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

happy new year!!

Hello all - and I know its been too long!!!

Rather than lots of words, I'm going to give you lots of pictures!! Starting with our fantastic holiday in Euro Disney at the beginning of December :o) As you will see, we met lots of the characters, enjoyed the beauty and twinkliness of Festive Disneyland and had lots of fun at Buffalo Bill :o) the girls loved it! We flew from Newcastle to Paris then caught the TGV to Disneyland which was amazing - so smooth, quick and quiet! We stayed at the sequoia lodge which was perfectly decent - although the girls were a bit unsure about sharing a bed! ;o)

It was absolutely literally freezing the whole time - as you can see from our layers of clothing and rosy cheeks! Nick loved the Tower of Terror in the studios, Caitlin loved Crush's Coaster, Izzy loved Small World and the Peter Pan ride and I loved Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Caitlin even went on Space Mountain with Nick - she's SO much braver than me!!!

After Disney, we hurtled to Christmas! We had a lovely relaxing time this year - oh and Muffin wasn't pregnant so in the end we weren't also dealing with kittens at Christmas! We didn't really take any photos - sorry! I did take photos at my works do however - rather shameful 70s fancy dress - enjoy!!

My parents came for Christmas day and we had a really nice time - one advantage to the Credit Crunch was that everything was done on a less big scale than maybe in past years and the girls weren't overwhelmed with presents. They were so good all morning, playing with each gift one by one helped my Mum and Nick whilst Dad and I cooked goose :o) SO yummy! Dinner was lovely and then Dad and I went for a walk and ended up a bit lost and walking at least 3 miles!! hahahahahaaa!!

Boxing Day and Dad, the girls and I decided to climb Roseberry Topping :o) It was a lovely clear bright afternoon but it had been wet so it was VERY muddy. The girls were AMAZING; we were on a bit of tight schedule to get up and down the big hill before dusk and neither Dad or I believed they'd do it but they were utterly determined. Near the top, the hill is so steep its more climbing than walking and I had to get behind Izzy's behind and shove her up a bit cos her little legs weren't quite long enough to reach the next step! Caitlin led the way like a mountain goat :o) She's taken some pictures with her new camera and I will try to get her to blog that :o)

Oh - I missed my birthday!!! Lots of lovely presents including a driving experience in an Audi R8 (my fave car!) which I will enjoy later this year when the weather is better. We went out bowling and to TGIs with Ros, Phil and the boys which was great fun :o)

Nick's parents and his brother Rich and girlfriend Faye came to stay between Christmas and New Year and we had another lovely time with them - including some much needed retail therapy - thanks girls!!!! ;o)

New Year was fun - we cooked a sort of tapas meets starters dinner and Ros, Phil, Joe, Finn and Mum and Dad came to stay. Caitlin and Joe stayed up til midnight and we all enjoyed playing charades and trivia :o) NOBODY GOT DRUNK!!!!!!!!! It's a first!!

After New Year, we had Nick's birthday which was also the first day of Izzy starting reception and full time school. Poor Nick - his birthday and we had to go back to work!! He got fab presents tho and we had a nice dinner at home.

Izzy's settled really well in reception and is learning to read and do maths - I think we have another clever clogs!

Then on the thursday after Nick's birthday Nick and I went on holiday to stay with friends of his in the French Alps. Nick's parents agreed to come and look after the girls for us - THANKS AGAIN!! - which meant we could have a wonderful break. It was totally gorgeous! Nick and I drove to Manchester Airport and parked there and met up with his friend Sarah and her husband Dad. We flew to Geneva, picked up the hire car and drove to a wonderful chalet near Les Gets. I've only ski-ed once before, for one hour, in Xscape. Nick had a 15week course of dry slope skiing at school and 1 lesson in the Xscape so this was a totally new experience for both of us really!

Nick took to skiing brilliantly :o) I took to skiing tentatively!!!! ;o) At the end of the holiday, Nick commented that he was amazed at how slowly I was able to ski downhill!! hahahahaaa - what can I say, I'm risk averse!!!!! We both had a great time but BOY did I ache - ouch! Great exercise though and so beautiful up above the clouds in the mountains :o) Bright blue sky and crisp white snow - stunning! Enjoy a few pics but we were mainly too busy trying not to fall down to take photos! Nick didn't actually fall over at all - so in the end we pushed him!

Thanks again though to Nick's Mum and Dad for looking after the girls so well all weekend and to Lauren and Brent for coming over on the Wednesday night so that Lauren could take the girls to school :o) We had a fab relaxing time!

So, back to normality....the girls are doing great at school. Sunday mornings are still going well with Razmatazz and the girls had great fun at Christmas doing the Christmas performances at church and at school :o) Nick and I are working extremely hard at the moment - things are going well, which is a blessing in the current climate - and we're all thinking about holidays this year!

Plans for 2009 - hopefully a new aupair will come to join us for the summer, a fab Icelandic girl called Bergny - watch this space for more info! I'm going on holiday with my Mum and Nanna at the end of June :o) Nanna knows she's going on holiday with Mum but doesn't know I'm coming too - so if any of my family are reading this - don't tell her!!!! Nick's going to Cyprus again with his friends and we'll hopefully be going camping in Anglesey in August for a holiday but also for my cousin's wedding.

Phew!

Love to you all

Nikki xoxoxo

quick update!

I know - its been AGES again!!!!!!....as always, we've been madly busy and here's a quick summary....

First of all, we were joined for a couple of weeks by a rather gorgeous male pixie bob called Jenkins - he and Muffin fell in love and hopefully will have a litter of babies sometime around my birthday! If you click on the link on the right - you can see the Muffin blog but here's a little pic of the lovebirds.....

We also had the best night for Lauren and Brent's UK reception :o) Lauren and I picked out beautiful bridesmaid dresses for the girls in Debenhams and Lauren organised for them to have their make up done at her house so they had a wonderful girlie spoiling time :o) Check out Lauren's blog or my web album for more pics and details! Here are the 3 gorgeous girls tho......

Izzy and Caitlin were due to walk in carrying their bags of petals and laying a path for Lauren and Brent - both were all excited and, at the appropriate moment, walked in ahead of Mr and Mrs Laidler. As they walked in, they were greeted with "ahhhhhhhhs" and clapping and Izzy's smile crumpled and she burst into tears and refused to take another step! Fortunately, Lauren's good friend Claire was also at the door and she picked Izzy up and Izzy snuggled into her shoulder and came in with her ;o) The girls LOVED ceilidh dancing - Izzy did so well! I ended up being the man to her girl for about 5 dances and she coped really well!

We also had Ian, Kay, Adam and Ryan up at the back end of the half term week :o) It was great to see them and we all went over the Transporter bridge together (mine, Caitlin and Izzy's first time despite living here for 12 years!!!!!), played on the Wii and the PS3, did SingStar and generally hung out :o) It was a lovely relaxing time and Adam and Ryan were so great with the girls :o) Gives me hope that having teenagers might not be that bad!! Kay brought up lots of lovely Virgin Vie stuff and I had a fab time spending money on delicious smellies ;o) We also went shopping and I accidentally bought a brand new coat.....don't know how that happened ;o) Its got a gorgeous teal blue colour in it and I got a scarf to match - I've never really worn blue before, didn't think it worked on me, but I do believe I may now have found a blue that works!

This weekend, the girls are at my Mum and Dad's so Nick and I could recable the lounge and mount the telly on the wall and hide the cables in the wall - that took all day yesterday and was a fiddly and frustrating job however - we got there and it looks fab! Really, that's thanks to Nick - I would have not bothered and stuck the telly on a stand but fortunately he has more patience and more design integrity than me and he made me stick it out - and now I'm pleased he did!

The reason for doing that is our new suite arrives tomorrow (Monday!) - I'll take photos and blog them when its all done :o)

Aside from that, Christmas preparations are continuing apace :o) Ros and I went for our annual Leeds shopping trip 2 weekends ago and had a lovely time staying with Mum and Dad and then Dad very kindly dropped the 3 of us (Ros, Mum and me) off in Leeds and, as usual, we did amazingly well and made a fab start to the shopping :o) Our hands were KILLING at the end tho - plastic bags are just evil when they're heavy!

Christmas preparations are also running on at church too :o) This year I'm teaching the kids a signed version of silent night and we started it last week. They picked up the first verse really well so its onto the second verse today :o)

Also very very excitingly - it has snowed in the night and the snow has settled a bit! Here are pics from the attic room window where I'm sitting at the moment :o) You can also see that they've (finally!) started work on the park area out the front of our house - its a lot bigger than the plans led us to believe.....hmmmmmmm......the snow is already melting but it is beautiful to see!

Hope you are all enjoying the early winter crispness where ever you are!

On Thursday, the four of us are off to EuroDisney for 5 days - so that'll be another blog to watch out for! Santa will also be at EuroDisney so we're all very excited to see him too :o)

That's all for now - I'll update you on ski-ing plans next time!! ;o)

Love to all

Nikki xoxoxxx

Anniversary surprise

Hello all!

I had to blog this one straight away cos I was SOOOOooooo happy this morning with my 11th anniversary present from my fab hubby :o)

We were just chilling this morning in the lounge. There was a knock at the door....a bit early still for the neighbourhood children!

Nick looked towards the door and then turned to me with a twinkle in his eye and said "I think it's for you"!!

I got the key to open the door and could see there was a man with flowers there.... "Are you Nikki" he said, grinning hugely, "cos I've got something for you if so"! Then he started looking through the huge pile of flowers in his arms...."this is for the first year" he said handing me a single hand tied red rose with a post-it from the florist attached to the sellophane saying "1st Year"....
then he roots through the flowers again....."2nd Year" he says.....


and again....3rd year
4th year


5th year

6th year


7th year

8th year

9th Year

10th year

Then he says...."is that right....10 years?" still grinning. I replied "no, it's 11" also grinning - "ah" he said "then you'll also want this" and handed me the biggest gorgeousest bouquet of 11 red roses all beautifully tied :o)


What a wonderful, amazing, romantic and thoughtful present eh? Totally made me cry!! Here are a few pics of the flowers all laid out on the lounge floor this morning and then a few of them in vases as they now are all around the house :o) We had to go and buy more vases to house them all!!!!




Nick had got Diana Kaye in Yarm to do the flowers, she won florist of the year last year and I think I can see why! Nick phoned her to thank her for doing such a fab job and apparently the girls in the shop had been talking of nothing else all morning! An original and very romantic anniversary present - which impressed a shop full of florists!! ;o)



If ever there is a day to feel truly blessed by marriage - this is it! Thankyou Nick - I love you more than words can say.

Love to all

Nikki xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxxx

back to school.....

so, the summer holidays (such as they were cos it really has been miserable weather wise!!! - altho we've still had lots of fun) are over and the girls are back at school :o)

They went back on Tuesday and were both SO excited :o) Caitlin is back with her teacher from year 3, Mr Shildrick, who she gets on with SOOOooooo well - and he really appreciates her talents and personality too so I think she'll have a wonderful year. As Barleyfields is a new school, it opened 2 years ago only up to year 4. Caitlin was year 3 at that time and joined a small mixed year 3/4 class which grew throughout the year. Last year, they had a mixed year 3/4 class and a mixed year 4/5 class and Caitlin (again) was in the top class - year 4/5. This year, they still don't have enough year 6s for a full class of 30 (but nearly!) and more year 5s than fit into one class but only just. So, a few of the more able year 5s are in the mixed year 5/6 class and, you guessed it....Caitlin's in the top class again!!! She'll have spent 4 years in the top class in the school by the time she leaves for secondary after year 6!! Its going to be a tough year for her tho because the year 6 kids have their SATs to do later in the year and will have to work very hard. Caitlin usually works with the year 6 kids anyway so, by default, she's going to have more to do. There are only 3 year 5 girls in the class (and I think 3 year 5 boys) so that little group are going to be pushed! Caitlin loves to work and enjoys the challenge of learning but please keep her and her other friends in your prayers this year that they don't get disheartened and still have the energy for their real year 6 year next year!

Izzy has also been a star this year. Barleyfields has wraparound provision on site for nursery children called Ryandale. Up till this year, Izzy has been looked after by Lauren, then the childminder, then Renee in the mornings and then went to nursery in the afternoon. She only has one more term of nursery to go and then starts full time school in Janaury - which she can't wait for!! So, for this term, Izzy goes to Ryandale in the morning, they take her for school dinner at lunch then onto nursery for the afternoon. She has settled SOOOooooo well - I'm such a proud Mummy!! She loves the playgroup in the morning (which has staff from after school club in it so she already knew plenty of both the staff and the children who go to nursery with her in the afternoon!) and ADORES school dinners ;o) It'll work really well cos she'll get used to school dinners under direct supervision for a term before she starts doing it on her own in January.

Aside from the settling back into school, Caitlin travelled safely back from Exeter having had a wonderful time with her Auntie Mel, Uncle Carl and cousins - she also saw lots of my brother and had a great time with Uncle Steve too :o) How amazingly grown up of her to travel back on her own tho - proud Mummy time again!!!! Izzy and I met her at the airport which was lots of fun - the girls missed each other so much - so sweet to see them back together again! I put Izzy in her pushchair as it was after 8pm when we had to pick Caitlin up so she was all in her pjs and dressing gown and tucked up in the pushchair which she loved. Izzy was never a pushchair fan and we haven't used it since well before her 3rd birthday - I think she was about 2 and a half when we put it away!! She was so funny this weekend tho - wanting to sleep in it and go everywhere in it cos "my legs get so tired Mummy with all that walking".....heheheheeee - I told her "tough" and put it back in the garage when we'd finished picking Caitlin up!!!!! :o)

Nick's in the sunny Seychelles again.....I'm saying no more but I still think he really ought to blog his trips at some point!!! Caitlin and I were laughing the other day looking at facebook cos lots of his friends / "work" colleagues who go to Mauritius / Seychelles with him had posted pictures of him....in the first one, he was lounging on a lounger under a palm tree with a cocktail, second one, propping up a bar arm in arm with friends drinking a cocktail, third one, with a friend and a glass of something or other....Caitlin said "he's not working in this one Mummy......or this one......he's definitely not working in this one"......;o) We took the mickey a bit before he left and he assures me that someone has taken a photo of him "working" this time...so we'll see!! ;o)

Tomorrow Lauren is coming over to spend the morning with us and hopefully stay for lunch cos its yummy pasta, our traditional Saturday treat which I never knew who enjoyed the most, the girls, Lauren or me!!!! We're all excited to see her - and will hopefully get over to visit her very soon in her new house just up the road in Billingham :o) YAY!!! So great to have her back and be able to text her random things or give her a quick call :o) I think Nick's quite relieved that we'll have our first meet up when he's not here cos he can't keep up with our conversation and the speed at which we talk and usually ends up with a headache!!! ;o)

Sunday marks the beginning of the new year of Razamataz with our new groups :o) I've got a lovely group of year 3s again and I'm excited to see a whole year through from beginning to end and to really plan and think about what we're going to do from the start :o)

Think that's about it for now.....to finish in true brit styley - I went to work this morning in trousers, a wooly jumper and a jacket - the heating is back on and its grey, cold and raining! - oh well.....next step Christmas!!!! heheheheheheee

Love to all

Nikki xoxoxoxoxoxoxx

Caitlin's in Exeter!

Hey all

Well, just wanted to let you know that Caitlin has arrived safely with her Auntie Mel in Exeter!!!!! :o) She's so grown up! :o(

We had my niece here for 2 days - Millie is just SO amazing, nearly 16 and just a lovely, intelligent and wonderful person :o) She's been great with the girls and I felt so much better today knowing that she was flying with Caitlin :o)

In other news - Izzy has slept through the last 2 nights!!! YAY!!!!!!!! I think she's just about better!!!! She still has a slight cough but its not really disturbing her and she's able to run a bit and ride her bike without coughing too much which is great! As promised - here she is with her rash....

its all gone now tho!!! and as you can see, the rash didn't really bother her!!!!

That's about all for now - safe flight for Lauren tomorrow :o) and I'll update you on Caitlin's trip down to Exeter and our wonderful "holiday at home" this last weekend next week.

Love to all

Nikki xoxoxoxoxxxxx

ikkle splodgy Izzy!!

This morning Izzy runs into my bedroom just as I'm finishing getting dressed for work....she's all dressed for holiday club, lunch boxes ready to go and everything on track....."look at my arms Mummy, I've got red freckles ALL over them" she says.....

yup...just as the face rash was fading, it moved to her arms and legs!!! So, we popped to see the dr this morning just to confirm that it is "slapped cheek" - and it is.....1-4 days after the cheek rash starts, it moves to the limbs - aaggh!! But this truly means she's nearly done with it and I'm SO hopeful that sometime soon she'll sleep through the night again!

Nick's away this week so I had to take today off work to get Izzy sorted - she's totally well in herself - no temperature and the rash isn't itchy. The cough's still the biggest problem cos she's full of gunk which makes her choke in the night and sometimes a bit sicky - and that's why she needs her Mummy every night...

On a different note, cos Nick's away I get control of the tv remote...so last night I introduced Caitlin to the delights of "Extreme Makeover Home Edition"....she too is now a Ty fan!! ;o) Its great to have my big girl to keep me company :o)

Fab news from across the pond is that Lauren has got all her paperwork and is now TOTALLY legal to live, work and be married in the UK :o) She's due to arrive a week on Saturday and the girls are VERY excited to see her again! I took Caitlin and Izzy to buy school shoes today - Caitlin is now a 3.5 - same as Lauren - so she's looking forward to borrowing her shoes!!!! Or will that be the other way around?! ;o)

Last weekend we went to Mum and Dad's and had a fab time - including another trip to the fab butterfly / tropical / animal place we found last month. This time we took Nick who attempted to take better photos than me of all the animals....and with his better kit and more talent totally managed to achieve that!!!! Hopefully I'll be able to sneak some of his photos to blog when he's home this weekend. The girls got to hold a snake which was just amazing! Caitlin was really nervous but totally loved it and I thought Izzy would never let it go! ;o)

I think that's about it really - next week my niece Millie comes to stay on Tuesday for a couple of days and then takes Caitlin back down to Exeter with her for a few days of quality time with Auntie Mel! ;o) This of course necessitated a bit of Next clothes shopping online last night ;o) Can't send Caitlin away without the right clothes!!!!! ;o)

I'll try and add a few photos to this blog over the weekend - including one that Izzy wanted me to take of her this morning with a big grin and rashy arms!!!! ;o) Please keep her in your prayers that the rash goes quickly and most of all that the cough goes very soon and she returns to her normal full health.

Love to all

Nikki xoxoxoxoxoxx

update on Izzy's cough...

...so Izzy's now had a cough and the snotty grotties for 2 weeks - she's been up pretty much every night (and so have I!) dealing with snot....and Sunday morning she woke up with bright red cheeks....yep, she's picked up another germ...this time "slapped cheek"! Its the 4th most common childhood illness (apparently!) but Caitlin never caught it so I hadn't seen it before. You can't miss it tho!!! Those cheeks.....she looks hugely embarassed!!!!! VERY red!

At least we now know why she's had a cough / cold cos that comes first for 4-20 days then the rash on the cheeks..at which point she is no longer contagious but she has been for the past couple of weeks...whoops!

Hopefully this is now it....and when this is done she'll be back to her normal good health and we can ALL get some sleep!

Love to all

Nikki xoxoxoxoxoxxxxx

when we were young.......

Hey all

Well aside from Izzy's ongoing cough - we're all doing pretty good and enjoying the summer...apart from the rain! Renee left on Friday as her Grandad isn't well so she needed to get back a bit sooner than planned and has arrived safely home in Canada.

The girls are enjoying a couple of weeks of holiday club during the day until I have a week off with them from the 25th August. Caitlin is travelling down to stay with my sister for a few days at the back end of that week - all on her own!!! She's a bit nervous cos, although she's flying down with big cousin Millie who is nearly 16 and VERY sensible, she's flying back on her own under the care of a chaperone. What an adventure! Its only down to Exeter so about 45 minutes flight - can't believe how she's growing up! She now has her ears pierced and has a bit more freedom to call for her friends. Fortunately, she remains a very trustworthy girl and I'm proud of how she's handling this extra freedom....she knows her Mum's a worry basket and so always lets me know where she is and comes back on time :o)

This weekend Izzy and I have been having some quiet time trying to beat this cough cos she was up for 3 hours on Friday night :o( This left both of us a bit jaded! Over the weekend, I took the opportunity of not having much to do to work on a project that the whole family are doing for my Nanna's 94th birthday in a couple of weeks. My Nanna (Mum's Mum) is an amazing person and up until very recently has been pretty fit and active. At some point, I guess age has caught up with her a bit and she's not really able to get around much anymore and is really enjoying reminiscing about friends and family both past and present.

My Mum has a digital photo frame and a few months back she lent it to Nanna for a few weeks. Nanna loved it although it was just a small one and she couldn't see all the pics clearly. So, Mum thought getting her a big digital frame would be a good idea and we agreed to try and get photos from all the family - children, grandchildren and great grandchildren as well as some scenery from our travels and also some photos from Nanna's youth and when her children were young. My Grandad died about 23 years ago and my Auntie Joan, my mum's sister, also died about 13 years ago so we really wanted photos of them on there. Nick managed to get a 15inch screen which will be perfect for her and we need to get it ready to go for next weekend.

By the power of Facebook, I managed to contact enough of my cousins to get a good selection of photos and my Mum raided my Nanna's photo drawer secretly for some special old pics to add to some photos we had anyway. Yesterday I scanned 283 pics and I thought I would share a few with you which I thought were pretty amazing.....

This is my Grandad's Mum and Dad (I believe!)

This is my gorgeous Nanna (dark hair) with her sister Rosa when they were in their early teens..

These cheeky looking chappies are my Grandad and some of his friends. My Grandad is 3rd from the right



This is my Nanna and Grandad - they were childhood sweethearts and a great example of a happy marriage

and can you guess who these 3 are?!?!?!!!!.......

Yes!!! That's me and my little brother and sister! Nice 70s frocks there ;o)

Hope you enjoyed those anyway!

Take care and enjoy the summer - if there is any where you are!

Lots of love and God bless

Nikki xoxoxoxoxoxoxxxxx

Congratulations Lozzie-loo and Brent

Just a quickie to say YAY!!!!!! Lauren and Brent were married on Sunday and I hear from friends across the pond that it was a really happy day and Lauren looked gorgeous :o) I'm sure Brent looked pretty good too ;o) Poor boys never get told they look gorgeous do they?!?!?!!!

I'm so happy for them and so pleased that two such amazing gorgeous and lovely people had a truly special day.

More general stuff at the weekend I hope - promise I'll try to find time!!!

Nikki xoxoxoxox

mega update blog!

Hello all

Make sure you're sitting comfy cos this will be a LONG one!.....

We start way back at half term - last week of May (oops!!)...Nick had tootled off to Mauritius on the Wednesday and we'd had his parents up at the beginning of the week which was lovely :o)

On the Wednesday, to cheer us all up, I took Caitlin and Izzy with their good friend Gaby from next door to Centre for Life in Newcastle for the day. We had a great time with the experiments and science stuff, a yummy lunch and we even caught the train! Funny that the highlight of the day for the girls was probably parking on the outskirts of Newcastle and taking the metro train into the city centre!!! We also finished the day stopping off at Dalton Park - a dicount retail park - and the girls had fun on the play area there :o) Lots of fun as you can see!!!

On the Thursday, I'd planned to set off fairly early with the girls to go and stay at my parent's house....the plan was to amble into Leeds, have a cup of tea, go to mum's work (which none of us had ever seen) then head back to their house. The reality was that the gardening and tidying up took longer than I'd planned (my garden is coming on REALLY well btw - tomatoes, trellis and climbers, lavender, fuschias....!!!) and then Izzy decided that Muffin needed poking and prodding whilst in her litter box....result, one frightened Muffin and poo all over the kitchen floor.....thus necessitating another cleaning attack in the kitchen before we left. We then got lost trying to find Mum's work in Leeds (no sat nav in the mini) and generally arrived a little bit frazzled!!!!

Fortunately, we still had a lovely weekend :o) Mum and the girls and I went to Cannon Hall on the Friday of half term but we DIDN'T go and see the animals this time - we went to the museum and the gardens instead and had a brilliant time. The girls loved the Victorian kitchen and the old fashioned rooms :o) We had lunch in a Victorian kitchen and took some photos in there and the garden...enjoy!

That Friday evening - 31st May I think - I saw an advert for half price Tom Tom sat navs so Dad and I whizzed out on Saturday morning and I am now the proud owner of a very cool Tom Tom with integrated bluetooth (so YAY I now have handsfree calling in the car!) and John Cleese doing the voices ;o) No excuse to get lost in Leeds again! Saturday afternoon - back to Cannon hall - this time for the park and the animals ;o)

Sunday was back home and church in the morning then Sunday afternoon was cleaning and sorting ready for Renee arriving on Tuesday 3rd June. The rest of that week was all about getting Renee used to the house, the girls and the routine and then on the Friday 6th Renee went solo with the girls whilst I had an amazing spa day with my friend Jan from next door :o) We went to Slayley Hall which is up in Northumberland and had a 2 course lunch, full massage, facial and lots of time to chill in the pool and sauna :o) Yummy gorgeous day to relax which was SOOooooo needed as Nick was still away and I'd had a tough couple of weeks :o) It was actually on Jan's birthday as well which was even more special :o)

Saturday we went into town and introduced Renee to the delights of Middlesbrough - including the carousel!

Sunday was Race for Life and it was SOOOOOOooooooo hot!!!! Nick came home in the middle of the night unfortunately with some nasty bug or food poisoning which quite a few of the group had come down with :o( We'd planned that Nick and the girls would come to Darlington to watch me race but he was not a well boy so the girls stayed home and played with Nick for a while and Renee for a while. Ros and I did the race in 45 minutes - not fast at all but it was roasting hot, glaring sun and the course had a number of places where we all had to squeeze through a gate or across a bridge so we had to stop and walk slowly ;o) Here I am when I got back after the race - as always, an inspirational and emotional experience. Thanks to everyone who sponsored me :o)

Sunday afternoon and Monday was all about getting Nick's washing done and ready for him to go again to Cyprus first thing Wednesday morning. He's had 2 really good trips this year and I really think he should blog them properly!! Here he is with Caitlin just before he set off for Cyprus...

Friday 13th (ominous eh?!!!) Renee travelled on the coach down to Oxford to see her friend Angie who is also aupairing this summer. She had an interesting journey!!!! We had Caitlin's friend Charlotte to stay over and on the Saturday we all went out for TGIs and had great fun :o) Have a look......

We're now at Monday 16th June!! Just a normal week really - except I managed to pick up some bug and had a raging temperature and felt awful :o( Nick was still away - I've decided that I always get ill when Nick's away - I guess cos there's more for me to do and I get tired and run down! I decided to take the Friday off and we went back to Mum and Dad's so I could get some TLC ;o) We had a really truly lovely weekend and stayed with them until Sunday evening. The weather was grim (and has been ever since Race for Life really!!) but we found a fab new animal place to visit and we also introduced the girls to birdwatching - really lovely relaxing and fab weekend :o) as you can see.....

The girls got to hold millipedes, bearded lizards, milk goats, hold a tawny owl and feed the lambs :o) even the rain couldn't spoil our fun!! They were worn out by the end ;o)

Nick came home late on the 23rd June and it was fab to see him again :o) Caitlin picked up some bug at the end of the week, very similar to what I'd had the previous week, and was off school on the Wednesday and Thursday. Its left her with a nasty cough that she can't shake :o( So, we had a nice quiet weekend, Caitlin went for a sleepover at her friend Charlotte's house with her other friend Aimee and they had a great time :o)

The following weekend (5th / 6th July) marked 1 year since we moved into Hillbrook Crescent :o) Renee went back down south to visit her friend and had another lovely trip. We invited all the neigbours round for a mega bbq party on the Saturday night and it was amazing fun :o) So many people turned up and everyone got on really well - some people got on FAR too well with the alcohol and literally reeled home after midnight ;o) Fortunately the weather held (just) and it was just a fab bash.

Sun 6th Izzy woke up with a raging temperature and had to miss church. We'd arranged a bbq "bye bye" for Brent and the rest of the Canada visitors - Brent's parents and brother came along with Lauren (Brent's brother's girlfriend), Lauren's parents and brother and a bunch of the Tab crew :o) Izzy was too ill to join in :o( By this point she had an uncontrollable temperature of over 40 degrees and was sick :o( We still had a nice party but it would have been so much better if Izzy had been well :o(

That kind of marked the beginning of a particularly tricky week - for those of you who are my facebook friends, you'll know that Izzy ended up in hospital this weekend :o( After Sunday 6th, she continued running a very high temperature, sick, not eating, struggling to drink, aching all over etc etc until Tuesday evening then we started to get the temp under control. Wednesday the temp came down a little more, Thursday almost back to normal and Friday fine so she went back to school. She still wasn't herself tho - not eating much which is always a worrying sign for my girls! Saturday morning her temperature soared back over 40 again :o( So, we booked her into the emergency doctor and they admitted her onto the ward as it had been going on too long with too high a temperature and she clearly was a poorly little girl :o(

Their first thought was that it must be some infection - obviously they had to rule out meningitis etc with blood tests - because the doctors said it was unusual for a virus to go on so long with such a mega high temperature. When we arrived, her temp was down a bit from the calpol and I think they didn't quite believe her temp was over 40 - I actually thought maybe our thermometer was wrong!! - anyway, Saturday evening they also measured her temp at 40.7 so clearly not very well :o( She had xrays and tests on the Saturday night and Nick stayed with her - he's been brilliant! He's much better at sleeping in strange places than me so he stayed with Izzy and I came home to Caitlin. Neither of us slept much on Saturday night tho cos of the worry :o(

On Sunday morning Caitlin and I went to the ward to take over from Nick for a while. Izzy was playing in the hospital play room! I have to say that the staff at North Tees Hospital children's ward were FAB!!! They gave us a private room and couldn't have been more welcoming, supportive and helpful....if you ask Izzy now, she'll say that she liked staying in the hospital!! There was a play room and an art room....Izzy wanted a picture of herself to remember - here she is on the rocking horse in the play room and in her bed in her own room with her own telly ;o)

On Sunday her temp was still a bit nasty - tho lower - so we had to stay another night. She had medicine at 6pm on Sunday - but none since! Her temp normalised over Sunday night and on monday morning we were allowed to leave - with a diagnosis of a random evil nasty virus but nothing more sinister thank God. She's now supposed to be resting for a few days and her appetite is really coming back today (Tuesday) to the point that she's bouncing off the walls full of beans :o) Lovely to see her so well again tho after 8 days of being a poorly bunny :o(

Yesterday afternoon was Caitlin's sports day so I'll leave you with a couple of pics of that....

Hope you feel updated now!!!! :o) Its Caitlin's big drama production on Thursday evening where she plays the Pied Piper in the Pied Piper of Hamelin :o) We'll blog that soon! She's got 4 solos and LOTS of lines ;o) Caitlin also got her school report last week - truly outstanding - she's a star!!!

Love to you all

Nikki

xxxxxx