Almost there

2 more days until the schools break up for the summer.

eeeek!!

I am super excited as I love the holidays. But once again it is bittersweet. Fraser has 2 days left at Primary School.
 Only 2 days.
 I remember so vividly 7 years ago, feeling so emotional about him only having a few days left at nursery before starting at the big school. He was so tiny, so funny and so utterly ready to move on. I was not ready. I missed him so much when he went to school for his full days, 9am - 3pm is such a long day! I must find some pictures of tiny Fraser to show off on here. I will have to scan them or something as he is so old , digital cameras were super rare ;-) and all I have are real true photos of my firstborn.

As if it isn't hard enough to have one child making a momentous move, Kirsten is also moving on up. Thankfully she isn't starting school this year. I am so grateful that I don't have to deal with that as well! I would be a mess!! But she is leaving Playgroup. A place she has loved and thrived in for almost 2 years. I was wreck in those first few days , but K was ready.

wow she looks like such a baby!

 Just as she is more than ready again to be moving on. She is bright and confident and happy and I am sure she will thrive and love Nursery and all of the new friends that she will meet there.

I am not ready. It is like a mantra! Why am I always lagging behind? I love the ages they are at.We have so much fun together , I don't wish they were babies again, I just feel like I am not ready to let go of who they are right now.

But this is life. This is what being a parent is all about I guess, trying to worry enough for everyone so that the really important souls can hop and skip their way into their new lives without even looking back.

But whether I am ready or not, we are running headlong into summer and all that lies beyond it.

Sun day

Ok so this was supposed to my Sundays in my city post. Oh well, it's only Tuesday right?

Sunday was the hottest day of the year so far. We decided to bring out the sprinkler and paddling pool for the kids.  This was K's first time in the sprinkler as being outside in the warm weather and in water does not agree with her. But it seems she is outgrowing it and we kept the water cosy for her.

It was fun! Although she was a little apprehensive at first

It didn't take her long to get the hang of it!

She had a good teacher though

I love this next one , action shot lol

All out war broke out!

between the boys of course ....

The smart ones took cover

Poor Daddy got caught in the water pistol crossfire!

He acted as a good sheild though!

Soaked through and happy.

Feeling beachy

On Monday, it was a beautiful sunny day.

 So on a whim we decided to head to the beach after playgroup and school.

We had so much fun. We went with Granny Christine and Beebs, who are beach experts.

 Granny Christine grew up with the beach as her back garden and Beebs and Murray were very much beach babes themselves when they were little.

 

Just trying to keep the tradition going .....

Kids needs nothing more than a bucket (pail), a spade and their imaginations.

Granny Christine makes a mean boat out of sand

. Apparently Great Granny Murray made an even better one, so Christine has learned from the best.

Just as I was taking this picture I heard Christine scream! When I looked up she was covered in sand!

LOL I have no idea what posessed K to throw the spade!

Beebs!

look at that sky! Hard to believe it is a Scottish one!

What better than coming out of school and walking straight down to the beach.

After a day cooped up indoors it must have been nice to roll up those sleeves and dig in.

Steering the "boat"

Don't you just love sandy little piggies?

I thought it would be nice to end the day with a sweet photo of my beautiful cherubs.

Maybe next time.

Gotta love those funny boys!! lol

I just love this crazy pair!!

My sweet baby girl

And my handsome grown up boy.

Welcome summer,

we have been waiting for you

xx

I've been busy

See what happens when you aren't being a showbiz mum?? LOL I actually got time to sit down at my sewing machine!

I actually made this a couple of weeks ago but havent had time until now to take pics. I used this tutorial from A pretty cool life and made a little camera bag. It is such a good idea for me as I tend to take my camera everywhere, along with a whole lot of other junk that just gets thrown in my bag. This keeps my camera dust/crumb free and safe. I love this blog, I drool over and adore the fabrics used in it. Dreamy!

I also tried my hand at making a dress for K. This one was \made from scratch , using this tutorial from li'l blue boo.

I have never tried anything like this before, so I am super happy with the results. It is a little big, but K was in bed when I made it so I had to use another dress for measurements. I am sure she will grow into it.

And she loves it, which is all that matters to me.

I will definitely be trying this one again.

My Girl

Background to this photo shoot - I bought a girls aged 12 top in a sale a few weeks ago. I just adored the fabric and was sure I could size it down to make a cute dress for K. I really like her in light girly shades and I like to have her dressed appropriately for her age, which I am finding hard at the moment. Everything in her size, in the shopes, just seems garish to me at the moment, so I am making some of her summer wardrobe myself.

Kirsten doesn't really like to have her photo taken and my camera is just a plain digital point and shoot camera, so she needs to be fairly still. K does not like to be still. LOL

However I managed to persuade her into the garden so I could take a pic of her new dress, which she loves. (yes I forgot to take a before pic, AGAIN.)

To begin with she wasn't up for smiling, but you will see her relax as the photos went on. I am thrilled to have so many today, and some that I feel are good ones of her. She is notoriously hard to photograph!! They always turn out blurry.

Then she wanted to do star jumps lol

and twirling

I know she isn't smiling in either, but I think the first and last ones are my faves.

My Girl xx

The list!

This week I started my list, the list of what I am going to read for my reading challenge. I am quite good with titles of books, but give me a list of authors and I draw a blank.

Well did I ever have a DUH! moment!!

Take a look at this photo, what do you notice??

That this scene was set in a bookstore? That it is full of children???

Yes it is in fact a children's book store. After going on a google mission, I discovered that the majority of the books and authors mentioned in this film are/have written children's books! Well Duh LeeAnn!

Yay! This challenge just got so much easier lol.

 Not only are they mostly children's books, but they are books that I have in fact read, as a child. I am so super excited to be re living these memories. I can't wait to get started.

The list

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Anne of Greengables - L.M. Montgomery

Betsy's wedding - Maud Hart  Lovelace

Ballet shoes - Noel Streatfield

Boy & Going Solo - Roald Dahl

Charlotte's web - E.B. White

The Godfather - Mario Puzo

Madeline books - Ludwig Bemelmans

Other authors mentioned were,

Beatrix Potter and Dr Seuss - I will read these books with K I think. We have a few in the house.

A few that I was unsure of were - Kay Thompson,  George Bernard Shaw and Thomas Jefferson and Shel Silverstein. Does anyone know of these people? Do you have any suggestions? Even google didn't bring up anything I could see.

I am so excited to be starting with Charlotte's web. I remember reading this in Primary 4 (equivilant of 3rd grade) I remember crying at the end and trying to pretend I wasn't crying because of the book LOL. I still cry at everything.

I think I will need to take Kathleen's advice and read them all with a box of tissues!

On a side note, I have lost my camera!! Has anyone seen it?? I am open to suggestions! I need it tomorrow as I am going on a girls day out! Drinks, giggles, food  and then to the cinema to see Sex in the city!!

Woo hoo can't wait! 

Bye Bye Blackbird

Yesterday I looked out of my window and I saw this!

Can you believe how big they have grown since Saturday??!

This morning when we peeked in to check, we found an empty nest. The babies have flown the nest! Murray says he saw one, pecking some apple, in the back garden this morning. He said it looked like a little fuzzy ball with legs LOL

When I told K, that the babies were no longer in the nest, she said -

" I know! One was looking at me yesterday when Daddy lifted me up to look in. It was totally fat!! They were so funny, bless them"

I was in stitches.

Thank you to everyone who has followed this story with us, I am so relieved that they have survived and grown up to be so strong!

A challenge!

Last week I was cruising around blogland, as I like to do, and I came across a button on Mrs Spoonful's very sweet blog. It was a button I could just not resist clicking on!

( Here is the link because I am not clever enough to work out the button , sorry )

I may have mentioned it once or twice, but I LOVE this film. I love the characters, I love the sweetness, I love the New York setting.

Sigh.

So anyway, once I had clicked on this cute button, it took me to a site where there was a challenge running. Now this challenge actually began back on Jan 1st, but I emailed the sweet lady who is in charge and I am allowed to join in! Yay!

The challenge is basically to read as many of the books, featured/mentioned throughout the film, as you can throughout the year.

I am super excited to get started! I love to read, although I am not exactly into the classics. I am a Jodi Picoult, John Grisham, Cecelia Ahern kind of gal.

I am determined to read Pride and Prejudice during this challenge but I don't think I will start with something quite so, um  challenging.

And  until I ask the ever so nice Librarian if I can return to the library to borrow books, after I was struck off for having books out for too long, (oops) and promise to return them on time, I will need to use what I have. And what do I have on hand?? Well it just so happens I have a son who adores Roald Dahl books and has the whole collection.
Back in my childhood I read every children's book written by this fine man , but it will be fun to take a trip down memory lane and enjoy the magic that he can create with his amazing words. I will start with Boy, as I think that is the one that Kathleen is reading as the Story Lady in the film.

Here is a little bit of one of my favourite feel good films, it even has a little bit of Christmas in it!

It's like it was made for me!

Survivors - the update

I am thrilled to say that our little feathered friends are not only surviving, but also thriving! It has been a tense week! I have been so scared that something would happen to our little birdies after they were exposed last week !

I have felt such a responsibility towards them as it is 100% our fault that they are so open to predators! I have been providing them with lots of food , so the parents don't have to go too far away from the nest.

Even so , the babies must be drawing attention to themselves as I have had to chase a cat and a big crow, away from the nest!

Murray sneaked a photo on Thursday, they had little fluffy mohawks!

So cute!

Daddy black bird was not impressed! He gave Murray a warning swoop! Just clearing the top of Murray's head!

We have done a little research and it seems that blackbirds are exceptionally caring parents. They wont abandon their nests, when it is time for the babies to leave the nest, they stay on in the tree with Daddy there for protection while Mummy goes to set up the nest for the next lot if eggs. They wont force the babies to move on and allow them to do so in their own time. So sweet.

We also found out that the babies will take up to 14 days to reach the stage where they will leave the nest, but can do so as early as 9 days if they feel they are in danger.

So with this in mind we sneaked close for one more peek. It  may be our last as it is 7 days since we discovered them.

And yesterday we found this through the branches!

wow!! Don't they grow fast?? you can see their eyes and beaks!!

I wish them well out there in the big bad world, I hope they will stay close by and we will do all we can to help them.

linking up with

Join us and share the Sunday you are enjoying in your city

x x x x

This is not just sewing .....

This is World Cup survival!

I am so not a football fan. I guess I have had my moments , but overall it bores me.

So I have decided that the only way to survive the next four weeks is to sew! I can still be in the room enjoying time with my hubby, but I don't have to poke my own eyes out    watch something that doesn't interest me.

I spotted this tutorial on Samster Mommy ages ago and wanted to try it out, but I have never used elastic thread before. So I took a plain white vest top that was too big for me now (yay!) and just went for it.

Eventually I am hoping to use this method for lots of projects , one of which being a nice dress for K.

After tonight I feel one step closer.

Boring, old, stretched out vest top for Mummy - to cute girly top that K can wear over leggings

Sorry, all of the coat hangers are upstairs along with my sleeping family, including my cute model who will hopefully oblige, in the morning, and let me photograph her wearing this!

It was actually really easy, not sure how it will fit but I am hoping it goes well. I don't think it will be so fun to unpick! I made up my own straps, the ones in the tutorial were a little thin, I like thicker straps for my girly and so, these are about an inch wide, and a little ruffly.

It almost makes me want to wake her up so I can try it on her!

Almost ........