Happy Feet

As you may recall, during the winter months DS did not like wearing wellies one bit. He'd take them off his feet at every opportunity! Yesterday I took him shoe shopping in the hope of getting him some canvas pumps suitable for wearing on a Scottish beach. No joy, none of the shops had DS's size. I settled on wellies because they are definitely suitable for a beach as well as puddles and piles of leaves and I was pleased to spot some Paddington Bear ones in Mothercare.

This morning DS amazed us by putting on the wellies of his own accord (Daddy had to help a little bit). The fact that he put them one while still in his pjs is neither here nor there!

Tuesday

So there was me earlier blogging about the fact I had nothing to blog about! Oh, look, another photo of DS playing with his trains, but ... who is that in the photo where DS is looking decidedly blurry? None other than one of DS's Godmothers, the only one who lives locally. She popped round unexpectedly at tea time to say hello and to bring DS a Postman Pat DVD. That photo was the only chance I had to capture the 2 of them together because DS then promptly did a poop and T refused to go anywhere near him after that!

Tagging A Blog ...

I was tagged today by Sib (not entirely sure what that means). I have to complete the following from a book I have to hand ...

So this is what to do:-
1. Collect the book that you have most handy (back of a dusty shelf)
2. Turn to page 161
3. Find the 5th complete sentence
4. Cite the sentence on your blog
5. Pass it on to 5 other blogger friends

So here's mine......"And this seemed not so much objectionable as impossibly hard to fathom."
I'm passing this onto Lulu: http://lake-sidestory@blogspot.com. I would pass it on some more bloggers but my list would then almost be the same as Sib's.

Bloggers Block?

I want to blog, I think about blogging, I just can't seem to come up with anything original to blog about! We're stuck in a routine of "sameness" just at the minute but our holiday is only 3 sleeps away so hopefully things will improve on the blog by the weekend!

London Landmark LOs

We're off to Scotland at the end of this coming week and I know that between now and then there will be very little time for scrapping. With that in mind, I finally scrapped 2 photos for DS's London Landmarks album; they've been on my desk for about a month!

Mr DIY

Now, those of you who know my DH know that DIY isn't his forte. He knows what to do in theory and he so wants to be good at the practical aspect as well. This weekend he's re-roofed the shed and replaced and painted the facias and I have to say that he's done a pretty good job. Yay!

(Not the most interesting of photos, I know, but at least you can see what I'm blogging about.)

Harry Patch: The Last Fighting Tommy

The death was announced today of Harry Patch, the "Last Fighting Tommy", age 111. The news comes just one week after the death of Henry Allingham, age 113, the last survivor of the Royal Naval Air Service.
The Great War was supposed to be the war to end all wars ... we will remember them.

The One With The Exploding Nappy

So here's what happened ... DS went for his nap round about 12.30pm today but had difficultly in settling. At 2pm I went into him, checked his nappy for poop and tucked him up in bed. By 2.10pm he was asleep. At 3pm I took the ironing upstairs and all I could smell was the odour of poop and very strongly at that. I looked into DS's room and found him absolutely covered in poop, along with bedding and the much beloved Granny Ted! I opted to leave him until he woke of his own accord, which was around 4pm. Problem was then that the poop had hardened so you can imagine how much fun it was trying to get it off him! He was not best pleased, poor lamb!

SLYMI: Week 30

The challenge this week is to scrap your independence. Inspiration struck me this afternoon ... a LO in homage to my feet! A spot of thinking outside the box, maybe?

Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince

Yours truly is off to the cinema in Richmond this evening to see the latest HP film. Thing is, although I've read all the books, I've only seen the 1st film and that was a number of years ago. Confident I'll be able to blag it!!!

SLYMI: Week 29

This challenge this week is to scrap with 3. I used 3 patterned papers, 3 brads and 3 photos.

Remembering Dad

It is 14 years today since Dad died. It is true what they say: to live in the hearts of those who love you is not to die. There have been a number of milestones in my life since the 19th July 1995 - I left the RAF, I got married, I had a son and I turned 40 - and during each of those times I have felt Dad to be close by.

He is me and I am him.

What A Difference A Year Makes

Today is the 1st anniversary of when DS finally decided to try out walking as a form of getting around. He was a mere 18 months and 9 days old and we were in Lanzarote with Sib and her family. To look at him racing about now, it's difficult to remember that I was worried about his lack of upright mobility!

Meet The Author

Last night I had a hour out in my local library. How exciting, you're probably thinking .... but, actually, it was pretty cool. The library had a meet the author evening and the speaker/author was Mary Lawson. She is the author of our current book group choice, The Other Side of the Bridge, which I recommend totally. She read a few excerpts from her 2 published books, the other book is Crow Lake, which took her 4 years to get published, and answered questions. It was the first time I'd ever been to an event of that sort but I'll definately be going to others in the future.

Mind you, I wasn't too impressed to find myself cooking the supper at 8pm last night!!

Helping Out

It's been a really busy day today and I don't feel as though my feet have touched the ground! This gorgeous little lady came and spent the day with me and DS because her parents were attending the high profile funeral of Lt. Col. Rupert Thorneloe, the CO of the 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards. Now, I've never looked after two small people on my own before so I was a wee bit apprehensive this morning. Luck was on my side because our house guest behaved beautifully all day (not counting the enormous poop she produced just after lunch!). DS showed he could be jealous, which caught me off guard. He's used to playdates on a regular basis but there are always other mummies or carers present; he just isn't used to having to share me! Our guest went home around teatime, when her mummy came and picked her up. Her mummy looked so awful and drained that I made her stay for a cup of tea and a sit down. She embarrassed me by telling me how wonderful I'd been in helping out but, you know what, I don't think I did anything special today. Friends are supposed to help each other out, aren't they?

SLYMI: Week 28

This week's challenge was to use a needle and/or thread. The stunning photo was taken by Sib at Kew Gardens, I cannot claim any kudos at all!

Tell Me Why

This morning I thought I'd be blogging about the usual minutiae of our lives - a trip to the park and a SLYMI LO. This evening I saw the Channel 4 News and my heart broke.

"...But we in it shall be remembered; we few, we happy few, we band of brothers."

Never Work With Animals & Children!

The InLaws came across this afternoon for an hour ... so lovely to be able to say that! I thought it might be nice to try and capture a 3 generations shot but DS wasn't that keen to play along and the pooch kept popping into shot from an usual angle (ie: bum first!). Anyway, here is what I came up with. I'm not quite sure why DH felt the need to line up clutching the rugby ball ... shades of his College 1st XV from yester year, me thinks!

A Quiet House

Sib and my nephew left this morning for their trip up to mum's before heading home to Scotland later next week. And, boy, is the house quiet! But the good thing is that we'll be seeing them again in 3 weeks.
And another good thing is that my new "scrapping" book arrived today: Cut, Crop & Die by Joanna Campbell Slan. Sib happened to mention that it was out otherwise I'd have missed it completely. That reminds me, BF has my copy of Paper, Scisssors, Death ... read it yet?

Friday Park Life

This afternoon we all took a trip to the park - loads of open space for the pooch to run about in and a great play area for little people. DS did what he normally does, walked around and inspected everything but didn't want to go on anything. Down at the pond we found Mr. Heron, aloof but keeping a close eye on 8 wee ducklings. On the way home we had ice cream and DS decided that he wasn't that keen on my mint choc chip but fancied Auntie L's vanilla!

DS At Two And A Half!

I know I write this every month, but ... can you believe how old DS is??? My darling boy is 2 and a half today and I do so hope that we are now half way through the terrible twos! This gorgeous shot of DS was taken by Sib at lunch time but at 4pm it was a different kettle of fish, I can tell you! He screamed blue murder while having his hair cut by the lovely Payam and I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me.

Summer Swing At Kew Gardens

Another concert this week, Bjorn Again at Summer Swing in Kew Gardens. This time, though, it was an early birthday present for Sib. Sib had never been to an open-air evening concert before and was amazed by just how much some people turn up with: chairs, tables, gazebos, picnics you've never seen the likes of before and lakes of alcohol! We must have looked a sad pair with our sandwiches, crisps, strawberries, fleecy blanket, anoraks and umbrella (which we did have to use for about 10 minutes). Bjorn Again was brilliant, costumes practically exact copies of the outfits ABBA used to wear. They even adopted the personas of Benny, Bjorn, Agnetha and Frieda! Fireworks rounded off the show just after 10pm and we home by 11pm, having made a wee stop and waited for the #65 bus!

London Aquarium

Yesterday, Wednesday, we took our little people (my nephew won't like that discription at all!) up to the London Aquarium at the old County Hall on the South Bank (where Ken Livingstone used to run the old GLC). Sib had a voucher which meant that 1 adult could go free if accompanied by a child and as we didn't have to pay for DS, it meant the 4 of us went in for £27.25 instead of £47.25. The price charged for London attractions is really quite outrageous! We spent two hours in there and DS had a lovely time running about from tank to tank. He even gave us a running commentary along the lines of: hello fish, shark, fish and bye bye!! Sib was in charge of photography and here are 2 of the best ones (far too many photos to choose from!).

SLYMI: Week 27

The challenge this week was to scrap a happy story ... just read the previous post for an explanation of this LO!

Oh, What A Birthday Surprise!

My wonderful SIL gave me the most amazing birthday present this year: 2 tickets to see Bryan Adams play an acoustic set in Oxford! It seems she is friends with BA's tour manager/head roadie and pulled a few strings. Anyway, the gig was last night ... what can I say?? Just over 2 hours of brilliant live music and chat, just Bryan, his guitar and, on occasion, Gary on his piano. The venue was fairly small so it felt a bit like Bryan had just popped round my house and played a gig in my living room! ... I thought I'd died and gone to heaven ...

Kew Gardens

A visit from my nephew now always seems to merit a visit to Kew Gardens. It's on our doorstop and I'm ashamed to say that we haven't been since his last visit in October! He was pleased to discover that I'd worked out the bus route so he wouldn't have to walk 40 minutes each way! It was also DS's 1st ever bus journey. Everyone required to pay bus fare is now Oyster carded up; we've become a family of proper Londoners! Most of today's photography was taken by Sib with her lovely SLR digi camera and here are just a few shots to whet your appetite!

Counting My Blessings

I've been busy counting my blessings today because in my house I have: one DH safely home from his trip to Cape Town, one mum who has been brilliant this last week, one sister (my favourite sister!) and one nephew (my favourite nephew!). Yesterday was a little chaotic, what with all the arrivals and even though we are now full to the gunnels, it's fantastic to have them all here.

A Visit From The InLaws

My SIL brought my parents-in-law over for a short visit this afternoon. My FIL isn't feeling too chipper with the heat but MIL seemed to be fairly calm and coherent. It was also great to see that my SIL's hair is growing back and, although it is still a bit sparse on top, it's looking lovely, really soft and fluffy! DS had a lovely time getting Grandma to play with him.

July's Book Group

Today is the 1st Thursday of the month so it was off to my book group this morning (after I'd dropped DS at nursery and walked the dog; mum very kindly went and got the little bit of shopping we needed). This month's read is The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson. And it just so happens that she is taking part in our local Literary Festival on the 16th; tickets are free for members of the reading groups so I've taken a ticket and just have to hope that DH will be home that evening.

Park Life

Today has been another scorcher and we ended up in the park this afternoon for 2 hours, dog included. DS wouldn't have a nap so by 3pm tempers were fraying and little people were rapidly becoming unbearable!
The pooch is now knackered and DS is fast asleep and looking like a cherub.