Introducing Benjy...

I know this should be 'Thursday Through the Keyhole' but it's too dark to take decent photos so I'm going to wait until the morning. Instead, I thought I'd introduce Benjy...


This little chubster seemed annoyed he hadn't yet made it on the blog!

{What a poser!}

{Nom nom}

Benjy came to Ben from the Easter Bunny two years ago; Ben was going through a rather egocentric phase where everything was named after himself! He's not quite so chubby normally (Benjy, not Ben) but as it's been pretty awful over here weather wise, he's not getting out in his run very much.

For comedy value, here's one of Benjy last summer:

{Killer bunny-and much slimmer!}

{Don't worry it's just a strawberry.}

So, that's Benjy the Bunny.x

A really CHEESY Valentine!

So, being a rather unconventional couple, we decided our Valentine's treat would be... a cheese tasting session at Northumberland Cheese- link! This was something we had booked for awhile but hadn't had the chance to use it, with Grandma offering to babysit, this morning was the perfect opportunity for a morning date session! We got togged up in some really attractive gear to tour the cheese dairy:

We found out all about how the cheese is made by hand and then we got to do my favourite part... the tasting!

Yum yum! Hardly in-keeping with my current diet healthy eating plan but this was one treat I couldn't turn down. A truly unusual but very tasty date. x

Happy Birthday Marion!

Phew! It was also Marion's birthday. After the birthday breakfast and park with my family, we went to this beautiful wedding, Andy and Tonia from Steve's work had a really personal wedding at their community church.

{Congratulations guys}

Late after the wedding, we drove up to celebrate Marion's birthday. On the Monday morning, we went to Alnwick Playhouse:

(Ben, Steve, Marion and Neil}

After, we went to an Italian to continue the celebrations:

{Tasty food, terrible lighting!}

Finally, back to theirs for a game of Lego (seriously Lego, if this blog every becomes a global phenomena, you need to start giving me commission)!

Happy birthday Marion and thank you for spending it babysitting!

Happy Birthday Dad!

On Sunday, my Dad had his birthday. As we had a wedding later that day, we decided to have a birthday breakfast at our house.

{Me and Steve did our best to feed the family}

{A Grandad sized cupcake}

{Ben was very proud of this handmade gift: a fimo Grandad and Gizzy}

{Breakfast was a hit}

We squeezed in a quick feeding of the ducks and game of football in the park:

{Our local park}

{Sadly the boats couldn't go on the water due to the ice}

{Ben saying goodbye to Gizzy: he was staying at our parents while we were away a couple of nights}

Happy Birthday Dad- 61 and still a head full of blonde curls!

Sunday Summary (yes, it's late)

It's a rather late summary as I haven't had a chance post, I'm afraid there's going to be a bit of a backlog! 


So after playing on Saturday morning, me and Ben were having a bath. Typical mammy- I tried to grab a few snaps...

Seconds after this snap was taken, I dropped my phone in the bath! Yup, that's right, straight down past the bubbles and out of sight. So, not being overly fussed by none-sentimental objects, I just wrapped it in my PJs and hoped for the best. After the bath, I remembered somebody telling me that in situations like this, you should put said item in rice, so I did that. To cut a long story short, I only left it in there about ten minutes but it's fine- working like a charm!

We went to the cinema to see 'Big Miracle' (really enjoyed it, take the hankies) then to the local garden centre. 

The evening was very relaxed, playing, reading and painting... lovely.

{Gizzy enjoying a belly scratch}

I'm going to post about the two family birthdays and wedding separately but on Valentine's day we went for a walk to Warkworth near the castle; we had a lovely walk but stopping briefly to have a little imaginary sword fight:

And of course, with it being Valentine's Day- some snogs!

Happy Tuesday everybody and, I don't want to rub it in but... I've still got five days off!x

Valentine's Day 2012

I'm not one for gushing so I'll keep this short and sweet.

{Ben captured his mammy and daddy's Hollywood kiss at Uncle Mike and Aunty Helen's wedding}

{Stolen kisses in the Lake District last summer}

Boys, you rock my world. You make my heart swell and there is nothing I wouldn't do for you. Love Rx

And because my boys listen to me, I thought I'd share this with Jasmine from this blog: link! Look what was with my Valentine's presents...

I'd mentioned how much I wanted it after reading your blog. We'll be watching it tonight.
Happy Valentine's one and all. Rx

Sweet Valentine

I have been so excited to post about this: the fruits of our Valentine craft night and also some Valentine cards I've made. I'll start with the craft night:


Firstly we all had a go at making these:

{Heart shaped crayons}

They were so easy, full instruction here. Simply snap up old crayons into pieces around 1cm (depending on colour effect you'd like); we didn't have enough old crayons but you can get new boxes of cheap crayons from around £1 at cheap shops. Experience taught us that it was best to only layer the crayons around 2-3cm deep in the case. For casing, we used plastic type of cupcake cases:

We heated the oven, popped them on a baking tray and heated them until they were melted. Top tips? When they are 80% melted and the kitchen starts smelling of melting crayons, that's when to take them out. Also, use a baking tray with a side so when you remove them from the oven you can pour some cold water in the bottom to set them quickly. That's it, job done! 

{Can you tell we were pleased with the outcome?}

Next, we all got on with our own projects. As I said earlier, I'd bought these things:

To make this. Now, mine are certainly not as neat, but for somebody who doesn't usually stitch and with no template, I thought the outcome was pretty cute:

{To make both of these took about 40 minutes in total and less than £6 for materials}

Laura made this beautiful garland in about 20 minutes using felt- amazing! She used plain white felt, heart felt coasters purchased from Asda (Wallmart in the US) and some red ribbon.

Now, to the cards. For Ben I made this:

{Outside}

{Inside}

Super easy to make:

1. Use blank cream card (I used bought cards but you could just use normal card and fold).
2. Stick down two foam hearts at an angle (I bought mine from a craft shop but you could just cut two out of red card).
3. Stick a playing card on top (told you this was easy)!
3.Using clear nail varnish, cover two of the hearts and dust with red glitter.

For Steve:

Super easy to make:

1.I traced this sketch of a fox as I'm truly awful at drawing!

2.Stick sketch onto coloured paper

3.Use glitter to highlight (stuck on using clear nail varnish)

The insides:

1.I used a stamper set from the ELC fro the writing, then small envelopes I had from a card making set. 

2.I put Love Hearts in here with messages for my boys.

Only question now, what do I do with the leftovers?

Hope you are all looking forwards to Valentines Day. I'm off to go and have a game of Lego with Ben- happy Saturday folks!x