The Gallery – World Photograph Day

Since we went digital in 2004 mostly all my photographs are on my lap top or the external hard drive, in fact since the Little Lady was eight weeks old the albums have stopped.

I loved my photo albums, they would be my choice of items to get out of the house after the children, husband and cats in case of a fire.  The first thing I thought about when I saw the title for the Gallery at Sticky Fingers this week wasn’t “Oooo what shall I take!” but “*sigh* I really need to sort that out and get my albums up to date.” I was also given a Digital photo frame for my birthday from the smalls and I haven’t filled that up either….  Time to get a grip!

Anyhoo!

This weekend just gone we were away in Pembrokeshire, so I give you

Slide together

Silent Sunday

Summer Diary W2 D2

A slower start today *sighs with relief* the Little Man slept in until 7am!

We had arranged to meet a friend and her smalls in the park and so set about bundling our needs into a blue ikea bag, I did think twice about taking the wave boards but the Little Lady was insistent, I do a fairly good impression of a pack horse it has to be said.

After a mad couple of hours splashing around and a game of spot our friends in the supermarket, during which the Little Lady convinced me we needed to have a BBQ this evening, sausages were chosen (the ones Daddy likes) and finger buns, I managed to convince the Little Man we already had plenty of Ketchup, we got home in time for lunch.

Once home they did some ‘quiet drawing’…

and had lunch.

and then Mummy got brave and allowed finger painting!

A quick trip to the shops with Dad to buy coals gave me a breathing space, they came home with a new game of Connect 4, we found this in a pub recently and the smalls adored it.

The BBQ was lovely, the smalls love ‘sausage ina bun’ with the last of the home grown potatoes in a potato salad, the Little Lady diligently cut some chives for it from the pot in the garden and then snipped them like Katy does with Mummy’s big scissors.

So another day successfully negotiated, I find myself sitting quietly this evening as the OH has crashed out asleep, feeling quite calm. It’s been a good day.

The Gallery – 3 Little Words

“Where’s the keys?”

The smalls love helping Daddy pull apart his MG’s, the little lady already knows the parts names and tools. Which is more then I can claim!

Please go to Sticky Fingers to see all the gallery entries

The Gallery : What I’m grateful for…

I’m so very totally and speechlessly grateful for my beautiful children… For all the hard work, noise, taxiing and nagging, they are supremely lovely, well behaved, gifted and loving.  My daughter dances like a angel and my son ‘huggles’ like a prince.

But you have seen them soooooooooooooooo many times! *yawn* so I thought I’d change the angle. Today (Tuesday 31st) my small people were given a camera for the first time. It’s Daddies birthday and we visited the New Forest Wildlife sanctuary, apart from arguing about who took what they did a pretty good job.

I present to you, today, a family outing as photographed by my children, who I am pride burstingly grateful for…

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Please take the time to visit The Gallery at Sticky Fingers (Wednesday)

The Gallery; My Blog

Ooooo Hard Tara! Hard…

Mostly because even a year in I’m not really that sure what this is Allabout, us, certainly, but I often joke it’s allaboutme me me!

So I stole an idea from tumblr….

Yeah… they had pictures hanging on a pretty tree in a wood somewhere but the fact that this is taken in our conservatory is fairly typical of my blog too…

It took me a while to get the balance right which tickled me pink because I’m still trying to get the balance right of all this mishmash they call life, which is one of the main reasons I blog, to get the thoughts out of my cotton wool infested brain.

This weeks theme Tara is a stroke of genius – Thanks xx

Click on the cup to go too Tara’s blog, Sticky Fingers – to see the other entries

Silent Sunday; Daddies Little Helper

I Heart Me : Making Today Easier…

Biting the Bullet of my current inability to write anything of anything I’m carrying on regardless with

Where ‘notes’ asked us this week

Week #7 question:

What could you do today to make your life easier?

Today is a Monday – you noticed! Well done Normally on Monday’s I have 3 hours of unadulterated #metime whilst both smalls are at nursery. The past 3 Monday’s Daddy has been home and as much as I like that I miss my #me. Today it is school holidays in this little corner of England so once again no #metime, thinking about what I could do today to make my life easier made me think ahead a little… Something I rarely do in my mad slapdash approach to my life.

My small people wake early, the little lady will be awake from 5 something most mornings and this morning it was 5.15am. Last night I planted the seed in her mind, get up and turn the TV on and it will be on the right channel… she did (and then woke me up because she wanted a Barbie film.. but hey, it’s a start!) Then I had some activities loosely planned, the little man was ill over the weekend so we are having a stay at home day.  So after Barbie they had a bath, they love that and usually stay in as long as possible, then we played Wii Just Dance which had me in fits of muffled laughter, toddlers are just like cats when you laugh at them.  After lunch we are doing beading and then the cars and trains will be out… Which takes us to dinner which I have planned instead of the “wonder what is in the freezer” mayhem that usually ensues.

So far so good I have to say, I’m already thinking what I might be able to plan for tomorrow, if the day is brighter I think some fresh air might be in order – garden tidy up or duck feeding.

and perhaps I might consider doing this planning thing again!

I think it’s unlikely, hopeless case *chuckles*.

 

Selfish, selfish Mummy.

Well Heellllooo January! *waves and blows a kiss* It seems to have taken you a long time to get here.  I’m sure old father time is not really standing there with his finger blocking the second hands onward journey out of spite at me personally; but OMG how long has it taken the last two weeks to pass?

Okay, so there has been illness (both smalls were ill before and over Christmas and then I was ill over new year) and the smalls really miss nursery and their friends.  We also clocked up a few miles first to Thornbury for a really lovely day with my Mum and Step Dad, my sister and brother and their families.  Then to Corby for a visit with my Dad and Step Mum during which my Dad played ‘tracks’ and tools and dollies for hours, we also saw my other sister and her boys and I got to unleash myself at the soft play center, bliss.

Then Daddy was home a lot more of course which is a mixed blessing. Yes, I actually got to see him for a while, the winter is his busiest time and this winter seems to have been worst than most. After him getting a little more sleep than usual there were improvements that I have no intention of complaining about.  He also picked up the slack when I was ill, not a luxury us Mum’s get to enjoy out of holiday season! But routines change when an extra person is in the house all the time, it seems that life doesn’t run as smoothly as it normally does…

I do love spending time with my smalls and we enjoy drawing, sticking, baking, dancing, charging around, going to the park feeding the ducks et al.  At 7pm that’s it, up the stairs, pj’s bathroom, bed.  I know I’m a ‘geriatric’ Mum but at the end of the day with the small people I’m knackered.    How do other women cope? It escapes me how some of my friends relish the holidays spending every moment entertaining the smalls and letting them stay up late and express deep regret when school /nursery resumes.  I have to conclude that I must be a really selfish woman…

Because (here it comes) – I enjoy my own company at some point during the busy day, “enjoy” might be putting too finer point on it… I need head space and silence and I increasingly need to get thoughts and feelings out of my head.  Me time is a critical necessity and it has been in very short supply.  Even with the strictly enforced bedtime and the reduction of frantic small people after 7pm,  Daddy likes the TV on even when he’s on his laptop and I do find this noise intrusive.  So apart from the odd moment of sneaking off to the bedroom to gossip with twitter and vent at my keyboard I’m feeling a little stretched right now.

Our nursery resumes tomorrow, both the smalls are in for the morning and the little lady will stay all afternoon too, I am meeting a Mummy friend for a much needed catch up and gossip session and then I intend to put my feet up for an hour before picking up the little man. I’m sure once we manage to re engage into our ordinary lives and routines balance will return and it is all about balance isn’t it.

So you are welcome, January; pull up a pew and make yourself at home for a while….

I love you, I really do! : The Gallery

I’m a lucky lady, there is a lot of love in my life.  My husband and small people are fabulous, I have a smashing family and some great friends. So you think you are going to get another plethora of gushing people pictures with me going on about how great they all are? No, not today.

Today I’m going to tell you about something else I have always loved with a passion, something that this Christmas week with all the delays at airports, with people not being able to get home to their loved ones because of it; I need a reminder that I do love snow.  I’m just not very fond of it this week…

Growing up my step sister had a book called Snow, we all love it and often quote it at each other often with great delight and many sniggers…  It’s is such a large part of our childhood that once we started having children of our own we bought copies for them too…

In fact it is currently quoted on my Facebook profile!

Daddy and I used to have the best skiing holidays, we would look forward to them all year.

I love the scrunch under my boot, I love the swish as my ski’s go though virgin powder, I love feeling the tingle of cold air on my face when you point your skis downhill and just throw caution to the wind and push off, the exhilaration of getting down a tricky bit without falling on my arse… (that does happen rather often unfortunately!) I also relish blaming those moments on too many glasses of mulled wine, could there possibly be any other explanation?

Fresh fallen snow is so pure and beautiful, so pristine, so much fun to jump in and throw to slide on and to chuck at each other, the smalls are slowly learning that involving Daddy in a snowball fight means that they will be bombarded with snowballs and yet they still do it and the giggles are just simply awesome!

and it made our trip on the Santa Train really fabulous on Saturday!

So snow, I still love you, I really do! If you are still here next week the skis will be coming out of the loft and we will be spending the day on a hillside near here for our third year of Wiltshire Skiing but until then, play nice and let people be with their loved ones for Christmas….

I hope you all have a magical merry white Christmas with the people you love.