Scarecrows and Wheelbarrows

The Girls decided that they wanted to make scarecrows of two of their favourite characters from television, its not entirely obvious who they are from first glance, but perhaps the decorated wheelbarrow might offer her up some more clues…

Oh if only my allotment looked that tidy!

Given up yet?

Thats right, it’s Tom and Barbara Good, from The Good Life!

I’ve got the box set, which was a gift from Hubby several years ago, and barring a couple of slightly inappropriate jokes, which whistle over the top of their heads anyway, it has been one of our ‘go to’ DVD’s when the whole family want to snuggle up and watch something together. Not a hard couple of scarecrows to put together, although I think secretly we all enjoyed doing the wheelbarrow more this year, if only our real allotment was so easy to tend!

….and then she was four!

The Smallest celebrated her fourth birthday yesterday, we had a small party with just a handful of her friends (and their older siblings, to keep The Tallest company). A Simple tea, some crafts a pass the parcel. And music on the record player, ‘Hello Children Everywhere’ if you are interested, fabulous tracks like ‘The Runaway Train’, Burl Ives rendition of ‘There Was An Old Lady’, and ‘Nellie the Elephant’, amongst others.

The painted plant pots and violas were made by each child for them to take home, as were the decorated biscuits, they were popped into a party bag, (made from some old Winnie the pooh curtains -£1.50 off the car boot) along with some small chocolates and a packet of sunflower seeds too.

All in all a successful afternoon (the Smallest’s face when she first sees her cake says it all really), I packed off two very tired girls to school this morning, but whizzing to school on a new birthday scooter did make persuading at least one of them out of the back door a bit easier this morning!

Did Jack Valentine visit your house?

It was a good excuse to do a little something for valentines, the girls crafted, and I made heart shaped bangers and mash for tea!

In Norfolk there is a tradition of having Jack Valentine ( or Old Mother Valentine / Old Father Valentine or even Jack Snatch) leave gifts for the children at the door after knocking and running, it seems that no one is entirely sure where it originated from, and I know more people that don’t do it than those that do, but Norfolk must be a county of romantics as giving a gift just because “someone loves you” still continues. You never know what’s going to be left, and sometimes brooms get lent or the door to fall on you as you open it, (perhaps you havent been such a good Valentine’s that year!) or gifts are pulled away on strings off the doorstep, or ‘snatched’.

Hubby fulfilled the role for a friend this year, and was informed he didn’t run fast enough, as apparently someone caught sight of him! Though judging by the amount of oil and muck he was covered in when he returned home I don’t think that his identity has been revealed!

New year’s blessings

As an impressive sunset settles over us tonight, so many of us will be sharing with others the hopes and expectations that we have for the coming year. Some may be considered trivial, others life changing, but all are important enough to have been decided on for the coming of the new year.

In all honestly I probably couldn’t tell you what all mine were without looking them up in my diary. I know a few of them, and I know that I have struggled to keep to one or two of them as well, but I like so many will be taking this opportunity to start as I mean to go on.

Most involve kindness, in particular to my long suffering husband – I suffer from that eternal affliction of having to be right! Always having an opinion on things, especially trivial things, seems to be my speciality, so I will once again be learning to try and keep myself in check again in 2012.

Spending more of my evenings making things, and using my quiet time usefully will be right up there at the top, along with limiting myself on using the computer, iPad, etc. To 90 minutes a day (excluding listening to talking books and music, as I can work whilst listening), and that includes the odd sneaky peek at facebook and especially blogs, which see me reading them until way after the clock has chimed midnight! 90 minutes is still quite a lot so I’m hoping that it will be a fairly straightforward resolution to keep.

Will you be joining in with the resolutions this year?

Christmas Confessions

Well now, here it comes, that gushing, sentimental post about time spent together as a family, and savouring beautiful moments within our children’s ever changing lives.

Yes, all that and more so of course, but in all honesty, no.

Will I be chained to the Internet equivalent of the stocks for actually putting it out there that our Christmas had its clearly less than enjoyable moments in it, and for Hubby and I things are only just beginning to feel festive despite being surround by beautiful greenery and beautiful children enjoying their gifts?

It started with the realisation that the Tallest had brought home with her a little more than her collection of crafted presents from school, a discovery made on Christmas Eve I might add, so treatment done, clothing and bedding changed, and early baths for everyone on Christmas day morning. Scratch, scratch. Such Fun! Not.

I have been suffering with a severe chest infection in the run up to Christmas, bruised and pulled ( suspected cracked) ribs, antibiotics, anti inflammatories and pain killers all being used to full effect, but still not giving me the relief that I needed to get what constituted as a full nights sleep, so awoke exhausted by not just the frantic last minute preparations.

To then suffer the ultimate insult I was ‘glutened’ by my poor unsuspecting father, who had worked so hard to create a delicious gluten free lunch, only for him to erroneously feed me the wrong pud at the end of the day, so my Christmas ended at approximately 6pm when I could finally no longer keep body and soul together, lost my lunch and was swiftly taken, weeping, upstairs by my darling man, whilst the girls played with their new toys unaware of my sudden turn for the worse. Boxing Day was spent in a fug of recovery, snoozing and generally being pretty unbearable to be around, and my mood has only just now begun to improve. ( Why does being glutened affect my mood so – there must be a reason I’m sure)

So there you have it, a bit of a pants Christmas if we are being really honest about things, but they are on the up, we had a good blustery walk on the beach, lunch at a local ( gluten free friendly) pub, and visited my ( still feeling terrible about it – bless!) Dad and Mum today. With plans to visit the girls Godparents tomorrow and then have friends over for lunch and a hearty walk on Saturday. So all in all things are heading in a more positive direction.

I realise that, when looking at those three photos up there I could of fabricated some cosy Christmas idyll with which to entrance you with, living as I do in a household where even the dogs get Christmas gifts, buts that’s not my style is it? A friend once told me that she enjoyed my blog posts because they are honest, they deal with the reality of life, especially life with two small children and a plethora of other problems to contend with on a daily basis, and who am I to disappoint?!

Be seeing you in the New Year, if not before. X

Festive Preparations

Bringing the greenery into the house made me realise that it’s been too long since I wrote a post. (Secret sewing and knitting after two little cherubs are tucked up in bed have put pay to having an evening to play catch up here.)

I’m trying my best to not allow the thought that I ‘ought’ to make people their gifts for Christmas, out way the fact that there is only so much humanly possible. (And it’s nothing a popcorn and movie afternoon next week won’t allow me to play catch up on.) So many biscuits and sweet things can be made when the smaller members of the household are drawn into a world of armchair adventures. It’s not that I don’t want them to help…okay, strictly speaking that’s not true – as much as I love to see them having fun in the kitchen with me, it does nothing for the time and motion! So distracting them with some good old fashioned fun won’t hurt every once in a while.

We collected and decorated the Christmas tree on Sunday, we have decided to give our pot grown tree a rest this year as the dry summer hasn’t done it too much good, the Girls and I have plans to decorate it with some popcorn strings, and fat balls so that it still gets the yearly dressing that it deserves, and the bird population will benefit.

I am particularly pleased with the wreath on the door, made entirely with found foliage. I used this this years growth on the Buddlea ( I do have willow growing down at the allotment, but couldn’t face wrapping myself and the crew up for the half hour there and back so made do with what was to hand). Wrapped up with Clematis, and then decorated with Holly, Ivy and seed heads, it’s made a welcome addition to our front door.

With the nature of making the Girls Christmas gifts, I have often reached a point in the evening when I no longer want to concentrate on small stitches on stretchy fabric, and neatness, and have become happily distracted by the joys of felt. In one evening, 10 felt hearts, 5 buttons, 6 beads, some stuffing, and finger knitted yarn became a cheerful addition to the Fireplace, potentially good gifts for friends and family next Christmas I feel, and variations already ordered by a certain young lady for her next birthday – ” Can you do them in Pink and Purple Mummy?” !

Hopefully I will continue to blog, if a little erratically over the next two weeks, I have missed getting it down here. I truly do see it as a journal of sorts. Abeit one that sometimes writes back to you.

Good luck with all your Christmas preparations, and don’t forget to enjoy them!

6 today

6 years old today, this forthright and headstrong wee girl who made her way into the world and by doing so made us parents…

She’s trouble! She’s hotheaded, opinionated, and doesn’t like to be wrong! (wherever does she get it from?!)

She’s imaginative, caring and capable – about as independent as they come, and more so if she got the chance.

It’s a finely struck balance at the moment as she settles herself into her role as big sister and full time school goer, but she’s getting there and with a bit of nurturing on all sides when this girl has grown it’ll be a mix which takes her far.

Happy Birthday Big Girl!

Red sky at night?

 

We chased this Hot Air Balloon for a wee while, we weren’t the only ones! When I was young there used to be quite a few Balloons that would land in the fields around my parents house – we don’t see so many now, perhaps it is to do with the inconsistent weather?

What a way to enjoy the World below you.

Back soon with things that are being made in earnest for a gap toothed girl who celebrates her 6th (!) birthday on Monday.

Simple things

:: discovering :: a red phonebox on a recent campervan excursion, only to realise that The Tallest didn’t know what a Public Telephone was! Soon rectified with the aid of a mobile (!)

:: Playing :: At one of our village parks, making the most of the brightest sunshine, trying to soak it all up and preserve the memories for the coming darker days.

:: Proud :: Of the harvesting and preserving going on thanks to the allotment, it may be small scale, we are sure to have run out before Spring arrives, but it’s Ours!

:: Learning :: Something new everyday. Like mattress alteration! Don’t fear something that you’ve never done before, embrace it, and you might discover that you enjoy it (I did!), as well as saving a shed load of money by not having a professional alter it for you. (Photo credit : The Tallest)

:: Baking :: The joyful knowledge that a little bit of pastry (Gluten Free of course…) can turn yesterdays leftovers into some attractive looking supper.

:: Celebrating :: The 2nd Birthday of a wee friend, at that most perfect of places, the beach. Laughing at the mad dog. Enjoying party food made at home with care and love. Gratitude to have found such good friends.

Simple things, simply put, what’s been shaping your Summer?

A new approach to the summer?

For those who know me, this could be an experiment doomed to failure before it has even begun.

That this summer, my posts should be quieter, and more visual.

(Go on with you….I can hear you laughing me out of the door from here!)

But seriously, whilst the summer is in full swing and the children are on their holidays, whenever I think “I should go and do a post” it never happens, I’m exhausted by the days adventures / activities / arguments, so exhausted that the thought of having to articulate this into something that someone out there in t’internet ether would actually want to read fills me with dread and it never happens….so here goes, wish me luck and I’ll see you on the other side (September most likely!)

Until then, I hope you enjoy what you see.

(abandoning grand plans for our wedding anniversary this year, for more simple ones closer to home, and feeling all the more happier for it)