Show off Saturday ( on Monday)

Ive had a few PC problems this weekend. Doesn't it drive you mad? We are so addicted to them. Anyway at 5am this morning my email account was spewing out random emails/spam to loads of people on my email address book. Sorry if you were one of them. Fortunately they all had silly titles so most people knew they werent from me ( or was that because they were sent at 5am?). Anyway - think its all sorted now.

On Saturday I finished a layout that Id started at the last Thursday evening crop. I used some leftover Basic Grey Kissing Booth, a butterfly punch ( thanks Sandra) and sprays, some new American Craft thickers (Sandra's shop), and some Viva paper pearls.

Im pleased with the outcome. What a little cutie!!! Eva was born on the same day as Matthew to our very very good friends.

Here is my finished layout:

Show of Saturday

Well I can think of nothing better to show off than my gorgeous son. He is 21 months tomorrow and he has been on really good form recently. He is eating well, sleeping well ( most the time ) and saying and doing new things all the time. He makes us laugh all the time and is a very happy little boy ( again - most the time). He is full of love always giving us hugs and kisses and is a real people person.

He has the most beautiful blonde curly locks and most of the time I just let them grow and let it look a bit wild and surfy, but every now and again I do feel that it needs a little trim and tidy up so today Matthew had his third mummy haircut - although next time I might brave a children's hairdressers.

Here are a couple of photos of my lovely baby boy and his hair!

Really wild child - Matthew's hair last sunday after swimming and a mad afternoon  - a trim was much needed!

A happy boy - feeling the ducks at Wimbledon Park today

Posing for the camera after his hair cut today. Posing for the camera - he must have known it was show off saturday.

Show off Saturday

One of the blogs I follow is the talented Leanne's . Not only is she a talented scrapper but she also has a son just a couple of months older than Matthew so when we meet at our monthly crops we often talk about our boys. She has found a couple of really good ideas on other blogs that I would like to try.

The first is Take Twelve. Im not going to do this this month as it was on Thursday and I didnt take enough photos as I hadnt seen the blog. But Ive signed up for emails so hopefully next month I will remember. The 12th Feb falls on a Sunday so at least im not at work and I should have things to take photos of. The second is Show off Saturday - very simple idea but quite a nice one so Im going to show off my three layouts from my crop yesterday.

This first layout was taken from a layout I'd seen using October Afternoon papers. I love this farmhouse range. My layout is very similar and I didnt deviate that much from the original which can be found here . This is my mum and Matthew.

This is pretty much my own design. Id seen a patchwork design but I went for a more randem approach and just cut out loads of different sizes of paper. I used my studio calico kit. This is a photo of Matthew at Druscillas when we had that freak warm weather weekend in October.

This one is a gorgeous sketch on page maps. You can see the original on my pinterest site. Ive used lots of different bits and pieces here - October Afternoon papers, LYB embellishments, Thickers, buttons, KI memories. The photos are Matthew climbing in and out of a box on Christmas Day. Very sweet!

10 things to do this year

Not so much resolutions but things I want to do with Matthew this year or places I want to take him.

1. The London Aquarium
2. One of the London Museums either Natural History or Science ( or both)
3. To a fire station open day
4. Have a family photo portrait done
5. Fruit picking at Garcon's Farm - ok so we picked one pumpkin last year - but a proper fruit picking session
6. A trip to the theatre ( not me as I go occasionally) but with Matthew. We have a children's theatre in Wimbledon
7. Have  a proper 2nd birthday party for him and his friends. He is old enough to appreciate it this year.
8. See an Olympic event. Even though we dont have tickets Id like Matthew to see  the torch or we could go to the cycle road race which is being held locally and is free (if we can get anywhere near it).
9. Get him involved in a new sport - maybe Soccatots. He already has swimming lessons.
10. More crafting/drawing/painting/baking. I have been quite nervous about these so far and it has just been colouring in but I think its time to bring on the mess.

It will be good to look back at this post at the end of the year to see what we achieved.

For those of you interested in My 365+1 Photo a Day project you can see them uploaded here

http://365project.org/lornae/365

And for those pintertest addicts  you can follow my pins here.

http://pinterest.com/lornae/

Id love to find some more scrapping/crafting/photography people to follow on Pinterest so will be looking out to follow you back!

Photo A Day?

Ok - so it shouldnt have a question mark at the end. It should be a positive statement - but I think it is a challenge that some days im going to struggle to complete.

There are lots of online challenges about taking one photo a day to record your year. Id be really interested if anyone has any links to good prompts or forums that are running the challenge as I think I will need some help getting through and will need some fresh ideas.

So the challenge is to take a photo everyday. The idea is that it is not always going to be a major event. Hopefully not always a cute photo of Matt or of a recent layout. But maybe something everyday. A record of life.

I know I definately want to take more photos of the area I live in. I have lived in the Wimbledon/Morden area for 40 years ( other than 4 years at univesity in Reading) and I want to record some of the places I take for granted.

I also want to photo our home. Its not a show home - its not from the pages of Homes and Gardens , but it is our home. I love it and we spend a lot of time here. I should record it.

Not all my photos will become layouts - but I might think of a way of presenting my photos - either in an album, or a photobook at the end of the year or maybe a monthly layout. Still playing with that idea in my head and reading other blogs for inspiration.

So its the 5th, Ive taken 5 photos - so here they are....

About 12.15am on New Years Eve and our friends brought along a Chinese lantern to celebrate. Didnt have my best camera with me  - but quite like this shot!

Ok - so youve seen this before. But love this shot!

2 photos for the 2nd - cant decide which I like best

3 Jan  - went into Wimbledon in the winds and rain and whilst shopping took a few shots. Some of the architecture in Wimbledon is beautiful and its interesting how the town has evolved in my lifetime. But the library is still the library, I loved coming here as a child.

4 Jan and of course back to work so I forgot to take a photo. So in the evening I took a photo of my little work area at home complete with my new SAD light which Simon bought me for Christmas,

5 Jan and Matthew playing with his friends Eva's very pink toys. He loved putting the dolly in and out of the buggy - very cute. And how adorable is that t-shirt.

 I wonder if I can keep the challenge up all year. Watch this space!

The festive season is over - bring on 2012

Can you believe the festive season is over? We spend days, weeks, even months preparing and then suddenly it is all over. Tomorrow Simon goes back to work ( he worked only Friday last week) and on Wednesday I go back to work and before long normal routine will kick in.

The holidays have been lovely. We have spent a lot of time together as a family but also grandparents have looked after Matthew and he has been to nursery so we've had some 'me' time or 'us' time as well.

So what have we all been upto? Our holidays includes:

• A theatre visit - The Rat Pack at Sutton
• A visit to the cemetry to leave a wreath for my grandparents
• A visit to see the Christmas lights at a nearby road that does it in style
• A christmas eve meal with friends
• A lovely Christmas day with family
• Boxing Day racing
• A swimming trip with other families and then a meal out
• A girly dinner for me
• A 40th birthday party
•  Matthew spending New years evening at Nanny's for his first sleepover whilst we celebrated with friends ( and had a lie in)
• A trip to Chessington Zoo

Wow - that makes it sound like we have been very busy but we have also had time at home. Matthew had loads of Christmas presents. I think we managed to make them last about 3/4 days for him and we have had some fun times playing with those. Matthew has also had some good long afternoon sleeps so we had a chance to chill out and/or do jobs.

We have not always been well. I have had sinisitus which is only just clearing up. I thought I had toothache but it turned out to the pressure of the sinuses and a 2nd weeks worth of antibiotics was prescribed by the dentist. I also really hurt my back on Wednesday evening - think I pulled a muscle or nerve. It was agony that night and I thought I would be out of action for a few days but it is healing very quickly and I feel fine and have no problems picking up Matthew etc. Matthew has also been under the weather. The doctor thinks it is the tonsilitus from November but the last few days he has seemed back to his normally bubbly self.

But these are small things - merely irriations really. We are lucky to have our health and our family and our friends and our home.

So what does next year hold? Who knows? As always the new year is a good time for 'resolutions'. As always I want to eat healthier, lose weight, be more organised, be a better mother, save more money, spend less money, take better photos, scrap more, read more, blog more, relax more, worry less, compare myself to others less, be a better cook, learn new recipes, complete unfinished jobs etc etc etc. I will of course probably not manage any of these - but I can try.

And now a few of my fav photos from the last couple of weeks.

23rd Dec- At Cemetry

Christmas Eve Pizza

In the window of Pizza express - Matthew's middle name is Arthur.

Christmas morning

Christmas morning

Are you joking? This is my present?

Much better - chocolate fingers!

Chessington Zoo

Chessinton Zoo