Xmas,New Year and various sicknesses

So its been a while!...I hope everyone had a fantastic Xmas and New Year, we did but ever since hubby came down with tonsillitis in between the two it seems like the sick bugs have been rife in our house, G and I had throat infections then it was back to school and the nit problems that just seem to love our daughter just don't seem to be letting up. Its a definate case of vigilance on that one that's for sure.
The past fortnight its been eye infections with the kids going from G to Ted and now Dub came out with it last night. And if that wasn't the worst hubby has just got over another throat infection and I'm feeling like I could be coming down with it too, which has really knackered my half term week of cleaning.
Oh well, but on a lighter note Ted is now 7 months and has slept through 5 whole nights not together but he's getting there...

What Have I Been Doing?

Not enough if you ask hubby hehe
And it does feel like that, seems I have done absolutely nothing...
Although that's only a half truth I have been doing some things like get dressed, the pots, ironing etc but art wise hmmmm....
Well I figured out how to print off 6x4s without getting a 3 sided border so should be adding some prints in a week or so to etsy, also half way through some more greetings cards...
Also started doing some alphabet colouring pages based on Harry Potter, coming along slowly but getting there...
I've also been honing my digital scrapbooking skills which is very difficult so super kudos to everyone out there that does it.
I've also started knitting my xmas jumpers for the kids, well I've done 6 rows on the back so far but its only February and its still a start.
Hubby had his first tooth out with little trouble but I'm going to have to be there next Thursday to hold his hand because he's having three out and he really doesn't like injections. So we've booked my mum to come over and look after the kids while we go...

2 down 1 to go

Well that's almost all of the obligatory family events done, after tomorrow that will be it for us. So this time tomorrow evening and we will be relaxing and wondering how to keep all the presents hidden from little fingers. We've almost ran out of space as it is but its not easy hiding presents in the small bedroom as well as having all of our things in there too.
Wasn't a bad day though as it was Granddads turn and he and his wife usually take our daughter out for the day so as long as son has a big nap whilst they're out its a nice quiet afternoon.
And we did well in the non Xmas gifts department again today, daughter got 2 new coats and a cute pair of pink Mary Janes and hubby got a couple of t shirts and a pair of trainers.
The downside is that she comes home tired and falls asleep so then trying to get her to bed at night is a task and a half...11.25 I managed to get downstairs tonight but i I keep my fingers crossed she will sleep through until morning, just wish the same could be said about our son, he'll probably get up at about 2am and not go back to sleep until 3...

This Time Next Week and it'll all be Over!

I'm not trying to wish the week away far from it I have so much still to do housework wise that I can't believe it is only just 1 week...and with the kids not sleeping properly, last night I managed 5 hours sleep and that was good. The night before I had 2 and a half, was up at 2.30 am and that was the beginning of my day....But my printer has arrived...its still in the box though, and all the presents are here apart from the photo diaries for my mum and sister, but they both have other gifts so won't be too bad if they're late.
I've also already made a start on my new years resolution of entering more open exhibitions, I've ordered the January issue of the artist and I've signed up for emails from the artist newsletter. and once my diary has arrived I'll be pencilling everything in.

Playgroup Xmas Party

Phew just got back from the playgroups Xmas party and I hardly did anything but they don't half wear me out watching all the kids running around and chasing balloons. Daughter had a great time, she even sat with the other kids at the table when they were eating, which she didn't do last year, so I was very proud of her for that. The only problem with the Xmas party is that daughter got so tired she had a nap this afternoon. it's always a worry as she doesn't fall asleep until about 3pm and then wakes up about 5pm for tea time and then it takes hours and hours to get her to go to sleep, especially now the kids are sharing, I have to be there just in case she doesn't try to wake son up once he's asleep.

Although she does keep picking at her snotty nose and wiping it on her face so she looks like she's wearing a comedy moustache...

I've made a decision with regards to the doodle paintings, the background on a couple of them will be a very basic cartoon style and the others I will paint a more realistic background, especially for the fish.

I'm quite excited about the challenge especially with using acrylics as I've done similar in oils before but never in acrylics. And with having two little ones I don't really want paintings drying all over the house and the smell from the turpentine about.

I'm even excited about the potential mixing paint challenge, as I am useless at it at the best of times but if the end result is anything like what I have in my head then it will turn out quite well.

And I've managed to download a few potential backgrounds so if I can just keep the kids asleep I'll be able to start one on the spare canvas I have.

7th December Already

Well we have 17 days left until the big day well 18 if you want to include Christmas day in the count and just a few more gifts left to buy.

Well today the kids and I walked all the way to Asda and back for some shopping, its Sunday and the low floor buses don't run so I'm glad I decided to walk home and not sit and wait at the bus stop, anyway I digress...We bought some more chocolates for under the tree, pjs and colouring books for hubby's friends daughter, (had to get a couple of colouring books for our daughter too), kids are so good at pressure buying hehe...Had a check in the book section managed to get eclipse for my sister, so only need to get the other three twilight books from somewhere, and bought some bubble bath and bath scrunchies to finish off the toiletry baskets I'm doing for relatives, I think next year I'll be using etsy for that because there are so many wonderful shops on there, and I'll be getting it all done even earlier, just so I don't forget anyone.

Just gotta wait now for the calendars to come, which I will do again next year also getting them done early so I can save even more cash on getting the super slow delivery, and also sort out the diarys early as I'm wondering if I'm leaving those a little too late for this year.

But first things first I have to find or make a nasty Xmas jumper pattern so I can make the four of us matching jumpers for Christmas day...That would be so good.

Brain Wave

So my dilemma with the greetings cards packaging also means there's little point in doing the Christmas cards as I have no way of packaging them to sell as yet. So I had a brain wave, why not at least make them for friends, neighbours and family members and put the website address on the back, then at least someone might thing ooh these are pretty good I'll take a look and maybe pass on the address to friends etc. So that's what I'm going to do now trace out my images and pop them on some cards to at least keep working.

Apart from that little brain wave todays been interesting, mother in law came to visit which was nice, and daughter threw up all over the sofa and her bed, that was a scary few hours but she was ok by tea time and had some toast and then the usual messing around trying to get her to bed so I think she's going to be fine now hehe. Also got a phone call telling me that my 3 hour course on Wednesday has been postponed until Friday so that gives me a couple more days to get my bank account sorted out, yay...

Now back to work...

Update To Rain Stopped Play

Well I've found some canvas board its for oils and I'm painting in acrylics but I need something to take with me on Wednesday so I thought I'll give it a whirl, it feels a bit sticky so I don't think I'll be able to sell them...

i was going to use them to paint oil paintings of the kids for the relatives but now we're going to get a family portrait done and I've been making some calenders and photo diaries on line. Should be able to buy them in a couple of weeks and if they're any good then that's what they'll get every xmas.

If not I can always make them little photo scrapbooks every year. Already get our daughter drawing and painting pictures for them to put in frames as like a little extra present. She's very good at it already, the other day I got her painting and one of them actually looked like a boat and another looked like a snail. Not bad for 2 and a half.