Friday, April 30, 2010

Were away to Scotland....

Until Monday.  We are going away to Kelso, Scotland for my Grandad's memorial service.  It's going to be such a strange, bittersweet weekend.  It will be lovely to see everyone, hug my Granny in real life and see that she is ok... and there are a couple of nice things planned (barbecue etc).... but I just wish we were going under different circumstances.  This very same weekend we should have been throwing a surprise party for my Granny and Grandad's 50th wedding anniversary and they had no idea about it.  What a change of events eh?

I hope that it goes ok, I just wish that he had been able to have the party before he got sick.... he would have been so so shocked and surprised and happy, and everyone would have been left with a very recent and wonderful memory of him.

We are looking forward to the journey there, because it will be Ollie's first time ever on a boat and I know he is going to love it.

Take care readers :)  I'll be back on Monday.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Friend Makin Monday - 5 Things That You Love

This week on Friend Makin Monday we are to list 5 things (apart from the obvious), that we love.

1.
Bath Bombs from Lush... Amazing.

2.
Music Festivals... Electric picnic being my favourite.

3.
Holidays to hot countries (India for example!)

4.
Baking (Ollie makes it twice as fun!)

5.
Being given flowers!

To join in, please visit Amber!

Friday, April 23, 2010

How I Met My Husband


This May I will have been with James for 6 whole years (married for 3). There is actually only 2 days between our 'getting together/ dating' anniversary and our wedding anniversary!

We met while we were both working in a shop that sold video games and games consoles. To be quite honest I don't remember exactly what it was that made me like him, all I remember is that I thought he was handsome but gloomy and dark. He never said much and I always got the impression he didn't like me. He has since told me that his first impressions of me were that I was annoying and giggly!

It might be a good time to tell you that when I first started to have a crush on James, I was still in a relationship (nearly 2 years i think?). Now before you think of me as the bad guy, I wasn't... my boyfriend at the time was... and he totally deserved to have me fall in love with someone else.

While we worked in GAME, we found ourselves chatting and flirting a bunch of times so we started to hang out more and more. I loved seeing him and chatting to him on my lunch breaks.

James normally worked upstairs in the stock room but when he was working downstairs on the shop floor we would flirt endlessly... I remember our boss calling us into the backroom and tellings us on one occassion, that if the chatting and giggling didn't stop... then he would be moved back up to the stockroom.

Meanwhile, my boyfriend and I were still together, but it was boring with a capital B and there was just no love there. Looking back I think I stayed with him for those 2 years, just out of habit... because he was my first long term boyfriend... not because we were ever really in love.

Lots of other stuff happened next... so a quick recap... my boyfriend and i broke up, someone in work asked me out (i cant remember why i didn't get with James), we lasted 2 weeks, i got back with boyfriend A and James wrote me a letter. In his letter he told me how he really felt and told me that he wanted to be with me. I was a silly girl back then. It wasn't until another 4 months that we really got together. James ended up having a fall out with me and telling me we couldn't be friends anymore because his feelings for me were too much and he didn't like to see me with my boyfriend. This lasted only a little while before he said he would rather have me as his friend than nothing at all.

The day before we got together, I made the realisation (finally!! silly slly girl) that we should definitely be with each other. When I was with my boyfriend, James was all I could think about... I would sit there wishing I was sitting beside James. When I was with James, I was the happiest ever and was having the most fun. I spoke to James the day before I broke up with my boyfriend. I was waiting for my bus home, and I told James that I wanted something so much, but wasn't sure if what I wanted, wanted me too still... James said he was sure it would all work out.

The next morning I broke up with my boyfriend... leaving him in tears... and I walked straight from there to GAME to tell James the news and to arrange a date for that very night.

We told each other 'I love you' from that first date onwards.

Looking back now, I really wonder how silly I must have been to not be with James from the start.... why did I not just cut my losses with the other bloke and just go get what was there for me the whole time.... like I said... I was stuck in the relationship out of habit... James was my perfect match and soulmate standing right in front of me for so long.

Our relationship had it's fair share of ups and downs and arguments... but we were good and strong. We both knew we were in it for the long run... and nearly 2 years from our first date, James propsed to me.


This is James and I at the festival where he proposed!  Please excuse the fact that we both look quite drunk at this point.

James proposed to me at a music festival called Give It A Name, in London. I was taken completely by surprise and so was James. It was completely unplanned. He popped the question with a jelly ring he nicked from the pick'n'mix sweet stand. The proposal was perfect. He was down on one knee in front of looooods of people and I was not even sure if he was joking or not... when I realised he was deadly serious of course I squealed yes.

We got married a year later on 26th May 2007 when I was 22.



I loved getting married.  It was such a perfect day.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Oh, How My Garden Grows - Week 1

Photobucket

I posted last week to tell you about mine and Ollie's new adventure!!  We planted a vegetable garden!  We have only used pots though because our garden is due to get re-done in the coming months.  



Look!!!  We have progress.... ALREADY!  These are our salad leaves!  Ollie was surprised to see the little green shoots there too.  I'm so excited!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Number 12 on the list complete!

You can find my 101 list here
"Join a Library"


A couple of weeks ago Ollie and I joined a library.  I can't believe I was not already a member of a library... I wish I had more time to read.  The library we joined is lovely and has a MASSIVE children's section.  They also have events every so often for the kiddies, like Storytime every Tuesday afternoon!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

We have had a very sad weekend

My dear and doting Grandad passed away on Thursday evening.  It was very unexpected and a massive shock to the system.  In just 2 weeks we were due to all get the ferry to Scotland, where he lived with my Granny, to throw a surprise party for the two of them for their golden anniversary.  I'm gutted that he didn't get to have this massive party... and one last chance to see everyone who loved him.  He would have been so overwhelmed and excited that everyone had come the long distances for a party in his and my Granny's honor.  My Granny and Grandad did get to celebrate their anniversary which was the 7th April.  I'm so glad they got to have that time together.  My Granny and my aunts and uncles were all at his bedside when they turned the life support machine off.

My Granny was told of the intended surprise party and instead, we will be having a memorial service on the Saturday and we will still go to the party to celebrate his life.

Ollie is so lucky to have met his Great-Grandad not once but twice.  We went to visit them in Scotland when Ollie was just 3 months old and we had a wonderful holiday.  They were then able to come here for a visit for Ollie's first birthday.  A lot of people don't get the chance to meet their grand-parents, but I'm so glad that I have the photos to show Ollie.

It is very surreal knowing I will never see him again.  He was a wonderful Grandad, full of bedtime stories, hilarious games and so so knowledgeable.  


Thursday, April 15, 2010

Ollie got green fingers!

We planted our very own mini vegetable garden!  We got free seeds from the CBBC website.... they have 'a plant your own' scheme going on.  They arrived the other day... and there were so many seeds.  I had imagined that because they were free, they would only send a few of each type.  My mother in law gave us a lend of some tubs, and my mum came and helped us plant them.  I have never really grown anything before!  I bought a couple of additional seed packets to add to the collection.




So here we have Chantaney Carrots, Black Beauty Courgettes, Mixed Salad Leaves, Runner Beans, Corander, Rosemary, Chives and Basil!

Very excited for them to start growing!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Tot School Week 9 - Springtime

Tot School
Ollie is 22 months old

I am so late in posting this but we have been so busy! We had a lovely week last week as our theme was 'Springtime' and it was wonderful getting into the spirit of good weather and spending time outdoors!

Themed Activities


We read the above books!


Ollie tried using his watercolour paints this week and he took really well to dipping the brush in the water first and then the paint. (In this picture you can also see his concentration tongue sticking out again!!)



We spent an afternoon making bird feeders to hang outside. Basically you just use fat, dried fruit and seeds! You mix everything together and put it in yoghurt pots and then into the fridge to 'set'. He had fun doing this but had trouble handling the fact that what he was making was not food for us but food for birdies!


I made a little sensory bucket for him full of beans and rice and I hid lots of little chicks.  I have him tongs and a big spoon to get the chicks out.  This is the first time we have done something like this and he loved it.  Anytime he thought he saw some yellow fluff he let out the biggest gasp!


After having not been interested in colour matching for weeks, he really tried his hardest this week with colour matching these lambs bodies to their heads.


I saw this idea over at Cassie's blog.... It turned out so cute :)


We made these little foamy things together, using a set I got at my local Tesco.  They didn't last long though because after I got the photo... he came and peeled eyes etc off.


A picnic was not a PLANNED Spring activity but we got a few GORGEOUS days of sunshine and we stayed outside as much as possible, to enjoy it.


Non - Themed Activities


Ollie also had the chance to use his sand and water table again since last summer.  We didn't let him have sand in it last year as felt he was too young, so he had so much fun playing with the sand as soon as it was put out for him.


Ollie played for almost an hour with his Wonderblocks.  They are such a great toy... each box has some beads in but they all make different noises.  Some have just 1 big round bead, others have tiny tiny beads... they all make a different noise when you shake them.  You can use them for colour mixing too by holding them in front of one another in front of the window.  He is getting so good at stacking!


We also did a few activities in the Cbeebies Weekly magazine, though I didn't get any photos!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Ollie's new rockin hairdo!


We spiked his hair a few days ago to see what it looked liked and he LOVES IT!  He is so trendy.  When I showed him what it looked like in the mirror he touched it, flattened it and got a little bit upset, so I re-spiked it... told him they were spikes... and ever since, when he sees them in the mirror he touches his hair really gently.

Friday, April 9, 2010

2010 Ultimate Blog Party!!

Ultimate Blog Party 2010
Oh I am so excited to be participating in the 2010 Ultimate Blog Party over at 5 Minutes for Mom!
WELCOME to my blog. Thank You for coming to visit me! Here you will find my day to day ramblings about my life as a SAHM to an incredible little boy called Oliver (Ollie). My name is Emma and I have been married to my handsome hubby for almost 3 whole years (crazy...) and Ollie will be 2 in June. We live in a sweet little housing development in Belfast, Northern Ireland. You can read more about me and my family by clicking here.
To summarise - I love to cook, take photos, try new and interesting food, tattoos, crispy burnt bacon, surprises, luxury baths, shopping, pesto, indian food, holidays and traveling, tattoos, Cholula hot sauce, babies, teaching my toddler, toasties, cocktails, dogs, my iphone, my house when it is tidy, sleeping in on a Saturday, blogging, reading other people's blogs, blog design! I DON'T like....mouldy food, milk, cream, butter, spiders and most bugs, sweat, touching raw meat, whiskey or people smoking near me.


I am a SAHM by day but by night (well evening), I am a Blog Designer!  You can visit my blog design site by clicking here - Indiechick Designs.  I have been designing blogs for nearly a year!  I started it so that I could contribute a little bit financially but also because I love it!

With this blog I document what Ollie and I get up to day to day including Tot School and day trips.  I also like to show my recent blog designs, proud mummy moments and random going-ons in my life.



Hope you enjoy the PARTY and your visit here.  Please do comment to let me know you have visited, so that I can come and visit you also!  COME BACK SOON!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Tonight's PMM

(PMM = Proud Mummy Moment)

Tonight we decided to take the plunge and take Ollie's nighttime bottle away.  He has only been having one bottle a day since he was a year old... but I have been wanting to take it away for ages now... he is going to be 2 soon afterall.  We tried a few months ago and it was not happening so we decided to wait and try again some other time...

Tonight was the other time and it went so well!!  I was worried about him not getting as much milk, because he would normally have had a whole bottle before going up to bed and then half a bottle going to sleep... I didn't think I could convince him to drink this much from a cup.  I was wrong.  He had 2 and a half Tomee Tipee cups before bed.  There was a little moan and whinge from him but I just told him that we were going somewhere really fun tomorrow and that we would see his friend Ivy... and he closed his eyes.

There has not been a peep since.  I had myself geared up for an awful time of it and I was ready to not back down... I'm very surprised.  Obviously he is ready to give it up.

Nappies is next I suppose... but maybe not for a couple of months.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

I'm a weight watcher....

Yup... I have joined Weight Watchers.  I signed up for the online version and weigh myself.  I have lost 2lbs so far (sigh)... and I am finding it really hard to be honest!  I have been having something tiny for breakfast because I am never very hungry in the mornings... a fair sized lunch and a medium dinner.  I am finding the evenings reeeeeeeeally hard though!  I have always been a 'snack in front of the telly' type of girl... and I am finding it very hard not eating ANYTHING at nighttime (I have normally used all my points up during the day).

I know this is only my first week though and I am just adjusting.  I am breaking all sorts of eating habits... and it is really making me look at how unhealthily I ate before.  I am now eating what I would consider to be a normal portion... but compared to what I was eating a few weeks ago, it is miniscule.  Instead of putting heaped amounts of fatty food on my plate, I am finding that I have a medium amount of the 'less good' food and I make up for it with veggies.

I don't find myself getting hungry during the day... so I know that what I am eating is enough and I used to eat LOADS more just because I'm greedy and like food.

Does anyone out there do Weight Watchers?  Can you give me some advice on stopping these evening cravings?  What is your favourite Weight Watchers recipe?

HELP ME!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Tot School Week 8 - Easter

Tot School

Ollie is 22 months old

This week Ollie and I did the obvious and chose Easter as our theme.  We are not a religious family, so at Easter we focus on little chicks and bunny's etc and of course he does an egg hunt!  He had a fun week and suprisingly, I didn't have to use non-themed activities... because we had enough Easter themed activities to keep us going (we didn't even get to do them all!).

This week we read Spot's First Easter (...again and again and again).  It is his first lift the flaps book and he loves peeking underneath!


I printed the below activity from Making Learning Fun and he really enjoyed it.  It was supposed to be an activity where a child could read the colour and put the egg in the place, but as Ollie can not yet read, I printed 2 copies of the coloured eggs, cut them out and stuck them down and we used this as a purely colour matching activity instead.  It kept his interest for quite a while and his colour recognition is getting a lot better.


I printed the below page from Making Learning Fun also, but instead of using it as a counting game, we stuck cotton wool on the rabbits bellies instead.  I glued the bellies and Ollie stuck the cotton wool down.  He loved it and kept shouting "fluff"!


I set 12 little tiny chicks in an empty egg carton and had Ollie transfer them from their carton to an Easter basket we decorated earlier in the day.  He gave up on using the spoon quite fast but had fun transferring them nontheless.  There was a mummy chicken in the basket already waiting for her little babies.


We painted hard boiled eggs with the intention of rolling them down the hill beside our house, but Ollie had his egg squashed before we got the chance!


Ollie and James worked together to make these Easter Nests.  (Crunched up Shredded Wheat Cereal, melted Mars Bars, spoon of butter and half a melted Easter Egg! Divine!).  Ollie helped to put the eggs on in between eating them!!!


We made these cute cards together for Grandma and Nanny.  Ollie used his thumbprint for the bunny's body and his fingerprint for the heads.  Nanny and Grandma loved the cards.


Ollie was lucky enough to participate in TWO egg hunts.  One at his Nanny's house and one at our own house.  It was so cute watching him hang on tightly to his bucket and his eyes growing wide everytime he spotted another egg.  It really made him grin.  The novelty was not even in the fact that they were chocolate... it was in the fact that they were hidden and he enjoyed putting them in his baskets.


Nanny's garden.



Our garden.


Ollie got a little bit too excited with the amount of eggs he collected that he dropped the bucket and they went all over the floor.

We discovered that the children's TV channel that Ollie enjoys (CBeebies) has a magazine, so we picked it up.  It is FANTASTIC and so cheap too, we will be buying it weekly.  This week was all about Easter and had stickers, counting, colouring, colour recognition, line tracing and EVERYTHING.  It had everything I would expect pre-school workbooks to include, but also a lot more.  He loved looking through each page.


We worked on the next 2 letters from his alphabet.  We made a D for Dinosaur (he coloured the body) and we made an E for Egg.  I printed the eggs of Making Learning Fun and Ollie coloured them in.



I think we got TONS done this week... I think holiday themes are much easier to think up activities for!!

Next week's theme will be similar as it is "Springtime".