blimey it's cold!...........

Hello everyone, and a very happy new year to you all! Did you have a good Christmas? I have been lurking in the few spare moments I've had so I have caught up with most of you and it seems, apart from the dreaded lurgy which struck a few of you, a fab time was had by all.

We had a lovely time. A very quiet Christmas with just the four of us, highly unusual but very enjoyable nonetheless. It meant that we actually had time to play with the children and go on bike rides and long walks. It did us good to have that concentrated time together, no stress, little food preparation and plenty of sitting by the fire.

Christmas morning was a joy, look who arrived.....................

..................from Father Christmas (via Nicky at the Vintage Magpie). How cute is she, Kit loves her - nearly as much as I do!

There was much frantic ripping of paper................

..................squeals of joy, and strumming...........

The weather down here has been perfect for long wintry walks. Boxing day we shrugged off our Christmas Day stupor and went for a lovely walk around the local racecourse, one of our favourite haunts. It was cold, very very cold, but a beautiful day and the perfect antidote to all those choccies, sausages and turkey!

New Year was a much more raucous affair with friends and family gathered here to see in 2009. Plenty of food, bubbly, laughter, singing and story telling, the perfect way to see in the new year.
Yesterday saw me having to drag two very warm, sleepy and reluctant children from under the covers to start the new school term. Fortunately for me there was something outside to tempt them..............

..................before they were even dressed and in the low morning light they threw on coats and wellies over pyjamas and were in the garden building a tiny "snow hawk" and throwing snow at the open doors, ie. into the kitchen!

Whilst they were at school I cleared the house of Christmas clutter, boxed it all up and put it away until next year. Now for the big clean up, sigh................

My brief stint at a working life is over, I enjoyed it but have to say I'm glad to have a bit of time to myself in the house again, like the rest of you there are a million and one things to do, now where to start?

And no, I haven't forgotten the great button maker give away. I shall be back later in the week with the winner....................

Celebrations...........

How come I think of a million (ok,slight exaggeration!) interesting things to write about then promptly sit down and forget them all? I know, I know, write them down you shout, but really my mind should be able to contain at least two things at once without having to list them!

Anyway, the kids are tucked up and the night is no longer young because I've just whiled away a couple of hours catching up - how does that happen? After a pretty stressful day of haircuts, tantrums and Beano confiscations I'm back in Blogland and it feels good! I'll have to make do with pasta for tea because I forgot to take the tuna out of the freezer, but otherwise all's well.

I have a query, can someone explain Flickr to me? I was very pleased with myself when I managed to add it to the side of my blog but what do I do with it now? It's just sort of sitting there looking pretty but I'm too overwhelmed with all this technology to actually do anything with it. Do I have to or can I just leave it there and pretend it doesn't exist??!!

Last weekend was a cause for great celebration in this family. My mum turned 60 so we had a party here for her. Great excuse to bring out the bunting and all the old napkins, plates etc I've collected over the years. My uncle played the piano (finally someone's used it!) until the wee hours and a great time was had by all!

I just have to say "Happy Birthday" Mum. She really is the best mother we could wish for, if a little eccentric at times (she knows what we mean). I'll have to show her this post next time I visit. She's not a big fan of blogs, what with all her conspiracy theories. I blame the "Daily Mail" !

Finally I thought I'd finish with a gem from my seven year old :

"Mum"

"Yes Jack"

"You're not fat"

"Thank-you darling" Preening myself, waiting for the compliment which is sure to follow.

"You're stout!"

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.........

A family weekend

It's been a great few days. Firstly the Sudeley castle fair was lovely. No sign of Liz Hurley there but I guess the wedding's over! I managed to pick up a great little mail box from the Caroline Zoob stand- totally crap picture, taken at night as usual......

I don't think the photo does it justice, it is lovely, honestly, although I have to admit my friend did say "£12 for THAT?" when I showed it to her. Each to their own, I say. The funniest thing was the lady who sold it to me (not Ms Zoob herself I presume) said "Oh, they're just fabulous, you can have 1 for each member of the family and just take them off the wall and carry them up to the study to sort out your paperwork". I wanted to say "Lady, I can't afford four, and by the way what's a study? - we just have a kitchen table"

Jack had a great time for about an hour, then he was ready to go, just as we were getting into the swing of things. So, I placated him with his very own...........fly swatter, he was thrilled although he did seem slightly too keen to whack me on the bum with it.

We had a great weekend with grandparents, the sun shone and all was well. Kitty helped her beloved "Poppy" plant his runner beans........

and I dug up a few of his plants to kill in my garden.

We spent Saturday at Churchtown near Southport (home of Louise Loves) which has beautiful botanic gardens. The children love the trains and boat rides there. We then went off to the beach at nearby Ainsdale to have ice-creams and play in the sand. Of course, virgin blogger as I am I didn't take the camera so alas, no photos.

Came back to, joy of joys - more books, namely the "Crafters Companion" recommended on so many blogs, and a couple of embrioidery ones - pictures to follow.