16 miles again!

That would be because we did the same route as last week, LOL!! (Bull beck) The weather was really bad this morning, very windy and rainy. Quite often we wouldn't go out in such weather but like yesterday on the walk it got steadily worse whilst we were out in it!! Hey ho! I wanted the excercise and I so enjoy going out on my bike! (Besides which it's our nephew's 18th Birthday today and a piece of rather gorgeous chocolate cake forced itself into my mouth, well it would have been very rude not to partake now wouldn't it, LOL!!)

The weekend came and went!

I've had a really nice weekend, yesterday was Chorley crop day which is always a good laugh (especially at my expense, LOL!!) I did 4 layouts, 3 are Disney ones and then I scrapbooked my wonderful Mother's day. (A scraplift from Susan Weinwroth, I love her work!) Then today the three of us went for a nice long walk along the promenade to the Battery. It was quite nice weather when we set off but seemed very cold on the way home! Whilst at the Battery Charlie had a lovely play on the swings. We're very proud of Charlie this week, i've been off work so have spent all week potty training him. He's really taken to it but I think it's helped that we introduced the idea to him a while ago and we have had a couple of successes recently, so when he actually started on Monday he had some idea of what to do! Bless him, he's had a few little accidents but today saw two milestones in his training, firstly a 'proper' number 2 on his potty (we have had little successes in this department but today he did it without promting!) and secondly his first time out of the house without a nappy!! (that's a little white lie as we did walk up to the shop earlier in the week but that's literally 100 yards away!!) He did so well, we'd taken his potty out with us incase he asked but he held on for the 90 minutes we were out and did a long wee when we got home!! He has a book which we read to him sometimes at bedtime, there is a line in it that says 'we're so proud of you!' and we cetainly are!

Butterflies.........

Charlie and I have had a very special trip out today! I have a very precious friend called Albert, I say friend but I regard him very much as an adopted grandfather! I met him and his dear wife, Agnes, on a coach holiday to Austria in 1991. I was with my Grandma and the 4 of us had a very special bond the whole holiday. They lived very near to the college I was studying at so I used to go around for my lunch every week. Sadly Agnes died about 9 years ago and Albert seems so lost without her. It's been a little while since i've seen him, i've kept in contact with cards etc but I really wanted to see him. It's been hard contacting him as i've never been able to catch him in but I managed to ring one day whilst his carer was there and made arrangements to go this afternoon. We had a little run out to Williamson's Park, Albert has fond memories up there and truly enjoyed the trip. We also went into the butterfly house, it was very warm in there!            

16 miles

I was so tired this morning and had little enthusiasm for cycling! but I was good and went!! We went to Bull Beck which is about a mile further than the Crook o' Lune. It was a little colder today and we had a few spots of rain but i'm pleased I went in the end!!

A perfect Mother's Day

From the second I woke and Mark's first words to me were 'Happy Mother's Day' to tucking Charlie into bed has been perfect, such a very special day! My hubby and son have spoilt me so much and I love them both dearly.
Charlie and Mark brought in my pressies whilst I was in bed, I am really delighted with everything. My cards are soooooo cute, i'll treasure them. I've seen frames with letters cut into them, usually spelling names but I think my I♥MUM one is brill! I knew about this pressie earlier in the week as Mark wanted me to put the photos in before today. Did you notice my charm bracelet dangling off the top corner of the frame, it now proudly has my 'mummy' charm on it (as shown a few posts back) and I love my mug and my favourite choccies!! Charlie's T shirt is too cute! He's worn it today but didn't want to pose for me with him wearing it, bless him!
We visited both mum's (Nanna's) this morning, Charlie made them each a card and gave them a snowglobe with photos of him in. Nanna Watson also got a soft toy elephant with 'I love mum' embroidered into his foot (she likes elephants) and a mug. Nanna Larmour got a lily planter, they both also got a pack of mini eggs!!
After our visiting we had a drive out to Grange, we stopped just before Grange for some dinner. It was beautiful, a traditional Sunday roast and lemon and white chocolate meringue for dessert! We walked off our dinners around the pond in a park at Grange, there were loads of ducks there today! :D
On the way home we called in on Aunty Karin, Maddie and Dan.
Thank you Charlie and Mark for a super wonderful day, I love you xxx

3 Layouts to share

These are 3 LO's that I did at Jen's last weekend. I also did some Disney Lo's too but i'm going to photograph all of them together once the album is finished. The first LO is a Scrapagogo kit and the 2nd is a Sarahscards kit, the Lo's are inspired by their design teams, the 3rd LO is using some gorgeous Cosmo Cricket Early Bird papers and the Lo is inspired by Susan Weinwroth. I adore the Teddy Bear's Picnic LO!

Footie!

One of Mark's passions is Preston North End! When I first met him I never knew i'd end up enjoying going to the football with him too!! We've been to many many home and away matches now but I stopped going when we got Charlie. In December I treated Mark to a PNE hospitality day for his Birthday, I also arranged for Charlie to be a mini mascot! This was to be Charlie's first ever game! He was such a good boy all day and seemed to really enjoy the match. As today was nice weather we decided to take him again. He seemed to really enjoy the atmosphere and sat and watched parts of the game but we sat on the first row today and he seemed to enjoy playing on the concourse more, bless him, but he was a really good boy for the whole match (which was against Notts Forest and we won 3-2!) One cutie thing he did, the band is back at PNE which consists of a trumpet, a tuba, a snare drum and a big bass drum! It's a real crowd pleaser and really gets them going! Anyway, it was rather loud at one point during the game and when it went quiet Charlie announched 'It's not noisy now!'

We also had our March family photo taken there and I think it's got to go down as one of my favourites!




.............and just because Charlie was just too cute today, here's a pic taken first thing today! (It wasn't quite warm enough for short sleeves but I quickly removed his hoodie for this pic, naughty mummy, LOL!!)

My Little Heart

I was introduced to 'My Little Heart' by my lovely friend Tree, she finds the best patterns!! It's a lovely simple pattern that took hours to stitch, LOL!! Now that the borders are stitched the little motifs only actually take a couple of hours each to stitch, I have just finished March tonight. I'm in love with it already and can't wait to stitch the rest throughout the year! The colours in the photos aren't right :( indoor light does nothing for it! Perhaps next month i'll photograph it outside!!

Happy Birthday Grandad!!

Today is Hughie's birthday! Charlie absolutely loves drawing and I knew Grandad would much prefer a homemade card from Charlie than me!! Charlie's drawing has progressed lately to 'copying' He asks me to draw something, I do so step by step and Charlie copies!! I am so impressed with his Birthday cake, he even counted the 5 candles on the top!! He drew everything himself except for the flames of the candles but they are his own work I just helped by guilding the pencil! I think Grandad must have been delighted as Charlie's card is proudly sitting on the TV alongside Nanna's where only special cards go :wub:

We've been approved!!!

It's been a very long day but a fabby one!! We arrived at Alston Hall at around 9:30 and our social worker, Jane, arrived just after so we went to the conservatory for a cuppa! The panel were actually sitting infront of us having one too!! They went up and we were taken into a (very hot!!) waiting room. We were called in at about 10:15 and there infront of us were the 12 members of panel!! The chairman actually opened his speech by saying we had a very strong case and not to worry which, although we weren't really worried, put us at ease straight away! All the panel members then introduced themselves and proceedings began!! We were only asked a few basic questions, mainly about Charlie. They'd read his reports from when we'd got him (how he was withdrawn and developmentaly delayed etc) and his current ones, they really went to town on praising us as parents and what a wonderful atmosphere we provide for him! They could see from the reports that we'd spent time with him, that we encourage him and it was all down to us what a lovely little boy he is today!! We were unanimously approved!! We're so thrilled we're going to be parents again! To celebrate we had lunch out at a lovely pub. We also went to Deepdale retail park for a mooch and the PNE club shop! On the way home we called in at Asda for a few bits and pieces. We picked Charlie up from Mark's parents then went to the swings together. :wub:


This evening i've been to the theatre with my friends Jude, Terrina and Deborah, we watched a production of Oliver. It was very good, the theatre looked amazing and the tot who played Oliver was fabulous!!

Panel day and more potty success!!

Tomorrow is panel day for number 2!! We are really excited and can't wait to extend our family and Charlie be a 'big brother'!!
We had a really good step forward today in the potty training, Charlie actually took down his big boy pants and sat on the potty with no prompting, he then said the wee wee is coming out!! what a clever boy!! He also likes the routine of flushing the wee wee away and washing our hands, bless him! Oh and the big treat from the 'good boy box' and a sticker always go down well!!

15.6 miles

Today's bike ride was one of my favourite routes. We took the cycle path along to the canal, we got on just above the theatre. We rode to Hest Bank and saw quite alot of ducks today, the canal was frozen in places too. When we reached Hest Bank we took the main road down to the promenade and cycled all the way to Heysham! On the way back we turned off at the Midland, back onto the cycle path and back to Sylvia & Hughie's. It was quite cool out today but the scenery was stunning!

Dancing on Ice

I love this programme, it's the highlight of my TV week and I look forward to it coming on every year! Tonight's programme was amazing, Hayley Tamaddon scored perfect 6.0's accross the board of judges and even earned herself a standing ovation!!



I've had a lovely weekend at Jen's and feel totally spoilt with the wonderful company, a perfect night's sleep and all the lovely food we've consumed (just don't tell my diet about the gorgeous homemade Banoffee Pie!!!) I managed to do loads of layouts and it's great to be doing my Disney album again! Thank you so much Jen, Grant, Daniel and Noah for having me. xxx

........and another!

Whilst I was in the mood I quickly whizzed this one up, when I say quickly I mean it's taken me about 90 minutes but that's nothing compared with the 09 layout, LOL!! I got the basic idea from SJ's blog but hers is a completely different kit to the one I used, I adore the robot!! I'm so looking forward to the weekend! I'm paper scrapping with my lovely and very talented friend, Jen! Really hoping to do some Disney layouts whilst i'm away, I haven't touched that album for ages!!

2009 Review

Another of my creative hobbies is scrapbooking, both paper and digitally. This layout has taken me hours!! not helped by the fact that I accidently deleted a load of work!! Anyway, it's finished now and i'm pretty darn pleased with it!! This also means that our family 2009 album is complete! Yay! (click picture to see photos in more detail)

Panel confirmation!

Yay, we've had a letter to confirm we're at panel on Wednesday! Charlie's going to be a big brother!!! ☺

13 miles

Every Monday morning I go cycling with my father in law, we've been going about 3 years now and I really enjoy it. We've had such a bad winter it's been hard getting out, we've missed the last 3 Mondays due to weather and illness etc! it was a beautiful morning this morning so it felt good to go out again! we generally do around 16-18 miles but this morning we took it easy and went along the prom. We managed to rack up 13 miles so not to bad to get back into it, LOL!!

Just Like Jasper!

I tried to post this last night but the video was taking forever to load up so it's got delayed until today! I've discovered it's actually easier to upload to youtube not blogger!!
Both Mark and I love sharing bedtime stories with Charlie, he enjoys them so much. At the moment one of his favourite books is 'Just Like Jasper' he can recite it word for word! Last night we recorded him 'reading' it, it's not quite as word perfect as he normally does it but still it's very cute and not far wrong!