Courtyard Phase 1 complete

This was how the courtyard looked when we moved in. It is a completely enclosed space and a lovely suntrap (when the sun is shining!).

Sadly the colourful pyracantha had to be pulled out to lay the new ground cover.

Work began with Michael and his team. Digging out a hole for the hot tub, pouring concrete, building retaining walls and creating new raised beds.

The hot tub was craned in to place without too much difficulty.

The artificial grass was laid, the raised beds filled and the paving slabs chosen and placed.

We don't normally have a paving slab sitting on the hot tub but after the cover blew off three times in the high winds last night, the paving slab is perching there until the weather improves.

We love our hot tub and it is used most days. Lj likes to sit (or not sit as she never sits) in it with M as she says it is a great way to talk to Daddy! MJ ideally likes to be in it alone so he can chill out and relax. I like to jump in in the evening to warm up and relax before bed time.

Phase two will be planting the raised beds which will be carried out in Spring and will help to soften the pebble dash walls.

Lj's EGR enrollment

Lj was enrolled into EGR (Every Girls Rally) back in November.

Lj loves EGR, in fact on Monday morning she woke up saying 'This is going to be the best day ever!'. EGR was beginning again after the Christmas holidays. As soon as she came home from school she got her uniform on and bounced around the house for 3 hours until it was time for us to take her. She says she is going to become an EGR leader when she is older. I'm delighted that she loves it so much as I too attended EGR from age 6 til I left for university and loved it too.

As you can see I'm catching up on some blog posts this morning! I should really be cracking on with the perhaps more important items on my to do list, such as 'clean pink bathroom' or 'wash floors' but on this cold and windy morning it is much more enjoyable to be sitting at my laptop with my cup of tea, uploading photos!

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.

Back to school

The kids have been back for 1 week now. We have had a few emotions surface. MJ told me the day before he started that he would rather stay at home with me even if he had to do learning all day! But came out of his class after the first day full of beans and chat, telling me that he was starting a war hammer club. Lj was looking forward to starting Yr 1 but I think is finding it challenging finding her place among the 9 other girls in her class. This morning she clung to me and wanted me to stay with her which is quite unlike her.

It has been a busy week with MJ starting Cubs and both of them starting swimming lessons on top of the normal activites which has left them tired and ready for the weekend.

Summer hols day 4

Mj remarked this morning that we were already on Day 4 of his holidays and that they were going by too quickly!

Today we made it to Film Thursday, picnic lunch in the forest and my first ever trip to the cinema with the kids!

Summer holidays Day 1

 Monday. Our first official day of Summer holidays. What a day it turned out to be! We met our friends at 10am to play tennis and walked along the canal tow path to the town tennis courts. From there we had a cold dip in the splash pool, well the kids did, Jen and I sat on the side lines and watched! Then we had a picnic lunch in the park where the kids ran around and played for 2 hours without stopping. After this we headed home for a cup of tea and some Lego play before grabbing a quick tea and heading back to the canal for a spot of early evening fishing. MJ asked his Dad before bed time if he had a book on 'How to catch a fish?' With an unsuccessful fishing trip, I think we will be going to the library to do a little reading in preparation for our next trip.

Over the holidays I'm encouraging the children to do a 'doodle a day'. As imagined Lj is totally up for the challenge and MJ less so but I'm really hoping that as he tries it out each day he will find some pleasure in it.

Procrastination

There is no other word so appropriate for this blog entry as 'Procrastination'. I'm lacking motivation to get on with what I really should be doing so I'm hoping a little creative outlet in the form of my blog might get me up and running.

Here's a run down of some of the things we have been up to since the start of July!

 Celebrating my little sister's birthday with a picnic tea in the park...the simple things are always the best!!!

 Lj dressed up for an 'under the sea' party at school.

 School reports came out. It is always nice when a teacher summarises your child's personality in a similar way to how you would! As always there are things to work on but I'm so thankful to God for children who are happy at school. I mean Lj is a little extreme as she would rather be at school than at home!!! At least MJ would rather be at home with his Mum!

Mike's parents came to stay and brought Barney the dog. The children and all their friends on the street loved having him as entertainment and MJ has mentioned a number of times on the walk back from school that he wished Barney would be at home when he got there. That boy needs a dog to love!!!

 MJ and I have loved watching Wimbledon the past two weeks and it has inspired us to get out and play more. On Saturday Mike ran into town while MJ cycled beside him, while Lj and I went in the car with our rackets. We met and played tennis while Lj played in the new splash pool. It was such a beautiful morning I felt like I could have been on holiday. I quite honestly could not have been happier seeing MJ play tennis with his Dad and Lj splash around in the water...that was until MJ fell over and cut his elbow, hands and leg!!!

 MJ practising hurdling in the garden. He had his own little sports days after missing the real one due to illness.

 I gave the kids a pack of lollipop sticks, rubber bands and masking tape. 2 hours and alot of masking tape later they were still constructing castles, catapults and a trebuchet!

Although my knee is still not quite right I managed 10K in the rain with this fun bunch this morning.

Now that I have all that off my chest perhaps I can settle myself to get some work done...I think I will just make myself a coffee first!!!

This week!

I'm getting lost in my days...my parents were here for the weekend, then gone and coming back tomorrow. My head feels like it is all over the place but amidst the busyness we continue to create :)

We had a wet and cool Saturday morning so we stayed indoors and played with our Hama Beads. As June is a busy birthday month, we came up with some new card designs using our Hama creations.

It is Lj's birthday next week. Each morning she runs downstairs to look at the calendar and counts the days until her birthday...'6 days to go til my birthday' she shouted as she raced back upstairs. I asked her why she was so excited about her birthday and she told me it was because she couldn't wait to see and eat her cake...I was quite surprised with her response. Yesterday morning she designed her own cake and made some me step by step instructions. I just love her little diagram! (start at the bottom left!).

The architectural sketch commissions keep coming in and this week I got a lovely text message saying how special the sketch of the church was to the whole family.

Architectural Sketching

With wedding season in full swing, I have a few architectural sketch comissions in progress. I really enjoy doing these and if I had one business bone in my body I would promote them more. M worked out that it would be great if I could do two a day to which I replied that I would feel like I was a factory line...his response 'You mean it would feel like working'!!! A gentle reminder that I am very blessed to be able to pursue my hobbies while being a 'stay at home mum'. Point noted :)

World book day 2015

For World Book Day, at the kids school, instead of dressing up as their favourite character they had to choose a word (not a noun or colour) to dress up as. Lj's favourite word at the moment is 'discombobulate' and she even manages to drop it into conversation now and again...but we were stuck for costume ideas for that one so we tried to keep it simple and she dressed as 'tasty', wearing her chef hat and apron. MJ dressed as 'dangerous'. He does not love the idea of dressing up so I knew we had to think of something that he would be interested in. As he still loves Minecraft we thought of dressing as TNT...he was delighted that even his socks were the correct colours!

My precious girl

Although it is difficult to see, (I was being lazy and took it on my phone), this photo really captures my little girl. She has her gold dancing shoes on, her easy to throw on coat and is helping her Daddy tidy up the garden in the rain. She loves life and lives it to the full.
 

This was taken the day before. I had been looking at packaging ideas on my computer with Lj on my lap when she spotted a template for a house. In an instant she wanted to make it so that she could take a present to her best friend who lives a few doors down from us. She took her time over making it and colouring it in and then found some sweets to put inside. She is a thoughtful and caring child making a card or present for someone at least once a day.

Last night she declared that she was going to Doggy Woof Woof land on holiday. In the picture she has her Minnie mouse (favourite toy at present) in the baby car seat and her two dogs in the pram below. In her bag she has her passport, a dog lead and a book (to read to Minnie on the plane). She told me that I could come too as there are 'Mummy resting chairs' in Doggy Woof Woof land. That was good enough for me so off we went!

This girl of mine she laughs easily, loves to sing and dance, has a huge imagination, is caring and affectionate but the one thing she hates most of all is the thought that someone is upset with her. This morning we had a few obedience issues and so she was disciplined...shortly afterwards she came to me, gave me a cuddle and said 'Mummy, I'm sorry for my naughtiness but I'm happy that I'm still your precious girl.'

You will always be my precious Lj!
Mum xx

Summer bucket list #01 Marble run

 It was early on Saturday morning and MJ had already been asking if he could play Minecraft. I told him to have a look at our 'Summer Bucket List' which I had placed on the fridge. As he read through the things listed his eyes lit up as he read 'marble run'. Mum had sent him some marbles a few days previous and I had been collecting cardboard tubes in the hope we could make a marble run, having seen them before on Pinterest. I showed him a You tube video of what I had in mind and as he watched you could see the excitement building in him.

I thought it was interesting that he started at the bottom of the marble run and worked his way to the top. Lj was his masking tape cutting assistant!

He tested it at every point. I heard him say 'It is going too fast, we need to slow it down'. 'This needs a support so the marble doesn't fall off'.

Turning it into a maths lesson we decided to charge per run. He said 'But what if they give me £1'...and then he started counting...'They will get 20 goes!'. He explained to his Dad that any money they got would go to a charity for 'working dogs'. Bless him, he has a real heart for the poor and needy.

The run is complete and I have a v proud and excited boy!

Outside it goes to try out on the neighbours. Lj brought in the punters and MJ explained what had to be done. Team work and a good Saturday mornings entertainment.

To make your own marble run all you need is a roll of masking tape, cardboard tubes, a collecting tub and some marbles...go on...it is alot of fun!

Another week of creating!

 At the end of last week MJ announced 'I wish things would go back to how they were, I was 5, Lj was 2 and the bathroom wasn't a mess'! This is what he was referring to!

So I went a little crazy with the bathroom and stripped all the tiles off ready for the suite to be replaced. What I hadn't anticipated was that half the plaster would also come off. I have watched a couple of You tube videos on how to re plaster a room but I think it is time to leave it up to the experts!

Last week I finished two cushions for the lounge. When in Bath over the half term holidays I spied a new Michael Miller panel, Norwegian Woods. I loved the print and the colours and although I set myself a personal target at the beginning of the year, not to buy any fabric this year, I just couldn't resist...oops! I decided to quilt the panels and add some embroidery detail before turning them into cushions.

My first crafting birthday party of 2014 was 'fab'. I love working with 10 year old girls. They are so capable and ready to have a go at anything. I realised again that I would like to do more of these crafting parties.