Catching Up

That's whats been happening today - catching up with all manner of things.  May was manic, even by my standards mainly as I was working an extra day a week.  Having just about survived I then entered half term with all manner of Jubilee celebrations, followed by more working and also the girls taking part in a dance show.  Today seems like the first day I've had to draw breath for a long time.  So apologies  blog friends for my lack of commenting - I have been visiting whilst commuting but find commenting on my iphone too much for my little fat fingers!

Anyway I thought you might like to see some photos from our little trip to London to see the Queen! 

First we saw some marching bands!

And some soldiers on horses.

We also did a fair amount of waiting and picnicking on the pavement.

And finally we saw the Queen!

And after all that flag waving and cheering we went home to enjoy a jubilee tea!

I hope to be back later in the week with my May numbers.



A current trend

I've not only been organising my photos and albums, I have been scrapping too.  Organising my albums by year has enabled me to identify any gaps, so when I feel the urge to scrap I can pick up an album flick through and decide what to scrap.

So with that in mind, I decided to scrap this photo from 2010.  Its one of my favourite and was taken on my hubbys birthday.  We had been away for the weekend without the children and arrived back on his birthday - lots of smiles all around.

This is based on the May sketch on 'The Studio' challenges blog here.  Hexagons are very much a current trend and seem to pop up everwhere at the moment.  I cut mine using my slice.  I also managed to use some letters by using three different sets to do my title.  And don't worry I have journalled - its on the tag thats tucked behind the photo!

Full steam ahead

Did you have sunshine at the weekend - we did!  How lovely to feel the warmth on your back and the instant energy boost it seems to provide.

On Sunday we visited "Carters Steam Fair" - which was just up the road from us on the local green.  The Carters are a local family and tour their steam fair around - mainly in the south east.  We have been a number of times and it is always great fun.

On the Saturday morning they have a parade from the town centre upto the green - which goes right past the end of our road!

This year the girls went on the horses - always a favourite whatever your age.

The swing boat - which goes almost vertical.  It caused the youngest to scream loudly but she assures me she was enjoying herself.

They also enjoyed dodgems.

Some candyfloss!

and an icecream.

All in all a great way to spend a sunny afternoon - we even hauled the b-b-q out of hibernation when we got home!



Shed Life

When my girls are asked "where do your Granny and Grandad live?", they are quite likely to reply " in a shed at the bottom of the garden".  Now before you start phoning social services, the photo shows that it is a mighty fine shed.

A log cabin to be precise.  Inside you will find a small living area with kitchenette, a tiny office come craft room and a bedroom with en suite facilities.  Mum and Dad also have a two bed-roomed apartment in Spain - 10 minutes from Alicante airport.  They divide their time between here and Spain.   They moved to be with us in 2007.  It was my other halfs idea as they either seemed to be in Spain or with us, so their seemed little sense in keeping a property here that they hardly used.  I can't say it is always easy but in the advantages far outweigh the dis-advantages.  My girls absolutely love it and they help out with the holidays when I'm working.  One of the nicest things is that in the evening we all eat together, sharing our stories from the day. Slowly overtime they have built up a life here, making new friends and its hard to imagine a time when they were not with us.  It is also good to know that as they get older, they are near and hopefully will be able to stay independant for as long as they want.

This story was bought to you as part of Sians story telling Sunday.  Do pop over to her blog to read her story and read the other stories being told today.  A great way to spend a chilly and snowy Sunday.

M&M World

During the Summer Holidays, we spent a day in London to celebrate my brother in laws birthday.  As we strolled near Leicester Square, we happened upon M&M world.  Yes believe it or not a whole shop with several floors dedicated to M&M's!  Yes I thought the same - how could you possible fill a whole shop with M&M merchandise.  Well apparently you can, and they have.  

Anyway the oldest wanted to go inside the shop - something we all found slightly strange as she has a severe peanut allergy and we don't allow M&M's in the house.  Fortunately the peanuts have to be eaten to cause the reaction, so we were quite safe!   Anyway the shop was very busy, very colourful and and very, very loud.  Something I tried to reflect in my layout.

As you can see from the photo, whilst the oldest loved it, I don't think the youngest was quite so sure.

The M&M man to the left of the layout belongs to my husband.  He was a present from his best friend, during the time we shared a flat.  As I'm not a lover of red plastic items it was banished to the loft for many years, but recently escaped and now seems to live in our TV room.  As you can imagine my husband thought it was highly amusing that I used it as a prop in the photo, considering I have threatened to throw it out on many occasion.  It probably deserves a layout of its own!

New Beginnings

One of the reasons that my blogging took such a break was that September bought a complete change of routine in this house due to the "new beginnings" that happened in our house.

My eldest started Secondary school - a big step change for her and the rest of us.  Not only is she responsible for getting herself to and from school, getting 3 or 4 pieces of homework a night takes a lot of organising!  The good news is that she has coped beautifully and is really enjoying her new school.

So now it is just the youngest on the daily school run, something she has taken to adjust to as up to now, big sister has always been there.  She has also moved from infant school to junior school and although they are next door to each other, she has had to get used to new buildings, teachers and rules.

And finally after two years of unemployment, my husband went back to school as well!  He has totally changed career and has started work as a school bursar at a local primary school.  He is really enjoying being back in the world of work and the challenge of his new role.

Me - my job has been to guide us all through these new routines and find ways to make them work.  As half term approaches I think I can stop holding my breath, knowing that we have all made it through this period of change.

Five Things ... I want to try.

As I take a wonder around blogland, I am always finding things I want to try for myself.  Here are five grabbing my attention at the moment;

• these tags made by Eleanor from "its a creative world".  I think they are lovely and fancy making them as Christmas tags. 
• this ruffle cardigan that Shimelle has made - a great way to give a new lease of life a top!
• these cute tea towel aprons - one of my best friends is a reception teacher and I think these would go down well in her home corner.
• I've been looking at all sorts of flower making tutorials, but am particulary taken with this ribbon rose
• looking at the quilts at Red Pepper has me itching to get going - I want to make one for my youngest this time.

Looks like I am going to be busy with all things fabric.


Also while your here, I thought you might like to look at the rest of the pages for March to go in my 2011 album.  You may recall I made a start here.


Here are the pages made using divided page protectors.  I have never used these before, but had great fun putting them together and love how they can show the stories behind what when on in the month.

My final page for March, was about Earth Hour, which we celebrated with friends.  I kept this fairly simple for me, as I wanted to focus on the journalling and the photo.

So there you have it, I have completed one of my May goals and I have all the photos ready to go to complete Jan, Feb and April.  I think I'm on a roll!

Monday Memories

Since returning from Disneyland Paris, I feel like I'm living my life in the fast lane of the motorway and only just managing to dodge the traffic! It has been non-stop  -  with the youngest's birthday and party, our monthly messy church which both hubby and I help organise and getting back into the school/work routine.  Therefore it is quite nice to return to the calm that is "Monday Memories".  I turned over my calendar and it revealed this photo;

Here you can see my two girls with my brother-in-law's partner Frederic.  The photo was taken at his "surprise" 40th Birthday party which my brother-in-law Simon had organised.  His family travelled from France to be with him and so the girls were able to meet his nieces. Although my girls do not speak any French, and his nieces much English they still made friends and were able to play together. 


This photo has actually been scrapped - I made Fred a mini book using the photos I had taken at the party - unfortunately I did not take any photos of the actual book!  However seeing this reminds me that I must scrap some of the party photos for my albums and at the same time record about how happy we are that Simon has met Fred and that is his now part of our family.  He is simply a lovely guy, which such a kind heart and the girls love him to bits (as do we).  You may recall my Monday memory from two weeks ago was a photo taken by Fred - you can seen it here.  In a former life he was a photo journalist in Paris and he has taken some beautiful photos of the girls which he is always happy to share.  We all feel truly blessed to have him as part of our family.