Chaangeeeeeeeeeeees

Excuse the dust, am having fun altering my blog with this fun new blogwear set from Holly at gds!

Spring Time Already!

I honestly can't believe that it is the start of the summer term this week for the girls at school and for me at work! We have had a great 2 weeks' holiday together - I am so lucky to have a job which only involves me working during school hours and term times! I wouldn't give up my holidays spent with the girls for the world!!

At the end of the Spring term, Emily was awarded the Science award at school. It is given to one girl out of the whole year group and Emmy was given it, so that was a fantastic thing to happen! And she was very pleased with herself!

Emmy and Allie also got Progress report cards at the end of the term. They were given marks in each subject as well as a target level for the end of Year 9. A * is for above the expected level, an A is for working at the expected level and a B is for below. Both girls managed to get 16 * and the rest As so they, and I, were very pleased! All of their expected levels at the end of year 9 were above average too - all 6s and 7s which was awesome!

This Easter holiday has been such fun. The first week, we visited Becky and Bethan down in Worthing which was such fun - she is growing up into such a lovely little girl with a fantastic sense of humour! We also all went for hair cuts and I have just realised that I haven't got pics of the before and afters! All 3 of the girls went shorter but with different styles. It makes them all look so much more grown up which is quite scary!!


We also managed a trip out with Val and Sid which was interesting! Sid fell down my stairs a few weeks ago and broke his ankle so he was in a wheel chair - trying to be independent but soon gave in and had me push him around. It was such a beautiful day - Alice even caught the sun!!!

This second week, we have been involved in our church's children's holiday club. It was called Tomb Raider and had been written by various people within the church. It was based on Indiana Jones and was soooooooo much fun! It had all the leaders (yes, me included!) dressed up as Indiana Jones with hats and water pistols - it was so much fun! We had 80 children come all week and they were such great kids! The band was called "Sabina and The Desert Rats" and were fantastic! Had the kids jumping around playing air guitar! I was in charge of photography and got some awesome pics but can't put them on here as I haven't got the parents' permission :(
We did craft and stories and messy games and the play was fantastic - it was written by a very talented member of the church called Kate and was hysterical! It was called Windy. Anna Jones and was very very funny! Lots of panto-style audience participation and slime-throwing and water squirting which the kids loved!

Here is a pic of Allie with my friend's little girl at the holiday club!


We also have 2 new members in our family! We were at the pet shop at the beginning of the hols and the girls asked for hamsters. My reply was "Absolutely no way can you have hamsters when your rooms are as untidy as they are right now" So, what happened??? They went home and completely cleared their rooms!! So, I had no choice but to go and get them hamsters!
I actually have to admit that they are quite cute! Allie and Lucie have one called Mr Mischief and Emmy's is called Cullie after the Cullen family in the Twilight books. Fortunately, he isn't like them and he only nibbles and doesn't bite!

Here is Cullie:

And here is Mr Mischief

I even had time to scrap a LO! I really do love my job and am really happy there, but it does take away from my scrapping time!

So, here is a LO of Emmy. I took the photos on the beach when we were on holiday in February and just had to scrap them!

February Collab kit by GDS designers; Template by Tracy Blankenship

News!

Ok, I know - ages since I last posted, but am not going to bother apologising cos I do it every time!!!

Well, we have had a brilliant start to 2009. I had parent teacher meetings at the beginning of the year and both of them are doing brilliantly - working hard and achieving really well. Both of their music teachers were really impressed with how they have done so far. Emmy's teacher was trying to persuade her to do a Creative Media diploma in year 11 where she will specialise in Music - he even said that if she did it know she would pass with flying colours which was a big encouragement! Another music excitement at the school is the start of a new music school which will run on a Saturday morning and will be run by musical experts brought in by the school - hence why it needs to be run on a Saturday as a lot of them have other jobs - some of them are even professional musicians, so it will be a great opportunity for the kids!

Then at the beginning of February we had the girls dance school's dance show at the Princes Hall theatre in Aldershot - it was amazing! Most definitely the best one yet!

Here are some pics of the girls and some of their friends - Emmy and Allie weren't too keen on having their pics taken as they thought their costumes were too 'girly' but I love them!! This was for the dance to High School Hop - it looked fab with them all on stage!


These are pics of Lucie and her friends wearing their favourite outfits - their sailor suits which they wore for CandyMan. The kids are only aged 6-9 and yet they were all so professional! And, more to the point, they had a great time!


These pics make me laugh every time I see them! The girls danced to Want To Be Starting Something and wore these 'cool' costumes as they all called them! I wasn't sure if they would like it as much as Candy Man as it isn't the kind of song that I thought this age group would like, but as the photos show, I was wrong! I had so much fun helping out back stage with the girls and just loved having the opportunity to grab some photos as we weren't allowed to take any of them on stage.






I think some of the other Mums and I could be in trouble in a few years time! lol!!!

Them, over half term, we went away to Devon for a weeks holiday. When I say 'we', I mean me, the girls, my Dad, my 2 brothers, my sister-in-law and my gorgeous little niece. We rented the most beautiful cottage out in the middle of nowhere and it was fantastic! They had 130 acres of land for us to do what we wanted - woodland walks, tennis and they had a big field where we even had a camp fire and bbq - yes, in England, in February!! We had rain twice - both times at night and it was gorgeous the next day! We went to the beach twice and went rock pooling at one and built sand castles at the other. We also hired bikes for the morning and all of us (apart from my dad cos of his bad knee) all went on a 10 mile cycle ride which was fab. Caitlin loved the little trailer that she got to sit in on the back of Matt's bike!!

This week I also had a parent teacher meeting for Lucie. She is doing fab! She is so happy and it comes across in the quality of her work - she is still doing her best 100% of the time so can't ask for more than that! She is doing really well with her recorder playing and will be taking her Grade 1 next term. Her teacher thinks that she will be at least Grade 4 by the time she leaves Junior school!

The bad thing this week is that on Monday morning, I tripped over absolutely nothing in Sainsbury's car park and badly sprained my ankle! I was really in a lot of pain! So, took a trip over to the hospital - they were concerned as it is possible to have fractured the outside of your ankle and still hobble on it as I was doing, so they x-rayed it, but fortunately, it is just a sprain. Being the scrapbooker that I am, I of course had to take a photo of it! This is not for the faint-hearted, so if you don't want to see it, skip the next bit! lol!
To be honest, it is a lot better now and I managed to go back to work on Friday, although I had to have it strapped up. It just aches a lot if I stand up on it for too long!

Now, if you have made it this far, well done! See how it is when I don't post in like forever!! Anyway, this brings us up to today! If you read my blog regularly, you will know that all three of my girls play the violin in our area schools string orchestra. Well, this year is their 30th anniversary, so they are raising money to put towards their special anniversary celebration in June. This morning some of the members got into small groups and went busking in Petersfield. They were all fantastic! It was awesome to enter one end of the shopping walkway and hear the fab music being played at the other end! They played all sorts of pieces - Ode To Joy, Spring from the Four Seasons, Skye Boat Song and some jigs and reels which were awesome! I got a few pics but I was so involved in listening to them that I forgot to take very many!!!


whew!!! Guess that has to be the record for the longest post I have ever made!!!! Will try not to leave it as long next time, but no promises!!!

I'm A Slacker!

I know, I know - I am such a slacker - can't believe its been almost 3 months since I posted on my blog - but what a 3 months I have had!!!

Work is just fantastic! I can honestly say that I love everything about it! The residents are great and I have really bonded and formed relationships with them. And the people I work with are awesome too! Maybe its the nature of the work we do, but there is not one person there that I don't like working with - they are all such fab genuine and hard-working people who truly have the residents best interests at heart. And my social life has taken off too! I have had drinks out with various people for various reasons and also for no reason at all except to have fun!! We had a great night out in Petersfield for our Christmas 'do' - all paid for by Alicia - including the kebabs! Thanks Alicia!!

The girls are doing really well both in school as well as in their after-school acitvities. Emily's grade card was awesome - * and 1's for effort all the way through - can't ask for more than that! We haven't got Alice's yet as she was off sick on the last day of term when they were given out, but from what her tutor has told me, I won't have anything to worry about there - and going by the fact that she was the first on Year 7 to reach her 50 merit award then I am sure she is right!

All 3 of the girls played in the area schools orchestra (passo) at the church in Petersfield. All of the girls invited their teachers but a lot weren't able to come (Bohunt schools' Christmas concert was on the same evening but obviously my girls chose the area orchestra!). However, Alice's tutor was very excited to come and even brought her partner along with her. They both said that they were very impressed with the standard and by how much fun the kids were obviously having.

Lucie and 2 of the other girls who have recorder lessons at school were asked to play Silent Night at their school Carol Service which was held at our local church. They played it in three parts and were all absolutely awesome - it was hard to believe that they have only been learning for a year.

We all had a fantastic Christmas. We spent the day at my brother's new flat in Petersfield. I bought the girls a wii and we all had so much fun - who would have thought that my Dad was such a bowling whizz!! They all did very well as far as present went. Because the wii was a kind of family present, I also got them other things too - ds games, rubiks cube, clothes, pjs, make-up sets, itunes vouchers etc - all in all, they did very well! They also got wii music from my brother - how much fun is that!! It is very funny to see my Dad's mii dressed in a dog suit and cheerleading!!

Now we have a week full of visiting friends, and going out for coffee etc, as well as a sleepover and we are also having ym brother and sil and baby niece down next weekend which will be fab. Have also got a couple of days free for just us as a family to play the wii! lol!!

Anyhow, aplologies to those of you who check here often for news and who have been sending me the stroppy emails asking for updates! Will try to keep it more up-to-date from now on!!

What A Fab Week!!

Well, Monday saw me setting off for my first day of work at High Hurlands. I was excited but nervous at the same time! Well, there was no need for the nerves at all - I have had a fantastic week! On Monday, I was launched straight into doing some art therapy with two of the residents, followed by some music therapy, both of which were right up my alley! Then, after lunch, it was the turn of my group of residents to go into the hydrotherapy pool where I learned their physio programmes - it felt like I had spent the afternoon in the bath! lol!!

The rest of the week was just as fun. I had a couple of training sessions which went well - feeding pump training (some of the residents are completely pump fed, but not all of them, obviously); also vehicle training - clamping the wheelchairs into the minibus etc, and fire training. I also did some non-hydro physio, craft work (again, right up my alley!!), Tac Pac (tactile stimulation programme) and then, on Friday, we took 3 of the residents out for the day. We went to the ruins at Waverley Abbey and then into Alton for a lovely, relaxed pub lunch which they all really enjoyed.

By the end of the week, I was very tired and so didn't do very much yesterday, but I am already certain that I am going to be very happy there - not just with the job itself, but the staff are great fun and very friendly!

On to news of the girls! They have all had a great week! Lucie's great excitement was on Friday when she was asked if she would attend the girls' netball training club at school. She is crazy about netball and got a netball post/net for her birthday this year! The club at school is meant for Years 5 and 6 only, but Lucie and her friend Annabel are only in year 4. However, the teacher who runs the club had seen potential in the two of them and has asked if they would go, so nevertheless, they are very excited!

Alice came home on Friday very excited as her tutor group has voted her in to be their Student Voice representative. So, she will now attend all of the student council meetings and convey her tutor groups opinion to the rest of the council. To have only been at the school for a couple of weeks and have her tutor group realise how great she will be at the job is a real buzz for her!

For those of you who know Emi, you will know that she doesn't really enjoy PE much at school (although she does dance and swim out of school and loves both!). That is until she started her PE lessons this year with a new PE teacher who has really inspired her. This week, after her hockey lesson, she was pulled to one side and asked if she would go to hockey training and be on the school team! To go from not particularly liking a subject to representing the school is pretty exciting and she is eagerly awaiting her first match in a couple of weeks!

Here are a couple of LOs which I did before I started back at work! (guess that is the only downside of my working - it eats into my scrapping time! LOL!!)

Credits: Beaute Feminie by Verena Karolyi; Templates With Attitude 17 by
Tracy Blankenship; Word Art by Bethany

Credits: All Right Now by Bianca Argollo; TnT Template by Tracy Blankenship

Lots Of Chatter!

Well, the new look to the blog is getting there, slowly but surely! I still have the side bar bits to put in, but I worked out how to add the pretty divider between each of my posts, so that was quite a result!!

To be honest, I haven't had much time to play cos I have been very very excited over the past few days and have had a lot of sorting out to do because I'VE GOT A JOB!!!! I have spent the last 5 years or so volunteering in schools and teaching recorder on a voluntary basis, but now is the time for me to actually earn some sensible money!

My issue with going back to work was always that there was no way that I was going to let a job interfere with the girls' well-being. I didn't want to forfeit school holidays with them, and nor did I want them to have to give up after-school activities. So, this new job is perfect in that it is school hours, Monday to Friday and term-time only.

It is also the perfect job for me as far as what it involves! I will be working in a residential home for young adults with severe physical and learning difficulties. This home is different to most in that all of it's day services are provided at the home, and that is where my job comes in. I will have 3 residents assigned to myself and another person and we will do all the activities with them such as art therapy, music therapy, they have a hydrotherapy pool which we will be using, we do their physiotherapy, and also do hippotherapy too. I will also get to take some of them out on activities. The more physically able get to go on a bus into town and go for a cup of coffee, or to go to the local swimming pool. None of the residents will ever live regular independent lives and will always require 24/7 care, so to be a part of making their lives as enjoyable and as productive as possible is a fantastic opportunity for me.

So, as of October 6th, I will no longer be a stay-at-home- Mum! Its quite a scary thought as I have been at home raising the girls for so long, but it is time now and I am really excited!

Oh, I can't post here and not mention the girls and their PASSO auditions! All three of them played beautifully and sight-read their pieces really well too (not that I was eavesdropping at the door or anything!!!). Anyway, Emi and Alice kind of knew that they were going to going up to the second violin parts anyway, so there were no surprises there when they were put in the seconds! However, it is a smaller orchestra this year and they have decided not to have any third violinists. This meant that the entry requirement was raised quite a bit - not good for Lucie, I thought as she really was desperate to join. She auditioned anyway as I thought that it is always good experience for them to play on their own in that sort of situation. Well, she was a star - if I hadn't seen her playing her violin, I wouldn't have believed it was her cos she really was fantastic! And, she got her letter on Saturday, telling her that she has got into the seconds - and after only playing for a year!!! So this evening is their first rehearsal for the year. Lucie is a bit nervous as she will be the youngest there at only 8, but I am sure she will hold her own!!

Ok, enough waffling, here are some layouts I've done recently - most of them using Tracy Blankenship's templates as I am on her Guest CT for this month - and am loving it!!!

Credits: Wishing On Dandelions by Melissa Daniel

Credits: Templates With Attitude Set 16 by Tracy Blankenship and Asumi by Lauraskathi

GDS September Birthday collab kit; Templates With Attitude by Tracy Blankenship

Credits: Sorbet Garden 2 by HollyAnn; Templates With Attitude Set 17 by Tracy Blankenship; Bent Alpha (recoloured) by Gunheld Storide

Credits: Templates With Attitude Set 16 by Tracy Blankenship and Forever and Always by Carola Mondini

Credits: What Goes On by Stephanie Ogren and Template by Tracy Blankenship

Well, off to go and get some housework done - am planning on my house being spotless before I start work! Although am sure I'll be back to post some more before I start!

Having A Change!

I decided to give my blog a makeover, just cos I felt like it! So, if you visit me and it all looks a bit weird and mismatched, then be aware that it is just a work in progress!!!

I'm A Stalker!

A few months ago, I discovered Tracy Blankenship and her fantabulous templates. I am a template addict, and have now become a severe Tracy Blankenship template addict! Her templates are so original and always have that bit extra - glitter, staples etc. You can check out her things here and here.

Anyway, she had a guest CT call a little while ago, so I decided to be brave and apply- but really wasn't expecting to be accepted - but I was!!! So, the month of September will be an awesome one for me as that is when I am on her guest CT!! I am sooooo looking forward to it!

Then, the other day, she did a RAK on her blog where a random post won a gift - her new journal templates - and I won! When I emailed her, I jokingly asked her whether it felt like she had stalker and she said that she would love me to be her stalker, so I am now Tracy B's official stalker (in a nice way! lol!!)

Anyway, here is a LO I made using one of the journal templates that I won. Yes, the photo IS me! The journaling reads "I may be 35 years old, but am still a big kid at heart! When we went to the McGregor's over the summer holidays, we had great fun on their trampoline and I even demonstrated how to do a somersault!"

Credits: Citric Boy by Bianca Argollo at GDS; Template and Journal Template by Tracy Blankenship - available at FPD on Thursday

A Kit Just For Me!

For those of you who don't know, I am on the very talented Neverland Scraps' CT. Wendy, the name behind it is a lovely lovely lady who is a fantastic person as well as a fab designer! I have been on her CT for a very long time now and still love the kits she is producing.

We got into a conversation a while ago about ideas for kits for her to make. Last year, the girls' Dad went to Spain and brought each of them back a Spanish dress. I am not really 'into' red, so have very few red kits, and had nothing to use with the photos. So, I suggested to Wendy that she might like to make a red/black kit. And, this is what she came up with:

Special Reunion available at Pixie Treasures

I just love it - and, as I said, I'm not usually a fan of red, but this has sure changed my mind!

Here is the layout I made with it - and am sure I will use it again:

Credits: Special Reunion by Neverland Scraps; Template by Tracy Blankenship

Just Chatter

School holidays are still in full swing and the girls are having a great time! Yesterday some friends of ours had a swim party for two of their children, so hired the whole of Guildford lido. Did it rain, of course, did the kids care - NO! It was just drizzly rain most of the time, but the kids really didn't mind - they were all right in the pool having a great time! It's a beautiful pool - Olympic size, and there were about 30 kids, so you can imagine how much fun that was!! They supplied life guards, so it was a great opportunity for us mum's to catch up!! Emi was a bit late getting there as one of her friends who was also invited to the party had invited her to go to the cinema to see Mama Mia - was a jealous? Yup! But I had already said that I would take them to see it at some point during the holidays, so will still get to see it - Em will just have to watch something else with a friend!!

I have been to the doctors this week as I have an unexplained pain in my side. He did say to keep an eye in case it is appendicitis, but I told him that it couldn't be as it is the summer holidays and I don't have time! Seriously, though, he was a bit concerned as it has gone on for the last few days but I have no fever or any other sign of an infection. He did say it could be a swollen gland although they don't usually give quite as much pain as I was in. So, I have to wait for a couple of days and if it's still bad they will do some tests - ugh!

Anyway, here are some layouts I've done recently. I've been playing around with various extraction techniques and some were more successful than others but they made fun LOs anyway!

The first 2 layouts are of my friends' little girl, Bethan. I can't believe she is now two - these are 2 pages that went into her birthday album.

Credits: Natures Call by Digital Anemona

Credits: July Summertime Collab kit

This layout is of Alice - I can't believe that she is now 11 and going to secondary school in September! Although I might not be ready for her to go, she certainly is! These photos were taken before she went to her junior school leavers' disco.

Credits: Summer Clothes by Stephanie Ogren; Alpha by Carola Mondini (and a template but can't remember whose it is, so if you know, leave me a comment!)

The next LO is of Emi. She plays violin in the area strings orchestra and at the end of this year, she was awarded the Directors Cup, so was really really pleased!

Credits: All Year Round - July by OMAAT; Template by Andrea Gold

I took these photos of Lucie after we had been shopping to spend some of her birthday money - she is definitely a girlie girl (and my daughter!) when it comes to shopping - she loves it!!!

Credits: Sophie - My Little Bird by Verena Karolyi; Alpha by Guinheld Storide; Template by ChrissyW

Thanks for looking/reading - am planning on getting some templates uploaded here soon (I hope), so check back soon!