Scrapping today

I don't know if its the heat here or something, but after being in bed by 10:30 Friday, we managed until just gone 11 last night lol.
Today we stayed in the hotel and scrapped :) Managed this little pile so very pleased with myself.

Brilliant day :)

Well after arriving at the hotel yesterday I wasted no time making myself at home :)

You can't see it but there's a fan in the corner. When we first walked in we thought 'A fan? Its October!' But I tell you what we used it! I don't know if the heating was broken in the hotel or if the staff used to work on some tropical island but it was so hot! Luckily today we didn't spend too long in the hotel. After some quick breakfast it was off to the shops :)
Being skint, as usual, I didn't get much but did manage to get some xmas gifts. We lucked out as there was a food festival on so we sampled lots of yummy foods and I bought a bit to add to Christmas hampers.
Of course I visited the Disney store but I was very good and despite being VERY tempted by a beautiful Anna dress for Caitlin I only bought a couple of things that were on my list. Honestly I deserve some form of award for that!
After a hard day shopping we went to dinner at Jamies italian. Jess had the most important menu....

Which we never ended up ordering from as we both refuse to pay £6 for a glass of wine lol. Did get some yummy stuff from this menu though.

Including the highlight. Jamies epic brownie with salted caramel ice cream. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Well last night we were asleep by 10:30, rock and roll! Hopefully manage to stay awake a bit later tonight.

Catch up

Another catch up post, been a busy week this week! But lets be honest when is it not! :)
Monday
Housework and finishing off a number of projects today. I finally got my hama beads delivered so finished my Zelda one off.

I'm really enjoying doing my own designs at the moment :) Good job too as I've had a few other orders!

Tuesday
Today was Scamps first birthday so we bought him a bone from a local butchers. This was the smallest one they had! He was so excited bless him he was actually shaking.

Had time for a coffee with the neighbour while finishing off the Minecraft order, before shopping, banking and other boring things needed to be done.

Wednesday
Very proud Mummy today :) Was Caitlins parents evening and she is doing so well. Uses wonderful volcabulary, involves herself in the class and tries hard. Her teacher is great to be honest as does lots of practical work with them which Caitlin thrives at so shes enjoying it too. :) Did make me laugh reading Caitlins school diary though. Found out the following facts:
- 'My daddy is silly, he thinks he lives on the moon!'
- My Mummy and Nanny used to live in Scotland, they speak spanish there.
- Over the Summer holidays we went to New york.
Must have missed that trip! I asked her about it later and she told me 'Yeah we went to New Yorka!' Well, sounds like Majorca I guess lol.

Thursday
Not the best start to today lol. Drove to town to meet with my family I work with, got there to find I had a flat tyre.

So did what any self respecting 30 year old woman would do.....I rung my Daddy to come rescue me. :) He came and put my spare on so was ok to get home. He had hoped that the tyre just had a slow puncture and could be fixed but turns out I've run over a giant screw somewhere along the line and because it is in the side or something they can't fix it, so he's going to look at a couple of scrap yards over the weekend to try and get me a new one.
Not the best timing TBH as away this weekend with my friend and I was supposed to drive but lovely girl she is Jess is driving now :)
My Mum sent me this photo to cheer me up lol. How cute does Poppy look!

Friday
Yey it's Friday!!! I was really unorganised and hadn't packed anything so this morning was a mild panic shoving things into bags. I'm bound to have forgot something but sure what I don't have Jess will :)

Hope everyone else has a great weekend too!

Dust go to sleep

Today was a busy, but relaxing day. This morning we went to a car boot with the neighbours and Cameron got a ton of Pokemon figures so he was happy. Caitlin got a couple of bits so when we got home it was time for hot chocolate (it was freezing!) and play with new toys :) Gave me a chance to catch up on a few jobs too so all was good.
Now when the kids were little there was a poem I loved:

"Babies Don’t Keep"

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

So when I was halfway through the ironing Caitlin came upstairs and crawled into my bed to watch a film. She put on Toy story of Terror and asked me to watch with her. So my choices, finish the ironing which needed to be done, or live by the poem and cuddle up with my baby girl.
Cuddles and selfies it was!

Can't believe how old I look in this photo but love Caitlins gummy grin so its worth it :)

Baking :)

A while ago we made plans to go out with some friends for dinner tonight. However early in the week they found out they had less money than they thought so couldn't afford it. Probably a good thing really as when I looked nor could we lol. So rather than a pricey meal out we decided to just make some bits from the freezer and all stay in.
Caitlin being Caitlin wanted to make a giant chocolate cake for everyone so thats what we did :)
Love her face here. I let her pick 3 tubs of toppings from my baking cupboard which took her a long time to choose lol. Our Asda recently had a revamp of their baking products so were selling off all their old labeled bits for really cheap so I stocked up :)

Good job too as they got a bit excited and covered the cake! lol

As usual was a great night :) The kids played together while the adults had a drink and a laugh. Feeling very lucky to have such great neighbours :)

5 years

Well today is very special to us. Its 5 years since Mark has his liver transplant which saved his life and changed all ours for the better.
That said however amazing it is for us we don't forget there is a family out there who remember this day for a very different reason. We don't know much about the donor except that it was a young man in a moterbike accident. We wrote a letter to his family thanking them and telling them about the kids and everything as really it was the only thanks we could give and obviously we are so grateful.
On that note it was quite fitting that this petition popped up on my facebook newsfeed. I've long thought that the Uk should have an 'opt out' policy for organ donation rather than an opt in one. I know not everyone agreed based on religion or personal views but when I die they can take what they like from me, its no good to me anymore and just seems such a waste to do nothing when my organs could save lives. Controversaily I've also had Caitlin and Cameron signed onto the register since they were born. Which met with a LOT of anger from Mums at baby groups I tell you! But I've always had the view if they needed help I'd want someone to help them so I can't really expect that if I wouldn't be willing to let them help others.
Ok off my soapbox now, if you agree and want to sign the opt out petition hopefully this link works, if not sure a quick google will take you there :)
So in summary, today is a day I will always be grateful for my amazing, loving, hubby :)

Paper roses

My next door neighbour Gemma makes the most beautiful book folds. Take a look at her facebook page Forgetmenot Papercraftz and see what she does :)
She's always looking for new ways to decorate her books and recently I showed her the little paper roses I learned how to make a couple of years ago. This one here :)

Anyway that night she had a load of orders come through and bless her had a mini meltdown about how she was going to get them all done in time, so I offered to make some roses for her. :)

Quite relaxing watching tv and making roses, managed 24 so far so should keep her set for a while!

Rented out for a bar of chocolate

Last night Mark put a picture of the wreath I made on his facebook. The amount of people who messaged him asking for one was crazy! I didn't want to do one for everyone but agreed to do some for some of his good friends as long as they paid for the beads. Mark then added on they gave me the bead money and a bar of chocolate lol.
So this is the one I'm currently working on.

Might put some little dark green blocks in to make it look more 'Minecrafty' iykwim. Keeps me busy anyway :)

Ok so I'm the biggest idiot in the world

Tomorrow we were supposed to be going to see Micheal Mcintire at the o2 in London. I booked the tickets months ago, had the train tickets booked, babysitting sorted and all was organised. :)
So my Mum phoned tonight to make sure we were still going and everything was ok and I realised I didn't actually have the tickets for the show yet. So I phoned the o2, and the conversation went like this:
Me - Hi I'm supposed to be coming to see Micheal Mcintire tomorrow but I don't have my tickets yet?
o2 Lady - Oh, I thought we had Lee Evens tomorrow night?
Me - No the email def says October first.
O2 lady - Oh yes I've found it now, he's performing October 1st 2015
*I look closer at the email*
Me - Oh yeah, that will be why I don't have the tickets then!
Mortified!!!! Rung my Mum and told her we didn't need her to babysit, think she peed herself.
To be honest it's probably a good thing. the weekend wiped Mark out big time and he's still sleeping constantly so think another day out might have killed him off!
So rather than an early night tonight I decided to watch some TV and try one of my new Oreo Tassimo hot chocolates. While nice, this was how much one ped made

Felling just a little bit ripped off! lol

Look what I did!

Ok so it's a page kit so cheating a bit but look I scrapped! To be honest I was considering selling the lot and giving up as I haven't scrapped in ages but as soon as I sat down and started I realised how much I missed it.

Have no plans for the rest of the day so just going to keep going I think :)

Marks home :)

Picked Mark up this morning so yey I can breathe again :) Think Scamps going to miss sleeping on Marks side of the bed though :)

He always brings home some little bits and bobs for the kids so they were thrilled. He also brough some of the Harry potters every flavour beans. OMG they were discusting! When they say they taste like dirt they wern't kidding! Tried to get Cam to try some but he was too smart. lol.
Felt dreadful for Mark though bless him. He said he'd bought me something and was so pleased with himself, then he handed over a box of cherry pop tarts. 'Only £4, imported from America' He said with a huge smile on his face, then he found out we had two boxes in the cupboard, two for £3 from Asda lol. Bless him, I was touched by the thought though so didn't matter to me we already had some. Just gives me more to enjoy :)

Was even more touched by this though, look what Mollie bought for me at the car boot sale this morning :) Little sweetheart.

Shopping :)

Well today we took Caitlin shopping to try and perk her up a bit. For the most part it seemed to do the job :)
Was lovely walking about and looking at clothes with her, though can see it being a very expencive hobby in the future :) Today we settled with 2 pairs of trousers, some new hair bobbles and some bracelets. She also got a pink backpack which she had been after for a while so that pleased her.
As we were having a girly day we took the kids out for a cheap lunch which they loved and I thought would save me cooking a big dinner. Nope! When I'm worried I cook or clean, and as the house is tidy I ended up doing a huge pot of Chilli to freeze. I'm one of those people who has loads of pre-made foods in the freezer just in case. No idea what the #just in case' will be but best to be prepared lol.

As I was being SUPER nice, and the kids were really missing their dad, I gave the kids some of my Ben and jerries.

Almost didn't get a photo as Cameron was shoveling it in his mouth so quick he wouldnt even look up! Def my son lol.

Coffee and chaos

Well today was busy :) This morning the PTA held a coffee morning for Macmillan which raised almost £100 so that was good :) Then had to rush home to help Mark pack and take him to meet his friends for his annual time with them. It's supposed to be respite for me but I spend most of the time worrying!
After dropping him off I raced home to tidy up a bit before meeting my Mum for coffee. Was very surprised who walked past!!! Now I know I get ready for Christmas early but obviously I'm not the only one lol.

Have Mollie staying over tonight so hopefully the girls will play nicely and I'll get a chance to iron this.

The kids both wanted to decorate their rooms this christmas but I have a feeling it will just end in a mess, so compromised and agreed to make decorations for their doors :) I think you can guess who this one is for!

Two in a row!

Look at me blogging two days in a row lol. Today was the second day of training with the connected persons team. As Mum is now a connected persons foster carer, and I may be one it was decided it was a good idea for us to go. Last week was really interesting and I think very helpful for my Mum as she saw it wasn't just her in that situation iykwim. After some quick shopping at Asda it was time for home, a warm blanket and a cup of tea as still feeling rough :(
Can see lots of snuggles with this little guy in my night. :)

Really got to get better as working at the school tomorrow morning on a mcmillian coffee morning,then shopping with Cait, Mollie and Mum Saturday. Caitlin broke my heart the other night asking how I can love her when she's so ugly. :( She insists nobody has said that to her but something has knocked her confidence, so taking her out for the day to get her some pretty new hair bits, nail varnish etc to boost her confidence a bit :)

Catch up

So been another week since my last post. not really very good but its one of those things I guess. Time for a catch up and Im sorry in advance for the mammoth post!

Thursday
Thursday my sister had the baby, Ollie. Safe to say there were mixed emotions there so moving swiftly on!

Friday
Friday was a nice distraction as Caitlins friend came round for a sleepover. First non-family member I've had sleep round so we made a big deal of it. We made chocolate lollies, decorated pillowcases and watched films. Girls seemed to love it :) Cameron stayed next door until almost 11 so he was happy too lol

Saturday
Saturday was, eventful. Caitlin is terrified, I mean seriously terrified of the dentist and everything to do with her teeth. So Saturday when she was crying her wobbly tooth hurt it was nightmare enough to get her to let me look at it. When I did I saw it was hanging by a thread and whenever she bit or anything it was pushing it into the gum hurting her. But could I tell her that, nope. Poor girl was hyperventalting every time I went near her. Took over an hour for her to calm down and she managed to pull it out so thank goodness that is over!

Sunday
Sunday was a much needed, relaxing family day out :) We had some vouchers left from the Summer for Wicksteed park so went there. First we went round the car boot sale where Caitlin got a pair of roller skates and a helmet

while Cam got a big bag of pokemon cards, his newest obsession lol. The kids had a great time going on lots of rides and the weather was amazing. We really lucked out.

Though it was still a bit chilly so Caitlin stole Marks gillet lol.

I also managed to get my last photo for the scavenger hunt!
19. A public garden

I'm posting this after the deadline so never mind but I did take it in time so counts to me lol.

Monday
Monday was amazing! Caitlins been in desperate need of some new furniture for her room for a while, her toy storage isn't much younger than her lol. So I wanted to get her some of the units from Ikea but delivery was £35! Cheaper to drive there! Mum wanted a few bits too so Mark and I set off.
While there I decided to surprise Mark, he's a HUGE Jamie Oliver fan and has always wanted to eat in one of his resturants so we went to Jamies Italian. Mark was thrilled bless him :) It was a pricey meal compared to where we usually go but tbh the servings were huge! I had muchrooms to start and that filled me up so much I asked them to wrap my burger up to take home as I wanted a pudding and wouldnt manage it otherwise lol. Mark kept joking he couldnt take me anywhere.
Pudding was worth it though, chocolate brownie and salted caramel ice cream, yum!

Obviously had to bring something home for the kids so brought them a do it yourself Krispy kreme doughnut each. Very happy children lol.

Tuesday
Today I gutted Caits room, built her furniture and rearranged it and I'm thrilled!!!!!
I moved her wardrobe round and put some of her loved but not played with teddies on the top for space.

Her desk which she loves :) I want one now.

Tidied under her bed and managed to get rid of one of her basket things which has really seen better days. I replaced it with a fold out pillow my Granny made for her. It can be folded up like this to sit on, or folded out into a long pillow for her to lie on and watch tv.

and last but not least is her new unit and rug :) I LOVE this unit as it fits so many toys and looks much more grown up. She also has her tv at her level now so she can change her dvds if she wants to :)

Safe to say she was made up and has been in there constantly since she got back from school, yey :)

Wednesday
Today was less fun. I woke up with a full on cold thats been threatening for the past few days so spent the day in bed catching up on paperwork and sleeping. Suppose I needed it but hate being poorly. Seem to be picking up a bit now though which is good as have training tomorrow with my Mum and looking forward to that :)

Scavenger hunt finished........?

So after a very quick start to the summer photography scavenger hunt, here I got stuck on number
1. A sign welcoming people to your home town (or a nearby town)
We do have one, but its on the edge of a main road so not like I can stop to take the photo. On the way back from shopping the other day though Mark took lots of photos with my phone and managed a good one so here it is!

And thats me now done! Or so I thought! When going through my list of finished photos I found I'd completly forgotten about
19. A public garden
On no! So I'm not done at all! Luckily we're going to a theme park Sunday which has a large garden area so hopefully fully finish then lol.
Currently have my niece Evie staying with us while my sister goes into hospital to have the baby. mixed emotions on that one so will see how things go I guess. Must admit it was draining having themm all in the house so I went to bed early looking for a good nights sleep. Someone else had other ideas

Stole my side little sneak! lol

And im back again lol

So I've been AWOL again. It's been one of those situations where I keep meaning to blog, I sit down at the computer to blog then either I lose everything I was planning to say, or something else happens and I end up dealing with that. So quick update on whats been going on in my life :)
Mark was poorly with a cold for a while. He muddled through bless him but def took its toll.

Caitlin dressed up as a mad scientist for her schools Messy science day. She lost a tooth that morning too so made her look that bit more the part lol.

We went fruit picking at the farm and ended up with lots of apple crumble in the freezer and 3 huge jars of apple and blackberry jam.

I've made a start on Christmas crafts and finished two of these, one for Caitlin and one for Mollie. Have another project almost done I'll share soon too :)

I've also been doing my usual gutting the house, rearragning bits and shopping for Christmas as well as foster carer training. TBH theres been a LOT going on but hopefully I'll be about more to share it as I admit I've missed blogging. I'll leave with a very sweet thing Cameron said when playing with a toy rocket :)
Cameron - I'm landing on the moon! *lands rocket on the chair* I'm landing on the sun! *Lands rocket on me*
Mark - Mummy always knew she was the center of the universe.
Cameron - She's the center of my universe because shes the center of my heart.

All together now, awwwwwww!

And I'm back!

Well I finally managed a chance to sit down and chill out a bit :) While the kids went back last Thursday we went away at the weekend so been crazy busy!
Kids have settled really well back into school. Cameron loves his new class and is still with most of his friends. Caitlin, as usual has settled back in like she never left. She adapts so well to change anyway I wasn't worried but nice to be shown shes fine.

Anyway as I said we went away at the weekend :) We usually have a holiday from The Sun paper in the summer but this year, probably because of the term time fine thing, it was CRAZY how quick dates went so we only managed to get a weekend in September. We booked Caister down in great yarmouth and we loved it! Would def go there again. The park was lovely and was great to be able to take Scamp along too.

We only had the two days as left after school on Friday and came home Sunday night but we made the most of it. Hopefully we'll be able to stay a little longer next year. :)

But we're back to normal now and back to routine. Also need to start planning my Christmas crafts as its coming up quick!!!