Sunday 30 December 2007

I'm Getting A Brother!

No, my mum hasn't decided to take notice of my nagging as an 8 year old and bless me with a baby brother! ***SHUDDER***
No, I was stood in Tesco on Friday having an argument with Rob about swiss roll tins (I kid ye not!), when my sister texted me from The Dominican Republic with a picture of a nice shiny rock! Must say, it was a bit of a surprise; Gemma's always protested that she'd never get married; and once I said accidentally to Dave 'You see what you've married into', where he positively turned green! But, a nice surprise it is anyway!

Not sure where , when or how as far as the big day, but a couple of things I'm certain of. First of all, it won't be a Saturday as Leeds Utd play every Saturday, and neither of them would miss a match, even for their own wedding! And, another reason it probably won't be on a Saturday, Leeds will be too busy playing on the Elland Road pitch and I get the feeling that there will be a certain ceremony taking place there, so we need to avoid any off side, tackle dooberies!

Oh god I just thought, if it is there, will I have to start going before they let me in, you know how they make people go to church before they get married, christened etc!!

Anyway, congratulations to Gemma and my soon to be bruv Dave!!

Saturday 29 December 2007

A Lovely Christmas!

We've had a lovely relaxing Christmas! Christmas Day was a nice chilled affair; with lots of toy playing and eating! The kids got some fabulous stuff; Emily got lots of High School Musical and craft stuff; and Xander got great boys toys: planes, trucks, rocket ships etc. We got a Wii so the remainder of the week has been spent playing on that (and getting our behinds kicked by Emily!).


Anyway, here are a few pics of our Christmas...

Emily sprinkling reindeer food for Rudolph on Xmas Eve

The kids haul!Emily finally gets her Hannah Montana wigXander with his truck, one of his many 'boys toys'Rob having a National Lampoons moment and carving the turkey

Sunday 23 December 2007

Garden Grottos, Big Toes & Pink Wigs!

So, we've had a lovely Christmas weekend! Yesterday we went to Steve and Allys' for a supposed trip to see the reindeer. However, it suddenly decided to rain, after weeks of dry weather; so we decided that, even if we did manage to wade through the mud, the reindeer would probably be hiding anyway!

So, we had some mulled wine then headed off for a curry. On the way, we went to their next door neighbour's house, who have dressed their front garden up as a little grotto. It was lovely and the girls thought it was great. The curry was fantastic, apart from Xander's 'throwing everything on the floor' tantrum; but the food more than made up for it!
So, I had an interesting morning. Xander was having yet another tantrum at naptime, and I'd come downstairs to get a teething ring. In my haste to get back upstairs I got my right big toe caught in my left pyjama leg and was left sprawled on the stairs! Rob was trying to climb over me and the safety gate to get to Xander, but I couldn't move my toe and so was stuck there for a while. Anyway, I eventually got downstairs (with Emily offering to carry me, bless her) and Rob got it strapped up for me. I think it may be broken but the thought of facing A&E 2 days before Christmas, just to be told that you can't put a pot on broken toes, just wasn't worth it!!

This afternoon we've been to visit Rob's mum, grandad and Zoe for a bit of a Christmas get together. We had a lovely meal and then we let the kids open their presents from mum and Zo. Xander got a Bob The Builder beanbag chair and a toddlers Etch A Sketch (which Rob spent hours amusing himself on by writing 'ploppy pants'!). Emily got a bow & arrow so she can pretend to be on Narnia; and a Stephanie dress up wig. Needless to say, the wig has been a big hit with everyone; especially Zo who is hot footing it down to Argos tomorrow to get herself one!!
So, only 2 more sleeps to go and it'll all be over! Good job and all, my jeans are already far too tight and we haven't started the proper eating and drinking yet!

Thursday 20 December 2007

The Camera Never Lies...Well This One Does!


So, the week before Christmas just what you need is your camera finally giving up the ghost isn't it! It went completely kaput yesterday whilst I was trying to photo some craft stuff (I didn't think it was that bad but obviously the papper objected!!). But hey, who needs a camera over Christmas...oh yes, we do!!

So, last night we spent ages researching cameras and trying to find a new one before Xmas. So, we found one with everyone's favourite, Argos. Tried to find one in stock at a store, all out of stock. So, we could get it delivered; hooray! But they gave us a time of 7am to 6pm on Friday; hmmm, between school runs, hairdressers and food shopping, that wasn't going to happen! So, I rings mum, yup she'll be in, so I put down hers as a delivery address. So, we go through the checkout, add a memory card for good measure, enter the credit card details and get the confirmation: they'll be delivering the memory card on Friday at a delivery charge of £4.95, but the camera's out of stock!!

So, there were phone calls; no Mrs Argos lady, we don't want the memory card without the camera, no we don't want to wait until the New Year for the camera, yes, we would like a camera at Christmas!

So, eventually we cancelled it all and started the search again! We've reserved one at an Argos near Rob's work; why do I get a horrible feeling he's going to come away with just a memory card sized carrier?!

Monday 17 December 2007

Shingle All The Way!

So, my mum's only gone and got herself shingles hasn't she?! For some reason, it always reminds me of Lou Beale; I have a vivid childhood memory of watching Eastenders when she caught it! Now, in any other circumstance, I'd be over there with Xander and attaching him to her (mum, not Lou Beale!) so we got chicken pox out of the way sooner rather than later. However, thought it might be a bit cruel for him to wake up Christmas morning covered in the pox!! So, Grandma is off bounds to old Billy Jim at the moment.

In other news, we have a knew Christmas ornament...
The silly moo even fell asleep in there last night...
...who on earth sleeps in a Christmas tree?! So between that and Xander's constant 'oooh, shiny bauble, let me hide that in my toy box', I have been threatening to take the blooming thing down all day!! Yup, bah humbug Lou is slowly creeping back in!!

Sunday 16 December 2007

Fröhliche Weihnachten!

For those of you not in the know (which face it, was me until I Googled it!) that is German for Merry Christmas! The reason being is we've been all Christmassy today and gone to the German Christmas Market in Leeds.

Rob's dad has been up for the weekend so we thought it was a good idea to drag our hangovers down there. Mind you, the hangovers didn't stop us having a lovely mug of mulled wine!
We also enjoyed German hotdogs (though Xander seemed a little unsure!) and afterwards, Emily and I took our full bellies on the carousel; not such a good idea!Rob bought a German salami which is just sat in the fridge begging to have huge lumps hacked off it over the next few days; so we can continue our Weihnachten at home!! Anyway, a really lovely Christmassy day all in all!

Thursday 13 December 2007

A Very Busy Christmas!

Well, the last 24 hours have been chock full of Christmas stuff! Yesterday afternoon was Emily's school play and she was a star. You know how there's always one child who messes about, looks at the ceiling when they should be singing, prods people with their prop, picks their nose etc? Yup, that was my daughter! She did do some singing and did a very good twinkly star dance on the stage, but needless to say she'd had a concentration bypass yesterday!!

Then we took both kids to visit Santa. Emily talked to him but from 2 feet away, there was no way she was getting any nearer to that beard! And Xander, well he took one look and screamed! We did manage to get a picture but probably a bit of waste of £7!

This morning has been Xander's toddler group's Xmas party and it's been fab! They were asked to go in fancy dress so it was a good opportunity for him to wear his Xmas pudding outfit; he even kept the hat on for a whole half an hour! They had a party tea (pizza and buns at 10am, yum!) and Santa put in yet another appearance...and guess what? Yup, Xander screamed again! I'm just glad he'll be asleep when Santa makes his annual trip on Christmas Eve!

Anyway, we are now all well and truely into the festive spirit!

Wednesday 12 December 2007

Christmas Past

I found some photos on the computer the other day of Emily at Xmas '04. Can't believe how young she looks; and in turn how grown up she looks now!!

Xmas '04

Xmas '07

Monday 10 December 2007

Video Evidence!

Blimey, 2 blog posts in 1 day!!

Well, I finally got Xander walking on video today. It wasn't difficult; he's suddenly grasped what it's all about and has walked everywhere today! So here is Billy Jim's wobbly baby steps!!

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree!

So, I've finally had to stop being bah humbug and admit that Christmas is going to happen whether I like it or not!! So, on Saturday we put the tree up. Didn't exactly go smoothly, Emily got too excited and was trying to put baubles and tinsel on before the tree was actually up; and Xander kept paddying because he wasn't allowed to chew the lights! But, eventually the tree was up and so far it's still standing (OK, it's tied to the radiator; between Xander and Cindy we were taking no risks!!).

Tuesday 4 December 2007

This Yorkshire Girl's Been Lancashired!!

First of all, for anyone that reads Marie's blog, this post is virtually the same as hers (except no hobnobbing with the stars here!) and the pics are the same because I stole them from Marie!

For everyone else...we had a great night on Saturday! We went over t'Pennines to St Helens to see my old pal Marie, who was taking us to see one of her favourite bands: The Lancashire Hotpots! For anyone not familiar with their work, their a comedy band who sing such classics as Chippy Tea and Shopmobility Scooter...

Well, I've not laughed so much in a long time!! They were hilarious, and with names like Dicky Ticker and Willie Eckerslike, they couldn't really be anything else could they!

Even though Rob's a southerner, he had a great time...

It was also great to have a few drinks with the one and only Mariek!! We've never actually had a tipple together, just tea and cupcakes, so it was nice to let our hair down together! Also, her 2 friends Karen and Denise came along; who were both excellent gig going company; and made it even more enjoyable...

(me, Karen, Denise, Marie)

Anyway, I'd definately recommend checking the Hotpots out, you can find them here:

http://www.myspace.com/thelancashirehotpots

I dare you not to laugh!!