Hello, welcome, long time no see!
I am so out of touch with everyone, but I see so many of you joining Abi over at Creating Paper Dreams and I thought a sit down and chat over a cup of tea might be just the place to start with catching up!
Why don’t you have a seat, excuse the mess – I’ve only just sat down, after a full day at work and the girls seem to have had some fun in the lounge with Daddy today.. he’s not much for ‘tidying as you go’, more of a ‘let them trash the place and clean up when they’ve gone to bed’ sort! I’ve got coffee here if you prefer, but if you don’t mind I’ll be indulging in a rather large tea - I may even start a pot if you can stay a while- and maybe join me for a slice of ginger cake…
I could say it’s been a busy month but to be honest it’s been more of a busy year here!!
Miss Willow, who I introduced in my last post, is 9 months old now and into everything! She’s going to be a climber, that one, and she has already mastered the stairs, so no turning your back, even for a second! Miss Hannah is three already and full of chatter, she started Nursery school back in April and it has definitely not slowed her down any – she’s lively and fun, but very hard work, so I am pleased when bedtime rolls around, so I can sit down for a few minutes, like now in fact, and relax over a cuppa - would you like some more - enjoy it while it's hot!
I had the strange idea that Hannah going off to school 3 hours a day would give me time to catch up with scrapping and blogging and all those things that I intended to do while on Maternity Leave, but here I am, back to work last week and I have no idea where the time has gone!
I may not have had time to do much blogging, or even as much crafting as I would like but we have definitely made the most of my maternity leave and Hannah’s school break to have lots of adventures! I have a few photos, if you've time to have a look - I really must get these printed and into albums, but then again I think the photos from last summer are still in a packet somewhere round here.. all the best intentions...
Anyway, a very busy few weeks around here. We made the most of being so close to the coast to have several trips to the beach and we paddled in the sea and indulged in sausage and chips and of course an ice lolly or two....
We have been to the zoo, where Hannah (and Daddy!) had a conversation with a lynx..{don’t ask}, we saw giraffes, zebras and an ostrich or two from the safari truck then had a spot of lunch with some meerkats.
We have been swimming and picnicking in the parks and generally making the most of the nice weather while we had it to play with a bowl or two of water and make a mess in the garden with paints – Hannah is becoming quite an artist, and Willow loves to get messy!
Miss Hannah finally mastered the art of pedalling a bike properly (rather than stop and push along with her feet - the little cheater!) and we had a visit or two from her cousins (and various of their friends)- Hannah loves the fact that they can just wander over during school holidays, take her to the park or pop by to help her decorate some cupcakes...
My lovely Mum offered to keep my girls one morning a couple of weeks ago so I went shopping and I bought a whole new wardrobe of work clothes – there have to be some benefits to returning to work, after all! Bless my poor sister, I took her along for a second opinion and she may have needed to spend best part of an hour stood outside of changing rooms, swapping out items as I tried them all on! It is such a nightmare when all your sizes have changed, but at least I have quite a lot of options now and I think I scrub up quite well...
The girls and I camped out in a tent in the garden at Nannie-Nannie’s house the next night and had hot chocolate made on a camp stove, followed by stories and treats and a late night! Then we had more hot chocolate and some brioche for breakfast – I think Miss Hannah is rather a big fan of camping now!
We have met three new babies this holiday - all of them girls!
One was born in May to a good friend who moved away while pregnant, so it was lovely to catch up with her and meet the new addition and the other two precious bundles are cousins, born just two weeks apart, to some good friends who lived in our street when we were children - I can see these bubbas keeping the new Grandma on her toes, almost as much as their mothers did!! :)
Bank Holiday Monday actually turned out to be a nice day here, and my sister and I took the girls to a Maize Maze and had great fun getting lost amongst the corn for the morning! We didn’t manage to lose any of them and all made it out safely, and together!
How about you - did you manage to get out and enjoy the sun at all?
It has been a very busy month, and I have a few more things planned before the end of it, although they are very mundane – such as shoes shopping- we bought Hannah new school shoes today and now we find that her trainers won't fit either...
How about you, do you have much to do before Autumn is upon us?
It has been lovely to catch up with you, thanks so much for stopping by, and I do hope I haven't completely talked your ear off... maybe I shouldn't leave it so long next time! Please do help yourself to another slice of cake before you go… it's open now, so we may as well finish it off!!
