Children in Need.

  ' A Party for Children in Need'. Pudsey is saying 'Hooray, we have presents'!

Half term round up!

Half term:
N.Ireland- rain, food, mini bus trips to the park, catching up with my bestie, meetings with solicitors and estate agents and helping Mum pack her suitcase for Australia.

My sister in law made a cake with Lj to surprise me on my birthday, which was celebrated with some of my nieces and nephews.

A day trip to Cambridge with MJ, Lj and Zara. MJ introduced me to the world of War hammer in Games workshop, while the girls found a corner to draw and colour. Lunch at St Andrews church cafe, a great place as lots of space and a play corner for the kids. A look in the toy shop and a play in the park before returning to our car on the park n ride.

Half term flew by and it was hard to believe we had a week and a day off from school.

Just another Saturday

Just another Lilyjean creation...

 Lj is concerned that she might forget things so this morning she decided to make a memory box. Using my camera (hers has no space left!) she took heaps of photos of her room and it was my job to put them altogether!

Just another day of the boys making Warhammer figures, spraying Warhammer figures, painting Warhammer figures and playing Warhammer!

Lj's note to her class

 Lj loves to draw and write and I love (biased Mummy) what she produces. She sits quietly and concentrates then produces her artwork. This mornings piece was for her class.
It reads...'To Miss Sacco's Class, 1DS. Has anyone seen a box with string? (This is her backpack which she made from a cereal box with twine straps which she left at school yesterday). She continues 'I saw a fox running across the road last night. We did not run over it because it was too fast.'

Always create

The creativity continues in all our different ways.

M and MJ have been pulling out all of M's old Warhammer models and paints. They love to spend Saturday afternoons at the table painting and chatting about the team they will collect. MJ spends his evenings writing secret strategies for how he can beat his Daddy! Even Grandad C has been re inspired to get painting so they can have a family battle at Christmas.

I have been involved in all sorts of little projects over the past few weeks. The biggest is putting together a Calendar for 2016 with one of my best friends but in between I'm creating crafts to sell at our local Christmas market, designing birthday presents and Christmas presents commissions. It seems there is never a dull moment in my days which is just how I like it!

At the weekend Lj made a 'laptop'! It had a mini packet of raisins as the mouse...it was so sweet and so well thought through. This is the screen image. Lets play a little game of spot...
Can you spot the maze, the football ground, the school, the zebra crossing, the man walking his dog and the boy in the swimming pool? And just because I got it wrong...the other people are not carrying bags of shopping or wearing gloves...that is just hands!!!

I pray that my children would never loose their imaginations and ways of creatively expressing themselves. I hope one day they won't find themselves in well paid but life sapping jobs but in jobs where their creativity is respected and encouraged. For M and I, I pray that we would never be afraid to step into something new but we would always believe that God is good and desires to give us good things.

Baby Carrier No.3

It really is happening...I'm not feeling queasy at the thought of pizza, have super smelling powers or waking up during the night with crazy dreams for no reason! It is this little one forming inside me and doing crazy things to my body in the process.

Seeing the scan image yesterday on the screen almost made me tear up and I felt an immediate connection with this little life which is developing inside me.

MJ is so proud of the thought of us having a baby. He is delighted to tell everyone our 'family secret'. Lj is more difficult to read...she doesn't talk about it directly but is asking all sorts of questions like 'Who will take her and MJ to the hospital to see the baby? Who will look after them while we are at the hospital? and yesterday I had to explain the scan picture in great detail.

We are almost 15 weeks in and apparently I have some colour back in my cheeks and don't look quite so deathly...but perhaps they are just being polite!

London with my bestie

Yesterday I had a lovely day out in London with one of my N.Irish buddies. We visited the Judith Kerr exhibition at the Jewish museum. It was a lovely exhibition and I'm longing to bring the kids along to it before it closes. We then visited Camden Market, where 16 yrs ago as adventurous teenagers we travelled by bus from N.Ireland to London to volunteer with Oasis Trust and discovered the sights and smells of Camden. After a browse around the stalls we walked along the canal to Central St Martins, had lunch and viewed the students exhibition before heading home from Kings Cross.

The kids were kindly picked up from school by friends and had a lovely afternoon playing. Lj gave me this note and picture when I returned. 'I love you. To Mummy. I hope you have a wonderful time with Anita in London.'

As we consider moving home to N.Ireland it has been lovely to dream about the future with Anita but it has also made me very nostalgic about my times spent in London. I have so many great memories of family day trips, working there and taking MJ and Lj in their buggies around the city.