Garlics & Ginger Turtles

Happy 90th Birthday...

2011-12-08T21:21:00.000Z

...to my wonderful Grandad! Still looks a good 20 years younger. Love you Handsome!

Remember Us?

2011-12-03T20:48:00.000Z

Bad, bad, bad, bad blogger! 3 months since I last posted?! Things have been hectic round here now I'm back working full-time but I really must make an effort over the Christmas period to update more often. For now, a few pics of the last few months:

Xan's first ever reading books from school:

Emily and Chloe, one of her ever expanding circle of girls she socialises with!

Halloween:

Back soon...promise! ;)

Big Day!

2011-09-06T18:03:00.000+01:00

Huge day here today, my little tiny baby boy had his first day at school!

He was very excited:

And was pleased to finally get to wear uniform like big sister Em:

Who incidently looked way too grown up in her uniform:

I wonder if every morning he'll have his coat and shoes on and be ready to go so quickly:

And what does every boy need at school? A couple of mother hens to take care of him:

He's had such a great day but is wiped out now but big sighs of relief here that he loves school!

Cosy

2011-09-04T08:45:00.000+01:00

The thing I love about crochet is how tactile it is, you just need to stroke every project you do. So when one of my Leeds Paper Dolls friends posted this I had a bad case of NEED TO DO IT! And do you know what? I did! Just look at the cosy cuddly strokability of this one:

And it sits lovely in my craft room with the applique cushions I did not so long ago:

It's definately all about the crochet here at the moment, next project was another ripple, this time for my cousin's brand new baby Harry. There was also a bit of wool left so Harry has a matching caterpillar!

And did we stop there? No! I then had a bit of a crochet for my friend Rebecca for her birthday. Rebecca's not only one of those people who really appreciates the fact you've spent time making something for her, but also one of those friends who's just so lovely she deserves me spending time making her something! Here's a rather lush brooch for winter for her:

There is another crochet project already on the go for those chilly nights sat infront of the telly. However, I may have to abandon my usual sofa crochet position for a seat in my craft room. For, after 3 years, my craft room is now winter-proofed, hurray! Bless Rob, he's a dab hand at DIY but he also was in the front of the queue when they handed out the procrastination gene and so jobs do tend to take a while to get done round here! However, he'd taken the last week of the school holidays off work and instead of going off in a windy soggy tent, we decided to spend the week getting the house sorted. So, garage has been cleared, we now actually have a tv signal for the first time since we moved in 9 years ago, the fridge has light for the first time in 2 years, and he spent a good day and a half making sure my craft room was all ready for winter crafting (ie, so I shut myself in there for the next few months so he can watch Top Gear!).

First of all I have light:

I have storage hung (OK, not winter proofing but I made that months ago and needed to stop just moving it from surface to surface and get it up on a wall!)

The big problem in there is heat, I've been using an old electric heater which was OK but I daren't leave it on low to stop the room freezing over, and the dial on the electricity meter did tend to go a bit bonkers when it was switched on! So I invested in a nice oil-free oil heater (no, I'm not sure how that works either) which should be more economical, heat the room better and has a defrost function so the room won't ever get too cold.

The other problem I found last year was how much cold radiated from the door windows, so we also invested in a nice vertical blind for the door so hopefully it'll be a bit more toasty in there now:

So we're all nice and cosy over here at the Garlics, which will no doubt lead to a late Indian summer (you know, when we're all back at work!) but hopefully the Garlics craft production line will be able to provide a full winter service this year!

6 Weeks, 6 Reads

2011-08-23T22:27:00.000+01:00

So, surprise surprise, I'm a tad behind on the old 6 weeks, 6 reads challenge! It's not too bad: I've nearly finished book 4 and we're in week 5, but I do need to speed up a bit. The problem was this little baby:

I finished the Horse Whisperer a bit early actually (very good book, not really much romance, hurray!) and so started this brick a day before I planned. OK, so it was 750 pages long, but I had a 10 day holiday planned with hours sat in the car, relaxing on the beach, no housework once the kids were in bed etc to fit plenty of reading in so 750 pages shouldn't really be a problem...famous last words!

The hours in the car were spent either listening to the dialogue from Alvin and the f***ing Chipmunks playing on constant loop on the kids' dvd players in the back, or directing Rob as the sat nav had a meltdown when we were only 60 miles down the road. So, not much reading in the car (ever tried to read a political thriller with a cartoon chipmunk squealing in your ear?!). The beach was OK for reading but I seemed to spend most of my time desanding things (some because of the coastal breeze blowing the sand everywhere but most from my son deliberately dumping it where he knew he shouldn't!) And as for once the kids were in bed, well I thought I could just take myself off to bed and get through a good chapter a night, completely forgetting how much I hate 'public' beds and so therefore not wanting to venture in there any more than I had to. So, I got home with only half the book read. However, I have had a good run at it and got it finished it on Saturday.

Phew!

I picked this one up straight away:

which had to be my next choice as apparently the library want it back and so I'm rattling through it and hopefully will get it finished tomorrow (and back to you asap Mr Librarian I promise!). Kind of liking the concept of this one: a guy goes to a dinner party as a guest of a guest (ie doesn't know the hosts) and halfway through dinner gets up, goes upstairs and barricades himself in the spare room, not coming out for months! Not quite sure where it's going, there seems to be lots of random people popping up in it but I'm hoping for a nice surprise as to why the main character did it (so far I've no idea!).

So that leaves 2 books in about 11 days. Hmmmm, do Xander's books count? ;)

We Love Cornwall!

2011-08-17T10:58:00.000+01:00

We've just been away for a week in Cornwall and had the best time. We've never been down there before and are now kicking ourselves that we've left it this long and will definately be going again.

The whole place is just so beautiful, especially the coastline:

We spent so much time on the beaches, the kids especially loved playing in the sand:

And, as we were staying in Newquay, of course that surf just had to be experienced. Emily turned out to be quite the natural body boarder:

And there was so much fun to be had, with this probably being the highlight, a nice bit of Beach Sumo:

I think these purchases summed it up, it's been years since I've had the urge to buy clothing with the name of the place I'm visiting emblazoned on it:

As you can see, the Gillards had a great time on Cornwall!

Right, better get booked for next year!

6 Weeks, 6 Reads

2011-07-29T20:23:00.000+01:00

So the summer holidays are well and truely underway, we're a good week in now and it has been hectic so far but good to have a break from working.

I decided to challenge myself this holiday but in a good way to keep those brain cells going (6 weeks of CBeebies was soon going to kill them off!). As many of you know, I'm a bit of a book worm - I ALWAYS have a book on the go. The trouble is I'm quite a slow reader; not sure why, maybe it's my complete inability to concentrate, but I have always been a bit on the laid back side when it comes to reading. So, this summer I've challenged myself to speed up a bit. A book takes me between 2 and 4 weeks to read so this summer I want to read an average of one a week - 6 in 6 weeks. I know this may not seem too speedy to others (yes I'm talking to you Mrs Readthewholetwilightsagainaweekend and you Mrs OhI'mjustpopping outsidetoreadawholebookwithmybrew (you both know who you are, seriously, how do you do it?!)), but to me it's quite the challenge.

So, a week into the holidays and I'm onto the 2nd book, go me! OK so the first one was only 200 pages long but I decided to ease myself in gently and actually did it in 48 hours. It's this book leant to me by Mrs OhI'mjustpoppingoutsidetoreadawholebookwithmybrew (think she'd read it in the ad break on Corrie or something!):

Now the whole wave of books about children getting hurt just isn't my cup of tea, but I trust Mrs I'mjustpoppingout...'s judgement so gave it a go, and I loved it! Quite harrowing but there was just something about it where you had to keep reading to check she was OK (true story about a girl kidnapped by a paeodophile (sp?) in Belgium).

Currently I'm reading this book that I got for Christmas (yup, I'm that slow a reader!):

Now, on the front of this it says it's full of romance...oh dear, I don't do romance. I do however LOVE Jojo Moyes so I feel like I have to give her a chance and so far I'm quite liking it (maybe because the romance hasn't surfaced yet?!). The target is to finish this by Wednesday when I will start on a BIG read to take away on holiday (Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest - 3,000,000 pages!) but we are driving to Cornwall so will have an hour or 20 to kill.

So there you go, I've blogged it so I now have to do it so you don't all think I'm a big fat liar and stop reading my blog forever! Will keep you posted...

Complaint

2011-07-24T09:48:00.000+01:00

I'm afraid we've had a complaint here at the Garlics. Lady Tate of Tate Towers writes "why don't you try updating your blog once in a while?". Well obviously here at the Garlics we take complaints very seriously so I met with Lady Tate yesterday to address her complaints; she elaborated that she was '"sick of looking at that bloody bag!" (please see last post readers). Of course I owed Lady Tate an explanation and so she was told that "I've got 2 bloody jobs and 2 bloody kids you know!". Ever the professional editor!

So, what has been happening over here? Well, I've been a busy little bee that's what's been happening! Aside from the doubled up job situation and the doubled up kids going through end of school year stuff, I've been jet-setting around the country. First of all I had a date with this young man:

Courtesy of these 2 ladies:

Yes after 60 years my mother fianlly decided to get some musical taste and booked some Bon Jovi tickets (really, it's been Barry Manilow and Cliff Richard up til now, I was starting to think I was adopted!). So weekend in London with no kids and wine and Jon Bon Jovi for company? I was there!

Then the weekend after I abandoned my children yet again (:o) for a weekend with these lovely ladies in Whitby:

It was the annual Leeds Paper Dolls retreat and the weather was glorious and I got tonnes of scrapbooking done. Unfortunately it meant I missed the laying of Rob's Grandad's ashes that Sunday, but Rob and the kids went along and at the time of the service I took myself into Whitby and sat here to remember the lovely man:

Then since that I've been working at my new job, finishing my old one, making and buying presents for the multitude of teachers my kids seem to have, getting a little man ready for big school by meeting his teachers etc. Oh and I threw my back out in the middle of all that so seem to have lived at the doctors and the chemist!

However, it is now the school holidays (help me!) so I will hopefully be able to satisfy Lady Tate's internet time and update more often!

Bag Lady!

2011-06-19T07:55:00.000+01:00

Love, love, loving the sewing machine at the moment (and yes I have promised my mum that once I start working full-time in September I will actually go out and buy my own!). Latest project to hit the machine...bags!

Never made bags before but I'm kinda liking it. So, my first ever bag was this little heart number for Em (we decided that, at 9, she was now too old for the Disney Princess bag thing and should get a bit more sophisticated!):

Took me blooming ages but she loves it so it was worth it!

Next up was this strippy stripey bag that I'd coveted for a while. Just loved doing this, lots of different fabrics, ribbons etc and I loved how it turned out:

And this bag's function? Well I needed a bag to keep all those bits of materials in that I'm going to use to make bags with! You see, a self functioning bag, practical as well as lush!

So, I've just commandered some floral curtains from the loft, I feel a shopper coming on!

Creating

2011-06-06T10:07:00.000+01:00

I came to a very sad realisation this morning.

Undoubtedly the Garlic's number 1 fan was Rob's Grandad. I'd often get emails from him thanking me for the blog. I think, as he lived 200 miles away, it was a good way for him to keep up-to-date with what was happening up here, especially with his much cherished great-grandchildren. Consequently there's been a few posts that I've posted with a 'Grandad would like that' tone about them. This morning I was out in the garden hanging out the washing and just thinking about how much I liked our house and where we lived. I had a quick thought 'oooh I keep meaning to blog about that, Grandad would love that'...and then the realisation hit. :( Grandad (and indeed Nana when she was alive) would say how much they loved the home we built. I thought a couple of weeks ago how nice it would be to blog about our house and how pleased Grandad would be that we agreed with his and Nana's thoughts.

End of an era.

However, in memory of our beloved Grandad/Great-Grandad we shall be carrying on with the posts today and one I think he might like as it features just how fab Emily is!

There seems to have been a lot of crafting round here lately. I was going to do this post about everything I'd been up to but I must start with how fabulous my darling daughter is getting at scrapbooking. She's scrapbooked for a good 2 or 3 years now but recently she has been producing some very grown up layouts. She's been coming up with these all on her own, matching her colours, balancing her LO etc etc and I think she's doing a great job!

Definately the makings of a professional scrapbooker in that girl!

I've done a couple of LOs lately too as my MIL bought me a scrapbooking book for my birthday so have taken inspiration from that. Firstly my Royal Wedding LO:

And a LO about the lily the kids planted for Grandad:

Speaking of MIL, I've still got a big hankering for the sewing machine and spied a project I wanted to do. MIL is getting a much longed for new kitchen and as said project was for an oven glove (nope, no idea why I desperately had the need to make oven gloves either!) then I thought she'd be the perfect recipient. The original pattern was for a cupcake oven glove but it didn't seem MIL's type of thing but on another page of the same book I found some fab chickens, so a bit of pattern combining and voila!

Er yes, did get carried away and had a 'need' to make a teapot cozy and apron aswell!

Oooh but I still needed to sew more and those chickens were calling to me. Hang on, chickens? Who do chickens remind me of? Maybe this woman who we just happened to be visiting last week. I feel a chook-related pressie coming on....

Chicken egg cozies! Love 'em!

And I did have every intention of putting the sewing machine away but it's still there with a new project sat on it, watch this space!

Hope the WiFi works up there Grandad! ;)

Creating Ways To Remember

2011-06-01T10:23:00.000+01:00

One of the hard things when you lose someone close is how to break the news to your children. Their pain can be worse to witness than what you're feeling yourself. However, we're open and honest with our children and so we've sat them down and explained about Great Grandad.

Emily's old enough to be devastated and was very upset on Friday. We also made the decision to let her decide if she'd like to go to the funeral. We've explained exactly what a funeral involves and she's been so grown up in making her decision to go. In fact, I couldn't be more proud of how Emily's handled this whole situation, she's shown a level of maturity and compassion way beyond her years. What a girl she is!

Xander's been fairly good. We weren't going to tell him, an autistic 4-year-old doesn't necessarily have the right thought processes to understand death. However, we decided to be honest with him as not being could cause more confusion for him. Do you know, he's done great with it. His fish died a couple of weeks ago so we've told him Grandad's up in the sky taking care of Ferb, and that seems to be working for him!

Anyway, I decided that as well as us looking through pictures of Grandad, it'd be good to get the kids involved in something to remember him by. With it coming up to summer we'll (hopefully) be spending a lot of time in the garden, and Grandad always loved sitting looking out at his garden, so that was the route we took. We went out and bought a lily plant. When we came home I enlisted Xander to collect stones to provide drainage for our pot:

Which he did in his wheelbarrow then placed them carefully in the pot:

Then both kids got to filling the pot with compost:

I put the lily in the pot and the kids patted soil around to make sure it was safely tucked up in there:

And voila, a beautiful lily plant for us to remember Grandad this summer while we're out in the garden:

Hope you like it Grandad! x

When Words Fail...

2011-05-29T18:56:00.000+01:00

It's a very sad time here at the moment.

On Friday, we lost Rob's beloved Grandad. Although he was 91, it happened very suddenly and we were left in a deep state of shock.

I've spent 2 days thinking how to sum up Grandad in a blog post and have come to the conclusion that I just can't. For a man that led an amazing life and that loved me like I'd been born his grandaughter, not to mention how much he worshiped my children, I just don't think I can find adequate words. Maybe I will later and hopefully I can share some of his fascinating stories in future posts, but for now I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Goodnight Grandad, thank you for being in our lives, we are very honoured to have known you. x

Thrifty Crafting

2011-05-07T17:30:00.000+01:00

Don't you just love a good financial crisis? Austerity measures? Good old cut-backs? Well no, neither do I, but never to be defeated, I've actually managed to find a positive. My little old crafty brain has been working overtime to find a way to make this big old financial pile of poo work for me, and bon jovi if I haven't done just that!

So, poor Chez Gillard is looking a tad weary. For too long now it has needed sprucing up but alas, the munchkins need feeding so no spare pennies to treat our much neglected pad.

Aha, but who needs pennies when you have (de-de-dah) Thrifty Crafter to the resue!

Back in January, my mum brought me over an offcut of rather nice curtain material. Said mother then found her sewing machine suddenly disappeared (austerity measures folks, no splurges on new sewing machines! ;)) and...***drum roll***...lurverly new bolster cushions for our bed!

Oooh, but there's some material left, what else needs loving and sprucing up? Hmmm, how about the cheap old plain brown bedroom curtains, they now look a tad dowdy next to lovely new bolsters...

And yet still more material left. Aha, one free quilting book from the library, borrowed to make this last month. But there's not much material left to make a full project. So, a quick rummage round in a remnants bin at the local curtain fabric shop (7 remnants, £5!) and a cheap fleece throw later (£2.99) and...ta-da...

Luscious new quilt for tired old bedroom too!

Even Cindy's impressed and nothing ever impresses her (apart from her food bowl!)

But did we stop there? Well where would the fun be in that? I'm sat here this afternoon, full of cold and it's bouncing down outside. A little rummage through the material scraps box and a little project springs to mind. I've seen a lot of these appliqued cushions about at the moment, but starting at about £15 a pop I ain't spending that on a cushion. But do we need to if we're a thrifty crafter? No! 1 hour later and here's a little present for my daughter:

OK so I've stopped for now, rotten cold has stuffed up my head and I can't see to sew straight. But is there some left over pirate material with Xander's name on it sat on the sewing machine? You bet your bottom (carefully scrimped and saved) dollar there is! ;)

New Family Members!

2011-05-02T10:03:00.001+01:00

Been a while since we added to our brood and, even though last time we gained a family member it was the one-woman crackers machine known as Cindy, 4 years on we felt mad enough to do it again!

Last week, Ally and Steve gave us their old fish tank. We needed to quiten the kids on the whole 'can we have a dog' thing or even worse from Em 'can we have a horse'! Always fancied some fish so we took the opportunity of a free tank and let the kids get one each.

So, may I introduce the latest Gillards, PHINEAS & FERB:

Cute aren't they? Must say we're already a little attached to them. And for anyone wondering where the names come from and who don't have munchkins and their tv in the house, here's the original P&F:

Pomp!

2011-04-29T20:59:00.000+01:00

What a fabulous day it's been to be British. I'm giddy as a kipper about pomp and ceremony and have been waiting 30 years to relive that moment when my 7-year-old self watched Lady Di become Princess of Wales. It was so magical and so when William and Kate announced their wedding date, I was beyond excitement about today!

I was so excited I couldn't sleep last night and was up at 6am watching all those nutters camping out (and secretly regretting I hadn't gone down!). My mum came over and me, her and Em sat in our special t-shirts and tiaras:

With patriotic nails:

Drinking tea from my late Nan's china tea cups:

And watched a bit of history in the making. It was a beautiful ceremony, even Xander watched her walk down the aisle with a smile on his face. Once they were man and wife we cracked open the bubbly:

And Xander celebrated with the Queen:

Before my children toasted the happy couple:

I just love that my children got to see this. Like I say, I remember Charles and Di's wedding so vividly and it was so magical at that age. OK, so Em got bored half way through and went off to play and when they were pronounced man and wife Xander shouted 'Bogey' at the tv! But, they saw it live and I'm so happy they did.

So, now sat watching the re-run, sad I know but it's not often we get to see a big historic happy event so I'm going to lap it up. Next one, Em's got her sights set on Harry, god help him!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-25T20:04:00.000+01:00

What an absolutely beautiful weekend it's been. The run of good weather that we've had virtually the whole of April continued and we got out and enjoyed it.

On Good Friday we went up to Steve and Ally's. We went to this place which was gorgeous. There was some lovely scenery:

Though quite a lot of hills:

But lots of photo opportunities:

After a few hours there we headed back to Steve and Ally's where the kids enjoyed the slip 'n' slide:

And a bit of rocking out on the trampoline:

Needless to say, the munchkins were exhausted:

The rest of the weekend we've been mainly at home. Good job really as there is this little lot to plough through:

My kids are very spoilt but very lucky. Thanks to everyone who thought about them this Easter and sent an egg, it'll keep them in chocolate until Christmas!

So, Easter is now over and we have a whole 3 day working week to get through until the eggs are moved to make way for the bunting!

Snuggly Pirates

2011-04-14T19:12:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago, I had a half an hour to kill in the local town so popped into the library. I'd not perused the craft section for a while so went and had a look and spied this little beauty:

I've not quilted for a while now but my friend Kirsty started this year and she'd got me thinking that maybe I should make another. Plus, after the marathon crochet blanket for Em I felt like I should make Xander something similar but crochet doesn't really cut it with 4-year-old boys. So whilst flicking through I found the perfect project. Quickly I whipped out my phone to send a pic to Kirsty "we have to make these woman!" I told her, tbh I didn't meet that much resistance. The day after I popped down to Kirsty's with said book and we got planning, ordering fabric and started our quilts (mine for Xander, her's for her grandson). I even took my quilt on holiday with me last week and sat in the forest doing all the hand stitching. And this weekend...VOILA:

Lovely boyish pirate quilt, with a nice handy treasure map on the back (well, you never know when you may be in need of treasure whilst snuggled up in a quilt!):

And most importantly...the boy loves it!

So, love of quilting reinstated and next fabric-type project is in the planning....;)

We Love Center Parcs!

2011-04-10T08:53:00.000+01:00

We've just got back from a week at Center Parcs and had the best time. We absolutely love it there and this week we had the added bonus of glorious weather. Here's our week in a nutshell:

Lovely scenery:

Bowling tournaments (mummy lost!):

Creepy crawlie hunts:

Rope climbing:

Learning how to be a premiership football player (let's face it, he has the temperament already!):

Bike riding:

Dorito-loving squirrels:

Dare devil waterslides:

Hours and hours in the pool:

Chilling by the pool:

And most importantly, lots and lots of fun:

Can we go back now please?!

Scrapwhating?!

2011-03-29T08:47:00.000+01:00

I've been a very very very bad scrapbooker of late. My poor desk has sat unused and unloved for a good few months now. I got taken over with all things woolly and completed neglected all my lovely paper, glue and ribbon. However, a couple of weeks ago I gave myself a good talking to and forced myself back into the craft room and spent some time with my first love! Here's what I've been doing.

First up, a LO I've had planned since last summer, a good old mi hearties piratey one about Xander's pirate day at school (ahem, last June!):

Bit of a more tricky one next. I wanted to scrap about discovering Xander had autism. This pic was taken the day after we found out. I decided in the end to keep the autism part on some secret journalling so it is there just for me and him, and the main LO to be about how he's still our special little boy:

And lastly a chance to use some lovely lettering I picked up the other week, plus I couldn't leave her ladyship out of my crafting now could I?!

Kind of into it now, I think with the evening's being lighter it makes it much more pleasant to go out to the craft room. Now for the 300 half finished projects stacked up in there....

Happy Red Nose Day!

2011-03-18T09:17:00.000Z

It's Comic Relief again. Like most people we can't afford much this year but just a few quid helps so we've done our bit by buying red noses, red hair streaks and donating a pound each to dress up for school (the kids in red, me in rainbow colours).

Must point out my beautiful rainbow orange bracelet, made by my wonderful daughter when I realised I didn't have anything orange for my outfit, thanks Em!

Hope whatever you're doing for Comic relief you're having fun!

S.O.S. Save Our Surgery

2011-03-09T19:41:00.000Z

You may have noticed the little widget to the right. Some of you will have seen my links on Facebook and I apologise for repeating myself but this is a cause that really affects me and many people I know.

They are talking about shutting children's cardiac surgery in Leeds. You may remember that there were a high number of deaths during children's heart surgery at another hospital and this prompted a review. The result of this review is that the government will shut some of the 11 children's heart centres in the UK and make less larger centres with all the expertise in this area. Not a bad idea until you consider the impact...

There are 4 million people living within an hour of Leeds, 14 million within 2 hours. When 1 in 100 babies is born with some sort of heart defect, that's a lot of people...and Leeds is currently closing in 3 of the government's 4 alternative plans. Wherever these units shut it is going to affect people - heart patients, relatives, friends - but a quarter of the population? I am failing to see sense.

I have had a child in hopsital. Some of you may remember how ill Emily was as a toddler and she had to have lung surgery. A horrible time for us and the people around us, but what if we'd had to drive hours to see her? That is what these parents and families are facing.

And then today I got an email from my cardiac nurse saying that the government had refused to take into account those of us that are adults but see the paediatric cardiac teams due to our conditions being congenital (both my cardiologist and surgeon are paediatric, I look very silly in their waiting room!) when considering shutting these units. However, if the children's surgery ward goes then so do the surgeons, the cardiologists and the lifeline to people like me. In October 2008 I had an emergency operation in Leeds within 2 hours of them diagnosing my problem, if I'd have had to be transferred to another hospital, well....

So if you could click to the right and sign the petition? Whether we can change the government's mind I don't know, but I need to say I at least tried.

Thank you.

Come On, Follow My Nose!

2011-03-06T08:20:00.001Z

We decided that this weekend called for a family walk and a bit of fresh air. I'd noticed a few crocuses out at work so we decided to head for flowers. We could have gone to my work but I doubt that would have been too interesting so we headed for Kirkstall Abbey as they always have carpets and carpets of flowers:

Very pretty eh? Unfortunately the temperature doesn't match the view and it was blooming Arctic out there!

I do like the fact that we live near such an old monument like this:

It's lovely to look around it and imagine what used to happen there. This time we didn't go in though, that cold air whistling through the ruins didn't quite appeal!

The kids had fun:

And Xander took us all exploring on a bug hunt with his exploring kit. "Come on everyone, follow my nose!":

Xander even made notes on what he'd found and drew pictures!

And collected, er, the stones the bugs lived on! Well I supposed it is more humane locking a stone in a tin than a living insect!

So, first 'spring' walk of the year. Hopefully they will start getting a tad warmer from now on, couldn't feel my hands when we got back in the car! We had fun though.

Thank You Heather and 'Lalan'!

2011-03-02T10:19:00.000Z

This is a little message for some relatives we have over in Australia. My dad has spent the last few years researching his family tree and over the past year or so he and my mum have started flying round the world and visiting these long lost relatives. Earlier this year they went over to Australia to meet his cousin Heather, her husband Alan and all their family. My parents had a great time and said our Ozzy cousins were lovely.

So last week a parcel arrives at my parents house with presents in for my kids! How lovely is that? It had cost Heather a small fortune to send it too, and for kids she'd never met, I'm kind of liking her! So here's a message for Heather and Lalan (as Xander calls him!). Thank you so much and hope we get to meet you one of these days!

Oh and just a little extra. I think Heather and Alan feel sorry for us Brits not having our own kangaroos here, so they sent Xander a little kit to grow his own! And blimey is he growing! Here's the (yet to be named) joey on Saturday:

And here he is yesterday:

Don't worry, Joey has now been rehomed to something more accustomed to his ever-growing size!

Happy Birthday Em!

2011-02-28T09:13:00.000Z

This weekend saw Emily celebrate her 9th birthday (insert 'blimey, where did the time go etc' comments!). Once she'd opened her presents she had a birthday banana milkshake breakfast:

Then it was off to see her horse Jet with her new horseriding gear: a new hoodie from me and daddy and some super gaitors (those things on her legs, no I had no idea either!) from Nanna:

After horseriding we went out for lunch with a few of her girlie friends from school: Anna, Miranda, Hollie, Shiwone and Hattie:

How very grown up, ladies what lunch!

Saturday night she spent with Grandma and Grandad then I picked her up yesterday morning and we did what girls do best, we shopped! Emily had got some vouchers and money so we went and got her some jewellry and a couple of new tops. Then we came home as we had Ally, Steve and Elise coming down for a bit of a birthday get together. This meant cake and of course Em wanted a horse one. Could I find one? Nope! So again my addled brain had to be creative. Grandma made a chocolate brownie cake and I got out the chocolate and marzipan and created a horsey thing for her:

And the obligatory happy birthday:

So, that's another birthday done. Next year we have our first double-digit birthday to celebrate, eeek! So thank you for all the cards and presents and happy birthday Em!

Love It, Love It, Love It!

2011-02-20T08:47:00.000Z

Yay! The granny stripe blanket is finished. I have absolutely loved doing this:

And loved all the detail in the border:

I think Em likes it:

And it certainly did the job last night:

I feel more granny stripe projects coming on! Meanwhile, go over to Lucy's Attic and look at some of her other beautiful projects, the woman's a crocheting genius!

That Girl!

2011-02-15T08:18:00.000Z

One thing I think you can only experience as a parent is how you can be tearing your hair out with someone one minute and then be swelling with pride and love the next.

This Sunday I spent 5 hours clearing out the girl's bedroom. O...M...G..., it's like having a teenage boy. 5 bin bags of rubbish, 3 of recycling and 1 for the charity shop; I seriously don't know how she does it! So you can imagine what joy it filled me with yesterday morning when, after spending my Sunday sorting through Barbie shoes and broken toy parts, said little miss woke up with an attitude. All the way to school we argued, she lost horse riding, late nights and basically everything she possessed with her spree of answering back. 8.50 I drop her at school with a 'Bye Em', 'Yeah, whatever!'. 9am I'm sat in the hall to watch her assembly where I watched the former Miss Attitude get up in front of the school a model pupil and read out her literacy work for the head teacher's award. Bless her, she is so fab! So much pride and love for how hard my little girl has been working:

Hang on a minute, wasn't she the devil spawn just half an hour ago? Ah well, I'll forgive her!

As Sure As Eggs Is Eggs!

2011-02-13T10:45:00.000Z

I just love the story I was greeted with when I got up this morning. Apart from having a wonderful lie-in until 9am (I have no idea what year that last happened in), it was just the best way to start the day.

Rob got up with Xan and noticed he'd gone in the kitchen, shut the door and had been in there a while. Rob went in and Xan was stood on his stool and had opened a box of eggs on the worktop and was bent over with his face an inch or 2 from the eggs. "What are you doing Xander?" Rob asked. "I'm talking to the eggs, they need cheering up coz they're cold and lonely." Xan replies. So Rob backs out of the kitchen, closes the door and leaves him to it!

LMAO, I just love that boy!

For The Love Of Stripes!

2011-02-08T16:12:00.000Z

I am so loving the crochet at the moment, my poor scrapbooking desk has been gathering dust since Christmas! I'm just in a woolly mood these days and have had to put all things paper on a back burner and it's all because of this.

Just love doing this. It had such humble beginnings:

And after a week or 2 it was starting to take shape:

And this weekend it had grown into this:

And I still have a third to go. It's so therapeutic though, makes for a very chilled Lou! I'm hoping to finish it for Em's birthday so watch this space for the big reveal!

Sorry Mum!

2011-02-01T10:40:00.000Z

Quick update as I'm in trouble with my mother! She's over at the otherside of the world and has been checking my blog for updates only to find none! Sorry mum!

Been very busy here. Mainly with Xander (see his blog for full update) but also getting things sorted before Rob goes back in for his second op. It should have been this week but looks like it's been put back which is probably a good thing as he hasn't finished the mile-long list of jobs I gave him to do yet! My Grandad's also been in hospital so have been visiting every other day; thankfully he's fine now and will hopefully be home soon. Plus work's been busy and tiring so not much inclination to switch the pooter on and type at the mo!

Oh and a certain little lady has a birthday coming up which I haven't even begun to organise yet!

Right mum, you can go and enjoy yourself now!

January Joys

2011-01-22T08:35:00.000Z

I used to hate January. Such a depressing month: Christmas is over, the weather's freezing and we're all starving ourselves to lose those mince pie bellies! But these days I quite like January. I think I have ever since Em was born; with her birthday being in February we always started planning parties and presents in January and it made the beginning of the year that bit more exciting.

One thing I look forward to about January is books. As you know I love reading and normally get a good haul for Christmas. I was already reading this book at Christmas:

and so that turned into my New Year read too. What an amazing book, I would defiantely recommend it, so beautifully written. I raced through it a) because it was so good, and b) because I had this pile of beauties to get started on, my Xmas books!

Aren't they pretty?!

I love this too, a new bookmark that my friend Shaughn at work made me. Only been there a couple of months and already she's making me presents, got to love that!

Winter Ghosts was first (I do struggle with Kate Mosse but actually made it through this one!). I'm now on One Day which my SIL bought me which I'm really enjoying. It follows the story on the same date every year which I think is a great idea.

And of course dear reader, there has to be a crafty project on the go! I've been dying to do this for a while, since some ladies in my crop group made some beautiful ones, but it's quite a big project and so I needed a use for what I made. So then Miss Emily decided she wanted her bedroom decorated purple - oooh oooh oooh, excuse excuse excuse! So, I ordered the wool and have got completely addicted to the fabulous granny stripe blanket. Here it is so far:

Mmmmm, lush!

We've also had an exciting delivery here at Chez Gillard, a super comfy new bed! I loved my other bed, we got it when I was pregnant with Em and so have had many snuggles with tiny bubbas in that bed. But, it was getting too small now that a certain special little man likes to creep in at 5am and I was sick of hanging off the side! And let's face it, he ain't going to get any smaller! We were also in need of a new mattress as the current one wasn't much good for my dodgy back and Rob's dodgy insides. So, we went the whole hog and got a new bigger bed:

Only trouble is, we can't get out of the blooming thing on a morning, it's just too comfy! I swear that mattress moulds itself into that dodgy spine of mine!

And of course, we had to have a bit of homemade on there, so out comes the sewing machine to whip up some matching bolsters:

Right, better fly, I've had half an hour off from granny-stripe-blanketing and I'm getting withdrawal symptoms!

60 Mummy and Loo Roll Mummies

2011-01-15T06:48:00.001Z

I'm rubbish, 3 weeks past Christmas and I still haven't finished blogging it! Here's the final Christmas post before I begin blogging 2011 in June!

Boxing Day is mum's birthday but this year was a big one, she was fifty-ten! Typical ain't it, you finally get your bus pass on a day when the buses aren't running! She had a party at her house so I went over early and got her started on the party mood with a bit of the bubbly stuff!

We had a fairly quiet week that week but on the 29th we went over to Auntie Nadine's. We had some lovely food and cocktails courtesy of my baby cousin Hettie (note, she isn't a baby anymore, she is 22 so is allowed the odd cocktail!). I've trained her well!

The highlight though was the games. Auntie Nadine is a Brown Owl and so had a few games up her Brownie sleeve. Watch out for this at future Gillard soirees, Loo Roll Mummies!

Right that's it, 2010 done! On to 2011 posts...eventually!

The Big Day!

2011-01-07T20:17:00.000Z

So, Christms Day morning we woke up to find these:

Well, I'm not sure about this. You would have thought with all that magic Santa could have a spell or something to clean up after himself!

Emily woke up at 2am...

...yes I said 2am!

Emily was told that 'I couldn't care less if it was Christmas Day, GO BACK TO BED!'. I caved at 5am and let her open 1 present that I knew was a dvd she could watch in her room. Eventually once that had finished we let her open her presents. Emily does have THE best present opening face ever, I love it!

Yup, we got her a mobile phone. Not something we'd planned to do at this age, but with her playing out in the lighter months I'd feel a lot calmer knowing she could get in touch in an emergency. Plus it has a camera and MP3 on it so plenty to distract her from racking up a phone bill! Of course there were many equestrian related presents that she was delighted with:

Now as for the other one, you'd think at 4 years old he'd be bouncing off the walls from the wee hours...er nope, 8am still snoring his noggin off! We decided to wake him but we were told that no Santa had not been and he didn't want his presents. After 4 weeks of 'Can I open my presents yet?' he now didn't want to know!

We managed to get him downstairs at least:

Eventually, after Em had opened just about all her presents, Xander agreed to have a look at his:

And I think we found the turning point in his mood with this one:

They got some fab stuff, my kids are so lucky. We had a few hours before our guests turned up for Christmas Dinner so we had plenty of time to play!

The rest of the day was lovely, we had a lovely dinner and it was so nice to spend the day with family.

Oh and we all love Buzz!

Christmas Retrospective Part 1!

2011-01-04T08:48:00.000Z

So thought I should probably actually blog our Christmas now the tree's down and we're all on our way back to work/school! Today is Christmas Eve!

Me and Em went out for a nice Christmassy walk just before the sun went down:

Ain't it beautiful? We had a look out over the city to see if there was any sign of Santa yet:

And went to say a happy Christmas to the horses in the field:

Then back home to trach Santa on Norad:

The kids then got out the reindeer food that Xander made:

And sprinkled it outside for Rudolph & co:

They then got a phonecall from the big guy himself so he could letb them know he was on his way! Once the kids had their new Xmas jammies on it was time for the traditional Christmas Eve story. However this year we had a new narrator:

She did a great job and has rendered Mummy well and truely redundant! Then more food for Rudolph plus a nice spot of brandy and a mince pie for Santa:

Then off to bed for the impossible task of trying to actually sleep when you know Santa's on his way. They must have got to sleep eventually because look what happened in the night and not one of us heard!

Awww, I love Christmas Eve, it's so exciting! Tomorrow we'll look at the carnage that is present opening on Christmas morning!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T23:19:00.000Z

OK so I've not blogged Christmas yet but wishing you all a Happy 2011 on 20th Jan seemed a bit wrong so I thought I'd do that first!

New Year's Eve was fab, we went to Steve and Ally's as usual and this year took along Rob's sister Zoe as she was staying with us for a few days. We went out for an amazing meal:

Before back to S&A's for some Just Dance on the Wii:

And setting fire to the neighbour's gardens...er, I mean setting off Chinese lanterns!

Then up into the market square to see in the new year with the locals, the mayor and an excellent steel drum band (ah the Antiguan memories!)

So, 2011 eh? Well, 2010 was definately an annus horribulus. Not much good happened last year and we won't go in to the bad stuff that did happen. However, we have a brand new shiny year ahead now so hopefully we can start looking forward. I don't do resolutions but I do like to get planning in January and already have a couple of projects in mind (and Rob already has a list of jobs I want doing!).

So, I hope 2011 is a lovely joyous year for you all!

Cool Moon!

2010-12-22T11:15:00.000Z

We were so lucky yesterday. For once there was a galactical event and we actually saw it! Usually we have cloud cover when anything happens but yesterday morning we had beautiful clear skies and so got to see the first winter solstice lunar eclipse in 372 years. How cool is this:

Unfortunately, a house got in the way before the full eclipse, but I love how much of it we got to see. I even woke Emily up as she just had to see it!

Then we had the news on where they were talking about the eclipse and they said you could also see Venus in the east. So we ran through to Emily's room and looked out the window and there it was!

OK, so it's not obviously Venus from the picture but the fact that you can see a planet 93,000,000 miles away is a bit cool!

The moon created more photographic opportunities when it came up again last night. I just love how my camera captured it: first one for all fans like me of a good old end of the world disaster movie:

And then for any Twilight Saga fans out there:

It's That Time Again!

2010-12-17T07:33:00.000Z

It's a week before Christmas so that can only mean one thing....

ELF YOURSELF!!

Amazing!

2010-12-13T10:31:00.000Z

Emily came home from school on Friday and read us a poem. It was beautiful and I asked where she'd found it? 'I wrote it Mum' she replied. Er what? You're not yet 9 and you wrote this? We think it's amazing!

Baby Brother

It's a boy

He was born with love and joy

He's my brother

His life is thanks to my mother

His life shall be my mission

His life shall be protected

He was my mother's decision

And I'm glad she made it

Cause he's my baby brother

I will love him forever

Even when he is looking pale

His body's frail

He can hardly move

To when he turns around and does a weird groove

Cause he is my baby brother

It's a boy

He was born with love and joy

Cause he is my baby brother

by Emily R M Gillard

Dedicated to Xander W J Gillard

Wow!

Happy Birthday Handsome!

2010-12-08T20:50:00.000Z

Today was my lovely Grandad's 89th birthday so me and Xander popped along to see him:

Look at him, no way is he 89, he certainly doesn't act it!

Happy birthday Handsome!

An Early Christmas Break...

2010-12-05T19:44:00.000Z

...well for the youngest Gillard it is anyway. Yesterday, Master Billy Jim took a trip over this and ended up with this:

Yup, just like Beckham before him, Xander has broken his metatarsal. In fact, he's gone one better than those football players and broken 2!

Poor Xan, he was so brave. Mummy here thought it was just a sprain so sent Rob and him to the walk in centre (well, hop in for Xan!) who decided it was more serious than a sprain and sent him to the hospital. 5 hours, 3 xrays, 1 pot and a teddy for being the best behaved boy of the day later and my injured little soldier came home all potted up. He didn't seem too bothered but maybe that was the Happy Meal Daddy bought him on the way home:

So Xander's going to spend Christmas in pot. He can't walk on it for 2 days so poor little thing is crawling round like a baby! We're also having to do a quick rethink as he's not allowed to sleep in his cabin bed for the next 6 weeks (pots and ladders don't exactly go well together!). And I have no idea how school are going to cope now Xander's armed with a heavy weapon! It's going to be an interesting 6 weeks....

Journalling A Very Shivery Christmas

2010-12-03T19:50:00.000Z

So December is upon us and that means, amongst other things, one of my favourite Xmas projects: Journal Your Christmas. I took part for the first time last year and just loved doing it so was keen to do it again this year. The only trouble last year was it was so time consuming: I made my own album, made every page a different size, shape etc. So this year I decided to not stress and make it simpler, after all it's about writing about Xmas so the format shouldn't really matter. So, I bought myself a ready made album and made a promise to myself that I would stick to one page size all the way through!

Dec 1st's prompt was to write a manifesto about what your Xmas was going to be. Mine had one main word: SIMPLE! For too many years I've been tired or ill or run-down at Xmas because I've taken on way too much, so this year it's about simplicity both in general Xmas stuff and my crafting. You may get a handmade card this year but you may get a shop bought one, it doesn't really matter as long as I send you a card does it? And am I really going to get people walking out at Xmas dinner because the stuffing's Paxo rather than a home made one?! And do you know what, as much as I'm sure my friend's kids love knitted/sewn toys, are they really going to complain about one bought from Argos? Nope! So why make it hard on myself? There will be some home made cards and some home made gifts, but there will also a lot more things purchased in the old fashioned way (oh and the new fashioned way, god bless Amazon!).

Day 2 was all about the weather. Oh how I laughed when I looked back at last year's entry and saw how I talked about how we rarely get snow, what a difference a year makes! Obviously yesterday's entry just had to be about snow. This year as well there's an extra prompt in the JYC class that focuses on photography. As my photography could do with vastly improving I thought I'd have a go. So the 1st prompt was about the rule of thirds so I took a pic using this with my picture focusing on the hanging basket covered in snow in the left upper third:

And just to emphasise the point of how chilly it is, last night was one of the coldest nights for a long time, down to -9C here. This was my car this morning:

Very pretty but that ice was on the INSIDE and took forever to clear!

Right, off to today's entry which is to do with the aforementioned cards. I have a plan, it's just dragging my bum into that freezing cold conservatory to do it!

The C Word!

2010-12-02T09:01:00.000Z

So, it's now December which means I now have to officially relent from this:

Say it with me people (though let's just whisper for now)...christmas!

I've now officially allowed the christmas movies on the tv and we've been doing christmas crafts. TBH, we're having to do that and fill our days because we're stuck in because of this stuff:

We've had quite a bit of the white stuff since Friday night now, but yesterday we got a huge amount dumped on us, which lead to my school being closed, the kids' school being closed and Rob having to leave the car miles away and walk home. It's that bad that even Rob hasn't ventured in to work (I know, I know, and no asteroid strike needed either!).

However, it does look beautiful round here and very christmassy:

I'm afraid there may be more christmas posts, I've just started Journal Your Christmas for the 2nd year running and so will be ~~boring~~ sharing my daily journal entries with you all! I'm sure aswell there will be lots of Emily and Xander christmas creations to share with you.

I may even say the christmas word in a quiet voice rather than a whisper...christmas. ***Shudder***, may need a couple more days for that one yet!

Chocks Away!

2010-11-26T21:14:00.000Z

I think Xander has found a new career ahead of him, helicopter pilot!

Crafty Catch Up

2010-11-18T18:54:00.000Z

Do you know, we've not had a crafty catch up for a while. Shall we have one? Just a quick one?

So was going to this in date order but I just can't get my head round Blogger's new picture uploader and tend to find myself fighting with pictures trying to move them, so I'm just going to leave them as they were uploaded!

First of all (well wasn't but for the purposes of this post let's just pretend! ;)) I went to my first crop in months last weekend. Only managed 3 layouts but that's 3 more than I would have got done on Saturday if I'd have been at home! First there's a couple of Halloween ones:

And then one of Emily being enrolled in Brownies. Need to add something to this I think but it was for a challenge and I was making sure I got all the challenge elements in:

I've been weedling a mean crochet hook a lot lately. I've made a runner for our bed using the wave stitch which I love:

And then a little baby blanket for Rob's boss's new baby:

And there's also been a couple of Fimo fairies. First of all one for Evie's birthday:

And then one for Elise's birthday who coincided with a huge funghi crop in the garden (why is it when we plant stuff it never comes up and yet these things can grow of their own free will?!):

Right back to the craft room, I have a whole pile of C******** things to get on with!

Not Exactly Jet Is It Em?!

2010-11-16T09:07:00.000Z

On Sunday afternoon, we had to take Zoe for her train back to London, so decided a quick stop on the way at our favourite pre-Xmas place in the world was in order - The German Xmas Market! We have a rather important date here with Ally, Steve and Elise just before C****mas so we just had to go and check that it was up to standard, can't possibly disappoint my BFF at Xmas time!

Oh it never disappoints! Emily was in her element with all the horse-type rides. First of all the rather fast carousel (so fast, no pics worked with the kids on it!):

Xan wasn't so keen on the speed of the carousel, so we found him something a little more age appropriate for a 4-year-old:

OK, so note to my daughter: it's age appropriae for a 4-YEAR-OLD, you're nearly 9 woman!

Must admit, we were highly amused, not exactly the equestrian rides you're used to eh Em?!

Next, on to what the German Market is all about...EATING! First up, the delicious hotdogs:

Go on girl! The rest of us were quite satisfied after the snitzels (sp?) for now but not my daughter, she insisted on a humungous pretzel to finish it off:

Yup, no denying she's my daughter eh?!

So, now even more excited about the market next month. Ally and co - keep those bellies empty, we got a lot of eating to do!

Never Forget

2010-11-14T14:11:00.000Z

Today is Remembrance Sunday and Emily has been on her first Brownie parade. She just missed the remembrance march last year as she didn't start Brownies until 4 days later so she was so happy to get to do it this year. We all got well wrapped up as it is freezing out there and headed up to the town centre to watch her. Xander was so excited to see Emily marching:

And Em and the girls took their duties very seriously in the parade:

The service was really moving as usual and I think it's great that we have a permanent memorial in our town:

After standing round in the cold for a long time the girls still did a great job marching back and saluting the mayor:

Well done Em, really proud of you on what is such an important day.

Bonfire Night Part Deux

2010-11-13T17:12:00.000Z

OK, so only took me a week to blog this! Been kind of hectic this week and I just didn't get round to it. So last Saturday we had bonfire night part 2 with Ally Steve and Elise. Rob had a lot to live up to but do you know what...nope, he came nowhere near to matching the big organised display from the night before! However, for £15 the garden fireworks weren't too bad:

Everyone seemed to enjoy it anyway:

Plus all the treats we had, especially the hot chocolate with whipped cream (and a little something extra for us mummies!):

Then we ventured inside to warm up and a Hungry Hippos tournament:

OK, so not very bonfire night-ish but after the 'hot chocolate with a kick', it seemed like a good idea!

So, that's it now until the dreaded C word (please note that word shall not be mentioned on the Garlics until there is a December on the calendar!). I can see Hungry Hippos making a return and I have it on good authority (from S**** himself) that there will be more 3+ games in certain stockings. Sandbags - you up for the challenge?!

Ooooooohh...Aaaaaaahh!

2010-11-06T09:59:00.000Z

Had a good bonfire night yesterday. We went with my mum up to the organised display up at the rugby club and, though we were disappointed with the 'entertainment' provided, we had a good time with friends. We met up with Amanda, Pete and the kids and Emily saw her friend Justine from school. It was a bit of a while waiting round for the fireworks but the kids entertained themselves:

Even though the rest of the event was disappointing, the actual fireworks display was fantastic. And must say I'm loving the fireworks setting on my camera!

The girls (who had also met up with their other friend Hannah) watched whilst trying to look cool as only 9-year-old girls can!

While Xander and Cameron avoided the girly stuff and watched the fireworks together at a safe distance (from both the fireworks and the girls!)

I think Xan's face says it all, they all had a great time!

More fireworks tonight. Ally, Steve and Elise are coming down and we're all relying on Rob's garden display to knock the socks off the rugby club's! No pressure Rob!

Harry Potty!

2010-11-01T08:59:00.004Z

So obviously it was Halloween yesterday and when you've got munchkins, you can't just turn off all the lights and hide upstairs from the trick or treaters (er, no, never used to do that, honest!). There seems to be a lot more made of Halloween these days so we embraced it and did a bit of decorating:

So the kids knew that they could come knocking at our door (for that read, I took the kids out and Rob had to answer the door to the little horrors!):

This was the first year Xander had really got what Halloween was, so after much debate in the middle of the costume aisle in Sainsburys (no Xander, Ben 10 isn't a scary Halloween monster!) we ended up making him a wizard costume. But obviously Xander being Xander, we had to bring it down a peg or 2. Harry Potty anyone?!

Emily went to town this year, managing to freak her daddy out by dressing up as one of his ex-girlfriends!

So, kids all dressed up and ready to go out and scare the neighbours:

This year we went around with Emily's friends Anna and Miranda. The girls looked gorgeous:

And Anna's little brother Count Tomula came along to keep Xander company:

Awww bless them, even my old 'I hate kids begging on doorsteps' self started to melt away.

So, that's over for another year. The kids now have enough sugar to last them til Easter egg time and we're now on official countdown to Bonfire night. Yay, parkin, pie and peas, bonfire toffee and fireworks!

We're Back!

2010-10-31T09:05:00.003Z

Finally, after what seemed like a decade, I have my pooter back! Hurray! Brand new hard drive is now installed and we're just going through the task of reloading all the program files. Luckily the PC guy managed to save all my photos and documents. Phew!

So, what's been happening? Well, Rob has gone back to work and is doing better. He's seeing the surgeon again in 2 weeks so hopefully we'll then find out if the 2nd op is going to be pre or post Xmas. Just in case it's pre I'm busy getting Xmas stuff done so I have December free for hospital visits, making him cups of tea etc etc. I have the majority of presents bought (and wrapped!) so we're making good progress. The kids have written to Santa! OK, so that's more to do with me not being able to keep up with 'I want that' in every advert break on kids' tv so needed to get this stuff written down than being organised.

I've finally got a job that I officially start this week. Already been in to do some cover work but don't properly start until Wednesday. So it's going to be all go round here!

The kids are the usual (won't elaborate on 'usual', they're doing my head in this morning!). We seem to hardly see Em with her hectic social life. Xander won Star Of The Week at school before half term and is loving going full days.

Right, better fly. Busy Sunday what with Halloween but hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with spooky pics!

Missed you all! x

Normal Service Shall Resume Shortly...

2010-10-10T19:19:00.004+01:00

We're having a few technical issues over here at the Garlics. In short, the computer's kaput! Off to see a man about a hard drive tomorrow but for now we'd like to apoloise for the loss of service and hope to resume normal bloging shortly...

For the Love of Paper!

2010-10-06T18:24:00.004+01:00

Been a bit of a naughty scrapbooker lately and, er, not really been scrapping! I'm afraid all things woolly/wooly (seriously, I have an English degree and still don't know how to spell it!) have taken over a bit, especially since I discovered the crochet, and my patterened papers have laid untouched for a few weeks. Plus, coming up to the colder weather, it's so much nicer sat with something warm and woolly/wooly on your knee infront of the telly than sitting in a cold dark conservatory with paper.

However, this last weekend, my house over at UKS, The Green Buttons, threw a little mini cyber crop to try and get everyone's scrapping mojo going again. I've always enjoyed the cyber crops before so, I got the conservatory heater fired up, stuck on some lights and dragged my bum in there. I'm so glad I did as there have been some lovely classes and I'm liking the results!

First up a pre-crop challenge to blow off the scrapping cobwebs. This was to scrap the end of summer. I just had to pick this song title, that always creeps into my head around September:

Another pre crop challenge was a sketch so I scrapped Em and Jet:

First class of the weekend involved some stitching. Usually I would pop over to my mum's and borrow the sewing machine but seeing as she was on a cruise ship at the time, I had to make do with punching holes and hand sewing. It took forever but I'm pleased with it, and I got to scrap one of my favourite recent pics:

Next was a great challenge to use up some of those scrap bits of paper we scrappers accumalate. Here's a pic of our very own PM in the making, Councillor Gillard:

Said Ms Gillard even had a go at this one herself:

About time for a boy layout me thinks. This challenge was to make a border out of a paper punch. This heart punch I used for my cousin's wedding invites last year and I like that it's a bit unconventional using hearts on a boy's page. It's also a classic pic that was just crying out to be scrapped:

A bit of a head scratcher next. A challenge to produce a LO incorporating string, a clock and the number 8 or 10 (there were logical reasons behind all these, wish have vacated my head now!). Took me a while to think about this but eventually did a page for the kids' birthday book:

And finally, a new one for me but I absolutely love it. It was to produce a mini canvas based around a birthday. I decided to do 2, one for each child. I think what I loved even more was, as it was a small canvas, I got to use up even more scraps and so only actually paid out for the basic canvasses, everything else was out of old kits:

I can see canvas projects being added to my 'things to craft' list!

There's a few more classes on there I'm going to save for future, but for now I'm happy that I've made my paper stash feel a little bit loved again so it doesn't start glaring at the box of wool across the craftroom floor!

Poor Cindy!

2010-10-04T09:29:00.002+01:00

It's not often we say that round here, Cindy's normally the one causing the trouble, but you had to feel sorry for her this weekend when she fell victim to a bored 4-year-old!

There she was, having a nice snooze on the sofa in the conservatory, when along comes said 4-year-old. "Hello little cat, look I've made you a hat"

"And what you need to do is wear the hat and see if it'll stay on while I drive my little yellow car at you"

"Hmmm, maybe you need help keeping it on, how about some sticky glue?"*

Hmmmm... Cindy can currently be found at the end of our drive with her suitcase!

* No cats were actually glued in the making of this blog post!

Councillor Gillard

2010-10-02T19:59:00.003+01:00

For all of you out there who bury your heads in your hands and cry out in despair at today's world leaders (er, probably all of us I think!) then do not fear. They might all talk out of their bottoms but I have hope for the future - there's been an election, there's been a landslide, and look who's taken their first step into politics:

May I present Councillor Gillard MP*, duly elected school council representative for Year 4! Bless that girl of mine, she won by a huge majority too: 30 kids up for it (ie the whole class!), all 30 kids got a vote and they stopped counting before the end as Emily had 18 votes! OK, so when asked why they'd voted for Emily most did say it's because she's loud and so will get heard, but hey, I've heard a lot worse reasons for being voted into politics.

1st on Emily's agenda - world hunger. She has started her campaign this morning, along with her campaign manager Master X Gillard, and arranged a press call in the kitchen as they queued for pancakes. Master X was even heard to utter 'please, can I have some more'!

I think she's got the makings of a politician yet. Solve world hunger by making sure she's alright Jack first!

Next on the campaign trail, foreign secretary here is going to try and end the war over the tv!

* more playtime

Tactile

2010-10-01T11:04:00.003+01:00

I was having a discussion the other day about normal scrapbooking versus digital scrapbooking. I've never tried digital and I don't think I ever would. My main reason is it's not tactile. A lot of us agreed that the reason we love crafting is that it is so tactile, there's all those textures which you just can't capture on screen.

It's been a very tactile week here. On Monday we took Xander on a little nature walk. He's changed his hours at school so he only goes Weds, Thur, Fri so he's at home all day Monday and Tuesday. As we get into Autumn it gets harder to come up with things to do so we took advantage of the dry weather and headed out into the woods. We collected leaves, acorns, conker shells and sticks so we could make patterns. When we got home we got out the paint and had loads of fun printing with all the things we had found:

I've also finally mastered the art of crocheting after many months of trying and I love it! Again, it is just so tactile, even more so than knitting. I finished this scarf this week out of this gorgeous wool:

I love the pattern, you just want to stroke it!

I also went on to crochet a big chunky scarf for Em. She loves this as it's so thick and the crochet stitches give it a lovely 'bumpy' feel:

So next time you hear us crafters talk about 'stroking' stash you can see why. I think we spend more time cooing about how lovely the stash is than actually using it!

Snuggly Stuff For Snuggly Girls

2010-09-27T11:37:00.003+01:00

So, my cousin Marie had barely announced she was pregnant and I was on t'internet scouring for baby patterns. I found one on Ravelry.com, bought some lovely soft baby wool and got knitting this blanket for little Ruby:

I tell you, babies are a knitter's dream! I had some wool left so I ran up a bunny (pattern courtesy of the other Marie!) that has now been named Ruby Rabbit!

So yesterday we went over to meet our latest addition and give her pressies. Look how snuggly she is with her blanket:

Strangely for a newborn, she did actually spend most of our visit awake:

And of course Auntie Lou got lots of cuddles with her fave bubba:

And the kids absolutely adore their new cousin:

Love that picture!

They're all doing so well. Matt and Marie were always going to be good parents but they've just slipped into parenthood so easily, it was a lovely thing to see their happy little family.

So Ruby likes Auntie Lou's woolly stuff so Auntie Lou is scouring that t'internet again!

More Rubies!

2010-09-26T08:52:00.002+01:00

It's all about the rubies round here this week. First we had the gorgeous new addition to our family and today it's my parents' ruby wedding anniversary (that's 40 years if like me you get confused with all these milestone anniversaries!).

They're off on a cruise round the Med at the mo so hopefully they're celebrating in style. Happy anniversary Mum and Dad and I promise no comments about just how any life sentences 40 years is! (ooops!)

Ruby Jane!

2010-09-24T10:34:00.004+01:00

Look who showed up yesterday:

May I introduce the beautiful little Ruby Jane! 7lb 12oz of truely scrumptious babyness!

She's the much longed for daughter of my cousin Matt and his lovely wife Marie and we're all so excited she's here! poor Marie went through 2 1/2 days of labour so we've all been on tenterhooks but I think this picture says it all:

Congratulations to Matt and Marie and hello to the latest member of our family, you've been a long time coming but you were so worth the wait!

Birthday Boy!

2010-09-19T08:40:00.003+01:00

Xander had a fab day yesterday. He got lots of presents (which we all love, 4-year-old boys just have the best toys!) and he absolutely loved his swimming party!
Thanks to everyone for the cards, presents and birthday messages!

4 Years Ago Today...

2010-09-17T21:50:00.001+01:00

...I looked like this: (Impressed much?!)

And the day ended like this:

...and early the next morning, the world changed! ;)

Birthdays with the NHS

2010-09-12T20:41:00.003+01:00

So, when deciding how to spend your birthday, not many people would automatically think of spending it in a hospital bed, but sometimes life doesn't exactly give you what you want.

Today was Rob's birthday and the poor guy had to spend it sat in hospital. So, we tried to make the day as good as possible and we can celebrate once he's home. He got lots of cards and presents so thanks to everyone who sent them in. Then this afternoon we went over there armed with presents and cake, picking up Zoe on the way who'd travelled 200 miles just to see her poorly bro on his birthday!

Fortunately, Rob seemed a lot better today (but that could have been the super dooper strong painkillers!) and was really happy to see the kids, especially Xan who he hadn't seen since his op on Wednesday.

So we all made the most of it and it was a lovely afternoon. We left Rob full of Starbucks doughnuts (yum, thanks Zo!) and with lots of good pressies to keep him occupied.

Happy birthday Rob! However, when we said we'd go away for your 40th, can we maybe come up with a different idea than your 38th?!

Louise Gillard BA (Bunny of Art!)

2010-09-07T09:04:00.003+01:00

Taken me a little while to get this knitting project done, but I love it now it's done. Back in May when I graduated, there happened to be an Alan Dart pattern in one of the knitting magazines for graduating bunnies. Alan comes up with great toy patterns (remember the tea set?) and I just loved this.

Finally yesterday I finished my very own graduating bunny:

Dressed in the same colours from when I graduated so we match!

I love her! At this rate if I start on another one I might just have it done by the time Em graduates!

Cool Blue

2010-09-05T19:01:00.002+01:00

On our way back from Viva las Cleethorpes on Wednesday we called off at The Deep in Hull. It's a really good place but my favourite part is the jellyfish, they just fascinate me how you can see right through them. I also love how the Deep display them in ultraviolet light and got some excellent pics:

Looks fab doesn't it?

Will Somebody Feed My Children?

2010-09-03T13:12:00.003+01:00

Because obviously I don't judging by these pictures.

While we were in Costa Del Cleethorpes, we went out to the club one night for the kids disco. Well, my two soon spotted the hotdog stand set up by the door and, even though they'd had a massive tea, soon started the puppy eyes. Now, Rob did buy them both one but I couldn't tell you what they looked like as they were gone!

Gimme food, grrrrrrrr:
Must...get...jaw...wider:

Go on Daddy, down in one:

I do feed them honest!

Shells By Sunset

2010-09-01T19:27:00.001+01:00

We've been away camping for a couple of days in Cleethorpes. I'm not even going to go into me and tents, but we did get some really good pictures so here are the first lot.

After tea on the first evening, we walked down to the beach. It was really windy and chilly but we timed it just right as the sun was just going down so it made for a lovely setting while we did some shell collecting!

Gremlins!

2010-08-28T20:08:00.004+01:00

Now, as you will probably know, we don't mind the odd pet around here, always have a cat or 2 on the go and we seem to adopt endangered species like nobody's business. But just of late, we seem to have some unwanted pets, these little critters:

It's the only explanation I can think of for the run of, ahem, blips we've had around this house lately. First of all, all year we've been getting power cuts due to the grill and the dishwasher, the pair of them just throw the whole fuse box out. Rob talked to a nice electrician and he said it was down to 'cack' on the elements. So, the grill is no longer used and I'm down on my hands and knees every couple of weeks scrubbing the dishwasher element to try and keep it clean enough to actually clean the dishes!

Then a couple of weeks ago the cooker hood went. It was a simple fuse that blew but where would the fun have been in just replacing the fuse? Of course it's blown the whole blooming thing so now we can't use the cooker hood and I have to open every door and window when cooking; fine for now but won't be so much fun in January!

And then the biggy, the boiler finally gave up 2 weeks ago. We've been expecting it for a while but when it finally went it managed to flood the whole bloody garage at the same time. So, a week of trailing to my sister's for a shower and boiling the kettle to wash up but finally we got a new state of the art boiler. They'd ruined the bathroom floor but we went to B&Q and bought a new one and Rob got set to laying it. OK, so all is now well...

...until Rob broke my coffee maker! Aaaarrrggghhhh! My one sanctuary in the world! TBH, you can't blame the poor guy for knocking the jug off, he was probably that frustrated with the house that Jack built that I suppose it's easily done. We email where we got it from to ask for a new jug, they no longer do it but we can contact the supplier direct and ask them to post one out...the supplier's in China!

So, we order a new coffee maker, and add some 'accidental damage' cover on it (it'll be our 4th coffee machine this year!). So, last night I feel all calm that our woes are over and go and take a nice warm bath in my lovely new hot water in the bathroom with my lovely new bathroom floor and dream about freshly brewed coffee again...

Drip...drip...drip...

"Rob!" calls I, "could you just pop in here, I'm sure I can hear dripping."

In comes Rob, opens the bathroom cupboard where we are greeted by a new, 1 week old boiler water fall! WTF?!!!!! Out of the bath jumps I and grabs any towel I can find "Save the floor, save the floor" yells Rob as he runs down the stairs to phone the plumber.

So, 10.30 on a Friday night big plumber bossman comes out to take a look:

"Well, I've got some good news, and I've got some bad news" says he.

"Oh f***ety f*** f*** f***!" thinks I.

"You have got water...cold water...but there's a fault on the boiler and we need the manufacturers out...who aren't open on weekends...or Bank Holidays".

Oh deep joy! Could it have happened 24 hours earlier? Oh no, like I said, no fun in that! So for the second time in a fortnight, we're back to boiling kettles blah blah blah!

But, not one to be brought down, I decided to take my mind of the little gremlins and relax with a spot of crafting. I need to do birthday cards for a couple of Xander's friends so I decide to do some name cards. I type out the names, switch on my lovely pink Craft Robo, press the button to load the paper...and nothing...nada...diddly squat! I did what you should do with all high tech gadgets: I turned it off, turned it back on again; I called Rob in, he turned it off, turned it back on again. Nothing!

AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

So if anyone sees the little gits after midnight, shove a pork pie in their gobs will you and rid me from all this madness!

Crafting - A Rainy Day Life Saver!

2010-08-26T15:31:00.004+01:00

Now as you know, I love any excuse to craft! But this 'summer' I've found it an absolute life saver aswell.

This summer's weather has been dreadful. All the planned 'let's get the paddling pool out and spend the day in the garden' has gone well and truely out the window. I am clinging to the hope that it's all saving itself for a mini heatwave next week when we're under canvas yet again on the East coast! However, there's only so much you can do indoors when the weather's like this and, although Xander would happily play on the Wii all day, there's a little motherly concious saying I can't really allow that.

So, we've been having a bit of a craft at ours when the weather's been bad. We'd collected a big old bag of stash before the hols so we could just pick a project and go:

The other day, Xander's little buddy Izaak came round for a playdate. It was a typical blooming grey day so no chance of chucking them out in the garden, so after a few rounds of Mario Kart and Garfield The Movie, I decided to get the crafty bag out. The boys had great fun:

And they both came away with a super dooper space rocket!

Another use for crafting on a rainy day: when Alvin & The Blinking Chipmunks is on the tv for the 375th time, sometimes it's good to go and lock yourself in your craftroom to stop your ears from bleeding! As my son has the attention span of a flea, I've used the time to try and finish off some project in my Work In Progress pile (for that read, Started It Then Got Distracted By Something More Shiny pile!). This little project is so simple and yet looks fab (now I've finally finished it!). It's a little kit Kirsty bought us all at the retreat, just some chipboard shapes but a bit of paper, ink, ribbon and gloss later and ta-da!

A nice little decoration for my hall to welcome in my visitors (well, those of you that dare venture into Chez Gillard!). We had Rob's mum come to stay for a couple of days this week and I was so pleased with mine that I made her one too:

So, the end of the holidays is upon us so I may have to pack up the craft stash bag, but watch this space around the Christmas Holidays for what we can come up with from a loo roll and a bit of tinsel! ;)

Apprentice

2010-08-23T16:31:00.004+01:00

It's been a stay-at-home weekend round here, mainly because we had so much to do. As many of you know, we had a boiler explode on us last week, so all week we've had the plumbers in which meant this weekend we had to clear up the mess!

First and main job was to sort out the bathroom floor, which was completely ruined with all the muck, soldering, rusty water tank water etc. So, we decided on a nice laminate one (easy to mop up after a nearly 4-year-old with poor aim!). Saturday Rob had the unenviable task of lifting the old tiles which apparently must have been superglued down by the previous owners (we tend to come across that a lot round here, along with dodgy paint colours!). Sunday Rob laid the knew floor. Big job laying a new floor so he hired himself an apprentice:

This apprentice even brought his own tools for the job:

"Now what you do is you line it up like so":

"And then you give it a good whack like this":

(LOL, love how he's even practicing the builders bum!).

Now the floor is laid and looks lovely. Only trouble is it makes the rest of the old bathroom look tatty now!

While the boys were doing boy stuff, me and Em did a bit of crafting. I'd promised to make a few of her friends some Fimo fairies, so got those done:

And then found myself with a little apprentice of my own when Em asked me to teach her how to do them. This is her first attempt, a fairy for mummy:

Bless! I think she did really well and this fairy now lives in my craft room!

On other crafty news, I've been preparing for winter (can you blame me with the weather we're having lately?!). After knitting Emily's now nationally famous hat I decided to do Xander one too...then got a bit carried away with a scarf...and then some mittens (OK, so he asked for gloves but that's far too many fingers to keep count of, so mittens he got!):

I think it may be a sure sign he likes them as I've struggled to get them off him today:

So there we go, our little apprentices. Just wondering what jobs we can find for them next. Child labour? Well, times are hard at the moment, the economy needs to recover some how! ;)

My Other Little Boy

2010-08-21T08:00:00.005+01:00

Today's post is dedicated to a very special boy in my life. I was laid in bed this morning with a cup of tea watching the news, when this little fella comes up for a snuggle:

He does it all the time, the second I get in to bed so does he! I love that about him and got to thinking about what a special unassuming creature he is.

Poor Salem (we say that a lot round here!), he hasn't had the easiest time. Rob found him in a carpark 10 years ago, he was only 8 weeks old. He brought him home and we rang the RSPCA to come and get him. They wouldn't as it was in the middle of all the fuel strikes, when we asked what we should do they said 'put him back where you found him', have never forgiven them for that. There was no way we were going to do that so we kept him at home and put up posters around where he was found. A week later, nothing. I wasn't surprised, Salem didn't look very well looked after and he smelt of dirt.

Now, at this stage we had 2 other cats, one being a very dominant tom (a lot of you will remember Tico, in fact most probably still have the scars!) so a 3rd cat was difficult, but we just couldn't not keep him. We named him Salem after this:

LOL, loved that cat! Unfortunately our Salem didn't talk but maybe that's a good thing as I don't know I'd want to know what he said about his life thereafter:

First of all he had to put up with Tico. Tico was the most beautiful cat you'd ever seen but he knew it and he was also vicious (the vets used to use those birds of prey gloves when we took him down!). Then a couple of years later we brought this home:

'What on earth's that noise!' and 12 months later 'Stop pulling my tail!'.

And then to add insult to injury, 4 1/2 years later we brought home another screaming, tail pulling thing! I half expected to see poor Salem at the end of the drive, with a little spotted handerkerchief on a stick flung over his shoulder!

Oh but we'd not finished there! By this stage unfortunately Tico had died. So, 6 months after Xander was born I had the bright idea that Salem was lonely and obviously missed being tormented on a daily basis, so we went out and got this:

Oh yes, she's all cute and fluffy and innocent until she's hiding behind a sofa ready to leap out and pin you down by the scruff of the neck (for god sake Salem, just clawk her one and have done with it!).

Yup, poor Salem hasn't had the easiest ride. But I think he's finally settling down a bit into his old age. Like I say, he likes coming and cuddling his mum, normally when I'm reading my book (which means it's quiet!) and he's started venturing into Emily's room for a cuddle too, now she can control her hands and doesn't automatically pull out lumps of fur every time she goes near him! He can still run like an Olympic sprinter though when he claps eyes on Xander, but hopefully that will come when Xander realises that Salem doesn't need shooting by a Ben 10 alien!

So, this post goes out to my other little boy. He's the one bit of quiet in this house and I'm grateful he's stuck around for the past decade even with everything we've put him through!

Destined For Greatness

2010-08-14T11:17:00.004+01:00

Now, I know everyone thinks their kids are wonderful and will do amazing things in their lives. I'm certainly no different there! There's just something about Emily where I know she ain't going to do anything, shall we say quiet. Can you really see her as a librarian (which is ironic as that is one of my prospective career choices!). One thing about my girl, she does go all out and I know that whatever she ends up doing, we'll all have to know about it!

This week, there has been lots of Emilyness going on around here. First of all, she's become famous nationally (well, sort of, if you're impressed by wooly stuff!). If you get down to your local newsagents, look out for this:

I was going to say buy it, but at £4.99 it's a bit of a stretch for knitters, never mind anyone else, I'll save you the fiver right here. Last month, I bought this as it had free wool and a free pattern for a hat. I'd pay a fiver for a hat so was more than willing to hand over Rob's hard earned cash! So, you may remember this post. So chuffed was I with said hat that I emailed the magazine with a picture...which they only blooming well went and printed in this month's mag!

I've never been published before! 6.50am yesterday morning I was out hunting down a copy so when Em got up she could see her beaming face in print!

Now, Em being Em obviously didn't let this bit of fame go to her head....NOT! Beware coming round our house in the next few weeks for fear of suffocation by knitting mag glued to your nose!

In other Emily related news, we've sadly had to say goodbye to Dolly:

Don't worry, Dolly's fine and tucked up in her stable, it's just Em got too big for her and so we had to move on. This morning, she got her first go on her big horse Jet:

Unfortunately I couldn't go as a certain young man was in a silly mood, and silly moods around grumpy horses first thing on a morning ain't a good combination. I was so disappointed but Rob took the camera and got some great shots. Apparently Jet is lovely and so I'm looking forward to meeting her next week.

Next pic, go on, what theme tune's going through your head?!

(Apologies to any non-UK blog readers as you won't have a clue what I'm on about, but I bet everyone born before 1980 in the UK's got it!).

She is amazing on a horse. So much so that we've started considering where she could go with it. I'm not talking Olympics or anything, but there may be some dressage in her future as a little part-time thing. She just has that natural stance with a horse and can control them so well; you only need to look at her posture to see she's a natural.

She couldn't do it full-time anywhay, it would interfere with her career as a wooly hat model! :P

Are you impressed? No, not with Emily, with the fact that it's half way through the school holidays and I can still say nice things about my children! ;).

Mighty Oaks From Little Acorns Grow

2010-08-09T06:24:00.004+01:00

That saying seems so apt at the moment. There's been a lot of comments about how much the kids are suddenly growing in the past couple of weeks. Em positively looks like a teenager with her new hair-do:

You see how she's working on that teenage look?!

And as for Xander, well he's going through that transition from toddlerhood to boyhood now. A baby no more, sniff!

Anyway, in a growing kind of theme, we've also been busy making other things grow in the past few months. Now, green fingered I ain't; I look at plants and they shrivel and die! But we've been working hard this year at growing a few things and the kids have got really involved. Back in March/April, they got some of those little 'Grow Your Own' seed kits and we set about planting the seeds. They sat on our windowsill until they were a few inches high and we planted them out in the garden:

OK, this is where my lack of plant skills came in and I let Rob take over! The kids had put too much in for evil garden woman to destroy all the seedlings! So, once they'd grown a bit more Rob got them in the ground and made sure they were watered.

Lo and behold, a couple of weeks ago we had this! The green beans were whoppers!

OK, exciting bit now, so me and Xander went out there and picked some for fear of a beanstalk growing and giants coming down to find our golden egss!

And, this is what I love, Xander won't touch a green bean bought from a shop...but he blooming well will if he's grown it himself!

Bonus! Cheap organic veg that the kids will eat!

Watch this space for potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries and, sniff, still ever growing munchkins!

Fimo Fun!

2010-08-07T11:42:00.003+01:00

Following my new found love of Fimo, I've been doing a little more experimenting. So may I present....FIMO SLASH!!!!!!

Happy Camping!

2010-08-05T07:50:00.004+01:00

You may remember this post from a couple of months back. Well, we had a night away in June to give the tent a trial run, then this week we've been away properly.

OK, so when it comes to tents 'happy camping' may be a bit strong. I'm never going to be a 'material as walls' kind of girl, call me strange but I like bricks! But, it was a means to an end so we packed up on Monday and headed off over to the East coast.

Now, I do love it over there, it is beautiful. I spent many summer holidays over there as a kid:

The beauty of a tent is it's up and you're in within an hour. Even just an hour with a 3-year-old's 'can I get in yet, can I get in yet?'! Eventually we let him in to test out the air beds:

We went for a look around the site, went for a swim and then went back to the tent for a proper camp tea cooked on our new shiny camping stoves:

Camping fajitas eaten in the tent on our new camping table, not bad:

We then took the kids down to the 'entertainment' for the night. Em got all dressed up for the disco:

While Xander spent the night on the dancefloor joining in with all the games and dancing:

Me and Rob found a table and grinned and bared the constant repeats of 'A Pizza Hut, a Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut'!

Early doors for us Gillards, we put Xander to bed then me and Em did a bit of tent knitting in the dark:

The next morning, we headed off to Filey for the day. After a brew on the seafront it was down to the beach for the obligatory sand castle building:

And beach posing by both Xan:

And Em:

Then it was time for a beach picnic (if only for Rob to use the gag 'sand-wiches' constantly!):

Love Filey! We were shattered when we got back to the tent as we'd walked miles and had lots of good old sea air! An early night for us (well, as early as fellow drunk campers will allow, not much sound proofing in canvas! Thank god for earplugs!).

We woke up to rain the next morning but were still determined to make the most of the day, so headed to Scarborough. First up, fish and chips by the sea; it's a seaside must! OK, so what if it was freezing and raining, we couldn't not:

They were deeeeelicious! Why do fish n chips always taste so much better by the sea?

After a wander on the front, we headed down to the beach so Xander could have his first ever donkey ride:

He loved it and said it was very bumpy!

A quick walk along the beach:

And then the cold got the better of us and we headed back to the campsite for a bit of campfire cooking then to pack the tent up. We were supposed to stay an extra night but we'd been so cold the night before that we decided we wanted our own beds (plus not being woken at 1am by the camps 'revellers' returning from the club!).

So verdict? Well, Antigua it ain't! PlusI ain't ever going to be a camper, I like not having to put my trainers on when I want a wee! But for a couple of nights it's OK, it's fun for the kids and it's quite cool cooking outdoors. The days out were great though, the East coast has such great seaside towns, so the odd weekend here and there in our 'holiday home' would be good. Maybe not a fortnight though eh? 14 nights of that air bed and communal washing up just ain't happening!

A Really Useful Day Out!

2010-07-26T15:57:00.003+01:00

Xander and I have had a lovely day today: we've been to see the one and only Thomas!

I didn't actually tell Xander who he was going to see, just that he had to meet someone very special. Bless him, even when we got there and sat in the cafe with the Thomas tablecloths and flags and posters he didn't click. Then we went outside to find this guy all ready to open up the railway:

Suddenly the penny began dropping. Then I told him to look down the track towards the sheds: Yup, penny well and truely dropped now!

We got to have a ride on Thomas to the next station, which was so exciting, especially when he 'peep-peep'd'!

Once we got back, Xander got to give Thomas a drink of water and got given a certificate by the Fat Controller to say he'd been a helpful engineer today!

He also had a look in the cab to see how Thomas worked:

Just then, we met up with Xander's friend Kyran, who was riding on the train that afternoon:

After lunch it started to rain, so we went inside and got Xander's face painted. He's never had his face painted before so I did have to assist by holding his head in a vice-like grip, but it turned out fab:

However, face paint doesn't mix very well with rain (especially when you've been riding round trains in downpours) and a very Thomas'd out boy rubbing tired eyes:

But, despite the rain we had an excellent day and would recommend it to anyone who has a little Thomas fan in the house!

Why Are Pirates Called Pirates?

2010-07-23T13:59:00.003+01:00

Because they AAAAAARRRRRR!!!!! ~ Joke courtesy of Annabel Davidson 2006 (Age 2)

LOL, love that joke!

Today is last day of term and, gulp, the school year. Deep breath mothers, we can get through this together! Anyway, for the last day, Xander's class were having a pirate party and so they were asked to dress up as pirates. 'Don't go and buy anything especially' they say. Er, yes, because little boys just have skull headscraves and cutlasses in their wardrobe. So, me and Xan went shopping the other day; couldn't believe how hard it was to find a pirate costume! Doesn't every boy want to be a pirate? Anyhoo, finally we found one and so a very excited Xander got all dressed up before school today:

So so so so so cute!

And, this is what I'm loving about Xander now, he has little pirate friends. First of all Pirate Sean turned up:

Pirate Sean is coming for lunch and to play next week, as if you've had a conversation with Xander lately you will know as it's ALL he talks about!

And then, in comes me old hearty Pirate Izaak:

Not sure if Izaak's mum knows what has happened at the school childcare but I zaak seems to be sporting a hook instead of a hand. Izaak and Xander are going to see Toy Story 3 together in the holidays. Bless, my little pirate boy is getting all grown up! ***SNIFF****

Right, now have to fly and pick up me old hearty after ye sugar and ye E numbers. Who'll be the first to walk ye plank?!

Pages From The Weekend and a New Favourite

2010-07-19T17:19:00.004+01:00

As promised, here's the finished layouts from the retreat this weekend. First of all I scrapped the pic of me, Joolz, Ann and Ally from our BBQ a couple of weeks ago, using this month's kit:

Then a couple of pages using June's kit which consisted of some gorgeous welly and umbrella papers:

The 2nd one of these I incorporated into a challenge set by Ali yesterday. We'd all been coveting a lovely LO she'd done with a patchwork loveheart. So she challenged us all to do a LO with a patchwork shape and 1 photo on. We put them all to a vote and woohoo, I came 2nd!

Next up a LO using some jungle papers that were on sale last week when I went to the craft shop. Ideal for scrapping the Elephant Parade we saw when we were down in London last month:

Now, I started another couple of LOs, but got side tracked by a brand new project (and nope, it wasn't the wine, though there was a bit of side tracking on that front! ;)). Kirsty has been making little Fimo fairies and we were all admiring them at the last crop. So this weekend she brought her box of Fimo for a quick lesson. OMG, I am addicted! First of all, I got all pre-planning and made a couple of models for Xmas: here's Santa and Mrs Claus:

That was all I intended to make but once I'd done them, I couldn't stop! So, I made a fairy for Em and a pirate for Xander:

How blooming cute?! They only stand about 1 1/2" high and I can't believe that I managed to do something so fiddly with my big man hands! And best of all, the wonderful Kirsty gave me some Fimo to bring home so I can do some more.

So, have a couple of LOs to finish and I can see a couple more fairies popping onto the blog before the week is out! ;)

And....Relax!

2010-07-18T21:13:00.002+01:00

I've had the most fantastic weekend!

On Friday, I dropped Xander at school and headed off to the Dales on my first ever scrapbooking retreat. It was for the girls at my local crop but as I've only been going for just over a year it's the first chance I've had to go. It's also the first weekend I've had away on my own in nearly 5 years, so I was SO looking forward to it.

Our crop leader Kirsty organised it and not only did a superb job, but also surprised us with treats on our beds and little crafty kits. She's one in a million that girl!

We got stuck in straight away to some scrapping and it's been non-stop crafting all weekend. It's also been lots of naughty food, wine, chatting and cheek aching laughter!

TBH, I've not really done as much as I could have probably got done with 48 hours of pure scrapbooking time, but who cares?! I've had a lovely chilled weekend with no 5am alarm calls, no 'Muuuuum, he just hit me!' etc etc!

Most are still there crafting away until tomorrow but I did come home today. It was lovely having a break from the kids but it was also lovely coming home to them, I really really missed them but feel all the better for having some quality mummy time.

I'll photograph and upload the stuff I did later, which includes my new craft obsession that Kirsty taught me; but for now here's a pic of me and all the fabulous girls that made my weekend so special!

Wooly Stuff For Special Girls!

2010-07-15T11:05:00.003+01:00

We've not had a knitting post for a while. It's not that I've not been knitting, it's just what I've been doing couldn't be posted until recipients had recieved!

Yesterday was my friend Lauren's little girl Abi's 2nd birthday. I miss them all so much since they moved back to South Africa and was sad I wouldn't get to see Abi on the day, so decided to make her something special instead.

I just fell in love with this Alan Dart tea set pattern when I saw it:

How unbelievably cute is that?! I especially loves the jam tarts! Anyway, Abi very cleverly text me yesterday to say the tea set had reached SA and she'd had fun playing with it.

Then the other day I treated myself to a knitting magazine as I spied free wool on the cover. Coincidentally, it also had on a pattern for a hat to make with the wool, right on the day I'd been thinking 'I should knit the kids hats this winter'. An omen me thinks.

I've loved doing this and it's incorporated so many firsts for me: 1st time I've knitted a hat, 1st time doing a lacy pattern and 1st time I've actually conquered my crafting nemesis, crochet! Em's really pleased with it too:

Next: graduating bunnies! Yup, you heard me right!

Strawberry Fields Forever

2010-07-12T10:22:00.002+01:00

I sometimes think about changing the name of this place to Procrastination House. We're rubbish the lot of us!

We've lived here nearly 8 years now, and every June we drive past the farm up the road and see the sign saying 'Strawberries Ready Late June'. 'Oooh,' we say, 'we should go and do that'. Late June comes and the sign changes to 'Strawberries Ready'. 'Must remember to go and do that' says we...and the week after...and the week after...It then gets to late July and the sign changes to 'Strawberry Picking Now Closed'. 'Awwww,' says we, 'we should have done that'!

However, yesterday something changed, there must have been something in the air or the water but we actually got in the car and drove the whole 2 miles up there! As we got out of the car the smell was amazing! We got our basket and spent a happy 15 minutes hunting out the biggest juciest ones we could find:

Emily got right in there, making sure no berry went unpicked:

Xander was a little unsure at actually pulling the strawberries, but he hunted them out well and so Mummy picked them and gave them to him to put in the basket:

Soon we had a healthy harvest:

Rob was mildly panicked by how many we'd managed to pick in the whole 15 minutes we'd been there, 'I've only got £20 on me'. However, got them weighed and it was a whole £6.98, bargain! Bet you couldn't get 2kg of strawberries in Tesco for that!

So, home they went, got them washed and after tea we had them with ice cream; well except Xander who licked one and swore they were yucky! We've had strawberries for breakfast and Em's begged for them as an after school snack, plus we'll have to have them after tea. And, they are DELICIOUS!

So, got the kids outside for some fresh air, got cheap food, got 3 out of 4 of us to eat healthy treats and found something that is within a 3-year-old's 15 minute attention span!

Why did we put it off so long again?

On Your Marks, Get Set....

2010-07-09T11:17:00.002+01:00

There's nothing like being a mum, especially when it comes to beating other mums to stuff for your kids apparently!

When Em was approaching school age, I tried to get her into swimming lessons at the local leisure centre, only to be told that there was over a year's waiting list. In the end we never bothered and just took her ourselves. However, it's a bit harder finding things for boys to do at an early age so, when I heard that the newly opened leisure centre was doing enrolments today for swimming lessons, I thought I'd get down there and sign him up.

Now, the new centre has proven very busy since it opened, so as enrolment started at 8 I thought I'd get there for then as it may get too busy later. 7.50 me and Xander pulled into the carpark and there were cars parked up on pavements, on grass banks etc; however someone was just leaving so we got a space so thought we may aswell go in.

The entrance hall resembled this:

O...M...G!!! Oh well, I'd already filled in the form so I joined the queue to get a raffle ticket and wait for my number to be called. As I approached the front I saw a mum from Xander's class.
'Oh, did you get her in?' I enquire.
'Yes, just done it'. OK, so maybe things are moving quickly.
'Yes' says she' was here at 5.30 queuing'
'Er, excuse me?'
'Oh yes, took the day off work just in case'

Ahem. Now, I do want Xander to have a hobby, but getting up at the crack of sparrow fart and then queuing for 2 1/2 hours?

By this time I'd got to the front, it was 7.58.
'Hi' says I, 'I have my form all filled in, just need a number'
'I'm sorry' says she 'all places are now filled, he'll be put on the waiting list and we'll ring you when places become available again'.

Luckily, a pushy mum I ain't so me and Xan just shrugged our shoulders and set off to Morrisons to buy some things to make muffins (luckily, my son is very fickle and the he soon got over the lack of swimming with the idea of baking!). But, as we walked past the 100 or so people who'd turned up in the queue in the 10 minutes we'd been there, you could hear the news filtering down, and the faces getting angrier and we hot footed it out of there before the riot police turned up!

I swear there'll be repercussions in the playground today. May turn up in dark glasses and a hat; we're number 4 on the waiting list, I don't want to run into numbers 5, 6 and 7!

The Flump Cloud

2010-07-08T16:05:00.003+01:00

So, this morning I decided I needed to tackle the ironing pile. If I put it off any longer I was in danger of Ranulph Fiennes trying to scale it!

Aha, but how to entertain the munchkin whilst I decrumpled the Gillard family? So, I took Xander over to the dvd cupboard:
'How about Jurassic Park Xan? Look big dinosaurs'
'Nope' replied his highness 'I seen it'.
'OK, what about Charlie & the Chocolate factory?'
'Nope, seen it!'
'OK, which then?'
'This one' he's pointing to Fight Club...
'Er, maybe not.'
'OK, this one'
'The Flumps?'
'Yes, I like that one' (note, child has never heard of a Flump, never mind seen the dvd).

Now, any self respecting child of the Seventies can not deny their child the right to a good old Flump episode. I loved the Flumps and used to sit every lunchtime with my Heinz tomato soup (with cut up bits of bread in) and watch it:

LOL, love that theme tune, an all time classic!

And low and behold, what episode does he pick? Only my favourite ever:

The Cloud! That was the one I always remember and often comment that I feel like Perkin with a great big cloud following him round all day!

Tomorrow? I'm between Trumpton, Chorlton & the Wheelies and Jamie & the Magic Torch.

OK, off to grow up now!

The Book Club

2010-07-06T16:07:00.005+01:00

Remember last week I was discussing my love of books? Well, I finished the Louis Drax book last night and it was fantastic, such a page turner. I'd definately recommend it to anyone.

I got to thinking about some of the books I'd enjoyed lately and remembered this post by my blog friend Kim at the beginning of the year. I loved that she did a list of her favourite books. Since then, I've read 2 off the list (one I'd already read) and really enjoyed them and have just ordered another one from Amazon.

Anyhoo, I thought it may be a good idea to do as Kim did and list some of my favourite books. I always find recommendations are so much better than reviews! So here's some that I can remember:

Behind The Scenes At The Museum by Kate Atkinson - full of wit and humour and a brilliant main character. I love Kate Atkinson stuff anyway but this has to be my favourite and I must read it again soon!

The Ship Of Brides by Jojo Moyes - I loved this book so much that I bought it for both my mum and mother-in-law for Christmas. A story about a ship crossing from Australia to England post war, containing women that had married English service men who had been stationed in Australia. I've read everything else Jojo Moyes has done since and her novels are fantastic, but this will always be my favourite.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - There are so many emotions you go through with this book but that is the appeal of it, you get so involved that it's a bit of a rollercoaster. It's the story of a Jewish girl in Nazi Germany and all the things a child had to go through at that time. A brilliant story but also a big eye opener about what the Jews went through.

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters - I think this was the book that made me love WW2 fiction. The story of what it was like to go through the bombing raids in London in WW2. Beautifully written with great characters.

We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver - A shocking and controversial book about a school shooting. If you have kids it will scare the cr*p out of you but is probably also a must read. A jaw dropping ending too.

Notes From An Exhibition by Patrick Gale - I so related to the character in this. An artistic woman that is struggling with all the emotions in life. I loved how Gale unravels the tale bit by bit to keep you guessing.

Random Acts Of Heroic Love by Danny Schienmann - Not some chick lit book like it may sound. It follows the stories of 2 men, one has just lost his girlfriend in a bus crash and is struggling to come to terms with it; the other is a soldier in WW2 (you see, that war obsession again!) who is thinking of his love back home and what he'd do to see her again. The story is amazing, then you read the author's notes at the end and you realise just how extraordinary it is.

Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes - I read this for my English GCSE and it's been one of my all time favourites ever since. It tells the story of a scientific experiment performed on a retarded man to make him intelligent. What I love is it's told by the man himself and is written how you'd expect him to write so can be quite challenging at first (think about trying to read a young kids work with all that phonetic spelling!), but as the experiment takes place the writing becomes better and finally quite academic. Brilliantly written!

And for a bit of fun:

The Dirt by Neil Strauss - The official biography of Motley Crue, brilliant if you're a fan but such a good read to non-fans who ever wondered whether all those rock star stories were true. Shocking and not for the easily offended but I've reread it a few times, just to check I wasn't seeing things first time round!

Mort by Terry Prachett - Reread this recently and still loved it! The character of Death has to be one of the best and funniest characters ever written!

Right, that's it for now (until I suddenly remember more!). Let me know if you've read anything you think I'll enjoy, always on the look out for a new read! Oh and thanks Kim for the blog inspiration on this one!

Counting Your Blessings - Part 4

2010-07-04T15:49:00.003+01:00

Do you know, I've had a crappy day! The apple of my eye, favourite man in my life has been a little sod and I'm stuck in the house on my own on a day that should be for rest and he's driven me crazy! So, for our final count your blessing, I thought it would be important (and good for my sanity!) to do an offspring based post.

There may be those that disagree, but I do think that being a mother has to be one of the hardest jobs in the world. I don't think it matters whether you go out to work or stay at home with them, I've done both and both sides are equally as difficult. It's a 24/7 payless, no holidays (OK, you can physically go on holiday, but your job goes with you for 18 years running!) career and the clients are whiny, temperamental and a lot of the time, unappreciative.

So why on earth do people keep doing it? Why has the population not ground to a halt? I know everyone else goes through it as I have other mothers out there who talk me down when the kids are driving me up the wall (like the other mother of a 3 year old who has listened to me text whinge all day! You know who you are! ;))

Well, this week I've had one of the perks of the job. OK, it ain't free gym membership, private health cover (LOL, like any company would ever give me that anyway), a Christmas bonus etc, but there's not much that can beat motherly pride! Whilst my youngest has spent the week polishing his horns and forked tail with pride, my eldest has been busy putting a smile on mummy and daddy's faces.

Last Saturday, Emily finally got enrolled at Brownies - she was ecstatic. I'm not sure what it's like at other brownie packs, but Emily's Brown Owl makes you work for your enrolment. So Em has done her homework every week and been practising the Brownie promise until she's saying it in her sleep. The only down side was they did it on a Brownie trip so we couldn't go and see her, but she got enrolled on a steam train which is much cooler than a church hall! However, I did have an hour or 2 afterwards of mummy pride sewing all her badges on her sash:

Then this week, we got Emily's school report home. Every year it's the same, we sit back with a huge sigh of relief that we seem to have done it right. Her marks are very good, but the main thing is the comments about her hard work and enthusiasm. I could deal with poorer marks as long as she was trying her damndest but we're so lucky that the marks are there too.

Then yesterday we had one of those 'first letting go' moments with her. It was so weird, Rob and I were discussing the school holidays and I was saying I was considering letting her start and call for her friend Shiwone who lives round the corner. Emily's now 8 1/2 and we need to start with just a bit of freedom. Low and behold, yesterday teatime there's a knock at the door and there's stood Shiwone "Can Emily play out?". Doo doo doo do! So, we said Shiwone could come and play in the back garden but she had to phone her mum to say she was staying for a while. But the phone was engaged so the girls asked if they could walk round and let her mum know...ON THEIR OWN!!! Luckily I'd just made a cocktail so, big gulp and I said yes before I could think about it! Longest 5 minutes of my life!!! But, back they came and I just knew they'd been sensible (crossed the roads in the safe places, not stopped to chat etc etc), mummy pride yet again!

So, today I'm thankful for those proud moments where you think "Ah, so that's why I had them"!

The boy? Well, anyone who has had a 3 year old boy will know they're a breed unto themselves so he's a work in progress until we manage to find the instruction manual on eBay! But, he has his moments and hopefully he'll be giving the girl a run for her money soon!

Counting Your Blessings - Part 3

2010-07-01T21:02:00.002+01:00

Today, we are being thankful for literature, or more specifically FREE literature (or at least very cheap!).

I was sat in bed last night with my latest book which I just love (you know the kind when you're really angry with yourself for letting your eyes droop 3 pages before the end of the chapter? In fact, you actually resent sleep on the whole as that's 8 hours you can't read!),

and was thinking how great it was that, in this world where you get nothing for free, you can still read books FOR FREE! And actually, unless the only book shop within 100 miles is WH Smiths you can actually buy books pretty cheaply, especially if you live in a town like I do where every other shop is a charity shop.Even if you do pay WHS prices, when you think of pence per hour of entertainment, even that's cheap.

So today I am counting the blessing that I can indulge in something that I love for very little outlay. I am also keeping everything crossed that, after last week's budget, my local library stays free for a long time to come!

Counting Your Blessings - Part 2

2010-06-30T16:26:00.004+01:00

Today we are thanking whoever it was that invented the good old scanner. Without which I would not have had hours of fun the other night looking through 20-year-old photos, then scanning them and uploading to Facebook!

I don't care whatever anyone says, I loved how I looked back as a teenager and I'm thankful I had the stubborness to pursue it no matter what anyone said! I showed Emily these pics and she said 'Wow Mum, you looked cool. Can I dress like that when I'm 16?'. That's all the approval I need!

So today's blessing counting is for the ability to stick to your guns and the technology to relive it 20 years on!

Counting Your Blessings - Part 1

2010-06-28T10:15:00.003+01:00

You know, we live in a crap world at the moment. The whole economy's gone down the pan and we're all going to be on bread and water soon, there's oil gushing out into the sea and they don't seem to be able to stop it, we've still got soldiers dying over in Afghanistan, and for god's sake we have bloody Jordan!

However, this week the Garlics is going to cheer everyone up by looking at the good things in life. No matter how bad things get we all have positives, things that make life worth living, so this week we're going to blooming well celebrate them!

Now, I wasn't exactly on the ball when they were dishing things out 36 years ago. Back of the queue for finances, slept in for health and got the complete wrong day for flat stomachs! However, I think I must have been bright and breezy and up at the crack of dawn when they dished out friends.

Obviously, the most important thing in anyone's life is family, nothing beats that. But family is the sort of unconditional love where you get stuck with each other warts and all. Friends takes a lot of work. So why do we bother? Well, to me, friends is what makes me work, they are my sanctuary, my salvation, what ultimately makes me me. When the kids are driving me up the wall, I NEED to get on the email to Marie and scream, my sanity depends on it! And when I'm feeling old I need to go to Ally Andbag's, have a glass of wine and dance around her living room to some good old 80s Lita Ford, remembering my youth! Friends make you function as a human being.

I'm so fortunate with my friends, I have quite a few. I've met them in various situations: through my kids, from years ago when I went out clubbing, from being fat! Something can just click in any situation and they get stuck with me for life!

Yesterday I had a group of friends round for a BBQ. These are the girls I used to work with at a company I left 6 years ago now. However, amidst all those 'oh yes, keep in touch won't you's that you get when you move on that never happen, these girls and I have stuck. It takes effort yes, we all now work in completely different places and had big changes in situation, but we still get together because we want to see each other, because we work well together.

So todays's blog is dedicated to all my wonderful friends. Thank you all for being part of my life and making me me!

Steward's Enquiry!

2010-06-18T08:34:00.003+01:00

Well, you've got to love a tryer in life, and my son certainly tried at his first ever school sports day!

I was very excited to see this. I remember Emily's first sports day when she was in nursery, she looked so cute doing all the little events. Out trots Xander at the front of the line, holding Mrs Ainley's hand (at first I thought it was a priveledge, but as the afternoon progressed I realised it was more Mrs Ainley keeping an eye on him!). And pretty soon it was Xander's first race, a nice simple running race.

So, my son, apparently doesn't need to wait for whistles:

Ahem, well he won...

Next up was a jumping race...now keep that word 'JUMPING' in mind. Remember, we're JUMPING...

OK, by this point I'm very grateful it's a sunny day as I have a big hat and big sunglasses disguising me!

Next up, the 'balance a bean bag on your head' race. What could possibly go wrong with balancing a simple bean bag on one's head. All they had to do was remember to keep their hands by their sides...you guessed it:

So, imagine the cringing that went on inside me when they announced that next up was the egg & spoon race; that notorious cheat's paradise. You can sneakily balance it with your thumb, slyly stick a bit of chewing gum under it when no-one's looking...or quite simply just hold the spoon in one hand and the egg in the other:

So at my son's first ever sports day he won most of his races...but I now can't show my face in the playground ever again! May have to start calling him Zola not Xander!

Holidays - Credit Crunch Styleee!

2010-06-11T13:05:00.006+01:00

So, this time last year we were busy packing to go here:

(***SNIFF*** Love that place!)

This year, er, not so much! Today's financial climate doesn't exactly bode well for yearly Carribbean holidays, but when you're given lemons, make lemonade! As regular readers to my blog will know, I am THE bargain queen; I love to sniff out a good deal. So when the holiday problem posed itself, I came up with a plan.

I always shop at Tesco, mainly for these. I see it as my way of gaining something back from a company who earn billions out of us every year and I even paid my tuition fees for my degree with them. Anyhoo, I sent off for some vouchers to Whipsnade Zoo so last week we headed down south. A quick stop to see Rob's Grandad on the way, then we booked in to a Travelodge on their £29 a night deals (FYI, go for Premier Inn's deal instead, much nicer). After staying there the night we headed to the local Tesco for some sandwiches and other pic-er-nic stuff (and to earn more points! ;) and then went to the zoo...FOR FREE!

Not sure this guy was impressed with us invading his space though:

After the zoo, we headed into London to stay for a few days with Rob's sister (thanks for having us Zo!). Zoe had to work the first day so we headed into 'the smoke' and did all the free sightseeing stuff it had to offer. We even got free sunshine!

For lunch, more Tesco vouchers, this time eating at Pizza Express, and blooming yummy it was too. The kids love PE as they get grown up 'Bambiccinos'!

More pics to come later, I need to do a slide show as there's so many.

So, when we got home I got to thinking about just what I'm going to do with those little angels of mine over the summer holidays; that's 6 very long weeks if you have nowhere to go! I looked at a caravan for a week - £750! :o I looked at our beloved Center Parcs - a 4 night break was £950! :o :o I'm sorry but there's absolutely no way I'm spending that much to stay in this country!

So, I did what I always said I'd never do, and went out and bought this:

That's right, we now own a tent; you know those bits of material with no bath, loo etc?!

Do you know what's even more disturbing? I've got a bit excited about it! Just this morning I was out buying tent peg mallets and camping toasters!

You can just picture the scene now can't you:

Watch this space....

Bachelor Of Wizardry

2010-05-28T19:11:00.003+01:00

I got my official graduation picture through the other day. Not a bad pic actually, much better than my 1994 one!

Xander looked at it and said "Mummy, you are a wizard!". I like that, Louise Gillard - Bachelor of Wizardry!

Birthdays, Stars & Sunshine

2010-05-23T08:48:00.004+01:00

I'd like to thank whoever ordered me this absolutely beautiful weather for my birthday, best present ever! We're in the middle of a heatwave here which means I've got to spend my birthday weekend basking in the sun.

First of all thank you to everyone for the cards, presents, texts, emails and Facebook messages; I'm a very lucky girl indeed! On Friday I got up and opened my pressies then me, Rob and Xander headed to my favourite place Costa for breakfast. Cake for breakfast, well if you can't on your birthday then when can you?! Then the boys left me to shop for the morning which was lovely; I don't get to shop much unless it's for food or kid's stuff, so having some pennies to spend on me was pure heaven! I got some lovely shoes and a bag to match and a couple of other bits. Then, when Rob had taken Xan to school he picked me up and we went to Nando's for lunch. Thanks to the weather we got to sit outside which was lovely. Then it was off to the pictures (Hot Tub Time Machine - a definate no-brainer but lots of 80s rock on the soundtrack for me!) before coming home for surf n turf on the BBQ.

I had a lovely surprise on my birthday too, when my son came home from school with this:

He got Star Of The Week and was chuffed to bits with himself. Mummy was very very proud!

Yesterday the sun was even hotter so we packed up a pic-er-nic and headed out for some quality sunshine. We had lots of lovely food:

And basked in the sunshine in beautiful surroundings:

Rob and the kids had a bit of a kick-about while I chilled in the sun:

We then went for a walk round the farm to see all the animals and found ourselves an escapee goat:

It did get a bit too toasty though so we headed home and got the paddling pool out, where the kids invented their own waterslide and practised their daredevil stunts:

So, we've woken up to another schorcher. However, the weather's going to break tomorrow so today will be spent taking full advantage of the yellow stuff before it goes into hiding for another 12 months! So, BBQ's out, suntan lotion is at the ready and most importantly, Mummy's sunlounger is out and ready to be chilled on! Well, I am a lot older now you know, I need to take it easy!

The (Not Completely) Blackbird

2010-05-17T13:27:00.002+01:00

I've been meaning to blog about this little guy for a while now.

For the past couple of months, we've had a fairly rare visitor to our garden - a black & white blackbird. At first we thought he was just a fledgling who still had his baby feathers, but as the weeks have gone on he's grown and kept his colouring.

We've been feeding him and his friends every day and they sometimes sit on the decking waiting for their bread (think the word's got round that the cats are far too fat and lazy to go hunting birdies these days!).

So here he is, though a little blurry (he's a numble little monkey!):

Swot - The Partaaaay!

2010-05-13T11:21:00.004+01:00

Here's a few pics from the party that my parents threw for me on the evening of my graduation. A good time was had by all though there were a few sore heads the next day (especially mine!):

Swot! The Official Bit

2010-05-11T10:19:00.002+01:00

Thought I'd blog this is 2 bits as it was a pretty big day!

On Saturday I finally had my graduation from uni. It was a very exciting and proud day and I'd really been looking forward to it. We headed up to Harrogate for the big ceremony. Once there I got all gowned up in my official robes:

I managed to get 4 tickets which allowed me to take this little lady:

And Rob, who like me looked scarily grown up:

I was also really proud that I got to take my parents:

I was very nervous, especially as I had to sit seperately from my guests for a long time before the ceremony. Luckily the girl sat next to me was lovely and we had a good chat about our degrees before the ceremony began. It was a really good ceremony, all quite relaxed and I got to graduate with Kay Mellor!

So, my big moment came and I walked across the stage to shake the Pro Chancellors hand (though I almost missed him as was too busy smiling at Kay Mellor) and that was it. I looked forward to seeing the pic of that bit but unfortunately I left Rob in charge of the camera. Hey, I suppose I should think myself lucky he actually got me on the pic:

And that was the official bit done. We headed home for the big party. Watch tomorrow's blog post for all the deatils!

Charlie

2010-05-09T08:01:00.002+01:00

I do have a really long post about yesterday,with lots of amazing photos...but I just can't post it today...

I woke up this morning to find out I'd lost a friend. Charlie was one of my GUCH friends and though he's been in hospital a lot recently, you just think that's par for the course with this dicky ticker stuff, you never expect this.

I don't know the full details yet, all I know is that it's devastating news and that he will be missed so so much.

Love you Charlie, let's hope that up there they love your cheekiness as much as we all did down here.

Political Correctness

2010-05-06T09:58:00.000+01:00

So, it's the big day, the day we get to decide the future of our country. I mean, exactly which party do we pick to take our country even further up the swanny?!

TBH, I've been quite interested in this election. I'm not a political person at all, but the debates on tv have been fabulous and I love how close it all is, about time we made those politicians sweat. However, as much as I've been interested, I think that spending the whole evening watching the BBC's swing-o-meter might just do me in, so I was delighted to see this advert:

Now that's my kind of politics!

Cool Pics!

2010-05-04T13:59:00.002+01:00

I always forget about pictures that I take on my phone. They tend to be the most impromptu pictures as well as it's those occassions when you're out and about and spot something. But finally today I got to downloading them so here's my faves from the past few weeks.

Emily and her friend Shiwone at the park:

Xander on a walk to school:

Emily and the Viking boat her class made at school last week:

A cool pic of Em looking at a whole display of swords etc at the Royal Armouries yesterday. The display takes up all 4 floors but they have this great hexagonal mirror on the ground floor so you can see the whole thing in one go:

Dolly Love

2010-04-30T07:05:00.003+01:00

Just had to share these pics that my MIL just emailed me. She went along with Rob last week to see Emily horseriding and, as it was the first time she'd seen her ride, she took her camera along.

Em's doing so well with her riding and definately has a knack for all things equestrian:

This is the horse that she rides, Dolly:

Emily LOVES Dolly! Absolutely worships her! It's kind of a good thing as we've been sat nervously waiting for the 'I want a pony' moment, but as she loves Dolly so much and knows she's not for sale, we think we're safe for now! I mean, have you seen how much ponies cost? It ain't like buying a goldfish let me tell you!

But we're so glad she loves horseriding and Dolly is a lovely pony. I even go up and pet her and I've never been a horse lover, but I must admit there's something very charming about Dolly. Just glad that I'm not covering those feeding and vets bills!

All Cropped Out!

2010-04-25T20:28:00.002+01:00

Can't type much as I've scrapped so much this weekend I actually have repetitive strain injury and have my right arm bandaged up! Who knew scrapbooking was such an extreme sport!

Anyway, was my second ever cybercrop this weekend and have loved it. Was even better as I went to my local crop yesterday so we did some of the classes together. All in all I've done 8 single layouts, 1 double and an exploding box. Here's a slideshow, I'm now off for a lie down!