Christmas take 2 lol

As I've mentioned before, my Mum gives the kids their gifts a few days after Christmas to spread it out a bit, so last night was Christmas take two :) Put a little spread out and kids absolutly devoured the cheese and crackers! They won't touch cheese sandwhiches but ate all of that! Typically the crisps and ham sandwhiches I put out for the kids were left *rolls eyes* They got some great stuff as usual. Cameron got more Ben 10 stuff including an umbrella which went down well. See how he's still got his watch on lol, need to force him to take it off for bath and bedtime.

Caitlins fave gift was her repunzel outfit. No joke she wore it all day today and acted out pretty much the whole film then made us watch it again tonight! Was so funny watchign her pretned to hit Cameron over the head with a frying pan and trying to tie him to the chair with her hair. Dont the the hair will last long the way Caits using it. Felt bad for her too, at one point she says to cameron 'Flynn climb up my hair!' and before I can stop her he grabs her poytail and gives a good yank! Poor Caitlin was in tears and Cameron was upset thinking he was in trouble. Hard to explain that Repunzels hair is a bit different lol.

Kids today were quite happy playing away so I started to sort out the craft gifts I got for Christmas. Most of it was paper so easily done but my Mum and Gran both bought me huge packs of American crafts twine. I LOVE twine so great gift, however they didn't really fit in the teeny box I used to keep my twine in. Luckily when we were at Asda the other night we decided to look in Matalan. I never go in there really but mum wanted to look around so fair enough. I found these beautiful glass jars which were filled with sweets for only £2! Wasn't too bothered about the sweets but knew the jars would come in handy sometime so I got a few. Spent a happy few hours today winding up all the twine and putting it in a jar, with buttons and tape in another. Looks quite pretty with all the colours :)

Well tomorrow is back to boring jobs. Got to go town to put some money in the bank, then to Next to take some stuff back. Got to do it in stages as I've got about 6 bags stuffed and it would be too embarrasing to do it in one hit!

Christmas is done :)

I love Christmas. the atmosphere, the kids opening their gifts all excited, its great :) However I also love getting back to normal afterwards lol. All the hype and buildup is a LOT so once its done I like packing everything away, finding places for all the new stuff and getting back into routine. Was a great Christmas though, :) Best bit for me was finally telling the kids we were going to disneyland. We'd wrapped up some mouse ears along with some old tickets in a little disneyland bag. Took a moment for it to sink in. Cameron - It's just a bag? Caitlin - I've got a picture of mickey mouse Cameron - I've got a ticket! Me - Yeah where to? Caitlin - Disney on ice? Me - noooooooo Cameron - Disneyland?!?! Everyone we saw that day were told where we were going lol.

Usually mum doesnt give the kids their gifts on Christmas day, its a bit much for them, however Cameron had made such a big deal about asking santa for his Ben 10 watch mum gave it to him on christmas. Was so cute to see him jumping around all excited :)

Some typical family Christmas pictures :)

My gran got both kids all in ones. lol. She didn't like the one she bought caitlin as she didnt realise it was a cow until later. Caitlin however LOVED it! This picture was taken at 1:30 in the afternoon as as soon as we got home from Grans she insisted on putting it on lol.

After Christmas was the sales! I didn't get anywhere near as much as I usually do. I put away a little each month for things we need in the sales and usually have about £800. With one thing or another coming up this year I only had £300. :( Managed to get a few bits though. We went to the Next sale (as usual) but made the choice to go earlier than usual; our usual time has been 5 but its got steadily busier each year. Last year we went at 4:30 and it was honestly the busiest I've ever seen it. This year was even earlier at 3:30 and it was even busier! The queue at 4am was twice it was last year at the same time. I actually had a man try to snatch a jumper out of my hand! Its a shame really as it used to be nice and calm but its just mental now. Managed to get all the clothes for the kids I wanted though but nothing for Camerons room which was a pity. Got beautiful lampshades for our livingroom though :) Were £40 each which I seriously couldnt afford but down to £15 yep Ill have those. They're clear and teal jewlled pendants (I know, so posh!) and make the living room look so much more dynamic :)

Best way to start the day :)

Sitting in my all-in-one, fresh pan-au-chocolate and Chirstmas films on tv. Best way to start the day. :) Not much planned for today, got a few cards to write and a couple of gifts to wrap but mainly chilling out with the kids and tidying up. Feeling very on top of things which is good for this time of year lol. Well 8pm last night was my slot in the Next online sale :) I LOVE the Next sale. Seriously as soon as the gifts are open on christmas day me and Mum are planning the sale shopping. Sadly this year I can't really afford much at all but as I have a next card I can pay it off bit by bit. Spent about a grand so good job too! To be honest most of that will go back anyway, the problem with the online sale is while it says its in stock when you order it, a lot of it won't be when it gets to the packing stage so you need to order more than you need. For example I've ordered £1.147 worth of stuff (including my Mums buys too) and they only have £554 worth in stock. Probably won't get the rest so so hopefully my favourite buys are in that £554. Will still be queued up at 3am on boxing day though ;) Well as well as spending daft amounts of money I've been scrapping! I've been so busy with Christmas crafting I haven't done any in a while so was nice to sit and relax and craft with no restrictions iykwim. To keep me in the Christmas mood I thought I'd scrap some old Christmas photos, plus I'm going to have so many more in january might as well get rid of some now! This is a picture of the leftovers from last years Christmas dinner. Yes, the leftovers! It was the first year that we had Christmas dinner at home and rather than cook a huge sit down meal I decided to make a little buffet instead. Worked out well as the kids could come and have bits and bobs as they pleased rather than having to sit and eat. However I seriously overestimated how much everyone would eat. Everyone was finished and the oven was still full of food lol. Saved cooking on boxing day though :)

Still amazes me how much I must have made lol. The glass of wine in the corner didn't last long though ;)

I love this photo, :) It's not often me and Cameron get to spend some time just the two of us, so a couple of weeks ago I was quite surprised when he said he didn't want to go to Dads group but wanted to stay with me instead. Unfortunatly I had the shopping to do so thought he'd be bored but he actually said it was 'so interesting and fasinating' bless him! He found these glasses and said he was goign to ask santa for them lol. Isn't he cute :)

I've had this little speech bubbe with the ? in for ages. Thought it fitted quite well here :)

Last one :) This was last year at mcdonalds. We'd be out shopping for gifts all morning, then been to the cinema so were treating the kids with Mcdonalds for dinner. I'd taken So many photos already that day that I'm pretty sure the kids were bored silly and as a result kept hiding behind their balloons when i tried to take another one.

Well kids are finished with their painting and I promised to make a snowglobe with them so better get on!

DONE!

I have now officially finished all Christmas crafting :) Ok I've got a few activities I want to do with the kids over the weekend but thats fun rather than HAS to be done iykwim. :) Over the past couple of days I finished the photo wreaths for my Gran and Mum and made the 'snowball pops' for the girls boxes. not the best picture but they look good in real life :)

I got the idea from Pintrest. Was pretty easy except when they said to use double stuff oreo I should have listened lol. Most of the oreos broke when i was seperating them, then after I'd put the stick in and was putting them back together I realised the stick was too thick and left a gap. I know for next time :)

Sucker for a bargain

My Mum often jokes that Asda is one of my favourite places to go. To be fair shes probably not wrong. I LOVE to shop and Asda has so much stuff as well as food so i can usually egt everything I need under one roof. I always go off my shopping list though, I'm a sucker for a bargain and like to raid the reduced areas to see what i can find. Yesterday however I went a bit over the top, well to be fair I'm blaming a lot of this on Mark!

I have a 'hot deals uk' app on my phone, and while at the dentist (more on that later) I got a message saying that Asda had reduced all of their £2 selection boxes to 50p. Well we had to go shopping anyway (honest) so we went right to the season isle :) We were too late for the selection boxes, apprently they went as soon as they were out, but lots of other stuff was reduced :) Bags of haribo for 25p, bags of chocolate snow bits 25p, giant chocolate Santas 50p. I had planned to just get a few bits for the kids and my neices, but Mark just kept piling it in! In the end we got about £30 worth, though £11 of it was for my Gran to make little extras for all her great grandkids. Looks like the kids and Mark are set for a while :) Also in the shopping trolley is a princess magazine. This was a reward for my brave baby girl :) Don't know if I mentioned before but she had the dentist yesterday to have a filling done. They think because shes sick so often its weakened her teeth so given her Pro-enamel toothpaste to help in the future, but unfortunatly one of her teeth already had a cavity :( I was dreading taking her and shes only just managed to open her mouth as she was too scared before. However I was so impressed :) She cried a bit at the end saying it hurt but she was SO brave :) Obviously wasn't giving her sweets as a reward so bought her a magazine instead. well thanks to the kids sharing their tummy bug I'm curently curled up on the couch watching tv. Supposed to be at work but ugh I feel awful! Typically I was saying last night how pleased I was I was up to date with my jobs list and how on top of things I was, looks like thats going to change! lol

Ghostly visitors

While I think all Mums say this, there is definetly something special about Cameron. Since he was a toddler he's always talked abotu when he was here before.They didn't have ds or cars then apprently. We're open minded about what happens after you die so didn't too think much of it really. Then odd things started happening at home, I took some pictures of cameron in his room and there were white dots all over it, then the other night just after I put Cam to bed he was laughing: Me - What are you laughing at Cam? Cameron - The man in my room told me a joke! Me - What man?! Cameron - The man from my dream. Ok so that was pretty weird, but Cameron has a pretty active imagination so let it go. Then last night Cameron woke up sobbing. I gave him a cuddle and asked what was wrong, 'When I'm a ghost I won't be able to talk to anyone from this life, only people from the next life.' was the reply. Seriously?! Where on earth did that come from?! I calmed him down and told him he wasn't ever going to be a ghost, when he died in a long, long, long time he could choose to go to heaven and have lots of fun there, but I'm beginning to rethink that this is Cameron makign up stories :s Onto less scary topics (well, less ghostly anyway, the fact Christmas is 9 days away is terrifying!) we went to the Honestart Christmas party today. as usual it was great :) You could make cards, decorate biscuits, make reindeer food, and get your face painted :) Caitlin picked being an angel.

Barely saw Cameron, he was off either dancing or playing on stilts lol. He did return when santa came out though. My older two neices were there too so i managed to get my middle one Evie in a picture with santa as well. Mollie was off making things, takes very much after me with her love of crafting bless her :)

Taped some cheesy Christmas films this weekend so plannign to chill out tonight and make some cards :) Only 3 more days left before kids break up from school and fom then on NOTHING will get done lol.

Judgemental me

Now if I'm honest I'm not really a judgemental person, more a live and let live type. I have friends for example who think if you don't breastfeed your child or use cloth nappies social services should be called, while as long as you're actually feeding your child I could really care less lol. However I admit I LOVE those tv shows with nutters on it. Jeremy Kyle, bridezillas, pregnant in heels, anything I can watch and feel superior I love :) It's a small pool of people I get to feel better than so got to get it where I can! I'm waiting for the day that we end up on JK with my sister. I made bunting for my neices with their names on for christmas, my Mum joked I should do a set for my sisters bedroom with my sisters name, then give her a blank set of flags with a set of letters and a note saying 'insert current partners name here'. Love my Mum sometimes lol. Well feel free to judge away at this. I am seriously bad at making cards but wanted to do some this year so stuck to a simple design.

Ok no way as good as most out there but its cute so I'm happy with it :) Watching 'mirror, mirror' tonight with hubby, not heard much about it but hopefully worth watching!

Gift tags

Had aimed to get gift tags and cards done last night but my back was protesting too much so had an early night instead. Did get the gift tags done though :)

On one of the Sarahs cards retreats we made gift tags with this same design. Misting through the masks and adding some washi tape and a button. To make it more christmasy I did a snowflake instead. :) Not much left on the to do list :) Cards, gift for my gran and mum, snowflake pops and gingerbread playdough to do and I'm done! When I made this list at the start of the month Mark said there was now way I'd get it all done so haha to him lol. He was surprised last night and said he was impressed. Well he should be, I'm impressive :P Seriously though I'm pretty surprised myself. I've enjoyed doing all the crafting which I wouldnt usually do so makes a change. Its also kept costs down as I made a lot of extra gifts and bits which I don't know about you is SO important at the moment. Worked out the bills this morning and have £22 to last the rest of the month :o don't think that will even cover petrol. Will figure it out though, always do :) Its the kids Christmas tree festival this afternoon. Each class decorates a tree to a certain theme, and the grown ups need to guess the theme. There's lots of games to play and cakes and things for sale so the kids are all excited about it, they get to go home early too which I think is a highlight for them!

Trees all done!

Well the past couple of days have been full of baking, working and making things :) Been quite nice really. Managed to get all 75 of the trees done for the kids classes, Caitlin gave out hers today and was so pleased with herself, even the teachers wanted some so they went down well :)

As well as the trees I've been making these gingerbread stars. First batch was for Caitlins christas party Tuesday, then today for homestart fundraiser, then for tomorrow for schools fundraiser. They turned out quite well :) Got a little production line going too baking then covering then drying etc. Anyone would think I was organised!

Friday is Camerons christmas party. I did orginally say I'd make the stars again but to be honest I'm bored of doing them so made these chocolates instead. I got a silicone ice cube tray from Primark which were in the shapes of Space invaders so I used them to make some chocolates instead. I got the idea from Pintrest where they had used a snowflake mold and put milk chocolate, white chocolate and crushed candy canes on it. Not a big mint fan I used milk chocolate, white chocolate and blue glitter. cameron was very excited when he saw them so feelign like a good mum at the moment! lol.

Today cameron was singing at the shops with his school. I was surprised they did it as it was SO cold! We put 2 pairs of socks on him and an extra jumper and he seemed ok with it so thats good. I however couldnt feel my toes! Was right at the end the teacher told us next week they were doing the same songs in the Church! If I'd known that I'd have just waited until then! *rolls eyes* right well tonights jobs are gift tags and cards for the family. Better get on!

Busy, busy weekend :)

Think today is like the eye of the storm, lol. This weekend was mad but so much fun :) Friday our advent was to make the gingerbread house. We had got a kit from Aldi which for £5 was a really good deal. look at the cute little people! The kids made a right mess (WHY did I mop the floor just before they did it?! lol) but had a great time. ended up looking pretty good I think :)

saturday was our annual Christmas party. I do one for the kids each year, i admit I wasn't going to this year as couldnt afford it but my Mum and sister helped out by bringing the food so turned out ok. :) Glad I did as the kids had a great time and were all really well behaved. Didnt get many photos as was basically organised chaos but got this one of them all playing sleeping lions. The point of the game for those who don't know is to lie still and quiet, if you move you're out. Thats how you're SUPPOSED to play it. They baiscally lay there giggling and telling each other to shhhhh, lol. Wasn't long before they got bored and started draggign cameron around the floor. Strange children, think that was their favourite game of the day!

Sunday was then the dads group Christmas party :) I love the peole who run the dads group, its the only break I get each week knowing that the kids and mark are in a safe environment and seriously they can't do enough for them. cameron won the 'pin the nose on the snowman' game so he was thrilled about that :) While they were there I managed to get all the ironing done and a fair bit of housework. To be honest its been an amaingly productive weekend. As well as housework and the parties I've managed to get 30 tree decorations done, over 200 flowers for making wreaths and this candle. My Mum asked me to make this for a friend who lost her baby shortly after she was baptised. I wanted to keep it simple and classy looking and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. My Mum made me laugh though. I've mentioned before how picky she is, when i showed her the candle she complained there wasn't enough colour on the front. I said I thought it would look tacky but she insisted so I gave her a few flowers to pick from and added some pink ones to the front. An hour or so into the kids party (I gave it to her at the start) I noticed someone had took the pink flowers off. I stopped the kids and asked who had done it. A very sheepish Mother then put her hand up and said it was her, she thought it looked tacky!!! Ah well at least she realised I was right in the end ;)

Well today is all about baking. I've got to make biscuits for caitlin and Camerons school parties, and cakes for both school and homestart fundraisers. At least I'll be in a warm kitchen :)

Santa!!!

Today so far has been a busy but nice day :) Mar finially got in contact with his family yesterday (don't get me started on that) and found he had to deliver the gifts before Saturday. Well I'm out with my mum tomorrow so had to be today. Unfortunatly we had no wrapping paper in the house so had to drop kids off at school and go get some. Decided to go to the range as I needed some small wooden pegs and gold and silver brads, did they have any? NO! Pegs decorated with everything under the sun but no plain, and no brads at all! Ugh, tried everywhere I could think but no luck so off to colemans in Kettering tomorrow. Did get the wrapping paper and the gifts delivered though :) Today on the advent was visiting Santa. He was due on our town center from 5 and as the kids swimming lessons finished there just before that it was ideal. We took them to the town square to see the reindeer which caitlin LOVED before the man himself came out. :) Caitlin had no intrest, staying by the sleigh the whole time.

cameron was quite happy to go talk to him however. Apparently on Christmas day santa says they can make as much mess and noise as they like. Thanks for that Santa!

Nativity, christmas biscuits and a layout!

last night on the advent was decorating Christmas biscuits. :) The meeting went on a little longer than expected (was a waste of time though nothing new came up) so didnt get a chance to bake any biscuits special, but had a pack of ginger nuts so just used those lol. kids were quite happy with it so thats the main thing.

I also managed to finish this layout. Its a really simple one but to be honest I don't have the time to do detailed ones atm! Made this and about 50 flowers last night for a decoration that needs to be done by Saturday. I got season 7 of Criminal minds from blockbuster this morning so think I'll be watching that tonight and carrying on. lol.

These are old pictures, trying to work my way through them. Think it was last summer I was digging up the giant bush in our front garden and Caitlin came out and started to pick flowers. mark brought out the camera and got a couple of quick snaps :)Look at that cute face!

Makes me realise how big she is now. This morning was her nativity at school. She was the only female shepard and looked so adorable. She had a big smile on her face and sang all the songs happily :)

Well tonight is dancing, then home for decorating pictures of Christmas trees. This month is going by so quick! Only a couple of weeks left of school so that will speed by then Christmas will be here before we know it!

Actual scrapbooking :)

Feels like an age since I did some Scrapbooking, Christmas crafting has well and truely took over! Last night however I really felt like doing some and as I'm up to date with my other bits so thought I may as well :) Though I did feel guilty as could have been making decorations etc. This is the one I finished :)

Have had this photo of Caitlin for ages. She was in our bed as usual, and when told to go back to hers put on her cute face. This is often used to get out of trouble or get something she wants so decided to take a photo to document it. Nice to remember her happy face when shes scowling at me for saying 'No' lol. She had a very happy face going to school this morning :) Its her nativity today and my Mum and Granny managed to get tickets to go see her. They do it a bit funny at their school, every parent gets 2 tickets but you dont get to pick what day/time (me and Mark are going tomorrow) if you want any more you need to wait and see if any come up. After checking daily we were told no there were no more :( Caitlin was gutted bless her. But last night we just got in the door and the phone rang, her teacher had managed to get 2 extra tickets for us :) Yey! So shes all excited to do it this afternoon. She makes me laugh though as when she described her part we all thought she was an angel. She wears a blue dress (with a button at the top, this button is a big deal for some reason in caitlins mind lol) and she has a hat, but the hat has a bit that comes off in a circle above her head. Now we all thought oh shes an angel with a halo. No, Cameron saw it yesterday and told us shes a shepard! Bless her, bit of a demotion, lol. But shes happy because she gets to bring the sheep to baby Jesus :) Last night on our advent it was supposed to be decorating ginger biscuits. Caitlin wasn't feeling 100% though so we swapped it for todays, which was sweets and a movie. I'd taped The muppets Christmas carol the day before so snuggled down with that. Was surprised how much the kids liked it tbh, but had a hard time explaining the whole ghosts with chains thing lol. Love this time of year though, snuggled up warm with a Christmas film and the Christmas lights all on. Best time of year! Tonight we'll do the biscuits if we get time as I've got another social services meeting tonight to sign some contracts. Hopefully won't take too long but you never know with these things. Right better do some housework as off up town soon to put money in the bank and hopefully get a costa :) :)

Letters to Santa

Day two of our advent calender and today was writing letters to Santa :) First though was dads group. Both kids went this time which was nice as I could watch tv while I peeled all the potatos and apples needed for dinner and apple crumble. kids both had a great time and made some more decorations for the tree. Both are still drying as Caitlin went a bit OTT with the glitter glue. That's my girl lol. Had to get some custard, juice and eggs from asda when I picked them up. OMG its was heaving! There was actually a queue to get into the car park. I always overspend when we go Asda but I was determined not to this time. I had the cash in my pocket so I wouldn't use my card, wasnt even going to LOOK at anything else. Yeah I spent £56 lol. I swear I just can't help myself! Kids wanted sweets, and then there was an offer on boxes of chocolates so stocked up for teachers and extra gifts, then I added up in my head wrong and thought it was £38 in the trolley so added £10 of wine to get it over the £40..... oh it just goes on lol. Anyway, once home we started writing lists. :) Kids all asked for things I've got them except for a model Cameron REALLY wants (will be hunting for that this week!) so that was good. While they were writing the lists I changed Marks name in my phonebook to Santa and sent a txt to my phone saying I'd heard they were writing letters to me and included Santas address. the kids were amazed! So cute!!!!

Still waiting for all this snow we keep getting promised lol. Kids are snuggled up watching Barbie Christmas film so I'm off to warm up with a bath :)

Advent day :)

Well today is December first which means 2 things, one, advent calenders!!!!!

Look at those happy faces lol. They have another 2 fabric ones, one is a large Christmas tree with 24 decorations, one to add each day. The other is a simple one with empty pockets, in this I usually put a little sweet but this time I'm putting a fun activity we will do that day :) Todays was putting up the tree :) Other years I've let the kids decorate the big one whatever way they like, however this year I got a load of really pricey, pretty decorations in the sale so wanted to have an 'adult' tree. Not to leave the kids out, I got them their own from Asda :) Caitlin got to put the star on top, a job she took very seriously lol.

Tree was a bit skinnier than on the box but kids were pleased with the result :) Going ot put it at the top of the stairs and they can put their stockings under it on Christmas eve, Caitlins a bit wary about Santa coming into her room while shes sleeping, can kind of see her point lol.

As Caitlin put the topper on the kids tree Cam put the topper on the adult tree. He didn't take it quite as seriously as her.

Well today was odd, on Thursday we had another meeting with social services and for a lot of reasons, most a complete over reaction and due to the fact social worker turnover is very high its been decided that my sisters current partner (also Lillies dad) is a danger to the children. None of us agreed with this decision but it fell on deaf ears unfortunately. As a result he is no longer allowed near the older two until a check has been carried out and only to see Lillie under supervised contact. Ive seen how long it takes to organise those contact centers so quickly volunteered to do it at my house with me. First contact was today. Felt dreadful taking Lillie with me when I went to give her a drink etc so Paul wasn't alone with her but had to do it. Have another meeting tuesday to sign a contract agreeing to all the details etc so hoping to see how long these checks will take and everything then.

Doesn't take much lol

Went to Morrisons today after a pretty rubbish morning and saw these, how cute are these!!

They're yummy too, the top are basically chelsea buns in the shape of a tree with edible glitter stars, and the bottom is chocolate and orange breads in the shape of a candy cane. HAD to buy them. Doesn't take much to impress me, lol. Also had the last bunting flags from my swap delivered today :) So will be sorting them out ready to post off tomorrow. Hope everyone likes theirs!

Bad luck

My family seem to have the worst luck around this time of year. The amount of car accidents, household things breaking, poor health and just general bad stuff happening is insane! The last year we had a genuinly nice Christmas was back when I was pregnant with Cameron, so 6 years ago now. The year after my sister started going out with the violent partner (yep same one who pops up every now and again now) next year Mark was in hospital, next year my Gran was, last year my Granddad was and this year still Granddad. He went back to hospital yesterday to have the new lump on his arm looked at :( They took a biopsy but they're not sure what they're going to do this time. After twice removing it before and Granddad taking so long to recover each time I think they're considering leaving it :( Yesterday was just a rubbish day all round. I got a letter yesterday morning from Autoglass saying my insurance didnt cover the repairs done and I needed to pay, confused as I'd had no repairs done I rang them. Turned out it was for chip repair I had done back in 2009! Told them no chance I'm paying now they can take me to court. Went town to get a vest to match my top, forgot the bloody top didn't I. On the way back the car overheated so rang the AA, guy came out and checked it all, need a new sensor but nothing big. Ok great off he goes, I go to drive home and........power steering is broken! So needed to wait for the AA to send another guy out to fix that. On a good note though the noise I was worried about is a piece of plastic loose on the heating fan. Irritating but not a hazzard. As a result though wasn't home until seriously late so got nothing done I'd planned to. Had hoped to have my rug cleared but it looks like this

Nope not clear lol. Marks in bed with a medication headache today though so that's him there for the day. Cant hoover or do anything loud so think lots of washing and getting back on top of the crafting is the plan today :)

More bunting :)

Well supposed to be at work today but as its a bit of a drive was worried about the car so canceled :( Hoping to get it looked at this week though, why does all this happen just before Christmas! Managed to get more bunting done last night :) As I've probably mentioned before I've just bought a smallish gift for each of my nieces this year but I'm making a box of goodies for each of them too. As part of it I've made them each bunting for their rooms. This is Lillies, her room is really bright so used lots of bright colours in hers.

Evie on the other hand is a typical tomboy so used more dark pinks and 'distressed' colours in hers.

Hopefully they'll like it :)

First brain, now everythings broke!

Ugh its been an expencive weekend. Friday morning Cameron broke his school shoes. Saturday my phone broke, and today the car broke AHHHHH!!!!!! Got Cam new shoes from Asda which is fine but £15 I wasn't planning on spending, my phone I'll just deal with as it still works in a way but just wont vibrate and sometimes turns on silent so I miss calls or messages, the car I've no idea what we'll do. Its been making a funny noise when I turn it on for a few months now but as its been driving fine I've been ignoring it.Then a few weeks back the engine overheated, as the water and everything was fine I put it down to a one off but today it happened again :( Oddly enough though it was on a small drive, just down the road to the chrildrens center, while in the past few weeks I've been to Northampton, Kettering and all over the place with no issue. Think if it happens again I'll call the AA, at least then I'll have an idea whats wrong with it. On a good note I finally finished my mums bunting :) I've been working really hard on it and she says she loves it so really pleased as shes hard to impress. Typically though I forgot to take a photo of it but will do next time I'm round her house :) I also finished the labels for the 'Snowman soup' and the cookie mix jars :) Look little snowmen :) The kids now want me to make some for them, despite the fact they can have hot chocolate whenever they want lol. Think they just like the label.

Love my gingerbread men, I know they're cookies and not gingerbread mix but I dont have a cookie diecut lol. i got this one for christms last year and havent used it much but seeing how cute these turned out think I might put it in my 'on hand' box rather than out in the garage. If I ever start doing layouts again that it, still loads of christmas crafts to do. Enjoying it though :) Hoping to have all my bunting done by the end of the week then its just decorations to do. Hope I'll be done by Christmas!!!

Think my brain is broke.

Honestly I made SUCH an idiot out of myself yesterday lol. First I went on a quick shopping trip to the local retail park, went to The range, Next, Poundland then Asda. At Asda the woman couldn't find my wrapping paper on the system so called a member of staff. he then wondered about the store with it trying to find how much it was before I remembered I'd bought it at the range. Mortified! Then to town to meet my Mum for a coffee. On leaving paid for parking but when I got to the car didn't have the ticket. Searched all the bags before Mum found a security guard who checked the CCTV and clearly saw me putting my ticket in the machine, paying for it and walking away, leaving the ticket IN the machine. AHHHH They were lovely though and after a bit of good natured fun being poked at me let me out without paying the £10 lost ticket charge lol. Wasn't all bad though, managed to get a lot of the little bits crossed off my list and have an aim to do a lot more today. :) Think there's so much buzzing about my head at the moment it's struggling to keep up! Also enjoyed a black forest hot chocolate at costa too :)

I LOVE these, chocolate, cherries, whipped cream, whats not to love! Right well better go get started on my list. :) Lots of crafting things so actually looking forward to it

WOYWW

Well made lots of progress on the bunting :) Poor kids havent been able to play on the rug for over a week now as all my craft stuff was on it. After finishing the bunting for my swap i thought there might be a bit more room but I was wrong, this is what it looks like now lol.

The 'Merry Christmas' is for my mum, I've finished Merry but just planned christmas. The other ones are the names Mollie, Lillie and Evie for my neices Christmas boxes. HOPE to get the majority of these finished tonight as I have the plan in my head its just getting it put together, but we'll see. :) Remember yesterday I said I'd put a big dent in my Christmas craft list? Think someone heard that and thought 'Oh really? We'll see about that!' Last night Caitlin came home with a cake pop from her class, I thought it was someones birthday but apprently a mum just made them as a gift for the class, now Caitlin wants me to make cakes for the class *rolls eyes*. I'm a little proud she thinks they're good enough to share but thats a lot of cakes! Plus I don't like making cakes for school if I'm honest. When I worked in a school I knew a lot of parents were iffy about giving their kids food from other homes, while I know my kitchen is clean and hyginic obviously they don't; so we came to a compromise, when she gives out her christmas cards I'm going to make ribbon trees for everyone as well. So now have 65 ribbon trees to add to my list as got to do Camerons class too. Oh it's all good fun! lol.

Coke advert!!!!1

Its now officially the start of Christmas!!! We all have little things while make it really feel like Christmas for us, the tree going up, lights being turned on, for quite a few of my firneds its the red cups coming out at Starbucks, lol. Well mine is well and truely the Coke-a-cola advert bring shown :) Based on facebook status' I think it was first shown last week during saturday nights x-factor. I dont watch this so missed it :(. As the week went on more and more people posted about it but I still hadn't seen it!! Wasn't a happy bunny. Then this morning, Jeremy Kyle was on in the background while I was filling out some forms and I heard it, 'Holidays are coming' YEY!!!! I actually screamed, poor Mark nearly hit the roof. lol. Ah well he knew I was nuts when he married me (he says he didn't but he did :p) Its now offically the start of Christmas!!!!!!  As fun as that is its a little scary considering my 'to do' list is still pretty huge. Managed to make a pretty big dent in it over the past few days though :) Posted off my stocking swap parcel, couple of cards/letters and my finished elf door. Ok didnt turn out quite as I'd have liked. I wanted to put some twine around the edge to look like christmas lights but it really didnt, lol, so used the little dew drops around the edge instead.

Also made a stand at the back so it can stand up on its own.

Hope my swapee likes it :) Project of the day today, BUNTING!

Swaps :)

I love doing swaps on UKs, and the ones in the run up to Christmas are always the best! Theres the stash swap ones, Christmas box, stocking swap, 12 days of Christmas, but the past few years I've been trying to do the more creative ones too :) I'm starting to get into more crafting which takes me out of my comfort zone. This year I'm doing the bunting swap again, which I can't share as its not over with yet, and the Elf door swap. This one was actually my idea *big proud smile* as I'd seen lots of fairy doors before so thought a elf door would be a nice Christmas change :) Was actually a lot more complicated than I thought it would be, lol. I had the idea of what I wanted to do in my head but trying to get it onto paper was easier said than done. Did it though and hope my swapee is pleased with it :) Will post it here when shes received it. The one I received is adorable! Look at the little knocker and handle. lol. Will look great on my shelf when we put all the decorations up in a couple of weeks.

Yes only a couple of weeks left before December!! I'm so looking forward to it :) I love winter, slow cooker meals, hearty puddings (apple crumble and custard, yum!) cuddling up watching films at night. :) Its a strange thing but there are certain times when I feel like a 'proper' mum, when the kids come home from school all frozen and I hand them a hot chocolate with cream and they run off to play in the toasty warm room all decorated for xmas its certinaly one of those moments :) God sounds like I live in a DFS advert doesnt it! lol, don't be fooled that nice moment is usually followed by 'Don't knock over the tree!' 'She touched my stuff!' 'He's not playing the game right!' Just like Chistmas' when I was a kid lol.

Half term recovery!

Kids have half term and I don't blog for ages, wonder if theres a link there. lol. Was a fun time though :) They both had a great parents evening report so we took them to Kids kingdom for cameron treat. I HATE it there as its so huge an hectic! But luckily as it was early morning it wasn't too bad so everyone enjoyed it. Then my sister and I took the girls to Disney on Ice. It was amazing!! It was the same show me and Mark saw years ago so was really sweet seeing it with Caitlin. Soppy cos I am I cried when I saw how excited she was, think I'm going to need medication when we go to Disneyland. I managed lots of crafting too, :) Not many layouts granted but this was one I did manage.

Dont often use my paints but like the way it frames the photos here, might do that more often :) Speaking of painting Caitlins room and the living room are now both DONE! Have Camerons room and the hallway to do and then that's it all ready for Christmas. Can't belive how quick it's coming up. I've finished all the shopping but my crafting list is getting bigger by the day. In all honesty I dont mind too much, Love sitting and crafting now its dark earlier and all that, plus now Im a celebrity is on gives me good tv to watch too :)