Birthday girl!

Saturday 11th February 2012 - was Mum's 65th birthday and I'd arranged a very big treat for her to celebrate this milestone..

I went and picked her up Saturday morning and brought her back to our house for pressies, a wonderful large cupcake made by my good friend Charmaine and to see the kids..

Mum and I then set off on the train up to London...

 After various clues she guessed that we were going for afternoon tea at the Ritz!

I'd had the booking made for over a year and it was def. worth it

The sandwiches really did have all the crusts cut off...

The cakes kept on being replaced..

 

and then there were fresh warm scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam...

 and then one of the waiter's brought out Mum's birthday cake!

We just couldn't eat any more so they kindly boxed up the cake to take home.

Mum said she'd had a really good time.  I'm thinking a double page scrapbook layout coming up..

Tudors

The last few weeks have seen Alex working hard on his Tudor's project for school and on Friday he had to present his work to the rest of his class.

He'd chosen to focus on one person from the era - namely Sir Francis Drake and had worked hard on his powerpoint presentation which was full of information on him and what he was famous for (first Englishman to sail around the world) etc etc.  He also made, and painted a boat - representing the "Golden Hind", Sir Francis Drake's ship.

I was thrilled for him when he came home and told me he'd come 4th in his class - voted for by his classmates!!!!

So proud of you little man.

Guilty or not?!?!

Well week one was interesting...

After finally being chosen for Jury service on Tuesday I had a 4 day ABH case to contemplate.  Whilst I thought the guy was clearly guilty, my fellow jurors thought that he had acted in self defence so a "not guilty" verdict had to be returned.  And by me as I'd somehow been elected foreman!

Week 2 saw me sitting on a theft case, but after a day of hearing evidence, the judge directed us to find him "not guilty" too as he felt that the police had not investigated certain allegations thoroughly..

It was an interesting two weeks and I'd be happy to sit again.

yes Your Honour.....

I was just sooooooooooooo excited today - I was scheduled to start my first ever jury service this morning at Southend Magaistrate Courts!

I had to be there for 9am, so after much organisation, the boys went to school via the walking bus (thanks Heather)! and Mum came and met me at the Courts to take Cassandra off for the day.

There were 15 of us that had been summond to attend, and we were all waiting to be selected, but at 10.30am we were "released" for an hour to go and have a cuppa.  A few of us ventured next door to the cafe at at the Civic Centre for a late breakfast.

Back again and hanging around only to be "released" at 12.30 for an early lunch, told to come back at 2pm.

This we all did but at 3.20pm we were all "dismissed" for the day by the Judge and told to come back tomorrow :(

I knew I'd have some waiting, but 6 1/2 hours of just sitting around and not to have even been selected is disappointing.  A total waste of a day - there was just soooooooooo much I could of got done.  Saying that I did spend a couple of hours studying for my next Psychology OU TMA.

Still, there is always tomorrow...

Scrap attack!

I'm actually managing to keep to my New Year's resolution so far this year in that I'm making time to scrapbook.

I spent most of the day at Eastwood Scrappers on Saturday and although I only got 3 layouts completed, I'm very, very pleased with them...

This is one of my all time favourite layout's that I've ever done, as it was all my own - no kit!  I also very rarely scrap layouts of just myself, but I'd just had my hair cut and highlighted in this photo and felt the need for it to be scrapped..

After reading up on different ways of taking photos for scrapbooking, instead of taking a picture of Cassie, I just took a photo of her feet showing her first ever shoes...

I love this photo of the boys taken whilst we were away in the Forest of Dean in 2010.  It shows that sometimes they do love each other!

Birthday boy....

I just can't fathom where the time has gone...  Nicholas was 6 last week... how the hell did that happen!?!?!?

I finally gave in and said that Nicholas could have his DS - a year earlier than Alex, but what do you do when the younger one is as good as the older one?!

Nicholas was in stitches over his card...

Love this pic of our two boys...

Nannie of course came over after school with lots of pressies...

And when Lee got home and Uncle Tony & Christine came over after school, a football cake

was in order for the birthday boy!

Saturday morning saw Nana and Grandad bringing over the photo picture they had had done of our little "Gunner" as one of his birthday pressie's along with his BigTrack!

Then, came the much talked about "football party" ...

The Butler family just had to support our "team"

Nicholas got a bit of practice in before everyone turned up...

As did Cassie!

 Everyone knows you have to warm up first..

 And then pick your end..

 With your fellow team mates..

 And try to get dressed...

Nicholas had a fabby afternoon

As did all those that came along and helped him celebrate turning a big 6!

Oh, and don't forget all the food and CAKE!!

Love you loads Nicholas. xx

And we're off!

Last Monday I signed up my first new Avon team member for 2012!!!

I'm on a mission this year to increase my team and my sales as not only do I want to achieve President's Club status, but more importantly, I want to use my commission to take the kids (that includes Lee) to Lapland to meet Father Christmas this year.

So, I have availability for new team members! If you or anyone you know would like to earn some extra cash - working hours to suit you & around the kids, then please let me know! 

I offer a £5 spend in the Avon book with me to anyone who recommends a possible rep, that once signed up, places their first minimum order.  I cover most local areas, offer full training, no start up costs and you can get
earning immediately.

Please email me on sharonjbutler@gmail.com.

Just keep scrappin'...

Last Saturday I spent a very pleasant time at Jackie's scrapbooking day in Benfleet.

It was kind of a "finish your pages" day for me and I was very pleased with some of the ones I got done...

I wouldn't say they are the best layouts I've ever done or the most complicated, but I was very pleased with the results.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to scrap more in 2012.  Not only do I have the ongoing challenge of yearly photos (I'm only a year behind)!, but I have Lee's Safari trip to South Africa and our family holiday to Florida that I want to get done too....  I can feel a weekend's retreat coming on.....!!!