Toys R Us

Yesterday we decided to take a trip to Deepdale retail park, mainly it was me wanting to go to Hobbycraft! But i do love going to Toys R us before xmas just to see what the kids want, even though i have bough what they had on there lists already.
Straight away when we walked in was all the Star wars stuff and that was Paul! very very happy, where Star Wars is concerned he is a big kid, but i suppose that reminds him of being a kid, as it seems by the piles of Star wars toys he still has, that its what he asked for and got, every Christmas. He was lucky that his Dad worked for a supermarket and he even has a figure that apparently there are only 17 of in the world! as it was taken off the shelves before many were sold, but his dad got him one, can't remember what its called, but we keep it in a tin and the kids are allowed nowhere near it, the other night he looked and another one is going for £1000! sell it is what i said, but no we are keeping it apparently!
Still Paul was like a kid in a sweet shop!

In car selfie and trying to get little Ali into Star Wars! he will have a job as Ali is only into wheels!

He was telling me , he always remembered going to toys r us when he was a kid on his way home from visiting his grandparents, i don't remember ever going there till recent years, my grandparents lived in Cheadle, so a different route and not past the shop like him, lucky him, made us laugh.

I was really surprised to see all the people with trolleys piled high with toys, they are so expensive in Toys R us compared with other shops.
The last few years i have bought the popular toys online, mainly with Amazon, but this year i have googled each toys and bought at different places and saved a fortune, would love to work it out exactly, but something i saw yesterday for a reduced price of £30 i paid £9.99 online!, in fact most things i had saved at least £10 and when you add that up its a lot. Lucky for me the things the kids had on the list, is what they still wanted, apart from Ewan who wants to have a Wii U instead, sorry not going to happen! We are not into kids having computers and he is lucky he has an Xbox 360, and that's only because my nephew was selling his with 30 games, that he got it for xmas last year. He did say afterwards can he still have the skateboard and scooter and games he has asked for, so he won't be disappointed.
Afterwards we managed a quick visit to hobbycraft and i bought a latch hook cushion kit that was reduced and loads of felt as i have lots of projects for the kids to do with it..
Then we went to Pizza hut, and Fred discovered the sweets next to the ice cream factory, need i say more!!!!

In other news!!!

 Elfy Guy has returned for Christmas!

Yay!!!

He made a real mess in our cupboard!!!

And we filmed him arrive, we wondered what the noises were!

Elfy Guy arrives    hopefully this is the link to the video, the kids were amazed, and loved it, but we now know the sound on our laptop camera is not good!

Its was such a fun thing to do for the kids, and we had such a laugh making it!

This morning Elfy Guy had some fruity friends!!

Bye for now!

xxx

Its nearly December!!!!

Christmas is just round the corner and as usual that makes it such a busy busy time, but also a fun time! There is so much excitement in the Ellison house right now, Fred in particular is soo excited, i can't even describe it, you would have to see it, his little face is so expressive, his eyes go wide and he shakes when he is talking about Christmas, and he sings all day, the songs they are learning in nursery, ready for the Christmas show. He only does two morning a week there and never wants to go since he went to the open evening at school as he thinks he should be going to school now and has volunteered Alex for nursery! but he really enjoys it when he is there. I have been ordering presents online and some of the company's have sent toy catologues which all the kids have been studying for hours at a time ( shame they don't do that with homework!) most of the toys in the books have been circles and discussed, listed and relisted! the pages are torn and well thumbed! Its lovely to see them so excited and i really am glad that they treasure the things that have become tradition to our family over the last few years and i have to say i am just as bad, not for the present list, i am not bothered about those, i just love Christmas, and feed of the kids excitement and joy. I am probably very guilty of going over the top and spoiling them at Christmas, but i pay the price afterwards when i have piles more toys to tidy away and find homes for. Our house is already bursting at the seems with toys as it is! So one of my goals this year is to just to stick to the toys on the list and a few other bits, as i usually go out and buy piles of bits and bobs (so called stocking fillers) that never get played with, but just give them piles of pressies to open on the day, which is great, but ultimately is an expensive waste of money. I know this year i said that the trips away are part of the older ones presents and Molly had loads when we went away and Ewan will to on our trip after Christmas, but i have already spent more than i said i was going to, so instead of all the "crap" basically, i am booking us all tickets to the panto, which we will all enjoy.

One of the traditions i have done for the kids for the last few years is an advent calendar..well its more like a santa sack each with a present for each day of December. I spend all year looking for bits and bobs in sales, so last week i got the big bag out and sorted them out into four piles, as little Ali is old enough for one this year, so i needed 96 presents, i had all sorts from little wooden instruments that Oxfam were selling at 59p each and squidgy animals that i got last January in the sales at Wilko for 50p each, various books from the works 50p each, model aircraft kits 50p each, make up and nail kits 20p each, notebooks, pencil kits and so many other things, plus some mini chocolate bars to complete the sacks. It took i couple of hours for us to wrap them all up. I had bought some new hessian sacks from Aldi at £3.99 each only to see them in poundland for £1 each!!!! never mind!!

At school each year the kids have to decorate a hanger and a jar. The hangars are hung up in the hall and the jars need to be filled with sweets and are made into a sweet jar tombola at the school Christmas fair. The hangers are still under construction as we are doing papier mache snowmen and a globe. The jars were done, Molly a reindeer and Ewan a Santa also Fred made a Christmas tree jar, but he didn't want to give it to the school and i caught him later that day eating the sweets out of the jar.

We made our first batch of mince pies

I also put our xmas bedding on!

Then on the 25th November my dad called me that he had seen real Christmas trees ( we always have a real tree) at Homebargains for £12 each!! bargain as we normally pay about £40, so he treated us to one and Paul picked it up from my parents on his way home, a bit early but we couldn't wait to decorate it!!!!

Once Paul had set it up and i had sorted all the lights, we just sat back and watched them decorate it even though it was 9.30pm by the time they were finished! It was so worth it, they loved it and it was nice to see them so happy, we videoed a lot of it, Fred seemed to be the one organizing it! 

Next morning i came down and put the lights on ready for Paul bringing Alex down, who was mesmerized, as he was in bed when it was put up.

Later on that morning Alex seemed to think it was a conker tree, picking a big bauble and bashing it into all the others, was funny!

Thursday was the School Fair and i helped out doing the face painting

Now i am sat planning several events over the next few weeks, in fact i have just pointed out to Paul we only have two free days in December!!

Its all fun bring it on!!!!

xxx

Star Wars Jumper

Finally earlier this week i finished the long awaited Star wars Jumper for Paul, who absolutely loved it!!!!!
 I have been working on it on and off since August, with a bit of  unpick and redo with a different pattern in the middle.

This has been a jumper of firsts, i have never knitted an adult jumper as i always felt they would take to long based on the time it takes me to knit a baby jumper! Knitting takes sooo much longer than Crochet but i really felt like i wanted to do something to challenge me, which happens every so often and lets face it that's how we learn something new. I have been knitting properly for about 10 years now. I did start knitting initially when i was about 15 and my mum was knitting some cardigans for my soon to be born niece and i asked if i could try, so she let me have a go at the sleeve, which did not go well, the stitches on each row varied so much that it had to be scrapped. It wasn't till a couple of years before by son was born that i had another go when knitting first became popular again with funky fur! and people were knitting scarfs made of it, I was on a visit home from Northern Ireland where i was living at the time, and i asked my mum to show me again. I remember sitting in the ferry from Larne to Fleetwood patiently knitting a black funky fur scarf, every row being a knit row, thinking about it i wonder what ever happened to that scarf as i don't usually like throwing out things i have made and i remember being so proud of it!. Anyway after that i made another few things out of funky fur, including a little bag that Molly uses to this day, but that was it till i fell Pregnant with Ewan and then i made a jumper, hat and booties that were just knit stitch again and he never wore as it was so hot when he was born and in fact that whole summer following was really warm, so now those items are used by Molly for her dolls. After that i wanted to further my skills and knitted a lace pattern wrap and  lace pattern top for me that i never worn as it was to small, then a cable knit jumper for Ewan, then a toddler, but i ran out of wool with half a sleeve left and couldn't get any more!!!! So it wasn't till i was pregnant with molly that i got started again by making a blanket and little cardigans and matinee jacket, that i finally felt i had a success, since then i have knitted lots of little baby bits and bobs and seen my skills increase.

So anyway i digressed a bit there... but i have never knit on circular needles before as i thought it would be difficult, but no, its so much easier and looks so much neater, than having to sew up the sides. The color work i have tried before, when making the star wars hats last Christmas. But i googled and learn't from the mistakes i had made and discovered how to make it better and neater.

The basic jumper pattern i used was http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/0-812-mens-jumper-with-pattern-and-shawl-collar which i found on ravelry, then i looked up some star wars patterns which i found in few different places, but unfortunately copied, pasted and can't find now to give credit to, but it was a mix for different patterns i found after googling.

This was the original pattern i was following, but i soon realize that it included to many colors for me to work with and it didn't look great so as i wasn't 100 % happy with it i re worked the pattern

And this was what i ended up with, the finished product!!! 

 My Star Wars Ta-dah!!!!!!

I love it , Paul loves it, and i am so proud of myself for sticking with it

I have already started another

 xxx

another week

This week i have bought another pile of Christmas pressies for the kids, i like to try and get them all bought by the end of November, as December is always really busy, plays, party's, and i have three Gala events as well. They kids have written there lists, Molly seems to have forgotten that the trip we took the other week was part of her present!, we were walking home from school and she was reeling off her even bigger list and i said well you have already had part of your present remember and she blanked me, remember molly, again nothing, eventually she said yes i know! and marched off. She always does that, if she doesn't want to hear something or do something she just blanks it out definitely something she has inherited from Pauls mum. Acctually both the big kids lists are not to big really, i think they have taken on board the trips as presents, i am really trying this year not to go over board with them, as after all i am the one looking for storage for them and most of the time tiding up after them, so really hoping to do away with all the bits that i buy lasy minute every year, to make it look like they have loads of presents and really they don't need, want or even play with!

This was about half of them!

We had a one night pre christmas visit from Elfy Guy, he popped in with a note to tell the kids he is busy and hopes they are being good and will be back when the tree is up! Fred was super excited, he was telling nanna and could barely get the words out. We have been watching videos on youtube where some people have set up cameras to catch the elfs moving, they are so cleverly done.

t

We had some time this week at hatters and Alex always goes on the bus but i never put money in, as as soon as i do the other kids all used to jump off, but i thought i would give Alex a go and he loved it moving, he is so different to the others, he is so placid and chilled out and not as prone to major meltdowns, i realized as well while Paul was holding him, they are the spitting image of each other, i bet Paul was just like Alex as a child and i can see they have very similar traits. He definitely is a very good loving little boy

He came to the hairdressers with me on Thursday and despite being there for 4 hours, he was happy just to wander around and watch me with fascination as i had tin foil on my hair!

I do feel sorry for Kerrie though she will have has a few mirrors to clean after we left!

I decided to have another complete change, this is the picture i sent to Paul, as i decided to have one of the colours Paul had chosen, So in the week before i had to keep washing and washing it to get as much of the red out as i could, which meant going out with various shades of pink and a washed out look which wasn't great.

And we have Lavender!!!!!

My little pony hair, we all love it, its nice to have a change

xxx

Remembrance Day

This morning i went to the remembrance service at the local cenotaph, i have been going for years on and off, first as a child representing various groups, Rose Queen, Brownies, Guides and then with my own children, representing various groups and now representing the Gala with the Queen and Princess. Its always such a lovely service, and as an army wife years ago during the Iraq war, there are a few people i think of who lost there lives. Its such an important time to remember and a tradition that i hope continues, which i am sure it will into the future. A local historian recently did some research into the names on our cenotaph and managed to find information on most of the names, where they lived and how they died, i think it helps to bring these people back to life and know they are not forgotten. Its really hard for us now to imagine how it must have been for those men and also for the family's left behind, in a time when they didn't have as much a contact with people, no mobiles, e-mails, internet and would have to wait for letters and reports, even the reporting would have been different, these days you have footage from lots of different people and a better picture of whats going on. Today the rain was bouncing down on us, but it was nothing compared to the story's of being in the trenches

My Grandad was a prisoner of war in the second World war and escaped from his camp in Poland several times being caught and sent back, the final time he got away and walked back from Poland to France to get a boat home. He didn't speak about it much and refused to collect his medals. Once when i was doing a school project on the war at about the age of 7 or 8, we had a list of questions we had to ask people and my Grandad wrote answers, that i can't remember now. I wish i had asked him more, but he died when i was about 12, and my mum said he never really liked to speak about it. I do know this he went away with a full head of hair and when he returned 5 years later he was bald and only about 25, whatever happened must have been extremely bad. I have a brass bowl that he got somewhere on his way back and carried home, i wish i knew where and when, how he got it, but it will always be treasured.

This is our Cenotaph, the pictures were taken on Gala day this year. Before our procession we have a little ceremony where we raise the Gala flag and lay flowers, along with the queens of all the other galas. 

Ewan standing in one of the corners and at the cenotaph. Molly was there somewhere as well. I was back on the gala field getting things ready for the parade.

This years Queen Laura, before she was crowned. 

These are pictures of when i was in the St Andrews Rose Queen, i think about 1989 ish. We were in the lilac dresses. Below i am one the left of the train behind the queen with dark brown hair. So its a tradition that's been going on a while.

Its nice to thing that 25ish years later my children are following the same tradition i did! in the same way. Thats a good thought.

I will have to do some ore research into family that have been in the wars, i have made a start on ancestry, Dad tells me one of his mothers family was quite high up in the army and has a display about him in a museum, or so he was told, so that's what i am looking at currently, will keep you posted about what i find

xx

Life in general recently

I have posted about the different events we have been to recently but lots of other things have been happening...

The Christmas edition of  Good Food arrived, yay, i love this mag and when we had our shop i would always read the Christmas magazines but this was my favorite, its one of the things i miss about having the shop, that i could read the magazines then send them back! but i saw an offer of 5 Good Food mags for £5! bargain. So i signed up as this was mag number 4. Need to remember to cancel it now though. I always read it but usually make something else, that's not in it for Christmas dinner, but just love it!

I really enjoyed altering a wedding dress and blinging it up, for my hairdressers auntie, this is the corsage for her wrist that i made. i often get jobs like this on recommendation from friends, i always enjoy the freedom to alter things and really enjoy it

Lots of Play days! Making train tracks for the boys, we have so many different tracks and sets, take along Thomas, and tack master and for Christmas i am planing on getting Alex a train table, like we don't have enough already!

I still had a full tub of track left after this!!!

Pumpkin carving with Fred

A night out at Blackpool Tower on one of there free party nights!, well free to get in, but the made there money at the bar, Coke £3.00!!!!

More trains!!!

At the park

Dressing up!! Fred preferred Mollys outfit!

Some really warm days, with ice cream (those days are long gone this week, nothing but rain!!)

Brotherly love..aww

Playing shop

Roast winter veg

return on the Sunday roast dinner!

Stripy blanket getting worked on again, it will be finished one day!

Happy kids

So nearly finished star wars jumper, half a sleeve left!!!

Bun decorating

And finally Craft & Chat this morning. I was teaching quilting today

Its getting popular now which is great

Add all this to lots of meetings of various groups and its been really busy.

xxx