Well we did manage to make it to London as Alex's eye was no worse in the morning and is now looking almost normal, praise God! We got up at crack of dawn and arrived there after 3.5 hours travelling non-stop in the car (fortunately Alex had a little nap and so coped with it OK). 
When we arrived at my brothers, my parents and Gran were already there so we had a lovely time drinking Champagne and chatting while the boys played with all Daniels toys. It was lovely to see Gran there enjoying the fun.
After a delicious lunch it was time for present opening amidst much chaos and excitement from Alex and Daniel (Dad and Gran look rather serious here!). 
Daniel and Alex passed the presents round and enjoyed opening their own (here is Daniel with his parents in the background)
Eventually my parents and Gran left for their train and we gave the boys their supper followed by an extremely wet bathtime and stories before bed. 
Today we had breakfast in our pyjamas 
and then headed out for a walk in the rain like the good English people we all are! It was rather wet but at least gave us all some much needed fresh air (even if Alex decided he didn't want to walk very much). On the way back we bumped into Nel's sister so went to her house for coffee which was lovely as I haven't seen her for ages. 
We then went back to Andy and Nel's and sat the boys in front of the Tigger movie while we cooked lunch and then after lunch it was back into the car for a rather horrid journey home (the weather was nasty and the traffic was heavy). Although it was an exhausting trip it was lovely and so special to spend time with them all before the new baby arrives (due in two weeks!). Have a great rest of the week everyone and enjoy your New Year celebrations.Love,
Caro
x
Yesterday the weather was pretty miserable so Alex went on a trip to the garage with Tim to fill the car up and to get some emergency shopping (milk and bread) and then in the afternoon we went to the museum where he had fun running round everywhere and opening every drawer to see what was inside (in this case 'teef!'). 
Today the weather was much nicer so we played out in the garden a bit this morning, as well as making cookies and flapjack to take with us to London, and then as the weather turned a bit in the afternoon we went to the indoor playbarn which was great fun. 
I don't know about Alex but I am exhausted by all the clambering round. 
The only fly in the ointment is that his left eye is looking a little bit dodgy and we are concerned that he may be starting with peri-orbital cellulitis again. The advice is to keep an eye on it (excuse the pun) and see what he is like in the morning. It is rotten timing as we are due to go to London at crack of dawn tomorrow to see my family so we will just have to wait and see. You wouldn't know there was anything wrong apart from his stinking cold when you see him chatting and running round the place. 
I have been crafting in patches as well making two new Thank you cards using my distress inks and Crafty Individual stamps. 
This second one fits with the theme from CPS which is to use any of their sketches so it follows CPS#113. 
I also made some ATCs which are available for swapping. For these ones I tried out some new techniques with the distress inks and my new stamps. The two ladies also have glimmer mist on them which doesn't really show in this photo. 
Finally here are three ATCs made from a mixture of different things, again using stamping for the most part and these are also available for swapping. Just let me know if you are interested in any of them. Have a great week everyone.
Alex enjoyed having his grandparents to himself, especially as it meant that he could play with Granny and Grampa Pete's quad bike. 
The others arrived about 45 minutes later and the chaos started! The boys get along very well and had a lot of fun playing games with balls and bats. 
Kath then produced the crackers which contained whistles of specific notes 
so we were all lined up to play music which was very funny! Then it was time for Champagne and nibbles
...delicious onion tarts, mushroom puffs and sausage rolls. 
During the pause before dinner we let the boys have a run outside in the garden with the football, to work off some of the excess energy while Jenny and I shivered, and then came in for more food. 
The traditional turkey dinner was wonderful and followed by more mincepies or raspberry crumble. Yummy...I ate far too much! 
After dinner we had more fun in the sitting room (a cousin pile up!) 
and then it was time for the presents. Alex was in small boy heaven...he had more than 25 cars as part of his presents, 
including a remote control one from us. 
The other boys were delighted with their presents as well. 
Finally we had a game of pass the parcel which Alex was rather confused by, although he did join in and enjoy it for the most part. Then it was time for us to go home with an extremely tired little boy. Once we had settled Alex (which wasn't easy), Tim and I had a gentle evening watching a movie. All in all it was a lovely Christmas day. 
We decided a while ago that as we wouldn't have time on Christmas day morning to do Alex's stocking we would have presents in bed this morning (Boxing Day). 
It was so much fun playing together as a family and watching Alex enjoying opening his presents and playing with them. He has been playing with all his new toys all day. 
Although we tried to go out to the park this afternoon the snow has got to that nasty icy slippery stage and we had to give up and came back home after only a short trip to the corner shop to get some more milk. 
I have even had some time today to play with my new presents..Tim Holtz distress inks, blending tool, craft sheet and new Crafty Individual stamps. I have never played with the distress inks before but really like them. This first card fits with the thank you card theme from PTW for this week. 
The second card is a birthday card for someone who loves birds and uses all Crafty individual stamps, distressing inks and stazon black ink. This fits with the CCC challenge of a celebration. I hope you are all having a lovely holiday season.
and digging it out so we could go to the service this evening. It was a bit slippery driving to church so I really hope we can get the car out tomorrow as we are due to go to Tim's family in Kennilworth and I will have a very disappointed small boy on my hands if we can't get there. 
Alex loved being pulled along on the sledge 
and found it funny to fall over in the snow (yes he did carry the scraper to the park and back!). 
He also enjoyed making and throwing snowballs at me for the first time. 
The grins on his face as he clambered around the snowy playground were great. It was a perfect Christmas Eve, especially as we got to church and Alex behaved himself so I could enjoy the service. 
I even got to do a little crafting and made a necklace to wear tomorrow and this scrapbook page following the theme from 
Yesterday, while watching Free Willy (yes I am a total softie and I still like that film!), I wrapped all the presents...don't you just love it when presents are beautifully wrapped. I did two main styles of wrapping..blue on a silver background with blue and snow tags, 
and red on a green background with red and Christmas tree tags. They all look so pretty, but have had to be hidden in the garage as Alex doesn't yet understand about having to wait for presents. I completed the Christmas preparations with the dreaded food shop this morning...it was as awful as I expected and took hours, but at least it is done and there is lots of yummy food to look forward to. Everything is now ready and I am looking forward to a movie tonight and playing with Alex tomorrow before going to see Tim's family on Christmas day!
Crafting wise I altered this little note book for Tim using images of one of the games he is getting for Christmas. There is a green see through outer cover which will protect this altered card page. As he likes to keep notes about the different game characters, quests etc so he doesn't forget things I thought a note book would be better than all the endless little scraps of paper that are floating round our study at the moment! This also fits with the 
As I have had a little time to myself this afternoon I have also managed to complete a scrapbook page following this weeks 
He also enjoyed driving his car around in the snow although he found it hard to move due to the patio being somewhat slippery.
He also enjoyed climbing in and out of his little wigwam while shouting ‘Who is in the house?, Alex is in the house!’.
In the afternoon while Tim had his nap we went out to the local indoor playbarn which was great fun, 
especially as one of Alex’s friends from nursery was there so he clambered all around with him (and me!). I am rather stiff this morning!
This morning we discovered yet more snow had fallen overnight. We were fortunately able to get to church for the under 5s nativity service, which I loved. Alex wasn’t sure about the whole thing so refused to dress up and every time a carol was sang said very firmly that he didn’t want to dance, but he did eventually go up to the front with all the other children. Sadly I forgot to bring my camera so this photo was the best that Tim managed from his phone (yes Alex and I are in this photo!). When we came out of church it was snowing heavily to Alex’s excitement.
Although it stopped for a little while, by the time Alex woke up from his nap it had started again so we went for our walk in a snow storm with the sledge. Alex was very excited to be pulling his sledge and insisted on pulling it all the way to the park. 
He continued to pull it while pushing the roundabout round. I
eventually managed to persuade him to sit in it while I pulled him home, which he also enjoyed.
Although I like snow, we now have 2 inches on the ground and I really want it to stop soon as we are supposed to be travelling south for Christmas….I must say it makes the berries look really pretty though. 
I have been crafting a bit as well with a few last minute cards for local people. This first one followed the PTW sketch this week. I just love the elegant simplicity of the sketch.
The next one follows the Sketch Saturday sketch which was fun to do and used all freebie papers. 
The final Christmas card follows this weeks Friday Sketchers sketch, again using free papers or scraps of Basic gray papers I had. 
Finally I made a birthday card for a friend following the crafty cardmakers sketch from this week using K&Co papers and stickers, Hero Arts stamps and nestabilities cutting dies. It also fits with the CCC theme of a 5x5 birthday card. I hope you all have a great week ahead of you.