Theme-a-licious update 15th January

I have posted pictures of my progress so far under the Theme-a-licious tab at the top.  So far I have worked on Garden Shed and Roots to grow.  Below are some photos of progress so far.

        

  
The bottom design is the final part of the RR that I am participating in on facebook.  The colours are nowhere near how they have photographed.  The fabric is a lovely spring green in real life.  I don't know who the designer is for this one.

Our childminder has stopped minding due to health problems and as far as we can decide is unlikely to start up again, which is a shame.  Luke especially liked going to her as she took the kids to the park every night that wasn't wet.  Luke really needs this to burn off energy after a day at school.  He is a livewire and is rarely still.  Thankfully at the moment work are being good about me finishing early.  It is really hard to know exactly what to do.  At nearly 13 many childcare providers won't take Rachael but with her diabetes we can't just let her come home on her own.  The after school club is mega expensive and we really can't afford it.  To send Luke there every night for a week is about £220 a month if not more and only takes up to 11 years of age.  That leaves us still needing care for Rachael.  Part of me thinks it may just be easier in the long run to see if I can cut my hours and if not just start looking for another job.  It's hard to know what to do for the best.

Both the children were back at school this week.  Rachael was particularly glad to be back.  She had her school report on Wednesday which was excellent as always.  It will be such a shock if we get a bad one from her one day!  She is doing really well in all subjects.

Not quite a year....but close!

Hi everyone/anyone

I was abducted by aliens and have only just managed to get back to planet Earth...er no...that's not it.  Ermmm no, I'm afraid I don't have a good excuse really. I just was too busy to stitch and because I wasn't stitching, I didn't blog either.  Quite a lot has happened over the last year.

I have completed E111 with the Open University and am just waiting for the results of my final assignment.  After that I will be having a break from studying - basically because I can't afford another £770 for the next module at this moment in time.  I'm loving my job and will be doing only special needs in September.  I won't be helping in class unless the Year 6 teacher needs me particularly.  The only downside is that I have lost 'my' room and will be working in whatever space I can find around school.

Like many people Colin (DH) is up for redundancy or redeployment at the moment.  Neither of these are a good prospect as his job would relocate to Preston instead of central Manchester.  He has to make a decision by Monday as to what he wants to do. Apart from that, he's fine.

Rachael has completed her first year at High School.  She has thoroughly enjoyed Year 7 and has made fantastic progress. She had an awards ceremony last Monday and got the RE attitude to learning award as well as a trophy for 100% attendance.  Out of approximately 500 pupils there were only 10 that got their 100% award.  The teachers and staff at school have been amazing with her diabetes and have really kept an eye on her to ensure everything is ok whilst giving her independence.  If there is anything out of the ordinary, they always ring unlike Primary school who expected her to get on with it and didn't support her in any way, shape or form.

Luke has had a great year at school too with a real turn around in his attitude and progress. He has had an amazing teacher who has only just qualified but is dedicated to making a difference.  His school report was straight A's and behaviour rated as excellent (highest possible).  This was something I never thought I would see on Luke's report!  He has been involved with loads of sports this year and made the swim team at school.  His football team have done well and made the cup final - they lost.  Luke has been an ever present on the A team this year though and won Most Improved Player of the Year award.

A couple of weeks ago, I was sorting my stash and being brutally honest with whether I would ever stitch things although probably still not as honest as I could have been!  I found a couple of charts that I had forgotten I had and decided to see if I could pull the threads for them.  I stitched up "Stressed..." in a couple of nights and then got the other one out and did that.  On Monday I decided I wanted to stitch a little something for Luke's teacher to say thanks.  As they broke up Wednesday I had to hurry but managed it.  Luke said she was delighted with it.

I really won't be leaving it so long to blog next time!  Thanks for still reading if you have!

Baptism

Rachael and Luke were both baptised on Sunday. It was a lovely ceremony and the priest at our new church is great. He is always cracking jokes. His sermons are really interesting too which is good for the children! They will both be making their First Communion next year and I got to go to the first sacremental programme meeting last night. Somehow I managed to volunteer to do a reading in church...it's not just God that moves in mysterious ways, my mouth does too sometimes! Luckily I have until 19th December to practice and get word perfect!! Both the children are looking forward to making their First Communion but Luke is particularly excited because all his friends did theirs last year and he felt a bit left out. Rachael is at the back (obviously!!) and on the left. The girl on the right is her best friend who was also Baptised at the same time.

This week and next we have the joy of trawling around the local high schools to try and find one that is good enough to send the kids to for the next 5 years. Unfortunately they are a bit thin on the ground round here. The worst one has only recently come out of special measures (for international readers - that means it was so bad they got someone else to run it and improve it!) and it is merging with the half decent one at some point in the next couple of years. The one at the end of our road is fab and we are really hoping that Rachael will get in there and that Luke can then join her in 2 years time. We have to apply by 16th October but don't find out until March where she will go.

I have been stitching for exchanges recently so there is no stitching progress to show.

Pump Training

Today was our 4th clinic visit for pump training. The DSN asked Rachael what colour pump she wanted!! Needless to say the answer was purple. Tonight we have been looking at pump pouches and skins for the pump. The diabetes team are great the way they are aiming the training at Rachael and not at us. We always said at the old hospital, there was no point in taking Rachael really as no one hardly spoke to her. It will be great for her to have more say in her diabetes and to understand more of why we make the decisions we do to keep her healthy.

Both the children are dead tired this week with going back to school. I start my new hours in school this week. It is hard getting back in the routine of mornings after having 2 weeks of doing what we want to when we want to.

Obviously being back at work means that my cross stitch time is more limited now so progress on Sunday Cricket will be limited to evenings and weekends. I have been picking out my next WIP/UFO to work on when Sunday Cricket is finished. I am thinking of doing a rotation of Cotswold scene from a back issue of Cross Stitch Collection, Cat's Alphabet from Janlynn and Petal Fairy by Mirabilia. Cat's Alphabet was the one that got me back into stitching about 7 years ago and I would love to finish it as it is a really gorgeous design. Petal Fairy will be for Rachael when it is finished and the Cotswold scene will look fantastic in our hallway.