123 Challenge Blog - December

The 123 Challenge Blog has a slightly Christmas feel to it this month so I decided to do anything but Christmas! The metallic is represented by the gold ribbon, flourish and corner accent, the word joy is in the title and because I am not a girly girl I struggled with the bow but it is tucked in there under one of the ribbon roses!
I have told the story of this wedding previously here but wanted to complete a double page for my 'weddings' album. Not all the family were able to make the trek to Sydney but those of us that were able to make it were greeted by this beautiful bride; she arrived first and was able to welcome her guests and spend a few minutes with us prior to entering the wedding venue where the groom was pacing nervously. The day was a little warmer than expected and the happy couple accepted ice cold drinks after the ceremony. I just happened to catch this moment with their drinks in hand. It is not one of the 'official photos but I think it reflects their joy.
Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Once Upon a Sketch - My Favourite Month

I really struggled with this months journaling theme from Once Upon a Sketch; choosing a favourite month is very difficult. I have children's and grandchildren's birthdays and wedding anniversaries in so many months of the year and to pick a favourite would be so wrong! Living in Australia is a little different to the northern hemisphere and our seasons are opposite. I love the cooling months of April and May, the colder months of June to August although we never get snow in my state, and the beautiful spring of September and October when the Australian wildflowers are at their best. I love Christmas in December but the heat of the Aussie summer can be a little overwhelming. I decided to choose one month in the last year. November 2012.

I have a sister and two nephews living in the USA and all of them have birthdays in November so that is often the month I choose to visit them there. In 2012 I had the pleasure of showing my husband some of the USA for the first time and, as the trip was planned around things I thought he would enjoy, we went to Colorado Springs among other places. My husband loves trains and we booked tickets to take the Cog Rail to Pikes Peak. Regular visitors may have realised by now that my favourite colour is blue and although I am not much of a bird fan, I love the elusive Blue Wren that lives in the south of our state. You can imagine my delight when we stopped at a view point and disembarked to walk in the snow and survey the surrounds to spot a Blue Jay. He was the most brilliant blue and quite close but very quick so I was not able to take a photograph of anything except the branch he had just left! I have to thank Google Images for this beautiful photograph. I have a white Christmas on my bucket list; perhaps one day!

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

 

ScrapFriends Palette - November

ScrapFriends has presented us with another beautiful palette this month; I absolutely love the blue/grey but the yellow has always been a bit of a struggle. The papers I have used have been used before and this page will be a companion to others of my family posted here.

Three of my four handsome boys; for some reason I have never been photographed with my young men in all the family photo shoots we have had in the past 15 years. This year I made sure this picture and one of me with each of my sons was taken. From left to right they are my third, forth and second sons. All fine young men who have rarely given me a moments concern. I am and always will be so proud of who they have become. My family is forever. 

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

 

 

Bird is the Word - Always

Bird is the Word has given us a wonderful word for this months challenge and I have chosen to use the sketch as well except the heart frame was replaced with a filigree oval. Making a tag is also a first for me; I have loved looking at them through other blogs and pinterest but have never bothered to do one of my own until I saw this sketch. It was a lot of fun but took nearly as long as a full sized layout!

Always; such a great word and with it comes so much potential so here are a few of the things I came up with... apologies if I am plagiarising some great quote by someone famous!

Today, Tomorrow, Always:

Be True to Yourself

Know that you are loved

Be Kind

Do Your Best

Don't Give Up

Smile, it may change someone's day

Do What is Right

Forgive Your Enemies

Forgive Yourself

Hold onto Your Dreams

I am sure there are many more you could add for yourself... feel free to add your favourites to your comments and have a wonderful day.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes

 

 

Kraft it Up - November Challenge...not!

I was on a scrap retreat on the weekend and had picked up a piece of Kraft cardstock; this is not something I would use very often and I know there is a great challenge site Kraft it Up so I decided to enter their challenge; I am not sure how I did it but I found a page that said 'This month your challenge is to create a layout using a different style than you normally create, for example if you are a textured/layered scrapper try clean and simple... so off I go and I create the page below using the kraft cardstock to separate and frame each layer. Using patterned paper as a significant background is a challenge for me; many of my pages are based on a plain cardstock base and patterned papers are only used as elements. Tonight whilst preparing to upload this page I found the actual challenge is quite different so I cannot enter this page. I wonder where that challenge went?

This is a photo of our beautiful only granddaughter; I was honoured to be invited to be present at her birth. She is surrounded by seven little male cousins so will probably grow up a bit of a tomboy. This page will be the first page of her album; she is soon to be two years old so I thought it was time to get it started!

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

 

 

 

123 Challenge - November

I am not a great fan of stamping; I don't think I am good at it so this challenge from 123 Challenge Blog is a challenge for me. This is another from our family photo shoot in June of this year. This little man is our third grandson and has been through an awful lot for one so young. He has a very strong, quirky character, a trait very much like his Dad. He takes on a different persona depending on his mood that day and comes up with some classic clothing choices and loves hats, these often being the basis of his character that day. His is a 'cool' dude but never too cool for kisses from his lovely Mum.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

 

123 Get Scrappy #4

The 123 Get Scrappy board was an easy one this time; whilst in QLD for my friends wedding I took the opportunity to also spend time with my niece and her little family. We don't get the chance to catch up often as we are on completely opposite sides of the country. You may recognise the family in these photos; my niece Bel is DT for this site. I chose the top three across; mask/stencil, bird, 'family'.
I haven't spent time with Bel since her last trip home and she has added to her family since that last meeting. I was able to stay the night with her and spend some quality time getting to know the children, watch how they interact and playing some serious xbox; a first for me! What I learnt very quickly was that this young lady is an awesome, very organised, loving Mum who with her lovely husband are bringing up some truly beautiful, well mannered little people. We took some selfies just before I left for the airport; the littlest one was fast asleep in his cot.
Thank  you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Sketchabilities #102 and #103!

I have had a busy couple of weeks and am now at a scrap retreat doing a little catch-up; I thought I was doing really well getting Sketchabilities #102 completed only to find #103 came out today; it is fortunate that I had another photo so that I could complete a double page for this event.

Part of the reason I have been busy was being able to travel to Brisbane to attend my friends wedding; not only was I a guest but I was honoured to be her 'proxy' mother of the bride in her own Mum's absence. This beautiful girl and I have been scrapping together for many years and she was a part of a small group of girls who were a wonderful support to me after losing my son. I like to think I was of some support to her through losing her own precious Mum to cancer several years ago. Many evening was spent walking at the lake near our homes in all weathers; talking, shedding a tear and laughing together for the 5km circumference. Now she has moved to Brisbane we scrap by text; many a happy hour spent 'chatting' on line. She was a stunning, beautiful bride on the day and I was so happy to be able to support her in some small way.
Friends are the Family you Choose and Love this Moment.



Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

 

ScrapFriends Sketch Challenge - November

ScrapFriends have brought us another interesting challenge this month; I'm not altogether sure I am happy with the result but wanted to tell the story of this lovely lady.

Jimmie and I met by accident; we happened to be put at the same table and were to share the same room at a scrap retreat several years ago and hit it off immediately. Jimmie has a large family and actively shares in her husband's ministry to the homeless, alcohol and drug affected of a suburb by the sea in my city. I am awed by her courage, strength and commitment to this very challenging work.

Jimmie and her family have to return to the USA every two years to raise more funds to carry on their work here in Australia. Just before leaving this year we celebrated her '0' birthday early so we could spend some quality time with her. The theme for her party was 'Thanksgiving'; not only for her years, her friendship and her mission but also because she is so dear to us; this Girl is Gold. We will miss her and can only hope that she will be able to return to us soon.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

 

Bird is the Word October Challenge - Inspire

Bird is the Word has brought us another interesting challenge word this month - Inspire. I had started with a plan to use the sketch and some elements of it are still there but the page took on a life of it's own as it often does.

I was once asked what or who inspired me with my scrapbooking; I am far from a major talent in this craft but I continue to create because of the story the page tells. My answer to this question was 'My family', the men in my life, the women and children in theirs, my extended family and friends, my favourite places and the stories that belong to all of them. They are the inspiration that keeps me involved in this craft.

I am also inspired by the talents, openness and honesty of others. I have explained in a previous post; You Inspire Me about meeting Heather Jacob, someone I was drawn to by her talent and a shared story of grief. It is interesting that I have titled this page in the same way; it is about meeting Becky Fleck of Pagemaps fame. I can't remember how I came to learn of this great website but I do remember buying her first book and not only looking at the pages there but reading some of the journaling. Her page about losing her faith after losing her friend to cancer really spoke to me and I emailed her. We conversed in this way for a couple of years including the period when I lost my eldest son in an accident. Becky announced a trip to Western Australia in that same year and I contacted her in the hopes of meeting her. She and her lovely husband were very generous with the time they spent with me and I will never forget their compassion and kindness.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

  

Scrap Around the World and ScrapFriends Palette Challenges - October

Scrap Around the World has bought us another beautiful inspiration and sketch this month; my favourite colour in the left top corner popped out at me straight away and I knew what photos I wanted to scrap for this page. This is our beautiful granddaughter; she is a rare gem in our family of four sons and seven grandsons. My son doesn't want her to be a 'pink' little girl which is a good thing since it is not Nan's favourite colour either. We recently went girly shopping and had fun putting this little outfit together. She was staying with us and we were making our way to her Gran's 80th birthday party. We had a few minutes to spare before needing to get into the car so had a mini photo shoot in the front garden. I am lucky she doesn't mind Nan constantly clicking away with the camera and is not averse to striking a pose. This page is titled 'Sassy'.

 

 

 

I have also had time to complete the ScrapFriends palette and because the two palettes were so similar I chose to do a second page of the same subject. Our granddaughter doesn't mind being in front of the camera but she also loves being allowed to use it. I was able to snap these last few photos as she made her way toward me. I have included three small plum coloured pearls on the left and have changed the colour of the butterfly to the deep red. The flowers and pearl/bling flourishes complete the palette. This page is titled 'Sweet'.

 

 

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.



ScrapFriends Sketch, 123 Get Scrappy and Sketchabilities Challenges - October

I guess the title of this post is a little misleading; I haven't combined the challenges as much as completed each one separately but on the same subject which is why I am going to load them together.

First: Scrap friends; I really enjoy these sketches as they push me to work out of my comfort zone. The sketches often ask for multi-layering and that is something I struggle with.
This is our third grandson and many regular visitors will know the trials and tribulations he has been through. These photos were taken at a family gathering for my MIL's 80th birthday but we used it as an opportunity to give our grandson his 4th birthday presents as he would be celebrating mid-week. As soon as the gifts came out he was surrounded by his cousins so that they could see what he had received. It was a magical moment as we do not often get the opportunity to be together as a family. Here is my page for Scrap Friends. Magic 4.

 

123 Get Scrappy is an interesting challenge site as it allows you to choose elements of the challenge; for example I have chosen  3 left to right diagonally: Chipboard; the title, Diamond Shapes, More than three different pattern papers.
We have a tradition in our family; Christmas and birthdays you get a book, DVD or CD, some clothes and a toy or game. All the children know that it is what we give and there are no favourites, no-one gets more than another; here our grandson is opening the card after looking at the book we gave him; it was a Graeme Base book and had some incredible art work in it. The excitement was building as we had already opened and set aside the clothes; that meant the toy was last!
Here is my page for 123 GS. Growing Up.

And finally Sketchabilities; another challenge that pushes me to do more than the norm.

We gave our Grandson Lego but as we were at a function he was not able to undo the package and build it then. The man in the photo helping him to build his toy is not his Dad; he died 6 months before this little fellow was born; this is the man who will help our daughter-in-law guide her little boy through life. This man is now her fiancé; a widower with two children of his own that she will help guide through their lives too. We received these photos by text later the same evening; two thumbs up for a job well done. This is a Magic Moment.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Once Upon a Sketch - October 2013: Journey

Once Upon a Sketch has another great sketch and subject this month; I had wanted to cut the photo into three to match the sketch but they are so close that I could not separate them. The journaling is on the back. This a  companion page to my previous post My Heart Belongs to You; I could not talk of my whole family with such love without concentrating on the reason I have all of them. Many regular visitors to my blog will know I have four wonderful sons, all married, all with children and although one of them is no longer with us here, he is always in our hearts; for the first time in 27 years he is not in the family photos. This is a photo of my husband and our remaining three sons, they are my reason for living, my true north, my first thoughts in the morning and my last at night are for them and their families. They are my childhood dream come true and no matter where I am in the world they are the compass that brings me back home. They are my destiny.

 

Thank you for looking and for any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

  

Combined 1 2 3 Challenge and Sketchabilities - October Challenge

It's not often I get to combine two of my favourite challenge sites but these two just work together so well for this month.

Regular visitors to this blog will know that we have a family photo shoot every five years on or about our wedding anniversary in April. This year we celebrated 35 years of marriage but we were not able to get the whole family together until June due to FIFO and shift work. The photos are always taken outside as we are very much an out of doors family.

Living in the southern hemisphere means that it is winter in June and I had been watching the weather reports for a couple of weeks. This was turning into one of our wettest winters in many years and the forecast for the chosen weekend were dire to say the least with storms and heavy rain predicted. I sent up a prayer both to the Good Lord and our eldest son who would not be with us for the first time. We drove to the park chosen as it is one of our gathering places and it rained almost the whole way with more heavy clouds closing in. The rain stopped when we arrived at the park. All the families arrived and had various photos taken; we gathered together for a shared morning tea and some more casual photos taken of the little ones at play. The family has grown a lot in the past five years and there are now sixteen people in our family photos.

After three hours of fun and photos each of our families and the photographer got into their cars and drove away. My husband and I gathered the last of our things and headed off to watch our third sons game of hockey. The skies opened up as soon as we got into the car and it poured down for several hours and to such an extent that the game was called off.

Our eldest son is not in the photos but I believe he was with us that day; he knew how important these photos are to me and made sure we stayed dry.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

With thanks to Nathan Maddigan Photography

http://123-challenge-blog.blogspot.com.au/
http://sketchabilities.blogspot.com.au/

Let's Get Shabby #50

Buttons - that was the challenge; to make buttons the hero on your layout.

I have been carrying around two incomplete layouts for five years, they were layered, stuck down and stitched but I just could not seem to finish them; every time I took them out I would go through my stash, be unhappy with anything considered and put them away again. I think the size of the photo, 5x7 added to the difficulty but they have such cute faces and I wanted the photo to stand out! This has been going on for five years!

A couple of days ago my niece Bel sent me the Let's Get Shabby challenge to use buttons and I decided it was time to complete the layouts. I tried everything but my style has changed somewhat over the years and it wasn't working for me; to add to my challenge, it is late at night and I had to use only what I had here and had to complete a double layout. I had to do it; I pulled them apart and put them together again and although I am not completely happy with the result - they are finished and there are just few buttons!
My two eldest grandsons who are now seven and half and six; cute Little Rascals and 100% Boys!

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

 

http://letsgetshabby.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/challenge-50-and-introducing-newest.html


 

Bird is the Word Challenge - Dance

I guess this is a slightly different take on the word 'dance'; having a family of boys and one little granddaughter not yet old enough for dance lessons I needed to think outside the square for this challenge page.

This photo is of our second son snorkelling at a large aquarium in our city; the swim was a gift from his wife and I had jokingly asked if she had another motive for giving him this gift for his birthday! I was only slightly less concerned when the guide explained that the this type of shark would not normally attack humans and is kept really well fed. The large turtle is more of a concern as his beak is very sharp and our son was advised to keep his hands close to his body and not to wriggle his fingers. Apparently our son would have loved to have donned a scuba tank for this and actually been able to dive but he has had breathing issues in the past and this made snorkelling his only option.  

We were able to walk around the tank and watch our son from all angles as he made his way through the seascape in his dance with the shark and other creatures in the tank but also interact with his children and us through the water.

Thank you for looking and any comment you may leave, best wishes

http://birdisthewordchallenge.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/new-challenge-word-dance.html

Sketchabilities - Challenge #99

Book week can be quite a difficult time for parents; the little ones often have their super hero's that they wish to represent and those costumes can be very hard for parents to replicate. It is not surprising in this very busy world that parents are apt to hire or buy the costumes for the children, especially when there is more than one child attending school.

A previous post Jack Frost was made using this same sketch and explains a little of our past costumes and the one he is wearing. This photo is of our second grandson who wanted to be Leonardo Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle for book week. He is a funny little fellow who can take on the persona of the character he is pretending to be. I had his face painted as a tiger once and he morphed into a big angry cat so quickly. I imagine his parents took some time to ensure he understood the rules relating to his behaviour when he was in this costume. The boys' dad had used a roll of gaffa tape and several newspapers to make the staff for 'Jack Frost' and the sword for 'Leonardo'.  Their Dad is FIFO and only home for seven days out of twenty one so he was thrilled to be there on this special day in his son's school year and to be able to help their Mum with their costuming.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

http://sketchabilities.blogspot.com.au/

123 Get Scrappy - Challenge #2

Stamping: the journal spot, Die Cut: the stars and small tag, Back to school: my second grandson on his first day at kindy.

This photo is a year old and I am trying to catch up on some album pages so this challenge was a great way to get another done. I have been carrying this paper and these photos around for some time and wasn't getting the inspiration I needed to complete them. I was flipping through my sketch file last night and found a wonderful sketch from Page Drafts that just seemed to be exactly what I needed; I am on retreat for the weekend so I stayed up until 3am this morning just so I could finish it!

I can't believe how fast time is flying; it seems only yesterday we were cradling this new little bundle, our second grandson in our arms and all of a sudden he is getting ready for his first day of kindy. He looks so tiny and just a little nervous. We have been honoured to be invited to his class room in the past two years for Grandparents day and it is lovely to see him growing, learning and interacting with  his teachers, peers and little friends.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

http://123getscrappy.blogspot.com.au/

Lets Get Shabby - Seasons

I love the seasons and those inspiration cards are so beautiful; I chose the winter one. I would love to see snow like this and hopefully will one day on one of my trips to Colorado to see my sister.
I have always made my son's costumes for book week; it all started with our eldest at Pre-School and a costume to go as the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz. I spent many hours over several days wrapping card stock with aluminium foil and tying the pieces together with macramé rope; I made the hat out of an actual kitchen funnel and punched holes in it to tie it on his head under his chin.

Several years and many costumes followed culminating in the whole family going to a friend's Medieval themed 18th birthday party dressed as the knights and lady of the realm. This was the last of my costume making days. My grandsons are now beginning to celebrate book week at their schools and I love receiving the photos their parents send through.

I recently purchased 'The Rise of the Guardians' DVD for the grandchildren to watch on the recommendation of my next sister. It is a beautiful cartoon movie celebrating the old characters we knew and loved as children; Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, the Sandman, the Man in the Moon and the Tooth Fairy fighting a dark character Pitch Black who sends Nightmares to children shaking their belief in the good characters. Our eldest grandson thoroughly enjoyed it and it has now become a favourite; he chose to be Jack Frost for book week and his parents did an awesome job of his makeup with white face-paint and glitter through his hair, on his face and sprinkled on his shoulders; he was the only one in the school as this character and won the day. I was so thrilled his parents when to such effort for him.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

http://letsgetshabby.blogspot.com.au/

123 Challenge Blog - September

I don't have very many photos of my brother, the eldest of the four of us. He was both a serving member of the police force for over 25 years and worked mostly in the north of our very large state; he also was a member of the reserve army which took him away for periods of time.
He has four children also; a son and three daughters, the same configuration as us as siblings. Dad left very early on in our childhood so our brother was the only male in a household of females; I guess he had plenty of history in dealing with women to enable him to bring up three beautiful girls.
The bride is his eldest, the second to be married, this photo being taken in December 2010. She is an accomplished teacher and now the mother of a gorgeous little boy. The middle girl is the middle sister, Bel Woods with whom I scrapbook by text and email as she lives on the other side of Australia, she is the mother of a little girl and three boys. The youngest of the three sisters has been travelling in Europe for the last few years and has only recently returned home.
I know my brother is very proud of his girls and the beautiful young women they have become; his sweet daughters.
Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

 

http://123-challenge-blog.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/septembers-challenge.html

Bird is the Word - Travel/Explore Challenge

I have a sister that lives and works in the USA; in order to be allowed to work as a trauma nurse there she needed to travel to the USA in March of 1998 to sit an exam. She was already well travelled and knowing how much I have wanted to travel, she kindly offered me the opportunity of accompanying her. She was required to sit the exam in Los Angeles and wanted to visit a friend in Boston and spend a few days in New York but was happy for me to choose where we travelled after that. I chose to spend a few days in London, see Oxford and spend some time in Paris as I had spent three years learning French in high school and had fallen in love with the idea of seeing this great city. I also needed and wanted to be home for our 20th anniversary on the 8th of April which very much limited our time away. We went around the world on nine flights in twenty days!

I was fortunate to spend time in Disney Land, walk on the Boston Common and see the beautiful copper domes, travel through the snow covered country side to Amish Country in Pennsylvania and go to the top of the Empire State building and stand in the crown of the statue of Liberty. I spent two days wandering around London, touched the ancient walls of the Roman baths and stood in front of Buckingham Palace. We flew to Paris and arrived mid afternoon and after checking into our hotel wandered through the nearby streets to find some dinner. In the morning we walked through Montmartre to Sacre Coeur, climbed the steps to the top and turned to see the city laid out below. We  returned to our hotel to catch a three hour city tour bus which would give us a snapshot of the city as we only had sixteen hours here before our flight home. The driver took us to the Arc de Triomphe and although not allowed, quickly stopped so we could get out look down the Champs Elysee to the Eiffel Tower. We were standing on the balcony in a gentle rain on a very overcast day looking upon the landmark and tears came to my eyes; I could not believe my childhood dream had come true and I had finally arrived. It was a moment that I will never forget.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes. 

http://birdisthewordchallenge.blogspot.com.au/

123 Get Scrappy Challenge #1

I was introduced to this new challenge site by my lovely niece Bel Woods who has been selected to be on the initial design team;  Bel is such a wonderful choice, she has such a quirky style and is completely self taught. The challenge is to play tic tac toe with the squares; choose a straight line of three and use these in your LO. I chose the top three across: hexagons, red, brads: I am not fond of red and I don't like brads and rarely use them so this one pushed me a little. You will notice some red accents and I slid 5 brads down one side of the photo, I just couldn't use them in any other way!

This is a photo of my scrapbooking friends, the ones that have helped and supported me over the past 4 years since we lost our eldest son and I cannot thank them enough for their friendship. I guess I am the groups organiser; I have worked in marketing for 7 years and love putting together events. To thank them for their love and to have some fun, I organise two camps a year. I also organise the 0 birthdays e.g. 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th (I won't say who has celebrated which!). We have had Lis's, Tamara's and Kay's birthday parties all themed for what I think is appropriate for each; in October last year we celebrated Kate's 0 birthday a nautical themed party as she loves the sea. I wanted to go on a boat cruise but many of the girls suffer from motion sickness so we had to stay on land. I organised a guided tour of the Maritime Museum in Fremantle followed by tea on the lawn, a walk along the beach to watch the sunset and a sea food dinner. This photo was taken outside the museum among the anchor and chains from a local ship wreck; the whole group together, only one unable to be present due to illness. I am looking forward to organising Jimmie's and Peta's 0 parties later this year.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

 

 

http://123getscrappy.blogspot.com.au/

Once Upon A Sketch - August



Our third grandson at our fourth grandsons birthday party; I have written of this little man several times but it is here that I explained that he is actually in a wheelchair in this photo and how he came to be there.

His wonderful personality shone through when I saw him at the hospital the day after his accident. His little face lit up when I walked into the room even though he was in a box splint and traction with cords and pulleys everywhere. He wanted to show me everything that he had to keep him busy while he was recovering but first he needed to show me what would happen when he leaned back and grabbed the cords behind the bed. 'Look Nan' and he pulled the cords forward; his boxed leg swung up into the air and back down again all while he was laughing... mostly at the reaction of the adults surrounding his bed! He has such spirit, such heart, such a wonderful personality, a beautiful smile and his Dad's lovely blue eyes. I will never forget the courage he shows in adversity.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.
 

http://onceuponasketchblog.blogspot.com.au/