Angel of the North

We are in Durham for the Bank Holiday weekend! We've had a really nice day today! The first thing we did was drive to The Scrapbook shop. I bought a few nice things but didn't go overboard and was delighted with only a £41 bill! LOL!
We then checked into our hotel (Bannatynes) and had a little relax before heading out to the Angel of the North. We had a nice tea in a pub in Durham city centre and then came back where we've watched Britains Got Talent whilst I cross stitched. I've been doing the paper dolls on the Gorjuss girl and they're adorable apart from the special thread, golly, that's fiddly, it keeps fraying but the effect is worth the effort!

I LOVE this photo from today, all 4 of us are looking! (I'm sorry, I know you can't see Courtney but she is looking and has a lovely smile too!) It's just a slight shame that the Angel isn't quite centered but hey ho, I love the pic anyway!

The Royal Wedding

Today was the wedding of HRH Prince William and Kate Middleton. It was such a lovely occasion to watch and Kate's dress was beautiful. Congrats to the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Charlie's school

I have been feeling a bag of nerves for quite a few weeks now as today loomed nearer and nearer! We filled out Charlie's school application form on the 22nd September last year! It has seemed like ages of a wait but of course it has been! The school we REALLY wanted to get him into has an excellent Ofsted report, is regarded as a 'tough' school to get into and very handily is on our road! That certainly doesn't seem to count for much as there have been a couple of children that I know about who live as close to the school and not got in! The school is a Church school and have a very stringent criteria, all of which we did meet but still that did not guarantee Charlie a place. The place allocations went live online tonight at 8:00pm, I was well aware that we'd probably have to wait and find out as a mass (apparently 8,500) of parents would all also be logging on to find out therefore the system would possibly crash. Anyway, we were a little naughty and logged in early, just before 7:15 to be precise! I knew it wouldn't be there but to our shock and absolute delight it was!! Our gorgeous son is going to be attending St Peter's C of E school, Heysham. Our first choice school! :D

'Hoppy Easter!'

We have had a lovely Easter Sunday! It started when the four of us attended church with Syliva and at the end of the service there was an Easter egg hunt for the children, they had to find the paper eggs in the gardens of the church and these were then traded for chocolate! It was fun and both children did really well getting into the spirit of it even though they did need a little help finding them, LOL! We came home and Hughie had been kindly tending to our garden for us (the grass looks fab now!) and we invited both Sylvia and Hughie to join us for lunch. We spent the afternoon playing in the garden, taking some photos and just generally relaxing. The children both enjoyed their first tastes of their Easter Eggs (don't worry they didn't eat all of what is in their bowls!) They each got quite a nice haul and some lovely gifts too. We had a BBQ for tea and ate it in the garden, it was getting a little chilly by that point but still nice to be out in the fresh air. Happy Easter everyone!

Hippity Hop Hippity hop!

Ta Da!


It's all finished! Tree really wanted to finish hers for Easter so I decided to (quietly) try and set myself the same challenge as I wasn't sure if it was do-able, LOL! Anyway, it seems it was and I've finished it just in time for Easter Sunday! Charlie is so happy it's finished, he wanted to hang it in his room straight away as it is unframed, bless!

I've decided to stitch two pieces at the same time next, I quite enjoyed having the bunnies and the cat on the go at the same time! So my next projects are the sheep for Courtney that are similar to Charlie's bunnies and this lovely 'Gorjuss' design for my craft room! I think it sums up my scrapbooking hobby perfectly!

9.7 miles

I went out for another bike ride this evening, the same route as last time. I haven't been able to go out in between as my back was quite sore for just over a week and then my lymph nodes by my ear decided to swell up and made my eye very swollen but a course of anti-b's have now cleared that and my back is OK now too. I actually tried a new Zumba class last night to test my back out. It was quite good but I think because I'm used to my regular class I won't be going back, I'm considering a membership at the gym and will go to more classes there if I join, (I currently go to my class as a guest of my mother in law)

Corperate Day at PNE

On Saturday we did a corporate event at Mark's beloved Preston North End. He used his Birthday and Christmas money towards it. As it was Chris's 16th Birthday on the 9th we paid for him to come too, I even arranged a cake for him!
It was a really good event, there were past players invited and one sat at each table. We had Mel Tottoh on our table, he was lovely and spent quite a bit of time with Charlie doing magic tricks, he was in awe of him♥ Mel gave him the 'magic 2p coin' and Charlie treasures it! He is still convinced it comes out of his ear, LOL!
This was also Courtney's first match, bless her! (We did a corporate event for Charlie's first match too in December 2009 where Charlie was a mini mascot!) She was so good and didn't wriggle too much whilst the match was on! In fact she fell asleep for about 20 minutes of the first half!
As with Charlie's first game, Courtney's first game was a win! We were playing Sheffield Utd and the score was 3-1.

The longest project!!

This little fella has been on the go since we were on holiday last June in Scotland! I've stitched him as an in between project really but decided this week that he deserved to be finished. Today I've finished the back stitch, oh my word! I do not mind back stitch one bit, it brings the whole project together but golly this back stitch really tested my patience! There were so many half stitches and stitching over full crosses! I felt thankful that I'd stitched it on even weave, LOL! It's a good job I didn't finish him first or else the 'Coffee and Cuddles' cross stitch would have never got started!! (the back stitch on them was a breeze in comparison!! Still, he's worth all the effort!) I think I'm going to make him into a coaster so he can join his friends in the craft room!

My bunnies cross stitch project is coming along nicely! What I truly love about this piece now is that I've told Charlie I'm stitching it for him and he'll come over when I'm stitching and ask if it's his bunnies I'm working on.♥ He's really excited that I'm stitching it for his bedroom.
I found out that Tree was also wanting to stitch both pieces and following the success of the 'My Little Heart' stitch a long that we did together last year we have decided that these can be this years stitch a long! Our first stopping point was the first bunny and I've just achieved that this afternoon whilst nursing my still quite sore back! (Thankfully my very kind parents in law looked after Charlie and Courtney for me so that I can try and rest up a bit) I think Tree is up to a similar point so then we'll decide our next stopping point! (the idea is that we'll complete the pieces together so we choose a point where we stitch to and wait for the other to catch up and don't progress until then but as it happens we seem to be running more or less at exactly the same pace anyway!)

9.7 miles!

Yay! Today I went on a bike ride, it's been so long (too long) since I last rode on it. To be precise it was September! I have honestly missed my rides, in September I did lots of overtime at work, then we got Courtney in November, then Christmas and the weather has been horrible through the winter so it's just not happened. I have been exercising though by going to Zumba on a Friday morning since January. Anyway, I decided not to overdo my first ride and went to VVV and back, (I can home the direct route tonight, I normally just go back onto the main road that takes it up to 10 miles)
This afternoon we had a really good sort out of the tool shed, it had basically become a dumping ground of garden equipment and outdoor toys so needed a good sort! We emptied it completely together and then I put the things back in neatly. I also took a trip to the tip so all in all I've done quite a bit today. The end result is I've hurt my back! Mark and I were putting the children's toys away and I must have just bent over funny and crack! It just went! Really hoping it's just minor and will be OK after a good nights sleep!

Body parts!

Digi template from Oscraps. Paper pack is Crystal Wilkerson's Beautiful Day.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today has been so special, my first Mother's Day as a Mummy of 2 children! There was great excitement this morning as the children and Mark climbed onto the bed to give me my lovely pressies and 6 cards!! Yes 6! Charlie and Courtney made one each at nursery, Charlie made one at Sunday School, there was a photo one and one each from the children saying 'Love from your little fella!' and 'Love from your little girl!' My gifts are lovely, there was a mummy mug and coaster, chocolate truffles, a monkey toy, mummy doodles colouring book, a cupcake lolly and a 'yummy mummy' cupcake keyring for my craft room! (that will join the lovely keyring you gave to me Jen ;) )

We all went to the Mother's Day family service at church this morning, it was a really nice service and each lady was given a little posy. After nipping into Lancaster we had a run out to Kirkby Lonsdale, one of my favourite places. On the way home we took Charlie and Courtney to the swings at the Battery so as you can imagine it's been a very tiring but fun day!
Thank you Mark, Charlie and Courtney. Love you!♥