Casa Costello has a new home

Hi there! Just to let you know Casa Costello has moved - I have merged my 2 blogs to make one Family and Cake blog over at http://casacostello.com

I would love it if you would follow me over there! Thanks so much for reading and all your lovely comments while I have been here.

The Big One - Reasons to be Cheerful

This is the week I've been waiting for, the week when I am most cheerful of all - and it doesn't involve going on holiday for once!

Reason to be Cheerful 1: The Christening
Its our little one's big day - She is being baptised on Sunday at our church. The baptism is being held during 11am mass which is very important for us as she is being welcomed into a community that we have been part of for many years.
We are obviously looking forward to the party afterwards (mainly as I will be so relieved that the pressure is off - I had a mad moment a few weeks ago when I decided I would do the catering myself!)
This time we have decided against the posh 'do' instead favouring something relaxed and just enjoying the company of our friends (all 100 of them! Eek!)

Reason to be Cheerful 2: Wonderful Friends
Apart from being so pleased that we have so many lovely people willing to share Baby T's special day with us, I am very grateful for all the offers of help I have had with preparing the food for Sunday. We are expecting a bit of a houseful on Saturday and hope to make a bit of party of food preparation - chinese and wine may be consumed!

Reason to be Cheerful 3:Reading
Vi seems to be settling well into reading now - at first it wasn't something she was that keen on but all of a sudden she's really interested in what letters are in what words - we've got a long way to go but yay! Thank God for teachers - I don't know how home schooling parents have the patience to teach their kids to read!

Update on last week: My friend had a little baby girl, Ruby - at the time of writing I have not met her yet as I thought I'd give them a bit of a chance to settle into being a family of 4 but from the photos she looks like a little beauty.

Well, best get on..it will be no surprise to learn I still haven't finished Baby T's christening cake! The picture is what I imagine our utility room to look like by Saturday night!

Chilling out - The Gallery

How ironic that this week's theme for Tara Cain's Gallery is chilling out. Ironic because I'm having one of the least chilled out weeks ever with Tara's christening preparations in full flow for Sunday. If I ever suggest doing a buffet for 100 people again along with the cake and a new baby, tell me I'm off my trolley!

I have chosen this particular picture of Violet as this is how she chills out best - Violet runs around everywhere at 100 miles per hour but when she chills, she really chills. I can guarantee this was lying in our bed on a Sunday morning watching Peppa Pig. Nobody can rush our V when she is not ready to get moving. As I'm sure most parents of a 4 year old can appreciate, getting ready for school is a NIGHTMARE!

Measles Outbreak - Safe to travel to France?

So there I was last week happily reading the school newsletter when suddenly I came across a warning of a measles outbreak in France. Over 3000 cases have been recorded so far this year in France and guess who has got a family holiday booked there this summer? The older children are fully immunised but Baby T will be less than 6 months old when we go so will not have had her MMR.

We did what most people would have done which is nothing for a couple of days then started panicking. We googled Measles situation in France and learnt that last year the recorded cases for France were 5000. So it is significantly up.

I then rang NHS Direct who knew nothing about an outbreak. Then I tried the Doctor who suggested trying the Nurse who said to try the Health Protection Agency - Who were fab!!

They rang me back within half an hour, asked whereabouts we were going and how long for. We then had quite a long conversation about surfing but thats a post for another time!

The results are. Safe to travel with a baby even though not fully immunised. The warnings going out to Doctors surgeries and schools are aimed at reminding parents who have not had their children immunised to do so as soon as poss. It is mostly groups of teenagers that are contracting measles. If we were travelling abroad for 2 months or more, we may be advised to bring forward Baby T's MMR but even then this is unlikely as she is so young and may still have some of my natural antibodies. (Aw!)

So there we are, still going to France and another trauma is over for another day!

Listography - Bad Combinations

Whoa Kate! You had me lulled into a false sense of security with the last few weeks Listographies. This week's theme is Bad Combinations - Things that just plain don't work together - supposedly like the rhyme 'Red & Green are seldom seen except upon a fool'? Apart from I quite like red & green together - well perhaps not as a clothes combination...but I digress.

I struggled at first but then thought, this blog is about me (well, mainly) so that's where my bad combinations start:

Me & Fishfingers
Don't know what it is, we just don't mix. Give me a 5 tier wedding cake and I'm yours - fishfingers and they are either burnt or soggy!

Me & Being Practical
If anything is ever going to get me swearing and crying its DIY, lifting, sorting, tidying - I am so meant to sit on my bum!

Me & Timekeeping
I try, really I do but I can never seem to be on time - Sadly, my husband has now developed this trait and my children look like they are going the same way.

Me & Diets/Exercise
We are not great friends - life is too short and they sell some ok size 16 clothes these days!

Me & Homework & the 8yo
Please tell me I'm not the only one with a short fuse when it comes to homework time?

I could go on, I have found so many things that I don't mix with I'm starting to worry about myself.
For more hilarious combinations, visit KateTakes5 - even better join in!

Mr Men - Google Front Page and a cake

I am loving today's Google front page! It is the 76th birthday of Roger Hargreaves, the mastermind behind the Mr Men and Little Miss books. The page keeps changing between the Mr Men & Little Miss characters - I'm spending so much time today flicking backwards and forwards to see which one it is on now!

I've always loved the characters (although sometimes I hard the books hard to read out loud to the children) so much so that I made a Mr Men & Little Miss cake for my eldest daughter's christening 8 years ago. How strange that my mind is thrown back to her christening cake this week when I am working on the cake for my 3rd daughter's christening - I seemed to take so long over cakes in those days - something tells me I won't have quite so much time this week!

Happy Birthday Roger - and thanks for a wonderful set of memories!

Silent Sunday

No words, just a picture.