It's the little things..........

......that mean so much! Mark has just made me a cup of tea and brought me a biscuit too! How cute is this ♥
He bought some football shirt biscuits last week to decorate with Charlie and he used to left over icing to decorate mine :wub:

Wildlife Oasis

Today is a Bank Holiday in England and as it's Charlie's birthday weekend we decided to have a little trip out! We first went to Wildlife Oasis just after we got Charlie, it was one of the first places we took him to! We thought as he's now older he may appreciate the animals a bit more. (he did enjoy it last time but was only just over 1!)
There's loads to do there, it's a very interative place and there's quite a few activities to take part in. One thing Mark and I enjoyed watching last time were the ants! They have a rope set up around the area and the ants march along it carrying leaves etc, ants are very interesting little creatures you know, far more interesting that I could have ever imagined, LOL! It seems that they are 'ruled' by a queen and once she dies the colony go a bit loopy then all die!! So this time they'd just got in a new colony as the last queen sadly died! The new colony are still settling in and building their nest, apparently it can take upto 6 months until they start climbing the ropes so we were a little disappointed not to be able to see that this time but still we learnt a little about the life of a colony of ants, LOL!!
Charlie really enjoyed the parts where we could stamp our hands with different creatures (I found out after that infact there is a worksheet and you're meant to stamp on. Oh well, we ended up with inky hands instead, LOL!) We also let him have his face painted for the first time! He chose to be a monkey! I know he doesn't look much like a monkey but he sat very still and was such a good boy having it done!
So it's been a lovely birthday weekend, we've all really enjoyed it!♥

Charlie's party

Yesterday we had Charlie's birthday party, it was the first one we'd organised! I really wanted it at Salt Ayre as we'd attended one there quite a while ago and I thought it was well organised and fun! I was disappointed to find that they don't do parties on Saturdays as I would have liked it on his actual birthday but after looking into alternatives we decided to compromise and have it there on the Sunday instead, which, to be honest did work out for the best anyway! I think Charlie really enjoyed being the centre of attention, he had loads of fun, bless him!!


(i've 'hearted' some children's faces out as I don't have permission to post pics of them on the internet)

Happy Birthday Charlie!

Our sweet precious little man is 3 today! No longer a baby he's growing into a beautiful little boy who i'm very proud of! I love this age, he's just so quirky and comes out with the most random of things, LOL!! He's had a lovely day today and can now open his presents independently, so he's had great fun!! We had a little treat this morning and went to Costa for a cupcake and hot chocolate (Charlie had juice!) and this afternoon both of our families came round for a tea party! Not surprisingly we have a very tired little boy tonight! He's got his party for his friends tomorrow so another fun day awaits him :wub:

Charlie laughed and exclaimed 'The moons (balloons) are on the nano! (piano) Bless!!



Daddy!!! :rollseyes:

cupcake in Costa!!

'Happy Birthday to you!' (nightmare with the candles, they wouldn't light, then I couldn't light all the sparklers at the same time too!)

teaching Nanna and Maddie how to play the 'nano' (piano)

apparently i'm a boat!!

My 3 boys ♥


just before bed in his new PJ's all the way from Oz!! Thank you! xxx

9.75 miles

Just had a quick bike ride this evening! VVV and back along the prom but it adds 9.75 miles to the tally!! :D

15.6 miles

I tried to post last night but our internet connection was down :(

Last night I decided I *needed* a good bike ride! It was very windy but I didn't allow that to put me off! (In the back of my mind I was telling myself i'd burn off more calories against the wind, LOL!) So I set off and went my normal route along the prom, I then climbed Hest Bank hill and got onto the canal. I pondered for a few seconds whether to head to Lancaster or Carnforth, in the end I went towards Lancaster. I cycled over the viaduct (note to the council, it's very bumpy along there!!) and along to the place where Hughie and I normally get onto the canal by some terraced houses! I tell you it's alot easier going down that hill than up it, LOL! I then got onto the cycle path back to the prom which is where I cycled full force against the wind!!!! I was cream crackered when I got home but felt brilliant!! Oh, and an added bonus i'm a lb lighter this morning, LOL! :D

Beach fun!

As the good ol' British weather continued to be nice we took full advantage and had a picnic on the beach today! It was really busy along the prom but we managed to find ourselves a nice quiet part and has loads of fun!!
When we got home Mark and Charlie washed the car and van so I went on another 9.75 mile bike ride!

building!.....

collecting shells!.....

cute!.....

playing football!.....

aeroplanes!.....

playing chase!.....

paddling!.....

.....and finally eating his picnic (Mark and I took turns to eat ours whilst Charlie played, it was too much fun for him to stop and eat!! LOL!

Saturday night scrapping!

I just created 1 layout tonight and I didn't start that one until 10:00pm!! It was just so hot earlier, far too hot to scrap, LOL!! My scanner hasn't scanned it in so well but i've used kraft cardstock and it looks really good in real life! I saw the border punch idea in Scrapbooks etc.

Last of the Summer Wine

As I was growing up I used to love watching Last of the Summer Wine, it was such a funny sitcom! My favourite charachter, of course, was Compo, closely followed by Nora Batty, golly poor Compo, he so loved to wind Nora up and got alot of agro in return!! A few weeks ago my mum took a coach tour to Holmfirth, the place where it's filmed and since she came home and told me about it I wanted to go, LOL! The first weekend we planned to go we went to church in the morning and it got a bit late to set off, the second time the weather was terrible so it was third time lucky! I really enjoyed our day out. :D


Sid's cafe!

On some steps just near the cafe.

We took the bus tour around the many places where Last of the Summer Wine was filmed.


Foggy's house.

There used to be a bench in this spot where Compo sat for many scenes.

White Horse Pub in the bottom of the pic with Clegg's cottage and Howard and Pearls just above.

Nora Batty's house.

In Compo's house there is a museum dedicated to Last of the Summer Wine.



Mmmmmmmm, ice cream!!


Bill Owen, who played Compo is burried in Holmfirth. (He originated and spent most of his life in London)

We have permission!!!!! Yay!!

After 5 months of waiting I took the bull by the horns so to speak! We've been going through the solicitor to ask for permission to build on the extra piece of land that we've bought. The original sellers were the brewery who own the pub next door and they put a covenant in the deeds that their permission had to be sought to build anything on the land when it was sold to our neighbour (who later sold the land to us). This covenant was transferred with our sale and it's been a nightmare getting this permission!! In the end I rang our solicitor and told her I was going to ring the brewery directly. I was surprised that the lady on the switchboard put me straight through to the MD!!! He didn't seem to know about our request but was very helpful and said that he'd like to see what we'd like to do before he'd agree. So the meeting was set for Thursday morning! He arrived and was lovely to talk to, he agreed almost immediately!! 5 months of waiting for the solicitors and I had it sorted in 5 minutes!! Yay, so we now have permission to build my craft room!! I'm sooooooooo excited, i've been waiting years to create a room just for my crafting! Now I can start planning it for real (you ready for that Jen ;) xxx)
To celebrate i've made a little investment, I've bought this beautiful solid pine antique plan chest c.1890, isn't it gorgeous! I've bought it using some inheritance I had and my mum has very kindly given me some money towards it :wub:

9.75 miles

I've been out on my bike again this week! Last summer I went out 3 or 4 nights a week aswell as my Monday ride with Hughie and it was a great help when I lost my weight (2 stones 10lbs). It felt great to be out again in the evening! The weather has been gorgeous today and i've been hoping to be able to go out tonight, Mark was home early so off I went! An extra bonus, Mark had run me a bath for when I got home!! :D

Wounded little soldier :(

When I picked Charlie up from nursery this morning I was taken to one side where Mrs Coates explained to me that Charlie was at the wrong place at the wrong time! Bless him, he was playing with another little boy and they were at the construction set. The other little boy had a plank and Charlie stood up just as the little boy was moving it!! It's come up a little more bruised since this pic was taken. Poor little soldier. (please excuse the mucky face, hes a typical boy, LOL!!)

20 miles!!!!!!!!!

Well my cycle computer says 19.98 miles but what's 0.02 miles between friends! ;)
I can't tell you how tired I am right now though! We haven't been able to cycle for a few weeks due to me being poorly and then last week the weather was bad. I can really tell, LOL!! We cycled to Bull Beck and Hughie suggested getting on the canal on the way home, I always like cycling on the canal so agreed. Little did I know at that point that it would add about 3 miles onto our return journey!!! We got off the canal at Hest Bank and onto the promenade, golly it was windy along there! Thankfully it's only about a mile until we turned off. Mark is bringing my bike home after work tonight so I can go out in the evening, to be honest I think I need the practice, LOL!!!!

I am such a lucky girl!

It was Chorley crop today and as it was my birthday month I took a cake! I have been totally spoilt and I appreciate my main pressie so much! (I also got some lovely cupcake storage tins, a joke pressie and some choccie too)
Look at this, isn't it the most beautiful, gorgeous bag you've ever seen?

Look at the detail, all those french knots!! there was me complaining about a measly 21 on my MLH cross stitch, LOL!! and they're on both sides of the bag, the back is exactly the same as the front. Hours and hours of work must have gone into making it.
My awesome friend, Tree, made it! I truly love it and light blue is my favourite colour. I was with her when she bought the pattern and all of us Chorley girls have wowed at the bag she made for herself, never in my wildest dreams did I think she'd make one for me too, thank you so much Tree! :wub:

At the crop today I scrapped 2 layouts for the PNE hospitality day album, I also did a little to my cross stitch. It's coming along nicely and i'm still really enjoying doing it.

Thirty-six!

Yesterday was my 36th birthday, yay! You wouldn't believe the amount of people who said I was nearly 40, LOL!! There's still 4 years to go until I get to that paticular milestone!!
I had a lovely day and got some lovely gifts. I had a few visitors in the morning and then my mum came round and we went out for lunch! I had a nice easy afternoon, I did some cross stitch and played with Charlie :wub: In the evening Mark and I went to see When Harry Met Sally at the Palace theatre in Manchester which was a pressie from the girls at work :D