Mamma Mia!!

Last night we had a girls' night out to see Mamma Mia. One of my friends had already seen it twice but the rest of us hadn't seen it at all, so off we went! The showing was at 8pm and we got there at 7.30 and found that it had sold out already!! In fact the cinema was the busiest I had ever seen it!!! We couldn't get parking so just had to park up on a kerb. The lines were out the door! There were tons of people there for Mamma Mia and tons there for The Dark Knight (the new Batman film). You could easy see which line was for which movie - one line was full of groups of girlfriends and the other full of men and teen boys!! You decide which was which, lol. So we bought tickets for the 9.10pm showing as no way were we going home :) We decided that we should get in line as soon as the 8pm people went into their showing. So we quickly went and got icecream and got back in line. We were pleased to see we were at the front so would have no problem getting a good seat. So at around 9pm we were let through into the theatre and we headed towards a row of seats. First of all, it was only one of the small theatres which surprised us. So as we all sat down we realised that the seats were kind of tilted. It was as if someone from behind had kicked the whole row forward, so the back of our seats were totally upright and our seats were sloping forward so we were almost sliding off! By this time however the whole theatre was full and there were no seats anywhere else that we could move to (not all 7 of us together). So we had to endure these totally uncomfortable seats! We even got some of the kids booster seats to put under out feet to hold us up and stop us falling off! We must have look ridiculous, all hunched over, lol. The movie was really fun and we were singing along to all the songs (although we seemed to be the only ones!!). I've always like Julie Walters as an actress and I think she acted so well in this. She was soooo funny :) I'd even say she had the best performance in the film, closely followed by Meryl Streep. At the end of the movie we actually found the manager and complained about the seats - we actually took her in the theatre to show her exactly which ones they were so she could arrange to get them fixed. She gave us all a free pass for another showing. But all in all it was a great night. I might have to go and see it again sometime - but maybe when it's not so busy!

I have some pix on my phone that I need to download onto the 'puter and add on here. Maybe tomorrow :)

Life is so fragile.........

My sister received tragic news this weekend of her friends' little girl.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/7527475.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/7528602.stm

Hug your kids a little longer tonight.

I've been AWOL for far too long...........

Yes, I know!

This week Nathaniel had his 7th birthday. Gosh! Is he really that old?? For the past month or so we'd been asking him what he wanted to do for his birthday party and he could never really decide. So I decided for him and he was excited for what I had planned. I suggested having a 'boys' toys' party down at church. We had 3 games consoles set up in one room - a Wii, a PS2 and a gamecube (embarrassed to admit they are all ours! we also had the option of an xbox, xbox360 and PS3! I think David is a bigger kid than the boys, lol). In the biggest room we had radio control cars. In a side room we had a scalextric, and on the stage we had a bowling alley game set up. I made a chart on the blackboard with all the kids names on and all the different activities. They were assigned which activity to start with and given a partner and a time limit. Then they would meet back at the board where we would record whether they won, lost or drew in that activity. I them jiggled them around and sent them to a different activity with a different partner. We did this for 1.5 hours and then went into a different room for food and cake. The party was a great success and all the kids had fun. Because of the way it was organised there was no behaviour problems. They were all so well behaved. We were lucky that my parents volunteered to help. So did my SIL, BIL and my gorgeous new nephew. My aunty came along with her granddaughter who is such a cute 3 year old. She also brought my grandma. I'm so glad that Nathaniel had such a fun party. He has some great friends! I might have to do this for Zach's party next year. And the only cost was the food!! And I was so busy sorting it all out that I forgot to take pictures!! How bad is that??

Onto other things.......

I had been involved with a swap on a shabby chic forum I frequent. This month's theme was summer garden party and I received the most amazing package from my swap partner in Germany. I was blown away, flabergasted, by what I received. It was all presented beautifully in this gift basket. My most favourite item was this patchwork she had made. I LOVE it!! I'm such a lucky girl!!

Last week we took the kids to the local carvery for lunch. I can't believe how much food they ate! The enjoyed every bite!

And here are my boys at our friends house. My kids are the ones on the chairs. My friends boys are on the floor. They were so engrossed in their game that they didn't even notice me taking pictures!! Boys and their toys, huh!

Happy 4th July ~

Just wanted to say a Happy 4th of July to my friends in the US and I wish I was there, celebrating with you! I can't believe it was 3 years ago since I was visiting with Renee' and spent the holiday with her and her fab family! I really hope it's not too long before I can visit again. I sure miss all of you way over on the other side of the ocean!! I hope you are all having a great holiday! Me? I've spent the day nursing 2 sick kids and 1 sick hubby! And I've been feeling a bit blech myself! At least the sun has been shining!

Chopped off!!

Guess what I did yesterday??

I chopped off my hair (well actually the stylist did!). I went to the hairdressers near Asda and they had an appointment free so I went for it! My hair was quite long - down past my bra strap at the back - and now I've got an inverted bob! So my neck is now feeling the breeze :) The stylist kept asking me if I was sure before she made the first cut. She couldn't believe I was that bold and trusted her to do whatever she thought would look good. So when I style it again to look as good as she did, I'll take pics. Because we all know that a post like this is useless without pics!

Getting caught up...........

On Friday I had my birthday. Seriously, they come far too often now

I really was spoilt and received some fab gifts! I got a pair of purple grape colour Crocs from David that I'd wanted for a while now. They are so comfortable. My friend Jannine bought me some jibbitz for them - a pair of flowers and 2 animals - a cute cow and a sheept. So fun!! My SIL got me some to-die-for lemon scented toilettries. They smell good enough to eat!!

I was so lucky and got money from other family members and used it to buy a ton of stuff (thanks to some good bargain hunting!). I bought a dresser for my kitchen from the local hospice warehouse. It needs sanding and painting so I'll post a picture when it's all done. However long that will take, lol. I bought some yummy perfume (Paul Smith Floral), paid for my birthday meal at TGI's, and some gorgeous things from Laura Ashley. I LOVE Laura Ashley but their stuff is so expensive. So I decided to treat myself to a few fun things that were in the sale. Aren't they cute??




My friend has her birthday the day before mine so we usually plan a girls' night out for both of us. This year we went to TGI Fridays and had a fab time! You just can't beat a night out with the girls. My SIL, Cait, came with us and brought 4 week old Ethan with her and he slept the whole time! How good is that?? He's such a cutie and I loved having a cuddle with him when we got back to my house later. I just want to eat him all up :)

My two sisters are both in town this coming weekend so I'm excited to spend time with them. I hope Helen doesn't feel too sick - morning sickness!! How exciting!! (not the sickness obviously, the pregnancy!). I get to have a new nephew or neice! Twice in one year!! How lucky am I????

It's been so long...........

It's been too long since I last posted!! I've decided that I'll just give a brief summary of our vacation and pop on a few pictures. I don't want to bore you all with the few hundred we took :)

We left on Sunday June 1st and headed down to Helen and Adam's in Derby. We had dinner with them and the boys, as usual, wouldn't leave Adam alone! They love him to bits (and Helen too). They played pick up sticks with him and then watched the DVD that they had bought for Zach's birthday. We left there late afternoon and headed to our Travelodge in Burton (we got the £9 a night rooms that were on sale way back in December).

On the Monday we went to Cannock Chase woods and had a lovely long walk. However, we got a little lost on the way back! It was a beautiful warm, sunny day. The woods are a great place for walking, bike riding, etc. Adam had mentioned that he goes there to bike ride and we could see why! We were staying at a Travelodge in Rugeley for 2 nights so visited the small town centre. I managed to find a few charity shops to visit (of course). We noticed that the Subway sandwich shop did breakfast subs so went there for breakfast on the Tuesday morning. When we had been at Helen's, we had mentioned going to the zoo and were excited that they were interested in coming with us. So we decided to go on the Tuesday as that was most convenient for them and it made no difference to us.

So on the Tuesday we had our Subway sandwich and headed off to Twycross Zoo and met Helen and Adam there. Unfortunately the day was quite wet but we still had a fun time. Twycross Zoo is mainly a primate center so we saw all kinds of monkeys, gorillas, etc. We teased Zach that we had got him from the zoo as he is a cheeky monkey. I think he realised we were just playing :) We watched the penguins and the sealions being fed too. We saw giraffes and camels and lots of other animals.

After the zoo we decided to head to Pizza Hut for dinner as we had vouchers that we could use there. We checked on the internet and found that the closest one was back in Burton so off we went. The kids loved their pizza and were excited to have the icecream factory. Adam had one too and I think he was just as excited. We all enjoyed a fab day and we were really pleased that Adam and Helen could enjoy it with us! We don't get to see enough of them, so when we get the chance we make the most of it!

On the Wednesday we went to Drayton Manor theme park. And what a wonderful day we had!! The weather couldn't have been any different from the Tuesday. It was warm and sunny the whole day! We arrived at 9.30 and walked around the park until the rides opened at 10.30. And it was so quiet!! There were absolutely no queues on any rides. In fact some of the rides we could just stay on for a 2nd, 3rd, etc, go!! And others we had to come off, go through the exit, back to the entrance and on again! There was a new part of the park that had just opened this year. It was Thomas land and all the rides were Thomas the Tank Engine themed. They were fantastic!! Some of them we could all go on as a family. And of course they were all new and shiney!! We loved the roller coaster in Thomas land and we lost count of the amount of times we went on. The boys also loved the dodgem cars. Can't remember how many times we went on those either!! We went on a water ride (Zach was too little so David took Nathaniel on, then I went on my own!). We spent the whole day there until it closed at 5pm and we couldn't have asked for a better time! We loved it and would recommend it to anyone!

So on the Thursday we decided to have a look around a few of the local towns so we visited Stafford and Lichfield. We drove through some beautiful countryside too. Some of the villages were just so pretty!

And on the Friday we went to Donington Park racetrack as they have a F1 museum with about 5 halls full of old F1 cars. David and the boys loved it! It's a shame we couldn't actually sit in any.

So here is a few of the pics from our hols. I don't have any of the zoo as Adam was taking pics so I decided not to bother! I'll have to remember to ask him to email me some :) They aren't in order, just random :) Oh, and yes - the boys had their hair cut when they got back. It's not usually that long!!