Three days...

Hello! A quick coffee and a ginger snap for me before Miss T and myself return to our marathon clean-up. I have been cleaning my house for three days so far and I have not finished yet. Three days! Horror!

I should say here that this is more in the nature of a Spring Clean, rather than the weekly (fortnightly!) flapping of a duster, but even so. I am Astounded at the amount of broken, unused grot we have knocking around. And the dust... goodness, all I can say is that I am glad Toot has just given me a decent hoover!

Anyway, today has been devoted entirely to the boy's room, because frankly, by yesterday afternoon I just couldn't face tackling it, so I cleared all the 'easy' jobs instead. I have sorted everything into boxes- cars, action figures, hats, marbles, Top Trumps, explorer stuff, dressing up, weaponry (I have tried to hide that box), remote control toys, Playmobil, Lego, Meccano, magnets, drawing, pants, socks etc.

It will last precisely four minutes once they are home from school. In the meantime I intend to revel in a tidy room.

While I was sorting FHB's bookshelf of doom, I found a little ID card that he had filled all his details in on.

Aah, I thought.

Then I turned it over...

Translation: To Mummy   I'm a beast   I should be punished

Me: Small sob

Am now wondering whether we are the most horrid parents ever, or whether the FHB is one seriously clever boy.

Have a lovely day...x

Crochet catch-up

Hello there! My house is in a right old mess at the moment, but instead of doing the boring stuff, I thought I would start with all those half finished WIPs.

There is this:

Still hanging around. Must get cracking on it as I would really like to wear it this Spring.

Then there is the giant's beret (pouffe cover). Still waiting for its last few inches and a liner. It is getting urgent too as the bears have finally split all the seam of the pouffe and popped the buttons off.

And my carry along WIP:

This is going to be a blanket inspired by this one. It is acrylic for ease of washing and drying, and will be about 1.4m x 1.8m. It was going to be a lot bigger, but I really don't have that much staying power!

There are so many things I want to start too, like the Summer Breeze  cardi, and something involving Japanese flowers, like this from Attic 24. Then there are two small person's birthdays coming up, Mother's day, a lion, a shrug, a cardi for Miss T, a zippy hoody for the FHB before he goes and grows again, some skull bunting which is just ace, not to mention all the non-crochet stuff I'd like to make too, like some dresses for my girls, another blossom blouse, a dress for me, some cotton pyjama bottoms for the boys in my life, some new cushion covers (always ongoing), a boy quilt that is cut but not pieced, a bag....

Must dash, I need to get cracking...x

In which we realise that six is quite grown-up

Well hello! It is a pleasant and peaceful Sunday here in the house of bears. W and FHB went out this morning for a bike ride so I did a little baking:

And a little crocheting:

There is a lamby stew in the slow cooker, a child friendly film on the telly, and a living room full of small children doing (as Mouse put it) different things, together:

FHB (age 6 1/2) was found playing a Star Wars game on the laptop.

Me: Oh, I didn't know we had a Star Wars game on the laptop.

FHB: I downloaded it.

Me and W (together): You did what? How?

FHB (smugly): Oh, I just went onto Bing and typed Star Wars Clone Wars into the search bar and up it came.

Me (part horrified, part impressed): Well, guess we'd better sort out some parental filters then.

Apart from the thick patina of dirt that I now need to deal with following the excavation of two small dinosaurs, the world is my oyster today.

Look I have even had time to finally take some photos of my lovely magnolia:

And to enjoy the fruits of my earliers labours, with a cup of weasel poo coffee in one of my brand new charity shop cups (that Papa and Toot treated me to yesterday- thank you!)

To cap it all off, Miss T has just done a wee in her potty! Yay!

Happy days...x

Impromptu picnic

Yesterday the sun was shining and W was working from home, so when we picked Custard up from school at lunchtime we went straight down to the beach for a spot of lunch.

I LOVE doing this! I just feel better all over for an elicit hour breathing fresh sea air and getting covered in sand.

My camera, on the other hand, did not fair so well. Poor thing. It is only six months old, but I think I am going to be saving up for another one soon. The button has pretty much given up working (I think a Child may have had something to do with this), and it is full of sand under the slide up cover. It is definately not a happy bit of kit.

I have informed W I will be borrowing his camera for a bit, at which he looked slightly horrified and asked why I wanted to ruin his too. There's spousal support for you.

I am not good with cameras. Or watches come to think of it. Or mobile phones. Which I find quite weird, being someone who has never lost my keys or purse in my life.

I guess we all have our issues...x

Sunshiney flowers

After our few days away, Miss T and I returned bearing these:

A thank you gift from my lovely sister-in-law, after I pointed out that we have never made it to their house during sunflower season. (This is a great tragedy because my brother-in-law is a champion sunflower grower. Last year they had a tunnel of them!) And indeed, they are just my favourite flowers ever! They are looking very fine on my dining room table, shoved in a two pint beer stein (Goodness knows where all the vases have gone).

These come close to sunflowers for sheer happiness value:

Two bunches from Toot and two from W, plonked in the blue jug from Toot's loft. They are making me feel extremely pleased.

And I didn't miss the magnolia flowering! It is It was so pretty! I would show you how pretty, but Somebody small and male, who likes sticks, has bashed all the petals off. Hopefully the rest will come out soon and I'll get a snap for posterity.

Oh well. It is just not worth getting upset about, is it? And I'll tell you what- it's a lot easier not to get upset when the sun is shining, even if a small-boy-who-is-big-enough-to-know-better did wake us up at five this morning by sitting in the middle of our bed staring at us intently like a weirdo. Happy happy!

x

Babysitting

Hello! The sun is shining and all is well. Miss T and I have spent the last three days at my sister-in-law's house, looking after my Niece-who-has-no-plan, my Naughty Nephew and OK, while my brother-in-law ran the Rome marathon.

We have had a great time, despite the fact that Miss T and my Naughty Nephew are the same age and equally wilful, thus behaving at all times like evil twins. They both repel and attract each other like small, sticky, violent, magnets.

Anyway...

Here's a bit of what we did:

So lovely!

Hope you have had a wonderful few days too. x

SprIIIIIIng!

Today we wore T-shirts on the beach and dabbled our toes in the sea. We had raspberries and tea, Hula Hoops and ice cream, kicked the football about and collected stones.

Then we came home and had lunch in the garden.

Oh yes, Spring has sprung, though I've got no photos to prove it, because I'm rubbish! x

What can I say about Wednesdays?

Today has held some lovely moments: Custard telling me that 'Daddy has tongle-itis'; Miss T telling me 'Lub oo'; getting the supermarket shopping done wothout any shouting, climbing or escapees; taking a quiet hour to finish the top I was making (more of that another day).

But, and here's the rub, today has also held some classic Wednesdayisms: Custard kicking Miss T in the face; Custard telling me I am an idiot (an old favourite, making a welcome return); Custard having a tantrum on the street; Mouse hating everyone (loudly); Custard disappearing for five minutes during the busy school run (wearing a brown jacket so he was pretty much camouflaged); Miss T telling me: 'not fred more' (You are not my friend anymore) at least a thousand times; the discovery that we need a not-unexpected-but-rather-more-immediate-than-we-thought MOT tomorrow, which has completely ruined my plans for the day. And then. of course, there was Swimming. Grr.

I am sitting in my living room listening to my children in the kitchen. They are drinking hot chocolate and squabbling about nothing at all, very loudly. My ears hurt. I want a glass of wine Right Now.

Close eyes, press fingers to temples, deep breath.

Let's look at a photo from the weekend shall we? This is FHB and his cousin, my Niece-who-has-no-plan. She was four and we had fireworks:

Look- FHB has magic coming out of his fingers!

x

End of an era

Last weekend saw the removal of the cot from Miss T's bedroom. It has lasted six and a half years and four babies and has been put up and taken down so often that it practically fell apart when we looked at it. It stands now in the front yard, looking sad, awaiting a trip to the recycling centre:

I am at once pleased and saddened by its exit from our lives. When I put it out there my heart tightened, just a little bit.

But not as much as it did when I first saw Miss T, all tiny and baby-like in her new bed, snuggled up under a blanket my mum knitted for me when I was born.

In the week she has been in it, do you know, she has not got out of bed once?! How fabulous is that? We just say 'Goodnight, love you, stay in your bed please', AND SHE DOES!

X

The wedding magnolia

I wrote this a few days ago on a lovely bright day when I was feeling jolly good about all things. Today is grey and wet, and I am cold and tired, so finding this made me feel a little more Hopeful...

Eight years ago W and I came here and wandered around the streets, wondering if this was the place for us to settle and raise a family. It was a beautiful Spring day, the sun was shining and we looked at all the Victorian terraces and thought they were pretty. Not to mention near the sea.

But the thing I remember most about that day was the magnolias. Every other house seemed to have one. Different shapes, sizes and colours, but all magnolias, all in bloom, all beautiful. We decided we would have to have one.

So after our wedding and our big move from a two up-two down in London to a Proper Family Home, we bought a magnolia. It was small and sat happily at the corner of our shed.

Fast forward seven and a half years and our magnolia is a nine foot beauty, providing privacy and prettiness to the patio that now sits where the shed was. It is beautiful and I love it. And it is coming alive again for the Spring.

Magic...x

I notice, glancing over my shoulder at the garden, that the magnolia has definate white tips to all those lovely buds. I have a nasty feeling I am going to miss the flowers while I am at work this week!

It's oh so Quiet...

It is Friday afternoon and all is well...Peace reigns in the House of bears.

One sleeping peacefully:

One playing DS as a Friday Treat:

One Making Animals Go:

One wrecking my recipe book while expounding long-windedly about what she is going to make and for whom:

And on the hob:

...A basket of goodies for W to conjure up some yummy tea.

In addition, the oven holds a chocolate cake, the coffee pot holds a new brew, and the dining table holds my afternoon's entertainment:

Lovely! Hope your Friday is as good. x

In which I cannot work my camera

Hello! I had a bit of a blog hiatus over the weekend, mainly because I thought my camera was broken. We did lots of lovely things with the kids- a long muddy wander through the woods; a good climbing session at a newly installed adventure playground; a trip to a teeny tiny farmer's market and a subsequent exploration of a town we thought we might move to one day (we decided we won't); W and the kids made pasta- FHB and the Mouse showed little continuing interest, whereas (surprisingly), Custard proved very useful for the prolonged turning of the handle. Sunday tea for W and I brought a pile of the best cheese scones I have ever made and a lemon meringue pie of epic proportions.

I would have shown you all of this, except my camera was broken. I charged the battery. I put it in, took it out, open and shut the lens cover, swore a bit:

Me (grumpy): My ---- camera is broken. It's only 6 ------ months old.

W (takes camera from me): Let me see. (Turns battery around and switches camera on) There. It helps if you put the battery in the right way round (Smiles, smugly).

Ahem.

Anyway...Monday brought one poorly Mouse and a bit of a write off of a day, but today? Oooh, it is Lovely! Blue skies, the definate promise of Spring in the air, three children at school, a clean house (well, I had to do something yesterday), and orders from W to go and buy myself some new plimsolls and jeans, because everything I own seems to be falling apart. I am also under orders to replenish FHB's wardrobe because as the boy himself tells me- he's growing like a weed.

Shopping!

I have been such a good girl for the past couple of months, so any sort of interesting shopping, especially shopping that I do not have to feel guilty about, is Pretty Exciting!

This morning Miss T and I have been to Matalan. Not the world's most glamorous shop I admit, but when you have six people to clothe, it is all good. Look...

Flowery Shoes! In the garden!

Miss T and I had a bag of chocolate buttons and a drink out there this morning. It was so nice. I do not think I have been out there to Just Sit since October. I did, however, discover that there is quite a lot of work to be done out there. There always is. Four children and a cat carve up the grass to a point where we have seriously considered astro-turf.

I did find one small, not entirely healthy looking patch of crocus (croci? crocuses?), but it is, at least, a sign that Spring is around the corner:

Tomorrow brings a trip to Next (for me) and H&M (for FHB). Woo!
x

Edited to add:

I have just collected FHB and Mouse from school.

FHB:  Ooh, Mummy, I like your new flowery shoes.

Me (pleased): Thanks! I got them today.

FHB: Yeah, they're cool. You look like you should be going to play darts.

Me: Darts?

FHB: Yeah, you know, somewhere really cool like a darts club.

Me: crushed.

Today I am mostly...

Cleaning:: reluctantly
Smiling:: at Miss T and Custard actually playing together!
Laughing:: at Miss T's pulling my hair across my face under my nose and telling me I have got a 'stosh' (mustache)
Drinking:: ginger tea
Wishing:: my tea was more gingery.
Eating:: a chocolate mannequin pis, leftover from Christmas, still good

Reading:: (accidentally) a series of Very Bad romance novels on my Kindle (having down loaded them and begun reading, I thought I may as well finish) and
Having the mickey taken out of me:: by my husband, who thinks it is hilarious
Planning:: on giving the bears dusters and getting them to clean their own rooms after school
Feeling excited:: about FHB having fencing lessons at school
Feeling glad:: to have my dear boy back again and not the angry horror we have lived with for a few months
Dreading:: the nit combing session that awaits at bath time
Worrying:: about what the next few months hold for my family and I
Trying:: really hard to be thankful for what we have
Realising:: that my Niece Who Has No Plan will be four in two weeks and I need to make her a gift
Looking forward:: to a quiet weekend of finishing projects, starting new ones and strolling along the beach
Forgetting:: that I still have to go to work tomorrow first
Enjoying:: my happy bunch of daffs, plonked in a jug

Thinking:: that I might not clean for the next hour, but may wander through Rightmove for a bit in order to do some...
Dreaming:: of where I would like us to be.

Have a lovely day...x

Fab Fotos

A couple of photos for you today. Both taken on my stomp around London last week:

How fabulous are these Bishopsgate Bunnies?

And this graffiti? Love It!

x

Cold crochet catch-up

Wow it is cold here today! Miss T and I have done our out-and-about jobs in record time and are now hunkering down in the living room wih CBeebies (her) and a good book (me), some raisins and biscuits (her) and some chocolate (me- it's early, I know, but needs must). We have hot milk, hot coffee (lashings of) a warm cat and a new blanket to snuggle under:

I also have a pile of crochet to be getting on with. My pouffe cover is growing (a collection of words I never thught I'd string together!)

My cardi is about a third done:

And I have started whipping up granny squares in the hope of making a blanket. I do not know if I have the staying power...

I will leave you with a photo of Custard being a multicultural storm trooper. I am looking forward to this afternoon's dressing up ensembles, as a large and very promising parcel has just arrived for Custard from my sister-in-law. x