A week by the sea

Spring bank hols 2013 we managed our first family holiday in four years. For the first time we weren't moving or pregnant and we managed to scrape together the pennies for a lovely week at the seaside. Ladies and gentlemen welcome to Sandsend ...

 

Certainly the place to be seen this summer, we are pretty sure Mary Portas was also in residence!

Here was our cottage ...



And the view, oh that view...





The weather was gorgeous for most of the week and early mornings I'd open that door and lay on the sofa sipping my cuppa and listening the the roar of the waves. I would so love to live right on the beach one day, well I can dream! The week was filled will little boy centred activities, such as creating beach creations with a load of washed up bamboo...



And the more traditional castles ...

 

Wearing our comically over sized sun hats ...

 

Spotting the vintage buses, what a beauty ...

 

Failed attempts to do crab catching ...

 

Amassing large fossil collections ...



We took trips to Staithes, Robin Hoods Bay and a couple of jaunts into Whitby ...

 

Including one with Nana where we partook of refreshments at Sherlocks tea rooms ...



We found a converted park "boat", which was perfect for pirate games ...



And overall we had lots of fun. We grown ups slept like logs (sea air!) and there were lots of laughs and lovely memories to keep forever ...

 

Start the saving for next year!
Toodle pip
J
x

It lasted just a day...

This is an unhappy tale - misadventures into wholly unsuitable school uniform making. It started out very promising, the knitting went well and the lad liked it ...



I got the wool and pattern as a Christmas present and I really enjoyed knitting this one up. A lovely chunky aran wool and a nice and simple but effective fisherman's rib pattern. When the weather warmed up he proudly donned the said tank top, he looked like a total cutie. Nice and retro, Mama was proud of her home made efforts.

It came home 6 hours later a total wreck. He'd got hot and tried to take it off, the wool got caught on the buttons on his polo shirt and it got pulled to bits. He arrived home with it on inside out with about three 3ft loops of wool hanging off him. I could have cried!

Toodle pip
J
x

Birthday weekend

Well, another year older and wiser for me this week. I observed the tradition of not working on my birthday so enjoyed a long weekend with a couple of days off work.

The boys were very excited about birthday stuff as per usual and were really hyper about their present to me. Shrivelled apple Emporer Palpatine anyone!?

Reuben made me wear my birthday stickers...




Not quite the same as wearing your 'I am four' badge eh?

I accomplished lots of crafty stuff too including the laying out and coding of Jo's wedding quilt and creating miles of wedding bunting - no photos till after the big day!

I also sewed a replacement cover for Dave's car boot find of a beat up old directors chair.

From this...



Via this...



To this...



I ordered the material for our bedroom curtains AND I made a table cloth ...



Boy what a busy few days :)

We had some good stuff - grown up tea out for the two of us, first time in goodness knows how long . And some usual stuff too - family snuffles coming on and appalling customer service and traipsing about trying to get my watch fixed! Such is life.

I'd just like to ask one question. How did I get so old?
Toodle pip
J
x

Easter round up

Our Easter hols have started to fly by, only a few days left to go before it will be back to work for me .... boo :(

We seem to have achieved quite a lot and have had a very busy week so far.

On Good Friday we packed the car to the gills, steeled ourselves for five hours of driving fun, and headed back to the hills for a few days in order to visit Grandma and Grandad. The weather was freezing but at least the sun shone. We managed a brisk walk along a bit of the seafront at Aberystwyth ...

And the boys enjoyed zooming around the castle re-enacting star wars and pirate battles ...

When the wind got too cold we retreated back indoors so I managed to get quite a bit of crafting done. Paper squares are currently being taped into 864 of these lovelies ready for the next wedding quilt ...



And I finished a last minute knitting project for me, inspired by the chilly spring weather we seem to be stuck with ...





Planning for the next house projects also started today, complete with two trips to the timber merchant to stock up on more wood. Most of it the right size - eventually! So while the tiddlers go to Nana's for a sleep over on Saturday its shelves for him and curtains for me. Here is a sneaky peak of my project ...



Very excited indeed to be finally doing these :)

Today was a chill out day in the main so I even managed to dust off my griddle and whip up some goodies inspired by our trip to Wales ...



Twenty one of these sugar coated Welsh Cake yummies were produced at tea time, but only nine were left by the time I found the camera. As quick as they came off the griddle they were getting snaffled up. Ah well, at least they were appreciated.

Toodle pip
J
x

Big boy bed

Our baby is growing up fast.



Getting your big boy bed is a very exciting event and calls for much jumping and giggling :)

Thankfully, he has settled to sleeping in it like a pro and the old cot will be heading to ebay shortly. His big brother is impressed by the new sharing arrangements too, apparently now Caleb sleeps in the room with him Reuben will no longer get lonely at night. Awww!

Toodle pip
J
x

Mothers Day goodies

There was much excitement among the little peapods at the patch this year in relation to Mothers Day. Friday evening after school saw several whispered exchanges between munchkins and Dad - plus nods, winks and a few under bed 'hiding' missions all the while mentioning that it was all a great big SECRET. Bless!

By the time Sunday arrived it was anticipated with almost as much excitement that a birthday normally generates.

Pressies were:

A homemade card ...



Complete with a beautiful display of Reu's fast improving writing skills ...



A Betty's bun (only the box survives, contents were devoured before the camera came out, but it is such a pretty box I can't bear to throw it away yet) ...




And a pin board ...



This last one is an old thing of my Dads that was rescued from the garage a few months back. Dave saw its potential, acquired it (much gratitude from Mum who is always looking to get rid of the remaining piles of garage tat) and has secretly renovated it for me, all with Caleb's help - he apparently pitched in with the sanding! It is now duly mounted and waiting to display the daily deliveries of artwork and stories that arrive home from school.

Toodle pip
J
x

The boys are back in town

ok, so what happened there then? Well, where do I start. Life kinda got in the way of this blogging stuff .. in a big way. In a nutshell I got pregnant again and our beautiful second son Caleb was born in August 2010 ...



He is no longer a baby.

Even less of a baby is his big brother. Quite the grown up our little lad starts school in a few short months time. We have a pair of proper cheeky monkeys on our hands ...



We moved again (twice!) relocating to York and buying our forever (for a while anyhow) family home ...



I have a serious lack of pictures of the place but you get the idea. 1950s semi with lots of bay windows.

House buying is all about compromise and we went for the dump of a house needing tlc but in the nice area. Last summer we spent six long weeks making it habitable throwing every ounce of energy and every penny of our savings we had left at it along the way. We got there ... almost. We still have a disgusting shell of a kitchen and a distinct lack of curtainage - for the latter I blame my obsessive need to have the right curtains for all those big bay windows, right curtains which cost such a lot of money even if you make them yourself :)



See those curtains there - yep those are linings held up by safety pins. I have no shame.

Finally, I went back to work full time when we moved. Himself looks after the tiddlers and I picked up a hefty job for my sins along with the not insignificant responsibility of being our single wage earner with a big fat mortgage ...



ok, so I don't manage this level of togetherness or glamour on any level but you get the idea. I hold the whole working mum thing together, just, for most of the time. I'll no doubt prattle on more about all that in due course.

So excuses made, re-introductions complete and we are back in business here at the patch.
Toodle pip
J
x

Smarty pants

A couple of weeks back we attended the wedding of one of my cousins up in North Yorkshire. A pretty frock, make up and blow dried hair for me, best bib and tucker for the boys. Didn't we look smart?



Especially the little fella in his smart shirt ... it was even ironed for the occasion by his Nana! (I'm not known for ironing clothes!)



It was fun watching the deteroration of tidieness throughout the day, two or three hours in and he was a very different child having totally smeared himself in chocolate truffles :) Those table favours came into good use trying to keep him quiet through the speeches!!!

The venue, Goldsborough Hall, was super posh. A gorgeous house with awesome chandeliers and gardens that looked unreal because they were that perfect.. you know the kind where there is literally not one weed to be seen as far as the eye can see, the gravel has been raked into patterns and the grass looks to have been cut with nail scissors ... by hand! The day generated lots of post match analysis on the drive home the next day - you know disecting various relatives and their weirdness alongside discussions about how we want our own wedding to be. We just can't get that one sorted in our heads at the moment!

Overall we had a very nice time, it was lovely to see everyone all dressed up and the weather was perfect so we could spend most of the afternoon outdoors. Keeping a one year old entertained and well behaved throughout was a challenge - quite long stretches of weddings are either really boring (official photos anyone? yawn) or require small people to keep uber quiet. Keeping the other half entertained on the other hand was quite easy ... he rather took advantage of the free champagne and was more than a bit merry by about 4pm! Boy-oh-boy did he suffer the next morning. Don't think he realised he can no longer hack the pace like he could in his youth :)
Toodle pip
J
x

Chop, chop

Ever since he was tiny the munchkin has been blessed with a very full head of hair. It was very long, dark and spikey when he arrived and gradually over the months it has evolved into the most lovely blonde sun kissed curls. However, this last few weeks things have got a bit out of hand. The curls were starting to grow sideways, the ends were tickling his ears and dropping in his eyes - basically it had all gone a wee bit bonkers. So Daddy took the little chap to the barbers this morning and ta da, we have a tidy new look ...


The before and after shots!

Sitting still while being snipped was a bit of a challenge but he managed without screaming the place down, thanks largely to the rice cakes and biscuits we plied him with to encourage him to sit still. Doesn't he look all grown up?
Toodle pip
J
x

Party time

Normality returns after a hectic week at the patch. Visitors have departed, the cards have been put into the memory box, the balloons have been deflated, the bunting has been taken down and packed away, and the last crumbs of birthday cake have been snaffled with a cup of tea.

Yep, the birthday party of the year is done and dusted ... and I can finally get round to blogging about some of the things I've been up to over the last few months. I can't quite believe how much planning went into one little tea party!

We had the hand knitted birthday tank top...



The hand knitted present...



Just in case you can't tell these are wonky cast of animal characters from his favourite book 'Monkey Puzzle'. Here they are lined up ready to be popped into their jungle print bag...



We had the crazy idea last minute bunting I sewed from my scrap bag ... not pictured how did I manage to miss snapping that?

And finally the (very badly) hand crafted birthday cake...



This highly engineered structure was meant to represent the little man's favourite toys - stacking cups - but it turned out to be just one giant pile of highly coloured sticky icing :) It slid all over the place during construction yet the icing was like working with glue. Well at least it holds memories!!

As you can tell we gave him a hand made birthday - the best kind if you ask me.
Toodle pip
J
x

One year old today

Happy birthday little man! Oh my how you've grown :)



We've had a soggy old day in this neck of the woods. The birthday treat to the local rescue zoo was a bit of a damp squib, not much to see apart from a very cute baby wallaby. Most animals were sensible enough to hide deep in their various enclosures well away from all the rain and the scary looking wet people. Then our celebration lunch out was a rain check too as the place we wanted to go was closed. Doh!

So we just stayed home and played with new toys this afternoon. Grandma and Grandad came for tea and to play and we did a little mini celebration for the munchkin .... here is R enjoying his smoosh cake :)



I'm just out of shot panicking slightly about the impending clean up! Proper party shennanegans coming up at the weekend so more birthday news to follow in a few days.

Toodle pip
J
x

Adventures in a tin shack

The post holiday blues have firmly settled on the patch this week as we returned from our first proper family holiday.



We spent a few days exploring Pembrokeshire which was just what the doctor ordered. The weather was very kind to us with the sun shining pretty much all weekend long. Our Tin Bungalow was utterly fabulous. Quiet location, fab interior decor and a lovely garden. None of my photos do it justice - it was truly fantastic. The only downside was the massive electrical storm we had on the first night, a tin shed in the middle of a field is not the most comforting place to be when the lightning starts a flashing!

The little man had lots of lovely first experiences...

Paddling in the sea...


Digging sandcastles...


Eating a whole yummy ice cream by himself...


Taking big train rides...


Taking little train rides...


And making new friends


(Explanation required: this dopey half dead fly was hanging around in the conservatory while we ate breakfast and R was fascinated by it .. shouting, pointing and generally going nuts about it - consequently we named him Felix and nominated him as R's new friend!)

A fun time was had by all...


I'm looking forward to next years hols already!
Toodle pip
J
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