Halloween!!

Today is obviously halloween :) Caitlins been SO excited about this for weeks. :) Typically with Catilin she was poorly last night so was a bit worried she wouldn't be ok for today but after an early night and lots of sleep she seems better. Bit pale but nothing too big :) For Halloween we always go to East Carlton Park. They have lots of events on like bouncy castles, fair rides and a spooky walk through the woods. It would be too scary to go at night so we go when its light and let the kids walk about and see people setting up.
This year Caitlin went as a princess, surprise surprise, and Cameron wanted to go as Mario :) We had the outfit from a Christmas gift last year but had a draw on a mustache with my eyeliner. Cameron was NOT pleased at wearing MAKE UP! but came around when he saw how good it looked lol.

After a spooky walk, where Caitlin gripped my hand for dear life, we went to my Grans for the kids trick or treat bags then home to watch Shreks Halloween special and snuggles. Was actually pretty funny :)

Messy fun

Today was messy play day at Wicksteed park. They did a big play day in the summer which the kids loved so we were quite excited to go to this one as it had muddy puddles, hay bale climbing, toasting marshmallows, leaf piles and lots of other autumn activities. :) As I couldn't fit everyone in my car I had to ask my sister and Paul to take the girls. After a minor nightmare trying to get her to do it when agreed we were off :) Unfortunatly I was so stressed it wasn't until I got there I realised kids didn't have their wellies on. *sigh* oh well. Bit of mud never hurt anyone. :) Turned out they weren't even that bothered about the mud, far more interested in the leaves!

I took along a thermos of tinned tomato soup for Mark and the kids. I can't stand the stuff, even the smell makes me gag, typically its Mark AND the kids fave soup!

Did manage some jumping in puddles lol. cameron managed to drench a little boy who was standing too close, Opps!

Well after a nice morning we got home to snuggles, onsies and tv :) Was nice spending time just the four of us. Back to chaos tomorrow!

Still crafting

Lady at the post office has seen me a lot the past few days lol Been posting off lots of swaps and Christmas gifts, including this box for my pregnancy groups secret santa. That isn't my way of announcing I'm pregnant btw, we've just all been friends since I first started trying for Cameron all those years ago. She loves trinkets, photoframes and handmade stuff so I bought her a ladder frame similar to this one.

The made her a fridge notepad and some pegs to hang up christmas cards (will share those another day). It all fitted neatly into one of those boxes I made the other day so decorated it and sent it all off in the post. :) Hope she likes it.

Mark woke up today with one of his Tramdol headaches. These usually leave him in a dark room for a couple of days so was quite lucky that the girls dad decided to take them out for a bit to give us a break. hes sersiously unreliable so was amazed he turned up tbh! Was nice to spend some time just with my two. Played some computer games, snuggled up and watched some tv. Was simple and lovely :)
Caitlin made me laugh though, she found her old baby bib in the drawer and insisted on wearing it for dinner. I asked her why 'Because it has flowers on' was the answer. Fair enough :)

yey post!

Got a parcel this morning with all these goodies in it :) Was my hostess month in my Stampin up group so I got freebies! Always the best price :) I bought some new cookie stamps, the This and That christmas journal pack (which had stickers, paper, pen and washi tape) owl building punch and 2 this and that everyday journals as christmas gifts for Mollie and Caitlin.

I'm SO excited to start filling in my Christmas journal! I'm not going to use it as a planner, as it has so many pages and sections I'm going to split it up so I can put in what we do this year and for the next four years and see how things change. Thats if I don't lose it in the meantime!
Been a loooooong day here. Its so much hard work for poor mark to have 4 kids in the house but with it being half term nothing else we can do. Then this afternoon we had one of Camerons friends round which was even harder work lol. How long before half term is over now?!!??!?!

Relaxing

This week is going to be mad. kids and more kids coming round, appointments etc. So today we are doing NOTHING! This is Cameron, on the computer, surprising lol.

QAnd Caitlin, crafting with playdoh. She currently deciding what colour to make her doughnuts, its a difficuilt decision obviously lol.

And I am still doing more of the Christmas crafts, :) Calm before the storm, literally too as we have a big storm predicted for tonight. I'm not too worried as we don't have any big trees around here to be blown down, or any water to flood. Worst that can happen is a power cut and we wont have tv! Though if you ask the kids I'm sure that would be an emergency!

Origami boxes

last year for the teachers at school I did the usual chocolates, bath products etc. This year I'm going for the more handmade, personal approach. To that end I've made lots of these boes which I'm going to fill with little handmade trinkets (more on those later) But these boxes are so versitile and can be used for so much I thought I'd share how to make them. :)

1. Start with a square of paper. I'm using 11x11 (then 12x12 for the lid)

2. Fold in half, then unfold and fold in half the other way. Unfold fully

3. Using the fold lines as a guide fold the corners to meet in the middle.

4. Fold one side in to the middle, do the same for the other side.

5. Fold the top and bottom into the middle.

6. Unfold so that only two corners meet the middle as shown below.

7. This is the tricky part. Take a hold of corners A dn B as shown below, and fold them in so they meet.

8. It should look like this.

9. Take the triangle now sticking up, and bring down inside the box.

9. Do the same on the other side and you now have one half of your box :)

To do a lid, simply start off with a piece of paper 1 inch bigger than the one you started with. So an 11x11 bade would have a 12x12 lid, 5x5 base, 6x6 lid etc etc. You can decorate however you like and they really are quite sturdy. I got one in the post last year my daughter stole to put her hair clips in and its still in good condition. :) Hope you have fun making these!

Crafting :)

Yep my rug is crafting central again and I'm loving it! After realising the other day I wasn't as ahead as I thought I sat and made a list of all the handmade things I need to do before christmas and got stuck in!

Haven't really made a dent in the list yet but enjoying all the prep work :)

Christmas swaps

Well today I've been crafting a little :) I LOVE the swaps on UKS at Christmas, most of which involve sending gifts in a handmade box, or stocking or something similar. Between the holiday and a few trips to The range I'd done all the shopping needed for each of them so had a very productive afternoon wrapping them, putting them all together and bulking them up with bits from my own stash. Now have a huge pile of parcels to go out tomorrow as sending some Christmas gifts nice an early too :) Can't share the stocking or other bits but can show the box I made. :) Hopefully my swappee will like it.

Today was also Camerons parents evening. I love his teacher, its the same one I worked with last school year and I think her teaching techniques are great. Unsurprisingly Camerons doing really well, maths and English both great. His teacher has started him on word problems rather than just sums which hes responding really well to. Overall I'm thrilled as last year he complained about being bored because the work was too easy so obviously this year hes loving the new challenges. :)
So on top of two great reports I get to go in to see caitlins project work tomorrow, then she has her next dance exam. SO proud of my amazing kids this week :)

Proud mummy :)

Tonight was Caitlins parents evening. I wasn't worried about it, I know shes a good girl and she tries hard so I went along expecting to hear just that. I never expected to be told shes in the top groups for both maths and english, always finishes her work AND the extra work shes given, and her recent project on families was used as an example for the class! So proud! I felt really bad for not knowing all this but when caitlin comes out of school and I asked what she did the responce is either 'nothing' or 'I don't remember'. cameron on the other hand runs through his entire day bit by bit. I think maybe thats why, shes always been a bit shy about everything around Cameron as he can be a bit overpowering but I'm thrilled to know how well shes doing :) She got to stay up late and watch 'Smurfs' as a treat.
On that note I'm LOVING my new headphones! Got them in Turkey (fakes obviously) but I love putting them on, turning on the Ipod and blocking out the world.

Sure they will get a lot of use next week during half term! Hopefully tomorrow too when I pull out the crafting stuff for the first time since the holiday. lol

Not as ahead as I thought!

While sitting with a cup of coffee this morning I decided to look at my blog this time last year, I had done SO much more Christmas prep then than I have now! I thought I was actually pretty ahead but last year I had finished the Christmas box swap, decoration swap and had started most of my 'jarred' gifts. I've done none of that yet!
On top of that I got the dates for our PTA events this xmas so that's more to organise. Looking forward to it though :) Wish me luck!!

Vegging

Dont know if its the climate change or what but I feel dreadful today! Managed to get on top of the housework so will be vegging in front of the tv tonight with hubby and a tub of this

Mum and Bri bought it for me to say thanks for organising the holiday :)Wont help e lose the weight I gained while away but I forgive them ;)

Funny comments from the kids today:

Cameron - Wow Mummy!! If you use letters from the alphabet you can make words!

Caitlin (watching Glee) - Well, they like their songs don't they!

Mortified!

As we all know, Mark memory is useless, however my memory when it comes to names and faces is almost as bad and I often have people talking to me and I have no idea where I know them from. Which led to a mortifying moment in Asda today.
I was shopping with the kids and was tired from this weekend anyway, I was trying to find the bread I wanted when Mark said 'Are you not going to say hi?' and pointed at the lady next to him:
Me - Oh hi sorry, my heads not here right now.
Her - Oh its fine Asda does that, hows things?
me - Fine, just back from Turkey so getting things organised.
Her - Oh sounds busy, not fun with kids in tow.
me - No they hate asda, well better get on with it, chat to you later.
Her - ok bye.
Me (to mark) - Who was that?
Mark - Wasn't that Katie?
Me - No!!
I was chatting to some random stranger!!
Didn't help matters that I was so flustered I turned around and put the bread in a trolley, looked and thought 'I didn't buy milk' then heard' Um, that's my trolley'
I'm never going Asda again.

Holiday!

You may have noticed my blog posts being a bit short this week, thats because we were all in Turkey :) One week of sitting about, sunning ourselves and eating, lol. We really lucked out with the weather, it was beautiful except for one day where they had a HUGE storm. Seriously I've never seen rain like it! It was just like a sheet of water coming down. Wasn't long before the streets were all flooded but was fun to watch from the warmth of the hotel.
Kids as usual loved the pool, Cam scared the life otu of me though by dissapearing. Couldnt see him anywhere then heard giggles.

Should have known really, little beggers done this before!
One night we took the bus into town to see the dancing fountains. There were really impressive and reminded us of Dreams at Disney. :) Kids were mesmerised and stayed for about an hour just watching.

Love this picture Mum took :)

We didnt take half as many photos this time as we didn't do many excursions, just to the market and a mini cruise. We were supposed to go on a jeep safari but typically that was the day of the huge storm so that was cancelled. Was discusted with the service we got though, nobody actually came and told us so there were 4 families with kids just sitting there waiting. Managed to ring someone (on my mobile, at MY cost) and was told it was cancelled we would get a refund that day. Didn't get it until end of next day, our LAST day, and even then was only because I forced the rep to go get it. Was the only bad part of our holiday though so won't dwell on that :) We took my middle niece Evie with us and she LOVEd it! Couldn't get her out of the pool most days, even wanted to go in when it was raining! Also sent my two to the on-site kids club. Never done that before as felt odd in a different country and lets face it I'm over protective enough in this country but glad I did as they really enjoyed it. They did parties at night time with different themes so was nice for us to sit and have a drink just the adults too.
Caitlin in a Fez, just because they're cool ;)

Mum took this on the plane home, No idea why I'm wearing Cams hat lol.

Well back to normality now! Lots of washing, ironing and unpacking to do :)

Susan lewis books

Yep I've been reading again :) This time of year I love nothing more than to curl up with a cup of tea and a good book. On recommendation from a friend I started this one.

Now I admit it was REALLY slow at first it was good once it got going. Annoyingly its one of two so ended on a cliff hanger and I don't have the second yet but still worth a read :) I've since started another one of hers and again it was really slow (and odd) at the start so think thats her style of writing.
Also read this:

It was on a list I found on Pinterest of 'books to read before they become films' Its about a girl who is in a coma and has to decide if she should live or die. Its only a short book granted and another which ends on a cliff hanger but was interesting and very sweet :)
Ok done with the books reviews now. Maybe I should get out a bit more......

Christmas sweets!!

Ok I know its early, but last year we bought a box of mixed sweets from a american import website and it was such a highlight :) We got £25 worth of sweets for £15 and the kids (and adults) loved going though and finding random bits, trying new stuff we'd never heard of etc. They also do a £50 worth for £25 box but these sell out SO quick! I emailed the shop a while ago asking when they were getting them back in stock and got an email last thursday saying 'Tomorrow' I kept an eye on the website and managed to snatch one up :) This morning it came and this is some of what we got.

There were a few large boxes of sweets we decided to hide away to surprise the kids with so this is what was left. Cant wait to try the tequila chocolate!

Sketchy scrappers

After being really late the past two months I'm on the ball this month :) This was the sketch karen gave us to work with.

I didn't have 3 photos that would work so I used these, wasn't too keen of them being all in a column so moved them about a bit and added lots of little embellishments until I was pleased with it :)

Used up lots of little bits and bobs that have been sitting about for ages. These are all pictures from Camerons birthday last year when we had the huge party at Cheeky monkies, the amount of gifts he got from his friends was crazy!

No idea what I'm going to do next year, though after this years birthday at Disneyland I don't think I'm going to top it!

Heaven

More layouts :) I love this photo of Mark in Turkey last year. hes just so chilled out and relaxed which doesn't happen often. Hes also wearing his 'holiday hat' he bought it ages ago and he loves it. I however think he doesn't suit hats, so the compromise is that he wears it when we're on holiday, and very unlikely to see anybody I know :P

Love these little felt embellishments. Think I got them in a Sarahs cards goodie bag at one of the retreats.

Bribery

I love this photo :) Actually did this layout ages ago but it's since sat in my 'to be titled' pile. Ignore the 'e' on the photo, it must have fell off from somewhere and I didn't notice it until after the photo was taken.

A few years ago now we went to see Santa at a local garden center. It was the first time the kids had seen real reindeer and were a little intimidated about how big they were. I wanted a photo of the kids with them but they were having none of it. Eventually I managed to bribe Cameron with an ice cream, new toy and an extra half hour to stay up. Caitlin bless her wouldn't do it for any price.

Funnily enough they are still like that. Cameron can be reasoned with or in worst cases bought, Caitlin however if she doesn't want to do something you have no chance!

Chocolate face

Been scrapping again :) Using up more old counterfit kits. Really simple layout to use up some craps and some rub-ons, seem of have loads of these from somewhere :s

Picture is from when a friend of mine gave Caitlin some chocolate cake from Italy. As you can see, Caitlin enjoyed it. lol. Love the t-shirt and the grin on her face.

Counterfit kit

Ok I'm a bit behind this month but better than last month! This was the kit we were given.

And these are the papers I put together. Think I will add more papers to this but struggled finding some to match, seem to be running down my stash a bit, finally!

My embellishments are a bit more random. I had lots of almost finished stickers, rub ons and other bits and bobs so my aim this month is to use them up.

Hopefully will help use up more photos too, not long left to the end of the year and the pile waiting to be scrapped is still huge!

Things to do with boxes

Last year a new head started at the kids school, shes very much into parents getting involved with their childs education which is fine with me :) Part of this is each term they have a topic theme and they have to make something at home based on this. At the end of term all the work is put on display in the hall and the parents can go and view it.
Caitlins topic was 'Family and people who help us' We made a scrapbook of photos of the family and Caitilin wrote on each one who they were and how they were related to her. Was funny because she wouldn't believe me that her nanny was my Mummy, and that her Granny was my Granny and her Nannys mummy lol. A lot for a kid to take in I suppose.
On the 'people who help us' side we made a fire engine from a cerial box. Caitlin wasn't too pleased with it in the end but think she has quite high standards for a 5 year old lol.

Cameron theme was 'London' and after finally convincing him I had NO idea how to make a replica of the London eye he decided he wanted to do a tour bus. Pretty simple but he was pleased.

Well I was quite happy with what the kids had managed. Granted we had helped them a little with putting some bits together (don't trust them with super glue lol) but mainly it was their work. When we handed them in this morning though OMG! Some of the models wouldn't look out of place in a shop! There where huge models of Big ben, and a very impressive model of the tower bridge complete with toy cars driving over it. I was really worried the kids would feel bad about what they had done but they didn't seem too bothered. One of the teachers did comment what a shame it was though how competitive it had got, but suppose that's how parents can get with their kids. Oh well mine were happy with theirs :)

Pop tarts

Now I'm not a huge fan of Pop tarts, we used to have them when we were kids but I always thought they were a bit tasteless. The kids and Mark however love them so when they're on offer (they're crazy prices I think) I buy some as a treat. While in Tescos I saw these ones :)

They were in the import aisle so obviously the American ones, I love cinnamon, just reminds me of Christmas, and as they were reduced to less than half price I got a couple of boxes. I decided to put one away for the Christmas breakfasts and try some now. OMG they were delicious! Was like a chewy, cinnamon biscuit. Kids loved them too though Mark wasn't too keen. Oh well more for me ;)
Not much going on here, Lillie is starting to settle in fully and understand the rules a bit more, she really needs to be taught some independance too as at 3 she refuses to go to the toilet by herself. Oh well baby steps :)

Sugar cookies :)

Ok I usually put lots of photos on my recipes but got a few people asking me for this one and don't have time to do photos so you'll just have to do without this time! lol.

Sugar cookies
You will need:
1 1/2 cups of butter (works out as one stick of butter from the shops lol)
2 1/5 cups of white sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 cups plain flour
icing sugar for rolling

To bake
1 - Cream together butter and sugar.
2 - Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3 - Stir in flour.
4 - Cover and chill for at least an hour, but I've found if you're doing shapes it works better if chilled overnight.
4.5 - If chilled overnight take out about 20 minutes before use.
5 - Pre-heat oven to gas mark 4
6 - Roll out dough on a surface with icing sugar, NOT flour
7 - Cut, stamp, whatever you would like :)
8 - Bake for aprox 6-8 minutes or until golden brown.

These are great for any cookie you would like to keep definition. I've used my cookie stamps with these with great results. For the kids I actually have made a batch, rolled into little balls and froze, so its all ready for when they want to do some baking :)
Camerons stamped sugar cookies.

PIF

Ages ago I took part in a pay it forward on facebook. The idea being that I would promise to send a gift sometime this year to the first 5 people who commented on my status and they would do the same. I've sent out all mine but one, which has gone wrong so I'm currently rethinking lol, and in return so far I've got a beautiful chocolate basket and now this:

one of my friends recently went to america and got me this hand sanitiser with a holder to clip it onto my handbag so I can take it everywhere, there is also this beautiful handmade keyring. You cant see in the photo but the colours change as it moves and you can spin the bead on the pin round. Im dreadful for fiddling with things when I'm thinking and have a necklace I love which has a ball that spins so this is ideal for me!
Not been crafting unfortunately as taking care of Lillie is a little more demanding than I anticipated! I remember the terrible 2s being bad but OMG I think I blocked some of it out! Cam cracked me up this morning though, I'd interrupted Lillies breakfast (45 minutes into eating one slice of toast) to get her dressed. Apprently the jeans I put on her made her unable to walk, so she sprawled herself on the floor like a starfish. 'I can't eat my breakfast! I can't walk! I can't eat my breakfast! I can't walk!' Cameron: 'Well crawl then!' Boy will make a good dad someday :)

ETA - For those messaging me about our X-rays thank you I'm fine :) Mark however has somehow, sometime in the past broke his foot, not noticed and had the bone heal weird! We think it must have been when he was really ill and not mentally there enough to feel the pain and realise he'd done it. can't do much about it now so the pain he has sometimes he'll just have to deal with but compared to everything else its way down the line lol. At least we have an answer I suppose :)

Reading again

Yep I've been reading again. :) I'm a really quick reader, when I was a kid and my mum worked Saturdays I used to sit round the back of the butchers with a pile of books beside me and just work through them through the day. So when I found myself last night with not much to do my trusty kindle came out again and I read this:

I love her books, her style is very similar to Jodi Picholt who I love too, looking at stories from lots of different angles. Unfortunatly was dissapointed in this one, I think endings are really important and while this one had a twist, it was really unbelievable and kind of annoying. But I won't spoil it too much in case anybody here wants to read it lol. Heres how its described:
How far would you go to protect your sister? After witnessing the murder of their parents, Maya and Rebecca Ward had only each other to cling to in their teenage years and beyond. Now both doctors, they have developed very different coping strategies since the tragedy. Daredevil Rebecca races off to disaster sites with an international team of doctors whilst Maya is content in her quiet medical practice and life with her husband Adam. But Maya is unwilling to deal with the cracks in her marriage, or the secrets she's kept since the night her parents died. When a hurricane devastates north Carolina, Maya is feared dead. Adam and Rebecca are left to mourn and hope for a miracle but as the days pass and hope fades, they face unexpected and unwanted feelings and Rebecca discovers that she's been burying some secrets of her own.