Hello forty!

It's happened, I've had a 'big' birthday.  If you look at the traditional views this occasion seems to be a big deal, a major phase in life, something to be massively depressed or upset about or to celebrated in some grandiose fashion.

For me, well the actual day itself started off with some lovely gifts from my family, then a shopping trip, then some visits from friends with some more lovely gift followed by a meal with extended family and ended with them all coming back to ours for a natter. It was a busy, but lovely, day and I was a very lucky girl given the amount of gorgeous gifts I was given. 

But it all seemed a bit anti-climatic, I don't know what I expected to happen or feel but I woke up the next day and felt ......... exactly the same!!!  And I'm perfectly happy about that.

I was very lucky with my gifts, I got this fantastic red (and very shiny) food mixer from Pedro, I've been debating over getting one for a couple of years, not knowing if I would actually use it but I decided well if I've got it, then I've got to use it!  I also got a few book and some baking things from the kids.

  My dad obviously knew about the mixer as I got a load of cake making/decorating accessories and a cheeky wee book about turning 40!  Oh and he got me my fabulous birthday cake, which I'm not sure I actually got a photo of before it was cut up but it had a funky wee handbag and shoe decoration on the top.

So the day after my birthday me and the dude had our first shot at using the mixer and tried out the number cake moulds too.  40 for me obviously, 1 for Little Miss, 5 for the Dude and 2 for Pedro because he was 42 (he's 43 today) and we didn't have two number 4 tins, so he could share my 4!!

 From the lovely and generous Lynz I got these fantastic little dragon prints, which are essentially my kiddies in dragon form, aren't they just the bestest, cutest little dragons?  I lurve them muchly.  She also made the gorgeous cushion for 'my' chair and the funky throw too.  The cushion has a feather insert and I swear it's the most comfy cushion I've ever had!  No word of a lie.  Thank you hugely Lynz :)

My friends at work got me some wonderful jewellery from a wee local place which had a few artist studios and a cafe in the middle of it (which sells the most amazing food and the biggest scones I've ever seen!) which also has space to sell the good of the artists who are based there.  I got a fabulous pair of angel wings earrings and bracelet but also these gorgeous earrings which I just love

From my brother I have been well and truly spoiled, he asked me what I would like a little while ago and I came up with a suggestion which, if they wanted to, I was more than happy for the gift to be from my brother, sister and dad, which is what we have done quite a few times in the past normally for my dad - joint gift of higher value that is particularly asked for rather than a 3 jumpers or whatever!  But he outdid himself and bought this all by himself.  I'm still a bit stunned and very, very appreciative.

(I used it to take all these photos and I'm still having a play with it but did realise that you can't take a photo of a camera when you are using the said camera so a crappy photo of the box is all I could achieve!)

I got quite a few other gifts but there are enough photos in this post tonight as it is and if I include everything in the one post I'll have nothing else to post about for ages!!  Well that's not strictly true as I've a massive amount of sewing to do/catch up on, but that's for another day.

Wise Old Man?

This little guy is one half of my world and he is the best.  Obviously I'm immensely biased based on the fact he's my son.  He's a very responsible little dude for being 5, he loves being a big brother and loves his little sister more than I could ever have hoped for. 

There are days when he drives me round the bend and then there are times when he makes my heart melt.  Like the other night.  We were walking to the local park to watch the Round Table Annual Bonfire and Firework Display when he noticed one of the street lights wasn't working.  I joked around making a comment about someone forgetting to put 50p in the meter (showing my age).  At 5 years old this meant nothing to him!  So I explained that my Granny used to have a meter that you had to put in a 50p coin and turn it round to make the electricity work.  He then asked if my Granny was dead, (we've talked about this before), so I reminded him that she died a long, long time ago.  To which he replied,

'yeah, but she's watching over everyone, that includes you too Mummy'

It was such an innocent but incredibly mature thing for him to come out.  I did have to wipe away a few tears very quickly before he thought he'd upset me. 

We've talked a little bit about heaven, not that I'm particularly religious, but mainly as a way to explain where my mum is, as she died 19 years ago, so he knows about his 'special granny' and that she watches over all of us but it's nothing we talk about that often.  That statement just took my breathe away at a time of year where I feel the absence of family members a bit more than normal.

Love my little dude :)

Seasonal Activities

I'll start this by making a statement that we don't normally 'do' seasonal stuff.  I mean, we do the standard traditional christmas 'stuff' and in the last few years we have started doing more easter stuff but the other seasonal 'holidays' to americanise things for a second, we don't really do.  For various reasons, but mainly because I've never really seen the point!

But this year is a bit different, for a start the Dude is at school now so that meant his very FIRST school disco.  Excited?  You betcha!  And what did I forget to do?  Take a photo of him, but he was dressed as Spiderman.

(actually this was him at a birthday party a few weeks ago - the guy is kneeling down, the Dude isn't quite that tall yet!)

I also take Little Miss to a local toddler's group once a week so when they said there was a Halloween party I thought I'd dress her up too

 Not the best photo to be honest but she hardly stays still for a second and the camera on my phone isn't the quickest!  But she was a little cute pumpkin and looked adorable :)

Then when we got home she ended up pulling this face!  She is going to be trouble this one!!

Then to finish off getting into the spirit I popped up a couple of decorations and even managed to carve out these 2 pumpkins.  With only a little help from a couple of stencils (I'm good at times but not that good!)

 

 Then I rounded off last week by completing my Siblings Together2 Bee blocks for Sue this month.  I really enjoyed these and I can't wait to see Sue's giant Granny Square quilt.  It will look fab.

Now to get organised for Christmas (did I just say that?) quickly slap me now!!!