New Family Members!

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!

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!

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

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!

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?!

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!

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!