And The Winner Is......

I know, I know, I should have done this yesterday but after a bad night with little sleep, damn those baby teeth, and a ridiculously early morning, why do they still get up when there is no school, and a very exciting first proper birthday party for Nathaniel the pirate;


To celebrate his friend Amelia's third birthday;

With his little girlie chums from playgroup;

I forgot!!

So Elizabeth and I brought the boys down stairs bright and early, while a very sensible Simon and Francesca snoozed on, and she set to writing all the names out;

We cut them up and folded them and popped them in a bowl;

Elizabeth put in her hand;

And pulled out Nancy, well Nancy's name anyhoo, would have been scared if she'd really been hiding in the bowl!!!

Congratulations!! I will gather something nice for you and pop it in the post this week (just as soon as you email me your postal address).

And of course this is half term week here in the UK, the weather, after a rocky bloody cold, windy, dark, miserable start seems to be improving, some retail therapy today, I have promised the girls new sandals now the risk of frost bite is no longer with us and Hobbycraft have a sale on, would be rude not to! I am on the hunt for some yummy fabrics for a quilting project I have in mind.... watch this space...........

Daisie xxx

500!!!!

This is my 500th post and I was waiting for something terribly exciting to share with you on this special occasion but sadly nothing of great note has been happening. Bits of knitting, cleaning, baking, boobie-ing, playgrouping, parking (green place with swings, not car parking), homeworking, eating etc but nothing amazing.

We've been out in the garden;


With our little friends;


We've had walks in the woods;

With impromptu hats;

Sebastian had a snooze with some buttercups;

Then something very exciting happened;

We built a climbing wall (after nearly melting while painting the new wall and re-painting the kitchen);

And I just love the sunshine and little girls in floppy hats and gingham dresses on school mornings;

And because it's sunny and the summer is soon to be here and it's holidays next week (wooooo-hooooo) and I feel a bit happier than I have done in a while and because you have all been here reading my blatherings for what seems like an age I am going to gather together some of my goodies and give them away to one of the commenters on this post. So say hello and I'll pick someone randomly on sunday afternoon.

Daisie xxx

It's A Good Job

That it's not really a race cos we'd never have won!!

Me, my friend Mary, Elizabeth, Francecsa and Mary's daughters Jessica and Jodie set out this morning to take part in The Race For Life 2010. It was cold, a little drizzley, Francesca had a high temp and felt ill (she came home from school on friday and went straight to bed and hasn't yet recovered) and had to be carried over the finish line! We got cold but we had great fun. We hung around until all the ladies had finished, the last across the line was a lady called Norma, a much older lady who had a knee replacement just ten weeks ago. We cheered and shouted her across the finish line. She is a true inspiration to us all!

My Favourite Kind Of Washing Up

Nuff said, Daisie xxx

Out Of My Comfort Zone

I went to a party last night, oooh, get me! Simon and I were invited but it just made more sense for me to take the girls and for him to stay at home and look after the boys. My very dear friend Mary turns thirty (she is only a baby) next week and held a huge celebration. First uncomfortabe bit (probably more obvious to those of you who know me in real life) no black t-shirt;


In fact not a black anything or even my comfy jeans, Simon took this pic of us just before we left.

Elizabeth posed wonderfully half way through the night, don't spill my pint;


She got to see her friend;

There were some funky rock chick moves on the dance floor;

And any sensible child knows not to argue with her slightly skwiffy mother when she asks you to pose for a 'self-portrait';

There was fun with sweaty-I've-danced-too-vigarously faces and table confetti;

And just before we came out Francesca pointed out that we had 'party feet';

So having not been on a night out in well over half a decade and going with no husband to hide behind lean on and being in an unfamiliar environment and not knowing many people and no black I feel I did rather well, I had a great time and would have stayed later than the eleven O'clock hometime if it wasn't for having to get up at a stupid hour and take Simon for the train to London this morning.

So Happy Birthday Mary, thanks for a fabulous party!!

xxx

Kindness

My Mum brought round a huge pile of luverly tomatoes, they have been chopped, peppered, olive oiled, mixed with some chunky peppers and courgettes and slow roasted this afternoon ready to go on some pasta for tomorrow night's tea, thanks Mum!


She also brought round some teeny tiny cucumbers, just Sebastian sized;

And then the postman knocked today and look what he gave me;

I was expecting a little something from the lovely Jackie (because unless you know someone who knows someone it's very hard to suprise people in blogland as you have to ask where they live), I had commented on her blog post last week about some amazing, bargain price, Laura, Ashley fabric she found at her local carboot and she said she'd like to send me some;

The print's much bigger in real life than I had thought but the pinks are lovely, not too sweet and not shout-in-your-face either. Francesca has demanded a summer frock and a matching bag, watch this space.......

Jackie also sent me this lovely too;

My picture doesn't really do it justice, the colours are really strong and crisp, think I know what this is going to be, again, watch this space.....

And having gifts arrive in the post reminded me that I still haven't completed my PIF gifts for three lovely ladies who will have to send me their postal addresses again, I know how bad am I but I have today started filling a little address book for blogland, everyone who has sent me something or I have sent to is now in the book so no more hours trawling emails without success! Hurrah!

Daisie xxx

Apologies To All In East Lancashire!

The freak hail storm this afternoon was all my fault! Bank holiday weekend, an extra day togehter, lets go for a walk and a run in the park;


It was a bit dull and a bit chilly, I made Nathaniel wear a hat to keep his small blonde head warm, it didn't seem so bad, the rest of us in warm cardigans;


Another small boy had his hat on in the sling, I even managed to take a picture of me and Simon with Sebastian, yes I have several chins and Seb does look a bit cross, I think this is due to his hat being pulled down too far (the cross look, not the chins, obviously);

Francesca was a brilliant big sister;

We found masses of wild garlic that smelled so good (think I'll be taking my little trowel in my pocket next time we go);

The children all 'conquered' a small bit of the wood and we had Elizabithia and Francescadom;

We found a butterfly;

And a woodpecker;

We took plenty of nuts but only saw one squirrel, there were just too many dogs about. The nuts may have been essential for our survival as we had to hide out under a bush while the hail fell, Elizabeth commented that we may be there for years (ever the optomist) and we would soon run out of things to eat!

The rain will have filled the river though so it's not all bad;

What did you do today?

Daisie xxx