Birthday, swaps and life in general :-)

Well it has been a bit of a manic week here in the Sweetpea household with yet another birthday!  Our family birthdays all seem to have clumped together with March having my birthday, my Mums exactly 1 week later and then my daughters exactly a week after my Mums :-)

The week started off wonderfully with me having Sunday off work due to the clocks going forward.  I love going to work but having the day off gave me the opportunity to go to a car boot with my mate Bear's Footprints.  By the time I got out of bed at about 10am (9am old time) she has already texted an hour earlier to see if I wanted to go - mad woman :-)  I will show you my treasure on a later blog.

Monday however it went downhill a little when I got some sort of bug which made me feel very tired and sick indeed.  I managed to lay down for about 1 hour before the school pick up but that was it so I have been battling it all week really.  For the rest of the week I ached all down my legs - so much so that I wondered if I had done a marathon in my sleep.   Not great timing as I had to prepare to the party queen's birthday party.

She wanted a monkey cake originally but thankfully she saw a chocolate one in a shop so requested one of those instead.  So I started baking and made her a chocolate one with cream and jam filling - scrum.  We decided little mini eggs and chocolate curls would set it off nicely.  The curls were made by popping a chocy bar in the microwave for a few seconds and then using a potatoe peeler to peel little bits off the chocolate.

We prepared the dining room with decorations and her party food .... (this photo is to prove to Bear's Footprints that sometimes my house can be tidy lol - she popped over the other day to find buttons and felt all over the table!).

Middle Sweetpea usually has an Easter egg hunt for her birthday but as the weather forecast wasn't too good I set about making her a Pinata.  Not sure why I did this when feeling ill but it didn't work out too badly - you can see it in the top photo.  I will have to post a tutorial of how to do this for you all soon as it was quite easy.

Middle Sweetpea thought it made a fantastic hat after it fell down - she looked like Jamiroquai :-)

The girls had a fantastic time and played happily together.  After the Pinata and food they decorated cupcakes and had fun creating wonderful colourful art on them.  Instead of party bags which I am trying to move away from for eco reasons I made up their decorated cupcakes in tissue paper bags to take home.

My gorgeous little middle Sweetpea is now a whole 9 years old!  I still remember the day I had her, she took twice as long as her brother to arrive, so much so I insisted my waters were broken as I was getting bored of waiting for her (it was only 8 hours but felt a lot longer :-)).  I remember at one point in labour sitting on a bouncy ball to try and help ease the pain when having a contraction but then I got really angry with the ball and I kicked this large ball across the room, it then ricocheted off the walls and Mr Sweetpea and I had to miss it lol!   I also electrocuted myself on the tense machine - that made me forget about another contraction lol.   She arrived exactly on her due date and appeared at around 2 pm, when I took her to look out of the window the next morning little baby bunnies were hoping around on the grass.

She was quite a vocal little one from the moment she arrived - I remember wanting a bath whilst in hospital and I couldn't fit her cot in the bathroom so I popped her in the nursery next to a couple of other babies, she was fed and changed but she having a little moan.  I lay in the bath listening to her calling me and when I returned after a super speedy bath she was still there but the other babies had been taken out to somewhere more quiet :-)

Oh how I love my headstrong, full on, no fear Sweetpea.  She is so caring and thoughtful and will become a wonderful adult I am sure.

Swaps

I recently took part in my first ever organised swap which was the Spring Swap.  I was paired with the lovely Kathy from Postcards from the PP who sent me the most fantastic parcel!  Just take a look at the gorgeous packages below wrapped in ribbon and tissue paper - she thoroughly spoilt me.

And just look at the goodies inside:

 

There were candles, ribbons, a cute owl, a wonderful chicken tea towel, some gorgeous napkins and cards and some lovely flower seeds.  There was also a cute sheep cancer research badge and some card crafing items.

This is what I sent Kathy, now I wish I had sent more than the 5 items listed on the swap - you live and learn!

A hand made lavendar pillow with beaded lavendar cross stitch.

An egg masher, I have one of these and it makes me smile each time I use it :-)  Some chocy eggs - you can never have too much chocy.

I little notebook with a gorgeous bird print on it and some ribbons and buttons.

Here is the inside of that cute pad, it keeps shut with a magnet and then opens to reveal more gorgeous bird drawings....

Lack of Sleep

Mr SweetpeaSweetpea still won't sleep through a night.  We had a weeks worth of sleep the other week but she is back to her old tricks :-(  I even had to go in her bed one night this week for poor middle Sweetpeas sake.

I must confess I am now thinking of asking for outside help as I think I am now reaching my sleep deprivation limits after just over 3 1/2 years of broken sleep.  It doesn't help that Mr Sweetpea was on earlies this week, that seems to tip me over the edge a bit.    I just want me back, the old me with a bit of confidence and a lot more energy :-(   I popped out to the pub with friends the other night and had to really physic myself up for it, I felt quite sick with worry about going but I got there and had a fab time.  I know that this is due to lack of sleep and when I do get normal amounts of sleep I do have to battle the shy inner me a bit but not to that extent :-(  Here's to more sleep!