Flash Back Friday

 Its week again.....and this week im flashing back to 21st July 1999.
This weekend my eldest is going to be turning 13.
Thats right, im going to be officially a mum to a teenager......OMG! where did the time go.
I really feel like the kids are all growing up way too quickly and it does make me sad that they're not my babys anymore but they also make me very proud and extremley happy of what lovely lads they are turning into.
Its been hard letting the apron strings loosen but im getting to grips with it now and letting him find his own freedom.   
I've got a feeling that when it comess to my daughter turning into a teenager, its gonna be a whole different ball game.....espesh when it comes to boys!!!   Now thats something i am dreading!!!   but we've got quite a while to go until then.....thank god!
although thinking about my daughter becoming a teenager is a whole new scary thought because that means my eldest will be 24!    OMG!!!!

My teenager

Me with Lewis when he was a few days old

wearing his glasses

easter

Daddy with Lewis when he was a few hrs old

bath time

with our 1st dog

1st holiday away to the Lake District

daddy & Lewis

Florida

swimming

my little poser

 

 

 

    

Anyway back to the now.........Happy 13th Birthday for Saturday Lewis......Love you so much..........Mum & Dad xx



          

The Gallery : Food

I love, love, love peanut butter & celery, personally i don't think its weird, but it does raise a few eyebrows of disgust......but i don't care....its yummy!

My other fave snack of choice is hot rice pudding with a big blob of vanilla ice cream on top......i think its the mixture of hot and cold that i love and the ice cream makes it even creamier......delicious!

Flasback Friday : Summer

        Our 1st dance song

This weeks  is: Summer

This time 12 years ago I was getting very excited as in 2 days time I was due to get married.

All the planning was done and finally we were about to enjoy all the hardwork.

It was July 8th 2000 that we said our vows and we became husband & wife....

So on Sunday it will be our 12th Wedding Anniversary....and we're celebrating it by having a completley kiddy free weekend (courtesy of my Aunty & Uncle, and im still not convinced they understand what theyve agreed to haha).....we've got a day of shopping planned on Saturday, a romantic meal on Saturday night and a day at Alton Towers on Sunday, followed by picking the kiddy crew up on the way home :D

Photo oppurtunity as hubby & wife at our reception

Me & my dad before I said 'I do'

The hubbys side

My side

Leaving church as husband & wife

The Gallery : Everyday

The prompt for this weeks Gallery is: Everyday

As I don't drive this is what I have to condend with on a daily basis.
Come rain or shine, you will find me most days walking up and down this hill.
I love my house but I really wish I could move it to the bottom of the hill :)

The Gallery: Hands

This weeks Gallery prompt is hands.
This pic is from when when my daughter was christened last year.
I love this picture, it is my daughter and nephews hands.....there is only 5 weeks between them and even though they dont see each other very often they are very close when they do get togethor and turn into the terrible twosome.
Lets hope they keeps this bond as they get older.

 

My 2nd pic is of my beautiful baby girl a few days after she was born.
Weighing in at 3 1/2lb she was very small and I love the way the size of my hubbys hand shows how tiny she is because looking at her now you do forget how small she actually was.

P.I.P. impants, the wait continues

On Tuesday I finally went to my appointment at the hospital, for what I thought was meant to be a scan to see if my P.I.P. implants had ruptured.......but instead it turned out it was just a consultation????
I was very peeved off with this as I know the ins and outs of everything that is happening with this scandal....after all Ive been waiting a while for various appointments and thought I would actually know what is going on and I would be now deciding my next course of action.......as it is Ive been left waiting for yet another date for the actual scan.

The appointment didn't start well, with the nurse doing my weight & height and making me feel like a complete and utter freak in the process......ok i have a low bmi and i am what you would class as 'skinny' but it certainly ain't through lack of eating (which is what i felt like she was implying).....i am sick to death of having to explain and defend myself to the hilt about my body size......i started reeling off my word perfect spiel (I've had to say it that many times) 'i was born like this, i was under the hospital until i was 7 with them performing all sorts of tests to see what was wrong with me, for them to finally put it down to the fact i simply don't carry body fat and will always be like it and that I'm perfectly healthy, the fact I've had 5 children and yes i do eat....lots!....and I've been to countless doctors through my life asking them if they've come up with a genius solution to gain weight to be told simply to eat more :S 

The P.I.P. breast implants I had fitted near on 9 years ago were to help me feel more like a woman rather than being stuck in a child's body and they have given me a lot more confidence over the years and stopped me looking as much like a stick insect.

The lecture from the surgeon involved him performing his sales pitch on me that he had his own 'private practice', maybe in the hope I would throw some money his way?? and also to be told that on 1 hand if I took the actual clinic where I originally had them done to court they should really in theory have to pay out due to them putting faulty items in me (he refereed to it as buying a faulty toaster hmmmm) and then on the other hand if I did take them to court theres no 1 to sue because no ones taking the blame cos they aren't really at fault????  
It all left me in a bit of a daze and weepy and I just ended up sitting there with his waffling drifting off  into the distance.
I finally snapped out of my daze and asked him if I was even going to have my scan that day because this is what i was lead to believe i was actually there for.....he finally booked me in for a scan after more waffling.
Finishing on him making me feel like i had to give him a decision there and then on what i wanted to happen after the scan depending on the results.
By this point I politely said 'please can I just have the scan first and see if there is a problem and then I will decide what I am going to do'

So once again I'm left waiting and still none the wiser about anything apart from the impending feeling of eventually my bank account being a light lighter than it should be to sort out this mess

Flashback Friday: Young Love

This weeks  is Young Love.
I had just turned 17 when I met my future hubby to be in a nightclub in Rhyl, North Wales on New Years Eve 1998.
It wasn't the most normal of meetings as I was dressed up as a black cat.....by the time I had bumped into him I was a little bit on the drunk side and had somehow acquired a cork Aussie type hat to go with the cat combo (yes very attractive...not!!)
I made the 1st move (being under the influence of alcohol probably helped with my up frontness, and isn't something i would of normally done).

By the end of the night he had also met my sister (she was dressed up as a fairy princess) and my parents (my mum was dressed as the Statue of Liberty and my dad I cant actually remember).
As I say possibly not the most normal of starts to a relationship :D
It was also a bit difficult with the fact I was living in North Wales and was also in College and he lived & worked in Liverpool.
We visited each other regularly and I can remember our first 'proper date' was to the pub on the ski slopes in Llandudno.
We went through quite a lot in a short space of time at the beginning and i suppose this made us strong as a couple.
We even played with the idea of moving to Grand Cayman when he was offered a job as a jeweller there, it would of been to clients coming off of cruise ships that arrived there.
He went for all the interviews in London and had  been virtually offered the job, but there was a small problem in that we would of had to of got married there and then & it would of been no fairy tale wedding as there simply wouldn't of been no time, it also meant that if we had of decided to do it and make the move I wouldn't of been allowed to work.
Maybe it would of been a great opportunity for us but we felt that it was the wrong time to do it and so we didn't end up going.....I don't actually regret the decision as it simply wasn't the right time and dint feel right.

We booked our very 1st holiday together to Ibiza a few months later and this is where he proposed.
When we got back I moved to Liverpool with him, I fell pregnant not long after.
By 1999 I had given birth to our 1st son & we had bought our first house.
By 2000 we had got married and was celebrating our baby's 1st birthday.
We've been through a hell of a lot together......good & bad.....and in July we will be celebrating our 12th Wedding Anniversary.
I have also blogged about that here if you fancy a bit of a read : Wedding Anniversary task  & Wedding Anniversary Task - Part 2     



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Hair today, gone tommorrow

This week I made the very brave decision to allow my hubby to cut my 5 year olds hair.
It doesn't sound that drastic, but it oh so was.
I was nearly crying as he did it and couldn't believe I had allowed it to happen (the hubby was chuffed....hes been waiting for this day for a long time)
He had beautiful blond long hair, the same style he had since he first grew hair, so I think it was really me saying bye bye to baby Jamie & hello to my little boy Jamie.
Jamie however was ecstatic at having had it all chopped off, he proved this by running round the room screaming 'i can run faster now mum' and 'i can hear stuff' :D
It made me realise also that its something I should of really done a while ago, and it was this that made me realise when he said 'i look like a boy now and not a baby'......and he does, he has got such a gorgeous, cute little face and now i can see it was a shame to cover it up with a mop of hair (i may be slightly biased)

Before

And after

My gorgeous little boy

Flash Back Friday: Bankholidays

This weeks is anything to do with Celebration / Royal / London / Commemoration / Anniversary / Bank holiday

Due to limited photos (hopefully I'm getting all these back when my parents come over from Cyprus for Christmas) but for now I'm having to stick with whatever photos I have on Facebook :D

I have settled on Bank Holiday


I think this was about 3 yrs ago (I might be wrong)


I love Bank Holidays in Cyprus, especially Green Monday....and yes, its something I do miss now we're living back in the UK.


                                                  We would all pack up our bbq's and head to the beach and there we would stay all day eating, drinking & messing about.....maybe even a spot of kite flying & a game of rounders :D



Hope everyone has a lovely jubilee weekend...........

Wedding Anniversary Task - Part 2

So here's where I'm at with the Wedding Anniversary Task (as of yet haven't bought any of it but at least I now have some sort of idea of what I'm getting him) :D

1

1, Pewter Keepsake Token - Soulmate token (forever and always)

Something he can keep in his wallet

 

 

 

 2,  Map of the world & Marking Flags

We both love travelling and this is to plan everywhere we want to go, now & in the future....maybe also we can mark where we have been already??

 

                                                                                                          

         

3, Cool Water Aftershave

Customary bottle of aftershave :D

4, Agent Provocateur Tuberose Intoxication Massage Oil & Massage book

Need I say more ? ;P






5, Tattoo Gift Voucher

He's got 1 large tattoo on his calf but really wants another on his arm (I'm leaving the design to him as he knows what he wants, but I know it has got something to do with me & the 5 kids.......


6, Sexy Undies

Again speaks for itself........although I'm going with the theme of Silk, seeing as this is what 12th Anniversary is.......ahhhh see I'm being a little bit clever





7,  The Art of Marriage personalised poem

I love the idea of this and think its very romantic










8, Having a new thin style wedding band made up (out of my old gold) & set with 12 tiny diamonds (out of my old ring), to wear along side his wedding ring

Something I've wanted to get for him for a while now, as we were skint when we got married, so his wedding ring is a cheapy 1 (i don't want to replace his actual wedding ring as that's the 1 that was blessed when we got married, so it wouldn't feel right getting rid of it).......really need to pull my finger out with this 1, maybe a trip into town this week!


9, Trainers

Not just any trainers......the hubby loves running and knows exactly what he likes......all i know so far is they've got to be Asics, this is going to be a difficult one as he is really fussy with trainers



10, Sports Car Fund - Pot of Dreams money box

Maybe 1 day he will get the car of his dreams!









11, Photo / Scrap Book

A collection of photos & keepsakes from when we 1st met.......ahhhhhh V.Romantic :D 

12, Thornton's Classics

His fave choccies, he buys these for me......and then we share them hahaha





Of course this is all subject to change...........

The Gallery: Sunshine......I ain't gonna grumble at Mr Sunshine

Well I'm certainly enjoying the glorious sunshine we are having at the moment......i don't have 1 incey complaint about it, well maybe just 1, i wish the hubby was off work to enjoy it with us.
Saying that we had a lovely BBQ the other day on his day off when the kids got in from school, we had a great time messing about in the garden

I do love the weather in the UK (as much as people grumble about it), we do get a bit of everything and I really think having lived in Cyprus for near on 4 yrs has made me truly appreciate this.
Cyprus it was constant heat and in winter freezing cold & damp (i say freezing cold in the loosest sense...... what i mean is the houses are really cold and suffer from damp due to non existent heating, badly fitted windows etc etc).
As much as I loved the Cyprus weather, its nice having a bit of variety and when the sun does decide to make its limited appearance over here then its lovely just to get out in the garden and enjoy it.
In all honesty I don't know how I coped with the Cyprus sunshine day in day out now (I suppose I acclimatised haha) , the weather we're having at the mo I would of more than likely had a cardi on in Cyprus......and now I'm sat out in the garden in my bikini, thinking....'yeah, that's a bit warm'.
Well heres hoping that we have this gorgeous weather for the up and coming half term (and the hubby's off for a week woohoo!).....so it would be nice to have half decent weather to have a couple of days out and to enjoy the trampoline Ive just ordered :)

I posted this a couple of days ago and then relised the theme for the Gallery was Sunshine.
So i've adapted my post a little for this as it seemed silly doing another post :D