One Hot Mess

One hot mess indeed. Our bed is one hot mess. Marc & I are pushed out by a cheeky almost 2 year old who wakes inconsolable in the wee hours, refusing to go back to sleep unless brought back in with us. (I know, I know, rod, back etc but middle of the night and half asleep means weak! All promises to train her go out of the window!) Sadie then delights in spreading her full 85cm as far and as wide as she can.

This is often accompanied by kicking. And general wriggles oneness. So we get pretty poor quality of sleep. Yet can't muster enough wakefulness to sort her out. Yikes. No wonder Bloss takes herself off to bed early to enjoy some spread eagle alone time of her own!

But when this cheeky little face greets you in the morning it's hard to feel cross 💗

Linking up with Blythe at The Fike Life. Singlehandedly convincing me I am not alone in having hot messes. Regularly. 

http://thefikelife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/one-hot-mess-vol-2.html?m=1

(Someone PLEASE teach me how to do the link thingy???)

Eleven Years

We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary yesterday! (I have just told Marc that I am writing about our marriage and he should try not to annoy me while I so it.) 

Such times. Tony Blair was Prime Minister, we saw plenty of Iraq protests and 'another' Iraq war, with a LOT of talk about weapons of Mass Destruction. Christina Aguilera was beautiful and R Kelly was remixing ignition, and we still watched CD:UK with hangovers on Saturday mornings. 

We got married May 3rd 2003 in Christ Church Clifton, Bristol. We had a huge bridal party of many little cousins, sisters and friends, and my mum gave me away. We talked about my dad a lot, but only two of my half sibling attended. My grandmother and three of Marc's grandparents were there. None are with us now. I was teaching my first class that year and so many of my little Y3 lovelies trooped from Whitehall to Clifton to be in the congregation. That makes me smile even now, those children are 19 and 20 now! We were so young and naive and made so many silly decisions in those first years. 

(look how much hair Marc had!)

The thing is, I cannot believe that was 11 year ago as I still feel as silly, young and unable to make sensible decisions. Only now I have two innocent little girls affected by all our silly decisions! 

I hope we are doing our best by them. And by us.

SUYL kids lunches

Linking up with Kelly!

www.kellyskornerblog.com

I feel like when it was only Evie eating lunch and it was just she & I at home I was more creative with her lunches! Lots of ideas were pinned on Pinterest and she enjoyed many banana slice faces on peanut butter toast, or little mice made of cheese triangle with carrot slices for ears 

Or spagghetti threaded through sausages... 

So much fun! So much time! These days work, school and an extra chiddler mean we are often left with less than inspiring lunches! Evie takes a packed lunch to school, I usually pack a ham sandwich (sometimes in a cute shape with a biscuit cutter, sometimes in a brioche roll) fruit, a yoghurt squeezie and a fruit snack. At home we often do a finger food platter (grapes,cheese cubes, apple, cold cuts, bread sticks, raisins etc) and the girls choose a selection to put on their own plates. Or we mix it up a bit with breakfast-for-lunch. Pancakes at lunchtime is always a hit! 

We love eating outside, and often make picnics, even when it's cold! 

Even better if we can share with friends!

Five Favourites

Five Favourites

I wish I knew how to link to something, I am such a newbie blogger!

http://moxiewife.com/2014/04/five-favorites-vol-55/.html

Linking up with Moxie Wife for 5 Favourites!

1. Evie's new big bow school hair band 😊

I don't know how much longer she'll tolerate big bows so I am making the most of it! I see these bows a lot on kids in the South of the US and they seem to be gettingore popular here in the UK. I can't bear the fake hair accessories that Evie always wants! Ugh! 

2. My breadmaker! 

I got an Andrew James Premium breadmaker for my birthday from my

Mum and my sister. I love it!

I feel like such an earth mother with my family sitting round eating fresh baked bread and jam (even if all I did was tip in bread mix and water and flick a switch!) I could even make the jam, that's one of the functions! (Which I am yet to try out, bet I never do!) And the smell... Wow, so may make bread just to sniff it!

3. Crimson Fields on BBC1. 

The perfect mix of 20th c. history, wartime drama and pretty things/people to look at. In the absence of Downton and Call the Midwife this will do nicely.

4. Bank Holidays! May Day approaches! A whole 3 day weekend with my girlies :-) 

Marc is doing the Isle of Wight Randonee on Sunday (a cycling event) 

So I am planning to do something lovely with my little girls. Maybe something really simple like a beach picnic, weather allowing. It's also our 11th wedding anniversary!

5. My mums lemon meringue pie: 

No one else's recipe even comes close.

Wordless Wednesday

Answer Me This

Linking up with Catholic All Year!

1. Do you hate happy clappy church music.

I actually don't! I grew up with traditional hymns, went to catholic schools from 4 through to 18 and spent a chunk of my teen years at a catholic boarding school so those hymns are comforting, nostalgic, and I almost don't have to think about them when singing. Which isn't really the point, I do like the happy claply stuff, I like the emotions they tap into, I like how they often speak of a relationship with God. But I still adore the old classics from childhood.

2 What is your priority, eating or sleeping?

Oooo tricky. Must be eating. I'm in a bad spiral with eating just now :-/ I am not good at sleeping, never have been, but I do love it. Food never fails me, unlike sleep.

3. What type of milk do you drink in your house?

We get it delivered from a local dairy in old fashioned milk bottles that remind me if being a little girl! We only started this since moving to this fair isle but I do love it. Marc get irritated by the amount if bottles that go off, but something in it feels more wholesome than your supermarket plastic jugs of milk.

4. What is a book that changed your perspective on something?

Hmmmm. I am an avid reader (or I was, before munchkins) but I am

Finding this hard to answer. I think reading about the Spanish Civil war a few years ago in The Return by Victoria Hislop really opened my eyes to

My fathers childhood during that era. I really had no clue of the brutalities and hardships that the Spanish people suffered and it made me see my father and who he was in an entirely different way. 

5. Who is your favourite saint?

I am not sure I have one! Perhaps Sta Teresa de Avila. I was in Avila house at boarding school and learned about her then, her patronage of loss of parents, people in need of grace (both me) and bodily ills (my parents, particularly my mother) and for Spain are close to my heart.

6. Introvert or Extrovert

I think anyone who knew me in real life would say extrovert, but this is learned behaviour from all the moving we did (which I am beginning to realise wasn't necessarily a bad thing!) I think I probably lean more towards introvert, I have to work at not staying inside my own little bubble, some times with more success than at other times.

www.catholicallyear.com

Lie in

Watching a Peppa Pig marathon with this one while my big snoozer and little snoozer snooze on. 

We have been so lucky to have a prolific sleeper for our first child, although she did lull us into a false sense of security! Sadie has been different, not a 'bad' sleeper, but certainly not one that sleeps through and has to be woken or she'll sleep till 10! 

Sadie is different in many ways. Not mellow and laid back like her sister, not contented and happy to go with the flow like her sister. I often wonder how much is character and how much is second child syndrome? Or even the result of a fair amount if stress coming her way in utero? Whatever caused it the positives are her cheeky personality, her determined and independent spirit, her ability to brighten up any moment with her funny chatter or even with her grumpy scowl. I am afraid sometimes she gets away with things we really shouldn't tolerate just because we have no fight left. 

Wouldn't change her though.

7 Quick Takes

I have never done a link up before! I may fail utterly but I am going to try!!

1. 

Reconnecting after work. I have always worried about my bond with this curly haired whirlwind, but sometimes when she calls for Daddy or Nana over me, my heart breaks a little bit. Moments like this when she only wants 'duddles and shungules wid mummy' are so precious.

2.

I revamped the playroom over Easter, moved out the day bed and rationalised the toys. We have rediscovered old toys, isn't that just the best? My little kitchen role play area has had lots of traffic too! 

3. 

Old buttons left over from Nana Wales knitting, cheap idea frames leftover from too-busy-to-print-photos and glue... Instant crafty presents! Dylan and Eviebeans self portraits look perfect in them :-)

4. 

This patient little Lhasa. My Blossom rarely gets fed on schedule, has a famin and feast scenario with regards to walks and is regularly menaced by small children. But so sweet and so loving and so easy :-)

5. 

Little girls in school summer frocks :-) can't believe my little girl is coming to the end of her first year of school. And she won't even turn 5 till the Summer holidays. I wrote my dissertation on Summer Born children in reception but this school year has really brought it home to me!

6. 

This little girl. She scares me.

7. 

My little girls and their god brothers. Love this image so much. Long may it last. 

http://www.conversiondiary.com/2014/04/7-quick-takes-about-the-big-day-a-trailer-for-a-trailer-and-a-dare-to-come-up-with-a-better-prize-than-a-segway-vacuum.html

See? I don't even know how to add a link!!

Easter Holidays

For some reason our most recent visit back to Sevenoaks was particularly hard. We stayed over at our friends Colin and Rachel's place, so Evie got to enjoy a sleepover with her pal Donnie and I got to share a glass of wine with my precious Rachel as well as love in Donnie and Marnie! 

The girls are so at home in their house, having known it their whole life. The following day we met up with the rest of our antenatal group (minus Vix and her 3 lovelies) as we used to do (and they still do!) every Wednesday. It was fantastic to catch up, and absorb that comfort and guidance that these ladies have always given me. I love seeing their little ones, all of whom I've known since they were bumps! 

I felt quite tearful on our journey back. Ok, I'll admit it. I cried. I wobbled. Questions I have about our move bubbled to the surface. I was so happy in Sevenoaks. Beanie and Babalina were so happy in Sevenoaks. Marc was happy in the times when he didn't have to work all the hours that god sends in two jobs. And there in lies the rub. The toss up we had to contend with. We see Daddy now. He has time for us and for himself. We go places and do things. I don't think our finances are eased as much as we hoped (because I didn't find work as quickly as we hoped!) I still wonder if we might one day weight return to somewhere nearer the area. Especially if my sister moves there from London and has babies! But till then there is this 

And this

And this 

Travels with my children!

We are on our way up to London to see Vicky & Rich and baby Eminny (Emily!) I was at school with Vix,

now she and Rich are Evie's godparents. We saw quite a bit of Vix and Emily (who is actually only a couple of months younger than Sadie) when we lived in Sevenoaks, so I am very excited to see them.

We got up at 5 to get a 7 o'clock ferry. Our usual trick is to get the girls up last minute, dress and feed them on the ferry and then hope they catch up on sleep in the car. Today we have to wide awake girls! Sadie has stripped her shoes and socks, taken arms out of straps, chucked dollies on floor, thrown crayons into untraceable places and generally been a pain. I thought she'd sleep!! I am seriously considering us pulling over and putting Evie in the front and sitting with her as I am spending all my time twisted round with my arm fishing madly behind my seat trying to pick things up for her! And there is a constant whinge soundtrack!! Meanwhile Evie is 'reading' her reading book and colouring in, bless her heart. I put reading in inverted commas as without a mummy or daddy to point at the words she will 'read' the pictures and make up more interesting stories. Certainly 'the little bug climbed on his bed to moon' is more interesting than 'Bob is a bug.' 

Post visit:

A few pics of our fun times :-)

God families are important.