Camerons day :)

This morning was the car boot sale again. :) Love car boot sales and managed to get lots of bargains as usual. Mark got some warhammer which is great as you very rarely get it, Cameron got some ben 10 figures and Caitlin got some my litle pony toys for £1.50 which she had asked for for £11 in Asda the other week :) I got a small box of Hama beads which amazed me as last time I went there was a box on every second stall but now I want them nobody had them! Typical. I did get this bag though :)

I think it's a school bag or something but its the perfect size for lots of 12x12 kits and has loads of little pockets and holders for other bits and bobs. Great for when I go away and don't want to take everything with me :) Bargains at £2 :)
After car boot Caitlin had a party at a local bowling ally. I didn't want to leave her alone so booked a lane for Cam and I to bowl at the same time. Was nice spending time just the two of us :) There was a delay with the party bowling as a child was late so we finished way before they did! Caitlin had settled and when we got there I realised a couple of the other Mums were on the PTA with me so I felt confident enough to leave her and take Cameron to a Mcdonalds down the road for lunch.

He had a happy meal and I treated myself to one of their new chocolate chip frappes. OMG it was yum! I dread to think of the calories in it but hey ho life is too short ;) Cam and I sat and chatted and I made a right idiot out of myself! I'm not the best at maths which we all know but tried to be clever and when Cameron asked about getting some kinder eggs with his birthday money I decided to make it into a sum:
Me - if kinder eggs were 50p, and you have £10 left of your money, how many could you get?
Cameron - 20!
Me - No.
Cameron - Yes it is!
Me - *Pause* Is it? *thinks a moment* Yeah it is Cameron, you're right don't listen to me.
I shouldn't try and be clever without a calculator!

Before heading home we went to Asda to get some ice cream and a dvd Cam wanted with his birthday money (better than 20 kinder eggs loL). OMG I have never seen it so busy! I think the second the sun comes out everyone decided to have a bbq. The staff had obviously gave up stacking shelves and had just left pallets of rolls in the aisles. Everyone obviously had the same idea as us on ice cream as that aisle actually had a queue. After getting Cam his fave lollies (calippos) Cait hers (Rocket lollies) Mark his (magnums) couldn't believe it when the guy in front of us put, no joke, 23 tubs of phish food ben and jerries into his trolley. He had took the lot! God love Cameron though, I told him not to worry I would get some another day and he stuck his head right inside the freezer until he found a tub hiding in the back behind the other flavours. He said he didn't want to me to be left out. That boy will go far ;) After the chaos that was the tills we went home to enjoy the rest of the sunshine. Mark was wiped out again as he doesn't do well in the heat at all so I put Camerons football goal round the front and let them play while he napped. :)

Ended up staying out until way past dinner chatting to the neighbours and relaxing. As a result the kids have done their homework but we have to do baths and iron uniforms tomorrow morning before school. Whoops!!

Farm again :)

Today the weather is absolutely beautiful so we decided to go to the farm. As usual it didn't go to plan lol. When we first got Scamp I read up on his breed to learn anything special I needed to do to care for him. One big thing a lot of places mentioned was that they don't do well in heat. So today as it was nice I had the garden door open so he could go out to play in the sun or come into the cool house if he wanted. I did put a big bowl of water out in the garden for him drink but he started splashing his paws in it so put a second bowl next to his food inside as usual for him to drink. Now I thought that he would be smart enough to think 'Oh I'm a bit hot, I'll go get a drink and lie down in the cool' Um, no. By the time we went to the farm at 1pm he had run about so much that in the car on the way there he was panting like mad! I wasn't sure if he was too hot or just overexcited so asked a friend and she suggested forcing him to cool down. When we got to the farm I sat with him in the shade and kept putting the water right in front of him and he soon settled. Looks like I'll need to keep a closer eye in future!!!
With Scamp in mind though (and mark tbh) we only stayed a short while but it was a nice visit anyway.

Kids enjoyed hunting for caterpillars though we only found two.

Scamp looks very unimpressed here!

Glad we got him out for a little while though, we're going to the car boot tomorrow morning then bowling so he'll be on his own for most of the day and I always feel guilty. Sure he'll be fine though :) Had planned to scrap tonight but think the heats wiped me out!

Weekend is here!

I've been looking forward to the weekend and yey it's finally friday! First though to get through today lol. Dropped Cameron off with his school project. He had to do anything he wanted to show the lifecycle of a butterfly or frog. he picked butterfly and did this :)

Couldn't belive it this morning when we bumped into our neighbour and he said 'All I did was the colouring' Um no! lol. I cut the letters (not letting him use my slice lol) and I mounted his writing but he did the rest! Crazy child. I'f I had done it I'd have made the butterfly symetrical and there would be a lot more stickles used! :p
I did do this however. Caitlin has now decided she wants all the ponies for her bedroom wall so finished off fluttershy. Rarity next!

Tonight Mollie stayed for a sleepover. Kids had a great time playing and now Caitlins in the bigger room the girls got to sleep on the floor together which they loved. It was so sweet to hear them chatting and giggling :) Mollie also brought me more hama beads and asked me to make her a Princess celestia, so guess what I'm doing tonight!

May counterfeit kit

Ok so I'm a bit behind but oh well :) There were two images this month to cop from:

and

I really liked the look of this kit, full of bright colours and travel aspects which is what I chose to take from it. These are the papers I picked. A bit different this month were a lot of 6x6 papers. A while ago I bought some paper pads from TKmaxx to go half with my friend Jess; they were dirt cheap anyway so a bargain when splitting the price. :) The papers went really well with the theme plus give me lots of bits to die cut from. I don't know about you but I'm always really reluctant to cut into a 12x12 sheet for a shape punch or die cut but 6x6 feels more like scrap paper iykwim.

As i'm trying to use my punches and die cuts more I've put in less embellishments than usual, but did dig out some of my new packs I keep for stroking more than anything else, lol.

Really love the resulting kit :) Lets see if I get around to making anything from it!

coffee morning

Twice a year Homestart run a coffee morning at Rockingham castle. I love doing it at christmas because the castle is all decorated but the view in Spring is pretty nice too :)

Once I had finished there I rushed home to finish painting Caitlins room. I'm thrilled with the colour as it's just what I hoped for, girly but still grown up :)

Last night I also managed to finish a layout I've had half done for I don't know how long lol. I found it in a bag with an old half finished kit so decided to get it done. :) Photos are from when we were in Turkey and the kids obviously loved playing with their watermelon.

Well no crafting tonight as its 'date night'. Nothing huge planned just cuddling up and watching tv. Got to love the simple things :)

Productive, just

This morning I took Mark for some more blood tests. Car ran fine there, but as soon as I turned the engine on to leave the warning light came on :( Seemed to be running fine so I chanced it and drove to Asda hoping it would go off. No such luck. Rung the AA who checked it over and said it was either than we needed a new throttle, or that the throttle was having a tantrum and decided to send an error message. As the light was off now and the car seems to be running ok we're hoping it was the later! As proud as I will be of both my kids no matter what they grow up to do, part of me is hoping one of them will decide to be a mechanic and save me a fortune!!!!
With all that done was time to race to town to do jobs there, then chill out with a coffee with Mum :) Mark also bought me a little treat while there lol.

Ok I'm 29 so probably too grown up for a sticker album but who cares :) The kids have each got one so now I can collect stickers too! Well after a very hectic day, I'm off to relax and scrap for a bit :)

Where has today gone?!

This morning I woke up full of determination. I made a to do list, planned to get on and get it done so I could scrap in the afternoon and I was SURE I was going to do it lol. I really should learn that my plans never work out.
First was another assembley to see the kids get an award, :) This time for 100% attendence. Was funny when the very first name read out the girl was away as she was on holiday! Didn't manage to get a photo as Cameron rushed back to class so didn't get a chance. Got home and made a few phonecalls from my list then on to bills. Here's where it went wrong. Early last month I noticed I was being charged by Orange for £5 of extra data, but I was well within my monthly use so phoned to ask why. Turned out was a fault on their end so she took it off my bill. When I got my bill in a week ago it was back on it! So phoned and complained and it was taken off again. So imagine my surprise when I went into my online banking and saw that my phone bill was coming out tomorrow with the extra £5 STILL on it. I was raging. Took 3 phone calls and me getting very annoyed before they agreed to take it off again. BY the time all that was sorted it was 1pm! Just managed to get some painting done in Caitlins room before rushing to collect them from school. Hope tomorrow is a little more productive!

Caitlins day

This morning after breakfast and homework Cameron vanished next door to play before being picked up for another party in the afternoon. As a result I've barely seen him all day! Was a perfect opportunity to spend some quality time with my little lady though :) She spent a couple of hours cuddled up looking at books and tv with Daddy, then asked if she could help me paint her room. As its only the white undercoat (and we're replacing the carpet anyway) I said yes. Was a very pleasent couple of hours paining away and gabbing about school, music and everything else. Bless her she was asking about my favourite songs etc when she suddenly went all quiet, looked at me and said really sincerly 'I love talking to you Mummy' Awwww! I really hope she feels that way as she grows up.

After all that hard work she chilled out with a cold drink while I made dinner. Caitlins choice, sausages, noodles and peas. Not wanting peas I made corn on the cob for me and the boys. Dished out theirs, which they took off to eat, and was just dishing out mine went I spotted a hole. On closer inspection I found this. EWWWWW!!!!!! All the corn is now bagged back up to take to the shop tomorrow. Put me right off my dinner. :(

Sunday night is always really chilled out in our house. Tonight kids were reading, mark was watching TV and I made this for my niece.

I'm actually really enjoying making things form these beads. I think with scrapping I can only do it upstairs as Scamp is a bit too big now and jumps on my knee for cuddles or wants to see what I'm doing and can get a bit in the way if I'm surrounded by papers. Crosstitching I like but takes so long while these I can do while watching tv, in not much space and make something quite quick. :) Caitlins now decided all the beads are mine and she's buying me some more for my birthday in July. Is it wrong to admit I would actually love that? lol. Overall it's been a really lovely weekend. :) Hope you've all had a great time too!

Bowling!

Today was next doors little boys birthday party. I had a few things to do before we went so I got up running, not so much with these two lol.

Bowling was really fun :) As obviously I'm friends with the family I stuck about and had a cup of coffee. Was nice seeing my two play too.

Cameron got really into it and came second in both games. He wasn't fussed though, I'm proud to say he's not really that competitive :)

Caitlin I was worried would feel left out as she was the only girl but she chatted with me and the birthday boys mum which was nice. She used the runner for a while but soon just threw the ball. Was very proud of herself when she did it without help. That said al the boys were very gentlemanly and were happy to lift the balls for her and help her. So cute!

The boys were all hyper and crazy by the end of the party. One of my friends has 5 sons, I honestly don't know how she does it!

After the party they all went back next door for some hot dogs and cake which gave me time to finish Camerons room. I'm thrilled with how it has come out now and he's really pleased with it. I felt bad at first giving him the small room but it seems to work well with him. I'll try and get some pictures tomorrow but ATM hes never out of it! After the rest of the boys had gone home our neighbours came round ours for pizza and a drink. Was really nice to sit and chat and put the world to rights. The kids had a great time playing games upstairs so we barely heard form them once we got the computer all set up. I admit it's nice to have another couple we can hang around with. Short of my friends online I only really talk to my Mum so to have someone else to socalise with is great! Bless her though, the mum decided she wanted to do some form of crafting to try and make things to sell and asked my opinion on diecutters and papers. Well that was it, even Mark groaned lol. Within moments I had my papers out, punches, die cutters, templates etc and was explaining the differences with them all. Don't think the poor girl realised what she was asking! We managed to figure out what would work best for her idea though so hopefully I'll be able to share more of that with you in the future :)

Busy busy.

Well today has been non stop, just how I like it :) First was the school assembly to see Caitlin get her golden book award. Had the nice surprise that Evie was getting a star of the week award so got to see that too. :) Both girls were very proud of themselves :)

Then home to finish off a few jobs that need done today. First Caitlins Princess Celestia I've been doing for days. Really this is huge. Was a NIGHTMARE to iron! I had to do it bit by bit but when I did one bit beads popped out from other areas so I was ironing and rebuilding at the same time. Crazy! Not sure I'll do such a large one again but live and learn.

After finishing painting, a minecraft cake for next door, a gift for next doors wee boy and housework it was time to take Cameron to Beavers for his integration :)

Yeah I cried lol. He was very proud of himself and we were all so proud watching him. I'm glad he enjoys it so much. I think it will do him good if he sticks to it when hes older. Most of the more sensible teenagers I've met have been part of something like scouts or army cadets, I think it helps ground them a bit. Fingers crossed he sticks with it!

Well this weekend is full of parties lol. Have next doors little boys party tomorrow, then they're coming round to ours for pizza and drinks, and Sunday Camerons going to another friends party at his house! They have busier social lives than I do! lol

Thursday? Really?

It can't be Thursday?! Wednesday the sun was shining and we went on a lovely walk. The house was all tidy and I was all prepared and on top of things :) That seems like months ago now! The house is a mess, I actually have the heating on as its raining and freezing outside and my to do list has jumped to a million things. One of which is to paint Camerons room.
I may have mentioned that I moved them into each others rooms which so far is working out great :) Obviously though Camerons room was still pink and Caitlins still blue. TBH Caitling doesnt seem that fussed but for boys having a pink room is a HUGE no no so I bought some silver paint yesterday and started painting today. Think its going to take a couple of coats but its looking good so far :)

This morning we also went to see Marks dr who is sending him for liver function tests, counciling and refering his to the brain injury clinic so glad they're listening. :) I've been overwhelmed with support from my 'online' friends which has meant so much so thank you to all of you. I'm ok though :) I'm good at getting on with things and I certainly have a lot to be getting on with! Tomorrow morning is Caitlins award in assembly then I need to finish another minecraft cake for my neighbours little boy. Should probably make him a birthday card too, always forget that part lol. Still need to make his gift too!

SIPIDI

Really I've done loads of SIPIDI (see it, pin it, do it) this month but this is latest :) When at Disneyland we got a load of collectable Disney pins and traded them until we had some lovely ones. Since then they've sat in a drawer on our lanyards which I thought was a shame. So after seeing this pin here:

I made this :)

I painting some canvases, put a photo of us at Disney in each one and put the pins around the outside. Each person has a board with Caitilins pins on the top one, then Marks then Camerons then mine. Plenty of space left for future pins too.

As a bonus it finally puts something interesting in that boring looking alcove halfway up the stairs.

Proud Mummy :)

Well marks back. His friend can't take care of him so not really much choice. If I'm honest I'm not thrilled because obviously if he has another meltdown and the kids see it its not fair on them but not much choice in the matter. Will see his dr and see what he suggests really.
On a good note Caitlin came home today and told us she'd been put into the Golden book at school!!!! Basically every time they're really good at school they get a happy peg, if they get 4 they get to go into the golden book and get a special award in Fridays assembly. :) She was so proud of herself which was lovely to see :)

Still working on moving the kids rooms around. Need to buy some paint tomorrow but hopefully (besides carpets) they'll be all done by the weekend :) Have two other birthday parties this weekend so wont have time then! lol

Pirates and princess day

Today was Pirates and Princess day at the farm. As it was such a nice day our neighbours decided to come along :) Unfortunatly Mark was having a bad day so he stayed home. The kids had a great time though :)

With so many kids we spent most of the time in the park just letting them run around, but did go to the den making area too where the girls decided to make a couch while the boys chased each other with sticks lol.

Was a great day all round :)

Well for the most part. When I say Mark was having a bad day I seriously mean it. Was like back when he first got really sick. :( While I was out I was getting all manner of abusive txts so I told him to go to his friends for a couple of days until we figure something out. Hopefully its just something to do with his meds rather than him getting sick again but we'll have to wait and see.

Scrapbook day!

Ok so I know it was yesterday but I was a bit busy lol So today I sat down surrounded by all my stash and started scrapping! First was the Sketchy scrappers challenge which was last month so a little behind. This was the sketch.

and this was my take :) Used up lots of old brads so thats good. Quite like the effect.

So that done next was a challenge from Lesley and Warecrafts here. The challenge was to pick one of the layouts and use it as inspiration. I picked two (just to be difficuilt lol) First I loved this layout here

The 'dram' aspect reminded me of a photo of Caitlin when we were on holiday last year. Next inspiration was from this layout

I loved the layering. So putting them together I came up with this.

The photo was from when we were in Turkey. Caitlin would spend ages just lying on the rubber ring and floating around the pool daydreaming, my Mum used to call me 'Dolly daydream' when I was a kid so thought that was a good title :) Only one challenge down but quite pleased with it!

Birthday party!

So today was Caitlins birthday :) It was also the big party so busy day! Started early too with Cameron getting up at 5:30! Told him it was too early go back to bed, half an hour later he comes back, having opened one of his birthday craft kits and made some angry birds lol. Impressive but not what I meant when I said go back to bed!
At a more reasonable hour Caitlin got up and opened her gifts from us. She was pleased with everything so we were happy :)

We had to do the family visits but first I had to finish the prep work. Starting with putting the finishing touches on Camerons Minecraft cake.....
So what do you think? :) I was thrilled with how it turned out and Cameron loved it so that's the main thing. My neigbour has asked me to make one for her son next week so must be ok!

Caitlin asked for a rainbow pinata cake so made this. Very similar to my nieces cake from last year but added a large Rainbow dash as Caits a big fan of my little pony.

Cakes all done I quickly wrapped the party bags and added tags and was done!

After family runs it was party time! We had invited some kids to a local playcenter so was pretty much hassle free. Was the usual worry about nobody showing up but other than 2 of Cams friends not showing everyone came. Cameron didn't seem too fussed as his best friends came so don't think he even noticed.

Everyone had a great time so I was really happy :) Was nice to sit and chat to some of the Mums too. When we got back Cameron went round next door again, Caitlin was watching TV with Mark so considering I was exhausted and had nothing to do I did what any sensible person would do.............gutted both kids bedrooms, sorted all their old toys, built all their new ones and swapped their rooms around so Caitlin is now in Camerons and Camerons is his hers lol. I know I never know when to quit! We've been meaning to move them around for a while as Cait has so much more stuff than Cam, and plays in her room far more often so makes sense to give her the bigger room. We said the other day I would do it when the kids go back next week but I'm not good at waiting ;)
Now everything is done and calmed down, maybe I can join in with all the scrapbooking challenges that are online atm. Do we think I'll manage with both kids off school.........nah nor do I!

May pole dancing

Today Caitlin was doing may pole dancing at her school. Unlike her she was actually really excited about it. Usually when she is performing at anything she will tell me about it once but isn't exactly thrilled about anybody coming to see her. This time though she was talking about it lots and was really pleased when I said my Mum and gran were coming too. Look how happy she was!

I later found out the little boy was one of the teachers sons and was a good friend of hers. She often says she has more boy friends than girls so this is proof I guess lol. Shes like me in that way, I get on with boys better than girls as there always seems to be a lot of drama and backstabbing with girls. Boys are easier I think.

So besides my proud Mummy moment with Caitlin dancing I also took a very proud Cameron to Beavers tonight. We bought him his uniform earlier in the week so this was his first session wearing it. They said he will take his promise next week so we can all go watch. No bets being taken on if I'll cry or not!

Get on with it.

Well after resting yesterday I woke up feeling not as dreadful today lol. Unfortunately I really didn't have the time for another day resting so I filled myself up with meds and off I went.
After running all my errands today it was time to get home, and start on the birthday cakes. I'm halfway through so no pictures but thrilled with how they're going so far :) Also had a little shadow refusing to leave me alone the whole time.

Unsure if its because he loves me, or was waiting for any dropped food lol.
Well yesterday really set me back so have a few jobs to do before I can get to bed so better get on :)