Easter

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone's had a nice Easter Bank Holiday.  We've been semi-confined by the pox (which I can thankfully say took a turn for the better on Saturday) which we think is mostly scabbing over, but as he does look ridiculously spotty we were a bit worried of the general public reaction to his smiley spotty face.  We instead stayed local, lots of nice walks, a trip to the seaside including an obligatory ice cream, and some gardening time too.  

I think it was really nice just to be still for a bit, and when the kids are happy we are happy. 

Easter bonnets. I'm not sure where this tradition came from.  It's a bit of a weird one for boys.  For girls you can get pretty bonnets, stick some flowers, chicks, eggs etc. on and they look immediately cute.  Do that to a boy and there's a very good chance he'll get laughed out of the playground!  At only 3, my little man is oblivious to the hilarity of this weird tradition...so lets get the bonnet made and cameras out!

We initially thought we'd go down the decorated crown route.  

This is our effort from last year...

We paper mached a crown which was all a bit gloopy and fun.  Then I made some rabbits and stuck them in the grass at the top (this was a night before jobby as I did think we'd miss playgroup due to the pox).  Here it is...

The crown was a tad small and he did not want to wear it! Oh well...never mind.  I'll try again next year.  But then in the shower I had an epiphany...could I convert my straw hat into something he'd wear?  With 15mins until needing to leave...it was a bit like challenge Anneka!  So with sellotape and wool flying everywhere, lots of giggling and panicking, we transformed the hat from this...

Me modelling the hat in 2013.

....to this.....

He loved wearing it for the bonnet parade around Hythe, holding on for dear life in case the wind blew it off!

Bunnies nestled in the grass...maybe should have used more sellotape...

What a Mess!

But a winning mess all the same!  THIRD prize! So he was delighted with his bag of eggs that he won.  First prize went to someone who had encompassed more of the religious side of Easter. Second to a cute girly hat.  We'll take Third...and now I'm pleased we had the hilarity of the 15minutes of woolly Monday morning madness before playgroup.

.............................................................................................

Easter eggs are all well and good, but who really needs all that chocolate?!  After ploughing through the chocolate still lingering from Christmas in an effort to cleanse the house of any chocolate impurities, the thought of another onslaught of chocolate is just a bit sickening.  Especially with the pressing issue of trying to get rid of a post baby belly.  My little man likes chocolate, but he doesn't have it that often, and he would never eat loads in one go, so I thought we don't need to buy big chocolate eggs or anything, but I did want to do an Easter egg hunt.

So a little bit of an alternative egg hunt I suppose.  We had a rock painting craft session, where I painted some rocks in Easter themes with the plan to hide them around the garden for a hunt with a small pressie at the end.

Enjoying the painting session.

The finished rocks.  You can tell who did the monster one...

Finding them around the garden.

The finale was quite fun.  After all rocks collected and counted, he had to lower his prize down from the tree.  He had a great time.  The best part about using the rocks is that we had about 4x different hunts that afternoon.  Then they were used to load in his trucks upstairs.  I found one in my boot this morning, so I guess he still is enjoying hiding them!

..............................................................................................

He's been busy in nursery making Easter cards.

At home we made some Easter cakes for ourselves and our two neighbours.  They were delish.

.......................................................................................

I'm also working on something a little different...Running.  I achieved couch-5k after my first was born, and now I need to get back on it.  I've joined a weekly beginners running group which started on the 30/03/15.  The people I've met are really nice.  So far I have done 4x runs.  I don't feel as bad as I thought I would, and I'm looking forward to achieving something at the end (hopefully!).   If I lost a little post baby belly along the way I wouldn't complain...

Add caption

I hope you all had a good Easter!

Love from me and my little men x

Gardening with Giraffe's

Still here awaiting baby's arrival.

I'm not in any rush...but it would be nice to know when they plan to make their arrival.

I've been super uncomfortable the past couple of days, and yesterday I was up at 2am and failed to get back to sleep.  So yesterday was spent on the sofa, being lazy (I've been told I'm allowed to be a bit lazy!), watching the House box set (which I am thoroughly enjoying!), and doing a little bit of crochet on one of my new projects. 

Here is a sneaky glimpse of my new project...

I am hoping it will be ready for autumn/winter...but no doubt as I've started a project I would like to finish, family life is likely to get in the way.  I fear I may have forgotten about the demands of looking after a baby...and I have a toddler to contend with too now!

We have had at least 2 weekends in a row of being at home, which has meant we have been able to get on with some much needed chores.  The garden being the most important in order to get it wrapped up ready for autumn/winter.  We have done a lot of pruning/weeding in the front and back garden.  There's still plenty of jobs to do, but at least we are looking tidier for a while.

My little man has been very helpful...

These little critters have been not so helpful...(can you spot him?!)!

 A rather large black legged one scuttled across our new rug under the sofa the other day before the husband could jump to his feet and dispose of it...he is lurking sure to come out again soon!

We have bought a new rug...something to warm up the lounge, and to offer us a comfier space to play with our little man and our new arrival. It has made the lounge look much bigger and is so comfy/warm and our little man is enjoying rolling around on it already...a big hit!

So on to some crafting.  

 

I mentioned in my last post that I had done some more crafting for a baby girl expected to arrive in December.  The couple had recently been on holiday and had fed some giraffes...so I thought I would embark on a giraffe taggie for their baby.  There are lots of patterns etc available if you google giraffe taggie...I decided to go off pattern and just wing it.

 

I picked my fabric, and then drew my giraffe template...

I then cut out 2x giraffe pieces (material doubled over so they would match!), and put right sides together...

 I chose my ribbon taggies...my ribbon selection is quite limited, and this pink/yellow ribbon fitted best.  I would have done different colours if I had some good coordinating ribbon.

So the tag ribbons were pinned in place, and then I stitched around the giraffe, making sure not to stitch the tags down when sewing down the opposite side of the neck!

I left a small hole for turning, and then turned inside out and stuffed.

I have sewn closed things before, but I thought I would try and learn how to do it professionally to get the "seamless" look.  I found this tutorial for invisible closing seam...I am informed this may be a ladder stitch?!?  I tried...and it worked! 

Look at this.

Very professional even if I do say so myself! I am pleased with it as my first proper attempt.

So here is finished giraffe taggie...

I am pleased with it and it has been well received.

I am going to try and buy some nice boy fabric to make some stuff for my men...they are overdue a make!

Speak to you soon.

Love from me and my little man x

Wooden Sign/Bunting

I thought I’d fit a quick blog in whilst my little man naps.

The sunshine is glorious!  Somehow, sunshine helps to lift spirits and warm the cockles.  It makes everything easier, it makes time go more slowly, it  makes us feel happier.  We are feeling rested lately.

Here’s a picture of my little man enjoying the beach.

I thought I’d fill you in on some of the shed’s pretty-ness.  I made that gorgeous bunting to hang outside.  I went for boy-ish colours so as to not to detract from the manliness. 

This is my favourite flag…the material a present from my mummy…

Here it is hanging in place.

It looks so cheery hanging up there.  And somehow I enjoy going down and hanging it up declaring the shed open for business on the sunny days!

The sign was a bit more of a venture into the un-known.  Working with wood is not something I’ve done before…and painting, I thought, was definitely not my forte.

Firstly I scoured the garage for some wood scraps laying around and sawed off a piece the right size. Then I set about giving it a good old sand to smoothe the roughness.

I don’t think I’m really a power tool sort of girl…so I enlisted my husband for hole drilling.  I think he secretly enjoyed helping me and being all macho with the drill!

After that, a coat of paint.  I had some Seagrass wood paint available…and that very much matched the shed. 

A couple of coats later and I was ready for the writing…or was I? This was the bit where I thought it would go wrong as my artistic prowess, especially when wielding a paint brush is lacking!  I chose the font I wanted, and made sure it was the right size…and off I painted!  In future I would probably invest in some proper paintbrushes, as I was using very amateurish kids paintbrushes (the type you get 50 brushes for a £1 type job) with no defined tip to them.  I used a white paint for the writing.

Here’s how it turned out…

Not too shoddy I think.  The next step was the most frustrating.  I wanted it to be weather-proof so it could stay outdoors…so I bought some varnish.

You can’t imagine it would be that difficult really.  I firstly bought the back tin…Outdoor Varnish, Clear Weather-proof Protection in “Clear Satin”.  Well…on opening it definitely didn’t look clear…more of a browny colour so I put it on a corner to test and it definitely was not clear.  It made it all yellowy and stained.  Disgruntled I bought a second tin (the front one) and told the shop man about my project and repeated the word ‘clear’ about 25 times!  He assured me. Well it definitely was clear when I put it on…so two coats of protection on there.  Then I read on the front it’s for interior wood…so it begs the question as to how weather proof this sign will be!

Painted and varnished…only bit left was stringing, knot tying and ultimately hanging.

It hangs off the same hook as the bunting at the moment…whether we will move it I’m not sure, but it looks okay there for now.

Naturally I’ve been making a few more bits and bobs…but they’re for another time.

I’m going to take my little man to the local Toddler Rhyme Time session now and I’ve got my best singing voice prepared!

Love from me and my little man x

Man-Zone

Since re-turfing the garden which you can read about here we have been contemplating buying that manly playhouse/den/shed to put on that designated patio area.  We have been umming and ahhing for a few weeks, browsing online, waiting for sales…we just had to bite the bullet and decide.  We went to a few stores and let Wills have a good trial of all the houses…and he did love them.  He ran from one to another, barging through the doors, shouting “Hiya” from the windows…he pulled at our heart strings and made us smile.  One of the sticking points was that the majority of the playhouses (in our price range) were all really small, and all a bit girly.  We thought about whether he would outgrow it really quickly also…so summer coming closer and still no decision.  We thought bigger and so we thought…shed! Something that we could decorate for Wills to use now and we could re-purpose for storage when he’s fed up of it.  And how manly is a shed right?!!  My husband was much more on board with the shed direction (…although he still accused me that I would make it “Twee”!!!  I don’t know what “Twee” is.  I know what pretty is though…)

We were excited to have it delivered, although we forgot that we would have to build it.  It said it was a 2 man job…so my husband settled with me!  Surprisingly we were a good team, with no arguments, and a leisurely build…no stress.  Our little chap helped out too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once built time for decoration!   Unfortunately for me this involved more painting…but at least a pretty colour this time.  I went for a lovely Forget Me Not blue, and then painted the trims in a Seagrass colour. I was going to embark on a stripy beach hut style…but I opted for plain in the end. 

We painted the insides white to try and keep it as bright as possible although we might consider some sort of lighting in there at some point.  We’ve put carpet down to make it comfortable under foot (and under bum).  It looks really smart and we all feel very pleased and proud of our efforts.  We’ve had good family times…funny how much more than a shed it has become…

Lots and lots of bubbles have helped us celebrate finishing Will’s Shed.

As well as the bubbles…a little homemade bunting and my handmade sign (the very start of the pretty-fying which I’ll fill you in on later…) declaring the Shed OPEN!

We’ve already had so much fun out in the garden this year, and this is just the start!  I’ve got lots of plans for homemade additions to the shed (beanbags, shelving, curtains….) which will all come with time. 

One thing we do have to take note of is making sure if we’re on the inside we need to make sure Wills is with us…or at least have an eye on him! I was playing with him in the evening, and all of a sudden I thought “Hang on…I’m in here and he’s out there?!!  And I can’t get out…Crumbs!!!!!”  He’d bolted me in and couldn’t unbolt me!  To be honest I wasn’t thinking Crumbs at the time…a lot worse! Thankfully my husband was 10minutes away by car, so that 10 minutes I spent trying to pacify my distraught little man by playing an overenthusiastic version of peek-a-boo through the window!  Very funny…!

Well this is the beginning of our adventures in “Will’s Shed”.

More soon.

Love from me and my little man x

Confetti

I’ve just cleaned the whole of downstairs…so I think I deserve to do something nice.  Blogging is one of those things that I love to do, but do inherently feel guilty that my time should be spent on something else.  But then, I suppose I deserve some me time right?!

We seemed to have had about 2 days of spring and it feels that we are skirting around summer.  My tree has blossomed and I love it, although it seems to have gone duskier and short-lived with the wind and rain.  There seems to be confetti flying around the garden as if there are whirlwind weddings taking place. 

The rain and glimpses of sunshine seemed to have launched the garden into a growth spurt.  Amongst the weeds, we are lucky to have bluebells along our drive and our border is more colourful than I remembered.

I’m not sure what those yellow ones are but they grow aggressively and spread easily.  There is a clematis waiting to come out among that greenery.  There are a few gaps that need to be filled by something. A trip to the garden centre may be needed soon.

We’ve been busy in the garden…but more tales of that to come soon…!!!

The crafting room has seen a bit of action.  When I had tonsillitis and was poorly at home, I kept thinking of our holiday coming up in August. We are off to Portugal for my father-in-law’s 60th birthday! I can’t wait for some sun and some R&R (rest and recuperation, or relaxing and raving!?) It’s going to be my little man’s first holiday abroad so we have had to get passports in order.  I have a pretty Cath Kidston pink polka dot cover for my passport which is so pretty (also pretty annoying as you have to take your passport out of it’s cover to go through the airport…humph…they don’t appreciate the prettiness?!), so I thought I’d have a go at making one for my chap’s first passport!

I used this tutorial to guide me.

I really need to work on my wonky sewing…straight lines just aren’t my thing! But hey presto!…done!  I don’t think my husband would appreciate one for his passport….

For future learning, it’s a tiny bit tight, so I could make it a bit looser next time. I would probably applique with a “W” if I were to do it again.

That’s all for now, but I’ll have some more things to show you soon.

Love from me and my little man x

Spoils, Teddy Bears and Snails…

Another jam packed week for us which started off with my cousin’s wedding in the depths of Wales.  A fabulous wedding with an equal mix of Welsh and English in the ceremony (I enjoyed belting out a few Welsh hymns!).  I learnt Welsh at school to GCSE level and was so much more exposed when I lived there as I had a mixture of Welsh/English  speaking friends – but I’m pleased to say I still understand and could speak a lot more than I thought I could.   After the ceremony we had tea and cake in the chapel hall and then on to the reception in the Newport Links Golf Course (Pembrokeshire).  It was right on the beach and overlooked the bay…a perfectly romantic location.  We live on the coast at the moment, a 2min drive and we overlook the Solent which gives a wonderful view of the Isle of Wight.  I find watching the sea so relaxing and I could sit in silence and watch all day.  Strange as I don’t enjoy being on or in the sea really…just watching it will suffice! One of the things I would love in the future would be to have a house overlooking the sea, so I could sit in peace and enjoy.    And I do mean a proper sea view…not one you have to tip toe on the bed of your attic room to sea…

There was a lot of travelling last weekend, so in turn things got a bit muddled and hectic at home whilst trying to salvage some time to do some normal routine things.  A brilliant help has been my little man spending some time with his adoptive family!  Babysitters who knock down the door to spend time with my handsome, smiley little boy.  It was a welcome break to have him looked after so I could go about some chores and appointments - you forget what it’s like to not have a little person following you around! 

He had a fun time and was definitely spoilt rotten! He had a baby chino, chocolate cake, shopping trips, ice cream, time in the park, lunch by the pond…Here a few of the pictures I was sent to give you some insight!…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To say thank you to his “Aunty Ro Ro” for looking after him and for buying him that cute blue hoodie I thought I would go about making her something.  I thought a small lavender bear would be the ticket…and would be a test of my drawing skills!  Well I thought I’d do a smallish ted…but my efforts were put to waste as when I turned it inside out, it looked like a teddy bear that had done a few rounds in the boxing ring!  So I went a bit bigger and that seemed a bit more manageable.  So I drew my ted, cut out the pattern and sewed two pieces (wrong sides together) together leaving a turning hole.  After turning the right way out, stuffing and filling with lavender and stitching up it started to look more bear like. And when I hand stitched the face she was a lot more appealing!  Here is what she ended up with…  I’m not sure if it’s a boy or  girl bear…but seeing as she’s a bit fuller in the hip region I’m going with it being a lady bear!

 

We’ve had a surge of warmth this week…my cherry tree is about to explode with bright pink blossom, so I’ll make sure I’ll capture some on camera to share with you.  We’ve been having fun in the garden which has involved bubble lawn mowers, real lawn mowers, alfresco dining, picnics, planting, painting, sunbathing!, hanging out washing etc…  Oh and we’ve been hunting down our new friend who mysteriously keeps slithering to new places around the garden…

Hope you are all well and enjoying the sunshine.

Love from me and my little man x