Arty Bits

I've just remembered that I was going to add this piccie into the post... Now it's in the wrong place but, quite frankly, I'm not re-doing the whole post! The photo shows why Lee doesn't like me being creative!!! I tend to splurge out all over the floor & take over the room! I prefer the floor to create on rather than a table, I don't know why... Anyway, here's what I made earlier...

Not surprisingly, I haven't done much arty stuff since Annie was born but here are a few bits I have created over the past months. Most of you have probably seen the cards I made to announce Annie Joy's arrival but for those that haven't here it is!
I have a little art journal that I doodle in every now & then usually based on a verse from the bible that has inspired me. I did this page during the church's week of prayer & fasting when I fasted the computer. God really challenged me on letting go of possessions... I think it was God's way of warning me that we were going to be moving very soon. It certainly helped to ease the upheaval of the unexpected move later that month!
I had fun going mad with glitter, buttons, gems & beads. I even found a use for the chocolate coin foils I had put in the recycling jar!

I carried on with the bead & glitter theme in this page based on the words of a song we sing at church. It reads 'All who are thirsty, all who are weak, come to the fountain, dip your heart in the stream of life. Let the pain & the sorrow be washed away in the waves of God's mercy.' It's great to doodle away without worrying about creating some fabulous work of art & just have fun creating!

I made some birthday cards too which was great fun! I loved making the little clear stars from old packaging & stamping the letters on. simple, but effective i think!

I came across some treasure the other day! Can you guess who this young couple is? I've got more treasure like this to post later on- some real gems there are too!!! ;0)

Under The Sea

I've been a bit busy this past week making tropical fish & jellyfish costumes for Timmy & Luke's nursery school theme day today. It's been a lot of fun!

Luke's costume was easy enough. I bought a clear umbrella from eBay & attached strips of bubble wrap & lilac curling ribbon to it. Luke loved being a dancing jellyfish!

Timmy's costume was a little more involved! We saw this fish pattern on the internet & fell in love with it. However, we couldn't find anywhere to buy it in England & there was no way the pattern would arrive from America in less than a week. I emailed a lady who was selling the costume on eBay (hooray for eBay eh?!!) & she very kindly said that she would email me the instructions & pattern dimensions so I could make the costume in time for the party day! Thankyou Judy for all your help!

After much research on the internet I decided that I would make the fish smaller than the original pattern as lots of people who made the costume for younger children said it swamped them. I also decided not to use the recommended 1 inch thick foam. I'm glad I did because in some places I had to sew 3 or 4 thicknesses of foam which was really hard to do!

It was worth the effort though because the end result is fantastic (even if I say so myself!). All of us love wearing the fish! Jordan really wanted one of his own! Do you like his fish face?

The boys & their class mates put on a little show for all the parents after they had had their party time which included a treasure hunt & party food! They sang all kinds of sea based songs & did brilliantly with the actions. Luke struggled for a little while trying to do actions & hold a jellyfish but he put it down reluctantly in the end where it blew about gently in the breeze until Mr Anderson (the headmaster) picked it up. He looked good as a jellyfish!!

After the performance we walked home together, Annie, Jellyfish, Timmy Fish & me. We stopped at the field so I could take some photos then the boys went to climb trees leaving Annie to look after the costumes....

...which she loved! The fish costume makes her giggle & smile! She was really excited when she saw Timmy wearing it in the performance it was so sweet! ;0)

Do keep popping back- I've got lots more to blog about! I have titles such as 'Storm In A tepee', 'Lamb? Banana?' & 'Ferry 'Cross the Mersey' forming in my mind to post! Hope everyone who reads this is well. Hope to hear from you soon!

Little Girly Shoes

Annie Joy has her first pair of shoes! She loves them! They are sweet aren't they?

Ready? Steady? Go!

Last week at the boys' school it was Health & Safety Week. The children were encouraged to bring in extra healthy packed lunches & got points every time they did & names went into a prize draw (I think). They did all kinds of stuff on road safety, healthy food etc. (They had already had Walk to School week a few weeks earlier in case you wondered!). Part of Health & Safety Week is the sponsored sports events to raise money for playground improvements. The Infants event was held on the school yard as the school doesn't have a field for the kids to play on. There were 6 teams of mixed ages & abilities & they did 5 different races- walking, tennis ball & spoon, dribbling a football, bouncing a ball & hockey. Jordan's favourite race was the hockey one. He was certainly VERY fast! His team won this race!
Annie enjoyed watching the children from her pram...
...and so did Timmy & Luke when they had finished in nursery. They enjoyed sitting on my coat eating the treats from their snack packs- fabulous little re-sealable bags with animal pictures on the front that I fill with cheerios, raisins, crackers etc. (See here for more details). They also loved cheering & clapping!
The next week it was Timmy & Luke's turn to do a sponsored gym circuit. They had to do 10 laps down a slide, over stepping stones, jump over the box, climb over the frame...

...go through the tunnel & walk over the bar back to the start. They had so much fun practising for it & completing it on the day.

They got a sticker from their teacher when they had finished which they loved! They were absolutely shattered (& grumpy!) afterwards though!

History Maker

Lee has been working very hard lately... He organised his work's national 7 day conference at the very new Liverpool Arena this month. There were about 1100 delegates from all over the country & some international visitors too. Lee made history as he is the first non Royal Mail person to organise the conference in the union's entire history which caused quite a stir! He did a fabulous job (& I'm not the only one to say that!). He organised speakers & entertainment, lifts to & from airports & train stations, catering, liaising with the arena staff... He also spent one day looking after Ricky Tomlinson who spoke at the conference. Lee said he was a nice bloke. (No he didn't get a photo or an autograph!). Lee worked very hard- most days he worked from 7am until 1am the following morning only to start again at 7am! He was shattered after the week was out & the boys said he had been away from home for at least a year! We all missed him lots!

As the conference was held in Liverpool this year (it's usually in Bournemouth) I was able to go to some of the evening events. It was quite exciting to see Lee at work. He is as cool as a cucumber no matter what situation he is faced with. Anyway, the random picture above is of the drinks we bought at The Christians gig. This piddly amount of orange juice cost me £1.50! Even the bar staff gasped when they looked at the price list for the tiny bottle! Needless to say we only bought one drink each!
We really enjoyed the Tuesday night social in the Casa bar in town. The jazz band was fantastic, the comedian very funny (although he swore too much) & The Liverpool Samba School drummers were amazing! We saw them on Space Pirates on cBeebies with the boys a while back but they are better in real life.... and louder too!
There was a poet at the event too who will write a poem about you there & then with information your friends or colleagues give him. He called himself The People's Poet & as you can see from the photo he was a bit of a character! When he had finished writing the poem he would recite it. This is the poem he wrote for Lee;

Lee

The Mighty Atom

Beware- handle with care

Health & Safety in an anorak

On the ball

Never slack

You can't knock

A rock

As a bridge between clerical & engineer

Have no fear

Secretary of the conference

With confidence & ear piece

Wonders never cease

With Lee

If You Go down To The Woods Today....

...you're sure of a big surprise!! Our church held a Teddy Bear's Picnic in the Mystery Park at the beginning of June as part of the Festival of Hope celebrations. The boys loved taking their lunch boxes & teddies out for the afternoon! (Jordan is looking over my shoulder as I type & has reminded me that he took a bunny with him not a teddy bear!).
Paddington enjoyed the outing. He made do with honey sandwiches for lunch as we had run out of marmalade! There were lots of different things to do at the picnic like a bouncy castle, crafts....

...and a fire engine to sit in! Luke loved it especially. I do wonder if he'll be a fire fighter one day?

There were also balloon modellers there who were very good. The queue for the free balloons was enormous! Jordan queued for about 40 minutes for a balloon for himself & his best friend Hallie. It was such a kind & thoughtful thing for him to do.

This is Jordan with Hallie. They are going to get married when they are older you know!

Timmy got a pirate sword. Do you like his pirate face??!

All in all, it was a lovey afternoon. The teddies really enjoyed themselves too!

Sitting in an English Garden...

...waiting for the sun!! Brrr! Yes it was a bit chilly the day we went to Chirk Castle with my parents! You wouldn't think it was the end of May! The castle is 700 years old & was built for King Edward I. It is now owned by The National Trust but is the ancestral home of the Myddleton family (who happen to be friends of my parents!!) who bought it for £5,000 in 1595! The family still live in the castle with their children. What a fantastic place to grow up eh? Although I'm told by my mum that Mr Myddleton detested living there as a boy because it was cold & damp! I guess you can't double glaze the windows in a castle...
The boys loved stroking the new born lamb outside.

It was a big long walk up to the castle through woodland. Timmy loved looking out across the countryside where, apparently you can view 9 counties! He pointed down to the road we had just walked up from & said it was a secret place to hide the cars.
Just behind everyone on this photo is a corridor with lots of stairs leading up to a little back door into the castle! the boys were very taken with the secret way inside!

We went into the castle through the main door though & entered the enormous courtyard...

...with the tower & dungeons (as well as the coffee shop!). There is a stone 'toilet' (garde robe I think is the proper name) in the tower which Timmy loved looking down but Luke was terrified of & just about managed to walk into the corridor where the loo was! (I forgot to upload the piccie of Timmy admiring it & Luke dashing away- sorry!! It was quite comical though!). I think I'm with Luke on the matter it has to be said!

The boys enjoyed a turn in the stocks! They loved making grumpy faces for me to photograph!

This little door slides upwards & reveals a thin slide down into the dungeons! Quite a scary thought to think that once people would have literally been thrown down there into the dark damp dungeon! Not quite sure how they got out.....or if they were meant to!!

Through the courtyard you can view some of the rooms inside the castle (no photographs allowed though). There are fabulous staircases, portraits of the castle's ancestors & Timmy's favourite, the King's bedroom! It's quite a small room decorated in very dark red wallpaper with a curtained four poster bed & a large 'saucepan'! Actually, it's the tin bath but Timmy is convinced it's a saucepan & no amount of telling him will make him change his mind on the matter! (I think that's partly to do with the fact he likes the laughs he gets when he tells adults it's a saucepan!)

One of the rooms inside the castle is full of dressing up clothes & artifacts for the children to play with. We had fun trying on some of the outfits! Jordan loved seeing the old kitchen things as he has been learning all about life in the olden days at school.

It was a lovely afternoon although extremely cold & windy! Annie enjoyed cuddles with her Grandad & the boys had great fun playing & exploring even though (as it turns out later in the week) they were all coming down with a nasty sickness bug! Next time we go we hope to explore the castle's ornamental gardens provided the weather is more favourable.