Mollys 6th Birthday at Gullivers World

With Mollys birthday fast approaching a asked the usual questions what would you like?, what would you like to do?, have a party? or something else?. Initially she said she wanted a party, but i though it might be nice to do something else or go somewhere we hadn't been before, so after some searching Molly decided on Gullivers World near Warrington. I feel like i have been there before, maybe with a friend as a 12ish year old, but not sure.

It was quite nice day really, that was my worry, it would rain all day, and the kids absolutely loved it!  I was really surprised with Fred, as he won't even go on the little rides they have at supermarkets, but the first ride we went on was the log flume and every ride he could after that! Molly is also very brave and went on the cat and mouse type ride, and the crazy Train ride and the very big Roller coaster with me, Ewan wouldn't go on any of these ride but gave very good reasons for not being scared but they were just boring, or he would only ride if he could sit next to me or he needed two adults etc etc etc....

Then on Monday, it was finally after 6 months of asking ( ever since Christmas!) Mollys birthday

I way over did the pressies but i did take a few out to save for Christmas.

With my oven down and the part i ordered being the wrong one, ( that they sent) i wasn't able to make any cakes and i told molly i would have to buy one from Asda and she could choose, her answer was ok but can you pick all the decoration off and decorate it yourself for me as yours are better!! i was so bowled over by that, i love making them cakes and i love that they really seem to love it too.

So i felt really guilty that she didn't have any cake to take into school ( i always send cup cakes if there birthday falls on a week day), so i dashed to the newsagents and bought 2 packs of plain cakes and some sweets, a quick 5 minutes and i mean 5 mins later and i had rainbows with clouds, not great i admit, but what do you expect at 8.30am when i need to leave the house in 5 minutes! but Mollys face lit up when she saw them so that's all that matters to me.

So instead of buying a cake i spent the day at my Mums making her a Rainbow Cake (as requested, she knows what she wants!)This is what she wanted buttercream with hundreds and thousands on the top, easy really and four coloured sponges.

We sent it to Rainbows  that night and they lit the candles and  with her as very luckily it was there last meet before summer and they had a party at Madhatters, so basically she had a party with all her friends in the end and on her birthday too,

What a weekend, winning the gala trophy, a day at Gulliver's world, and a party with her friends...then on Tuesday, her tooth started to fall out, it was the most drawn out affair ever with hysterical crying and whimpering, that lasted hours,  She really can be a little drama queen when she wants

Lego Starwars

Yesterday was..... , yes you guessed another Gala! Preesall & Knott End Gala. After Using the MacDonalds costumes  for the last three galas we decided to have a change and make some different ones, so on Sunday after a family brainstorming session we decided on Lego men. So then was another big decision which ones, the gala theme was superheros, so we picked Superman for Fred and Ewan wanted Darth Vader, sp that just left Molly who settled on Princess Leia.

And so the fun part ( for me anyway)began, making the ostumes, although i have to admit Paul did a lot this time as well.

Thre kitchen has been like a war zone all week, with paints and cardboard and general craft stiff everywhere, its nice to have it back now

The night before, all made and ready to go!

I found a great use for all those ice cube trays i have from making baby meals over the years

Paint mixing trays!

And the winning moment...

First Prize to them all for Childrens Fancy Dress!!!! yayayaay

And when we got to the field we also won Best Overall Fancy Dress!!!!

Molly wanted to sleep with the trophy and acctually i had to prize it off her for the picture and to save arguments i said it can have pride of place on the mantel piece. 

This is the new Princess float for Preesall, everybody seems to be having the multi colored theme this year, but they look great

So bright sat on the stage

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The end of another busy, but happy week.

Before i close the computer, i have to share these pics from during the week

a trip to the Ducks

We go to the ducks a lot, but this week, they were crazed, Fred was not happy and they were swarming around us, i felt like i was in the Birds, they were pecking at us to to get the bread, we make a sharp exit out of there!

All the making this week meant that i had to set things up for them to get on with, like these trains ad i have to say that for the most part they played really well together for a change, Well done Fred!

Bye xx

Sleepy Days

Well  on Sunday and we basically did nothing at all!!! sometimes thats really nice , to have no plans or tasks to do. I did Blog in the morning and decided to make something that would be done by the evening, and i did! I made a rainbow pot holder. A few ends to weave in and it needs blocking, but it looks great on the table.

These last few days, for no reason i have felt soooo tired, i can barely keep my eyes open, i have done the minimum i have to do, i have really appreciated that Fred was at Nursery on Monday and Alex likes a nap at about 10.30 for a couple of hours and have taken advantage of that and had a nap myself!!! Can't remember the last time i dd that, i must have needed it or maybe its the hayfever, because i have suffered a lot with it this year or perhaps it thats i have cut even more calories out in order to lose soem weight and now i really am on the bare minimum, i can manage on and run round after the kids and walk everywhere ( 4 and 1/2 hours walking yesterday out and about, normally its 3 hours per day)

Who knows, but i am so lethargic this week and even this weeks task which is making new costumes for the next gala, hasn't excited me. It as basically been left till today and i ave just finished them and sat down, i will wait till tomorrow when the kids are wearing them to take pictures, i am really pleased with them though

Last weekend we went to Hambleton Gala, this has to be one of my favorites, it was last year and this year, after nearly being cancelled, i was even better, they quickly did the formal stuff then onto party games and dances, it was just great for the kids, it was similar to what i had wanted for our gala, This year they Chose to have a Gala King which i think is the first time its been done round here, its got Ewan thinking anyway!  To top the day off our Queen won Best Queen and our Princess Best Princess!!! and our Happy Meal came 2nd in Group and 2nd in best overall exhibit! 1st went to a local nursery, and all the littlies were dressed as flowers fairies and bumble bees, you just can't compete with that! so we ave so far in the galas we have visited got a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd! Thats why we decided to have a change of costume.

Sat waiting, we couldn't put Alex's costume on till the last minute as it breaks it

Ewan kept hiding in his meal box

Dancing, and Fred won a prize, that Ali in the blue

He used to hate mascots but since Haven he loves them

Getting his medal from the Mayor and Mayress.

Another reason we have made new costumes is that they attended our Gala, so they reconzse me and they ave been judges at most of the Galas in Wyre, so we are likely to see them again and its a bit embarrassing keep going in to the same judges with the same costumes

Hambleton Gala King, isn't he great!

Our Queen Laura

and our Princess Emilie

Its great we really are enjoying going to them all, Preesall and Knott End tomorrow, then just 2 more and our Gala season will be over for another year

Bye Emma xx

More Galas and good weather

So today is Hambleton Gala and the rain is pouring down, last night it was thunder and lightning, but last Saturday was truly glorious for Lytham Gala, which was good because its always a really long day and has a very early start. We had to set off at 8am, good job Paul is on board with all this gala stuff otherwise he might have complained about getting up so early on his day off!

We took the kids Happy Meal and got 3rd out of 3! we were a bit miffed to be honest as we were in a line and the judges came to the first people and gave them 1st Prize, then the next people got 2nd and we got 3rd! so maybe if we has arrived first it would have been us! Not that's its all about winning, the kids have been enjoying taking park in the parades, which has amazed me as Lytham is a really long parade and Fred walked most of the way, he was waving and smiling at people and people were clapping for him, he was lapping up the attention. Molly on the other hand had her head down ignoring people, though she changed her mind when i reminded her of her wish to ge Gala Princess one day, that had her waving, nobody wants a miserable Princess!

We found this picture on a website a few days later

and what are we all looking at....

He was "lovin it" really

They have there crowning back at Lytham Hall, which is really nice.

Here are a few pics from the day, we have found loads on fb as well and Alex was in the Gazette as well on Monday

Lytham Club Day, is a loveley very traditional gala, they have a lot of support from the churches, but all in all Lytham is just that kind of place and looking through there brochure there gala costs £25000, compared to ours at £5000! but they do pay there volunteers for gala day.

During the last couple of weeks while we have had some really good weather, including a bit of a heat wave these last few days, i have mainly been outside with the boys during the day and in the evenings and been feeling very summery at last

Fred and i podded peas, which he loved and kept him occupied for ages

and he enjoyed the fresh Pea & mint soup we made with them

I watched the kids sports day, which if i am really honest i am not keen on, at there school they do everything in groups and they don't have all the different races, just running race, which Ewan gave up on half way through and insisted he had hurt himself (i have video proof that it just gave up!), they just do activity and then move on the the next, but the kids liked me watching it and at least it was a nice day

The element on my cooker went weeks ago and i have been using my halogen cooker, that was a bargain from Aldi at £9.99, its great and i think even once my element arrives i will still use this, i have been trying lost of new summer recipes i found on the internet.

Just love this pic, Alex is such a cool dude

Tried some summery sprakly cocktails

and me and Molly painted our nails in a glittery rainbow!

We love doing girly stuff together.

 My brother gave us a new paddling pool, that they didn't use anymore, as its easier for little Ali to get in and out of rather than the large round one. Its great just sat out reading and knitting and watching them

I forgot to turn the tap off one day and it overflowed and they both enjoyed the muddy puddle it caused than the pool!

We have done lots really the last few weeks, i don't write about everything as it would take years but i love doing my blog these days with small snap shots of our lives and its been nice to read back last years posts and remember things, so although i started this blog mainly as a place to share my crafts, technically the kids are our makings as well.

Today i think i will have a break from knitting and have a bash at a small make, but what?

xxx

Glamour Kaftan Ta-dah

This is the Kaftan i started making on the way to Haven back in may, i did actually finish it weeks ago and Molly has been wearing it a lot. It was going to be for me, but i only had two ball of sparkly navy wool, so i thought i would see where it got me and basically its the perfect size for Molly.

My cute model!, she loves it, in fact i caught her wearing it in bed the other night, despite the heat.

It was a really easy crochet, i got the pattern from the RedHeart page and once i had done a couple of rows it worked up quite quickly.

I know i haven't posted lots of makes recently, but i am working away on a cable knit cardigan for Alex which is close to being done.

Molly is still knitting away and the kids and i have been doing lots of little quick crafts, we now have craft Wednesday, where i find something for them to make and have it set up ready for when they finish school. They love it and its good for us, makes me sit down with them for a while as sometimes after a busy day with the little ones its easy to forget that they need time with me too.

Bye for now xx

Limited Service

I have not been on  the computer for a while, we have had "limited Service" basically this mean no internet. It started going off a year ago ,but a week before gala day, the worst possible time, it got really bad, sometimes it would be off for a few days. sometimes hours,  calls to EE to sort it out have been a nightmare of speaking to Mumbi in India and people who are following a script so every call got more and more frustrating as they sent out engineer after engineer ( 2 last week), who just kept saying the problem is not with us but the company!  aaahhhrrr!!!! its been a frustrating nightmare, but it has highlighted the point of how much we rely on the web and possibly have a slight addiction to it. I remember buying my first PC when i lived in Germany about 2001 from the NAAFI and cost £1000, which i had to take a loan out over a year to pay for it, it was very  rare that i went on the internet back then as it tool about 10 minutes to dial up and was super slow and to be fair i didn't really know what to look up, it was just a novelty, i did get an email address, the same one i still have and i bought a few bits from ebay, but that was as far as it went. After that i used it for booking holidays and looking things up, but it was still only occasionally i went on it till 2007, when my friend suggested joining myspace so i could chat to her over it, which i did and thats how i met Paul.
One night having a few drinks i decided to get some "friends" on my profile ( i was still very new to it all) so i did a search of people in the local area and saw Pauls profile and for some reason ( he had a hot picture!) decided to send a friends request, he replied and we got chatting online one evening and he asked me out for a date! I was really not expecting it and said i would have o let him know the next day. I told my mum and decided it would be ok as we would meet in a pub and worse case i would leave, really it was like a blind date. I was so nervous when i met him, i only stayed 3 hours,( he always teases me about that!) Paul offered me a lift home but i declined as i didn't know him and was super wary, after all he could be anyone, but he messaged me before i had even got home and we just hit it off and spent hours taking on the phone about 3 hours each night so the next week when we met up it felt like i had known him for ages, and the rest is history as they say.

Well that was a slight digression from what i was posting about!

So basically my internet has been pants for the last month, I have realised that i am on here a lot, specially with sorting out gala stuff, that takes a lot of time, emailing and messaging people, making sure the gala has a presence on facebook and finding things to post to keep it in everybody's minds, but i suppose that's the way things are now and i sometimes wonder how we managed before.

I have to admit though that apart from the frustration of having things that have to be done and not being able to do them, its been nice to have a break from it, i would have anyway as its been so lovely out side, we haven't been inside much over the last couple of weeks. For the first time in ages i am reading a book, its strange as i use to read up to five books a week, years ago before i had kids, then i suppose knitting and reading blogs on line and magazines in the shop took over, but at oxfam last week i saw a book called the knitting club, its real summer chicklit and as of 2/3 of the way through it doesn't really have a story but its nice to sit outside reading and watching the kids play. Its bliss actually and the best bit apart from the kids having fun is while they are outside, they aren't messing up inside!!!, i know that's bad, but it gives me a bit of a break as well and i can alternate my time between, reading, doing the necessary chores and loads of washing, (i think everything has been taken down, removed and washed now!!!) and knitting. I am a lot more chilled out when the weather is good and the kids aren't under my feet. One of the best things about being a stay at home mum is taht i can sit out when its nice, i remember all to well the lovely days i was sat in work only for it to rain on my days off!

So this was a random post, i will up load my pictures from this week now i think, then perhaps i better let Paul have 5 minutes with the laptop!!! x