Miss K's 1D party

I am about to repeat my usual words. 

Where does the time go?? 

How can my baby girl be 7 already??

Although her birthday wasn't until Monday, we held her party on the Saturday before.

Miss K invited 11 friends and it was a lovely wee party, with a lovely wee group of girls. 

This year there was absolutely no question over the theme for K's party.

It was of course One Direction.

We held the party at my parent's house, they have a fabulous big dining room that was a perfect size.

They were a great help in setting up and allowed me to Sellotape, blue tac and pin things to their NEWLY PAINTED walls and ceiling. They are good people :-)

Miss K was very excited to be allowed to help Lor Lor finish off the cake :-)

Granny Mary helping me tie up the party bags.

There's nothing like a bit of last minute party prep ;-)

I made a little Polka dot Sweetheart accessorie for her hair (of course ;-)

And our lucky girl was given a gorgeous pettiskirt and sparkly shoes from her Aunt Sarah for the big party.

I love this skirt, so frothy and girly and fun.

I made a 1D top to finish off the outfit and our party girl was all ready to receive her guests.

We are so lucky to have a fabulous (and generous!!) cake maker in our family.

I was so pleased with how the room came together. It's so nice to see the vision that has been in my head come to life , right in front of me.

The best parents in the world.

Miss K dancin' with her Daddy.

Girly parties are such sparkly fun!

We played lots of party games, ate lots of yummy party food and we made some beaded bag charms to take home :-)

Baby girl you light up our world.

I hope your party was everything you dreamed of

xxxx

Thank you to Lor Lor for being the party photographer xxx

Into spring.

Our weekends are so precious right now. I am working full time hours (yucky!!) so every moment at the weekend counts.

Fraser is spending more and more time in his room, or spending time with his best friend or just doing his own thing. Family walks are not really his cup of tea these days. So now, we are often a wee team of three as we head out to make our weekend memories.

These photos were actually taken in February. It has taken me so long to get these on here...did I mention that I am working FULL TIME??!!

(everyone has to be sick of hearing me say this by now! But it is all consuming for me!)

It was such a warm and beautiful spring-like day. Ironically, since March has come around - we have had a fair bit of snow and cold weather! crazy.

I would love to have my own private steps that lead straight onto the beach. And a driftwood gate? That is just perfection.

I never tire of seeing treasures in little hands.

These hands are no longer tiny, but they still fit into mine in the most perfect of ways.

When I am permitted to hold them........

Through even the busiest of times, we must carve out these moments of togetherness, where we are relaxed and free to just be.

And with happy hearts we move on into spring.

Eek!

I can't believe I am sitting typing this on

OUR NEW IPAD!!!

So excited :-)

first weigh in..... and some other randoms

and I lost 2lbs! yay! I'm sure it would havebeen better had I managed to get my head round the plan and also hadnt been yoghurts that I thought were free and actually had one or 2 syns in there.

Never mind! Onwards and downwards!  I feel better already and healthier and I filled in my gym application form today! And I am so excited to get the started  :-)

My new job is going great and I get every Monday off. Murray and I both got to have a day off today, together! :-) He even took me out for lunch. I forgot how awesome it was to have an actual date! Instead of a couch date like we usually have. He is now in the kitchen cooking up a yummy slimming world curry and some areebee for another night. Recipes and pics will follow , just in case anyone out there might be interested. If not, it is always good to have back up copies of recipes ;-)

The weather is just crazy this week! it has pretty much snowed and hailed constantly for almost a week! But we are yet to trudge through any fabby snow, it all just melts on impact. But very pretty and freezing to walk through (in a crazy , stormy, feels like stones crashing off your face- kind of way :-)) K and I have been curled up on the couch all afternoon with hot water bottles and cozy quilts.

My creativity seems to be on holiday at the moment, which is a pity seeing as I have 4 quilts to finish! I am hoping a good old clean up in the craft zone will help. I did make a new outfit for miss Emmy and I am so very pleased with it!

And this random blog post will show that I also seem to be a bit rusty at this too!

I'm off to eat another orange, I've had one already and it was very yummy. It is no substitute for chocolate but seeing as I have used my syns for today already (on garlic bread and naan bread!) I can't actually have any chocolate. But I will be having a chocolate bar tomorrow! for sure! X

So far so good

It's going well so far :-) I made a menu plan on Sunday night and it has worked out great! We have enjoyed some yummy meals this week and I am going to share links and pics so everyone else can enjoy them too! I'm generous like that :-)

 I am in the - this is so easy why have I not being doing it all along phase!
It wont last.
OR it might! Positivity LeeAnn!

 Maybe this is the time that I am actually ready to stick to it! I am crazy enthusiastic about soup and cous cous! lol So that HAS to be a good thing, right?

The cous cous I have enjoyed the most was this stuff

Aldi lemon and coriander cous cous with tomato, cucumber and spring onion chopped up through it. Yummy! I added feta cheese the first time and it was too much for me. I prefer it with just the veggies. I ate this for lunch two days in a row and it was great. I always need good alternatives to bread when on slimming world.

Pinterest has been amazing for me , so far. So many yummy recipes at the click of a button! This dish is

 Ginger and garlic prawn stir fry with noodles

So yummy. So so yummy! The only thing I changed was to marinade the prawns in the sauce as I prepared and cooked everything else. Delicious! AND totally syn free! I made more in the evening and ate it for lunch the next day. This will definitely be on our menus many many weeks I think!

Tonight I made this.

Garlicky prawn and pea risotto

This was yummy too, I ate mine with a large side of steam fresh veg. It was very filling and I couldn't eat it all

And these little lovelies are going to be my life line. 3 syns each or two bars as a B choice healthy extra. They are yummy and chocolaty and filling enough to warrant using a healthy extra for but yummy enough to seem like a treat. Very good.

So thats it so far, thankfully as I am typing this I was chatting with Lor Lor and she enlightens me to the fact I have actually been doing something wrong all week! Holy smokes! Hopefully I will still lose weight and thank goodness I found out now! Oops!  No wonder it has been so easy this week :-)

Tomorrow we are having a lovely lazy, cosy home day. DVDs, family time and maybe catch up on some laundry.

It has also been snowing all day but not lying at all, so its perfect weather for snuggling.

Happy Friday everyone xx

A new old venture

Tomorrow morning I am starting back at Slimming world.
To lose the same weight that I have lost countless times before.
BUT I am still hopeful that this time I willl reach target and above all else I am looking forward to being healthier and having more energy.

I have pinned lots of exciting recipes and made my menu plan for the week.
I am excited this time and I am not nervous! Which is a good sign.

So watch this space for updates and some of my favourite recipes and hopefully some updated pictures of my success!

Positivity is my word for 2013 :-) that is what is going to help me succeed

I love this pic of me and KP from our party on New Years eve but it is still going ot be my "before" pic as it is the most recent full ish body pic :-)

Be positive!