School Days

So, that's it, the holidays are over today: where on earth did that go?! Tomorrow Emily will be putting on her brand new shiny uniform and starting Year 2 at school; that's her third year of full time school - I just don't know how that happened!!

I know lots of little girls who are starting 'big school' for the first ever time this week. So, lots of luck to Elise, Gracie, Milli, Charlotte, Amber, Annabel and Alyssa; I know you'll all love it and do really well!

Billy Jimmy Choo

Could Imelda Markos pop by and pick her child up please?!.....

Sniff, Er, I Seem To Have Something In My Eye!!

Yesterday, Emily spent the day with Auntie Gemma and her fellow bridesmaid Ellie trying on bridesmaid dresses. They got them and when I went to pick Emily up she tried it on, along with tiara and flowers: OMG! Can't remember last time I've been that choked up; she looked absolutely beautiful (and so grown up!). And then my sister goes and puts Xander in his waistcoat and cravat from his pageboy outfit; what are you trying to do to me woman!

Can't post pics till after the wedding but believe me, they'll be worth the wait!!

In Training For 2012

We've loved watching the Olympics round here over the past couple of weeks so were really sad to see it end yesterday. I can't wait for it to come to England in 2012 and really hope we can get tickets; I've always wanted to go and watch it!

Anyway, I was quite surprised at how Xander took to it; I really thought he was too young to pay much notice but he seems to have loved it! In the past couple of days, I think he's realised that he wants to be an Olympic athlete as he's been practising every time the athletics came on. He comes up, knocks on my knee and says : "Marks" and then does this:

On your marks...

Get set...

Go!!

He's already broken the Gillard World Record for the 'Round The Dining Table Sprint' and is aiming for gold in the 2009 World Championships in the 'Vaulting Over The Chair Arm' event!

Today's Bank Holiday and Rob's working so it's just been me and the munchkins. This morning, whilst Xander had his nap, Emily and I did some scrapbooking. Emily did 2 layouts, first one of her and Abi:

Then pictures of Grandad's RAF Day:

I finally got a layout finished that was from an ideas Lauren's sister Mandy showed me. Mandy's a scrapbooking teacher in South Africa so obviously has some good ideas! This is a layout of Xander at the Eureka Museum the other week:With a nice bit of stitching on the pockets:So, quite a productive day, which is a good job as this week is going to be busy. Emily is going bridesmaid dress shopping with my sister tomorrow while I study, then off to the seaside with my parents on Thursday. Once that's done and the weekend's been and gone we're back to school! Where does the time go?!

The Mini-Me Of Quilts!

There's been quite a bit of quilting happening around here this past week. Our friends Mandy and Nick had a beautiful baby girl, Molly, a couple of weeks ago; so what better excuse to buy tonnes of pink squares and run up a baby quilt!

Once I got started, I realised I had too many squares for one quilt, and so decided to make a mini-me quilt for Molly's big sister Ella, so she could use it for her dolls.

I also had my first ever go at embroidering free hand, by personalising Molly's quilt. Hmmm, the embroidery actually came out OK, the quilting round the edge, not so well! Anyway, she's 2 weeks old, what will she care?!

My next project is to make a 'jeans' quilt. We have enough old denim round here to make quite a big one so hopefully that'll be ready by the time Winter sets in (probably next week the way this Summer's gone!!).

Billy, Billy & The Big Bunny!

We've had a lovely afternoon: we went down to Cannon Hall with my neighbour Jill and her son Matthew. It's been a while since Emily and Matthew (who's her age) have had chance to play together so it was good to get them together.

The main attraction down there is the farm. Last time I went, I was pregnant with a certain little bubba so couldn't really stroke or feed the animals. This time I could, and so could that certain little bubba!

He also seemed mightily impressed with what was, quite frankly, the biggest bunny I've ever seen in my life:

However, there were also some teeny tiny bunnies to balance things out a bit:

After a bit of coaxing (and lots of convincing that they wouldn't eat her hand!) Emily got down to feeding the goats:

And this guy queued up for his turn:

And this Billy who looked very curious about our Billy:

A lovely day all in all and thankfully it stayed dry for us! Just one week of the school holidays left now then back to the usual routine; along with having a child in Year 2! Sniff!!

Onions & Pretzels

What's this? A food related post on the blog that has nothing to do with cakes, muffins or cookies?!

Yesterday was definately a day for savoury flavourings!

My son has strange taste! After I'd picked him up from nursery, we popped to the Co-Op to buy some onions. Xander had great fun, helping me pick them then carrying them back to the car. He then sat and held them all the way home, took them in the house, kept tight hold while I took off his shoes, still keeping hold when I put Playhouse Disney on. Eventually he put them on the floor infront of him so I picked them up and put them in the kitchen - BIG mistake! Cue screams, tantrums, beating of fists until I eventually handed them back and he continued to hug them! Strange boy! Know what to get him for his birthday now.


Then, last night, I went for my first ever trip to Costco with my friend Cheryl. OMG! Now, for theose blog readers over the pond, Costco's probably no big thing, but I've never seen anything like it in this country! Rob and I have been to the US several times and always love the supermarkets; as soon as I walked in this place I said to Cheryl 'I feel like I'm in an American supermarket'. It even smelt like an American supermarket! Then I got to all the American style food; it was HUGE! That's what I always love about America, they don't dilly dally about with 'individual' portions; they find the biggest container they can and whack it in!!

After hotfooting it down to the Membership desk to say 'sign me up woman!' I then went back and bought a few treats to take home. First of all a huge back of San Francisco coffee (we both lurve SF!), a family size back of beef jerky for my hubby; and this little tub of pretzels!

Poor Rob didn't know what to try first! I'm already planning another trip down there on payday!