A birthday celebration and more......

My first born son was 2 on Saturday.

The big 2!
I cannot believe how quickly 2 years has passed. I still remember this little tiny pukey baby that fell asleep on my shoulders. Now I have a strapping, full of life 2 year old thats into everything.

We started the morning opening presents, although it was slightly overwhelming for him. I think most of the presents were of a train or car variety, but he was very happy with them.
Later we caught a train to York and took the kids to the National Railway Museum. I havent been for years so could barely remember what it was like. L however goes quite frequently with the children he works with, so he knows the place like the back of his hand.

Now if you like trains and history of trains and transport, then the NRM would definately be your cup of tea. However I have admit (as bad as it sounds) I wanted to poke my eyes out half way through :o

E is Thomas the tank engine mad so we knew he would love it.
M quite enjoyed it too. She used to love Thomas when she was a little bit younger and I still see her playing with trains, even though trains are for boys and she only likes pink and princesses. Apparently!

Of course, the York eye is there too. We would have gone on but we would have needed a small bank loan to pay for it. Well £17.50 actually, but even so! Not as expensive as the London eye though.

But I think overall, he enjoyed his big day, even though he wasnt fully aware of the fact he was 2.

So a lovely day was had, or was it?

Kids were in bed after a great day, chocolate was being consumed whilst giggling at The Simpsons movie on sky and L was chatting to his brother on the phone. He had said something that made me turn to look at him and as I did, I noticed a rash just below his shoulder and it didnt look like a normal pinky red rash. It was purple and very different looking. Of course, the first thing I did was get a glass to do "the test".

It didn't fade.

L was trying to fob it off at this point saying it was nothing. I nagged and nagged him to call the out of hours doctor and eventually he did. After a ten minute phone call, they decided that it was probably meningitis and they wanted to send an ambulance.

Cue me going into complete panic stations. I havent felt so sick and anxious for a while I can tell you! But L insisted that he felt very well in himself and wasnt showing any other symptoms. The out of hours centre decided to let another doctor call back to get another opinion. They rang back almost straight away (good job really as by this point L was reading allsorts thanks to google) and she diagnosed Shingles.

PHEWWWWWWW.

But then not phewww because small fry hasn't had Chicken Pox yet! I didnt fancy another baby with it. E had CP when he was 4 months old and it was hell I can tell you. Plus we had plans to stay at my brother in laws during the week as we're going to a theme park and I'm taking M to see Girls Aloud (oh the shame).

So all this was put on the back burner until we knew exactly what was going on.

The next morning L went straight down to the out of hours clinic only to be diagnosed with........................

nothing.

Thats right, nothing.

All that panic and worry for rashus nothingnus.

It was a relief I can tell you. I felt so frightened when that rash wasnt fading, but thank goodness it was nothing. I was very impressed by the NHS services. They certainly don't mess about when it comes to it and I'm very grateful to the people L spoke to. They did their jobs very well.

So now we're just chilling out in West Yorkshire. In fact we're very near the famous Katy of I'm a Ginger Monkey (why didnt I schedule a visit?) . We've got a busy week ahead and it begins with a shopping trip today.

So I will log off now, get ready and give my nagging child a drink!

How do you get the balance right?

I will admit that my house is a mess.

Yes, I do have 3 young children and 2 dogs but there is mess everywhere. Even in places where the children don't even go!

I read other peoples blogs to see what they've made or been doing and I'll come across a photo of their beautiful home, and its all shiny and clean!

Now maybe they just rammed everything into a cupboard to take the photo or maybe they actually have a tidy home.

So how do you all do it?

How do manage the balance of looking after young children with crafts, blog updating and having a tidy home?

Answers on a postcard please!

Kid swap pressie!

For the kid swap, I was paired up with Helen from Little Geckos.
Poor Helen had sent me some emails worrying about what to make for middle child and one even said that she didnt think it would be very good!

Well today the mystery package arrived.

Isnt it brilliant! The second E saw it, he started screaming "choo choo" and kept shoving it at mine and L's head making us go to sleep. Helen has hand stitched the lot of it and I cannot tell you how perfect and neat it is. It is just perfect. E had a nap after his lunch today and when I went in to wake him up, he had thrown his pillow on the floor and slept on his new cushion! There were even dribble marks on it and I class dribble marks as a sign of good sleep. Even now he is wandering around the room cuddling it! So thank you very very much Helen. You have made my little boy very happy today. I have yet to finish my swap gift but I am starting from scratch again.

I'll leave you with a picture of our Hydranger which I took yesterday. I just love the colour of it.

In the big smoke

So L and I were very lucky to have won a weekend stay at a 5 star luxury hotel in the centre of London.

My lovely brother in law and sister in law said they would look after the children so we could get away, and I am so glad we did. As much as you love your children, you can't beat having some peace and being able to do what you want without having to stop for nappy changes, arguments, dinner times and bottles.

And just when you think your starting to miss them, we get a knock on the door with a bottle of Champagne being sent to our room on the house!

Thats not to mention the Champagne afternoon tea with the most amazing cupcakes, cakes and sandwiches, oh and the out of this world breakfast.

Jealous yet?

This was the front of the hotel we stayed in.

It was just as amazing inside as it was outside.

L and I all glammed up.

Makes a change from house clothes covered in snot and puke.

Then the next day we were lucky to get a sudden change in weather and got lots of sun, so we headed down to Spitalfields Market. It was like heaven for me and I could have spent an age wandering round and buying lots of gorgeous stuff, but when you can hear your other half huffing and puffing behind you, its time to leave!

We were expecting a downpour but as the good weather continued we decided to ditch our tube cards and walk the scenic route back to the coach station. We didn't do too bad either. First we saw Leicester Square, followed by Trafalgar.

Here is Mr Nelson

We then grabbed some lunch, although I'm not telling you where. It may offend any foodies reading this ;)

Then continued down towards St James Park
Buckingham Palace from St James Park

The Mall

Then Buckingham Palace was our final stop

We had a great time and I would love to make it a yearly thing for me and L, especially if we get to stay in the same hotel.

I've been to London so many times before but when your young, you dont take the sights in properly and really appreciate your surroundings. Well I certainly didnt anyway.

Having grown up time rocks.

But once again, I have been brough back down to earth with an almighty bang. I didn't get chance to report last weeks disaster, but one of my dogs (I wont name names but he smells and looks like a Beagle) stole and ripped to shreds my kids swap gift.

It took me two full days to calm down properly and I think I can safely say that the said dog will not go anywhere near my stuff anymore. Grrrrrrrrrr. So this week I have to remake the swap gift which makes it late and make a start on Apryls Fairy tale swap. I already know what I'm making for that so I am organised a little bit.

So for now, I will go and do my bit of blog reading and catch up with everyone elses crafty goodness.

x

I am so daft at times

Over the last few days I have had a surge of creativeness and as a result I ahve made 2 Japanese Knot bags (see previous post for more info), 5 Lavender Hearts and a new doll made out of my lurrvely new Australian wool blanketing material.

But me being me, I didnt take any photos and I am so cross with myself. The bags turned out so well and the doll looked great.

In my defence they were all gifts and last minute gifts at that so I was in a bit of a rush to get them wrapped up and posted but still, it is rather annoying.

I will be making more of the bags though because they really are wonderful. If your at a bit of a loose end, give them a go. I think they took me just over an hour to complete.

Back to the wool blanketing.

I had been seaching for some flanneling or wool type material for my dolls and I was having no joy in finding anywhere in the UK that sold such stuff. The next best thing was to buy bed sheets!

But then I suddenly remembered that Jodie who makes absolutely brilliant dolls at Ric Rac, used a fabric which looked like the stuff I was after. So I emailed her and it turned out that the material she used is Doctors Flannel. Easy to get hold of in her part of the world but not so in the UK. Not to mention the price!

Sooooo after a bit more research I found a shop in York called the Viking Loom who sold the Australian wool blanketing. Very useful for me as all my family are in York so I can just send them in for it but as I was feeling quite inpatient after months of searching, I just ordered online.

Well the stuff is fab. Its lovely to sew with and the end results look amazing.

I have to say that I was lucky and managed to get the smaller cut piece in the sale for £9.99 but usually its about £20 for a 20" by 30" piece!

Me thinks that buying this will be for treats only!

Not much going on here

So the summer holidays have descended on us.

What joy.

I predict that I shall be bald by the end of August through tearing my hair out
The weather is on and off and just cant make its mind up which doesnt help matters. You get your shorts and tshirts on ready to go out and then just as your walking out the door a grey cloud appears and you go back in for your wellies and mac.

Thats Great British weather for you I guess.

So because of the holidays I have got just about nothing done craft wise. All I have done is a couple of little bits for the kids swap but the main parts need doing more importantly. Last night I started to make a Japenese Knot bag as a present for my Auntie. Leah from Sewtobed sent me a link to the bag at Show me your workings.

I did completely bodge it up by ignoring one crucial part of the instructions. This has led me to unpicking all the stitching and starting again.

Grrrrrrrr

But that aside, it is a lovely lovely bag and a quick project to knock together.Tonight I plan to finish it off and make another with some different fabric. I think they'll make good christmas gifts too.

We met this little cutie last week on a trip to Scarborough. L and I have fond memories of there and we spent alot of days there together pre children. Alot of it still has its cheesy amusements, (arcades for the US readers) with the old ladies doing the bingo and children flocking around the grabber machines screaming at their parents wildly to win them a toy, but all that aside it has its lovely points like the Spa, the beautiful buildings, the castle remains, lovely beach and some nice little shops in the town.

I apologise if there is a huge blank space above this but there should be a picture of the Spa. At the moment I cannot see it but it wont let me take it off!

After Scarborough we took a detour to see my parents. I hadn't seen them for a month as they had a 2 week holiday and my mum is too unwell to come and visit. I think shes on the verge of being diagnosed with Rhuemtoid Arthritus so she's in alot of pain.

But we wanted to visit because they have a new kitten.

Misty was quite shy and shes still getting used to living with my mum and dad, so having 2 new adults and 3 very loud small children would have scared the hell out of her (they're enough to scare the hell out of me sometimes). She spent the majority of our visit under some drawers.

I bet your thinking shes a funny looking Cat arent you? Well she's a Devonshire Rex. My parents had another Devon Rex called Willow. They got her from the RSPCA. She was very badly treated in her old home and as a result, was a very very timid cat. She never left the house, wouldnt be picked up and hid under blankets all day. But she trusted my parents 100% and had a lovely life with them.

Sadly she died back in April. But because of her nature and the fact that she was such a lovely cat my parents wanted another and were lucky to find an excellent breeder in the same county. And finally they have another.

Anyway, enough jibber jabber. I must get on with housework so I have craft time tonight!

Have a great day and good luck to fellow school holidayers!

I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT!!!!

Finally!
I have managed to make an item of clothing for a doll!

HURAAAAAAAHHHH!

Ahhhhh the wonders of elastic.

Its not perfect by any means. Making an A line skirt on the bias with elastic maybe wasnt the best option to go for but I know where I have gone wrong so I can perfect it next time. But otherwise I am tres happy.

I thought I'd picture the doll with my just about to flower Hydranger. Its nice to see some colour in our little courtyard now. I have some fab pink lillies which every year seem to double, but this year they came out very quickly and were quite pale in colour. So I was a bit disappointed. My mother in law has had the same problem with hers too. Could it be some weirdy climate thing?

My Lavender on the other hand has done very well.

Its been completely attacked by hoards of Bees. I'd love to taste some of the honey they have made with it.

I've also signed up for another swap. Its being organised by Apryl at Meridian Ariel. You have till the end of August to get it done so theres plenty of time if your busy. The only thing is that you have to mention your favourite Fairy tale. I couldnt think of one. I dont think I ever had a favourite as a child.

Whats your favourite fairy tale?