A Matter of Choice

Last summer was hard on all of us with Aaron working his first season without a day off, me struggling being pregnant and looking after Leo in the heat of the summer and Leo missing his Daddy being around.  He was always in bed before Aaron got home and therefore only saw him for a very short while each morning and almost every day he used to be sad and ask for his Daddy.  (not helped by the fact Mummy was not often much fun and unable to get on the floor and play with him!) This year is much better, especially for Leo as he now has a much better level of understanding and can cope with a later bedtime so most days, if he had been good he gets to stay up for Daddy to take him to bed. This has been working very well but recently he announced he was worried about Daddy, and worried he wouldn't be able to play until winter, So Aaron decided that during the holidays Sunday nights would be a special night for them as he finishes work a little earlier. Leo has the choice of wh...

Today is my lovely hubby's 40th birthday, for many years we have spoken about a big celebration in honour of this milestone and given our love of parties it always looked like it would be the biggest one so far. Unfortunately with his the seasonal nature of his work and no time off until November we soon realised that it would not be the case. I've been racking my brains for weeks now about what I could do to make it special, what to buy him with our limited budget and few shopping options here.  I asked everyone for suggestions and scoured the internet but inspiration didn't strike me. I fancied the idea of a personalized gift and went to many websites, unsure of what that gift should be but eventually gave up trying to find one that would deliver to Cyprus without costing the earth.  At the last minute I decided to do it myself. A photo frame, family photo and a carefully chosen film quote and this is the result.... Can you name the film? When I was searching ...

As the line from the best Christmas song ever goes.... the bells here were certainly ringing out for Christmas day, at about 6am at the big church just down the road. We had a lovely Christmas day at home (well here and my Mum & Dads but it's the same difference - it's only downstairs!) Louka was first awake but we still got a lie in as Leo didn't wake up till gone 7am, despite the church bells. Leo called me into his bedroom and I went and sat on his bed, he asked if it was time to get up but made no mention of presents.   I asked him if he remembered what we had hung up the night before, he looked around, didn't 'see' the stocking hanging right where he had put it and said 'ah, no presents came Mama'  Slightly bemused I pointed to the stocking and he gasped and jumped out of bed to get it - 'Aaaaah look Mamma, there's presents for me, woo hoo'  He was so excited he didn't even realise there were some more under the tree!...

Yet again its been ages since I joined in with Michelle's Reasons to be Cheerful, that's not to say I haven't been cheerful though, I've had my moments...  including one of the best reasons in the world - the birth of my second gorgeous boy!    Which is also happens to be the main reason for not joining in for so long as I've not been blogging as much! So, what's making me cheerful right now? 1.  I got up this morning to a lovely parcel from one of my best blogging friends The Boy and Me  I won a bracelet in one of her giveaways and it arrived this morning along with a lovely card and gift for Louka.  I'm really touched that someone I've never met in real life (yet!) would do something so lovely.  Not only that but the bracelet is gorgeous and will always make me think of the day Louka was born as the tweet telling me I'd won was the last one I read before going into labour! 2. Aaron has finished work for the winter, after working for ...

There is a great prompt for this weeks Gallery, one designed to make us all think a bit more, although immediately several photos popped into my head , it wasn't a hard choice though as I'd already used the one  of the best inflatable in the world   on here last year! One evening not long after Aaron and I had got together we were sat in the pub and 'Father Figure'  by George Michael was played, it's a really random moment that sticks in my mind but I remember we were both just sitting there singing to ourselves and happened to look up just as the lyric 'I will be your Father figure, put your tiny hand in mine '  was sung,   Aaron reached over and I placed my hand on his, it was a moment of great timing..... either that or he was reaching for his drink and I misread it of course! Eight years ago Aaron took my hand and lovingly slipped a gold wedding ring onto my finger. (well, he tried to but it didn't really 'slip' and involved me...

It's Friday and that means it's Flashback time! As this week Aaron started his new job (Branch manager 'Easy Riders Bike Hire'  Agia Napa ) so when I come across this photo I thought it quite apt.  I'm going back to 1996, when we were on holiday in Gran Canaria. Aaron saw this bike in the foyer of the Hard Rock Cafe and jumped on for what was my favourite photo of the holiday.  I've never been a big fan of bikes personally, but he loves them.  I did go out on a couple of his bikes over the years but generally not enjoyed it.   He has had 4 sports bikes and later on brought a Hyusung (kind of like a Harley, although he'd probably tell me off for describing it like a girl!) which was an improvement as it was a little more comfortable but I still wasn't a fan! He sold the bike just before we moved to Cyprus and still misses it all the time, I'm sure he will get another one day when he can afford it!

One of the best presents and biggest surprise I've received was from Aaron for our first Christmas as a married couple. We were at my parents house exchanging gifts (we used to save our and take them round so we all opened the presents together) and Aaron handed me two presents.  I opened the first one to reveal a guidebook for Paris. With a present like that after a moments confusion you start to wonder if it's a rather random choice of gift or a clue to an amazing one! It was of course a clue, the next present I opened was a wallet containing travel documents and an itinerary of things that he had planned for us.  It was booked for the early January and Aaron had already cleared it with my work to have the time off! I'd never been on a city break before and I although I was really looking forward to it, I didn't think it would be like a holiday as such.... weekends go very fast and I didn't think it would be particularly relaxing - the only ev...