Sarah Youde

Little Things

Little things are really aggravating me today.

The noise of Ben deliberately squeaking his chair and banging the keyboard on the computer is infuriating me, the noise of the girls DSi's is annoying and Ben interfering with their games when he wants to but not helping when they request his help is making me stroppy.

I think I am getting cabin fever as it is half term and we have gone nothing. Being stuck in with the kids (much as I love them) is beginning to drive me insane. Our bedroom is upside down and full toys from the girls room because their Grandad is working hard on their room to eliminate damp and build a new wardrobe. The house isn't as tidy as I like it. It never is, but half term and building work are making it worse.

I tried to make the gorgeous free gift from issue 11 of Mollie Makes but that was never going to happen as long as I am jumping from my chair every 2 minutes to sort something out so that has gone back in the bag.

I spent last night on the sofa under a blanket with a headache and feel that there is another one coming on soon!

Tomorrow we shall go out but roll on Monday. On Monday I shall craft, the housework can wait until Tuesday!

Half term happenings

That should probably read half term madness!

We started half term with a lovely movie day with the kids. We bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on DVD in 3D and I used this recipe to make the kids some butterbeer in the cups they brought home from Universal Studios and we all settled down to watch the film. I have to say the butterbeer tasted really good and quite like the one at Universal.

Half term is always a bit manic but this half term we are getting wardrobes built in the girls bedroom and the outside wall is being battened to combat the damp problem that you tend to get in houses which are 100 years old!

I have had a very busy day today boxing up all of the toys and paraphernalia in the girls room and as if that wasn't enough to do when the kids are off school and under your feet I have also cleaned the oven, made pea and pancetta soup and just been generally domesticated!

Charlotte was a great help today, crawling under the double bunk bed in her room to retrieve all the toys and rubbish that Amy throws under there on a daily basis. She loved going onto the top bunks and chucking all her teddies into the box on the floor. Amy just wanted to do everything that I didn't need her to do and ended up just pretending to be a photographer.

I am sat here now at 7pm and I am fit to drop. I think I will watch some TV (currently re-watching all of Ashes to Ashes) and indulge in a bit of Rainbow and Hearts blanket making!

This Week.

This week has been a tough one with my Mum having to go into hospital and urgently have a pacemaker fitted.  She is out now and goes back to hospital today for a check up so hopefully all will be well.

Normal blogging will resume shortly.

Slides, rides, toboggan runs...

...guaranteed all weather fun!  It's Woodlands. 

We went to Woodlands on Friday with the kids and we were really lucky with the weather as it was the only sunny day we have had all week!  They had a fabulous time and Mark bought a six day pass which means we can take them back next week but we are all wearing stupid illuminous green wrist bands in the mean time that don't come off!

Here are some photos of the fun they had.

There was a lot of 'getting wet' involved in the days fun!

I could not believe that Ben was brave enough to go on this water slide!  Charlotte was crying at this point because she wanted to go on it but didn't meet the height restrictions :(

Ben and Charlotte were not too sure about the pirate ship ride! Look at Ben bending over so he can't see and Mark is looking at me laughing at their plight, nasty Daddy!

The kids also spent time playing in the outdoor parks, going on pedalo's and bumper boats, looking at animals in the little farm and running around like idiots in the brilliant ball pools.

The Cutest Blanket EVER!

I bought this book Cute & Easy Crochet by Nicky Trench because I thought it looked, urrmmmm, cute! I am so glad that I did because I just love it!

I got mine from Amazon for just £7.55.  The main reason was because I saw a really cute blanket that I want to make two of for the girls' beds.  Look!

How could anyone NOT want to make this?

Anyway, fast forward two weeks.  I started to make the squares from this pattern (oh so easy) with random colours in my stash.  They looked really pretty but I soon realised that I was using sooooo many colours that I was veering away from my intention to make it look pretty much like the one in the above image from the book to making one that looked more like a baby blanket.  By the time I realised this I had made lots of the squares and I didn't want to waste them so I decided to put them together to make a small blanket anyway.  It turned out to be a lovely size and Amy has yet again claimed it as her own and is using it both as a lap blanket and for her dolls and pram :)

The photographs really do not do it justice, it is so pretty.  I added a scalloped border but when I make the bed sized blankets I will keep them plain like the pattern.  See what I mean about the colours?  Whilst it is a beautiful baby/doll blanket I find it a little bit too cutesy for the girls' room.

See what I mean about Amy?  She is just like me, loves cosy stuff like pyjamas and blankets (and iPads).  Charlotte is the same and we fight over my fluffy cosy socks at bedtime - I am sure they disappear from my sock drawer!

I am waiting for my wool to arrive so that I can begin to make the real blankets.  I am not using the suggested yarn though because it would cost about £175 to make each blanket!!  I am using the old faithful Stylecraft Special double knitting and have managed to virtually get exact matches for the colours in the book - good enough to get the look anyway and with it being Acrylic I can pop the blankets in the washing machine when the kids have dragged them around the room a few times ;)  I will share the list of colours once I get started in case you fancy making it (my wool will cost less than £30 I am sure).

Ahh Bliss...

I am sat here with a cup of coffee and my Macbook, Amy is creating all sorts of mess on the floor with her magazines but I don't care because I am sat down relaxing and normally Monday's mean lots of housework but Amy isn't at school today so we are having a lazy Mummy and Amy day (just a bit of washing machine action in between).

I am finally recovered after a lovely weekend.  Mark and I attended the Summer Ball (the Submersi-ball!) at RNAS Culdrose on Saturday night and we had a great time.  We didn't wake up with hangovers which was wonderful but we were both very tired on Sunday and we had a family 'Bon Voyage' barbecue to attend because our Nephew Dan and his wife are off to Cyprus for three years tomorrow.  It was lovely having all the Youde's together but I would have enjoyed it a little more if I wasn't sooooo tired!

My dress for the ball was perfect, I loved it.  I didn't get any photographs of me apart from this one of me having a fish pedicure but we did get a professional photograph taken so hopefully that will be nice when it arrives.

We spent the evening with some really nice people, ate some food and danced the night away.

In other news I am excited to say that Mark has been posted back to Plymouth and as from October he won't be working away every week but will be able to come home every night.  Yay!

A Wonderful Birthday Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend.  Mark didn't have to go to work on Thursday and Friday so that meant that I had him home for the last two days of half term which was a godsend!  

On Friday the weather was beautiful and after popping into town we went up to Plymouth Hoe and we all went onto the Plymouth Eye.  It isn't as tall as the London Eye but still very high and Ben and I were very nervous about going on it.  Ben was holding the seat in fear, I was trying to look brave but had a sudden urge to visit the ladies as the wheel started to take us up!  Charlotte was very brave about it before going on but even she closed her eyes when the wheel started to move.  Amy screamed!  I had this awful thought that we were really going to have to press the red button and get taken off immediately.  Suddenly Mark said we were at the top and it wasn't as bad as we thought, in fact, we all loved it - even Amy was fine.

The views were amazing and we didn't want to get off.

 I only had my iPhone with me to take photos but we still managed to get some good shots!

On Saturday it was my birthday and I was thoroughly spoiled!  I have been wanting (needing?) some Caran d'Ache water-soluable pastels and I got a lovely tin of them from Mark along with two Amy Butler books, two external hard drives (one for Time Machine and other back up and one for TV and Movies to plug into the TV), a lovely pair of Karrimor sandles and lastly (from Mark) but not least a Kindle!  I have always been a stalwart of the Sony Reader having had one for the last couple of years but lately I have been finding it very difficult to read as the contrast on the older versions is not so good, I have also been having other issues with it so Mark has converted me to the Kindle.  I love it!!  I have already got books, mp3's and audio books on it, it's great.  So you see, I was very spoiled and that was just from Mark.  My Mum bought me the Konad Stamping system for nail art, Lisa Lam's Bag Making Bible and a cute little Cath Kidson make up bag (to store the Konad stuff) and my sister bought me a huge set of nail art striping polishes which she 'wrapped' in the cutest Cath Kidson gift bag - yum!

 

After receiving all my fabulous gifts and being overwhelmed at the birthday messages I received on Facebook we went to the China Fleet Club who were holding a family day in celebration of their 20th Anniversary.  I have to say it was very nice of them to hold a party for me and even nicer of them to put my age as 20 on the balloons ;).  It was a wonderful day sitting in a field in the blazing sunshine drinking a few beers and eating a bbq (well £2.50 a ticket is hardly worth mentioning).  There was a DJ blasting out music and plenty of entertainment for the kids in the form of face painting, balloon making, bouncy castles and sports activities.

 

On Sunday we just had a nice lazy day (if you can call doing piles of ironing and washing lazy!).  It's a shame Mark has to away to work every week but it makes seeing him at the weekends even more special (and now he will tell me off for being soppy in public!).

What we did over the Easter holidays

During my Virgin (Crappy) Internet break from blogging and the Easter holidays here is what we did - in pictures.

Charlotte had a birthday.

I had a craft room sort out and created more mess than I started with!

We went to stay in a caravan at Challaborough and spent loads of time at the beach.

I started to teach myself how to draw again.

Amy blew a lot of bubbles (straight from her bed and in her pajamas!)

Ben and Charlotte went for a long walk with Daddy on Dartmoor!

Had an Easter Egg Hunt at Nanny's house.

and generally had loads of fun and grubby faces!

 

I think it may have been the best Easter ever!

Royal Wedding Fever

William and Kate have got a lot to answer for!  Ben and Charlotte have got a street party at school today (and the carpark looks great with all the union jack bunting around it!) but they also had to wear red white and blue.  A few years ago I was going to make Charlotte a 'Geri Halliwell' dress for a school event (dress up from the 90's) but the union jack tea-towels I ordered to make it didn't arrive on time and instead she dressed up as Madonna. I was on the phone to Mark the other night bemoaning the fact that the kids didn't have red, white and blue clothes to wear when he suggested the tea towels!  I had forgotton so with only one day to go I decided to make the dress for Charlotte.  I recently saw a tutorial at Little Birdie Secrets for a faux tie so with that in my head (and, as I said, with only a day to do it!) I got out of bed yesterday on a mission :)

I didn't have a pattern for the dress and I wasn't happy about just sewing the tea towels together and winging it, so the dress is a proper shift dress with a slit down the back and button fastening.  I am very happy with my attempt, it is even lined!  I traced the neckline and armhole size and positioning from a top that I know fits Charlotte but as I was working on it all day I was worried it wasn't going to fit (she was at school) but it is absolutely perfect.

Ben loves his tie and it took quite a bit of my addled brain to position the pattern to ensure the front would definitely look like it was part of a union jack and not just some red white and blue stripes.  It also turned out just as I imagined.  So happy.

Sorry for the lack of blog posts recently but we have obviously had the Easter holidays so that meant we went to the caravan at Challaborough where we have very limited internet connection (and the phone signal is zero!).  When we came home Virgin internet was down for a few days and ever since I am having terrible trouble getting on the internet - I am hoping I don't lose this post before it publishes - eeek!

I will be back soon with some pictures from the kids Easter Egg Hunt at Nanny's and some creative stuff that I have been doing (I got some Caran d'ache watersoluble pastels and some Liquidex Acrylic Ink yesterday and I am in love with them).

Enjoy the Royal Wedding, Ben and Charlotte will be wearing their outfits on the day and I really can't wait!

Ben is 9!

I have just realized that I didn't blog about Ben's birthday.

Well, he is 9 now and Oh My Goodness, when did he get so big?  He was a very happy little boy on his birthday because he got a PSP and tons of games amongst other things.  He loved the Angry Bird that I made for him but mostly he was excited about the games and the cake.

 
It is the first time I have made a birthday cake for one of the children's birthdays because they usually see one in Tesco's or somewhere else that they want with a character on.  This year Ben chose his own again but he wanted a Hummingbird cake so, despite having never made one before that is what he got and I have to say it was a brilliant choice because it tasted lovely.

This cake is a lot like carrot cake but instead of using carrot it uses banana's, crushed pineapple and pecan nuts (or walnuts) all slathered in cream cheese frosting and a dusting of cinnamon.

I printed out a little circle with a Doctor Who image and attached to a lollipop stick to personalise the cake.