The mummy game......

Halloween 2011

Halloween 2008

Halloween 2006

Have you ever played the Mummy Game???? It is a traditional part of our Halloween party as you can see!

In each of the above photos is one of my children can you spot them?!  It can be tricky when they are all dressed up. We always do something for Halloween and usually end up hosting a party for the children and their friends followed by trick or treating. I was discouraged from celebrating Halloween growing up so it makes me a little bit OTT about it now as a grown up, decorating the house inside and out!

Today's brief tale (mostly told in pictures!) was brought to you as part of Sian's story telling Sunday please visit her blog here to read more.

family 12 x 12 blog hop (running late!) October

Firstly apologies for running late I completely got my dates and days muddled up so sorry if I confused you all!  I have had my photo ready to go from an adventure we had in September can you guess where we are????

This is outside the Harry Potter Studios in Leavesden.  We had the most fantastic day there, well it should have been about 3 hours but I think I stretched it out to about 6 and we took literally hundreds of photos (I have over 500 and haven't looked at my daughters pics yet!)

If you like Harry Potter then this is an amazing experience, if you love Harry Potter then this is absolutely mind blowingly over the top fan-bloomin-tastic!!! You must go and leave plenty of time as there is so much to see and do you will not regret it!

Todays photos were brought to you as part of Margie's regular family photo series where she encourages us to take monthly pics and share them together check out her blog for more details.  There is only one other person on the blog hop this month Jo so pop over to check out her photo too.

UKS challenges

I didn't enter any of the challenges in August as I had too much going on especially as I was away for 2 weeks in sunny Cyprus! I did manage to quickly view a few blogs whilst away so check your country stats and see if Cyprus comes up...... it was me!

Anyway today is the deadline for both the weekly and monthly challenges on UKS and I have managed to do both.

The weekly challenge was to use the sketch provided, washi tape, chipboard and add real or faux sewing. This was my page......

Although it is difficult to see, I added tiny faux stitches in white pen to the edges of both the rec checked papers, I used a chipboard heart and covered it in washi tape and based my page on the sketch though opted for just one photograph (not a great one but a good reminder of a fun night!)

The monthly house challenge was very simple, it was work, rest or play. I opted for play and used ideas/sketch taken from a weekly challenge a while ago that I was unable to complete at the time.....

The photographs are pretty awful as they were taken with a disposable, waterproof camera whilst swimming in the sea from a boat but cut down from 6x4 and put into this grid they don't seem too bad and I have another Antigua page completed.

Wierd that these pictures were taken almost exactly a year apart but scrapped on the same day!

The final scavenger photos

The final photos were all found here and there..........

Number 10 a horse and his friend at the Olympic park

Number 3 a border, a great view across the Olympic park demonstrating some of the wonderful landscaping of the grounds including the flower borders.

Number 19 an outdoor stairway, I found several of these during the summer but decided to use another Olympic photo as the Olympics were such a highlight for me. I think the above photo and this are probably interchangeable as there are staircases and flower borders in both of them!

When we arrived at Waterloo en route to the Olympics it was raining then but brightened up for us later in the day but it was a perfect shot for number 5 a train

Finally number 1 a picture of a pier, taken near Weymouth in Dorset.

I have totally loved this scavenger photo hunt, it has been excellent fun. I also found the 2 substitute items. I picked up a beautiful heart shaped stone on the beach in Cyprus as I thought I would never find a bride or fountain and I found a four leaf clover ..... sticker, but I didn't take any pictures as I had completed my hunt for 21 Summer Photos (I did keep the heart shaped stone though!!)

thank you thank you thank you Rinda xxx

More scavenger photos

These photos were all collected locally................

Number 13 inside my local library

Number 4 featuring me in a roadside stall 'tuck shop' fundraising for scouts

this is the Golden Angel on top of Guildford Cathedral for number 8. It is fifteen feet high and weighs over a ton and was given in memory of a young soldier killed in 1944

Number 18 a movie poster for the latest Spiderman film that DS and I watched in 3D

Number 15 shows several people dancing including DS at his year 6 leavers disco

Number 2 a clothesline in my garden one of the first days of our summer when we could hang washing out (although we are having great weather now)

Family 12 x 12 blog hop August and September

Hi everyone and welcome to the monthly blog hop where a small group of us share photographs of our families once a month. Please visit the marvellous Margie's blog to find out more.

There wasn't a blog hop in August so I am sharing my August photo and my September one with you today.

On July 31st I was aware that I hadn't taken a photo for the month but luckily we were all off to the Olympic park together. A Gamesmaker offered to take a picture for me as I was struggling with the self timer. Yet again my family opted for a 'back of the head' shot! Focussing on the Olympic Stadium in the background.

In August we had a holiday to Cyprus and for one week we had friends in the same resort so they took a photo of us on our last night with them,

Please continue on this months blog hop by visiting Monica's blog

September FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop Participant List

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog

Jo http://www.mrsbeee.blogspot.com

Ruth http://www.chattycraftyartypig.blogspot.com (you are here)

Monica http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com

Carol Anne http://www.scrappingthoughts.com

Scavenging for photos

I have been meaning to blog more of my photographs from Rinda,s Summer Scavenger Hunt

these are the ones I found whilst on holiday in Cyprus.................

Number 17 there were so many churches in Cyprus and I really loved them, but I finally settled on this one as it also had the flag flying outside

Number 16 A bride, I am hoping that this photo will be accepted as a nun is a bride of Christ and this one made me smile as she sat texting.

Number 12 A trail that I tried to follow as far as I could down to the salt lake but it was so hot and the rest of the family were waiting in the air conditioned car so I turned round and headed back!

Finally a fountain for Number 9, found in the mountain town of Platres that resembled an alpine resort in temperatures of 33 degrees hard to believe that people really ski here in the winter!

Number 11 A shadow photo of the family that includes one of Elliot's crutches

Number 6 a historical landmark. This is a view of Aphrodite's Rock, where legend has it that Aphrodite emerged from sea foam, it is known as her birthplace and is probably the most famous 'historical' landmark on the whole Island.