Happy 4th Birthday Charlie!

Charlie's Birthday Party!

We have hosted Charlie's birthday party today! His actual birthday isn't until Sunday but the first planned party for Saturday had to be changed as we hadn't realise at the time of booking that it was Bank Holiday weekend and nobody could come! It worked out well changing it though and it means Charlie can have a longer celebration! We booked the party for one of his favourite soft play places, Jonny's Fun Factory in Morecambe! He had 10 friends and Courtney as guests, I was so incredibly proud of how he played with everyone, he didn't single anyone out to play with, he was very excited and confident. Both Mark and I have commented on that this evening as Charlie can be quite shy at times but to be honest we've been counting sleeps to his party so we knew how much he was looking forward to it! I have lots of really nice photos of him playing with his friends but as I don't have the permission from parents I can't show them unfortunately.
Charlie is taking a cake into nursery tomorrow to share with all his friends there, Saturday we are bike shopping and Sunday is his actual birthday! It's all very exciting being 4 you know! LOL!

Comforters

I want to make a record of the children's comforters at this time. Both are very attached to their comforters and they travel with us whenever we're away overnight! (apart from 'Mummy Elephant' as she looks after Charlie's bed)

Charlie's 'Mummy & Baby Elephant' (they don't have names!)

and Courtney's 'snuggly.' See how Courtney sucks her thumb, it took us a little while to notice but she's also got her first finger in her mouth too!

I'm forever blowing bubbles!

We've had varied weather these last few days. Both Charlie and Courtney really enjoy playing outside so they've been a little restricted! One night when Mark came home from work he'd popped into Asda on the way home and bought them a bubble making contraption! It was really good and simple enough for Charlie to do so they played with that for ages whilst enjoying a bit of sunshine! I'd cut the grass in the morning (please excuse the edges I did strim those shortly after!) so Mark helped me move the swing/slider back and we put Charlie and Courtney onto it, it's the first time Courtney's been on and enjoyed it! :D

She's finished!

At times I thought I wasn't going to be able to say that! but alas, here's my 'Gorjuss Girl.' Working the actual girly was straight forward and really enjoyable but the blues background seemed to take forever! The scissors and book were a welcome relief from all that long stitching, LOL! But she's finished now and I love her! I really like the effect threads, I don't know how well they've shown up on the scan but the paper dolls have a silver sheen to them and the title and back stitch around the hair are a light effects thread, very pretty. She's quite dimensional too! the little black dots are actually beads and the heart in the title is a cute didi button! I am going to take her into the framers tomorrow and hopefully soon she will be gracing my craft room walls.
I have named her 'Beryl' as today would have been my Grandma's 93rd Birthday and it seems appropriate to name her after my Grandma as I've finished her today!

Thirty-seven

Well hello 37!! So this is what 37 feels like, is it? It feels pretty good from where I'm standing!
I have had the most wonderful birthday! From the moment I woke up and had 3 voices singing Happy Birthday to me, opening my pressies on the bed together with my precious family, had coffee at Costa with my mum (and Charlie and Courtney.) I've got tons of lovely facebook messages, special b'day messages from my Chorley mates! had a few lovely telephone calls, surprise flowers delivered to the door from Mark, Charlie and Courtney. A surprise visitor who also brought flowers! And my dear friend Kathryn who brought a chocolate cake. Her daughter (my god daughter♥) Jessica even wanted to go home after school to especially get changed into her party clothes to come and see me. My sister popped in to say hello too with my niece Emma. I have been truly spoilt with the most lovely gifts and feel truly happy.
We've just had a chinese for tea, I say chinese loosely as we had roast chicken and chip, LOL! and now Mark and I are going to settle and watch a DVD together♥

I just have to make a note of Charlie this morning! Last night he was helping Mark to wrap my pressies, Mark had told him they were a secret and not to tell Mummy what they were. I overheard this so started teasing Charlie asking him what my gifts were If he was to accidentally say what they were I was going to stop him but, bless♥, he actually kept saying it was a secret and he made such a game of it. So this morning as I said we were all sitting on our bed and I literally took the corner off my first gift when he excitedly exclaimed 'It's a necklace Mummy!!' And true, it contained a beautiful silver 'Mummy' necklace. Then my next gift, I'd just managed to get a sliver of paper off when he exclaimed once again 'It's a picture mummy for your photographs!' Soooooo cute! It must have been so hard for him to keep the secrets, he did so well. Now, we are having sleeps to his birthday, he knows it's after Mummy's, poor love though has to wait until the 29th, LOL!!

I'm quite pleased with this photo we took it using the self timer function. Charlie and Courtney think the flashing light is fun, it flashes faster and faster until it takes the photo!

The Forbidden Corner

It's taken me a couple of days to catch up with myself after our lovely weekend away! On May Day bank holiday we met up with our lovely friends, Jen, Grant and their boys Daniel and Noah at The Forbidden Corner near Leyburn. (We realised this was more or less half way home from Durham, that's why we stayed an extra night)
We had a lovely day out with them, it was a very precious day for me as I've been friends with Jen for years and soon they're emigrating to New Zealand. Whilst I know this is a fantastic move for them all I am going to miss them terribly! Anyway I won't dwell on that as I said it's a fabulous move for them and we have every intention of visiting once they are settled.
The Forbidden Corner is literally off the beaten track, so much so that there aren't any signs for it and had we not got the SatNav I didn't like our chances of finding it, LOL! Still it was a very popular place and there was a good crowd there but not too many that it was uncomfortable. It's full of mysteries and nooks and crannys that are perfect for investigating! It even has a 'burpy monster' as Charlie called it! At the entrance you walk through a structure, into it's mouth and as you walk through a huge uvula (I had to google that, LOL) moves and the mouth makes a burping sound! We all really enjoyed the tunnels too, lots of paths leading off, a revolving floor and a giant cat!!
We had a lovely picnic there too sitting in the glorious sunshine.
Thank you Jen, Grant, Daniel and Noah for such a lovely day. xxx

(I am aware I haven't 'hearted' out Courtney's face but I don't feel even brought up bigger that you can see her face well)

Durham - Day 2

We've had another lovely day again today. It started with a nice swim in the hotel health club. It was the first time Courtney seemed to really enjoy it. Then we went to visit Mark's cousin Philip. It was great to catch up with him as it's been a long time since we'd seen him. His children are 18 and 12 now! We'll hopefully be seeing him again in July as he's hoping to come to John's (Mark's brother) wedding but he's not very well at the moment so hopefully by July he'll feel up to it. There is a really picturesque park just near to Philip's house so armed with bread we took Charlie and Courtney to feed the ducks and swans there. The swans were bigger than Courtney but she wasn't at all bothered by them, bless her!
We hadn't planned anything else so wandered off to the Metro Centre for a mooch! It's a very long time since I'd been there and although it's very similar to the Trafford Centre in Manchester somehow it just seemed a bit nicer atmosphere. In the centre we saw a little boy having a whale of a time on a bungee trampoline! Charlie was fascinated by it and wanted to have a turn! He wasn't as sure once he was on it but after a few confidence building jumps he really liked it and was smiling and laughing. We found a cafe to have a drink and cake each before continuing on to find the Build a Bear shop. Charlie has a dog called Scruff that we did with him a while a go so we thought it only fair that Courtney got to have a turn too! She chose a cat which has been named 'Whiskers!' She liked going around the shop doing all the different parts of making her, apart from the grooming area! There was an air jet there supposedly for sprucing up your bear but it was rather like a hand drier and it scared her! Whiskers is currently in her cot with her! I'm going to sit sand do some more cross stitch this evening. I think I'll make a start on the back stitch, that's always a tedious job but even worse if all left to the end!