Dancing Queen ~ Part 2!!

As promised yesterday ~ I managed to bribe Lauren with a Kinder Egg and some Maltesers and she went through the stress (tee hee) ~ of putting on her various dance unifroms ~ so that I could share them with you all!!

Here is the uniform that she wears for her Hip Hop classes!!

She also wears this for Hip Hop ~ if it is a bit colder!!
This is the new Tap and Modern uniform ~ Lauren loves the new leotard and wants to wear it all the time!!

The Ballet uniform is the same as last term ~ minus the voile overskirt ~ she now wears the waist elastic for her Grade one classes!!
There you have it ~ a quick step by step photo guide of laurens various dance classes!! As you can see ~ it doesn't cost much at all (I am lying there!!). She is all kitted out now and I have old her that she is not allowed to grow~ especially her feet ~ as buying new tap, ballet, modern and dance sneakers for hip hop ~ is not on my list of 'TO DO' things just at the moment!!

We are off to the cinema this afternoon. Ever since I went and saw Mamma Mia ~ the kids have wanted to see it too ~ so we are off to the sing along version a bit later!! Should be fun!

Hope you are having a great weekend too!! XXX

Dancing Queen

I have already blogged recently that Laurens dance classes have started up again for the new term. This week she has done Monday ~ modern and tap, Wednesday ~ Hip Hop and then this morning she was back at her ballet classes. She has a new uniform for the modern and tap ~ a kingfisher blue and black leotard and black jazz pants. For her ballet she has now moved up to grade one ~ which means that she still wears the Royal Academy of Dance leotard ~ but she no longer wears the voile overskirt ~ she now wears a pale blue waist elastic instead (which is basically an elastic belt!!). The best news of all is that the classes don't start until 11am ~ which means I can have an extra half hour in bed (yippeeee!!!!) ......a whole half hour ~ what a treat that is!!

The weather has gone mad today ~ no rain ~ no grey ~ no cold ~ but warm and glorious sunshine ~ I have decided that the world has officially gone mad! We have spent the day just mooching about. We had to go to town as Lauren has been invited to a birthday party and we needed to get a card and present and wrapping paper etc ~ then we came home and the kids played out while I steam cleaned the sofa and the livingroom carpet!

Lauren decided that there was no way that she was venturing outside this morning in JUST her leotard ~ so she opted to wear her full Uniform ~ she is a member of the Southern Arts Academy ~ and here is my little dancing queen in her full uniform ~ all ready to head off to her ballet class!!

I will post some photos of her other uniforms tomorrow ~ she loves wearing them ~ but actually convincing her to get changed into them and have photos taken is a bit of a task!! (I will try bribing her with chocolate ha ha ~ that usually works!!!) XxxX

My diet journey ~ a story in pictures!!

The beginning ~ April 2008 ~ on holiday ~ before starting on the diet and fitness kick!!
July 2008 ~ 3 stone lost!!
September 2008 ~ 2 pounds off losing 4 stone!!
Me today ~ the only problem with losing weight ~ is your boobs go too ~ no panic ~ there is still plenty left ha ha !!!
Just a little weight loss update (again) ~ decided to do a photo diary ~ so here are the stages so far ~ 2 stone still to go ~ Christmas is the deadline!! Will update you more along the way! (excuse the latest photo ~ I look how I feel ~ totally knackered ~ that is my Friday face ha ha !! )XXX

Sleep ~ beautiful sleep!!

A few of you have asked me if the ability to sleep has returned to my life and the answer is YES and NO!!! I have had a few nights when I have had a really great nights sleep ~ and then there have been a few others when I have just laid there awake ~ watching the hours pass by ~ and believe me ~ it is very annoying!!!

Lauren ~ my sweet little daughter ~ has not helped matters ~ she does not like the dark ~ so she sleeps with a torch under her pillow (ha ha ) ~ so when she wanders through to my room in the middle of the night ~ she shines her torch to light the way ~ the only problem is that she comes to the side of my bed and shines it in my face!!!! This combined with her saying "mum mum mum" tends to make you wake up with a start ~ and no matter how many times she does it ~ I cannot get used to waking up with a torch shining in my face!!!!! She has now been shouted at (tee hee) and told not to do this anymore ~ as mummy does not like it!!! I don't think that she will listen ~ I think that she likes seeing my startled face ~ like a rabbit caught in the headlights ha ha !!! She is turning into a right little madam these last few weeks ~ and we have had a few battles over various things. I have decided that when she reaches the teenage years ~ I am going to book on a round the world cruise ~ for a few years!!!!!!

This week has just flown by ~ infact this whole year has pretty much passed me by in a blur ~ I am still in denial that Christmas is so close!! I have noticed that the Halloween items are appearing in the shops ~ next will be the Christmas cards (then I start to get excited !!!).

I have given myself until Christmas to lose the last 2 stone ~ there is a reason behind this! For the last few years ~ I have promised myself that the New Year would be the year that I lost the weight ~ and each year I have not done it ~ this year I am almost there ~ so I really really want to get to my goal by christmas ~ if this fails ~ then midnight on New Years eve is the cut off point ~ and I cannot let myself down ~ the whole 6 stone just has to been gone ~ so 2 to go and counting!!!!

The new furniture has now all arrived for the livingroom ~ and is piled in the garage ~ I just need to sort out the old furniture now and get the new stuff in place!! I will take some photos ~ so you can see the transformation (or not!!) ~ I also have to buy the next lot of paint for the livingroom ~ so that I can paint the remaining walls and get rid of the awful border that is there at the moment ~ it is driving me CRAZY!!!

No ironing tonight ~ I am going to have a pamper evening ~ I bought a face mask today and I am going to run a nice bath when the kids have gone to bed!! I also need to find another book to read ~ I am a bit lost now ~ without the Twilight books to read ~ maybe I will just go back to the start and read the first one again!!!!

Have a fun evening XXX

Wednesday update

A little update on this grey Wednesday (yes, the weather is still not nice!!).

I have finished Breaking Dawn (at last!!) ~ it was brilliant to finally finish off the story ~ to bring the 4 books to an end and what a fantastic end it was ~ I loved all 4 of the books and I am now waiting and hoping (and praying) for the Twilight film to come over to the UK!! I cannot wait.

Wednesday is always my most favourite day of the week (not) ~ as it is weigh in day. This week is another 2 pounds off bringing the total lost now to 3 stone and 12 pounds (54 pounds). I was hoping for a 4 pound loss this week ~ which would make it 4 stone lost ~ but I think that this weight is going to make me fight to get rid of every last pound ha ha !!! There is no weigh in next week ~ as the lady is on holiday ~ so hopefully in 2 weeks time that next 2 pounds will have left in an orderly manner ~ and hopefully taken a few extra friends with it. I have also had to go down another size in trousers and tops ~ meaning that I have now gone down 4 dress sizes on the top and 5 on the bottom half ~ and the running total on inches stands at 36 inches lost. There ~ that was a little weight loss update for you!! You will be glad of a break from all this diet stuff next week ha ha !!!!!

Life continues to be as busy as ever. The children are all settled back into school ~ they are really getting on well with the new teachers and enjoying the lessons and subjects. Lauren went to her first Hip Hop class this afternoon and totally loved it ~ she was busy trying to teach me all the moves ~ which looked a bit complicated!!! On the subject of dancing ~ I have actually thought about taking up Salsa dancing ~ as one of my friends is interested in doing it too ~ so we may look into that ~ should help the weight loss along aswell!!

Time to tackle yet another huge ironing pile again (no peace for the wicked ha ha !!).
Hope your Wednesday has been a good one. XXX