Knitty Chic

I started a quick knit project back in November for Emily. My first mistake was calling it a quick knit! As with anything I ever give an adjective to, in true Loulou style I had to do the complete opposite and only actually finished it this Sunday! Don't get me wrong, it hasn't physically taken me 2 months to knit it, just 2 months to re-open the cupboard where I flung it after the first afternoon of knitting!

However, finally I got this super chic flower done for Emily's hat:

Oooh, get her, dead posh!

I now have a problem though...think I may need to knit another:

Hope he doesn't mind waiting til Easter....

Life's Little Miracles

So, we're back in our usual daily routine now. I go to work, finish work, pick the kids up, come home and then spend an hour or two with:

"EMIYAY, EMIYAY!"
"Mum, Xander smacked me!"
"Mario Kart! Oh but muuuuuuuum, want Mario!"
"Mum, he pushed me!"
"EMIYAY, EMIYAY!"
"Mum, I want MY prgrammes on!"
"EMIYAY...Mario...EMIYAY...Mario...."

...and so it goes on, usually leading me to think by teatime that I must have been crackers to think that two children were a good idea!

Anyhoo, the other day I was making tea and noticed something weird...it was quiet...very quiet. 'Oh my god they've finally killed each other' me thinks. So, I sneak into the living room and what do I find...
All snuggled up watching a programme they BOTH like:

A nice little marathon of Horrible Histories was keeping them both perplexed (nothing like a good plague to keep your kids entertained!). I tell you, I'm off to buy the box set, peace and quiet for hours!

They even started on kissing competitions to see who loved who the most:

Needless to say tea was late due to mummy needing a lie down!

Been a funny old week in parenthood land. I've been noticing more and more how utterly grown up Emily is becoming. She's always had an old head on her shoulders but now that head is starting to look much older too. When I look at her I can now see teenage Emily (god, that's a scary couple of words!) rather than baby-faced Emily. She's certainly more a little lady now than a little girl.

I took a picture of her the other day to get a photo of her in her Brownie uniform, but look at the grown up staring back at me!

I tell you, what with Xander starting school and my big grown up girl, I'm starting to feel positively ancient!

It's A Fair Cop Guv!

Don't be fooled by this 'butter wouldn't melt' face:

Inside there lies a hardened criminal! Don't believe me? Look, I have photographic evidence:

Last night, the police came round to fingerprint my daughter! Look how blooming brazen she is about her life of crime:

The proof. Get this pic downloaded, it may help your defense after your next encounter with Emily:

LOL, as much trouble as the little munchkin is, she's not quite up to being in bother with the law. In fact, we were all fingerprinted last night. They need to eliminate our prints from the evidence in our burglary case so the lovely CID man came round and did them, plus gave us an update on our case. Obviously can't actually blog those updates, but things are moving along.

None of us have ever been fingerprinted before and it did feel a bit like we were in bother! All apart from Emily who was allowed to do a spare set of fingerprints to take into school today, no doubt to get recruits for her next crime spree!

JYC Complete!

Before I post, I just want to ask if anyone can spare anything to go to the Haiti Earthquake Appeal. As some of you know, I sponsor a boy in Haiti and we are so worried that he and his family are OK. If they are, they will have lost everything so if anyone can help them, then please donate. Venald and his family live in a tin hut and his dad earns £15 a month so I think even a small donation would be a fortune to them!

Thank you!

So, finally I have completed the JYC journal! Got a little behind but, a few snow days from school have helped me to catch up. And do you know what? I actually really like it! Not often I scrap and am pleased with what I've done (seems to be a crafter's thing, we're all so critical of our own work!).

It's 37 pages long so I ain't posting all those pics so below is a Slideshow. Here are the pics of the cover:

And I just love how full it looks:

And finally, the pages!

Waiting For Torville & Dean!

So, at last yesterday I got back to work. Managed one whole full day last week in between all the closures, Monday was closed due to heavy snow (which I found out half way there yet again, another 3 hours sat in the car going nowhere!), but yesterday the thaw started and it looked like we were going to manage a good 2 days running at work.

Ahem...

What none of us expected was to wake up to this this morning:

Pure solid ice! Not a bit of frost but great big blooming sheets of the stuff! Now, I've not been bothered about driving in the snow, never have been, but this stuff sat glinting at the end of my drive scared me this morning. Snow you can grip on, smooth icy stuff you can't!

Anyway, I set off with Xander in the car listening to the radio as they reported more and more accidents, more roads closed, even the major routes were covered in the stuff. No grit to be seen so it was just a skating rink out there. Half way there guess what? Yup, they shut my school! So, turns around, goes and gets Xander (who thinks slipping and falling on your bum is hilarious!) and back home. The car isn't up the drive, there was no way, I left it on a clearer road and walked up. Besides, surely Torville and Dean will need the road free of cars for their Bolero performance!

A Very Wooly Christmas!

Finally, I can share all the knitting I've been doing since September. I got a fabulous book by Zoe Halstead that had some great toys in so thought I'd put my new found love of knitting to the test and give some a go!

First up, for my favourite girl in the whole world, a Cinderella Upside Down doll. She goes from Cinders:
To Cinderella:

Next up, a pirate for my fave little man:

Then, a ballerina doll for my niece who has just started dancing classes:

A fairy doll for a special little girl that has moved many miles away:

Complete with wings:

And finally a sparkly unicorn for my best mini mate:

So 3 months later was it worth the sore finger tips? I think so:

I A Big Boy Now ***SNIFF***

I've no idea how it happened - surely I only gave birth to him a couple of weeks ago - but today my baby had his first day at school! From now on, Xander will spend every afternoon at Emily's school in Foundation One.

It was a bit touch and go as to whether he'd get to go. With the arctic conditions we're having, the school had been closed half the week so we had to check school closures this morning, but luckily school was wide open so we got to go!

Xander was besides himself with excitement before we set off:

30 minutes later we'd actually got enough layers on to venture out on a polar expedition up to school (:P). For Xander it was just the best way to add to his excitement: a walk in the snow! Fortunately I convinced him to avoid the snow drifts and so trousers were still dry when we got there:

The obligatory pose outside the school:

And then inside to do the first of his school routine. I'm an old hat at this, what with Emily going there and me dropping off a friend's child for quite a while. First we have to find our name card (which Xan did with no help, yay!) and answer the question of the day which was 'Is It Wednesday?'' to which Xander answered 'Yes'. Er, OK, baby steps! Then it's off to find the milk tag, find the milk, put tag on milk, drink some milk then put milk in designated area for thirsty moments later:

After a bit of a chat to his new teachers (all of which he told 'I a big boy now'!) it was time for register. Awww, my boy's first ever register, was quite a moment!

Once register was done he got to go 'get busy' and chose the playdough to make some 'sharp stars':

I think it was about at this moment that I realised that Xander didn't even know I was still there, so the whole 'do you want to stay a bit to check he's alright' was totally unnecessary, so I decided to leave the boy to it (after managing to disrupt him for 2 seconds for a kiss!) and went home. 2 hours later I went back to pick him up and he'd loved it. That was a very weird feeling though, going to school and picking not 1 but 2 of my children up!

So, as Xan says 'He a big boy now' and so starts another stage in his life. As for me, felt a tad redundant when I got home...that was until I realsied just how quiet it was, then I soon got over it! :P

Me & My Big Mouth!

I was looking back over my JYC journal last night and found this entry from 2nd Jan. The prompt was to write about the weather in December. I wrote:

Winter Wonderland?
Although last year we had a great snow day, that was a rarity. The chances of snow in December aren't great so we make do with a forecast like today's...5C, Chance of drizzle.

Hmmm...On 17th December the snow started and hasn't stopped since! Today I set off to work at 7.30am. I got a mile up the road after an hour when they announced my school was closed; I couldn't turn round, even the main roads were a few inches deep so that was impossible, so did a loop round back home. I got back at 10.10am after driving a grand total of 3 miles and walking for 1! That's 2 hours 40 mins of my life I'll never get back. So we're all sat at home (kids's school is shut, Rob's boss rang this morning and told him not to bother!) watching it still coming down!

So, today's entry...

Lottery Win?
The chances of that happening are pretty remote...:P

Thoughts On January

Let's start January again shall we?!

The other day the JYC prompt was quite an interesting one: what does January mean to you? Not resolutions or anything like that (as mentioned last year, I don't go in for those anymore) but what are your feelings about the start of a new year?

I used to hate January, so depressing after Christmas. However, in the last few years I've begun to really like the beginning of the year. I think it's with Em's birthday being in February, we start planning parties and presents now and that's all very exciting. We also go away quite often around Em's birthday so we have a holiday to look forward to.

January's also the month where I get the house sorted. The decs are now down so it's time for a good clean and to get all those little jobs done that need doing (you listening Rob?!). Little things like getting a new bookcase for Xander to put all his lovely new shiny books and games on give me a lot of pleasure (yup, weird I know!).

I also love thinking about crafty projects. The end of the year is swamped with Xmas projects so it's nice in the new year to sit back and decide on what projects I want to do this year.

I also love writing out the new calendar and seeing what's coming up this year. It's certainly going to be a busy year: we have mum's 60th, Grandad's 90th, my parents' 40th anniversary, my graduation, Emily's first Brownie camp and Xander starting school to look forward to! Going to be exhausted!

Finally, January is a time to chill. Christmas is always manic and I don't stop for the whole of November and December at least! In January I get chance to read books, watch films and have a bit of chill time. It doesn't last long but at least there's a couple of weeks every year where I get chance!

Hope everyone else is having a happy January!

How Dare They?

We were burgled last night. :(

Some cheap arsed scroat broke down our door, walked into the house we worked so hard for, stole my 8 year old daughter's laptop, my camera with all the pictures of my kids at Christmas, my children's Christmas money (£38, please) and my phone which means I now have to spend all weekend trying to find other ways to get in touch with all my contacts.

And what's worse, they not only took the car that I rely on to get to work and get my kids to school, that is worth nothing to anyone but I love as I've had it for years; they took Rob's car, which he bought 4 weeks ago. Rob's nearly 40 and has never had anything but old bangers; he finally decides to treat himself to something nice (not swish, not a top brand, just a proper bloke's car) and some tw*t takes 30 seconds to take his prized posession he's worked so hard for.

Worst of all my daughter is now scared stupid that the bad men are going to come back in the middle of the night and will probably not sleep for weeks.

How dare they? What gives anyone the right to do this? I know things are tough (hey, I work with kids who have it the toughest)but they're hard for us all and no-one has the right to take other people's things they've worked so hard for.

Happy new year eh?

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010 everyone!

I hope you all had a lovely New Years Eve. We got all dressed up and went out with Steve and Ally to a dinner party:
It was lots of fun; lots of people, good food, plenty of bubbly and some rather inventive party games:

Rob thought all his Christmases had come at once!

It was a very late night but, as mum had the kids, we managed a lie in this morning. Then it was off to mum's for a New Year's Day chilli with the family, with some quality karaoke entertainment from my son:

Bless him, you can't buy entertainment like that!

Hope 2010 is a good one for everyone!