weddings and kittens

Well, first up, here are the kittens at 4 days old!! All thriving!! There are almost certainly 3 girls and 2 boys.  1 of the boys and 2 of the girls are very similar sizes then there's a much bigger boy (called Dave!!) and a much smaller girl.  We were a bit worried about the little girl on day 3 because she didn't put on much weight but it was just a one day blip and she's continuted to grow proportionally well from then.  3 of them now have their eyes open - SOOOoooo adorable.....I'll blog pics in a couple of days when they all have their eyes open ;o)

So, the kittens arrived on Sunday of last week.  On the Friday, it was our friends Robbie and Helen's wedding day - and the sun shone brightly for them :o)  It was a gorgeous day and Helen looked totally stunning - Izzy said she looked like a "fairy princess"!!  Helen had asked Caitlin and Izzy to give out the confetti as we came out of church and they were so chuffed to hold their baskets and give out hand made cones of dried rose petals - they looked adorable.  Robbie looked good too - all of the men in the party were in kilts as Robbie is Scottish and they looked great together.  

Here's a few pics - Nick took a picture of me and my work mates in the grounds of Headlam Hall - beautiful setting for a wedding.....

We brushed up ok?!!!

The beautiful bride Helen - very relaxed and chilled all day!

Robbie loves the girls and the feeling is mutual!

2 little confetti girls

....giving out confetti at the church door.....

On the Saturday after the wedding day, Nick went to Mauritius and Caitlin, Izzy and I went for a barbeque at Helen's parents house which was a really nice way to finish the wedding weekend - it gave Helen and Robbie chance to catch up with friends and family and look at the pics without the formality of the church and reception - top idea!!  

Nick got back from Mauritius yesterday looking all tanned - grrrrr - especially as the weather here has taken a turn for the colder and greyer :o( oh well, we had 10 days of amazing weather so a bit of rain was due!!  Good for my garden ;o)

Mum and Dad came for dinner and stayed over on Saturday night and I cooked a pretty yummy 3 course meal which Bergny also enjoyed - I think the English cuisine served here is working out for her!!

I've also joined the gym and managed to go 4 times already - needs must!!! I need to get in shape so I must go to the gym ;o) The girls had their first swimming lesson at the gym on Saturday afternoon - it was a trauma!!! Izzy is as neurotic and anxious as her Mum and, with the pool being 120cm and her being 115cm, the fear of drowning turned her into a Klingon!!  Sue, the ex army swimming teacher, stood for no nonsense and sent me away whilst trying to encourage a wailing Izzy to stop clinging to her neck....hmmmmmmm.....think this is going to be fun!  Next lesson, Saturday afternoon at 4:30pm again!

Think that's it - many bugs are going round at the moment, none of which are yet swine flu although I get daily updates from the NHS so I'll warn you all when its spreading further ;o)

Love to all

Nikki xoxoxoxx

new arrivals

This will just be a quickie cos, as you'll understand in a mo, I'm quite busy......

First tho, meet our new fab Icelandic aupair Bergny :o) We seem to have settled on "Becky" as the preferred pronounciation as no-one in the house (except me) can roll their "r"s....and I'm a failure as a speech therapist cos I can't teach them!!!  Bergny has settled in really well, the girls are full of cuddles for her and she's very easy going and fun to be with so we're all happy that she's here :o)

Nick is (again) in Mauritius.......

.....and he missed the exciting event of the year - Muffin's 5 kittens safely arrived this evening!! Muffin was amazing!! Smallest is 104g, largest is 117g and Mum and babies are all doing fine..... :o)

Here they are, I haven't taken many pics cos I didn't want to disturb them but there will be loads more I'm sure over the next few weeks ;o)

So, back off to sort out Muffin and make sure she's clean and comfortable again :o)

Love to all

Nikki xoxoxoxoxx

ps time to wet the babies heads as well I think ;o)

update

Hi all

Just to say as an update to my previous post that Roger passed away last night. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Liz and their family.

xxxx

Caitlin's birthday, Easter and Center Parks....

So where did we leave off....oh yes, Caitlin's henna party!!

Well, we had 3 friends to stay and one of them, Tejdeep, brought with her henna and beautiful Indian outfits kindly provided by her Mum. I asked my friend Helen to help me with the henna as she's excellent at cake icing using a piping bag and I thought that may be a transferable skill!! The girls were very impressed with her so I guess it worked :o) Check out the pics!....

In the morning, Caitlin opened her presents with her friends also there...







After Caitlin's birthday we were down at Nick's Mum and Dad as usual for Easter :o) For some reason this year, we ended up playing Texas Hold'em Poker most of Easter Sunday - only in fun of course but it did look funny! Great example for the kids eh??!?? We had lovely food and were particularly happy that Ian and Kay and the boys could join us and especially to see Kay doing so well :o)











As well as fun at home, Anne and I took the girls into Milton Keynes and enjoyed the Easter activities outside John Lewis :o) Caitlin also got her hair randomly curled by a lady at a stall selling ceramic curling irons - it looked beautiful.....but we didn't buy any! ;o)





At the end of Easter someone was a bit tired in the back of the car......;o)



On the Friday at the end of the Easter holidays, I threw a surprise bridal shower for my good friend Helen :o) It was a pampered chef party and all the guests were gathered early with their cars hidden so when Helen and Robbie arrived for "dinner" she had no idea!! Helen is well known for being unsurprisable so I scored major points for totally surprising her ;o) Having never been to a bridal shower before even, I had to grill Lauren on how to work it but it turned out brilliantly and we all loved the pampered chef products and are also keen to bring bridal showers across the pond for ALL brides - heheheheheheee



After the bridal shower weekend, Nick went out to Mauritius to video Laurence Llewelyn Bowen who has redesigned the already stunning wedding packages at Beachcomber - it sounded like he had an interesting time out there!

Nick legged it back home on the Friday, repacked and then Nick and I set off to Slaley Hall, a gorgeous hotel in Northumberland, with our best friends Ros and Phil. Thanks to lovely grandparents who looked after our kids! ;o) Mum and Dad had the girls for the weekend and cooked us a gorgeous sunday roast when we went to pick them up. Dad ran a half marathon that weekend and got under 1 hour 40 minutes - he's still superman!

The following weekend was the first bank holiday weekend of May and we paid our annual trip to the Preston Park Spring fair on the Saturday. The girls got their faces painted by a fairy - cute huh??!



On bank holiday monday we went to Beamish with Lauren and Brent. It was really cold but stayed dry and we had lots of fun in the old town, the sweet shop and the old bank - here are Lauren and Brent in the vault!



Then last Friday, Lauren and I set off to the Lakes for our long weekend of relaxation and fun :o)
We had horse riding on Saturday.....ouch!! I had a FAT horse and my thighs burned afterwards!



Here we are (with new haircuts!) off to the chinese on sunday night!



Here we are enjoying archery on Sunday morning.....that was fab! Lauren and I were up against a couple and their son - we had a lesson first then at the end of the hour, had to score up our shots. The Dad and I both scored 32 so it was onto the tie breaker - I shot my arrow - and he scored the same so we had to take another turn.....this time my arrow landed right on the bullseye and the Dad couldn't beat me so YAY for girl power!!! I AM Robin Hood!!!! ;o)



Here are a few final shots of us enjoying the scenery, the ducks (with very cute ducklings - and rabbits too!) and me enjoying making Lauren try alcohol!!! Its one of my favourite hobbies - getting Lauren to sip wine etc and then watching her face - heheheheeee - this was a mojito which for someone who doesn't like alcohol was pretty gross!!!!

I'm sure Lauren will post more pictures too if you check out her blog :o) (link off my profile)

The weekend was slightly affected by news from home that our wonderful Pastor Roger had been rushed into hospital in Edinburgh where he was staying with his son. Roger was diagnosed with diabetes a couple of months back and was struggling to regain health. We then heard that tests were being done and then that he had end stage pancreatic cancer and wasn't expected to live for many more days. As I write, he is still in hospital and we all hope and pray that he won't be suffering for much longer. Lauren and I were glad to be together when we got the news as he's a special person to both of us and was the minister who baptised Lauren 3 years back so it was good that we could support each other.

The last bit of news is that we're almost 100% certain that Muffin is pregnant - there are pictures and updates on her blog on the ansonroad website - the link is also on my profile.

Upcoming for us is that Bergny (our new aupair) arrives on 25th May and Caitlin is currently doing national tests at school and at the end of year 5 is already gaining grades that she should only just be getting at the end of year 6 :o) We're very proud of her - does that mean she doesn't need to go to school next year ;o) Izzy is now reading and writing all by herself too - we really are blessed by 2 amazing daughters!

I think that's everything up to date - hope you are all enjoying the Spring :o)

Love to all

Nikki

I know I owe a birthday post but......

haven't got time right now however just wanted to say....

WOO-HOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow a weekend of chilled out blissness starts when Lauren and I abandon our men and our homes and disappear off to the Lakes for 4 days of relaxing............

SOOOOoooooo can't wait!!

;o)

I will try and do Caitlin's birthday blog tonight - Nick got me a new computer (in readiness for Sims 3 which comes out next month - bless him!) and we've been setting it up and copying across files etc etc for the last couple of weeks.  I finally got all my pics copied across and Picasa up and working and my camera software installed on Monday so I'm ready to blog again properly :o)  I can blog text from this laptop but all my pics are on the desktop....

Caitlin got my previous pc for the play room as hers was very temperamental and old and kept dying mid-game or mid-word document and mine was a very stable little set up so she's also delighted cos the internet stays on and she can play Sims 2 on her "new" computer!  Great to have Nick who stripped the computers down, re-installed them and got them working beautifully - what a star!

So, I will try and blog later but for now

WOO-HOO again and love to all!

:oD

xxxxxxx

Izzy's 5 and Caitlin's nearly 10 - ouch!

Hello all

Well, we've had lovely Jenkins up with us for 2 weeks now - and he and Muffin have been well and truly married again so hopefully we may have some kittens in 9 weeks :o) If you check my profile, I think the link to the Anson Road Pixie Bob site and Muffin's blog is still there so you can see some very cute pics of the lovecats ;o)

Izzy is now 5 years old and she had a wonderful birthday :o) We started on the Friday night with her friend Isabella coming for tea and a little party created by Caitlin with pass the parcel and musical bumps :o) On the Saturday, we went to Adventure Point with Ros and Phil and the boys are Gaby from next door which was LOTS of fun :o) On Sunday, her actual birthday, she opened her presents - check out the joy when she got her cd player ;o) Thankyou Nanny and Grandad! Then we went to church where it was a Girl's Brigade parade - Izzy sat so nicely at the front and then our friend Helen, the Children's Worker, called 2 birthday children up on stage in front of 300 people! Izzy was the only child there and she trotted up to stage very confidently, turned round and then suddenly became aware of 300 people looking at her.....woah!! Helen asked if she wanted everyone to sing Happy Birthday - and in a big voice she said "No"!! hahahahaa - so the whole congregation waved at her instead and she went back to her seat at the front with the other Girls Brigaders with a big grin! Her celebrations finished with dinner at TGI Fridays - fun all round!



This last weekend, my amazing and gorgeous niece Millie came to stay and we started on Caitlin's birthday celebrations. I can't believe she's "double figures" this week - I'm not old enough!!! So, on Saturday we bought her present - RATS!!!!! She's been doing a fab job these past few months of looking after the rabbit and the guinea pig and the deal was that if she could keep that up she could have a hamster for her birthday. We went up to this fab pet shop in Billingham a couple of weekends back to suss out the options - and were advised that the most intelligent, tamest and interestingest pets were fancy rats. This was backed up by some research on t'internet and so we went for rats.

Nick (being Nick) took the advice "buy the largest cage you can afford and fit in" literally - check out the GINORMOUS cage!!!



Hence why she now has 4 rats although currently they're just babies and would squeeze out of the bars so we have them in a little cage until they grow up :o) Hopefully they're all boys and Caitie named them Itchy, Scratchy, Krusty and Bob - spot her fave TV programme! Krusty and Itchy are light grey and already very tame, Scratchy and Bob are a darker sootier colour and more timid. I've tried to take pics but didn't want to upset them with the flash so they've not come out too well - look at the cute ears tho - they're called "Dumbo Rats" cos of the cute big ears ;o)



Saturday night we went out for dinner to Fujiyama - Caitlin's fave restaurant where they cook the food in front of you. Izzy had come down with a nasty cough and was a bit tearful anyway but she FREAKED at the "fire" and cried for most of dinner! Oh well..... Caitie had an amazing time trying to hit the prawn shells into the bin and Millie mis-caught an egg in her hat and, instead, got it all in her hair! Yuk! She still looked gorgeous tho!!!



Tomorrow night, Caitie is having a sleepover with 3 friends. Her good friend Tejdeep is bringing over henna and gorgeous Indian dresses and the girls are going to have girlie dress up fun, nice M&S food (good choice Caitie!) and a film in the cinema room :o)

I think that's all for now - phew!!!

Last thought is Happy Easter to you all and God bless

Nikki xoxox

musing thoughts!!!...

Hello again all....

I realised this morning that its been 2 years since I first blogged....so I had a little look back through the blogs! Its an amazing record really of the daft little things that go on which make life so interesting. Sometimes it may feel that nothing very exciting happens and then you look back at all the highlights (and lowlights) and realise that actually, life is pretty cool! What did I find?.... a few reminders: that my daughters are precious, beautiful and amazing in every way; my husband is romantic, encouraging and utterly unselfish when it comes to me; my friends and family are supportive in all situations and provide me with consistent love, help and fun and my job, whilst stressful, is also a privilege; and the benefits of working with so many fab children and their families and carers and my amazing colleagues should not be taken lightly.

To continue this introspection, on Wednesday I had a meeting over in the Lake District, about 1 hr 45 mins drive across the moors to the west coast. The Lakes truly are one of the most beautiful places I know....even on a cloudy, cold Febrary day. What struck me this time tho was how different the mountains are here to other mountains. I realised that the moorland of Britain is something truly magical and unique! Where other mountains might be bigger, or tree covered, or rocky or snowy (like those in the Alps) - ours in the Lakes are velvet covered in purples, browns and green from the moss and the heather. No trees due to the peaty soil so when you look at the hills they have a soft blurry edge to them which is just beautiful! They look like they've been coloured in chalks and pastels with that fuzzy, furry quality to them...quite breathtaking!

Unfortunately I was driving so couldn't take a picture - but I imprinted one of the images of the valley and the sheep and the velvety hills and mountains behind into my memory and if I shut my eyes now.......

So, news update....last weekend Nick spoiled me with a fab weekend in Leeds :o) Mum and Dad looked after the girls and Nick and I stayed in 2 different hotels - 42 The Calls and the Malmaison - ate in lovely restaurants, chilled in a bar in the chic quayside area with the beautiful people and SHOPPED! Oh yes!!! It was great!

Last week was half term and Nick took Wednesday off and I took Friday off with the girls. During the week we went to see Bolt in 3d - very good film, the girls LOVED it!

On the Friday of half term, Caitlin and I had an optician appointment and Caitlin now has her very first pair of glasses - she LOVES them!! I've taken a photo and I'll add it in later when I've downloaded the pics off the camera ;o) (**and here they are!!) I got new glasses too - prada ones with pink bling!! heheheheeee





This weekend, Nick and I need to get on top of household chores (da da daaaaaaaaa) but hopefully we'll see our friends Helen and Robbie tonight for a bit of Wii action hahahahaaa and tomorrow we'll hopefully catch up with Lauren.

And...to add to the list of special events coming up from the last blog.....in May, Lauren and I are going for a girl's weekend to Oasis in the Lakes!!!!! YAY!! woop woop!!!!!! Pamper treatments in the spa, hot chocolates, horse riding etc etc and chance for Lauren and I to talk non-stop at each other for 4 days without annoying Nick and Brent!!! hahahahahahaaaaa.....Nick thinks we sound like chipmunks!!! hahahahahaaa So, spot the ticker at the top.....and roll on May!

love to you all whatever you're up to this weekend and God bless!

Nikki xxoxoxoxoxoxoxxxx