yesterday Morning's surprise...

This is what I woke up to... How glorious... Wish all days started like that. Love it when the clouds are so low and the fog hangs around till after 9am :)

The weather is turning crisp now and even in the afternoon after 5pm you can really feel the nip in the air... Not that it is time for wood burning just yet. :) Still plenty of rugging up to do before that happens. lol

Cheers Damaris

For the nesting boxes...

Lovely shredded paper for my hens. :)

One of our lovely neighbours, Bruce, came over the other day with a couple of huge bags of shredded paper... Boy did I love using them in the chook house. I usually use wood shavings but with the shredded paper they tend to throw less of it out of the box. Does compact allot quicker though. Was great to get it from Bruce and apparently he will continue to bring it from time to time when he has some.

Cheers Damaris

Square foot gardening...

Here are the sides all painted with decking oil so that they will survive better in the weather... Now we just have to put them together and fill them. :) Hope that happens this weekend. :)

Cheers Damaris

Timothy being cute...

When Joshua came home from Hospital with a cast on his wrist his first comment was: "That's on the same side of your body as where I had my three pins in my shoulder"... hmmmmm

Then he went back to his computer while I made Joshua comfortable on the couch... Then about ten minutes later Timothy called me into his room and asked me to take a picture of what he had made for Joshua... So that he could see it, seeing he couldn't get off the couch... The above photo Timothy made for Joshua in one of his games... How cute is he???

Cheers Damaris

New era...

Tiffany on her last day...

Well Tiffany has sold her lovely shop in Warwick and new people have taken over... Flavio will never be the same again. I am sad that she is gone but know that it must have been hard to travel to and from Brisbane every day six days a week... I couldn't have done it for that long...

New adventures await for her and am sure I will see her again soon. :) If not then we will always have Facebook. lol And the good thing about the new owners is that they are keeping Stephanie on so can still go there and get my awesome pedicures. :)

Cheers Damaris

Feeling special...

For the last three days I have had my right wrist in my splint. The splint that I got from Ipswich Hospital when I was there to have the benign tumour removed 1.5yrs ago. Whenever it gets aggravated it is great to have and to wear for the day or the night. Well this week it is not settling down at all... Was in so much pain yesterday that I couldn't even sweep the floor in time for when Russell got home from Brisbane. I abandoned the task...

So what does Russell come home with for me??? A lovely bunch of flowers... To cheer me up. Not because it is Mother's Day on Sunday... Just because... I usually like plants that have roots on them so that I can plant them but this was such a lovely surprise. Thank you so much Darling. :)

Cheers Damaris

What the???

This is what I saw when I was getting Joshua processed for Emergency Easter Sunday... All three of them. Actually all of us as I had my iPhone camera going to get the shot. Lol

Cheers Damaris

Joshua in the wars... again...

Joshua's right knee...

And wrist in plaster...

Old one coming off for up to date x-rays

New plaster going back on late yesterday afternoon...

So he goes to the Skate park two days in a row... First day no dramas at all. Had a great time. Second day we went just after I picked up Timothy so that they could both kill a couple of hours... Them at the park and me... well I wanted to check out the Lesley Park Easter Saturday Markets didn't I...

When I got back from checking out the markets here was a boy had been crying for a while and was in allot of pain. Joshua's knee had swollen quite a bit and his wrist was sore too. Luckily he had his helmet on as his head would have hurt as well... I love it that my boys never forget their helmets. One thing that they are never allowed to go without.

Anyway we went home, gave him some pain relief and all went to bed for the night. On Easter Sunday at 7am we were off to the Emergency Department at Warwick Hospital as his knee had gotten worse though his wrist still annoyed him it was not too bad.

Got there and had his leg put into a rigid splint and now he had crutches as well. We got paperwork for him to get his knee and wrist X-rayed as soon as the Hospital was open again after the holidays or before if they rang us. Well they did ring us and on the Monday we went up there again...

This time he also came home with a cast on his wrist as he had broken it... So now only one crutch, a rigid splint and a cast. Oh what fun... He stayed home on the Wednesday from school but ended up going on the Thursday and from then on as he was too eager to get back to school...

Yesterday we had a follow up appointment with the Fracture Clinic and it was reconfirmed that he would need a cast for another four weeks. The rigid splint and crutches have been returned but he is still wearing a pressure bandage as it is helping the last of the fluid around the kneecap to go down.

He is very proud of the fact that he is the first in Russell's side of the family to get a cast on... :) He has been such a good sport through all of this and has tried hard to keep his weight off his knee. Writing has been a little difficult but he is getting there... What he is most annoyed about is that he can't do Cross Country running in a couple of weeks that he had been practicing for for a long time... At least he will be in one piece again after all the healing is done...

Cheers Damaris

Oh the views...

Spring Creek Cafe View :)

Like this view also... Tasted great :)

View behind the camper. :)

Top view of Queen Mary Falls :)

View down to the bottom of the Falls...

When we were camping, I organised the boys to look after the kids and my sister and sister-in-law and I took off on the Sunday afternoon and had afternoon tea at the Spring Creek Cafe... Oh what a view. It was beautiful also were we were staying... here are some photos to show what I mean. Not that they do justice to the actual view... But you get the idea. :)

Cheers Damaris

Camping... Finally...

Our camper trailer...

My Nephew Alexander slipped over in the mud and didn't mind. lol

My brother Markus, sister Tina and I at Queen Mary Falls...

Timothy and his mud ball :)

Timothy feeding the local wild life...

Joshua tried to get around and still managed to have allot of fun :)

There were even hanging plants in the showers. :)

Glowsticks were a hit. Joshua's smiley face on the right was cool. :)

Loved the heat from the fires...

Last weekend we finally got to try out the new camper trailer. It never happened in the summer holidays as it poured raining too much but this time we had a little drizzle on the first afternoon and then just pure sunshine...

They had had rain there at Queen Mary Falls Caravan and Camping Park for the last two weeks. It stopped when we got there. There was mud everywhere I must say but that didn't deter us from having a great time. Greg one of the owners towed us in there as our I30 would have just gotten bogged...

We set everything up and so did Tina and her family and then later came Markus and his family. In all there were six adults and seven kids. Man did we have a great time. :)

The bonfires each night were great too. Marshmallows and glow sticks completed the experience. Timothy loved building his mud balls and made a couple of young friends. He loved playing in the creek and going for the bush walk to the Falls...

It was such a precious time to spend with my brother and sister and their families. I treasure it so much... I hope next time all five siblings can be there... I really hope so. :)

All in all the camper did really well. We are so happy with it. Though I think Russell wants to get the foam mattress changed over to an innerspring... Wuss I say... I reckon in another couple of trips we will have it all under control and will have everything set up the way we like it. Getting to be a great routine. :)

Cheers Damaris

Look at the little cuties...

Babies hitching a ride on top of Mum...

The three babies on their own...

When we were camping last weekend, Joshua found a Cunningham's Skink and her three babies... They got carried around for a while and lots of photos where taken... Then they were put back to where they came from. Very tolerant they were. :)

Cheers Damaris

James can butter his own bread...

James buttering his own bread...

When I was staying with Margaret last time I also got to witness something most fantastic... James was after some bread to dip into his Tomato soup... All the buttered ones where gone so he got one out of the bowl that was not buttered. He made noises like he wanted it buttered...

Margaret gave him the knife with some butter on it and what do you know??? He buttered it himself, wiped the knife on the outside of the bread and tucked into it. :) First time we didn't get it on camera but we did the second time.

I felt sooooo much honour being able to witness this huge step... For this 10yr old autistic boy to do this is just so amazing to watch... Tears well up each time I just think about it...

He is such a growing boy... Learning each day... Well done Margaret for persevering... My hat goes off to you Darling... :)

Cheers Damaris

RIP Karma...

Beautiful Karma...

Her beautiful grave...

My very dear and close friend Margaret and her boys Dylan and James have lost a very dear friend... Karma was 14 years old and I had the privilege to spend her last night alive with her and Margaret. I stayed up with Margaret till 4:30am and then we just couldn't keep awake anymore... Later that day, Margaret took Karma to the vet who confirmed that she had advanced stomach cancer... She was put to sleep... To be in pain no more...

Karma you have been there for so much of Margaret's life and all of the boys lives... It has been a privilege to know you for the last seven years... You will always be remembered and never forgotten...

Cheers Damaris

Bringing home the mail...

Chico and his mail... :)

My Mum and Step Dad have gotten a new puppy... Chico is his name as he is a dark brown Labrador... He is just too cute for words...

Here he is bringing home mail with Andy. :)

Cheers Damaris