They would be better than this, but still a great video and why have I never heard of Toyology Tv before?

Its not often I ask for opinions as I am such an opinionated person myself but fo rthis I need you. I have been sat here this evening trying to make a badge for Sundays Share the Blog love linky. I am not artistic but I have come up with the two below. I also have a few totally different images that I can use but I kind of like this one.

Anyway please comment or tweet with either 1st or 2nd to let me know your preference.

Those who know me will know that I am a little crazy.Those who dont will soon realise that this is the case.Today I listened to my first every Couch to 5k podcast and then I booked to run the Great Manchester Run. See I told you I am crazy.The run is on 20th May and it is 10k, so I have 17 weeks to go from couch to 10k.

I am not just doing this to lose weight and get fit although that is a bonus, I am doing this to raise money for Bliss, the special care baby charity. I visited my sister in law today in hospital and to see all the tiny babies in their incubators and the NICU itself made me realise that Bliss do some wonderful work.

To show my support I will be training my arse off and also raising money and hounding you all until you sponsor me so why not do it quick so you can happily know that you have helped an amazing cause and spurred me on to train even harder so I dont let you down.

JustGiving.com/Laura-Seaton

I cant believe it is only the 20th day of the year. I have so much to be grateful for already this year.

The safe arrival of my Sister in Laws baby on Tuesday at 30 weeks weighing just 1lb 9oz and already breathing without the help of a machine.

My decision to change my life and get to spend more time with my babies.

My amazing inch loss since I started thinking slimmer on 29th November.

My daughters who make me proud of them every single day and my loving husband who puts up with my crap and tidys up after us all.

What are your reasons to be cheerful?

Sometimes in life something happens that really puts life into perspective.

Yesterday was one of those days.

Last week my sister in law went for a growth scan at 30 weeks because the midwife was concerned about the rate of growth of the baby. She was referred to St Marys Childrens hospital and given 2 steroid injections in the mean time.At her appointment yesterday she was admitted and informed she would be having a section.

30 weeks old, weighing 1lb 9oz, He came into our life.

I want to thank everyone on twitter for their kind words of support and prayers for him. I am pleased to report he is doing well, he is breathing for herself and has even had a cuddle with his mum.

Welcome to the family. Cant wait to give you a cuddle myself.

Ever have a small thought, just one tinsy tiny little idea, it starts as a little change but then it grows, it gets bigger, it gets more real and then you realise that small thought can change your life.If you followed me on twitter today you might have an idea of what I am talking about, I am going to become a childminder. I thought about it when I was a stay at home mum and at the time it wouldnt have worked as I didnt have my license or the time to study. One of the mums at school mentioned she couldnt find a childminder last week and I have also been unable to find a childminder willing to collect Elizabeth from her school.  Elizabeth is 3 years old which means she takes up on of the under five places, I can understand not wanting to lose out on a full time place just for an after school contract.

So I have contacted my local authority and have received the date for the pre-registration briefing session. I am hoping to be fully registered and set up as soon as I can and then I will become an after school only childminder, in the mean time I am going to start looking after a set of triplets for 1.5 hours every day after school for a reduced rate. This will enable me to get the practice of planning and observations whilst still being within the legal limit of less than 2 hours a day.

Just need to have a think about a name for my business now. Feel free to make some suggestions.

Here are a few I like

Laugh and Learn
Happy House
Your home from home

Let me know if you have any ideas and wish me luck as I start on the journey to change our lives

As a new year comes in you start to think about what changes you can make and by doing that you think about all the bad things that happened in the last year and how you can change them. This got me thinking why do we only look at the bad stuff, last year was amazing for me and my family. We went to Butlins four times, I started a new job and gave up being a stay at home mum, Elizabeth started school, Alison started talking, I passed my driving test and in general we had an brilliant year. So as we are now week into the new year I would like to write which 3 things I am truly grateful for from 2011.1) We never had to struggle for money, there was times when it was tight and we had to watch every penny but that was because we wanted the good things in life not because we couldnt afford to eat.
2) We have two amazing and polite young girls who are complimented all the time and although they have the occassional temper tantrum they are fairly well behaved.
3) I am grateful for my job and the understanding of my boss, I am grateful for the ability to collect Elizabeth from school every day.

I thought I would ask Hubby what his reasons to be cheerful for 2011 were and he responded with these

1) Moving into our house in May although it is rented it is a new build on a great estate with a driveway and a garden and it makes every day that little bit nicer.
2) Going on family holidays, we always go to Butlins and the close family time is always special as we dont get it very often
3) was grateful for the extra bank holiday last year, it made April a really good month.

As many of you will know I went to Butlins Bognor Regis for the Tots 100 Xmas party, however I didnt just go for the night. We took full advantage and decided to stay for the whole weekend so with Elizabeth ok to leave school we headed on our way to Bognor.

Living in Manchester means that Bognor is quite a long way away but it is worth every mile, every traffic jam and every whinge from the back seats because when we arrive the welcome is like no where else I have been.

Last year we visited Bognor 3 times prior to this trip, the last one being in September for Alison's birthday, we know most of the redcoats by name and the girls certainly know all the skyline gang. What we were not expecting is that the redcoats would know us too.

As we left our car in the car park and went to check in we heard someone shout "hey" we turned round to see redcoat Charlotte who recognised the girls straight away and although she struggled with their names (she must see thousands of kids every month) she welcomed them back and stopped to ask us how we were. We are sad to say we did not see her very much on this trip but we certainly enjoyed her as one of the amazing singers in Billy's Jingle band.

There are many reasons to come to Butlins at any time of the year from the great accommodation (our favourite being the Shoreline hotel) to the huge range of activities but Christmas time had an extra special feel to it.

Fake snow drifted down from the top of the Spar, the trees and gardens featured snow and snowmen and the twinkly lights certainly put me in the mood for christmas. Butlins changes is schedule at christmas to include many new shows including Bjorn the Polarbear (which was amazing to watch) and Bjorns snowstorm (the kids loved throwing the snowballs). Both Billy bear and the Skyline gang had special christmas shows and even the puppet castle had christmas shows on as well as one of our all time favourites Under the sea (Shoo Sidney Shoo we're sharks too!). Each child got the opportunity to visit Santa but my girls dont really get on with Santa so they collected their gift from the Leisure Hub, the fact that Butlins thinks about this and knows that some children wouldnt want to see Santa shows a lot of foresight on their parts and I thank you for this, the girls also thank you for the selection boxes which meant they could save their pocket money for other things.

Now as 2012 has started I find myself already planning to return to Bognor for Christmas this year but maybe this time we will be there over christmas day as I hear it is amazing. I am sure that we will be there between now and then a few times anyway, in fact I might go and have a look at booking another trip. So whilst I go price up our next visit why not have a look at the photos below which show some of our very special memories.