Deliveries and dinner!

Yesterday we had our first delivery of materials to the new house!  The delivery van pretty much followed me there with our new door and 2 solid beech worktops!

We’re not quite up to worktops just yet but they were half price  so we snapped them up!  The door was also 1/3 off so we had to get that too although hopefully we’ll be needing that pretty soon!  While I waited for the delivery there was 5 mins to strip wall paper off the living room walls.  As with our bedroom almost all of  it came off in whole sheets….

…in fact it comes off so perfectly maybe we should sell it as vintage wallpaper!!!!!!

Later on we went for tea in our new local pub!  It was very nice as usual and we all ate loads!

Nan has now gone home.  Caitlin and Noah are both missing her……  I know Nan is missing them both but I bet she is glad to be spared reading one of a set of 9 books Caitlin got for Christmas!!  Poor Nan has read each one several times already!!!!!!

Advertisement

Christmas dinner take 2!!

Yesterday was time for Christmas dinner again!  This time it was my turn to cook for less people thank God!  I forgot the devils on horseback but apart from that it was ok!

Everyone ate loads and what little leftovers there were went towards frozen meals for Caitlin and Noah…  After dinner it was time for dessert.  Despite defrosting for over 4 hours our cheesecake was still frozen even though it should have only taken 2.5 hours…  But the other went down well including the cake and candles.  Noah has adapted “happy birthday” and has started singing “Happy Christmas to you” to the same tune when he sees a cake and candles!!!!!!!!!!!!  He is really funny!

Later on there was time for Nan to read lots of stories to Caitlin…

…and then to play guitars……..

Nan’s presents

Today Nan arrived to visit.  She also brought loads of presents…but before Caitlin and Noah opened theirs we gave Nan hers…..

….then it was time for Caitlin and Noah who got loads of presents off Nan including a set of Dora jigsaws which they all played with…

..and also some furniture for Caitlin’s dolls house and a fantastic garage which goes with all of our wooden road and train sets.  Richard has big plans for another animation using the road/train set and the dolls house but with the renovations I doubt that will be any time soon!!!

Caitlin and Noah are now enjoying a bath with Nan and then I expect there will be a few stories before bed….

Lets dress up!!

Today we have spent the day dressing up and playing on the motorbikes!!  They both got Lightening McQueen racing driver outfits which they wore on their bikes….

We also have some hilarious videos of the bikes in action…Noah has no idea how to stop!!  And poor Caitlin has been run off the road many times!  Again I will upload them once Richard has shrunk them a bit…  Caitlin also dressed up as a princess……..

We also did a bit of sale shopping but the kitchen we like isn’t in the sale and its still cheaper than all of those now in the sale…  Didn’t take us long to establish that though so we were done in plenty of time for the above dressing up and bike riding!  They are both now in bed ready for Nan’s arrival tomorrow which will no doubt mean more present opening!!!!!!  Where are we going to put all these toys I wonder…ahh well never mind!

The highlight of Noah’s Christmas Dinner!!

The highlight of the whole day for Noah….the amazement on his face is fantastic!!!

Cake and candles is all you need to create this affect!  He LOVES them!!!!!!!

Christmas Day….

…was chaotic!  We started the day with stocking in their bedrooms where there was of course no motorbike….  Caitlin then came downstairs and seemed really pleased to see a motorbike and announced “I like it” and shouted to tell Noah there where motorbikes!!!  Will upload the video when I have more time!  But here she is in her high vis vest pretending to be the AA.  For those that don’t know us..minis break down a lot and so we meet the AA a lot!!  Caitlin seemed to instantly know who she was and started pretending to fix Noah’s bike!!!!!!!!!!

After the bikes the other big hit was a bit of an impulse buy to even out the present pile sizes… A fifi blow up sofa bed!  They both loved it….

Noah wasn’t keen to open his presents after a while…he just said no when we asked him to open them, but once we opened for him most of them got a wow but he still wouldn’t do the next one!  We also opened presents from Alex, Grandma and Grandad while they phoned.  They got really lovely wooden jigsaws, a wooden kitchen and some more Thomas bits…  After a quick call to Nan it was time to set off for Nanny and Grandad’s house….  Where we were met with another mountain of presents!

…they got guitars, books, crayons and a climbing frame for our garden!!!!!!!  Then it was my sisters turn to give her presents…

It was almost time for dinner and the rest of the family started turning up!  This year was fairly small as 3 people were going elsewhere and my Great Uncle had a hangover (from FIVE days ago!!) – apparently he was in a bad way and has only just been able to speak again!!!!!!!!!!  That is some drinking session!!  So there were only 14 people to dinner…

Caitlin had a massive plate full but gave it a good go eating over half plus a load of sausages wrapped in bacon!!

(ooop’s Noah looks like he is choking in the background…he’s not I just forgot to chop him off making silly faces…)  Noah didn’t eat much of his dinner obviously saving room for his mini ice-creams!!

After dinner it was time for present swapping.  I’m not sure if you can imagine the chaos of 14 people all swapping presents all at once, just look at that pile of presents behind Caitlin!! 

I think it still shell shocks Richard..the rest of us are just used to it!  Caitlin’s home made presents went down well and even made one person cry she was so impressed!!

Finally it was time for us to venture home…not surprisingly they fell asleep the second they got in the car….  Another mad but great Christmas day!!

Presents are done and the reindeer are fed!

Finally we have finished the Christmas presents……..  It has been hard work and next year I’m sticking to boxes of chocs!!!  Caitlin is very pleased with her work though and Noah has joined in a lot more than I thought he would!!  His help has been very scary and sometimes a big hindrance!!  Caitlin has actually been helpful.

Just before bed we fed the reindeer…..

and discovered on the step 2 little parcels…..

Inside were new PJ’s from Father Christmas!!!  He must have known they would want to look all smart for him in the night and for photo’s in the morning so he must have dropped those off early!!!!!!!!  Both have gone to bed all ready for presents in the morning……….

Can’t wait!  So Merry Christmas everyone and I’ll be posting soon with our Christmas day antics….

Christmas catch up!!

Time is running out on us!  We’re very behind with our Christmas present making but we have all day tomorrow so hopefully we can catch up! 

Today we caught up with Caitlin and Noah’s friends whose presents were complete!  They all had a great time.  I had planned a little something for them all to do but they were playing so nicely on there own I left them to it.  We swapped presents and my little houses went down well….

I can now reveal them since all the owners have had theirs apart from Cailtin and Noah (who’s getting a garage version!)  Not fantastic pics… but here’s the inside!

I got the pattern from here… http://uklassinus.blogspot.com/2008/08/fabric-dollhouse-tutorial.html If you look at more recent posts there is a section showing all different ones that people have made using her pattern..I can send mine in now and say thanks!!

Caitlin and Noah got some playdoh and books as their presents.  Caitlin loves her doll dressing up book and I had been meaning to get them more playdoh but decided I’d spent enough so that will be good for them to play with.  Noah has been quiet and sleepy all day..I thought he was better but obviously not.  I’m sure he’ll love his pressies when he’s back to full speed!

Also we’ve been over at the new house making a start on removing the odd thing that was left like a shelf and cupboard.  We’ve also stripped all the paper off the walls in the big bedroom.  It came off way too easily but the damp will be solved when the heating is done.  We’ve also met our neighbours and they are all lovely.  All inviting us in and offering loads of help from cups of tea to babysitting!!  Can’t wait to move in now, not that our current neighbours are bad its just so much more friendly up there…..

We got keys!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We’ve got the keys to our new house!!  The excitement is slightly dulled by the fact our financial adviser is a complete moron!!!!  He knew full well our intention was to buy this run down house stay living in ours while we do the work and then move in and rent ours out!  He has managed to get us a mortgage where we’re not allowed to live in our current house..it has to be rented out!!  And the worst part was we had ONE WEEK to move out and rent it from completion!!!!!!!!!!  Obviously this was never going to work and luckily our solicitor has managed to save the day and we have 3 months to move out!  This is still a very tight deadline but far more possible that one week would ever be.  So expect lots of DIY posts and panic’s as to whether we will hit our deadline of March 19th………………………

Another party!!

I’ve always thought distraction/getting on with it is the best medicine!!  So I asked Caitlin if she was well enough to go to the party and she said yes.  She was a bit quiet but managed to eat a bit of food….

Noah thoroughly enjoyed his chocolate cake and ice cream and even managed not to get any on himself!!

…once Caitlin had eaten she perked up a bit which was good because it was time for a story from Father Christmas.  He told them all about the reindeer and how to remember their names!  Didn’t work on me cos I’ve forgotten already!  Then they each got a chance to go and talk to FC….

..again Caitlin said she wanted a Dora motorbike!  Good really cos she has got a motorbike…not a Dora one but still a motorbike…  The party was great, it was in a soft play centre and there were only 17 kids attending so it was lovely and quiet.  At the end there was just chance to get a photo of the 4 of them together!  I try this everytime we meet and normally fail badly!  Today I got a few where they are all looking and smiling!!!!!!!!!