Where to Begin?

Where to begin? It's been so long since I posted anything - I just can't combine blogging and studying successfully. Not to worry, I've a few months with no studying and at last I can reintroduce myself to my blogging friends (if they remember me...).

Well then...what's been happening lately? In May there was the occasion of my Nana's 88th birthday. Here she is cutting into her surprise cake. We had a lovely family meal at a local hotel and she loved every minute of it. She is now planning her 90th bash!

One of the big events in June was my niece's wedding (well, Laura is Dave's niece really, but I've adopted her as my own ;-)) Miss Lucy was the littlest bridesmaid and looked absolutely gorgeous and took her duties very seriously - looking after the bride and the biggest bridesmaid :-)

Mr Adam was desperate to wear the kilt (I mean really desperate), so a kilt was duly hired and I think he looked wonderful in it. His official title at the wedding was 'Guest of Honour' and his duties involved walking the bride's mother down the aisle and presenting the bride with a lucky black cat. In the photo below he is trying out his outfit to make sure it all fits okay.

I loved this pic of Adam - it reminded me of this famous picture...

Here are the happy couple, Laura and Colin; biggest bridesmaid, Emma; and littlest bridesmaid, Miss Lucy.

Cheeky monkeys.

It was a fantastic day and the weather was lovely - really hot. I think Lucy and Adam had the best time of all at the reception where they ran about outside in the gardens with other children and had an absolute ball!

A week after the wedding we had a weeks holiday near Oban. I'll post up some pictures soon.

Aaaah. It's nice to be back :-)))

Rockstar

Today I am loving Nickelback's Rockstar vid, especially since it features the OCC guys! The kids and I love to sing this one in the car - LOUD!

Foux De Fa Fa

It's pouring with rain here - thunder and lightning too. Whilst browsing blogs I found this little song by Flight of the Conchords - cheered me up! Thanks to Natalie at Chickenblog for this.

Beaver, Birthday & Cake-tastrophe!

Well, what an exciting week. Mr Adam had a wonderful day at Scout HQ last Sunday with all his little Beaver friends doing all sorts of outdoor activities in glorious sunshine! Dave and Lucy both stayed to help out and they all came home tired and happy. Doesn't my boy look cute in his Beaver sweatshirt and tartan neckerchief?



It's been birthday time again. Miss Lucy had her 10th birthday today! I can't believe it... seems like only yesterday I saw her little face for the first time. Awwwww...

She had a few friends round for a little party on Friday after school and we had pass the parcel, musical statues etc, followed by a birthday tea (and jelly and ice cream of course), and a good time was had by all. It was an absolute joy to see them all having such fun and to listen to their conversations (er, rather illuminating in parts too). We had a cake in Lucy's requested colour of yellow - I couldn't resist adding a few sparkly bits too. Looks a bit like the Millenium Dome - something to do with the way the candles are positioned I think!



Then of course, she had to have another cake for today - her 'actual' birthday! This one was rather a catastrophe to say the least. It was supposed to be a rather fetching fairy toadstool (complete with fairies and sparkle dust). I rolled the icing far too thin, and as a result it all went kind of droopy and listed rather heavily to one side. Oh dear. I have to confess I was ready to put it in the bin until Miss Lucy told me she thought it was lovely (bless her) and took over the decorating! She made a door and windows and added some goblins and tortoises, which made everything look a whole lot better. She told me that nasty goblins had taken over the fairy toadstool and hadn't looked after it and that's why it was a little, well, dilapidated! That's my girl :-) It did taste rather nice though..



This afternoon lots of family came round and had cake and a chat and made it really special for Lucy. She got some lovely gifts too. And what did she want for her birthday this year? Same as ever - books, books, and more books!!



Oh yes... and Doctor Who pyjamas!

No Sewing Machine for Miss L

Well, no luck with a sewing machine for Miss Lucy. I think she will just have to use mine, supervised, until she is a little older and can get one of her own. She is pretty philosophical about it all though and not too dissapointed.

Some excellent news for her though - she passed her Grade 2 Ballet Exam with a Distinction! She was so pleased because she thought she had made some mistakes. Yes, I'm a proud mummy :-)

Not long now until the end of my course (thank goodness). I'm at the stage where I just want to be finished so I can relax a bit and get all those jobs done around the house - and have a holiday! We plan to rent a cottage for a week in the Oban area sometime in June, so fingers crossed for some good weather.

New Sewing Machine

Excitement! Miss Lucy has her own sewing machine! I took her to the shop on Saturday on the pretense of 'having a look' at machines. I had already done a bit of research and planned to get her one if she liked it. Anyway, she did, and we got this dinky little model by Janome. It's quite basic, (not suitable for heavyweight materials), has three straight and three zig zag stitches and sews a treat! It only weighs 5lbs and the speed is quite slow compared to a full size machine, so it is ideal for a child to use - much less scary. Miss L was absolutely thrilled and said 'thank you' 100 times (precisely!).

Unfortunately when we got home and tried it out, something was wrong with it and it kept jamming. Poor Lucy, she was all ready to get sewing. I took it back to the shop this morning and got a brand new replacement. I made the man try it out in the shop, just to make sure it was working okay (it was some distance away and I wasn't planning another visit!). Everything was fine this time, and now it's sitting waiting for Miss L to come home from school and use it.

** Have just had to edit this post to say that the flippin' new machine isn't working either now.. grrrrr! It just keeps jamming and all the thread is getting trapped down in the bobbin area. I've tried all the usual stuff re adjusting tension, re-threading etc, but it's still doing it (and it looks like the plastic bobbin casing is moving around too much). I will have to take it back again and look for something else for Miss L :-(

Not one to be put off by the lack of a functioning machine, Miss L whipped up a lovely needlecase for me by hand.

Cute, isn't it? I was also rather pleased to note that she seems to be following the same traits as her mother - namely, take up all available space with fabric, thread, scissors etc and work in a tiny square in the midst of it all! Must be in the genes...

spontaneous crafting

Yay! We made some stuff! Yesterday Miss L and Mr A decided it was time to make felt balls. As this involved clearing the dining room table, I was less than eager. However, the little darlings did the job themselves (and admirably, too) so I had to join in, didn't I? I admit it was good fun, despite the fact it has been so long since I did any hand felting myself, that I kept forgetting what I was supposed to be doing. I got there in the end and made a long narrowish piece of green felt that I'm planning to use for a bag of some kind, some time in the future (most likely decorated with felt flowers, I think). Miss L and Mr A made copious amounts of felt balls and Miss L made a really big one which was quite impressive. I didn't take any photos unfortunately, but if anything happens to the green felt, I will.

I hope you are all enjoying this spring(ish) weather. So far today we have had several types of weather including hail stones! Surely it will improve soon, won't it?...