Favourite family photo

It's my Aunty Win's Birthday soon and all she wanted was family photographs. My brother in law is a very talented photographer so we went down to his studio. Charlie and Courtney were very good and posed like professionals, I think Aunty Nic (my sister) bopping Uncle Jon on the head helped, lol! Of course we didn't just pose for the pic for her Birthday, we bought her a voucher too. Aunty Win was delighted with the photo (and the voucher).....so are we! I've ordered it as a canvas for the conservatory.

How Big?

Shortly after adopting Charlie at just 12 months old we have been measuring his height every other month, then started Courtney's when she came along 2 years later at 20 months old. I really pleased we have kept it up and now the children have started reminding us as they enjoy seeing how much they've grown. We measure them on the inside of the under stairs cupboard door. I love seeing the measurements every time we open the door, they make me smile :D

Once Upon a Time...

Oh dear, I'm so naughty! Today I started on a new cross stitch, I started it because I'm already 3 months behind and don't want to fall too far behind or else I will lose interest. I will stitch this along side Mickey and Minnie, stitching whichever one takes my fancy but bearing in mind that I would like Mickey and Minnie finished by my birthday! Anyway, this project is called Once Upon a Time by The Frosted Pumpkin It was meant as a stitch-a-long but I'm thinking that I'd just like to do it as a 2014 project and hopefully have it finished by the end of the year.

Courtney is 5!

 

Little Miss Courtney was 5 yesterday! She was super excited! She was at school for her Birthday so we had a quick pressie opening before.

 

 

She skipped happily into school, apparently they get to ring the bell when it's their Birthday! Whilst she was at school Calico claimed her castle! She stayed in there all day until Courtney came home and repossession took place, lol!

 

 

We'd never done this before but we decided to hold her party on her actual Birthday. It seemed to work well. Here she is all ready!

 

 

The party was absolutely amazing, it was at Madam Chocolat in Morecambe. We were greeted with a chocolate fountain, always popular! The first half an hour the children were taught about cookie mix, how sugar makes it sweet, how margarine makes it all stick together etc, then they got to cut shapes out of it. Each child was given a baking tray with baking paper to write their names on. Their shapes were then put on them to be cooked. The second half an hour was food time, all beautifully served on china crockery and jelly set into china tea cups....so sweet. The last half hour was messy....very messy!! Cupcake decorating time, whatever you can think of to decorate a cupcake was there and nothing was in short supply, all the children had a whale of a time! At the end each child had a box of biscuits and 4 decorated cupcakes. We did buy the party bags too but they weren't really needed.

 

 

The day still wasn't over, when we got home family came to visit to sing another round of Happy Birthday and another lot of candles to blow out! Daddy made Courtney a number 5 cake, it was fab!

 

 

 

 

 

M&M cross stitch update number 2

There has been great progress since my last update, I can't tell you how much I am enjoying stitching this piece.

Ben Bear

The school bear 'Ben Bear' came home for a visit! He had great fun in Charlie's company and played with all his toys! Charlie had to write all about his adventures in his diary. Such a sweet activity :D

Butlins

When I was a child the only family holiday we ever went on was to Butlins in Ayr, Scotland. To be honest I only have very vague recollections of it as I was so young and I think this is the only photo that we have of our time there but I love this pic! Grandma, Dad, Mum and Grandad with me and my sister in front!

 

So fast forward quite a number of years and we find out that Scooby Doo is currently doing the Butlins circuit! Charlie is Scooby Doo crazy! He just loves him and watches it every night after school, imagine being able to not only meet him but go and see a live show with everyone in it! We decided to book a weekend of half term in Skegness. The unfortunate thing was they were back at school on Monday so we were only able to stay 2 out of the 3 nights but never mind. Once we'd booked I went to the travel agent to get a brochure. Only then did we find out that Angelina Ballerina was also going to be there and Courtney could do a dance class with her!! Amazing for both children. There were a number of characters there that they were both familiar with so it was excellent!

I have to say we had an absolutely fabulous weekend away! Our chalet was nice, the fairground good fun and the swimming pool had just gone through a multi million pound renovation so was great! I can't see how anyone could get bored! It's somewhere I'd like to visit again at some point! Just such good fun!