Welcome to 2011!

I'm sitting here 5 minutes to midnight, it's almost the New Year!!! Happy New Year, I truly hope 2011 is magical for everyone! xxx

Christmas 2010

We really enjoyed Christmas this year, our first as a family of 4! As previously blogged I attended the Christingle service on Christmas Eve, that really got me into the spirit of things. During Christmas Eve evening we tenderly laid out all the children's pressies with the help of Father Christmas of course! I was quite excited when we went to bed, I couldn't wait to see the children's faces in the morning. They're of the age where they don't properly realise what is going on yet so allowed us a sleep in on Christmas morning (they're great when there's no alarm goes off, they are good sleepers!) Anyway, when they woke we brought them into our room and talked a little about Christmas and then told them we'd go and see if Father Christmas had been, at this point Charlie did get quite excited! I darted in front of them and grabbed my camera so I could record their reaction as they walked into the room! they were, as expected, quite overwhelmed! They were both so good opening their presents, it was such a joy to watch. They both carefully opened each one and had a little play before opening the next. No doubt in a few years time it will just be a mad frenzy opening session so we're savouring these nice timed ones! Both children seem to really like their main presents, Charlie got a camera, a bright yellow camera which we've niknamed his 'Wobble Bear camera' after one of his favourite books where Wobble Bear constantly says Yellow, Yellow, Yellow! Bless♥ Courtney got a lovely pink pram for her 'babies' She never came with any dollies so I really wanted her to have some for Christmas, my wish was granted, we now have a lovely little 'dolly family!'
At lunchtime we headed to my sisters to see her, my brother in law, my mum and nephews and niece. We exchanged pressies there, Nic (Nicola) and I don't buy for each other anymore, we buy for the children but I was admiring a photo my brother in law took of my nephews and niece and was delighted when she gave me a copy they'd had printed.

Chris (15) Emma (11) & Ben (14)

After our visit we went to my parent in law's house for Christmas dinner, I was delighted to be invited as it's the first year I haven't cooked Christmas dinner in years!! We originally were due to have Christmas dinner at home again but were invited by Sylvia and Hughie the week before Christmas. It was a beautiful dinner, my mother in law is a fantastic cook! We spent the afternoon with them and left around 4:30 so that the children could have another play with their new toys before they went to bed (we did take some new toys with us to my parent's in law)
I walked into our living room after we'd put the children to bed and I tell you, you could not move in there!! It looked like a whole box of fireworks had exploded so Mark and I set to and found homes for all the lovely new toys and put their new clothes in their bedroom ready to be hung the next day. We then sat and enjoyed a bit of Christmas TV and an internet catch up before bed.
On Boxing Day my mum came up to us, it was lovely to just spend the day totally relaxing, having mum's company and the children enjoying their new toys. We didn't have rigid eating times, just ate when we fancied and all of us enjoyed a play on the Wii sing that I had got for Christmas!
A truly lovely Christmas!

My new car!

I will do a post about our lovely Christmas once I've edited the photos but for now ill introduce you to my new car! We test drove it today and I really liked it! It's a Citroen C4 Picasso, I currently have a Citroen C3 which I've loved driving for 6 years and to be fair I will be very sad to see it go but with the arrival of Courtney the C3 is feeling a little on the small side! I needed a 'proper' spare seat really and space for when we do some shopping, the buggy currently takes up all the boot space and there's not a lot of room in the footwells so realistically no room for anything! The new car is storage heaven!! There's even under floor storage in the backseat footwells which will be great for the children's bits and bobs! In the front there are 3 glove compartments as well as an air conditioned cubby!!! and finally in the ample sized boot there is a removable wheelie trolley! We're hoping to pick it up just after the New Year!

Christingle

This evening Charlie, Sylvia (my Mother in Law) Maddie and I went to the Christingle service, it was just beautiful! I'd looked forward to it so much. We sang 6 carols and then all the children went up to the front for their Christingle candle, they dimmed the lights and the children sang 'Away in a manger' It just filled my heart.♥

Merry Christmas to all my readers!

Father Christmas again!

Today my Mother in Law and I took the children to the Bay View garden centre in Bolton le Sands as they have baby reindeer there! We arrived just after lunchtime and Father Christmas must have been peckish as he was away for his lunch so we went for ours too. We then made our way over to the grotto, the baby reindeer were just outside, they were adorable, if not a little lazy! Courtney was not impressed at having to wait to see Father Christmas and was rather grumpy! She was even less impressed once inside and would not give Father Christmas a second look, LOL! Perhaps she'll be a little more willing next year! Charlie did make us laugh! Father Christmas was lovely and so was Charlie answering all his questions, he asked Charlie what he'd like for Christmas to which he replied a camera (he's really excited about his camera) Then Father Christmas asked if he liked painting to which Charlie nodded so Father Christmas reached into his sack and asked if he'd like a painting set gift to which Charlie replied, no thank you, I want a camera! LOL♥

The love of balloons!

Last night as Mark and I were sorting through the Christmas pressies (yes, our shopping is complete - yay!) we discovered some balloons we've bought for Charlie and Courtney. Mark couldn't resist blowing a couple up for them! This morning they were a HUGE hit! I mean, these children didn't just love their balloons, they absolutely LOVED their balloons, LOL! Charlie does make us laugh, for a long time he's called balloons 'moons' and we can't convince him otherwise! When we went to Disneyland Paris last year we took him on a hot air balloon that's on a winch and when we came off he exclaimed 'I've just been on the moon!!' Bless♥

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

We have spent this evening decorating our Christmas tree, both the children have delighted in putting the decorations on and playing with tinsel! When we got Charlie I really wanted a real tree for his first Christmas with us so this year it was important to me that we did the same for Courtney! We chose the tree on Sunday from Broadoak (a local garden centre), it was delivered yesterday and we've given it a day to 'dry out' before decorating it. It was so special the 4 of us having lovely quality family time together doing our tree♥

First visit to Father Christmas!

Yesterday morning we took the children to choose our Christmas tree, for Charlie's first Christmas with us we got a real tree so we wanted to do the same for Courtney. It has been delivered this morning so we'll decorate it when Mark comes home♥
After choosing the tree we had a family day out to South Lakes Wild Animal Park, it was a nice day and we got to see Father Christmas! Charlie is enthralled this year with all things Christmas and quite comfortably told Father Christmas that he'd really like a camera this year! Courtney wasn't so sure! as you can see in the picture she is trying to suss him out, bless her!!♥

My craft room is finished! (photo and reading heavy!!LOL)

It seems like it has gone on for weeks since the actual building work of my craft room was complete but with the arrival of Courtney and being let down by people it does seem to have taken ages to finally get organised and finished! The glass arrived to protect the top of my desk and finally late last week the blinds were fitted and I decided to use a bit of 'girl power' and hung my gorgeous clock, pictures and ikea rail. I might end up tweaking the room a little yet but for now I'm saying it is finished -Yay! I LOVE my room, it's everything I wanted it to be, for a while now I've been collecting cupcake themed things but the idea has developed into chintsy things I love!
So this is what my room looks like now, the sun was out when I was taking the pictures, (I'm not complaining, I love the sun during the winter but it has distorted a few!!)
I adore this house bookshelf from Argos! It has my cricut, quickutz and slice machines on it as well as 3 lovely ladies! I added the pom pom trim to the top.
The expedit and gorgeous clock which was a creamy white originally but Jen painted it black for me, thanks Jen!

This is a Making Memories unit that I bought a while ago, it was a QVC Today's Special Value. It's a really useful shelf unit and has my buttons, ink misters, dymo tapes, decorative trimmer blades and all my little embellies like eyelets, brads etc on it. The next photo is a close up of some old prima bottles with photos in, an idea I saw on Kirsty Wiseman's blog. (I must sort the cat's one out though, I hadn't noticed the top is coming out, LOL)

I just love the knobs!

This is the right hand wall as you look into the room
A close up of the ikea Hensvik unit, this has all my ribbons stored in it. (I need to paint up the 'create' motif yet)
My gorgeous antique plan chest, I have bought this as a family heirloom and I hope it will be passed down my generations, it was bought with inheritance from my Dad, Grandma and Nanna, my Mum also very kindly gave me some money for it too so it's a real family piece and means so much to me♥
The next few photos are just some details that I love! The first is a photo of my inspirations! I adore my little family and they needed to have a prime spot in my room! I bought the chocolate lady earlier this year, her words are sooooo true, LOL! I have mentioned it before but when Jen and I were moving the plan chest we spotted this acrylic frame in my stash and it fitted perfectly over the light switch, I backed it with some red paper, et voila! Next is a lovely piece I bought from a girl who was exhibiting with my niece in their college course. I instantly fell for it and through the help of their college instructor made contact with the girl who created it, I can't remember her name off hand but I have it noted, you never know she could be a famous designer or artist one day!! I framed it in a nice simple Ikea frame as I didn't want to detract from the piece. Again, I have mentioned it before but next is the runner I made to protect the drawers. Lastly, this is a decal I've had forever! I'm so pleased it now has a home, it took some doing getting it up there, I'll tell you but it was so worth the effort. it is just above the door and window.






Now, I don't know if you're like me but i'm a nosey so and so and I like to know how people store their crafting bits and bobs! So here's a few pics of my storage, it works quite well for me and i'm sure it'll keep developing but for now it looks like this!
These first 2 pics are the cupboards under the house.
All my stamps are stored in the cupboard on the left, the plastic containers store my wooden stamps, all categorised! (there is another row behind!) In the white drawers are my acrylic, date and Birthday and Christmas greeting stamps. In the blue cube in the other cupboard I keep my threads, scrap paper and branded/categorised papers (Charlie, Courtney, Christmas, Stripes, Spots etc!) To the left of the cube are all my trimmers,cutting mats, my guillotine is normally there too but as I was scrapping in Chorley on Saturday I haven't put it back yet! In the front of the cupboard is my sewing machine.


My bookcases are next, in the left one I keep all my books, at the top you may notice an A4 folder, there are actually 2 and these are my 'inspiration stations' where i've cut ideas out of magazines, one is scrapping and the other is cross stitch. In the right hand bookshelf I have Really useful boxes at the top full of bits and bobs! The next shelf down houses some great Ikea storage drawers, these have loads in then including glitters, inks, coloured sand, pergamano stuff etc in. On the bottom shelf I have some A4 plastic boxes that have all my card making stuff in.


I have a cupboard to the right of where I sit at my desk, I keep my 12x12 papers in there, they're all colour sorted and easily accessible.

Next is my gorgeous antique pine plan chest, I cannot believe how much I got into this! It has all my sizzix and cuttlebug dies in it and almost every punch I own! In the bottom 2 drawers I have embelishments in A4 plastic wallets, again categorised.
These are a few of the expedit baskets, I wanted an expedit for sooooo long! Originally this was in the spare bedroom and it's been fantastic storage, i've organised it a little differently now it's in my craft room.
These are my letter stickers, both drawers are colour sorted, thickers to the left and general stickers/rub ons to the right.

Chipboard basket
These are a few punches that were too big to put in the plan chest
Blossoms, again all colour sorted into tubs.
And finally, to the left of my desk I have drawers, these house all my tools! The first drawer you see is the top drawer, in the second drawer down I keep my Kipling 100 pens case which is the one I take to crops with me and houses everything I generally need so I just put that onto my desk when i'm crafting at home. The other drawer you see is the adhesives drawer! In the others I have things like paint brushes, dottarific pens, a roll of fine tipped pens, circle scissor etc.

Happy Birthday Mark!

Today is my darling hubby's birthday! (Ssssh, he's 43!!) Happy Birthday Mark, you're a fantastic husband and a wonderful daddy, we love you millions! xxx

My clever boy!

Charlie has always enjoyed doodling and we often sit together and he'll attempt to copy my drawing. This afternoon we've had a little time together whilst Courtney had her nap and we decided to draw Charlie! I was so impressed by what he was drawing I quickly ran upstairs to grab a 12x12 piece of card so I could have him draw himself for his scrapbook! I love how he's given himself fingers and toes, bless!

The MLH is finished!

As it is the 1st it was the release of the last month of the My Little Heart stitch a long project, I shall really miss this project every month! Tree and I have been discussing what we thought this month would be and I was delighted this morning when I discovered it was a nativity scene♥ There was the word 'peace' above it on the chart which I do love but felt as there were no other words on any other months it wouldn't look right. Instead I decided to stitch a large star and 4 others round it, i'm really happy with how it turned out. So that's it, the project is complete, I am both happy and sad about that!

First day of Advent

I can't believe it is the 1st of December! I truly am shocked how quickly this year has gone and that Christmas will soon be here!
Father Christmas called at our house last night, he dropped off the children's advent train and tree!! He's filled them with lots of nice little treats so we can countdown to his visit on Christmas eve! Charlie is in awe of his train! He did have it last year but doesn't remember it! (We had the tree too but it had to wait in it's box for the arrival of it's owner)
It delights us to see how much the children enjoyed this morning.
We have quite a bit planned of Christmas activities in the run up to Christmas and I don't know who is more excited, the children or me, LOL! We're heading to Dalton Zoo, they have a fantastic set up for seeing Father Christmas, first of all there is a beautiful nativity where the children can dress up and interact within the nativity, then you go through to the big guy who last year was fast asleep in his armchair and we had to wake him singing Jingle Bells! Then at some point we'll be visiting the Christmas lights at the bungalow on Westgate, he decorates his house every year for charity, it's an amazing sight! On the 19th we are going to the church nativity and then on the 24th to the Christingle. I really can't wait.

It's been a tough old week!

Golly, I wouldn't want to repeat this week in a long time! We've all been struck down by the dreaded lurgy! It's been so hard comforting your littlies and seeing them distressed when you feel so poorly yourself. I can't believe how one little bug can wipe out a whole week of family life! None of us are 100% yet but hopefully normal service will resume soon.

Rembembering my Dad

Today would have been my Dad's 60th Birthday, I feel very sad that he's not here to celebrate with us. I've just taken my mum onto the promenade and we've put some flowers in the water for him and we're going out tonight to have a drink in rememberance of him. Love you and miss you Dad xxx

MLH October & November

Yay! I have caught up with my stitch along project, My Little heart. It's the first time i've got behind all year so i'm not going to beat myself up for getting a month behind! I'm quite sad that there's only one box left to stitch, i've really enjoyed stitching it and hope that there's another one next year! The nice thing is i've been stitching along with my lovely friend Tree and we've been away together this weekend with the rest of the 'Chorley Roses.' Tree also had October and November to stitch so we've sat together this weekend and both caught up! What we really like is that we're stitching the same piece but due to different colours, fabrics and counts they're totally different!

Party!

We held a little tea party this afternoon to welcome Courtney into our family, a kind of Welcome home party! It was so lovely to gather our families together to celebrate our gorgeous girlie!♥

Framed cross stitch

We went to collect the 'Larmour Family' cross stitch yesterday, I love how it's framed up! I spent quite a while deciding how to frame it and i'm really pleased with the choice I settled on! My Nanna passed away 2 years ago next month and she'd already sorted out her Christmas pressies so my Aunty handed them to us. We were given some money and we decided to keep it for something special, we thought the framing was an ideal thing to spend the money on. I'm sure my Nanna would have approved.

First Courtney Layout!

.......and I cheated, LOL! This is a digital pre-page so everything was done! all I had to do was add the photo and text! (oh and I duplicated the heart!) I'm really sorry I didn't keep a record of where the pre-page came from.

Courtney is home!

Today we brought our sweet, precious girl home! She is currently tucked up in her new bed fast asleep. The last few days have been very tiring for all of us but has been so worth it too! Here are a few pics of the last few days, she has met Nanna, Nanna and Grandad, Aunty Nic, Chris Ben and Emma. Has picked up my telephone habit already, LOL and just adores her big brother! I've also included a couple of farm ones, we visited the farm as our first family trip out, it poured down all day but that didn't damper our spirits we had a lovely day feeding animals, have a cuddle in pets corner and watched some cows get milked.









We've done Courtney's first height on the chart, Charlie's lowest one he was 17 months old, Courtney is 20 months! she is a little dot, bless her!