Christmas!

OK so it's New Years eve and I'm blogging about Christmas, but it's the first chance I've really had!
So much for relaxing lol. But it's been a fun time anyway.
So what have I been up to? I held a 'crafting class' for Caitlin and Mollie. We made bunting and family snowmen canvas' This was Mollies with a Grandad snowman, Nanny snowwoman, Mollie snowgirl and Poppy snowdog :)

We had a scare when Caitlin banged her head pretty bad and it came up in a huge lump (she was fine thankfully) Mark had a scare when I got a slot for the VIP Next sale and spent £1500 (most of it will go back!) and I had a scare on Christmas eve when I went to turn on Camerons Ipad and it asked me for a password I have no memory of putting on it! :\
I tried everything I could think of and ended up getting locked out. Cue frantic googling to find out what to do next and being told to restore it on Itunes.
Turned out my Itunes was too old and needed updating.
Further turned out my computer was too old to update the Itunes. AHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I miss cassette players.
3 hours later finally managed to get it restored and I finished off the bottle of wine I had planned to save for the next day lol.
Christmas day was organised chaos as usual. I'd told the kids they were NOT allowed to get up until 7am. Cameron came bounding into our room with his stockings claiming his DS said it was 7:35.
No, it was 4am.
After trying in vain to get him back to sleep in our bed we gave up and went to open gifts at 5:30. Thank goodness for coffee!
Caitlin LOVED her new shop :) Well worth the hours of work my Dad and I put into making it. She's been playing with it daily since, never 'bought' so many sweets in my life!

Cameron loved his Ipad but the surprise fave gift was this Pikichu hat he got. I had to force him to take it off at bedtime because I was worried the sting bits might strangle him!

Scamp was a very happy boy with this ball Santa brought him :) Bless him he's easy to please.

So, gifts all opened we set off to Mums for breakfast. I had packed a bag containing all the family gifts the night before including the large glass pelican I had bought for Mum and kept safe since September.
Walking out the door I get knocked by an overenthusiastic Cameron and hear a sickening 'clunk' from the bag. :(
I knew it was broken as I could hear a grating noise when I moved it but despite Mark (who knows me so well) telling me to leave it I opened it to look at the damage.......and promptly sliced my finger open.
Seriously for such a small cut it bled! The blood was dripping off my finger in seconds and Caitlin was near hysterical. God love Cameron he hugged her and calmed her down while I bandaged it up, Mark moved the glass where it couldn't hurt anyone else and we set off again.
Nobody let me near anything sharp for the rest of the day lol. Luckily I'd also bought Mum a pandora charm so I still had something to give her.
Happy Nanny with all the grandkids :)

Returning home we found out Camerons wii u was broken, 10 days out of warranty. Luckily Game have amazing customer service and are exchanging it anyway but fx thats it for bad luck now please!! :)

and relax :)

Well kinda lol. Between now and Christmas we still have dentist appointments, babysitting, shopping and panto, but the big things I need to prepare for are now all DONE!
Finished this Hama bead dream catcher for Mollie. This is my submission for this months SIPIDI Over at Fionas blog. Was something a little different for me to make so was really pleased with how it turned out. :)

Ive also snapped a few more for the Winter scavenger hunt!
8. A wreath
I already had this one but didn't make the link that I could use it iykwim. This is a wreath I made for my Mum from handmade roses. Took me the best part of a month but I love it. Might make one for myself next year.

13. Street art
I did think I was going to struggle with this one, but then when I took Caitlin town to get a jumper we saw this guy making a dog and puppy from sand. Caitlin was very impressed.

Anyway as I was saying all the big things I had to prepare for are now done :) Yesterday morning we went to my Grand to visit my cousin and her family. They live in Yorkshire now so we don't get to see them very often. Was lovely having baby cuddles :)

Last night was my annual Christmas party!
Well kind of.
Last few years have been bigish events. We've invited kids from school, neighbours etc and I've done party bags and everything.
However even though I do the vast majority of the work, the whole things seems to stress Mark out and he has more frequent headaches than usual. Two years ago he ended up in bed for 4 days with a really bad one.
Due to this he asked me to not do one this year :( But I love doing it, I love playing daft games and having Christmas themed food. So we compromised. I could throw a 'party' but we would only invite my Mum, Dad, gran and Mollie.
So thats what I did. Family, food and a few games :) The kids loved it, I loved it and Mark was so much more relaxed about the whole thing.
I want a big party next year though :p

Fast forward (picture heavy)

I've said it before and I'll say it again, as soon as December starts it like everything happens on fast forward.
On a good note though I'm almost finished all my Christmas crafts, Camerons room is done, kitchen is done, bathroom is done, and some hama bead gifts I've been making are done too :)
A Doctor who stand up for Mark.

and a Mario stand up for Cameron. :)

I was going to do one for Caitlin but she has no space in her room for this kind of stuff so I'm making an image for her door instead.
I made salt dough figures with the kids :) Caitlin doesn't know it yet but the 'cakes' and 'biscuits' we made will go on her shop I'm decorating for Christmas. SO excited for her to open that!

In other news we spent Sunday morning having breakfast with Santa. The kids were more interested in playing hide and seek in the very empty resturant (seriously were only us and two other families there!) but did get some photos.

After breakfast it was off to the cinema to see 'The good dinosaur' Brilliant film but poor wee Cameron broke his heart! He's a sensitive kid anyway and he bawled his eyes out in the end.

So it's been a whole week and I've not blogged once. *slaps hand* I think like most other Mums I'm trying to get all the main jobs done before the kids finish Friday. Between normal household jobs, taking care of Mark and making sure all the school things (plays, parties, trips etc) it doesn't leave much time in the day! Things are calming down a bit now, calm before the storm hehe, so hopefuly blogging more now. I admit I miss it :) Its like therapy, babbling online about whatevers in my head.
Cheaper though :p

Recap

Its been a busy few days, can't believe it's Wednesday already!
Its been a fun few days, spent taking my boy out for lunch while my girl had a day out with her bff

Think the pudding was his fave part

A repainting the kitchen few days after Star decided it could do with being more festive

I had planned to repaint it anyway, but the kids didn't know that ;) She enjoyed painting the wall so much she brought the kids bath paints the next day.

It's also been a crafting, cleaning and wrapping gifts few days. Finishing off a few projects I haven't photographed yet but felt SO good to cross them off my 'to do' list.
Two weeks left until the big day!!!!!!

Good start :)

On Friday my Mum and I took an overnight trip to Milton keynes. As well as shopping, eating and drinking I managed to tick a fair few off my Winter scavenger hunt pictures!

3. Outside lighting
Beautiful huge Christmas tree outside the resturant we went to.

4. A star
Loads to choose from for this but I liked these balloons over an indoor stall.

5. A snowman
I'm not holding out much hope we'll be able to make snowmen this year (puddles no problem!)so snapped this one in B&Q.

7. Berries and/or nuts
I love this wreath we saw for sale, its covered in nuts and other edible things for birds! Love items which are pretty and useful :)

18. An arrow
Very important! pointing to the all you can eat cake and ice cream ;)

19. A fountain
Also from the resturant. I 'may' have got some dirty looks for sticking a bowl of ice cream under the flow rather than a marshmallow lol

Finally:

Alt B An animal statue
Love these metal herons at the market.

So a good start made I think!

Alt C Metal railings

Family from the feet up

Star was VERY naughty this morning!!! I had left out the poster paints the kids had been using and she obviously decided that my kitchen needed some Christmas decoration!
The kids face was a picture, think they expected me to put her in the bin lol. Caitlin was quick to suggest Star might clean it off for me with magic. I suggested I just repaint the kitchen ;)

So today is reveal day over at Challenge YOUrself. This months challenge is to use this sketch, and your fave family photo.

This was my take.
Ok so possibly not the best family photo lol, but I love it and reminds me of a brilliant day out together. We were on holiday in Butlins at the start of the year and decided to go bowling. We don't go often as Mark gets embarrased that he can't really join in, but where we don't know anyone he tends to feel a little more confident I guess. :)
Anyway Caitlin had been given a camera for Christmas as was getting very snap happy, she told us all to stand together and took this photo of our feet. Little scrapper in the making.

I've used Like for ever 'Acorn avenue' kit. I'm SO behind on my kits! Christmas crafting has taken over slightly.
Love these little butterflies :)

Ok, off to go start painting the kitchen!

Winter scavenger hunt

Every year Star picks a charity to donate to in the kids names, last year was WWF and this year was guide dogs for the blind.
I'm proud to say that both my kids are very charitable and often donate their toys, clothes and time to a number of charities or volunatry organisations. Caitlin bless her sometimes takes it a little far and takes the weight of the world on her shoulders but I still think its a good quality to instill in them.
The cute little teddies dont hurt either ;)

Now I LOVED the summer scavenger hunt, though I lost track of time a little this year, so I was very excited to read about the Winter scavenger hunt organised by Eileen and Joy.
These are the things to find.
1. A robin redbreast
2. Tinsel
3. Outside lighting
4. A star
5. A snowman
6. A puddle
7. Berries and/or nuts
8. A wreath
9. A tree that has lost all its leaves
10. A windy day
11. Your favourite pudding
12. A fancy button
13. Street art
14. Afternoon tea
15. Candle light
16. A chimney
17. A ladder
18. An arrow
19. A fountain
20. Cutlery
21. Your own handwriting (this one is compulsory and cannot be substituted)

If you find any of the above hard to get you may substitute with one of the subjects below, except No. 21 which is compulsory.

Alt A A supermarket trolley or basket, filled with shopping
Alt B An animal statue
Alt C Metal railings

I've already got a few in mind so I'm confident I can do them all this time :)

Oh snap!

Star apparently decided that our kitchen needed to be a bit more Christmasy this morning, so made a little 'tree' out of my tassimo pods and covered it in ribbons. The kids found it VERY funny! I was less impressed as obviously I can't touch her, so I wasn't able to use one of my fave mugs all day. Oh well, :p

Now I did manage to get quite a few crafty things finished yesterday, however it is now 11pm and I've just realised I haven't photographed any of them.....so here is another MK layout instead lol.
Now I admit I'm quite behind on layouts for the Sketchy scrappers group on facebook (bad me) but I loved this clean looking sketch as soon as I saw it so made a point of starting with this one.

I loved the colour blue on the sketch so decided to keep that and borrowed some distress paint from Jess to do that background. I knew exactly what photo I wanted to use so a few extra embellishments and it was done!

Really clean and simple but I love it :)

The photo is from when Caitlin had her first haircut into a style rather than a trim. I asked her to smile nice for a photo and this was the pose she picked. She had just had a blueberry lolly so her tongue was a charming colour which nicely matches the blue paint lol.
Isn't it lovely when things work out :)

New stockings!!!

No nothing kinky, this morning Star brought us all new stockings for Santa to fill on Christmas eve. They were SO much bigger than I expected!! I usually hang them from the radiator cover but when hung they actually drag on the floor, which with an active dog in the house is an accident waiting to happen, so need to find somewhere else now!

I have to say I LOVE these! All are custom made, with designs picked to represent each person. Marks obviously was based on his role play game he plays with his friends.

Camerons was a penguin as he loves them. This one is extra special as this is the same embroidery I had put onto one of his cloth nappies when he was a baby.

Look at the pug on Caitlins! So cute!

Mine is a sweet little owl as I have a slight obsession with them lol.

They're all made of a super soft material too. Wish I could have a blanket made out of this stuff!
Well hopefully at the end of today I'll have some finished Christmas crafts to share. In the meantime though here is another layout done in Milton Keynes.
Lots of what I took with me were part used kits, or kits I had put together myself. I set myself a challenge to use up as many bits and pieces as possible and actually did really well using it up. This layout was done with the last of a kit I made at the start of the year so that's another killed :)
The photo is of Caitlin and my friends son Lucas at his first birthday party. Caitlin is not biggest fan of babies as 'they're loud and messy' in her words. Lucas however is such a well behaved little soul even Caitlin was smitten with him.

She has now decided she was three kids when she is older and get a big house with her friends and their kids.
Ah the innocence of childhood lol.

Meh

Its December!!!!!! In our house that means one thing, Star comes back to play!
Caitlin has been talking about this for ages, she is SO excited! I love how it is all so real for her still. I think Cameron is a little bit more doubting but bless him he hasn't said anything in Caitlins presence.
Tradition is that Star always brings a Christmas themed breakfast on the first day. Obviously she needs a little help with this so Mummy was up at 6am, making pancakes and burning her hand on the frying pan lol.
To keep the illusion up that I had nothing to do with it I went back to bed and waited for Cameron to get up, and waited, and waited. Seriously! The boy is up at 7am at the LATEST everyday! This morning though nooooooo. 7:15 Mark and I were trying to subtly bang on his wall to wake him then rushing back to bed.
Still fast asleep.
Eventually gave up and woke him lol. Child was sent to try my patience!

Naughty elf has also stole my scissors and cut stars out which she stuck all over the house. Hope tomorrows plan is a little less messy!
So I've been back from my Milton Keynes crafting trip for weeks now and haven't got around to sharing any of my layouts yet, so here's one at least :)
Simple one of Scamp that was the last one I did on the trip. I had planned to add more to it but to be honest I was a bit scrapped out by that point. Turned out the kids and Mark all loved this one the best out of all I did lol. I think the 'Meh' speech bubble pretty much sums up Scamps face :)

So here we are in December, and I am SOOOOO behind on my crafting list! Im away again with my Mum this Friday, Caitlin has a sleepover Saturday and then is on a trip Sunday. Better get a move on!

Winter wonderland

Well I've had a very productive morning :) Done the monthly shop, 2 lots of washing, ironing, defrosted the freezer tidied the tip my daughter calls a room. Time for a coffee and a cronut I think!

So while I relax, time to blog :) Saturday we went on a trip down to london to visit Winter Wonderland there. I like to do a Christmas trip each year and as they're a little old for visits to the farm to see Santa I thought this would be a good idea. The kids were certainly excited with Cameron thrilled to wear his new Christmas jumper.
Why he does those hand gestures I have no idea *rolls eyes*

Now I knew it was going to be expencive there, but OMG £5 per child for a fair ride?! No thank you! Luckily there were lots of market stalls, things to see etc so we gave the kids a little spending money and browsed about. They got a couple of little trinkets, had a go on a hoopla game and enjoyed some goodies (chips for kids, mulled wine for Mummy, yum) until it was time to go to the Ice castle.

Now my Mum had gone to this last year and told us it was well worth paying the extra for so I booked tickets a couple of months ago. Glad I did as they were all sold out by the time we got there. We were all wrapped up anyway as it was a chilly day but OMG it was so cold inside!!! Mark doesn't like the cold anyway so he wrapped up as much as he could lol.

Was worth the low tempretures though, the ice sculptures inside were incredible! So much detail to look at.
As we walked in there were pine trees everywhere. It was set out like a huge wood with ice animals, trolls, fairys and various other fantasy creatures dotted about. Getting a picture of them was difficuilt but did my best.

In the center there was a huge ice tower with a slide for the kids and a pretend lake covered in swans. Even Mark was impressed with says it all really!
After the castle we went into London to see the lights and look at the displays in the shop windows. We were lucky as there was a huge toy parade on too so there was loads for the kids to see and do :)

All in all was an amazing day. Don't think I have long left of the kids believing in Santa so trying to make the most of it while I can!