Update

Well after what feels like alot longer than a few weeks the house is starting to take shape. All I can say is that once this is doen I do not want to decorate for some time! Anyway-I will try and put some more pictures on later but for now here are some before and after shots.

Ok so the kitchen with the old ceiling looking delightful in blue (but will have to live with it for now) and once the ceiling had gone.

Other than the wall being knocked down I think that these doors have made the biggest difference. We know have a huge conservatory for all the kids toys which is great.

Shopping, shopping and more shopping

So we had the big move-some tim ago now but this was our back room before the work began.

This was Anna-Belle idea of helping. I think she put one thing in the van! Bless her-she thought she was being a big help.

A short break

Last week in between all the chaos of house moves we took some time out to do a photoshoot for our friends' model agency. The shoot was at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle to help them promote charitable gift donations for Christmas.

We took Emmaleigh & Danny along with us and they had a great time. Em is a natural but Danny just pulls stupid faces all the time.

For some reason in the photo above I seem to have grown a giants hand!

House update

We're moving tomorrow. Aarggh!

Bad Hair Day

Will do a West PArk update later but I just had to put these on as I thought they were great. For Children in Need the school did a "bad hair day" on Friday. All I can say is what a great theme. Never laughed so much in the school yard in my life. The teachers were fab too. So these are my creations!

We have the keys!!!

Well at last we have the keys to West Park! Never thought we'd actually do it but here we are. We finally got them yesterday (blooming solicitors) but have been so busy ripping the place apart we haven't had time for much else.

Within an hour we had all the flooring up downstairs which made the house feel so much better. Today we've taken out all the carpets, fitted wardrobes, shelves and stripped two rooms ready to paint. The workmen also sorted the heating out (thankfully it worked!), changed all the valves on the radiators and took the fire out. Not bad for one day.

The kids are loving being able to walk home after school with their friends and think it even better when they call to play. Even Aimee likes the house now there is heating and friends! Now to bed ready to do it all again tomorrow.

Lucky 13?

So after all the drama of this move, could we really complete on any other day than Friday 13th? Poetic justice I think.

The number 13 has cropped up a few times in our life, we met on the 13th February, our offer on this house was accepted on 13th, this house is 13, West park is 13 and we will be completing on the 13th, lets just hope we don't have 13 children!!!!!!

SOLD

Four little letters, but that didn't stop Juli driving past the new house when one of the mothers in the yard told her that there was a sold sign up outside the house. I'm surprised that she didn't take a photo. Probably due to her phone not being charged. Nothing new there then!

First thing for the new house arrived today. Dannys transformers curtains, with his duvet cover in the post. After months of deciding between Ben 10 & Ben 10 Alien Force (2 different thing apparently) Daniel finally chose Transformers!!! He's having a red, blue and silver room. Aimee has gone for a Kelly Kitty room with red and white polka dots. Anna-Belle will have a Peppa Pig room (anyone who has spoken to her in the last month will know as she tells everyone she meets) Emmaleigh is still undecided as she wants a big girls room with no cartoon characters.

Living room carpet bought and the rest of the carpets probably sorted next week. Nailing down a builder and kitchen next week (not literally).

Juli's at a hen party tonight then another party tomorrow as well as a wedding during the day hence it is me filling in the blog.

Chocolate and Kids

We gave Hollie her first Oreo cookie today and look what she did with it!! Can't understand why she wasted so much on her face. Another chocoholic on our hands mind as she cried when it was all gone. Oh dear.

Growing up

Em has been after a blog for a while and today we got round to setting it up. She chose the design and everything. So for those that are interested it can be found at.

http://emmaleighpoulton.blogspot.com

House! House! House! House! House!§§

Doors, kitchens, electrics, heating, plumbing, forms, mortgage, builders, drains, windows...................when will it be over, I feel like I've built this house from scratch 10 times and the work hasn't even started yet...Chris

Parents Evening

It was the termly parents evening at school on Monday. We are happy to report that all the children are doing well. Emmaleighs teacher said she was a joy to teach as she is such a sponge at the minute and really enjoying learning. More importantly she said she was listening to her and taking her direction. I should have asked what her secret is. Aimee is also doing well but needs to stop talking and get her head down but a lovely happy girl. Danny is also doing really well, especially with his reading. His teachers say he is just a little bundle of joy and they look forward to having him in their class.

So as they are all wonderful-at least they were on Monday we had a huge ice-cream sundae as a treat for dessert. It was really yummy-especially the chocolate chunks and marshmallows. Anna- Belles eyes nearly popped out when she saw it! Roll on next parents evening I say.

I just had to put this in-Emmaleigh made it for the formal ball. She's into using pastels at the minute. The Devine genes on display I think.

Busy, busy

Just asked Aimee to take some pictures of my clean kitchen. Just wish it would stay like that.

I have decided that renting is just as stressful as selling as house. One of the major plus points of renting the house was that I wouldn't have to do viewings on the house-how wrong was I on that one. I have however learnt a few things over the last week

1) You notice every speck of dust, mark, smudge or finger print when you;re cleaning for a viewing.

2) Every flaw or imperfection in the house seems huge all of a sudden.

3) Children can destroy a house in a matter of mili seconds.

4) Appearances can be very deceptive-it's amazing where you can stick things to make the house look tidy. (Chris was driving around with a car full of ironing and poorly children this morning just to get them out the house)

5) Despite the house being tidier than it's ever been I can't find anything!

So yesterday we were at West Park and had several appointments with builders, electricians and window people-Has to be one of the most labourious days ever. Not helped by Emmaleigh constantly asking when we can go home and the "I'm bored" every 5 mins. We then had to race into town to get the keys back before they closed and then to the dentist. Ha what a laugh that was-all of us for our first appointent at the new dentist. How many forms did we have to fill in! The best part was we were able to get Anna-Belle to surrender her dummy to the dentist. Managed one day so far without it-wehey!

Today hasn't been much better-stayed up late tidying up, set the alarm for 7 and for some reason it went off at 6 and because I'm half blind in a morning without my glasses got up and started cleaning! Didn't realize until I tried to wake Danny up for school and he asked why I was waking him up in the middle of the night? Opps

Anyway-couldn't risk the kitchen being a mess again so sent Chris and the kids to "grandmas" for breakfast in their PJs. Sent the ironing too but that came back-humm.

So the rest of the day s going to be spent trying to keep the house clean for another viewing tonight, organize more work men for tomorrow-phone calls to buildings control and looking after sick kids-anyone want to trade places?? I didn't think so...

What a week

Well this covers a little more than a week but life and time for that matter is a bit of a blur as there is so much going on. I do love this time of year for that reason, however every year despite promising myself the previous year not to do as much it never seems to work out like that. I had to put these pictures on of the kids. In an effort to get them to listen to conference they had to each pick five words and when someone said those words they got to eat a sweet. Don't think I've ever seem Aimee so focussed. Anna-Belle lucked out as she picked SERVICE-she would have been in a diabetic coma after President Monsons talk had she not thankfully fallen asleep. Definitely one for next year.

Aimee thought she was being cunning picking Jesus as she said "they always say "in the name of Jesus Christ Amen"" If she was really clever she would have picked "and" or "the"

They all had great fun, especially as we made a bit of a deal about going and picking their sweets.
This was last weeks Faith in God activity, we were making the birthday banner for Mavis' party. It looked huge in our kitchen but not quite so big in the hall. It looked fab anyway and Wednesday was a good night.
This week has been a little crazy, I bought myself some flowers for the house and I just had to take some pictures of them. White lilies are may fav, but I thought the colour of these was stunning. They make the house smell really nice too.
Danny has now started his violin lessons at school. He was very excited to bring his violin home-he wouldn't let Chris carry it at all, which for Danny I'm too tired to carry anything is a big deal. So we know have 4 violins, 2 recorders, 1 claranet thing, keyboard, guitar, trombone and a drum. Do I have your sympathy yet or at least your earplugs! i do think they look rather cute mind.
Well thats it for the pics. Between decorating, cleaning, more decorating, cooking and activities this week Im shattered and feel like I have the flu coming on. I still have Faith In God in the morning, decorate the hall for the ball in the afternoon, getting ready for the ball, the ball and the Primary presentation to go yet. Then it's more house stuff next week. I hope we get a tenant soon so I don't have to keep the place immaculate. It's proving rather difficult!

Tidy House!

Why do the photos never go where you want them to. I hate this blogger sometimes. Anyway-finally found the card reader so here are the other photos of the house completely out of order!

We had the lettings agent over today to take the pictures of the house for the rental details- Oh my goodness I really didn't think it would take quite so long to get the house ready. Anyway after a mammoth effort from Chris, Lyndsey and myself we finally got the house ready. With the resolve to get rid of about 1/3 of all we possess in the move! Or so Chris says anyway. So here's my store cupboard and utility-which really cannot fit anything else in. Pictures that wont be in the details!

Didn't have time to trim the trees but still think it looks ok.

I don't think my kitchen has looked this clean since it was put in! I really don't want to mess it up now.
I can't find the card reader to put the rest of the pics but will put the rest on when we do.

On...Off...On...Off...Finally on again for definate...probably

After a crazy roller-coaster the house move is back on and looking more promising this time. We had completely ditched the idea until we got a call from the estate agent yesterday telling us that the seller was willing to drop the price.

We started the ball rolling to rent this house today so now have a ton of decorating to do. We need to stage the house for photos on Friday so it will be manic. Everybody is excited apart from Aimee who doesn't want to move, she has started to come round to the idea this evening though.

Jinxed!

Well I knew if I put something on the blog about West Park it would be bad luck-you would think I'd learned buying No13!! The next day we got a call from the mortgage broker to say there was a "problem". So we just accepted that that was that, then today he called to say he may have sorted the "problem" so it could all be back on again. I don't know if we can deal with this on again off again stress at the moment-not to mention all the work we have to do. Really don't know when I'll find the time to do everything! So I'm not holding my breath-who knows what will happen.

Anyway, had a lovely day on Friday. Martin and Sarah dropped by on their way back home. The kids loved seeing them and as the kids were off school we decided to go bowling. Martin thrashed all of us by finishing off with 2 spares followed by 4 strikes!!! More surprising Anna-Belle came 4th by head butting the balls done the alley. Don't ask-by far the most insane child.

Had a bit of a nothing day-wanted to get the house tidy and failed miserably. Only managed to get the ironing done, but it was a rather large pile. Chris is in Gateshead tomorrow on assignment so I'm having a break and we're all going with him. He's talking on coping with trails in life so should be interesting given our current circumstances. Wow, just realized it will be 3 weeks with no Primary. Roll on next week!

13 West Park

Well I thought it was about time we put something up about the new house. So here it is. If we actually move in it will be nothing short of a miricale. So, it's another number 13 (not sure if thats a good or bad thing) and although it needs everything doing and could quite possibly be a bit of a money pit it's redeeming features are 1-I can walk to school, 2-Chris can walk to work, 3-It has 5 bedrooms, 4-It's opposite a great big green open space, 6-Loads of the kids school friends live on the street, 7-It's got 3 reception spaces downstairs, 8-It's got a private back garden that gets loads of sun, 9-Outbuildings, 10-It's a real bargain. Humm, when I write it down it doesn't seem that scarey! In fact it seems too good to be true. So despite be scared to death we keep going.

This is the view from the back with all my lovely storage to the right. Really needs a good tidy up but we may leave that to the spring. The best bit about the garden, actually there a few but there is only 1 conifer tree (that will be going pretty sharpish) So no more trimming hedges with growth spurts!

So excited about the garden. Having such a great garden here we are so lucky to get one thats just as good. Note the TWO apple trees-can't wait. Chris was standing next to me when he took the picture above this one.

This is just a small part of our garage. It runs the entire length of the house. I thought food storage-Chris thought garage cricket. The debate continues!!

This is our "beautiful" blue and yellow kitchen. Hummm-this may be one of the first things to go-no it definatly is one of the first things to go. Just need to work out how my dream cooker, in my not so dream blue and gold will fit into my modern white kitchen. Any suggestions welcome.
This is a photo taken from the living room at the front of the house looking towards the back. Still not sure how we are going to split up the space-this is giving us the bigest headache as there are so many options. The only thing we are really clear on is the horseshoe opening is going about 2 mins after we get the keys for good!

One of my fav things about this house is the lovely bay windows at the front and stained glass. This is the front bedroom and there's another one directly below. Fabulous! Unfortunately the windows are rotten but we are getting them replaced with the same stained glass
Well I could put loads more pictures on but it takes forever to upload them and I really need some sleep. So please feel free to comment on how crazy you think we are! We may still be in denial.

New School Year

Can't believe yet another year has gone by. Emmaleigh is now in year 4, Aimee in y3 and Danny y1. I don't know if the school is ready for Em and Aimee to share a playground again-there have been tears already! Other than that they are loving being back but not as much as I am.

I eventually made a cheesecake for the first time a few weeks ago and I must have picked a good recipie. Not only was it one of the easiest things I have ever made it was undoubtably one of the nicest. Needless to say I made a few more since then. Chris enjoyed it so much he took this picture and put in on facebook straight away.
Emms been helping alot with Hollie just recently. I was busy getting dinner ready and came into the living room to see Hollie all snuggled up to her big sister. I love this this picture.
Oh and how could we forget Anna-Belle making herself look beautiful! The first of my daughters to try and cut her own hair. Unfortunately the hairdressers couldn't do much with it so she's looking "beautiful" until it grows!

Dannys bike riding feats

Danny took to his bike like a natural as we took his stabilizers off for the first time. Within minutes he was getting cocky and lifting his legs off the pedals as seen in this video below.

Tunstall Hill

So this summer we've been on alot of family days out and it feels like we've been to loads of places that have been on our door step but never been to. This was when we climbed Tunstall Hill, it's the highest point in Sunderland and gives you great views of the city and the sea. We did take the long way round but I was amazed at how much green space there was up there. It was a lovely walk and the kids loved it.

Anna-Belle on top of the world!

The view looking north towards Shields. I think the chapel spire is the little white thing sticking up in the trees on the right of the picture.

Chris and the kids at the very top, I stayed with Anna-Belle at the bottom as it was a bit rocky for her.