New year, new.......

Well, not a lot to be honest!

We saw in the New Year at home, as usual.  We let the boys stay up as late as they could.  Sebastian made it till 9, Isaac was just before 10, and Oliver 12.05

Here he is with some sprite to toast in the New Year.  The boys went back to school on the 6th January.  Man, was I glad to get my me time back.  That probably makes me sound selfish, but it keeps me sane.  

This semester the boys are doing after school club.  Oliver is doing remote control car club, and Isaac is doing science club.  Luckily for me, they both fall on the same day.  Daddy should be able to pick them up also, which is a brucey.

Oliver has now begun his games in Basketball.  He is doing ok, spends about a 1/4 of his time on the bench, but at least that way he is learning as he watches.  He has decided he does not want to do baseball this spring.  That is fine by us, he seems to have lost interest in all sports apart from football (soccer).  Both him and Isaac want to do soccer camp this summer, fine. 

January is a dry month in this house.  Both Paul and I over did it over the holiday season, so no alcohol this month.  I did it last year, and found it ok.  This year I am doing it again, and enjoying it even more.  Not sure why, could be cos Paul is doing it with me, or could be because I am trying to raise money for Cancer Research UK.  Check out my Justgiving page here.  Still no sponsors yet, but hopefully someone will by the end of the month!!!!

I have been spending my evenings playing with my sewing machine and iron.  Exciting, I know.  I have made a couple of envelope pillows (tutorial here).  They are awesome.  I used some small pillows we purchased at Ikea as the insides.  These are only $1.49 each, so are very cheap.  Shame the don't deliver, might have to take a trip back there....  I am educating myself with the help of Pinterest, and I can already see my skills improving.  

I am thoroughly enjoying sewing, and crafting generally.  Which brings me to a point about my blog. At the moment, it is a blog about expat life style, but I may start putting more crafting stuff up.  Does any one take issue with this?  Is there anything people would like to see me make?  I have in my head to make a quilt out of the boys old clothing.  I bought a fair few supplies this morning.  I tend to pick up most of my material as remnants.  Jo-ann Fabrics are currently doing 75% off their remnants section.  Needless to say, I went a bit crazy this morning!  I think I am nearly at the stage to begin the quilt.  I also have a few other things in mind.  So watch this space.....

With regards to traveling, we have booked our first vacation of this year.  Spring Break will be at Kure Beach, near Wilmington, NC.  We have a house right on the beach, which we got for a bargain price.  Because of this we are going for a full week.  I am so looking forward to being able to see the sea again.  There is plenty to do in the area if the weather isn't great.  Plus it comes with usage of an indoor pool.  That should tire the chimps out nicely.....

Think that is about all.  Boys are doing good, I am good, Paul is good.  Its Sebastian's birthday on Monday, can't believe he is going to be 4.....

New Years and Old Friends

We headed back to the Goslings for New Years Eve.  We arrived early afternoon to give the boys a chance to spend some quality time with nanny and granddad.  They began with some Xbox.  Here is Sebastian trying out Granddads steering wheel.

Then it was on to making dinner. Granddad had spent the time before we arrived beginning to make dinner.  Now he just needed an Isaac to help make the pasta.  He had great fun flattening it in Granddads pasta maker.  He also helped in laying it out to dry.

Typical Isaac.  As soon as his dinner was in front of him, he didn't want it.  Oliver loved it though. Uncle Tony arrived, and we ate our delicious pasta dinner.  We packed the boys off to bed a little later than usual, and got down to the serious duty of drinking.  We skyped with Jenny and Tariq a little before midnight to wish all a happy new year.  We toasted the new year, the the drinking got a little messy with too many shots.....

We travelled to my mums the next day, feeling a little worse for wear.  We had a Papa Johns for dinner, perfect, as it was buy one get one free on the pizzas.  Plus Isaac got his chicken pops which meant he actually ate something.  We chose to spend the night as my mums, as it was Granddad Lees birthday the next day.  He had to get up for work unfortunately.  Luckily for us he did not wake the boys, and they slept till nearly 8.

We spent a leisurely morning at my mums, drinking coffee, while the boys had too much computer time,again.  We had plans to go to our friends the Tatums that afternoon.  Paul Tatum is Paul's oldest friend, they have known each other for nearly 30 years.  Lucky for us, they live a 5 minute drive from my mum, so we headed there just before lunch.  They have recently had an extension done to their house, and it is amazing.  They have doubled the size of their kitchen/dining area, and added a playroom.  The boys were all pleased to see each other.  They have 2 boys, their oldest being a year younger than Oliver and their youngest 6 days older than Isaac.  Ethan (the youngest) made me laugh before I had even entered the house, by doing a typical Isaac gesture of a shrug, with a 'I don't know'

We had a lovely night.  The boys all ate their dinners and went to bed with no issues.  As part of their extension, the Tatums have made their loft room more accessible.  It is a large room with more than enough space for a double bed, a double air bed and a travel cot.  Once the boys were in bed we had a few drinks, lots of chats, and bored them to death with our photos.  We were very lucky. As the loft has black out blinds, our boys slept till 8am.  We had a delicious breakfast, and the kids played some more while we continued catching up.

We left shortly after 10, and headed back to my mums to say a final goodbye and have some lunch before going back to my dads to pack.  We were quite methodical in this, Paul broke up the lego while I spread the clothes and presents around the 5 suitcases.  Granddad kept an eye on the boys while we did this.  It only took a couple of hours to get our selves packed and ready.  Paul and dad headed out to get our dinner of fish and chips, it was delicious.  We got the boys of to bed at a reasonable time of 7.30 for the younger 2 (they were me than ready, Sebastian pretty much asked to go to bed) and 8 for Oliver.  We headed up at 11, after watching the beginning of Celebrity Big Brother.  Good job we are still not in the UK, or I would be watching it......

The alarms were set ready for the off in the morning.......