Loving right now...

:: the return of my Christmas spirit. It had been missing in action for a while - turns out school mocks and reports were holding it to ransom and wouldn't release it until I had finished them all.

:: how amazing my Christmas sprinkles look in the fabulous Jamie kilner jars. I would have posted a photo of the cupcakes I put them on but we had them eaten before the camera could be taken out of its bag!

:: how excited the boys are every morning when they open the advent calendar. I opted for a traditional one with no chocolate, much to the disappointment of Michael who thought I was spoiling their fun! They have been taking it in turns to open it and are more excited about a tiny picture than they have ever been over a tiny piece of mass produced chocolate!

:: singing in our church Christmas chorus. It's not that I'm much of a singer, but I LOVE the Christmas carols, and when I found out they were going to be singing O Holy Night and Cliff's version of Little Town I knew I had to do it!

:: the magical glow of candles and fairy lights on the tree. Impossible not to love it.

:: that I only have 4 and a half actual days in school until the holidays. I'm in denial that these days even exist! 

:: pretending to be making stuff with a friend, while in reality we oohed and aahhed over our lovely supplies while we watched Kirstie Allsop make beautiful things on tv and looked online at other fabulous craft projects! A more fun evening I cannot even begin to imagine.

:: finally getting round to finishing the project that didn't happen on that night and hanging it in our house. I am totally in love with it and have already recreated another. It won't be the last!!

So what are you loving right now?  
 

Advent

So officially today is the day we can start counting down to Christmas. A thought which simultaneously fills me with excitement and dread - excitement at all the traditions and fun we get to enjoy and dread at the already overflowing December calender. I'm thinking a new bottle of Bach's Rescue Remedy might be the very thing to see me through when it all gets too much! Realistically it's going to be that or more mulled wine than would be good for one who is supposed to be in charge of small people! However, someone in our house has been getting ready for the festive season for a few weeks now. The Lego Christmas scene has been a work in progress for a while, changing from day to day depending on what the characters are up to. In this particular scene we have someone warming themselves by the fire and another watching TV on the settee - just in case you were finding it hard to work out what exactly was going on!

November hasn't really been the most exciting of months - obviously excepting the release of that film I hinted at below, but I fear that I will lose what little blog readership I have if I rant on too long about how great it was and how much I love Edward Cullen etc! What was exciting, however, was the arrival of a package which looked first like this...

....and then like this.....

....and finally like this.....

It really was like Christmas come early! A very unexpected (and unnecessary!) gift from family who clearly know me all too well! Needless to say Michael was absolutely thrilled about the arrival of another bag into the house, especially of the Cath Kidston variety!

The only other real excitement we've had around here this month was Patrick's first outing for his mini rugby team yesterday. He was so excited about playing that we all traipsed to Ballyclare at 10am to watch him in the freezing cold! The team operated a rolling substitution policy to let all the boys play, but even with that they were trounced 16-1 (that's 16 mini trys to 1!!) But he didn't care in the slightest, he was just delighted to get on the pitch in his kit!

I had a definite sense of what the majority of my weekends may look like for the next 14 years or so - me freezing my butt off on a sideline while the boys get as many items of clothing as possible covered in mud! Magic!! Again I'm thinking a combination of Rescue Remedy and mulled wine is the ideal solution to get me through!
 

Giddy

Look what it's almost time for!!!

five, six, pick up sticks

What is it with boys and sticks? Conor is always on the lookout for a really good stick. One that will withstand much trailing on the ground, poking at stones, banging off walls and railings and general waving around! Such sticks are few and far between, but when one is found it is brought home and loved greatly until it eventually breaks. I have a sneaking suspicion most of these ones are still lying in the boot of my car along with a heap of dead leaves and the mud covered wellies.

No doubt this little one will be looking for similar sticks before long if it's in the Boyd genes. He is Michael's cousin's son and the closest thing our boys have to a cousin so far. Unfortunately they live in Liverpool and photo opportunities are few and far between so I have to make the best of any occasion that arises. Love his amazing eyes - wouldn't they almost put you in the notion........?

Seasonal fun

For one not much given to Hallowe'en, we seem to be entering into the fun rightly. Yesterday was pumpkin carving day with much discussion over the design of the teeth. We have a small hommage to the vampires in our lives on one of them! Not a Cullen, for sure! And tonight we hosted a party for some of Patrick's friends which will certainly go down as one of the noisiest nights we've had for a while. We had fancy dress, ducking for apples, lots of plastic insects, the grossest buns I've ever made (it's my pennance for being sucked in by packaging!) and a lot of toilet paper lying around after our mummy game! My favourite part was the party bags I bought online at Elle's Studio - absolutely amazing and so much fun to make. I doubt the boys noticed much except how many chews they had inside, but I got so much satisfaction out of them that I don't even care! The satisfaction I got out of the water bottle labels I made from these tags was only slightly less! See, a bit of creating can make even the most daunting of prospects (like 10 small boys in ghoulish costumes screaming like banshees around the garden) seem altogether manageable!

Can I just finish by saying how much I love that photo of Conor skipping up the hall after checking on the pumpkins!!

Right now

Outside my window :: the remains of the lavender plants are being beaten into oblivion by the wind under a dark and rainy sky.

I am thinking about :: how glad I am that Michael has taken Patrick to see Ulster play rugby while I stay at home in the warmth with Conor!

I am looking forward to :: my evening of girly fun with the ever fabulous Sheila - it will include Chinese take out, Strictly Come Dancing, wine, scrap chat (possibly not much actual scrapping!), and much ooohing and aaahing at online loveliness!

I am thankful for :: the arrival of the half term holidays and all that we might do.

I am wearing :: a toasty warm knitted hoodie, jeans and boots - Fat Face, of course!

I am creating :: lots of layouts in my head! They will make it to reality one of these days.

I am going :: to finish folding the laundry after I finish this post.

I am reading :: classic Agatha Christie's Poirot - 'Five Little Pigs'. I've loved her books since I was a teenager and have been in a bit of a retro love affair with them since I had the flu. He's so clever, that Poirot!

I am hoping :: that there will be a few dry days this coming week since it rained through most of the summer holidays. Surely we deserve to enjoy the last of autumn before the bleak mid winter sets in?

I am hearing :: lots of cries of "A STRIKE!!!!!" from Conor who can only get a chance on the Wii when his brother isn't here. He's super enthusiastic which is amazing given his total exhaustion after his first half term of playgroup. I sense a melt down when we have to switch it off!

One of my favourite things :: leggings. Think I may be on the cusp of the age barrier for these, but love how toasty my legs feel in them on these chillier autumn days.

Some plans for next week :: chilling out at home, finishing that book, creating stuff for myself and with the boys, a trip to W5, catching up with the Stronges, and finally making a blind for the landing window.

Some favourite photos from the past couple of weeks ::

:: the Giant's Causeway is just amazing every time we go.

 

:: this one is just growing up far too fast *sniff*

:: the obsession with trains continues.

:: how beautiful is the colour of this rose?

:: love that he spotted the texture of this tree!

:: my oldest friend from playschool with his adorable first baby daughter. Love them.
 

Have a great weekend :)
 
 
 
 

Blessed

I'm feeling very lucky and blessed today. The dreaded lurgy has finally left the building in time for my birthday, and today I've been spoilt with breakfast in bed, some fab new books (those amazon wish lists you can email to your husband are wonderful things!), handmade jewellery, coffee with the parentals, some money to spend on lovely things and a lovely bowl from the ever amazing Eden Pottery. And now I'm off for some relaxation and time with my boys in Bushmills. Blessed indeed.

 

Thank you so much for my lovely pressies and cards and texts - I love birthdays!! One other photo I have to post is from yesterday. Conor was cosied up on the settee watching a programme when his little friend Poppy decided to join him. Melted 2 mummies' hearts:)

 

Hope you have a blessed weekend full of loveliness too.

Regular programming will resume as soon as possible

Sorry. I know some of you are bored to tears with the same heading and photos there day after day. If I say *SWINE FLU* will it replace some of your boredom with even a smidgen of sympathy? I can but hope. But look, here I am, typing on the computer which means I'm upright and slightly further from death's door than I was a few days ago! I shall do my best to follow up this promising start with a more interesting post in a day or two. Until then, if you're really bored, click on the link to my website - up there on the right - and check out the changes. It's looking good :) Now, can I possibly take any more medication whilst in charge of a small child...

So about the pig races

We happened to be in York when the Ebor races were taking place, but where's the novelty in watching horses race, I ask you? The fabulous G & R took us to The Farmer's Cart for lunch and the alternative E-boar races for an afternoon of hilarity and cheering on our pigs. Perhaps not so dignified as the racecourse and high heels would definitely have been a no-no, but for entertainment I would defy you to beat it!

As I said, high heels were best left in the car, and those of us with new crocs opted for those instead.

 

Whislt waiting for the races to begin, there were tractors to be sat upon, for those so inclined.

 

And then there was the racing. We chose our pigs carefully - none of your choosing by which jockey has the prettiest shirt (oh yes, there were little velcroed jockeys on the back of the pigs!) Form was checked as was the going.

 

Then we took our places on the bales of hay and sat back, ready to see if we would win a chocolate!

 

An unconventional afternoon to say the least, but all round family fun was had by all!

Now, I don't want to cause anyone to go into cardiac arrest by my posting almost once a week at the moment, but I have also created 2 layouts this week! Is it too much for you to bear if I post them now? If you think it might be you should return to your homepage immediately, but if you think you can cope, scroll on down and check them out.

As I said in my last post, Conor excelled at the driving school in Legoland, and given the amount of vehicular stash I have accumulated, it would have been rude not to have combined the two.

 

And if one phrase could sum up our summer it would be Patrick asking once again (in case we hadn't heard him the previous 19 times) 'Will you play cricket with me?'

 

I am almost afraid to say it in case I put the scud on it, but I feel like I'm getting back in my creative groove. Who knows what the weekend will bring? Especially if the weather actually delivers the rain we've been forecast. Again!!

Just a taster

Of the gazillion photos from our holiday, that is! Oh, we had a swell time. 2 nights in the Lake District, visiting friends in York and friends in London with almost 1100 miles in between. Have to love the in-car dvd player! I have every intention of posting more photos over the next week or so, perhaps a layout or 2, but you know me and my lack of blogging too well and you are thinking there's no chance so you'll settle for the overview! So let me dally with you no further and show you a picture or two.

:: lakes

 

:: steam train rides

 

:: boats

 

:: pig racing (ok, this one will need future explaining!)

 

:: dinosaurs

 

:: a few sights in London

 

:: viking water rides

 

:: driving school

 

:: planes

 

:: more trains

 

:: purple men in York

 

I'm fairly sure there'll be more! Go on, check in a few days. You never know...