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.