Take a nap will you!!

At the moment my Dad is really struggling with Mollie being in the house. He's stressed out anyway as he loses his job soon but a VERY active and loud 7 year old under his feet all the time isnt helping :( He had to do some painting in the house today so to get Mollie out of the way we took her and Caitlin to the farm. Obviously needed to take the pups along too :)

It was Poppys first visit and she is NOT a fan of the goats! Was nice to get them out though. The kids ran around and played and Mum and I sat and chatted so hope I helped out a little bit. Both kids are now shattered, particually after Cameron getting up at 5:50 this morning! I've forced them to lie down and watch a bit of TV in the hope they have a nap but I can't see it happening.
Might need to start scrapping again soon, almost finished sharing all the layouts I did on my retreats! Another double page one here, this time from Wicksteed parks Autumn fun day.

The fun days are great because they put out a lot of messy play, simple things to do and just let the kids run wild. It's all free and my two love it :)

Once I've started.....

I'm dreadful for starting something, half finishing it and moving onto another job. Problem is a lot of the time I cant finish one job until another one is done iykwim. For example I'm halfway through sorting the garage, but I keep finding things which really could go into the loft, but we had the insulation replaced last year and all the loft boards got pulled up so I need to fix that before I can empty the garage. See the issue. So this morning I went up into the loft, dragged everything down (HOW much Christmas stuff do I have?!) sorted it all out and reboxed it all. Tomorrow I need to fix the boards, put it all back then I can start in the garage again lol. It's taking all my willpower not to start the kitchen and the kids rooms in the meantime ;)
One of the things I did find in the loft was our wedding album. I use that term loosely as we had literally 9 photos from the day. Our photgrapher let us down and as its usually me taking pictures at events not many ended up being taken. :( My first ever scrapbooking attempt was to make them into an album and its safe to say it's dreadful!!! Hopefully I can pull the photos off and salvage it a bit.

Away from my dreadful first attempt and onto some of my slightyl better ones from Meadowbarn lol. More double layouts this time from the summer fun day at Wicksteed park. Annoyingly I discovered that I had left a couple of photos I wanted to use in these at home but sure I will scrap those at a later date. :)

Love the picture of Caitlin being a dog with a jelly bone :)

Tonight Caitlins staying at my Mums for a sleepover so will be nice to spend some time with Cameron, and maybe get started on some of my many, many craft projects I need to start!

Busy busy :)

This morning we left the house at 8:30 to take kids to school. We had a few errands to run afterwards and I figured we'd be home by 11 at the latest, I walked in the back door at 1:45 just in time to walk out the front door to get to the 2pm PTA meeting lol.
Well all that went well, kids are now fed and relaxing before bed so in my wisdom I decided to wrap some birthday gifts. When I was sorting the garage the other day I found a pile of Christmas gifts I forgot to give out, plus a load of things I bought in the sales for birthdays in the summer so thought I might as well organise them along with the gifts I had stashed in the wardrobe. Yeah I had NO idea how much was in there! This was the pile I ended up with.

Along with a pair of brand new Next shoes I have no memory of buying :s My Mum is dreadful for doing stuff like this so obviously shes passed it down to me lol.
Back at Meadowbarn I seemed to do a lot of double layouts. I don't usually but it was a good way of using lots of photos from the same event, which I have a LOT of! :) This was one I did from the homestart trip to Twin lakes this summer. As I work for them I get to go along so its a nice perk for me and the kids. :) They're good friends with the kids from the family I work with so it all works out well.

Still using up those little coloured dot stickers. Haven't been able to find them anywhere yet but will keep looking!

Too much stuff!!!

With Spring just around the corner its time for a spring clean, so thought I'd start the worst area first and tackle a bit of the garage. As you can see its not the neatest of areas!

The majority of the is junk, junk and more junk with some outside toys and garden seating chucked in. Mark is a bit of a horder so a lot of stuff ends up shoved in here to keep it out of the way. The loft isnt much better! So a few hours, lots of items chucked and moved about and to be honest it doesn't look that different lol. I did find lots of bits I forgot I had though, including a load of alphas so not a complete waste of time ;)
Once I'm done (or as done as I'm going to get today) I plan to play a bit with this :) My SJ crafts kit came this morning and omg I love it! The colours are gorgeous and the embellishments are adorable :)

Problem is I love both sides!

Was funny when I took this picture. I always lay the papers out on the rug in the livingroom as thats where the best light is, so took them all, laid them all out so pretty........ just as Scamp escaped from the bath. So I threw myself over the kit like it was a bomb, shouting at the soaking wet, bubbly dog to STAY! Marks trying to catch him which obviously makes it a game so he runs about even more. Wish I had a camcorder could have been on you've been framed! Managed to catch him though and kit is safe. Phew!

Welllllllllll

So this morning I lost my temper with a midwife and my sister went for me lol. So the meeting wasn't exactly the calm, simple discussion I thought it would be. The midwife is new to the team (obviously) and seems to be beliving all the stuff Nicola tells her. At the last meeting she was calling Nicola a lovely girl, a wonderful Mum etc and I kept my mouth shut. This morning one of the girls teachers asked why Mollie had been removed but the other girls were remaining at home. I pointed out there is no bond between my sister and Mollie and the midwife told me not to talk so aggressivly to my sister! I retorted saying I was nice 4 years ago when this started I'm not now, she then accused Mollie of choosing to go to my Mums because she got more attention there and she should be at home with Nicola because Nicola gave birth to her. I lost it at this point, pointing out all the incidents Nicola had been drunk or otherwise intoxicated while caring for the girls and that she didn't have a right just because she gave birth. Nicola jumped in accusing Mum of taking Mollie and when I reminded her she gave Mum Mollie and also offered her Evie she went for me. Ah its all good fun! Nicola stormed out and the midwife admitted she doesn't have all the information (so dont make judgements then!) and it calmed down from there but I was still seething. Theres another meeting in a few weeks my Mum is trying to get time off to go to but we'll see. She feels bad for me as obviously I go in and while the workers might agree with me I know they can't argue my point too much or else Nicola will shut down and not allow them to help the girls so I don't have anybody backing me up. To be honest I don't mind that but shes my Mum and she frets. She's been fretting for a while tbh, everyone has. Apprently I seem really depressed and just 'going through the motions' I don't think I am :s but Mum, Mark and my Gran all do so they're all worried about me. No idea what to say to them as I think I'm ok. Odd situation.
Well away from odd things back to layouts I've done :) This was the sketch Fiona submitted for February. I was a bit worried as I don't do misting so I put it off until the Twilight retreat where I decided to give it a go.

I love the result! I got this paper in a swap or a grab bag or something ages ago. Its got a special resist layer on it so where I spray the blue mist I can wipe it off and it leaves this pattern :)
As the background was so pretty I used a couple of frames, note papers and embellishments and I was done! Photos are from Turkey, we went on a boat trip and Caitlin wouldn't come into the sea as it was too deep. I promised I'd hold her up but still took her a while to give it a go.

Well after today I think I've earned an easy night and a glass of wine ;)

More layouts

Well today seemed much longer than it probably was. Did boring housework in the morning, made some puppets in the school in the afternoon then took Caitlin to Rainbows. Theres a social services meeting tomorrow which always worries me but hopefully won't be any big revelations.
Good job I still have lots of layouts to share otherwise would be a very short post! I really like this one despite how simple it is. I bought this paper range as it's called Cameron so lets face it I had to really didnt I ;) It had so much detail down the left hand side I just added a few bits of scrap paper and covered a frame in washi tape and done! Love how simple yet colourful it is :)

My next one was for the Sketchy Scrappers challenge this month. As well as this sketch Sandra Fowle gave us a selection of colours to choose from too to add an extra element of challenge :)

The colours were greens, pinks, and teals so I did this one.

Didn't turn out quite as I planned it but still pleased with it overall :)

Mum needs a day planner

Today was,,,,,interesting lol. This afternoon I met my Mum and Mollie to take Mollie to our local Junior school where she will be starting after Easter. The look around went quite well, the classes seemed nice and the school looked good (relief for me as Cameron goes there in September) but they didn't give us a starting date or class. When we bumped into my sister and Evie who were touring the infants they had, so we decided to go back after I collected my two from school. Thats where it started to go wrong. When I collected Caitlin she was bawling her eyes out, turns out Evie is starting in her class. Now she loves her cousin but Evie is very overpowering at times and we have had issues with Evie not wanting anyone else to play with Caitlin at Rainbows, I calmed her down and had a word with the teacher who assured me she would keep an eye on it and I've promised Caitlin if it becomes an issue I'll sort it out so will need to cross my fingers and hope it works out atm. So one drama subdued we went back to the juniors. Good job we did as turns out we need all kinds of paperwork including a letter from our social worker stating that Mollie is currently living with mum. So walking back to my house I rung to ask for one, conversation went like this:
Me - Hi can I speak to **** please
Receptionist - No sorry shes out on a home visit at the moment can I take a message?
Me - Yes Its Gemma Steele calling about Mollie Cameron could she ring me back please?
Receptionist - Oh, isn't she on a home visit with you?
Me *confused* - No, Mum do we have a meeting with the social worker?
Mum - Oh ****!!!!
Yes we did! Turns out she was coming to Mums to talk to Mollie, which Mum forgot about lol. So we had to run to mums, desperatly ringing my Dad and Mark who were both at mine with the kids and the keys! Finally got through and though we had to sit in the garden with the SW for a bit it turned out ok lol.
Things never go smoothly do they?!
So back to layouts :) On my last retreat I actually did very little scrapping, so unlike me! But I did finish a couple that I started a while ago then got bored of. They arn't the best ever but they're done!
This is what happens when Mark falls asleep and Caitlin gets bored ;)

This was a really simple one to use some of the squares which were left from die cutting lots of polaroid frames. The picture is from last summer where Caitlin and Cameron were trying to give each other a kiss but the helmets kept bumping instead :)

Tomorrow should be a much more boring day lol.

Drive home :(

This weekend has gone so quick!! :( I've had an amazing time though got very little scrapping done lol. The hotel was amazing and the staff so helpful. Cant wait until next year! Hopefully there will be a big enough gap I can stay the Sunday night too as I think that would have allowed me to relax a bit more. Still had fun though :) Last night was bingo and fancy dress, I didn't dress up but OMG the costumes of those who did were amazing! I don't have any pictures which is odd as I'm sure I took some but will put some up after the ladies put them on facebook. :) Gave us all a giggle when they walked though the lobby as they got some odd looks!
back to scrapping this was my attempt at the challenge. There was a cd envelope inside so I added that and used it to put the tickets and map of Disney inside. I didn't bother entering it in the end as it was nowhere near the standard but at least its done :)

Now this I was proud of :) For the third challenge Leslie gave us a wooden door hanger to alter. As soon as I saw it I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I came back last weekend with lots of scraps and crafty bits to give to Caitlin so wanted to make a minecraft themed door hanger for Cameron. Think it turned out quite well :)

Didn't win but the standard of the others was amazing so I wasn't surprised lol.
After a lovely morning I set off. Earlier than I intended but I was getting myself into such a state worrying about the drive I was worried about working myself up into a full blown panic attack. :( I haven't had one in a long time but I didn't want to risk it. Luckily the drive was nowhere near as bad as before. The roads were busy and it took almost an hour longer than usual but it wasn't so hectic and there wern't as many trucks driving what seemed like inches from my side. Glad to be home but sad that I won't see any of the girls for another year :(
The kids were excited to see me :) Scamp going mad as he did last time lol. Cameron was thrilled with his door hanger so was made up :) It's hard to make things for him as he's a boy and most crafty things are girly so was pleased to make this for him :) Good thing I left today in the end as I'm pretty much ready for bed lol. Amazing how tiring a weekend doing nothing can be!

One and only full day here :(

Wow, what a difference this hotel is to the other one! Our meal was amazing and very efficient. The view at night out the window is beautiful as we're on top of a hill so can see all the lights from the factories and houses down below. Our dinner was delicious and I had the added bonus of finding a slip under my plate saying I had won a prize! Turns out as well as challenges etc Leslie has a few spot prizes to be found over the weekend and I got the first one! I was allowed to pick form a variety of choices, or one of two mystery boxes. I can never resist a surprize so piced one of the boxes and these were inside :)

Love all the bits and cant go wrong with a chocolate orange! :) After dinner we had a quiz which was funny but as usual I think I knew maybe two answers lol again including the Disney one ;) My team came second though so not too shabby! Next thing I knew it was 1:30 and time for bed. I did get there later than I'd hoped but time did seem to fly by. Haven't done any standard layouts yet but I've been doing the project life style ones to use up some photos from Disneyland. Unsurprisingly I took a LOT of photos, most of which are just general photo spot ones with no big story behind them so this is a great way to still scrap them :) If I'm honest I don't enjoy doing these as much as usual layouts, they're similar to a mini book as theres not much room to do anything but feels good to make that photo pile a bit smaller :)

So after an early start this morning (up at 7 so bit later than lat weekend) I had breakfast then back to scrapping :) Leslie has set a challenge which is to create a project using only the papers she gave us so will try that sometime this afternoon. I'm not great at those type of challenges so not expecting to win but will give it a shot :) It's nice to not have to rush and race to classes, gives more time to chill out and chat. Though time seriously does seem to be racing by! I think it's because I know I don't have that long as usual, I can't stop thinking about having to drive back tomorrow, already starting to panic a little, better scrap more to take my mind off it :)

HATE driving!!!

Last night was much more fun than expected. The play center was empty as usual so the kids just ran off and played, it tired them out well enough that i was home, bed for them and a nice dinner for me and Mark :)
Today didn't go quite so well lol. Packed up the car and set off for what should have been a 2 and a half hour drive.......4 hours later I arrived! OMG the traffic was dreadful! Roads were heaving, roadworks were busy and there was a guy in front of me with his hazzards on for 20 minutes driving at half the speed limit. I'm not a confident driver at the best of times so was a mess when I finally got there :( Haven't had to use my breathing exercises to calm me down in a while but had to use them then.
So drive from hell over the hotel is amazing :) My room is huge and the bed very comfy, I even have a balcony! Actually feel guilty being here without Mark lol. The crop room is great too, Lesley has gone way above and beyond with big jars of sweets, tea/coffee and lots of prizes set out for over the weekend. Its great to see everyone too, some I've not met but a lot are girls from Sarahs cards who I know. Very excited!
Havent had a chance to do any scrapping yet so still sharing ones from last weekend :) This is a really simple on as I love this photo so really just wanted to highlight it.

Not too fond of this one, think the title should have been one set of alphas rather than lots iykwim. This Was from when we bought the 'Im a celebrity' game from iceland. Basically snakes and ladders but if you go up a ladder you eat something nice (marshmallow or brownie) and if you go down a snake you eat something yuk (snot balls or grubs) Cameron loved it but Caitlin had to eat one grub (ghnocci) and refused to play anymore. lol.

Well off to enjoy my evening with some lovely, crazy ladies :)

What day is it today?

Well this morning was difficult :( was walking back from the school with scamp when a fluffy lab type looking dog ran up. He wasn't hurting scamp but obviously I didn't know him so picked scamp up. Was walking away when I heard a man screaming and swearing. The dog ran over and the man started kicking him really badly and screaming at him. Was so schooling and upsetting. Hurried home and reported it to the RSPCA but with only a description of the guy and no proof I'm not expecting them to do anything. Not the best start to the day though :(
On a better note I booked tickets to Disney on ice for me, mum and the girls. I'm trying to get over my fear of driving new places so figure that booking the tickets will give me the push I need to drive to the NIA which tbh terrifies me, not until October though so gives me time to psych myself up! On the note of driving I need to drive to Cheshire tomorrow which is kinda scary. It's near where I used to go for Sarah's cards retreat so hopefully shouldn't be too bad as most of it is familiar, with the car overheating the other day though I'm still panicking :s first I need to panic about taking Caitlin, Caitlin's friend Rosie and Cameron to a play enter tonight. Why did I think that would be a good idea?!
Anyway more layouts ;) and again Photos from turkey. At our hotel was a candy floss machine which the kids loved. Every night they were good we'd bribe them with some candy floss. In retrospect giving them pure sugar before bed wasn't the best idea but they enjoyed it ;)

Next is Caitlin on a boat trip. For some reason she was really against getting her photo taken this holiday, so when I bought her this fan from the market she loved using it to hide behind. Cute photos anyway :)

Plan to relax and chill out with mark tonight before I run off again for a couple of days. Thank goodness for my mum! Think I owe her a very good mothers day gift!

Up to date again :)

This morning Scamp was sitting on my knee quite happy so I tried to take a photo of us, then the two crazy ones jumped in lol. Love the photo I ended up with though :)

Well this morning was supposed to be a social services meeting but its been moved to next week so I used the time to tidy about and catch up with online jobs (bills, paperwork etc) Im out all day tomorrow so wanted to use the time as productivly as possible. Short of a little ironing I'm all prepped for the weekend again now :) Went shops with my Mum to restock the cupboards and got lots of things that were reduced to pennies as the lines are being discontuned. Love a bargain :)
So now I'm all ready I admit I'm feeling a bit better about going away again. :) Dont think I'll book two so close together again though, even a week gap would do but its just too much to organise so close together. Will be worth it though this time round :)
So more layouts! More form Turkey lol. This photo was taken as Caitlin and Evie were sitting on my Dads knee and she was pretending they were squashing him, they were cracking up! Love how natural their smiles are :)

Another Turkey one, was trying to get a nice photo of Cameron but he was having none of it. *rolls eyes*

Should be dancing tonight with the girls but Mollie isn't feeling too well so Caitlin doesn't want to go either, so a nice night cuddled up with dvd is on the cards :)

Getting back into routine

It always takes me a little while to get back into things when I've been away, even if it's only been a couple of days. This time though I need to get right back into it as off again on Friday! So dropped kids at school, did the shopping (can't believe how much they ate in one weekend!) then home to catch up on household jobs. This afternoon was my sisters 12 week scan and I went along. Was nice to see the baby and all was well, but given the situation was a bittersweet moment. Better get used to it I guess!
Oh well, plenty of layouts left to share ;) This one I did with some lace paper Jess gave me. There was a swap table at the retreat but it was mainly me and Jess who used it, could have saved space in the car and just swapped bits at home ;) More photos from Turkey. We bought these rubber rings from Tesco before we left as last time the cost of inflatables there was crazy! Good job too as this year all we did was lie around the pool, eat and swim. Kids were never off the rings!

I LOVE this photo of Caitlin. She was digging in the water, using a collander, and getting annoyed it wasn't making a hole. You've got to love her :)

Home now :)

Well last night was so funny! The most I've laughed in ages. :) The girls came back from dinner after having a few wines and were very giggly. Tara made a batch of Pimms which made the whole thign worse lol. if I'm honest I can't remember half of the things were laughing at, except when Fiona got all excited about finding a chocolate in the shape of a shrimp, but most of us were in tears by the end of it. :) Was a lovely way to end the weekend.
This morning was an early start to get home. Drive was pretty uneventful until we were about 20 minutes from home when the car overheated and we had to stop :( Jess was very understanding and we were soon on our way again :) Scamp went MAD when I got home! Jumping on me, licking me and following me around. :) Nice to be missed. I did ask Mark if he missed me over the weekend and this was the reply:

Sarky begger.
I've done some unpacking but haven't bothered with my tote as will be packing it again in a few days so just left that by the window. have photographed the layouts I did though :)
This was a photo from Turkey last year. Ive had the background paper for a while but wanted the perfect photo for it. You might not see too well in the photo but it says 'I love my family' over and over with little doodled pictures. I made the tag with some washi and a rub on and lots of little epoxy stickers in the top left corner. I got a sheet in a swap I think and I love them. I think they're from Wilkinsons or something, will keep an eye out for more.

I love these papers. I think I put them in my most recent counterfeit kit I'm not sure. I ended up killing 3 kits while away and I think a few got a little mixed up ;) These are also photos from Turkey and I love Camerons face in them!

Thats all I'll bore you with for now. Ended up doing 22 layout which didnt beat my record but still pretty good :)

Sunday

Another early morning this morning lol. Watch ill go home and be waking at 7am when the alarm goes off shattered! Not leaving until tomorrow so could relax and enjoy today. First thing I decided to go through my buttons and sort them out as there were a fair few I didn't like. Made for a pretty photo too ;)

Typically as we were inside all day the weather was amazing! We took some lovely photos outside but the owner was letting her dogs run around the garden which spoiled it a bit. I love dogs dont get me wrong but when they're been swimming in a smelly pond then playing in mud I don't want them jumping on me! Poor Fiona tried to have her lunch outside but had one of them jump on her lap so I decided to stay inside.

Lots of the three 'Cs' this weekend, cake, coffee and crafting :) In face my friend Jess put a photo up almost identical to this one! Managed 17 layouts so far so on track to beat my record ;)

Saturday

Isn't it typical, I go away for a relaxing weekend and I wake up at 6:20 and can't get back to sleep! It's usually the time Scamp wakes up so think my body clock is still on that time. Did llet me get a head start on scrapping though :) 

Weather is amazing here, sunny and even quite warm. Last time we were here we had the log fire on while this time the doors are all open! Almost feel a bit guilty I'm missing out on all the amazing views and beautiful countryside and instead this is my view :) 

Look I figured out how to type under txt! Getting clever now me ;) lol. One of the girls brought homemade scones, jam and proper clotted cream. I've never had that before but omg it was yum! I had 2 scones and felt sick afterwards but worth it. 

I'm always worried when I come away for these weekends, it's so much prep work and with me driving it was even more of a stress but it's always so worth it :) We only meet up once a year and chat on Facebook but as soon as we all get in a room together it's like no time has passed :) A lot of the girls have had a really tough year so this is just the therapy needed. 

Ok soppiness done I'm being called to Fiona's craft class so better get moving! 

Meadow barn

Ohhhh look at me I'm blogging on the iPad! Ok so might seem small to most people but I've never managed to crack it. I've been thinking of getting an Iran since my niece stood on my netbook so thought I'd steal marks for the weekend to test it out. Loving it now I'm working it out :)

So this is me now at meadow barn with the other scrappy ladies :) feels like only days ago we were here for the last one. As everyone as drove down to get here (most from quite far away) we're taking it easy tonight and settling in. So of course that means scrapping, a glass of wine and cake!!

Ok I can't figure out how to type below the photo :s something to figure out tomorrow! 

World book day

For world book day the school decided to do the theme pirates and princess' I asked the kids ages ago what they wanted to be and Caitlin picked cindrella (obviously) while Cameron didn't want to dress up. Fair enough. So this morning comes and we discover Caitlin dress has a huge hole in it. Cue tears and heartbreak because she HAS to be Cinderella because Lilly is being Cinderella too. Managed to calm her down and convince her to be belle instead. At which point cam pipes up he wants to be a pirate? WHAT?! So I managed to cue up a school t-shirt, trousers and use a shoelace to make a pretty good pirate outfit I think :) we had a hat left over from party bags and a sword in his toy box so done! Two crisis sorted out before brekkie, go me :)

As party of the PTA we were doing refreshments at the book fair which is always hectic but fun. It also let me see that Lilly was also belle so Caitlin was a happy bunny :) I felt like a dreadful mum though as Cameron was begging for a minecraft book for sale, he even said he would pay for it from his own pocket money. I probably looked evil saying no but can't exactly tell him his nanny has bought him the set for his birthday can I? ;) To be honest I'm all for them reading but the books at the fair are SO overpriced! And the one Caitlin picked was a colouring book so said no to that. I was prepared though ;) I had bought Cameron a set of sky landers stories and Caitlin a my little pony story book a week or so ago so gave them those when they got home which pleased them. Was lovely to cuddle up with them in my bed before they went to theirs, reading to them both. I don't read to them enough really, not since they learned to do it themselves. Think I'll change that from now on. :)

Lots to buy!

So my poor pup pup is still not well. :( He managed to pee on his bandage so I had to use an old scarf and tie it up with a ribbon to keep it on. I think he's cute but don't think he's too impressed. Oh well needs must!

Well today is One of those driving all over the place days. I've got pen green in the morning, then have to do the shopping for the weekend which involves town, shopping center, petrol station, big b&s outside of town etc. really I could get all of it in the one store but if I drive about I can get it a lot cheaper. It's annoying but have to live to a budget don't you.
Speaking of the weekend I'm still packing. It's hard to try and pack for a crafty weekend because you never know what you will need! The more you have at home the more you end up using and typically when away you remember the PERFECT embellishment or tool that you leave at home. I'm trying not to stress about it but it's hard, I think I do more prep work for me to go away for a couple of days than I do when we're all going overseas for a week. Hoping to get lots of layouts done though, my record so far is 24 so maybe will be able to beat that ;) my friend jess has suggested the 30 project challenge to me, where you need to make 30 things with your stash before you're allowed to make anymore. All going well will have finished that by Monday!
Ok so gabbed enough now :)will leave with a funny comment from cam.

Cameron - I am being quiet Caitlin, you told me to be quiet and I'm being quiet. Can't you hear me being quiet? Why are you asking me to be quiet again when you have already asked me and I'm quiet?
Me - Cameron she means don't talk.
Cameron - oh I thought be quiet meant don't shout.

Counterfeit kit

This morning was very emotional and difficuilt. More sister drama and social services meetings. So to cheer myself up I decided to make my version of this months counterfeit kit. If you want to join in click this link here :)
So this months was called Color Swatch and looked like this.

I wasn't a big fan of the colours but liked the patterns so picked papers with big patterns to go with this. The 4 on the right are from the Cameron range which I love and obviously will be using to scrap photos of my boy. :)

Now the embellishments which is my fave part. I loved the frames from the kit so die cut my own but added some wooden shapes to copy the wood form the frames in the kit. I thought the & and @ were cute but didn't have anything like that so added the speech bubble paper clips as they reminded me of them. Most of the rest of it, the pinwheels, tags etc I just liked and really need to use up! lol.

So its all packed into a 12x12 bag and added to the HUGE amount of kits coming with me this weekend, can't wait!

Off scrapbooking Scamp seems much better today :) I think he's accepted he can't get the bandage off so has stopped trying. We have a vets appointment Thursday to get it looked at again so hope it will have improved by then. Luckily he takes his meds no problem so that's bound to help. So things are good with my furbaby and after parents evening tonight I'm very pleased with my other babies too. Both are doing great, have lots of friends and work hard. Caitlin in particular has come on great with her reading and maths and asks for help when she needs it which I think she was embarrased to do before. Very proud Mummy overall :)

No cuddles :(

Well this morning I got a letter from Tesco saying I was being charged £12 on my credit card for not paying it in time. Nah I thought, its got to be a mistake. I only have the Tesco card for emergencies and don't use it. I logged onto my account to check.......crap, I used it to book the kids birthday party as I drove all the way there and realised I'd forgot my purse and only had that one. Phoned up and begged and they agreed to wave it as obviously its never happened before. Got to keep better track of these things! Had to catch up on a few boring jobs and errands then settled down to cuddle my baby before picking up the kids. Then I checked his tummy and didn't like what I saw :( While his neutering wound has healed great, he keeps using his back leg to scratch the wound from his hernia repair. As a result it looked a bit read and weepy to me. Mark insisted it was fine but agreed we would take him to the vet to put my mind at ease. Turned out I was right its infected :( The vet gave us some antibiotics and bandaged up his tummy so he can't scratch it anymore. Scamp is not impressed :(

Since taking this photo Scamps managed to get his bandage off twice by biting and scratching it so we've had to put his jacket AND his harness on (he can take off his jacket) to keep the bleeding thing on. Hope these antibiotics do the trick soon as hes not in a sulk with me and won't let me cuddle him. :( I need my puppy cuddles!

Things I have seen today.....

So today we went to the boating lake and the town and we saw:
- Lots of people dressed like animals dancing on the side of the road
- A giant tree carved into an old man

- A shrek made from jelly beans

- A man dressed like a giant dog walking through town (which Scamp did NOT like!)
- Caitlin jumping on what she thought was a solid bar, which the span round and chucked her off. My heart was in my mouth until she jumped up, laughed and said 'I don't think I was supposed to do that!'
And its only 12pm! :)
Been a really nice morning overall :) We were up early and suggested a trip to the farm to the kids. They were a bit bored with it though and wanted to go East Carlton instead. No problem. First I had to get petrol so drove to Asda, first we saw a dancing pig outside Morrisons advertising 20% sale at a local pet store. The kids found it hilarious and as we drove on we saw a monkey, a fox and a bunny. after getting petrol I suggested a little detour to drive past the pet store to see what other animals we could find. After spotting another bunny and what we think was a wolf (who has a wolf and a fox for a pet I don't know) we passed the boating lake, where Cameron shouted he wanted to go there instead. Caitlin agreed so we stopped there for a walk. lol. remember how I said plans always go to pot in this house *rolls eyes* After playing in the park we took a walk through the woods to get a sausage rolls from Greggs for lunch and saw the Shrek in a nearby sweet shop. The kids were very impressed. Walking back to the car we saw the guy dressed as a dog and Scamp started barking like mad at him. The guy pretended to be scared much to the amusement of nearby kids :)
So kids and Scamp now tired out from walking and playing we drove home :)

Kids are now watching a film and enjoying a cake while Scamp is fast asleep in his cage. Its the first big walk hes been on since his op so think it tired him out a bit. Marks having a nap so might scrap while its peaceful :)

Busy, busy, busy.

So this morning I made a list of everything I need to do this week, scared me. But once I broke it down into days it seemed a bit more manageable and having an aim always helps make me feel more in control. On todays list was housework, making the gift for the girls and Caitlins dance exam. She has dance lessons every Wednesday and an exam on what shes learned every 3 months or so, if she does well she gets another piece of rainbow for her trophy. She loves dancing and while some mums take it very seriously its quite a relaxed class which I like, she's only little imo and I don't like the huge amount of pressure on kids these days to be grown up before they are. If Caitlin wants to do ballet professionaly one day great, if she wants to jump about the house in her PJs with her headphones on like her Mum thats great too ;) So for her exam she got dressed in her party dress and let me take a photo before we went. I think she looks beautiful but I'm biased ;)

Well I managed to get a fair few things ticked off my list, but as so often happens I did 4 and added another 3, I gave in and ordered pizza for dinner. Was an extravagance yes but was just what we needed as I was started to get really stressed and enjoyed sitting with the kids for a few moments chatting. Probably don't do that enough.
Weather permitting we're off for a woodland walk tomorrow and I promised Caitlin I'd do some crafting with her in the afternoon. Hopefully a nice family day :)