More Crimbo stuff

If you haven't noticed this is the second installment of Crimbo news.....
We went back to Wales on the 27th and had a lovely goose dinner, a very sunny but cold walk along the beach and a visit to my Nana.
Yesterday, Kate and Brett popped in for lunch and brought Caiden a toy crocodile and shark for Christmas. We left Wales after lunch and have spent the last 24 hours unpacking various bags and boxes and trying to find homes for new things!
I've put a few more pictures on, one of the goose, one of Caiden and me with Nana and one of Rob, me and Caiden on a walk on Llanfair beach in the freezing cold!

We've eaten and made merry, maybe a little too much!!

I'm going to have to do this Christmas edition in two posts as Blogger only allows for 5 pictures in one blog. So as they say in Sound of Music 'let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start'.
On the 23rd we had a visit from our friends Rhi and Damo, who came baring gifts. I had a lovely wooly hat, which features in some photos later and Caiden has had some clothes and a Snowman dinner set. On Christmas Eve I managed to get all our things packed for Wales while Rob went to work. We had a great night out in Bangor with my school friends and maybe drank a little too much, but it is Christmas!
Christmas Day was very busy, after a full Welsh at my folks' and some prezzies we drove down to Chez Mortimer for a full family meal and more prezzies. Had a lovely Christmas dinner and loads of brilliant things. A very tiring day though, it has to be said!
Pictures on this blog are of Caiden giving me a Christmas kiss, family Mortimer avec dogs at the woods, Christmas dinner table at Chez Mortimer, Caiden with his first prezzie and the group photo from Christmas Eve. More Christmas news in next blog!!

Are We Festive Yet?

Merry Christmas to blog fans new and old!
Last week I had a bit of a cleaning fest in the house, no not any 'nesting' involved no fear there, simply woke up one morning and thought - " Christ, this house is bloody filthy!". Sorry for mild blaspheming at Christmas time. Just as a promo for blog fans, if you have never used Domestos Grott Buster I strongly recommend using it! Amazing stuff!
Anyway, back to general blogging. Rob had his works do on Wednesday and came home suitably pissed and had an appropriate hangover on Thursday.
On Saturday I had been invited out for the Christmas do for my last school. We had a lovely meal at a restaurant in Hanley. Had a nice time, but it was a little annoying being a driver whe all other member of my table were trollied to say the least!
Rob and I collected the Mortimer boat from Nantwich on Sunday for it's winter storage at our mates farm and managed to sink it in the mud at the farm. Our mates' dad then had to tow it out of said ditch with his tractor. We also popped down to the candle lit carols at Ashley church with Caiden on Sunday which was lovely, especially with Caiden's Nana and Grandad in the choir.
Today, my cousin Lisa and husband David came to see us, we really should make more effort as we only live 15mins away from each other, but previously met up last Christmas. A disgrace on both parts and we have all promised to make more effort in 2009.
Pictures of caiden and I with Nana at church, sunken boat and cousin Lisa's visit.

Christmas injuries and other stuff

Caiden has been sleeping very well in his bed, the record so far was having to woken at 9am on Saturday! I'm not complaining though. He now knows when bed time is though and has minor paddies when we take him to bed, but hopefully they'll wear off.

Main event of last week was me slipping a disk and spending a few days walking like Mrs Overall from Acorn Antiques (if I'm talking Greek, look it up on You Tube). I'm a bit better now, still a bit sore, but upright. I had to miss a days planning at my new school which was a pain, but not a disaster. Think we've got everything done for Christmas now, Caiden's loving the tree. I've put a picture on of Caiden, Rob and Myfanwy by the tree, one of Caiden in the minimal snow, one of 'story time' at Chez Mortimer and one of Podmore Lake down the road in the sunset this afternoon.

It's Time for Tree!

Had a busy week with Caiden's tantrums and attempting to tidy the house up. It's ben very cold and icy too, which unfortunately resulted in me having to abandon my first day of supply since September as I could not get the car down the drive. Caiden has had a milestone week as he moved from a cot to a bed and it has gone very well so far with a 12h sleep every night! He loves it. This weekend we spent Saturday night with friends Matt and Susie in Alsager, while Caiden spent the night with Nana and Grandad. he behaved and slept well. We spent the evening very agreeable curries, having a few pints at their locals and walking back to their house in the freezing cold. Had a great night. Today we've put the tree and lights up in the lounge, much to Caiden's delight. I've put a picture on of the lights and one of Caiden on his first morning in a bed. Good luck to you all with shopping, I've nearly done mine, thank goodness!

Weekend in Wales

We've just been up to Wales for the weekend and had a lovely time in the cold sunshine. Went to see some friends and ate far too much. Caiden is still in paddysville at the moment with regular tantrums, but he's nearly saying a few more things to go with 'oh dear'. He likes to sing along to Old McDonald, but instead of the eieio, he replaces it with 'oh dear oh dear oh dear'. His new word(s) is 'sat' which we think is 'what's that'. He says it for everything and anything. I'm geting on with a lttle crimbo shopping and have got all my cards ready and enveloped to post. I've put a picture on of my mate Sally with our friend Jaymie's children Kelsey, Maisie and Poppy. Jaymie was not keen for a picture so Sally was volunteered. Also one or two of Caiden and us down the beach in Llanfairfecan feeding ducks and walking in the sunshine.

Truly rubbish weather again!

It has been thoroughly disgusting here today with wind, sleet, rain and general sogginess. I expect it's been a similar story with most blog fans (except Mr and Mrs Airey maybe!) The weather has meant another weekend of no gardening. Maybe I'll get an allotment by 2012.
Caiden has been demonstrating his skills at temper tantrums this week, his favorite locations seem to be anywhere with innocent members of the public nearby.
My parents came for the day on Wednesday and we managed to have two walks, one around the village and one in the woods, which Myfanwy was very pleased about.
On Saturday, my friend Rhianna came over and we went out for lunch. She took some pictures of Caiden and I've put two on today, one of Rhi with Caiden and one of Rob, Caiden and me.
Hope no one gets too wet this week. I'm going into my new school on Tuesday to chat to the teacher who's going to plan stuff. Happy Christmas shopping!

Brr, it's getting nippy!

We attempted today to get started on digging out the area for our allotment as the sun came out briefly. However, we have a small problem in the shape of an enormous root from a removed bush. If anyone has any brilliant ideas for removing said root, please feel free to share them with us, or even better, come and remove it. Caiden 'helped' a little with the gardening, mainly by grinding the nearly deceased wheelbarrow up and down the patio. Anyway, hopefully once this root has gone, we cane make a start of getting the ground ready to plant a few bits.
I made a loaf on Friday with my new loaf tin so it did look like bread. It was yummy, which is the main thing. The whole loaf was polished of in one sitting with breakfast on Saturday when Kieran and Matthew were here.
I'm doing a roast chicken this evening and Anna and Derrick are coming to join us. It's smelling good already, if I do say so myself.
I've put two pictures on from today of Caiden and Myfanwy on the patio and one of my most recent loaf.

Bonfire night and Caiden speaks!

We went to a bonfire show near the church down the road last night, which was ace. Really good fireworks and a huge bonfire. Caiden seemed to enjoy it too and was not as scared as we thought he'd be, even by the huge rockets.

Caiden has started saying his first words and in line with the recent credit crisis he's being pessimistic. He just constantly says 'oh dear' and I do mean constantly. If anything breaks or falls on the floor and as he realises that we like him saying it, he now enjoys breaking or throwing things on purpose just to be able to say 'oh dear'.
I've put a picture of the bonfire on today as well as one of Caiden with one of my recent loaves. They're getting better every time. That will curse them! The picture of the loaf by itself is the most recent and the best by far!

Biberty Boberty Boo!

Well I hope everyone had a good Halloween. We had a great night with a curry, fine wine and good company.
Caiden is now turning into a little tyke what with hitting people in the face and general naughtiness. I have now made my third home made loaf of bread, the most recent being very impressive. Today has been a very culinary day what with the loaf and home made pumpkin soup made from our huge lantern. The house certainly smells nice. Caiden loves the fresh bread and seems rather keen on soup too.
Pictures today are the lanterns lit on Halloween, my loaf, Caiden being naughty, pulling all my books off the shelf and caiden with the huge pumpkin from the farm shop.

Ma is 60!

Hello blogfans. I've not got a huge amount of news this week. Caiden is fine and over his temperature session, but now Rob has 'man flu' so I'll probably have a cold by the end of the week. In Rob's defense, he's not too bad with colds and doesn't pretend to be dying, lying on the sofa sipping soup. We went up to Wales on Friday night for a meal for my Ma's 60th. We went with family friends Catrin and Wes. Caiden spent the night with Anna and Derrick and slept through for them, which is always good. The meal was lovely, I had venison on a slab of haggis, very yummy. Three had turbot and the Rob and my pa had lamb. I've put pictures on of our meals, the lamb is the one with Rob's fork infront. I've also put a picture on of Caiden that I took to put on the front of Ma's birthday card. Have a good week everyone, especially those on half term.

The Good, the Bad and the Sickly

Mixed news this week. As some of you know, I managed after just over five years of being qualified to get a teaching post off my own back! According to the head, I did 'brilliantly' which did temporarily make my head to big to fit though the door! Anyway, it's great news, I start in January at a school in Tunstall.
The bad news, is Caiden has been poorly this weekend. His best effort was a temperature of 103.5 last night. Very impressive! He seems a bit better this evening and is currently snoozing in his cot, not on a sheet next to me like last night. No idea what's brought the fever on, he's been a bit snotty but nothing major.
On a lighter note, I did quite a bit of gardening today and pruned our apple trees for the first time in probably about 10 years. One of them always has an outrageous amount of fruit, so prior to their extreme shave, I collected a bucket of good apples. I've put a picture on of half the wind fall/rotten fruit, and I do mean half of it! The other pictures today are Caiden having lunch with cousin Liam on Friday and one of him dressing up by the washing basket with my pants around his neck! Silly Caiden!

A few bits and bobs

I've had a week of no teaching, which has it's bonuses, dog walking, slow cooked dinner etc. I did however, get a phone call on Thursday asking me to an interview at a school in Tunstall next Friday. I spent Saturday evening on the phone t Kate writing out our battle plan for my observed lesson. If I do say so myself, we've done a goodie, so fingers crossed.
Caiden has had his first proper bed. Well he's not sleeping in it yet, but Rob won it on Ebay for a bargain so we've bought one now. At the moment it's Suzy's new bed, as you can see in the picture. Just to get you all in a good mood, not, a friend of mine said he saw a house with all it's naff Crimbo lights on already last week! Unbelievable! Hope everyone's well and enjoying the rain and credit crisis! Picture of Suzy on her/Caiden's new bed and one of Caiden doing his best 'I'm a lumberjack'. Love to all.

Kieran's birthday weekend

I've had a busy week teaching in Newcastle under Lyme, unfortunately I didn't get the full time job, it went to a guy who over ran his lesson by 25 minutes! The headteacher did say some very nice things though and has promised to ring me if he needs any supply. Thankfully overall I did seem to impress them but they wanted an ICT specialist, which I am not.
Anyway, it's Kieran's 12th birthday today so the boys have been here. he bought himself a new mobile with his birthday money this morning. I've just been to the woods with Anna, Derrick, Gin and Liam and all the dogs. It was Rhianna's first trip of many to the woods in their papoose. Put of picture on of that, one of me holding Rhianna today and one of Kieran blowing out his unstoppable candles that relight themselves.

Great weekend in Bedford

We've spent the weekend in Bedford for my bezzie mate Kate's 30th birthday celebrations. Had a great time and Caiden loved his trip to feed the ducks and his first outing to an adventure playground. We had dinner at Kate's with Brett and her Ma on Friday night and then on Saturday we went out in the evening with lots of others to a pizza place and then to a pub. Lots of fun and no hangover, just a throat infection, which is great right before my first full wek of teaching since July! I've put on some pictures from the night out, one of us on Friday evening having dinner and Caiden feeding the ducks.
I'm a bit nervous about tomorrow as the planning is very confusing. Hope all goes well, will report back next weekend.