Awww, Bless!!!

Had a lovely afternoon/evening with Ally, Shane, Amber and Jacob! Haven't seen them for a while and the first thing I notised was how HUGE Jacob had got! My god, they've been feeding him Baby Bio! It was a lovely afternoon, Shane made us a gorgeous spag bol with garlic bread, the kids ran riot but played nicely together, Rob and Shane discussed DIY projects, and Al and I caught up and planned a weekend away (sans kids, yay!) for her next birthday (I won't mention which one it is if you don't Al!!). So, lovely day all in all. Here's a few pics (inclusing a rare one of me with Ally!!)

Happy Memories!

I've been wanted to scrapbook this picture for ages and have had it sat on my craft table for weeks now! The I found a perfect sketch for it on Pencillines and so, while Mum took Billy Jim for a walk this afternoon I got cracking.

For some of you out there, you might remember this day 8 years ago and may have remembered this photo being taken. It's of Mum, Nan and I on my wedding day (you'd never guess from my get up would you?!) and I really love it so was really excited when I found a spare copy as I knew I could scrap it! Sadly Nan is no longer here but it's such a lovely photo to remember her by and she was so happy that day as she worshipped the ground Rob walked on! I swear, if me and Rob ever got divorced I'd be without a family as they'd all go with him!

In other news, good news from Stef, Lillie got through her operation OK and they're hoping to bring her home on Monday. Yay!

Got a nice weekend lined up (even though the weathermen don't seem to be in on the act!). Tomorrow we're going for tea (and a few cheeky vinos!) at Shane and Ally's house. They have 2 kids, Amber who's 3 and Jacob who's 2, so it might be fairly chaotic when you throw our 2 into the mix too! But, no doubt me and Al will be laid on the sofa with a cheeky Pinot Grigio to numb the pain!

Then on Sunday, we're driving to Lincolnshire for Grandad's RAF reunion service. He, Clare, Kim and Richard are there for the whole weekend, but we're going over to see the spitfire and Lancaster bomber (which is what Grandad used to fly) flyovers, and to catch up with everyone. Should be a really fun day!

Oh btw Rach, would Scott like me to send him some pics of the planes? I've seen them before and they're fantastic!

Nighty night!

Get Well Soon Lillie

Please send get well wishes to my friend Stef's rottweiler Lillie. The poor thing has been in and out of the vets with leg problems and they found out yesterday that she has bone cancer in one of her back legs. So, tomorrow they're going to amputate it and give her a bout of chemo, so hopefully she can get back to being my footrest when I go round and dribbling all over me!

Get well soon Lillie, Auntie Lou sends big cuddles to you and mummy and daddy!

Fruit Kebab Making Soggy Wedding Belle!

So, what do you do with a 5 year old girl when it's been raining none stop for days and she's coloured in every colouring book known to man?! Well, yesterday, we happened to find our wedding video and Emily asked if she could try my dress on. Oh, every mother's dream, having her little girl dress up in her wedding dress! So, we dusted it off (just how long has it been under the bed, Kim and Aggie would have had a fit at all the dust!) and very carefully put it on her! Bless, what an angelic little bride she made! Didn't quite fit yet which is just as well as she needs a few eons to decide which of the 5 boyfriends she's going to marry!!

Today was supposed to be Emily's sports day but, as they were planning egg & spoon races and not rowing, it was cancelled! So, instead, they taught the kids how to make fruit kebabs (ok, they dipped them in chocolate, but Jamie Oliver's half got through!). So, when she got home, she decided that she wanted to make us all some. So, we got fruit kebabs and her and Rob got apple and cheese too. Quite the little Nigella!!

So, as we speak, the middle of Leeds is shut off as are the motorways. So, needless to say, it took Rob forever to get home. Fortunately we live on a hill so we're fine here, but there's a lot of evacuations etc nearer the city. The rain's stopped now so hopefully we'll get a respite before the next deluge! And just on the point of the wet weather, obviously today has been a one off but I am correct in thinking that we do get rain in summer don't we? So why don't shops sell coats in Summer?! I trailed poor Xander round the White Rose this afternoon trying to find something with a hood on that was vaguely waterproof but most of the shops didn't have anything that looked like a coat! Thank god for Debenhams (% 20% off!!). OK, rant over!

Dull, Dull, Dull!

Well, I thought I should post as haven't done for a couple of days but things are so dull round here, there's not really anything to report! I think the glorious June weather we've had over the past couple of days has lead to a couple of rather thrilling days staying in doing housework! Do you really need to know how many toilets I cleaned today?!

Hopefully the weekend will pick up as we're out tomorrow night and the kids are sleeping over at Grandma's!! Yay!!!!!! The original plan was to go out with Lisa and Andrew for a few drinks and a takeaway, which we are still doing. But, as we're dropping the kids off at teatime, we thought a little trip to the pictures might me in order before we meet up with them. We'll have to steady on, that'll be the second time we've been to the flicks since Xander was born!

Still on my scrapping roll. I scrapped Xander's 9 month pics last night. Even though I've already posted the pics I'm going to post the layout anyway as it's my favourite so far! Marie's posted a challenge for this week entitled 'Holiday' so I need someone to take me on my hols quick so I've something to scrap about!!

Today is the end of Health Kick Month 1. I'm going to get weighed etc tomorrow though as school mornings round here don't leave a lot of time to get the parcel scales out!!

Right, better toodle. My MSN buddy is going on her jollies tomorrow so we need to get as much chatting in as possible tonight before the week long gossip drought!!

Drummers, Bloody Drummers!

So, me and Rob had a nice night out planned tonight. Rob's old band, Nightmare Visions, were playing in Leeds and we'd not seen them for a while so we planned to go down there. Plus, Andy, the guitairst/singer had sent me lots of yummy Hobbycarft stuff and I needed to thank him in person.

So, mum came over, I got tea ready, Emily had her usual pre gymnastics meltdown and then the phone rang. It was Rob, the gig was cancelled! Apparently, they'd been to pick up the drummer and he'd gone on holiday!! Er, what?! I know men can be a bit thick, and drummers are notorious for being crap, but come on!

Cake, What Cake!

I'm on a scrapbooking roll at the moment! 3 layouts in the past week. This is the latest that I've done tonight. I've found a few spare pictures of Emily from when she was a baby and so I'm starting to scrap them. I love these pictures, they were taken on her first birthday when we were down at Center Parcs. She literally just smeared her birthday cake all over her face! Mind you, not much has changed, she still manages to get more cake round her mouth than in it!!

Think I should maybe log off, we're in the middle of a thunderstorm and the telly's just gone on the blink so maybe sat typing away on a metal object isn't the best thing in the world!!

9 Months Today! Look At Our Baby Now!!

Well, Xander's 9 months old today. When on earth did that happen?! I can't believe that he's going to be 1 soon and how much he's changed. I know, of course they change, but it still never ceases to amaze me! Sticking with tradition, Rob's just been and taken some monthly photos of him for his 'Baby's 1st year' photo frame (you know the ones where you put a picture in for each month), and they've turned out gorgeous, so of course I had to share!!

Star Of The Week!!

Oooh, I'm so proud of my little girl, she got 'star of the week' at school for the second time this year! It's awarded to the child who's tried the hardest that week and apparently, according to Emily, she got it even though she was told off for "chitter chattering" on Friday!! Emily? Never!!

In other education related news, I received a letter from the Open University telling me I was being awarded full credit for my HND, and so only have to do the 3rd year of my degree!! Yay!! It was such great news as if not, I'd have had to do more courses and I might have been graduating with my son!

Rob's had a lovely Father's Day, even being bounced on by Emily this morning to open his presents! Him and Xander have been having some boy time as I've been ferrying Emily to parties galore all weekend. The girl's social diary is amazing!

Mamma Mia! Em & Char's Pizzeria!!

So, as promised, here are Rach's pics of Emily and Charlotte and the birth of their pizzeria franchise! Rach and I have decided that they should open them in Italy so that we can fly out and offer our support to our little enterpreneurs (sp?! some bloody teacher I'll make!)! Of course, we don't want to be interfering mothers so we'll just stay at the villa by the pool and send moral support!

So, today has been another soggy day oop North! Can't believe how persistant this rain is, it's just not stopped for days! So, we have done indoorsy stuff today. Did some exercise this morning while Xander had his nap (monthly weigh in next week, aarrggghhh!!!), then this afternoon we went to see my friend Bonny and her baby Hunter. It was nice to catch up and Xander was fascinated by Hunter but kept trying to poke him in the eye!

When we got home, we sat and watched Poseidon (Rob and I watched it the other day but I love disaster films and wanted to watch it again!). Xander was gripped by it! Whilst we watched that, I made father's day cards for Rob and my dad and finished Rob's father's day pressie. (Ssshhh!!!)

This weekend we're Xander proofing the house! Rob's down at Argos as we speak buying safety gates galore!

Have a good un everyone!

Xan & Cam Attempt Everest!!

So, we had Rach, Charlotte and Cam over today for a visit. It was lovely to see them and Emily was so excited when she found out Charlotte had come to play. The girls did some scrapbooking with stamps, me and Rach had a good old catch up and compared scrapbooks, and the boys, well, it was a case of who could get into more mischief! They were both into everything which culminated in a mad dash to the stairs! Fortunately, Cam was sensible and stayed at base camp, but Xander quickly reached the summit (with Rob constantly on the step below, don't want to dash to A&E in this weather!!). Why do I get the feeling that sitting down for more than 30 seconds is a thing of the past!!

Will add pics of the girls later once I steal Rach's pics on email!!

Tooth Watch Update!!

Exciting news on the tooth watch front! We have a little teeny tiny corner poking out!! OK, that might be a bit unexciting for those of you with kids with big toothy grins, but after 5 months of teething, I'm very excited about the little white dot on Xander's gums!! He's gnawing everything in sight one minute, then clamping his mouth shut and gurning the next!! Can't wait for it to come through and he has that cute little grin that babies with a lone tooth have!!

Well, what a wash out today is! It's absolutely pelting it down! I have my BW buddy Rach coming over today with Charlotte and Cameron. Emily doesn't know they're coming so will be so excited when she gets home from school and they're here!

Right, hopefully will be back later with pictures of toosypegs!!

Aaaahhh, Slash!!!

So, last night was the big gig and it certainly lived up to expectations!! Yes, Rob took me to see Slash's band Velvet Revolver as my birthday present over in Manchester. Now, for those of you who have known me since my teens, the guy's face was plastered all over my bedroom walls (still would be if I didn't have to share a bedroom these days!) and so I was very excited to see the curly haired top hatted one!

We had an extra treat before the gig even started as we were stood at the back of the venue when Slash's car turned up so got to see him go in. It was a bit surreal actually, after 20 years there he suddenly was infront of me and I wasn't quite sure what to do!! As a 30 something mother of two, do I scream in a rock star's face and then faint or not?! I chose not!

Anyway, we were near the front for the start of the gig but unfortunately, at our age, an unconditioned auditorium full of hot sweaty men on a warm summers day didn't really cut it so we moved back a bit after the first few songs! But, all in all it was a great gig, they were just so good and we really enjoyed it.

Took lots of photos and video but they haven't come out too well so I'm going to have a look round online for some press pics to post later.

Better Than A Poke In The Eye!!

We had Laura and Evie over yesterday afternoon. I've not see them for a few weeks and couldn't believe how huge Evie's got! I think they've been feeding the girl Baby Bio!! It was lovely to see Xander and Evie interacting, they've defiantely started having they're own little baby conversations! Evie's going to be in charge though, as you can see from this pic of her poking Xander in the eye! Just to let him know who's boss!! They were best friends again within about 2 minutes though!

Laura's also asked me to do the wedding stationary for their wedding next year. I'm so chuffed they asked me, I can't wait to get started!!

Emily's Double Date!!

Emily's had a busy day today! First of all she had a lunch date with Scott and we went to the park. They also sat still for a whole 5 minutes and watched Harry Potter (well, 5 minutes of it!), just enough time to polish of the dish of sweets they had!

Then it was off to Cameron's bowling party. It was so cute seeing all the 5 year olds bowling and it was amazing how many strikes they got. OK, so the bars were up at the sides and they were using the ramps, but they all thought they were Kingpin!

Tomorrow night Rob and I are going to see my future husband Slash in concert! Excited isn't the word, I'm just hoping I don't faint when the great curly one comes on stage! I've only waited 20 years to see him so to spend the whole 2 hours with St Johns Ambulance would be a bit of a shame!!

Bobbins Bar!

Mum and dad got home from Tenerife today and had found an excellent new business venture for Rob! There's a place there called Bobbin's Bar! Of course, every weekend's like Bobbin's bar round here but if he wants to switch HQ to Tenerife, then I suppose I'll drag along behind him, just for moral support you know!!

Xander's had a very accident prone day today. In total, he's banged his head 4 times and trapped his fingers in a drawer! I tell you, I not only need eyes in the back of my head but at the sides too! He's like a wippet is the boy! I think we definately need to Xander proof the house this weekend (yet again!!)

Quite a busy weekend round here. Tomorrow I'm going to the OU to discuss courses for my degree. then I'm meeting Lisa for a bit of a browse round Primark! Then on Sunday, Emily has a lunch date with Scott then Cameron's bowling party! 2 dates in one day, the floozy!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Birthday Cameron!!

Happy birthday to Emily's boyfriend Cameron, who is the grand old age of 5 today!! Emily's going round for tea tonight and then he's having a bowling party on Sunday so no doubt they'll be having lots of 'tickle time'!!

Coincidentally, I finished a scrapbook LO today on Emily and Cameron. It's a sketch challenge from Marie but it worked perfectly with this gorgeous picture of them both!

Medics Age Xander By 7 Months In 5 Minutes!!

So, had my appointment with the GP. Basically they can't medically do anything else, it's a common problem with mums of young kids with all the picking up, carrying etc. She's shown me some more physio exercises to do (which i should be on with instead of blogging!!) and told me to take up swimming (er, when?).

Funniest part was when she was talking about me lifting Xander. She said, "How old is he, about 15 months?". "Er, no, 8 1/2 months". To which she replied "Really?! I make no wonder you've got a bad back then?!"

Right, off to do a few yoga stretches (see below!!)

Can The 80 Year Old Woman Who Stole My Back Please Give It Back?!!

So, I had all good intentions this morning with regards to my health kick. I was going to walk to the White Rose this afternoon then walk the 2 miles back uphill for school and would feel all fit and healthy once I got home. However, during an argument with Emily this morning about toothpaste, the left side of my back went into spasm! Great!

Ironically, I already had a doctor's appointment this afternoon to discuss my spine of glass, as it's been painful every day since Xander was born, and after 8 1/2 months I thought enough's enough! Plus, I've tried everything in the book over the years and it's still no better. So now, aswell as a dicky spine, I've got some nice spasming muscles for the doc this afternoon too!

Plus, lifting 10 tonne Terry isn't helping. Don't suppose there's any chance he'll learn how to walk and get in and out of his cot on his own today?!

Honestly, can you imagine what I'll be like when I'm 80?!

Pic-er-nic!!

We've had Marie, Gracie and Ewan over today for a pic-er-nic (as Gracie says!!). I've not seen Marie for a couple of months, even though I do talk to her daily, so it was good to catch up with my old BW/scrapbooking buddy!! Plus, she brought me treats, namely some scrapping paper and some fantastic muffins, which we had with a nice cuppa after the picnic!!

Anyway, Emily was her usual charming self (not!) so poor Gracie was getting bossed around quite a lot. The boys played really well together and it was great to see them interacting (Ewan's only 4 days younger than Xander). Xander's just got to that age now where he's noticing other babies and it's so cute to see!!

Anyway, thank you Marie for a lovely afternoon and for the scrummy muffins!

Just off over to Marie's blog now to copy the recipe so will test them out on everyone!!

Tooth Watch!!

So, it's been another gorgeous day here in sunny old Leeds!! We had some friends over this afternoon and we sat out in the garden with a few beers and had a barbeque! Bliss! Well, it was until the kids started arguing but ho-hum!!

Xander's being a big little Jimmy Kranky at the moment. It's bound to be his teeth but after over 4 months of teething, I'm starting to think they'll never get here! So, I'm on constant tooth watch at the moment, desperately waiting for a little white speck to appear on his gums!! On the plus side, he's crawling like a trooper and walking along the sofa holding on so is coming on in leaps and bounds there! We've had to put a safety gate up at the kitchen today as he has a magnetic pull towards the cat food dishes!! I know I don't want him to be a fussy eater but need to draw the line somewhere!

Hope everyone else has had a lovely sunny day!

So, we have a blog!

So, we have a blog! Still working it all out (with the help of a friend!!) so don't have pics etc yet, but hopefuly we'll get there! So, I suppose I should post something about the lives of the Leeds branch!

So, today has been the end of a very long half term week! Actually it's not been a bad week, just tiring! While Rob slaved away in his office, me and the kids went to Ripon and spent the day with Ally and Elise in the park! We had a lovely picnic (thanks Al!!) and the girls ran between climbing trees to pretending that the band stand was ther princess castle!! Xander did lots of crawling and looking at Simba the dog as if to say 'That's a bloody big cat!!'

Anyway, just a quick post to start as I have lots of work to do on here! Will post more soon!