Walk About

I took DS on a walk of the village this afternoon (am still hopeful that we will be living here in a few years time!) and we were out for over 2 & a half hours. I did notice that the houses I like around the corner from Sib are still for sale (they are 2 new builds) but there doesn't appear to be much available elsewhere in the village.

DS is now having a late nap, BIL has taken Sib & DN into Aberdeen so that DN can go to the Orthodontist and BIL has been back & forewards into Elgin taking the cars for various bits of servicing.

We're off to Moy tomorrow...

Wednesday

So we're here in the beautiful NE of Scotland with sib & her family for a long weekend. We had a good run from mum's house - leaving at 9.10am and arriving at 4.50pm, with a 30 minute stop at Stirling.
I've brought my scrapping stuff in the hope that something will get done....

Those Net Curtains!

Here's the proof of what happened to mum's net curtains...just as well they're not that expensive!!

Monday

Remember what I said about only doing 2 or 3 DLOs about our holiday? Like that's going to happen...have printed off about 30 of the "best" shots already!! Ho hum!
We're off gadding about again this week, currently at mum's picking up the pooch before heading North to Sib's house on Wednesday. DS is a little unsettled due to another disturbed night last night and his gift to Granny this evening before finally going to sleep was to eat/chew/destroy one of her bedroom window's net curtains! Mum couldn't stop laughing but guess what I'll be trying to replace tomorrow...
Will hopefully get some photos uploaded tomorrow.

Discovering Television

While we were away DS discovered television as a form of entertainment, rather than just something to bash with his toys. Yesterday I put on the DVD of Oliver! to see if he would be interested in it...and for short bursts he was. Soon be time to intoduce him to the delights of Thomas The Tank Engine!

More Holiday Snaps

Goodness knows how I'm going to whittle down the photos into a managable number for scrapping. Ideally there'll be a DLO (or maybe 2) in the 2008 album & a DLO in DS's album and that'll be it. I think that in the end there will be a whole lot more than 3 DLOs!!

July's Scrap Your Day DLO

Here it is - not a bad selection of photos in the end, considering that yesterday was somehing of a hotch-potch kind of day!

Holiday Photos

Now, as you'd expect, there are lots of photos from the holiday to sort through but here's a peek at a few favourites...

Scrap Yor Day #4

Today is another Scrap Your Day photo-shoot day, all adding to the slightly chaotic atmosphere of a family newly returned from holiday. The photos could prove to be interesting, to say the least...a mountain of washing, anyone?

All Good Things...

...come to an end. We're heading home tomorrow evening after a lovely time. The biggest event of the fortnight is that DS has begun to walk independently, albeit still a bit wobbly!!

Sunnier Climes

Most of you know that we have decamped to sunnier climes for 2 weeks and are currently in the Canary Islands, which is why there has been a lack of posts to the blog. We've taken loads of photos and have been able to upload them to DH's laptop but have no way of uploading them to the blog via the hotel's computer network - there is no wireless connection in the apartments. You'll just have to be patient - I'll be boring you with loads of pics once we're home ... and think of all that scrapping that will need doing!!

DS at 18 Months

I know I say this every month, when DS is another month older but ... I can hardly believe that DS is 18-months-old today! And no, he still isn't walking independently...

This photo was taken after DS & DN had finished their respective teas - if you look closely you can see that DS has the remains of couscous & mint sauce on his face!

40th Birthday Book

Here's a peek at the beautiful book made by my sister for my 40th birthday. Thanks to BF for supplying additional photos. I just need to add the journaling and we're done. The colour in some of the images isn't that great, as photos taken in artificial light (raining outside!!).

"Catch-Up" Scrapping

This evening I've added photos to the really fab book Sib gave me to record my 40th birthday party goings on and I've made a good in-road into sorting out the photos for and beginning LOs for BF's children's album. Does that bit make sense - my album of photos of BF's babies. Will try & take some photos in the daylight tomorrow but the weather forecast isn't good. (I photograph them outside on the garden table.)

A Better Day

DS managed to sleep through the whole night last night for the 1st time in about a month - he woke up at 7.20am. After a good night's sleep, he & I were in a better frame of mind!
In between the heavy rain showers we managed a trip to the swings, DS loved it so much that he actually giggled the whole time. Guess who left the camera at home? DH has taken the dog off to mum's house, which is where he'll be spending his holidays (the dog, not DH!!) while we go on our holiday. Very quiet without them. Sib, BIL & DN arrive tomorrow afternoon so it won't be quiet then!

Monday

Today has not been the best day for me "mummy-wise" ... but tomorrow is another day and will hopefully be better.

I did manage to complete this week's challenge over on UKS, first in a while.

Quackers!

During the last set of the tennis I put this LO together starring the DS of my BF. It is such a brilliant photo. He and his baby sister now have the makings of their own album, although currently there are more LOs waiting to be done than actual completed ones!!

Federer v Nadal

What a fantastic match, the stuff of Wimbledon legend! My money was on Nadal because I thought it was his "turn" and he reminds me of one of DH's nephews!! The final set was real edge-of-your-seat tennis, I could hardly bear to watch.

Nadal triumphed in the end: 6-4,6-4,6-7,6-7,9-7 - the longest men's final on record apparently.

Go Rafa!

UKS Monthly Recipe Card Swap

This is a swap I've been taking part in for a while and I've been lucky enough to receive some good recipe cards back. This month's theme is BBQ and initially I wasn't going to bother because I didn't think I'd have the time ... I found the time this afternoon and here it is - BBQ Fruit Kebab.

Current Scrapping Projects

Here's what I've been upto the last few days - a summer themed mini-book & a CJ based on Food For Thought. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out in the end.

Thursday

We've spent most of the day with my SIL at her house. DS got to have a crawl around sans nappy for 10 minutes at one point; I was just about to point out that he'd not had a poop yet when DH announced that DS had indeed pooped on the carpet!!! Thankfully, it was in a part of the house that is expecting the builders any day soon so he was forgiven. We took his portable highchair with us and he looked so grown up sitting in it while he had his lunch. Given that his naps were snatched here and there, he did really well and was his usual charming self. He's still tucking into his food most days with alacrity and adores his fruit, as you can see in the tea time photo. Fingers crossed he continues like this for a good while yet.

Scrapping wise, this evening I finished off a summer themed mini-book, made using my BIA. I had almost decided not to do anymore swaps or CJs on UKS but found myself signing up for a recipes CJ...

Read This Book

If you read nothing else this year, read this book. Irene Nemirovsky was born in Kiev in 1903, the daughter of a successful Jewish banker. In 1918 her family fled the Russian Revolution for France where she became a bestselling novellist. Prevented from publishing when the Germans occupied France in 1940, she moved with her husband and two small daughters from Paris to the safety of the small village of Issy l'Eveque (in German occupied territory). It was here that Irene began writing Suite Francaise. She died in Auschwitz in 1942.
By coincidence, I read an article about Fiona Bruce (she of the BBC's Ten O'Clock News) today and her life in books. She also chose Suite Francaise - she wrote,"you think you can't learn anything new and more distressing about the Holocaust, but there's the story of how, after the war, the families of the incarcerated would go to the Gare de L'Est to see if their loved ones had returned. Nemirovsky's daughters went every day to see if their parents would come back. In the end, of course, they never did."
Read this book, you'll be glad you did.

Snuggle Up, Puppies!

Just before bath-time this evening DH came into the lounge to see if the Murray/Nadal match had begun at Wimbledon. As soon as he sat on the sofa the dog hopped up next to him and then, not to be outdone, DS climbed up as well! The three of them did look very cute together!

DS's favourite game of late is to try and pull the books of the bookcases. He gets such a look on his face and it's very easy for me to know exactly what he is thinking! The little imp!!!

DS made us giggle at bath-time because as DH popped him into the bath as it was filling up DS did a rather large poop!!