More festive stuff :)

Another day and more preparations for christmas.  Once the boys had safely left for school, MrVV and I headed off to Ipswich for christmas shopping.  Armed with a list and determination that this was to be the only trip there between now and January!

We walked the length of the high street calling into so many shops and hearing the same music over and over - however after 2 hours, we'd finished :) (actually except little sons pressie - that needs collecting later in the week).

Once home it was time to hide the pressies away and hunt out the advent calendars. 

This one I bought when big son was very small - every year the pockets get filled with chocolates, sometimes small pressies and sometimes even treat vouchers.  So far this year its only got a few sweets in there as I forgot to buy any santas or snowmen today in town!

I have my own calendar - only a little one and just pictures behind each door;

Last but not least, I forgot yesterday to show you what little treats I bought myself in Aldeburgh - some gorgeous union jack paperchains which could be used all year round and another notebook (just look at the cover - one of my favourite childhood stories :) )

Right off now to start making christmas cards - am thinking of doing them in batches of 10 - ever wished you'd started preparing for Christmas in August??

Oh remind me next time to show you my new sewing room - lots of work in progress there too.

First Sunday in Advent

Having signed up for this I am for once at loss for what to type.  I guess Advent means different things to different people.  For those who are religious it is the start of the countdown to the celebration of the birth of Jesus, for small children it means chocolate, for parents it means the panic to get presents bought, wrapped and hidden - for me, ummmmmmmmm never given it much thought before.  I suppose its the start of the countdown to one of my favourite times of year - mainly because it means we are together as a family - no school or work to seperate us.

Today we headed to the next town for their christmas lights switch on. Little son has been playing a baritone for almost a year and he was playing with a small group from his school.  They did very well and received lots of praise from people watching them. (BTW he does normally play it properly - he was just hiding from the camera!!).

The weather tried its hardest to put us off going - we did get wet watching the children play.  However the sun fought and eventually won. We were treated to a beautiful rainbow;

Once little son had finished playing we popped into the fish & chip shop and left with bags of hot chips smoothered in vinegar :)

We had some time to look round the stalls and shops before we watched more the afternoons entertainment - a brilliant pipe & drum band;

and also Mr VV's brass band

Finally as the afternoon drew to an end, the person most of the younger people in the crowd were waiting for arrived - Father Christmas

He went off to his grotto accompanied by his elves were he was giving out presents to all the children.  He returned to the stage later where he was one of several people who pushed the plunger and switched the lights on (no picture - my battery died!!)

Right wish me luck - am heading Christmas shopping tomorrow with MrVV - one list has been written and we shall not be returning home until we've got everything!!

One year ago

It's not been a good week here in Suffolk - lots has gone wrong, broken and fallen apart :(  We've had to have repairmen out to mend washing machines and another to quote for replacing a huge pane of double glazed glass in our conservatory :(

So I thought I'd turn the clock back one year and look through pictures I'd taken this time last year. 

Today it has been really cold - more winter now than autumn.  However a year ago, here in Suffolk we had a proper wintery blast;

Onwards and upwards is how I'm feeling now.  This weekend see that start of advent and I shall be taking part in Floss's Pause for Advent.  We are off to our first christmas event on Sunday - a christmas street fair and light switching on which both my little son and MrVV are taking part by playing in their brass bands.

The best part of the week and biggest surprise was finding that a good friend of mine has become a blogger - neither of us had mentioned our blogs to each other, almost like it was some sort of guilty secret!  Well I've come out now - both she and my family now know about here :)

Have a good weekend all - hope you can all stay warm and dry.  I shall be back Sunday/Monday with my first advent pause.

Saturday ramblings

If ever there was the perfect name for a blog it has to be Bekimarie's, in fact if she hadn't already used the name its what I would have called my blog.

So far so good - woke up late for me (8.30am) and was just in time to say goodbye to MrVV who has headed off to Twickenham to watch England play New Zealand.

Have been to see my Mum to deliver christmas pressies that she has bought and needs to wrap ;) Cycled very carefully as included in the pile was that CK cakestand :)

She'd been to see my little brother graduate this week and gave me a copy of the sample picture, just to prove it had happened;

Now he really is my baby brother being 17 years younger than me (between us there are 5 other siblings - all girls).  Often when I think of him I think of the rhyme from the Twinkle comics -

He's small

He's sweet

He's seldom neat

He's full of fun & joy

He's grumby, friendly, naughty cute

Like any little boy

He's my baby brother

Ok so he towers over me and I know he'd hate to be referred to as cute but he is my baby brother and it was fantastic for my parents to see him graduate.  My parents were both very lucky to survive an horrific car crash at the end of the summer and the prospect of seeing J get his degree was something they held onto during their stay in hospital and during their long recovery back to normal.

After I left there, I popped into town and went into our church charity shop - is not easy to go in there as their opening hours vary from day to day.  I came out with two lovely items, some handmade christmas hearts;

and a beautiful bone china 'Yuletide' dish by Royal Albert;

Have had a little potter in the garden this afternoon and was pleased to discovered a huge clump of mushrooms/toadstools growing - I always imagine these to be home of the 'little people' and it was great to see a new home appear.

As well as a little people towerblock, there was so many examples of little hamlets of fairy homes springing up;

So there you go - my Saturday so far - completely random and rambling :)

The CK parcel is opened ;)

Yep - once the boys had left for school this morning, I got the parcel from its hiding place and battled throught the miles of parcel tape to open it.

(at this point there should be actual photos of the opening and the contents - however my camera had other ideas the the SD card has died :( )

So tonight for one night only - I've had to copy pics from the CK site instead.

I bought;

My Mum is buying this for me for Christmas :)

Can't have Christmas lunch without crackers - as if you're having crackers they might as well be pretty ones ;)

I always buy and make a few new decs each year - this year I could not resist these Stanleys.

Last but not least - for my soft little son who loves knitted toys as much as his Mum;

Hopefully by the time I next blog my camera will have a SD card - kind old MrVV is buying me one tomorrow :)

Even more festive Tuesday

Sorry if the mention of the Christmas word is too early for some but now we've got Halloween and Bonfire Night out of the way the next thing on my calendar is the festive season :)

This morning instead of doing boring housework tasks before I had to leave for work, I decided to sort out all the things for the 2 swaps I'm taking part in and get it all wrapped up.  So here's a little spoiler ;)

That really doesn't give any clues to anyone does it ;)

I also went through all the things that I've collected so far for family and friends and now have a full list of what I've got and what I still need to get.  I treated myself to a pretty notebook (and matching pencils) so all my festive notes are in one place - just need to keep this hidden from the boys.

Oh - when I got home tonight my CK parcel had arrived :) - I'll take pictures tomorrow and show you the contents of that then. 

Final picture for today - one mad small boy dancing along to the radio this morning. I took this on my phone and I love the reality of the whole thing;

Its beginning to feel alot like Christmas/Winter

It started with the Coca-cola advert at the weekend - that always makes me feel festive. Can't stand the drink but love the ad.

Then we went shopping and I treated myself to new pj's and a dressing gown - am wondering whether it is considered odd to wear these 24/7??

Isn't this just the perfect winter red? The fabric is the snuggliest fleece I've ever felt and the polka dot ribbon just finishes it all off :)

Snowflake brushed cotton pj's - again so snuggly - tis a miracle I can get dressed at all at the moment!

Whilst we were out shopping I dragged the menfolk into the garden centre to look at all the christmas decs - could resist these 4 - I know I can't make anything that looks like these;

Last but not least for today - I've been busy sewing and we're getting quite a collection of felt decs for the tree this year - this is my current favourite;

Am hoping by next time I blog a parcel will have arrived from CK and I can share the unwrapping of that with you.

How is everyone getting on with their swaps?  I've got all my stuff ready and just need to wrap it all up. Oh and swap addresses with my 2 swap partners.

Have a good week.

xx

Special Visitor :)

I wonder if I said the lines;

” A mouse took a stroll


through the deep dark wood.


A fox saw the mouse


and the mouse looked good”

How many children would know who came to my work today?

And how many parents have read that line over and over - either as a bedtime or just anytime favourite story.

Well the star of the recently voted for Best Bedtime Story came to see us at work today - and he was as ugly as the book suggests, complete with terrible tusks, purple prickles and of course his poisonous wart!!

It got me thinking as this wasn't a book that I ever read with my boys - it came out when the youngest was 2 but somehow missed us by.

I asked the boys tonight what their favourite bedtime story was when they were about playgroup age.  Big son (13 3/4) said this one;

and little son (11 3/4) said this one (and I must confess it was my favourite too);

You could take the little cardboard mole and move him through the slots in the pages until he gets to his own bed.

Nowadays the boys are too big for bedtime stories though reading is what they do each night before they go to sleep - sadly now MrTickle has been replaced by Terry Pratchett & Jeremy Clarkson and Mole has gone by the by and its Alex Rider that Will is currently enjoying.

What do your children like? What was/is their favourite?

Sometimes pics just happen

During yesterdays Rememberance Parade I intended to get photos of all 3 of my menfolk taking part - however these were meant to be added to the family album and to be shared with future generations.  However I guess after a couple of months blogging I've forgotten how to take pics of peopls faces! and all the pictures I took obscured their faces!

I managed to get MrVV hiding behind the Drum Major!

Big son kept his head firmly turned away from the camera - shame as he had the honour of carrying the scout troop standard.

Even my little poser of a son had his turned away from me.

Heyho there's always next year for marching pics. Least these ones are great for the blog.

Off to read my December Country Living which arrived today - I've been saving it for this evening when I have a quiet and men free house :)

Rememberance Sunday

Remembering all those whose lives have been affected by all wars & fighting in the last 2 centuries.

My menfolk are off on parada later - MrVV plays with a brass band and the boys are marching with their scout troop.  Big son has the honour this year of carrying the troop standard.

Indiana Jones & the firework display ;)

Yep - last night was time to head off to a big display at a nearby stately home. 

It was brilliant AND I discovered that I have all sorts of different settings on my camera (only owned it for nearly 4 years!) and one of those is especially for fireworks and another for nightime pics!!

MrVV & that hat - the joke might be wearing thin with him but with the rest of us its still a great source of amusement!!

Yes they were pretty and loud - a good night had by all four of us.

Reality Saturday

I've read on several blogs (including Sarah's and Floss's) in the past few days about maybe more 'reality' posts showing the less perfect sides of life and the homes of bloggers.  So I've bitten the bullet and decided to be one of the first to show a real side of my life.

I am a 3rd generation corner heap person - meaning beside my main sitting space I have a heap of stuff that belongs to me that I use.  My grandma's always contained her knitting stuff and my Mum's heap consists of reading glasses and books. Mine, well take a looksie for yourselves;

and a close up for even more effect ;)

This spread of stuff contines to any area I use lots - am not even going to show my bedside table!  However my desk space I somewhere I spend lots of time either browsing the internet, blogging or just catching up with my college work;

Right thats all I'm showing - all future pictures will be back to the more carefully arranged blogging style.  However is anyone else brave enough to show us their reality spaces??

Off out to fireworks tonight - is going to be cold so its probably a case of looking like a walking mound of clothes!!

Scary monsters, fireworks and festive pieces

Well when you miss a few days blogging, it seems there is so much to catch up on. 

Thankyou for all the good wishes and get well comments :) much appreciated.

Whilst I'm not working today, I'm feeling so much better and have even been out & about to catch up on my fresh air quota.  Cycled into town to get some essentials and also visit a couple of my favourite shops (more of that later).

Cast your mind back to last weekend and spooky Saturday.  Now we don't get groups of trick or treaters to our house - something to do with the dark lane we live down which was made more spooky on Saturday night by a veil of mist & fog.  However 2 groups of visitors did arrive - my little nieces & nephews.  The girls were both camera shy, which is a shame as they were the cutest sweetest witches I've ever met.  However my little nephew Ollie is not camera shy & here he is with my youngest Will.  Now the flash failed to go off on the first pic but actually I think it adds to the spooky effect;

We've made a start with our christmas celebrations - one of the first things that happens each year is we fill a box for Operation Christmas Child - the boys always pay for some of the items from their own money and my role is to complete the box.  This year we opted to send our box to a boy and I hope he enjoys the contents.

I've read on so many blogs about all the christmas magazines people have been buying and I've been tempted by a few;

Does seem this year the most popular giveaway is a calendar - I've now collected 3 - no excuses for us to miss anything important in 2010!

Thought you'd like to see some makes that have happened this week - the gingerbread men are mine - one is for a friend & he's scented with gingerbread oil and the other is coming to work with me to be used as a storytime prop.  The tree was made by Will - was surprised at how neat his sewing was and how little adult intervention he required.  He's now keen to make other shapes and give these as pressies to his teacher and grandparents.

Last but no means least, here's the results of my little trip into town this morning - a ladybird book for my collection and some pretty felt to make something for a sister for christmas.

Now today in the UK is Guy Fawkes aka Bonfire/Firworks night so this evening there will be plenty of loud crashes & bangs and the sky will be full of colour.  We're not out tonight but are planning to go to an event at the weekend.

See you soon xxx

Unwell week :(

Not the best start to November, Sunday was the last day I was well and it was extremely wet & windy here in Suffolk so we didn't venture out at all,

Woke Monday feeling really rough - only took a little while to discover I'd caught a nasty bug  - probably from the kids I work with.

This afternoon is the first time I've been out of bed and ventured downstairs.  Good to see the menfolk have been coping well without me.

Is it sad that the first place I've looked when I've been re-united with my computer is Blogland??

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to upload some pics I've taken of things I've made and that have caught my eye.