Dirty Dancing

Talk about last minute! I was planning on going to Dirty Dancing with a friend but time got on and when we looked into tickets there weren't any left where 2 could sit together. We have decided to go and see Oliver instead in a few weeks time but I still wanted to see Dirty Dancing. My friend told me to go ahead on my own. The availability of tickets wasn't very good, either right at the back of the stalls or random tickets in the upper circle. All these tickets were very expensive I thought for where they were. Yesterday morning I was looking through the booking site, I knew last night was sold out BUT whilst on yesterday I noticed some tickets had been released! They were all single tickets but better than any I'd seen on any performance! I rang the box office and was told that they are sometimes reserved but then not paid for so get released on the day. I had noticed on the site that there was a premium ticket available but I believed it to be the wrong price. I was told that it's basically better to get bums on seats and at that late point the chances of selling the premium tickets at full cost is slim so they let them go cheaper! I quickly spoke to Mark about going and rang them straight back to snap up the ticket! So that was it, I went on the 14:26 train from Lancaster and had a quick mooch around the sales before having tea and going to the theatre. I didn't buy anything but did see Louise from this year's Big Brother house in the Arndale! At least I'm 99.999% sure it was her, I only had a quick glimpse! She is from Manchester though so I know it was her!!! LOL!
It was absolutely chucking it down all afternoon so I got a little wet! I arrived at the theatre around 6:30pm and collected my ticket. It was too early to go in so I went across the road to a cafe for a latte, it was really nice, one of those type of drinks where you don't want it to end, LOL! I made my way back over to the theatre around 7:00pm and bought a programme and CD. I then went to my fab seat and waited for the performance to start. It was really good and followed the film exactly, even down to the lines they were saying. The dancers were amazing and the girl who played Lisa was excellent, extremely funny!! Not that she had a big part but she stole the show for me!!

Boxing Day

So how did you spend your Boxing Day? Resting after a hectic Christmas Day? Visiting friends and family? Perhaps a visit to the cinema? What did we do.......well, Mark and Charlie went to watch Preston North End Football club and Courtney and I got all girly and went sale shopping!!
I have to admit I'm not a great shopper, I only went sale shopping because we were in Preston, I could have stayed home but where's the fun in that! So we dropped the boys off at PNE and parked up quite easily, I was surprised, I thought it would be busier than it was. We were able to have a nice wander around the shops. I bought a new top and jeans, some underwear and some half price cards and wrapping paper for next year! We had a nice couple of hours then went back to pick up Mark and Charlie.
We just had a play with the new toys when we got home until bedtime. Tomorrow we are finding new homes for all their Christmas gifts!! Wish us luck, I think we'll need it, LOL!
I sent Mark off to football with my camera, really chuffed with his result, even if he wasn't, his team drew 3-3!!

We had a lovely Christmas!

It was just perfect! Charlie and Courtney came into our room and we had cuddles in bed before getting up to see if Father Christmas and Rudolf had feasted on their treats, Charlie was delighted to see that they had! We then went into the living room and there was a lovely pile of pressies each. Charlie walked up to his pile and straight away asked which present contained his bus, LOL!! They both had a great time opening their gifts and spent some time with each before moving onto the next. The nice thing was that they both took all day to open them. Charlie came out with another funny......there was one present that was wrapped in Christmas paper and then a layer of tissue paper. Charlie tore off the wrapping paper and excitedly said, 'yeah, it's pass the parcel!' he passed the present to Mark and exclaimed 'it's your turn!' Bless him. We were visited during the morning by Aunty Nic (my sister), Aunty Karin (our sister in law) Maddie, Dan, Chris, Ben and Emma (our nephews and nieces) who all delighted in seeing Charlie ad Courtney opening some presents. They have both been very lucky and have received some lovely toys, books and a few clothes. Early favourites are a soft toy giraffe for Charlie, who he has named George and Courtney's is a talking dolly! They both came out with us today (Boxing Day.)
We went to Heysham Golf Club for Christmas dinner, this is the first time we've eaten out at a restaurant in our 15 Christmas's together! (unless you count 2002 where we ate at Cafe Mickey in Disneyland, Paris but that certainly wasn't a traditional Christmas dinner, LOL!) I have cooked most of them but really wanted to enjoy time with Charlie and Courtney this year, Mark's parents are in Australia on holiday, so I decided we were eating out! My mum came with us and we had an amazing 5 course traditional Christmas meal, we were there around 2 hours and had no preparation, no pots to wash, it was bliss! Really relaxing and we all ate well.
Karin, Maddie and Dan came back mid afternoon to have tea with us. We prepared a simple buffet style tea which was just enough, we were all still stuffed by then!! After putting a very tired Charlie and Courtney to bed we sat and watched some TV whilst having a chat.
Hope you all had lovely Christmas Day's too!

Merry Christmas!!

It's almost 12:30am and we're just about to go to bed but before I do I'd just like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Hope you all have a lovely day and create beautiful memories♥

On Christmas Eve........

......we had a very busy day!!

It all started when we went out for breakfast to Toby Carvery (The Shrimp) where we enjoyed a really nice buffet selection including sausage, bacon, scrambled egg and toast! I went to The Shrimp last Monday with some friends for a Christmas dinner. Included in the meal was a drink and I chose a 'Glitterberry J20' but they didn't have any in stock so this morning I asked if they had any and they did so I now sparkle inside!! We booked to go 10 pin bowling at 11:30 so just had a little time before to pop into the supermarket for all the fresh bits and pieces we needed over Christmas. We arrived at bowling and changed our shoes, in Mark's 44 years he'd never been bowling!! It was Courtney's first time too. Charlie showed them both how it was done!♥ It was a really good game and towards the end Mark and I were very close in scores and our competitive side came out, LOL! I'm pleased to say I won!!!

After the bowling we went visiting, we saw Kathryn and then Tim and Elizabeth, they both live in Carnforth which is about 10 miles from home. Courtney fell asleep in the car on the way home so we put her in bed. Charlie was upstairs in the study with us and Father Christmas sent him a personal video, it was amazing! He knew Charlie's name and that he was 4 and went to school, he showed Charlie a photo of his Birthday and when he dressed up for spotty day! He told him he had to be kind to his little sister and that he should be asleep when he calls in tonight. Charlie was completely mesmerised! Bless him! (The site we used was http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/home)
When Courtney got up Daddy made a shortbread Christmas Tree with them both, what a sticky mess, LOL!

Thankfully then we all had a little rest before setting out to the Christingle service at Church. We attend a very popular Church and this evening was no exception! There were no seats left when we arrived but Rvnd. Tickner invited the children to all sit at the front on the carpet, that freed up a few seats and we sat on the front row! It worked out well as both Charlie and Courtney could sit just in front of us. We sang a few traditional carols and Rvnd. Ticker gave a nice sermon. Then it was time for the Christingles, each child was given one and when they were sat back down they were all lit. I was sitting with Charlie and Courtney, I had thought not to light Courtney's but one thing about my little girl is that she never likes to miss out on anything! We did try pretending to light hers but she was having none of it, LOL! As I was right there with her I did light it for her using Charlie's candle. The lights in Church we switched off and we sang 'Away in a Manger' by candlelight. It was beautiful.
After the service we had to make some preparations for Father Christmas's visit! It was raining quite heavily but we really needed to put down some reindeer dust on our driveway (we had promised all day!) We did it quickly!!
Once back inside we made a plate up with treats for Father Christmas and a carrot for Rudolf! Now Father Christmas's cup says he's to have milk, Charlie wanted to give Father Christmas a banana milkshake, LOL, so that's what he got!! It was then bedtime, we've bought them new PJ's, here they are modelling them.
And just when you all thought my children were sweet and innocent all of the time, here they are to prove you wrong.........little monkeys!!♥♥♥

On the Twenty first day of Christmas.....

......we went to see the Christmas lights!


On Lincoln Close in Morecambe there is a bungalow where the owners decorate their home with loads of Christmas lights! They do it every year and raise thousands of pounds for local charities. We go down every year to see them. It was really nice this year, as Courtney is a little older she now seems to soak in the magical atmosphere and Charlie knows the Nativity story so enjoyed telling us who all the characters were in the Nativity scene. It's a very popular attraction around here!




I really like the inclusion of the olympic rings this year to symbolise London hosting the Olympics in the summer 2012!

On the Twentieth day of Christmas......

....we decorated Mummy's tree!!


Whilst at the garden centre on Sunday I saw a cute tree in the cafe area, it was very me!! It was decorated with cupcakes, paper chains, heart shaped measuring spoons etc, it was just lovely! I found the section where all the decorations were and decided to treat myself for my craft room. Then as we were walking around I spotted a miniature Christmas tree!! That was it, I was inspired to have my own tree in the craft room! :D I am loving how my craft room is looking all festive too!! My two little elves 'helped' me decorate it this afternoon!!

On the Nineteenth day of Christmas......

.....Charlie and Courtney decorated their snowmen!

Both Charlie and Courtney really enjoyed this activity! Yesterday Father Christmas gave them each a lovely felt sack present and inside were these colour in snowmen sets. They spent quite a while colouring them in.♥