Photos

It's been a busy week and first week of the school holidays. We've had lots of friends visiting, Ethan has spent time at his Nan and Grandad's and had a sleep over at my friend Jane's house - he had such good fun with her children.
As you can see John has been busy with the bathroom and the shower is now working. It's so nice to have a proper shower, something we haven't had since we've been in this house - 11 months!









John also moved the old cast iron bath from the spare room to the garage. As you can see he needed some help and it wasn't that easy getting it down the stairs. Ethan helped though and was giving instructions as to which way they needed to go. They did it though and we now have damaged carpet and stair banister as a result!!!

Here are some recent layouts, I did these a week or two ago and the photos are from June 2006 when we had the paddling pool out. The first one is of Ethan, John and my Dad having fun in the paddling pool and the second one is of Ethan when he fell to sleep whilst playing in the dingy!

Shopping

Well its been another busy weekend and I'm not sure where the times gone. I was up VERY early on Saturday morning for the Next sale and managed to get a few bargains. I have also been back to two different Next's to get bits for John as he really needed some new clothes and some of the bits I got Saturday morning didn't fit. I got myself a few bits and some things for the kitchen and presents for Christmas - I know it's early but with going to America in the middle of December and not coming back till January I need to be extra organised.

Ethan went dancing on Saturday morning as usual then we went to Jane's after. Had a lovely time at Jane's and Ethan had a fab time playing outside with her children. As we were about to leave to sky went black and it chucked it down with rain so we waited till it had stopped, we really needed that rain.

Today has been a lovely day and we went out to Cyril's Nut Hut (a local soft play area) with Katy, Olivia, Louise and Phoebe. The children had a great time playing together and running around. It was also great to "catch up" with Katy, it must have been about four months since we last did this but seemed like yesterday! It is also Louise's birthday tomorrow and Ethan gave her, her present which she seemed to like - Barbie walkie talkies.

John has been busy with the bathroom and unfortunately didn't quite get the shower up and running. It only needs connecting up and the shower hose rail putting up but it has taken him all afternoon just to drill nine holes through porcelain tiles to attach the shower and shower cubicle frame! So he has done the sealant so it can dry over night and will get it connected and the rail up as soon as he can.

Will take some photos of the bathroom tomorrow and post and also some photos of recent layouts.

Last day at nursery

It was Ethan's last day at nursery today before he starts school. I went to help and it has been such a lovely morning. The teacher did a little party for all the children as it was her last day in the nursery as she is going to teach the year 1 children from September. All the children made their own sandwiches, party hat and placemat before going out into the playground for a run around. We then went onto the field and had the party food and of course Ethan ate very well - sandwich, crisps, cake biscuits etc.

Once back in the classroom all the children that were leaving sat on chairs at the front and one by one had the leaving song sung to them and blew the candles out on the cake. Ethan gave his teacher her present - I decorated the mini lunch tin then Ethan chose a mini photo frame, 2 candles and a candle holder to go in the tin. Ethan's other teacher was off sick so we have had to leave that for his other teacher to give to her.














Our boiler has broke again this morning so they will be coming out again on Monday to sort it out, we thought it would go again and we were right! If all goes to plan we will have our new electric shower in and working by Sunday. It was delivered today along with the towel radiator and we only ordered them yesterday (Thursday) morning. I'm so pleased with the shower as I really wanted a stainless steel/chrome finish and all we could was a silver plastic finish. I thought that was what this one was going to be like from the photo but it was such a good price we decided to go for it. I've just opened the box and it is the stainless steel/chrome finish I wanted and looks fab, not cheap like some of the others.

Ethan had his last visit at school this week and again had a lovely time. So it'll be full time in September and he'll have to get used to wearing a uniform, staying all day and having lunch at school.

Lovely day

Had a great day today and another lovely sunny day.

I went shopping with Ethan to get some more of his school uniform. I got him some trousers, t-shirts and shorts from John Lewis, they were all such a good price - £10 for them all. I also got him some new trainers as his others had started to come apart and his feet had grown. JohnLewiss had a sale so managed to get some Reebok trainers half price so he now has decent trainers for dancing.

John was doing a 10k run today in Newark. It was really hot but he had fun and did the run in a pretty good time.

Ethan has had a lovely afternoon in the paddling pool and got his new dingy and rubber ring in too. I went in for a little while (paddling) and Ethan had me playing a ball game that got me wet!!!! Here he is chilling out in the paddling pool and cooling off with an ice lolly.

Boiler troubles

Well the boiler got fixed on Thursday and it was great. We were able to use the bath and have hot water to wash our hands etc. That all changed Friday morning when John got up to run the bath before work - no hot water. The boiler has broke again and the company couldn't come out on Friday to look at it again. They are supposed to be coming tomorrow and I do hope they manage to sort it as I'm really getting fed up with it now - I want to wash in my own home instead of having to go to my parents!

On Friday I helped out at Ethan's nursery, I've been wanting to help for a while but there has always been something happening on my days off. Ethan loves me going into help and did some lovely drawings and writing on Friday. He also get a super star for doing so well with his bear words so he was very proud of himself as we were of him.

Also on Friday I did a little shopping after my hygienist appointment at the dentist. I needed some bits for Ethan's teachers as it's his last day on Friday in nursery. When John got home we enjoyed a fish and chip tea which was lovely and we hadn't had them in ages.

Yesterday was such a busy day but lots of fun. Before dancing I nipped to the hairdresser to get my fringe trimmed as it was really started to get on my nerves and in my eyes. Whilst I was there I booked an appointment for two weeks time to get my hair cut and highlighted. I've never had anything done to my hair apart from cut so this is quite a big step. Then Ethan went dancing and he had a private lesson too, his dance teacher added quite a few new moves to his dance so he has lots to practice.

We then went to visit some friends as it was their younger sons 6th birthday. Ethan had a lovely time playing with him and his older brother on the 12 ft trampoline he got for his birthday. After we went to Jane's and had lunch there and I spent the afternoon chatting with Jane whilst Ethan played with her children. He had a lovely time as he doesn't get to see them much anymore as they are at school.

In the evening we went out for a meal with my Grandma and Grandad. It was their treat to say thank you for taking and picking them up from the airport. They bought Ethan a few presents from America, a t-shirt of a skateboader who was coloured in like the American flag and a little magnetic game. The meal was lovely and Ethan ate every last bit of his pizza, chips, peas and then ice cream.

Busy, busy.

Life is so busy at the moment with the end of the summer term approaching. Ethan had his second school visit on Tuesday morning and again seemed to really enjoy it. Whilst the children were visiting there was a meeting for the parents. The school nurse came, a dinner lady, school secretary , one of the school governors and the headteacher. They all talked about various things like dinner money, school uniform, health checks etc and we were also given an introduction pack with all the information in. Ethan's teacher then spoke to us just to let us know how things would work the first day and that there would be a further meeting with her the second week back at term.

Yesterday was sports day and Ethan was fab winning bath his races, he tried really hard and was very pleased with himself. The school don't give out places, everyone gets a sticker for taking part which is a great way of doing it and all the children seemed to have fun. Here is Ethan finishing the hat and scarf race - he had to run, put a hat on, run a little more, put a scarf on then run to the finish line. He also did a running race but I only managed to video that race - Ethan loves watching the video back of him and his friends running.



The boiler is still not fixed so I am waiting for a guy to come out from the manufactures today to hopefully sort it out. I really want to be able to have a bath in my own house instead of going round to my Mum and Dad's, it's so inconvenient.

Managed to do a layout last night and just got to finish it off. It's not gone quite as I thought it would but it's another layout to go in Ethan's 2-4 year album.

Weekend

Ethan was back at dancing on Saturday after missing last week with being away. Unfortunately his private lesson was cancelled as his dance teacher wasn't well so he was a little disappointed.

I then took Ethan to his Nan and Grandad's whilst John did some work on the bathroom and I went to the Hobbyhorse crop. Managed to complete two layouts one of which was for Ethan's 2-4 year album that I'm trying to finish.

Today we have been looking at cars. We're thinking that now John is going to be promoted that we would upgrade my car. We have not definitely decided that is what we are going to do as I have a perfectly decent 3 year old car at the moment. If all goes to plan though we are thinking of getting a Meriva. I really like the look of this as it would be a great family car and something we wouldn't grow out of. It has some great features but is a lot bigger than I'm used to driving - I really like smaller cars. We are going to test drive one at some point if we decide to go a head and upgrade.

We have spent the afternoon in the garden planting and tiding it up. Things had become quite over grown and weeds popping up everywhere. It is looking a lot better now and the strawberry patch is growing bigger by the day with all the runners from the main plants.

Although we now have a working bath we can't use it as the boiler as packed up and we have no hot water - back to showers at my Mum and Dad's! Hoping to get it sorted in the next few days but will depend how busy the guy who does all our heating stuff for us is.

Taking shape

The bathroom is really taking shape now and John has managed to get the bath in place and shower tray in and plumbed too. The aim now is to get the shower area tiled and the doors and shower in by the end of next weekend. Then the rest of the tiling will be done and all the other little jobs.

I picked my Grandma and Grandad up from the airport this morning. The plane was on time and they arrived out about 30 minutes later after collecting their luggage. They've had a great time and look really well.

Tonight we decided to go out for dinner at TGI Friday's. I had a buy one get one free voucher so it made the meal realy cheap. I had an ultimate chicken burger, John had a Fajita and Ethan had a cheeseburger. It was a lovely meal and really nice to go out together, we even saw the fire engine that we've hired for Ethan's birthday party so he was very excited.

I have a toilet that works!

The toilet is in and working, I'd almost forgot what is was like having a toilet and having one that flushed!!! John has also got the fittings on the bath too which took him quite a while, that will be plumbed in the morning. Hopefully the sink will go in tomorrow too then we can start getting the tiles on around the bath. After that it will be the rest of the tiles, shower cubicle then lots of finishing off.




And here it is, just taken this photo in the dark as we have no lighting in the bathroom - can't say I've ever taken a photo of a toilet before!




I have my car back too and it's all fixed. The garage have been great and JUST managed to get it sorted today so I have it for my airport run in the morning. My Grandma and Grandad are now on their way back and hopefully the plane won't be delayed.

How cute.

My Artbase order arrived yesterday with the page protectors I needed to put Ethan's 2-4 year album together. Last night I put all the layouts that weren't in page protectors in them and left spaces for the few layouts that needed doing. I'm just uploading the photos that I need to complete this album to Photobox so I can do some of the layouts at the weekend when I go to the Hobbyhorse crop. It has been great to look at old photos of Ethan when he was a toddler and still has the cute baby face, here is one of them.

Bathroom photos from yesterday

This is where the bath and sink will go - bath to the left along the wall and sink to the right under the window.





This is where the shower cubicle will be in the corner and the toilet will be to the right, in between the shower and bath.












John is just doing the pipe work for the toilet and bath so they will be connected by the end of the day.

I took my car into the garage and they have it now till the end of the day or tomorrow as the part didn't arrive. It will take a little longer to fit than they first thought but at least I will have it by tomorrow. Unfortunately though if it isn't finished today I'll have to drive John's car to pick my Grandma and Grandad up from the airport. I really don't like driving his car and it's almost impossible to open so he's been giving me lessons!!!

Still no toilet!

Here is a photo of the tile boarder we have chosen. The darker colour is what we are having on the floor and lighter colour is what we are having on the walls - the tiles will be 30cm x 30cm.

Well John tried his best but just couldn't get the toilet in and working tonight. He has done loads today and all the pipe work outside is done and looks great. The plasterer has finished and done a fantastic job and now the walls are ready for painting and tiling. John is going to get the toilet sorted tomorrow morning and then probably try and put the bath in. It would be great if both were done tomorrow and in use.

I took my car into the garage this morning and it needs a new part, it's some sort of ball and socket joint that does the linkage for the gears. The part costs £82 trade price and has been ordered and will have arrived today. It should only take about 30 minutes to fit, I'm just so thankful we know the guy who runs the garage as we'll never get ripped off and always get a good job done. It will then be time for a long over due service in the next few weeks so it's going to be an expensive month.

After getting back from sorting the car out I went for coffee at a friends house. It was great to chill out and have a chat. Just before we were leaving to collect the children from nursery it started to chuck it down with rain so I picked up her little girl as she has a baby.

This afternoon Ethan had his first school visit and his new teacher seems lovely. It went really well and he seemed to really enjoy it. I stayed for a little while and they had one of the classrooms for the parents so they could get a drink. We could also speak with the head if we wanted and ask her any questions - she is such a lovely head teacher. After checking that Ethan was ok I went home along with most of the other parents and came back to fetch him later on. He had made a bookmark and was very intrigued that his teacher is getting married over the school holidays and will have a different name. We've had lots of questions this afternoon on why people get married and who gets married.

Lisa

Another hot day

Work is so unbearable in this heat, it has been about 34C in our room at work! I have booked tomorrow off because of the heat and it's a really busy week too especially with picking my Grandma and Grandad up from the airport early on Friday. My car is also playing up and I was unable to do some visits at work this afternoon as I really thought it was going to give in on me. I think it probably needs a new gear stick and I'm not surprised after all the miles it's. It's only 3 years old but I've really worked it to the ground!

The plasterer has started on the bathroom and the ceiling is done and he did the preparation work for the walls today. Tomorrow when he comes back he will skim all the walls and John is going to get the outside pipe work done for the toilet whilst the he is here. Then in the afternoon when the plasterer has gone John is going to try his very best to get the toilet in and fully working.

We have just got back from B&Q to get some bits ready for all the work later in the week. It's amazing how little things add up, we just got tile spaces, a few pipe bits, tile trims and bath trims and it came to just under £60. We need to go back for a few other bits including the grout, paint and coving but at least we have most of the bits. We had a look at showers whilst we were there, I'm not impressed at all but I think we have decided on the sort of shower we are going to go for.

We are trying to decide how to do the tile boarder in the bathroom. The original plan was to take the wall tiles up to window level then do a boarder there. We are still going to do this but have decided it would be nice to have another boarder but we can't decide where to put it. It will either be at the bottom of the tiles on the wall or as a boarder around the floor tiles. Both are going to cause us problems, if we do it at the bottom of the wall tiles then the other boarder will be just under or just over window sill level so that wouldn't look as good as if it were level. If we do the boarder around the floor tiles then we have to decide whether we take it round the bath and shower cubicle. They shower cubicle is curved to it would be so difficult to do and involve lots of complex tile cutting but we're not sure if it will look right just around the edges of the wall - so not to take it round the bath and shower cubicle - too many decisions to make!!!

Yesterday evening we got an email from British Airways and they have cancelled our return flight from America. They have rebooked us on a slightly later flight and we leave and arrive from the same airports so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Instead of arriving home on Wednesday night we will now arrive in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Just about to sit down for a takeaway and watch a bit of the football before Big Brother's on. Was going to do some scrapbooking tonight but really feel like relaxing.

Without a bathroom

As you can see my bathroom now consists of floorboards and plaster board! The plasterer comes tomorrow to start work and John is going to get preparation work done to get the toilet fitted. It will probably be Wednesday though before we have the toilet fitted and ready to use. Luckily my Mum and Dad are away so we are able to use their bathroom this week.

This morning John went to pick up the tiles we had chosen yesterday apart from most of the boarders as they are on order. We didn't choose the tiles we had originally seen as we saw these others when we went in and they are porcelain so harder wearing. The floor tiles are a lot darker from what we were going to have but I'm really pleased we saw these as I think they'll look a lot nicer. We were going to have two different neutral shades, one on the floor and the other on the walls.

John picked up the shower cubicle tonight so hopefully that will be fitted soon. There is just so much to do that it's hard to see what order and when things are going to get done. Putting the tiles down will be a big job but at least the walls will be completely smooth from having it plastered. I wanted the boarder of the tiles to come to the bottom of the window but it looks like we may have to go 10cm under or above it or we'll be cutting tiles up and I don't think it will look as good - so hard to imagine what it will look like either way and make these decisions.

Just need to choose a shower now which is easier said than done as I can't have what I want. I really wanted a "trendy" stainless steel shower head etc but because of our heating system we have to have an electric shower. There is not much choice and they are either white or chrome and some of those look a bit "cheap". Will have to do some shopping around and see if I can find something and quick. Also need to choose a paint colour for the top half of the walls and I have no idea what colour to go for so that'll be fun too!

Some layouts

Here are some of the layouts that I did whilst I was away:

Just need to finish the journalling on this one as I didn't have the pen I wanted to use with me.

Been away for a few days

Sorry I've not been around, I've been away at my Mum and Dad's caravan since Wednesday and didn't get chance to post before I went.

After finishing work on Wednesday I came home, finished packing and we were off - me, Ethan and my sister, stopping off for a few bits and a Subway first. We met my Mum and Dad at the caravan although my Dad then came home as he had work for the rest of the week.


On Thursday we went into Skegness to do a bit of shopping and we had lunch their too which was really nice. On the way back to the caravan we went strawberry picking which was lovely and we picked loads - Ethan loves strawberry picking and eating them after! In the evening we went out for an hour so Ethan could go on a few of the rides and we won some England things which Ethan was really excited about.

We had a lovely walk to Fantasy Island on Friday and had a walk around the market there. There is also a new little complex with some shops etc so we had a look round there too - every year there are changes and new buildings and caravan sites popping up. Ethan and my sister went on one of the rides in Fantasy Island which Ethan had been looking for and kept asking - "when am I going to go on a ride." We then had a lovely walk back along the beach and chilled out at the caravan for the rest of the day. In the evening John and Dad joined us and bought fish and chips with them.

Saturday was such a great day and we had a lovely walk to the boating lake and went on the motor boats and slide. As you can see form the photos Ethan loved it especially racing me, my sister and my Mum. We then had a walk to Chapel along the beach and had an all day breakfast for lunch and went in a few of the shops there. In the evening me and John went for a meal which was really nice.

Sunday was mainly spent getting ready to go home and packing. We did manage to go strawberry picking again but took John and Dad with us this time. It was then time to go as we needed to be back in Nottingham to order the bathroom tiles before the shop closed.

Over the few days we were there I managed to get 6 layouts done, I'm really pleased with them especially considering the amount of stash I was able to take with me - not much!!!