Snowboarding (Luke), DIY (Luke), new stash (NOT Luke!)

For Christmas, we bought Luke a taster snowboard session at Chill Factore.  Well we actually gave him a home made voucher for one so that we could book it at any time.  About a month ago, I saw a Groupon for a 2 hour Beginner lesson which was only £10 more than what we were going to pay originally. This was booked for Tuesday and when Luke's instructor came over, it turned out that he was the only person booked on it and so had a private lesson.  I was amazed as I thought they would have just cancelled it in that case.  The photos aren't great as it was through glass and a fair way away from where we were sat.

This first one is Luke going up the belt. He is the one in black, more or less central in the photo.

Here he is at the top of the slope.  (Bent over, fixing his snowboard on)

In the last one, he is just moving for the first time.  He was held by the instructor as he practised sliding forward a bit and then stopping. I have to admit that he looked pretty good at it, but then he has great balance and is quite flexible.

Poor Luke has to make do with the box room in our house whic is tiny. However, despite this, he wanted to get a desk in so that he could study properly rather than either laying on his bed or getting kicked off the kitchen table at dinner time.  A quick visit to Ikea, saw this happen...

Luke built the shelving unit all by himself (and he used the instructions!) With the doors, I helped him with the first one and he did the rest by himself.  (Don't tell him, but I think he did a better job on the other three than I did!)

He also built the desk, which has a pull out drawer at the front, completely independently with absolutely no help from me at all.  It is a lovely compact desk for the space too.  I honestly didn't think that we would find one that would fit in the gap, but we did!

Now onto the best bit! (Sorry Luke!) New stash!!!

I decided to treat myself to the Holmsey's Hymms that have been released so far.  I am definitely not disappointed.  The charts are lovely and clear. Gaynor was very generous and sent me an extra chart as she was busy having fun with her gorgeous grand-daughter.  Thank you Gaynor.

Santa Sleighs, iStitch Advent SAL, Christmas

***** Merry Christmas *****

Back in 2008, I made Santa Sleigh's with Rachael and Luke.  We have always had fond memories of them and every year since, we have said we should make them again.  So this year we did!  Here is a link to the original versions...Santa Sleigh's...and below are what we created today.  Hopefully you can see some improvement in technique :)  First time round, Rachael would have been 9 and Luke 7.

Rachael's

  Luke's  

Rachael's

Rachael's

Luke's    

Luke's   

Rachael's

Luke's    

A photo taken from a strange angle which makes the kids look about 7ft tall!  Our tree is actually 8ft high with a 12" angel on top!  (The first ever (we think) of one of the cats being in the kids, tree and presents photo.)

Rachael cuddling David...bless.  One of her presents actually reduced her to happy tears.  One of the lads from school, no they're not going out, they're 'just friends', bought her a mug with one of the selfie's of Rachael when she met David Tennant.  Bless...

Luke opening one of his Xbox games, not one I would have chosen!  Sadly, it was an 18 so he will have very limited time on it daily.

This is the tree this year.  You can't actually see many of my cross stitch ornies or the ones that have been gifted to me.  I sit at the far end of the sofa you can see in the photo and tend to hang them to the side so that I can view them when I'm sat on the sofa.

And finally, I have been stitching the iStitch Advent SAL this year and finished it ON TIME!  Can you believe that?  I was about 6 days behind until Sunday but caught up and was ready and waiting for the final part to be released on Christmas Eve.  Now how to finish it???

A total mish mash of the week's events!!

On Thursday, I became the mother of 2 teenagers!  How that happened I have no idea.  It doesn't seem 5 minutes since they were both born.  The birthday boy had us all up bright and early so he could open his presents, the main one being a keyboard. I have to say that the One Republic tune he has been learning at school sounds pretty good. Excuse the mess on the window sill.  We have been sorting out lego for the last few weeks.

Luke didn't want to have a birthday party but did ask if he could be allowed a Choccywoccydoodah cake. Here it is in all its glory!  I have to say it's nice but not as nice as the ones the kids have made this year.  The thick layer of chocolate is quite tasty too!

On to stitching news!

Yesterday, I finished StitchersAnon's 'Every stitch is from the heart'.  It is stitched on Sparklies 'Spring Greens' 28ct something or other.  I can see this as a cube finish with some green shamrock backing fabric and emerald green ribbons. I loved stitching this as I thought of Gaynor and her girls on their stitching retreat.  I have already signed up for next year's stitching retreat and have my passport forms ready to fill in!!!

I also finished my first Crazy January Challenge piece too.  It turned out really cute and I turned one of the little reindeer into a Rudolph.  I stitched it on white so had to change the colour of the reindeer but think it looks ok.  Oh and there should have been a heart on top of the tree but I changed it for a star. 

I made a little progress on 'Oh Christmas Tree' but there is only so long that I can stitch one colour for before getting bored and moving on to something else.

Very quickly, look who was in our garden this morning!  Soaking up the sun on our potatoes.

Now if you have got this far (well done!), I have a dilemma for you.  I have joined a facebook SAL and need a fabric.  Originally I saw the 2nd piece of fabric (Polstitches, Cosmos) and thought it was the perfect piece - except it is too small and would have to be done over 1.  As Jo pointed it out, it would lose bling and beads if I did that. However, I could always order a bigger piece of that!  I then chose a piece of Permin aida in Almond which would be plenty big enough  - but is that boring?  So I had another look and found a piece of Zweigart lugana 'Lavender' but again that would be over one or finally there is a SMF 'Summer Twilight' that might work but is again only big enough for over one.  Arrrrgggghhhhh!  What do I do?

***Breaking News***

A couple of days ago, Luke said to me 'Can I do a couple of stitches?'
'Haha, no!' was my response.
'Oh go on, you can unpick it afterwards.
'No.'
'Go on.'

So I gave in and let him.  His interest lasted for 2 whole stitches!  Halfway through the first one he looked up at me and totally deadpan said 'And this doesn't mean I want loads of new charts to do.'  Cheeky!  And actually, I didn't need to unpick the stitches. He did a very neat job.

Funny son moment

Colin, Rachael and Luke made up a huge pot of bolognese sauce today so we had some for lunch with the rest going in the freezer for the next few weeks.
When we finished, Luke and I had a mince pie.  After he had finished it the conversation went like this...
Luke: 'What can I have for dessert?'
Me: 'You've just had a mince pie for dessert.'
Slight pause
Luke: 'Well is there anything else I can have to eat then?'
Seriously?  This boy is an eating machine at the moment.  He had a big plate of spag bol first, I couldn't believe her could still be hungry.  So he had a carrot and an apple to eat after the first 'dessert'.  How long do boys eat you out of house and home for when going through puberty?  I might need to move near a Tesco's!

(It may not be as funny written down as it was at the time, but it made us all roar with laughter with the way he came out with it.)

Belatedly...and the winner is...

Well let's face it, you would probably faint if I did something on time, wouldn't you?  So follow the photos and find out the winner.

The bowl of destiny, aka my cereal bowl...

...the boy of fortune (aka Luke)

hmmmm.....I wonder....which one shall I choose?

I think I like the look of that one...

Can you read it?

No?  How about now?

Still a bit blurry?  Well how about now then? 

***** Congratulations Katie *****

Can you email me your address please and I will get your 'woody' prize in the post to you.

There was one comment that really made me chuckle so Jo, for being so 'wooden' and giving me the idea in the first place, I'm going to send you a little something too.  I'm pretty sure I have your address but will shout if I have filed it somewhere I can't find it!!

Luke

Luke was really pleased to the response to his post yesterday.  He was most particular about his spelling but forgot to make sure it all made sense!!  Never mind, I am sure you can get what he meant.  We were very lucky in that Luke sorted tea out tonight too.  He was making pizza in food tech at school today.  Well when I say making, what I mean is he was decorating a pizza base.  Honestly standards have really fallen since I was at school, we would have had to make the base from scratch.  Anyway it was delicious.

No stitching tonight and no photos yet either.  I had the children and parents meeting for the Sacramental Programme tonight and by the time I got back was too tired to start stitching or taking photos.  All I have managed to do is flop on the sofa....sorry!

Poor Rachael is absolutely full of a cold, really quite poorly.  She is such a trooper though and refuses to stay off school.  This time next week there probably won't be anyone in school as she will have given it to everyone else!!I keep telling her to stay off but she loves school.  Doesn't she realise that I would like a day off?  Selfish child...lol.