Goodbye to 2011 and Hello to 2012

It’s been quite a year for us and looking back we can hardly believe some the things that we have done, eaten and watched and the places we have been.

Like, all three of us being given permanent jobs with Sandra in Resources, doing rush photocopying and laminating jobs and being made to feel part of the school ……..

……. so much so that the girls invited me to join them on a skiing trip to the Czech Republic

….. and Darrell to Rome, Sorrento and Capri!

In April we enjoyed the Royal Wedding, which we embraced with every inch of our being and souls and almost couldn’t bear it to end, it was soooooo  WONDERFUL and soooooo romantic!

One of Darrell’s birthday presents was to see Take That in Manchester, where he almost got right to the very front and narrowly missed touching Robbie William’s hand when he came right over Darrell on a platform. He stretched for all he was worth but it was Uncle Andrew that Robbie touched, so Darrell touched Andrew’s hand “as the hand that touched Robbie Williams hand”  which was just as good. 

The most mahooosive surprise of the year for us was undoubtedly Nigel turning up at the Pride of Britain Awards in London, where he met Stacey Solomon and Gail Tilsley to name just two celebs and he lived the showbiz dream for just a few hours.  (and ..... for those who are wondering, Darrell is now almost over Stacey, but she will always hold a special place in his heart, and all her cards and signed presents are safely wrapped up and put away and occasionally looked at).

New members to our family appeared when Andy finished our fish pond and we welcomed a flock, herd, shoal of fish into our home/garden, all named after our favourite Wolves players!

The summer saw us find lots of new homes for all the abandoned and unloved  monkeys that we had rescued from e-bay.  They are all very happy with their new families and have all kept in touch, sending us photos of their  new lives all over the country and the occasional card and present.

Darrell also had the opportunity to dabble in the world of advertising and product placement  by working with Gina at Lucozade Towers to showcase several new Lucozade products.  It also gave him rather too much opportunity to run about in his PE kit and showing his legs, in an effort to stress Lucozades rehydrating qualities!

We also shared several Sun £9.50 holidays, staying in lovely chalets and caravans, all by the sea, our favourite watery place of choice and Darrell spent many happy hours collecting holey stones. We will be starting to collect more tokens as soon as they start appearing in the paper for even more adventures.

But our highlight of choice was undoubtedly our week at Cockle Cottage in Brixham, it was just perfect in every way!

And makes us realise that working hard every day in Resources with Sandra to earn our wages reaps many rewards ….  like being able to afford happy times away together.

…… but that’s enough of the past …… here’s to the future, here’s to 2012 and all the wonderful adventures it will bring, especially with Vinnie and Auntie Jan being Games Makers at the London 2012 Olympic Games in the Aquatics Centre …. now that's almost too exciting to think about!

Our Festive Adoption - Arfur

We are still continuing our work rescuing unloved and abandoned monkeys from e-bay, (but to be honest not as vigorously as we have done in the past),  but this is Arfur.

We decided not to offer Arfur up for “official” adoption because we knew immediately that he would be ideal to go and live with Granny G and Uncle Stephen as he has been gymnastically trained …..

……. and would very much enjoy the rough and tumble life that living with Uncle Stephen would bring.

Arfur is also very fond of puppies and dogs, his book of choice being Spot the Dog and has seen Lassie Come Home hundreds of times (despite it being in black and white).  His hoodie and shoes reflect his interest, but he realises that a puppy of his own is just too much responsibility (especially at Christmas)

We all posed together for photographs before Arfur left for his new life in Bilston ….

…. but we shall see him every Thursday when we go over for tea with Auntie Jan.

So it is only really ciao for now and not time for tears and long goodbyes.

Our Last Confectionary Review Of The Year – Traditional Scottish Tablet

As you know a couple of days ago Auntie Lynne sent us some, of her very own and therefore  “untouched by the hands of machineary”,  traditional Scottish Tablet. We had resisted until today to try it (although Nigel has gone on and on about nothing else since it arrived)…. and in honour of such a gift we have decided that it should go down officially as our last confectionary review of 2011!

As we gathereed round our festive tasting table the anticipation was palpable …. and our taste buds expectant of a Scottish delight that we had not yet experienced ….

It did not disappointed ….!!

…… “Sweet, crumbly, rich and incredibly morish” is how (we think) Nigel so succinctly put it!

And Darrell declared that if he hadn’t got work responsibilities of a photicopying type nature he would be very tempted to pack his bags and move to Scotland permanatly if this is what they ate up there!

 

And, I have to admit, that it was truly heavenly confectionary, I wish I could have eaten forever and which has spoilt me for Thornton’s forever!  I award it 20 noms out of 10.

….. as did Darrell ….

…… and Nigel …. like Oliver he said “ Please Auntie Lynne, can I have some more!”
Nom, nom, nom. nom, nom, nom, nom !!! Even better than sprouts!

Christmas Cracker Jokes Have A Lot To Answer For ….

How do Monkeys make toast?

…… Put it under the grilla!!

Hilarious!

More Presents!

Aunty Jan and Vinnie gave us wonderful gifts, some of an Olympic type nature for Christmas reflecting their voluntary sporting activities of recent months.

Darrell was thrilled with his rock star t-shirt with a guitar on the front and an Olympic initial D badge to wear.

Nigel got a mahooooosive bag of Olympic mascot jellies and a Olympic badge with his initial on.

And I too was gifted with an Olympic badge with an M on ….

….. and a Trampolining and Gymnastic Memory Game which afforded us much amusement and family fun, when we decided to give this year’s Christmas Day episode of typical Eastenders misery, doom and gloom and none festive cheer a miss!

You had to try and match pairs of cards featuring very energetic gymnastic activities .. and the person who matched most pairs  was the winner.

It made my brain hurt trying to remember where I had last seen the matching card to the one I had just turned over.

…. Nigel needed a lot of help, finger pointing and prompting to match a pair  …. but was very pleased with himself when he did!

But it soon became obvious that games of a remembering type nature were very much Darrell’s forte …. and from henseforth shall be known as The Magnificent Mr Memory!

Our Christmas Day Snapshots

We have much to tell you, but it’s hard to blog when there’s festivities akimbo going on around us ….. so just for now and in brief …..…

….. Nigel only got of his bike for his Christmas dinner ….

…. and when he fell off.  Heaven help us when he is let loose in the garden, as we have promised to make him a little obstacle course.  But first we need to fashion him a crash helmet and get him to stay on for a little longer at a time.

He says he wants to “Pimp His Ride” ……. which is very, very worrying!

We also had a few presents to open ….…. like our present from Auntie Lynne And Archie with the mysterious message about us loving the sea, wrapped in beautiful hand stamped snowflake paper…..

It was a calendar of the Moray Coast, somewhere we have never been, and not sure if The Sun does £9.50 holidays there but we shall investigate, in the mean time we are going to put the calendar on our desk at work, to remind us that we need to work hard and diligently in order to save for all our holidays.  THANK YOU AUNTIE LYNNE and Archie xxxx

We didn’t forget to go into the garden to wish the fish in our pond a Happy Christmas

 

…. but have to admit that our Christmas dinner smelt a lot better than their piscatorial one…

Happy Christmas little fishie Wolves team! ….

Nigel went to bed early … full of selection boxes tinsel and turkey.  Darrell and I sat up late talking …… we had the most BRILLIANT day …. with more adventures to follow!

He’s Been ….!!! It’s Christmas Morning!!

Darrell was the first to wake up on this glorious Christmas morning, and upon seeing our stockings had been filled and were now bulging with presents, he soon set about bouncing on me and Nigel until we woke up too!

We took it in turns to open our presents off Father Christmas first …. Darrell was overjoyed with his little set of drawers for his collected treasures and couldn’t believe how Father Christmas knew exactly what he wanted …. and welled up a little….

Nigel was next and was rendered speechless (momentarily)  when he saw that Father Christmas had left him a Nigel sized Quad Bike, heaven help us when he is let loose in the garden!

 

And then it was my turn, but somehow I managed to open both my presents at the same time ….. I felt incredibly blessed as Father Christmas left me the most perfect paint box and a new Wolves Mug to replace my broken one …. I hope that by having my pre match Bovril in it before every match will bring Mick and the boys a bit more luck in the coming few months.

It was Darrell’s turn again …. to reveal a brilliant lava lamp that he can plug into his computer at work, just what he wanted, but even better he said!

…. and Nigel got a little wooden mouse, which he has now put in his crib to be near Baby Jesus.

We then opened a few presents that we had been given by our friends ….Sandra had given us a mahooooosive packet of mini bags of Eric and Friends chocolate biscuits

…..  we thought we could take one bag a day when we are back at work for a most excellent mid morning snack and share them with Sandra.

And our friend George, who was adopted in the summer by Jackie and Lewis to live in posh Hampshire sent us the most overwhemlming presents …. there were monkey slippers for Darrell and myself ….

…… which are exquisite and soooooo comfy ….

….. and a tiny chocolate teddy for Nigel (also now with Baby Jesus in Nigel’s crib)  We are all truly blessed in a Winter Wonderland  type way AND we are so very lucky to have such wonderful friends.  We have a few more presents to open, a mahoooosive turkey to stuff, sprouts to cook to an inch of their lives and family to visit ….. but we don’t want to keep you away from your special day, so we will tell you about our festive adventures over the next few days ….. so HAPPY CHRISTMAS everyone xxxxxxx HAPPY CHRISTMAS!