Scooter and Skating Sunday!!

The weather today has been absolutely glorious ~ so after Dan had been to his Judo this morning and Lauren and I had done the weekly shop ~ we decided to go out for a walk!!
I thought that a nice walk around our little village was just what we needed to blow away the cobwebs and get us out in the fresh air!!

Unfortunately my little stars had other ideas when it came to interpreting 'WALK'!!
Lauren insisted on wearing her High School Musical roller skates and Dan decided that he wanted to go on his scooter to practice his tricks (what ever that means!!)
This made for a rather more interesting walk!! Dan did great on his scooter ~ whizzing about and doing tricks (which for your information ~ basically means scooting about as fast as you can and then jumping about an inch off the floor with the scooter ~ tee hee!!!!)

Lauren has still not mastered the fine art of roller skating ~ infact staying upright at times was a problem for her (bless her!!). She was ok if we were on a straight path ~ but the minute that there was a slight slope ~ she lost all control and started falling about ~ with her legs going everywhere (quite funny to see!!) ~ unfortunately she had a rather tight hold on my hand ~ so everytime that she started to fall, she grabbed on a bit harder and almost pulled me with her a few times!! Luckily I managed to avoid any bruises this time ~ I told her that there was no way she was grabbing my arm after her last roller skating disaster!! I had bruises for weeks ha ha !!

We had a really lovely walk anyway ~ made all the more interesting for the skating??? and the scootering!! I was boring and just walked ~ I think that my days of scooters and skates are well behind me now!!!! XXXXX




Lauren ~ in the upright position ~ standing still (this was the most composed she was the whole time ha ha !!!).
Note the sunglasses ~ I am sure that she thinks she is Sharpay from HSM (tee hee!!)
Dan on his scooter ~ stopping briefly so I can get a photo!
.......and then he was off again!!!
Dan doing his 'tricks' ~ he was having a great time!

Hope you have had a fun Sunday too XX

You have made my heart sing!!

When I started blogging earlier this year ~ I did so as a way to record things that were important to me, things that were happening in my life that I wanted to remember years from now ~ a place to come and write about how I felt and what made me happy and sad. I never actually dreamed that anyone would read my blog, that anyone would be the least bit interested in what was happening in my (rather dull) life ~ or interested in what I had to say.....AND I never imagined that I would make so many wonderful friends ~ from all over the world ~ who have become so important to me and who I care about such alot!!

One such person is dear Elise from The adventures of E and T who when I first started to visit her blog was pregnant with her second child ~ Blake ~ the cutest little chap you could ever meet ~who has now joined his equally sweet and gorgeous sister Sav in this wonderful family!!!

Today a package arrived from Elise ~ I knew it was from Elise because it had her details on the back..........I wondered what this package could contain!!!???

Here is my mystery package ~ which travelled all the way from Australia ~ to my sunny? little village here in England!! (I have blocked out my address with that lovely orange post it note ~ incase you were wondering haha!!!)
When I opened the package this is what was inside ~ a parcel and a card with ~
'Tabitha ~ love from Elise at E&T adventures '............I was very excited at this point ~ I like parcels ~ especially unexpected ones!!

The wrapping paper was wonderful ~ I just love butterflies and it was covered in them ~ all different coloured ones...........I could wait no longer ~ so had to open the parcel.....................
I was totally and utterly blown away by what was inside ~ a gorgeous willow tree figure ~ which is called ~ 'Thinking of you ~ keeping you close in my thoughts'. It is an angel with wings who is holding a pink sea shell to her ear ~ as if she is listening to it ~ totally wonderful!!!!

(I am afraid that I could not get a better photo than this ~ but believe me the figure is so so gorgeous!!)

She now has pride of place within my little willow tree family ~
Thank you so so much Elise ~ for my belated birthday card and present ~ it was so kind of you and you really shouldn't have spoilt me like this!! I was so moved by the present and the words that you wrote in the card ~ I am truly blessed to have met you in this great big blogging world and to have you as my friend ~ You have brought sunshine into my day and have definitly made my heart sing XXXXXXX

Where did the week go??

I am sorry for my absence from the land of blogging ~ I blinked on Tuesday (which was when I last posted) ~ and now here we are on Friday ~ where on earth did the week go???????????

I wish that I could tell you that I have had a week full of excitement and was unable to blog because I was sunning myself on some far away island.........unfortunately the truth is a little less exotic!! I have basically just been so busy with every day life that the days have passed in a bit of a blur. I have been working on setting up a childminding website ~ I have paid someone to make it for me and it should be completed very soon ~ I have supplied all that I needed to have it set up, so now it is just a case of sitting back and waiting. When it is all up and running ~ I will let you all have the website details and you can come over and visit (and sign my guest book!!!).
I have also been advertising my childminding services ~ as I have a vacancy to fill and I have also been busy getting paperwork, accounts etc all up to date!! The joys of being self employed!!A busy week (again) all in all!!

On Wednesday morning ~ Lauren was very excited because she had seen Zac Efron from HSM on the Early morning TV ~ so she was dancing about and decided to dance about on her cabin bed ~ while she was getting (or should that be dancing) down ~ she totally missed the ladder and fell down the bed ~ all I heard was 'bang bang bang ~ then a louder bang as she hit the floor ~ then a loud scream followed by uncontrollable crying!!!!' ~ I ran into the bedroom to find her on the floor holding her leg (and still screaming!!). She managed to get up with a bit of help and was unable to put her weight on her leg fully ~ so, as this all happened about 10 minutes before going on the school run ~ I decided that she should stay off school for the day ~ which she did, her leg is alot better now ~ although she is sporting some very large bruises down the front of her leg!! Never mind ~ maybe my asking her not to pretend she is in HSM and dancing and singing into a hairbrush while trying ro get off the cabin bed ~ will actually sink in now!!!!!!!!

While she was off school we went to my friends house (who is also a childminder) and the children decorated gingerbread men!!


Here is the little girl I look after ~ all ready to get decorating!!

Lauren got to do one too ~ due to her 'leg injury' ha ha !!!!!
Smarties make good eyes and a nose!!
The finished gingerbread men (or ladies........or should that just be people????)

While the children were decorating the gingerbread men ~ my friend June asked the little boy that she cares for ~ what he was doing with the icing pen ~ he was looking at the gingerbread man intently and trying to draw something with the icing pen ~ when she asked again what he was doing ~ the little boy replied "I am giving him a willy" ~ needless to say ~ we were both in fits of laughter ~ but in this instance ~ it was definitly 'a ginger bread MAN' ~ and if you look in the photo above ~ the green line is the 'willy' in question!! Don't you just love children, they come out with the best things ~ I love working with children ~ they are so spontaneous and no two days are ever the same!! My work is never boring, that's for sure!!

Wednesday was also weigh in day ~ progress has slowed a bit ~ but this week I said goodbye to another pound ~ bringing the total loss so far to 4 stone and 3 pounds (59 pounds!!) ~ so I suppose I should be happy at that!! I have started to exercise again after being a bit slack for the last few weeks, so hopefully that will give it a bit of a kick start again!!

Well, that is my week in a quick summary!! Hope you have all had a great week ~ I have managed to come and visit most of my regular bloggy friends ~ but will try and catch up on all my favourite blogs later tonight!! Wishing you all a relaxing evening and a great weekend XXXX

Happy Birthday Tania XXX

****In celebration of her birthday and also her 100th blog post ~ the birthday girl Tania over at Little sweethearts is having a give away! Tania is giving away 2 sets of her wonderful christmas decorations ~ all you have to do is visit her lovely blog and leave her a comment on todays blog post!! ***********


Today is a very special day ~ it is my friend Tanias birthday!!

Here is a picture of the birthday girl ~ with her two sweet children (I hope you don't mind me stealing the picture from your blog Tania!!)



In honour of Tanias birthday ~ I have baked a special cake!! It took me hours ~ but I think it turned out ok (tee hee!!) ~ hope you like your cake Tania !
Here are some chocolates....................... and some birthday flowers too!!
AND ~ no birthday would be complete without a bottle of wine for you to toast your special day!!

Happy Birthday my dear friend ~ I hope that you have a day full of love, laughter and happiness.

Sending you much love and big hugs XXXXXX

A little bit of everything!!

This weekend can basically be summed up in one word ~ WET!!
We have amused ourselves indoors mostly ~ the children have been playing on the Wii and reading books ~ I have been a mad cleaning woman ~ and have blitzed the kitchen and the bathroom ~ which are both sparkling and clean (for a few hours at least ~ until my 2 mad chidren mess them up again ha ha !!!!).

Lauren has been busy writing her birthday and christmas lists ~ which are made up of EVERYTHING HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL!!! She is eagerly awaiting the new HSM3 film, which is out here on 22nd October ~ and as part of her support she has been wearing her badges with pride!!

High School Musicals biggest fan (maybe!!!!)



We have also been doing a small amount of retail therapy this weekend ~ but I had a slight dilema!! I went out this morning to buy a clothes rail for my bedroom as I have too much stuff to hang up and NO storage space (I had lots before I had to give my nice bedroom to the children boo hoo!!) ...........anyway ~ we got slightly side tracked (and when I say WE I mean Lauren and I ~ as Dan was at his Judo classes!)

We managed to come home with 3 of these little fellas ~ which I thought would look nice on the fireplace at Christmas...............
I bought a pair of these (they are fleecy PJs ~ very sexy I know ha ha !!!!!!)
BUT ~ believe me people it has got very cold here and I went to bed last night wrapped up in about 4 layers ha ha !!!!!!!

The children needed new Christmas stockings this year ~ the ones they had were getting a bit old and had seen better days ~ Lauren wanted a 'high heel boot' this year ~ so we got Dan the male alternative!!!! I am sure that santa will find lots of goodies to put in here!!

I had to have this little fella for my front door ~ I had one with santa on last year ~ but couldn't resist this one!!I know ~ I know ~ it is only October and I should not be shopping for Christmas ~ let alone being all Christmassy on my blog ~ BUT as I write this it is only 80 days ~8 hours~3 mins and 39 seconds until Christmas ~ and that means I had better get my act together!! Those 80 days will be gone before me (and my visa card) know it !!!!

The funniest thing of all is that I came home without the clothes hanger that I went to buy in the first place ~ I totally blame Lauren ~ she made me buy all the other stuff (honest!!) ha ha !!


On a totally different note ~ my children now have one of these each......................................

They are chore charts ~ and have things written on them that the children have to do each day ~ such as cleaning their teeth, getting dressed, making their beds and keeping their room tidy ~ each time they complete the tasks they get a star!! Each star is worth 5 points ~ which is changed into 5 minutes on the Nintendo DS or the Wii or the computer. At the end of the week I total up the stars and write how much time the children have to play (not all at once ~ but in half hour blocks) ~ on their games etc!!!!

At the end of each month the total stars will be added up and depending on how many they get ~ the children can have a treat!!

So far it is working really well ~ hopefully it is teaching them some responsibility and teaching them that they have to work for things in life ~ treats don't come free ha ha !!!!! (I am such a mean mummy!!!).

Looking out of the window we still have the rain ~ it is almost dark (at 5pm) and I am thinking of putting the heating on!! We have a small amount of local flooding ~ nothing too bad ~ just a few roads and the local river is a bit high ~ it has been far worse than this in the past! I hope that the sunshine comes back again tomorrow ~ all this rain makes my hair frizz and we can't have that tee hee!!

Hope you have all had a nice weekend ~ XXXXXXXXXX