Our summer so far...

Once again I'm conscious of not having filled you in on our daily goings on for the last 4 weeks, and I make no apology for it this time! It has been a deliberate decision to simply get on with the living and enjoy the holidays and stress less about uploading it. Not that we've been up to anything dreadfully exciting. No, no, no, it's been a rather slow month, lots of pottering about, catching up with friends and family, hanging out at home. The good stuff. Not always worthy of blogging! But just so you don't feel left out, let me bring you the July highlights.

:: face painting almost daily for the first week. Favouring the pirate and...

 

:: the soldier! Love his creative streak. One of the few positives he got from me!

 

:: making this guitar from the recycling box. It has lasted remarkably well and is the preferred choice of the Green Day, Muse and Kasabian fan thus far!

 

:: dipping tiny toes in the baltic waters of Groomsport beach. I can just remember the sunny days of that first week....*sigh*

 

:: painting of any variety. Including painting one's hands blue! Have to love the pvc tablecloths!

 

:: shouting to hear the echo at Spruce Meadows Activity Farm. It really is the simplest things they enjoy the most.

 

:: hanging out with friends at Castle Espie. Can you tell Conor is just desperate to be one of the bigger boys?

 

:: sharing in our good friend Heather's birthday celebrations. Singalong Mama Mia at a private cinema in full Abba gear followed by the most amazing food spread and Abba Sing Star! Finding it hard to think of a more fun night or a time in the past few years when I have laughed more. Shocking also to think that there are girls out there who have bought these playsuits from H&M for real!!

 

:: catching up with the Bolands. So much fun watching our boys build real friendships. Love you guys!

:: braving the brisk wind for a paddle in the pool at Groomsport. This one would stay in the water until he was as blue as the paint in the pool!

 

:: creating with Jo in my favourite Eden Pottery. Obviously preceded by cinnamon scones and coffee!

 

:: scrap night with Jo and Sheila. More chatting and scoffing rubbish than layouts, but it's all part of the process! The xbox Lips was also super fun, but us holding microphones and singing our hearts out doesn't make for the best photos!

How August will live up to all of this I can only imagine!

Has anyone seen my inspiration?

I would hate to be one to grumble given that I've just embarked on 7 weeks of pure, unplanned, blissful, mostly warm and dry thus far summer holiday, but I'm feeling at a bit of a loss for inspiration. I plan to blame on this on the gigantic list of things I want to do which are being hampered by the longest bathroom makeover in the history of home improvement. The Extreme Makeover: Home Edition team would be shaking their heads in despair - I am confident we could even pop the permanent bubble of enthusiasm of Ty Pennington with our lack of progress!! Anyway, there is stuff everywhere, dust everywhere, gaping plaster everywhere and it is sapping my creative spirit.

That said, there have been plenty of moments where I have been removed from the mess into the real world, and it has been most lovely at times. Sometimes even quite exciting. Like Friday week ago when we had 5 fire engines, a few fire cars, some rescue jeeps and a clatter of police cars on our street after an accident at the water pumping station close to our house. Conor couldn't believe how close the fire engines were, and nothing would do but we had to take a closer look. Pretty close to perfection for a 3 year old with a serious love of vehicles and big wheels! And I was counting myself lucky to live across the road from school as I watched countless parents struggle to drag their toddlers past the excitement after the school drop off while we watched on from our driveway!

  

 

We have also not been unappreciative of the spell of good weather this past few weeks (and are living in hope that it's coming back properly very soon!) We've never had the paddling pool up this long since Conor was born, and living by the sea hasn't really been the summer dream I had in my head this past 2 summers. But this year we have made the most of it, because you just never know when it's going to leave. So we've walked to the beach for frisbee, shells, paddling and the ice cream van. And even ventured to the tropics of Groomsport with some friends after school for some wave jumping with light sabres. Because, you know, light sabres add that extra dimension to any activity which is fun in its own right!

 

I have even made it to the bright lights of Belfast for a night out with friends from work to celebrate our 7 weeks of not living by the bell in 30 minute intervals. I left the big camera behind and settled for the point and shoot, which I have to say caught some pretty cool shots. Almost artistic now that I look at them - perhaps my creativity has been lurking in that camera all this time!

 

 

That's the Belfast Eye by the City Hall for those of you who may not live in the province! Not quite the same spectacular views as its cousin, the London Eye but impressive nonetheless.

I am determined to do some making tomorrow, even if I have to work around a plasterer and a tiler. I shall also be working on a couple of exciting photo sessions from last week, including a wedding - photos to follow later this week. For now I am off for my nightly dose of CSI NY and a slab of Dairy Milk. I am sure my creativity will be all the better for it!

Come on, come on, come on, Take That.....and party!!!

Sincere apologies for my absence from the computer, but it's been a busy few weeks. Actually, it's been more of a painful week and then a very exciting weekend. My lack of blogging must primarily be blamed on the toothache which completely imcapacitated me for almost a week. Who knew how important lack of pain in your lower jaw was to your physical and mental wellbeing? Seriously, it was the worst pain I've ever had in my life, including labour. Perhaps if the dental service provided gas and air for pain relief it might only have been on a par with labour, but since all I had was co-codamol and ibuprofen the memory of it will live on.

The only thing that kept me going through the tooth trauma was knowing that at the weekend I was going with my sister and some of my top chums to see the fabulous Take That. Lesley had bought me a ticket and flight to Glasgow as my Christmas present, which makes her the best present giver ever - if she doesn't already buy presents for you, you should get on her wait list 'cause her presents rock! We flew to Glasgow on Saturday morning, pottered a bit, watched the Lions match, bought fabulous new shoes (well I did, and it was nothing compared to what others bought!) and then ate nibbles and drank pre-concert cocktails in a very Sex and the City fashion before heading to the stadium. Look what we saw when we were there...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty cool, I think! I could rant all night about how amazing the show was, and how loudly we sang but I fear I'm on the brink of losing friends already having done this for the past 2 days, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Love those boys! The only thing missing was one fabulous friend - next time, bud x

Every home should have some of these

In the midst of organising my study post-decoration I came across something which made me roar with laughter instantly. I have had said item for many years, bought on holiday in one of those fabulous pokey European souvenir shops that is a veritable treasure trove. The first time I ever saw them they were being sported by a young boy in Royal Avenue in Belfast, and it's nothing short of a miracle that I wasn't killed by a Citybus I was laughing so hard as I crossed the road! Never has one item reduced me to such a heap of mirth in such a short space of time. So in my humble opinion every home should have a pair of glasses with cardboard eyes.

 

 

See? I told you so! Go on, get some! You won't regret it!!

The tale of a tooth

Teeth have played a pretty big part in our lives for the past 6 years, as is most likely the case for anyone with small children. Practically from the moment our babies are born there is a wise, older friend of the family (most likely female) who will tell us they are teething! Unexplained crying - teething. Fist in the mouth - teething. Unsettled at night - teething. Generally grumpy - teething. If this was indeed the truth then Conor should have an extraordinary number of teeth by now as he can display 3 out of those 4 on any given day!

But there is no doubt that the arrival of the first tooth is much anticipated by all, and many conversations will take place on the age your child was when this milestone was achieved. This is the only photograph I can find of Patrick that clearly shows his first baby teeth. (I know, what a chubster! And this was in the pre-dslr days and probably even has some red eye if you look closely enough!)

 

Fast forward five and a half years and a whole new conversation is occurring. The one he starts every day - "When is my wobbly tooth going to fall out?" This is a question we have heard for months. At first, I must confess, I was quite sad at the prospect of my baby losing a tooth, especially after all the hard work and sleepless nights we put in making sure it arrived with as little trauma and pain as possible. And now here the baby was, on the verge of tears because nearly all his friends have lost their first teeth and his were all present and correct, if slightly wobbly if you really tried hard to move it. It reached the point a few weeks ago that the desire for it to fall out so he could share in the delight of his friends began to outweigh the sentimentality of it all. The tooth wobbled for a good 2 months. Until yesterday.

After a bite into a traybake from the local church cake sale yesterday after school. the tooth became a whole lot more wobbly. In fact, it was looking precarious. So much so that the entire afternoon was taken up with wiggling it, twisting it, a LOT of examining it and looking for any trace of blood on tissues. We even googled 'how to pull out a baby tooth out'. Oh, it was a lengthy process! But he was brave and determined, and eventually, with a little help from mummy, it was finally extracted and held aloft with much glee, pride and a rather toothy grin!

Thoughts

Just a couple of thoughts about my boys. They are so different and both so amazing. I could simultaneously eat them up and hide from them in the ensuite bathroom (which is a pointless exercise anyway because they have mummy radar installed and can track me down in mere seconds!)

Conor (terrible scan due to use of fancy chipboard buttons!)

Patrick (terrible scan because scanner didn't pick up the white cardstock - it's actually 8.5x11 for those of you who care about that sort of stuff!)

Like I said - I could eat them up!

Making me smile

Crazy boys running themselves silly and having the best fun before stuffing themselves with hotdogs and crispie buns!

 

 

The amazing newness of Miss E, daughter number 2 of my equally amazing friend. Her big sister's newborn shots can be seen here - they look so alike in these.

Big sister kisses from Miss C to tiny Miss E - oh, there will be many of these 2 in the months to come!

 

My beautiful new study. Note it is only shown from the most attractive angles and do not show the boxes of stuff I took out of the room before the decorating which now have no place in my oasis of creativity!

 

 

And although I have no photo to go with it, the fact that I am off timetable in school tomorrow is making me smile a lot! Happy, happy, happy!

Six

It seems to be true. There is no way to stop time. And so 5 year olds turn into 6 year olds. And mothers are left in shock because yesterday the 6 year old was a baby.

Not any more. No more babies.

 

The day had been much anticipated (almost as much as the day the wobbly tooth finally falls out!) with the obligatory sleeps countdown and a lot of speculation over the presents which might be received. Needless to say that given the amount of Lego which has newly arrived in our house, there was no room for disappointment!

 

 

 

Lego and cake - perfect when you're six!

 

Without boring you with the hour by hour details of the day (you can only mention building Lego so many times in one post, you know) let me assure you that it was busy, full of all the people we love, and resulted in at least one very tired and happy little boy. Who isn't quite so little any more.

 

As an aside to those of you who get bored on a daily basis because of my irregular posting, can I just say thank you for sticking with me - I really do mean to post more often but so many things take priority. But I have very cute photos to come in the next few days along with some delectable pics of my A-MAZ-ING new study (it should really be a studio but no one around here is buying that name!) If I haven't posted them by the end of the weekend you may leave as many rude comments as you like!

I have a feeling that might have been the summer

There's an amazing phenomenon that occurs round these parts at the first hint of a sunny day, and it comprises many varying aspects. This past weekend brought a healthy dose of sunshine and so I was lucky enough to encounter a few of them. The first is that perennial favourite, the 'Sunday Driver'. This occurs when every elderly person with a car piles their entire family and a few friends into said car for a "run along the coast". To complete this fun adventure it is essential to pack a flask of tea and a packet of Digestive biscuits to enjoy in a carpark, or indeed the car if it's too blowy for getting out. The downside to this jolly activity is the delay which results for every driver with an actual reason to be driving along the coast (say to collect your child and a friend from a BB fun day), and the obvious road rage that builds with the painful 25mph journey!

Another aspect of the sunshine phenomenon is the need to wear one's most summery clothes, whether the sun is accompanied by warmth or not. This is best observed at a local shopping centre or in the town, where you can spot many a happy young man in full football kit, accessorised with shades and flip flops - .preferably of the variety he can't quite walk in without sliding his feet along the ground in a rather slovenly fashion. The young ladies can be seen sporting a strappy top and mini skirt or shorts with fabulous high heeled sandals and the obligatory shades. No doubt sales of suncream soar with such drastic skin exposure! Alas, I find that gradually exposing one body part at a time is more than ample to be getting on with, and while the sun did shine, it was a tad chilly for my liking. The body part of choice for me this past weekend was my feet (those of you with objections to photos of feet should look away now.)

 

My favourite aspect of the sunny day phenomenon is the bbq. Nothing shouts "Summer is here!" like the smell of every bbq in the neighbourhood being fired up for the first time. Excitement abounds as dads around the country dust off their giant bbq accessories and get the flames going amidst cries of "What do you want done first?" as mums bring out plates with enough uncooked meat to feed a small nation! And then we proceed to eat approximately twice what we would eat at a normal teatime, just because it's bbq food and it really does taste so much nicer.

Anyway, wittering aside, we found ourselves partaking of a few fun garden activities, like water balloons, our new Jungle Gym and 'trains in the garden' (the outside version of 'trains'). See evidence below.

(It's hard to actually make it out but that is the water balloon bursting over daddy.)

 

 

 

So how was the sunshine for you?

Time

I read a really interesting article in Junior magazine recently about the time we spend with our kids and a line from it has stuck with me ever since. It said "the days are long but the years are short". And I've thought about this a lot this past week, especially as we begin to plan for Patrick's 6th birthday. How is it that the minutes spent playing monster trucks or Power Miners are the longest in my day while the years of tiny people are almost visibly whizzing past me? I know that before long my Thursday and Friday mornings will be free of all things little boy, and not long after that I'll be free until 2pm. And while the thought of that sometimes seems like a dream come true, I suspect I will miss those monster truck games and watching closely as the new Lego set is expertly demonstrated more than I think I will. So I have documented the thought - perhaps it will be an encouragement to them in the distant future as they have to endure playing Barbie with their daughters (sweet justice, don't you think!!)