Claire's birthday

Of our three children, Claire has always been the one who loves her birthday - no matter how old she is.  The excitement starts weeks in advance and builds up to the day itself - with regular reminders along the way of how long it is till her birthday and a countdown for the last 10 days or so.  

Tuesday was Claire's birthday! We started the day off quite early with breakfast at Wetherspoons in town.  The last time Emily and I went for breakfast Claire had commented that she also wanted to go for breakfast, so it seemed like a good way to start her day.

By the time we got back to our house I think both Alice and Claire were more than ready to get the present opening started.  If Claire thought she'd get to open her presents herself, she should have known better ;o)  

I know a hoover/vacuum cleaner doesn't seem like a very exciting present but I'm happy to say Claire did like it! She'd been wanting a new cleaner since she moved into her new house so I knew it would come in handy if nothing else.

As it was, a couple of days before when we were talking to Alice about it being Mummy's birthday soon and she'd be opening her presents, Alice had piped up and said "And I'll be opening my presents too!!"  Oops!  Needless to say Grandma then went out to get Alice a present so she'd have something to open.  Alice's present was also a hoover - the same as Mummy's but miniature.  She doesn't like hoovers and I was hoping this would make it seem more fun but I'm not sure that it's worked.

Claire also got Photoshop Elements 11 because her trial version had run out and she'd got used to using it. Seeing as she's been doing Project Life this year I know it'll be something she'll use.  

Caught this one of Claire and Alice as they sat in the bay windown - hence the blown out background.

 Megan couldn't be left out so she also got a little present on Mummy's birthday but in this shot you'd think Mummy was enjoying it more (lol)

 It fell to Emily to bring the birthday cake in this year.  Megan was quite fascinated with the candles.

 Uncle Hugh had to pick Alice up to let her help with blowing out the candles

 and because blowing them out once is never enough, we had to light them again! (I love the expression on Megan's face in this one!) 
The balloon is a big hit with the little ones.  We weren't sure if Megan could see her reflection in it but she lay looking at the balloon for ages.

Megan is certainly a Mummy's girl and Claire gets lots of smiles and chuckles from her. We are so proud of Claire and the way she's bringing up her two little girls. They are absolutely delightful and such a credit to her. They're very lucky to have her as their Mummy :)

xx

Hello Monday

HELLO to the second week of half term.
HELLO to Jon starting a new contract - only a 5 minute drive from home.
HELLO to Claire's 23rd birthday on Tuesday :)


HELLO to Chinese take away for Claire's birthday.
HELLO to only 2 weeks on Tuesday till Norma and Caelen arrive.
HELLO to lunch with the coffee ladies on Thursday.
HELLO to starting to do the painting I didn't get round to doing last week.
HELLO to getting back to doing some course work.
HELLO to another week of Clean and Simple and possibly another layout made.

xx

Clean and Simple

After being undecided about whether to sign up for Cathy's latest class over at Big Picture Classes, a money off code in my emails this morning tipped the balance and I signed up. This afternoon I went through the course work and this evening I put the layout together. As I knew Cathy's instructions are clear and easy to follow. I had a couple of hiccups but after leaving a comment on the message board, she got back to me really quickly and I was back on track.

This is the first layout I've made in a very long time - it was fun to be scrapbooking again and I'm looking forward to seeing what else I learn from this class.

Have any of you signed up for this class too?

xx

Tuesday at The O2 Arena

Fortunately, Tuesday dawned bright and sunny - no snow, no grey sky but, unfortunately, no warmer either ;o)  The Sat Nav set and it was time to go and pick up Emily's friend, Emily and head up to London to The O2 Arena for the girls to see One Direction.

 My Emily is definitely more sensibly dressed in this photo - she takes after her mother and doesn't like the cold!  We stopped for a quick photo with the Dome in the background and then headed inside to get some lunch before the doors opened.

We ended up in TGI Fridays because we know we'll enjoy the food and each time we've been we've been lucky enough to get seated straight away. Unfortunately, this time we were seated outside and it was still really cold because although you're in the dome, it's not much warmer than outside - you just don't have the wind chill to contend with.

We finished our meal around the time that the doors were due to open so, after a trip to the Ladies, we headed to the doors where they were to go in. I saw them into the queue and then left them too it.  This was their queue waiting to go in (and it did stretch a bit further back too). 

 I decided I'd take a walk outside and had seen the signs pointing down to the river.  We had been going to walk down to the river once before but by the time we'd eaten it was dark outside so we had to abort that idea. This time I just followed the signs and was there in no time.  I'm not sure what this sculpture is meant to be but it was quite interesting to look at.

 The cable cars come over the river to the other side but that's not something I'd be bothered about doing (I don't like heights!).  I don't know what I'd expected but there certainly wasn't much to see at the river so I just had a little walk and then turned round to head back again.

 One of the buildings next to The O2.

 A few boats moored off shore.

 The covered walkway down to the river cruise.

 The Dome to the left and walkway to the right.

 As you can see, these reeds were being blown quite strongly. I think I was out there for about 3/4 of an hour but was so cold I was more than ready to get inside again.

There were a lot of Mums who had dropped their daughters off and the coffee shops were doing a roaring trade.  I went in to Starbucks and as I got served a table became free and I was able to get a seat. Another Mum came over and asked if she could join me - we chatted for a little while and then both settled down to read our books.  We were able to spend a few hours in the warmth of Starbucks before going out to wait for the girls to come out of the concert.

I took this photo as I waited where I'd said I would. the people in front of me were all waiting for children to come out. It was interesting listening to the languages being spoken, there must have been people from all across Europe. I certainly heard French, Italian and Spanish as well as other languages I didn't recognise.

The girls had had a fantastic time and thoroughly enjoyed the concert. We hit rush hour traffic as we headed home and it was about 7pm by the time we got back. Watching/listening to the videos Emily had taken was quite amusing - there was a lot of screaming going on as well as some singing along. I'm glad they had such a good time!

xx