Welcome to the madhouse!!!

Sophie's inherited the nosebleed gene - she had a nosebleed at school last week, another one at the start of this week and yesterday had about four nosebleeds in the same day. She woke up this morning with her pillow covered in blood too. Luckily she's also inherited the "Am I bothered ?" gene and just looks dead impressed with the amount of blood pouring out while she waits for "the big black bit" to come out - bring back memories ?!!

That's what Sophie said this morning when she looked out of the window and saw this !

It started melting by mid-afternoon but we had time for a snowball fight, a quick snowman and a bit of snow writing ! I also suddenly realised we have a distinct lack of hills around here so we couldn't go sledging, otherwise I'd have been up for it !

Juliette spent the whole morning dragging her little plastic chair over to the patio doors and looking at the snow falling out of the sky ! (It was quite impressive, they were enormous great snowflakes ! )

Sophie's been making Dora the Explorer and Postman Pat cakes then taking them to school for her snack and showing off (and sharing !) with everyone !

But after turning the kitchen into a bombsite, she has discovered a new passion for washing up !!!

So she won't be at all happy now that the new dishwasher has just arrived !!!

Juliette has taken on a new role as Sophie's shadow, following her arond and copying her every move !!!

We had a major disaster last week, it was the day of the school photos and Sophie couldn't find a dress that fitted *shock horror* It was tears before bedtime because "she wouldn't look pretty if she wasn't in a dress" (!!!) so I took her out to the sales and let her pick out a few new ones.

Before :

Very Bay City Rollers !!! But every time I so much as looked at her with a pair of scissors, she legged it across the room yelling no, no, no !!!

Shot back and sides ! It looks drastic but there were only a few straggly bit that got caught in her top button and made her go ow whenever I dressed her in the morning !

She seems to have developed a sudden interest in Sophie's hair clips and bands ! But only for pulling them out of her hair.

but it doesn't last for long !!!

It's Nanny being a loony this time - must be the sparkling wine at xmas dinner !!

Maybe this is where she learnt to say "again" !

or judging by the look on her face, maybe it's where she learnt to say "nooooo" !!!

Awww that's a nice picture of Grandad and his two granddaughters ... but look what we had to go through to get it !!!

Juliette's new coat courtesy of Anne-Laure

Sophie's new coat courtesy of Tesco !!!

A few pics from when we were down at Anne-Laure and Ludo's

The Christmas gnomes on the new V-smile

Mum, can you stop taking pictures ? I want to play !!

Juju's in on the action too

It's Epiphany today and in France you eat a "galette des rois" with a "fève" (little figure) in it. Whoever gets the fève is the king or queen and gets to wear the crown. It was totally potluck today because I couldn't figure out where it was (Sophie even had me worried by saying "Oops I just ate a really hard bit that hurt my throat" !!!) but it was still Sophie who won. Judging by the look on Juliette's face, there'll be a fight next year though - or maybe I'll just buy two !!

Before we start - look at those gleaming eyes - she REALLY wants to win !!

Juliette tucks in - not sure if that's apple puree from the cake or a bogey-nose !!

Hee hee, I won !!! I'm the Queen !!

You git !!! Next year, the crown is mine !!

LOL Not really Mum, we love each other really !!!

http://cedric.kidcomics.com/missmister/dessins.php?PAYS=FRANCE&DEPT=59

If you click on the above link, Sophie's is the second picture down and it's supposed to be her teacher - I don't know why she's got a rainbow head !!! If she gets enough votes (you can vote once a day), she could win a prize. But their "top 30" system doesn't seem to be working - they haven't moved at all since day 1 and on the 31st January, it's the pictures that are in the top 30 that stay in the competition - so I don't know if it'll work or not !

I told Sophie we'd put away the xmas decorations bit by bit but while we were gaily cleaning fake snow santas and messages off the upstairs windows, I heard a crash and it was the xmas tree toppling over (probably gave the rabbit a heart attack because the rabbit cage was lost underneath it !!!). It had obviously had enough, so we put all that away too. There are still a few odd sparkly bits and strings of tinsel but it's pretty much all gone until next year.

Bit late really but here are the piccies of the girls with the Dunkirk Santas in the run up to xmas. I'm already anticipating comments about Mrs Christmas as I scan them !!!

(intermediate save while I scan the pics - hold on Emily !!!)

Sophie looks scared witless but I think she was just overwhelmed !!!

(1 more pic to come - didn't work first time ! Thank God for digital cameras, I forgot how long it takes to scan photos to put online !)

Hmmm that's strange, it's in photobucket but just comes up as a white square on here - ok, try clicking on this link instead and see if that works, if not I'll try fiddling about when I get time !

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a54/cheryl59/santa2006no1.jpg

Well, I'm sorry Mr English postie but 2007 is off to a good start for the freebies and competition wins !

On the 1st January, I got an email (along with two other people off the same freebie site !) saying :

Congratulations you have won a runners up prize of Vega’s Winterboost containing Echinacea, Propolis and Vitamin C, worth £13.24 each. This should be with you in the next week or so.

Frances

www.healthysoul.co.uk

On the 3rd January, I got an email saying :

Thank you for entering the quick quiz in the Xmas PMC competition. And
congratulations, your mini-mould is on it's way to you!

Apologies for the delay.... Xmas was much busier that we had expected
so this little quiz sat on the back-burner for a while!

Kind regards,

Robert Earls

Not too sure what this one is - it's for Precious Metal Clay moulds (for making earrings and things ???) and the link they gave was here :

http://www.argentice.co.uk/shop/index.php?c=viewproduct&pid=56&cat=3

Ebay here we come, I think !!!

Yesterday I won a Tshirt but it looks like the website is screwy and tells everyone they won, whereas they're only supposed to have 250 to give out !

And today I discovered I've won a Dirty Dancing CD from here - http://www.feelgooddrinks.co.uk/dirtydancing/ My name is on the list and I didn't even know, someone from the freebie site pointed it out !!!

So we're having our own competition on the freebie and competition site to see who can win the most competitions between us - believe it or not, I'm not in the lead !!!