My Life Most Ordinary: August 2011

Another year wiser.... hhhhmmmm, well I'm not so sure about that, but it's better than saying another year closer to 40... or as my friends all said, half way to 70!!! July was a busy month here, with my 35th birthday, and Thing 1's 8th birthday... scary how quickly that came round too!
School broke up for the summer so it became extra busy in this house... which is why I haven't blogged in an age! I'd apologise, but seriously, is anyone really bothered that I didn't blog... lol!

Last week Rob and I both took a week off work and we went out for day trips with the boys. The weather wasn't forecast to be great but we actually got lucky and were only rained on once... and that was while we were on a water ride so it doesn't count!

We went to Chester Zoo first. Drew was only really young last time we went so it was great seeing him watch the animals properly for the first time. It wasn't a scorching hot day like the last time we went so the animals were really active, which was fab... especially the monkeys and orangutans. All the exotic animals in the zoo and guess which were the boys favourite???

The dinosaurs!!!

There is a fab summer exhibition of life size moving (so obviously real) dinosaurs, and I have to say they were pretty impressive. Luckily we went straight to them first so we got up close before the crowds of chavs with their rude kids got there and pushed in!!!

On Wednesday we headed over to Rotherham to Magna. It was meant to be a rainy day so we planned this to be an indoor visit. However the weather stayed dry, and the kids spent the day in the BIGGEST outdoor play area I've ever seen... it just went on and on, and was fab! It had a water park area too, although it was too cold for the kids to go in that... well my kids anyway, there were some kids in there... turning a lovely shade of blue!!!

It's a good job the activity park was so good as Magna itself was SHITE!!! Seriously... don't bother, it's dark, it's smelly, the 'fun and exciting' interactive exhibits are not fun or exciting, and they are few and far between. What was funny was seeing all the adults walking round with a 'WTF' expression and all the young kids clinging to their parents legs or crying in pushchairs because of the dark and the spooky sound effects playing! We plan to go back, but only on a sunny day to use the park and water area.

Oliver finally got over his fear of climbing, and realised that actually he could do it and it wasn't as scary as he thought it would be... YAY!

This one took some mastering as it was quite steep and a bit slippy, but he got there in the end.

A bouncy thing they all enjoyed... and see the big kid in the background having fun too... lol!

Harry and Drew loved this sand area, and actually played really nicely together for ages.... I had to get photographic evidence of that!

Thursday was a day off... I was meant to catch up with my paperwork, but that didn't happen..... but I did watch quite a few episodes of SATC... lol!

Friday we went to Drayton Manor for the day... Oliver was very excited to be able to go on proper big roller coasters (and so was I). Thomas Land was a massive hit with Harry and Drew... if you have little people I can highly recommend a visit here... even if they are not Thomas fans, it's just so much fun.

Oliver and Rob are on this... so proud of my big boy being brave... this is one ride you won't ever get me on... ever! Been there, done that, vomited and cried... don't need to do it again... EVER!!!

Harry overcame his fear of people dressed up in costumes to have his photo taken with the 'space peoples', Drew freaked out when the space peoples started following us!

We went straight from Drayton Manor to my parent's house in Edwinstowe, as it was the Robin Hood Festival, and as they live a short walk from the Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre, it would have been silly not to go. The boys loved the open air shows, the birds of prey and the jousting... silly mummy forgot to take her camera!!! It was absolutely heaving, and when we were walking home and could see all the traffic problems caused by the massive amount of tourists, it made me very glad I don't live in that small village anymore.

And so back home and back to work. I have loads of work to do... childminding paperwork... boooo! and DT work...yay!
There are 4 new members of the Sarah's Cards DT, and I'm so chuffed my friend Helen got a place.... I LOVE her work. Go take a peek... it's fab!
Here is some work I created for the July kit.... I used the Teresa Collins stamp maker to make the Henry Hoover stamp... super cute isn't it?

This LO was of Drew pretending to be asleep so he didn't have to answer me when I asked him if he had pooped!!! This is his new thing... I don't want to talk to you, I pretend I'm asleep... lol!!!

A summery LO of Ginger bear squinting in the sun... wearing Drew's hat!!!

The Sarah's Cards blog is still a fun and exciting place to be for loads of crafting inspiration... you seriously should check it out every few days, the ladies are producing some amazing work... I'm so lucky being a part of this team.

For my July post I had a play with the Maya Road Resist. Here are the 3 LOs I created, and you can see step by step photos on how I created the LOs here and here.

Each month there is a challenge on the blog where you get the chance to win a £20 voucher to spend in the shop... £20!!! I can't think of any good excuse not to play along. This month Rachel set the challenge, to use 5 different pp on a LO. Here is the challenge, and here is my LO.

My time on the Twisted Sketches DT came to an end, and due to work commitments I didn't have time to extend my term, which I was very sad about... but I look forward to playing along with the fab new Twisted sisters from time to time. For my last ever LO I created a collage of all the work I had created whilst I was on the team... I drew the title like it is on the blinkies and used the pink/black/white colour scheme.... I have to say I really like how this turned out!

And lastly a 'just for me' LO... I started this at a mini crop at my house... fannied about with it for far too long, but it came together in the end. No patterned paper, just lots of misting, a bit of graffiti and black outlines... simples!!!