Brrrrrr!!! It's soooo cold today, I have struggled to keep warm after getting very, very cold this morning.  I took the girls up to school at 1100 where we had our special Church service.  I have started taking Martha along now and she is really starting to enjoy it, however today she took got upset when Matthew, the vicar who is very nice, spoke to her.  She had the same reaction earlier in the month with the dentist, perhaps it's the white coat/cloak that does it, I don't know.  All I do know is that she and Lauren are due to be baptised in late January, so I hope it's just a blip as she used to really like Matthew, so much so that she'd chase him around the Church!

 

This afternoon we attended Phoebe's 2nd birthday party, where not only the girls, but Peter & I had a great time.  Julie and Andrew put on a great spread, party food for the children and home-made curries and nan bread for the adults, they were the best curries I've had.  It's not something I've tried cooking myself but I might have a go!

 

We came home and Martha fell asleep within 5 minutes so a good day must have been had!!  I caught up with Jan's blog and enjoyed reading about her birthday activities and gifts.  One gift led me to this site, and in particular these Tops for Recycled Jars, what a brilliant idea!! I think my family are getting fed up with painting jars and sticking tea lights in them!!

 

I can't believe a) it's Monday again tomorrow and b) it's December!!!

 

We hope you have a wonderful day! xxx

Today has been a wonderful one.  I've been busy, entertained, creative, alone, accompanied and eaten well!  It started this morning when I called around to my friend Heidi's house, after dropping the girls off at playgroup, to make Christmas reindeer tree decorations from old soft drink cans and wire (I will try to get some photos, they are brilliant!), they will be sold at the school Christmas Fayre tomorrow.  I left there and headed to Playgroup to do my stint on the washing up rota, which was great as there wasn't a great deal to do!  We came home and enjoyed a family lunch as Peter arrived home from work shortly afterwards.  After lunch Peter entertained the girls whilst I ventured to the shops birthday present hunting on my own.  On my way back, I spotted a group of people, one of which was in a fluorescent coat - not far from our lane end.  As I got nearer I realised it was my family, so I abandoned my car in the field and joined them on their walk which was lovely.  We all came home in my car with Peter driving and the girls and I bobbing around in the back (we were only on our lane!).  I made my special, easy, but very tasty spagetti carbonara with Martha's help - we all enjoyed it very much!  After dinner, Martha put on a ballet show for Peter and Lauren - she has been talking about it all week!  She looked adorable and I took a lot of photographs which I've uploaded to the November album.

Well I have been to the new LIDL!  One of the reasons for the lack of an update has probably been due to me stuffing my face with all sorts of treats, brioche, own make mini Bounty's, cheese and chive snacks etc!  Of course (honestly!) I am kidding in part but I did buy all the stuff previously mentioned!  I was really impressed with the range available of not only fruit and vegetables but chilled produce.  My non-food items are very exciting!  I bought Martha a pair of snow boots which were only £7.99 and are both waterproof and windproof.  I bought a window painting kit (christmas themed) which Lauren and I started last night, a paper cutter (with straight, wavy and perforated blades), fancy glue stick and a regular glue stick. I can't wait to go next week!

 

The girls haven't settled down very well since returning from our week away.  They've been getting up at 0630 which isn't too bad in itself however coupled with a disturbing night, makes for a very tired family!  I'm planning on taking Martha to playgroup next Friday and keeping Lauren at home with me for a change.  I think it will help Martha as she is evenutually going to be there on her own, plus if Lauren is poorly I'd rather she at least was familiar with attending on her own.  Playgroup have told me that she will be fine, I just don't know if I'M ready to do it so perhaps it will happen another day.

 

Peter called this afternoon to say that he had been called out to Milton Keynes.  I don't think either of us expected him to be away from home as much as he is, especially not like today, where he hasn't got the opportunity to come home first.  I'm reluctant to suggest that he keeps an overnight bag with him at all times, I just feel it's either tempting fate.   In some ways, the house runs more smoothly when Peter is away, but I'd rather he were here and the house be untidy, than a tidy but incomplete house.

 

We still aren't any further with the staircase situation.  Peter is of the opinion that every phonecall (there have been none) will cost money.  I am of the opinion that the occasional phone call to try to organise either a date or even approximate timescale is beneficial as I have an awful lot to organise but can't really do too much in advance as the girls still have to sleep in their room! 

Phew!!  I think I've recovered from what has been a wonderful but tiring week in Scotland.  We left last Sunday morning and headed straight to my sister's house where we were greeted not only by wonderful people but a fantastic Sunday roast!!  The girls loved spending time with their cousins and it's great to see how close they are becoming now that we're able to get up a bit more often, the shyness that used to occur seems to be reducing.  The girls settled to sleep pretty well meaning that Peter & I could enjoy the evening with Jan and Nigel.  On Monday, the four of us took the train through to Edinburgh where we had a meeting with our solicitor and counsel re the accident.  I must admit I have been so apprehensive over this meeting for a long time, however it was so much calmer, pleasant, friendly than I expected (thank you to Jan for the wonderful relaxation aid).  We enjoyed a coffee and hot chocolate for the girls whilst we waited for Laura and Kev to meet us and take the girls for an hour or so.  After the meeting, we had lunch and headed back on the train to Jan and Nigel's, where Peter had a rest before driving off to Carlisle.

 

On Tuesday, it was great to be able to accompany Jan to collect Lucy and Georgie from nursery.  I really enjoy the opportunity to take part in people's everyday life and be able to relate to the people and places I hear talked about.  We enjoyed a lunch at the fresh seafront before heading back to enjoy cakes from the bakery!  The girls and I said our temporary "goodbyes" before heading on 3 trains to meet up with Peter who was now on route to Glasgow.  I was really happy that the girls behaved so well on the train, although I could have done without the need to enter the train loo for a non-existent wee twice!!  Normally Peter stays in the Glasgow Central Premier Travel Inn but as this was booked, he had to change to Premier Travel Inn at Charing Cross.  The entrance appeared very smart and the reception staff were very pleasant.  The views over to the adajecent car park where Peter had parked were ideal however, the place was being "spruced" up and the smell of paint was so overpowering, I could feel my nose hair disintegrating!  We opened the window to get some air but as you'd expect from such a central location the noise was loud!  It was so different from the other Travel Inns we'd stayed in, it was disappointing.  The bed was a twin divan thing clipped together meaning that when Martha decided to join us in the morning, one of us kept rolling down the middle!!  Anyway, whilst Peter went to work, the girls and I decided to look around the shops which was a novelty!  We bought some hairclips from Primark for £1 each, a bargain!!  After Peter finished his work, we drove to Alloa where Martha had a sleep whilst Lauren & I took in the beautiful scenery whilst Peter worked again.  We then drove to Dundee to stay in a really nice Travel Inn.  The girls and I decided to go for a walk the next morning although we managed to get ourselves lost, tried to go to a Tesco Extra for loos and directions, only to discover that it wasn't due to open until February 2009!!  Thankfully we found a Sports Centre that were really helpful but we still couldn't find the playpark that we had now been directed to twice!!  We arrived back at the hotel about 5 minutes after Peter so it all worked out well!  We then went to St Andrews and again waited in the van while Martha napped and Peter worked.  Afterwards, we spent a bit of time walking on the beautiful sandy beach and admiring the quaint fishing harbour.  We then drove back to Edinburgh where we went back to Jan's on the Friday before setting back home again. 

 

One thing that struck me this time as we were driving around, were the number of "chalet style villas" that there are in Scotland.  This prompted me, now back home to search the web for house listing to get some more ideas about how we go about configuring upstairs and also to give Lauren an idea of what her bedroom might look like!  We were blessed with lovely sunny, fresh weather during our trip and laughed when as we entered Nidderdale again it started to snow!  This morning we awoke to a wonderful sight of a blanket of snow, some of which is still lingering now, however most has melted.  I'll be glad though when tomorrow is here to get the girls back into their regular routine and more importantly visit the newly built/opened LIDL in Knaresborough - "Martha guess what you're doing tomorrow morning!?!" I was going to go on my own on Tuesday but the temptation is too great!!  I shall report on my visit soon!!

I recently bought myself a laminator from ASDA for the wonderful price of £9!!  I also bought a couple of packs of pouches (25 for £1.97) so I could have lots of fun!