Like mother like son

Well spent the morning shopping for dinner on Sunday, drs and taking Cameron to and from nursery. He was a star today, no tears or complaining. :) We did have a treat planned for him in the afternoon but were let down (wont go into that as will just get angry again!) so needed to think of something else quick.
Knowing his love for his mobigo, and how well he's been doing on games on there we decided to try him on the nintendo DS. Well, 3 hours later this is how he still looked.

Both me and Mark LOVE computer games so looks like the apple hasnt fallen far from the tree. lol. I was pretty impressed too how good he was at it and how well he picked it up. My mum had originally planned to get him one for christmas but I dont agree with kids playing consoles all day so suggested the Mobigo which is a lot more educational. The DS is fine for a treat but he wont be playing on it daily!
Im SO excited about tomorrow. :) I know Mothers day is Sunday but my mums comming for dinner and Mark wanted to make the day about 'me' (I wasnt arguing, lol) but we couldnt think of anything to do as everywhere will be packed. Now I love going to the market at Stamford but we havent been since last summer so we decided to have mothers day on friday instead. :) So we're either going to stamford, or cheeky monkies (spelt right, lol) were I can relax with a book and hot choc and let kids run riot. :) Either way relaxing day for me!

WOYWW and banned from spending :(

Ok, well I can say this in confidence as i know my mum doesnt read this blog, but I have GOT to calm down on the spending for a bit. I kinda have a tendency to got a bit OTT on things, particually when it involves the kids. So their little birthday party which includes 5 children (2 being them and 1 being 9 months old) and 6 adults, is currently costing us £1700 pmsl.
Ok so its not as bad as it sounds, we bought them £250 worth of new garden toys as their gifts and decided we'd just use those rather than renting a bouncy castle. We planned to build the items up then open the curtains on their birthday as a surprise. How well that works out remains to be seen, lol. However I then decided the garden is a mess and needs doing up first, so we got a loan for £800 and drained our savings to pay £1100 to get it returfed and a bit of patio put in. Last week I was feeling a bit down and worried about drs appointment so we decided to go get some birthday bits for the party. Here is where it got a bit out of control. :s £300 worth of sweets, decorations, party bags, food, pinata, games, prizes etc we went home. pmsl. Then finally I decided that the novelty cakes from asda wernt good enough and have ordered a custom made cake costing £60. Which literally 4 people will eat as nobody else likes cake. lol. Its going to be SUCH a cool cake though, I'm having it made by 'Novelty cakes and cupcakes by Gem' shes on facebook and does great cake toppers really cheap which she posts out. This is a picture of the Timmy time class she did

We now have £0 spare for the next 6 weeks so I've been banned from spending. :( Though we still need paint for the fence in the garden before the turf gets laid. Just makes sense doesnt it. ;) Wheres that credit card.......
OK so before hubby locks me away in a room to save me from myself this is how my workdesk looks today.

This is basically my box of bits. Most of my stash is made up into kits, or themes, but the random bits I have no idea what to do with go into this box. Whenever i make cards or a minibook this comes out and gradually gets used up (then filled again, lol) so currently using it for Mums mothers day book. Which is nowhere near done. Woops!

I HATE hospital car parks!!!!

I've always thought it was harsh they charge you for parking as lets face it, if you had the choice you'd be elsewhere, however today was a joke! We went to Northampton which is a huge hospital. There are abour 6 car parks, ONE of which is for visitors and patients the rest for staff. So we ended up parking in the town (after driving about for 45 mins) and walking up a huge hill to the appointment. Less than a happy bunny here :( Wasnt what I needed after dragging a screaming Cameron into nursery. So not the best day here!!! Early night with some chocolate I think.
So its not all negative, here is Caitlin being 'princess Caitlin' :) Very cute IMO

Spring clean. :)

First off, today went ok, didnt get the bloody mammogram in the end as dr said Im too young for it to show anything. He thinks its hormonal pain though and has sent off some samples. Was SO embreassing though. It was very hot in the room and the examination was so painfull I nearly passed out and threw up against the wall. :0 Felt fine after a glass of water and a lie down and the nurse was really nice but was still embrassing.
Anyway, onto nicer things. :) As my hubby will tell you I get bored very easily. I need some form of project to keep me going. At the moment its spring cleaning. I LOVE this time of year, getting rid of all the clutter and sorting through everything. We used to do a car boot sale pretty much every week but with the kids its not possible, thank goodness for online sales. :) So far I've gutted Caitlins room, threw away lots of old toys and sold some of her clothes. Also done our room and tackling Camerons room tomorrow. I really wanted to get the garage sorted but we're getting the loft insulation redone on wednesday so no point doing it untill then as we can start boarding the loft. :) Quite excited about that.
So busy at the moment. :) Marks off to northampton tomorrow for a hospital appointment. We think its a brain scan but not sure, he has too many appointments. lol. So kids are at nursery and Mark out got the morning to myself. Might scrap, might sit in bed and watch tv, or might tackle the toy box as nobody will be here to moan at me for throwing out stuff. lol

Wish things would calm down a bit

Seriously, been back and forth all over the place this week too and next week looks the same. Feel like I need a day or two at home to get the house sorted a bit (and the ironing pile made less towerish, lol) But at least its been a happish week. :)
As I mentioned in my last post we took the kids to the park with their bikes. it was a bit like tetris trying to fit them in the boot but managed it. To say cameron enjoyed it is an understatement. The boy was off like a rocket, riding around and having a great time. Got to take him out more often I think. Caitlin couldnt go as fast but could ride properly and did very well by herself. :)

Proud boy. :)

After riding bikes for a bit we went to the park next door. my sister was there with her youngest two so was nice for them to play together.

Lillie is getting So big now! She loved the swings and was giggling away.

Ok so as you can probably see the camera I used to take these pictures is rubbish. ive not liked it since I got it, the setting are weird and you need to play with it for ages to get it to take a good picture and it takes ages to do so. Plus latly theres been a blue tinge to the photos. :s So I took it back and got this one. :)

I love it. :) Mark loves it as it has a screen on the front you can use to take self portraits, or it can play pictures of a clown making the kids look at the camera instead of anything but. Much prefer the pictures too. This is the first one I took, Caitlin having lunch at asda. :)

How cute is this picture. :) Think I got a little ahead of myself after a couple of days of sun but saw these hats and glasses and thought they were cute. :)

Ok well d-day tomorrow. My mammogram and mums 49th birthday. Not sure whats worse. lol.

SO excited. :) :) :) and WOYWW

Well life has been a lot of ups and downs at the moment. If you're a regular on UKS difficuilt topics board you'll know about the downs, if not I'll post more on Monday.
Anyway, to take my mind off the downs I've thrown myself into the kids birthday party next month (well, may 1st so pretty much next month) We're having a party at the house with the family and the plan is to set up their birthday gifts, a new swing and slide set and huge trampoline, in the garden the night before then at the party open the curtains and let them go play. :) However as the garden really needed sorted beforehand and we wouldnt have the money untill July me and hubby discussed it and applied for a loan to do it now. Well we got the letter through yesterday that we got it! :) So thats getting done in a few weeks. :) Ive also found somewhere that does the coolest homemade cakes, so having a 2 tier cake decorated with their fave tv charecters. :) Also bought a pinata and lots of bits and bobs for goodie bags and off out today for some more. Told you I was throwing myself into it. lol.
Well as we've had great weather here latly we decided to take the kids to the park. I know Caitlins new outfit isnt really spring themed but when clearing out the wardrobe the other night I found a pile of christmas gifts we'd forgotten including this. lol. Woops. So need to get the wear out of it while we can.

I love east carlton park. So peaceful. :)

Kids had a great time running around in the sun. Though Camerons picked up a werd habbit, whenever I asked him to say cheese he yelled 'Hiya!' then burst out laughing. Where on earth did that come from? lol





As that trip went so well we're going to somehow fit their bikes in the back of the car and take them riding today. Im hoping they'll fit as already told the kids we're going. lol. Also want to exchange my camera as it keeps stalling. :(
Theres not much on my desk today. Im currently making my mums mothers day album. I did it one year when my two were small and she wasnt impressed when I handed it over. Then later she rang me asking where I'd got the paper with all the bits stuck on and stiching and wasnt it lucky they fit the photos. Um no mum I did all that myself, What?! Really?! and suddently she was much more grateful. lol. The next year I was planning on buying her a gift untill the week before when she said 'Am I getting another album this year' so that was a rush job! This year I'm not waiting for her to ask and Im just doing it now. lol. these are a couple of pages Ive done so far. I really struggle with 6x6 pages as once the photo is on theres not much room so found some papers with decorations already on iykwim. Makes it much easier and quicker. :)

Right better run. Wish me luck with the bikes!!

Im back :)

Well after a long and busy week, looks like this week isnt going to be any quieter. lol. Oh well. Yesterday was the first nice sunday we've had so that ment CAR BOOT!!! Those who know me will know I LOVE car boot sales, the bargains, looking at the weird stuff some people sell (and the daft amounts they ask for it, lol) SO much fun. :)
We were more careful this time round, the kids have got a daft amount of toys so we've stopped buying anything just because its dora/peppa/thomas. Did get them some good bits though. :) Cameron got some Cars bits and some dvds, and Caitlin got a peppa pig spaceship and campervan. I got some bargains too but more on that later. :) Afterwards we went to the park. Cameron was cold and wanted to go home but was less easy to pull Caitlin away.

Eventually I managed to bribe her with a cake and promise of Micky mouse on the tv. lol. Now onto my bargains. :) I managed to get a couple of great scrapping bits, a pack of colouring pens with duel nibs, photo safe and quick dry, 50p! I also got this little green box with drawers on I was thrilled to find the pens fitted in perfectly. lol. The bargain of the day was this Ipod player. :) Its hello kitty!!

Ive been looking for one for the kitchen for ages and was planning to buy one from asda which was boring black one. Was thrilled when I saw this and she only wanted £2 for it. :)
I also bought Cameron some Cars stamping pens. He had fun with them as you can see. :) Caitlin was worse, she looked like she had multicoloured chiken pox. lol

After dinner my mum brought my nieces round. it was nice for my two to see Mollie as because shes at school then her dads at the weekend they dont see her often. How cute is this photo!

Mollie and Evie having fun. :)

Well promised the kids we'd go park this afternoon. Regretting it now, just want to curl up in bed! lol. Better get moving.

Monday, was quite peaceful for once :)

Well yesterday was quite hectic. Mark too the kids to dads group at pen green and they had a great time as usual. :) Gave me the chance to do some housework.

They played hide and seek, nobody found Caitlin.

She was very pleased with herself. lol.

Afterwards we went shopping then came home for me to cook roast dinner. All in all busy day.
Today however was the complete opposite. :) The kids played happily in the front garden while I cut down more of the huge ugly bush which is out there. I also dug up some of the roots but managed to snap the gardening fork in half. woops. lol. So finishing the jobs been put on the backburner untill we can get a new one. In the afternoon the kids played in the back garden, then up in Camerons room together. Honestly there were no fights ALL afternoon! I read 3 magazines and finished all the puzzles in two of them! Kept checking on the kids to make sure they hadnt killed each other. lol.
To be honest it was just what the dr ordered as we have quite a hectic week, tomorrow the kids swing is being delivered plus nursery, dr and family visits, wednesday we're going to a local playcenter, thursday I have training all day then dr with my sister, then friday mark is spending the day with his friends while I take the kids out for the day. Think we'll all be shattered by Saturday!
Well I saw this on another blog while blopping (love that word) and quite liked it so thought I'd give it a go. :)

LISTENING: To the kids complain they don't want to go to bed yet
EATING: Nothing, but having some strawberrys and ww brownie soon. :)
DRINKING: Tea
WEARING: Leggings and t-shirt
FEELING: sore, lol.
WEATHER: Was really nice and sunny today. :) dark now though. lol
WANTING: To title all the layouts piled in front of me
NEEDING: To sort the huge pile of washign in the bedroom
THINKING: Glee on tonight!
ENJOYING: The feeling I'm getting there with home improvements
WONDERING: What to make for dinner tomorrow. Need to take stuff out the freezer I'm thinking. lol

Better go put kids to bed. WAY past bedtime and Camerons yawning. :)

well, day didnt go quite to plan.

Well today I should have been at my monthly crop. However things went a bit wrong.
Camerons been a pain in the ass this week, I mean a COMPLETE pain in the ass to the point where I was crying last night not knowing what to do. As a result I really couldnt go today and leave Mark to handle both kids. Turned out it was a good thing too. Mum took him and my neice to the cinima this morning, rung me after the film to inform me Cameron had just thrown up all over KFC. :S OMG I felt So guilty for being mad at hows he's been behaving when obviously its just been the start of this bug. :( Though in my defence he's very much 'the boy who cried wolf' when it comes to tummy aches and feeling poorly. So mum brought him home and I promptly dumped him in the bath. He seems perfectly fine now however so hoping thats it out of his system, whatever it was. :) He's also back to his well behvaed (well, better behaved :) ) self. :)
So that aside, as I was supposed to be at my crop today hubby kept daughter entertained while I did some scrapping at my desk. :) Caitlin however got bored quite quickly and watched tv instead. So this is what Mark made.



Im thinking he had more fun with playdough than she did. lol
Well I managed a few layouts before poorly cam came home. I really should get started on this pile too.
This is a pile of layouts that need titles. My aplpahs are all shoved in a box and most of the time I cant be bothered going through them all to find what I need. SO I put the layout to one side then when the pile gets big enough Ill go through and title them all. :) Really should start on this lot tonight I think. lol

Sarahs cards sat night/sunday

Saturday night we had a great time with raffle and bingo. There was also the added plus that as there had been some problems with the hotel they gave us all free wine that night. :) Lesley made everyone laugh by sprinting across the hall when free wine was announced. Bingo was SO funny. I think the fact most people had had a glass of wine made us all a bit daft anyway (well, dafter maybe, lol) I think it was the quietest we'd been all weekend. Well, up untill the point there was a 'equipment malfunction' when all the balls fell out of the cage all over the floor. lol. Was off to bed at just past one again. Which was quite early compared to those who went after 3. lol.
Next morning was our last class. This was by Rachel Elliot and was one I was really looking forward to. :) I love her scrapping style and the amount of detail in her los. Though when I try to copy it just ends up looking a mess. lol.
This is a photo of Mark and I taken at christmas. Its the only photo of the two of us since our wedding 5 years ago. :)
On this layout is lots of ripping, distressing and little detials not noticed on first glance. LOVE it. :) Its def one of my fave of the weekend. I love how the ordinay cheap doily has been turned into a pretty embellisment. Always good to use cheaper things these days! I was also thrilled to make the lace ribbon. Id always admiered them on other layouts but had enver tried it before as thought it would be too complicated. turned out tobe SO easy! Can see lots more of this on layouts in the future. :)

Well over the weekend I managed a few layouts of my own. This is one from Sarahs cards christmas kit scraplifted from one of the dt. The embellishment is actually one of the make and takes from the weekend. :)

I picked a C then spryed glimmer mists on it, then did the same for the flower, made the bow with the pins and put it together. :) Another simple but effective make and take. :) At the time I had no idea what I was going to do with it so thought a C would be best then could use it for either child. lol.

This was another make and take. We were given a little sheet with some die cut embellishments on to make a layout with however we wanted. Was so interesting seeing everybodys different takes on it using the exact same things.

Last layout. :) It started off as a scraftlift from the dt boolet again. However I think either sleep deprivation had set in by this point or else I was just not paying attention as I accidently ripped up the strip I wanted to use! lol. So ended up kinda making it up. Theres lots of journalling on this one. First down the strip telling lots of reasons I love my family, then Behind the photo is a large journalling tag telling about where/when the photo was taken. :) Loving this kit.

So that was it. Was an amazing weekend, lots of laughs, stash, just huge amounts of fun! I did look into booking for the one in November but theres only 3 places left and I won't have the money till June. fx theres a space left!!!!

Sarahs cards day two

Well day two I woke up feeling a little worse for wear. lol. Breakfast helped, tried to stick to weight watchers a bit but as everything was drenched in oil was quite hard. lol. Did avoid the pastry's though so proud of myself there!
Our first class today was sewing class. What a hoot by Natalie Grant. I was looking forward to this one as Ive got loads of felt I never touch. I attempted the blanket stitch but just couldn't get the hand of it so just did this one (think its called a running stitch) then back stitch on the swirls. Took ages but pleased with it. :)

Close up of owl. (Yes it is an owl, lol) The layout is called 'It's real!' As Caitlin was less than impressed when the elephant started moving and trumpeting just as I took the photo. lol

Next class and I LOVE this one!! Vintage vogue by Claire Wheatley. Now I admit I wasn't looking forward to this one. I hate vintage papers and I'm not a big fan of hand cutting either. lol. However this turned out to be one of my faves from the weekend. :) The photos I took were the wrong way round (woops) but I'm really pleased with the result and think they go well. :) I thought the little buttons that were included were dieal too as there was a big blue one and a little pink one. :) Perfect for a layout about Caitlin and her daddy. :) The photo really doesnt do it justice as theres so much detail and sparkle in there. We were also given a whole bottle of mica mist with the kit. Bonus!

After class we had a lunch break. This was held in the main hall as was a buffet. Remember how I said there was a stressy guy before, well hes been replaces by a stressy woman. lol. Seriously she was like 2 foot tall but was SO rude! The 'only sit in designated places as we cant be arsed to reset the tables if we dont have to' rule was still in force, so a few ladies went to put their bags down first and return for food. Well the little hitler lady went mental! Shouting at them 'If you leave the line you will need to go to the back! Do not sit down first!' God was like being at school again! Respect to the ladies they had a strong word and little hitler apologised, but was still daft it happened in the first place. On that note however lunch was yummy, lol.
Back to classes! Seriously was go, go, go, all weekend :) This one was by Lianne but I cannot remember the name. lol. The idea behind this class was that while lace paper is great, its SO hard to use! So we had rose lace paper, backed it onto different types of patterned paper and used it as embellishments. :) This was really fiddly but so pretty! Loved the photo I picked with it too. Was much easier this year as we had a little snippet of the layout we'd be doing so was easier to choose. :)

Final Layout. Now this one I didnt do in the class. After the night before and sitting in a chair all day my back was killing me and I was flagging. lol. So Louise explained a few bits of it to me (thanks love!) and gave me the kit so I could go relax in the bath for a bit. :) Must say I felt SO much better afterwards. :)
So after the bath i settled down to do the kit from the instructions. Now trust me to miss the class with 46 steps! I admit I skipped a few and ended up making some of it up but I like what I came out with in the end. lol. The back has been gutted out and put onto acetate which Ive never done before but I like it. :)

After dinner we had bingo and a challenge but more on that tomorrow as I think I've waffled on enough now. :)

Sarahs cards retreat. :)

Well I'm back from another brill weekend with Sarahs cards. :) Tried to convince hubby to let me book for November but no luck. lol
Well after last year of me taking my camera and taking one photo, this year I took it swearing to take more. And I took........2. Well its double of last year! lolBoth were of Lesley having a stretch under the table so didnt think she would appreciate me blogging them. lol. The weekend was just as brill as last time. Upon arriving we were given our goodiebags. Was SO excited to see an American crafts d ring album in there. was one of the really pretty one with flowers on too, not the plainer ones I usually buy. There was also rub ons, stickers, and a little easel to put layouts on. :). Sarah had also set up a little 'Sweet shoppe' in the corner for us to help ourselves too! There were sweets I'd not seen in ages, lol, sherbet lemons, chocolate limes, popping candy. lol. Bliss.
Well after settling in and catching up we had our first class. Strung Together by Vanessa Stokoe.
These are photos from the first time we went to disneyland (last ones, yey!!! Now onto the new ones. lol) The technique in this class was to punch holes into the photo, which felt so strange, lol, and thread through into a cross. Loved the effect and it was so simple! This was originally a a4 sized layout but I kept the background 12 x 12 as thats all I do. lol

After the class it was dinner time. We were given our own room this year as I think we made too much trouble last year. lol. The dining room was run by some guy who was SO stressy! Barking orders as to where we could sit, what we were allowed etc. Was so funny on the last day there was a huge chocolate fountain so we did what any self respecting group of women would do, dived in! So chocolate dripped everywhere, lots of dipping bits gone and he comes over steam comming out his ears. Turns out it was for a wedding they were holding later. Woops. :-)
After dinner the wine came out! Lesley had brought her ipod and a mini speaker so there was lots of drinking, scrapping and dancing in our chairs. I started to feel tired at around 12 but some popping candy from the 'sweet shoppe' soon sorted that out! Didnt realise that stuff made me hyper before then. lol. Managed a couple of layouts with an old kit.


I took a huge pile of kits and only managed to use one and a bit. lol. Decided it was time for bed not long after one. Poor Gillian was trying to get the music from Lesley who was dancing around the corridor. Lesley was having none of it however. Dont think I've laughed so much in ages. :)

woyww. also, can I be bothered?

In a word, no. Don't know whats up with me latly, I just cannot be bothered to do anything! I'd be quite happy to sit on the couch, eat my weight in chocolate and read books. Which really is all I did when pregnant with Cameron and a big reason I'm on weight watchers now. lol. I'm going away to a retreat on friday and while I'm very excited I've got NOTHING done for it. I picked out the photos I wanted, changed my mind, printed a few then gave up. lol. Not got any clothes or stash packed, though I have bought some wine so thats one big thing done. :)
Anyway whats on my workdesk this week? To be honest pretty much the same thing as last week! lol. Shows how little I've done. I'm hoping the retreat this weekend will give me back some mojo. :)