Well I've had a mixed start to the summer holidays. Firstly I had the worst chest infection ever. I'm on a really strong course of antibiotics and steroids. Now, where to start on the steroids. They make you crazy!! Once I got over the not being able to breath/get out of bed bit I then started tidying. Garage, kitchen, study - nowhere was safe! I tortured the husband until he put up all these photos for me - drawing felt tip dots everywhere so ge'd know where to put them (and wouldn't be able to get out of doing it - no one wants polka dot walls)! Yes, the poor husband has had a lot to put up with!
I then started making stuff. I took apart an old ikea frame that I decided I didn't want anymore. I used the inner frame to do this:
Yes, I even dragged my kids into my steroid induced madness!
I then chalkboard painted the back and have a nice new noticeboard/award chart out in the kitchen. Love it!
And what about the lovely weather? The kids have been having a blast. We set up the tree house as a water chute yesterday & they splashed and slid for ages with our next door neighbour Matthew - such fun & an excuse for soggy cuddles!
Although Cameron was just as happy to play with the water table. He fancied some alone time!
Then today - to keep me busy in my steroid frenzy, we had a family birthday BBQ for my lovely mother. I got to go shopping on steroids - ha - great experience! I came home one hand bag, cardigan, new sandals for the kids and many birthday presents heavier! Great fun! Hardly any guilt either! Mum had a great time with plenty of yummy grub and cake:
So never mind it being Granny's birthday - there was only one guest of honour at the birthday party, baby Grace:
Maddie just loves her - but it brings all these feelings of being 'grown up'. I heard the words, 'I want to be a baby again' from both of mine today - a lot!!
Just a quick shot of the doting dad before I go:
This has been a mega blog - steroids working much?
Happy holidays, lets hope this weather sticks around!!
I was particularly shocked at Cameron's reaction. I thought he would be terribly blase, in a boyish fashion, but he was quite delighted with her and wanted to hold her first and stroked her tiny hands for ages. Maddie was, as predicted, all chat and just loved having a cuddle!
So, we have our new family member - it's so exciting! We think she's great.
As fond as the kids are of her, the things that are taking up their every waking moment are their lego figures. What fun I had the other morning taking these snaps:
The ninjago warriors!
Harry Potter and Co.
The whole crew!
Yes - I had a lot of time on my hands!!
Finally to celebrate the man-cubs birthday I had hom pose for this little number - shall scrapbook it soon and display the results!!
Happy Bank Holiday - what are you up to? I intend to 'potter' around - it's my new favourite activity!!
I am currently sick, have that 'glue head' feeling. So I am sitting here (still in my jammies) eeling sorry for myself. To bring some cheer I am browsing blogs - and this leads to guilt that mine has been abandoned for a while!
So here are a few snaps over the past weeks to illustrate nicely what has been happening:
We had a Royal wedding party -tea and buns after watching the ceremony. I bought banners and decorations, and the sun shone!
That evening we then had a BBQ with our lovely friends the Simmons's!
Then we had our own family celebrations for the man cubs birthday - can you believe he is 5?
Then disaster struck - my i phone 3 broke itself (it absolutely id not drop out of my handbag onto the concrete, no siree!!). How rude:
Do not fret - I am no the proud owner of an iphone 4 (complete with cute floral Cath Kidston cover - mais oui!!)
Cameron had Red Ted home from tea - it's a pity he arrived on the night we were supposed to have chicken dippers - I had to change the whole menu as he has to have a super healthy meal at your house and you have to write all about it in his book - oooohhhhh the competitiveness shows in the mothers - who has a photo with their write up, or even a hand drawn picture. I settled for a write up only - bad, tired, working, busy mum!!!!
Then the most exciting event happened! On the 21st May this bump turned into Baby Grace. It's all very exciting!! I cannot wait to get rid of my glue head to get a chance to cuddle her properly!! My first baby neice (never mind my sister's first baby!!). Congrats to all!!
Have a lovely duvet day - I'm off for a sleep to wake up breathing normally!!
Hope the Easter Bunny was good, the wee cotton tailed mammal left far too much chocolate here. Aw well - shall have to help the kids, nothing else for it!
We had our annual Easter meal together and then went to find a new hill to roll our eggs down. It just so happened that our favourite tree is at the bottom of this hill so we couldn't resist a few snaps.
This year we tried to get the whole family in the camera shot. And after two attempts (and one dropped camera - luckily into some shrubbery so no damage done) I got this, not bad!
As you can see we are eagerly awaiting a new addition to our ranks. I cannot wait to meet baby Mackey (in two weeks or so). Hope the tiny person is ready to be photographed - a lot!!
I have had a few projects on the go recently. I've particularly been procrastinating over making my sister some pillow cases and duvet covers to help her with her 'nesting'! I finally got them finished today, with the help of two little guys - one Mancub who stood at my elbow and copied the noise of the sewing machine (irritating much?). Although you've got to feel sorry for him - he has broken his foot (by poking it in the edges of an escalator no less) and he cannot play outside with the other kids, so I put up with his carry on - just! And then there was this little guy:
Isn't he cute? He totally helped me out with the load of fabric I had pinned together. Ewan bought me him a while ago as a present, it was the perfect time to use him! It's nice to get this project finished!! Hope it all fits!
Then on to my next project: coursework. The two humungous piles of the previous post had shrunk to only one this weekend, and got completed yesterday - whoop! Now to get the next installment tomorrow, groan!
Catching up with friends has been another project over half term. I had a friend from Uni round with her 4 (yes 4) kids. Was really nice to catch up with them all. The two youngest are the cutest twins ever! A handful, but great fun.
We also got a chance to meet up with the Boyds - who brought some treats to cheer up my wounded soldier!
We've actually been working on being lazy as well round here. For many's a year I was up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday and out at swimming lessons, sports or shopping. But we have taken up the new hobby of pancake eating on a Saturday morning ( and a Sunday if we can manage it). I like this new hobby, I think it may be one we can keep up indefinitely with not much trouble! Add it to a dollop of DSi playing and we are all happy!
I have totally stolen this idea from the lovely Janine and I have no remorse!!!
Watching :) So many good shows that I have had stored on Sky Plus for me while I have been away for a while (skiing). They range from cheesey Glee to the much darker Trublood, with a bit of Bones, Grey's Anatomy and Vampire Diaries thrown in for good measure. I also think I have some Desperate Housewives left to catch up on! I certainly am not short on TV shows to view! In the movie world we went to see the new Disney flick 'Tangled' today. It was super good. Beautiful stolen princess, handsome naughty boy who rescues her, evil witch type as well. I'd recommend it! I also can't wait to catch Gnomeo and Julliette, looks a right hoot!!
Listening :) You know me, I like anything cheesey. My current favourite is McFly 'Shine a LIght'. Do you think someone froze my musical taste at 19? Pretty much anything with a catchy tune and interesting lyrics does me! What I have discovered recently is however that 'music bores' get on my nerves. You know the sort - those people who hear a few bars of a song and interupt your conversation with the band and song name, possibly the album, and hey, why not throw the year in for good measure. Yaaaawwwwn!! If you are one of these sort, I apologise, it's a bug bear! Just listen to McFly and give over:
Wondering :) How long I can leave the two humungous piles of coursework I brought home before I actually have to mark it? It's soul destroying reading the same stuff over and over again! The good thing is it's about first aid procedures - so I will hoepfully never, ever, ever forget how to put a casualty in the recovery position!
Thinking :) I guess I'm thinking at the moment how life is short. How there are so many things people can be doing and if I am on the right path to be doing what I should. Have I forgotten things that I wanted to achieve and will I regret missing out on these things. I think going abroad and seeing how other people live and imagining other possibilities unsettles me. Makes me want to give my kids more experiences, more choice when they are older! I may regret this when Maddie wants to run away with a circus or Cameron wants to follow a rock and roll lifestyle, but so far it's only in the 'thinking' stages!
Reading :) I'm still reading my newly discovered series about Werewolves, Vampires and other such nonsense. I am however very excited that a recommended read of mine 'Water For Elephants' is getting made into a film. With none other than the delectable Robert Pattinson in starring role! Too exciting! Of course I am also reading the aforementioned coursework - but less said about that the better!
Hoping :) I am hoping for a pleasant Summer. Now I'm not asking for sunshine every day, but just less rain - come on, cut us some slack!! Dry, brisk days, perfect! In addition I am hoping that the man cub learned his lesson yesterday after trapping his foot in a moving escalator and buckling his bone in the middle of his foot. He is in a cast to his knee and milking it for all he is worth. Hop hop hop! Ridiculous!How many times does a muumy actually have to tell a child something isnt safe before they listen! Although since it has happened people have told me so many horror stories - about trapped hair, lost limbs; that I actually think he got off lightly!
Planning :) In my head I am planning countless weekends away with the family in our fabulous tent. The first nice weekend in April/May and we are outta here (see my previous mentioning of nice weather!) We are trying further South in our little province this year, although we totally love the North - we are trying new experiences!
Dreaming :) Of skiing. I love it. Can't wait to take my hubby and kids some year!
Finishing :) Today I finished an email to a lovely lady about myself and some of my scrapbook layouts that are going to be published in Scrapbook Magazine. I am totally excited about it all, watch this space!
Sharing :) Right now I am sharing some wine and nibbles with my hubby. He's cute! So I'd better give him some attention! I'm signing off. Have a fabulous February!! Mwah!
Hope you all had a great Christmas! Ours basically involved a lot of this:
DS's - great for all the family! Cameron loves the games and Maddie loves taking photos of family members and graffitting them with moustaches/big ears/Santa hats - anything goes!
This was a pretty different Christmas - we had no water supply for some of it,(due to the thaw and broken water mains at the reservoir), no washing machine now for two weeks (the plumber is coming Monday to fix the pipes that burst to the garage-thank goodness), we couldn't leave the house for some of it due to the snow and treacherous driving/walking conditions (or just due to the cold & our general laziness-you decide) and we didnt go away anywhere this year. I'm not complaining - interesting experiences all, not sure I want to repeat the 'no water' one though!
I got a few interesting presents from 'Santa' myself. A Gorilla-pod for my SLR camera - it can attach it almost anywhere. Add that to my new remote control for the camera and I am now able to take whole family shots like this:
We had such fun setting this up!
And this:
People walking by thought we were bonkers!
Not only did Santa stop by as usual this year but we were busy with the tooth fairy too - Maddie lost two teeth no less (cue humourous renditions of the song ''all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth'!! Love this wonky smile!
What with the weather I've also had a lot of time to read. Found a new series of supernatural books that are fun, written by Kelley Armstrong. It involves werewolves (yes, nonsense but who wants to read real life anyway!). Kept me entertained for a few hours when the TV was dire.
So anyway, hope 2010 was a great year for you - here's to 2011 being even better!
Today we took a trip to The Ulster Folk Museum for their 'Christmas Past' event. Oh my, what fun we had!! We tried mulled Ginger wine at the Craft Fair-it's just the ticket for Christmas day with mince pies! We posted our letters to Santa and had them collected by the busy man himself. It was so cute to see all the kids chasing him down the street & getting so excited and then shy to meet him!
We watched weaving, carol singing and a blacksmith at work. We made Christmas decorations. We visited as many of the cute old fashioned houses/buildings as Cameron's little legs could walk to. We caught up with old friends - the horses from our Summer visit and Ruby the biggest pig we've ever seen! Also our human friends happened to be there with their family too, that made the day!
Ewan's favourite spot was McCusker's pub, where there were mince pies and mulled wine. Laura and Cam watched through the LandLord's peep hole!:
Laura's favourite was the bank (ha)!! Not much different from nowadays!
My absolute favourite was the Nationa school. We had managed to miss this exhibit during our Summer trip, so delighted to stumble across it, especially since the fire behind the teachers desk was roaring!!
I think we are going to make this one of our Christmas traditions - it is so festive and a great way of getting out in the fresh air after weeks of freezing weather!!
Now, from the evidence below you might be excused for thinking that Cameron didn't have a good year at nursery school. What rubbish. He had a blast. Unlike Maddie though, he made connections with certain pupils not the teachers. He liked the lovely ladies fine (mostly if they allowed him to play outside and didn't make him do tasks) but he liked the kids better. Just look at the body language below:
Hehe -I can just hear him complaining!! 'Don't make me mummy'
Any how, we've been leaving off children to these lovely, patient, caring ladies for two years on the trot, and our time is finally coming to an end. Wednesday marks the end of nursery school for the Stronge's. But fret not, for while we are sad to say goodbye to these ladies, Cameron is saying 'hello' to this lovely lady:
Mrs Welsh. Oh how she has inspired Maddie this year. With her guitar playing and songs about such things as 'curly wurly wurly wurly intestines' and different body parts. Her stories and 'learning through play' and in a big class of 32 too. She has encouraged her to write, read, count, manipulate numbers, eat fruit, and skip (a new skill this month). In September Maddie is moving on to Miss Orr's class (she taught me you know) and Cameron is going to have the honour of being in Mrs Welsh's much smaller class (19) - we cannot wait! Things will be so much easier - the kids will be in the same building, have the same holidays, appear in the same concerts and share a playground at breaktime. Perfect!
So for now, goodbye to the lovely Castleeagh Nursery, and hello to the summer holidays!!
