This week's smiles...week 471

 Hello all.  I was MIA this Wednesday because we were making memories and sharing lots of smiles.

We had our first trip out in our motor home for a long time.  We went for a long weekend to a beautiful, adult only campsite in Llanidloes, mid Wales.

It was a spotless, well run site that we could highly recommend if you're ever in the area and while we were there we went to Clywedog dam and these photos were taken at the side of the reservoir where we stopped for lunch.....stunning views.

Our little fur baby, Milly came with us of course and here she is sleeping off one of her many walks....she loves this camping life.

Whilst we were away Mark and Gina had a photo shoot with the boys and I've been given permission to share a few of their gorgeous photos with you.

Here's my latest collage of the flowers around our garden this week and...

...the wisteria needed a photo of it's own...I so wish you could smell it.

Finally here's a couple of collages of funnies that I've found this week.  Hope they make you chuckle.

I hope you have found something to make you smile and will share your smiles by linking up below.

Hugs,

Annie x

Thiss week's smiles....week 445

 Another week has passed and I'm very thankful that I'm very nearly back up to normal energy levels. We enjoyed a lovely weekend away recharging my batteries....a lot of sleeping was done but on my birthday we went to Minehead and enjoyed a little walk on the front plus fish and chips lunch in one of the beach shelters and a Mr Whippy ice cream on our walk back to the motor home....bliss.

It's lucky that I'm feeling rather better now because I've needed my  energy this week....  

• A lady came to me wanting 5 Memory bears making....she then decided to have 6 made.
• A lady came to me to have a dress altered and it turned out to be her Wedding dress.
• Another lady came wanting a dress fitting....she brought two dresses with her
• Another lady came wanting 5 Memory bears making and decided to have 6 instead then messaged me later to say she'd decided  to have 7 made

The amount of work being done is still being decided by my body but each day I am feeling better thankfully and I'm working my way through all that's needed.

We enjoyed a meal out at Cote Brasserie in Shrewsbury Wednesday night and then we watched the screening of Cliff Richard live at the Albert Hall at the Old Market Hall Cinema....it was really good and I just wish I was as fit as Cliff at aged 81!

We went to watch Stephen play a football tournamant on Monday night.

He won 2 games and lost 1 but he only let one goal in which he was very pleased about.

Here he is in his new team football strip.

It's been a week of baking by the Grandchildren  while they have been on half term holidays. 

These are the twins buns....yum yum

And these were the biscuits and buns Phoebe and Lulu made.

Last night we 'babysat' for Amy and the girls cooked us our tea then we all enjoyed some fun time on the sewing machines before bed....there may be photos to share with you next week.

That's all from me for this week.  Please share your smiles by linking up at the bottom and I will do my best to call by at yours to see what you've been doing this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Hello all.  Firstly I want to thank Julia for my get well/thinking of you card.  It's so lovely being part of this wonderful gang and feeling so loved.  It was my birthday at the weekend and my darling hubby took me away for a few nights in out motor home to Wiveliscombe in Somerset....it worked like a tonic too.  My batteries are recharging well now and it's really just as well because...

I returned to an order for 5 memory bears so yesterday [my day off]  I set to and worked out how I was going to make them all different....it takes a lot of brain power and thankfully I managed it ok which is just as well because....

....Today I have dress fittings at 9.30, 10.00 and 10.30 and at 11.00 I have another 5 Memory bears arriving.  Plus at some point I have 2 [or possibly 5] more Memory bears coming another dress fitting and 3 pair of trousers to shorten....if it all arrives!!  I am letting my energy levels decide how much I do each day but it's so lovely to be feeling more myself now.

That's all from me for today.  I promise to call by to see what you've been up to this week when I get the chance.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 434

 Another week has passed and it's been filled with more memories and lots of smiles.  I was missing in action on Wednesday and didn't write my normal WOYWW post because.....

....we were off on another adventure in our motor home.  We are determined to use it as often as we can and to make the most of life.  This time we had 3 nights on a campsite between Llandilo and Llandovery in Wales.  It was a beautifully maintained, tranquil site and, apart from there being very poor internet and tv available, it was pretty perfect.

We drove to the Gower and enjoyed a cliff top walk with stunning views and shared many laughs travelling the narrow roads in our motor home.

Amy sent me these photos of her three helping with the jobs....they all enjoyed power washing their path and I'm very impressed with the job they did.  Stephen had a few days playing football so the girls went in to the office with their mummy and even hoovered through for them....they are such good little helpers now.

These two photos made me smile....in the top one Grandad is helping Theo make a maze for his little toy hamster, Hammy, to play in.

I the bottom photo father and son are doing one of Theo's jigsaws. It's a Where's Wally jig saw and I decided I found two  :-)

That's all from me for this week.  I hope you have all had a great week and have lots of smiles you can share with us by linking up below.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 431

 Here we are at my weekly round up of what's made me smile this week.  We have been away for a long weekend adventure in our motor home and this time we went to a lovely 'tranquil site' over near Boston in Lincolnshire.....it was an adult only site [hense the tranquility!!].  It was a lovely site with lots of trees and birds and there was an enclosed dog run so Milly could be let off her lead to run.

It was really hot while we were away so we enjoyed the shade of the trees around us and we bought Milly a new cool mat [as you can see she quickly found out how good that was].  There might have been a few glasses of Pimms drank [well you do have to keep hydrated in this heat].  We enjoyed several BBQs and  hubby even had rainbows on his legs at one point although the photo doesn't show it as clearly as we could see it.

While we were away Theo was in charge of watering our tomatoes [with his daddy and mummy of course] and as you can see his reward was a yummy carrot out of the garden :-)

I just love that little face :-)

Lexi has taken on a pink and purple look for her holidays [it's only temporary so wont last long].

I'm not sure what colour I will go yet :-)

There's been lots of this going on in this heat this week....bliss.  For those wondering, Theo has a special waterproof protector on his arm for the water.

Steve has been for trials to play for Shrewsbury under 10s this week....hes a brilliant little goaly and really loves his football....even in the heat!!

Finally, for those that enjoy my garden updates.  There's colour in every corner and I love it so just have to share it with you all.

And that is all for this week.  I hope you're all managing to stay cool in this heat and have lots to smile about.  Please leave me a little message so I know you've called by and then link to your smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 388

 Well, that week flew by for me....how about you?

We had a long weekend away in our motor home with Milly and although she is now 4 and has never liked water until now she decided she would take the plunge.  It was a really lovely campsite that we had taken our children to when they were little and has a steam running through it that they used to love paddling in and for what ever reason our little Milly decided she needed to paddle in it too.

It really made us smile because she did it like it was something she had always done before :-)

On Monday this week our 'little' Theo had his 4th birthday....doesn't time fly?

They were away for the weekend at the seaside so he had his birthday present from us on Tuesday when we babysat him and Maisie.  The top two pics are of him building his present from us with his Grandad....precious memories being made.

As Theo's mummy left for work little Maisie whimpered a little so Theo got down from the table where he was playing and went over to give her a cuddle and said...'It's ok Maisie, Mummy has only gone to work, you've still me here'.

He's such a loving little boy.

Finally for those that enjoy my garden flowers here's my latest collage.  On the top left is a new little Rowan tree we have planted so that the birds can enjoy the berries.

That's all from me for today.  Please leave me a little comment and link to your own smiles below.  I did visit you all last week but one or two I was unable to leave comments on because the internet was poor on our campsite.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Here we are at another wonderful Wednesday's catch up with all our creative friends all around the world...if you'd like to know more then pop over to Julia's at the Stamping Ground for details and please join in the fun.

We had a lovely long weekend away relaxing in our motor home on our favourite campsite in BuilthWells.  We started going there when our children were growing up back in about 1996 when we had a trailer tent and have really happy memories from there.  It's a family run site and the little girl our children used to play with is now the proud mum of a gorgeous little boy.  The site is now run by the next generation of the family and it has grown lots but still maintains very high standards so we love it there.

Now what you have really come to see is my desk...it's a two for one today cos I'm rather spread out...nothing new there.  I'm just glad there is a door on my sewing room so I can just shut it at the end of each day.

This is my machine on the left of my desk where I'm set up for mask making.  I have made a start at a batch of Christmas masks but other sewing has had to be done first so I've been working on my other machine on the right of my desk and the bright colourful fabrics on the right of this pic are the cut offs from the 4 dresses I've been shortening.

This is the end of my cutting table and, as you can see, I've got items of school uniform to make another Memory bear out of....and that's what I will be doing today so please be patient with me...I will get round to as many desks as I can, I promise.

I hope you are all well and happy and enjoying life.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW

Here we are at another Wednesday catch up with our creative friends from all around the world...it's my favourite day of the week.  If you still don't know what it's all about then pop over to The Stamping Ground where Julia will tell you all about it and you will be made very welcome to join in the fun.

I have a slightly different show and tell this week as we had a weekend of......

.....rest and relaxation in our Motor home.  Milly loves the life in there as you can see.  We found a lovely site in the middle of the country...adult only [ and no that doesn't mean anything dodgy].  It was spotless and it's lovely to feel safe in our little bubble.

We were surrounded by birds [buzzards, wookpeckers drumming on the trees and a family of robins etc etc] and there was a Golf Club walking distance away that we could sit outside and enjoy a meal and drink in the sunshine...bliss.

I have made one more School Memory bear but the 4 that were supposed to come this Monday now aren't coming until next week now.

I've made a lined PE bag for a little boy starting Nursery School.

I am still selling face masks but the demand is less now so I just keep my basket topped up as and when needed.

That's all from me for this week.  I hope you've all had a creative week.  I plan to visit all I can when I can between jobs.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 352

Oh what a fortnight filled with smiles and happy memories it's been.  I was missing in action on the blogging front last week but it does us all good to step back from time to time.  I was very busy making memories and enjoying some 'me time'.

So, I wont waste any more time and will share just a few of my smiles with you...

Changing times

 Over Christmas Gina made this collage of Theo showing just how he's grown....it just happens while you're not looking doesn't it?  I really will have to stop calling him little Theo won't I?  :-)

Special memories being made

 This was over Christmas.  Mark got his guitar out while Lulu was at his house and they spent a little time together with it.  She has guitar lessons at school and was so chuffed to have Mark teaching her on his best guitar.

Moments of madness 

 Here's a selfie of us showing Michelle how much we love one of our Christmas presents from her.

Moments of magic

 Isn't nature just amazing?  This was a quick snap of the sky during the Christmas holidays.

The promise of things to come

 In every corner of our garden there's bulbs shooting up and little signs of new life....I love this time of year.

New additions to the family

 On 29th December Shell, Brent and the twins collected a new little puppy called Jet.  She's a Labrador x Border Collie and is simply gorgeous.

The first of many I hope

 Yesterday we had our first trip out in the motor home for the New Year.  We took the motor home for a run to Aberdovey and really enjoyed a walk on the beach with Milly.  Here's hoping 2020 will be filled with many happy trips out together.  We are still going to the gym 3x a week and I think I've already lost 10lbs so lets hope this is a good beginning with more to follow.

I hope you've enjoyed my first Friday smiles of 2020 and will link up to your own smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 350

Phew these week's sure are flying by aren't they?  It's been a hectic week here but I've had lots to smile about.....

Little Theo went with his Mummy,  Daddy and friends to Thomas Land at the weekend...it's such an exciting time of the year isn't it?

Our baking session with grandad on Tuesday we made Gingerbread biscuits and decorated them....very yummy they were too.

Lexi won an award for being a good team player at her dance awards at the weekend....just wish I could do the splits like that....don't you?

Sam had to go for a photo shoot by the side of the new road sign he designed for the new estate they now live on....the photos are for the local paper so he was very pleased with himself.

Proud Nanny moments.

Amy's girls have been trying on their outfits for their Christmas play. 

It's Phoebe's last one this year before she moves up to big school and she makes the perfect angel.

Lulu is a wise [wo]man....they have to be politically correct these days and I have a feeling if they had been 3 wise women the gifts might have been rather more practical.

Steve is a narrator so just has to wear his Christmas jumper :-)

We had a trip out in the motor home at the weekend to Colwyn Bay and it wasn't until I got in the van that my darling hubby turned the lights on inside that he had secretly put up to make me smile....it worked too :-)

Those are my smiles for this week so please leave me a little comment and link up to your smiles at the bottom.

Hugs,

Annie x

Our holiday in Scotland

As most of you will have noticed I was missing in action last week because we had headed north in our motorhome.  We intended catching up with family and friends on our journey so you may recognise a few familiar faces along our travels.

We left Shropshire on Sunday 8th and headed to our first stop on Haltwhistle Campsite in Northumberland.

The campsite was by the side of the river and this is what we looked out over....beautiful.

The purpose of this stop over was to meet up with my second cousin Sally and her husband Graeme who we met up last at Michelle's christening 35 years ago.  We've kept in touch since then at Christmas and on Facebook of late but not seen them since then so they had changed a little....in fact I guess we all had :-)

It was really lovely to see them again and we felt as if we had lots in common....not only our walking sticks eh Sally?

On the Monday we travelled on further north to Calzean Castle campsite looking out over the sea....as you can see Biscuit bear loved the view as much as us and was excited to see who was already on the site waiting for us.....

Catriona and her hubby had stayed over there on the Sunday night and had the kettle on ready and waiting for our arrival.  It was so lovely to catch up and as you can see Biscuit bear was just as excited to catch up with his friend Harris bear.

We spent Monday evening in our motorhome chatting and catching up with them both and on the Tuesday morning they left fairly early to continue their travels further south....we relaxed and waited for the next excitement.....

Elizabeth and her hubby drove over to us and picked us up to take us out for the rest of the day on the Tuesday.  We went down to Ballantrae where we met their friend Alfie the donkey and treated him to some carrots then we called in at Girvan on the drive back where we posed for a few photos and I snapped the local RNLI boat especially for Jan :-)

The Tuesday night was very windy so we were rocked to sleep but thankfully we survived and there was no damage the next morning.

On the Wednesday we travelled further north through the hills and passed some really stunning scenery...as you can see there were some black clouds above us but we headed towards the blue sky :-)

We stopped for a toilet and coffee stop by the side of one of the Lochs and also saw a hydroelectric powerstation en route to our next stop near Oban.....this was a small campsite inside what was an old walled garden.

Our next stop was on the Rosemarkie campsite looking out over the sea....a lovely site and we enjoyed a walk on this beautiful sandy beach.  There had been sightings from here of seals and dolphins in the bay but alas we didn't see any while we were there.

The following morning we travelled south to our final site to spend our last two nights at Beadnell Bay site in Northumberland.

En route we stopped on a layby on the A9 for a coffee and my darling hubby picked me a bunch of heather....it's now tied with ribbon and is hanging in my sewing room :-)

We called by to see the Kelpies but refused to pay the 5 pounds they were asking just to park the motor home so I snapped a quick photo as we passed.....stunning and much bigger than you think.

Before we reached our next site we passed Bamburgh castle....really stunning building so just had to snap a pic.

The campsite at Beadnell Bay was much bigger than all the rest and for the 150 pitches it only had one toilet block at the opposite end to the pitch we were given so it was too far to walk to use...thankfully we have our own facilities in the van but I did feel for the ones in smaller vans and tents around us.

Over the road from the campsite there was a rocky beach [just the sort I use to love as a child for hunting in the rock pools] so of course we had to have a little walk over there on the Friday evening.

On our last day we drove to Alnwick and enjoyed a walk around the grounds [much further than normal for me so have been rather stiff since!]..It was really lovely there and we even saw a Japanese couple getting married there in one of the rooms.

The swing seats were really lovely there.....there were lots of them up through the bank of flowering cherry trees....I bet they were even better when in full bloom.

There were many water features through one area of the garden so I snapped several of them as we were passing through....even one where Dod could go down some steps and stand in the middle of....feel free to zoom in to spot him :-)

Every time we stopped [even for coffee stops on laybys] we spotted a little robin.  I know there are lots of them around at the mo but it did feel like they were watching over us and keeping us safe during our travels so thank you to the little robins....we had a wonderful week and are now safe back at home.