The Launch of SHAE

Yesterday the 30th December 2008!

 Roy had asked for a boat from Santa Clause - and a boat he got!

Yesterday it was dull but dry so we decided to head into a nearby town called Bangor and launch Shae the speed boat at Pickie Park.

The promenade.



Waiting ever so patiently for the time to launch



This is it ...




And she is off like a good un...

Shae's maiden voyage was successful, well almost. She had a bit of propeller stutter and started off going round in circles but once she got the hang of it all there was no stopping her. Shae whizzed around the pond like a good un until she ran out of puff. It was then she was packed into a bag and marched around the park with the children.

Some views from around Bangor Marina.

The completed job (almost)

It has only taken since last Wednesday for this 'bug' that we have to get round our family. I think we must be almost over it,Seb this morning was ill but he seems to be okay now. After changing his bed yet again we live in hope that tomorrow I might get that mountain of washing down a bit so it is not holding me to ransom any more.



I want to share something - a friend in the USA sent me an ornament. We do an ornament exchange every year, it makes it special to have something different, especially one sent by a good friend. This is what I got ...



Thankyou Kim XOXO







Today was a long one - I am trying (like everyone else) to get things ready for the big day.



We made some buns, the children decorated them .....



My kitchen - the longest drawn out decorating project in the history of mankind.

This has been going on since October, we had various things happen in between like a lovely big leak in the pipes under our sink.

S0 we have taken various shots from around the kitchen, all except the sink wall ... two reasons we have a gaping big hole where the cupboard should be,I am hoping we will get it put back tomorrow. Secondly we haven't finished that bit of tiles and it is not so pretty - I will slot those photos in as we get done.

anyway - so far ... The kids computer corner, this is where the kids play if I am cooking or what ever.


The breakfast bar.

todays things

Oh this is going to be the stupidist blog post ever!

Just had a really stupid day.

The day started early for me - at some point after one am my younest daughter woke. After positioning her on the sofa so I could go make a drink she leant over and barfed down the back of it. YUCK. Then she held her hands to her mouth so she could fan out the next barf. Okay Okay too much detail I just wanted you all to know. I knew there was a reason why we bought furniture with removable covers - today our sofa looks like a checkers board with white cushions and terrecotta cushions.

I think it was somewhere around three am was the next time I was up, then eight. I felt totally punch drunk and I had an queezy tummy too. Mag got up and complained of a sore tummy, he disapeared of to the bathroom to be sick.

My cleaner arrived at ten - the plan was that she would do her two or three hours and then I would head off to a friends house for a late lunch and a chat. Well that didn't happen, just the thought of driving to Carrickfergus with sick children in the car was enough to put me off. The day wore on I discovered a couple of things amiss in the kitchen - I found the salt grinder hidden behind some jars in the cupboard. hhhmmmm thats odd, then on closer inspection it was empty and wet inside. I questioned the children but it seemed that Mr Nobody was at work (do you have a Mr Nobody in your house?). Later a BFO (blinding flash of the obvious), last night Mag and I ate dinner after all the other children went to bed, we had the salt out and it was working!

Later on last night my glass was sat in the kitchen I still had juice in it so I took a swig - urrggghhh it was salty! Why would my orange juice be salty? So back to the salt grinder - all the little children were in bed, Mag ate with me, come to think of it Mag carried the salt and pepper through to the kitchen (he gets his pocket money if he clears the table each night) .. it wasn't me who poured out the salt and wet the inside of the grinder, it wasn't me who salted my orange juice .... hhhmmmm will he admit it? NO.

Ebay

If you are like me and a little 'Web Wise@ thwn you will have done some of your Christmas shopping on Ebay!

I have heard this song before but I still think it is funny!


EBAY by WEIRD AL

Star of the Show

Sol was the star of her playgroup Nativity show - along with 30 other stars that is. the children were brilliant! I wasn't able to take photos of the show - child protection and all that but I am hoping to get a copy of the DVD film in the new year.

As you can see Sol was (and still is sometimes) and angel. Oh and she LOVED Santa in a big way. When Toni and Seb were her age they cried their lamps out when Santa appeared so Sol is obviously the brave one of the family.






The lights - I cannot leave these out. This house is in the paper every year, they collect money for charity and as you can see put on a proud display. I wonder if they collect more money than the electric costs to run the lights - maybe they should donate the money saved in energy hhhmmm - BAH HUMBUG.

Belfast Wheel And Continental Market

With Roy going away in the morning for a few days (work related) we decided to have a family day out. We had failed to visit the continental market in Belfast a few weeks ago when we were in the city so we decided to have another go. The day was pleasant and there were no crowds to speak of, remembering last year's visit I am only too glad. We set off around lunch time, well after lunch by the time we got all the children in the car. You think we had 100 kids the length of time it takes us to get out the door. The melee caused by three mini children and one full size child is plenty for anyone, one of those children was the same child that managed to knock over a kitchen roll display in our local shop yesterday. I think we might be barred now - perhaps you might see us on one of those cop shows next month. Oh and my husband just happened to point out to us that we weren't going to Belfast to go into any shops DOH I thought that was the whole point, stupid!

I have a few photographs of the day, I wont apologise for the quality of the photos - it is me the photo taker who has failed today. I failed to operate my son's shirt pocket size mini point and shoot camera - it is so simple to use I couldn't work it DUH.

The children in the car


The wheel from afar



and close (yes I did this shot before, and yes I do like the wheel)



Belfast from the top of the wheel - it was raining and the photos were took from inside the pod obviously so the views are through glass





The Continental market was quite expensive, well it was not the usual stuff you get in Tesco I guess. We bought a pick and mix with 12 sweets in it and that came to £3.65!




Oh yes ..... I almost forgot

Us up high!



Sol is the cutest little girl I know ( I am biased I know but find me a cuter girl?)

Visit To Santa

Saturday was a bit different from usual. Started off we were dead lazy and had a lie in. We should be working on some painting but there you go.

The afternoon was spent running the children to chess club, and going to Harveys to get some shelves for Ashley's wardrobes. The shelves - which I eventually got (only through powers of persuasion) for a more respectable price of £28 wen they were marked at £71 - yes £71 for three pieces of covered chipboard!
On the way back I drove through the town which was relatively busy, but I did notice Woolworths wasn't so bad. I decided to take the kids on an impromptu shopping trip. This attempt at having a look at the Woolworths sale was definitely more fruitful than the last. The other day we went and the people were queued down the whole length of the shop and there were 'bouncers' on the door. This time I managed to get a few bargains including some smart new everyday cutlery which we were in desperate need of, glasses, socks, Christmas decorations, glittery things, a couple of watches and some clothes for the children.





We also stopped off to see Santa Claus in the Flagship Centre, Bangor.


He was a nice Santa and spent quite a few minutes with the children.























These are photos of the photos so they are not high quality, I think they came out okay all the same.

In the evening Roy and I managed to sneak off to the cinema. We were owed quite a number of babysitting hours from our neighbours so we took advantage of that and went to see Quantom Of Solace. It was good but I much preferred Casino Royale. Oh and Bangor Multiplex has been done out it is worth a visit, we much enjoyed the very comfortable VIP seats which were leather reclining sofas.

Feeling Washed Out

I wasn't going to post this photo but was persuaded otherwise!

Please Look Away

If you are liable to get a Christmas gift from us then please look away now!

We decided to try something different for our gifts this year - neighbours and friends are getting hand made gifts instead of bought ones.

Snowman Soup thanks to http://www.organizedchristmas.com/.
These simple gifts were made by putting a bag or marshmallows, some wrapped chocolates, and a couple of sachets of hot chocolate in a lovely snowman mug.

The tag has the poem
Snowman Soup
Was told you've been real good this year.
Always glad to hear it!
With freezing weather drawing near,
You'll need to warm the spirit.
So here's a little Snowman Soup
Complete with stirring stick.
Add hot water, sip it slow.
It's sure to do the trick!


The jars below were also simple to make.
The whiter jars need to be made two weeks before you are going to give or use them. Simply split a vanilla pod length ways and cut it into three. Put the vanilla pod and caster sugar in a sterilised jar and give a little shake. After two or three weeks the sugar will smell devine - mmmm. You can use the vanilla sugar in coffee, hot chocolate, baking or anything else you fancy. This is an everlasting gift too, because when your sugar goes down you can refill it a number of times before the vanilla pod fades.

The other jars are maldon sea salt, with some dried chillies, peppercorns and a couple of star anise. The spiced salt is great for putting on your steaks or rubbing onto roast chicken for a bit of extra kick!

Seasonal Photos

Another busy week gone by. I have spent most of the week just getting things prepared for the big day. I pre made a lot of the food that we will need over the Christmas week so that I wont have to miss out on the children enjoying their gifts.

There is a fair bit to update on so I will start with the photos from last Friday evening (5th Dec). The village where I live had the ceremonial tree light switching on. The children from the playgroup had the honour of doing the switch on, they were really sweet and sang a few carols beforehand.
Afterwards everyone headed over to the church hall where there was a visit from Santa! Sadly I didn't get any decent photos of Santa as I had handed my camera over to Mag to look after and he vanished at the crucial moment.

We did get a snowman photo!



Or two!

SPONGE BOB SQUARE PANTS

Day out to W5 - PART 1

I am saying part 1 as the most of the day went great for us, but we did have an incident this morning.

We headed off fairly early this morning to go to W5 at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast. W5 is a science museum for kids, and the children all love it so much we usually just spend the day there.

We parked up in the main car park as usual. You have to cross a main road to get into the complex, fortunately there are two pedestrian crossings with lights. I lined the children up at the crossing that takes you to the main entrance. When it was time to cross I saw a car speeding toward us. Thankfully I had my wits about me and I just 'knew' that the car was not going to stop so I pulled the children back. It was a scary moment for us all. The driver did not stop the car despite my attempt at flagging him down!

We were quite shaken by the incident and went into the main complex to report this to security staff. They in turn called the police and luckily for us the Roads Service lorry behind the car called in too. Long story short the police contacted the police stations local to the complex and viewed the CCTV, they also viewed the complex's CCTV and were able to track this car's journey through the town. They were also able to see us on the crossing and that we had done nothing wrong. Although we did not get a number plate the car had a distinctive paint job, and we got a good description of the driver inside, because of the paint job and the other things we noted that were inside the car's window they are hopeful.
The police and staff were absolutely great with us, they took statements and nothing was too much trouble for them. I apologised at using police resources but they reassured me that I did the right thing in reporting this to the security staff.

They said they are hoping to get this guy though it could take a few weeks if he was to be prosecuted, and we will just wait and see what happens now.

Spills 1st December

December is going to be a month for crazy stuff - I can just tell - feel it in my water or whatever!

Yesterday the 1st was an ordinary morning, then lunch time we decided to head on up to B&Q to get our kitchen paint.

I did get to test the paint before I bought it - Roy only managed to spill it on the floor and over mine and Toni's new Timberlands. *sigh* then Seb broke a snowglobe.


B&Q I apologise!

Oh yes and while I am on that subject - glowstick bangles ... when they burst they make everything glow. My children thought it would be funny to shake them up and down the hall! My hall glows in the dark now.

Trip round Belfast

SUNDAY
We collected Mag from his friend's house in Carrickfergus this morning. He had a blast -movie which was Ghost Town, a pizza hut feast and sleep over.
We had decided to kill two birds with one stone so to speak and head into Belfast to see the Christmas lights and head to the continental market. We didn't make the market in the end but we still saw plenty.

The tree at the Victoria Square Shopping Centre. This tree was impressive, apparently the tallest in Belfast. I had to stitch the photos together as I couldn't get it taken in one go.

This is the Belfast Wheel, we didn't go on it this time as we just ran out of hours in the day, the children were tired and hungry by the time we made our way round. We had gone on it last year and it boasts an impressive view of the city.

Belfast City Hall Christmas tree.

Toni ended up with her hair done! There was stall in the Castle Court shopping centre promoting Babycurls curlers. One of the staff took a shine to Toni, he offered to do her hair, after a few minute of shyness she agreed! The result was beautiful, she sat so good while she was having her hair done and although it took a couple of hours it was well worth the wait. The hair designer (apparantly different to a hair dresser) said her hair was astoundingly good and in the last year and a half had never done such lovely hair. Well of course what made Toni grow to ten feet tall.

DOWN TO THREE

I took an unexpected drive to Carrickfergus today. Mag got a birthday party invite to go to the cinema followed by dinner in Pizza Hut with friends. I had no problem letting him go and staying at their house over night so we only had to make the journey once today. We need to go to Belfast tomorrow so it will work out well for collecting him.


The afternoon ended up a bit rushed though, we headed off at 1.45 to leave Mag off at chess club. The plan was to use the hour he is in chess club to go pick up a thing I had got off Freecylce then pop in the back door of the Flagship Centre and pick up a little present for the birthday boy. Well best laid plans and all that ... Bangor town was a nightmare, it took me ages in the shops and by the time Mag had finished chess club at 3 o'clock I was only just getting my way out of the town. Anyways - long story short we made it to Carrickfergus just in time for the party.

Seb and I stopped off at a parking area by the shore on the way back - we were able to see right across Belfast lough as it was so clear, we walked for a little while and watched the world go by until the light dropped.

I had to laugh, when I arrived home the strong smell of paint hit me as I walked in the front door. Roy had only gone and done the kitchen ceiling with gloss paint.

Castle Park

Friday morning - it is very cold today so much so the car was covered in a film of ice! We love the crisp mornings, when it is dry and the autumn leaves are on the ground. I got the children wrapped up warm and off we went to Castle Park, in Bangor. We had a good long trek among the trees and then went up to visit Bangor Museum at the Heritage Centre. It was nice to get back in the heat so the museum was welcomed greatly, The children did the quiz in the museum but we ran out of time to see everything so we are going to have to return another day.

I took a few photos along the way!

We found two Geocahces also wich makes our Geocache score 7 now!