Busy doing....

nothing!! Well, except the usual Christmas stuff anyway :) It's been ages since I blogged ,I purposely stayed well away from the PC for a few days over Christmas and haven't really got back into being on it much!

So, our Christmas consisted of lots of this,

and lots of this!!

The girls were very happy with all their presents ,though as they get older the presents seem to get smaller (size wise anyway!) and the piles look much smaller!Holly finally went back to sleep sometime after 2am on Christmas Eve so we were in no hurry to get up on Christmas Day!

I was very lucky and got a gorgeous cake stand from Anna as well as lots more Momiji's.My fave present though is a tiny Guardian Angel that Geoff got for me, will take a photo and share soon!

Since Christmas we have been chilling out,done a little bit of shopping and generally been lazy! I've become a Mario Cart addict,but let's face it,once we are back in our normal routine I probably won't go on it for ages!

Geoff was back in work today so this afternoon I took the girls for a walk at the lakes to get some fresh air.We took with us a lump of bread which should have been a loaf but I forgot to add the yeast -doh!!It was absolutely freezing but the girls loved feeding the swans (not so much the seagulls though!) A lot of the lake was still frozen over and when we walked further round,there was a swan actually trapped with one of its legs frozen in the ice :( I rang the RSPCA as soon as we got home so hopefully they will have been down there to rescue it.The girls want to go back there tomorrow to make sure it's been rescued so that's our afternoon sorted !

Tomorrow night we are off to Anna & Peter's New Years Eve party...the first time we've been out at New Year since having the kids! It's fancy dress and Geoff is still trying to choose between his three ideas,whilst me...well that would be telling wouldn't it?!

I hope you have a wonderful New Year!

All Is Calm...

..well,apart from a certain 8yr old who's just woken up, as Santa was about to arrive! Looks like he may be delayed a while longer....
I know my photo from last year is almost the same ,but this is what it looks like here! Letters have been written and snacks left out :)
Everything is done now except for a couple of presents to be wrapped,which can wait til tomorow .Today has been spent cleaning, tidying and present making.All had to be done by 3pm before we headed off to the Christingle service :) It was so lovely again, with a real pony (I'm guessing there are no donkeys local,or maybe the pony is tamer?!) Mary,Joseph and an incredibly cute baby Jesus!The service would give any health & safety inspector nightmares...loads of small children holding naked flames...shocking! And every year you can smell the faint aroma of burning hair!!but we came home full of Christmas cheer :)
This evening we have enjoyed a very civilised candle lit meal,just the two of us,once the kids were in bed.We decided to start doing this a few years back after a couple of years of still wrapping presents up at way past midnight!
Right,I am off to enjoy a glass of Baileys :0
Oh, and I have another classic to share from Holly...I have a new Christmas dec which spells out the word Noel.Holly asked me what it said,'noel' was my reply,to which she said 'but it has got an L...' Bless!!
Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Still here...

Yikes, seems like ages since I was here last! I'm still feeling slightly bah humbug,but then again everyone else seems to be feeling that way too this year :( I have vowed to change the way I do things for next Christmas (erm, didn't I say that last year too?!)as I don't enjoy feeling this 'headless chicken-like' all December.In a week or so I am going to write down everything that the girls have done this year ie school plays, parties etc so that I have some idea what they'll be up to next year too!
So...a weeks re-cap.....On Wednesday Anna and I had a belated birthday get together.We went into town and mooched around John Lewis for a good couple of hours (something I very rarely do ,I generally whizz in and out as quick as possible!)and picked up a few bargains and goodies.having spent our pennies (and a couple of pounds) we went to Frankie & Benny's for our now traditional Christmas/birthday pig out! It was so busy in there that the food took a while longer to arrive than usual and we ended up literally shoving the food down to make sure I was in time for my train home! It was delicious as usual though,you can't beat their caramel waffle crunch! Anna went home armed with her pressies (which I was very tempted to keep for myself!) and birthday cake,which I have on good authority went down a treat (Yes,I had a phone call from Izzy telling me how delicious it was!) Which is good as I now have something to trade in for brownies ;)!
On Friday morning I went to the Christmas Carol assembly at Holly's school which was lovely,before both girls finished school early for Christmas:)
Yesterday morning we went for a leisurely stroll round Asda (Yes, it was eerily quiet in there!) and got the last bits of food shopping.In the afternoon Holly had a party and I went to the town for a last minute present...what a waste of nearly two hours!!Today Geoff has been working and Em has been out shopping with a friend whilst I've finally hung the outside lights and Holly has been painting and glittering.I finally got my cards in the post yesterday,cutting it fine I know!I haven't made any at all this year, just haven't felt inclined to at all!
I still have some presents to finish off and haven't even started the wrapping yet :( Still, come Christmas Eve it will all be done ,I know I will get there eventually!

Change of plans...

So after getting all excited about today,all plans had to be changed as poor Izzy wasn't well :( I managed to change all my Wednesday stuff back to Monday stuff and so fingers croossed....I can hand over the birthday presents on Wednesday!

And is this what happens when the kids see too many adverts?! Holly loves the Boots christmas adverts and came into the kitchen this evening waving this bowl shouting 'secret santa' ! Bless, she has put all our names in it,along with her favourite toys. Check out her cute way of spelling 'Secret'!! We have to pick two names each,not surprisingly I got Mickey and Minnie mouse!

I have just finished sewing up Em's costume and am off to bed to try and catch up on my sleep...two nights of falling asleep at approx 3.00am is not good news!

Still non-stop!

Why is it that we really don't seem to do much the rest of the year but come November & December there doesn't seem to be a spare minute?!
Yesterday I finally got round to taking the girls to see High Musical 3...yes, i know,it came out ages ago! The cinema was practically empty which would have been good had it not been for a group of annoying teenage girls who kept getting up walking around,being loud and chucking popcorn everywhere.Despite that the girls enjoyed themselves (ok, so did I too!),but it doesn't seem quite right not being able to watch it again non-stop like the first two!
Later in the afternoon Em went off to a friends house for a birthday sleepover whilst we spent the evening watching the X Factor.I'm so pleased Alexandra won, I had goosebumps during her songs!I wasn't that keen on Eoghan or JLS anyway, but singing with Boyzone and Westlife ...hmm,think that totally killed it for me!
This afternoon I started to make Em's costume for the House Drama play she is taking part in at school.I paid a quick trip to town to buy some fabric (and eyed up lots of 'purchases' for Anna tomorrow!)before spending the rest of the day glittering,ripping and sewing!Guess what - calenders are going to a last minute job again!

Pencil Lines is live with our last sketch for 2008 :)This sketch is perfect for lots of small not-so-perfect photos! And whilst I'll admit to having absolutely no desire to scrap at the moment I'm so glad I got my butt into gear and did this layout :)
I used
Scenic Route Roxbury papers & stickers
Doodlebug letter stickers
Pink Paislee numbers
The photos are much better IRL,the light was awful for taking a photo of the LO though!I had to go outside as my normal photo-taking place is occupied by the Christmas tree...
Tomorrow I have a welcome day off and Anna is coming over to celebrate her birthday and finish off her shopping! Presents are almost all wrapped and I just have a couple of little jobs to do before she arrives :)

I'm sitting down

..and taking a break for a couple of hours! It feels like I have hardly been home all week,I still have loads to do but right now...I don't feel like doing any of it!
Holly has had her school show the last two nights and is shattered, poor thing! She was such a little star the first night when we went to see the show,but was definately past her best last night.The late nights are a bit too much for her and she was in tears during the finale last night,I'm so glad I didn't see that :( They were allowed to go in late this morning so I took full advantage and left her in bed until she woke up herself (I had to shake her awake yesterday morning!)Tomorrow the whole school are off to see a pantomime and then she has a party at Brownies in the evening.Oh to have the social life of an 8 year old!
The last few days and evenings seem to have been spent running to and fro between work, home, school and the shops! And I am really missing not having a Post office rond the corner from me this Christmas :(
Tomorrow afternoon I am off to meet a friend before the onslaught of another busy weekend! Em is off for a sleepover on Saturday night so no doubt Holly will be sad and lonely without her here! I also need to wrap up presents for a certain birthday girl I'm seeing on Monday :)
Right, I am off to write some more lists before I forget anything else I need to do!

How long...

...have I got left to finish all my to do lists?! I'm thinking not long enough? How daft is it that I have all year to get prepared and yet every year I seem to get less organised?!

This week has Holly's school Christmas play (which is not Christmassy in the slightest!) Despite lots of nerves and a few tears the last few days,todays performance went well and and she came out of school declaring that she hadn't been nervous at all -phew! We are all going to see her tomorrow night,which will be strange for Em as she is so used to being in the show too!
Yesterday I hopped on the train and went to Anna's crop:) Despite being a little chilly, I had a lovely day out (helped by the huge spread of food!) Feels like ages since I've seen everyone so it was good to catch up :)
This is my Pencil Lines layout for this week :) I used Basic Grey Urban Prairie,Urban couture & Mellow papers
Sassafrass paper
Prima swirls
Scenic Route sticker
AC puffy thickers
Doodlebug alphas
I pondered over this LO for ages and I'm still not really happy with it...but then a lot of my layouts seem to be like that at the moment :( Must be that time of year!
Today I've caught up on one the dreaded housework,including a huge heap of ironing...zzzzzzz.Tomorrow I am off to try and finish off my Christmas shopping,what joy!

Free to a good home...

..germs that is ! Please feel free to take to take them in as I will be glad to see the back of them!Geoff has been home all week with flu and a chest infection and I've had another cold too.Did not have a good morning yesterday having tripped whilst carrying a very heavy hoover,pulled a lamp off a shelf and trodden on a cats paw (sorry Jessie!).Maybe I should have just stayed in bed?!

Today seems to have been non-stop.Holly had a cinema /Frankie & Benny's party for four hours (!!) then we went to the annual Christmas tree festival to see her Brownie pack's tree,whilst inbetween that doing a food shop and putting up the christmas decs.That job maybe should have been left till next week as I really was not in the mood and got tangled up in the lights several times.Still,it's nearly all done except for the outdoor lights and it does look nice and cosy in here now.Even if I'm feeling slightly Bah Humbug!

Tomorrow I am heading off to Southoe to Anna's crop -woohoo! I am so in need of a day out ! I haven't packed anything except sweets and pink lights for Anna ,so no change there then really! I am off to sort some stuff out after the X Factor results.I need to get going on the calendars as I feel like I've lost a week somewhere and am all behind with everything.

And breathe..!!

Still here,still totally unorganised!
What with one thing and another (mainly Holly's birthday!) I didn't get time to do my Pencil Lines layout this week :( Am hoping to use the sketch at some point though as it's such a good one :)
Sunday's trip to Milton Keynes went well though it was absolutely heaving there by the time we left ,with huge queues for the car parks.This year there is a helter skelter as well as the carousel which Holly loved! We also went on the train ride after seeing Santa :) Most of my photos are pants,not helped by Holly also doing her looking sideways just as I press the shutter trick!She has pressies after lunch and then more presents from her Nan & Grandad a bit later.
I think I will be giving hand made cards a miss this year ,other than just a couple.I have ended up buying cards from both schools designed by the girls ,so I think I have enough to keep me going!

Geoff has been sent home from work sick,fingers crossed I don't come down with it...I've got no time to be ill!
I managed to get the girls advent trees finished in time for yesterday,after re-discovering my old MM Heidi rub-ons which included loads of 1's!
Before Geoff came home,I was busy sorting out the bags of old/too small kids clothes that seem to be multiplying at the end of the bed. I now have several smaller bags to be given away to various people..and a bit more space!