Tuesday 25 October 2016

A new school




New School, new school year begins. MJ in P5 and Lj in P3.

New places to explore

Some oldie photos from August...

NT, The Argory. Co.Armagh


 Blackberry picking in the country lanes.


NT, Mountstewart House when Nana and Grandad came to visit.


 Our new forest at Gosford Park.


The seaside.

An Ezra update












He is one happy boy, who sleeps when he can, normally in the car, eats all he can and hates to be left on his own!

Beautiful Orchard County

Never before have I appreciated the beauty of the orchards near to where I spent my childhood and which are even closer, in fact just on our door step now.

A few weekends ago we spent the day celebrating the apple harvest at Ardress House, our local NT property.


This is MJ turning the apples into delicious apple juice.

This week...

Each week as I form my weekly 'to do' list, I add 'blog post' to the bottom of the 10-15 items. And as with anything in life that we don't prioritise it sits quietly at the bottom of the list, never getting completed but just added again, in the same position to the next weeks 'to do' list.

This morning as I was driving the short 3miles to the kids school we were listening to 'The BFG' on audio and I thought again that soon these moments will have passed...we will have moved on to another story and the BFG mornings will be forgotten, we will be laughing about something new and the 'snozcumbers' joke will be forgotten. I don't want to forget the highlights in life...I will happily forget the tired and more difficult days but I don't want to forgetting the 'snozcumbers'.

So I had a thought...every now and then, (I wish I could say, every week and stick to that, but that is probably unrealistic just now) I will document what we are: reading, writing, learning, listening too, playing, crafting or simply enjoying.

Here goes...

This week we are:

Listening to The BFG by Roald Dahl on our daily car journeys to school, EGR, EBR, Nana's house and the likes.

MJ and I have just finished reading, The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier and have now started Escape from the Usborne series.

Lj and I continue to enjoy a variety of bedtime stories. Last night it was Hairy McLary and the night before Katie and the Spanish Princess.

Following Lj and I's visit to Sew Saturday and learning English paper piecing (EPP) patchwork, we are on a mission to make a patchwork quilt from our scraps for the playroom. It is a great tv watching, evening activity!




Playing- Lj loves playing schools and has decided that she no longer wishes to be a Mid wife when she is older but a teacher instead. Yesterday her topic was 'Dogs'.

'Dog's need poo bags to poo in and food, a ball and a drink, a lead, a kennel and his kind owner.'

MJ still loves 'Old Republic' on M's laptop, writing stories about battles, drawing pictures of battles and making up his own battles with Lego.



Working- Anita and I are hoping to get our 2017 calendar off to print today...if I can get this blog posted finished and get the final edits completed :( Then I really want to pull together the kids version I have been working on and maybe get it to the printers next week.


A brief weekly round up!

Saturday 8 October 2016

A new way of life

As I look back over the past few blog posts, where we were preparing to leave Bishop's Stortford, I'm struggling to process and define my thoughts and feelings. Life here, two months in, seems so normal, like it has always been this way and yet there is this other part of our lives (previous life) which is not closed off. The friendships are still there, the memories are still there and life there is going on without us. Is this a little snippet of what mourning feels like? I've noticed that M and I both feel the need to tell new people that we meet that 'we have just moved here', even if it is not really necessary for them to know it. How long will we do this? How long will we feel 'new'? This is the place where I grew up and spent 18 years. So much of the towns, people and church life is familiar, but I'm not that teenager, desperate to blaze my own trail and establish my own self. I'm married, with 3 children and yet am I really that different? I'm still wondering who I am, what makes me tick and what it is I want to do with my future!

Phew, I think I need to grab my notebook and have a bath to try and process these thoughts before I embark on sharing the happenings of the past two months!

I'm back...

Where do I start and how do I start again?
It has been over two months since I posted and I really don't want those, rather important months to slip into the past with out a little blogging memory trail.

So I think I will start with today and work backwards as it was today that made me think that we are beginning to find our swing in this new life in this new place.



A few weeks ago the kids received a leaflet from school advertising the Millennium Court Arts Centre and the activities they have planned for Autumn. Today we went along to their 'Open Art Day'. A free event for families to attend, which consisted of watching a movie, today's was 'Honey, I shrunk the kids' followed by Art meets Science activities. We all enjoyed making paint explosions using vinegar, paint and baking powder and bubble pictures using water, paint and washing up liquid. It was a great event and with the Arts centre being in our nearest town I am so excited about spending more time there.

P.S. I also discovered a new wool shop just a few doors down which has me itching to get crocheting again.