Nick's big day

Well, the big day has finally arrived, and we are about to wave Nick off as he leaves to start his officer training at RAF Cranwell. We will follow him down a bit later for a parents briefing, although there's no guarantee that we will get to see him for the next 5 weeks as he settles in to his new life. We love you so much Nick, and feel so proud that you are one of the chosen few who will be getting to live their dream. Before I get too slushy, I'll come back down to earth as the "embarassing mum" who likes to post pictures of you in the old days when you were cute! God bless you Nick xxx

Almost there!

As Nick leaves home to start his RAF training on Sunday, I've been madly trying to finish his A to Z album. I did the "V" page at my Leeds Paper Dolls crop day last Saturday, after finally settling on "vigilant", the name of the powered glider he flies the recruits in at Topcliffe. I bought some metallic spray paints whilst I was there, and had fun playing with them at Janet's house yesterday. The mottled effect looked like old map paper, so I decided to use it for the map of Yorkshire on his "Y" page. Only "Z" to go now, plus decorating the inside covers. I should make it, inbetween trying to pack (Polly is going to Scotland with her friend tomorrow!)
Wish me luck....and inspiration!

My "new" bike

Thought I'd show you my "new" bike - the farmer who owns the site where we keep our caravan let me have an old bike which was rusting away in his barn. After Steve helped me to dismantle it, I took the frame home and re-sprayed it bright red - to match my car of course, what else!!
After searching around for a few parts, it is now working again and I love it! Unfortunately, because I chose such a bright colour, most of our friends at the camp site think I am impersonating a Royal Mail delivery person!!!! I love it, and am looking forward to getting fit now that the brakes are working (and 2 of the gears!)

R is for RAF

To celebrate Nick's achievement, I decided to add "R" to his A to Z book; it was always going to be "RAF" but I didn't want to tempt fate before we'd heard the outcome of his officer selection board.
I felt really proud of him while I assembled these pages, and decided to scan his original letter, then reduce it in size before printing it out, so a miniature copy of the best news he's ever had will always be inside the little envelope! Hope you like it. Just got V, Y and Z to go now...

Nick has passed!

I am please to announce that Nick received a letter from the RAF today, telling him that he has been accepted for officer training, and will start at RAF Cranwell on 30th August. We are all so proud of him, and happy that at last he has achieved his life-long dream. Congratulations Nick, we have always believed in you and knew that you would make it xx

The end of a stressful week!

Well, this has been a very hormonal household this week - Nick has been at RAF Cranwell all week, and Polly has had a full week of Year 6 SATS exams to sit. I am now shattered, having woken up at 4am every morning wondering how Nick has been getting along! The good news is that, out of 27 candidates who arrived for officer selection training on Monday, Nick was one of only 10 who made it through to the end of the week. He has passed all the tests, medicals, aptitude tests, exercises and interviews, and we now have to wait a further 3 or 4 weeks to find out if he was good enough to be offered a commission as a pilot officer with the RAF. I hope my nerves will stand the wait, never mind Nicks!
Polly is now glad to have her brother back home, and equally happy to have finished her exams too. She goes away for a 4 day school trip tomorrow to Bamburgh, and is both excited at the thought of her first holiday away from us, and nervous at how she will cope without us for so long! I am sure she will be fine. Meanwhile, it is very strange to have both of our children soundly asleep so early on a Friday evening!

Nick's A to Z is nearly finished!

I only have 4 pages left to scrap, so Nick's A to Z is almost finished. Spent a lovely day yesterday with Leeds Paper Dolls, Susy helped me cover the album, and I also scrapped Nicks "Q" page. I have deliberately left his R page blank for now, it will be titled "RAF" but as he goes to Cranwell on Tuesday for his officer selection, I am waiting to see if he is successful before making the page. He is SO nervous bless him, as he wants to fly more than anything. He didn't make it last year, so we are really hoping that this year will see his dream come true.

Q is for Quilts

Wow, I'm on a roll now!! Spent all day with Leeds Paper Dolls, and managed another layout....just one today, but the stitching took ages and we were all being very silly as you can see from this picture of us - "The Mad Hatters"!

Catching up with Nick's A to Z Album

After spending last Saturday scrapbboking all day (luxury!) with the Leeds Paper Dolls, I managed to finish a few more pages of Nick's A to Z book. I've spent weeks thinking what to do with each page, and printing photos out, so hopefully I'm now back on track and might get it finished before his next birthday in November! I had hoped to spend the next few weekends scrapbooking before the caravan season starts again, but as we've finally arranged for our old kitchen to be replaced with drawers that don't fall to bits in your hands(!) it looks like I'll be clearing the cupboards out instead. Never mind, when the new kitchen is in, I'll have more worktop space so maybe I can scrapbook in there!

A walk in the park

 

We had a lovely walk in our local park today, something we haven't done for ages. It was so nice watching the ducks, and the regulars from the model boat club. It was even nicer to see a bit of sunshine, despite the bitingly cold wind! It made us determined to make 2009 the year we get out and exercise more....maybe this time we actually will! Whatever, we had a great time and got away from the laptop for a while, so that's got to be good.