June recap

So I've had a busy and productive week :) After the drama of pulling up Caits flooring and the many drs appointments I've got stuck into redecorating this week. We've ordered her new floor and her new bed. Few accessories to do but think I'll start on those once everything is in and I can see what space I have etc, but you know me, planning it now.
Its amazing how much stuff was in Caitlins room, and is now in our room, the hallway and even the bathroom lol. I'm aiming to finish painting tomorrow and getting the stuff BACK in so I can reach my craft desk again!
So tomorrow starts July. How that happened I don't know but time for another recap :)

Pounds lost - 2. Not great but I've been stressed, and when I'm stressed I eat, and when I find out the shop near us has Ben and Jerrys for £1 a tub......well you can see the problem.
8/23

Games to complete
- Professor layton, The lost future
- Silent hill origins
- Yoshis wooly world (very almost done!)
- Uncharted
- Silent hill the room
- Pikmin 2


Layouts done - 10, lost my mojo early on in the month.
105/365

Cross stitch done - none. *hangs head*

Books read:
- Between Friends, Debbie Macomber
- Ill take new york, Miranda Dickinson
17/52

Usually I can look at my recap and say 'Ah so thats what I've been doing this month' but since I haven't put drs appointments or cleaning on this list it looks like I've not done much lol. FX I have more to add next month!

*Sigh

Yesterday was unexpectedly fun :) The kids brought home a leaflet from school offering free tickets to see Wall-e at our local cinema. The kids love that film so of course I booked tickets. However I didn't read closely enough and turned out it was a bike-a-thon! The projector was powered by dynamos so you had to pedal to watch the film.
Of course you COULD just sit and watch, as many did, but my bike mad daughter dragged me up to take part lol. So proud of her though, she was the youngest who took part and lasted the longest, even got a round of applause from everyone when she finished :)

Even Cameron got up and gave it a go!

After doing a quick bit of shopping we were home for a shower and chilling out. My legs and arms felt like jelly so imagine my reaction when Caitlin came down and asked if we could go on a bike ride!!
Today was a nice chilled out PJ day. Did a bit of cleaning and a bit of scrapping :D Can't share it yet though as its for the Challenge YOUrself team so wait for that one. :)
This one however I can share. I love this photo from Spain a few years ago. We went and saw a pirate themed gymnastics show (which was AMAZING) and my Mum took this lovely photo of the 4 of us :)

Journaling reads:
I love your face here Cameron. You and Granddad are known for ruining family photos. You either pull a face, close your eyes or god knows what else!
In your defense it was a pirate show, but one nice photo? Too much to ask? I love you. *Sigh

Its lucky?!

Its friday :) Been a bit of a crazy day with the whole EU situation. :\ Now I won't say what way I voted, I'm sure everyone had their reasons to vote however they did, but the way everyone has reacted to the outcome was crazy! Panic buying, people posting horrible comments on Facebook, really surprised me to be honest :(
So this house is certainly a politics free zone!
As we had no drs appointments or anything today I got some housework done and packaged up some bit to post.
Such an interesting life I lead isn't it? lol.
This week I've managed to cross a few more off the scavenger hunt list. :)

2. A footprint or pawprint
When Mark and I got back into the car at the town I noticed a cat (I assume) had walked all over the windows with dusty feet. Mark found it funny I was photographing paw prints when we live with a dog, but I like getting photos that have a bit of a story behind them rather than just 'Scamp walked over my floor after being out in the rain'

3. A skeleton, bone or x-ray
Mark had a bone density scan at the start of the week. I did ask if I could have a copy of the scan but no :( The nurse did let me take a photo of a skeleton in the corner though :)

Still lots left to find :)
Onto scrapping, I can't quite remember what the criteria for this layout was, I think it was a sketch or could have been to use more than one photo. Either way I started this and wasn't sure I would like it but it's grown on me now :)

When we were in Spain the girls went to a princess party so Cam picked playing crazy golf. For some reason he got it into his head that one of the balls was lucky, and only he was allowed to use it. It was identical to two others we had though so we kept playing tricks on him by swapping it round or pretending we had it ;) Entertained us for a while lol.

sleep? whats sleep?

What is up with my household at the moment?! Last night Cam had another meltdown. He's worried he's going to end up with a teacher next year who shouts a lot. Took me ages to calm him down and get him off to sleep.
No sooner had I got him down than Caitlin woke up, Mark was at his friends for a bit and for some reason only Daddy would do. By 10:30 and with Caitlin still sobbing I rung Mark and asked him to come home.
So with a snoring, kicking boy in my bed, a dog outside barking and crying (not mine) I think I maybe got 3 hours sleep tops.
So hoping for a quiet day today. Got to go town and get a few things done but other than that there are thankfully no doctors appointments for once!
Reallllly need to get around to photographing some of the newer layouts I've done, these are still back from the start of May. But at least I still have layouts to share :)
This was a double layout I did during scrapbooking weekend. I'm not a big fan of double layouts usually but these two photos are from the same day and didn't need their own individual pages really so it worked well for this.

The challenge was to use a song as a title. At the time Caitlin was listening to the Alvin and the Chipmunks soundtrack loads and their song 'home' was stuck in my head!

The photos are from Harry potter world where Mark and I visited a while ago. The papers are from the cheap Studio Calico kit I got which to be honest I wasn't that impressed with but the lightning bolt paper was ideal.
Well I admit I'm almost dozing off so better get up and move to wake myself up!

What a week

What. A. Week. Here's a run down to whats happened so far.
Monday - I've mentioned before how Caitlins always complaining she feels poorly, but as its usually just before bed or school so we put it down to her playing us. Anyway over the weekend I ripped up her carpet to be replaced this week, monday morning I went into her room to see if it was tidy and the smell of gas hit me like a ton of bricks.
Phoned the emergency line and turns out there's been a mild leak under Caitlins room for no idea how long and her being ill was a possible sign of carbon minoxide poisoning. I cannot tell you how guilty I felt. :( Took Cait to the drs though and they said she was fine so that was such a relief. Thank god I lifted her carpet when I did!
Tuesday - Mark had a hospital appointment to check his bone density. Turns out the current meds are not doing their job well enough so he'd being put on an IV one. He'll need to go in every few months to get it so that was a blow.
Wednesday - So on to today. Today was a landmark day in a way. Camerons first full blown meltdown at school :( If I'm being positive the good side is the school have now seen what I'm talking about. His poor teacher was really shaken. She loves Cam to bits so seeing him so upset and unconsolable was hard. He was really weepy for the rest of the night too so is currently sleeping in Mummy and Daddys bed.
Tomorrow is blood tests for Mark then Im classing the weekend as beginning!!! I cannot wait for this weekend!!

5 weeks and counting

So I've not been about for a bit. Been an odd few days mood wise, but got some good news today so that's picked me up no end!
I'm sooooo ready for the Summer holidays. As the kids are getting older the weekends are going quicker and quicker. No sooner have I picked the kids up from school on Friday than I'm ironing their uniform on Sunday. I miss having relaxing time to spend with them just watching tv, or baking cookies etc. I can't wait until we have loads of time and can make our Summer Bucket list. :)
Speaking of, I've managed to cross another one off of the photo scavenger hunt. :)
1. A "wild heart" - a naturally occurring heart

Ill leave most of the main ones to the Summer holiday but can see this one being a hard one to find so wanted to snap it while I could!!
One of the challenges on Scrapbooking day was to make a layout outside of your comfort zone. White space is certainly outside of my comfort zone!
I love some layouts others do but I always struggle, thinking it looks unfinished. This one I had to force myself to step back and leave it alone.

Though it's different to what I usually do I quite like it :)
I love the photo too. On new years day we went for a walk at a local park. The kids played happily in the park bit with the Dads while Mum and I walked the dogs in the woods.
Was a lovely peaceful start to the year :)

DIY face packs

It's Friday! Woohoo! This week seems to have lasted a long time. Lots of appointments, boring jobs and various other meh things. A quiet, non busy weekend is needed by everyone I think :)
Well kinda quiet, kids have cinema again tomorrow morning (love Sun perks!) then I have a little bit of shopping to do before home and PJs going back on!
I looooove this paper! I think this was one of the last layouts I made with the kit. I'd saved the paper to use and didn't want to cut it up much so used a diamond design.

A few embellishments and it was done :) I love this layout :)
The photo is from Caitlins sleepover last year. For her hostess Brownie badge she needed to plan an implement a party making invitations etc. She picked a sleepover and planned lots of games for her friends including making home made facepacks.
The used banana, brown sugar and oats. They LOVED it and made a huge mess! The doors and banister were easy enough to clean but took me weeks to get it out of the carpet. Glad they enjoyed it because it was the first and last time! Hehe.

Disney memories

Not a great photo of this layout but it's actually one of my fave I did with this kit.
One of the papers was lots of different patterned squares. I was tempted to use it as it but I had lots of photos from Disneyland which were nice, but didn't need their own 12x12 page. I usually do a pocket page with those types of photos but decided to do a grid style instead.

I'm quite liking the grid styles at the moment. Good way to use up scraps which I have plenty of!

Hi

So its the 7th of the month which means a new challenge over at Challenge Yourself!
This months is a brilliant one I thought :)

I had SOOOOOO many ideas for this one! I settled on this layout though :)

I was very lucky that a friend had sent me a selection of die cuts using her Cameo, including this beautiful one.
I filled in the back with scraps I had left from my Like for ever Little things kit (I used every bit of this kit I could) then it only took a few embellishments to finish it off.
I love the effect and having the odd word here and there to break up all the patterned paper.
The photo has a funny story to it. We were in Spain and my daughter was marching in a princess parade. My husband was taking photos and not looking where he was going. This smile I'm giving him was seconds before he almost walked right into a lake!
I debated letting him fall in for the funny factor but he can't swim so that's a bit mean :p

Air smiles

Well today has been crazy productive. Always is after the kids have gone back to school after a break. Lots of cleaning, shopping, running errands etc. Always love getting lots done off the to do list :)
One thing on there was to blog some photos I took over the weekend for the Summer scavenger hunt. I love keeping an eye out for things off the list. Mollie was very selfish and didn't even THINK to get me a photo of mhe x-ray (so rude) so still looking out for that one though :P
19. A seasonal cocktail or beverage - I love all the summer frappes that costa and mcdonalds do. This year mcdonalds have a chocolate honeycomb one which is amazing! Driving down to drop Caitlin off at camp was much further and hotter than we thought so stopped off for a treat.
Love Mark, we were driving out of the car park and I asked him to take a photo of my drink. An odd question to most people, he asks 'Does it need a certain background?'

11. Fresh produce - As Cam was upset after dropping off Cait we went to a garden center we passed to pick him up a treat. There was a little hut next to it selling fresh fruit and veg so obviously I snapped a photo.

So that's a couple crossed off. So much fun doing this hunt.
Another layout from the Live out loud kit here. I'm sure I did this for a sketch challenge as cutting a photo into a circle is not something I'd do myself but for the life of me I don't remember which one.

Simple enough layout, lots of pretty colours and papers. Almost killed this months too so hopefully will be sharing some up to date layouts soon.

Baby is home :)

Well I'm a happy bunny, I got my baby back in one piece :) She had a great time though said she cried on the first night.
She brought home lots of craft pictures and her Brownie leader is going to put photos on Facebook for us to use so expect to see some Brownie layouts soon :)

Stressed!!

What a morning. Started off ok, took Cam and Mark to the cinema to see Zootropolis. Stopped off at Tesco for a bit of shopping on the way home and had just pulled into the car park when my Mum rang.
Mollie had managed to fall on her arm at the camp and had been taken to hospital for an xray.
Nothing I could do obviously, just had to wait for an update. I'm not good at situations where I just have to wait for an update. My shopping list went right out of my head, ended up buying a tub of butter. Didn't even need butter!
Couple of hours later I got a call that she was fine, just bruised and on her way back to camp. *sigh*
2pm Tomorrow cant come soon enough!!!!

Baby girl!!!

Oh so much wine needed tonight! I dropped off my baby girl for her very first Brownie holiday :( Tomorrow will be the first day in Caitlins life I won't see or speak to her. Shes not bothered but I am!!!
So as a little send off we went to Beefeater for breakfast. The kids love it there and it is literally just down the road from us but for some reason we only seem to go once or twice a year. They do a great buffet breakfast and kids eat free with adults so bonus :)
Cam got some selfies lol.

I enjoyed Caits company while I could. :) Both kids brought their ds' with them as Mark tends to take 'all you can eat' as a personal challenge and I love the costa coffee machine. Caitlin had brought her new Animal crossing game so I was helping her with the rock, paper scissors mini game on there. I was unbeatable! Mwah ha ha! :p

We got home and Mark went off to bed while we packed the last bits for Caits trip. She is a huge bookworm (proud Mummy) but I discovered she has lost all her bookmarks and was using a lump of blu tac to mark her page! Couldn't have that so I made her a quick bookmark to take with her.

So everything done and ready we drove her down to the campsite which is about 45 minutes away and dropped her off. She honestly didn't even give us a second look. Quick cuddle and off she went.
I was very proud of myself, I didn't hang about, I said bye and I left. I was ok till we got outside and Cameron broke down! Honestly didn't see that coming. :\ Took him to a garden center down the road and got him an ice cream and some plants to help with over the weekend so that cheered him up :)
Wine will cheer me up ;)
So this layout is done with some really old photos. I'm a bit protective of my Christmas tree. I know it's bad but I know where I want decorations to go and nobody else can do it right. It's a bit mean however to say to the kids 'no don't touch' so I bought them their own tree :)
It had the bonus at the time that Caitlin was terrified of the idea of Santa coming into her room, so the kids put their stockings under their tree in the upstairs hallway instead.

After they had decorated I wanted to take a picture but the kids wanted to do a happy dance lol. So the deal was one nice calm photo, then one of them 'happy dancing'

Just smile, you've got style

So today was stressful. Caitlins been in an argumentative mood the past few days so 'why' seems to be her favourite word. Drives me mental having to argue about EVERYTHING! This morning we were supposed to go swimming but Caits had a cough for a couple of weeks she can't shift so I didn't think it was a good idea.
Cue lots and lots of tears. I said we'd go another time but noooooo, you'd think the pool was shutting down this afternoon so this was the last chance she had to ever swim!
We went to town and got the last minute bits for Caitlins camping trip this weekend and bought a box of doughnuts to cheer up the moody kids.
So day went from bad to worse with the kids being very picky and fighting lots. Then we went to Cams drs appointment which had stressed him out all day only to find dr had no idea why we were there as he didn't want to see us!
Dinner tonight was a bottle of wine and tub of ben and jerries lol.
So onto scrapping. Not sure about this layout. I did it with an old DIY kit which I wasn't overly fond of but I'm pleased I used it up.

Was an old photo too so lots of old bits used. The cork words were new however. I recently took advantage of a $5 ofer from studio calico to get your first kit for only $5 shipping. Glad it was only $5 as I wasn't that impressed with it. These words were part of the kit so glad I used them up anyway.

Tee time

Good old UK weather. We had planned to go to Wicksteed park but the weather was dreadful so I dug out some vouchers for kids play and off we went :)
Caitlin last went with her friend Paige and I swear she is a different girl around her! Going back a few months Caitlin was scared to stand too near the edge of a wall if she was too high up, so when Paiges parents told me she had climbed halfway up the rock wall I wouldn't have believed it if they didn't have photos!
This time round she went even further and managed to get right to the top! She was so proud of herself. :) I did promise to get her a Mcdonalds as a reward but she picked a living room picnic instead. Bonus for me as free :)

One of my freebie vouchers let Caitlin get her face painted. Was a little surprise when she came back looking like this lol. She loved it though.

So home and picnic done the kids were shattered so was a very quiet rest of the day. Considering the hectic weekend Caitlin has ahead she needed it I think. Mummy needs it too.
Have managed some scrapping but I keep forgetting to take pictured of them, still plenty to share from before though :)
This was one of the last ones I did with the Live out loud kit. You can always tell when I'm getting to the end of a kit as the layouts get more and more bare.
These photo were from when we went to Butlins; before we went we bought an entertainment pass which included bowling, golf, laser quest etc. While there though we won another 4 passes for golf so we were a bit sick of it by the end lol.

The kids enjoyed the first couple of games though. They didn't take it anywhere as near as seriously as their Dad did! He won, obviously lol.