Disneyland day one

What a week! I warn you in advance these posts are pretty photo heavy.So after getting up at 4am (yes you read that right) we got a taxi to kettering, train from kettering to London, then got onto the euro star. The kids were SO well behaved on the trains, only being a little restless which really is to be expected. Cameron was in his element, pointing everything out and staring out the window. I love this photo as shows the look of wonder in his face in his reflection.

Caitlin did enjoy it, I swear. lol. As we were in first class (get us. lol) we got breakfast included. I did think that'd be the one time Caitlin would smile for a photo but no such luck!

A much needed nap for nanny while the girls watch some tv.

Well we got to disney at about 1pm. the train station was really quiet so we gave our luggage to the disney express people and made our way into the park! :) I admit my two wernt that fussed. Caitlin loves mickey mouse but isnt into princess stuff yet, and Cameron was just gutted to leave the train station! lol. However my neice Mollie is a girly girl and was SO excited to see the castle. Those who have been before know you can't actually see it untill you enter the park so she was pointing at everything asking if that was the castle:
Points at movie world tower 'Is that the castle Aunty Gemma?'
'Not yet Mollie round this corner'
Points at disneyland hotel 'Is that the castle Aunty Gemma?'
Not yet Mollie just through here'
Points at city hall 'Is that the castle Aunty Gemma?'
I turn the buggy around 'No Mollie thats it there'
Now I admit I cried at her reaction, she just sat there with her mouth hanging open and smiling, she was just SO amazed! Bless her. :)
I didnt take many photos on the first day as it was really busy and we were just walking around really taking everything in. We went on a few rides then went back to the hotel to unpack. That done of we wandered back to the park. It was dark by this point and the park being all lit up was stunning. We watched a parade which was great as Mickey mouse was there. Caitlin was SO excited, was really sweet as everytime he went out of sight for a moment she was asking where he was. :) love doing things like this with my kids, shows how magical it is really. :) They had a quick snack of a doughnut before dinner then back to the hotel to sleep. :)

Twilight retreat!

Ok so I admit I was worried about going, I mean we all get on fine online but online and in real life are two different things, but it turned out to be SO much fun! Everyone was slightly mad with the same sense of humor so there were lots of laughs all round. There were also lots of yummy cakes thanks to Karen. :) These are her twilight cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes with jam in the middle. Yum! She also made coffee and walnut cake but I didnt try that. Those who did said it was amazing though. lol.

This is Vern. He belongs to Jess who kindly drove me down. :) We had a right giggle on the first night when the camping bed she was in decided to break. lol. There we were are at 3 am dragging the mattress onto the floor and trying to put the wooden slats back in. Gave up in the end. lol

This is all of us on the last day after much eating, lots of laughing and a little bit of scrapping was done. :) I was quite pleased and managed 25 so a bit of a dent in my kits was managed.

All in all was a brill weekend. Hopefully will be able to do the same next year in slightly bigger accomodation. I think people who dont scrap dont realise how much room it can take up as we were given 2 dining tables to use between 9 of us! The first night was spent taking tables from other rooms, moving furniture and generally making the place our own :) Think we did well considering the space we had!

How is it february already?!

Seem to be going through the days too fast again! Had a very exciting week so will be bloggin about that over the next few days. :) First though is my grans birthday. This was at the end of January so went to see her. Kids were very confused as to why there was no cake or party bless them. Hard to explain that past a certain point, birthdays are not that much fun! lol. I think she was a bit shook up by her recent health scare though as usually you cant force my gran to have her photo taken, but she was more than happy to pose with the kids.
Was only able to get Caitlin to smile with tickles. lol

Cameron was much more co-operative however.

Cute photo of the kids playing with the mobigo.

The day after my grans birthday my mum and I took Caitlin and my two older neices to a home start funh day. I 'work' for them so helped out while I was there but mainly just played with the kids. :) They had a great time. They painted glasses, had faces painted, learnt how to spin plates and Caitlin planted a flower for me (awww) She loves doing anything that can get her messy.

Well after that I spent the week getting ready for disneyland and my weekend away with the girls. But more on that tomorrow :)

Tiring weekend :)

Well on my part anyway, Caitlins still wondering the halls so obviously not for her! Saturday was spent doing housework and pottering about, but as Mum had Caitlin that night me, Cameron and Mark settled down with dvds and munchies! Chocolate and crisps for them, weight watchers biscuits for me. :) Was really nice as Cameron was in fits of laughter at some points and its nice to spend time with just him. :)
Today it was dads group in the morning, then to a home start activity day. As Cameron didnt want to go dads group let alone anywhere else, I left him home for some boys time. Also known as covering the living room with Thomas track. :)
The home start activity day was great! I helped out while there as Im a volunteer for them but mainly played with Caitlin and my two nieces I took along too. We painted plates, made pictures, decorated cakes and Caitlin planted a flower for me. :)
In the middle of all this I finished my book. Wasnt that impressed to be honest. Havesting the heart didnt really 'end' while I like stories that have everything neatly wrapped up by the last page. Theres enough uncertainty in real life!!

New camera :)

Ok so its been a productive week. :) Ive been busy getting everything ready for disney and my weekend away! Me and some lovley mad girls from uks have rented a barn for the weekend and we plan to scrap and chat. :) However I didnt realise at the time when I agreed to go that we return on the sunday and I go to disneyland on the monday morning! So been busy getting it all done so all I really need to do is come home, dump my stuff and I'm ready to go the next day.
Well as part of getting sorted for dieny I got a new camera! I didnt really pay for it (wayyyy to skint for that) as when Mark bought me my old camera on my brithday last year he bought insurance on it that covered accidental damage. Good job he did as 3 days later it was in a wet bag with a bottle of water which burst, so the insraunce paid for itself within the first week really! lol. Since then Ive changed it twice as the kids keep getting a hold of it. The last one just seemed to die on me though, worked at times but sometimes would beep and not turn on. Not good if you're trying to get a picture of 3 kids who wont stand still too long. So we took it in to exchange it. I was a bit gutted as they dont stock my old one anymore, but I got the new version. I dont do change well so still getting used to it (and not liking it too much at the moment) so hopefully will be ok by next week. lol.

Well i have also done some scrapping but since all I seem to post is layout after layout think ill take a bit of a break from blogging them for a while. lol. Going to curl up in bed with a book tonight I think. :) Currently have 'Harvesting the heart' By jodi picholt from the libery. I love her other books so hopefully going to be a good one. :)

Tickets and shopping!

Well hospital didnt go as well as we'd hoped. Marks bones are thinning so he's being sent to a bigger hopsital for a spinal scan. Wont be for a while yet though so more waiting, which I'm not very fond of.
ON a hppier note our tickets to disneyland came this morning. yey! Starting to get excited at times. Think becuse Im going to a retreat the weekend before it seems like ages away. The kids know they're going now, we were going to wiat untill they got there but as was shown at christmas I have NO willpower. lol.
Speaking of willpower we had another visit to TKmax this week. Really, I need more paper like I need a hole in the head but I DO need more albums. Now album refills alone are £5, so to get an album, refill, papers and embellishments for £5, well you'd be daft to say no! (wouldnt you, of course you would. :) )
So dispite the fact we can not afford them at all my lovley hubby bought these for me. :)





Ok so the middle one doesnt have an album but it was £3 and included stiched cardstock, would have been daft to say no to that too :p

Blogging from the hospital

Don't worry it's nothing serious. Marks having a bone density scan to see if he has osteoporosis and as Caitlin quite happily making her toy lamb dance I'm bored!
Yesterday was a fun day though, we took the kids to cheeky monkees (that's how they spell it I've not got it wrong :p) they were so excited as the haven't been since before the summer holidays last year. It's usually manic but was really quiet for some reason so I was able to sit and relax. They make the BEST hot chocolate there so there's nothing better than curling up on one of their couches, hot choc in hand and watching kids go mad!
This afternoon I'm taking kids dancing, which Caitlins very excited about as Camerons comming too :) then I've really got to sort put my desk! It's currently covered in all manner of crafting stash. I did have it organised before Christmas but then between gifts and sale shopping it's reached overflow level again! Lol. Sounds good as means lots of new stash but also means I've been scrapping on the rug lalty which is not good for my back! Lol.
Well Apprently lamby is bored of dancing now so got to entertain Caitlin, will post pics of my messy desk layer if I can :)

I know what I want.......

But why does NOWHERE sell it?? We have a teeny garden which currently has a huge swing/slide set, mini trampoline and a wendy house. The slide set is jus too big, it has a slide, two swings and a boat swing. The boat swing is never used so we want to get rid of that and the little trampolie and get a big tampoline and a smaller set for the kids birthdays. So all I want is a wooden set with a slide and two swings. It just oesnt seem to exsist! lol. They either have lots of swings, huge slides or sand boxes/climbing frames/spaceports which bump the price up to about £8.00000000. Saying all that, mark rightly pointed out their birthdays arnt untill april/may, and we arnt getting any garden toys untill after august when we get the garden redone so i may be getting a little ahead of myself. lol. God love him, I do tend to do that alot, freak out months in advance and hes got to bring me down to earth a bit. He tends to need to do that when I see pretty stash too. lol.
Well with the weather being rubbish the kids have been enjoying baking and playing with their christmas stuff. As you can see Camerons lego is going well.

So more layouts :) this is last Christmas where we gave cam his train table. I've been keeping this chipboard for ages to use on a train related layout and think it works well here :) As I'm on my iPhone at the min I can't scroll down to go to the next photo. Not sure if it can't be done or I just don't know how but there u go lol. Anyway it's Cameron playing on a bouncy hours, a bit like a space hopper thing but easier to use. I looked everywhere to buy one but no luck.
Well it's now 1am and I'm up in a few hours so better go sleep!

Ironing is dull!

Normally I have a film or something to watch when ironing to take some of the dullness away, no such luck today! But got a huge pile done so done for another week. :)
This is a photo of me and Mark at christmas my mum took and showed me last night. This is actually the first photo of the two of us since our wedding 4 years ago. Can you tell I dont like getting my photo taken! Made me laugh when I saw it though as Marks got a can in his hand which I hate as it looks so chavy. He's allowed to drink after his transplant as his liver damage was caused by lupus not drinking but still he very rarely does. Trust my mum to take a photograph of one of the few times!!! Maybe I can photoshop it into a cup of coffee or something. lol

More layouts. These are photos of butlins again, the kids were hiding in this tube thing and kept jumping out at Mark who kept pretending to be surprised. lol. Oh well whatever keeps them happy!

Photos of Cameron on the slide at wicksteed.

These are photos of Cameron opening gifts on his birthday. I love the background paper on this and have kept it for ages but forced myself to use it. Quite pleased with it. :)

This layout I did way too late at night. lol. Behing the photos is about 3 sheets of PP all cut inked and layers. Oh yeah that looks pretty I think, put the photos on, Cant see any of it!!!! Oh well, I call it 'hidden embellishing' Dont think its going to catch on somehow.

Nursery for the kids tomorrow so no idea what im doing. MIght rent a dvd with our vouchers and relax with brekky in bed. Ohhh sounds like a plan :)

No sleep = lots of layouts.

Well since Im not sleeping much latly and theres not much to do at night, Ive managed to get lots of layouts done. lol. Which is no bad thing really as the stash is really starting to stack up again! Im also actually running out of photos! scary!
This is a photo of Caitlin at camerons second birthday. I didnt put a title on it as I didnt think it needed one really. I love how it looks like shes looking at the butterfly down in the corner :)
The big chipboard flower I bought in Northampton a while ago, theres a big shop there where everything is 99p and they had 12x12 sheets of huge chipboard embellishments. Snapped those right up! lol.

Another old photo of Mark teaching Cameron how to drive the racing games at Butlins. I love wathing them play on these because Mark tells Cameron how to do it in great detail really elaboratly, knowing fine well Camerons not listening to a word hes saying and is just slamming the wheel back and fort as hard as possible. lol

The jigsaw, THE jigsaw. lol. This is the first jigsaw Cameron ever got, which he loved so much he got another and another and now his wardrobe is half jigsaws half clothes.

This was scraplifted from an old magazine. I love it though and think its so cute! Caitlin used to get so tired from runnign around at Butlins that when we stopped for dinner she'd always fall asleep. bless her.

Well ironing tomorrow. Joy, put it off as kids wardrobes are still full but got to do some adult clothes. lol. Wish I was rich enough to just keep buying new clothes. Or pay someone else to do it for me. :)

Holiday booked :)

Yeah another one, lol. We're off to disney in a few weeks which if I'm honest dreading it at the moment but will enjoy it when there. I hate travelling with kids, they might get lost, trains get delayed or cancelled etc which is fine alone ill get a coffee and a magazine and I'm fine, however with 3 kids under 5 not so fun. Once we're there though sure will be brill. :)
Anyway having our holiday in Febuary doesnt leave much to look forward to later in the year, so we started collecting tokens from The Sun for their £9.50 holidays planning to go in september. Was when we needed one more that hubby pointed out Cameron starts school in September so cant go then, woops! So we're now going gt yarmouth in may. Well its a little later in the year. lol.
We are now SO skint. we did have a bit of money at the start of the year but the cars broke down a couple times which wiped our savings. Also I tend to go a little mental in the sales. Particually the Next sale. Here is Mark showing my recipt.

£750 worth of stuff. lol. Though I never keep it all, anyone whos been to a sale when the store first opens knows how hectic it is, so my method is to grab anything in the right size, put it on my mums store card and return what I dont want/cant afford. Thats usually most of it. lol. But like most of the UK the next few months will be spent paying off cards and building a bit of savings back up.
One of the best gifts we got at christmas was the Kinnect for the 360. It was really for Mark but we got kinnectimals for the kids too and they love it! Theres one mini game where you need to drive the cat in a little car around to pop bubbles. Cameron does his best bless him concentrates really hard and tries. Caitlin on the other hand just waves her arms widly and jumps about like a nutter.



Caitlin somehow manages to get all the bubbles EVERY time! We've no idea how, lol.
Well thought Id end on a cute pic of the kids dressed up. :) both smiling and both looking at the camera, doesnt happpen often!

I hate winter!!

I never used to, I used to love it pre-children, now its just too scary! I admit this flu virus is scaring the life out of me. Since having my kids I hate disaster films or virus films, I can protect them from bad people and all that but not so much a virus I cant see or a natural disaster. I dont know why I read the papers or watch the news, not like theres ever any good news!!
I do admit I've been staying home due to worry. even consdered keeping kids off nursery for a while but since flu season lasts till march dont think its really plasable. Just got to keep everything crossed they stay healthy!

AAAHHHH!!!!!

Ok so a scream is needed! Since about October somebody at any given time has been sick. :( Luckily we've avoided the dreaded flu but Camerons got a bad tummy bug at the moment. Been ill since Thursday and is literally screaming in pain at times. :( Dr couldnt see him till monday but if hes no better tomorrow might take him hospital. :(
Well sad stuff aside, when I'm stressed I either clean, cook or scrap. :) This time I've picked scrap. lol. So got a huge pile of layouts to photograph and blog. Gives me something to talk about I guess!

This is an old picture (as most of mine are now. lol) of Cameron on the train at wicksteed park. Always at his happiest where trains are concerned!

These are pictures of Mark on our honeymoon. :) We went to greece for a week 4 months after we got married as mark was too sick to go before then. We stayed in a little village called Tolo which we LOVED. We'd been there before (where mark proposed) and its so quiet and peaceful. Really want to take the kids there one day but too worried at the moment incase they get sick or anything.

Well as I said before my gran was really poorly over Christmas. :( Shes recovering well now thank goodness but hadnt seen the kids since the end of november, so was pretty much climbing the walls. lol. By tuesday she said she was feeling up to it so took the kids down to get their christmas gifts. They were SO excited to see granny they actually walked right past the gifts and ignored them! After lots od hugs they started ripping the paper off however. lol





Gran as usual went overboard, Caitlin got lots of peppa pig things and a really creepy Dora head. Its for the bath and her hair changes colour in warm water. They love it but it freaks the hell out of me when Im just walking past and catch a glimpse of a head in my bath. lol.
Cameron got the usuall thomas and a REALLY annoying fire engine that converts into a mini city. I refuse to put it up, its too fiddly, thats daddys job. ;)

Christmas!!!

Ok ok I'm really behind but thats what happens when you need to buy, wrap then put away a santas grotto worth of toys! As you can guess the kids were spoilt again this year. Doesnt look like much but theres about £400 each there. Plus more at my mums. lol. The kids were really excited this year. I think its the first year they both really know whats going on so that was nice. I woke up at 6:30 then couldnt get back to sleep! Cameron finally woke at 7:15 and I went and woke a rather naffed off Caitlin. lol.

Caitlin unwrapping her Belle dress. She's still at the stage where she unwraps each gift, then plays with it for a bit. Drove Cameron mad as he had paper flying everywhere. lol. Kept telling him to slow down and wait for Caitlin to open a few.

I dont think i need to tell you what the main theme for Camerons gifts were! Hes got a stupid amount of track now, really has to be enough as its taking over the livingroom! Think my dad and mark are hoping he'll be into hornby soon and they can play too. lol.

Off to Nannies for breakfast and more toys, look how grown up my boy looks!!! I admit I cried. lol. Was funny at breakfast as the kids sat quietly at the table and ate their food and my mum as usual was gushing 'Look they eat so well! Oh she wants more bread, Brian! Wheres the bread!' Its always funny as my neices eat nothing, seriously they would have a spoonfull of rice for dinner and be quite happy. My two on the other hand take after their parents. (lose weight is a resolution again this year. lol)

Caitlin in her pretty dress opening her dolls house.

Yeah sorry Lillie. lol

Look at my happy little girl!!!! Isn't she just the picture of sweetness and light! Yeah I know, god help me when she turns 13.

Another happy one of caitlin. lol. Oh well, everyone else looks nice. This is actually the only photo in existence of the four of us together. Next resolution, more photos.

All in all a great christmas :) I got some great scrapping stuff along with a very pretty ring and braclet (pictures to follow) and Mark loved his signed Jamie Oliver book. :) Finding places for all the toys was not so fun however. Still settling stuff in now and we're 9 days gone! lol

Well, had a panic but hopefully over now!

Well I know I've not been about much. Been not a very fun household here. :( caitlins been poorly with some bug, making her burn up and very clingy. Dr says virus but been 3 weeks now so shes going back tomorrow!
More importantly though my gran was taken into hospital last wednesday. :( She'd been sick for a week with nothing staying down so we took her in to be safe and they found a blockage. This was scary as she had bowl cancer 18 years ago so naturally we were worried that was back. Shes now had the operation to remove it though and is recovering well so feel like we can get back to normality a little bit. :)
So to lighten up the bad news heres a funny story about my son. We were in asda on saturday which was obviously busy and I stopped the trolley. going through his 'Why' phase as he is he asked why:
Cameorn - Why have we stopped mummy?
Me - Because that woman is looking at something and I can't get past her.
cameron (shouting) - Beep beep woman! Move your bum!
Oh my god I couldnt breathe I was laughing so much. She wasnt impressed but I found it funny. Its my fault really. I'm always tellign his dad to move his bum!

still cyber crop lol

Got a boring next few days so expect layouts at least untill I can figure out how to get photos from my iphone onto the pc. lol
So back to layouts. lol.
Some more old photos :) This challenge was '3 kings' rules were
- 3 photos
- Anything gold (paint, buttons, ribbon, etc.)
- Black Cardstock
- Torn paper
Pleased with this one. :)

This was the only layout I didnt like :( Looked different in my head. lol.

Had Mark print this one off for me from the other day as didnt have any snowy photos left. Rules for this challenge were:
- Use white cardstock
- Use a snowflake (punch/die-cut/hand-made)
- Anything silver/blue
- At least one button
Like this one as I dont usually do big photos but think this worked as shows her smile so well. :)

Another really different one. one thing I love about the cyber crops is I try things I wouldnt otherwise of thought of. This is a good example of that. the class was to write a letter to santa telling him what you wanted. I used it as a way to tell santa what happened this year with my family and what I hoped for them for next year.

So simple this but love it. just using strips of ripped paper. think the papers go great with this photo of Caitlin at her birthday party. the papers are called kaitlin too so ideal. :)

well off shopping tomorrow for the last of the xmas bits!! yes I know ive said that before. lol Think i mean it this time :)

cyber crop :)

Well its been an interesting week. First my youngest neice was taken to hospital with breathing problems (shes ok now) then my poor gran got very sick. :( However she seems on the mend now. Food staying down :) So can sleep again now.
Well other than that not been up to a great deal so thought I'd share what I did in the recent cyber crop.
last year I made decorations of all the kids in the family. Obviously Lillie wasnt about yet so made this one of her this year. :)

How cute is my little baldy!! This challenge was called 'Santa claus is coming to town' and I had to use a photo of opening gifts and include red, white and black.
Only have a few photos of previous christmas' now so getting there in scrapping everything. lol. Saying that I havent devloped any since June so sure that pile will be huge again soon!

Love how this turned out. Its camerons first time meeting santa. Wasa digtal class but I dont like digi so did it on paper. :)

I LOVE these photos of caitlin. We were in butlins and she loved the dance games. Obviously couldnt do them properly but did her best to follow the lights. Love the little thumbs up she gave. :)

This one is blank as its a secret family recipie that will be put on there. lol. Every year my gran makes a big batch of scottish tablet. We have family we dont see all year but come down to my grans for the tablet. lol. I love this paper so didnt do much to it.

Well other than taking care of my sick gran we took the kids to a party at our local pen green. Mark takes them to dads group there each week and they had a big party for everyone. The kids loved it :) There were balloons and loads of food and a magic show which cameron loved. Great to see them enjoying themselves so much. :)