Hmm, Baking

The boys nursery had a BBQ this afternoon. We all had a great time and the weather was glorious too, fortunately :D

Initially there was going to be a baking competition but after some discussion about whether the entries should be restricted to childrens entries rather than the parents entries, it was decided it would probably be safer (and more edible) if the competition was to decorate a cake, allowing for adult baking / buying of the cake itself.

I was going to buy a pre iced cake then let Theo decorate that but after seeing the price difference between that and a plain victoria sponge cake, I decided on the latter. I bought ready made vanilla icing and chocolate fudge icing together with sugared animal shapes, hundreds and thousands and orange & lemon thingies. All of those things together came to less than the price of the pre iced cake and I still have over half of all those packets / tubs left.

Anyway, in my opinion a childrens competition should be just that, so I sat with Theo whilst he decorated his cake,

and Louis decorated a couple of Rich Tea biscuits.

I opened the jars and tubs for him, made a few suggestions here and there and helped him mix some icing with food colouring when he wanted black, but apart from that it is all his own work.
It paid off, Theo won the competition :D He will get his prize when he goes to nursery on Tuesday.

And we get to eat the cake, yummm

Ooh I laughed

We went to play at the farm & playbarn today with my friend Tina, her children Jack and Hannah, who are about the same ages as Theo and Louis and her 10yr old nephew Jordan.

When we got home Adam asked Theo who he saw there, to which Theo replied "Jack Stanley and Jordan"

"Was Jordan a lady with big boobies?" Adam asked "No. That was Tina!"

I dissolved in a heap and just had to phone Tina to tell her. She thought it was funny too :D

Legoland et al

So on Saturday we took the boys to Legoland. We didn't tell them where they were going so Theo was really excited once he realised where we were.

We did a lot of this

Although to be fair it wasn't THAT busy. It's expensive though! £35 per adult and £26 for children 3 and over! Fortunately we had a 2 for 1 voucher so saved £35 on entry. We took a pack up too to save a bit more. Had to splash out on ice creams all round though.

It was a lovely day, the weather was really good and we all enjoyed ourselves. I haven't walked so much in a while though :D

This is Theo and Louis enjoying a ride on the Fairy Tale boat ride.

On Tuesday we went to see my friend Helen and her Gorgeous new little boy, Zach. He's 7 weeks old and he's adorable, even though he sicked up on my shoulder :D

I am soo broody, I wish all these pregnant people around me would just stop it! There's Helen with baby Zach, my cousin, 3 scrapbooking friends, Morgan (my sister-in-law) and even the staff at the boys nursery are at it. It doesn't help that I watched 'Knocked Up' this evening too. Waaagh, must keep my legs crossed rofl

Tuesday evening I left Adam with the boys and drove to Horley to see Cat. I think I managed to stop for breath a few times and I did let her do a little bit of talking too. But 4 hours later I dragged myself out of her loverly house (still talking) to head back to Petes so Cat could head to bed, it was after midnight! I miss these chat's, we used to do it every Wednesday, take it in turns to go to each others house. The homeowner would provide dinner, one other would provide desert and the 3rd would get a free dinner (that's me, Cat and Kath incase you think I can't count lol) then the next week onto the next persons house, and so on. We still talked as much too :D

Right, it's late and I need my bed, for some reason the boys were up and playing in the hall at 4 this morning!

Night All
Karen
xx

Nursery Photos

When I dropped the boys off at nursery this morning the staff handed me a pack of envelopes, the photos they had taken at the end of May were ready. Look at these, aren't they gorgeous?

Saturday was kind of a hodge podge day

We stayed at the Premier Inn in Chippenham on Friday night, close to the concert, so on Saturday had breakfast there and bathed the boys (knowing it's a bit of a battle for hot water at Petes) then set off for Croydon and Petes.

We phoned Pete when we set off to let him know we were on our way. There was no answer so we left a message on his voicemail. As it was going to take us two hours to get there anyway we weren't too bothered that he wasn't home.

When we were almost there and had had no reply from Pete we decided to detour for lunch, called in Tesco's at Caterham and after discovering there was no cafe there, bought lunch and drove to Coulsdon Common for a picnic.

Just as we had finished lunch and were packing up Pete called. He had forgotten we were coming and was helping a friend move house in Bournemouth. It was going to take him at least a couple of hours to get home so he was going to nip to the house and sort some things then set off. Adam and I decided that, as it was 3pm already, by the time Pete got there it would be past the boys bedtime and we had nowhere to go in the meantime so we should just head home. Couldn't really afford another night in a hotel which was basically our only other option.

I left a message on Petes mobile to this effect and we set off round the M25. Just as we reached services at Westerham Pete phoned back saying not to go home, he was on his way and should be back for about 5. We decided to stay as we had plans to see Helen on Tuesday and meet baby Zach and to be honest I was reluctant to drive home, it felt like a waste. So. Heading back to Croydon we were discussing options of where to go to keep the boys entertained for 2 hours until we could go to Petes. We had pretty much decided on Godstone Farm Park when I phone to check opening times. They were open 'til 5 with last admission at 4. It was now 3:40 so, not being entirely sure where it was from where we were and knowing how expensive it was, especially if we were only staying for an hour, we decided against it.

By this time the boys had fallen asleep in the car so we ended up driving to Kenley Aerodrome, which is on the way to Petes. Whilst the boys were asleep we could sit in the car and relax, read, sew or sleep and if they woke up we could go onto the aerodrome and let them have a run around.

Well they woke up after about 10 minutes of being parked so off we went. It was actually the most enjoyable part of the day. The weather was nice, the aerodrome was not busy so there was plenty of room for the boys to run and play. We found a spot on the grass and just camped out, me with camera in hand. Here are a few pictures I took.

Louis

Theo

All pile on Daddy

Wheee

Nooo pictures of Mummy please

Pete phoned at 5 to say he was about 20 minutes away so we headed on to the house via the fish shop.

The boys were in and settled and went to bed just a little late :D

So, lazy day planned for Sunday then hopefully Legoland on Monday. We're hoping schools down here haven't broken up for the holidays yet so it shouldn't be too busy. We'll see

Jools Holland

Well the weather was great. There were a few worrying grey clouds but fortunately none of them decided to leak on us during the evening so we had a very pleasant time. Even Theo enjoyed himself although he will deny it if you ask him. Here's a photo of him dancing.

The concert was held at Westonbirt Arboretum, part of the National Forestry Commission land in a beautiful clearing surrounded by lots of very big, very green trees.

It's not very clear in this photo, what with it being dark and everything. We were quite far back from the stage, near the toilets infact, but that was intentional, so we'd have the space for Theo to run around without disturbing too many people.

Amazingly Theo stayed awake 'til the end of the concert, though that may have had a lot to do with all the sugar from the donuts he ate :D

Pleeeease Remember..

..to tie a knot in your pyjamas...

This has been bugging me all afternoon. When I went to pick Louis up from nursery this afternoon I had to wait whilst one of the members of staff went for our tickets for the bbq next weekend so Louis and I looked at a book together. The book was '5 in a bed' and had the words to the song..

There were 5 in the bed and the little one said 'roll over, roll over', so they all rolled over and one fell out.

At that point the book goes on to 4 in the bed but I wasn't really reading it so I carried on singing

As he hit the floor he gave a shout 'Pleeeease remember to tie a knot in your pyjamas'

I knew that there was more, I just couldn't remember. It hit me this evening as I was making a cup of tea

'Single beds are only made for 1, 2, 3, 4.. there were 4 in the bed and the little one said...'

I'm sure you're not interested but I was

Family

A friend sent me this e-mail and I thought I would share it. I'm not sure where it cam from originally so if anyone knows the author please let me know and I will credit them accordingly :D

F A M I L Y

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
'Oh excuse me please' was my reply.
He said, 'Please excuse me too;
I wasn't watching for you.'
We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said goodbye.

But at home a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.
Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My son stood beside me very still.
When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.
'Move out of the way,' I said with a frown
He walked away, his little heart broken.
I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.

While I lay awake in bed
God's still small voice came to me and said,
'While dealing with a stranger,
common courtesy you use,
but the family you love, you seem to abuse..
Go and look on the kitchen floor,
You'll find some flowers there by the door.
Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.
He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,
you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes.'

By this time, I felt very small,
And now my tears began to fall.
I quietly went and knelt by his bed;
'Wake up, little one, wake up,' I said.
'Are these the flowers you picked for me?'
He smiled, 'I found 'em, out by the tree.
I picked 'em because they're pretty like you.
I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue.'
I said, 'Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn't have yelled at you that way.'
He said, 'Oh, Mom, that's okay.
I love you anyway.'
I said, 'Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers, especially the blue.'

FAMILY
Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than into our own family, an unwise investment indeed, don't you think?

So what is behind the story?
Do you know what the word FAMILY means?

FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU

'Free' Time

I am so cross. I dropped the boys at nursery this morning and drove over to Morley Street Sensory Resource Centre, where I do my mornings volunteering every Thursday, only to find it closed due to indistrial action! Now I understand that on occasion there may be a need for industrial action and had I watched Look North or Calendar this week I would probably have heard all about it, but I didn't.

What annoys me is that nobody saw fit to tell me that the building would be closed today. Just because I choose to give my time away does not make it worthless. Had I known the place would be closed I could have made alternative arrangements with 'A', the chap I work with, or at least not wasted my time driving there for no reason. A blanket e-mail to all volunteers just saying to check whether their place of work was open on industrial action days would have been enough. But oh no, clearly our time is not important.

I saw a member of staff outside the building when I was standing there reading the notice on the door. I tried to ask her if she knew whether the users of the centre had been informed of the closure so I could determine whether 'A' would be turning up anyway and I should wait for him (an hours wait) but all she would say is 'I can't' and point at the notice.

I don't claim to know very much at all about industrial Action but assume that the idea is to cause maximum inconvenience, due to the lack of whichever service is affected, to convince the powers that be that that service is worth more than they are valueing it at. I can see how making me waste my time going somewhere I am not wanted is going to acheive that.

I fully intend to claim mileage and childcare for today. As it stands volunteering here costs me money. The expenses I will receive, once I get around to putting a claim in, do not fully cover the childcare I pay. I know it is my choice to put him in a nursery where the minimum is 2 half day sessions on 2 different days, so I have to pay for the additional session myself, but the maximum childcare expenses don't cover the 1 Thursday morning session either. I choose to accept this and pay the extra so that I can give my time and gain the BSL experience I require to go on to Level 3 in September.

So anyway, rant over, I'm now at home washing duvets, yipee.

The Eagle Has Flown The Nest

The Book was posted this morning and is now winging it's way to Fluffy at the correct address this time :D

Retreeeeat

Well I had a fabulous weekend with lots to do, lots to eat and lots more to say :D

I drove to the accomodation just outside Alston, Cumbria, with my friends Vicky, Caroline and a car full of papers, food and the occassional item of clothing. I barely stopped talking for the 2 hours + that the journay took, which doesn't surprise me. When I visit people I often come away feeling like I haven't stopped talking and worrying that the people I have just left aren't sighing in relief and cooling down their ears with something from the fridge :lol:

This picture is just an idea of what the place looked like after we'd all arrived and gotten ensconced in our chosen places.

Tables and tables of bits of paper, tool totes and every piece of scrapbooking equipment you could possibly imagine. If there was anything you needed that you hadn't brought there was always someone willing to lend or share. If it was inspiration you were short of there were lots of amazing layouts to look at and people willing to offer a suggestion or two.

This is everyone apart from Lynn, who had to leave early. Lets see, if we start at the back on the left we have Sherry (pink hair), Netty, Caroline (hiding behind Susy), Susy and Marie. Next row we have Vicky (pink top), Lesley, Kirsty, Jenny, Ali, Me and Rachel. Finally, behind me and Rachel is Hazel (orange top), Natalie (blue stripey top) and Erika.

We also had a visit from Julie and Helen of Scrapbooking Castle who brought loads of scrummy stash for us to buy at AMAZING prices. I am sorry to hear they are closing down the shop (but it did mean we got some fantastic bargains).

I am very pleased to say that, in among eating the gorgeous buns and cakes, the chocolate, the biscuits, a little fruit and drinking gallons of tea, I did manage to complete some layouts. I started more than I finished (surprise surprise lol) but I still did more this weekend than I've done in the past six months! I will be posting them over on Apshoo shortly so go and have a nosey :D

Cumbria here we come

Well I have the entire contents of my craft cupboard plus the kitchen sink packed and ready to take to Cumbria with me tomorrow :D

I'm leaving Adam and the boys at home whilsty I go away with friends (18 of them!) to an 'adventure centre' in Alston, Cumbria so we can chat, drink, laugh, maybe cry and occasionally stick photos and bits of paper to other bits of paper. I can't wait :D

There will be cakes and alcohol shh. I have been told there may be flatulance too so I'm certainly glad I have no sense of smell.

Sweeties

Adam came home from work today with two big bags of sweeties :D

Apparently he'd been to see a client who makes them. They gave him a tour around the factory and goody bags to bring home. You should have seen Theo's eyes light up when I showed him. He wanted to know if he could have some after breakfast tomorrow. Nooooo lol

Gulp

Theo went to visit his new school today for an hour. I wasn't really worried about leaving him but I certainly wasn't prepared for him to run off and find his friends without a backward glance!

I had a nice walk to the local park with one of the other mums and Louis and Sethy had a play on the swings and slide before we wandered back to collect the big boys from school. They only stayed for an hour.

I got back to find Theo quite happily playing with the interactive white board and to be presented with a picture that he and Isobel, a neighbours daughter who is in this years reception class so was there to play with the new children, had done for me, aww.

As we were leaving I asked Theo if he had enjoyed his time at school to which he replied 'Of course mummy, can I play on the board again next time?' lol

I think maybe September is going to me more traumatic for me than Theo.

Uniform

We took Theo to M&S yesterday for school uniform.

I can't believe he starts school in September! The past four years have just flown by! We've had to buy trousers for 3yr old and they're still too long. Just hoping he doesn't have a growth spurt between now and September otherwise we'll have to go and buy it all again. At least they've got a 2 for 3 offer on school clothes at the moment so we saved some money. We bought a couple of pairs of trousers for 4yr old too so there's no mad dash to the shops when he does grow out of the smaller ones.

I can't believe how much it's all costing though, just to send him to school. School logo polo shirts and sweaters, trousers, shoes, socks, shorts and white polo shirts for P.E. In total I think we've spent about £150 already! Granted we've bought 5 sets of everything except shoes and P.E. kit because I'm not expecting to get more than 1 wear out of each item before they need washing.

That's all basic stuff though. Did you know that M&S sell school blazers with an ipod control panel built into the inside lapel? Talk about excessive. I thought ipods and stuff like that weren't allowed in schools anyway? My nieces and nephews are certainly not allowed to take anything like that into school.

Anyway rant over. Theo is all kitted out so don't have to worry about survive the mad uniform rush in the holidays and I'm sure he'll look very smart, at least when he gets to school, probably not so much by the time he comes home lol.

Check back in September and I'll post a photo of him all dressed up.

I made that

I have just spent ages moving blog posts from my old blog to this (sad I know) but in doing so I noticed that last year I mentioned a secret project I was working on for Christmas. Now most of you have seen the results but it occured to me that some of you may not have so here they are.

Handmade quilts each for the boys. Theo's has Thomas the Tank Engine and Buzz Lightyear characters on and Louis' has bright patterns and they are both backed with blue marbled fleece.

I'm working on 3 other quilting projects at the moment, hopefully I should be able to post some photos soon. One of them is for a gift so I won't be posting photos until after the lucky (?)recipient has seen it.

Here is a photo of a quilt I made for my friends Peter and Lilia for their son Alexander. It is all flannel with cotton batting (filling). I had no idea flannel was so hard to work with, it stretches and keep moving around! Anyway, the finished product was definitely worth the effort, I think.

Hello and Welcome

My blog has moved as this site is free and the other wasn't. So here it is now, hopefully a little more permanent this time.

Please feel free to leave comments on any entries or photos, infact pleeeeeease leave comments, it makes me feel loved.

Thanks for looking.

Karen

I'm a Winner

I used to do loads of online and postcard competitions and in the past I have won a few bits and bobs. A file folder thingy for sorting your bills, some childrens toys that sort of thing. But I haven't done any for ages.

So imagine my suprise when I got an e-mail from Simply Moleskine to say I'd won the monthly prize draw. Yay. So I get to choose an item from their website that I'd like as my prize. Now as the name implies the website is an online retailer for Moleskine notebooks. Not exactly the most exciting prize I hear you cry. But I like notebooks, and pens and paper and stuff so I'm a happy bunny.

Just thought you'd like to know that.

The Pox!

This is Louis this morning, covered in calamine lotion and dosed up with Piriton (although as you can see, he's after more :nono:)

As soon as I can I'm off to the chemist to get some Calamine cream which I've been told is better than the lotion as it doesn't dry out. And bicarb baths in the evenings too. Poor baby

I took him to the Drs yesteday to get my diagnosis of Chicken Pox confirmed and the stoopid man said it wasn't chicken pox as that normally develops 48hrs after exposure!! Where did he go to medical school? The NHS direct website, and everyone I've asked, says it's 2 - 3 weeks, which fits perfectly. Apparently it's just an allergic reaction or possibly insect bites and he's fine to go to nursery. So silly me, I took him to nursery yesterday morning after the Drs. When I picked him up at lunchtime though there were more spots and more blisters. I asked my neighbour to come round and have a look because her 2 children have both had chicken pox (and she's a nurse) so she knows what it looks like better than me. Anyway, she agrees with me that it is chicken pox. This morning he's even more spots and blisters and they are starting to itch too
Anyway, it's chicken pox, I'm certain so we're house bound for a week. Theo hasn't had it yet so we're also watching out for spots there. Knowing our luck he'll get it just intime for us to miss the Jools Holland concert we're supposed to be going to in a couple of weeks. Boohoo.

Apart from this we're all good. Louis is actually reasonably happy in himself so that's good and everyone else is well. TTFN